Inexplicable Gilmore Girls Review: Final odds and ends

R.I.P. Lindsay Lister, Dean's ex.

Warning: Spoilers follow for pretty much all seasons of Gilmore Girls, but mostly the Revival series.

Now that I’ve reached the end of my Gilmore Girls watching, at least until the inevitable season nine, here are some random, stray thoughts I had while watching the Revival, or earlier seasons, that I couldn’t find room for to cram into another entry…

- Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel were allegedly paid $750,000 per episode, according to information obtained by Variety. That seems like an incredibly high price to pay for one of the actresses, and her name doesn’t rhyme with More In Sham. My assumption is that one actress did a solid for her fellow actress, and wouldn’t agree to the show unless their salaries matched. I’m saying this because one of them has worked regularly and solidly for the decade since the show has been off the air, while the other has mostly been relegated to straight-to-video or straight-to-streaming work.

- The most glaring omission to me from the Revival series? Madeline and Louise! They were both seemingly available, unlike some others on this helpful list from Insider. I thought for sure we would see them when Paris and Rory went back to Chilton, but instead, we got a weird cameo from (a new actor playing) Tristan. Madeline and Louise weren’t even mentioned!

The second (well, third) most glaring admission would be Liz, Luke’s sister. She would have brought some levity to the revival, plus, Luke didn’t really get much of the floor to himself in the revival. Just a really brief scene with Jess.

Quick hitters on missing cast members: It’s understandable that Lucy wasn’t there; Kristyn Ritter is a much bigger star now, and eh, she was only in half of the last season of the show, along with Olivia. (Also, Rory is awful and can’t keep friends.) The same thing goes for Dave Ryjaski, a.k.a. Adam Brody – He was awesome on the show, but he was barely on it in the grand scheme of 100+ episodes. While I stumped for him at times, Marty was 1) ultimately sleazy and 2) not that critical to anything plot-wise for the show, so who cares that he’s not in the revival? Max Medina is also absent, but again, he ultimately didn’t have much influence.

- The show made a big deal of finally “revealing” whether Mr. Kim was alive, and who he was. It’s unfortunate, because it disrupts a pet theory of mine; that Mr. Kim was there all the time, and you just never noticed him. In Luke’s Diner, there is Luke, and Caesar is the sous chef / back-up chef. Buttt, if you pay close attention to the show, there is a third guy, an Asian one, and he shows up quite often. I’m assuming it’s just a staffer that filled in as an extra when they needed someone; I don’t even think he gets a spoken line in the show. But he is clearly Lane Kim’s real father.

- So, I usually harp on minor character Lindsay Lister, a.k.a. Dean’s ex-wife, and her tragic murder / just not being on the show anymore. While I kind of do it to be funny, there is another reason I’m firmly in her corner: She’s one of the few characters on the show that exhibit positive change.

When she’s first introduced, she’s barely developed, and seems kind of whiny. And it doesn’t help that Dean is basically awful, and then cheats on her, and then gets weirdly aggressive and is a major prick in ensuing conversations. But she makes efforts to improve, and her second-to-last scene is her successfully cooking a steak dinner for Dean. (And hey, I do like me a steak dinner.)

In Gilmore Girls, my basic test for whether I like or dislike a character is whether they manage to change for the better. When it comes to this standard, Lane and Zach are the best examples, with Jess also being high on my list, although much of his “improvement” is seemingly off-screen. Emily, Luke and Lorelai have regression at times, but ultimately come out improved after 157 episodes. Firmly in the negative on this scale? Logan and Rory. That’s why they deserve each other.

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Inexplicable Gilmore Girls Revival Review: Fall (4 of 4)

Warning: Spoilers follow for the fourth episode of the Gilmore Girls revival. And the picture of Lorelai in a wedding dress comes from this cheeky article on the Martha Stewart Weddings website.

Despite some trepidation about the series as a whole, and lowered expectations because of how godawful the third episode was, the Gilmore Girls Revival finale, “Fall,” mainly manages to stick the landing.

Things rebound quickly for the low, low, lowwwww of episode three, which saw Lorelai leaving Stars Hollow behind to go WILD. That was laughable, and thankfully, it’s abandoned after about 10 minutes, as she realizes 1) she absolutely doesn’t have the skills to survive in the wild and 2) she’s not actually heartbroken, like the other women hitting the trail. (This portion of the show apparently has cameos from Lauren Graham’s other show, Parenthood, and her lover, but I never watched it and thus was in the dark about this aspect.)

After Lorelai gets her groove back by going WILD with the secret power of the help, or something to that effect, she quickly mends things with Luke. And they finnaaaalllllly set a wedding date, and then, get married. Huzzah! Their eloping is sweet, although, somewhat annoying. There is a storyline justification for it, but it also felt like they couldn’t possibly get everyone together to film things, so this was a good way to sidestep that issue.

And oh yeah – Rory is still awful. The big shocker at the end of the revival is that she’s pregnant. The show ends at that point, so it’s unclear for the father is. The odds-on favorite would be Logan, with smaller odds on Jess or Paul, since we never actually see Rory coitus the latter two.

Karen smartly pointed out that the show subtly foreshadows her pregnancy announcement at the end. We think that we finally get a Christopher cameo because Rory is interviewing him for the book project, not because she’s gauging her ability to raise a baby on her own. (Although, to be fair, it’s hard to imagine that Emily and Lorelai wouldn’t have a substantial hand to play in this.)

Oh, and also, Sookie finally comes back! It’s clear they only got Melissa McCarthy for one scene, because she is a Bright Shining Star now. Still, it was good to see her. She’s gotten substantially better as an actress, too, if you compare her work in “Fall” to her other appearances in previous seasons.

Other thoughts on the “Fall” episode:

- Emily is straight up baller. Unlike Lorelai, who kind of gets her groove back in a lame way, Emily is a total boss. She kicks out the weird and mooching post-Richard boyfriend, she gives the DAR the high-hat, and she’s using her Smith-earned history degree to lecture about whales.

- I’m glad Dean is doing well, even if he hasn’t been brought to justice yet for the diabolical murder of Lindsay Lister. We do not see Dean’s sassy little sister, which is a little disappointing.

- I’m ultimately on Team Logan when it comes to who Rory should end up with. Not because I think he’s better than Jess, but because Rory is so awful, she doesn’t deserve Jess. Rory ultimately decides to cut Logan out of her child’s life completely, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, and I can’t blame her.

We get yet another Life and Death Brigade thing, and they’re still fucking awful. All of these people are now in their 30s, and they’re still acting like petulant children. Arrested development, the concept, as opposed to the wonderful show. Logan seems to be friends with all of these people still – and hey, also conceiving a baby in a cheating relationship – so, okay, cut him out.

- Gilmore Girls is the name of the show and the name of Rory’s manuscript! Ha ha ha! It was nice of Lorelai to sign off on Rory’s work, but meh, I’m still of the mindset that she didn’t have to at all.

- Lorelai’s money management skills remain awful. She just ditches all the camping equipment on the side of the road! She couldn’t return any of it?!? And she basically just dropped everything to go to the West Coast, booking a plane and renting a car while out there. The finances of the Revival and the show itself never really made sense though.

Future scheduling stuff: I’m still on a partial writing schedule, because I just moved into a new place with Karen, and I should really be unpacking things and listing old crap on eBay instead of writing about Gilmore Girls and other things. But, I’ll have one more entry on Gilmore Girls odds and ends, and hopefully a Steveats next week.

Want to support Steve’s blogging? Then purchase something via the Amazon clickthru link for Your Parents Basement, Steve’s other project! To read all of Steve’s past Inexplicable Movie Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable TV Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable Video Game Reviews, click here! And for Inexplicable Book Reviews, go here!

Inexplicable Gilmore Girls Review: Divorce, Make-outs and Virginity to Close S4

Warning: Spoilers follow for episodes 14 through 22 for season four of Gilmore Girls, along with the first episode of season five.

For seasons now, I’ve been saying that Dean is the worst, and his behavior in the episode four finale certainly confirms my suspicions. In said finale, he beds down with Rory, taking her virginity in her childhood bed. By doing so, he cheats on Lindsay, and completes a cringe-worthy downward spiral for Rory.

To be clear, she has close to equal responsibility in the matter. Dean didn’t force himself upon her or anything. However, she was vulnerable because of how things were going at Yale, and Dean is married. And also, as the first episode of season five makes clear, Dean isn’t actually committed to making things work with Lindsay. I jokingly called her Barbie in a previous entry, but she is making a good faith effort to improve herself, as evidenced by her roast beef progress.

So, Rory loses her virginity to Dean, and becomes a homewrecker in the process. Fun times! At least she firmly rejected Jess. That was one of her few bright moments as the season ended, since it immediately followed a low moment – having Dean rescue her at a bar, and then basically telling him to screw when Jess showed up. You couldn’t call anyone except Dean? Lorelai, Paris, Lane, I think all of them have cars.

In contrast, it was cute to see Luke and then Jess to drastically improve their lives, seemingly, with self-help books and tapes. Luke seems especially improved, and while Jess speaking with Rory didn’t work out, he seemed to turn a page when it came to his relationship with Luke and his mom. Luke snapping out of his meek funk and asking Lorelai out, and then making some face time with her face, that’s all good stuff.

I’m not so pleased with Richard and Emily suddenly going Heel Mode with each other. The issues that have made them blow up seem somewhat minor to me. Yes, PENNILYN LOTT having lunch with Richard is a big offense, but things like the mustache and Jason deciding social things for the new business?

Eh. Gilmore Girls has enough plot balls in the air without also having the Emily and Richard on the verge of divorce. Not even mentioned by me in the post, but taking up significant air time in the last half of season four – Paris and Asher Fleming breaking up then not after his hospital visit, Lane and Mrs. Kim repairing their relationship subtly, the success of Lane’s band and her quirky bandmates (especially Sebastian Bach!), the SPRING BREAK! trip with Madeline and Louise.

Of those, Lane’s stuff is the best. She takes a big step forward in terms of my interest in season four – She goes from solely being Rory’s friend and sounding board, to developing her own personality and storylines. The break from Mrs. Kim really helps, of course, as her storyline has gotten more realistic as we’ve gone along.

Anyway, a procedural note as we go along. I’m obviously a couple seasons behind, even though the revival is starting today. I’m going to continue with seasons five, six and seven, and not skip ahead. Karen has told me that she’s going to skip ahead, but she’s also going to take some notes on them for when I watch them. Good times!

Want to support Steve’s blogging? Then purchase something via the Amazon clickthru link for Your Parents Basement, Steve’s other project! To read all of Steve’s past Inexplicable Movie Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable TV Reviews, click here! For Inexplicable Video Game Reviews, click here! And for Inexplicable Book Reviews, go here!