Gilmore Girls: I Wrote Too Much
If you are reading this and have any interest in watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, the stop. I assumed you watched all 4 episode or don’t care if I spoil everything. Even though I talk a lot about the show in general I do just spoil everything right and left. I spoil the end of the final episode right away.
I also ramble. I talk way too much about Logan. And for a lot of you I talk too much about Rory. And I talk way too little about Emily. Forgive me. This is already well over 2500 words.
So let’s get started.
Overall I enjoyed it. I don’t know if there was a way I couldn’t enjoy it. I love these characters and this world too much. Did I have complaints? Yes. A lot. Some big, some small. But did I laugh? Yes. Did I cry? Hell yes. So at the end of the day (or at the end of the Year in the Life) I am glad they made this reunion series. And if they made another (which they probably shouldn’t) I would watch it.
I am going to start with the end. The final four words. I hated them. But that’s because I hate Rory’s relationship with Logan. If you are “Team Logan” I don’t get you. I really don’t. I can only accept “Team Jess” or “Team None of the Above”. So to end the show by having Rory be pregnant with Logan’s child is to punch me in the gut.
Let’s talk about why I hate Logan. And to talk about that I need to talk about what I love about Rory. But to talk about that I need to talk about what makes Lorelai great. Follow along!
Lorelai is a flawed human being. She makes mistakes. Lots of them. Getting pregnant at 16 is a mistake. Running out on her parents was maybe justified, but it was also an awful, cruel thing to do. Running out on Max was maybe the most awful thing we see her do. Sleeping with Christopher after she had a fight with Luke was idiotic. The way she treats her parents is often terrible. While I think she is a good mom to Rory most of the time, there are times where she handles their close relationship terribly. She is a terrible communicator. She doesn’t say what she is feeling, she lives in denial, and it often leads to hurt feelings for the people who love her. She can be selfish and stubborn. Things need to be the way she wants them, and she rarely will compromise. She worked hard for her life and refuses to change.
But Lorelai is a fighter. She makes mistakes that would cripple another person. Being pregnant at 16 could ruin your life. Instead it made her who she is. She knocks herself down and she gets back up and takes her lumps, makes a joke or a pop culture reference, and moves on. She owns an inn, graduated from business school, has a great daughter, rebuilt her relationship with her parents, has good friends, and lives in a town with people she adores. Real people make mistakes and often living with those mistakes can be hard. Lorelai lives with her mistakes amazingly. When Lorelai tells you it’s going to be ok, you know she speaks from experience.
Rory, at least in the Chilton years, was also a fighter. She wanted to go to Harvard. So she got into Chilton and was told very early by the Headmaster that she wasn’t going to cut it (The same Headmaster who claims in A Year in the Life that he “always admired her”, which is baloney). Not only did she cut it, but she graduated as the valedictorian. She got critiqued incredibly harshly after her first writing assignment at the Yale paper. But she became editor of that paper. And Rory was happy with who she was. She had friends (or a friend, Lane) and liked to read and do work and didn’t care if she was in the poofs. She was Rory, and happy to be Rory. How many high school students is that true for? My guess is none.
Her one weakness was romance. Is romance. She was wooed by Dean and was bad at it. Ran away after being kissed. Ran away after being told that he loved her. She is understandably bad at all of it! It was all new to her. Something she wasn’t good at after being good at so much else. Then she fell in love with Jess, and that was new. She didn’t know what to do with that and when they finally got together and it didn’t live up to the promise, she didn’t know how to handle that. Then she dated Logan. Ugh.
Logan is entitled and wants to win what he can’t have, which in this case is Rory. And Rory gets taken in by his money and this life of meaningless extravagance that her Mother could have had if she had never gotten pregnant. A life Lorelai wouldn’t want, but a life that those around her would have had. In that sense, that’s an interesting story line, but when it goes on for too long, it stops being interesting and starts changing the character. Rory went from a driven, self-assured teenager to a listless, lost twenty-something. And I don’t like that version of Rory. I don’t like Yale Rory.
One of her happiest moments in A Year in the Life is when she is running around around with the Life and Death Brigade. Her happiest moment is with people who think it’s fun to break into Doose’s market and leave money on the ground to make up for the items they stole. Rules don’t apply to the rich. And the show presents those moments like they are charming and funny. He bought and ruined the Tango club! How cute! They are hitting golf balls all around Stars Hollow. How quirky! They are not funny or precious or anything like the scarecrow, tin man, or cowardly lion. They are obnoxious and selfish rich kids. I hate that she finds them or their actions fun. How did Logan woo Rory? By buying her things, taking her places, sheltering her from reality. He isn’t romantic, he is rich.
Again — if she dated Logan for a while, and we got that story line, and then eventually she snapped out of it and re-found herself I’d be happy. But in the series finale Logan leaves her and in a Year in the Life they just sort of back away from each other. She needed to reject Logan and everything he offered. That life isn’t Rory. Or not the Rory I want her to be. Not the Rory the show sold me on.
I enjoyed this show for a few reasons. The writing was fun, the dialogue fast and silly and at times lyrical, and the characters were great, nuanced, and fun. The friendship between Lorelai and Rory is the heart of the show. When they don’t get along for stretches the show suffers. Rory’s listless phase lasted for 9 episodes! She is separate from her mom, living with her grandparents for almost half a season! That dragged on and on and made watching the show a chore. Their reunion was good, but it didn’t make me happy about the stretch of shows I watched out of habit instead of love.
Sometimes this show loses the joy that is at it’s core, and it becomes take in by the soap opera most shows like it are. At it’s best this show is closer to Parks and Rec than One Tree Hill.
When Mitchum told Rory she wasn’t cut out to be a journalist she should have bounced back and become the best journalist he’d ever seen. And done it for a rival paper. That’s the Chilton Rory. That’s the Rory that we lost. That’s the Rory we really never got back.
I started watching a show with Lorelai and Rory, but by the end they switched Rorys on me and I never got comfortable with it.
In A Year in The Life we get a Rory who is trading off of one good piece in the New Yorker. A Rory who can’t get a job. A Rory who needs Jess to tell her to write a book about her life with Lorelai? That’s a Rory who is not going to write a good book. But I want to believe that the Rory who can do anything she sets her mind to still exists, but I never see proof. I want to believe that is the Rory that is cut from the same cloth as her mom.
Look as a Jess-lover, I liked Jess visiting Rory at the Gazette. I like Jess even though he so quickly became a jerk to Rory when they dated. Rory loved him and he loved her. They challenge each other. They push each other. They truly get each other. They didn’t work, they weren’t ready for each other and that’s ok. But I like him being the one that can get her back on track. I just wish he could have inspired her without telling her exactly what to do. It takes more power away from Rory.
Now obviously the ending is supposed to make Logan into Rory’s Christopher. But what I know of Christopher is that he was smart and funny and also rebelled against his parents and their rules. Logan isn’t Christopher. He likes being rich. He complains about it, but he wants to be part of Mitchum’s empire. He likes having a mistress. Rules don’t apply to Logan, unless Mitchum sets them.
I don’t hate Christopher. Lorelai ended up needing someone different from her. Someone who filled in around her, complimented her rather than someone who matched her. And that is great. Luke supports and protects and cares for Lorelai not by throwing money at issues (usually) but by being there. That’s what Lorelai needed and that’s what Christopher couldn’t be. He wanted her to change, and she won’t change. She still drives her broken down jeep. That’s not a problem with Christopher, but it certainly shows why he can’t be with Lorelai.
Rory isn’t looking for a Luke. She doesn’t need someone to take care of her. She had that emotional support from her mother. She needs to be challenged and pushed and engaged. Dean couldn’t do that. Nice guy, but not a challenge. Logan can’t do that. He can offer her a house in Maine. Hell, I even think he might be willing to anger his family and marry Rory instead of Odette. But he’d shelter her. Jess could challenge her. And encourage her. Maybe someone else could. That would be better. Someone who is not related to her step-dad? That’s be nice. But it’s TV, so no one meets anyone new after season 5. (hence the joke boyfriend of Paul)
I may hate Logan, but god damn it, he gives me a lot to talk about when it comes to the Gilmore Girls.
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So let’s finally move away from Logan. Because I did mostly enjoy these four episodes.
Here are some quick thoughts on the four episodes. This will be scattered because this is already way too long.
I enjoyed the dialogue snippets that started Winter. Ah nostalgia!
I wanted more Sookie but I understood her absence. It just doesn’t make sense that she would vanish. She and Loreali would talk or text a lot if she left, but that just doesn’t work for a TV show.
I can’t believe no one had a pet pig on this show before now.
These episodes have a higher budget then the original show I guess. There are more varied camera angles and more musical montages then I was prepared for, and some of that works for me. The pool setting and the secret bar were great locations to visit. But along with the higher budget Netflix allows creators to let scenes go too long. They hold on the troubadour too long in an early scene and I got nervous. The musical was the worst of this. It was way, way too long. And it ruined any joke in the post musical discussion scene. And it certainly telegraphs Lorelai being the only member of the Advisory Comittee with complaints. I can’t believe she’d say anything bad about it if she saw what the episode showed us. Though, as a Bunheads fan, I loved seeing Sutton Foster in the show.
Speaking of Sutton, so many cameos! I guess they are disruptive, but for every one that I didn’t care for there was a Peter Krause who was delightful to see. He wielded Amy’s dialogue as adeptly as you’d expect an Aaron Sorkin veteran to. I liked seeing Julia Telles from Bunheads running the blog. That’s a good part for her. And Truly was fun as a fellow “Wild” hiker. I didn’t watch Parenthood so a lot of those had to be pointed out to me by my wife. I even missed Mae Whitman, the Paul of Arrested Development (“him?”), in the donut line.
Richard’s funeral was sad, and Lorelai screwed up there. As she always will when it comes to her parents. The giant portrait was spoiled by the 10 times I watched the trailer, but was still funny. And Berta and her family was annoying at first and then funny and eventually heart warming in a very strange way.
I am not certain I believe Emily would end up taking in Berta’s family while living on Nantucket and giving tours of a whaling museum, but I enjoyed it so I guess that’s all that matters. And I loved her calling out the bullshit of the DAR council. I have to imagine everyone did. She is related to Lorelai after all. That was a great, wonderful moment.
I barely talked about Emily. She deserve more time. One of my favorite things about Emily is that she can be so wrong about Lorelai about so much, but she also can get so much right. She knew Luke and Lorelai liked each other ages before either would admit it. She knew they should be married and that Lorelai was what was holding them back. She knows her daughters heart, even if she doesn’t agree with it.
Luke thinking Lorelai was leaving him was heartbreaking. But, I can see why he believed that. Those two are going to constantly have fights. Because neither one shares what they are feeling until they fight. But I want (need?) them to stay together.
I’ll never understand Luke not sharing April with Lorelai more. That was a dumb plot point from the series. I like April fine, but Luke wouldn’t hide that from Lorelai. He would bring them together. There is no reason other than false conflict. So when he snaps “April is mine, Rory is yours” it felt wrong and mean and I choose to edit it out of memory.
Paris was hilarious in these episodes, even if her new career is random (to say the least) and I couldn’t believe how sad I was to hear she had broke up with Doyle. The nanny quitting over the stairs joke was great.
The biggest laugh in the entire 4 episodes? “Your name is Molly. Why?” — Michel was hilarious and his desire to stay at the Dragonfly was so sweet and wonderful. It reminded me of how hurt he was when Lorelai didn’t include him with Sookie in her plans to open the inn. He has considered Lorelai his friend before anyone knew.
The therapy with Lorelai and Emily felt like vintage Gilmore Girls. Or it did at first. Then the scene went too long and hit the same points too much. But I still liked the start of it, in particular them both being so concerned with who was winning in the scorebook.
I liked the pool scene at first until it devolved into fat jokes and treating strange little boys as slaves. That felt off. But the Gilmores not being pool people was a fun conversation.
Catherine pointed out to me that Christopher is now working for his family. That is also very sad. That’s not the life he wanted. I never liked him being rich, but at least he was his own man. And he is still in love with Lorelai? Does anyone get over a Gilmore? I guess I am glad we didn’t see Max. Max pining for Lorelai would be too sad for words. Obviously Christopher’s scene has way more meaning once you know how the show ended. I still would prefer that he had told Rory that he wished he could have been with Rory while she grew up. But maybe he is smart, and knew she needed permission to not raise her child with Logan? I don’t believe that but otherwise his answer feels strangely cold.
Lorelai telling her Richard story to Emily made me cry. It’s a great story. It’s private and sounds like Richard, who could be cruel to Lorelai, but also could be quietly understanding. “One for you and one for me”
Luke telling Lorelai that he’s happy and that he doesn’t want her to leave him made me cry. Even though I knew she wasn’t leaving. The ring made me cry. I don’t care if it was obvious, I needed it.
Even though Lorelai said not to write the book I still cried when Rory gave her mom the first three chapters. Rory was rude to her mom about the book. “Give this to me” is too selfish a reason to yell at Lorelai. I know it’s silly, but you can write those moments away. If Lorelai is flattered by the pitch, Rory isn’t selfish. Rory can ask, and Lorelai can say yes. She can be nervous. But you can avoid the moments where Rory is selfish. Because if Lorelai really said no, Chilton Rory would not have written the book. Still I cried a little bit.
Lorelai didn’t read the book, just the title and still had a note. Drop the “The”. You read 3 words and told her to cut one. That’s a tough critic!
Surprised we didn’t get to see the entire town gathered for a full wedding. I wonder if that was just scheduling reasons? I don’t care what you think of the final season, the town gathering to say goodbye to Rory was great.
So it wasn’t perfect, but after the first few seasons, neither was the show. There were parts I loved and parts I hated. And I loved getting to revisit it all.
“One for you and one for me”
