Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life – My Thoughts

By now if you were interested in watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life there’s a good chance you’ve already watched all 4 parts. I know most people binge-watched it over the weekend or in the middle of the night when it was released by Netflix. I watched one episode a day over the last 4 days. This was due to a lack of a sufficient chunk of time to sit through more than 1 episode at a time and also because part of me wanted to be able to stretch out the show and savor it. This is a character trait of mine in many facets of my life by the way.

Anyway, if you have watched the whole thing then keep reading to get my take and opinion on the revival. If you haven’t watched it yet then you may want to stop here because there will be spoilers! And if you don’t care about Gilmore Girls at all, then you probably don’t want to keep reading anyway. Unless you just love reading my opinion that much, in which case – thanks!

I have a lot of thoughts about this 4 part series, but I’m going to try to keep from rambling or turning this into a full-on venting session. I just finished watching so hopefully my thoughts are organized enough for this post in the first place.

A Year in the Life picks up 10 years after the original series finale. The 4 part series is broken up in 4 seasons, so episode 1 is Winter, episode 2 is Spring and so on. Each episode takes place over the course of that season. Even though I knew this going in, it took some adjusting during “Fall” to get used to the format because it felt so jumpy. One second Rory is visiting Stars Hollow “for just 24 hours” and then the next scene she’s back in London and then the next scene she’s in Stars Hollow again! It was hard to keep track of what was going on and how much time was passing by, but the rest of the episodes were much easier to follow. I can’t figure out whether this was because I was used to it or if “Fall” was just extra jumpy.

Anyway, the story picks up with Rory finding some small successes in the world of journalism but still trying to really get a huge break. Lorelai and Luke are still together and living together, but not married. The wit and humor that all Gilmore fans loved is back and it’s so nostalgic and feels so natural. It’s nice to see that the cast hasn’t lost that chemistry. Was I happy with where the characters were at the start of the show? Eh. Rory is finding herself and figuring out her future and so that doesn’t annoy me. In fact, I can totally relate. It took me a long time after graduating from college to land a full time teaching job and I’m not always sure (or ever sure) that it’s what I want to do forever. Rory is a little older than me, but we’re not far off so I can completely relate and I think a lot of young women can relate to her too in that regard. Feeling a bit lost and unsure of the future while trying to make your dreams come true when you’re not even always sure what the dream is anymore.

As mentioned above, Lorelai is still with Luke and I’m okay with it I guess. If you’ve been following me for a while I have mentioned Gilmore Girls a number of times in posts over the past year, so you’ll know that I’m not the biggest Luke fan despite him being a fan favorite. I always found him crabby, stubborn, and not very nice. As I rewatched the series I still didn’t care for him that much but by the end of the series he had grown on me though I wouldn’t say I loved him or anything. So I don’t mind that they ended up together in the revival, but still I don’t know if love them together. I think a great couple should bring out good things in one another and I just feel like they don’t really make each other better people. For example, Lorelai tells Luke that she is starting to feel stuck and that she needs to grow her career. Sookie is off working upstate on soil and vegetables and Michel is growing tired of the Dragonfly because it is too small and he needs something new and challenging. She expresses her thoughts on expanding the inn to Luke and he immediately shuts her down! He says the inn still pulls in great business and that’s it, end of story. And Lorelai just says okay and drops it! So yeah I get that they love each other and they bring stability to each others’ lives but I can’t help but feel that with Luke, Lorelai is a bit stunted in her growth.

Now onto Rory’s boyfriends! We see Dean briefly and it’s nice to see that Rory and him have a friendly relationship with each other. He is married with children so he’s not in Rory’s future love-wise but it’s nice to see him happy!

Jess is doing well with his writing career and seems to have his life in order – far more than when he was a rebellious, angry teenager. Jess is a fan favorite and while I admit I did love when Rory and he dated on the show, he’s not my first choice for Rory’s end game. I may have mentioned it on here before, but I feel like when you’re watching as a teenager, Jess is the one. He’s cool and smart and has that brooding, bad boy with a good heart thing going for him. And you think how can Rory not end up with him? And you meet Logan and you’re like oh he’s just some rich kid. But then you rewatch as an adult and you realize Logan is really the best one. I can’t be the only one who thinks this! For real though, I love Logan and I think rewatching now that I’m older I see things differently and I truly think Logan was the best one for her. He pushed her to try things out of her comfort zone. He was always there for her and took care of her even though he made sure she knew she didn’t need any helping or rescuing. Sure, he did some stupid things, but he was young and everyone makes stupid mistakes when they’re young. I didn’t like the way the original series ended with Rory turning down Logan’s proposal. I agree, she was too young to get married at that time, but their ending felt so abrupt and their story seemed unfinished.

Well, we got to see what happened 10 years later with Rory and Logan and I was not too pleased with the direction their story took although the end gave me some hope. Rory and Logan have a relationship of sorts. They’re not technically together as they’re both involved with other people – Rory with a boyfriend that no one ever remembers and she forgets to break up with throughout the whole year and Logan is engaged to a French heiress. Obviously, Rory doesn’t take her boyfriend seriously since she pretty much forgets he exists 99% of the time and Logan doesn’t seem to be in love with his fiancee. It seems more like it’s a family/business arrangement that he is being forced into. I was happy to see them together, but I was not happy to see that he’s engaged and now Rory is the other woman. I really believe their love story deserved something better than that. I also really feel like if she would have been honest with herself and him and told him that she wanted to be with him for real, he would’ve broken off his engagement. But she didn’t ask. Though he didn’t volunteer either. Their goodbye was bittersweet and emotional, but like I said the ending gave me some hope.

The ending brought about the famous last words that Amy Sherman-Palladino has been waiting for years to bring to life. I had an inkling this was coming by about halfway through the last episode – Rory reveals to her mother that she is pregnant and that’s the end! So Logan is obviously the father and that’s why the ending gives me hope for them. I’ve seen some people online saying that maybe Rory is supposed to follow her mother’s footsteps and raise the baby on her own and then marry someone who doesn’t have money like Jess. I don’t want to see this happen because following the same exact story would just be ridiculous. And aside from one single look of longing from Jess at the end there was no other indication that any feelings still exist between the two. I feel like that would be forced. It only makes sense for her to tell Logan about the baby and for her to leave it up to him what he wants to do and he will leave his fiancée and live happily ever after with Rory. Got it?! Sorry, I’m just very adamant that they end up together!

Lastly, Emily Gilmore. The spitfire of the show. The passing of her husband (the real actor passed away) plays a heavy presence in the show. Emily spends much of the year learning to cope with his passing and figuring out what her life is after his death and what that looks like. Her storyline made me really sad and while there were some shining moments like when she told off the DAR ladies, there was a sense of bittersweetness or even sadness to a lot of her scenes. At the end she sits on her property in Nantucket, in the dark with her glass of wine and looks like she’s at peace but it made me sad! I felt so bad for her and although she seems happy living in Nantucket with her maid Berta and Berta’s whole family, I can’t help but be sad that she’s so far away from her daughter and granddaughter now.

So that wraps up my thoughts on the revival. There are lots of people hoping for and theorizing that more episodes will be coming because the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger and there is always more they can add on to the storylines. And I would be thrilled to see more, but if not and this is it, that’s okay with me too. I’m one of those people that likes to imagine what happens in my own mind so I’ve already decided that Rory and Logan will be together and raise their baby and future children together!

Some other highlights:

• The secret bar was hilarious.
• How disturbing was Taylor’s Stars Hollow musical?
• The Life and Death Brigade scene was the best! Rory, Logan, Finn, Colin, and Robert having the time of their lives. And I love that they came to cheer Rory up. In an interview with TVLine, Matt Czuchry (Logan) said, “The Life and Death Brigade stuff was my favorite stuff to do. I think that captured the best of who Logan is, the best of who Rory is, and the best of who Rory and Logan are together.” <3
• Miss Patty lost so much weight!
• Some people look like they never age like Babette and Mrs. Kim.
• Michel is just as hilarious.
• Yay, Melissa McCarthy made an appearance as kooky Sookie!
• Lane and Paris are still awesome.

I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting! Overall, I enjoyed the series although I would’ve liked it far more if things were more settled and everything was happy happy at the end. But, like I said I’ve already written the ending in my mind! If you made it this far, thanks for reading!