If you’re anything like us, you were totally hyped about the revamp of the classic dramedy from our childhoods, Gilmore Girls and are probably still replaying every precious moment in your head. It’s likely that you are still recovering from the emotional beating bestowed upon you by Amy Sherman-Palladino in the mere 6-hour span, but we are here to help you piece your way through it all with our A Year in the Life Superlatives. If you haven’t finished yet, TURN RIGHT AROUND as there are spoilers below.
Winter
Season hero: Michelle. Let’s face it, Michelle has always been our hero in this show. His sass was on point and we love that he’s out of the closet and happily married.
Classic Stars Hollow moment: Kirk and OOOber. What could be more Stars Hollow than a failed Kirk Gleason business plan?
Most memorable scene: Richard’s Funeral. We miss you Edward Hermann!
Best pop culture reference: Lorelai hitting her steps on her Fitbit.
Best returning character appearance: Jason “Digger” Stiles
Season villain: Roy the Stand-in Chef who moved the coffee maker. How dare he?
Best Line: Rory: “You know some people might say drinking coffee in the middle of the night could hinder your sleep.”
Lorelai: “People are dumb.”
Most lovable/ridiculous Luke moment: Giving out fake wifi passwords in the diner.
Things we missed: Lack of Lane’s band Hep Alien and explanation about the Kim living situation.
Spring
Season hero: Paris. Thank god Paris Geller didn’t settle down with age because Rory wouldn’t know what to do without her crazy, neurotic friend.
Season villain: Mitchum Huntzberger. Leave it to Mitchum Huntzberger to drop the bomb on us that Logan is married! Of course he still brings nothing but condescending digs and bad news to the table.
Most memorable scene: Rory and Paris at Chilton. More specifically, Paris’s Oscar-worthy bathroom scene with Francie.
Best line: “I’m just a big, fat, Wookie-humping loser with no future!” -Rory. As Rory explained, she kind of missed the one-night stand portion of her life, and is now freaking out about sleeping with a Wookie.
Best returning character cameo: Francie
Classic Stars Hollow moment: A town meeting focused on Taylor trying to import gay people from a neighboring town. Of course Taylor expects nothing less of the surrounding towns than to lend them some diversity for the 2016 Stars Hollow gay pride march.
Things left unsaid: An actual conversation with Tristan (Well, not really since it wasn’t even Chad Michael Murray).
Best mystery solved: Mr. Kim – IT’S ABOUT TIME. Case closed.
Most lovable/ridiculous Luke moment: Him yelling at people in the movie theater for their phones, only to realize it’s his phone ringing, and then reacting by saying “Nobody calls me at night.” Bless you, Luke.
Summer
Season hero: Jess. Thank goodness for Jess being there to suggest writing Gilmore Girls to Rory otherwise we don’t know where we would be.
Season villain: Lorelai. We aren’t sure why she was so unsupportive of Rory’s book, not to mention it was ridiculous that she, of all people, would go hiking across the country.
Most memorable scene: the pool scene. Rory and Lorelai had aliases AND young men at their beck and call. Incredible.
Best line: “You got your sheet music right there you tall, dark and… yowzah!” “Name’s Kevin, huh? Nice, but I think I’ll call you…tomorrow.” – Babette & Miss Patty
Classic Stars Hollow moment: Secret Bar. Only in Stars Hollow.
Best returning character cameo: April. It was a nice moment to see how she turned out.
Best pop-culture reference: The 30-something club (Millennials)
Most lovable/ridiculous Luke moment: Him lifeguarding the pool and kicking everybody out of it.
Things we missed: Amy Sherman-Palladino. Enough Dan Palladino, this isn’t good.
Fall
Season hero: Kirk. When he gets it right, he kills it. Gotta love him for putting together one of the greatest TV weddings of all time.
Season villain: Emily’s boyfriend, Jack. He didn’t even do anything wrong but no one could ever fill Richard’s shoes.
Most memorable scene: The Life and Death Brigade scene.
Best line: “BULLSHIT” – Emily. She ripped the DAR a new one and we loved every second of it.
Classic Stars Hollow moment: Rory and Dean in the corn starch aisle. So full circle.
Things left unsaid/what we missed: Jess at the wedding. This was unacceptable.
Best returning character cameo: Sookie. Obviously.
Most lovable/ridiculous Luke moment: Preparing, cooking, and blowing on Paul Anka’s steak even though he swore he wouldn’t.
Honorable mentions:
1) Lorelai’s call to Emily about her story about her dad. This was the closure we all needed.
2) Kirk’s movie. What could be more classic Stars Hollow than a Kirk Original Film?
3) Overall villain: Stars Hollow Musical. We wish that there was more time during summer devoted to actual plot instead of this ridiculous plot detour.
4) Best line of A Year in the Life: The last four words. “Mom,” “Yeah?” “I’m pregnant.”
5) Things we missed: Jess. I think it is a universally accepted truth that there needed to be more Jess in this revival.
6) Overall best moment: Lorelai asking Emily for the trust fund money to expand the Dragonfly and the conversation entirely paralleling Lorelai asking Richard and Emily for money for Chilton in season 1. Our hearts are full.
So there you have it. Our review of the much awaited A Year in the Life. We can’t let the opportunity pass to highlight one of the most important aspects of the show that was so beautifully exhibited in the revamp, which is the whole concept of independence. From the name of Lorelai’s inn to all the strong and badass women the show features, it’s probably the most important honorable mention we could give a shout out to. Thanks Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino for giving us another excellent chapter of the Gilmore story to carry with us until we can reunite in Stars Hollow again.