Life: Gilmore Girls, a Year in the Life (Spoilers!)
Tuesday 29 November 2016
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Gilmore Girls has been an integral and
important part of my life for a very long time. It’s probably my favourite TV
show and one that I’ve been watching repeatedly since I was about 13 years old.
I found myself intoxicated by the goings on of Stars Hollow and when I found
out that there was going to be a little revival taking place, with all my
favourite characters involved in the fun, I was more than overexciting. I was
actually quite unbearable, mentioning the revival to friends at every possible
opportunity. I even (unsuccessfully) tried to persuade people who’d never seen
it before to get in on the action. My expectations were high but the excitement
I felt before watching were even higher! This is going to have a few spoiler like comments throughout so don’t
carry on reading if you’re yet to watch the episodes!
I’m not really sure how I feel about the
revival.
In general, I loved it. It made me all warm and
snuggly inside and filled the Gilmore Girls shaped hole in my heart ever so slightly. But I’m greedy. I
needed more. I expected more.
Of course, there were so many things about the
show that I loved and of course, it wouldn’t be right to not share them here with
you guys:
Every single character that I’d grown up loving
was there in some way or another. I can’t think of a character that I though, “Oh,
it’d be so much better if they were in this!” so as far as I’m concerned that’s
absolutely fantastic. I loved that they managed to get everybody involved in
their own little way.
- Mr Kim! Has anyone else spent the last god knows how many years wondering why we NEVER saw Lane’s dad? Because I know I did. It was absolutely fantastic to finally get a glimpse of the guy! I also loved that they brought back Miss Celine, “It’s Natalie Wood!!!” and integrated the whole Paul Anka/the Real Paul Anka bit again!
- I’m not going to lie, I cried multiple times over the course of my (single) viewing, but never more so than during scenes dedicated to the late and great Edward Herrmann. My heart absolutely ached and I honestly don’t think they could have provided a more fitting and thoughtful dedication, beautiful but laced with all the humour that Edward himself would most likely have loved. The portrait scene was hilarious in all the right way
- I LOVE the idea of Paris running her own surrogacy clinic. I love revival Paris WAY too much. All through the series, she was definitely one of my favourite characters. I just love her wit and her sarcasm and how she adds definition to the show. I love the idea of her and Doyle having little babies together so that was an added bonus to the plot.
- Emily. Emily has probably been my favourite character (bar Luke, of course!) since the very beginning. I always felt so sorry for her, in spite of her difficulties she really does have Lorelai and Rory’s best interests in mind. I honestly never could have envisioned an Emily who sat at a table with her fellow DAR ladies, scoffed, spilled crumbs down her front and said the word ‘bullshit’ multiple times. I could never in my wildest dreams imagined an Emily who moved to Nantucket to work in a museum. An Emily who GOT ON WITH A MAID? Preposterous, but my absolute favourite kind of Emily.
- The cinematography. 2 scenes in particular were fantastic in my eyes and one of them I was pretty surprised to have loved, considering. I was never a big fan of the Life and Death brigade during the show’s running: I didn’t even like Logan all that much, if I’m being completely honest with you. I’ve found myself a little more attached to the idea of them because of the revival and I thought the musical number involving them was nothing short of amazing. I also LOVED Lorelai and Luke’s wedding BEYOND WORDS. I don’t think I really need to justify that opinion in the slightest. It was everything I expected (and more.)
But of course, there were things that annoyed
me to no end:
- Jess. WHY WAS JESS ONLY IN THE SHOW FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES? There were so many pointless scenes (the Stars Hollow musical. What even WAS that? Just no) where we could have seen Jess and Rory’s relationship develop further. Or maybe I just wanted to see more of the BEAUTIFUL Milo. Probably the latter.
- The same can be said for Sookie. I honestly don’t believe that she’d spend all those years building up an inn with Lorelai to then just throw it all away to go and be with nature. It doesn’t sound like the Sookie we know and love in the slightest. I would have loved to have see her and her family together in a scene as they, and her and Jackson’s relationship, were so pivotal to the show. It just seems like a waste to not have had them all together, celebrating Thanksgiving or something.
- Rory. Cheating again. Will she ever learn? HAS she not learnt from the last time? I kind of understand that the writers don’t want to paint Rory as being this perfect, idyllic character because that’s not realistic in the slightest but if I’m being entirely honest, I don’t particularly like her all that much. When I was much younger, I thought she was an amazing character and I really idolised her and everything she represented. Watching again more recently, I’ve started to realise that actually she’s an annoying and a spiteful character and definitely not someone I aspire to be like anymore. She also needs to seriously reassess her life choices. Paul? Who even is he?
- Those four words. I’m sorry guys but they just don’t cut it for me. I wanted a tear jerking soliloquy finalised with four words full of thought and purpose. Instead we were left with even more questions and a sense of complete and utter purposelessness. Not for me. I appreciate that the show had to go full circle and sure, that’s clever and leaves a lot of doors open BUT IT WASN’T WHAT I WANTED OKAY?
I am slightly annoyed at myself, as well, as I
rushed through it all and probably should have paced myself a bit with it and
truly savoured all of the action and the magic of it all. I was just so darn
excited, you know? If you’ve already watched the revival then please let me
know what you thought of it, I’m dying to hear everyone’s takes on the action
and what other people loved and hated about it all! Let me know in the
comments!
