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Now that we have all had some time to digest the Gilmore Girls revival, we turn to Fall, the final installment of the Netflix mini-series.
At the end of the original series you recall that Lorelai reunited with Luke in a somewhat unsatisfactory fashion, while Rory left Stars Hollow to cover the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. She hadn’t landed a job with the New York Times, sure, but this was a start. The finale of the revival takes us in a much different direction than the original series, with Lorelai and Luke finally marrying (YAY!) and Rory announcing (via the final four words) that she is pregnant. It’s a somewhat predictable ending, but not a fulfilling one for those of us who wanted more for Rory. It seems that Amy Sherman-Palladino wanted the story to come full circle – with Rory having the same fate as her mother.
Refresh your memory with the recaps for Winter, Spring & Summer or keep reading for a recap of Fall under the cut but beware of spoilers.
Lorelai
Lorelai goes on her Wild pilgrimage, but doesn’t quite make it to the PCT. Instead, she stops at a coffee shop, and takes in the gorgeous scenery, triggering an epiphany. She wants to clear the air with her mother and she does so by telling her a story about her father. With that out of the way, Lorelai cuts her trip short, returns to Luke and they decide to marry. As they plan their wedding, Lorelai also has plans to expand the Inn, and she turns to Emily for help. Remember the money that Edward set aside to turn Luke’s into a franchise? Well, Luke doesn’t want it, but Lorelai does. She asks Emily for help in expanding the Inn and Emily agrees, with conditions – the familiar mandatory visits will continue in Nantucket.
Emily
Yes, that’s right, Emily decides in this episode to finally sell the Hartford house and move to Nantucket. And her maid and her maid’s entire family come along for the ride! She has a new companion in Jack Smith, and a new job – volunteering at the whaling museum. It’s a whole new side of Emily, and I loved it! Emily’s story was possibly my favorite of the entire revival.
Photo Source: Refinery 29
Rory
And finally we turn to Rory, who starts the episode living in Stars Hollow and running the Stars Hollow Gazette. Having left behind Logan, and estranged from her mother due to her book proposal, she is somewhat listless. Leave it up to the Life and Death Brigade to lift her spirits during a night of debauchery. Logan and his pals arrive in Stars Hollow, and pull her out of her funk with a night of breaking into Doose’s, tango dancing, drinking, and taking over a B&B in New Hampshire. Rory and Logan spend the night together and the next morning he offers her the keys to his family’s home in Maine so she can write her book. Rory explains that she has a better idea, however, and they part, seemingly for good. With her new determination, Rory heads to Hartford, where she writes her book (titled Gilmore Girls) from her grandfather’s study. She later presents the book to her mother, and the two reconcile, just in time for Luke and Lorelai’s wedding. The morning after the wedding, Lorelai and Rory sit together in the gazebo, where we hear their final exchange: “Mom?” “Yeah.” “I’m pregnant.”
It’s no secret that Amy Sherman-Palladino has been planning this ending for a decade, and in terms of symmetry, it works. However, for many of us, it’s an upsetting ending, considering Rory’s backstory. She was a gifted student, driven, ambitious, yet she’s relegated to the same fate as her mother. It always seemed that the story of Gilmore Girls was Lorelai working to give her daughter a different life than she’d had. Is all of her work for naught?
Given the cliffhanger, many have wondered if there are plans for Netflix to return to Stars Hollow. During an interview with NPR, Lauren Graham speculated that the series had reached its natural conclusion. However, Netflix tweeted the following photo (a call-back to April Nardini’s infamous science project from the original series), hinting that there is more story to tell.
Photo Source: Netflix Twitter Account
Now that we have watched the revival and recapped all the episodes, we want to know what you think! Did you like the ending? Is there more of a story to tell? If there is, be sure to check in with The Game of Nerds for all of your Gilmore news!
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