As a Gilmore Girls fan, today was a HUGE day, since 4 new episodes dropped on Netflix.  I’ve been insanely excited ever since I heard there were going to be 4 new episodes!  I was really glad that I had requested today off, since it meant I could spend the day watching it.

I will do my best to stay spoiler-free as I talk about my initial thoughts…but if that doesn’t work, I will definitely be sure to warn you with a spoiler alert, since I know not everyone is able to watch it right away.

Heading Into The New Episodes:

I definitely was planning on watching at least season 7, but sadly, I never got around to it.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to make my way through the entire series before these episodes came out, but season 7 seemed doable.  I will go back and re-watch the series one of these days.  I essentially got lazy with the recaps I was doing of the show, and even though I randomly think to myself that I should start doing that again, I never follow through on it.  Maybe I’ll bring it back, but I’m honestly not sure if I want to commit to it, at least on a regular basis.

I’ve actually been avoiding all of the random articles about the new episodes, which is rare for me, because I generally don’t care.  But with the new episodes?  I didn’t want to go in knowing anything.

My Initial Thoughts:

As I’m writing this, I have finished watching all four episodes, so everything is really fresh!  There are 4 episodes, and each are around 1.5 hours.  Each one focuses on a season, but everything is blurring together, so I’ll start off with winter, and then do the other 3 seasons.

Winter:

It was really nice to be back in Stars Hollow, and Winter was a good way to start things off.  It definitely is setting things up, and we’re getting drawn back into this crazy town.  We see everything that’s been going on with the characters since we left them years ago.

I definitely felt like this was for the fans, and in this episode in particular, it felt like there were a lot of nods to the series, especially the first 6 seasons.  There was some acknowledgement of season 7, and it was interesting to see how they dealt with it.  This goes for all 4 seasons, but they acknowledged stuff that happened but at the same time, they did sort of gloss over that season and these 4 episodes.  I’m not sure if that makes sense, especially without spoiling anything.

Spring/Summer/Fall:

Summer and Fall broke my heart.  All four episodes were very emotional for me, but Summer and Fall in particular were really emotional, and I cried during pretty much the entire episodes for Summer and Fall.  Not to the point of being dehydrated (which happened when I saw both The Fault In Our Stars and If I Stay), but I do feel really tired and a little bit drained.  Some things surprised me, and others didn’t, but I loved being on the crazy roller coaster that is the Gilmore family.

Three Things I Was Wondering Prior To These Episodes:

There were three main things I was wondering going into the new episodes, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with these three major questions:

1- How would they deal with the passing of Edward Herrmann?

2- How would Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino deal with season 7 (which they weren’t a part of)?

3- What are the final 4 words?

So, here are some non-spoilery thoughts.

#1: The Death Of Edward Herrmann

He was amazing as Richard Gilmore, and it was hard watching the show without him and seeing all three Gilmore Girls deal with his passing, particularly Emily and Lorelei.  I don’t consider this a spoiler, since it’s been a couple of years, but I thought they handled it very well.

#2: Dealing With Season 7

I mentioned this a little bit, and I thought certain things we saw in the revival acknowledged season 7, but in a passive way?  Like I said, I’m not sure how to describe it with no spoilers, but they sort of glossed over how certain characters got to where we see them in the new episodes.  Not that they need to explain what happened, and you can sort of figure it out, but…I don’t know.  Passive acknowledgement?  It’s the best way to describe it, I think.

#3: The Final Four Words

I think any fan of GG knows that Amy Sherman-Palladino (ASP) knew the final 4 words.  Which, of course, we never got, since she and her husband left the show after season 6.  But man, I was floored and speechless.  I still am, at least a little.  I really didn’t know what to expect, and I’m sure people had a lot of guesses (that I tried very hard to stay away from).  But I was not expecting THOSE final 4 words.  It just makes me wonder…spoiler-y things.  I’m definitely surprised.  And that is all I’m going to say.

Other Thoughts:

There were some other things I wanted to talk about it, and then I’ll wrap it up.

I think something else everyone was wondering was Rory’s love life.  I know I’m not the only who was wondering if Rory would end up with one of her boyfriends (Dean, Jess or Logan), if she would be with someone new, or if she would be single.  I know a lot of people are Team Jess, and for the longest time, I was team Logan, before switching to team Rory.  I don’t know who’d I’d pick now, if I did have to pick one of them.  I was glad to see it resolved, and man, I want to talk about it more, but I won’t, because I’m trying not to give spoilers.  That would be best saved for another post, I think.

I actually related to both Rory and Lorelei a lot in these episodes, but especially Rory.  Particularly when you think you have everything worked out, and then life doesn’t go the way you thought it would.  Something about these episodes really hit home for me, and I think I just need more time to process it.

I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the references, but I really liked the ones I picked up on.  And there’s one reference that is my favorite reference in this entire revival.  It was hysterical, it really was.  I don’t want to give it away, though.  I will say, in regards to all of the pop culture references, that they were a lot more current than I expected.  I remember not picking up on a lot of the references from previous seasons because they were a bit too old for me, and I really expected it to be the same this time around.  I’m sure there are a bunch I missed for that reason, but I really was surprised that I actually knew a lot of the references.

I loved seeing all of the characters we know and love- I was surprised that we didn’t see one character (unless I missed it which is possible, but unlikely), and there were a couple others that were mentioned but never appeared (and I thought they would).  And this is a little bit spoiler-y, but I was surprised to see one character. Really surprised.  I’m sort of glad, but at the same time, I wish we didn’t, and it was definitely a nod to the original series. There was one thing we learned about a character that didn’t surprise me, but I also didn’t want to assume things either, so I’m glad they actually mentioned it, because it was implied before.  And it seemed like they were maybe going to go in the same direction for another character, but they didn’t.

I was glad Melissa McCarthy’s character Sookie, popped up, and I was wondering if she would make a brief appearance, given McCarthy probably has a busy schedule.  I just loved seeing what all of the characters were up to- Michel, Lane (and Hep Alien), Paris, Doyle.  Let’s just say Doyle was particularly awesome.  Well, everyone was awesome, but I just loved it when Doyle showed up.

Did I Love The Episodes?

It’s hard to say.  I mean, there was a lot I LOVED.  There’s a lot of really interesting elements in these episodes, particularly when you tie them into the previous seasons, and I really loved that too.  I was really excited, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up, because what if I didn’t like them?  I really did love them, but part of me has mixed feelings too.  I am excited that we get more Gilmore Girls, even if it’s four episodes, and that definitely plays into the initial love I have for these episodes.  In a way, this first watching is to take it all in, and I do want to watch them again, with maybe a slightly more critical eye.

For now, I love the episodes, but I also have some mixed feelings about some of what we see.  I’d love to see what everyone else thinks, but please keep your comments spoiler-free for everyone who hasn’t seen the episodes yet.

Have a safe and happy weekend!