The world of Gilmore Girls lovers waited with bated breath for the big revival. All the characters -- big or small, were coming together. There were theories and opinion pieces and the world of the internet was filled with what is going to finally happen to our favorite girls. Because the day arrives earlier in India than the US, I , in an anticipation of miracles, stayed up to see if I could really be the first one to start binge-watching the show. The world does not work the way I want and so I waited till it was Friday evening. And should I say I was a tad bit disappointed?
Now here is the big problem in the world that we live in. When it comes to information for an internet junkie like me, the websites love to throw red,juicy, meaty but useless information about everything around us. So much was written about how the original run of GG left the world unsatisfied because the writers, the Palladino couple, left the show after season 6, how season 7 just felt out of place in a universe that the writers had created and don't even get me started about the men in Rory's life. There was too much information out there -- we knew that Melissa McCarthy was super busy but she still joined the cast at the last minute. We knew that there were going to be those last four words that Amy Sherman-Palladino had in her mind from the very beginning , we knew almost everything that was going behind the scenes.
In retrospect, I wish I had not gobbled up every article about GG that I laid my eyes upon. If I hadn't known that ASP planned this ending since the beginning, I would still have been shocked but maybe lesser than what I am right now. This reaction has again to do with something that I read online about how ASP thinks that it is just sad that all people are concerned about is who is the man that Rory will end up with. Why are there no discussions about if she made it big in the world of journalism or did she win the Pulitzer prize? This article got my hopes soaring high. But what do I get? I get a Rory still struggling to find her foot in the journalism world , still being with Logan knowing fully well that he was engaged with another woman! Didn't she do the same thing with Dean? Didn't she learn anything from her previous mistake? What is she -- the perpetual 'other woman'? Wasn't she a traveler? Couldn't she find one interesting man during her travels? And even if she can't, how hard it is to stay single?
And those last four words!! "Mom? Yeah? I am pregnant" Those are the last words that we would have got if ASP still had the reigns of the show? I am glad she did not have it then! I was happy to see Rory step out in the world. And why that concern over Rory's love life discussions if all you wanted to do in the end was leave her jobless and with a child that too out of a relationship built on the grounds of cheating? That does not make any sense!
Rory in the last episode of the last season goes on to cover Barrack Obama's campaign trail. Because of the other several articles I had read, I knew Rory will be struggling in her career in the revival. But to the extent shown takes away all the hopes and dreams that we as viewers had set up with Rory in the initial seasons. She is shown to join her prep school in the middle of the year and she still comes out as Valedictorian. She went to Yale! She went on a campaign trail with the biggest publishing houses. Could she not make a single contact? All we hear about in the revival is her New Yorker piece. Okay, she wrote one piece. Next, please! How much can you harp about one achievement? See, I understand a person struggles in their career. It is great to see the struggle. It was great to see Rory jump back to her feet after she was torn down by Mitchum Huntzbeger. There is a struggle and then there is a victory. We saw Lorelai struggle with the DragonFly Inn. But the sweet victory is what I was waiting for. At least show us what happened to the book that Rory was writing!
Now that my anger has been vented out, I admit that the rest of the show was great and I enjoyed myself. Not the one to cry easily while watching a TV show, I felt myself welling up when Lorelai calls Emily to tell her about her favorite memory of her father. I loved how Emily found her freedom and identity after being just a wife for more than 50 years. I loved the boredom that seemed to seep in Luke and Lorelai's relationship (or was it just the lack of chemistry between the two actors?) I loved the impromptu wedding. It was disappointing to not see Sookie in the wedding but thanks to those million articles, we know it was because McCarthy was not available. But like I read somewhere, that does not make sense narratively.
All in all, my GG revival experience was a mixed feeling especially because of Rory's character arc and that ending. This revival was supposed to give us closure. Instead, it has opened up a whole lot of new questions.
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