Let's Talk: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
Hello, all!
Like many others, I spent my Black Friday not elbowing my way through crowds to get "the best deals" but rather in the comforts of my own home, eating tons of snacks and binge watching all of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Netflix. And, lemme tell you, I've got a lot to say about the four part revival. A lot. Oh, and obviously, this is gonna be filled with some spoilers, so if you haven't watched it yet you're probably gonna wanna skip this post.
I was an avid Gilmore Girls fan when the show first came out, but somewhere around the college years I started to fade out. So once I found out about Netflix's revival, I decided to re-watch all the seasons, and I was amazed at how much my opinions on certain characters *ahem, Rory* changed. When I first started watching, I thought that Rory was such a great character; I thought she was smart and witty, and then when I actually sat and watched every season back to back, I realized she is super selfish and bratty. (FYI, my views on her attitude did not change throughout the new episodes either. We'll get to that.)
I feel like I'm going to start spewing all my feelings like a Lorelai-hopped up on coffee-fueled rant, so I'll try and stay focused. Right off the bat, I love how Stars Hollow is still the exact same kooky, endearing small town it's always been and all the people are just as weird and lovely as ever. Speaking of, I was super impressed with how well Lauren Graham just effortlessly slide back into character thus proving to me that she is Lorelai Gilmore. On the flip side, I feel like Alexis Bledel seemed kinda shakey as Rory. Side note: holy skinny Miss Patty! I didn't even realize it was her at first. I also didn't realize I needed a second film by Kirk, but oh how wrong I was because it was just brilliant.
"Winter" also starts to drive home how much Rory irks me. She apparently has had a boyfriend for 2 years and she can't even remember him. Granted, no one really remembers him, but still. Poor Paul, you like tea, so you never really had a shot anyways. Oh, and no one likes getting woken up in the middle of the night to tap dancing, Rory. That ain't cute, but what is cute is how super proud Luke is of her getting an article published in The New Yorker, so much so that he put it on the back of his diner menus. Another side note: the way that everyone kept raving about her New Yorker piece, I felt like it would be a little longer than the back of a diner menu.
Now, I thought I had prepared myself for not seeing Edward Hermann as Richard Gilmore, but cue the funeral flashback and I was really not prepared in the slightest. My heart broke along with Emily, Lorelai and Rory as they said goodbye to the head of their family. Then my heart shattered into a million pieces when Emily and Lorelai got into hands down the worst fight in the history of the show after.
I love the thought of Lorelai and Luke looking into surrogacy and finding out Paris is one of the tops in that field was just the icing on the cake. She is still as terrifying and intimidating as I remember, and it's so appropriate that she makes a class cry when her and Rory go back to speak at Chilton.
Let's get back to Rory for a minute, shall we? First, how in the world can she afford all these international flights to London when she doesn't have a job? Second, I'm just throwin' this out there, but maybe she's not as great at her job cause she falls asleep while interviewing someone and then sleeps with another, then goes to a job interview with no sort of ideas to bring to the table and not a whole lot of enthusiasm either (doesn't matter if they were the one to pursue you, you still have to put forth an effort, girl!) Now onto the real problem here; homegirl is having an affair with Logan. LOGAN. Logan who is engaged to be married. I thought he was terrible when they were dating the first time around and I still hate him just as much now. I was a bit glad when Rory finally gets it together and says goodbye to him for real, even though it took the entire 4 episodes.
Ya know who she should've been with the whole time? Jess. He may not have been the best when they first met/dated, but he is the only one of her boyfriends who really was her equal. He was well-read, he challenged her, and by the end I feel like he was the only one who really knew her and had her best interests at heart (he did make her realize she made a huge mistake by dropping out of Yale.) He even convinces her to write a book about her and her mom. (Also, how cute was Lorelai blowing him a kiss in "Fall"? They seem to be on better terms now and I think it's adorable.) I feel like out of the three boyfriends, he was the one she was always meant to end up with and the fact that she didn't makes me really upset.
Another thing I didn't get was the Stars Hollow musical. I felt like it was so unnecessary and a waste of time. Just like the two second Francie cameo. I get the need to put in someone from Rory and Paris' time at Chilton, but why not Madeline and Louise? At times, I really felt like they tried to cram so many characters in that it felt a bit like overkill. Like the five second Dean cameo. I get it, they wanted all her past boyfriends in it, but really, go back to Scranton. With that being said I did love the Mr. Kim cameo though, it was so nice to finally see him! I'm also still choked up from Sookie coming back to the Dragonfly Inn and the "Still best friends?"
Ok, I can go on and on about each episode, but I'll try and wrap this up since it's already a novel. I do love how they wrapped up Emily's story line; from going to therapy with Lorelai, to her breaking out of the D.A.R world (how fantastic was her whole "BULLSHIT" outburst?!) to finally finding some peace in Nantucket with her volunteering at a whaling museum. After all that she had been through, she deserved to be as content as a widow can be. I'm beyond happy that Lorelai and Luke finally got married, even though I would have loved to see their actual wedding despite how cute their impromptu one was, and that her and Emily got some closure together after her touching story about her favorite memory of her father. Now we get to Rory. Oh, Rory, Rory, Rory. I feel like she just drifted through the entire series, without really doing much of anything. I'm also very torn on the last 4 words. I had heard about how creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, had the last 4 words of the show in her head since the beginning and I was sorta left underwhelmed. Basically, Rory tells Lorelai she's pregnant and the whole show pretty much comes full circle.
I feel like even though each episode was 90 minutes, I need more. I need to know who's baby it is (even though, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Logan's.) I need Rory to end up with Jess, since he's still so obviously in love with her. I just need more Stars Hollow.
Have you guys watched yet? Lemme know what you thought!
Like many others, I spent my Black Friday not elbowing my way through crowds to get "the best deals" but rather in the comforts of my own home, eating tons of snacks and binge watching all of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Netflix. And, lemme tell you, I've got a lot to say about the four part revival. A lot. Oh, and obviously, this is gonna be filled with some spoilers, so if you haven't watched it yet you're probably gonna wanna skip this post.
I was an avid Gilmore Girls fan when the show first came out, but somewhere around the college years I started to fade out. So once I found out about Netflix's revival, I decided to re-watch all the seasons, and I was amazed at how much my opinions on certain characters *ahem, Rory* changed. When I first started watching, I thought that Rory was such a great character; I thought she was smart and witty, and then when I actually sat and watched every season back to back, I realized she is super selfish and bratty. (FYI, my views on her attitude did not change throughout the new episodes either. We'll get to that.)
I feel like I'm going to start spewing all my feelings like a Lorelai-hopped up on coffee-fueled rant, so I'll try and stay focused. Right off the bat, I love how Stars Hollow is still the exact same kooky, endearing small town it's always been and all the people are just as weird and lovely as ever. Speaking of, I was super impressed with how well Lauren Graham just effortlessly slide back into character thus proving to me that she is Lorelai Gilmore. On the flip side, I feel like Alexis Bledel seemed kinda shakey as Rory. Side note: holy skinny Miss Patty! I didn't even realize it was her at first. I also didn't realize I needed a second film by Kirk, but oh how wrong I was because it was just brilliant.
"Winter" also starts to drive home how much Rory irks me. She apparently has had a boyfriend for 2 years and she can't even remember him. Granted, no one really remembers him, but still. Poor Paul, you like tea, so you never really had a shot anyways. Oh, and no one likes getting woken up in the middle of the night to tap dancing, Rory. That ain't cute, but what is cute is how super proud Luke is of her getting an article published in The New Yorker, so much so that he put it on the back of his diner menus. Another side note: the way that everyone kept raving about her New Yorker piece, I felt like it would be a little longer than the back of a diner menu.
Now, I thought I had prepared myself for not seeing Edward Hermann as Richard Gilmore, but cue the funeral flashback and I was really not prepared in the slightest. My heart broke along with Emily, Lorelai and Rory as they said goodbye to the head of their family. Then my heart shattered into a million pieces when Emily and Lorelai got into hands down the worst fight in the history of the show after.
I love the thought of Lorelai and Luke looking into surrogacy and finding out Paris is one of the tops in that field was just the icing on the cake. She is still as terrifying and intimidating as I remember, and it's so appropriate that she makes a class cry when her and Rory go back to speak at Chilton.
Let's get back to Rory for a minute, shall we? First, how in the world can she afford all these international flights to London when she doesn't have a job? Second, I'm just throwin' this out there, but maybe she's not as great at her job cause she falls asleep while interviewing someone and then sleeps with another, then goes to a job interview with no sort of ideas to bring to the table and not a whole lot of enthusiasm either (doesn't matter if they were the one to pursue you, you still have to put forth an effort, girl!) Now onto the real problem here; homegirl is having an affair with Logan. LOGAN. Logan who is engaged to be married. I thought he was terrible when they were dating the first time around and I still hate him just as much now. I was a bit glad when Rory finally gets it together and says goodbye to him for real, even though it took the entire 4 episodes.
Ya know who she should've been with the whole time? Jess. He may not have been the best when they first met/dated, but he is the only one of her boyfriends who really was her equal. He was well-read, he challenged her, and by the end I feel like he was the only one who really knew her and had her best interests at heart (he did make her realize she made a huge mistake by dropping out of Yale.) He even convinces her to write a book about her and her mom. (Also, how cute was Lorelai blowing him a kiss in "Fall"? They seem to be on better terms now and I think it's adorable.) I feel like out of the three boyfriends, he was the one she was always meant to end up with and the fact that she didn't makes me really upset.
Another thing I didn't get was the Stars Hollow musical. I felt like it was so unnecessary and a waste of time. Just like the two second Francie cameo. I get the need to put in someone from Rory and Paris' time at Chilton, but why not Madeline and Louise? At times, I really felt like they tried to cram so many characters in that it felt a bit like overkill. Like the five second Dean cameo. I get it, they wanted all her past boyfriends in it, but really, go back to Scranton. With that being said I did love the Mr. Kim cameo though, it was so nice to finally see him! I'm also still choked up from Sookie coming back to the Dragonfly Inn and the "Still best friends?"
Ok, I can go on and on about each episode, but I'll try and wrap this up since it's already a novel. I do love how they wrapped up Emily's story line; from going to therapy with Lorelai, to her breaking out of the D.A.R world (how fantastic was her whole "BULLSHIT" outburst?!) to finally finding some peace in Nantucket with her volunteering at a whaling museum. After all that she had been through, she deserved to be as content as a widow can be. I'm beyond happy that Lorelai and Luke finally got married, even though I would have loved to see their actual wedding despite how cute their impromptu one was, and that her and Emily got some closure together after her touching story about her favorite memory of her father. Now we get to Rory. Oh, Rory, Rory, Rory. I feel like she just drifted through the entire series, without really doing much of anything. I'm also very torn on the last 4 words. I had heard about how creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, had the last 4 words of the show in her head since the beginning and I was sorta left underwhelmed. Basically, Rory tells Lorelai she's pregnant and the whole show pretty much comes full circle.
I feel like even though each episode was 90 minutes, I need more. I need to know who's baby it is (even though, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Logan's.) I need Rory to end up with Jess, since he's still so obviously in love with her. I just need more Stars Hollow.
Have you guys watched yet? Lemme know what you thought!
Wow. You had a lot of the same thoughts I had, I couldn't stand the musical nor how annoying Rory was. I've rewatched the original series over and over again ever since it was made available on Netflix. And, like you, I didn't notice how annoying she was until seeing them as a whole. It's crazy.
ReplyDeleteI did like seeing the reboot though, I just think they rushed it and added things that could have been replaced with something better.I still find it very odd for Rory to not have a job or build any type of foundation for herself. So clearly out of character, which I guess is what they were going for. She couldn't be "perfect" for ever. I love Jess too!
They're cousins by marriage now, but whatevs.