I have been a die hard
Gilmore
Girls fan since I was in high school.
I started high school in 2000, which was when Gilmore Girls first
aired. Being just a year behind Rory, I
could almost always relate to what she was dealing with on the show. I adored her relationship with her mother,
and the way they played off each other with such ease. I’d never seen that in a
TV show. I’d also never seen people talk so fast in my life! It had charm and was artsy and some really
great side characters. I will easily say it’s been my favorite TV show I’ve
ever watched. I was soo sad when the show ended in 2007. Ever since then, there has not been a TV show
that has been able to equal that show.
When I heard that Netflix was bringing a continuation to the
Gilmore Girls story, titled A Year in the Life, I was so ecstatic. I didn’t even know how to react I was
so excited. It was even more exciting
when I heard that the entire cast, even all the side characters and towns
people were coming back! So in my euphoric
state, I decided that since it’s been a whole 9 years since I’d watched the
show (with the exception of a few occasional reruns on TV), I needed to binge watch all 7 seasons!
Now that I’ve finished watching all 7 seasons, I remembered
how frustrated I was at how the series ended.
Most of it comes from the relationships. Since all 3 of Rory’s
boyfriends are supposed to appear in the continuation on Netflix, I thought
that I showed weigh in my opinion of who I feel Rory should end up with in the
end.
Dean:
I was never a fan of Dean. Sure, when you watch those first
2 seasons he is super sweet and loyal to Rory. The way he was able to banter
with the girls and knew them so well was endearing…But he was always kind of
immature and just not on the same level as Rory. He didn’t have that many goals
in life, he didn’t value his education, and he just didn’t really fit in to her
life. And of course we cannot forget his
infidelity to his wife, Lindsey. He cheated on his wife, with Rory. Once a
cheater, always a cheater. There is no way Rory could trust him.
Jess:
Before I re-watched the entire series this year, I thought I
was on Team Jess. For some reason I always liked Jess. He had that bad guy
attitude, but yet always seemed to take care of Rory. It was that personality that
is so popular in YA novels now…before it was cool. Rory had a lot in common
with Jess in the fact that he was very literate. However, he also didn’t take school very
seriously and it was hard to make him focus on something. I was so happy to see him succeeding in those
final seasons of the show. But I feel
that Rory had moved on – she even tried to cheat on Logan (to get back at him)
with Jess, and it didn’t feel right. She has moved on from this relationship.
So while I still enjoy Jess and feel that definitely should be close friends
for life, I don’t think he’s the guy for her.
And can we just address the fact that if Luke and Lorelei are still
together and plan to get married, that makes Rory and Jess semi-related???? While it’s not blood and it would be her
step-father’s nephew…it’s still a little too close for me to be okay with that.
Logan:
Where do I even begin with Logan? I’m clearly on Team Logan now. I liked how
their relationship progressed on the show.
It was slow and believable… starting with just being this jerk she ran
in to, to running in to him some more, then using him to write a story on the Life
and Death Brigade, to becoming friends with him and his friends, then dating
casually. Once Rory realizes she can’t
do the casual thing, he makes a decision to be monogamous to her. From then on, Logan was my guy. Yes, he was rich and privileged and arrogant,
but he used it in a good way. He took care of Rory and was very protective of
her – especially against his obnoxious mom and dad. He challenged her often to
keep pushing her and helping her to live life in the moment. He made her take more chances and be less
fearful of things (sometimes that was bad… remember the boat incident?). He was
determined and loved Rory for her quirkiness. He was actually very smart as
well, but didn’t take school as seriously – he actually got kicked out of
boarding schools just like Rory’s father. [Girls always pick a guy that is like
their father]. He was very witty and had
a great sense of humor (remember the theatrical stunt he pulled in the classroom?) He was always there for Rory when she needed
him and had great apologies when he did something wrong or there was a misunderstanding.
He was just perfect. Perfect for her. A
great balance between them – similar and yet different enough to push each
other and lean on each other. And they way he would look at her? SWOON! Every girl wants a guy to look at her that way - total adoration and love.
While I watched the end of the series for the second time, I
started remembering how frustrated I was at the ending of the show. As it got closer and closer to the end, I
started getting angry. And then I watched the infamous episode where Logan asks
Rory to marry him in front of all her friends at her graduation party… (and can
I just say that my life even ended up paralleling Rory’s in that way also? A
year and a half later when I graduated college, my boyfriend proposed to me at
our joint graduation party!) I said
YES! Why couldn’t she? I didn’t feel I was too young and it
definitely didn’t hinder my career either. I felt Rory’s reasoning was really
lame. If you’ve met the right man, why does age have anything to do with it?
UGH. And it's not like she had a job lined up on the East coast at the time. She could have easily applied to papers in the Bay Area. I was so mad at the end of that
episode, that I actually told my husband that I almost don’t want Logan to give
Rory a second chance in the continuation. But now that I’ve cooled off, I still
want her and Logan to get back together. If that’s the case, and I sincerely
hope it is, then they will have missed out on 9 years of happiness together
because of Rory’s stupid decision.
According to IMDB, Matt Czuchry (Logan) is in all 4 episodes, Milo Venitimiglio (Jess) is in 3 episodes, and Jared Padalecki (Dean) is only in 1 episodes. My hope is that this information means that Logan is the one she ends up realizing she still loves and wants to finally make her life with!
I also want to take a moment to vent about the Lorelei and
Luke and Christopher thing as well. I was so, so angry that they had Lorelei
go to Christopher at the end of Season 6. Yes, Lorelei had every reason to be
mad at Luke, but going to Chris was so immature. While she finally takes responsibility
for it at the end of season 7, I hated that she tried to make it be okay by completely
breaking up with Luke and then marrying Chris. Everyone knew she wasn’t
supposed to be with him. Even though it was nice for Rory to have her parents together,
she wasn’t even that excited. So it was a boring plot line that dragged on for
too long. And it took the writers way too long to get them back together – the
last 2 minutes of the series???
I’ve done so much research with this new A Year in the Life and I have learned
quite a bit. I wasn’t aware that the original writers of the show only wrote
seasons 1 – 6. Once the WB became the CW, they couldn’t agree to contracts so
new writers wrote the final season. Apparently the events that take place in
season 7 are not how the original writers had seen the series going. In fact,
she even said she knew what the final 4 words of the series would be very early
on in the series. Unfortunately, we never got to hear those words. She’s kept
quiet about it ever since, and we’re finally going to get to find out what it
was! I’m really hoping that since the
original writers are doing the Netflix show that it will get back to what it’s
good at and will bring some happiness and closure to the Gilmore Girls’ lives.
Weigh in on who you think Rory should end up with in the comments!
A World Without Princes (#2)
by Soman Chainani
Date Read: 11/17/16
