Since I had a lot of thoughts about the revival, and my last post went a lot longer than I thought, I figured I’d do another post!  I got a lot of my main thoughts out of the way, but there is a lot I wanted to talk about.

Character Appearances:

I loved seeing most of the characters come back- I was a little disappointed Liz and T.J. didn’t make an actual appearance, but at least they were mentioned. I was also a little disappointed that we didn’t see Mory- we did see Babette, which was awesome, but I missed seeing Mory. Kirk was awesome (as always) and in general, it was great seeing everyone in Stars Hollow again. It wouldn’t be the same without them, and I loved seeing the crazy stuff Taylor wanted the town to get in on. Miss Patty’s barn/dance studio being air-conditioned provided some much needed laughter, especially given the stories that those scenes were really hard to shoot because of how that building was.

I think I was expecting Max Medina to pop at Chilton- they can get a Chad Michael Murray look-a-like and Francie, but no Max? I thought that was a little weird, but I guess not surprising since Lorelei broke things off, and he was off doing random teaching posts all over the place.

Doyle:

I loved that Doyle was a screen-writer, and that was my favorite reference of the revival. I don’t know if it was a true reference, but it was a great nod at what the actor who plays Doyle does in real life. They totally missed an opportunity to have him reference Empire or Mockingjay (or have someone reference it him), since he was involved with both of them.

The Sort-Of-Solved Mystery Of Mr. Kim:

The mystery of Mr. Kim was sort of solved. In the original series, Lane’s parents were mentioned, but Mrs. Kim was the only parent we actually saw during the entire run, and I don’t know if there was never a way to work him or what that was about. On the one hand, it was nice to actually see that Mr. Kim exists (though his previous absence was never mentioned, so that’s still a mystery). It definitely acknowledges a long-running question in the Gilmore fandom. At the same time, though, it would have been hysterical if he was mentioned but never seen, and I kind of wish they had kept that going.

Cornstarch And Other Things:

I also loved that Rory notices cornstarch at Doose’s after running into Dean, who tells her to pay for it. It’s a nice nod to her stealing cornstarch early on in the series. And the whole thing with Pete? I could have done without it. I felt like it randomly came up to be funny, but considering she randomly got a text from Pete, only for her to remember that she really needed to break up with him…I didn’t get the point of it. If Rory’s relationships and pregnancy are supposed to mirror Lorelei’s, then maybe her treatment of Pete was supposed to mirror Lorelei’s treatment of Max. Think about it, though: Logan is Christopher, because they want the Gilmore Girl and never hold on to her, plus they keep going back to Logan and Christopher before settling done with Luke…or in Rory’s case, Jess, who always seems to be there for the Gilmore Girls when they need it. Lorelei treated Max horribly, especially with how Lorelei broke off the engagement. Rory was horrible to Pete, cheating on him with Logan (who was engaged, and Rory doesn’t seem to learn her lesson in that regard), and forgetting about him and not breaking up with him, even though she meant to. I’m not sure how Dean fits into it, since Jason is the other left for Lorelei, and I honestly can’t come up with a parallel for them. Unless Chris and Luke are meant to be the main parallels.

Also interesting was Michel being married. Previously, it seemed implied Michel was gay. I never made the assumption he was, because assuming things is not okay. I know I previously said I was glad that they mentioned it, but thinking back…I don’t know, something about it bothered me, and I’m not sure why. As for the town meeting, and borrowing LGBT people from other towns for their Gay Pride Parade. I HATED that scene. Absolutely hated it. They’re people, not a commodity you can trade or borrow. I know Star’s Hollow has a hard time with change, and that Taylor has a particularly hard time with it. That scene where Gypsy asks if he’s forgetting anyone- I had initially thought that maybe Taylor was going to come out, but he didn’t, and I’m not sure what to think of that scene at all.

The Mysterious Letter:

I also want to know about that letter Emily was talking about! Lorelei insists that she never sent it- and I’m having a hard time believing Lorelei, since she does seem to present a certain narrative about her life- but they never brought it up again, and part of me wonders why they brought it up if they weren’t going to do anything with. I wonder if that’s partly why Emily has a lot of issues with Lorelei?

Lorelei And Emily:

Speaking of Lorelei and Emily: at the end of season 7, it seems like things were okay with Emily and Lorelei, and they were working through their issues. But in these episodes, it seemed like they never did work through old issues. The death of Richard seemed to bring back old wounds for both of them, especially the night of his funeral. I was bothered by how little Rory seemed to be affected by the death of her grandfather. I know Emily lost her husband of 50 years, and she now has to figure out who she is without him. For Lorelei: she had a lot of unresolved issues with her parents, and now I’m wondering if maybe it took its toll because things weren’t completely okay. I know Rory had a pretty good relationship with him, and she seems to be the most at peace with it…but still relatively unaffected by it. If she is, then the Palladino’s decided not to focus on it, and I kind of wish they did, at least a little.

More Emily Stuff:

Emily was definitely herself, and I can see her getting caught up in Marie Kondo’s book. I was curious about Emily keeping a maid for longer than a week. It was such a big thing originally, and part of me missed all of the jokes about Emily firing maids all the time. But part of me wonders if maybe it’s because the death of Richard hit her so hard that she just couldn’t do it? I did like her moving to Nantucket and working/volunteering at the whaling museum. It doesn’t seem like the Emily I remember, but she’s also changed a lot since then, and maybe she’s determined to find her own thing now that she doesn’t have Richard. I don’t know if Richard’s school friend is supposed to be a romantic interest for her, and while Emily is moving on with her life, it’s also hard to picture her with someone else. It seems implied that maybe something will develop between them one day, but I’m glad we never actually see it because I think it would have taken away the loss of Richard somehow.

Overall, I did really like the episodes, and I am ready for a re-watch. Hopefully, I’ve cried it all out, and I can sit down and watch it a little more critically.