“A Year in the Life” is finally here! The Gilmore Girls fandom has been waiting for years to find out what happened to our favorite mother-daughter duo after the show ended in 2007. A lot of unanswered questions were finally addressed.
Beware, some spoilers are below…
Netflix
The opening of the first mini-movie, “Winter”, brought chills to my heart and tears to my eyes. I slowly started to relive the memories I have of Rory and Lorelai eating chinese food and powdered donuts in the kitchen. This epsode was particularly difficult to watch because we got to see how life had changed for Emily, Lorelai and Rory after Richard passed away. I feel like Amy Sherman-Palladino did a flawless job in giving the audience and the cast closure in the funeral scene. When Edward Hermann died in 2014, the entire Gilmore Girls fandom grieved over his loss.
Richard’s death really changed Emily (she was wearing jeans for goodness sake!). I really like how Emily grew into her own person. She left the D.A.R, she took in a less fortunate family, she started sleeping past 7 a.m. and she finally started living for herself. I still can’t believe she started working at that whale museum. In a way, it feels right. This just shows that you are never too old to finally start living life the way you want and you are never too old to go through a season of change.
Rory’s love life honestly surprised me. Seeing her with Logan made me so happy, but I was heart broken when I found out he was engaged. I wanted for her to have a romantic ending with him so badly. For a moment I thought she had it when the boys showed up to take her out for a crazy night on the town. I thought he had left his fiance and finally realized that Rory was all he would ever need. Then the next morning came the hardest goodbye I think I have ever had to witness.
A lot of fans thoguht that Rory and Jess would end up together. He was the guy that everyone cheered for because he had the biggest character growth. Seeing her and Dean reconnect made my heart melt. I knew they didn’t belong together but what they had was perfect for the time they spent together.
That’s when I realized. This is exactly what girls need to understand. We do not need a man to help us find our happy ending or our fulfillment in life. Just like they do not need us to find theirs. Each of those boys brought something to her that she needed at the time they entered her life. It makes you think about the people that entered and left your life and how they changed you. Some people are only meant to stay for a season. I am still trying to figure out what Pete brought to the table. Or was it Paul?
Lorelai, as always, brought an enormous amount of tears to my eyes. Seeing her fight with her mother and then share that beautiful story about her father in the last episode struck a chord with me. Her fight with Luke had me absolutely terrified. When she said she was leaving to go do “Wild” I could not help but think that something awful was going to happen.
All Lorelai was looking for was clarity. Her life was changing and she didn’t know how she felt about it or where it should go next. I think on some level we can all understand what she was going through. Sometimes you need space from everyone and everything to figure out what your heart and mind are trying to tell you.
Some of my favorite moments from the entire revival: Rory figuring out her romantic life, her career, Lorelai’s sneaky marriage to Luke, the Stars Hollow Musical, Kinky Boots, Lorelai’s “wild” experience, Emily’s jeans and Rory choosing to write her book in Richard’s study. To watch two of the strongest characters I know handle every new situation with their usual grace and banter is inspiring.
Now, the last four words. Those words knocked the breath out of me. Gilmore Girls and Netflix have raved on social media not to spoil them so I won’t. I left with as many questions as I did answers. The last four words will make you cry uncontrollably. You will feel closure, but you will also feel considerably sad. You WILL want more. Don’t spoil the last four words.
