I was primarily brought up by my single, divorced mother, who did not come from such a place of privilege as the Gilmores, but enough to find life challenging, particularly when it came to getting me the education that she thought that I deserved. Fortunately I was smart and likeable enough to get through certain doors. We lived in NYC, were extremely close and had a lot of take out food, but did not gain too much weight because of all the walking required by city life.
So it is surprising that I took so long to start watching Gilmore Girls during its final year on broadcast TV in 2007. I rented the DVDs from Netflix, had mini-marathons, especially on Tuesday nights after court to feel refreshed and renewed so I could believe that the world was a wonderful, witty and loving place. Somewhere along the line, I was able to catch up enough to watch the final season soon after and/or while it aired. When it was all over, I wondered, “What will I do now?” My friends and I joked that maybe Rory was with Obama whenever we saw him on TV. Rory may be flawed, but she and her mother were fun, caring and interesting.
Our imagination was way better than the reality imagined by the show’s creators in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. I watched the entire show in one sitting, and even though it was nice to be back in Stars Hollow, I found myself impatient with the main characters. I grew so I expected them to do the same, but they still have a lot of maturing to do.
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Were the Gilmore girls always so entitled? I could rationalize that Lorelai was spiraling from grief over her father’s death and her rocky relationship with Emily, her mother, but what was Rory’s excuse? Rory did not seem too troubled about her grandfather’s death, which I do not have a problem with, but it feels like she has it less together than when she was kid while under some delusion that she is better than others because…..she is Rory Gilmore.
Pardon the profanity, but Rory is a raging asshole. She is stringing along Paul, sleeping around with a guy who is engaged and not in an open relationship while possibly not using protection and not earning any income, but instead working at the local paper. When we see her actually working, she does a crap job. She is constantly dropping the ball and has no follow through in two job interviews. Get your shit together! Work at a coffee shop and the newspaper. People write books and support themselves. You’re an adult. Then she has a nerve to turn her nose up at the prospect of bonding with people in similar flux. Shouldn’t she remember them from when they were all kids in town? Did she never like those people? Because if she never liked them, that would be an acceptable reason to avoid them, but could she be cordial. She has no actual accomplishments except people’s memory of her childhood accomplishments. What happened to Rory?
The final straw was the night on the town with the boys. On its own, it is cute and fun, but it was just the final quirky straw on this camel’s back. What does she need a break from? The whole scenario felt grotesque. I kept asking myself why now I was suddenly thinking how lucky she was not to get roofied by this group of guys, who are harmless. She is charmed by their antics, including ruining other people’s nights by buying a nightclub and changing the theme. What was she like during the economic apocalypse of 2008? I expect more from someone who was brought up by someone who financially struggled. It appears that she has erased the struggle from her mind.
Ultimately Rory became exactly what I feared she would be after her brief affair with Dean. She is an empty, careless and thoughtless person who believes that she deserves the best without actually doing the work. She disdains other people for not being as smart or pretty as her, but does nothing to distinguish herself as an interesting person. There is a lot of respect and honor in just surviving and supporting yourself in the US or give us a line of dialogue that explains that she inherited a ton of money from her grandfather. She knows the value of hardwork from her mother. Why not teach at her alma mater while writing the book and working at the local paper? She had two amazing prospects for jobs in a field that was dying when Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was written, but she burns a bridge with one prospect then drops the ball with the other. She turns up her nose at others for living at home with their parents because they don’t have a job instead of looking in the mirror and maybe relating to them. She thinks that she is special, but she is all sizzle, no bacon. She can sleep with whomever she wants, but there is no integrity and honesty in her trysts except maybe the Wookie. And now she is pregnant? Will that be the kick in the butt that she needs to do better? Not if she keeps her pregnancy a secret from the father and acts unilaterally. I actually guessed that she was pregnant when she went to the doctor and met with her father.
The last time that Rory went through this phase, Lorelai kicked Rory’s butt verbally, and they did not speak for awhile. Lorelai does not seem to completely recognize how dangerous Rory’s flailing is-that it is not a defect of the turbulent times and awkward transitioning, but a defect of character. On the other hand, Rory is an adult so Lorelai probably cannot do much. I did appreciate all the Parenthood references. I did not think that she needed a crisis with Luke to move forward. Do I need to watch and read Wild to appreciate it more?
In contrast, Emily has changed dramatically and was the best part of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. She is running away from the life that Rory seems to want and by the end of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, is a different person. Kelly Bishop is a treasure, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is lucky to have her as an anchor for the show.
I know that Stars Hollow was always quirky, but it seemed more annoying quirky than heartwarming quirky, which is how I remembered it. I’m probably made of stone, but the musical numbers did nothing for me and made me want to run the other way. Did I mention the fat shaming? It was hacky and mean. They are not supposed to be mean. More than 45 minutes is too long even though it was an interesting concept to make the sequel season a year, but the rhythm ultimately did not work.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life showed me that what I really wanted some maturity, but there is only one Gilmore woman, Emily. I’m hoping the next installment, which I will watch, reflects some growth and maturity. God help the fourth generation. I hope that it is half Wookie.