SPOILERS BELOW: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
If you're an avid Gilmore Girls fan, if you've spent the last year counting the days til the revival, or if you stayed up on Thanksgiving night til it was released in your area, you probably have a lot of feelings about seeing everyone's favorite Stars Hollow residents again. Here are my top 20 most important thoughts about Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
1. Rory's age. I'm sorry. I know chronologically it should make sense, but I have the hardest time seeing Rory as thirty-two. When we left off, she was twenty-two, and I know that Alexis Bledel is thirty-five and a mother, but honestly...Rory doesn't look a day over twenty-five.
2. Luke and Lorelai. Confused as to why they've been together for almost ten years and aren't married yet...it's not like they weren't already engaged and planning a wedding at one point in the series...
3. Rory and Logan. While I'm not entirely surprised that the two of them are still occasionally together, I was really taken aback by the whole storyline where Logan is engaged and they're still sleeping together. I mean, did Rory not learn anything after Dean? I get that the idea is portray her as having a shambly love life, but Logan deserved better than that. We all deserved better closure on that.
4. Where's Sookie? Can we talk about how Sookie doesn't show up until the tail end of a six-hour release?? I'm sure Melissa McCarthy was busy (and frankly, worth more than the producers could probably afford to pay her) but she deserved more screentime than a throwaway storyline writing her out of the Dragonfly. I wanted more Sookie. I wanted more Jackson. I wanted their kids growing up!!!!!
5. Also, how deep are Rory's pockets? Seriously though. For a girl who is between jobs and working for free in town...how can she afford to be flying back and forth to London constantly? How can she afford to...be an existing human? I feel like I would be struggling without weekly international flights.
6. Can we not talk about Richard's funeral? Like, at all. I was a sobbing mess. The shot of the three of them in the car on the way broke my heart. Emily's "hostess mode" afterwards was the perfect realistic touch. Too much. Enough said.
7. Paris works with surrogacy??? Maybe this is just me, but I never saw Paris working in a field like that. I always expected Paris to work somewhere where she could yell at people - maybe as a lawyer or a surgeon? I don't know. Very concerned and very confused about that choice.
8. Rory's "fall from grace". Here's what I liked: Rory struggling to stay afloat/find purpose in her early thirties felt very genuine and honest. It didn't feel like a canned problem with an equally packaged solution. Here's what I didn't like: sleeping with the Wookie. Just didn't feel like that was very "Rory". Maybe that was the idea, but I just didn't like it.
9. Rory refusing to accept that she was "back". I get that she didn't want to feel like she was stuck at home again, but for goodness' sake, there's no need to constantly correct people. I think the choice reinforced this idea of her uncertainty about her direction, and maybe even informed a little of her personality to reflect her high standards for herself, but really...
10. Sutton Foster??? Loved her. V confused as to why she was really on the show other than serving as a catalyst to send Lorelai on her soul-searching Wild hike. But, I thought she was hilarious for filler material.
11. Lorelai and the trail. Actually, I thought these scenes were some of the funniest - considering they brought in multiple new characters without making them key players. Loved all of the Parenthood actors. I thought it was really funny that she ended up resolving her issues without ever going out on the trail. Also, very Lorelai that coffee would end up solving her problem. Me too, girl. Me too.
12. Jess. Jess. Jess. Never thought I'd be Team Jess, but now that he's finally grown into himself (and matured a fair amount), I could probably be happy with them together.
13. Lorelai's "proposal". This just made me really happy. I'm glad the bit where Luke interrupts was included, because it reminded me that he had a stake in their relationship. I wanted them to want each other equally, so I was really happy. Also glad they finally decided to get #MARRIED.
14. The Life & Death Brigade. I thought including this scene was really fun. It may have been filler, but I enjoyed it. Rory absolutely needed to blow off some steam and have fun with people her own age for once (no offense, but where was Lane when Rory was having all of these life struggles? Or Paris? Or literally any of her other friends?)
15. Nantucket. Glad that Emily had (as much of) a happy ending. Thankful they emphasized her finding herself as an individual instead of putting her with the Smith guy for good. Ten points for Emily.
16. JESS LOOKING THROUGH THE WINDOW. This pained me so much. Now I'm really #TeamJess. Please save Rory from herself. #help
17. Oh look Christopher exists. Kinda surprised that he's in a stable job situation, but whatever. I honestly can't believe I didn't start catching hints here. I thought this scene was sweet and I was a little bummed that Christopher didn't show up more...but, that was probably kind of the whole idea. Full circle...
18. The Dean Scene. I really appreciated the closure we got here about Rory and Dean. They were very genuine with each other and I was glad to see that Dean has kept his life together since Rory left it.
19. The secret wedding. This was so Gilmore Girls it was unreal. Loved this whole scene...except for where was Jess?? And Sookie??? C'mon people, let's be realistic, there would've been WAY more late-night junk food involved.
20. THE LAST FOUR WORDS. *spins around chanting "FULL CIRCLE FULL CIRCLE"*. Honestly, I was shocked but then it all made sense. Amy Sherman-Palladino finished her story where it began. As much as I wanted Rory to be smarter than her mom and have her life more together, it was interesting to see the roles finally (almost) fully reversed. Plus, she left plenty open for interpretation (#TakeThatAsYouWill) and I appreciated that as well. Maybe. I guess. Do I want more episodes or do I want to not risk this storyline being ruined??? I don't know.
