I first became aware of “Gilmore Girls” when it was on ABC Family in reruns. One of the TVs in front of the treadmills and ellipticals at the Y was always set to that network, so when my only other summertime midmorning choices were usually Fox News or one of the innumerable sports channels in the cable package, my blank treadmill stare was usually drawn to the one with Lauren Graham. Because, not hard to look at.
After weeks of trying to decipher the closed captioning with sweat in my eyes, I watched few episodes at home so I could also hear what was going on, and quickly discovered how incredibly well-written the show was. Soon after that I started it from the beginning, two Netflix DVDs at a time. I got through most of it before school started again, which usually signals a significant downgrade of my Netflix usage. I’d read online that the last season or two fell apart a little since the writers and show runners that had been responsible for the rapid fire, reference heavy dialogue weren’t involved anymore. There are few things in TV sadder than watching a once great show try to keep going without the voice that made it great (I point you to season 5 of The West Wing as example A). Ultimately I was okay with not seeing the decline.
When Netflix put together what amounted to four short Gilmore Girls movies and released them all at once last year, I knew I’d get around to watching them. However, other circumstances and an already backed-up queue meant it would take awhile. I was recently reminded these new episodes existed, and, being summer again, this seemed a perfect time to watch my way through them; what else am I going to do with all of this free time if not watch them and take notes on my reactions?
The following contains many, but not all, of the spoilers. Be warned.
WINTER
*I always forget that Yondu’s ravager sidekick from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies played Kirk on this show.
*Stars Hollow looks full-on snow globe, with all the lights and, of course, the troubadour, and everything on the streets and in the house is perfectly decorated.
*The dialogue is back, still rapid fire and soaked in pop culture references. It’s hard to tell if it works because the writing is so solid or because they found actors who can talk that fast and still make everything sound coherent. It sure would be nice to have people around you in life who would instantly understand your references and be able to build on them so quickly.
*Whoa! Did Lorelei just take a shot a Marvel movies?! Good thing Kirk wasn’t in the room.
*Rory’s boyfriend, Paul the Nice Guy, is everyone’s afterthought. I understand that poor bastard all too well.
*Kirk offering Lorelei water and than awkwardly handing her a partially filled Britta pitcher had me laughing until there were tears in my eyes.
*This is how Paris ended up? No. Not buying it. Seems like a too convenient way to give the actress a part and wedge the character into the story line.
*Sebastian Bach! I forgot he was in this! The band starts playing. Paris looks on with interest. Lane plays her drums, but, speaking as a drummer, she is absolutely NOT playing them. It bugs the hell out of my when TV shows do that.
*Emily’s mission to declutter her house reminds me of how many things I still want to get done this summer and haven’t even started.
*The episode closes with a Dolly Parton song. I would imagine someone I know at least let loose with a tiny squeal of joy the first time she heard that.
SPRING
*I must have missed a detail somewhere in the copious dialogue of Winter, because even though I know Rory is biographering for some British woman, but I don’t remember exactly who she is and why she is biography-worthy.
*Oh, wow. I just realized these Stars Hollow town meetings might have been the inspiration for the town meetings that take place in my new manuscript.
*Good line: “How do you accidentally join a vegetable cult?”
*Kirk shows up on stage for movie night in an Eraserhead wig, and I love it. I enjoy his character so much more now that he’s a Guardian of the Galaxy. He prohibits the crowd from bringing outside food to the movie, and right away some dude pulls out an entire chocolate cake. Awesome.
*Kirk’s short film was shot on actual film? The pig gets hit by a car and right away there’s some sad piano piece playing in the soundtrack. I recognize it because I’m pretty sure my older sister had the sheet music for it when we were kids and played it a lot, but for the life of my I can’t remember what it’s called.
*In the Dragonfly kitchen, and Rachel Ray is doing the cooking. Interesting cameo considering the context, but man, is she not an actress. You can see her visualizing the script to remember what her next line is supposed to be, much in the same way young Britney Spears pretended to be a dancer by struggling to stay one step ahead of her choreography.
*Richard leaves Luke some money to franchise his diner. Perfect characterization for him to be so generous, but with the condition that the gift has to be used in a way that would align with his own priorities instead of what Luke might want.
*And we’re back and Chilton for some alumni thing. A teacher sees Paris coming down the hall and quickly turns to run and hide. I totally get that guy.
*Oh, right. Tristan. That guy. At least he didn’t talk. I don’t remember if Peggy ever punched him in the head when he was a character on “Agent Carter,” but it seems like the kind of thing she would have done and something he would have deserved.
*The headmaster wants Rory to come back and teach? Sure. Because that’s how easy it is to get a teaching job — you talk to a class for five minutes, then someone says they have a spot reserved for you. At least the writers had the common sense to figure a prep school like Chilton would require their faculty members to have a Masters.
*Now Rory is interviewing with GQ, I think? All this talk about writing and her voice and so on…it’s a little overwhelming. Is that what people sound like when they talk about writing and writers when they’re doing it for a living? It makes me feel a little like a camp counselor sitting around a campfire or in the section of the library surrounded by decades-old stuffed animals, telling stories to little kids. My insecurity trigger, I guess. What are you gonna do….
*I’ve noticed several Netflix shows have moments that feel inserted only to fill for time. Rory interviewing all these people about why they wait in lines feels that way, and doesn’t really pay off to much except the part of her ending up sleeping with a Wookie. Good joke there, but they seem to really be playing up the whole “Rory in her early 30s and still hasn’t figured out her life yet.”
*There, with eight minutes left in the episode, Paul the Afterthought is finally mentioned. Even the writers forgot about him.
*After her website interview is a complete crash and burn, Rory ends up twisting her burner phone in half and throwing it away, like most of the characters on “Breaking Bad” did at one time or another. I still want to try doing that someday, just to see what it feels like.
I’m halfway done. This show is exhausting to watch without commercials.
SUMMER
*It starts with the two of them sitting by the pool, entertaining each other by complaining about everything to do with the pool and everyone there. Why did they even go?
*At least nineteen people comment on Rory being “back,” which she firmly denies is the case. Own it, girl.
*I really feel for Luke, having to watch all of these obscure movies and TV shows. He seems like a guy who’d be happier with some Doritos and a Transformers movie.
*Okay, three seasons in and I can’t get behind this Rory/Logan thing. THEY ARE BOTH CHEATING ON SOMEONE. Granted, neither of them is married, but still. There’s a dishonesty and selfishness thing happening here. Doesn’t put either of them in a great light, objectively. If they want to be together, they should just break it off with the others.
*Gypsy says “sweat like pigs” and Kirk’s pig runs down the aisle. Beautiful.
*Taylor wants to put on a show! His idea of community spirit: If you agree with what I want to and the way I want to do it, then you have community spirit. Too close to the truth for a lot of community movers and shakers.
*The Thirty Something Gang? How is Rory too good for this? I wouldn’t mind having a group of friends my age absent of commitments to hang out with.
*Michel is leaving? That’s sad. Even the sight gags that come with the secret bar don’t change that.
*Of course Rory takes over at the Gazette, and of course it doesn’t quite work out the way she planned. That delivery montage felt like another Netflix filler moment.
*And now, “Stars Hollow” The Musical.” Good Lord. Do I have to watch this whole thing? This scene would work so much better if it just focused on Lorelei going all Tom Servo on the play (I just threw in my own pop-culture reference there; I hope you can keep up). When is this going to end? Why did they drag out the gag of everyone else on the advisory board loving it? This is awful. Who in production thought this was a good idea? I’m never getting those twenty minutes back. I’m keeping this scene in mind after I finish drafting my new manuscript later and start on the serious revisions.
*Although the actress saying “Thanks for the doubts” at the end was a good line. I’m saving that one for use in real life.
*Rory’s at the Gazette, and Jess walks in. “I remember you…punk.” Esther’s got his number. Watching Jess here reminds me a lot of what it’s like to have a student who absolutely drives you nuts and you can’t wait to ship them out at the end of the year, but then you see them again later in life and they’ve grown up a lot and you just feel relief about that.
*“You’re a writer. Ruts are normal.” Y-y-y-y-y-e-p.
*Ray Wise is dating Emily? That would explain why he was there in the background of that scene from the last episode. Respectful of him to wait in the car after driving them all to the cemetery.
*Watching this immediately makes me think of how long it’s been since I’ve visited my sister’s gravesite, so I feel bad about that for a few minutes and have to rewind to see what I missed. Lorelei is not on board with Rory writing a book about them, and they have a weird, out-of-nowhere fight without her really articulating why. This feels manufactured.
*Then she fights with Luke? Something’s up.
*Now she tells Luke she’s going on walkabout, to clear her head or something. “It’s never or now.” Nice turn of a phrase there. “Never” makes me think of how many times I’m going to re-watch this episode. That play, ugh….
FALL
*I felt pretty confident Lorelei wasn’t going to ever really hike, and they really slapsticked up her backpack incompetence. She did have some good bonding moments with other Wild Ladies though. That was nice. One of the women said, “I hope this hike works. I need a new life so badly.” Been on that “too late for midlife crisis” path enough times myself to know how one hike, real or metaphor, isn’t going to do the trick.
*Of course Lorelei didn’t make it on the path because the characters need to interact with each other for the show to work, but she did get her epiphanal moment. The story she told her mother was very affecting. It made me suspect that during the performance Lauren Graham might have been thinking of her own relationship with Edward Hermann.
*Jess ripping the wifi out of the diner was one of the best things he ever did.
* Lorelei comes home, Luke gets to recite a speech full of verbal gymnastics, and they decide to get married. It fits perfectly here.
*Emily is up in Nantucket now. Ray Wise can’t stay, and she ships him out the door pretty quickly. What’s up with that?
*Back at the Gilmore mansion, Rory takes a little time to tour and revisit the ghosts of her grandfather. I like that this episode has been so much about him and his absence. A death that central to a family winds up driving a lot of what comes after. Throughout all four seasons, they’ve addressed this very well.
*Points for a good deep-dive reference to Katy Perry wanting to buy the house from the nuns.
*Rory presents Lorelei with what looks like a light manuscript, but turns out to just be the first three chapters. Wait: THAT’S WHAT THREE CHAPTERS LOOKS LIKE? HAS SHE EDITED YET?!?
*Emily’s exit from the DAR was truly excellent. Perfectly constructed, and a great resolution to everything about her character that had come before. Amy Sherman-Palladino is absolutely the better writer of the two showrunners.
*Rory has an unnecessary cameo moment with her father, to mirror the unnecessary cameo moment she later has with Dean.
*Of course Sooki would end up back in the kitchen. Still best friends. Time and distance doesn’t have to change that for people.
*Seeing Emily happy in her new home with her surrogate family explains why she was so ready to ship off Ray Wise, and downplay that part of her old life. Volunteering at the whale museum was perfect, even if she scared people while doing it.
*The house full of people and animals the night before the wedding felt exactly right. However, regarding competing flash mobs, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was the better choice. Though I stand by my assertion that flash mobs should be excised from society immediately.
*The whole night-before wedding montage was a much better ending to the show, and fit everything that had built to that.
*Paul breaking up with Rory over a text was perfect; even if she wasn’t completely bothered by it, she really deserved it. But her mom was right. It didn’t fit. And things that matter need to fit.
*As for the very, very last moment? Either a perfectly symmetrical ending, or a good cliffhanger. And I have my ideas about that leftover unanswered question....
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