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Gilmore Girls Season 7 Thread (1 Viewer)

Joseph DeMartino

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Hey! How about a spoiler box? :) Yeah, I figured Rory would get whacked in the end. I just thought she was going to take Lorelei down with her. ;)

Joe
 

Joseph DeMartino

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Then it was a good ending. :)

(Considering what a movie junkie Lorelei is, that would have made for a pretty good fantasy sequence. Taylor could have been shot down Don Corleone style near the fresh produce.)

:D

Joe

P.S.

Where else but the HTF could you find the tiny fraction of the audience that watches both Gilmore Girls and The Sopranos? ;)
 

Inspector Hammer!

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Oh man, you guy's are just wrong lol! Of course i've envisioned many Saw-style elaborate death traps for Chris to find himself in so i'm not one to talk. ;)
 

Citizen87645

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Having watched the finale again I just love everything starting from when Lorelai watches Rory sleeping. That moment, the beginning of the party with Sam Phillips' song "How to Dream," the way Lorelai says "Luke" when he tries to dismiss his actions, Rory's telling her mom she's given her everything she needs...just perfect. I watched this show from the beginning, introduced it to a couple friends along the way and finally found a place where guys love the show too :). I will miss this show, but it was a great way to say goodbye.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I've been watching "Gilmore Girls" in fits and starts for a few years now. With the premiere of "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" at the end of this month, I'm making my way through the remaining episodes so I'll be all caught up when the time comes.

I just watched the season seven premiere, so I thought I'd resurrect this thread and share my thoughts. It's really interesting to read the posts from a decade ago discussing these episodes when they aired.

The first episode of the post-ASP era felt like a piece of fan fiction by a talented writer who knew the source material well and almost but not quite nailed the authentic voice. All of the hallmark elements were present, but the staging felt just a little bit more like a TV show, and the ideas were just that little bit more conventional.

They did nail the most important storytelling decision they had to make in the aftermath of that Season 6 finale, though: instead of trying to walk back that cliffhanger reveal of Lorelai in bed with Christopher, they owned it. And rather than have Lorelei keep it from Luke and pretend like everything's alright, she leveled with him and faced the consequences. Obviously devastating in the short-term, but the only plausible path out of the mess that ASP left the new writers with that would feel honest to the characters as we know them and leave open the prospect of a Luke and Lorelai relationship down the road where Luke could put any trust in Lorelai.

Loved the bit with Kirk turning Taylor's '64 T-Bird into Luke's diner.
This was the highlight of the episode, and made me laugh out loud, but it also felt big and broadly sitcom-y, when the absurdisms of the earlier seasons felt small and specific and truly eccentric.

Some of the verbal exchanges felt on par with previous seasons of GG, but others were not as tight, and did run on too long.
This is exactly how I felt. The new showrunner mostly got the supporting characters right, but he didn't get Lorelai right. She was a reactive character the entire premiere, when she has always been forcefully and irrepressibly proactive by nature. She didn't dominate conversations like she normally would, and when she did get monologuing her jabber didn't have the same sharpness and her cultural references weren't quite as diverse and on point.

Rory fared better in her scenes alone, but the mother-daughters had just the ebb-and-flow you describe; one minute it felt like I could be watching any mother-daughter repartee from the earlier seasons, and then a minute or two later it'd feel off and not as tight.

The situation with a self-sabotaging Lorelai is tough to watch, but the choices made are the choice that will impact and strain relationship all around.

From the beginning Lorelai has been in many ways the child in her and Rory's relationship, complete with the associated egocentric behavior. She's intelligent, charming, and has good breeding, which the show relies on heavily, and basically a decent person, but the world is very often her very large and complex dollhouse.
While there are numerous episodes where Lorelai has to be the firm parent putting her foot down -- and does -- this is the best description of Lorelai Gilmore I've ever read. She has assembled her perfect little storybook universe around her, and she expects it to operate according to her whims. A character who I love to watch, but would hate to have to live with.

In regards to Luke and April, I'm surprised Lorelai held up as long as she did. She tried being what she considered supportive, though it's hard for her to get outside herself and see what supportive really is. HINT: It isn't just shutting up and accepting whatever, giving the impression you feel other than you do. It's understanding what the other person is going through and talking through (working through) things over a period of time.
I think retconning in April as this artificial obstacle between Luke and Lorelai was perhaps the crucial mistake of Season 6, but the execution was what made it frustrating. I don't believe that Lorelai would have just kept her mouth shut as her resentment and frustration built and built. The pre-April Lorelai would have found a polite way to explain what her needs were for each new development. That whole long stretch of Lorelai biting her tongue felt completely out of character.

The scene with Sookie in the kitchen screamed, 'let's try and do that GG thing where people prattle on and on while Lorelai stands there looking pensive, and fail utterly.'
I will admit that I had that exact thought watching that scene. The biggest problem was that Lorelai's breed of crazy didn't assert itself, so Sookie's breed of crazy filled the space and overstayed its welcome.

Mostly the male characters fared better than the female characters in the new writing. Babette, too; they captured her very specific rhythms.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I liked the second episode of this season a lot more than the first. It still wasn't quite right, but there were much longer stretches where it felt like the show I know and love. Lorelei's dialog, in particular, felt much more on point.

And as worthless as TJ is, I love that he's as forgiving of others as he is of himself. When Liz's dinner turned out to be a disaster but she found Jello cups in the fridge, his unbridled enthusiasm was wonderful.

I can see how Luke trying to convince himself that he and Lorelai weren't right for each other must have infuriated a segment of the fandom, but that too felt right to me. He's trying to make himself alright with something horrible. The only scene that didn't quite ring true was his attempt at nonchalance in the crosswalk.

Lorelei's slapdash recreation of Asia in her living room to cheer Rory up about missing out on her trip was one of those self-conscious beats where the show tried to artificially conjure the sort of quirkiness that came naturally to the Palladinos. At first I was aghast at the blatant cultural appropriation, but I softened a bit as Lorelai and Rory mocked said cultural appropriation at length over the course of the scene.

And when Rory came home after storming off earlier, saw her mother had been crying, and curled up next to each other, I was surprisingly moved.

I loved seeing Luke punch Christopher... even if it was a sucker punch and completely unfair.
Me too. It was a scene that I don't think ASP or her husband would have written, but it felt completely right to me. Given everything Luke's been through since April showed up in his diner, I think he was entitled to one inappropriate outburst. My favorite part was the satisfied way he marched back to the elevator after landing the blow, mission accomplished.

Kirk became a truly blathering idiot in this episode. It was just awful. There's only so much you can stomach when a character acts so dumb and clueless of the impact of their actions before you just write them off as being absolute time-filler of the worst degree. This new writing regime is not off to a good start.
I enjoyed the scene, but I was definitely startled by the sheer cruelty of it. Kirk is pretty oblivious but even he wouldn't be that oblivious. It was one of those scenes that had the rhythms of the first six seasons down but not the integrity of the first six seasons.

After last week this episode felt more like the show I've known and loved, at least in terms of pace and rhythm.
Agreed! It's worth knowing that the writer of the second episode, Rebecca Rand Kirshner, was one of the few other writers under ASP. She wrote or co-wrote two episodes in season five and two episodes in season six. It was smart of Rosenthal et al to preserve as much continuity as possible.

My favorite part was Lane's "I hate sex" rant. Rory's rebuke came in second.
Seconded on both points. This was a really good Lane episode, and she's a character that the show has sometimes shortchanged in the past. I don't know that I loved the show playing into the trope of a young woman getting pregnant the very first time she had sex, but I loved her take on sex and that, awful circumstances aside, maybe it's not something that she's going to love.

I also really appreciated how attuned the episode was to Rory's perspective. She's had a front row seat her entire life to what a trainwreck her parents are together. And she knows that Luke has been way more of a father to her than Christopher ever has, so she's 100 percent Team Luke. At the same time, her father is taking a serious interest in her life for the first time, but that new relationship is fragile and she doesn't need the Lorelai wrecking ball tearing through it.

I think the 'no cell phones' poster tacked up in his 'diner' put the scene over the top.
I loved that detail too. It almost felt like a meta commentary on the show's own situation, with "Kirk's" as a poor knockoff of Luke's as an acknowledgment that some people would consider the show under the new regime a poor knockoff of what had come before.

I particularly enjoyed Lane and Rory making fun of celebrities kids names.
A wonderful moment that called back to more innocent times in their friendship. And a barrage of pop culture references that were 100 percent on point and mostly held up now a decade later.
 

Mike Frezon

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Adam:

Normally, I'd be right here with ya as you make your way through season 7. But Peg and I are just finishing up season 5 and I don't want to spoil what lies in our immediate future (even though this is our third time through the set).

But once I'm caught up (which will likely be after you're done)...I'll be back!
 

Adam Lenhardt

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7x03 - "Lorelai's First Cotillion"

This one was neither great nor terrible. I again feel that the titular Gilmore Girls were better written than in the season premiere. There were still moments of "offness", though, beats that sort of just hung out there indeterminately that would have been tight as a drum during the ASP era. I did think Lorelai's obsession with the idea that all of her likes and dislikes were actually just contrarian reactions to Emily's likes and dislikes was spot on.

I do continue to enjoy the novelty of just how much things have changed since the show originally aired; in the early seasons, cellphones were barely a thing. At this point in the show's run, texting is a big new novelty.

The show continues to understand that Christopher is Lorelai's kryptonite. The show came perilously close to exploring a series Lorelai/Christopher relationship only for things to be suddenly dropped when Sherry got pregnant with Gigi. Even though I'm not rooting for that endgame, I am kind of glad that the show seems to be finally scratching that itch. Lorelai's always had the "what if" with Christopher in the back of her mind, and I think she needs to actually give it a legitimate shot and see it not work before she can move forward.

I liked this week's episode quite a bit. And the cotillion stuff was at least worth it to see the little "rebel" girl who could be a future Lorelai.
I thought Charlotte, the little girl who was being personally tutored by Emily, was a bit too precious for the show in a way that took me out of it. But I completely agree that the little girl who could be a future Lorelai made the subplot worthwhile, especially because they kept her firmly in the foreground and spent just enough time and provided just enough details, like the hot pink tennis shoes, to get the point across. I also adored how much Michel adored the cotillion.

The biggest problem with the dialogue is that it just isn't as intelligent or interestingly obscure as it should be. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that kind of banter should be mostly between Loralai and Rory - not every character on the show.
Well said. Three episodes in and, while it was most problematic in the season premiere, it's still not quite up to the standard set by the first six seasons.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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7x04 - "'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous"

My favorite episode of the season so far, and the first one I enjoyed on its own merits and not as a percentage evaluation in comparison to the earlier seasons.

Couldn't Christopher at least put a white sheet up on the barn? You could see the planks lol.
I had the same thought. As cool as that date was, a drive-in movie in a classic car, the gaps between the boards on the side of the barn would have driven me nuts the entire time.

Emily getting picked up for yakking on a cell phone and driving almost salvaged the episode.
Everything about that subplot was wonderful. Every moment rang exactly true, and Lorelai's reaction was true to form in the best way. And I appreciated that Emily used Lorelai for her phone call instead of Richard even though she knew it would result in ridicule, because she didn't want to ruin his afterglow after his first day teaching.

VM's Gia on GG? That was a surprise. It was weird to see Rory blow off Logan so casually for a pair of female artist acquaintances.
This was probably the part of the episode that was the least successful for me. It seemed pretty clear that they were going for a new Madeline & Louise, to expand Rory's social circle beyond Paris at Yale now that Logan (along with his circle of friends) has graduated. But while they're artsy instead of flirty, they feel like calculatedly colorful TV characters instead of people.

Loved April moving in with Luke, I like their repoire.
Me too. Now that April is freed from being a plot device to wedge Luke and Lorelai apart, I could invest in the bonding going on between father and daughter. I've read the criticism that she's just a shoddy knockoff of Rory, but I don't see it. They're both smart, intellectually curious, driven young women, but that's where the comparison ends. When Rory was April's age, she was into literature more than science, and her tastes in pop culture aligned closely with her mother's. April is much nerdier, and much less socially-adjusted. The dynamic between Luke and April is tentative and sweet. Here is a girl who never needed a father, never really wanted a father, but is growing to love the one she's found herself with. They're redeeming some of the problematic choices made last season. And I was glad Luke shot down April's attempt to set him up with her science teacher. That would have been a sitcom plot, and was wisely avoided.

And who started the film projector?
I also wondered that. But then I figured, since Christopher's rich now, he paid someone enough that they were willing to sit in the dark on the damp grass for hours with the sole task of firing up the projector once the car pulled up and parked.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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7x05 - "The Great Stink"

It's interesting that the consensus here seemed to be that this was a sub par episode, because in my book it was another winner.

Even though it was a little contrived for Rory to use a car service to get from Manhattan to Hartford before the end of Friday Night Dinner, there was a definite weight to Christopher driving home with Lorelai in the passenger seat and Rory in the backseat, like a traditional little nuclear family. Even though this isn't the endgame I want, the show was wise to take notice of what Lorelai and Christopher and Rory as one family looks like, even if it doesn't last. "Come A Little Bit Closer" by Jay and the Americans is on the radio and the entire family unit is together and at contented peace. And then they close in on Stars Hollow and the pickle smell hits them.

Well, it's not just about "dropping off" Gigi, but making sure it really is a good situation. I really didn't understand Lorelei's explanation at all, especially when there was a much simpler one: Lorelei just cannot understand the idea that Christopher would be willing to send his kid away for months based on a heartfelt letter, and has a hard time respecting anyone who would even consider it.
I interpreted this plot development as repairing some of the damage from Season 6: The reason everything went bad between Luke and Lorelai is that Luke kept the existence of April a secret for two months, and then Lorelai bit her tongue with each new increasingly uncomfortable development vis-à-vis April.

In particular, I really liked the scene fairly early on in the Dragonfly Inn kitchen between Lorelai and Sookie where Lorelai notes that she's usually a pretty frank person and how toxic keeping her mouth shut with Luke ended up being.

So when Christopher was planning to make a huge decision about Gigi that Lorelai disapproved of, she had to speak up or she'd be repeating the same mistakes she made with Luke. Yes, it would have been a very bad idea for Christopher as the custodial parent to send Gigi away for months just because he didn't want to have to meet face-to-face with his horrible ex. But it was really about moving Lorelai forward, and getting her back to the confident woman we know and love and out of that insecure funk she was in for most of Season 6.

I am hoping that Rory doesn't go down the same path as her idiot mother. I'm hoping she realizes that she can be her own person and isn't destined to be Lorelei. I think Logan is good for her. I hope they pull together even stronger and that Rory can move passed her insecurities.
Even though I really like watching Rory and Logan together, and even though I think Logan really does love Rory, I kind of hope she doesn't end up with him. If this episode showed anything, it's that he's quickly taking on the mantle of the Huntzberger name and becoming the man his father wanted him to be. If Rory settles down with Logan, she'll have to be okay with assuming some version of the role that Emily fulfills for Richard. He's going to be conquering whole industries and buying and selling the world, and she'd be pleasant and well-educated company along for the ride. I want to see the able young woman who was going to conquer the world herself, dream her own dreams, and succeed on her own terms.
 

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7x06 - "Go, Bulldogs!"

This wasn't my favorite episode, but it still felt thoroughly like a "Gilmore Girls" in a way that some of early episodes of this season didn't.

Christopher is a lunkhead, especially at the the parents day function when he finally figures out that he's been an absentee father. Duh.
I really enjoyed that scene, because I've always felt like everybody's let Christopher off easy for not being a hands on father while Rory was growing up. It was nice to see him confronted with real fathers.

Luke and April are funny together, but that date with the swim coach screamed "crazy eyes" to me.
This subplot was the weakest of the episode for me. On one hand, I'm glad that the show isn't embarking on an ill-fated romance between Luke and April's swim coach. On the other hand, I feel like I've seen a lot of shows where single dad goes on date with crazy woman who rubs him the wrong way. It felt disappointingly obvious the way this season often has, and in a way that earlier seasons hadn't.

Sookie and Jackson's impending vegetable spat isn't that interesting.
Yeah, but Melissa McCarthy acted the crap out of Sookie's guilt at utilizing another man's vegetables. though. I seem to half-remember an episode from one of the early scenes, before Sookie and Jackson were married, where they had a fight about her sourcing vegetables from another supplier. Felt like the show might be repeating itself a bit.

This ep did flow like earlier eps it's true, and I loved the opening with Lorelai pretending that she got Emily's answering machine which both baffled and frustrated Emily lol.
That cold open definitely was the biggest laugh of the season so far for me.
 

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7x07 - "French Twist"

This one was just above the off-and-trying-too-hard season premiere among the worst episodes of the season so far. On one hand, I was really impressed that David Babcock came in as a new writer and finally achieved the density of dialog that the Palladinos set as the bar. Lorelai and Rory finally spoke as fast as they used to speak, and the pop culture references were pretty on point.

On the other hand, so much of this episode had the plot driving the characters instead of the characters driving the plot.

How can you send Lorelai Gilmore to Paris and not have anything fun happen?
Part of the problem is that it was so obviously shot on the Warner Bros. backlot with computer-composited background plates of Paris location photography. And I'm pretty sure their 4 AM stroll through Paris was the European Street on the Universal Studios backlot.

I thought that "Don't worry about Brian" and the cutaway to Brian eating dinner with all of the Koreans was a riot.
That cut away was my favorite thing in the entire episode.

Not only did this ep drag but it was also unbelievable from a character standpoint, I can't believe that Lorelai would get married without Rory there. If I were Rory, I would be pissed off beyond imagination at her for getting married without me there, something that Lorelai is obviously worried about, as well she should be.
This was my number one problem with the ending of this episode. There's just no way in hell that Lorelai would get married to anybody without Rory in attendance. And when I don't believe a character would do something, the whole plot crumbles.

Obviously, and that's why this thing is even more obnoxious - it's an obvious roadbump that's going to have to be undone, and that just strikes me as sloppy writing. I can almost guarantee that the Palladinos wouldn't have gone this route had they been in charge; they may have their faults, but I can't recall many developments under their watch where the characters would have had to move back before moving forward.
I would have agreed before the whole "Lorelai waking up in bed with Christopher mere hours after breaking up with Luke" stunt they pulled in the sixth season finale.

But I am frustrated that after a season of mostly smart plotting moves, that they'd double down on that mistake, and not in a way that felt particularly organic or believable.

The parts that bugged me the most about this episode were the scenes with Rory's new friends. Who are they and what is the point of including them? They're not interesting or essential to anything (unless Rory is meant to steal Marty away). I'd much rather see Rory hanging out with Paris or Lane. Their interactions are far more interesting.
I think they're supposed to fill the hole left by Logan's remoteness. But they still feel like stock TV characters instead of anything approaching real people.

Lorelai and Christopher in Paris was just damned excruciating to watch. It certainly proved that NYT article true: I love you! No, I love you! No I love you...
There were far too many scenes in this episode where the characters were too direct in expressing their feelings. This is always a show that has approached sentiment indirectly, and it feels artificial and fake when the characters wear their hearts on their sleeves.
 

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7x08 - "Introducing Lorelai Planetarium"

This episode spent a lot of time undoing the damage from the previous episode's missteps. Most importantly, I found myself invested in the characters again, without spending so much time thinking about the craft of making the show.

I actually liked most of the dialogue in this episode, but could go without ever having to deal with Logan's stuffy parties.
Yeah, me too. I did appreciate that, while the people present were so rich that they didn't realize how extravagantly rich they were, they weren't dicks about it. Even with the obscenely wealthy guy building his island paradise on that sand bar, when he came back from talking with the other woman building nearby, he was as excited to share her story as he was his own.

Luke and April's scene about the kissing was raw but funny in terms of emotions at odds with one another.
I really liked that this episode's peek into Luke and April's life together was about real parenting, where he had to make decisions she didn't like and then endure a situation of true helplessness where he'd done all he could do and just had to wait. That, along with the fact that April's calling him dad now instead of Luke, shows that he's becoming a real parent instead of just her pal.

Rory's reaction to the marriage was odd, almost childish, but I guess Rory's still baking on the inside.
I would have thought something was off if Rory had had any other reaction. For most of her life, it was just her and her mom. The idea that Lorelai would get married without her present is pretty much unthinkable, as many mentioned in reaction to the previous episode.

I always find Luke's parenting funny. I liked that Lorelai was concerned enough about April and Luke (even as a friend) to see him at the hospital.
I love that in that moment of crisis, Luke called Lorelai without even thinking about everything that had gone down between them, and I love that Lorelai rushed to the hospital to support him. And everything was as it should be until the doctor's confusion over the ring.

So what did people think of the ending scene? A bit more subtle than the show has been this season.
I absolutely loved it. Not only does it keep a little hope alive for the Luke/Lorelai endgame (since Luke is clearly not over Lorelai), but it honors the show's fondness for classic pop culture of all stripes. It was just perfect.

Lor knows deep down that this marriage is not going to last, but she's going through the motions for now.
While I'm still not sure that I believe Lorelai would get married without Rory present, this episode at least provided a rationale I can swallow. And it was very interesting that during her telling Rory that she didn't want to be talked out of it, it sure sounded like she was talking about her and Luke until the very end. Clearly this elopement was a tactic to ward off having what happened with Luke happen with Christopher.

I was actually laughing when Logan was ripping Rory a new one about her own access to wealth, even though her mom took great pains to shield her from it until her sophomore year in high school. So, on one hand, Rory never had the spoiled life of being a blueblood, her family ties have allowed her to some prime educational opportunities, and without them, she never meets Logan and doesn't have a nice swanky LoganLair to hang out in. Logan was right to throw her article back in her face.
Absolutely. Even thought the roots of her family tree got a little bit twisted on the way down to her, she is the progeny of two fairly prominent blue blood old money families. And over the course of the series, she has become fully immersed in that world. You don't get to pick and choose your privilege, or put it aside when it's inconvenient. If Rory wasn't a Gilmore, her relationship to Logan probably wouldn't have gotten started in the first place. I'm definitely on Logan's side of the argument here.

However, Christopher is such an idiot. He can't seem to see right through Lorelei like everyone else can ( even Suki senses when she is ready to throw in the towel when it comes to relationships).
One thing that's very telling is how both Lorelai and Rory put on a front to tell Christopher what he wants to hear. That's a legacy of his very occasional status in their lives for the past two decades -- you're always a gracious host for visiting relatives -- but it doesn't work at all if they're going to be a full time family. The fact that Rory waited until Christopher stepped out to the garage to be honest speaks volumes about her relationship with her father.

Chris wanting to change Rory's room was just the starting point to the count down of the relationship ending.
I think Lorelai actually made the right call there. She knew Rory was upset, knew Rory had a right to be upset, and knew better than to upend Rory's stake in their family further until they knew that she was on board.

I do wish the show was more interested in exploring the dynamic between Rory and Gigi, though. Rory has a sister, and that's a pretty huge deal, but the show always keeps them siloed in separate storylines. I kind of hope that in the revival we see what 13-year-old Gigi is like, and that her and Rory have some kind of relationship even if it's more aunt/niece than sisters.
 

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7x09 - "Knit, People, Knit!"

This was one of those episodes that felt off. Nailing the quirkiness of Stars' Hollow is a precarious business, and I don't think this episode got it quite right. The literal welcome wagon and the knit-a-thon felt like things outsiders would imagine the people of Stars Hollow doing rather than things that feel like real happenings. I'm not sure the interplay between Jackson and Christopher quite worked either.

But if nothing else, the episode was worth it for the answering machine message wherein Lorelai informed her parents that she had gotten married. Everything about that cold open was pitch perfect.

Christopher is the guy who lets the air out of the balloons.
Succinctly (and accurately) stated. He completely missed that the journey at least as much the point of these town fundraisers as the destination. Throwing his money around completely killed the fun.

Rory wants Marty, but Marty got too drunk and put his foot in his mouth.
I really don't think Rory does want Marty. She just wanted things to be less awkward since they're in a situation where they're going to be spending some time together.

The whole subplot with Rory's two new artsy friends continues to feel like a misfire. And I'm not sure what their goal is with the Marty reprise; this episode essentially replayed the beats from his original storyline, only this time with Lucy as collateral damage in his unrequited crush.

I felt bad for Luke for almost every scene he was in and was happy to see him come back and kick some butt (figuratively) at the end.
The Luke/April relationship has been the beating heart of Season 7 for me. They took a storyline that didn't quite work in Season 6, and turned it into something I'm really emotionally invested in.

And it also plays into the fact that, for most of the series, Luke has begrudgingly gone along with others' plans and schemes. So much of what went down with him and Lorelai is because he didn't feel like he could assert himself with Anna. And he's come out on the losing end of a lot of Anna's unilateral decisions when it comes to April.

That scene at the end on Anna's porch was wonderfully written, and Scott Patterson fierce as hell as Luke. He opened by demonstrating that he's a real, active, engaged parent now. He knows about his daughter, knows about her friends, knows what's going on in her life. And then he says that he would prefer to make decisions with Anna as a parenting team. But if she's going to try and cut him out of the equation, he's going to take a stand. Damn right, Luke.
 

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7x10 - "Merry Fisticuffs"

It's strange, since he's the showrunner and was the only writer besides the Palladinos to have an executive producer credit the prior seasons, but so far the two episodes David S. Rosenthal has had solo writing credit on have felt the most off. In the season premiere, it felt like was overcompensating trying to recreate the magic formula that makes "Gilmore Girls" feel like "Gilmore Girls". This episode had the opposite problem, feeling too much like a conventional drama at the expense of the qualities that make the show feel distinctive. And the pacing flagged. It wasn't nearly mile-a-minute enough.

One pleasant surprise tonight was Emily there at the end, i've never heard her utter wiser words than she did there, Lorelai would be good to listen to her mother for once.
I really liked that scene too. Emily and Lorelai are at odds for so much of the show that the moments where Emily reveals herself to be a caring mother really stand out and have greater impact. And her advice to Lorelai spoke volumes about how she views her own marriage to Richard, even though Richard is in many ways a much better man than Christopher.

I liked the Rory/Logan story in this episode. I've finally warmed up to Logan but he was a jerk to spill the beans... at least at that moment.
I still don't know what the point of this subplot with Marty is or where they're going with it. Yes, it definitely was a dick move for Logan to pull the stunt he pulled. But he was right to be weirded out a bit by the situation. I'm a bit weirded out by the situation. But nothing about this storyline has felt organic or essential. Things happen because the writers need them to happen. And poor Marty has lost all of the qualities that balanced out his loser in love nature.

That fight was some funny shit. I rewound it and watched it 3 times.
As funny as that fight was, I was completely turned off from a story standpoint. Here Luke's just been told that any custody fight is likely to get dirty with each side digging into the other's past for any dirt that can be found. Given that, there's no way I believe that Luke would get into a public brawl that could be used as evidence in court that he's unfit to be a parent.

I was talking about this ep with my best friend Wendy and she came up with the thoery that Christopher will be the one who decides to leave Lorelai, that's a sound theory IMO because he does have a history of abandonment.
That definitely seems to be the way they're heading. But I don't think it's a case of Christopher getting cold feet and yet again running out on his commitments. I think he's all in when it comes to Lorelai. But after seeing the way she was with Luke's baby niece, and what an idyllic family scene they presented outside Doose's, it left him really questioning Lorelai's commitment. And I think he's right to question it.

It seemed like they pulled a case of not remembering from scene to scene what everyone has for relatives - in an early scene, someone asked how April liked having a cousin, and then they actually mentioned Jess (if not by name) later. Kind of like a couple years ago when Rory acted like she didn't have a sibling.
I know there's little point in addressing a point of confusion nearly 10 years later, but the person in question was actually asking Luke how April liked having another cousin.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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7x11 - "Santa's Secret Stuff"

I really like it when I see Rebecca Rand Kirshner get the writing credit this season, since she seems to come the closest to writing the characters like ASP did, particularly Lorelai. This episode was a standout across the board for me, because even the uncomfortable moments felt necessary.

Lane's pregnancy crabbiness was grating on my last nerve, props to Zack for keeping it together and seeing the positives out of the situation. Having Sebastian Bach do a cameo and keeping it real with pregnancies and nursing was a good decompressor of that subplot.
I actually liked this storyline a lot. Television, and television comedy in particular, doesn't tend to do pregnancy well. Lane's reaction to being THAT pregnant rang true to her situation, even if her shortness with the customers at Luke's felt a little over the top. The conversation in the center of town with Zach really put things into perspective: She spent so many years trying to be a dutiful daughter, finally liberated herself from her mother's rules, and barely got to enjoy her freedom before she got pregnant.

I did love how invested Zach is in doing parenthood right, and I love it when the show uses the age gap with Gil not as joke but as a mechanism for imparting life wisdom. Because of the Skid Row baggage Sebastian Bach brings to the role, it's always fun when the show reminds us that he's actually a pretty well-adjusted adult with a stable and fulfilling family life.

I did like most of the Luke and April subplot, and then the bit at the science store with them and Lorelai and Rory.
The storyline with April sort of left me uneasy the whole episode, because I kept waiting for Anna to burst in and think Luke was conspiring to kidnap her daughter or something. I'm glad it didn't play out that way, and it was nice to see that April is on Team Luke (and knows more about the pending court case than Luke thought). I also really appreciated that he consistently put April's needs first and tried to do what he could to make her more okay with New Mexico even though he wasn't happy about the move himself. He was also careful not to badmouth Anna, and when April suggested more clandestine meetings, he refused to go behind Anna's back any further -- not least of which because it would affect his chances in court. This is the Luke I've known for the past six and a half seasons, not the guy who brawled with Christopher in the center of town.

I did love that scene in the science store, which was awkward and powerful and understated all at the same time. Though both were kind about it and not resentful about it, April and Rory both had reasons to feel uncomfortable: April, hearing all of these anecdotes about the gifts Luke had given Rory over the years, probably couldn't help but think of the years she missed out on with her dad that this other young woman got instead. And Rory, in turn, couldn't help but feel a bit like she'd been replaced in Luke's affection a bit by his real daughter. But Lorelai, seeing the scene play out, is reminded that for most of Rory's life, Luke was the closest thing to a father that she had -- far more of a dad than Christopher ever was until fairly recent. And seeing that, she suddenly knows what to write for her character reference.

I bought Lorelai and Rory's banter. They're trying to get into the Christmas spirit after the season and are going crazy trying to do so. I noticed that as the episode progressed, their conversations got less wacky.
I had the same reaction. They'd missed Christmas, and they were overcompensating trying to make up for it. It was also a reminder to Christopher that Lorelai and Rory had this whole life together that didn't include him in it.

At the same time Lorelai is being reminded why she fell in love with Luke, there is a definite pull of the family scenes with Christopher and Gigi included. It really hit me when both Rory and Gigi were calling Christopher "Dad" that something valuable was transpiring there. And I loved how much Gigi looked up to Rory.

After Lorelai finishes her letter and walks downstairs to mail it, she peeks into the kitchen where Christopher, Rory and Gigi are immersed in the festive spirit, and you can see how much Lorelai cares about that and wants to protect that, even as she's holding a bomb in her hands that could blow all of that up. And yet, how could she NOT support Luke in his hour of need?

Was there any mention of why Gigi wasn't in Paris? They spent so much time getting her there, it seemed odd she just showed up in Star's Hollow with nary a mention of what the arrangement is at all.
I believe before the Paris episode that it was mentioned that Gigi would be staying with Sherry for two months. So I assumed the two months were just up and she was back living with Christopher (and, by extension, Lorelai).
 

Adam Lenhardt

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7x12 - "To Whom It May Concern"

This episode definitely felt like the pivot point of the season, with all of the storylines having a "before" and "after" that was demarcated by this episode.

Lorelai's character reference letter on Luke's behalf instantly cemented its place among the classic moments of the entire series. It was the payoff for six and a half seasons' worth of investment in these characters and that relationship, and after all that they've been through it was wonderful for Lorelai to have this opportunity to acknowledge how much Luke has done for her and Rory and how much he means to them and how valued he is. And now that Luke has legal rights to see April, Anna won't be an obstacle if Luke and Lorelai rekindle things down the road.

I don't know that Sookie needed to be pregnant yet again, but their hands were probably tied since Melissa McCarthy was so obviously pregnant in real life.

I don't think David Babcock writes Gilmore-style as well as some of the other writers this season, but the cold open -- with the aggressive subterfuge to hide the hatred for a distasteful meal -- was perfectly executed.

Going sledding on a cafeteria tray is one of those college experiences I always wanted but never had. My first college was plenty snowy but flat. And my second college was right in the middle of downtown Boston.

Yay! I'm so happy for Luke!
Me too! I actually wish the custody case had gotten more screentime this episode, since it's the storyline I'm most invested in this season. Given the way Anna's lawyer was trying to make him look like an uninvolved parent, I really would have liked to see him testify and show just how well he's gotten to know April since she came into his life.:)

I don't think Christopher is mad about the letter as much as he is mad about what the letter reveals about Lorelai and her feelings for Luke. Personally, I can't blame him for being angry over being Loreali's second choice. Presumably, he loves her and wants to be married to her and she's in love with another guy but married him anyway.
I agree with you completely. And the fact that Loralei hid the letter from him is an indication that she knew he'd have reason not to be okay with it.

It's also an implicit repudiation of Christopher as a father, since she as much as says that Luke was the closest thing Rory had to a father the last ten years. And the fact that she is accurate in that assessment probably only makes it sting more.

The writing's been on the wall for Lorelai and Christopher for a few episodes now, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Lorelai was so eager to put Luke in the rear view mirror after the way things went down, and Christopher was so eager to be with Lorelai, that she jumped in with both feet. She shouldn't have. Christopher was completely right when he said she's not over Luke yet, and I don't blame him for not wanting to be in the relationship on those terms. In fact, if they tried to make it work, I would better that things would get very bitter very quickly.

It was a little bit heartbreaking though when Lorelai got the call from Luke with the happy news and she's sitting there weighted down by what it has cost her.

I really enjoyed this episode. Mostly because something positive happened for Luke. There were a number of good Paris moments and I dig the Lucy character too.
This was the first episode where Lucy felt like a real human being instead of just a stock character.

Richard better be OK. I'm good with characters dying on some shows but I hope that they realize that Gilmore Girls is too light hearted of a show to have a major character die.
Obviously watching the show from 2016, I know Richard will be alive through the end of the series. But seeing him collapse now, and knowing Richard will have passed when the revival picks up, made me unexpectedly emotional. One area where the show has fallen short this season is that Richard and Emily really haven't had a lot to do; they've mostly just been reacting to Lorelai and Rory's storylines. So by giving Richard a health crisis, it gives Richard and Emily their own storyline again.
 

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