12.04.2016

Gilmore Girls Revival Recap: Fall


There are no words... and yet, there are a lot of words.

Let's start with the episode itself and then move on to my thoughts on where the characters are at after this series. This was a great episode, actually. I delve more into this further down, but I actually loved the last four words. I thought they were a brilliant way to end this show.

The quirkiness was the best part to me. The scene towards the beginning with Rory and her Yale friends was super weird and engaging. After watching I finally read all the opinion pieces on the series I had been waiting to read, and this one by Paste was my favorite.

This episode (in some ways) reminded me of the entire last season of Parks and Rec. You know you're going out, so why not do whatever the heck you want and make it interesting TV.

Now, let's rank the characters in how they came out at the end of the series:

First Place: Emily Gilmore

Her change of character was fun to watch unfold. She reinvented herself a lot, but without losing her Emily Gilmore sass. Unless a character is going to turn out to be a villain, I like my character's stories to generally take an upward trend, and Emily's did. Certainly Richard's death was sad - I think Palladino's portrayal of Emily grieving was well done - but over the course of the series I liked her more and more. (I mean, I always liked her even in the show, but by the end of the series she becomes the kind of person I'd want to hang out with in her beach house in Nantucket.)

Second Place: Loralai Gilmore

Maybe it's because she wound up exactly where I wanted her to wind up, but I liked Loralai's storyline this time around. Again, I enjoy an upward trend in my characters and Loralai, to me, seemed to have one in this series. She could *finally* differentiate between what she wanted and what she needed.Good job, Loralai.

As an aside, I thoroughly enjoyed even more Parenthood cameos in this episode.

Third Place: Luke Danes

That monologue at the end (though sort of co-dependent) was awesome. Mainly because we see that Luke (on top of being dependable and always there for Loralai) now is the type of person that will fight for their relationship when he thinks Loralai is about to pull one of her crazy shenanigans. One of the most frustrating things about his character in the show was his passivity. So it was nice to see that different side of his character.

Fourth Place: Sookie St. James

She gets a place just because she showed up!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I loved every second she was on the screen.

Last Place...... sigh: Rory Gilmore

It wasn't because her career didn't unfold like she wanted it to.
It wasn't because she didn't wind up with the guy I wanted her to.
It wasn't because she is pregnant.

It's because - and this is hard for me to admit - I think Rory Gilmore has never been the kind of person I could be friends with, and this series really drew that out.

When the last fade-to-black happened, I felt several things. First, shock. Second, anger. Third, acceptance. Fourth, resolution. It totally made sense to me. The fact that Palladino knew that the last words of the show would be Rory telling her mom she was pregnant made absolute, perfect sense. And I thought it was incredibly genius.

HOWEVER, it made me really, really sad that Rory getting pregnant happened the way it did. How much sweeter would it have been if she was in (at the bare minimum) a stable relationship with someone who actually cared about her? It would have been PERFECT. Like you wouldn't even have to wonder about the gender of the baby, it's obviously going to be a girl, and you would have known that the Gilmore Girls were continuing in a much happier, healthier place than where they started, and you got to watch a huge part of the journey. And that would have been good TV.

But no, Logan had to be the father. Who sees no problem with making her a kept woman. I will give credit where credit is due and recognize that he wanted to marry Rory at the end of the original show. Which actually made it weirder to me how "okay" he was with the whole mistress situation; and Rory barely makes me believe that she has a problem with it either. Her last scene with Christopher was heartbreaking as well - even more so in hindsight of knowing she's pregnant - when she asks him why he didn't fight to be in her life more.

Maybe someone who liked Rory and Logan together could explain to me what the deal was, it seemed like Palladino wanted us to believe that they were saying goodbye to each other as two human beings that have a mutual respect, but just recognize their relationship is at an end and they've held onto it way longer than they should have. Instead it was super awkward and a bit creepy to me that Logan came back. It made him even more slimy in my mind. Their last scene together was like, "Hey let's be super selfish just ONE more time."

So, I was sad Rory was pregnant, but not because she was pregnant, because of how it happened. She gets last place because I think she's the only character that didn't change. She still can't seem to say no to something she wants, even if it's bad for her.Which, truthfully is a main character trait of Loralai in the original show. Are the Gilmore Girls fun and quick-witted and do they love each other deeply? Yes. Is impulse control one of their strengths? No.

And maybe Palladino wanted Rory there, vaguely resembling where we met Loralai at the very beginning of the show. If so, she did an excellent job in writing the character, it's just painful for me to finally admit Rory Gilmore is a character I don't like.

As for me, I'm just going to pretend like Rory moves to New York or Boston and raises her baby and writes, and she and Jess (because that scene where he looked through the window at her?? Ugh, you guys.) eventually wind up together.

All the supporting characters were fantastic. In hindsight the townspeople of Stars Hollow are one of the strongest parts of the original show, and it was no different for the revival series.

I'd love to hear other thoughts! Please, as my husband (for some reason), is not willing to listen to me process this series anymore than I already have.

3 comments:

  1. I am still processing the loss of Rory.To me this is what stings the most about the revival.

    Early Rory was my absolute favorite and a huge reason why I connected with the show so much (I was even Rory for Halloween!). While she had gone through a huge deviation from her character starting in season 4 until about the very end of season 7, I was really hoping that I would see the Rory that I knew and loved that got me hooked on the show in the first place. At first in Winter it seemed like it...until Logan bleh. I never understood the appeal of him. In my opinion he symbolizes everything Rory was raised AWAY from. Not only that but the inclusion of him just told the viewers that Rory was being the other woman AGAIN. DID YOU NOT LEARN FROM THE FIRST TIME??? Last time with Dean at least Rory had the excuse that she was young and really did not know the magnitude of what she was getting herself into, but at 32...really Rory? Really? I just did not see this as something Rory would do. Especially with Logan. You could tell that Rory was just hoping that one day Logan would realize how great she was and turn around, cancel the engagement, and be everything that she needed. If I was Rory's therapist I would probably say something along the lines of "I know you want him to be everything you want and need from a partner, but he can't provide that and he never will." Delievered incredibly gently of course, but you get the idea.

    At that final scene, I just realized that I simply did not like Rory anymore. I could not relate to her and she was no longer that sensible girl who loved books so much. She was selfish and entitled. She was someone who I did not like and could not relate to. That is what stings for me.

    I absolutely agree with you that those 4 final words would have been SO satisfying if Rory was in a stable, healthy relationship. Things would be full circle, but in a way that would have been incredibly rewarding for Lorelai instead of the past just repeating itself.

    There are so many things that I loved about the revival. I loved Emily's entire storyline and character development. I loved the wedding scene between Luke and Lorelai. I loved that Kirk had a pet pig! I loved how I got to see a show I loved come back with new stories. I just wish that Rory was more grown up.

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    1. I agree. I kind of want them to do it over but re-write Rory's story waaaayyy better. And, though it was disappointing, I'd totally watch a "second season" if it redeemed her character. It was very unsatisfying to have an ALMOST perfect ending.

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    2. I agree. It seemed a really abrupt way to end it when there were so many nice little closures at the end of this episode. I would totally watch a second season where I would hope and pray that Rory sees the light and ends up with Jess.

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