Gilmore Girls

First, let me say that I am a huge fan of Gilmore Girls. I mean, I have my issues with it, as any diehard fan would, but it’s pretty much my go-to show, not the revival, because the revival basically sucks but I love the original seven seasons.

Lorelai is such an entertaining character with her snappy comebacks and noticeable fashion sense, I’d say she’s my favorite Gilmore Girl. She does have her moments though, she can be spoiled and inconsiderate, like a teenager which I guess makes sense, given her history, but she does have a good heart and the incredible ability to find a pop culture reference for almost everything. 

Her relationship with Rory is great, a little complicated, sometimes dysfunctional but I really enjoy them together. One observation I have is that thanks to Lorelai’s bright, outgoing personality, Rory is more shy and quiet, and I’m not sure she gets a chance to shine as much as she should. 

I’ve heard debates about Rory, how some people prefer Chilton Rory over Yale Rory, but I don’t hate either. Chilton Rory seemed very naive to me, a little innocent, but she was also kind and smart, and Yale Rory was too, just with more mistakes under her belt. I admit, her and Dean’s second relationship was weird from beginning to end. And I’d like to add that Rory’s third hairstyle (long hair with bangs) was her best hairstyle and her outfits in the last couple of seasons were adorable.

The third Gilmore Girl, Emily, is a character I have mixed feelings for. She’s confident and funny, but she’s set in her ways, she refuses to compromise, to see anything from anyone else’s perspective. I mean, even Richard has his laid-back moments with Lorelai and Rory but Emily doesn’t, unless you count when Gran dies. Emily is one character I love to hate. She has some of the best lines in the show and one of my favorites is “Well, then buy me a boa and drive me to Reno because I am open for business!”

But it’s not just the Gilmore Girls that make this show so fun and binge-worthy, it’s the extras and side characters, the entire town of Stars Hollow. I have to mention the two best friends of Lorelai and Rory, because without Sookie or Lane, I’m not sure the mother and daughter duo would’ve made it. 

Sookie was so sweet, so funny, and absolutely one of my favorite characters, ever since the pilot when she accidentally smacked a frying pan into some poor guy’s face. Her relationship with Jackson was great to watch, I wish they would’ve had more arguments about small radishes and watery peaches. 

What happened to Jackson’s hobby of experimenting with vegetables and fruit? In season one, he invented something called the zucchini tush but I think that’s the last time his brand-new creations were mentioned. Their relationship did have some unforeseen twists (like the vasectomy storyline) but for the most part, I’d say they were healthier than most couples on the show.

Lane was fantastic too, such a good friend to Rory, but she deserved better than she got. I wish she would’ve had more success with her band, even if they couldn’t be famous or make an album, there could’ve been a little more storyline to it besides the church tour. And her relationship with her mom (I love Mrs.Kim, she’s a beast) was so strained, so rough. I would’ve loved to see more scenes starring Lane and Lorelai’s dynamic. In many ways, I think, Lorelai and Lane were more similar than Lorelai and Rory. 

Of course, you can’t have Gilmore Girls without Butch Danes, I mean, Luke Danes. (Fun fact: Luke’s Diner inspired one of the main settings of my book The Masks: Our Origins. I loved the idea of having a center to the characters’ lives, sort of a home that wasn’t a home) Luke is a lovable grump who wears a backward baseball cap and rants about everything. I love it when he rants, it’s fantastic. 

He cares about Rory and Lorelai so much that he’d do anything for both of them, in every and all stages of his and Lorelai’s fluctuating relationship. It would’ve been nice to see one or two more scenes of his and Rory’s father-daughter dynamic because there might’ve been some cute moments we missed out on but that’s just my opinion. Luke and Jess (his nephew) were good together but Luke had trouble being a parental figure, he didn’t pay attention as much as he should’ve, and he let the situation with Jess get out of hand. 

His scenes with Taylor Doose were hilarious. Their argument about the Annual Dance Marathon and the bickering-match they have in the newly built Soda Shoppe, were some of my favorite moments. 

Luke isn’t the only important man in the Gilmore Girls’ lives, there are several others, including Rory’s three love interests and several Stars Hollow folk but I‘m going to mention Richard first, who, dare I say, might be more important than Luke since he’s the reason the girls’ last name is Gilmore. 

Richard is Emily’s husband, Lorelai’s father, and Rory’s grandfather. He’s a very button-up, bow-tie by-the-books-my-way-is-the-right-way kind of guy which is one reason he and Lorelai don’t get along, he doesn’t approve of the route his daughter’s life took. It’s interesting how Lorelai raises Rory to go after the same future she left behind, to be part of the same world she wanted to run away from. Richard loves the Gilmore Girls (all three of them) and I found most of his scenes really enjoyable. 

Michel, the French concierge and Lorelai’s second bestie, is another important piece of Gilmore Girls. He’s fantastic, I loved him, and he was totally right about the swans. Along with Michel, I’d say Kirk and the town troubadour are my favorite characters. Kirk is ridiculous, so entertaining and I just love the idea of a troubadour singing randomly in town. It sounds fun. 

But the best side character of them all would have to be Paris. I can’t get enough of her, I’d be afraid of her, but I also feel bad for her. She’s lucky to have Rory. The calm, quiet, timid girl balances out the hyper-intensive, stressed-out chick who is in desperate need of a chill pill, and vice versa. Paris was good for Rory, she needed someone to ruffle her perfect feathers, push her toward competition. Anyway, I love Paris, and I love Paris with Doyle. They’re crazy together, it’s sweet. 

It wouldn’t be Gilmore Girls without Rory’s three love interests, Dean, Jess, and Logan. I don’t have a favorite but I do have a least favorite which is Dean. He was fine in the beginning but as the story went on, he lost his personality and his potential. As for Jess, I love his character development, even in the beginning he was great, as soon as he dressed like Luke after Rory’s coming out party, I was hooked, but he and Rory never got the timing right, their individual journeys took them in separate directions and that doesn’t bother me. The third love interest, Logan, Rory’s college boyfriend, wasn’t the greatest person, he was spoiled and reckless but I liked his wit and he did have his good moments. 

His friends, Colin and Finn, were fun to watch and they made me smile. The scene with the three of them bursting into Rory’s class and putting on a skit was hilarious. 

“Damn it, Gilmore, give them back their balls!” - Finn. 

While Rory had her three love interests, Lorelai had a few more, who were not all soulmates, but some were great like Alex, who was only around for a brief time and eventually, fell off the face of the Earth, but I thought he was a suitable match for Lorelai. Max wasn’t, if she married Max, she either would’ve gotten bored with him or he would’ve gotten annoyed with her. Their personalities didn’t fit.

I didn’t like Christopher but I did enjoy his and Lorelai’s banter, as well as her and Jason’s but I didn’t think either pair made a healthy couple. 

For me, Luke and Lorelai are the only true match, even though I preferred their friendship dynamic over their dating dynamic, I thought they fit. And it may be an unpopular opinion but I didn't mind the April storyline, I think it could’ve been done differently, so Luke and Lorelai worked together on their issues, and communicated a little more, instead of hiding things, but the April character was cute. 

All in all, I’ve watched Gilmore Girls about twenty billion times. I love the show but I’m not immune to judging the characters or disagreeing with their choices. I’ve wondered how to make the story better or different, and theorized ways to make the revival more worthy of the characters but isn’t that something every fan does? 

Have you watched Gilmore Girls? What are your thoughts?