Ah, “Gilmore Girls,” a classic early aughts show depicting the life of a close mother-daughter duo in a kooky but lovable small town in Connecticut. This much-loved show had seven seasons and spawned one Netflix revival, meaning there is a lot to talk about and cover. After spending the month of February binge-watching the show, I developed some strong opinions about hotly debated topics. So, without further ado, here are six strong opinions I have about “Gilmore Girls.”
- I’m Team Dean and Logan
-
Let’s settle this right out of the gate: Rory’s best boyfriends were Dean and Logan. Dean was a wonderful first boyfriend who was crazy about her, and Logan pushed Rory to go outside of her comfort/goody two shoe zone. They were both supportive of Rory’s dreams and treated her appropriately. Still, both of these guys had their faults. Dean did become a bit too angry at times and was involved with infidelity. Logan was the stereotypical rich playboy at the beginning of his relationship with Rory and had a lot of family baggage. But they impressed me a whole lot more than Jess!
- Jess is not all that great
-
Several throwback Instagram accounts I follow and friends love Jess. For me, he was just all right. I understood the chemistry between him and Rory. They both shared a similar banter and love of books, but I didn’t find their relationship good at all. Jess was awful at communication and continuously refused to step up his game as a boyfriend, like delaying calling her or attending town events. Still, I liked him as a character and him stopping by to remind Rory of who she was. After years of seeing Jess hyped up online, I was left unimpressed by his relationship with Rory.
- April wasn’t a bad character, but she shouldn’t have been a character in the first place
-
Who would guess that “Gilmore Girl’s” villain would be a pre-teen girl? April pops up in season six of the show around the time Luke and Lorelei are finally making plans to get married. The information that Luke has a secret daughter was a surprise, and it was obviously included to throw a wrench in Luke and Lorelei’s relationship. The unnecessary plotline of April was annoying, but I was not that bothered by her. I found her nerdiness sweet and endearing and brought out a really sweet, fatherly side out of Luke. Let us not hate on the poor child! She is simply a product of the bad writing that persisted in the show’s later seasons.
- Lane Kim deserved better
-
One thing I liked about “Gilmore Girls” was that it took the time to explore other characters besides Rory and Lorelei. Lane, Rory’s best friend in town, received multiple storylines of her own. One of them being Lane rebelling against her mom and becoming a rock n roll drummer. Both of these happened with Lane moving out of her mom’s house after it’s found she’s in a band, but the writers dealt Lane some bad cards. Lane married her fellow bandmate, Steve, and she became pregnant with twins after her honeymoon. It was absolutely rotten of the writers to do this to a fun, adventurous character. I would have loved to see Lane travel more with her band or find her place within Stars Hollow before either event happened to her. Lane had big dreams just like Rory and deserved to see them come true!
- Rory and Lorelai were both a bit bratty and childish
-
Do not take this as me hating our favorite mother-daughter duo! For the most part, I found them delightful, but there were some moments when I thought the duo were not so great. For instance, Rory seemed to really struggle to move past simple setbacks that she couldn’t fix through studying. Remember when Rory stole a yacht and dropped out of school simply because Logan’s jerk of a father told her he didn’t think she would make a good journalist? Seems like a totally rational reaction-not! Also, when she was in a relationship with Dean while he was married and then ran off to Europe with her grandmother, not her best moment. Lorelei wasn’t the best either at times. I always got the vibe that Lorelai never grew up. She never could decide what she wanted in her life and refused to make amends with her parents. She completely indulged Rory, which I think complicated Rory’s view of the world, making her believe it owed her something. Still, I always applauded Lorelei for putting on her big girl pants when Rory did mess up (see above). I just found that the two Gilmore girls had a lot going for them, but they were often too dramatic and plateaued in their growth as individuals.
- Rory did kinda suck as a journalist though
-
From one student journalist to another, Rory, girl, you ain’t that good! This was glaringly obvious in the revival with a long list of journalistic no-nos on full display. I also didn’t see a lot of dedication to the field on Rory’s part. In college, students are often encouraged to do internships during the summer. What did Rory do with her summers? Go traveling with her grandmother or boyfriend, or staying at home with her mom. While I realize not every student can do extravagant internships, between her wealthy grandparents’ support and her father coming into some money, Rory certainly had the means to do so. I also felt like Rory expressed stronger interests in other things, like literature and politics, than the field of journalism itself. These vocations probably would be a much better fit for her.