Warning: Spoilers follow for some episodes
of the hit new original show Gilmore
Girls.
Karen and I
are making our way through Gilmore Girls right
now, since the show is being
revived in November for Netflix. While I thought I had seen a decent amount
of it back in the day, between watching it with various female friends and
girlfriends, I clearly didn’t watch them sequentially, judging from my experience
with it now. Some random thoughts through about nine episodes:
- The show’s
title works on THREE levels, you know, since it’s not just about Lorelai and
Rory. Emily, Lorelai’s mother, is the closest thing to a third lead. I had
considered her and Lorelai’s dad to be more comic relief and evidence of
culture shock from previous viewings, but man, things get VERY emotionally raw
right from the start of the series.
This is when
the show is at its best to me. Lorelai and Rory have tons of humor in their
interactions, but especially for the former, that humor is used as a sword to
protect herself from the venomous barbs of Emily. I just finished the episode
where Rory falls asleep at the studio with her boyfriend by accident, after the
dance, and Shit Gets Real between Emily and Lorelai, and Lorelai and Rory, in a
hurry.
- It’s weird
to watch the show and to see Melissa McCarthy pop-up, and then think to myself,
“Yup, of everyone in this show, she’s going to be the one that makes $1.1
billion at the box office!” However, she
and Lauren Graham are definitely the most vivacious performers in the cast, and
it’s not surprising to me that they’ve had the best post-Gilmore Girls career by miles.
Grandma and
Grandpa Gilmore are probably the next best in my rankings. They’re both very
good in their roles. Unfortunately, the “kids” in the cast mostly pale in
comparison. It’s to be expected, but Alexis Bledel in particular seems a bit
wooden in some scenes. Half the time, she can hang with Graham, and half the
time, she seems to be struggling as much as the audience to keep up.
- The early
episodes of Gilmore Girls suffer from
a bit of a tone and quality split. There is the awesome relationship-focused
show, which focuses on the dynamics of three generations of the Gilmore girls.
Then, there is the shitty farcical stuff going on in Stars Hollow, which is all
so ridiculous that it detracts from my enjoyment of the show.
Stuff like
the nutty neighbor having a cat funeral while her boytoy plays the piano for
her at night, and the super nosy dance teacher, and the incompetent produce
salesman, and the historical reenactors, and the ultra-quaint Pepperidge Farm style
life in the town… Just ugh. It all feels like Executive
Meddling crap that was focus grouped in. I’m hoping there is less emphasis
on that going forward.
- Holy
smokes, Paris. She has two prominent friends in these episodes, and I’m not
talking about Madeline and Louise. It made me feel awkward at first, because
she’s supposed to be playing a high school Alpha Bitch. However, Wikipedia
tells me that she’s 39 now, which makes her 23 during the show. And, uh, it
definitely shows. She’s the Lacey Chabert of this
production. (p.s. Lauren Graham is a stone cold fox in season one as well.)
- Pretty
much all of the male suitors of Rory and Lorelai don’t do much for me. Dean
seems like the “generic tough guy but secretly nice” sort. After all, he’s
dating Rory Gilmore. And Lorelai is currently dating Rory’s teacher, who’s kind
of weasely and disgusting to me. He asked her out based on two awkward
exchanges during parent’s night, and Lorelai getting in his face about Rory
missing a test! I just don’t find the sudden escalation of their feelings all
that believable.
From future
episodes, I know that Luke has a thing for Lorelai, and they do plant the seed
for that even in the first string of first season episodes. However, his
character is so comically gruff that I don’t really care about him either yet.
I imagine that’ll change, but as I mentioned earlier, there are so many other
balls in the air when it comes to (horrible) side characters in Stars Hollow. It’ll take some time for them to thin the
herd and focus attention on Luke.
Anyway! I’ve
enjoyed my re-watching of Gilmore Girls more
than I expected, but gosh, there’s still so much more to go. Wikipedia says 153
episodes! I will keep y’all updated with these very timely reviews as we go
along.
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