Huge Fan of Gilmore Girls Revival Review/Thoughts
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
TitanicFanForever101 — 9 years ago(December 18, 2016 09:05 PM)
Gilmore Girls is my favorite show and I have seen each season a bunch of times. I was so excited for the revival, even though I think the last episode was good and I was satisfied with the ending.
Positives
I think all four episodes are beautifully done. Great music, atmosphere, wardrobe and sets. The episodes felt just like the original, I'm not gonna lie when I put on Winter for the first time I cried; nothing like being back in Stars Hollow again, which I never thought would happen. I think the humor was still the same with all the pop culture references and seeing Stars Hollow and the characters in present time was cool. Loved Luke's new sign with no texting while ordering, man buns etc. I also loved the Luke's Diner Wi-Fi joke. Loved the scene in the beginning of Fall with Logan, Rory, Colin, Fin and Robert, even though it was strange and a waste of time, I thought the music was great and the whole scene was fun.
The show isn't the same without Ed, but I do like where Emily is now and how her character survived his death. She was the best part of the revival for me. I think Emily is strong and I loved her humor. I think selling her house and moving to Nantucket is perfect. I loved how she quit the DAR and told those ladies off, one of my favorite parts. She was the only character I thought was written perfectly. Even though it was so sad to see her move on, I'm glad she did and proved to herself she could be a kayak. (diehard GG fans will understand that)
The scene between Lorelei and Emily in the kitchen after Lorelei gives that speech about Richard walking in on her and a guy was terrific and the best acting I have seen from these two ladies. Definitely a wonderful scene and the best one in the revival.
Negatives/Character Reviews
Happy to see Lorelei and Luke together obviously, but I was shocked to see them still unmarried and childless, very upsetting and completely unrealistic. I always thought a few weeks after the last episode they got married and at least had one kid. Lorelei wanted to be married and have more kids, so it's ridiculous the reason they didn't is because they never discussed it. They barely even gave us a reason why they didn't get married or have kids other then some lame sentences about neither communicated they wanted that. They both wanted and discussed marriage and kids several times during the original series. If they wanted the fans to see their wedding, just make it into a flashback.
I felt Luke still seeming scared Lorelei was leaving him after all these years is pathetic and sad. To still see these two not communicating and Luke still shutting Lorelei out about April is all sad at this point.
Lorelei doing Wild was stupid and all those scenes were a waste. Her trying to fit all her crap in her backpack went on too long and seemed like a filler. I understand she was having a hard time dealing with her dad's death, but going hiking alone on the other side of the country is not the way to deal. She made Luke feel like she was leaving him, which was all silly. All she needed to do was take a walk around the block.
Her speech at Richard's funeral was horrible even for her. I thought she lost her virginity to Christopher at 16, she acted like she lost it at 12, which is disturbing.
thought the Luke and Lorelei's wedding was strange. I understand they wanted to do it without all the pressure, so they did it the night before. However the dancing around seemed again like a filler and was strange. Why was Lane there, but Sookie and Jess weren't?? Jess was in town and Sookie wanted them to get married more than they did. I found it crazy they weren't there.
Rory
Okay wow she has turned into a mess. Sleeping with an engaged guy. I can't believe Lorelei didn't have more of a comment about that. She also had a one night stand with some random guy and was stringing along a guy who seemed nice. The Paul joke would have been funnier if they were only dating 2 months. They were supposed to be dating 2 years, so it was unrealistic and silly how nobody remembered him and Rory shouldn't have strung him along. She's a Yale graduate, so to be living at home with no job is just sad. She seemed to really peak in high school and college. I can't believe Lorelei isn't mad or annoyed that Rory's life is a disaster. When Rory wasn't finishing college and wanted to live at home at the end of season 6 she freaked out. The scenes with her in London taking to that lady about writing a book was all a waste and not even funny. Also, how was Rory supposed to be affording trips to London? Maybe Logan was paying? I thought when she took over the Gazette she would be getting paid something, so I originally thought it was a good job for her. However there's no money in it, so it's stupid for her to do it. She should be focusing on getting a real job. I mean she's a 32 year old Yale graduate and is a complete loser and now pregnant. At the end of the revival she still didn't have a plan. Writing this book is s -
perfect_lover2012 — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 05:55 AM)
I will never agree with the character comparisons. Rory is Christopher, Lorelai is Emily lol, Logan is Logan and Jess is Jess. Other than basic qualities Logan and Christopher and Jess and Luke aren't alike. I think the writers threw their backs out with that reach. I don't think Lorelai and Luke needed to have kids. They discussed it in the original show but they didn't seem that interested so I understand why they did the surrogate storyline so we could see Paris again but it was unnecessary. I love Paris and I was so happy to see her. I don't think they should've split her from Doyle and I don't understand why Tristan went to an alumni event when he didn't graduate from Chilton. Another plot device. Rory's gross so I won't even go into much detail. I found her whining completely ridiculous and her treatment of Paul to be horrible. She should've thought of the book idea on her own instead of having Jess rescue her. I don't think Rory has feelings for him and I think he's holding on to the Rory he used to know. I don't think Rory's capable of being faithful and I can't think of anything positive to say about her storyline.
"When life gives you lemons"
Jessica
sleep with their fathers and have secret lemon children -
julietuna — 9 years ago(December 26, 2016 04:19 AM)
I too am a huge fan and re-watched the original series before watching the revival. That may have been a mistake because the contrast between many of the actors then and now was shocking in many cases.
I was disappointed in the revival as a whole for one main reason. 10 years passed, and yet no one seemed to have experienced any growth in their lives. Consider Luke and Loreli. They had been together 10 years and were still exactly where they were when the series ended. Wouldn't you hope that they had learned to communicate with eachother, or that they felt safe and happy with eachother? The whole surrogate storyline showed that they were stuck in the same bad pattern from 10 years earlier.
Rory just plain made me sad. She never made anything of her career which is unrealistic. She's a Yale grad with all the connections anyone could ask for and yet she did nothing with it?? Doubtful. Also, the old Rory wouldn't have been okay with random hook ups with Logan even though he was engaged and she had a long term boyfriend. And taking over the gazette, that could have been such a great storyline. She could have used it to turn her life around. Go in, get rid of the old dusty local mess of a paper, and turn it into something big, but instead, she caved on the front page poem, and did nothing with the opportunity. In fact, she turned out to be the exact opposite of her mother, who, pregnant at 16 walked away from her golden handcuffs and pulled herself up by the bootstraps doing whatever it took to make a success of her life for herself and Rory. Sad!
Paris on the other hand seems to have done more than humanly possible. How does a person graduate from Law and Medical school, build a business with a long term reputation in only 10 years? Let's not forget that she was broke at the end of the original series. And it's not as if she had the kind of personality that invited people in to her life that would help her succeed. So how did she get where she got? I would have liked to see Paris as a wiser, maybe slightly kinder, but still a little broken human being we viewers could somewhat care for. Very disappointing.
Emily was the only one who made me happy. She seemed to be able to reverse her negative patterns and do something with her life that might make her happy. She was the only one who wasn't stuck.
I could go on for days, but I'll stop here except for this point.There should have been MORE SOOKIE!!! -
TitanicFanForever101 — 9 years ago(January 12, 2017 08:48 PM)
I agree, it's like ASP still wanted to sabotage the characters and show. Rory's life is pathetic and Luke/Lorelei also aren't any better with communication.
Lifes a gift and I dont intend on wasting it! -
yeamf-93422 — 9 years ago(January 13, 2017 02:18 AM)
I'll post it in two separate posts, cause for some reason I'm having trouble posting the entire thing.
I'm starting to feel like I am literally the only person who's not all that shocked about Rory. She always was the kind of person who thought she was better than the rest, that's how ASP made her out to be in the last couple of seasons she was on. Even the entire season 7 couldn't save Rory's character. We've seen too much nastiness from her, and I don't know why people thought she was an angel. She was always flawed. It's the puppy eyes, I'm sure.
Also, people are ridiculously harsh on her. Being 32 in 2017 and broke, single, homeless (debatable in her case), without a permanent (office) job DOES NOT MAKE SOMEONE A LOSER. She graduated from college in 2007, as an English major (someone mentioned here that Yale didn't/doesn't have a journalism major) and wanted to be a journalist. So, she was never going to be Amanpour because let's face it, it's Rory. She is a great writer, and that's mentioned numerous times through out the series.
She's also the girl who never in her life got in trouble or had to face serious consequences for her actions because her grandparents and her dad had money, and they would bail her out. No questions asked, because everyone was always way too scared to jeopardize their relationship with Rory. Lorelai never corrected her when she absolutely had to, because Lorelai's not a mom, she's a pal. It's not her job to teach her daughter anything, because Rory's not a kid. No matter how mature a 16 year old acts, their brain is still undeveloped and they NEED to be told what is right and wrong.
So Rory starts out in a political campaign in 2007. 2008- Obama wins. Yay. She wants to enter the work force as a serious journalist, but it's not that easy. You don't just get jobs handed to you, especially not by the Huntsburger clan. Even if your grandfather is Richard Gilmore. You gotta start from the absolute bottom. So say she's done that. Comes 2008, the freaking financial crisis; and no one is hiring. It's cool, it's fine, she has a side job that's fine for now Then a couple of years go by, print is dead. -
yeamf-93422 — 9 years ago(January 13, 2017 02:19 AM)
She could blog, except, she doesn't have anything to say. Where do you think journalists are working? Access, E! Network, Clever TV, TYT, ThinkTank, etc. These are the journalists who are making money. But no, Rory wants to work at the Times! How many new writers do you think these newspapers need? Even Doyle who had a promising future ended up writing screenplays. It's just not realistic to expect to work for major media companies. Sure, Huffington post or Buzzfeed; but Conde Nast
And to work at those websites or others similar to those, you really don't need a degree from an Ivy. Also, they mostly work with freelancers, so it's still not a permanent thing. Journalism is just not a safe career path, and Rory started her journey at the worst possible time.
Her problem : She never had a plan B. She applied to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The fact that she got in to all three was ridiculous. Her extracurricular weren't that impressive, and every kid who applies to Ivy has a 4.0 GPA. She was nothing special; especially for Harvard. Paris was legacy, and had a much better overall application Maybe a bit of an over-achiever, but still. I'm not saying Rory did not deserve to get in, I'm saying if she would have applied with the same background in 2017, she would not get in. (At least not Harvard)
About her affording to live like that, are you kidding? Her grandparents have more money than god. She was set to receive a trust-fund at age 25 from her grandparents, not to mention the trust-fund Lorelai the first had set up for her. With that money alone, a person can live a comfortable life never having to work for a second. Not to mention, her dad's filthy rich and feels totally guilty for not being there for Rory, so he more than likely pitches in every now and then. -
yeamf-93422 — 9 years ago(January 13, 2017 02:20 AM)
Really, Rory's life makes total sense to me. I do not find it one little bit loser-y or pathetic, because I see it around all the time. I'm 23 and graduating from university. I know that 23 and 32 are very different, but I have friends close to Rory's age; who have no idea what they're doing. A couple of them have just got out of divorces and are completely lost. Everyone's grilling me about graduate school, so I'm going.
The only mistake Rory ever made was thinking journalism was a safe career path. First of all, she doesn't have the personality type for it. Second of all, it was just bad luck. Lastly, she should have always been a writer. I think she had that idea in her head, to write a book; otherwise she would never have agreed to do a book with Naomi. (Since she wrote that article, I'm assuming she knew about her! What sane person would do that, unless they really want to publish?)
She could have easily gone to graduate school for the Masters, and she can still do that. In fact, I think that's the wisest thing. She should go to graduate school and study something either Business related or English related. Teach at Chilton, which is a prestigious job; and write a book at the same time. Abortion is a good option, and I'm pretty sure Rory's not against it (being a liberal and all), so if she decides it's all too much and her life's too chaotic to bring a baby into, she has options.
Getting pregnant at 32 is not the same as becoming a teenager mom. It's not gonna ruin her life; it might actually give her the push she needs to be a more responsible and better adult. I don't think it was that bad.
I also kind of like the revival, hated the acting and didn't like how odd their chemistry felt like; but liked it a lot more than other people seem to have.
Sorry for the inconvenience. -
PrivateBozz — 9 years ago(January 13, 2017 02:52 AM)
Really, Rory's life makes total sense to me. I do not find it one little bit loser-y or pathetic, because I see it around all the time. I'm 23 and graduating from university. I know that 23 and 32 are very different, but I have friends close to Rory's age; who have no idea what they're doing. A couple of them have just got out of divorces and are completely lost.
I agree with you, and I want to add that this has actually always been an important aspect of 'Gilmore Girls': unconventional life choices. I'm glad Rory is not that glossy carreer woman that many seem to equate with a happy and successful life. Lorelai always managed to be happy, even though she took a very individual path, and even though it might take Rory longer to find hers, I'm sure she'll find her own form of happiness and fulfillment someday. She's a Gilmore girl after all.
If I upset you, don't stress Never forget, that God isn't finished with me yet -
PrivateBozz — 9 years ago(January 13, 2017 07:00 AM)
I agree with everything positive you said about the revival, especially Emily, but I don't agree with all your negative points.
You seem to look at the show from a very logical point of view, but the show has never been overly realistic. It's a romantic, funny show (not without depth though), and the things that happen are not always the things that make the most sense, and jokes are often somewhat silly.
While I don't think Luke and Lorelai should have gotten kids I agree with you on some points regarding the problems of their relationship. But that's where I actually see them ending up. They've never been really healthy as a couple, and are not the best fit imo. But since there seems to be enough attraction between them so that they want to be together - why not. I would have gone for Lorelai/Chris, but I get that the show always meant to make Lorelai and Luke the main pairing, so ok.
I actually liked some of what they did with Rory, but there wasn't enough. She seemed a bit like a side character, even though there was happening much more in her life than in Lorelai's. Imo the break up with Logan came way too late, but I assume they had to drag it out so Rory would be freshly pregnant in the end. Unfortunately that made her go in circles most of the time and not showing any real progress, apart from starting the book. Like you I can picture her teaching at Chilton someday, but who knows.
Regarding the full circle story, Logan becoming Rory's Chris and Jess becoming her Luke and that stuff, I don't like it one bit. I'd love Rory and Jess to end up together someday, but doing it like this feels completely fabricated and doesn't really do the characters justice. They should be allowed to have their own life.
I mostly agree with you on Chris, Paris and some of the other characters.If I upset you, don't stress Never forget, that God isn't finished with me yet -
rachfite-43369 — 9 years ago(January 14, 2017 08:47 AM)
I personally have mixed feelings about the revival. I actually had low expectations going into it and only had a couple of things that I wanted to see: Lorelai marrying Luke and Emily moving on from Richard in a way that would bring new meaning and purpose to her life. So for that I was happy. I would have rather seen Luke and Lorelai already married with kids but you can't have everything. I agree that you would think after almost 10 years Lorelai would feel secure and happy with Luke but I think she needed her dads death to show her that life is short and marriage is a step she needed to allow herself to take.
Rory's storyline was incredibly disappointing. I saw things in her personal life going a completely different wayalso I was hoping she would become a teacher at Chilton I thought that would of been a great move on her part. The book idea was okay but also a huge cliche and she didn't even come up with idea. The final four words is also a big cliche and disturbing when you think about it. Can't believe Amy always wanted to end the original that way.
I would of loved more Sookie, a more subdued Paris that's happily married to Doyle. That scene at Chilton seemed very over the top though Liza is still awesome at the role and Paris always was crazy! The fact that she got so much done in 10 years was the most unrealistic thing about her story. I also wished we knew what Dean was doing work wise, I got the impression he no longer lives in the Hollow. And he has very much moved on! The full circle nonsense makes no sense with Logan and Jess. I wish Jess and Rory had more of a friendship. And I wanted Rory to end up with Logan.
The worst part to me in general was Summer. I wish Carol King had sung Where You Lead and not I Feel the Earth Move. Also wish we had more of the theme song instead of just at the end. The scene after the funeral was bad but the story Lorelai tells when she calls Emily was fantastic. I loved Fall the best. The scenes with Logan and Rory were good. I know some people despise that part. I loved the music and the mood surrounding that whole sequence. All in all it was okay. Not great but not terrible.