After a nine-year Gilmore Girls drought, everyone’s favorite fast-talking mother-daughter duo is finally back.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, took over Netflix Nov.25, nearly four months after producers/writers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino officially announced the project back in July.
While it’s been almost two weeks since the highly anticipated release, chatter surrounding the show hasn’t lessened. By now, any true Gilmore Girls fan should have watched the series beginning to end multiple times.
But for those fans who haven’t been in the bingeing mood, or have yet to finish the original series, be warned of the spoilers ahead.
The four-part seasonal series begins with “Winter.” The episode opens on a black screen with echoes of various quotes from the original series as the opening credits dissolve in and out.
If the brief homage to vintage Lorelai (Lauren Graham) sayings doesn’t immediately put a smile on your face, the next scene of picturesque Stars Hollow, the fictional town where the story takes place, should do the job.
While the main focus of the show still revolves around the lives of Lorelai and Rory (Alexis Bledel), there are arguably enough buildable story lines between the supporting characters to create an entire regular season of the show.
Not to mention, almost everyone with the exception of Max Medina (Scott Cohen) is back. From Jason Stiles (Chris Eigeman) to Kirk Gleason (Sean Gunn), there is no lack of character content.
With so many people to squeeze into such a short amount of time, it’s amazing that Sherman-Palladino was able to make each appearance seem effortless. In fact, without the spattering of gray hair on Luke, it would be hard to tell any time has passed at all.
For fans concerned about the lack of Rory relationship drama: fear not. With several appearances from Rory’s new, and easily forgettable, boyfriend Paul, to her one-night stand with a “wookie,” there are plenty of awkward moments that will make you want to bury your head under a blanket.
Despite the abundance of fast-talking lightheartedness, the show takes a few dark turns along the way, starting with Richard Gilmore’s (Edward Herrmann) funeral in the “Winter” episode. When Herrmann passed away back in 2014, it was hard to imagine producing a Gilmore Girls without him.
However, Sherman-Palladino and Palladino were sure to pay their respects through a mock funeral complete with the Chuck Berry record Rory gave to Richard in season 7.
In a less heart wrenching but equally disheartening plot line, we follow Rory through the shambles of her journalism career. For anyone reading this who decided to major in journalism because of Rory Gilmore, I regret to report that it does not end well.
While it’s not due to a lack of trying per se, expecting a major meeting with Condé Nast after writing one freelance article for the New York Times was ridiculous for a seasoned reporter and Yale graduate such as Rory.
Through not-so-much trial and a lot of error, Rory eventually finds herself living back in her old Stars Hollow home and working as editor of the Stars Hollow Gazette.
With Rory and Lorelai under the same roof again, the hometown quirkiness only continued. Taylor Doose (Michael Winters) decides to produce a musical about the history of Stars Hollow, much to the enjoyment of the townspeople.
Appearances by Broadway star Sutton Foster and Gilmore Girls theme song writer Carole King provide a nice touch, but the musical itself took up over 10 minutes of the show that could have been dedicated to Rory and Jess reconciling their relationship
Spoiler alert: They don’t.
Instead, we’re rewarded with Lorelai deciding to up and leave in order to pull a Cheryl Strayed. The best part of her trip out West was undoubtedly a guest appearance from Peter Krause, Lauren Graham’s real-life boyfriend and TV-brother from NBC’s Parenthood.
Other than a touching phone call between Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop) and Lorelai during a brief moment of clarity following Richard’s death, the entire trip was utterly pointless, and again, took time away from what could have been Rory and Jess getting back together.
The end of the series doesn’t get much better. Sherman-Palladino teased fans with the infamous “four last words” for years, only to have Rory admit she’s pregnant right before the screen goes black. Assuming this is the last-ever Gilmore Girls installment, that’s a rough ending.
Coming out of a relationship with an engaged Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) and the one-night stand, viewers are left to draw their own conclusions about who the father might be.
I, however, still have five major questions that need to be answered.
- (Obviously) Who is the father of Rory’s baby, and does she keep it?
- Where is Max Medina?
- Why is there a two-second appearance from Mr. Kim? What does he even do?
- Will Jess and Rory ever get back together?
- WILL THERE BE ANY MORE EPISODES?
Featured Photo Credit: Feature photo courtesy of Gilmore Girls on Facebook.
Samantha Pitkin is a senior journalism major and can be reached at spitkin@terpmail.umd.edu.
