This post contains spoilers for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Don’t continue reading if you don’t want the ending spoiled!
Gilmore Girls has always held a special place in my heart. I started watching the show in re-runs on TV when I was thirteen. I remember immediately feeling a connection to bookworm Rory and her relationship with her mother, Lorelai. My own mother was also a single mom, and we too had a wonderfully close relationship. “Look, Rory’s just like me, and Lorelai’s just like you,” I remember excitedly telling her when she watched the show for the first time. And when the whole series came out on Netflix a few years ago, we started watching it together, from the beginning. Naturally, we were very excited to watch the re-boot when it came out.
I absolutely loved it. Of course, there were a few things I had problems with (how did Rory afford to keep flying back and forth to London, even after the book deal was nixed? And that one scene where Rory wakes Logan up at 2am with her call…it was still daylight where Rory was in New York. As an American student here, I know the time difference between England and the East Coast of the U.S., and it is not that big) but they were minor. Overall, the show had the same feeling and heart as always.
Luke and Lorelai
This was my absolute favourite part of the revival—I’m so glad they’re finally together. They seem to be working so well as a couple (as we always knew they would!). Their wedding scene was also absolutely adorable, and it made total sense that they’d want to get married without all of the extra people around. Their ending left me completely satisfied.
Richard Gilmore
It was very sad that Edward Hermann couldn’t be in the revival since he himself had passed away. Nevertheless, the show did a wonderful job paying tribute to him with the painfully sad funeral scene and storylines about various characters dealing with their grief. His death offered a nice way to link the stories together; the show wasn’t just checking in on our favourite characters, but also tracking how each was coping with the death of a beloved family member. And the scene where Rory remembers Richard around her grandparents’ house was absolutely perfect.
Emily Gilmore
I thought they showed how Emily was handling the grief of her husband’s death phenomenally, and I loved that she did end up going to therapy and really felt it was helping her. I also felt like she got a very fitting ending—in control of her own life and with her own house in Nantucket. Plus, that moment where Lorelai calls her to tell her story about Richard almost made me cry. Their relationship will never be perfect, but at least it can have its good moments like those.
Paris Geller
Paris was hilarious in the reboot, and still completely her old self. I’m really glad she and Rory stayed friends, and that she became just as successful as she wanted to. I’m sad that she and Doyle are getting divorced, but it did feel true to the show—sometimes marriages don’t work out and people change. And if anyone can handle a messy divorce, it’s Paris.
Stars Hollow
I wish I could devote a paragraph to all of my favourite characters in the revival, but if I did this article would last forever. Still, I absolutely loved seeing all of my favourites back in Stars Hollow, from Kirk with his new pet pig, to Ms Patty, to Taylor and his town hall meetings. Also, the storyline with Michel was fantastic. I love that he finally gets a husband now. And it was lovely that we really got to see just how much he and Lorelai care about each other.
Rory Gilmore
I saved my favourite character for last, because there’s just so much to talk about. I was sad that she isn’t a super successful journalist—though she did have that one great article published that Luke printed on the back of his menus—but it did seem painfully realistic given the changes in the journalism world and the state the economy’s been in the last several years. Rory isn’t perfect, she certainly made some errors in the course of the revival, but that’s what makes her human. How many of us have made major flubs in our school and professional careers? And now she’s writing a book about herself and her mom, which even though it might be a bit clichéd in TV shows, I think a good step for her.
Her love life of course, is a bit of a mess in the revival, and I was kind of sad that she was still going back to the same guys, even all these years later. Hadn’t she met somebody new? (Besides the joke of a character Paul). But I guess if she’s been focusing on her career all this time, she might not be focusing on finding a boyfriend, which I definitely respect. I guess I understand her agreement with Logan in the revival (though he’s engaged!), since she seems to be too focused on the rest of her life to have time for a relationship.
And then there’s the ending. At first I was majorly pissed. I get why they did it—it does bring the story full circle to now have Rory pregnant, but I was angry that Rory didn’t get to have her accomplished journalism career. I wanted Rory to be able to choose when she wants to have a baby, not have it be chosen for her. But then I talked to my mom about it, who I expected to be on the same page as me, and she actually loved the ending. Rory’s had ten years in the journalism field, my mom pointed out, and now she’s writing a book, something she can do at home while pregnant and with a child. My mom didn’t consider motherhood a punishment for Rory (which I guess, since she’s my mom, I should be pretty glad about), she thought it was an exciting new step for her. Plus, Rory will have Lorelai right there with her for support. Rory is 32 at this point. She’s old enough to be a mom. And I do think that she’ll be a great one, especially with her own mom there for support.
So in the end, I came to peace with the ending, and decided that I loved the Gilmore Girls revival in its entirety. Of course I would always like more, but if this is really the ending, I’m satisfied with it.
What did you think about the Gilmore Girls revival? Let us know in the comments!