About two years ago I discovered a show that I would connect with more than anything I had ever watched before. Witty banter and pop culture references are ever present and woven in with the plot. The show reaches the subtle side of my humor and my desire to read many of the books Rory Gilmore did. Gilmore Girls is a comfort to me, as it is to many people, for its constancy and intelligence. There is no overwhelming action or high-budget set, but the relationships are incredibly nuanced and fascinating, as they evolve over time and fluctuate between warmth and tension. This show is about mothers and daughters, and the complexity those relationships entail, whether you have a strong bond or not.
Being the same age as Rory when I began watching the show, I significantly connected with her through a love of reading and writing. I discovered around the same time I wanted to become a journalist- I wanted to write about what is happening all over the country and the world, to inform people of what they must know and reveal the truth about politics and current events. As she worked at The Yale Daily News and published front page articles I dreamed of doing the same thing. Her career was at the forefront of her desires and while she is a painfully fictional character, it still forced me to think about all that I wanted out of a career in journalism. She took a path her mother and grandmother did not take- placing importance on her career rather than relationships and children. While both of these lifestyles are equally gratifying and respectable I always knew I wanted to write before getting married or having kids. This is why the revival disappointed me. I loved the comfort and familiarity of Rory and Lorelai's relationship. I loved seeing the townies again and getting more out of that fictional world. I did not, however, love what came of Rory and her career.
The revival opens with Rory returning to Stars Hollow to see her mother. It appears she has succeeded in journalism, as people continually praise a 'Talk of the Town' piece she did for The New Yorker. In the beginning, Rory name drops bigwigs like The Atlantic and The Washington Post, but slowly loses focus as she plants herself in Stars Hollow, and focuses on her past romantic relationships rather than her writing. While her relationships are compelling and draw in more views than watching her write articles, I wished for an end that emphasized her career. Dreaming of Harvard and becoming Christiane Amanpour from such a young age, this was out of character for Rory. While she briefly dropped out of Yale when she was twenty, the near-decade jump should have been enough time for Rory to establish herself and, at the very least, continue trying to pursue journalism. I suppose Rory's failures could have been to appease those criticizing her "perfection" compared to her mother and friends, but her vulnerability has shown before; this was her time to make it as a journalist. Unfortunately, viewers were left with few answers as she mutters to Lorelai "I'm pregnant." Things came full circle in a biological sense, but Rory was always meant to do more. My hope is Rory succeeds as a novelist and can complete the autobiography about her life with Lorelai, possibly returning to journalism at another time in her life.
Regardless of all the disappointment and unanswered questions, I was happy to watch the revival and return to the Gilmore's corner of the world. Gilmore Girls is smart and well written, chock full of characters you connect with in vastly different ways. There is a warmth that lies within Stars Hollow, despite housing rapidly evolving characters, it seems to be frozen in time as the troubadour sings and Kirk runs frantically down Peach Street. That charm never goes away, and my favorite references will never be obsolete in the world of Gilmore Girls.
