Gilmore Girls’ Revival Left Fans with More Questions [OPINION]

It’s here. The moment we have all been waiting for since the cliff hanger we were left on in Season 7, episode 22 on May 15, 2007. A revival of Gilmore Girls was finally happening. When at its prime, Gilmore Girls was the 110th-most-popular show on the air. The revival, four feature-length episodes titled “A Year in the Life” was much anticipated by many.

I have been a Gilmore Girls fanatic since I can remember so when rumors began to swirl about a revival, I was full fangirl mode until the day it was released. This isn’t the first TV show reprisal, and it certainly won’t be the last that made me happy yet unbelievably sad when watching it. The nostalgia was there listening to the characters talk the talk but seemingly not being able to walk the walk. It was exciting fully listening and engaging in the new words spilling out of their mouths at lighting speed. Yet, I was still left wanting more and wishing I wasn’t given as much as I was.

I clung to every old, classic phrase they threw in. I laughed at every character that seemingly didn’t change in their ways and hoped that the ending would bring some closure. This revival frustrated me more than it did comfort me with my old Stars Hollow townies. There were some storylines that were too played out, the musical being one of them, which cut into time that would have allowed the storyline of my favorite characters to be expanded upon. Within this musical, neither Lorelai or Rory was involved in it and featured very few of the townies we have grown to love. If anything, it seemed to be a time filler.

We’ve waited long for this revival, and in all honesty, we deserved better. The writing was subpar and the acting was even lower. Is the nostalgia of the original episodes, acting and writing to blame? Possibly, however the revival should have embodied the originals so much better than it did. Nostalgia has a small place in this revival, which is contradicting to how much throwback phrases and characters they have.

Edward Herrmann, who portrayed Richard Gilmore the patriarchy of the Gilmore family, died in 2014. This was a clear storyline in “A Year in the Life” as the characters are moving forward with his death. The lack of his presence was clear and allowed for a new storyline to emerge for Emily Gilmore, played by Kelly Bishop. There are no words for the acting that Bishop portrayed in the revival as she was vulnerable and raw with her emotions, seemingly playing off her real life emotions of Herrmanns death. Emily’s storyline was far more entertaining, and honestly well deserved, due to the fact it allowed her to be her own person and try new activities that she truly enjoyed. We were able to see the real, unwound version of Emily we all sought for from the beginning.

With a storyline so big and a vast amount of characters’ lives to play out, it seems impossible to do so in four 90 minute episodes. In fact, it seemed clustered. With being a long running show the writing seemed to play tribute to that, and also seemed to lack the new information fans were hoping for. Overall, with being a dedicated Gilmore Girls fan I will without a doubt watch and rewatch the revival again simply to fully immerse myself in the new information we were given and dream of another revival that answers all the open ended questions we were given this time.