Sitting down to watch the first six years of Gilmore Girls in the two months leading up to the show’s debut on the CW sounds like a daunting task, but if the summer of 2006 taught me anything, it’s that all things are possible with Netflix and my own steely resolve. Though I don’t think I would have been as successful if I’d attempted to watch the same amount of, say, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. The ease and appeal of binging on Gilmore Girls is thanks to Amy Sherman-Palladino, and while I was aware of her departure after the sixth season, I didn’t realize how necessary she was until it was too late. I can’t easily give up on a show after watching a solid three episodes, so when the seventh season of GG more or less sucked, giving up wasn’t even up for consideration. But there has been reason to believe that the show could bounce back, and this week offered a possible glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel.
The sixth season ended with Lorelai leaving Luke after ten consecutive episodes of him being shady and distant. Seeking comfort in the arms of her baby dad, Christopher, seventh season opened with her spurning his advances at a relationship for about two episodes before caving in and marrying him shortly thereafter. This is when the anticipation of the season picking up gave way to silent resignation that Gilmore Girls just wasn’t good anymore.
Though a card-carrying member of Team Luke from day one, I wasn’t that troubled by the Christopher storyline. It was a cute way to occupy Lorelai while Luke redeemed himself to the viewers, but the marriage took it too far. It may have been that his previously infrequent appearances made it hard to pick up on how annoying he was or the new writers may have just made him a different person. Regardless, seeing him bopping around Stars Hollow has been unnatural to say the least. This is why last night’s destruction of the unholy Lorelai-Christopher union was the most welcome development this season. In what was easily the best scene all season, Lorelai broke the news to Christopher that as much as she wanted to want to be with him, she didn’t.
This means there is still hope for Gilmore Girls! Now that Christopher is no longer an option for Lorelai, her reunion with Luke (though still a long way off) is inevitable. And with Emily and Richard were so content with their daughter marrying the man they always wanted her to be with, the split opens up the door for more parental disappointment than ever – a cornerstone of the Gilmore of yore! There are even signs that the new writers might actually do something with Rory… not that I particularly care, but any additional storylines are welcome.
Will the show find voice it had before? Probably not. Are talks of a possible eighth season at all warranted? God no. Might Team Luke get the resolution they so rightly deserve? We’re pretty much guaranteed a “yes” at this point, and that’s all I really need.
[...] From the randomly, legitimately horrible, episodes I caught over the last few years, I found enough ammunition to defend my arbitrary hatred and justify my status as non-viewer to myself. But now that Veronica Mars is dunzo, and Battlestar Galactica is on borrowed time, my primetime lineup is rapidly becoming mystery deficient. The fear of waking up one day to a life without serialized drama prompted me to finally start watching Lost a couple of weeks ago, and, as of this moment, I am officially obsessed. It’s yet to rival the great Gilmore-athon of 2006, but it’s already taking way too much of my time from more conventional and social pursuits. [...]