Rory Gilmore, a 15-year-old living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut, has been accepted into a prestigious high school in Hartford. Her mother, Lorelai, tries to scrape up enough money to afford the tuition, refusing to accept the help of her own estranged parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore. Eventually, with no other way to pay for Rory’s schooling, she visits her parents’ home in Hartford and asks for a loan. Emily agrees to pay for the school, Chilton, on one condition—Lorelai and Rory must have dinner with them every Friday night.
Gilmore Girls is a 7-season drama/comedy about an independent, single mother and her intelligent, ambitious daughter living in a charming small town. The show follows the lives of both Lorelai and Rory as they navigate their relationships, careers, and complexities of their unique mother-daughter dynamic and family history.
I love Gilmore Girls; It’s a fall staple, and I rewatch it every year. One of my favorite aspects of this show would probably be the setting; Stars Hollow is an adorable small town with lots of New England charm, and it goes through many seasonal events, like fundraisers and holiday festivities, that play a large part in the Girls’ lives. Its cast of unique characters also adds a lot to the show from Miss Patty and Kirk to Sookie and Luke; every character is unique and memorable, adding to the show in a way that brings the whole town together.
Rory Gilmore is a very smart girl who loves to read and only has one close friend in the beginning of the show. We see her struggling right after transferring to Chilton, but she adjusts quickly, even becoming valedictorian at the end of her senior year. We watch as she goes through different friendships, relationships, and events in her life that shape her into who she grows up to be.
An important aspect of the Gilmore family is in Lorelai and Rory’s relationship. Lorelai ran away from her parents’ house when she got pregnant at 16 and got a job at an inn in Stars Hollow, where she raised Rory. Their relationship is closer to friends than mother-daughter, with her taking a more hands-off approach than her own overbearing mother did when she was a kid. The show also explores Lorelai’s relationship with her parents, particularly with her mother. After being absent from each other’s lives for 16 years, their lives intertwine once again in the first episode of the show. Many fans of the show say that Emily is the third “forgotten” Gilmore Girl.
One of the biggest downsides to this show is the later seasons. By the final seasons of the show, the writing quality definitely begins to decline. The plots of the episodes aren’t creative, and many of the characters, mainly Rory and Lorelai, make really bad decisions that don’t make sense for their characters and at times are just annoying.
Overall, however, Gilmore Girls is an enjoyable show and a timeless staple on your rewatch list. It’s a classic coming-of-age story, and has only grown in popularity since its first run. This series is the perfect cold-weather show; it’s comforting, has witty humor, and it’s easy to form deep connections with the majority of the characters.
