Few shows have as loyal and enduring a fandom as Gilmore Girls, but being a fan of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s revolutionary show comes with a few pitfalls. The beloved dramedy series premiered on October 5, 2000, meaning its 25th anniversary is just around the corner, and there’s even a Gilmore Girls documentary in the works in celebration.
Meanwhile, Gilmore Girls stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel will reunite at the 77th Primetime Emmys to present an award, further proving that love and nostalgia for the show isn’t going anywhere. Add in Luke Danes actor Scott Patterson’s Gilmore Girls rewatch podcast, I Am All In, and it’s a great time to be a fan — even if that comes with more than a few harsh realities.
No Other Show Can Replace Gilmore Girls
With its cozy-quirky setting of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, its unrivaled fast-paced banter, and the loving yet unique mother-daughter relationship at the heart of it all, there’s a reason Gilmore Girls is a show you can’t watch just once. But for die-hard Gilmore Girls fans, nothing replaces the thrill of watching it first time — and it’s a high we’ve been fruitlessly chasing ever since.
There are plenty of great series with similar themes, like Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia, which sees a single mom move to a small town with her two children. The Gilmore Girls cast has also starred in plenty of great projects since that are worth checking out, from Lauren Graham’s Parenthood to Alexis Bledel’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
Perhaps the best option is the heartfelt romantic drama Sullivan‘s Crossing, which stars Scott Patterson and is all about complicated family dynamics. But fans know that while we may enjoy all these shows, nothing will ever come close to matching the magic of Gilmore Girls.
Gilmore Girls Rewatches Always End In Disappointment
It’s always a thrill to rewatch Gilmore Girls, especially in the fall, because so many episodes thoroughly embrace the autumnal aesthetic and comforting feel. Gilmore Girls always hooks us right from the opening scene, as we curl up on the couch to watch Lorelai beg Luke for more coffee and see Rory in her iconic white cable-knit sweater.
Despite all the highs, from the Lorelais’ trip to Harvard to Rory’s tearjerking valedictorian speech, we know we’re in for an inevitable decline. For some, that happens when Lorelai and Rory are feuding in Gilmore Girls season 6, but almost every fan agrees that season 7, the show’s last, pales in comparison to the rest of the series.
Without Amy Sherman-Palladino as showrunner and writer, season 7 is a tough sit. Sadly, the 2016 revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, wasn’t much better, despite ASP being back at the helm. For a show that makes us so happy and characters we love so much, it’s a shame the end is such a letdown.
We’ll Never Get Justice For Lane
Even with its subpar season 7 and the revival, Gilmore Girls still saw some great moments for its main characters. It was a thrill to watch Rory turn down Logan’s marriage proposal in favor of pursuing her journalism dreams, and to see Luke and Lorelai finally get married. I defy any fan not to shed a tear at Emily moving on after Richard’s death and creating a new life for herself.
But one character who never got a satisfying ending was Rory’s childhood best friend, Lane Kim, which was such a disappointment because of how awesome she is. Unlike Rory, Lane didn’t have the luxury of rich grandparents to bankroll her academic pursuits, nor did she have the entire town wrapped around her finger (despite being born and raised there).
Instead, Lane forged her own path with no help from anybody, finding love with the sweet Dave Rygalski and living her best rock musician life. Then, for some inexplicable reason, Gilmore Girls decided to completely blow up her storyline. Lane ended up married to the mediocre Kyle and pregnant with twins after her first time having sex.
A Year in the Life had the chance to add some much-needed sparkle back into Lane’s life, but it ultimately didn’t give her much to do. Even if we do get another revival, it doesn’t look like any creatives are interested in giving Lane the excitement and ambition she deserves, and it’s heartbreaking seeing her storylines get worse and worse in every rewatch.
Rory’s Unsatisfying Love Life
One of the most fun things about being part of any fandom is getting into spirited, friendly debates, and perhaps the biggest hot-button issue among Gilmore Girls fans surrounds Rory’s romantic relationships. Specifically, are you Team Dean, Team Jess, or Team Logan?
No matter which, it’s hard to argue that each romance doesn’t have its sweet moments. Rory and Dean’s early dating days are wholesome and adorable as they learn what it means to be in love. Her chemistry with Jess as they bond over books and literature is beyond electric. Rory also goes on grand adventures with Logan, like the secret outdoor Life and Death Brigade party.
But for all her thrilling romances, Rory’s love life is pretty disastrous in the revival, as she is in a relationship with a bland boyfriend she constantly forgets about and is carrying on an affair with the engaged Logan. That’s incredibly frustrating because it completely strips away the empowerment of her turning down his proposal.
Not every character needs to end up with a romantic partner to live happily ever after, but whereas Rory was so in control of her future at the end of the series, she’s totally adrift in the revival, especially with regard to her love life. We don’t even know how she feels about being pregnant at the end. We’ve spent so many episodes rooting for her — we just want her to be happy.
The Christopher Of It All
Gilmore Girls fans may never agree on who Rory should have ended up with, but there is one character we all share a universal stance on: the loathsome Christopher Hayden. Rory’s deadbeat dad, Christopher flits in and out of the Gilmore girls’ lives at whim, often leaving a heartbroken Lorelai in his wake.
Christopher’s wishy-washy selfishness provides some good drama in the first couple of seasons, but it’s harder to stomach on a rewatch because we know what’s coming. Though we do get the blissfully Christopher-free season 4, that’s only the calm before the storm, as Lorelai eventually invites him back into her bed and her heart, and mindblowingly marries him in season 7.
Perhaps more than any other reason, this is why Gilmore Girls fans detest the season so much. Christopher is such a toxic vibe-killer that, while we can understand him being around for a few episodes as Lorelai numbs her broken heart, he doesn’t deserve nearly that much screentime, and it makes no sense that he got it.
The Gilmore Girls Can Be Mean
With their breakneck-paced banter and unbreakable bond, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore are two of TV’s most charming characters, and we wish we could jump into the TV to share a coffee and a laugh with them at Luke’s Diner. But beneath their witty one-liners is very often a streak of cruelty.
It’s no secret that Lorelai uses humor as a shield against her family trauma, but she’s not content to just hide behind it — she also feels the need to attack Emily, Richard, or almost anyone at all with a mean-spirited barb. The fact that she delivers it with a twinkly smile and the delivery of a screwball movie star may mask her viciousness, but it’s there.
It’s also a harsh truth about Lorelai that Rory inherits her mean streak. None of us can forget Rory brutally body-shaming a ballerina in a review for the Yale newspaper — and she essentially quotes Lorelai’s vicious comments verbatim. The revival is just as bad, as one particurly offputting scene sees Lorelai and Rory making fat-shaming comments about swimmers at their local pool.
That’s not to say that Lorelai and Rory are wholly unlikable, and they have plenty of witty dialogue devoid of meanness. But once you notice it, it’s impossible to fully enjoy their humor on quite the same level again.
We Want More Gilmore Girls, But We’re Also Scared Of It
When Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was announced, we were overjoyed. Not only were we excited to return to Stars Hollow and our favorite characters, but the story would finally get an ending worthy of such a spectacular series. Or so we thought.
Instead, we got four episodes with unentertaining storylines, an awkward mix of comedy and drama, and the head-scratching cliffhanger of Rory’s pregnancy announcement. This left us wanting more, to say the least.
Amy Sherman-Palladino has been candid about her openness to do another Gilmore Girls revival, and plenty of the cast have said they’d return for more — after all, just about everyone came back for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. And if the stars aligned and it all came together, Gilmore Girls could finally get the ending it deserves.
But a Gilmore Girls season 9 could also just be another dud. Now that Lorelai and Luke are happily married, there’s really nowhere to go with them. And we hate to say it, but we can’t trust the franchise not to make Lane’s life even worse. So, as fans we’re caught between wanting to leave well enough alone, and the fact that the revival wasn’t well enough.
There’s No Place Like Stars Hollow
Every time we see Lorelai and Rory enjoy a coffee at Luke’s, catch a movie at the Black & White & Read Bookstore, or head to the town square for another wacky festival, we can’t help but get major FOMO. This is unfortunate, because Stars Hollow isn’t a real place.
Granted, Stars Hollow was inspired by several towns in Connecticut, including Washington and West Hartford, which can be visited. Plenty of small American towns also have their own unique charms that can satisfy your Gilmore Girls ideals. But nothing will ever be the exact same as Stars Hollow.
There’s also the fact that besides the charm of the town itself, Stars Hollow seemingly worships the ground Lorelai and Rory walk on, throwing them huge parties in the gazebo for life events like Rory’s Yale graduation or Lorelai’s wedding. Sure, the protagonists give lots to the community too, but they’re definitely given preferential treatment over life-long residents like Lane or Kirk.
Alas, even if we do feel a strong sense of love and community wherever we’re from, the sun doesn’t shine on anyone quite like Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. The only way to come close is to live vicariously through them, and despite this and all these harsh realities of being a Gilmore Girls fan, it’s also the absolute best.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
