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Gilmore Girls: Spring

"Peaks and valleys, kid. The older you get, the more you have."

‘Spring’, the second installment of A Year in the Life, sees the girls experiencing crucial moments of acceptance. Whether these were in their professional or personal lives, it seems like both Lorelai and Rory are heading into uncharted territory.

Rory is learning that the world of journalism in 2016 isn’t all that welcoming, with almost all of the doors open to her slamming shut in unison. Despite some desperate acts to keep it all afloat, including trying for a job she didn’t even want and asking Logan for Mitchum’s help in securing an interview with Conde Nast, she’s back home in Stars Hollow.

It’s sad to see our girl struggle so much in the real world with all that intelligence and education behind her, but I’m sure it’s something a lot fans will relate to. It certainly helps to negate the problems some people had with how easily she gave up when she faced smaller hurdles years before. She didn’t go down without fighting this time, so you’ve got to give her credit for that.

She may have a fallback option, though. A visit to Chilton with Paris in tow saw headmaster Charleston offering Rory a position of her choosing. It’s a flattering offer to be sure but one that may not fit with Rory’s dreams of becoming a super star journalist. But who can deny that she’d make a wonderful teacher. Her talk to the current students seemed to go a little better than Paris’, for one.

She puts on a brave face, and she certainly talks a serious game, but we saw that Paris is just as unsure about the direction her life has taken as Rory. After spotting Tristan (not Chad Michael Murray sadly), she immediately reverted back to her insecure teen self. Even though her former frenemy Francie reminded Paris just how much she has actually accomplished, seeing an old high school crush brought all those old feelings of insignificance and self pity back. Here’s hoping she can make things work with Doyle again, though. They were great together.

Meanwhile, Lorelai and Emily’s therapy sessions started with a bang. Though it didn’t help them to reconcile any of their issues by episode’s end, we do see Lorelai start to accept that something may be missing between her and Luke. What’s holding her back from moving forward with him? Claudia, the therapist, pointed out that a life without marriage can be fulfilling for a lot of people, but is this something Lorelai is content with? Does she want more?

Luke also seems to be toying with the idea of moving forward with something big. He didn’t exactly shoot down the idea of expanding his diner “empire” when he found out about Richard’s trust that he left to put towards such an expansion. It doesn’t seem like something Luke would necessarily want. Perhaps he’s looking for fulfillment in the wrong place.

Though this episode was focused mainly on upheaval in the girls’ lives, there was a little more Stars Hollow quirk to help ease the tension. Though I’m not certain I liked the attempt to out Taylor at a town meeting, I do like that the show seems to have broken free of its confines of ghosts of the WB past. It’s also a relief to see that the Palladinos have managed to retain the show’s charm, while still making it seem relevant and knowing almost a decade later. It doesn’t seem wrong to see Luke lie to diner customers about the Wifi password, or Babette looking up b-list actor’s credentials during a town meeting.

Plus

Paris’ old teacher running away from her felt like a fun re-enactment of the political leaders in Washington avoiding her like the plague in season three.

How great was it to have Rory, Paris and Francie going at each other’s throats in the school bathroom again?

I can’t decide if Mr Kim’s first appearance was clever or callous. Maybe it was both?

I really don’t like the fact that Rory is sleeping with Logan, despite the fact that he’s engaged. Didn’t she learn anything from the whole Dean/Lindsay debacle? On the other hand, I love that she had a one night stand with a Wookiee.

He Said, She Said

Paris: "Take a powder, baby John. This is our turf."
Francie: Sure. Fine. We'll just catch up at the reunion of the Puffs next month. Oops, no we won't, because you never got Puff-ed."
Paris: "Screw you!"
Francie: "Eat me!"

Luke: "If something's good, keep it the same."

Lorelai: "Michel, he's for me what Paris is for you."
Rory: "Your angry friend?"

Rory: "I have no career, no apartment, but boy oh boy can I bang out a one night stand."

Lorelai: "Peaks and valleys, kid. The older you get, the more you have."

It’s fantastic to see how much this revival is thriving with the right creative team in charge. There have been one or two minor snags in adjusting to a modern landscape, but the series feels like it’s telling a necessary story. Add to that the fact that everyone involved seems incredibly enthusiastic about the project and it really feels like a good time to be a part of the Gilmore family.

4.5 out of 5 Gilmores

Originally posted at PandaTV.

4 comments:

  1. Lovely review, Panda!

    This was my least favorite episode of the revival, because it's so hard to see Rory struggling so much. The Lorelai/Emily therapist scenes were priceless, though.

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  2. Most of this episode was hilarious, though. I laughed and laughed. Maybe it was all of the Paris stuff. I love Paris. And there was psychotherapy, and movie night, and the wookiee.

    And then it sort of got sad. It's sad that Lorelai is lying to Luke, that Emily is making Luke miserable (I can't believe he *wants* to open a chain of diners), and especially that Rory isn't making a success out of writing when it's all she ever wanted to do.

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  3. I can't believe no one has commented on a second film by Kirk. The bits that killed me were the obviously not dead Petal running in view of the camera (with Kirk commenting about painting it out) and the synchronised Big No's.

    I think Rory would make a great teacher. It offers stability, she gets on well with younger kids and would teach in an engaging manner. She would have a certain degree of creative freedom, as she was offered a job in any department she liked. A school like Chilton would offer a great salary. It plays to Rory's strengths and academic interests.

    Also, Headmaster Charleston expecting to do damage control on the students Paris spoke to was absolutely brilliant.

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  4. Lorelei seems so sad. When Luke snaps at her, when she lies to him, watching Rory struggle, being roped into therapy with her mother. Is anyone else feeling like she on the verge of tears all the time?

    I didn't have as hard a time watching Rory struggle as everyone else seems to have. She kept annoying me so much by acting so callous and unprepared that I was glad when she got fired and passed over for 2 month veterans.

    I loved Kirk's second movie too, Anonymous! Very Kirk, very Stars Hollow. Very funny. I am also in love with Petals and want to adopt her.

    Francie was fun, but it made me wonder how Madeline and Louise have been handling life in their 30s. Is it wrong that I imagine lots of plastic surgery and midday martinis. Either that or they moved to LA and opened a yoga studio.

    Great review, Panda!

    ReplyDelete

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