I was so excited about the GG Revival last year, and it was perfect that it debuted on Black Friday, also know as my Stay-At-Home-All-Day Day. I watched the six hour segment at least twice that day. I had the same question a lot of people asked that day; 'when did Rory become such a whiny entitled little bitch?' Until I re-watched that series and discovered Rory had always been that way. The revival really made me change the way I viewed the series. I was not alone in this observation, as I spent a lot of time reading on-line reviews from TV critics (this was before my 2017 goal to spend less time looking at crap online) other expressed similiar sentiments; 'why did I even like this show?'
Yet because I cannot help myself, I recently re-re-watched the revival and decided to compose my own list of comments and observations. As you can see, the whole goal of not wasting time on senseless crap is not really happening...
Winter
Rory does look impossibly fresh to have just flown in from London. I know this from experience. To arrive in Connecticut midday, she would have needed to wake up at the ass crack of dawn, if not earlier, schlep accross London (oh wait, I forgot Logan sent the car to take her to the airport) go through check in, security and then travel seven hours trapped in a tin can surrounded by people with consumption, diphtheria, scabies, hummus dip and rabid dogs. Once she lands, if she flew into JFK, she could take the train to Connecticut, which involves at least 5 transfers and while dragging your luggage, is really not fun. Taking a taxi or an Ooo-ber would probably cost the same amount as her flight, which we're really not sure how she can afford, seeing that she has no steady income and is presumably living off a trust fund that her grandfather or her noveau rich father set her up. She could have flown into Bradley International Airport, but would have needed a connecting flight, thus adding more time and wear to her journey, unless we assume in magical TVworld there are direct flights from LHR to BDI. Afterall, Stars Hollow is supposed to be 20 minutes from Hartford, but Bradley itself is not in Hartford. It's about tweny minutes from Hartford heading toward Springfield, Mass. The really burning question is: why didn't Rory's loving and devoted Mother pick her up from the airport?
Working Kirk into Friday Night Dinner was brilliant.
Lorelai re-used her daughter's analogy of loosing her virginity as a ship that had set sail.
Emily is right. At 32, Rory is too old to be couch surfing and 'crashing' here and there.
During the series, Gilmore Girls was criticised for it's lack of diversity (with the obvious exception of Michel) but I had to admit it was accurate. I grew up in the town that provided some of the inspiration for Stars Hollow. There were a total of three black kids in my school (and I'm talking Kindergarden to High School graduation and two of them were sisters) My mom had to ask me if I would feel comfortable going to see the new dentist who was black. It is however, painful to see how they treat the few black characters who show up in the Gilmore's world. In the series, we had Logan's driver, who Rory asked to move Lorelai's TV set upstairs. After his heartattack, Richard had a black nurse, who was berated by Emily as she expected the nurse to do the maid's work. Even the one black guy with some status (Logan's partner for their failed business) had disgusting eating habits. Apparently the trend continues in the revival as Paris humiliates and fires her black assistant. Sigh.
I'm not sure why Luke and Lorelai would need a surrogate to have a baby. Did she have a hysterectomy or an endometrial ablation since the series ended? We can all do the math to figure out that Lorelai is 48. Most REIs will recommend donor eggs after the age of 43. It was a missed opportunity to shed some light on donor eggs. Instead we were confused along with Luke on whether or nor Paris was running a fertility clinic or a brothel.
Spring
What was the point of the two second cameo of Lane's father [who I always presumed was dead]? Um, where was he when Lane got married? Had her twins? Renounced the Seventh Day Aventists and joined a band? Got drunk? Dyed her hair and dyed it back again? Yet he shows up for the Stars Hallow International Food Fesitval?
The Gay Pride Parade discussion was really awkward. Was Gypsy trying to out herself or Taylor? Also, as a former resident of Woodbury, Woodbury does not just lend out their gays...
Yes, of course the A-list stars want to stay in Woodbury.
It is clear Rory really thought Mitchell pulling some strings at GQ was going to set her up with a job, instead it seemed that they only spent time with her as a courtesy to him.
Not only did Rory miss the opportunity for her story about lines when she stumbled on a group who didn't know they were lined up behind some guys eating lunch while she was nodding off and sleeping with Wookiees; she missed the commonality (the word used by the publisher who pitched the idea to her) which her mother discovered by bonding with the kitchen staff to get the goods and learning that the person waiting in one line may hold the items desired by another. It shows how far she's fallen from Chilton Rory who wrote a great piece on the boring topic of repaving the parking lot.
I have to admit I was enjoying seeing Rory fail in a job interview that she thought she was beneath her. Even more satisfying that she couldn't deliver a decent come back line. Also, her lucky dress was not that flattering.
Summer
Was anyone else disturbed by the way Lorelai and Rory were treating the two young boys holding the parasols?
Rory thumbs her nose at the offer to join the faculty at the prestigious Chilton, but is willing to become the unpaid editor of the Stars Hallow Gazette?
Um who is writing all the stories for the Stars Hallow Gazette? Elves? The portrayl of Ester filing the same piece of paper and Charlie falling asleep at his desk is a bit ageist
The Secret Bar is awesome.
Every time I've re-watched the revival, I fast foward through the Musical.
It was exceptionally tacky for Rory to write "Break up with P" right in front of Jess, but maybe I can understand a little given how hot he is now.
Sorry Jess, it's actually not that compelling of a story. Privledged girl gets pregnant as a teen, runs away from home and raises her daugher on her own until she needs to borrow money from her wealty parents to send her kid to a fancy-smancy private school where she ends up being a legacy admission at Yale* (which her father paid fully) and then does nothing with her life. But if you want to add in a bunch of colourful characters as townspeople and replay the tension between the grown single mother and her resentful parents; maybe she should pitch it to Doyle as a TV series...
*Albeit Rory was valedictorian and deserved to be admited to Yale on her own merits, she seemed to think that would set her up for her life. I don't think she was ever as driven or prepared for anything after her Ivy League admission.
Why is Lorelai still so sour on Jess? Does she not know that he was the one who got her to go back to Yale? That he ended up doing pretty well for not having a father and having a ditzy mother? More so, has she not see how hot he is?
Yeah Rory, I don't think you're going to be able to retire on the royalties from his book, so don't be too dismissive of grad school (nice to have that option) or groveling for jobs that you don't want (and didn't get)
Autumn (sigh, 'Fall')
The whole doing Wild thing was stupid.
I like how they wrote TJ and Liz into the story line, but didn't bring the irritating characters back. It is fitting that they would get kicked out of the vegtable cult.
I thought the scene with the Life and Death Brigade was a dream sequence. Really, did we need to be reminded of what privledged rich assholes they are?
It's a bit ridiculous that Logan still calls Rory 'Ace.' Also she never needed rescuing? Isn't that all he ever did for her?
I couldn't really beleive the story of 13 year Lorelai bonding with her Dad when he caught her ditching school, but I found it compelling when she recounted getting the call from her mother about her father's death and suddenly her phone went back to being a calculator again...
It was really satisfying to hear Emily Gilmore say "bullshit" Why did the writers wait until last episode to discover they could curse on Netflix?
I didn't pick up on Rory asking her Dad about Lorelai raising her alone the first time I watched the revival, but I did notice that she didn't take a sip of the large cup of coffee in her hands...
I also lived outside Scranton too. Dean is right, it is really boring, but I didn't become pregnant with four kids because there is this thing called birth control.
Emily lacing up her sneakers to volunteer at the Whaling Museum is a throw back to Emily in Wonderland from the first season.
"Mom, I'm Pregnant" In the fifth season, after Rory brings Logan to Friday Night Dinner, Emily asks Richard, "can't you imagine a baby with his blond hair and her blue eyes?" Yeah... I don't think this is how she imagined it...
Yet, despite all the flaws with the revival, they left me wanting more...