If you haven’t watched all four episodes of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, then stop reading now. Major spoilers ahead!
There are several things that are problematic about the Gilmore Girls revival, and we won’t go into all of them here. The main issue we want to discuss though is why the new Rory such a jerk.
That may seem harsh but just think about it for a moment. She treats her so-called boyfriend Paul like crap, she cheats on her boyfriend, she’s complicit in helping Logan cheat on his fiancé, she shows up to interviews unprepared, she sleeps with her interview subjects. She’s a jerk. Why such a drastic change from the old Rory? Have her weary travels hardened her?
Sure, the old Rory wasn’t perfect either. She didn’t exactly treat Dean so great when she started to fall for Jess. And she did steal that boat after all. But she didn’t do any of those things in a mean-spirited manner. She always had the best intentions at heart. She really did care about Dean and even apologized to him after they broke up (the second time). Stealing a boat and dropping out of Yale wasn’t some scheme but rather an attempt to escape her adolescent troubles.
It’s questionable whether or not the new Rory has good intentions. Yes, she eventually does break it off with Logan, but it’s not out of guilt but from what seems like a desire to simply move on with her life. She could care less that she jerks around sweet, innocent Paul and not once does she show remorse for not breaking things off earlier. And when she goes for the interview for the digital publication (who’s name eludes me at the moment), she doesn’t even bother to think up ideas or pitches for the website. How entitled could she be? She knows by now how hard it is to get a job in the industry and yet she waifs around like she doesn’t have a responsibility in the world. She’s supposed to be 32 at this point after all, not 23.
There are so many other issues with the revival but perhaps the worst mistake of them all is the lack of heart and the shift in the main characters’ charisma. You used to be able to identify with Rory, and now she’s just an empty shell of a person. Rory, where did you go?
Feature photo courtesy of Netflix
