WARNING: The following article may contain spoilers if you have not yet watched the Gilmore Girls: A Year in The Life revival!
If you somehow live under a rock and haven’t heard, The Gilmore Girls: A Year in The Life revival has arrived in all of its glory on Netflix. Some would say that it gave us much needed closure with our favorite people from Stars Hallow, and some might even say that it did the complete opposite. Hint hint, what was that ending Palladinos? Either way, the revival was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. Kirk was still very much Kirk, Jess was still a brooding hottie, and the Gilmore girls were still as “Gilmore-y” as ever. But I have to say, one part struck a chord with me. Rory wasn’t Rory and I think it was so important to display her in the reality of growing up.
Hence, why my favorite part of the revival was the fact that Rory was going through a “quarter life crisis.” To me, this made her extremely relatable, especially at this point in my life. Sure, ask me four years ago, and I would have had no idea what she was going through. Not being able to find a job? What? Living at home after college? No way. My high school self would laugh at the fact that she could not get her shit together. But, my college self is all like, “feel you, girl.”
Rory Gilmore was a perfectionist in the most literal sense of the word. She graduated top of her class at Chilton, excelled at Yale (minus the minor dropout). She was the editor of an Ivy League college newspaper, The Daily Gazette. Her homework was a common theme throughout the show. She was driven, a go-getter, and did what it took to be successful in her career as a journalist. All of this wrapped into a pretty little thing made her slightly unrelatable for me throughout the show. Her unwavering ability to be successful and for everything to seamlessly fall into place was exhausting to watch. I was a little envious of that part of her life that always worked out for her. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rory. But she is nothing like myself. Sure, I am driven. I am going after a career that I am passionate about. I do what I have to do to be successful in school. But I am nowhere near perfect when it comes to school and my career. Things do not always just work out like they did for Rory. I haven’t always found success in the things I have gone after. That is why Rory 2.0 in the revival is just my type of girl.
At this point in my life, I am about to graduate college in six short months and even though I have done everything to set myself up for success after college, I still feel lost and not in control of my future. I’ve had internships, I’ve excelled in my classes, and I’ve been heavily involved in extracurricular activities. But, the reality is most college graduates feel unsure and frankly a bit queasy thinking about the rest of your life after college, even if you know exactly what you’re doing. To me, life after college is the one of the biggest ‘unknowns’ in this world. What exactly do I want to be doing? Where exactly do I want to live? Did I do enough throughout college? Have I made the right connections? What type of company do I want to work for? These are all questions I ask myself everyday, and these are the questions that Rory asked herself in the revival, which is extremely refreshing for her as a character.
Rory did everything perfectly to be set up to be employed anywhere and be anything she wanted to be. Hell, she went to Yale. How could that not get you a job?! There was no doubt in my mind that when the Gilmore Girls 1.0 ended, Rory went on to be extremely successful and secure in whatever she did. I was very surprised to see her in the way she was portrayed in the revival. But I thought it was a great representation of reality when it comes to young professionals. Most of the time, your first job is not going to be your last job. You might end up at your parents’ house once or twice. You might even get a job and hate it. But that is life and the sooner us young professionals conquer that fear of the unknown and making mistakes, we can better navigate through the ambiguous years of our life.
I needed this Rory. She portrayed so many feelings I have, and I’m sure a lot of you have, too. Life when college is ending is rough in my opinion. Seeing Rory represent this solidified the fact that if she can embrace not being perfect even though perfect is everything she worked for, I think the rest of us can muster up a little courage to accept that we all can’t be perfect either.