When it was revealed that the beloved series Gilmore Girls would be getting a four-part revival miniseries, fans were thrilled. Finally, they were going to reunite with Lorelai and Rory and the whimsical fuddy-duddy town of Stars Hollow after the somewhat disappointing final season that aired in 2007. However, instead of giving the characters proper conclusions, it left a lot of things up in the air, especially for Rory, who dropped a huge baby bomb before the screen faded to black.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in The Life disappointed a lot of fans for its portrayal of the mother-daughter duo. Lorelai who always knew what she wanted suddenly started to doubt everything and Rory, the once ambitious girl, had been drifting since Yale, making almost no accomplishments.
The biggest flaw of A Year in the Life, though, was Rory herself. The series enforced the concept of Rory not having it as together as she thought, rushing her "downfall" throughout the course of four long episodes. The original series gave multiple hints at would happen to her later in life, but it was built it up over the years. Displaying how Rory can only thrive when in a controlled environment as she lived a privileged life, never requiring the use of a backbone. If A Year in The Life messed up anything it was rushing this part of Rory's character. Rather than showing her career falling apart bit by bit, it just drops everything in your lap at once. However, this can easily be addressed with a second revival, along with some other things in need of addressing.
A Year in The Life ended on a series of new beginnings. It was a good conclusion for some, such as Emily, but not for others. After a rocky start, Lorelai and Luke finally tied the knot, but the outcome of their discussion about kids remains a mystery. Luke wanted to have children with Lorelai in the original series, and this time around it was Lorelai who was open to the idea, but there was no resolve. On top of that, they seemed to have lost their spark with the revival having them grow apart and then back together in a short amount of time, giving viewers a bit of whiplash. A revisit to the series can leave the couple in a better place instead of the tried sigh of relief it became when the two finally stopped breaking up.
It's Rory, however, who could use a second revival the most. In the final scene of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Rory tells her mom that she is pregnant, bringing the story of the Gilmore girls to a full circle. Despite having everything her mom never got, a college education, a strong support system and several years of life experience, somehow, they still ended up in the same boat. Rory was struggling in her career and had two new options before the final episode ended.
She got a job offer as a professor at her former school, Chilton, and considered writing a memoir about the relationship between her and her mother. However, this too seemed to drop in favor of her relationship issues. Gilmore Girls was always about growth and life, which is something the revival didn't juggle very well. With that being the case, A Year in The Life was a pit stop for fans, but a second revival is still desperately needed.
Directed and written by Sherman-Palladino and husband Daniel Palladino, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life stars Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Scott Patterson, Melissa McCarthy, Matt Czuchry, Keiko Agena, Yanic Truesdale, Jared Padalecki, and Milo Ventimiglia. The four episodes will air on The CW from Nov. 23-26.