Gilmore Girls Revival: I Have Thoughts

12.11.2016


So I finally finished the Gilmore Girls Revival last week, and I didn't think I was going to be that person who posted an entire blog post about my reaction to it, but I need to talk about this and hopefully some of you are GG fans and will care and respond so we can chat. Oh, and please know that I realize I'm thinking too much about all of this and it's a TV show and not the end of the world, but for some reason I clearly have an emotional attachment to this based on the strong feelings that arose after I finished.

I will also say that I recognize that my preference in both movies and books is an ending that ends and is not a cliffhanger. I know some people would say that that's boring and not letting the audience be creative with imagining things, but I don't care. I like bows, and I'm not ashamed to say so. Real life is messy enough, so I like my fake TV life to have periods. 

Finally, I should let you know that I have always been Team Jess. Sure, he was a punk at first but he turned out to be awesome and he understood Rory the best and I just loved them together. Or, okay really I just loved him, but the point is, Team Jess forever.

Now then.

The first two episodes were amazing, in my opinion. Cameo after cameo of past cast members made it such fun to watch. I kept shouting, "There's ____!" and it was so great. Paris was my favorite part of the whole revival. I know a lot of people loved Emily, and she was great too, but that scene in Episode 2 when Paris and Rory are in the bathroom and Paris is having a meltdown was hi-freaking-larious, and I laughed out loud more than once. I loved every minute. I thought the Jason Stiles appearance was unexpected and nice (I know a lot of people hated his character in the series, but I actually kind of liked him and Lorelai). I wish they had been able to get Max to come back too!

I was a little confused overall about how quickly the timeline was going. Did anyone else get distracted by the jump between Winter and Spring? At the end of Winter, Lorelai and Emily were going to go to counseling the next week and everyone was wearing puffy coats and it was SNOWING and then it's the beginning of the Spring episode and they are sitting in their first counseling session wearing flowery dresses? In a week???? Maybe I missed something.

There are no words for how surprising and awesome it was to see Mr. Kim finally make an appearance. Loved it.


I was obviously distraught to find out that Rory was basically Logan's mistress. Sleeping with someone while they are engaged to someone else? I don't know a single person who would tell you that's okay. I never liked Logan in the regular series, and it didn't surprise me at all to discover that he's still a sleazy playboy. What did surprise me, however, is how the Palladinos wrote Rory's character. Sleeping with Logan is one thing (I guess), but she apparently has a boyfriend she can't break up with, so she's cheating on him too! I thought the Paul thing was funny at first, but then it just got old and dump him already. 

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand the symbolism that was going on there. I felt like it was a random and funny plot for the first episode, but are we really supposed to believe she strung him alone for an entire year and he just went along with it? Who is this guy?

As an editor and someone relatively knowledgable about the publishing world, I found Rory's career path unlikely, if not completely unbelievable. She's a freelance writer who wrote a really successful piece in the New Yorker but now can't find work anywhere? But she has money to fly back and forth to Europe weekly? Are we to assume she got money after Richard's death and that's what she lives on? So many questions.

And okay, the book thing. You can't just say you're going to write a book and then write a book and you are instantly a success and going to be rich and famous. Writing is a very difficult career to break into that most can't actually do full time. And lots of people write books and a lot of them are terrible and don't make any money at all. Arg.

So Winter and Spring were fantastic, and then Summer took a nosedive into lame town. I found the poolside scene odd to open the episode, and then the musical. The musical. The internet seems divided on this, so give me your opinion. Love or hate the musical? For me it was pretty much solid hate. I think they could have showed the first scene so we could get the gist and then moved on but no. We had to watch what felt like 3 hours of ridiculousness that didn't have anything to do with anything. I get that it was supposed to be silly and weird and Stars Hollow-y, but it went on tooooooo loooooooong.

So then we get to Fall. I thought it was pretty cliche that Lorelai was going to do Wild, so I loved and appreciated the fact that they made fun of it. And the Parenthood cameos (!!!!!). Love. Although did it make anyone else mad that she bought all this brand-new hiking gear and then just gave it all away? I know it was supposed to be symbolic, but seriously that pack and all that stuff cost a ton of money! She could have sold it to someone else or tried to return it or something. I'm probably overthinking this.

This post is getting long, so let's cut to the ending. 

WHAT ON EARTH.

Some people probably saw this coming? I don't know. All I can tell you is that I think it's rude. If you're going to go through the trouble of bringing back all the cast and doing this big revival series years later, don't end on a cliffhanger. I felt like I got less resolution than I had at the end of the original series, and if you couldn't tell already, I'm not happy about it.

I get that it all comes full circle. Now Rory will be a single mom, blah blah. Okay. But seriously, people. And let's not forget that this was the ending that was planned years ago that never got written. It has a totally different meaning now that Rory is older, so I don't know if I agree that the writers should have been married to those ending words for this revival. And again, rude.

There were a few bright spots: Lorelai and Luke getting married, obviously. And the scene with Dean and Rory in the market was absolute perfection. That for me was probably the best "closure moment." Paris was a bright spot for me because she's hilarious, and I loved the story Lorelai called to tell Emily about her dad on her birthday buying her a pretzel. I like that they imply that Michel stays at the Dragonfly because Lorelai is expanding, and it seems like Lorelai and Emily are on the path to a better relationship. Emily seems happy, and I totally loved her DAR rant.

But here's what I'm unsettled about. And by unsettled I mean mad.

Christopher is obviously still in love with Lorelai and seems sad and lonely, which for me was depressing. Since he and Lorelai are clearly not going to ever get together, I wish we could have seen him happily dating or even married! And he and Rory seem to have this awkward relationship too, so it was just all kind of sad. (Side note, he hasn't aged a bit!)

Another low point? JESS WASN'T AT THE WEDDING. Michel and Lane were there. I think it was lame of the writers to not have Jess be there too. And speaking of Jess, he is way too good for Rory. Like I already said, I have always been Team Jess and Rory, and I guess I still am, but after watching the revival, I think I'm really just Team I Want Jess to Be Happy, and he still seems a bit lost, obviously pining for Rory, who doesn't deserve him because she is sleazy and a hot mess. 

I guess Jess is Rory's Luke, and we should imagine that at some point way down the road they end up together? But that's too long for Jess to be unhappy in the meantime, in my opinion. Maybe I need to not be so obsessed with Jess? Don't answer that.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed the revival, but to be honest I can't help but feel like the ending might have ruined it for me. Maybe I just need some more time to process. I thought they did some things that were great and other things that were a dud. Seeing all the old cast was probably the most fun, and I'm glad the saga of the Final Four Words has been put to rest. Amy Sherman-Palladino, you are an evil genius, that's for sure.

I know that in life things don't always go according to the plan, and things don't always get wrapped up in a neat red bow, but TV is not real life, and I have to shamelessly admit that I just really wanted my bow. And dang it, I wanted Rory with Jess.

Did you watch the revival? What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite? What did you think of how it ended? Were you/are you Team Jess, Team Dean, or Team Logan?

*For more reading, I liked and agreed with many of the points discussed in this article. There were also a few interesting articles on Slate if you want to Google it.
The Girl who Loved to Write said...

I have lots of feelings too, but I'll just say this: 1) LOVED the cameos. They were the best. 2) The fact that Jess was not at the wedding made me angrier than almost anything else. WHY. THAT MAKES NO SENSE.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for linking to that article - I agreed with almost all of it! One difference - I LOVED the musical! I know it was a giant time-suck, but it was hilarious! I could be partial because a.) my daughter is in musical theater and sometimes you just cringe, and b.) I ADORE Sutton Foster! I also loved the ending. I know, it would've meant so much more 10 years ago. Plus, it's sad Rory's so "active" that she won't know who the father is. BTW, what WAS THAT about the NYC escapade?! She stands in line to get a story, meets a person in costume, goes and gets drunk (in the late afternoon??), sleeps with him, then goes back to the hotel like it's a regular evening (and not hungover/drunk)? That was probably my least favorite part of the whole series.
But, overall I loved it. Glad to be back in Stars Hollow for even a bit! :)

Laura said...

Yes! Real life is messy enough, and I want my books, TV, and movies to be the opposite. I agree that the first two were great and that the jumps between episodes were a bit to 'jumpy'. I loved the Wild stuff...my cousin Jason just finished the entire Continental Divide Trail, and I really want to make him sit through those scenes over Christmas just so I can laugh at how he's a real hiker and all these ladies aren't. He'd die!

So, when the show aired, I was the same age/grade as Rory, and I always thought she was a bit spastic and indecisive. Mom and I would watch together, and we loved the show, but she'd tell me not to be like Rory. Be Lorelai. And she was (is) right. Lorelai made her mistakes and learned from them. Rory never seemed to truly grow up and kept not only making her own mistakes but repeating ths mistakes of those around her. Makes me mad. I want people to grow and change and mature, and I feel that Rory never did. Boo.

Yes, the musical was just too long!!! Leave it in, but cut some of the scenes!

I'm so glad Luke and Lorelai are married, I now kinda wish Logan had never made a reappearance but that Jess had been a bigger part, Paris stole the show. Amazing.

Maybe just maybe, we'll get more!

Leslie @ A Side of Chocolate said...

I am so glad you got to finish all 4! I have a LOT of similar thoughts. I thought Summer wasn't that good and why did the musical go on so long? It felt like such a waste of time that could've been spent elsewhere. As far as Logan/Jess, I was always team Logan because I felt like he really grew up by the end, but then I hated that they were both cheating. Just be together because you want to without all the complications! As for the last four words, I saw that coming when she was talking with Christopher but I didn't think it would be the ending. I thought there would be some resolution before it ended!

Anna said...

I didn't mind the revival. It was definitely different than the show. The Life and Death Brigade scene was so weird that I thought it was a dream sequence for the whole thing. I didn't like how they did that, but I've always been team Logan and when he got choked up when Rory ended things I had a million feelings. I was glad they were kind of together at first, but totally not on board with both of them being skeezy skeeze bag cheaters. Really? Didn't they do that already?

I appreciated that Rory didn't have her whole life totally together in the career field (it was relatable!), but it was kind of depressing how little she had together. Homeless, kind of unemployed, out of touch with a lot of people in her life. I don't know, it would have been nice for things to be more figured out. And I'm with you, I like proper endings.

I had a feeling that the final four words would likely be something baby related. I just didn't like how everything was so up in the air. Did Luke and Lorelai just decide they didn't want a baby so easily? What's with the letter Emily found? What happened with her boyfriend?

Anyway. This is getting long. I'll finish by saying that I laughed SO hard for the first part of the musical but then it just kind of lost me. It seems like they had a hard time filling the 90 minutes.

Anonymous said...

Honestly? I have yet to watch all four, but I'm so disappointed in Rory and it makes me angry to watch it. It felt like the Palladinos don't like her character and never gave her any level of growth or arc. What happened to her career? Her choices? Her love life? Why is she such an awful human being on every layer with no redeeming characteristics in the revival? It honestly has broken my heart that they made her a mess when she had every opportunity in the world.

I loved how Emily's story has progressed, Lorelei is about where I expected her to be and I'm glad she and Luke finally get married.

I wish we knew more about Lane and her life now, the plot holes with Sookie bother me - if she's Lorelei's best friend why is she not more present... even just in dialogue from other characters. I hate that Paris and Doyle are separating...

Overall, I was really glad to see old "friends" again, but I've been more disappointed than enthusiastic and that's hard when you've loved a series so deeply for so long.

Danielle said...

Oh my goodness, your thoughts mirror mine! I was loving the first two episodes, which took a quick nosedive with the musical (HATE IT). Then that stupid little scene where Lorelai leaves Luke and walks to the top of a hill to discover herself... what?!

To say I was disappointed with basically everything Rory does is an understatement. Where was the conclusion that says, Hey guys, it's not okay to have affairs with married men! And that strange scene where Logan and his friends come back was SO weird and annoying.

So yeah, loved the first two but felt the last two ruined it for me and made me very disappointed in the message it gave to it's watchers (a huge following of teenage girls!). At least Luke and Lorelai get married!

Jenny Fish said...

I agree with ALMOST everything you said here. Especially this: "I know that in life things don't always go according to the plan, and things don't always get wrapped up in a neat red bow, but TV is not real life, and I have to shamelessly admit that I just really wanted my bow."

My one - kind of big - difference is that I've been Team Logan all the way. Sorry, but Jess WAS a punk and he never treated her right and he had a lot of growing up to do. I never got the sleazy playboy vibe from Logan. He seemed to always go against his parents and the life they wanted for him and he treated Rory really well and I still love the chemistry they have together.

So, you can imagine how much this revival ruined all of that for me. Now, Logan gets put in the "never Team Dean" category for cheating on his fiance. Plus, he now seems to have resigned to the fact that he is following in his father's footsteps. Why does he have to marry this girl if he clearly doesn't like her that much??

So, I guess what I'm saying is - Is there any room on Team I Just Want Jess to be Happy?

And as much as I'm disappointed with Logan, I'm even more disappointed with Rory. Absolutely zero redemption in her story. I know Amy was set on those final four words, but her whole story line only makes sense when she's 22, not 32! There has to be some growth there, right?

Finally, I think I want to go back and watch them over again. I think I might enjoy everything more if I'm not so eager to figure out what the plot is and what those final four words are.

Kaity B. said...

It's taken me a long time to process the ending, but now that I have, I kinda loved it. The entire series Rory was always put on this pedastal of perfection (both by herself and everyone in her life), so the fact that ASP highlighted all her imperfections and made her have an imperfect ending was kind of awesome to me. I've also always been Team Logan- not because I believe he's the best guy, but because I felt like they had the best chemistry and were the most compatible because let's face it, Rory is kind of a privileged, selfish snob a lot of the time.


Hands down my favorite part of the series was the Life and Death brigade reunion. Though I'm obsessed with Across the Universe, so for people who've never seen the movie and didn't understand the reference, I can see how it would have seemed random (I know you didn't mention that, but I've read a lot of other commentary that did).

Overall, I thought it was amazingly well done. Expectations were sky high, so I thought they totally delivered. My only disappointment was Lane's storyline. I was hoping for more redemption and an overall better life for her. I felt like she deserved that after everything that happened to her in Season 7.

The Lady Okie said...

I agree about the NYC thing! I definitely questioned the timing myself. That was really weird! I'm glad you liked the musical :) At least someone did!

The Lady Okie said...

I honestly thought the Life and Death Brigade scene was a dream sequence (like someone said above) for so long and was really confused by that part. It wasn't my favorite, but I'm glad someone enjoyed it! Regarding Lane, I was just wondering why her husband (forgetting his name???) looked so disheveled and let's be honest, homeless the whole time.

The Lady Okie said...

I think Jess being busy filming This Is Us (well, the actor, you know what I mean) had a part to play in why they couldn't include him more. Such a bummer! Logan is a big turd. haha.

The Lady Okie said...

I thought it was odd that they didn't just have the fourth episode end where Sookie comes back to the inn. They could have done that without actually needing to film any additional scenes. And I thought it was weird she wasn't at the wedding, but I assume that was a filming issue.

Michelle said...

I've only read a few paragraphs but I have to start writing this comment. TEAM JESS FOREVER THANK YOU AND AMEN. Also Paris in the bathroom was the best thing. That made the whole revival worth it. Also Kirk. Ooooooober. And yes to the Parenthood cameos! I got so exited.

Ok. You know that episode in the first GG where Rory sleeps with married Dean, and we all clutched our pearls because SHE WOULD NEVER? I feel like Amy Sherman-Palladino took that Rory and ran with her in the revival. I was so disappointed. The career floundering was a little comforting to me at first, because I was there for awhile after college, but she never seemed happy with taking the job at the Stars Hollow Gazette, even though it seems like it should be the perfect job for her. It doesn't make sense that Rory would struggle that much in the real world and not even have a place to live? That's not her. I hated everything about the woman she was writing the book with and her London love affair with Logan. I loved much of the revival, but Rory ruined a lot for me. It didn't feel true to character, and I was disgusted by her behavior with Logan. Dean being happily married with kids just warmed my heart to no end. I love Lane and her band as much as ever. Emily's DAR rant made me so happy I actually clapped. LUKE'S SPEECH IN THE KITCHEN. That was my favorite of all. Paris kicking the bathroom door shut just barely lost to Luke's speech.

I HATED THE MUSICAL. HATED IT. I find most Broadway stuff annoying anyway, but the musical made me want to hurl. So dumb. And then the last 4 words. I want to hunt down ASP and pull her hair for that. I need a revival from the revival. But I'm still so glad they did it, even though it left me with more questions than answers.

ALSO (I'll stop soon, I swear), Lauren Graham's new memoir is all about GG. I'm reading it right now, and it's bringing me so much closure.

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

Did you read the theory that it could be Lorelei and Luke's baby and she's a surrogate?

Sara Oss said...

WHAAAAAT, is all I have to say to the comment above about Rory being a surrogate.

Moving on, I've always been Team Dean (not necessarily Dean and Rory) in the sense that I think Dean is a great guy and the whole Lindsay/affair thing was an aberration from his normal self. So I was really pleased with his sendoff. I also think Paris and Kirk stayed mostly true to character and had a lot of fun watching them again.

I thought Lane disappointingly faded into the background toward the end of the series and there was more of that here. That Mr. Kim moment was perfect though!

The musical was weird, everything at the pool and involving their child servants was way too offensive for me, and Rory sleeping with a damn wookie (Wookie?) was so unnecessary. She's looking for love but only finding sex? We know that. (See Huntsburger, Logan). Speaking of, I've always read him as a sleaze so I thought his story made sense and was fine with it.

So, I would have been okay with The Ending if her career was more on track. At 32 it was hard to imagine that both her work and love life would be floundering. At 25, maybe that would have been more plausible. My hope was that the ending (cheesy as it would be) would be her book idea being turned into a television script.

Julie @ Just the Joy's said...

Confession... I've never heard of not watched GG until this recent uproar on social media about the revival series. Sorry my thoughts mean nothing. But I do have to agree, ending on a cliffhanger is lame sauce. :)

Maria said...

I'm glad you agree with me that Rory is pretty much the worst. I hated the Paul storyline from the beginning and didn't find it funny at all. Then you add Logan into the mix and no. Just no. I even feel like Rory of Season 1 would be appalled by her behavior. If you think about it, Loralei was her age when the show started and while she wasn't the most mature lady around, she was where it counted and when it was needed. Rory is like a totally new character.

Paris' acting was incredible. She really brings it to the table, though I feel like her career path was a bit unexpected. Emily of course was amazing, but I've always been a fan of her. Richard was sorely missed. What a lovely man.

Have you read the article yet that talks about Logan not being Rory's Christopher but being her Richard? It boggled my mind.

Unknown said...

You practically wrote my exact thoughts while watching the revival. YES TEAM JESS. I was so in love with him. I got so upset in the last couple seasons of the original GG when Rory and Jess would have this connection and then she'd up and go back to Logan while he was being a total jerk. Also. I'm completely with you on needing my fictional TV stories to be tied in neat bows at the end. This is why I was so upset with the How I Met Your Mother finale, but that's a story for another day.

I really did enjoy watching the revival and feeling like I was back in Stars Hollow again. I loved seeing all the characters back at it. Kirk and Ooober were flawless. Paris was amazing as always. Emily's character arc was perfect. The presence of Richard throughout was touching and wonderful. Lorelai's phone call to Emily absolutely made me bawl, although I think that was the only thing in the whole revival that drew tears from me--kind of disappointing. I thought it was super weird that Lorelai and Luke's problems were illustrated through a discussion about starting a new family, given they'd had this discussion a decade before and are now approaching 50, but whatever. I loved their conclusion. I wish Sookie could have been more present, but at least they left it open at the end that she seems like she's coming back to the Dragonfly, and Michel probably staying too. The only thing we seem to disagree on, really, is Dean's appearance. It was all fine and good until Rory started going on about what a great boyfriend he was, and then I wanted to vomit. I'm sorry, but he was the absolute worst. So possessive, controlling, and insecure. I'm so tired of Rory and Lorelai acting like he was the best first boyfriend ever. His charm lasted about 3 episodes for me. ANYWAY.

As far as Rory...ugh. I thought Logan was okay before, and I would have been okay if they did end up together. But the cheating? Really? Makes me just hate them both. And wonder what the heck ASP was thinking. My only consolation is the thought that if this all comes full circle, then Logan is Christopher and Jess is Luke and she and Jess end up together. But that also kind of makes me sad, too. And also I don't quite buy that Logan would leave Rory in the lurch. That part doesn't make sense to me at all. Also, totally with you on Rory's career path, having worked in the publishing industry myself. I don't get it at all. And then like, it's great she's writing her book, but let's think practically and keep a day job mkay? Sigh. Overall, I enjoyed myself. Some scenes really went on too long, so they struggled a bit with 90 minute episodes (I'm looking at you, musical, Life and Death Brigade, and Wild scenes) and some things were left hanging (uhh, what was that letter Emily thought Lorelai wrote her?!) and I don't expect perfection, but Rory just bugged, and the bomb at the end made me want to break my TV, so. Yeah.

I've never written such a long comment in my life. Guess I've got some attachment issues as well ;)

Lauren said...

Team Jess all the way. I've always loved Jess, and I was so thankful that they proved that he could and did become a good, responsible, awesome guy who still loves his uncle Luke and still helps bail his mom out when necessary. He turned out to be the guy I always hoped he could be. This makes my heart happy.

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

ok for reals. how does she afford to fly back and forth to Europe weekly? HOW?
i was never a fan of jess in the original at the beginning, but when he came back and she was dating logan, i was like that guy is way better! do him! i hated logan. seriously, what a spoiled little brat.
i was always way more interested in lorelai - which is funny because i was a teenager when these came out, so i should have related more to rory, but i never did. so i always cared more about lorelai and luke. speaking of the scene in the kitchen? i was bawling like a baby and KC was like wtf is that matter with you and i'm like I LOVE LUKE SO MUCH.
you hit the nail on the head, jess is going to be rory's luke. but logan is so much worse than christopher! but seriously why wasn't he married or happy? and that whole scene when rory was asking him questions about how he felt that lorelai raised rory on her own? i knew nothing about the last 4 words (apparently i was living under a rock) but after that scene i said to KC omg rory is pregnant (by the way, KC didn't watch them with me, i just like to shout words at him that he doesn't understand) and i was right. and i was so mad about it because i just thought the whole thing was stupid. i would have rather rory be pregnant by the wookie she slept with. and the boyfriend she kept forgetting? that was funny at first but then just got... not funny.
overall, it felt like a fun reunion with old friends but i just thought a lot of it was weird and i felt like they could have done so much more and they wasted their time and money and talents on a lot of ridiculousness. like the musical. it was bad and it wasted so much time - we don't care about you! jeepers. i get the last song when lorelai was like crying and blah blah, well why couldn't you have just done that song?
i really hope this means they'll do another because like you, i want a bow. real life is not very bow-y and i like my tv shows and books to have bows. i can still imagine and pretend what life is like for characters afterwards, but i can't if they don't have some sort of ending for me to start from.
basically i also have a lot of feelings.

Emily said...

I hated the musical also. Such a waste of time. I also thought that Jess and Sookie should've been at the wedding.

In my head, Jess = Luke, Logan = Christopher and Rory = Lorelai so it all comes full circle. I would like to see another season, but I'm afraid it might ruin it. I kind of like the ending!

Rachel said...

I have never seen any episode or thing about Gilmore Girls and I have no idea who any of these names refer to, and many of the names themselves seem gender-neutral (Logan, Jess, Rory?)...all of which made this bizarrely amusing and very confusing to read. So I have no idea what's going on. I love the passion. I could also rant about a favorite show or two like this, but mine would probably be Once Upon a Time and all of those complicated relationships. Psych, another beloved show of mine, had a musical episode, and it was the best thing ever, but Psych is not known for nuance, intricate relationships, character development, or being serious.

This One Italian Girl... said...

I am so glad you wrote this post because I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who was disappointed! The musical was awful and uncomfortable. I didn't even realize that it was a whole year that Rory was stringing Paul along until you pointed that out. Pretty unrealistic and especially for Rory. I am also team Jess :)

Unknown said...

YES YES YES to everything in this post! Jess is far too good for Rory now. How they wrote Rory out to be a sleazy hot mess just irks me to the core. I liked her character, I don't understand how they had to make her out to be such a horrible person when she was all up in arms when Logan slept around while they were on a break.

Also, I just need to share that it also really irks me that people on the internet are ok with her sleeping with Logan, while he's engaged, and while she also has a boyfriend. It's "real life". If I see another post about that I'm going to lose it. I married my high school sweetheart but I'm pretty damn sure I'm not that out of touch with the world and dating to the point that that's real life and ok. Enter so many eye rolls.

Basically, everything you said is how I'm feeling on it all.

The Lady Okie said...

I did see that! I think it's highly unlikely but it's an interesting idea! But Rory would then be carrying her own half-sister, which is really weird.

The Lady Okie said...

Yes! Me too :)

The Lady Okie said...

Awesome! Nice to know someone else agrees. I just felt like there were some things they could have done better, but there were some really great things too!

Rach said...

No joke, my comment is so long that your blog won't let me leave it all as one comment, ha! So I'm going to break it up into smaller parts. ;)

Oh my goodness, so many thoughts. So I just finished the last episode TONIGHT. Like 20 minutes ago. And I absolutely did not see the ending coming. And I have SO MANY THOUGHTS. Heads up, this comment is going to be long. So long.

- YES! I totally noticed the whole thing with them saying they would start therapy in the winter and then clearly the next episode began with their first session, but they are now in spring dresses instead of bundled up. Odd.

- In general I love musicals, but I hated how the Stars Hollow one started out so it never really won me over. Also, the whole Life & Death Brigade beginning seemed really strange. And I totally thought it was a dream at first.

- Mr. Kim. YES! I couldn't believe it! I have always wondered about him! And I guess, I still wonder where he was in all those seasons before, but still! SO cool to actually see him! And I loved seeing Mrs. Kim being her same self.

- The Exs (Christopher, Jason, & Dean) were fun to see again. I don't know why, but I kept being surprised when a "new" old person would show up, haha! I was glad that Dean had found happiness in his life. And that Jason seemed to maybe be doing well? I was unclear on that.

- April surprised me. She was such a bright kid and clearly is still on the smart side academically, but what's with being so weird? Well, that's not the right word. She was kind of a unique and quirky character in the original. But now she's just strange? I need to process this one more because I don't actually know what words I'm looking for her other than to say that I was surprised by her.

- Kirk was as strange and delightful as always.

- Paris was exactly as I expected. She made me laugh a lot. Though I was sad about her relationship with Doyle. And sad for her when she made the comment about her kids liking the nanny better than her since she grew up with Nanny being more of a parent to her than her own parents. I would have loved to see her learn from her parents' mistakes and be a more involved parent with her own kids. But this is the part of me that hopes for a Happily Ever After for every character.

- And then Lane. I wanted more for her. Maybe it's just that there wasn't enough time to devote to her character, but I wanted to see more of her life and know more about her kids. She had such a presence in the original series so it was strange for her to be cast in such a supportive role to Rory. Her only real presence in the revival was just to be Rory's friend when she was in town. And I wanted more for her band. Either that they found semi-success somewhere or that it was just a fun memory from the past. It was almost kind of sad to see all the 30-year-olds (plus Gil) still having band practice. Oh, and Zach got super old in only 10 years. I had to actually Google his character to find out how old he was. He's 39 in case you are curious which means he was playing someone much younger than himself in the original series. But my gracious, when I was expecting him to look 30, I was surprised!

Rach said...

- I was bummed that Sookie wasn't in it more. Especially not being at the wedding. It felt off that Michel would be there and Sookie wouldn't. But then I guess in the show, Michel has been around for the past two years while Sookie has been gone. I'm assuming the real life actor's schedule made it difficult for her to be in more of the show, but that was definitely a bummer. I always loved her character so I had hoped she'd be more involved in the show.

- Michel was perfect. Of course. As if I could expect anything else.

- Emily was also perfection. Grief is such a terrible thing and there are good days and bad days and crazy days and to me I think she did a great job portraying a lot of that. I liked that not everything was magically fixed between her and Lorelai, but also that they were working on their relationship. When Lorelai called with the story about Richard in the mall, I cried. Absolutely cried. I love the development they did with Emily's character.

- Luke & Lorelai. I wish they had been married already. I find it weird that we ended the original series with them both previously wanting to marry each other... and yet somehow they made it this far without ever getting married. But I did love the wedding scenes at the end so I didn't mind that I got to witness their wedding. So that was sweet. And I loved Luke's passionate scene in the kitchen. Precious. However, Lorelai's Wild thing... not a fan. It seemed really rude and unkind to just leave Luke without a decent explanation and just disappear. I was glad she got clarity and we got at least one happy ending, but I didn't love that her character did that. It feels like something a 20-something-year-old would do while they are trying to find themselves. Not a woman in her late 40s.

Rach said...

Rory. Oh Rory. This was most disappointing to me of all. Her goody-two-shoes self has always been very relatable to me because that was totally me as a teenager. I was absolutely shocked and appalled in the original series when she seemingly lost her mind and had an affair with Dean. But other than a few misguided moments here and there, she generally was a pretty decent person. And usually leaned more on the goody-two-shoes side of things. Until this revival. What on Earth?! Who is this girl? What caused her to turn into this person who has a long term affair with her college sweetheart? Who treats her actual boyfriend so terribly? Who has so little direction in her life? I mean, I know that we ended the original series with her saying that she loved that her future was so wide open, but that was 10 years ago. My gracious, find a place to live and get a job already. I did love that she ended up writing Gilmore Girls as a book (or at least she is started on that). But I would still expect more from her. Before seeing the show I was very torn about who I wanted her to be with. Jess always seemed to get her. They had so much in common. And I loved that about them together. However, I didn't like how Jess treated her. At all. So I kept thinking "maybe if he's grown up and matured and not like that anymore, I would happily see them together." Well, we didn't get a lot of detail about Jess's life currently, but he seems to be a lot more together than 10 years ago so I think I would've been perfectly happy had she ended up with him. I honestly would've been equally happy if she had ended up with Logan. Yes, there were things about him that I didn't love, but I liked that he and Rory were so compatible and that he nearly always treated her well (Vegas weekend thing in the original series being an exception) and that he was always faithful to her in the past. As season 7 ended, I WANTED her to say yes to his proposal. I really did. So I would've been happy to see the two of them engaged in the revivial. But noooooo... instead we have this Rory I don't even recognize. And a Logan that I'm disappointed in (I would have hoped that his constant faithfulness to Rory in the original series would translate into him being a faithful partner to whomever he is with). *sigh* So much disappointment all around. It's not that you need a man in order to be happy and complete in life, but so much of the show centers around those relationships so I want to know who her person is. Also, I wanted her to not be such a completely different person than I expected. That was a bummer.

- The ending - Horrible. So horrible. I hate cliff hangers. I am so with you on wanting tv shows/movies/books to have a pretty bow at the end. I need closure. Who's kid is it? Random Wookie Guy? Logan's? Probably not Paul's since she hardly saw him ever. Just weird.

Whew. That was a lot. I told you it would be long. Ha! Clearly I have a lot of thoughts and feelings too, haha! Overall, it sounds like I was disappointed and disliked it all. And that's really not true. I loved so much of it. I loved being back in Star's Hollow. I loved that the Dragonfly Inn was so successful. I loved seeing Luke & Lorelai happy together. I loved seeing the mother-daughter relationships between Rory & Lorelai and Lorelai & Emily again. I loved the familiarity of so much of it. My worst disappointments were the ending (stinking cliff hanger) and the the character they wrote for Rory. Okay, I'm done for real now. ;)

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