Okay, I just have to vent here for a few minutes. I know I’m behind the times, but I finally had time to sit down and watch the new Gilmore Girls revival with my mom and … I wish I could un-watch it.
I have to know: Did anyone out there like this revival?
Okay, so if you haven’t seen it yet and you plan to, you should click away because the rest of this post is going to be full of SPOILERS (and probably more than a little bit ranty)
Were Rory and Lorelai always such horrible people and I just didn’t notice before? How did I not notice this? For those of you who remember better than I do or who re-watched the original series, please remind me if Rory and Lorelai were always like this:
- Right from the very start, I was a bit … concerned. The whole running gag with the fact that no one could remember Paul (Rory’s boyfriend of TWO YEARS). It seemed just sort of mean. The poor guy obviously paid plenty of attention to them, since he brought them specific gifts that had to do with conversations they’d had in the past. He seemed incredibly sweet and charming. But apparently, our leads were all too wrapped up in their own lives to pay any attention to Paul—or even remember he existed. It became a running gag for Rory to say she needed to break up with him, but I couldn’t quote see any humor in it. Finally, he broke up with her at the very end. Yay for him, I guess?
- Lorelai’s drunken meanness at her father’s funeral—Yeah, I was kind of on Emily’s side with that one.
- Lorelai and Rory make fun of people at the pool—both people who they think are overweight and people whose suits they think are too skimpy. (Thinking back, maybe they were always like this? I honestly can’t remember for sure.)
- Rory seemed to think she was so above everyone else because of her fancy education and her one highly esteemed published article. But she was a total mess career-wise with no goals and no direction. And she just sort of wallowed in it and looked down on people who wanted to work with her. Oh, and disdaining other thirty-somethings who were in her same boat and living at home with their parents—because she’s so much better than them. Um, okay.
- Then there was Logan. Don’t even get me started on the whole thing with Logan. They had an “arrangement” where they slept with each other but then left all attachments out of it (supposedly)—too bad neither of their significant others were in on this arrangement. I guess we were supposed to think this was messed up because the whole point was that Rory’s life was out of control, but … I just couldn’t help but feel sort of horrified at the sort of person that Rory had become. Maybe I was supposed to be happy that she finally broke it off by the end, but it was really too little too late. Plus, I couldn’t help but think it was pretty much selfishness driving that decision, not any real sense of wrongdoing. (This was established further by the fact that she never did break things off with Paul.)
- And then it ended. Palladino has said that she always planned to have the show end with Rory getting pregnant because she wanted to show how history repeats itself. Because obviously college-educated Rory, at 32, wouldn’t make any better decisions than a teenage Lorelai had. Of course she’d get pregnant (with no father in the picture) because it was destined to be that way since that’s how she was raised. Huh??? I don’t think so.
But, I guess I’m not the show’s creator, so I don’t get a vote. And reading interviews with Sherman-Palladino has confirmed for me that she has a pretty bleak view of the world and she thinks the revival fits that world perfectly. I guess that’s true. I just sort of wish that Rory had had some sort of redeeming qualities so I wasn’t left disliking her so much. Or maybe I actually just wish I’d left my memories of the show alone … but that’s on me.
I had a lot of mixed feelings on it. I was happy to be back in Stars Hollow but super disappointed in Rory. I understand not having your life together but she was just such a mess I didn’t believe it. Also I have much love for Logan and I was disappointed in what they did with him and Rory. Loved Emily and Paris. I really didn’t like the Paul joke at all. Totally mean. And the ending is dumb. I hate shows that try to go full circle. It isn’t unique and most of the time the show as outgrown that original planned ending.
Yeah, I was enjoying the revival at first, even though there were elements that rubbed me the wrong way, but by the time I got to the end I was wishing I could forget all about it. I was just so frustrated with almost everything having to do with Rory. I get that there are plenty of people who don’t have their lives together at 32, but it just made me sad that Rory fell into that category—she was a complete mess!
I had fond memories of Gilmore Girls and was very excited about watching the revival. Now I wish I had just kept my memories and not watched it. It was very disappointing! Wish I could unwatch it!. ☹️
Yep. Exactly!
I’ve never watched the original, so got to sit on the sidelines for this. I will say that I appreciate the specificity of your issues with it. I tend to have trouble articulating precisely what is “off” about a show or book for me.
Yeah, my issues were pretty specific—I just didn’t like who Rory turned out to be ten years later!
I made it halfway through the first episode. Everything felt so forced including the “witty” banter. I couldn’t take a bunch of episodes of that.
I thought it felt forced too. Almost felt like a stage play that had been recorded to me—I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made me feel that way.
I liked it. I loved the final episode. I was thrown by some of Rory’s terrible decisions and at first that was hard. But I feel like a lot of her actions fit how she was before. I just expected her to have grown up more by this point. A few times there were lines I thought were just stupid because they were basically the same things said years ago during the original but so much time had passed that I didn’t see this dialogue fitting anymore. And yeah the Paul thing I could have totally done without!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I figured there must be some people who really loved it, and maybe I was in the complete minority—but I just wasn’t sure. I did think that some of the lines from the original were a little silly, but they didn’t bother me too much. But the Paul thing really made me crazy!
I loved the life and death brigade scenes. And Luke and Emily but other than that it really annoyed me! Especially as I’d rewatchedthe whole original series again from scratch just before the revival.
I felt it was more like a bad caricature than something that did such a great show justice. I agree with all your points and to add – wtf is going on with stars hollow? They are more like clowns than real people and whilst they were always odd at least they were human.
Avid fan totally disappointed tbh.
I didn’t rewatch, so I wondered if maybe I’d just forgotten how petty they were in the original. I actually feel better knowing someone who just rewatched the original series didn’t think this lived up to it—it wasn’t just my faulty memory! I agree with you about Stars Hollow, by the way.
I fell in love with Gilmore Girls in college. I thought Lorelai was teaching Rory valuable lessons, despite her past mistakes and the ones she continued to make. I always thought she was an honest and open parent. I feel like something changed from GG to the reboot in their relationship because they are meaner. I don’t think they were quite like that before. They would have humorous lines about others before, not cruel ones. Thinking back, all of Rory’s dropping out/moving in with the grandparents and then going to work for the DAR had the same hint of her elitist attitude in the reboot. I think when GG started she was a humble character, and there is nothing left of that in her. I was very disappointed in who she grew up to be. I imagined her continuing to grow and learn meaningful lessons from situations in life, adding to the lives of others. The Paul thing made me realize Rory has no regard for others, and yet she was affronted and emotional to learn that Logan’s fiance had finally shown up and moved in and their trysts were over. How hypocritical. I think the best part of the reboot was Emily and her journey finding out who she is without Richard. (Also, what does it say that the family she finds herself with is not her own?) I wish I could un-watch, too.
I think I liked Emily best in the reboot too—I hadn’t thought of the fact that she ends up finding a new “family,” but you’re totally right! I plan to forget the revival as much as possible and try to imagine that Rory learned from her past mistakes and grew up a bit more.
I didn’t mind the revival, but parts of it left me feeling really uncomfortable. I thought the Paul joke was horrible, and it only reflected badly on not just Rory but the whole family. I’d understand if he was an absent or terrible boyfriend, but he was SO lovely! I understood Lorelai’s behaviour at her father’s funeral though; they didn’t have an easy or affectionate relationship when Richard was alive, so the fact that she struggled for a lovely anecdote while processing her grief made sense to me. Rory’s whole story arc made me sad, especially the way she treated the other thirty-somethings and the whole Logan thing, as you pointed out. I’m not a fan, but it makes sense to me that she’s the way she is, given she completely fell to pieces after -one- negative assessment of her talents in the original.
I guess you’re right that maybe Rory’s current character wasn’t so surprising based on her character in the original (I had forgotten that she’d had an affair with Dean after he was married—you’d think she would have learned her lesson after the way that turned out, but I guess not). The Paul thing really bugged me—even Luke looked bad when it came to Paul. Sigh. Oh well, I guess I’ll forget this revival eventually just like I forgot the parts of the original that I wasn’t so keen on.
I’ve never actually watched The Gilmore Girls, but I’ve been thinking about finally doing it for a while, because I had a friend who raves about it. Maybe I’ll just watch the original show then and skip the revival! It sucks that you didn’t enjoy it as much as you hoped you would.
Yeah, I was sad because I loved the original. Maybe I just remembered it as being better than it really was? I don’t know, but this revival was disheartening.
I’ve not watched this (yet) but have READ ALL THE SPOILERS, and am disappointed in some of the directions this revival went. It’s sad how much they’ve changed some of the characters. Still, I’m willing to give it a fair chance, and hope I enjoy at least SOME of this. 🙂
Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland!
I’m sure there will be things about the series that you’ll like if you were a fan of the original. I enjoyed parts of it, but was definitely disappointed overall.
So I haven’t actually ever seen Gilmore Girls…but I was too curious and wanted to read your thoughts on this anyway.? I think it’s always sad when shows (or even books!) come back to give us “extras” and it just faaails expectations so bad. (Like The Cursed Child right?!) So that is all the sadness. And the creature of the show seems like a bucket of sunshine?!? #not
Sad this failed for you so badly, Nicole!!
Yeah, I was just completely disappointed by this and kind of wish I hadn’t watched it at all. Oh well. I guess there are worse problems to have.
So uhhh I have heard about this from lots of not-so-happy friends. And I agree with you. I watched the original occasionally, but not often enough to care about this revival, which I am glad about. I *almost* caved and watched the original- and now I am happy I didn’t because it would have been soooo disappointing. This is… a mess. I mean, why even BOTHER just to make your fans feel crappy? Like, I feel like this creator needs to work out some of her own issues instead of pissing off fandoms? Just an idea. I am really sorry that it was such a mess. 🙁
Yeah, I read interviews with Palladino and she basically said that the world is messed up and so she thought her characters should be too. Which, I guess is a viewpoint. But why do I want to watch like eight hours (or maybe it was six—I don’t remember) of characters I love being miserable and making terrible choices? I think I could have taken it if Rory had like ANY redeeming qualities at all. I’m not saying that she should be perfect at 32, but she was just a train wreck and she never got any better by the end of the revival. It just made me mad!
I never watched that show, so I didn’t bother. But I still have the new X-Files short season on my DVR to finish watching. It just didn’t grab me like I’d hoped it would. Sorry this didn’t work for you. 🙁
Yeah I guess sometimes we just need to leave our old series behind.