While most people were out on Black Friday enjoying the sales, I spent my day at home with a box of pizza and a stolen Netflix password watching the Gilmore Girls revival for 5 hours straight, officially named Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
Gilmore Girls: A year in the Life has been a year in the making ever since the revival was announced last November. I have since been eagerly waiting for the new episodes with high expectations and they did not disappoint.
The four 90-minute-long episodes each titled after the seasons are truly a love letter to the original series, which abruptly ended in 2007 with a lacklustre conclusion that left fans without the final four words that series creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino had intended for the last episode. But as the series built up a cult following and demand for a revival grew, fans now have those final four words that they have been waiting for. I can say that it was definitely worth the wait.
Even if you’re new to the world of Gilmore Girls, anyone can watch the revival and fall in love with the story. As Palladino describes, it is a simple story about three Gilmore women from three generations at different crossroads in their lives. Nine years after the end of the original series, Lorelai Gilmore (played by Parenthood’s Lauren Graham) is happily working and living in Stars Hollow, the fictional charming small town where the series is set and her daughter Rory, having long graduated from Yale where we last saw her in 2007, is now busy pursuing a career in journalism which sees her jet-setting between Stars Hollow and London. Meanwhile, it has been 6 months since the passing of Richard Gilmore, Father to Lorelai, Grandfather to Rory and wife to Emily Gilmore who is severely grieving and trying to find ways to cope.
The nostalgia hits hard as all the familiar quirks of the series return with it’s coffee obsession, pop-tarts, fast-paced dialogue and endless pop-culture references. The revival answers questions left unanswered from the original run and beloved townies return; Kirk, the resident weirdo, has a pet pig named Petal and has started a business called ööö-ber, not to be confused with Uber of course.
All of Rory’s past boyfriends return and make cameo appearances (#TeamJess for the record), and the cameo’s don’t end there as Melissa McCarthy and Alex Kingston (known as River Song on Doctor Who) grace our screens. Kingston plays an eccentric character whose hilarious dialogue has won my favourite quote of the series: “I’m voting for Brexit. It’s just a protest vote. It will never win.” It is this combination of humour, one hundred miles an hour dialogue and outlandish characters that makes Gilmore Girls such a beloved series.
Gilmore Girls defines comfort TV – it is so raw and human and that is why everyone can relate to it. From family therapy, break-ups, spontaneous soul-searching adventures to one night stands with Wookiee’s, it will truly make you laugh while you cry and smile when you’re angry.
The revival is best appreciated having watched the original series, so I highly recommend watching from the beginning and letting your obsession begin.
It will be worth it for those physically jaw-dropping final four words.
Lena Sheikh