Unlike most Gilmore Girls fans my age, I was not introduced to the banter of Lorelai and Rory through my generation’s current obsession with Netflix.
I was in the sixth grade, just entering that stage of teenage angst where its seems like the whole world is out to get you and no one understands. I’d get home from another life draining day of middle school and shut myself in my bedroom with my signature PB&J sandwich, an ear bud screeching My Chemical Romance in one ear, and my television turned to ABC Family. For one glorious hour, I could forget about everything. The strength, the complexities, and the blend of realism and fantasy that these female characters created for me were my introduction to love, heartbreak, drive, independence, and excellent pop culture references.
I’ve always had the utmost respect for Amy Sherman-Palladino (and still do!). It takes an immense of talent and creativity to bring an entire town of characters to life. She did an excellent job giving many of the characters a unique sense of depth and personal complexities. There was no “perfect” character. It was a show filled with women who were willing to face reprehension for leading the life they personally desired.
That is what makes the fate for a majority of the show’s female characters all the harder to stomach. Instead of welcoming back the strong women I met in the original series of the show, I was shocked to discover the sense of confidence that I so admired in these ladies, stifled over the years. And I’m not just talking about Lorelai and Rory. Sherman-Palladino found a way to close doors for many other female characters. For the sake of saving time, I’ll only mention two, starting with Lane Kim.
(Fair warning, many spoilers up ahead)
Lane
Lane’s pregnancy was probably one of the hardest blows to be delivered (pun intended) in the series for many Gilmore Girls fans. Granted, Sherman-Palladino didn’t write the final season, so I won’t penalize her for this curve in Lane’s future. I did however, expect for her to confirm that Lane’s constant acts of rebellion against her mother’s Christian Korean regime weren’t all for nothing. I couldn’t help rooting for a young woman who was willing to risk permanent exile from her household, all to follow her passion for rock and roll. Although I was happy to see that Lane was still indeed a drummer for Hep Alien, it was more than a bit disconcerting to see her merely playing small gigs in Stars Hollow.
As Palladino proves with Lorelai’s own pregnancy, having kids at a young age isn’t the end of the world. For Lorelai, it pushed her to open new doors for herself and further embrace becoming her own person. For Lane, it seems to have left her stuck in Stars Hollow working at Mrs. Kim's antique shop. Even though Lane’s present life is not exactly problematic, it’s disappointing to say the least.
Then there’s Paris Geller.
We welcome back an unfazed successful career woman, who despite her divorce, appears on top of the world. That is, until she runs across her childhood crush, Tristan. All of a sudden, she breaks down, revealing all of her insecurities, a side she hasn't obsessed over since we last saw her roaming the Chilton halls. All the confidence and certainty she had appeared to build up for herself over the years was now taken in one quick scene.
“All my education, the advanced degrees, the academic awards, all my accomplishments… and I’m still just Paris Geller.”
Finally, we have the mother-daughter duo themselves.
Despite the various love triangles the series mentioned throughout the original seven seasons, they were never the only or most important aspect of the lives of these women. Sherman-Palladino herself even argued that Rory’s love interests were only a small part of who she is. And yet, the final four words seem to imply that the entire show did indeed seem to revolve (at least partly) on the men in both Rory and Lorelai’s life. We learn that the parallel between Max and Dean, Chris and Logan, and Luke and Jess were all intentional. Both of their plot lines (and apparently that of the rest of our female characters) now seemingly revolve around conventionally female themes such as love, marriage, and children.
Rory: “Mom?”
Lorelai: “Yeah?”
Rory: “I’m pregnant.”
I understand the whole ‘full circle’ ending that Amy was going for. At the end of the day, the show was always about that mother-daughter relationship and Lorelai's paranoia over Rory repeating her mistakes. We saw an inevitable cycle result with many of the series major females, from Lorelai and Rory, to Mrs. Kim and Lane, to Paris and her mother, even to Emily and Lorelai. The show emphasized how a child is shaped by their parents, and despite an effort to change their own destiny, patterns often repeat. It’s a theme that was brilliantly executed from beginning to end.
And yet, I only wish Sherman-Palladino could have left some salvageable piece of hope that this repetition did not also include a never-ending cycle of female restraint. The 12-year-old schoolgirl in me that began this remarkable journey would have been satisfied with that.
