We Need To Talk About Rory Gilmore & The Gilmore Girls Revival

Warning: If you have not watched Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life yet, I'd hit that back button real fast if I were you.

I used to live for weeknights with my mother, huddled around the television in the kitchen as we waited for the latest episode of Gilmore Girls to air. She was my Lorelai, just a little bit older and less full of coffee.

So, naturally, summer 2016 was spent binge watching the series in between pool hopping and late night Eat N’ Park runs with my friends. Every episode, all seven seasons consumed in a mere three months as I prepared myself for Netflix’s upcoming revival. I let myself become awfully personally invested so, naturally, these last few months were spent in agony as I let my mind wander over where the Gilmore’s lives would be ten years later.

So was I excited this Thanksgiving? Yes.

Was I thankful for the opportunity to tag along on one last caffeine fueled year with Lorelai and Rory? Of course.

And how did I feel about the revival?

Insanely disappointed.

Here is where the spoilers start, so if you haven’t heeded my warning I suggest you back out now if you haven’t gotten a chance to binge watch A Year In The Life yet.

I wouldn’t necessarily call the whole thing predictable, as I certainly did not see some of it coming. Lorelai and Luke’s story ended exactly as I assumed it would, with Lorelai almost screwing everything up but then fixing it and casually changing up everyone’s plans at the end of the day to make things work for herself. I never really held Lorelai Gilmore accountable for her selfishness throughout the series until now, when not knowing what she wanted began to affect Rory’s life as well.

Which brings me to our dear Rory Gilmore, the cause of my heightened anxiety as the credits began to roll and I realized just how cheated I felt.

So, Rory, I just have to ask:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

When we left Rory, she was on her way to work for ‘Senator' Obama’s campaign. She had a job, she loved what she was working towards and she had left her relationship with trust-fund baby Logan Huntzberger behind. And now, ten years later she has regressed. She is not the Rory Gilmore that we once knew. The girl in this revival is honestly a complete and utter mess.

The last time we saw Rory this lost, she was getting arrested and dropping out of Yale. But, like any true Gilmore, she got herself back on track and pulled through. She worked hard and was rewarded with success. She had always worked hard, ever since she was younger. She took the route Lorelai had chosen to stray from, graduating top of her class from a prestigious private school and then from Yale University as well. She took advantage of the opportunities she was given and was thankful for each and every one of them. While seeing Rory lost, once again, may make her seem human, it just does not seem right.

Rory spent her entire life worshipping her mother, but knowing not to follow too closely in her footsteps. And then we find ourselves at the end of the revival, Rory in the same place as Lorelai: unable to let go of the guy with bad timing and about to become a single parent. I understand the metaphor behind this, I think that we all do. She is her mother’s child, and Gilmore women are strong. They can do anything, and overcome any odds. But for Rory to have worked as hard as she did to be left at the end of the revival with no job or plan? That did her complex and dedicated character absolutely no justice. If those four words were what Amy Sherman-Palladino has been saving all of these years then I am surprised, as it almost seems like she doesn’t know her characters at all. Rory Gilmore deserved more than an uncertain future. Lorelai deserved more than to watch her daughter battle with the same avoidable issues she previously faced. And us fans deserved more than an open ended second series finale that left us with more questions than answers.

I have no doubt that Rory Gilmore can conquer anything. Growing up, she was my role model. She made me proud to love books and thankful to have my mother as a best friend. No matter where Sherman-Palladino placed her on the path of life, I feel that she will touch greatness at some point. I believe just as much as Richard Gilmore did that she is destined for it.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be ok with how it ended, but I’m still glad that I got to watch it. I missed the town, the characters, and everything in between. The Gilmore Girls will always be the best of the best to me, and some very powerful female role models. I just can't help but feel slighted in the end, as Rory's outcome made me question my own. Where will I be in ten years? Will I be able to find a job after spending all of this money to attend the private university of my choice? While I have found someone or will I still be hung up on the same boy who already broke my heart? She became less of a role model and more of what fans who grew up with her might see as their future nightmare. If Rory Gilmore can't do it, how can we?

And, thanks to that cut-off ending, we'll have to wait to watch our own futures unfold like episodes in a series to find our own answers to these questions. If this revival taught us anything, it is that nothing is for sure and nothing is forever. And at lease we can accept that as the Gilmore Girls' final lesson to us true and devoted fans.