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382 of 407 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A less than perfect ending to one of TV's most unique series, May 15, 2007
Warning! Spoilers!
There really isn't another show quite like THE GILMORE GIRLS. No other series so thoroughly dedicated to words. There are no doubt other series with great talk: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER definitely comes to mind. But no other show that I know put language and witty talk so completely at the heart of what it was trying to do. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino said that she was inspired by great Hollywood comedies like the Thin Man series and HIS GIRL FRIDAY (one of the few films where the characters talked faster than they did on THE GILMORE GIRLS). And for five absolutely brilliant and one less than brilliant season the show was magical beyond any reasonable expectation. Then came Season Seven. I still watched with great interest. Well, until the marriage to Chris part (I asked a friend to tell me when Lorelei and Chris busted up and stayed away until they did). Season Seven was not a truly awful season. There were still many great moments during the year, including an absolutely splendid series finale, but by the end the show was having fewer and fewer of those wonderful moments that made it so special.
One major reason Season Seven struggled so much was the absence of the show's guiding genius. During contract negotiations at the end of Season Six, the WB offered Amy and her co-producer husband Daniel Palladino a one-year contract. She wanted the respect to be offered a two-year contract. The WB refused to budge and she and Daniel left the show. Since the two of them had either written or directed separately or together the bulk of the episodes on the show, the loss was irreparable. The show was built mainly around great talk, but what happens when the person most responsible for that talk leaves? Unfortunately, the brilliance of the talk went with them.
Those left behind tried gamely to carry on. But they also had the misfortune to be left with the remnants of an exceedingly bad story arc that Amy left behind. Most fans of THE GILMORE GIRLS came to dislike Lorelei at times during Season Six, including Lauren Graham. While most agreed that Luke was being too secretive about learning that he had a daughter he knew nothing about, most also felt that Lorelei's reaction was excessive. She became pushy and needy and impatient and just generally unlikable. Then incredibly stupid by giving Luke an ultimatum to either elope on the spot or lose her. And Season Six ended with her sleeping with Luke.
This whole story arc has to be laid at the feet of Amy Sherman-Palladino and the show had no choice but to continue the arc in Season Seven. As brilliant as Amy was over the first five seasons, the falling apart of Luke and Lorelei's relationship in Season Six and then whole Chris mess in Season Seven were her worst contributions to the show. Luckily, it didn't last forever. By the end of the season Rory had graduated from Yale and Lorelei was yearning to be with Luke, acutely conscious of what she had lost.
The season ended on some of the best moments of the year. One memorable episode had all of Stars Hollow laid out as a vast maze, in a weird plan by Taylor that for once truly worked out. Lorelei and Luke meet and express some of the regrets that they had felt for some time. It was a great moment. But the highpoint of the season and one of the highpoints of the entire series occurred in a scene in which Rory gets her mother drunk enough to sing on karaoke night. She starts off singing Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" (and the Dolly Parton arrangement, not the overly ornate butchering that Whitney Houston did) in Rory's direction. But Luke walks in as she sings and inevitably her gaze shifts. As she sings (and quite well, thank you), you see a world of conflicting emotions overcoming her: regret, yearning, hope, resignation, good will, and love. I don't know of another actress on TV other than Lauren Graham who could have pulled it off. It was one of those utterly perfect TV moments that reminded me not just why I watch THE GILMORE GIRLS but TV in general.
Until the very end of the season it appeared that there was going to be a Season Eight. The CW (which had taken over the show when the WB and UPN merged) hoped to have a 13 or 16 episode shortened season, but in the end Lauren Graham and Alexis Bedell, who were both up for contract renewal, declined to sing new contracts. But after seeing what turned out to be the series finale I am almost grateful of their decision. What a lovely end to a wonderful series! Few shows get to go out perfectly, but THE GILMORE GIRLS managed one of the most perfect finales ever. As Luke marshals the town for a farewell party (on one day's notice) we get a beautiful episode that allows us both to see all our favorite characters one last time and to say goodbye to them. Everything that should have been done was done. Rory is off to join the Barack Obama campaign as a reporter. Lorelei, when Sookie tells her that the planning of the party "was all Luke," realizes that Luke, who is sometimes slow to speak, has shown how he feels about her with actions. When she thanks him and he tells her that he likes to see her happy you know that they are going to be fine. You don't even need the kiss that follows. And the series ends just as it began seven years earlier, Lorelei and Rory sitting in Luke's diner.
I'm not sure that this is a show that can be replaced. Some shows are sui generis, truly one of a kind. This is one of those. The premise of a mother and daughter who were best friends was at the heart, but it didn't make it unique. It was the combination of the amazing group of characters, the wonderful town, and the endless stream of magnificently written scripts.
I want to end by praising Lauren Graham. This was a great cast with a number of remarkably gifted actors. But Lauren Graham towered above them all. The Emmys never did her justice. It is almost inconceivable that she never received a single Emmy nomination. Yet for seven years she was without serious competition the finest actress on television. How can such a travesty occur and the Emmys not feel a profound sense of shame? It is true that last year the Emmys were "reformed" in order to make it possible for deserving performers more likely to be nominated. Lauren Graham's name was the one mentioned as an example of such a performer. Yet even with reform she didn't receive a nomination. But to me her performance as Lorelei is one of the great achievements of television acting. No one came anywhere close to her in handling comedy; no one could rival her delivery of the machine-gun like dialogue. But neither could many rival her with drama. The karaoke scene I mentioned is a perfect example.
I will truly miss this series.
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63 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I just want you to be happy", May 15, 2007
After crying all throughout the series finally I have to say that it really was time to say goodbye and I would buy this seasons set for the last episode alone! That scene when Lorelai and Luke make-up is precious and as a fan of the show from the beginning I truly feel that in that moment Lorelai is completely happy, and she finally realized that Luke is a big part of that happiness. The show has definitely had it's up and downs but I'm giving it 5 stars because as a whole I have never seen a show like this one and don't think I ever will. I often feel that GG fans are so hard on the show because they really don't realize how good we had it, we got use to such a high standard of writing and acting that anything less brought out red flags. Nonetheless, it seems unreasonable to think that the series could keep that standard for every episode in every season, especially after the original creators left abruptly after the sixth season. So whatever that's worth I feel this show is a great investment and although it's centered around a mother-daughter relationship, a lot of men like the show as well even though they might not like to admit it:-)
Growing up with the Gilmore Girls has been such a pleasure and I cannot wait for the day when I can re-watch the series with my daughter and relive all that funny banter, crazy town meetings and just all the wonderfully unique characters...I think Lauren Graham and Scott Patterson will go down as having some of the best chemistry on TV as we watched their love grow and Alexis Bledel has a great future ahead. I think I will instinctively follow these actors around and continue to see their new work, how could I not? After seven grateful years I feel like I know them, and as the song goes, "Where you lead I will follow..." Thank you Gilmore Girls for such a wonder journey! You will be missed!
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An Unfortunate Final Season, November 3, 2007
What to say about a show that outdid nearly every show on the books. Unfortunately this show's seventh season was nothing at all like the show we all loved the first six years. As an avid fan of GG I own the first 6 seasons, which have been lovingly watched again and again. I do not plan on buying season 7. As far as I am concerned the show ended with season 6! It broke my heart to see the show I loved more than any other morph into a substandard version of itself. Sadly Amy Sherman-Palladino's shoes were just too big to fill, and the new showrunners failed miserably to capture the original essence of the show. Gone was the quick-witted dialogue we all adore, the biggest deficet of this season. But there were other problems. The scenes during this season didn't flow very well, and many were just too long. Previously the show did a superb job of keeping things moving, giving us enough in each scene without over-cooking. In seasons past it was artful, allowing the audience to put together a fantastic puzzle of our favorite girls. But in this last season there were far fewer scenes, fewer puzzle peices to work with, and the scenes they did deliver were too long and frankly got boring. This more rapid pace in previous years also allowed us to get more of all of our favorite characters that populated Lorelai and Rory's lives. The longer scenes of the seventh elimiated more time with these other wonderful characters, especially Emily and Richard. The unfortunate tone of this last season was also hampered by the odd lighting. There is a rather big difference in the lighting between the seventh season and all the others. What happened to the warmth of Stars Hallow? The warm hues were replaced by drab, colorless gray tones that in the end couldn't help but contribute to the rather blah feeling that best describes this season. Plotwise my biggest complaint centers on the Lorelai/Chris/Luke situation. I'm not a Chris person or a Luke person per se. I found myself pulling for each during different times. In the end I did believe the Chris ship had long sailed and Lorelai belonged with Luke. I think it was a mistake to spend so much of this season focusing on Chris. The marriage and divorce should have been quicker so that the show had time to do justice to the eventual reunion of Lorelai with Luke. We watch the show for seven years, witness the marriage of Dean, witness the marriage of Lane, witness the marriage of Liz and even witness the renewal of vows by Richard and Emily, but for Luke and Lorelai all we get is a kiss? A stinking kiss! For that matter this show could have ended with season four!
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• Also available: The Complete Series Collection
DVD ~ Lauren Graham
DVD ~ Lauren Graham
DVD ~ Lauren Graham
DVD ~ Lauren Graham
DVD ~ Lauren Graham
