And we are in the final season of the normal run of Gilmore Girls! Of course, we still have the Netflix one and that is coming up very soon. I know I say it all the time
Gilmore Girls (Season 7, 2007)
Creator: Amy Sherman-Palladino
Cast: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Keiko Agena, Scott Patterson, Yanic Truesdale, Kelly Bishop, Melissa McCarthy, Edward Hermann, Sean Gunn, Liza Weil, David Sutcliffe, Todd Lowe, Danny Strong
A dramedy centering around the relationship between a thirtysomething single mother and her teen daughter living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. – IMDB
The final normal season of Gilmore Girls has its good bit of drama as is expected. We ended Season 6 in somewhat of a bad moment with Lorelai making a decision she needed to do for herself but following up with something she pretty much knew she shouldn’t have done. As for Rory, she has to bid her temporary adieu to Logan as he gets shipped off to London to take on his responsibilities as directed by his father. Separation all around with the Gilmore Girls and its not an easy way to get back into Season 7.
Season 7 takes a turn for a mix of good and bad in my opinion. In one way, I think there were events that had to happen and they did. In other ways, we all knew in our minds who we wanted the Gilmore Girls to be with or where we wanted them to go. After seven seasons, we know these ladies well. We love them for their quirk and their relationship and of course all the crazy people they are friends with whether at Yale or in Stars Hollow. And at certain parts, Season 7 felt tedious. Some things overstayed their welcome and it was hard to not be frustrated at how things were going down. As we barreled towards the finale of this series, there was a lot of unfinished business. Luckily, the series did still have a lot of funny moments in between plus a lot of bonding experiences. At the same time, their crazy friends still managed to keep everything exactly the crazy level we loved to watch. Sure, things don’t always go the way we like, but life doesn’t either so its all good. The season ends and all is relatively right in the Gilmore Girls universe and I think that is what truly matters.
With that said, here’s a few highlights of things I liked:
Lorelai and Chris
Look, I’m a fan of Lorelai and Luke all the way. But Lorelai and Chris had to happen eventually. She always ran back to Chris even if he was the immature choice even in this season that he has suffered one failed marriage and is a father and even is loaded. It doesn’t change the fact that he is just a weak character who runs away from a lot of things instead of trying to work it out or talk it through. I have a love/hate relationship with this pairing to be honest. Its necessary because first loves are hard to get out of our systems as lots of TV series and movies like to do. However, they tried it and Chris Hayden is sweet and there was a decent portion here with a lot of lovely moments with them together but they just couldn’t get through the tough times and be it Chris’s character or that Lorelai jumped into this a little too quick, its hard to deny that it was meant to end eventually.
Lucy and Olivia
Rory had to eventually make some new friends especially since her term was ending as Yale Daily News editor and here we are with Lucy and Olivia who pops up in the moments before that happens. Krysten Ritter pre-Jessica Jones days was quite the opposite character in the stuff she did. I do like her quite a bit and Lucy and Olivia had a lot of the artsy and creative indie vibes going on that added a little different to the show. They were unique and it matched well with how Rory was unique also. They didn’t have to fit with everyone around them. Of course, Lucy’s character also brings in some of its own ghosts from the past in Rory’s life, aka Marty who is the mystery “Boyfriend” reference until things take a turn for the weird when he pretends to not know her and the secret just gets way out of hand. That arc was pretty good and I think it was meant to perhaps fulfill the love that some people had for Rory and Marty as a couple. I do think that Marty would make a good pair with Rory except he loses out on timing a lot and he feels like the nice and supportive best friend and never worked too hard to establish his feelings for her to start.
Lane and her Pregnancy
My, how everyone has grown up since the first season! It seems the Kim women are known to get pregnant super efficiently. Lane comes back from her honeymoon and realizes she is pregnant and perhaps this is one of those really hilarious stories from this season as she goes from denial and not telling Zach to doubting him and then being scared and fighting her mom for how to raise the child, sorry..children because she’s having twins, then another freakout and of course, the baby shower debacle. The baby shower was probably one of my favorite episodes and moments in this season. It showed the Lorelai Gilmore importance here and the solid friendship between Rory and Lane despite not seeing them together so much. It also worked great to show how dedicated and supportive the town was. Plus, a part of me believes that Mrs. Kim saw a little way to modify her principles towards Lane a little. A love of character development to be seen in that one story throughout the season.
Mia & Emily Gilmore
In terms of wrapping up some relationships back in the first two seasons, the three Gilmore Girls go on a road trip. As expected, it is quite hilarious as they bicker and have their snarky remarks and comments. Emily suddenly ends up being roped into attending Lorelai and Rory’s goal to attend Mia’s wedding. If you don’t remember, Mia was the owner of the Independence Inn and is almost like a second mother/grandmother to them. They owe a lot to her when Lorelai first left home. With that said, Emily has been struggling with feelings towards Mia, feeling perhaps her inadequacy and sadness about the things that she has missed with her daughter and granddaughter. There was a nice reconciliation here where they came to a good understanding about the importance of Emily in Lorelai and Rory’s lives and appreciation for each other.
Paris and Doyle
The odd ball Paris and Doyle are definitely made for each other. Perhaps having some flashback behind the scenes from Paris, she ends up having the opposite of Rory as she approaches the end of university whereas Rory still didn’t have much. For her, she got accepted in everything and then made some decisions about the things she did and didn’t want to give up. Its Paris and she’s all abut business and success so can we really blame her? However, Paris is hard to shake after all the years and what Gilmore Girls season would be complete without some insensitive comment here and there by Paris while still feeling that she somehow does care about Rory and is one of the honest friends and Rory needs in her life.
Rory and Logan
One of the big moments of Season 7 had to be Logan’s proposal to Rory. I mean, for the first part of their season (and the past seasons), we’ve seen Logan in all kinds of behavior from jealousy to stupidity. There’s a lot of moments that I don’t like Logan (not surprising why I’m Team Jess). Sure, Logan has some redeeming moments like dropping everything to be with Rory when her grandfather has a heart attack. Then, he has a way with the grandparents and her father and such, but Logan’s also matured a lot in Season 7 because of work and then all the trouble he has gone through and pulled himself out of in some way or another. Is he worthy of Rory? Probably not but Rory sure seems to love him and well, I have to say that without knowing the revival series on Netflix, I would have agreed with her decision. At that point in time, it seemed that it was the Gilmore Girls trait to be strong and independent and Rory needed to have her path before subjecting herself to someone and following someone else’s plans for her. I guess what Paris says sometimes does stick, right?
Rory’s Farewell & Stars Hollow
I honestly don’t talk about Stars Hollow enough in these TV binges and it took this final season to realize that if I didn’t talk about now then well, it would be hard to talk about it in the next one. Rory’s sudden farewell and departure from Stars Hollow definitely made an epic finale for the series in whole. It was a new stage for everyone. Perhaps it was at this time that we truly got to see Stars Hollow and how much this little community took care of each other and rooted for each other no matter how quirky or whacky or weird everyone was and just how much over the 7 seasons, its hard to not love each and everyone of them, long time citizens and new additions of course. What a wonderful way to end the Season 7. Sure, no one got a concrete ending to their future about what happens but do we really need to? I don’t think so. We got everything we needed to feel satisfied and we could give these characters a happily ever after in our minds even if Rory doesn’t choose any of the leading men that have gone through her lives but at least she’s able to finally do the thing she loves the most and leave with such a fond memory.
Overall
Season 7 had its ups and downs. Its not the best of the seven season during normal run season on TV however, it did pack in a lot of great moments, witty dialogue and gave all of its characters some form of conclusion and most importantly, development. It wrapped up the loose ends and even gave us something to think about. Seeing as this ended in 2007, no one knew what to expect. If the series were have ended then, I would have been okay with it. With that said, the Netflix revival mini series was a welcome thought.
Tranquil Dreams 