I continue to not understand the concept of time, because apparently not only is it technically fall (the overwhelming abundance of pumpkin spice items everywhere I look has told me that), but it’s time for the Emmy Awards once again.
We of course have favorites going into the ceremony (This Is Us, Handmaid’s Tale, Atlanta, etc.), but what about all the standout performances by actors who have kicked ass this past season and didn’t get the recognition they deserved at the actual Emmys? Well we’re here to give them said recognition, and praise them for the excellent work that is just really super specific to their particular craft.
“Best Drama” is so overrated.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Scene Where She Helps Deliver a Baby She Also Gives Birth To
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
EMMY WINNER TATIANA MASLANY. That’s all. That’s the only thing I’ve called the Orphan Black star ever since she finally last year. If you even only seen one episode of the show, you know it’s totally deserved, but anytime there’s an intense scene between another clone, it still blows my mind. Even til the end. Our beloved Helena finally gave birth to her babies, but because this is OB world, it wasn’t in a hospital, but rather in a dirty basement with limited tools and a crazy person wanting the newborns as a scientific case study. But in the end, it was sestra and sestra, Tat and Tat, facing each other and encouraging the other they have the willpower to deliver these miracle babies. I think the show ended perfectly, but it still won’t make me miss scenes like this on a weekly basis.
Best Rap In Response To Being Unfriended on Facebook
Have you been saved by Insecure yet? I was recently converted to this religious sect and I’m here to spread the gospel (read the holy book here). The second season of the totally snubbed Emmy show just ended last week, and it just kept getting better and better. On the second to last episode of season 2, Issa finds out her ex unfriended her on Facebook, and she went into one of her classic bathroom mirror rants. Except this one was no holds barred. Freaking amazing.
Outstanding Performance by a Female BFF Who Gives It To Ya Straight
Speaking of Insecure, Issa’s BFFs in the show are all individually fantastic, but I have not laughed out loud more to the lines perfectly executed by Natasha Rothwell, who plays Kelli. She’s sassy, unapologetic, loyal, and keeps her friends in line. What more could you ask for?
Best Devastating Cry After Finding Out Horrible News
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
I watched this video clip again on mute and I still started crying. Give Gina Rodriguez an Emmy already. She need something to keep her Golden Globe company.
As Gilmore Girls fans, we’re used to mile-a-minute pop culture references. But Difficult People is next level. Within just 10 minutes, you’ll not only be hit by 8 different celeb names, but really super specific references that only true pop culture/entertainment fans will get.
Best Fake TV Show on a Real TV Show
“Defamation”, Dear White People
Guys, we love us some Scandal, but it obviously can get a little ridiculous. And that’s what Dear White People parodied with it’s show within a show, Defamation. Like many fans of Scandal, the students at Winchester University had a weekly viewing party for Defamation, which in its very short clip had a woman having a secret affair with a politician. Sound familiar? It’s incredible.
Very close runner-up (might have been the winner but I had two Insecure winners already): Due North, Insecure. Includes Scandal star Scott Foley, Regina Hall, Christopher from Gilmore Girls, and slavery.
Best Performance By An Actor Who Deserved More Than His Character Got
Outstanding Performance by an Actor Who Did His Best Work Ever on the Revival Of A Beloved Series
Scott Patterson, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
Unfortunately, Lauren Graham still didn’t get an Emmy nomination/win as Lorelai Gilmore (add that to the list of your Steve Carell/Michael Scotts and Amy Poehler/Leslie Knopes of the world), but I feel like she has a better chance at getting nominated/winning one in the future than Scott Patterson does. Look, I’m a hardcore GG fan, but I understand that one of the biggest things Scott has done since GG ended in 2007 was a Lifetime movie. But he’s the perfect Luke Danes. And never has he been more perfect than in this classic Luke Danes rant in the Fall episode of AYITL, when he finally tells Lorelai what he should’ve told her 10 years ago. That he’s not letting her go and willing to do anything to fix their relationship. It’s the best I’ve ever seen Scott Patterson, and he admittedly agrees that it’s also one of his favorite scenes/best work he’s done in the show.
Best Barb
Shannon Purser, Barb, Stranger Things
Shannon Purser did a perfectly good job in a perfectly fine role. It’s just that there was nothing terribly Emmy-worthy in Barb, no matter WHO played her. This nomination came about not because the role was incredible, but because people just … liked Barb. And they wanted her to have a nice thing. It feels like the time Uncle Jesse’s Forever was voted the prom song in my high school, c. 2001. The point is, we should free up a space in the already tight Best Supporting Actress category and make a special category for the Barbs of the TV world. Next year, whichever minor TV character is the Barb of that year can win, but the category would still be Best Barb.
Best Early Plot Twist
This Is Us
In case you missed it, the pilot of This Is Us centered on four people who share the same birthday: actor Kevin, family/ business man Randall, supporting-character-in-her-own-life Kate and expecting father Jack. During the last moments of the pilot, you come to realize that Jack’s storyline takes place in the late 1970s and that he is the father of Kate, Kevin and Randall – and that Randall was adopted after Kate and Kevin’s triplet died as a newborn. Phew. It was gorgeous and we owe it all to hipsters, whose aesthetic is so ‘working class couple in 1978’ that I never even questioned what year Jack and Rebecca lived in.
Best Late Plot Twist
The Good Place
Like the early-in-the-game plot twist, a later plot twist has its own perils – in this case, it’s that everything that happened before it has to make sense in light of what you’ve just learned. You spend all of The Good Place thinking that Ted Danson’s character did a piss-poor job of designing a corner of heaven, only to learn in the season finale that he did a brilliant job designing his characters’ personal hell. In a moment, it all made sense – how these seemingly cruddy people landed in heaven, how unrewarding the eternal reward was, the constant calamity. We fell in love with Ted Danson during our Cheers watch last year, and that love only deepened when he let out that sinister laugh and his very persona shifted before our eyes.
Best Denouement
Big Little Lies
Do you remember back to elementary or high school when you would diagram a story? Rising Action, Climax, Denouement, Conclusion? In Big Little Lies, you knew it was all leading up to the fundraiser night at the school, when somebody-we-know would get killed by somebody-else-we-know. The climactic scene on the slippery steps was fantastic. But that’s the point where lesser shows would give up. Without saying too much, Big Little Lies resolved itself beautifully, culminating in that heart-twisting scene on the beach when you finally exhale – and you didn’t even realize you had been holding your breath until that moment.
Best Political Commentary By Somebody Who Shouldn’t Have To Be Doing This
Seth Meyers, Late Night With Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers shouldn’t have to do this, but it’s 2018 and here we all are, getting schooled on our crumbling world by gently witty late-night comics.
Best Multi-Dimensional TV Mom (Comedy)
Constance Wu, Jessica, Fresh Off The Boat
Emmy voters love nominating moms, especially in the Best Actress In A Comedy category. They don’t especially love nominating multi-dimensional TV moms, though. Or maybe writers just don’t like writing them? Anyway, as a special incentive to show runners who love to flatline mom characters we’re including this special, moms-only category. This year the witty, salty mom-of-the-90s – who totally has her own interests and also a favorite kid – takes the prize. Constance Wu, we love you.
Best Integrated Musical Performance That’s Not Supposed To Be Impressive
“Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” Mr. Robot
It sounds really specific but it’s honestly not. This is a musical performance that is (1) part of a show and (2) not meant as a spectacle, a la Nashville or Empire. The winner is the one that furthers the action, touches viewers, or gives you deeper insight into the character. This year, it was Angela singing Everybody Wants To Rule The World in that karaoke scene on Mr. Robot. It’s like you can see and hear all of Angela’s conflicts in these few minutes – is she being true to herself, and her principles, and is the payoff even worth it, and does she want power for a purpose, or just to have it? – and it’s a beautifully cut scene to boot.
Welcome to our annual Social Security Baby Names post! It’s finally the time of year when we learn the legitimate, officially-compiled United States name statistics for the previous year. Potential parents, name-changers or pet owners, take note. If you want to know whether the name you love is obscure or top-of-the-charts, skyrocketing or plummeting in popularity, unisex or gender-specific, these are the stats you’ll need, and they’re all available online thanks to the Social Security Administration.
For the past several years, we’ve operated off of the same premise: there are no bad names (pretty much!), just perfectly nice names that your child may arbitrarily decide to hate once they’re 13 years old or so. For the 2013 stats, we told you why your kids would hate their most popular names of the year by 2026. In 2014 and 2015, we turned our attention to the fastest rising names which – sorry! – plenty of kids will decide to dislike for no reason at all around middle school. It felt like time to switch things up, so this year we’ll talk about why the fastest-falling names of 2016 will earn your tween’s ire at the end of the roaring 2020s. I probably don’t have to tell you, but these reasons are completely silly and made-up: all of these names are fine and any kid should wear them well.
Girls
5. Neriah
Change in popularity: down 344 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: On the negative side, your little Neriah – melodic, easy-to-pronounce yet still uncommon Neriah – will read the Bible and learn that Neriah was a boy. On the positive side, if you chose Neriah because it’s a Biblical name… at least Neriah’s reading the Bible?
4. Kaitlynn
Change in popularity: down 381 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: Wishes you’d spelled it Katelynn.
3. Katelynn
Change in popularity: down 402 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: Wishes you’d spelled it Kaitlyn.
2. Caitlyn
Change in popularity: Down 462 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: There are too many ways to spell Caitlyn.
Oh, plus after the Revolution Of 2021, Caitlyn Jenner is somehow the President Of The United States and she’s not doing a great job. Not the WORST job, but that won’t be saying much in 2029.
1. Caitlin
Change in popularity: Down 542 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: A Caitlin by any other spelling (and boy, are there SPELLINGS) is still a Caitlin… unless you’re a traditionalist who prefers the Irish pronunciation instead of the Americanized “kate + lin” pronunciation, which for some reason your Caitlin is. Substitute teachers are a nightmare.
Boys
5. Yaakov
Change in popularity: Down 213 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: I can’t think of a single reason Yaakov would be declining… traditional Hebrew name, lots of great namesakes, no bad pop culture references. All that makes me think that there must be some really annoying Yaakov out there whom a lot of people know. Once Bad Yaakov comes to your town, your little Yaakov will resent his name forever.
4. Freddy
Change in popularity: Down 222 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: This one pains me, as Fred and Freddy (as nicknames for Frederick, Alfred or Wilfred) have always been favorites of mine. But if you have a 9-year-old boy you see the problem here: the rapid rise of Five Nights Of Freddy, a weird, violent video game that for some reason all of the kids I know, who don’t actually play it, know everything about. Once your Freddy sees the game and has nightmares for months, it’s all over.
3. Triston
Change in popularity: Down 230 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: In the Gilmore Girls fandom, there’s Team Jess and Team Dean, but there’s a smaller, waspier team: Team Tristan. Your Triston is NOT on it.
2. Aaden
Change in popularity: Down 239 places
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: Thanks to the many spellings of Aidan, there are a few others on your Aaden’s baseball team. No big deal! Except his coach insists on setting him apart by pronouncing it AAAAAHHHH-den. You did not have that pronunciation in mind.
1. Jonael
Change in popularity: Down 475
Why your kid will hate it in 2029: Jonael was one of the fastest RISING names just a year ago. Your astute Jonael realizes that this will date-stamp him to a particular birth year, and he’s anticipating that when he’s middle aged everyone will realize precisely how old he is. He’s an old soul, your Jonael.
“I guess so.”Those are the final three words Gilmore Girls fans had to live with for nearly 10 years when the original series came to a close on May 15th, 2007. Not really satisfying when you know that wasn’t how the show was suppose to end.
Who would’ve thought that nearly a decade later, we’d get a re-do. That Amy Sherman-Palladino would be able to write the finale she wanted to and finally reveal the final four words (as controversial as it was) she had been keeping secret for years.
So today, let’s look back at the finale that aired 10 years ago with this laterblog of our thoughts, feelings, and emotions (ALL the emotions), and revisit the finale like omniscient time travelers from the future.
*Ed. Note: We published this laterblog back in 2015, when we were prepping to go to the Gilmore Girls reunion at the ATX TV Festival in Austin – PRE-Revival news. Little did we know what lay ahead of us. Enjoy!
{Originally posted June 5, 2015)
It’s Friday, and you know what they say, “Friday night’s alright for fighting, get a little action in.” While we won’t be serving up any punches or dinners for that matter, we’re ending Gilmore Girls Week with the memorable, controversial, semi open-ended ending to the series – the finale.
We’ve done a number of live blogs in the past, but since we’re watching and recapping it almost exactly eight years later (give or take a month), it’s a laterblog of sorts. However, tomorrow what WILL be live is our reports from the #ATXFestival, where the gang is reuniting. Will there be talk of a real reunion? What does Scott Patterson look like now and IRL? And will Amy Sherman-Palladino ever reveal the final lines she planned for the show?
As this post goes live, we’re already in the thick of it, so follow us this weekend on Twitter & Facebook (links on the right) with the hashtag #CAndSTakeATX for Gilmore goodness and all things television! Now, let’s revisit the final episode of Gilmore Girls and grab the tissues, because we’re highly emotional people.
Traci: I’d like to preface this by saying like Friends, I have only seen the Gilmore Girls finale a very few number of times, as opposed to the countless times I’ve seen every single other episode. I usually stop my chronological viewings on the second to last episode, partly because I can’t handle my emotions, and partly because it gets me all riled up and frustrated that they had to end the entire series that way. But we’ll get to that part later.
In 2007, I made a date with my friend Caitlin to watch the finale together. We both love the show – one of our initial bonding moments in college was when we were studying abroad and us and our friends would get together to illegally watch new episodes of GG on my computer since we couldn’t get it in the Netherlands, obviously. We are both emotional people, so we couldn’t be with anyone else except each other. I went over to her house and I remember it going by so quickly, us both crying and snotting towards the end, and like that, it was all over. I’ve seen it maybe three – four, now – times since. Here we go.
Molly: I just got swallowed up into a flashback of trying to watch tv during study abroad. I had a homestay … and their apartment didn’t have internet. Anyway, it was a really good season of Mira Quien Baile that year. I think there were episodes of Gilmore Girls from that period that I didn’t see until I started rewatching it before ATX. Of course, we studied abroad during season 6, so no great loss there. I’ve only seen the finale once, and my recollections are hazy at best.
T: The coup of getting Christiane Amanpour, Rory’s idol since season one, is absolutely one of the most brilliant cameo castings to ever happen on television. Now that I’m thinking about it, it was probably a sign from the writers that Rory’s story – in this part of her life at least – is done being told. She’s ready to go work and be on her own, without being close enough to Lorelai to drive home to her in an hour. Christiane is a symbol of what Rory could be in the future, and she’s propelling her towards the right direction.
M: It’s really easy to read the Christiane Amanpour appearance as stunt casting, but Traci nailed it. From season one we’ve seen Rory pursue the life she wanted, getting sidetracked during some of those weird years (YACHT HEIST WTF), and this just shows she’s making it to where she wanted to be.
Possibly the most awkward picture taken of all time
T: Lorelai gets weird around celebrities like “Jane Pauley, Harry Belafonte and Marisa Tomei” – why are all these people visiting Stars Hollow??
M: It’s like in Full House where like of COURSE Little Richard and the Beach Boys want to hang out with the Tanners. But if Norman Mailer is to be believed, the Dragonfly is a great place to sit around during lunch hours.
T: The Stars Hollow High School band is playing Pomp and Circumstance at the Rory’s Graduation Reenactment Ceremony. I’ve always said this – the town puts Rory on a pedestal, and it’s borderline creepy, even though you know they’re coming from a place of love.
Rory Gilmore: Ice Cream Queen
M: That’s true, and it makes me love early seasons Rory for not being a bratty teen when she has everyone fawning over her all the time. In real life, even those of us who were AP/Honors/community service/ extracurricular-type teens barely got more than an “eh, you’re sufficient.” I think I like Stars Hollow better. [Of course, this also makes me sort of dislike Logan-era Rory for turning into a cruddy rich kid.]
2002-era Rory would never have had a Birkin Bag plot device.
T: “Once a screamer also a screamer.” No context for you.
M: I’m actually only on late season 6 in my rewatch, so skipping ahead a bit, but they definitely changed Caesars somewhere, right?
T: I just really love the fact Luke has a sister. And I love that she’s weird. With Luke’s parents gone and him just being an all-around grump, the one person he always has unconditional love for is his sister, even if TJ is being, well, TJ.
M: Do the very wealthy really still dress up for dinner at their own houses, Downton Abbey-style, like Richard and Emily do?
T: I can see rich East Coasters living in like, Brownstones in the Upper East Side doing this.
Normal, casual, Friday night dinner
T: Edward Hermann 😦 So sad every time I see him on the show. Fact: I went to a play he was in in Boston just because he was in it, NOT because I was interested in the history of Aristotle (or whatever it was about).
M: For some reason I thought his character was older, and when Edward Hermann died I couldn’t believe he was only in his early 70s. Too young.
T: I’M JUST SO PROUD RORY GOT A JOB WITH THE FUTURE PRESIDENT
Rory Gilmore – still on the road with Barack Obama in 2012
M: Remember how buzz-y Barack Obama was a this time? It’s kind of like our Gilmore Girls playlist where you have to put yourself back in that time – we’d had 8 years of the same president and it sounds hokey, but we really all were looking for ~hope and change. Also I never saw those 2012 pics and that’s adorable!
T: Reminder this also happened season five:
T: AND CUE TEARS NUMBER ONE:
Emily: “So this is it – we won’t see you again for who knows how long?”
Lorelai: “After dinner drinks for sure”
Richard: “Here, Here.”
T: Everyone being upset about Rory’s reenactment party being cancelled is another Rory Pedestal example. They must have other people graduating this year??
M: Granted she’s not graduating this year, but I always wondered why the town didn’t make a bigger deal about Lane. She was also an exemplary teen/young adult with a single mom. Wait. Do we know anything about Lane’s dad? Or did Mrs. Kim just find her in a basket at a tent revival?
T: They reference Mr. Kim a few times in the early seasons, but falls into the category of folks like Al of Al’s Pancake World and East Side Tilly of Characters Who Are Often Mentioned But Never Show Their Faces
M: Got it, so he’s like the Cathy Santoni of Stars Hollow. Or Cousin Tino.
T: TEARS NUMBER TWO *more of a fangirl flailing and tear up*:
LUKE IS GOING TO SOOKIE TO SECRETLY PLAN THE PARTY ANYWAYS
#LUKEDANESDREAMMAN
T: Ok so the town secretly coming together is sweet and not pedestal-y, since they’re doing it because they actually care a lot about Rory and Lorelai. Clearly at this point, they’re doing it out of love. And that makes my emoji face all heart eyed.
M: I love that Luke brought Sookie in on it. I loved Sookie throughout the show, and now it’s kind of crazy to think we had this future star playing this great secondary character for 7 years.
T: Taylor really hates mylar balloons – noted.
M: Speaking of which, at what point did grocery stores stop selling mylar balloons at the register? And wasn’t it really expensive to keep them all inflated all the time?
T: THIS IS IMPORTANT. I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M JUST REALIZING THIS NOW!!! I just had a flashback to my local Wegmans (Look it up, everyone west of like, Ohio).
tiny mylar balloons in the back
T: I really wish I could make a gif of Luke and co. bringing all the grills and items to set up for the party, then spot Lor and Rory, then run away silently. There are people carrying a table and running.
M: I wish I paid closer attention to the townspeople extras throughout the series. Did they reuse a lot of people? On a less heartwarming note, I hate when Jackson breaks out his Osh Kosh B’gosh. He’s also wearing some sort of a Little Rascals type cap.
NAGL unless you’re playing Shirley Temple’s boyfriend or something.
T: I think maybe? But also I don’t think I pay too much attention either. The only person I’ve noticed is the Asian guy.
T: DAVE RYGALSKI NAME DROP
T: TEARS NUMBER THREE:
RORY SAYING GOODBYE TO LANE
I’m so glad Rory and Lane got to have this scene together, especially since in the later seasons, it’s been more focused on Rory and Paris being best friends, since Lane had her own life going on.
M: During the initial Dean vs Jess debate – before it became clear that Dean was just a breathing trash-factory – my bias was always Team Just Hang Out With Lane, You’re 16. Seriously. 30-year-old 2015 Rory is definitely still friends with Lane, and doesn’t even have Dean’s number listed as Dean DontAnswer in her phone anymore. Do you guys do that? Use the surname DontAnswer to remind yourselves not to talk to some people if they call? That was MADE for people like Dean.
T: TEARS NUMBER FOUR:
Lorelai: “It’s too soon. If I start to think about you leaving now, I’m gonna fall apart. It’s too soon.”
M: Total throwback to The Lorelais First Day At Yale, when Rory had a week less time than she thought before starting college. Remember that feeling, like no time would have been enough but they just weren’t prepared for it to be THEN?
T: OMG why have I never noticed the random Asian townsperson finally got to say a line?!!? BRAVO.
M: There’s my answer about recurring extras!
T: TEARS NUMBER FIVE:
LORELAI SNEAKING IN WHILE RORY’S SLEEPING TO TUCK HER IN AND SAY A SILENT GOODBYE
It’s weird – we’re at that age now where a lot of our friends are either about to get married, are already married, or are married with kids, and watching this scene, I had more of a sympathy with Lorelai, thinking to myself how hard it must be to say goodbye to your kid – the one you’ve raised for so long, and now you have to finally set them free. Before, I was just thinking how awesome it was that Rory was going to go on the road with Obama for this great job, which makes sense, because this aired towards the end of my junior year of college. Perspective, y’all.
M: Agreed. I had a moment a few years ago when I realized I was closer to Season One Lorelai’s age than Rory’s. Even though we don’t have kids, I think we’ve made that shift from seeing ourselves as kids – where your place in the world is being someone’s kid, right? – to autonomous adults. So now when I watch things from when I was younger, like Gilmore Girls, I relate to the “adults” more than I could before. DAMMIT TRACI. TEARS NUMBER ONE.
T: NOT EVEN SORRY FOR THE TEARS.
T: TEARS NUMBER SIX:
LUKE SEWING ALL THE TARPS TOGETHER TO MAKE A TENT FOR WHEN IT RAINS
apparently someone has the same feelings as me
T: UGH I HAD TO PAUSE THE EP ONCE THEY LOR STARTED DRIVING IN HER JEEP IN THE RAIN BECAUSE I HAD TO BRACE MYSELF FOR WHAT’S COMING.
T: TEARS NUMBER SEVEN (JUST A STEADY STREAM AT THIS POINT, TBH):
HEARING THE CHEERS FROM UNDER THE TENT
ZACH AND JACKSON RUNNING OUT WITH UMBRELLAS TO GET LORELAI AND RORY
THE SCAN ACROSS EVERYONE CHEERING FOR HER LIKE A FINAL GOODBYE TO THE CAST UGHHH HOLD UP WHERE IS MICHEL
EMILY AND RICHARD SHOWING UP – WAIT LUKE HAD TO CALL RICHARD AND EMILY TO INVITE THEM!! JUST REALIZED THIS NOW.
Richard: “I don’t think this is all for Rory. I think this party’s a testament to you, Lorelai, and the home you’ve created here. It takes a *crying rn* a remarkable person to inspire all of this.
Lorelai: Thanks, dad.
TAYLOR: “BIRTH YOU FROM OUR COLLECTIVE WOMB” YOU’VE CROSSED THE LINE, YET AGAIN.
M: I DON’T LOVE TO HATE TAYLOR. I just hate Taylor. Also he said “gestated” and “nourished” and I haaaate hate hate hate both those words.
T: RORY THANKING LORELAI
M: Reminder that I’m a huge cryer: during Rory’s speech all I can think is I wouldn’t be able to do that without sobbing. I’m real fun at weddings, funerals, days when my friends post pictures of their children on instagram, etc.
T: EMILY TRYING TO GET LOR TO KEEP GOING TO FRIDAY NIGHT DINNERS BY BUYING HER A SPA
M: Also there’s my answer on the dress code! “Don’t wear jeans.”
Emily: “It’s an honor to be your grandmother, Rory Gilmore.”
LORELAI PASSING BY KIRK AND TAYLOR AND BABETTE ONE LAST TIME
OBVIOUSLY THIS REUNION KISS
ME:
M: UGH Speaking of Titanic, when Rory walked into the party it was like when Old Rose dies or whatever, and she’s back on the ship being greeted by everyone. Except Rory’s not dead, though she is embarking on life on the political campaign trail, so same dif. For some reason I was really excited to see Gypsy.
T: OKAY BUT FRREAL THE ONE LINE I WILL NEVER FORGET AND IS ETCHED IN MY MEMORY SURROUNDED BY A FLOOD OF TEARS:
T: I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS EPISODE AND THIS SERIES THAT IT’S ACTUALLY WEIGHING DOWN ON MY HEART
M: We’re blogging this in advance because when this post goes out we’ll be at ATX, and maybe we should have waited to watch this together because my dog looks concerned and I don’t think she “gets it.” When I think of finales I’ve gotten emotional about – this one, Parks and Recreation, The Office, Parenthood – they’re all shows about love and about how there’s genuine good in people. IT’S JUST REALLY LIFE AFFIRMING I’M OKAY.
Get ready to add another show to your list in this golden age of television!
If you’re one of those Gilmore Girls fans who also watched Bunheads for Amy Sherman-Palladino’s writing style, and continued to watch despite the fact the show had its flaws, we have a new show for you! OR if you didn’t watch either of those shows and have no idea who Amy Sherman-Palladino is, we have a new show for you! The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel pilot was released on Friday, and transports us back to 1958 in New York City, where a woman (the titular Mrs. Maisel played by Rachel Brosnahan) goes from “uptown housewife to stand-up comic in Greenwich Village.”
Like all Amazon pilots, the company bosses determine which shows they’ll pick up based on what the viewers want. You can currently watch the pilot for free (even without an Amazon Prime subscription), but if you need some convincing (or watched it already and want to relive it), read on to see why you need to add Mrs. Maisel to your queue.
Rachel Brosnahan!
I appreciated her as a prostitute in House of Cards, but TBH when I heard she got cast in this show, I had some hesitation – solely based on her playing Rachel in HoC, which I understand is unreasonable. But boy oh boy did she impress me in Maisel. She completely inhabits Midge Maisel’s New York housewife persona, and I felt like “House of Cards Rachel Brosnahan” and “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Rachel Brosnahan” are two completely different human beings. Her performance is not forced – it’s honest, hilarious, and heartbreaking all at the same time. It’s one of those things where you think, “My god, she’s going to be a star.”
Mrs. Maisel!
The character of Miriam “Midge” Maisel is strong right from the get-go, as we see her giving a toast – more like a stand-up act complete with upright mic – at her wedding reception. She’s a loving and doting wife, but doesn’t let the “Mrs.” in front of her name define her. She has gumption but isn’t overbearing and annoying, and you find yourself rooting for her throughout the entire episode. She’s a character not to be slept on.
Mad Men Fix!
One of the things I loved most about Mad Men was just being in that world of 1960s New York. If you miss having that period piece in your life too, Maisel will definitely feed your addiction. The costumes (more on that next), sets, props, etc. are Matthew Weiner level detailed.
Costumes!
If you were to ask me what decade I’d like to live in, I will one hundred percent say the 1960s. Besides, like, the environment of segregation and racism that I’d have to endure, take me back. The music, the arts, the clothes – oh the clothes. In Maisel, every person on the screen is wearing an outfit that transports you back a few decades, and I am so here for it. And speaking of Mad Men, Midge even rocks a flowing blue nightgown that is v Betty Draper Francis. I loved it.
Cameos!
Amy is like the Christopher Guest or Ryan Murphy of reparatory players. She has an arsenal of actors she likes to work with, and they keep coming back for more. In Maisel, there were two Gilmore Girls alums – Alex Borstein, who played OG Sookie, Drella, and Ms. Celine and Brian Tarantina, who played Bootsy. Plus Bunheads ballerina (and GG: AYITL 30-Something) Bailey DeYoung aka Ginny has a lovely scene with Midge. And also Gilbert Godfried, because, comedy.
Amazon!
I’ve never watched anything on AmazonPrime but if you hover over the screen, it’ll give you a brief IMDb-type breakdown of the cast plus, details of the song that’s playing. Brilliant! Is this something they do all the time?
Music!
One of ASP’s off-screen rep players is musician Sam Phillips, who you know better as the woman who sings all the “La Las” in GG. She serves as Maisel’s music supervisor and while there are thankfully no La Las in this, she did curate an amazing soundtrack which in the pilot alone features ’60s staples Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, and Peggy Lee, among others.
Classic Amy Sherman-Palladino!
ASP’s trademark is her fast-paced dialogue and it does not slow down in the ’60s. If you didn’t like the fact that Lorelai and Rory spoke “too fast” on GG, don’t bother wasting your time on Maisel, because the swift, quirky, borderline over-the-top scripts are back. And with that comes some of Amy’s Palladino-isms, that only a crazy person like me would notice. For instance, characters frequently use sarcasm to get their point across, or use it to hide behind real emotion or confrontation (see: Lorelai/Emily). Then there’s giving inanimate objects names: in Maisel, Midge says Ted the Moth ruined her husband’s sweater, just like Luke kept forgetting Bert the Toolbox and Lorelai’s house.
bye bye bert
In Maisel, there are odd tertiary characters like the one spoken word poet who just kept saying the city “Spokane” over and over again, which is something Kirk would totally do on open mic night. At one point, Midge says the phrase, “Goodnight, Gracie”, which is a) the name of a GG episode S3, E20 “Say Goodnight, Gracie”, b) is an exchange Luke and Lor have and c) all of the above are a ref to a George Burns and Gracie Allen play. Another Palladinoism in both GG and Bunheads are pop culture references up the wahzoo, but luckily, not many pop culture references (besides Ed Sullivan and Bob Newhart) in Maisel. However, there are some questionable lines (“You get chick raped?”).
Then there are character parallels that stood out to me between Maisel and Gilmore, and it’s probably because I know GG so well. To regular viewers, this won’t be a thing. And TBH, it’s not a thing to me either, but I’m just saying I see Richard and Emily in Midge’s parents, Abe and Rose. It’s not as blatant as it was in Bunheads, and I think that’s what makes this show 10xs better than Bunheads both in the pilot and entire series.
All this being said, what I think makes this show different is that this era is the era that ASP was born to write for (or born to live in), and it hits all the right notes the entire episode.
Bottom Line:
Watch this pilot! (and tell Amazon you want it picked up for an entire season). I dare say it’s as strong, if not stronger than the Gilmore Girls pilot. I was impressed with Amy’s next level writing and storytelling, and how she’s managed to create (hopefully) another hit.
Notable Quotes:
“Did we have kids?” Joel inquring about his children’s whereabouts when he comes home after work
“Your daddy is crazy… Now let’s measure your forehead.” Midge
As a lifelong Backstreet Boys fan, I admittedly spent a few years during my teenybopper era celebrating the birth of my favorite member, AJ McLean. One year, my parents even fed into my delusions by purchasing a small cookie cake and we stood around my kitchen table singing happy birthday to him. He was not there.
Is it weird that we celebrate celebrities’ birthdays as if we know them on a personal level? Maybe. Now as an adult, I no longer blow out candles on Wegmans pastries for a stranger I’ve met a few times. When the day comes, it’s become more of an appreciation of those we admire as opposed to a borderline stalker event that could be used against you in a court of law. The idea of fame and celebrity is weird enough, but when you get down to it, you’re attracted to these people in the spotlight because you have similar interests, believe in similar ideals, and hold their professional work in high regard.
So today, on the *second anniversary of her 25th birthday, we’re going to do just that for one of our blog patron saints, Lauren Graham, and note just 50 reasons why she’s worthy of that title (in no particular order). Of course she is known as one of the most iconic TV moms in history, but in addition to her stellar work, we can’t help but gush over someone we admire for who she is as a human being. Happy Birthday, LG. Here’s to another 50.
1) Lauren, a New York Times Best Seller, isn’t just an actress who thinks she can write. She graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.
2) While studying at the selective New York school, she used to sneak on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route the night before and look at all the huge balloons before they were inflated. This is something not only I would weirdly want to see, but apparently, is something her BF Peter Krause did too. Not together. Which is even more of a reason that they’re *~mEaNt 2 B~*
3) And because one degree wasn’t enough, she also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting Performance from Texas’ Southern Methodist University.
4) She and her dad are IRL Lorelai/Rory.
“We had a special kind of friendship: I came along to dinner and dates. He took me to concerts. We’d go on road trips. I didn’t have a strong idea of how to play a mom—my mom was in my life, but not on a daily basis. I came into it without an idea of how moms “should act” or how it “should be.” I came in thinking of my friendship with my dad–that was my model.” {x}
5) Her appearances on talk shows are always entertaining. Exhibit #1: She’s just as awkward as you at parties.
6) She has to deal with people eating her food creations too:
9) She respects the art of letter writing – she used to keep in touch with her TV dad Edward Hermann by writing notes to him. She even read an excerpt of one of their letters during his memorial in early 2015.
10) And listens to her TV mom when it comes to the important stuff (finding love):
Lauren’s POV:
“From the start of the show Kelly named herself my TVM, or TV mom, by which she meant she was taking her character’s role seriously, beyond the pages or sets and out into the real world … In a maternal, protective way, she found most of my boyfriends at the time lacking, and once told me I needed someone who was more my equal, like ‘that wonderful actor on Six Feet Under’.” {x}
Kelly’s POV:
“I was always giving Lauren advice on her love life—from experience to advice to opinion. We had lots of discussions about that… I am so happy (she’s with Peter Krause). She doesn’t remember this, but a long time ago, we were talking about the latest unworthy person. She is a very bright woman, and I always thought the guys she was going out with weren’t smart enough for her because that’s going to bore you after a while! Very quickly, actually. A lot of them weren’t that successful, so that always makes the dynamic really awkward. So we’re talking about her latest problem and the fact that there’s no one out there, and I say, “You know, I’ve been watching this show I love called Six Feet Under, and there’s this guy…” and she says, “I know, Peter Krause.” And I said, “I think you two would make the greatest couple.” She said, “That’s all very nice. We worked together years ago and there was some attraction, but he’s married.” I went, “Oh, OK, that’s it!” All these years go by and I send her a birthday email—”Happy birthday. Love, TV Mom”—and she writes back in March and says, “I didn’t tell you this, but I’ve been seeing Peter Krause since December. We’ve been an item; we’re going together.” I said, “That is so fabulous!” I saw her a couple years ago when she was in New York and reminded her of that conversation and she didn’t remember it. I saw that guy and thought, Wow, he’d be really good with Lauren.” {x}
11) And she’s been able to keep her relationship with PK relatively low over the past seven years.
“I don’t really experience a spotlight. In this case, nobody knew for a while, because we like to be at home, cooking and not going out. I’ve also been really protective of it, because it’s important that you can buy us as brother and sister on the show.” {x}
12) Same goes for the fact she’s not seen out and about in Hollywood 24/7:
“I have the same friends I’ve always had; most of my dear friends are from college [she went to Barnard] or high school. I think with a little bit of effort you can lead a somewhat quiet life in this business. And anyway, I don’t know how interesting people would find it to have the Gilmore girl caught in a brawl. [Laughs.] I’m lying. That would be really cool.”
14) Lauren would’ve been a really good fake talk show host on the pilot that was never picked up, but thank GOD she was able to host for real while stepping in for Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show.
15) Talk Show Exhibit #2
16) Day drinking is acceptable and you can use the excuse of “It’s Christmas!” for it to be totally OK.
“I meet my sister at the hotel restaurant. She’s got to get to an office holiday party, so we quickly share a warm Caesar salad (sounds weird, but it’s good), and a tuna tartare. It’s a little early, but should we have a glass of wine? We decide: Yes! It’s Christmas, after all! Everything is great, and the bill comes to about $1,092. We resolve to meet up later, but decide to branch out and eat somewhere that won’t cost us another Ferrari.” {x}
17) Because she also enjoyed these cameos (#WeLoveYouLaurenComeOnTheShow)
18) She got Amy Sherman-Palladino, and Amy got her back. That’s what made GG magic.
Lauren on Amy: “Reading through the script] felt like two things: One, the idea of someone else doing it made me really mad [Laughs]. It’s just a spark, you read something and you’re like, “Whoa.” I started playing the character from like page one and sometimes it’s not that seamless. I felt like I knew what the writer meant, you know? It was a connection. I just really connected to the material.” {x}
Amy on Lauren: “She talks a mile a minute, and pace is my whole life… Lauren could handle the language and get her mouth around the words and make it mean something. I got her immediately, and I could write for her voice like gangbusters.” {x}
19) She’s fully aware of the dated costumes on GG:
21) Also on that podcast ep (around :23), Lauren detailed how she understands and truly gets fans’ passion and love for Gilmore: “Something about Gilmore Girls really speaks to certain people… I really appreciate that sense of ‘I know you’ kind of feeling… I never thought this would be the case, but the show stuck around, so (fans) are now watching it with their kids, and it’s meant a family thing to them… I didn’t really grow up with my mom, I grew up with my dad. My mom lived in England for many years and while I was doing that show, they would send it to her – it wasn’t airing there, but they would send it to her. It meant so much to her that they did that and it was such a bonding experience for us, so i have actually had that experience of the show bringing me closer to my mother so I try to respect that.
23) And had the same reaction we did when we first saw the Downton cast in full glam:
“It was a dark day when I saw the Downton Abbey cast in street make-up. I really love to be transported and not to think about how they might shop at Whole Foods.” {x}
26) Parenthood boss Jason Katims perfectly details what we love about LG’s acting abilities:
“What impresses me is her ability to not only play the humor that’s inherent in the scene, but to mine the humor, to find more of those moments. Sarah (Braverman) is in an embarrassing situation: she has to move back home as an adult with two children. So you’re looking for somebody who will bring the humor, intelligence and humility to make you really like that person. Those are qualities that Lauren brings so beautifully to what she does.” {x}
28) She isn’t the type of actress to leave her co-stars in the dust. E.G.: helping newbie Alexis Bledel on the GG pilot/beginning of season 1:
“The only place where she was so new was technically, and that show – as fun and breezy and light as it is – is technically really challenging because Amy liked to get a master, flawless single take….The camera’s following us and we’d have to curve around at a certain point or pause at a certain point. We have a very delineated path and if, you know, she’d sort of stray, we’d pull her back. We have a lot of scenes in those early episodes where I’m literally gluing her to my side. I don’t know if she noticed or cared, it kind of worked and it served to help make us look like this connected duo because I literally wouldn’t let go of her.” {x}
29) She was in an a cappella group in college called the Metrotones. If there is footage of this, RELASE THE TAPES.
30) Talk Show Exhibit #4
31) Adam Shankman, her director on 2005 film The Pacifier sings her praises for her ability to balance work and friendship: “She’s incredibly smart and incredibly upbeat – always supportive and a great cheerleader, both personally and professionally. As a friend, she is everything you could hope for in this town.” {x}
32) She keeps in real – sometimes being on your fave TV show isn’t all you expect
33) She’s always game to play a prank:
34) She’s really best friends with her TV daughter, Mae Whitman
35) And really close with Miles Heizer (Drew) and Jason Ritter (Should-have-been-husband Mark Cyr). So much so they all got matching champagne bottle necklaces
Mae on Lauren: “When you’re acting with her, I could go in and not have any idea what I was doing and look into her eyes and know that I was going to be taken care of, because she’s truly the most elegant and smart and funny and classy person I know.”
Speaking of a scene in the penultimate episode of Parenthood in which Sarah and Amber have a heart-to-heart and sing Joni Mitchell’s The Circle Game: “They let us improvise a lot on Parenthood. That was one of the last scenes we shot together after six years of building this relationship with our two characters, and so right before we were about to cut — I added, I looked at her and it just came out — I said, ‘You’re my hero,’ and that really wasn’t a line. That came from Mae Whitman to Lauren Graham: So she’s my idol and my hero.” {x}
39) Because LG’s the type of friend who will write break-up texts for you:
Mae: “My first introduction to Lauren’s writing was a poem around Christmastime that was so so genuine and hilarious and so, so smart, without being the least bit manipulative or saccharine. Right then I knew that we would see great things from her in the writing department.I mean, I’ve had her write break-up texts for me for God’s sake! Side note: I do not necessarily condone or recommend breaking up with anyone over a text; but if you’ve got to do it, get yourself a Lauren Graham. Trust me … I think the most amazing thing to me about her writing is that she’s able to be so inclusive and present and so genuinely funny without ever being mean or cutting anyone down. She’s like the Jim Henson of the writing world.” {x}
42) She’s obsessed with Hamilton too (and bonus Mandy Moore getting in on the action)
43) This is a good time to remind everyone she’s a theater nerd at heart.
44) She truly gets the importance of Gilmore:
“That’s part of the wish fulfillment of this show, is ‘What if?’. What if you lived in this town where getting a traffic light was a major event? What if you were late to the town meeting again and everyone was going to know about it, you know, ‘What if?’ There was a real comfort aspect to living in this world that wasn’t gritty reality and that was part of the joy of it. It’s real but it’s also a break from the real world.” {The Today Show Reunion at the ATX TV Festival, 2015}
48) She understands how unique and rare it is to get the opportunity to go back to a show years after it ends, and embraced it fully.
“You hardly get a chance anytime in life to appreciate the moment you’re in while you’re in it,” Graham said. “The fact that it was the people who brought us back, and we got to finish a story we hadn’t gotten to finish, and this character I love so much … I was just walking around like, ‘Thank you so much for being here.’ I was just a freak. I had so much appreciation, it was overwhelming. I’m not a person who cries very easily. I cried almost every day.” {x}
49) As a person who cries at pretty much everything, LG describing her first time back on the Gilmore set is basically me the first time I watched Winter:
“When I walked onto the set for the first time. We had to do a camera test and… the house. [She gets choked up] It’s on a different stage but it’s… the house. Alexis [Bledel] and I walked onto the set together and — I feel super emotional about a lot of it and I’m afraid I’m going to start crying at every turn — but walking onto that set really felt like something. It felt like a lot of time had passed and it felt like we were just there. It felt amazing.” {x}
50) The Future Is Female, and Lorelai Gilmore will never be forgotten: “I can’t tell you what a kick I get out of (hearing from the fans), especially the younger people over the years who have grown up with the show and have (developed) a bond with a family member from a different generation while watching it together. I hope when I’m 55 and I’ve been out of a job for a long time and those girls are running the studios, that they remember Lorelai Gilmore.” {x}
A few days ago, Netflix head honcho Ted Sarandos stirred the Stars Hollow pot and got fans all riled up by prompting clickbaity headlines like, “More Gilmore Girls episodes possibly on the horizon”, and “Netflix and Gilmore Girls creators are in talks for new episodes”. The reality is that Teddy told the UK press that his team is in”very preliminary” talks with GG gods Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino for a revival… of the revival.
“We hope [there are more installments]. We obviously loved the success of the show, fans loved how well it was done, it delivered what they hoped… the worst thing is to wait a couple of years for your favorite show to come back and for it to disappoint you, but they sure delivered and people were really excited about more, and we have been talking to them about the possibility of that.” {via THR}
It is important for all GG fans to know that “very preliminary talks” and “possibility” of new episodes is the key here. Nothing is set in stone. There is a very, very, very long road with many hurdles to greenlighting a show. Sure, Netflix can make it a top priority on their production list (although GG isn’t even the highest rated show on Netflix but whatevs), but just because Ted says they’re talking, it doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing.
But the question is – are the talks even worth it? Do Gilmore Girls fans want more episodes? Does the cast want more episodes? Do Amy and Dan, the creators of this world we love, want more episodes?
To get to the bottom of this, I took the Rory Gilmore approach and created a Pro and Con list of bring the Gilmores back into our lives once again. Spoiler: I do come to a conclusion based on this v scientific model, so Ted, take heed.
One of the first scenes in Winter, the first episode of A Year in the Life, was a sweeping pan of the familiar quaint town of Stars Hollow, coated in fresh snow while lights conveniently turned on as the camera slowly followed Lorelai and Rory across the square, passing by the town troubadour who is singing the perfect song to bring us back to their own little corner of the world. It was perfect. I cried when I saw it. It was exactly what I wanted the revival to be. That feeling of comfort and returning home was captured in that one scene, and to go back to that would not be something I’d shy away from.
Con: Do the actors even want this?
Now I wasn’t part of the cast & crew of GG but from what I gather, when season 7 came around, a lot of people were worn out. They worked long days for most of the year, since those were the days of 22/23 episodes per season. Alexis allegedly wanted out and had no plans to renew her contract. Eight years after it ended, everyone had moved on personally and professionally, and most importantly refreshed with a renewed desire to come back. The main cast (Lauren, Alexis, Scott and Kelly) were all available and willing to reprise their characters in order to finish the story that ASP and Dan originally set out to tell.
The rest of the cast seemed up for it too, but for people like Jared Padalecki, his Supernatural schedule limited his screen time to the one scene. And do y’all even remember that Melissa McCarthy almost wasn’t even in AYITL? Woman is a millionaire busy making action comedy movies with Paul Feig. She carved out a few hours in her schedule to film that one scene in Fall. Lorelai’s best friend lived in Stars Hollow for most of the revival, yet we only saw her for like 10 minutes. All because Melissa is a big movie star now. So are they even up for another installment?
Ever since the OG series ended, Lauren & Alexis were constantly asked if they would return to GG, and even at the premiere of AYITL, the cast was asked if there could be more.
“We’re all just we’re grateful we got a chance to do this,” she said. “It really is about telling a good story for us. Just to keep doing more for the sake of it probably just wouldn’t feel satisfying for anybody. We just want to make sure we’re doing it for a really great reason.” {via E! News}
To me, that sounds like Alexis doesn’t want to ruin a good thing, and would have to be convinced to sign on. And what good is the Gilmore Girls without a third of the Girls (no matter how annoying she is)? I feel like forcing these actors to do something they might not want to do isn’t the ideal situation to come back.
Pro: Lorelai (and Luke) as Grandparents
OK now that my OTP is finally married I wouldn’t be mad at seeing them as a married couple. Although it’s probs just more of the same back and forth flirty bickering (AND I AM OK WITH THAT). But since a baby of their own is out of the picture (I guess?), a baby in the form of a grandchild would be interesting to say the least. Just picture Luke tending to Rory’s child. He will spoil that kid rotten. It’s the stuff fanfics are made of.
Con: Rory as a Mom
We can all agree that Rory in AYITL was v problematic, right? The problem itself was that ASP wrote Rory the way she imagined she would be in season seven, a 23-year-old recent college graduate, not a 32-year-old freelance journalist. Finding out out you’re having a child at the age of 23 is MUCH different than finding out you’re having a child at 32. Furthermore, at the rate she’s going, Rory would be even more annoying moving forward. For some reason, ASP & Dan decided to paint her as a member of the 30-something gang™ who isn’t prepared for job interviews and is casually sleeping with her engaged ex-boyfriend despite having a boyfriend who she keeps forgetting to break up with. This is the same person that was her high school valedictorian and did extra extra credit for fun. I find it hard to believe that she would do a complete 180 in such a short amount of time. Present Rory is not someone I necessarily want to keep tabs on. And before you Rory defenders get all defendy – yes, it’s also a pro that we’d be able to see her as a mom, for the good and the bad.
Pro: #JusticeForLane
One of the major upsets from AYITL for me was that we didn’t get enough Lane Kim. I was hoping that since her storyline sucked ever since circa season 3, we’d get to see more of Lane and if/how she’s living her best life. Instead, we got about 10 minutes of Lane solely acting as a sounding board for Rory’s problems. We don’t even know if Lane is still working at Luke’s, if she’s at the Antique store full time, to what extent Hep Alien plays in their life – nothing. Instead we got the unnecessary reveal of Mr. Kim.
And let’s just call it like it is – this is all Adam Brody’s fault for choosing The OC over GG. If Dave had stayed around, Lane wouldn’t be married to Zach, wouldn’t have had twins, and wouldn’t be working for Mrs. Kim (I’m guessing).
Con: Are we just making profits instead of making art
Fact: Luke and Lorelai’s wedding scene wasn’t originally that middle of the night elopement that you saw in Fall. While I loved how it turned out, that was a much scaled down version of what Amy and Dan had in mind. ASP revealed the wedding secrets to OG Gilmore Guy Michael Ausiello back in December:
“The wedding was originally a much bigger deal. The wedding was a whole shebang. And then they took money away from us. Anything that has extras in it and costumes became a production nightmare. So we had to figure out how to make this wedding satisfying without doing ‘The Big Wedding.'” {via TVLine}
What I’m saying is that business usually gets in the way of what the creators truly want to do. Amy probably never imagined there would be a possibility of life after the revival (or even a revival at all), so in her mind, should we only see this slice of Stars Hollow in this time frame, and nothing more? Are they only in “preliminary talks” with Netflix because it became this huge international phenomenon and they can make a lot of profits from it? Or does ASP actually feel like there’s more story worth telling?
Pro: More Gilmore Guys
I’ve talked about my love for the Gilmore Guys before, and it’s been truly a special journey that we’ve been on together for the past two years. I started listening around the spring of 2015, when they interviewed Scott Patterson for the first time. Then, the conceit was just one longtime fan and one new fan comically talking about a show I loved in a way I had never heard before. Then they started interviewing more cast members, they went to the same ATX TV Festival we did for the GG reunion, then all hell broke loose when the official revival was announced, and the podcast turned into something greater than they ever would have thought. Even though co-hosts Kevin and Demi are done with covering GG and AYITL and have moved on to Bunhead Bros, it would be nice to hear them talking about GG once again. And so they can finally get Lauren, Alexis and ASP on the show.
Con: Perpetuating revival/reboot culture
It seems like every week, a network is announcing the comeback of some show that was popular or mildly popular 10+ years ago. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, L.A. Law, Charmed, Will & Grace. All these shows are coming back to TV, but can they ever recapture the same magic from their original run? It seems more often than not, the answer is no.
Now actors and producers of shows know that just because a series ends, it doesn’t mean it’s the end the end. I feel like in some cases that possibility of coming back even effects the way creators write series finales, letting the chance of something in the future determine that final chapter. It’s the same idea of setting up a huge cliffhanger at the end of a season if you don’t know if you’re going to be renewed or not. You throw all your eggs into one basket, and hope for the best that you’ll be back after summer hiatus to finish telling the story.
In my opinion, this shouldn’t be the case. Creators should tell the story exactly how the want to tell it, from beginning to end. There has to be a legitimate reason for a show to come back, otherwise you’re just doing fan service. Gilmore Girls’ reason was the ASP & Dan weren’t able to creatively end the show the way they wanted it to. AYITL gave them that chance. On the flip side, Will & Grace ended with a satisfying series finale (that flashed forward into the future), with all its creators and stars in place. Did I love Will & Grace and think it was important to society as a whole? Yes. Do we need more episodes? No. I got closure with the series finale. Anything more is just being selfish. Will I watch it? Probably.
Pro: It can answer a lot of questions from the revival
Who wrote the letter to Emily? Why wasn’t there more Miss Patty? What is Zack’s job? Does Jess actually have lingering feelings for Rory? Does Rory tell Logan he’s the father (we’re assuming)? Does Logan leave Anabelle because of his impending fatherhood? Is the surrogate/baby thing a case closed situation between Lorelai and Luke? Does Michel stay at the Dragonfly when it moves to the convent? Will Sookie work at the Dragonfly again? Why show Mr. Kim? Does Rory continue working at the Stars Hollow Gazette? Is she even making money from the Stars Hollow Gazette? What happened to her “Gilmore Girls” book? Did Lorelai end up reading it and liking it? Is Emily really living her best life? Is Berta still with her? What’s the deal with her gentleman caller Jack? Are Liz and TJ ever going to get out of the vegetable cult? What is Brian doing with his life? Do Paris and Doyle finalize their divorce or reconcile? Is Petal OK? Is Paul OK?
Con: Logistically and Realistically it’s no good
So let’s break it down, Gillies. If Netflix is in prelim talks with ASP and Dan, those talks can last months. Then there’s the contract negotiations with the cast. And more importantly, the Palladinos have to come up with a legit story outline. They had a decade to flesh out ideas for the revival and had so many that they had to cut out a lot of storylines. Knowing what I know of these two, they’re perfectionists who won’t compromise their storytelling for time. These things don’t happen overnight. Let’s say at the earliest, my best guess is the show wouldn’t even premiere until 2019. If they pick up in real time, that means Rory’s kid would be three (if she keeps the baby), and Lor & Luke would be a few years into their marriage – we wouldn’t organically see preggo Rory or Lor & Luke’s town wedding. I’m guessing that’s what a lot of fans would want to see (yes, including me).
Another big hurdle is that the Palladinos already have a show in production, Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which premieres on March 17th. Like all Amazon shows, fans ultimately determine whether or not the pilot gets picked up to series, so while we don’t know the fate of it just yet, I have a hunch ASP & Dan are going to be busy for a while. They’d be bonkers to take on two projects at once. But yet, anything could happen.
Bottom Line:
I’m in the minority of fans who don’t need more Gilmore Girls episodes, because on my own list, the cons outweigh the pros. I said this in our AYITL wrap up, the four episodes we were blessed with in November were the final chapter in the book Amy never got to finish writing themselves. Her story, the one she never thought she’d get to end the way she wanted, is complete. Anything made after this is the sequel that will always be contended and compared to the original. Did we need a second installment of Grease? No. Because ASP was able to show fans her own ending, it was enough to make me feel closure with the story as a whole, and satisfied with saying goodbye to the Gilmores once and for all. That being said, did I watch Grease 2? Of course. That Michelle Pfeiffer is a gem.
Well folks, here we are. The flaming dumpster fire that was 2016 is over, and we’re all here in 2017 hoping it can’t get worse than last year. But there were some good things that come out of 2016, and just like last year, we’re highlighting a few super specific things we loved from 2016, that don’t necessarily fit into any general Best of categories.
Best 2000s television reunion of 2016: Gilmore Girls
Ironically, Gilmore Girls also made our Best of 2015 Superlatives list, but this time it’s for an entirely different reason. The show made a big splash in pop culture ever since the revival was announced back in 2015, and the hype was at a high this year, crawling back into the zeigesit in the weeks leading up to ThanksGilmore (we were guilty too). But as OG Gilmore fans, we had been waiting nine years to find out how Amy Sherman-Palladino wanted to end her series the way she truly wanted. When the four episodes dropped that fateful Friday, we were transported back into the world of all things Gilmore – where the town weirdo runs a janky Ooober service, the locals have to hide a secret bar from the selectman, and the phrase “I smell snow” elicits very real emotions that induce crying. For us, this feeling of comfort – of feeling back how in Stars Hollow – was what we wanted from the revival. While it did produce the perfect example of Your Fave Is Problematic #RoryGilmore, overall, we were so glad to have those adorable Gilmore girls back in our lives once again.
Best Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Cameo of 2016: Parenthood Cast (as a whole)
Speaking of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, there were many a cameo throughout all four mini-movies that made me squeal with glee. But none more so than three very special appearances from Lauren Graham’s other TV family, the Bravermans. First, we knew her Parenhootd daughter Mae Whitman was going to be in the revival, but seeing her interact with Lorelai Gilmore and not Sarah Braverman made our hearts explode, but the fact that she always interacted with Rory?! Our brains explode too. And then came summer, when I lit’rally screamed out loud after seeing Jason Ritter pop up as the park ranger. MARK CYR FOREVER AND ALWAYS. And THENNN Peter Krause aka Adam Braverman aka Mr. Lauren Graham as park ranger two?! I DIE. I DIED. Thanks, 2016.
Best Ham4Ham performance of 2016: The Hamilton Mixtape
I feel like it’s unfair to call this a #Ham4Ham, but the Hamilton officials called it that, so we’ll go with it. HamFams have been waiting about a year to hear the mixtape that Lin had been promising, and boy it did not disappoint. In the most epic release party, they held a #Ham4Ham inside the Richard Rodgers, with a few artists from the mixtape doing live performances of their Hamilton covers. AND it was live streamed for the interwebs. The Roots, Regina Spektor, Andra Day and Ashanti and Ja Rule + more – it was “LIT AF” as the kids say. I got emotional (like I usually do) watching it, realizing that this joining of forces between contemporary artists singing Broadway covers on a Broadway stage opens the doors for so many more people to be introduced to theater in a brand new way. It’s the way life and art should be – accessible and enjoyed by every one.
Best Hamilton Happy Trails of 2016: July 9th, 2016
Hamilton may have opened in 2015, but it reached a fever pitch in 2016. A month after winning 11 Tonys, four of the OG cast members, Phillipa Soo, Leslie Odom Jr., Ariana DeBose and the maestro himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda, took their final bows. Saying goodbye to one OBC actor is hard enough, but four is even more difficult if you’re HamilTrash. Luckily, a live stream was provided and we were able to watch as their tears synced with our own. The kicker? Alex Lacamoire stealthily adding in The West Wing theme for number one fan Lin (I lit’rally just rewatched that on mute and I’m STILL crying over Chris Jackson pushing Lin back out to take his own bow).
Beyonce was one of the shining lights of 2016 thanks to her kind of surprise album drop with Lemonade, but what made it epic was the entire HBO movie special she made as a vehicle for the new music. After going on her Formation tour (equally epic), she blessed us with a 20 minute performance of Lemonade on the VMAs. God. Is. Good.
Best Michelle Obama Speech of 2016: Democratic National Convention
We’re really going to miss all the Obamas, but Michelle has been such an inspiration to all women (and humans) during her reign as first lady. She is poised, classy, articulate, smart, compassionate, caring, funny, etc. etc. And while giving her speech at the DNC this summer to show support for HRC, she yet again left us in awe and tears, but mostly left us with something to aspire to – when they go low, we go high.
Best Carpool Karaoke of 2016: Adele
In what is arguably his best carpool karaoke yet, James Corden’s ride along with Adele has raked in over 143 million views since it was released last January, and it’s obvious why. Maybe because I’ve accounted for at least 43 million of those? Nah, probs because Adele is a badd ass bitch who raps Nick Minaj better than Nicki Minaj.
Best Political SNL Sketch of 2016: Hallelujah
The Worst Week of 2016 aka Election Week ended with the great Leonard Cohen dying (because #2016), and in what was reminiscent of the way they handled the first ep back after 9/11, SNL knew exactly how to bring meloncholy and levity to homes across the U.S., by having the wonderful Kate McKinnon, as Hillary Clinton, sing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Cue the tears.
Best Mannequin Challenge of 2016: Black Lives Matter
I’m over the mannequin challenge (I was never under it), but this one was worth all the other silliness from everyone else.
Best Obama Girls Moment Of 2016: The Ryan Reynolds Double Thumbs Up
In this moment, I am somehow able to imagine what it would be like to be both a teenager attending my first state dinner and talking with a handsome male movie star, and the big sister of a teenager attending her first state dinner and talking with a handsome male movies star. Meet our era’s Schuyler sisters.
Best Bill Clinton Moment of 2016: Bill and Balloons
Forget what came after for a moment and just focus on Bill Clinton, the man who served as leader of the free world for eight years, still getting a kick out of balloons … and even more of a kick out of his wife’s presidential bid.
Honorable Mention: When you could see Bill mouth the words “that’s my girl” during Hillary’s concession speech, or his death grip on Chelsea’s husband during Chelsea’s speech at the DNC. You know what? They’re all winners.
Best Olympics Moment of 2016: Michael Phelps’ One Last Time
It feels like so long ago now, but 2016 was a Summer Olympics year, our favorite TV/sporting spectacle and feel-good obsession. Nobody made us prouder to be Americans that golden boy Michael Phelps, who did his last Olympics right by earning his 23rd gold medal.
Honorable Mentions: So many! The Final Five’s overall brilliance – how much do we love Simone and Laurie?! – and Katie Ledecky’s astonishing performance, and the US and NZ runners who helped each other finish after crashing on the track … we could keep going.
Best children’s movie for adults of 2016: Zootopia
Zootopia was great: funny, clever, touching, and with a really beautiful and necessary message. I went with kids, but I would have gone as a single adult just as proudly.
Honorable Mention: The Secret Life Of Pets
Best new Netflix series – drama of 2016: Stranger Things
Stranger Things gripped audiences nationwide with its loving tribute to the 80s horror/children’s adventure film, but it did it in a singularly modern way as a short, streaming series. The series spawned memes, catchphrases, national sweethearts (Barb!), a whole lot of Halloween costumes, and the coolest troop of child actors around.
Honorable Mentions: The OA (possibly my best, but I’m only halfway through it); The Get Down
Best new Netflix series – documentary of 2016: 13th
It’s not exactly a secret that Ava Duvernay is a fantastic filmmaker, but she did something really special with 13th. She took an issue most Americans who are paying attention already knew about – the consistent and disproportional incarceration of black men used as a type of modern servitude in the prison industrial complex – and presented it in a clear, gripping, impossible-to-ignore way.
Best New TV Series That Your Mom Would Like Too of 2016: This Is Us
We love This Is Us. So do most of our friends (30-somethings). So do a lot of older baby boomers we know. This series appeals to the nostalgia of young(-ish) adults who grew up in the 70s – 90s, as well as their parents who were raising kids at that time. It’s not a cheap nostalgia trip, though. This Is Us is a relatable and incredibly touching family story for anyone who has siblings, or parents, or feelings. Plus, let’s not forget how they hooked us all in with that twist in the pilot.
Best Silly Meme of 2016: Arthur Fist
Speaking of relatable, Arthur’s balled-up fist is relevant to as many life situations in 2016 as it was when you were 10.
It’s been a long journey for all of us – from watching the first Gilmore Girls episodes as Rory-aged teenagers, to crying and also puzzling over the finale, to rewatching the entire series on Netflix, attending the reunion, hoping against hope for a revival and seeing our wish granted. Our reluctance to watch what well may be the FINAL episode of Gilmore Girls was tempered by two things: how grateful we were to get A Year In The Life to begin with, and our curiosity about the plot point hanging over our heads for nearly a decade: the last four words.
M: I was so excited/nervous/sad about beginning Fall that I procrastinated for about a half hour before watching it – to the extent that I brought boxes up to my attic at night time. This goes to the way we ended up watching the show versus how we would have liked to. I watched one episode Friday, one Saturday and two Sunday. I would have preferred to watch one every several days or even one every week or two to really drag out the experience. I’m good at waiting for things and like to have positive experiences ahead of me instead of behind me. However, I’m also a person who reads the internet and we had to go into self-imposed social media exile while watching Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life. Even news sites weren’t safe. With every day that passed it became more and more likely that I would stumble upon a major plot point or the last four words without meaning to. Ultimately it was more important for me to experience everything for the first time through the show instead of some tweet than it was to watch the show at my own pace. (Also: there’s a spoiler protocol with regular television, including the expectation that you enter Twitter at your own risk for a show that people live-Tweet. It’s not so clear for content that becomes available a full season at a time.)
T: Meanwhile in LA… It is 11:52pm on Sunday night and I am starting now because i’ve been putting off as late as I can before heading back into the real world. The feeling of pressing play is similar to that of when I watched the series finale in 2007 – eager to find out what happens, but also sick to my stomach knowing this could be the last time we visit Stars Hollow. For good.
I will say that I’m proud of myself for avoiding all spoilers the entire weekend. I stayed off pretty much all of the Internet except our blog and my personal Tumblr. My friend texted me to let me know Fidel Castro died. I wouldn’t have found that out until Monday.
T: I’m not sure why, but for the first time since starting the revival, I felt a sense of normality that I was watching Gilmore Girls in 2016. In particular, it was the motel scene where Lorelai calls Luke, which isn’t anything special besides a woman leaving a voicemail for her boyfriend. I guess it was all finally just starting to sink in. Just in time for the last episode!
M: Lorelai is at a very crowded entry to the PCT, where women inspired by Cheryl Strayed ask each other “book or movie?” and trade origin stories (divorce and dead parent are popular inspirations).
T: I loved this storyline – it felt so very ASP to me. She’s the only female writer that would think to herself, “I wonder if the amount of women going on the Wild hike has increased ever since the book came out? Did it spike when Reese Witherspoon threw her boot? Lorelai would be great there. And by great, I mean horrible.”
M: Our girl Stacey (Oristano, Friday Night Lights, Bunheads) is on the trail! I love when ASP universes collide. Pssst – Bunheads: A Year In The Life 2017?
T: I’ve heard from a few people that they didn’t like the cameos throughout AYITL, but I, for one, loved every single cameo. It would be annoying to me if they had Julia Roberts pop in as a guest at the Dragonfly, because she has no ties to the show (that I know of). However, when you have people like the Gilmore Guys or Jason Mantzoukas or Bunheads alums, it has more of a specialness (?) to it, and doesn’t feel like they’re doing it to get “ratings”. It feels like a family – a big ASP/Lauren Graham family. That being said, here is my reaction to Park Ranger #1:
HOLY SHIT JASON RITTER I JUST GASPED SO LOUD AND HAD TO BEND OVER TO BREATHE. DID I MENTION IM STANDINGG DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MY TV I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM WITNESSING MARK CYR IN A SCENE W LORELAI GILMORE
*chill out, bruh*
M: Welcome to the wild world of the new, improved Luke’s, complete with takeout and WiFi that customers have the password for. It’s not really Luke’s thing, and he unplugs the WiFi.
T: Any time Milo comes on my screen (here or otherwise), I swoon. No different here when he walks into Luke’s, only to find that his uncle is a literal mess without Lor. He came out of the back room covered in flour like a character from I Love Lucy because he can’t focus on anything but Lorelai not being there.*I wrote that Lucy thing before Jess mentioned Lucy Ricardo*
M: Poor guy is worried Lorelai is leaving him, but I have faith this show wouldn’t do that to us – he just doesn’t know it’s the last episode, that’s all.
Luke attempting to explain why Lorelai went on Wild: This is after we… uh… Between us it’s been… like …
Jess: Communication problems?
Luke: Exactly!
Jess: Never experienced that myself.
T: CLUTCHING MY HEART AFTER JESS SUGGESTS LOR IS LEAVING HIM AND LUKE REALIZES IT MIGHT BE TRUE. A+++ ACTING FROM SCOTT!! Also, I just love that Luke can go to Jess for advice on his life now. JESS. The kid who was a part-time magician, stole gnomes and as a “prank” drew a chalk outline of a body outside Doose’s. Is now the wise font of knowledge for both Luke AND Rory.
M: These ladies are totally Troop Beverly Hills-ing it, staying at motels and sitting around the fire with Franzia. And yes, I DID say Troop Beverly Hills-ing it because I don’t like the word glamping.
Woman at motel campfire on her contraband item and who is now my favorite tertiary character: “I brought a ham… I almost did Eat Pray Love but my miles were blacked out… I brought Snackwells and Vitatops for dessert.”
M: There go my hopes that Rory swooped in and revitalized the Stars Hollow Gazette.
T: Having watched a behind the scenes featurette and seen various BTS shots from cast members, I knew Logan & the Life & Death Brigade we’re going to be wearing some sort of steampunk outfits in Fall. I assumed it was Halloween. Now here we are, not Halloween, and I just said out loud, without any idea what’s about to happen, “This can’t be it. Are you fucking kidding me?”
M: In Omnia Paratus! I somehow didn’t expect the Life and Death Brigade to make an appearance (I was so spoiler-averse that I didn’t watch the trailers or listen to interviews with the cast). They’re still some wealthy steampunk weirdos.
T: All of a sudden this has turned into a Halloween episode of Pretty Little Liars. The bird is talking and a man on a unicycle going down the empty street. Earlier, Petal the pig jogged by with a sandwich board attached to her and Rory’s Gazette computer somehow got hacked into. Now at night, no one is around for all this fog and mystery – did Logan pay off all the SH citizens to not be in the town square??
T: LOGAN. APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE. AND I HAD TO TURN AWAY AND SAY YOU LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
T: So the following is my immediate stream of consciousness reaction that I typed into my phone while watching the entire LDB scene: “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS I DONT THINK I LIKE THIS IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE A SCENE FROM A MOVIE?? THEY STILL SEEM LIKE RICH PRETENTIOUS ASSHATS UGH NOW THEYRE IN A DANCE CLUB w some SYTYCD alums THIS BETTER HAVE A POINT LOGAN OFFERS HIS FAMILY HOUSE IN MAINE FOR RORY TO WRITE HER BOOK WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS ARE YOU STILL W ODETTE THIS IS RUDE Colin just bought this club. and said “money is great” I HATE IT SO MUCH. THEY HAVENT CHANGED A BIT. IS THAT THE POINT ??? I CANT STOP SAYING UGH”
Obviously we’re a few days removed from watching this for the first time, and while I’ve calmed down a bit, I just watched it for a second time and I still don’t like it. It’s so different cinematically than the rest of the episodes/series that it threw me off. And apparently it IS from a movie, Across the Universe, which this version of the Beatles’ classic is taken from. I’ve never seen it, but apparently this scene features a “privileged and rebellious student” at Princeton. Which makes sense because Logan is exactly that. BUT HE’S NOT IN COLLEGE ANYMORE. Like do they meet up and do some elaborate adventure like this every year? Do the other LDB members see Rory often? I didn’t think they were close enough that she would keep in touch to know Colin had knee surgery? Have they not matured?
M: “No hard feelings” about Logan’s girlfriend moving in with him – but will his arrangement with Rory continue? He gives Rory a key to his family’s house in Maine so she can write her book there, so I guess that answers that. Along with the rest of the brigade, they stay at an inn in New Hampshire that’s mostly made out of plaid and hunter green and prints of hounds.
T: Turns out she realizes she can’t write her book at Logan’s extra Maine mansion so she gives him the key back. She officially says goodbye to the LDB and Logan, who puts the hat back on her and puts his hands out to frame her face, as if he’s taking one last picture to remind him of his lost love. All of this is VERY annoying to me and I do not like.
HOWEVER, in addition to the whole Across the Universe thing being lost on me, so was the even more apparent parallel to the Wizard of Oz, in which Rory is Dorothy, Logan is the Wizard, and the LDB are the Tinman, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow. Matt gave a great interview over at AOL Build about AYITL and this allegory, and after watching this clip of Dorothy’s goodbyes, I feel dumb not putting that together in the first place. Molly on the other hand..
M: Rory says goodbye to the Life and Death Brigade as though she’s Dorothy Gale. Little sight gag where a brigadier pulls out a raw steak from nowhere to put on his eye.
T: SECOND GASP HOLY CRAP ARE YOU KIDDING ME PETER KRAUSE ARE WE GOING TO SEE RAY ROMANO NEXT?!?!??! THIS IS MY WHOLE HEART!! Also, how great must it have been for Peter to act opposite his girlfriend in the role that is such a large part of her career? Plus the scene was so great that it made up for all the crap with Rory.
Lorelai: What’s your name? Park Ranger #2: Park Ranger Lorelai: Right, Park.
M: Lorelai calls Emily and tells her that on her 13th birthday she left school after some boy was terrible and ran away to the mall when, improbably, Richard was there. He bought her a pretzel and took her to the movies and covered for her. I’m sad not just because of Richard, but Edward Hermann too. I’m sure his loss made these scenes more real for the actors, but also so much harder to get through.
T: There are a few standout scenes from the revival that are officially my favorites out of the ENTIRE series, and Lorelai calling Emily on the phone to tell her about the memory is one of them. The story itself was perfect, and painted a picture of Richard with Lorelai that we had never seen before. There’s one moment in season 1 when Richard catches Lor climbing out her bedroom window, and he lets her leave, and she says, “Thanks, Daddy”. It was the only other time I can remember that they had an honest moment. The fact that Lorelai was able to tell this story to Emily for the first time – with no sarcasm, no wit, just honesty and earnest grief, was the resolve I wanted to see between these two in the revival. Also, like Molly said, Lauren’s emotion for losing Ed came through in her performance, which was… just please give her awards for this, people. Give her all the awards.
M: Lorelai comes back and explains her epiphany to Luke. Also that “in another life, I WAS coffee.” Girl, same. He thinks she’s breaking up with him and makes a speech about it. But no. She wants to get married. Awwwwwwww. Sorry for all the W’s. I am a living crying emoji and Lauren Graham is absolutely crushing it.
(As an aside, I never dreamt of getting proposed to, and it’s wonderful to see, for once once, a more pragmatic discussion – with the female character raising the topic no less! – presented as a romantic option instead of as some kind of a statement. There’s nothing wrong with a traditional proposal if that’s what you want, but the alternative isn’t usually shown or discussed in tv and film.)
T: Remember in Summer when I said I loved Ranting Luke™? And remember how Luke and Lorelai are my OTP of ALL TIME? And remember how I said the revival has some of my all-time fave scenes? THIS IS NOW ONE OF THEM. Luke, who couldn’t function as a human without the love of his life, realized he had to let it all out there in order to keep Lor as his partner, and ranting is the best way he knows how. He mentioned fighting for her and that’s legit all she wanted in season six when they broke up the second time. He’s a changed man and this moment changed his life. And just like Lauren was transcendent in that last scene on the phone with Emily, I think Scott did his best work ever in this, perfectly encapsulating frustration, fear, anger, and love for Lorelai all in one speech.
*You need the space, and I need you.*
M: Rory wanders through Emily’s house visualizing scenes from her past as my favorite version of the La Las plays. See? Told you she’s having her Jo March moment.
T: Anytime holograms are used I get nervous, but this worked perfectly. And the fact that she sat down at Richard’s desk to start writing – continue to cry all the tears.
M: Lorelai is looking for a new property to expand the Dragonfly. In my dreams, Emily would offer her the family house to use. Yes, I’m clearly thinking of Aunt March and Plumfield. Jo March, OK.
T: Lor finds that new property in what used to be a convent occupied by poker-playing nuns. They commented that “Katy Perry was snooping around here earlier,” which seems ridiculous but was a REAL THING. Currently is a thing – she wants to buy a convent in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A., but there are a bunch of legalities to tend to and she still hasn’t been cleared to buy it. *The more you know*.
M: I thought everybody know that but that just shows how weirdly invested I am in bizarre pop culture stories, esp. if nuns are involved.
M: Ice cream. Coffee. Red Vines. Pop Tarts. Chinese takeout. You can always count on the Gilmore kitchen.
M: Rory wrote The Gilmore Girls! JO MARCH. She says Lorelai can read the chapters she wrote, give her an opinion, and she won’t publish if Lorelai doesn’t approve.
T: At this point, I am pleading with my TV to not let “The Gilmore Girls” become a meta thing where at the end we find out this entire series has actually just been Rory’s book brought to life. I did NOT want a meta ending. I am not here for that.
M: Traci, maybe you can summarize Emily’s IDGAF shutdown of the DAR ladies? My jaw is still on the floor. I love New Emily so much.
T: When it was revealed that the revival was going to be airing on Netflix, one of the things that I thought about was the fact that since the show isn’t on network cable anymore, ASP & Dan can get away with edgier dialogue and swearing without penalty. I had hoped GG would keep the same “family friendly” tone as it had on the WB/CW, and overall it did just that. But like Breaking Bad could only use one “fuck” per season, they used it wisely and in the most necessary of circumstances (Hank: “My name is ASAC Schrader and you can go fuck yourself”). I didn’t need Lorelai to yell ‘asshole’ or ‘shit’ – although she almost did in Winter – as a throwaway. Which is why Emily’s scene at the DAR made it that much more special. They used their “fuck”. Actually, they used their “bullshit” on the queen that is Emily Gilmore, and she made it count.
Now that Emily doesn’t have her partner that was by her side at all the WASPy events, she’s finally realized that all this vetting and judging for the DAR is frivolous and not what she wants to continue doing in this new phase in her life. So she calls them out. Emily is unhinged and has nothing to lose since she’s already lost Richard. Exclaiming that all of these shananigans are bullshit will just be a blip 0n her radar moving forward, but I have a feeling it will stay with the rest of the DAR ladies forever.
M: Wedding planning: Luke knows Kiefer Sutherland (the real one) well enough to invite him to the wedding and never mentioned it to Lorelai. From any other show and character this would be ridiculous, but yep, sounds like Luke.
T: Miss Celine is back! The last time we saw her, she was fitting Emily for her vow renewal with Richard, and asked Lor/Natalie Wood if she ever thought about getting married one day. And now here we are. Also, I can’t get over how stinkin’ cute LG is with this high pony and “exercising” with soda cans! And that Lucas is just sitting there watching her do it!! ❤
M: Rory goes to Christopher’s office after confirming a meeting at 3 over the phone (or confirming something with someone at 3 over the phone. We’ll talk later). They exchange pleasantries about Gigi and his job, but Rory is pacing around not even drinking her coffee and it’s clear she’s about to have a difficult conversation. She tells Christopher that she’s writing about about her and her mom. She asks “how did you feel about mom raising me alone?” He answers that it was “in the cards” and he knew that nobody was getting between Rory and Lorelai. Rory asks if that means Lorelai pushed Christopher away, which he denies. Her real question, though, is if Christopher thinks it was the right decision that Lorelai raised Rory alone. “It was exactly what was supposed to happen.”
M: I never liked Christopher much, and his non-reaction when Rory asks how she felt about Lorelai raising her alone, as though he never thought about any other option, is more or less why. Still, he’s right that it was the best case scenario. Lorelai did an amazing job and Christopher is just a blah guy with a nice office.
T: I was always indifferent on Christopher – I knew he wasn’t the right guy to be Lorelai’s romantic interest, but also knew he had a special connection with her that Luke could never have. In saying that, I’m just glad that we finally got some closure on Christopher (who continues to be a smokeshow), as in an update on both his personal life and knowing that he’s made peace with Lorelai’s decision 32 years ago, so we, as viewers should too. Also, I love that he still calls her “kiddo”.
M: Emily bought a house in Nantucket and is selling the family home. Meanwhile, Lorelai found a building to expand the Dragonfly and wants to use Luke’s franchise money. Emily’s fine with it – it REALLY isn’t Luke’s dream after all – but in classic Emily fashion her offer of help is contingent on visits from Lorelai.
Emily: The previous owners called it the ‘Clam Shack’. I guess ‘Vagina House’ was taken.
M: Rory has a sweet run-in with Dean, father of 3 and soon 4. She has nice things to say about him in the book – she wishes she met him when she was older, and he “taught me what safe feels like.” In that moment, where he is clearly taken and not going to be involved with Rory, I really like Dean – and I was never big on Dean. Like we said in our Spring discussion, the revival shows all of Rory’s exes in a positive light (or, as positive a light as Rory anyway – ahem, Logan) so that no big fans of one character are totally screwed over, but the story doesn’t suffer either. I didn’t think Dean was right for Rory, but maybe she’s onto something about them being at different places in their lives when they met.
T: I was never on board with Dean. Sure, he made a car for Rory, but when he did what he did in 4.22 with Candyman playing and shortly left to go back home to his pot roast-making wife, I thought he was trash. But this scene is one of the best closure scenes in all of the revival – certainly, IMO, of the three boyfriends. First off, they’re in the same aisle where he kissed her for the first time. Second, that moment where Rory starts comforting Dean to let him know that his little sister Clara will get over her boyfriend who calls her ‘Ra’ because “she’s young. It’s her first love. It’ll probably be…” is so well executed. I loved every single bit of this interaction down to the corn starch. It made me like Dean again. #RedemptionForDean! #ReDEANtion! No? Ok.
M: Because ASP and co are pulling out all the stops for the final episode, Sookie is back and she’s making Lorelai’s wedding cake. It’s so strange but so comfortable seeing Melissa McCarthy in Sookie gear once again.
T: I’m glad we got at least one long scene with Melissa, because of COURSE she would come back for Lor’s wedding and make her cake. That’s all she wanted to do when they were originally engaged. The woman is such a Luke/Lor shipper she just wrote the word LUKE on the side of one of the cakes! And another had daisies (1,000 yellow daisies!?). Also, her interaction with Michel. Gold.
M: Emily lives in Nantucket in a house with sisal rugs and overstuffed, slipcovered furniture, teaching kids at a whaling museum and wearing white sneakers. I love this development.
T: Back at the Gilmore house, Jess is casually reading in a corner AND CONTINUES TO BE A SMOKESHOW, while LG is sporting overalls and looking like a crafty HGTV goddess. Also, another one of my favorite jokes gets a callback:
T: Rory is super excited about the book, now titled “Gilmore Girls” since Lor told her to drop the “The” since it’s cleaner (I need this to stop being so meta), and she catches Jess before he leaves and jumps up and down in excitement with the dude whose idea it was to write the book in the first place. Luke asks, “You’re over that, right?” To which Jess responds, “Yup. Long over.” Then stares through the window while Rory puts a hot towel on Kirk’s head. Now, Jess/Rory shippers say this obviously means he’s still in love with her. As a Team Jess person, but ultimately Team Rory/Team No Team, I really don’t want to believe this is true. They’re intellectual equals and seemingly each others’ confidants and moral support system, just not romantic lovers. I posited that ASP told Milo to play the look a few different ways and she picked the best one she felt was right for the story while editing. But I guess we may never know.
M: Luke and Lorelai both have flash mobs planned for the wedding. Lorelai says she feels like they should be married already. That’s what we’ve all been saying. They head off and elope so that their real marriage takes place before their wedding. It’s so THEM.
T: I’ve been reblogging from a blog called lukeloveslorelai.tumblr.com. I think I need help.
M: OH MY GOD. The song from their dance plays as they head off to get married. It’s magical and I cannot stop crying. Then they show Emily looking at Richard’s portrait and I manage to find even more tears. Rory walks Lorelai down the aisle. Michel and Lane are witnesses. Was there ever a priest in town before? IDK I don’t care about him. The town is all lit up and they get married in the gazebo. This whole scene was completely perfect and shows that sometimes giving the audience what they want is exactly the right thing to do. This was worth waiting 10 years for.
T: The second the first couple notes of Sam Phillips’ Reflecting Light starts playing, I have to pause yet again because I feel like I am truly going to pass out. Cause of death: OTP finally getting married. It looked like she had been crying for three days straight and clutched a Luke’s Diner coffee mug to her heart. THAT’S HOW I’M GOING DOWN FOLKS. IT WAS ALL SO PERFECT, I AM AT A LOSS FOR WORDS.
M: The next day Rory and Lorelai sit at the gazebo talking about the wedding. Paul breakup texts Rory, and Lorelai assures her that she and Paul will both find someone, but he just didn’t fit. Rory pauses because “I want to remember it all. Every detail.” And then:
Rory: Mom?
Lorelai: Yeah?
Rory: I’m pregnant.
M: WOW. Wow wow wow. I was not expecting that at all. I was SO not expecting that that I had to go back and count out the last 4 words because I couldn’t figure out how there were 4 words in there. I had it in my head that maybe Lorelai would be having one of those surprise menopause pregnancies that TV loves so much, but it never occurred to me that Rory would be. I immediately wanted to go back to rewatch the episode – particularly Rory’s conversation with Christopher. In hindsight, she was almost certainly feeling out how a father felt about the mother of his child raising the kid alone – Rory knew she was pregnant and that she was going to be a single parent like Lorelai was. Our friend Tori pointed out that the phone call right before she goes to Christopher’s could easily be setting up a doctor’s appointment, not a meeting with him.
T: My actual reaction after she said I’m pregnant:
Then I realized that may have been a bit overdramatic. The thing is that we’ve known Amy’s had these 4 words planned for 9 years. That’s a long time to come up with combos of any words in the entire world. It wasn’t until over the past few years that I acknowledged anything having to do with pregnancy could be possible, but I was kind of hoping I’d be wrong. Maybe that’s why I yelled ‘No’? After processing it for a few days, I’ve decided I’m fine with it. I love a good full circle moment, which this clearly is. But also maybe my frustration came from the fact that the final four words became THE FINAL FOUR WORDS, in a way they were never supposed to be. It became so hyped up that we had so much expectation for it that when they were finally said, I was less enthused about them. Maybe I was more reacting to the fact that GG is over? IDK.
M: We know these have been the last four words all along, but we also know that Amy Sherman Palladino couldn’t have predicted a Netflix revival that would take place when Rory was 32. (In the early 2000s, that sentence would have required like a 10 minute explanation.) That means that this full-circle ending – pregnant at the same age Lorelai was in the beginning of the series – was initially planned as a completely different kind of full-circle ending – a promising teenager or college kid finding out that she’s pregnant.
Being roughly Rory’s age now gives me a different reaction to the pregnancy news compared to some younger fans. If I was watching this at 14 or even 20 I’d probably think this was an okay ending – Rory will be a single mom like Lorelai, but that worked out well. At 30, it’s more like looking into a living nightmare. Rory has no steady career or solid income. She lives at home. We don’t know who the father of her child is and we don’t know if she does, either. Logan seems plausible (I feel like on some levels he’s her Christopher), but for all we know she and Paul still had a physical relationship. And who the hell knows about the Wookie. So the father options are an engaged man who lives overseas, her ex who she never payed attention to, and a stranger from line. YIKES. Also I know the implied outcome is that Rory becomes a single mom and the story circles back to the beginning, but realistically “I’m pregnant” – especially with the variables Rory has in front of her – does not necessarily equal “I’m having a baby” or “I’m raising a baby.”
T: FWIW I’m also doubling down on the Logan = Christopher theory (which would make Jess her Luke?). He’s gotta be the father. In that AOL Build interview, Matt said ASP told him who the father is, but wouldn’t divulge who. And to be honest, I don’t want to know. Unless it’s Rory saying it in a potential new season.
M: It’s time to talk about Rory. During the Chilton years and arguably the beginning of Yale, Rory was the ultimate good kid. She got good grades, didn’t get in trouble, had a sweet and caring personality and was humble and shy despite being beloved by an entire town. Something changed in the later few seasons, and she became more entitled and selfish – more like I’d imagine a kid Emily raised, if I hadn’t known that Emily raised Lorelai. This could be a backlash to how mature Rory HAD to be as a a kid and a teenager. It could also be a negative consequence to being adulated by all of Stars Hollow; Rory believes that she is special and good and right because that is what she has been told she is. If Rory chooses to have this child, I like to think that the best aspects of her character, her tenaciousness and intellect and humor and goodness, will guide her to succeed like Lorelai did. With or without a child, one thing I’m sure of is that Rory has the best example in Lorelai.
T: Rory was a constant source of frustration throughout the revival for me, and is the main reason why I didn’t entirely love the revival. She made it hard to root for her. She made bad decisions – like the fact that not only did she cheat on her boyfriend repeatedly with her ex, but that she constantly forgot they were dating. For TWO years. I get that it’s a joke, but come on, I’d hope she’d be better than that. But what helped me reconcile my annoyance with Rory was this piece from Paste Magazine that circles back to the Wizard of Oz reference. Her goodbye with Logan and the LDB was her essentially saying goodbye to that chapter of her youth and privilege and moving into a world of responsibility and adulthood with her impending motherhood. London was her Emerald city, with her dark forest was filled with cheating & career troubles,. What I’m trying to say is that perhaps ASP meant to put Rory through the ringer in these new episodes, to show that she went through all that and now she realizes she has to get her shit together and hopefully that will turn her all around.
So overall, I am of the mindset that we don’t need any more episodes of Gilmore Girls. This show is obviously near and dear to my heart, but I want it to stay special and not become some money making machine that’s only being made for fan service. Plus, I think the idea of rebooting or reviving TV series is such a fairly new concept that there’s really been no good precedent for it, so clearly anything brought back again is going to be criticized to the max. Arrested Development, The X-Files, Veronica Mars – all of these have had their fair shares of bad reviews. But bringing Gilmore Girls back was different.
This is the way I see it: ASP wrote a novel that went on to be beloved by many, and that equals the first six seasons of GG. Then, because of forces out of her control, a new author swiped her book and wrote the last chapter, without knowing or taking into consideration how the OG writer wanted it to end. 16 years after first releasing her “book”, she was given the rare chance to write the the final chapter in the form of A Year in the Life. Now it’s out there. Her story, the one she never thought she’d get to end the way she wanted, is complete. Anything made after this is the sequel that will always be contended. Did we needa second installment of Grease? No.
Because ASP was able to show fans her own ending, it was enough to make me feel closure with the story as a whole, and satisfied with saying goodbye to the Gilmores once and for all. That being said, did I watch Grease 2? Of course. That Michelle Pfeiffer is a gem.
Stray Observations
I am obsessed with everything Lorelai wears in this entire revival. The camping clothes and cute hats she wears are no exception. I love it all.
Lor is watching Snapped in her motel room, which I can only imagine is what ASP really does on her days off.
Jess briefly mentioned he lived in Stars Hollow again for six months? Did anyone else catch that?
Jess: I really don’t like you using the word ‘oops’.
Luke: I don’t like me using the word ‘oops’ either I’ve never used the word ‘oops’ before and now I’m a guy who snipes at his girl and uses the word ‘oops’!
Lorelai after finding out the diner on the side of the road is closed: “I hate nature.” #Same
Emily may or may not be saying Hello to Jack because he’s at her home in Nantucket, but she kicks him out and Berta immediately comes out with his suitcase. Berta – who’s stayed with Emily for A YEAR – is the best.
Lorelai commenting on Emily: “Hey, when was the exact moment you became a Mamet play?”
Do we think they specifically chose a fall date BEFORE the election because either result would have been huge and thus weird for everyone to be acting like nothing happened? We do, right?
M: Michel: “So your name is Molly. Why?” Been asking myself that for decades, Michel.
“When this is over I’m going to be so thin!” Thing I also contemplated during the weird moment when I was reading Wild and running away to go hiking sounded like an OK plan.
T: The woman who made that comment ^ her name is Traci/Tracy/Tracie!!! THANKS ASP
It was a little difficult for both of us to start Summer, because it meant that we were more than halfway through A Year In The Life. But who are we kidding – it was a little hard for us to start ALL of the episodes because we can’t be chill and normal when it comes to Gilmore Girls. In Summer, the conflicts that Rory and Lorelai are dealing with come to a head. Also Stars Hollow has a pool and a star-studded musical.
M: Stars Hollow has a pool. Stars Hollow has always had a pool, maybe? Lorelai and Rory are pool people, I guess? To be fair, we didn’t see much summer during the original series.
T: Everything the girls say about the pool I couldn’t agree with more. “The pool only makes you hotter”, “The chlorine, the algaecides, the bodily fluids that shall remain nameless (kid pee)”.
M: April is over for dinner, because we can’t unwrite that plot point even if we’d like to. She’s now a pseudo-hippie college kid who makes a big deal out of the fact that she smokes pot (once). Hats off (slouchy wannabe rasta hat) to Vanessa Marano who perfectly steps back into the role of April, voice and all. It must be so strange to walk into a role 10 years after you left it when the same amount of time has elapsed for the character.
T: And while I wasn’t entire Team April during the OG series, I must say I loved what she turned out to be in the revival. Of COURSE she pretends to have a nose ring and brag that she walks the MIT halls with her idol Noam Chomsky, only to confess to Rory none of what she said is true. At heart, April just wants to be cool and fit in, which might not happen for her – and it’s totally OK. I also enjoyed that the pretty much step-sisters have a scene together, something we never really got in the OG series. There was of course the one time in Philadelphia, but the fact that April confided in Rory this time around to admit she had been exaggerating the truth shows the confidence in their friendship and family ties to go to her “sibling” for advice.
T: I know Luke is a millionaire, but why did he pay for April to go to MIT AND is offering to pay for her to go to Germany? Where is her mother? ANDDD yet again, Lor offers to help with April and yet again, Luke shoots her down by noting “April’s mine. I got it.”UGH. THIS IS GOING TO BE PROBLEMATIC. Also continuing to be problematic: Logan.
M: Rory is back home, as we saw at the end of Spring. She’s living in her time-frozen teen bedroom and – am I losing it? – reverting to 2000s Rory’s hair and clothing style, at least during her phone call with Logan.
M: Logan’s girlfriend is moving in with him, so Rory will have to stay in a hotel when she next visits in London. Rory: “So now you want me to just wait in a hotel so you can slip away and come see me? Like I’m a geisha?” RORY. Rory, Rory, Rory. You’ll never feel respected if you aren’t showing any respect for yourself. (If not yourself, respect whoever the heck Odette is. You’re better than this.)
M: Too real: Stars Hollow is now home to The Thirty-Something Gang, “a group of kids all about your age, they’ve been to college, been out in the real world, it spit them out like a stale piece of gum and now they’re all back in their old rooms like you.”
Oh hai Bailey from Bunheads!
Babette re: the air conditioner going off in the middle of the town meeting: “This is really going to freak out the 30-something gang. They are very sensitive!”
M: I have mixed feelings about where Rory ended up in life. On one hand, this is a fairly realistic outcome for Rory. She’s had some major successes, but she’s not exactly Christiane Amanpour. It’s one thing to be The Most Amazing Girl In Your Class at 15; there are so many amazing girls from so many classes and by your early 30s you’ve realized that you’re not as special as you thought. But while I didn’t think the journalistic world would put Rory on the same pedestal that Stars Hollow always has, I expected more hustle and drive out of her.
T: The thing that I’ve realized about Rory over the past few years of repeats and being out of college myself, is that we don’t actually know if she’s a good journalist. We’re told she’s a good journalist, but her best article (that’s discussed) is from her high school newspaper and it was about a parking lot. Yes, she was made the editor of the Yale Daily News, but it was after Paris got outed and none of the staff could decide on anyone else to replace her. In AYITL, I think it reinforced the theory that Rory’s no Christiane after she barely did anything close to reporting while meeting with the line-waiters in Spring. In fact, she fell asleep while interviewing someone, decided NOT to talk to the people who didn’t even know what they were waiting in line for (JOURNALISM 101), and slept with a source – that was a WOOKIE. I’m almost convinced Mitchum was right all along.
M: Really excited by the prospect of Rory heading up the Stars Hollow Gazette … if she revitalizes it instead of going all New Rory and failing to live up to expectations. It sounds like the beginning of either one of those millennial lifestyle blogs where a big-city person moves to become, e.g., a farmer’s wife in Missouri, or a Hallmark Christmas movie.
T: Also, she’s taking over for Bernie Roundbottom. Bernie. ROUNDBOTTOM. I am 5 years old. Anyways, Rory, no thanks to Esther and the other guy (Charles?), prints her first edition – which includes a bad review of a movie Doyle wrote the script for – but has no one to deliver all the copies to the metropolis that is Stars Hollow, so she naturally recruits Lorelai. This provides a nice little montage of our girls running around the town and dropping papers off at all the hotspots, which is yet another reminder we’re back in Stars Hollow.
M: The montage of Rory and Lorelai dropping off the Gazette reminds me of Now and Then, and I can’t think of why until I realize it’s the song These Boots Are Made For Walkin.
T: Lorelai and Rory have acquired two small minions to hold umbrellas over them while they sit in lounge chairs by the pool and basically do whatever bidding they want because they are regarded as literal royalty in this town. But you know who is truly deserving for us to bow down to? This guy, who kicked everyone out of the pool.
T: Michel, who is focused on being nice to kids now that he and Frederic are planning to start a family, finally sits Lor down in the secret bar (FIVE-OH!) and tells her he has to leave if she can’t pay him more/expand the Dragonfly. This rare tender conversation between Lor and Michel has me in tears, and the same goes for Lor, but not Michel, because he doesn’t want to be seen crying in a secret bar.
Michel while offering candy to kids at the Dragonfly: For our special little muppets, complimentary lollipops – that is if you like lollipops. Go ahead take one each. Now when I say one, I mean two! *winks* (To Lorelai) On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did I sound like a child molester?
Lorelai: 6.
Michel: Ah. Getting better.
M: Poor Emily is waking up at noon depressed and disheveled.
T: Miss Patty and Babette are of course running auditions for the SH musical, and in an expected/unexpected turn of events, Broadway star Kerry Butler/ therapist Claudia is in line to audition, and sees Lorelai. Their conversation is the MOST she talked since she’s been on the show. Meanwhile, Sutton Foster makes her first appearance in the background and Taylor is singing her praises because she was Kinky Boots. She WAS Kinky Boots!
M: Stars Hollow: The Musical could only be better if they came down the aisles creepily waving their hands to audience members like the Pippin incident. Lorelai is aghast, Gypsy is having the time of her life, Babette’s pretty into it. It’s interesting having 90 minutes to play with – in the original series it would have been a few verses to give us an idea of what was going on then a cut-away. I don’t want to wish away any moment of Sutton Foster, but I might have liked to use a few minutes of that time for some of the characters we love (Paris or Lane, specifically).
T: We are theater nerds in the truest sense of the term, but I totally agree – I would’ve given up a few minutes of the SH Musical in favor of more Paris or Lane or even Brian and Gil. Or Miss Patty!!!
M: Now we can add Hamilton to the list of 2016 pop culture references.
T: I just… have so many comments about this horribly amazing musical. A few things – they’re incorporating the Revolutionary War reenactors, finding out Sutton and Christian Borle’s characters, who’ve been singing about being in love, are siblings, and ending it with Abba’s Waterloo – the SAME EXACT SONG HIT JUKEBOX MUSICAL MAMMA MIA ENDS WITH!
M: In the rundown session after the play, everyone loved it but Lorelai. (“What’s your suggestion? Make it LESS perfect?” “She was Kinky Boots!”) Loved Taylor name-dropping rappers (“How does he know their names?”)
I know nothing about musicals, but this is a fun musical. – Tom, a contractor by profession
T: Sutton, the star of ASP’s Bunheads and longtime GG fan, finally has a face-to-face scene with Lauren Graham, who is reprising her role of Lorelai Gilmore. My brain is on the verge of exploding.
M: Emily is letting Berta wear civilian clothes! She has a TV in the living room! She ATE in the living room! However, Rory wants Emily to get out more, go to the club, go dancing at night – sounds exhausting.
M: JESS. Jess looks very, very good. And I know we all know what Milo Ventimiglia looks like in 2016 – thank the tv gods for This Is Us – but it’s somehow still a fresh surprise to see him as Jess. Jess and Rory have a friendly but not flirty relationship, but haven’t seen each other for a good 4 years. I’ve always liked Jess the most of Rory’s boyfriends, that’s no secret, and I love how he has such a good insight into who she is. He tells her he knows what she should write: the story of her and her mom.
T: Jess walked into frame and I had to pause because I almost swooned. But his looks aside, I agree with Molly – Jess was the best (season 6 version of him at least), and he was always the intellectual equal to Rory. She believed he was better than his chalk outline pranks and knew he had potential to be great, and later on, he thought the same of her. That carries through to today, and it’s even more prevalent after suggesting she write the book. Also, is Luke going to give his franchise money to Rory for the book?
M: Major ‘aww’ moment: as Jess greets Luke outside the window, Rory pulls up an article about young single mom Lorelai moving to Stars Hollow. I guess before social media this is how you’d know things? But then again, this is Stars Hollow.
T: Rory pulling up the article “LORELAI GILMORE ARRIVES IN STARS HOLLOW TAKES JOB AT INDEPENDENCE INN” marks the first time I’ve ever cried over microfiche. And to step back a little bit, the moment between Luke and Jess was perfect.
M: Rory is having her Jo March moment writing about Lorelai’s life. I’m touched. Lorelai is not, and she withholds her permission. It’s understandable, though. Lorelai worked for years to make sure people “only knew what I wanted them to know.” I’m the same way – everyone gets pieces of my life but the whole thing isn’t out there – and it would drive me crazy if somebody spilled everything.
Also Rory… I really loved the sweet, shy, hardworking, morally upright Rory of the first 4 or so seasons. The problem is that she had this Stars Hollow pedestal her whole life and as an adult, that has manifested in a person who expects to be lauded and supported. She should have taken Lorelai’s “no,” or at least discussed the matter calmly, but emotions were high and I think Rory was caught off guard.
Still, Lorelai’s reaction isn’t typical for her (except for that long feud I don’t like to remember) and makes it clear how serious she is about this. Lorelai has always been so confident and no-nonsense about her rough early years that I didn’t realize that it was something she was sensitive about, but being rejected by her mother at 16 and now again after Richard died is still painful for her.
T: And on top of this, Lorelai goes to the diner and has a fight with Luke after she tells him he’s “been grumpy for months”, and it sets off the whole can of worms that I explicitly told them would come back to bite them in the ass during Spring. Apparently these fictional characters can’t hear either of us when we talk to the TV. Lor calls out Luke for not telling her he went looking for potential spots for his diner franchise, while he reminds her she didn’t tell him Emily stopped going to therapy but she kept seeing Claudia. AND THEN Luke says, “We struck a deal. You’ve got your life and I’ve got mine. You keep your crazy family away from me and I’ll keep my crazy family away from you.” UhBoy. This is what is was like circa season 6 with the whole April debacle – why are we still here??
All the while, Lorelai, like putting salt in the saltshakers in Winter, continues to help Luke clean up the dirty plates from the tables because it’s basically her diner too. All. The. Feels.
“Can we talk about this at home?” “This is home.”
M: Rory and Logan break up (“we can’t break up, because we’re nothing.”). One thing I think AYITL does well is the reintroduction of Rory’s old love interests. Realism would have her on a Facebook-only basis with all of them, but obviously that wouldn’t work. I like that for viewers who were Team Logan, he’s a caring and sweet guy except for the cheating, which I can’t forgive but in which he’s no more culpable than Rory. For Team Jess, he shows up, has a friendly rapport with Rory, and gives her the first writing inspiration she’s had for some time. Team Dean? We’re not there yet.
M: Then Lane states the theme of this episode and also of life in your early 30s: this adult stuff is hard, isn’t it?
T: I mean, we kind of don’t know where Lane’s coming from except she’s the mom of two twins and a part-time drummer. #JusticeForLane
M: Secondary theme of your early 30s, courtesy of Rory: I don’t need Lipitor, I need to be 20 again.
M: If we needed more clarification, though, the one and only Sutton Foster sings the dilemma for us, too. Lorelai starts crying and so do I (“Maybe it’ll be me and a dog?” You’re killing me, Sutton. Woof.).
T: Through my tears, I appreciated how realistic and unrealistic this show is, and how truly theatrical it is. There were many times in AYITL in particular which felt like I was watching a stage production, but this scene was obvious yet magical, and perfectly encapsulated Lorelai’s “A-Ha” moment without her having to say a word.
M: Callback to the beginning of the episode: Lorelai is going to “do Wild,” aka hike the Pacific Crest Trail like in Cheryl Strayed’s book. But have any of you read that book? Particularly at a time when you were feeling topsy-turvy about your life? That thing should come with an advisory on the back, because it makes you want to go out there and hike until your feet are so blistered that you figure your life out.
T: I’ve only seen the movie, and I was left confirming my lifelong stance against camping and hiking long distances through nature. I feel like I’m on the same level as Lorelai, so I’m truly concerned for her wellbeing if she lasts on this trip. Also, please note that while Luke is reminding Lorelai nature is nature, he is standing next to another beloved townie – Bert the Toolbox.
M: This is the heaviest of the episodes so far, but it’s also a serious dose of reality (musical numbers aside). Rory can only keep a cheerful, optimistic attitude about being out of work for so long. Emily lost her spouse of 50 years. And Lorelai did an amazing job overcoming obstacles as a young parent, but it never left her with time to sort out what it all meant.
Stray observations
Lorelai has one of those Reese Witherspoon Totes Y’all totes while she’s reading Wild poolside (I think if you watch Gilmore Girls you’re also the kind of person who knows both that Reese was in Wild and that she sells these totes and get a kick out of the unspoken reference. This is why I love Gilmore Girls fans.)
Zach on the twins: “When they get mad, they’re like five little Korean people and they focus all their Korean vitriol at Lane and me.”
Did I miss why Rory is wearing a hippie costume poolside?
She got game. “Your name is Kevin, huh? But I think I’ll call you – TOMORROW.” GET IT BABETTE.
The wonderful Jackie Hoffman is playing Esther, who can’t stop filing at the SH Gazette, and it is just another testament of how good casting was for the revival.
Michel is turning 50?? Which I guess makes sense because Lorelai is 48? STILL.
Lane and Zach have a side White Stripes combo at the Secret Bar. BUT WHAT ELSE DOES LANE DO? AND WHAT DOES ZACH SUPERVISE?
I continue to be amazed at how lovely and beautiful Lauren Graham is in this entire revival. I just love her so much, you guys.
Did ASP shade Aaron Sorkin, her closest writer rival, yet again? Lorelai: Yeah it’s like the set of an Aaron Sorkin movie in here.”
Rory still hasn’t dumped Paul. And she had to write herself a note to remind herself to do it.
Famous chefs continue to rotate out of the Dragonfly, but Luke is back in the kitchen at the inn after Ina Garten or Sandra Lee or one of them was kicked out by Lor. Remember, Luke is secretly like a Michelin star chef and just loves Lorelai a lot but has to get out his frustration by ranting about the situation yet ends up doing it anyways. It’s OG Luke ranting and it is gold.
Sophie suggests a tune to add to the musical, and it happens to be a song called I Feel The Earth Move, by the one and only Carole King. To clarify, Sophie is played by Carole King. All is well.
Rory: “Maybe I can be one of Paris’ surrogates. She always liked my teeth.” Yes. This is a thing Paris would let Rory know about.
I find it unbelievable Rory wouldn’t know what Mysteries of Laura is.
Emily is saying ‘Hello’. To Jack. The guy who had a real memory of Richard at his funeral. You know what? FUCK JACK. RICHARD GILMORE 4EVER. **UPDATE: The actor who plays Jack just showed up on my TV as Honey’s husband Marvin on Fresh Off The Boat, solving the mystery of why I know his face. BUT ALSO he played Robin’s dad, Robin Scherbatsky Sr. in HIMYM!**
Why does Nat, the director of the SH musical, have a neck brace on in the last scene he’s in?
This one was produced by Helen Pai, the namesake of Hep Alien (in anagram form). She’s also Amy Sherman Palladino’s friend who served as an inspiration for Lane.
By this point in my viewing (Saturday night), I had to cut off all communication with at least 5 people because they finished Fall before me. It’s real, y’all. -T
The flowers are in bloom in Stars Hollow, and we’re back to give a recap and our thoughts on the second installment of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life – Spring. Just like the season it’s named after, the theme of this episode is the start of new things, but also the return of old favorites. And… a Wookie?
M: The Spring title screen comes up and I cannot for the life of me remember if there was one for Winter. As we mentioned last time, we may have been dazed the first few minutes there.
M: Lorelai and Emily at mother-daughter therapy goes just about how you would imagine – anger, tense silences, and the nice candle that Emily told us would be there.
T: Broadway great Kerry Butler is Claudia, the therapist, and after news of her casting came out a while ago, I just assumed she’d be in the Stars Hollow musical with Sutton Foster and Christian Borle, but imagine my surprise when she showed up in the trailer as the one helping to put Emily and Lorelai back together. Since we won’t get to hear her sing, here is Tony-nominated Kerry singing Fly, Fly Away from Catch Me If You Can. What a dream.
T: One of the brilliant things about each installment focusing on one season is that we get to see multiple Stars Hollow festivals, including the Spring International Food Festival (Singapore is just a dick). Taylor is back to being annoyed at something going wrong, while Kirk plays his right hand man, Jackson is at his vegetable booth (! sans Sookie), Lane is running a table with Rory, and Mrs. Kim has taken on a new project with Korean teen singers, who are scared of the tambourine.
Mrs. Kim on teen singers: “They’ll get used to it. Just like electricity at night!”
T: Speaking of Mrs. Kim… HER ABSENT HUSBAND MR. KIM FINALLY MAKES AN APPEARANCE ON CAMERA!!!!
And this is my first complaint – I kinda wish he was never revealed. I would’ve been totally fine with it being a mystery. But alas. Also, he’s v old, no?
T: The Bid-On-A-Basket fundraiser is BACK and fittingly, Luke and Lorelai watch the auction happen, similar to season 2 in A-Tisket, A-Tasket episode in which Lor forces Luke to bid on her basket in order to save her from the dudes Miss Patty planted, and they end up having a romantic picnic in the gazebo. Lor even references this and called it “the early days of their romance” #OTP
T: Lor ends up buying some gal named Cassie’s basket, who is basically Sookie 2.0.
M: “Your cheeks are like two white apples” – Alex Kingston (/Naomi) neatly summarizing what it is about how fresh Rory looks.
T: I’m also starting to get a bad feeling about Alex Kingston/Naomi. She’s a little too off the rails right now…
“I’m voting for Brexit. It’s a protest vote. It’ll never win.” – Gilmore Girls sending me crashing back into reality.
T: There’s no denying Logan (who is much hotter now than before?) still loves Rory a lot. But what we find out during a lunch (that was crashed by Mitchum) is that Logan is engaged to Odette, a French heiress. SO WHAT YOU’RE TELLING ME IS THEY’RE BOTH CHEATERS?!?
M: Our first town meeting – Stars Hollow is planning its first gay pride parade. Also, the B-level actors from a locally filmed movie will be staying at the Dragonfly. Also the town has a bit of a rivalry with Woodbury, where the A-list stars are staying. It’s like Stars Hollow’s Eagleton. Only at this moment do I realize how similar Gilmore Girls and Parks and Recreation – two of my favorite shows – really are. Part of it is the humor mixed with sincerity and goodness, but part of it is that I feel like they could exist in the same universe.
Taylor asked for (gay) volunteers to march in the gay pride parade-
Taylor: We have Donald, who will be marching with his Chow Chow, Sherlock.
Babette: Sherlock is gay?
Donald: No, he’s just my dog.
T: Imagine Ron sitting in a town meeting run by Taylor. He would HATE it. Another great thing about this first town meeting is that we get to see all our old friends again, including Babette, Andrew, and Bootsy, who I’m pretty sure wasn’t even on the last 4 seasons of the OG series, and newcomer Donald, played by Sam Pancake – Lauren Graham’s BFF IRL! I also loved the run of everyone trying to get Taylor “Liza with a Z” Doose to come out – especially from Gypsy, who is clearly in love with Lorelai.
T: Luke finds out over the phone that Liz & TJ accidentally signed up for a co-op that turned out to be a cult that sells vegetables. It sounds much like Scientology – a 6 million year contract – but with food. I can’t help but think this is shade from ASP, since Kathleen Wilhoite (who played Liz) tweeted a while ago that she wasn’t asked back for the revival and wasn’t surprised.
T: THE REAL PAUL ANKA IS BACK. AND JUST LIKE LAST TIME, HE’S ALL UP IN LOR’S DREAMS, SIGNIFYING SOMETHING IS UP.
T: I feel like I say, “OH MY GOD” outloud to my TV screen every 8 minutes because of some kind of cameo or call back or general plot line. It is great.
M: Michel is Lorelai’s Paris – her “angry friend.” Hah.
Lorelai on having B-list movie stars staying at the Dragonfly: What’s the point of living if we’re never going to bag JLaw?
T: We are back at another Stars Hollow staple, the Black, White, and Read movie theater, where Kirk is dressed up for the screening of Eraserhead – and SURPRISE – a new short film! Kirk’s first short film is easily one of the most memorable moments from the OG series, and the fact that we got a new one (that won the coveted “Good Try Award”) is pure genius.
Also, in the scene where Kirk is walking his pig Petal outside Lorelai’s house, she didn’t even know he was doing filming it while she was at home, prompting Luke to say, “How did you not notice this?” and to which I said in a very loving and entertained tone, “This is so dumb!”
T: As an avid Gilmore Guys listener and GG: AYITL trailer watcher, I knew Kevin & Demi of said podcast had a cameo, and although it is brief, I love that they are at the Dragonfly when all the B-list millennials are there. Perfect. Can’t wait to hear them talk about their experience
“I’m not Edith Wharton, I don’t write letters” – Lorelai, re: a letter Emily says she received from Lorelai on her birthday, but that Lorelai has no recollection of.
M: I guess the thing is that the Dragonfly gets a different celebrity chef until we finally get Sookie (I hope). It’s Rachael Ray right now.
T: And why is Lor being such a B to these pop up chefs?! (she misses Sookie + is going through a mid-life crisis)
M: Holy cow: Emily still has the same maid. Luke and Lorelai come for dinner even though only Luke was invited, which seems INSANE. The giant Richard portrait is still up. It turns out that Emily wanted to talk to Luke about the importance of creating a will. Not only that, though – Richard created a trust to franchise Lukes. I love how Richard is still a real character even though he’s no longer here: that is such a Richard thing to do.
Emily: What’s wrong with your throat?
Luke: I swallowed a bug.
Emily: Why in the world would you do that?
THIS IS THE PERFECT EMILY LINE
M: Lorelai and Emily discuss Luke at therapy – Emily refers to Luke as Lorelai’s “roommate” and “booty buddy,” and therapist Claudia calls Luke Lorelai’s “guy” – “like it’s a beach blanket movie,” per Emily.
T: I’ve never been to therapy, but I feel like Claudia’s not doing a good job. She’s barely said anything mediative or helpful.
T: Richard had an actuarial of everyone’s day of death including luke aka he knew they’d be together forever bye and HE ALSO LEFT LUKE A TRUST FUND TO EXPAND AND FRANCHISE LUKES DINER JUST LIKE IN SEASON 5.
Emily: Luke, when are you going to embrace your future?
Luke: Tonight?
He is so perfectly awkward and uncomfortable with her it continues to be delightful
M: Paris and Rory return to speak at Chilton. File under: things you’ll never see us doing at our alma mater.
T: I don’t think they’d even remember me to ask me to speak at our high school. In saying that, neither of us caused trouble or left a lasting legacy like Paris, whom Headmaster Charleston is still afraid of. It’s a fair response, seeing as how Paris is telling kids in her class, “Betrayal, deception – and that’s just in the bedroom i’m not in the habit of quoting Stalin…
M: Paris sees Tristan chatting up some fancy Chilton lady (or “slutty biznatch” – Paris) and, in true Paris fashion, rushes a group of teens out of the bathroom.
M: Paris is “an MD, a lawyer, an expert in neoclassical architecture and I think a certified dental technician to boot” according to Francie. Yep, FRANCIE.
T: And one of Francie’s shining moments happened to also be in a bathroom, when she cornered Rory about Paris leading student council! I can’t help but think this new scene setting was on purpose.
T: Paris gave $100k to Chilton’ capital improvement plan?? SHE IS A MILLIONAIRE.
M: I would have guessed that Paris and Doyle would be stupid-rich. Would not have guessed they’d be breaking up. But Paris has a late period and this is TV so maybe they’ll have a baby that saves the relationship.
T: Headmaster Charleston encourages Rory to get her masters and come back to teach. What if Luke gives trust fund money to Rory for school?? Like honestly, she should just go get her masters.
T: Rory calls Logan and he’s sleeping next to who I’m assuming is Odette, and I said out loud, “THIS BITCH!” despite the fact he’sthe one cheating. It’s the Lindsay Complex all over again. Also, he said Ace for the first time in the revival and it actually feels good and not slimy.
M: Rory finally has her meeting. No word on whether she’s wearing her lucky outfit.
T: And she has her meeting with Scandal’s own Dan Bucatinsky!
T: Yet another call back with Lor suggesting Luke is Viggo Moretensen! And yet again, Luke calls him Vito Morgenstern, just like in season 6! This stuff really gets to me, you guys.
REVIVAL: Lorelai to Luke, while watching A History of Violence: “Viggo Mortensen is you! He’s totally you. Seriously, David Cronenberg owes you money. He must have dropped by the diner, saw you, got inspired and turned you into this ex-thug guy.”
6.08 – LET ME HEAR YOUR BALALAIKAS RINGING OUT:
LORELAI: Cool. Wow. They could make a movie about this someday. You know…The reluctant, handsome diner owner sponsoring a team that goes all the way to the national finals, and you know who would play you?
LUKE: Who?
LORELAI: Tobey Maguire!
LUKE: He’s way younger than me.
LORELAI: But his career is hot. Go with Tobey.
LUKE: What about that Vito Morgenstern?
LORELAI: Sure. Or Viggo Mortensen.
LUKE: Oh.
LORELAI: Or Donald Sutherland.
LUKE: Too old.
LORELAI: We’ll dye his hair.
LUKE: He’s got jowls.
LORELAI: You’re picky.
What also gets to me (in a different way) – Luke and Lor hiding big things from each other. WHY 👏ARE👏 Y’ALL 👏LYING👏 YOU 👏ARE 👏ADULTS 👏THIS 👏IS 👏NOT👏 BUENO👏
M: The Naomi thing folds, even though I specifically told Rory to get everything in writing when I was talking to my TV during Winter.
T: AND HOLY SHIT NAOMI’S LAWYER IS PLAYED BY THE ONE AND ONLY JASON MANTZOUKAS!!!! You may recognize him from The League, Parks and Rec, currently Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or podcasts Comedy Bang Bang and How Did This Get Made – or most importantly, the Gilmore Guys. He’s been a frequent guest star on the show, and I’ve even seen him at three live shows. He’s a legit GG fan and has been for years. He even asked his agent to get him a role when it was still on the air, and he had a meeting, but he never got the part. He also pitched the idea of being the guy that sleeps with BOTH Lor and Rory, which makes sense if you know his humor. ANYWAYS, his casting in the revival was never announced so seeing him on the screen made me scream out loud and start crying a bit, because I HAVE BEEN V EMO DURING THIS ENTIRE PROCESS.
M: Rory falls back on the offer to write a piece on lines. People waiting in lines. Our darling and favorite celebrity Gilmore Girls fan, Mae Whitman, is here! Lorelai calls her “kid.” My heart is as full as it’s ever been.
ALSO: “Monique Aswell’s Crodo like IRL “Dominique Ansel’s Cronut!
T: Also in that small group of folks with Mae was a gal named Kristine, who is Scott Patterson’s wife and baby mama IRL! She also had a small cameo in Last Week Tights, This Week Fights! And did anyone else find it slightly annoying that Lor just easily acquired the items without waiting in line – and also flaunted it??
T: Another cameo! The one and only Michael Ausiello – the OG Gilmore Guy and most-trusted journalist in all-things Gilmore!
M: Not saying Rory’s spiraling out of control, but she slept with a wookie from one of the lines then told her mom about it. It’s Rory’s first one night stand and Lorelai has had zero, which surprised me until Lorelai reminded us all she was a mom at 16.
Lorelai: Did you not breakup with Pete yet? Does Patrick know?
LOL HIS NAME IS PAUL
M: Next stop: that website gig, Sandy Says, which looks like a big mess. No HR? I’m glad Rory found her red dress but I have a red flag for her. Rory is more or less promised the job but then doesn’t get it. Dodged a bullet, TBH.
T: Agreed. In that both Sandy AND Rory dodged a bullet. Also, shout out to the fantastic Julia Telles as Sandy! She was also on Bunheads and currently in The Affair!
Stray Observations
I’ve decided it’s weird without the theme song at the beginning
Emily: “My big bazookas are intruding on you?”
“Town meeting fire hydrants will be repainted according to the aesthetic of that corner/area.”
Somehow, during the spring festival the town looks 200% more like a backlot than usual. It looks like it would be the Connecticut pavilion at Epcot. (Actually, in general Stars Hollow is the Connecticut pavilion at Epcot, a thing I never knew I always wanted).
In general, there is so much more diversity in Stars Hollow since 2007!
Rory’s dresses are nice. So are Lorelai’s – and she’s back in the iconic DVF wrap dresses. And she still favors funky hats. In general, ASP had Netflix money to work with, so the wardrobe has been kicked up a lot of notches. Love it. And both of their hairdos are also fab!
Since when does Luke drink wine?
The scene with al the townies taking out food from outside, despite Kirk telling them not to – classic. Andrew’s cake and Babette and Morey’s mini grill killed me.
By the end of the revival, Berta’s entire extended family is going to be living in Emily’s house
Rory touching the painting and saying, “Hi Grandpa” TEARS.
I am loving these new Sam Phillips ‘La-Las’! And obvs enjoy the OG ones too!
Paris to Headmaster Charleston: Can I use your john?
Francie bringing up Paris never being Puffed was the best insult.
Paris being normal Paris then immediately being so nice and maternal to the kids when Doyle returns is A++. ALSO, I NEED PARIS AND DOYLE TO GET BACK TOGETHER
Lor tells Claudia, “It was always supposed to be Luke” OTP OTP OTP
Luke is at the diner and sees Emily come out of the car, and the only thing he can say is, “Oh no no no no no no no no no no”. Reminded me of one of my favorite little moments in the OG series:
After a back and forth with Sandy after she tells Rory she doesn’t get the job, Rory’s final come back to “Get lost!” is “Get… Shorty!”
Cookies + Sangria 