GILMORE GIRLS: A Year in the Life bingewatch react #spoileralert

Like many others around the world, I have spent the day binge-watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life on Netflix and if you’re a Gilmore Girls fan, boy was this revival such a treat. From the moment the first part “Winter” begins with a black screen and voiceovers of memorable quotes from the show to reveal the town square looking just as full of character as it did when we left it nine-and-a-half years ago, it’s like being reunited with old friends. You can’t help but smile as familiar places are mentioned or seen (the town gazebo, Luke’s, The Dragonfly Inn, Miss Patty’s Dance Studio, Al’s Pancake World) and we check in to see how our favorite townfolk are doing after all these years – Kirk has a pet pig named Petal and is still his ambitious entrepreneur self (his latest venture a transport service called Ooo Ber), Michel is married and his husband Frederick wants kids (oh Michel, how I’ve missed you and your zingers. You were on fire in this revival!), Lane and Zach are still happily married, Taylor is still typical Taylor always wanting to implement new things in town (this time he wants to replace the town’s septic tanks with a sewer system)… I could go on, but it’s more fun if you watch it yourself.

Winter is a nice trip down memory lane all while also filling us in on what everyone is up to. In Spring, things get a bit more dramatic. While I was surprised to discover in Winter that not only Rory have a random boyfriend that it didn’t seem like she cared much about, she was also seeing Logan while she was over in London, I was even more surprised to discover in Spring that Logan is actually engaged to a French heiress, basically making Rory an adulterer once again. I didn’t like it the first time around in the series when she slept with a married Dean, and I can’t say I love the idea in this revival. Once I reached the end of the revival I could kind of understand the storyline decision more but gosh was it a shock when this was first revealed! Also in Spring, the tension between Emily and Lorelai is tenser than ever and going to therapy together doesn’t help it either. Nor does Emily revealing to Luke that Richard left him some money in his will to franchise Luke’s and thus Emily dragging Luke around to look at potential expansion locations. Yikes.

Summer signifies a lot of life changes. Having declared at the end of Spring that she was moving back home, Rory whilst in denial that she is back in Stars Hollow (speaking of which, the town is preoccupied with their latest production – Stars Hollow: The Musical), soon finds herself taking over the Stars Hollow Gazette to stop it from closing.  Jess pops back into town and as Rory laments that she could have been a contender, he assures her that she’s just in a rut and that she just needs to find something she’s passionate about. Before you know it, he has inspired her to write a book based on her and Lorelai’s lives. Too bad the idea doesn’t sit well with Lorelai and causes a rift between the mother and daughter. Between the tension with her mother and daughter and the fight she has with Luke, Lorelai realizes at the end of Summer that something has got to give and announces to Luke that she’s going out of town for a while and going on her own WILD adventure.

Fall by far is my favorite installment of the Gilmore Girls revival – there was a great musical number courtesy of the Life and Death Brigade (no disrespect to the town musical in Summer but like Lorelai, I didn’t love it), great cameos (there are cameos throughout all of A Year in the Life but these ones are particularly great easter eggs), speeches that made me tear up (holy crap Lauren Graham nailed that scene where Lorelai breaks down over the phone to Emily) and give me the feels (anyone else have a fangirl meltdown over Luke’s speech to Lorelai when she returned from her WILD adventure?), the parallels and throwbacks to the original series… Fall was what I wanted this revival to be. I’m not saying I didn’t love the other three parts but there was something missing in them to make me love them entirely. Plus, Luke and Lorelai finally got married (the set up by Kirk was absolutely magical. I loved it!) and can we talk about how Emily Gilmore of all people declared “Bullshit” not once, not twice but three times (and also said the word “vaginahouse”)?! Amazing. And then of course we discovered what Amy Sherman Palladino’s famous final four words were going to be.

“Mom”
“Yeah?”
“I’m pregnant.”

I can’t say I’m surprised that these are the final four words. Many fans around the world have easily predicted it. It’s a cute full circle. When Gilmore Girls debuted back in 2000, Lorelai Gilmore was 32 years old raising her almost 16-year-old daughter on her own. At the start of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Lorelai ‘Rory’ Gilmore is now 32 and at the end of the mini-series she is single and pregnant. The father is most likely (because it’s not confirmed) her wealthy ex-lover, someone who has many similarities to her own father. Then throw in the fact that we know her other ex – the more down-to-earth guy who happens to be the nephew of her mother’s long-time love – is still not over her. Could Rory/Logan/Jess be the new Lorelai/Christopher/Luke? Who knows? Maybe we’ll get more revival installments that will reveal what happens next, the way this one ended make it possible. I sure hope so!

There you have it, my initial reactions after binge-watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Keep your eyes peeled on this site as I’ll be back with a more in-depth take on where our favorite characters ended up. Until then, if you haven’t finished watching the revival and want to know who makes a comeback, here’s a list for you mostly in order of appearances:

Familiar faces – Lorelai, Rory, Miss Patty, Lane, Kirk, Town Troubador, Paul Anka (the dog), Luke, Taylor, Caesar, Michel, Gypsy, Emily, Jason Stiles, Paris, Logan, Zach, Brian, Gil, Steve, Kwan, Mrs Kim, Babette, Morty, Mitchum Huntzberger, Lulu, Headmaster Charleston, Tristan Du Grey (not played by Chad Michael Murray though), Francie, Doyle, Andrew, April, Bootsy, Sophie (Carole King!), Jess, Colin, Finn, Robert, Christopher, Dean, Sookie

Cameos – Louise Goffin, Jack Carpenter, Ray Wise, Roy Choi, Alex Kingston, Kerry Butler, Julia Goldani Telles, Mr Kim!, Paul Anka (the real human), Rachael Rae, Mae Whitman, Michael Ausiello, Bailey De Young, Sutton Foster, Christian Borle, Brad Ellis, Carolyn Hennesey, Stacey Oristano, Jason Ritter, Peter Krause, Bonita Fredericy.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is now available on Netflix worldwide.