Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Final Episode

Blog No. 189: A Landmark Moment


Today, Wednesday 7/8, is certainly a landmark moment. After nearly three years of DVR recordings, ABC Family commercials, PB&J Toast Fridays, and it has all come down to the end. The final episode of The Gilmore Girls.

Through and through, the day has finally come to where I can say, "Hey, I've seen the entire series of the Gilmore Girls from Rory in the Chilton years to Rory as international reporter and through each of Lorelai's witty remarks, clever hijinks, and rambling rants!"

Series Review: The Gilmore Girls

The mother and daughter duo, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, live their days in a small town of Stars Hollow, living it up and enjoying every minute they have together. This series explores the trials and obstacles that stress their friendship in a world that does not make sense on the surface.

Backstory: Lorelai, at 16, got knocked up by her high school best friend, Christopher. She had a difficult childhood in which she was being degraded by trying to be herself. Emily and Richard Gilmore, the parents, had tried and to raise Lorelai to be the suitable and priveledged member of society in which they had grew up in. When they caught wind of Lorelai's news, indirectly, they had freaked out and tried to set up a future best suiting for her, without her consideration. Lorelai, in retaliation, ran away from the Gilmore home to raise her child the way she wished she was raised. She had ended up in Stars Hollow, where the owner of the Independence Inn took her in and gave her a job to stabilize herself as she raised Rory.

Fast forward to when the series starts: Lorelai works as the manager of said Inn, while Rory works her way through high school.

Rory was basically raised to be what she wanted to be. From the get go, she found her life long ambition into going to Harvard, (which evidentally was Lorelai's dream), to be a journalist. She shows that she is highly intellectual and somewhat shy around people, yet you could tell she somehow had fitted into the crazy world. Throughout the series, she finds love in only a few relationships that teach her how to adapt and balance her goals and personal life.

Meanwhile, it is definitely clear that the main stream of Lorelai's thoughts and actions revolve around Rory. Rory's why she succumbed herself to establish a relationship between her, Rory, and her parents. Compared to Lorelai and Rory, Lorelai and Emily belonged on different planets. The series clearly shows how strong and professional she is, (having going through motherhood at 16), as well as how friendly and kind she is to the people of Stars Hollow. She, too, goes through only a few relationships that, although more mature and sophisticated, also falls into the obstacles of prioritization.

The general feel of the episodes can be considered as 'cliched with a spin on it'. You've seen it all before: parental issues, relationship troubles, and cliff hangers. However, it can also be argued that it ranges far from the same redundancy in the way how the dynamics work. Each episode is written fairly well and every moment and visual angle had a meaning. The references Lorelai and Rory make seem to be another language than our own, but as the camera pans away from them you see that they're no different then the people around them. We see their stories unfold through the eyes of the close townsfolk to the point where these two are 'foreign diplomats', (from the outside looking in, but in the sense that they still really belonged). The Gilmore Girls can also be a breath of fresh air from all the indecent shows out there, like Gossip Girl or any of the meaningless reality shows. Even the background music is both original and meaningful. Thought provoking, entertaining, and whimsical!

To the last episode where, I admit, it could've gone better. Thing is, it was a pretty awesome series finale. However, it also seemed really out of place, abrupt even. It ended things very seamlessly, everything was resolved and it really shows how much of an affect the Gilmore girls had on the town and vice versa. It was abrupt because, in the episode before, it left open a few details, like how Lorelai and Luke seemed to drift away from each other completely then out of the blue they kiss in the finale, or how Rory just broke up with Logan at her graduation then randomly got picked for a job following the Obama presidential campaign the next episode. It was an effective finale, but it could've been greater after a few more transitional episodes the series was good at, granted the series had to end period.

Overall, The Gilmore Girls puts the mother and daughter dynamic on a pedastal so that we, as avid watchers, see how close to perfection and unity we are in this irrational world. You can only see how the world works if you rise above it.

4.5 Out of 5 Thumbs Up-->Definitely see if you can catch up! XP

*Singled Out- Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore

Who saw this coming? XD

It's the true characters that make the stories worth while.

What makes her unique are her many mannerisms and ideals and actions. She's a girl at heart, with obsessions of coffee, classic movies, and snow. She shows rationality in the all but irrational world of love. She could be considered as a 'loose' interpretation of a parent. At times she might seem lenient, (like during the aftermath of a fight at a house party which lead to house destruction due to the tension of the love triangle between Dean, Jess, and Rory, all Lorelai had to respond to that was singing Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings"). At other times she might seem harsh, (like when Rory dropped out of Yale for a semester, Lorelai basically told her she cannot come back home until she goes back). But overall, she is justified and praised in the fact that she knows it will all work out in the end, (yes JT, I said it. XP)

Truly a unique and remarkable person. She has great strength and amazing dedication to what's important.

Raise you cup of coffee high and bask in your glory because you have been singled out. XD

~~~

I want coffee now... XP

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