Gilmore Girls

After almost 7 years of being on air, the first episode aired on October 5th 2000, Gilmore Girls is over. Yes, I am a Gilmore Girls fan and no I don’t have a vagina. I love the funny, witty, and nonchalant banter about the absurd and the numerous pop culture references.

We only found out that the series is coming to an end after watching last week’s episode “Unto the Breach.” That one was the 21st episode for season 7 so subconsciously I sort of knew that the season finale would be soon. Unfortunately, the season finale was the series finale as well.

It was called “Bon Voyage“, a good title for a series finale and a decent end to a good tv show. Rory graduated from Yale and after being rejected from her dream job at New York Times, she gets offered a job as an online reporter for Senator Barack Obama‘s presidential campaign. This means she’ll be leaving Stars Hollow much earlier than expected. Luke arranges a surprise farewell party for Rory and when Lorelai finds out, she thanks him with a kiss.. reigniting their series-long “relationship”. The best part was the last scene.. Lorelai and Rory sitting at a table in Luke’s diner while he makes them breakfast. The camera pans out and then fades to black. Perfect.

I haven’t seen every single episode of the show. I remember watching a few episodes from the 1st and 2nd season. This was back in 2000-2002 when we were forced to watch TV shows on the TV when they aired. This was always a problem for me because both skid and thrawn would make fun of me about watching a “girlie show” and I had to hide from them. But they knew and I knew that they knew and they knew that I knew that they knew. I’ve missed entire seasons though, specifically season 3 and 4. I introduced the show to Lunato sometime in 2003 and she liked it a lot. After that we started watching it regularly and haven’t missed any episode. She loves the intro song and always sings along whenever we watch the show. I hate sitting through intros and always skip forward but I’m forbidden to do so for Gilmore Girls :P

“Bon Voyage” reminded me of August 18th 2004. Rory leaving town was like Lunato leaving Ottawa. We didn’t know when we would meet again. We didn’t know where we would meet again. But we knew that we had to move on with our lives and take the next step. I had finished my studies at Carleton and had to move back to Toronto. Lunato had finished her studies at Algonquin and had to move back to Korea. Both of us were saying goodbye to Ottawa at the same time; Her flight was in the morning and I was going to take a Greyhound bus to Toronto after dropping her off at the airport.

We had a small gathering at our Thornbury house on the 17th. It was a good diversion from depressing thoughts and was much fun as well. After everyone left, Lunato and I still had some packing to do. Both our rooms were almost sterile and naked.. no personality left in either of them. Just empty rooms with empty furniture. It was incredibly sad.. and yet we kept trying to avoid the depressing thoughts and tried to make the best of what we had. Don’t think about the future… don’t focus on the next day… just enjoy the moment. But it was incredibly hard and we couldn’t bear to be just by ourselves in empty rooms that had been our home for almost two years. Friends in need are friends indeed. Dooh came to the rescue and kept us company while we packed. He left late at night when everything was packed up and ready to go. His presence really helped us and I am incredibly thankful to him for his help.

Anyhow, the last two seasons of Gilmore Girls had a lot of flaws and a lot of needless characters. cannelbrae on shack sums it up succinctly:

The main characters just aren’t all that likeable anymore. They make the same mistakes over and over. They ignore the previous story lines whenever it is convenient. The last few seasons managed to undo all of the character progression set up (to) the first seasons. Secondary characters became stagnated and lost their charm. And I agree, I think most of that started when Palladino left.

I completely agree. Lorelai’s marriage with Christopher was a complete mess and it should never have happened. It was bound to fail and the show was never about Christoper and Lorelai. Luke and Lorelai are the heart of the show and their complicated relationship is what made the show excellent. Christopher getting together with Lorelai was incredibly dumb and it completely negated what I thought was the theme of the entire series. Lunato would complain repeatedly and say “what the heck, this show is supposed to be about Luke and Lorelai! Go away Christopher”.

I hated Logan from the start and even though he became a bit like able after losing all his money he was the jerk I thought he was at the end of the series. Paris should’ve gone to Law school instead of Harvard Medical. She can’t be a doctor. She’ll be worse than House. I can imagine her yelling at her patients, “How could you get sick? Is proper eating and exercise too much to ask of a human being?” Lane’s pregnancy, marriage, and the birth of her twins was surprising and felt as if the writers just wanted to keep her in the story and bring some change in her stagnant character. Lucy and Olivia, Rory’s friends at Yale, need to die a slow and painful death. They’re the most annoying characters in all of TV history. I hated those two and I’ve no idea why they were cast in the show.

Regardless of all my complaints, I still watched the show because I loved the interaction between Lorelai and Rory and the weird and complicated relationship between Lorelai and Luke. That is why I originally started watching the show. Bon Voyage Gilmore Girls. Thanks for the entertainment.