I was brought to tears by the warmest reminiscent ending of wedding magic that any Gilmore Girls fan had yearned for since the show's debut. Amy Sherman-Palladino sure did know how to bring streams of tears to an urgent and uncomfortable halt.
Rory Gilmore, the mystified, intelligent, and ruthless character we grew up to love and quickly hate, incurred extreme loathe in her final four (three words, four syllables) words.
A scene of magic showcased the happy budding couple in their exchange of vows on a mystical Fall colored eve. Stars Hollow lit up with uniform lights, drapes dangling from trees, everything in sight garnished with flowers, brought to life an Alice and Wonderland-esque themed wedding rehearsal of pure joy.
Emotions heightened through the episode's array of surprises: Gilmore household dances, TV’s favorite iconic mother-daughter duo's fits of rambling, the Luke and Lorelai dynamic we’ve all grown to love since their first coffee banter, Suki’s return to the Dragonfly trio, Palladino’s witty pop culture references that have become more so understandable with age, the run-in with Dean and the corn starch, Jess’s heartbreak moment, Pop Tarts, late night pizza and coffee talks, Paul Anka, and couch snoozes, just to name a few occurrences of extreme nostalgia.
The long hard wave of emotion drifted over as the dynamic that opened up Gilmore Girls to the world of mothers and daughter, lovers, friends, young and old — A love at first ‘cup’ — intertwined all the magic that the show had brought into lives a mere sixteen years ago.
Palladino set viewers up for the perfect tear jerking, stone-cold, heartless, slap of reality, ending. To viewers who yearned to know Palladino's intended last four words ever since Warner Brothers ended her contract a season early in 2007, the reality of this anticipated moment throws you back, mouth agape, breathless, and immobile — an instant tear drying remedy, that’s for certain.
If you weren’t quite sure if Rory Gilmore was a heartless and inept character following her freshman year at Yale, Palladino’s ending is bound to reassure you of her inadequacy. A bit too much reality convoluted the idealistic relationship that is the Gilmore Girls: one we all hoped to gain closure with, not open-endedness.
Now, let’s all take a moment to wipe our brains of the trauma generated by the misshapen revamp of this nostalgic favorite childhood show, and reminisce on the former warmth that the Gilmore Girls brought into so many lives back in 2000.