Oy with the poodles, already!
The Sister and I attended a Gilmore Girls viewing party last night where, due to us being in the Eastern timezone and Netflix's servers being Robust, it took us just about three hours to watch the first episode. (Fortunately, there was plenty of conversation for the times we had to wait out buffering/outages. Also snacks, because Gilmore Girls.)
The rest of the party attendees are diurnal, so the party ended at 11:30. As soon as I got home, I finished the marathon on my own, because when it comes to in-demand streaming video events, being nocturnal is useful.
--Overall, it was just really nice to sit down and catch up with so many of these characters. Delightful to see Lorelai and Rory and Luke in their comfortable grooves with each other; to see Lorelai and Emily and Rory and their forever-complicated dynamics; to see Paris being Paris, and Lane being content, and Jess and Dean having matured. It was nice to wander around Stars Hollow again for a while.
--Oh, Emily. She's always handled strong emotions by bottling them up until they started leaking out in strange ways, and her grieving process ran a truly bemusing gamut. I really liked how her letting her constantly-growing live-in staff literally run roughshod all over her property started off as WTF-Emily-Is-Not-Okay and ended as Emily-Has-People-To-Care-For-She's-Going-To-Be-Fine. Also: DOCENT AT THE WHALE MUSEUM. *hands* :D
--I feel like Rory's life experiences through the original series should have made her learn and internalize some lessons that would prevent some of her actions in this miniseries. See: Logan Huntzberger Is Not A Good Life Choice, and Neither Is Adultery.
--LUKE & LORELAI 4EVA. Kirk's whimsy-laden wedding decorating isn't really to my own taste, but it was definitely Lorelai's. That might be the only thing he's ever done completely right.
--I don't think Yanic Truesdale, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop, and David Sutcliffe have aged since this show originally ended. Like, not a DAY.
--I wasn't surprised that Paris and Doyle turned acrimonious. I was surprised that Sookie and Jackson were still together, as the show ruined Jackson when he chose not to get a vasectomy despite Sookie's wishes and DIDN'T TELL SOOKIE, and I'd sincerely hoped she'd left him.
--What the heck was 'Summer'.
(I know what the heck 'Summer' was. 'Summer' was a Daniel Palladino joint through and through. Whenever I rewatch this show, I find myself with less and less patience for most of DP's eps: he loves Townies Antics, which aren't bad in and of themselves, but which require careful deployment so they don't upstage the show's emotional reality; when they take centre stage in an ep, they grate. And in 'Summer', they took centre stage really literally. I liked the idea of the Stars Hollow musical being Taylor-fied--and the opening scene/number was PRETTY GREAT--but then the joke just got drilled into the ground. And having Lorelai be the ONLY person who saw the show's terribleness for what it was defied logic, even this show's wacky brand of it. Ugh. And on a completely different note: the whole bit of Rory and Lorelai enslaving two neighbourhood children: WHY.)
--That final shot of him after Rory left his office really hammered home The Tragedy of Christopher, huh. The whole scene was designed to drive home his weaknesses as a person: I found it particularly...not satisfying, but correct...that, when Rory asked what he felt about not having been there to help raise her, he didn't ever actually answer that question, instead hiding behind half-assed answers to the different question of WHY he hadn't been there. Also, that those half-assed answers to the question Rory didn't ask almost all put the responsibility for Christopher not having been there on Lorelai.
Like. You kinda feel bad for him, that he's never been strong enough to really go after the things he wants in life, and that he's ended up exactly where he never wanted to be. But then, also, you really don't feel bad for him at all, because his unhappiness is almost entirely of his own making.
--Guest appearances I was happy to see that most of fandom does not care for: Jason Stiles and Finn. I LOVED Digger, okay? Not as Lorelai's Forever Love, obviously, because Luke. But Jason was my favourite of Lorelai's placeholders, the only one--save Christopher, who was problematic otherwise--who could match her in screwball banter. And Finn has just always delighted me.
--Wasn't Michelle Obama supposed to be in here somewhere?
--Who's surprised that those were the last four words? Anybody?
This content is also available at http://serrico.dreamwidth.org/877306.html. Comment here or there, whichever you prefer. (Over there, there are
comments.)
The rest of the party attendees are diurnal, so the party ended at 11:30. As soon as I got home, I finished the marathon on my own, because when it comes to in-demand streaming video events, being nocturnal is useful.
--Overall, it was just really nice to sit down and catch up with so many of these characters. Delightful to see Lorelai and Rory and Luke in their comfortable grooves with each other; to see Lorelai and Emily and Rory and their forever-complicated dynamics; to see Paris being Paris, and Lane being content, and Jess and Dean having matured. It was nice to wander around Stars Hollow again for a while.
--Oh, Emily. She's always handled strong emotions by bottling them up until they started leaking out in strange ways, and her grieving process ran a truly bemusing gamut. I really liked how her letting her constantly-growing live-in staff literally run roughshod all over her property started off as WTF-Emily-Is-Not-Okay and ended as Emily-Has-People-To-Care-For-She's-Going-To-Be-Fine. Also: DOCENT AT THE WHALE MUSEUM. *hands* :D
--I feel like Rory's life experiences through the original series should have made her learn and internalize some lessons that would prevent some of her actions in this miniseries. See: Logan Huntzberger Is Not A Good Life Choice, and Neither Is Adultery.
--LUKE & LORELAI 4EVA. Kirk's whimsy-laden wedding decorating isn't really to my own taste, but it was definitely Lorelai's. That might be the only thing he's ever done completely right.
--I don't think Yanic Truesdale, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop, and David Sutcliffe have aged since this show originally ended. Like, not a DAY.
--I wasn't surprised that Paris and Doyle turned acrimonious. I was surprised that Sookie and Jackson were still together, as the show ruined Jackson when he chose not to get a vasectomy despite Sookie's wishes and DIDN'T TELL SOOKIE, and I'd sincerely hoped she'd left him.
--What the heck was 'Summer'.
(I know what the heck 'Summer' was. 'Summer' was a Daniel Palladino joint through and through. Whenever I rewatch this show, I find myself with less and less patience for most of DP's eps: he loves Townies Antics, which aren't bad in and of themselves, but which require careful deployment so they don't upstage the show's emotional reality; when they take centre stage in an ep, they grate. And in 'Summer', they took centre stage really literally. I liked the idea of the Stars Hollow musical being Taylor-fied--and the opening scene/number was PRETTY GREAT--but then the joke just got drilled into the ground. And having Lorelai be the ONLY person who saw the show's terribleness for what it was defied logic, even this show's wacky brand of it. Ugh. And on a completely different note: the whole bit of Rory and Lorelai enslaving two neighbourhood children: WHY.)
--That final shot of him after Rory left his office really hammered home The Tragedy of Christopher, huh. The whole scene was designed to drive home his weaknesses as a person: I found it particularly...not satisfying, but correct...that, when Rory asked what he felt about not having been there to help raise her, he didn't ever actually answer that question, instead hiding behind half-assed answers to the different question of WHY he hadn't been there. Also, that those half-assed answers to the question Rory didn't ask almost all put the responsibility for Christopher not having been there on Lorelai.
Like. You kinda feel bad for him, that he's never been strong enough to really go after the things he wants in life, and that he's ended up exactly where he never wanted to be. But then, also, you really don't feel bad for him at all, because his unhappiness is almost entirely of his own making.
--Guest appearances I was happy to see that most of fandom does not care for: Jason Stiles and Finn. I LOVED Digger, okay? Not as Lorelai's Forever Love, obviously, because Luke. But Jason was my favourite of Lorelai's placeholders, the only one--save Christopher, who was problematic otherwise--who could match her in screwball banter. And Finn has just always delighted me.
--Wasn't Michelle Obama supposed to be in here somewhere?
--Who's surprised that those were the last four words? Anybody?
This content is also available at http://serrico.dreamwidth.org/877306.html. Comment here or there, whichever you prefer. (Over there, there are
comments.)