Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

Earlier in the year, I basically mainlined the entire Gilmore Girls series, partially because it’s awesome and the experience became a bit of a nightly ritual, partially because I knew a mini-revival was in the offing later on, near T-Giving.  After finishing the series, my appetite was more than whetted, and the anticipation proceeded to grow for a few months.  Finally, my girl K-Tina and I (joined by a bit of a revolving door of supporters including my boy V-Dubb, his literal boy Tyler, and the fuzzy Pac-Man-faced Jack) sat down in two sessions to see what the buildup was all leading toward.

The underlying plot is simple: Rory is back in Stars Hollow following a decade of globe-trotting and whatnot, and she, Lorelai, and Emily all deal with a year’s worth of change and whatnot.  Insert banter, feels, and small-town shenanigoats.

I contemplated crafting a pro/con list, much like I did with the regular season a while back, but I’m balking on that here.  If for nothing else, it would come out too even.  K-Tina and I agreed here, this mini-series was decidedly bittersweet.  For one thing, it was great to be back in the swing of things with the Gilmores and their compatriots, and the dialogue sparkled (I can’t count how many times I had at least a small chuckle or snortle, and, no, it wasn’t due to any accompanying wowie sauce).  There was some emotion whilst dealing with the passing of Richard (RIP in peace, Ed Herrmann), there was the awkward fun of watching Emily and Lorelai go to therapy, there was a goddamn Stars Hollow musical (complete with Hamilton-style rapping, yo!), and a nigh-grating running joke about Rory being “back” (“I’m not ‘back’!” comes Alexis Bledel’s reply from beyond the horizon).  The time was mostly well-spent, even with a few instances of conversations carrying on for just a smidge too long.

The name of the game, though, was fan service, just in a strange way.  Just about every character from the series made some sort of cameo appearance, some more meaningful than others, and it became a bit of a guessing game between K-Tina and me to predict when such-and-such character would pop in and for how long.  Most of the characters have remained relatively unchained in the past decade (I mean, Miss Patty may have lost some weight, but she’s still trolling for tail at every opportunity), with some notable exceptions: Emily  has undergone some minor attitude shifts, but this is to be expected, what with Richard’s death and the fact that much of this miniseries is meant to outline her growth; Rory has become something of a whiny little twat, ostensibly due to the world bloodying her a bit (K-Tina and I both noticed this attitudinal shift, but a firm reason couldn’t be agreed upon, so I just went with my most conciliatory one); and Jess is finally a tolerable human being (must be a result of all those bicep curls he’s been doing in the interim…).

As fun as it was to see Emily rock some jeans (denim, heaven forfend!) and tell off the DAR in oddly characteristic panache, Rory’s off taste just didn’t sit right with us, and it colored the series a bit.  In the main series, she may have had some instances of whininess, but that was part and parcel of growing up (she was going through high school and college, so some whining and whatnot can be expected and accepted); here, she’s an established adult who apparently hasn’t gotten her shit together (and somehow I’m casting aspersions on her…) and semi-mopes about, despite her previously established attitude of sticktoitiveness and resolute positivity.  For me, she had the strongest arc in the regular series, helped by the fact that she was actually still growing up and such, but here she’s almost Plasticine in her, well, millennial-ness.  (Fuck, I hate that term, but I’ve got nothing better at this point.  I’ll try harder next time.  Promise.)  She’s definitely a letdown, taking a bit away from the positive nature of Emily and Lorelai here.  And don’t even get us started about that ending!  (Yeah, I get the idea of paralleling and whatnot, but something just tasted acrid, y’know?)

Overall, this miniseries was certainly worth the wait, and it was mostly enjoyable to once again stroll the streets of Stars Hollow (and Hartford) with the whole gang in tow.  There was more than a fair amount of recalcitrant fan service and and a couple off-putting changes, but the story and scripting more than made up for these shortcomings most of the time.  As it stands, both K-Tina and I were left with mixed feelings, leaning positive but with major reservations.  It’s not a rave, nor an unqualified success, but if you liked the regular series to any extent, you will likely find yourself smiling through the few hours on display here.