My random notes on Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
I have finally caught up to the rest of the Netflixing world and watched “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.” I give it a B on the whole. It rarely hit the perfection of the best Gilmore Girls episodes of the past, and often felt aimless (much like its characters’ lives right now), but it had its thoroughly charming moments and ended strong. Well, ended on a cliffhanger, of course, but…we were warned.
Below, my notes in order, jotted down as I watched. SPOILERS, obvsly.
Finally, confirmation that Michel is gay!
And attempted but failed confirmation that Taylor might be as well. (Maybe we’ll never know, but at least that moment at the town meeting was funny.)
Damn, Paris, looking good. And I’m glad she’s putting that medical degree to amusing use.
LOL at her lecturing “Kill or be killed” at the new Chilton students.
Rory looks even more stunning than ever; Alexis has barely aged. And I feel like Alexis’ acting skills have improved since the old days too. She wasn’t bad before, just seemed to hold back from really getting into it a lot of the time. She comes across more natural now. So it’s too bad they rewarded her by giving her (and the rest of us) a Rory who has decidedly not lived up to her potential.
I mean, having lunch with River Song and sex with Logan whenever she’s in London isn’t a bad arrangement, although I predict all kinds of reproach coming down on her from viewers for being a cheater (both on her boyfriend and Logan’s fiancée, no less). (Oh, and then with the Wookiee guy.) Let me tell you how I know about the way people treat cheaters in fiction. Also, her job situation: okay, it’s true, plenty of people with stellar resumes can’t easily find work in what they studied. But she’s almost acting like she doesn’t even know how to look for work, or how to act at an interview, or how to network efficiently, which is hard to believe about our savvy Rory.
Still: great performance, Alexis!
Richard’s funeral: tears! And yeah, Lorelai, you screwed that one up. I would like to see Lorelai having grown up a bit more than this by now.
Oh good, Lane’s band still has Sebastian Bach in it! Though I see they’re also still practicing in the living room, so, perhaps they’re not hitting it too big yet. :)
Miss Patty’s in good shape, but I miss her big hair. She’s just not the same without the big hair.
Kirk is making a surprisingly handsome silver fox. Even if he’s still insane. Cute pig, though.
Paul the forgettable boyfriend being forgettable is kind of funny at first, but strains credibility as a running gag.
Terrible Stars Hollow musical is terrible. Now we’re in Waiting for Guffman, I guess? No really, it’s way too much like Waiting for Guffman. Lorelei is right about how much it sucks, which is good, because there’s been almost nothing else she’s getting right so far in these episodes. I say again, I would like to have seen her being a little more mature by now. And she’s going to fix it by…hiking the Pacific Crest Trail? Which is fairly far out of character? And which isn’t even original, it’s just a trend because of ‘Wild’? Hmm.
And, similarly, this isn’t any flaw in Lauren Graham’s performance-she’s still great. My quibble is in how they wrote the character and the plot. Not being sure what to do with your life doesn’t exactly qualify as a riveting central plot.
Thank God Jess walked in when he did and brightened things back up. He is looking sex-eh, and I laughed when he threw Luke’s ball cap across the street, casually and in the background. But he’s so cute, checking up on Luke, making sure he’s okay.
I love what the Life and Death Brigade is wearing in their surprise date with Rory. I especially want a long striped coat like Finn’s got there. And I like that Finn got to be the Scarecrow in the (otherwise random) Wizard of Oz style goodbyes.
Lorelei’s Wild experience does feel fairly pointless. But her phone call to Emily with the proper memory of Richard was super touching, so at least they got that right.
Scott Patterson NAILED his “you can’t leave me” speech. So many hearts for Luke.
So Rory’s writing “Gilmore Girls.” That’s a little too meta, perhaps, but I suppose I also kind of like it.
They’re enjoying airing on Netflix rather than the WB so as to allow Emily to swear. I’m enjoying that too, I admit.
As the finale wraps up I find myself getting into the “Aww” reactions more:
Aww, Jess. You are NOT long over it. I think they’re slanting things pretty clearly toward Team Jess, people. I mean, Dean’s got like eighteen children and another on the way (and got the shortest cameo in history, though Sookie’s was a contender), and Logan and Rory performed that very official (and touching) goodbye, and Paul is out, so, yep, that leaves Jess.
Aaaaand I hope he doesn’t mind raising what’s most likely Logan’s child (but I guess could be Paul’s, or a Wookiee cosplayer’s). (I totally predicted the last four words, btw. In my head. Well, I had it as “I’m having a baby,” rather than “Mom?” “Yeah?” “I’m pregnant,” because in my mind only the last TWO of those are the important thing and people really should’ve been saying “You’ll never believe the last two words!” not “the last four words.” But anyway, I figured the substance of the message would be that.) Like mother, like daughter…or something? At least Rory’s not a teenager anymore.
Back to the aww’s:
Aww, Emily’s new life is turning out much more attractive than her old stuffy life. Go Emily! While still honoring Richard of course.
Aww, Kirk did perfect decorations. We knew he would.
Aww, wedding!
To wrap things up: finally, and most importantly, no it is NOT possible to eat like Rory and Lorelei do, habitually over the course of decades, and to continue to look as fit and radiant as them. It’s doing a disservice to the health of the world to pretend it is. You can bet Alexis and Lauren do not eat like that. Put down the donuts. And keep your fingers crossed for another season.
Below, my notes in order, jotted down as I watched. SPOILERS, obvsly.
Finally, confirmation that Michel is gay!
And attempted but failed confirmation that Taylor might be as well. (Maybe we’ll never know, but at least that moment at the town meeting was funny.)
Damn, Paris, looking good. And I’m glad she’s putting that medical degree to amusing use.
LOL at her lecturing “Kill or be killed” at the new Chilton students.
Rory looks even more stunning than ever; Alexis has barely aged. And I feel like Alexis’ acting skills have improved since the old days too. She wasn’t bad before, just seemed to hold back from really getting into it a lot of the time. She comes across more natural now. So it’s too bad they rewarded her by giving her (and the rest of us) a Rory who has decidedly not lived up to her potential.
I mean, having lunch with River Song and sex with Logan whenever she’s in London isn’t a bad arrangement, although I predict all kinds of reproach coming down on her from viewers for being a cheater (both on her boyfriend and Logan’s fiancée, no less). (Oh, and then with the Wookiee guy.) Let me tell you how I know about the way people treat cheaters in fiction. Also, her job situation: okay, it’s true, plenty of people with stellar resumes can’t easily find work in what they studied. But she’s almost acting like she doesn’t even know how to look for work, or how to act at an interview, or how to network efficiently, which is hard to believe about our savvy Rory.
Still: great performance, Alexis!
Richard’s funeral: tears! And yeah, Lorelai, you screwed that one up. I would like to see Lorelai having grown up a bit more than this by now.
Oh good, Lane’s band still has Sebastian Bach in it! Though I see they’re also still practicing in the living room, so, perhaps they’re not hitting it too big yet. :)
Miss Patty’s in good shape, but I miss her big hair. She’s just not the same without the big hair.
Kirk is making a surprisingly handsome silver fox. Even if he’s still insane. Cute pig, though.
Paul the forgettable boyfriend being forgettable is kind of funny at first, but strains credibility as a running gag.
Terrible Stars Hollow musical is terrible. Now we’re in Waiting for Guffman, I guess? No really, it’s way too much like Waiting for Guffman. Lorelei is right about how much it sucks, which is good, because there’s been almost nothing else she’s getting right so far in these episodes. I say again, I would like to have seen her being a little more mature by now. And she’s going to fix it by…hiking the Pacific Crest Trail? Which is fairly far out of character? And which isn’t even original, it’s just a trend because of ‘Wild’? Hmm.
And, similarly, this isn’t any flaw in Lauren Graham’s performance-she’s still great. My quibble is in how they wrote the character and the plot. Not being sure what to do with your life doesn’t exactly qualify as a riveting central plot.
Thank God Jess walked in when he did and brightened things back up. He is looking sex-eh, and I laughed when he threw Luke’s ball cap across the street, casually and in the background. But he’s so cute, checking up on Luke, making sure he’s okay.
I love what the Life and Death Brigade is wearing in their surprise date with Rory. I especially want a long striped coat like Finn’s got there. And I like that Finn got to be the Scarecrow in the (otherwise random) Wizard of Oz style goodbyes.
Lorelei’s Wild experience does feel fairly pointless. But her phone call to Emily with the proper memory of Richard was super touching, so at least they got that right.
Scott Patterson NAILED his “you can’t leave me” speech. So many hearts for Luke.
So Rory’s writing “Gilmore Girls.” That’s a little too meta, perhaps, but I suppose I also kind of like it.
They’re enjoying airing on Netflix rather than the WB so as to allow Emily to swear. I’m enjoying that too, I admit.
As the finale wraps up I find myself getting into the “Aww” reactions more:
Aww, Jess. You are NOT long over it. I think they’re slanting things pretty clearly toward Team Jess, people. I mean, Dean’s got like eighteen children and another on the way (and got the shortest cameo in history, though Sookie’s was a contender), and Logan and Rory performed that very official (and touching) goodbye, and Paul is out, so, yep, that leaves Jess.
Aaaaand I hope he doesn’t mind raising what’s most likely Logan’s child (but I guess could be Paul’s, or a Wookiee cosplayer’s). (I totally predicted the last four words, btw. In my head. Well, I had it as “I’m having a baby,” rather than “Mom?” “Yeah?” “I’m pregnant,” because in my mind only the last TWO of those are the important thing and people really should’ve been saying “You’ll never believe the last two words!” not “the last four words.” But anyway, I figured the substance of the message would be that.) Like mother, like daughter…or something? At least Rory’s not a teenager anymore.
Back to the aww’s:
Aww, Emily’s new life is turning out much more attractive than her old stuffy life. Go Emily! While still honoring Richard of course.
Aww, Kirk did perfect decorations. We knew he would.
Aww, wedding!
To wrap things up: finally, and most importantly, no it is NOT possible to eat like Rory and Lorelei do, habitually over the course of decades, and to continue to look as fit and radiant as them. It’s doing a disservice to the health of the world to pretend it is. You can bet Alexis and Lauren do not eat like that. Put down the donuts. And keep your fingers crossed for another season.