Eliza Goldberg ’17

I have been an avid fan of Gilmore Girls before Netflix had streaming. Every time I would go to my cousin’s house, I would pile onto the couch with at least three of my cousins and watch hours of the series on DVD. We were pretty into it—and oftentimes our whole family would talk about the Gilmores as if they were actual people. Ever since the show came to Netflix, I have been watching it even more religiously.

Suffice to say, I was pretty excited when I heard there would be a revival about a year ago. After taking four days to watch the full revival, I can finally voice my opinion.

For starters, I think Amy Sherman-Palladino did a great job. She was not involved with the last season of Gilmore Girls, but she made the transition into the revival from the original show seamless and truly connected to the first seven seasons.

During the first episode, Winter, the humor seemed sort of forced within the first few minutes. Lorelai’s joke in the beginning about body shaming, trigger warnings and war on Christmas seemed too try-hard.

However, after about ten minutes into Winter, Rory, Lorelai and Luke seemed to ease into their old selves and the witty banter was much less forced.

I really liked how the show didn’t bring in all the characters at once. The first episode was focused on Rory, Luke, Lorelai and Emily, with some appearances from Logan, Kirk, Jason Stiles (Digger), Lane and the band and Paris. We don’t catch a glimpse of Jess, Dean, Sookie or Jackson until later episodes.

Winter had all the feels. Not going to lie, the funeral scene made me cry. The emotions felt so real, especially since Edward Herrmann passed away. There is no doubt in my mind that Alexis Bledel, Lauren Graham and Kelly Bishop were genuinely experiencing the feelings they were portraying.

Overall, each character in the revival acted in a classic way with a modern addition.

Lorelai’s classic inability to make decisions, addiction to coffee, love of her dog and dose of reality to her crazy town was well felt. Her trip to the woods and disinterest in the town play is so perfectly Lorelai. The best part is we see her growth—she finally commits to Luke.

Rory is as stressed out, dedicated and witty as always. She, however, shows less growth than her mother. She is still hooking up with someone who is in a relationship, and she is still stressed out. That being said, I like that Rory doesn’t have her life together. She always did when she was younger, almost in an annoying way, and her lack of control is an interesting change.

Many other important things happen to the other characters.

Emily shows beautiful growth, wearing jeans (!!!), leaving DAR, moving and more. Luke voices his true opinions to Lorelai. Michel is married to a man we never meet, and his distaste for children continues. Sookie makes a million cakes. Jackson sets crazy bear traps. Kirk gets a pig. Patty and Babette continue to hit on younger men. Logan lives in England and he is engaged to a woman he doesn’t live with. Dean has kids. Jess continues to motivate Rory academically.

I liked the ending. It felt very full circle. The wedding was amazing. The last four words (“Mom? Rory? I’m pregnant.”) were extremely cliffhangerish, but we all can guess. Logan is probably the dad, and since Rory asked her own father how he felt about not raising her, Rory probably intends to raise the baby herself.

Some things I loved:

• Kirk saying “Luke you need to control your woman” and “those aren’t even your bagels” to Lorelai after she throws bagels at Kirk, and Lorelai responds: “I’m buying them new ones”
• The fact that Emily has a whole extended family of her maid living in her house that she did not particularly agree to, because she cannot understand her maid Berta but she ends up okay with everyone inhabiting her house
• Paris quoting Stalin the Chilton Students
• Taylor’s musical and Lorelai’s reaction
• Rory and the Life and Death Brigade’s excursion
• The wedding in the middle of the night
• The many pop culture references and cameos (the guys from the Gilmore Guys podcast, Roy Choi, Rachael Ray, etc)

Some things I did not love:

• The super obvious “oh hey! my dad’s here!” and they flash to Lane’s “dad” who actually never appeared in the original series
• Rory’s distant boyfriend Paul that she forgets she is dating. It was funny at first, but it just becomes annoying. The best part is when he breaks up with her.
• The whole surrogacy discussion between Lorelai and Luke
• The therapist scenes with Lorelai and Emily. They just become irritating and full of way too much fighting

Overall, as you can tell, I loved the show much more than I hated it. We got all of our characters (Lorelai, Rory, Luke, Emily, Sookie, Michel, etc) back acting in their classic manner. We had lots of new things happen, and nothing important was glossed over. I’d love for there to be a second revival or a spinoff series, but I feel whole after my 6 hours of Gilmore Life.