have you finished gilmore girls, year in the life yet?! i need to know your opinion
I have. My opinions are still a bit fresh and uncooked, mind you, so they’ll likely evolve. Also this is just one long ramble.
GILMORE GIRLS REVIVAL SPOILERS AHEAD
Just to make sure that’s nice and obvious.
Okay, so mostly I enjoyed it, but I DID spend a lot of time waiting for Jess to arrive, only for him to be in only 2 episodes instead of 3, and also having the total of 3 scenes, all of which were centered around him facilitating someone else’s character development and not having almost any focus on him. So that was a disappointment.
Thankfully he was perfectly in character, adorable, and always looking out for people. I especially appreciated him being there for Luke. (Why was he not at the wedding though??)
The feel was right, the town looked amazing, but I feel like it was a bit slow, like they didn’t rush ENOUGH to get stuff in?
Also what the hell are Rory’s life choices? Also Paul?? Poor Paul! I love Rory, and I empathise with her, but her entitlement and selfishness just makes it... a bit... blah.
It’s hard for me to form a proper opinion about Logan because I have NO idea about who Odette is or what her side of the story was. Cause the whole cheating thing could either be the most asshole move ever, or a convenient arrangement for a couple required to get married.
Do love watching him with the Life And Death Brigade though, just because it’s always wacky, even if it’s also rich and entitled. Plus they played a song from Across The Universe and I love that movie. Also I’m glad Dean had a happy ending. I don’t feel like he warranted more than that one scene but I’m happy for him. I hate his guts for most of the show, but he’s a stupid teenager for most of the show, so.
It’s so lovely to see all the townspeople. Kirk probably got way too much attention, but he saved himself with the wedding decorations.
Also the musical was great. I mean, it was terrible, but I really enjoyed watching it, and I love Sutton Foster and Christian Borle. Like, I’ve seen Sutton in a bunch of things and she’s amazing and hilarious.
Oh and THANK GOD MICHEL IS MARRIED TO A DUDE. Like holy shit. That was so completely necessary, and made me so relieved.
Also my watching buddy pointed out that during the discussing of the Pride parade, everyone being like “isn’t there ONE MORE GAY PERSON, TAYLOR?”, I kept thinking they meant Michel, but she suggested they meant Taylor himself. Which intrigues me.
Oh, and Mr Kim! That was hilarious. But also somehow just raised more questions, like where the fuck was he for 7 seasons?
They were also better at including a much more diverse supporting cast. Like, not the pre-existing characters, but the world in general felt a lot less overwhelmingly white, thank goodness. Not that this show is a beacon of representation, but the flaws are less glaring.
Also, why are Rory and Lorelai so shallow assholes sometimes? That whole thing with standing in lines, and nerds? Hurtful. The fat-shaming? Terrible. Judging ladies sex lives? Blaahh. Like I feel like one of the draws of this show is that it includes and values all the strange people, but then it goes and just is so backwards and judgey in other ways.
Some stuff I did love though, was Emily’s character arc, and the development and resolution of Luke/Lorelai. Emily’s story was so sweet in the end, and I feel like she found herself, finally alone and free to do what made sense to her, in a way that made me happy. They let her move past Richard, but the show still did everything to honour and remember him, not just in the big obvious scenes, but in lots of little touches too.
Oh, also Emily’s maid and her family were amazing. I just love how Emily actually loved her, and ended up taking in that entire family, and then at the end putting blankets over them, awww. Oh and... the bullshit scene? Just. Pure glory. Amazing. You go, Emily.
And I love Paris so much. Just. I love Paris. Team Paris all the way. Also she says her kids hate her, but they obviously were happy to see her, and she hugged them happily, so she’s obviously not THAT terrible.
I was so happy to see April grown up but still, yanno, in the process of growing up. What a lovely awkward girl, I love her. And at least we got updates on Lix and TJ even if they didn’t show up, but we didn’t get A SINGLE MENTION of their kid Doula?? Like, Jess has a little sister and this was not at all brought up? What the hell? Did they forget?
Speaking of babies, why does every girl in this show have to have babies? Like at this point it’s hard to think of ladies who DON’T have children. April, but she’s 22. And then there’s like... Babette? No one else comes to mind.
The exploration of surrogate parents was weird though. I dunno why exactly, it just FELT weird. All the jokes about having sex with the ladies, too.
But the rest of Lorelai/Luke was pretty good. I particularly loved the conversation after she came back from the trail, and Luke trying SO hard to convince her that he’s happy. And their marriage in the end was so lovely. (Why wasn’t Jess at Luke’s wedding??)
Also I can’t make up my mind about how I feel about Jess’s pining. Because like.... At this point, dude? You’re better than her. You really are. After she went and led him on in s6 to basically get back at Logan, and then everything between Rory and Logan in this? Nah man.
And now I just want Jess to be HAPPY. And I felt so unsatisfied with his conclusion there. Cause. He’s stable and fine and happy but... also pining?? Nothing was resolved? At all? And if they’d gotten together, IF Rory/Jess had actually been endgame, THEN I would’ve been okay with the pining. Cause there would’ve been a payoff. But now... Eh.
And then there are the last four words...
On the one hand, it makes perfect sense? Everything comes full circle? It promises so many more hypothetical stories to be told, and a world where they can unfold. The problem is, it raises SO SO SO many more questions too, and you end up feeling JUST a little bit cheated.
Also, with their whole conversation about “you need money” and stuff, it was so obvious they were bringing it back to the beginning, intentionally tying as many links as they could.
Which means, okay... The baby’s Logan’s from their wild night of Life And Death Brigade, I assume. But he’s engaged to an heiress. And if he wasn’t, would they even get married? I don’t know.
Ok I may have just rambled so more at my watch buddy so I’m gonna copy that in here:
Well okay soRory=Lorelai, Jess=Luke, Logan=ChristopherRory/Lorelai gets pregnant by Logan/Christopher, but they don't get married.And you've got Jess/Luke pining for Rory/Lorelai for all those years.Like I feel the comparison is SO SO SO obvious.But I don't LIKE that comparison because of how unfair it feels to Jess that he should just spend all those years pining? Waiting around?So I feel liek Rory/Jess is the intended future endgame butAs Milo said: Is Jess really Team Rory?[Marina: I'm eeehing because I dont want Jess to end up like Luke]Yeah exactlyAlso I dunnoLuke didn't spend THAT many years pining.Maybe like, a few years before canon begins, but he was already way into his 30sAnd he'd had relationships and stuff tooBut with Jess, he wasn't even legally an adult.And he's gonna be stuck on her for the rest of his life, but had to wait 15++ years before something REALLY comes of it?Come on. That's not romantic, that's just SAD.Plus. At this point, I don't feel like Rory deserves himHe had the shittiest upbringing, he had SO many reasons for acting the way he did, and then he fucking grew up and became a decent personRory's just gotten more and more entitled and selfish and carelessIt's like she's having a downwards character arc[Marina: And she was such an important person for him, in his life, but he also needs to get over the idea that her love is some sort of endgame/validation]YeahLike, Jess's character arc should be that he gets to not NEED that validationRory spent this entire year cheating on a boyfriend she could hardly remember, with an engaged man.And like, Rory lots her damn virginity to a married man.(And ruined said marriage in the process)(Glad you have a nice family now Dean, you may have been a complete asshole and I hated you as a teenager, but you seem to have actually grown as a person since then.)Jess has always been romantically faithful to Rory, and he made sure to break up with his girlfriend before anything happened between him and Rory.Whereas Rory kept Dean on a string for so long, and only dated Jess when Dean broke up. And then after that happened, she had sex with a married Dean. And then she dated Logan, who slept with everyone, who cheated on Rory. And then Rory kinda tried to cheat on Logan WITH JESS. And now she's been cheating on her boyfriend, with a soon-to-be-married Logan.How is that a good match?
So basically, in summary:
I was so into Jess/Rory before this revival, and it may have actually made me go off it, that’s impressive.
I mean, not for their time together in canon, because they’re adorable and they were REALLY important for each other’s growth and development and human beings, and I still have a lot of feelings for that.
But I don’t think I consider them my preferred endgame anymore. And that’s probably okay?
SO ON THE SHOW AS A WHOLE?
Basically my feelings are mixed, but on the whole I’m happy we got this revival, because there were a lot of things I loved, and I can disregard the things I didn’t. That’s always been my attitude for this show anyway.
