I Love Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls is my favorite television show. While I made a whole list of favorites earlier on, notice that Gilmore Girls was right at the top. As I've mentioned previously, it's the only show I've watched in its entirety multiple times through. There's just so much to love about it... I'm not even sure where to begin. It makes me happy and never fails to keep me engaged with its perfect combination of sarcasm, pop culture references, and drama. But what really made Gilmore Girls special, above all, was the characters. None of them were dull and they all talked a lot. Their relationships were interesting to watch, whether they concerned romance, friendship, or mother-daughter bonds.

 

But the mother-daughter relationship aspect is what really drives the show. Single mother Lorelai Gilmore (played by Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (played by Alexis Bledel), have such an ideal relationship. They're best friends. They have obvious mother-daughter similarities (which includes but is not limited to the same great sense of sarcastic humor, awe-striking eating habits, and an addiction to coffee) but are quite unique from another as well. While Lorelai is a bit more daring, Rory is a nice girl with no ambition to rebel against her best friend/mom. This heavily contrasts with Lorelai's relationship with her own mother, Emily. They argue throughout most of the show; their personalities couldn't possibly be any more different. Lorelai is a free bird, but Emily is kind of the cliché rich lady with her fancy parties and a need for perfection, classiness, and order. Since Lorelai gave birth to Rory as a teenager, one can only imagine how that affected Emily and their relationship.

These primary characters alone are incredibly vivid, but as I said, this goes for all the rest of the characters as well. Rory's best friend Lane and her mother, Mrs. Kim, also add to the mother-daughter aspect, but in a much more whimsical way. Mrs. Kim is extremely conservative, but Lane just wants to play drums and have a band. Her love for music and desire to rebel against her mother's restrictions is the basis for their relationship, and despite sneaking around trying to hide things her mother doesn't approve of (such as her CD collection under the floorboards), Lane does seem to respect her mother. It was so exciting to see Lane join a band and get a cool husband, and eventually, children. Everything really worked out perfectly for her.

Stars Hollow (the town Lorelai and Rory live in) is just packed with interesting specimens. The most prominent Stars Hollow citizen, however, is Luke. Luke owns a diner and supplies Lorelai and Rory with yummy food and lots of coffee. He always has a baseball cap on backwards and may seem a little rough around the edges, but the guy definitely has a heart. He really cares about Rory and Lorelai, and let's face it, who wasn't rooting for him to end up with Lorelai in the end? He's such a good guy. I didn't like any of Lorelai's boyfriends, even though Rory's dad was a nice guy, but I always liked Luke. I was so happy that they ended up together; they just make my heart flutter a little.
 

Seasons two and three are my favorites, and a lot of that has to do with the troubled character Jess, played by Milo Ventimiglia, who people tend to really love or really hate. Personally, I loved this character. Sure, he had some issues, but I always wanted Rory to end up with him. (Not just because he's attractive, either.) He ended up being pretty normal anyway; he even wrote a book! Her first boyfriend Dean was nice, but almost too nice (not to mention super jealous and kind of dull), Logan irked me, but I really liked Jess. He read all the time and listened to cool music. Dude even knew Bjork - Bjork, people! And he really cared about Rory. I always felt bad that he wasn't given a proper chance. The whole town judged him. I just think things would've been different if Rory wasn't always hearing criticism of him and if Rory hadn't just broken up with Dean.

Regardless, a lot of my favorite Gilmore Girls quotes come from seasons two and three; they're all so funny, from Jess' "Excuse me, I've seen you eat" to Rory telling that Shane chick that watching ice melt probably fascinates her. There are just too many good ones to name. Plus, Rory and Paris started being friends - who would've thought that would happen after they hated each other so much in season one? And the Bjork snowwoman! Priceless! These two seasons just bring me so much nostalgia, back when I first discovered the show with a friend. We'd watch reruns on AbcFamily. We'd discuss Rory's boyfriends, and I'd be the odd-one out on Team Jess. I remember seasons six and seven; I'd watch and anticipate those new episodes. I recorded the very last one, and I remember being sad that it was over, after all those seasons. Rory and Lorelai deal with a lot of drama, even fighting to the point that the closest mother-daughter duo in the world weren't talking to each other at some point, but they always found a way back to their best friend. They always found a way to consolidate.

While Rory didn't get married in the end, that series finale was worth it for me because she finally got her dream job after all that hard work at school, but mostly because it ended with a promise of Luke and Lorelai being together. Rory may have been able to move on from Dean, Jess, and I'm assuming Logan as well, but imagining Lorelai without Luke would be too weird for me to handle. They went so well together, and Luke was a great father figure for Rory. The series ending with the three of them like that was perfect.

I really miss this show. I'm wondering what happened with all of them, if Luke and Lorelai ended up getting married, if Rory ever ran into Jess again, if she was sad without Logan, how often Rory sees Lane after getting her new job, her new friends in the workforce. The end of Gilmore Girls is like the end of Jane Eyre - it isn't that the endings aren't satisfying, it's that the stories were so good that you don't want them to end.

The creator of Gilmore Girls made a relatively new series called Bunheads, and while many say that Gilmore Girls fans will love it, I just can't deal with it. The main character is just too similar to Lorelai, and surely to God there is only one Lorelai Gilmore in this world. So, I'm sticking with my Gilmore Girls seasons on DVD. I don't have many yet since the show is still on AbcFamily regularly, but I'm definitely making season three a priority for me to buy. I haven't seen those episodes in forever.

So, in a nutshell, I love this show. Always have, always will.