Gilmore Girls is a beloved series that follows the lives of a quick-witted and relatable mother daughter duo: Rory and Lorelai Gilmore. It began airing in 2000 and went on for seven seasons. Somehow, its popularity has only further blossomed and continued to grow 24 years since its release, even having a reboot season in 2016.Â
I, like many others I know, watched the show for the first time during quarantine. It was entertaining and addicting with many episodes, making it the perfect show to watch with my mom and sister. It had all the great things about old TV shows: comedy, a great plot, longevity, and developed characters.
As an audience, we can picture ourselves in the shoes of Rory and Lorelai. The struggle for trust and control between the mother and daughter is something many families experience, and I personally found this part of the show the most relatable. The messy but ultimately loving relationship between Rory and Lorelai feels accurate, if at times a little too good to be true.Â
What makes the show appealing, beyond relating to the characters, is that it allows the audience to immerse themselves in the Gilmore Girls glory of the wealthy Gilmore grandparents and all the trouble and excitement this world brings. The mansion, the maids, the business meetings, the DAR, the charity balls—it is fantastical and intriguing to imagine, even as these things bring problems of their own.
It being a comfort show of my own, I have rewatched it quite a bit. As I have gotten older though, my fondness for the characters has dwindled and I can only really bring myself to rewatch the early seasons.Â
Some of my hot takes regarding the show are that they purposefully ruined Rory’s character, and that nearly all of Rory’s and Lorelai’s love interests, minus some exceptions, were bad.
Rory started out incredibly driven and accomplished, but by the end, her moral compass had completely shifted and her priorities were skewed. Her self-worth plummeted and she let others make choices for her that were not in her best interest.Â
Examples of this are her choice to drop out of Yale, reject a good job offer, rob a Yacht, cheat with Dean, date Logan and put a wedge in her relationship with her mother. All these decisions were so out of character and disappointing to fans who were rooting for her success. I can understand that the writers may be making a point about how money and influence can change a person or that promising young people can burn out, but in my opinion, it ruined the show.
In the case of the love interests, Rory did not ever match well with any of her boyfriends. Saying this as a Jess fan, I think Dean was controlling, Jess was not her problem to fix and Logan was a horrible person.
As for Lorelai, I think she was always going to be attached to Christopher in an unhealthy way because he was the father of her child. I think Luke was her best fit, as he was obviously intended to be, but they both were too stubborn and lacked healthy communication skills.
While I can appreciate the small-town nostalgia, zany characters and familiar plot lines, Gilmore Girls is by no means a perfect show. But I must give the writers credit for creating something that aged well and continues to be popular many years later.