Gilmore Girls: Missing the Lore of Yore
Now in its seventh season, Gilmore Girls may be losing its spark (and jumping the shark). Will Paul Anka bark?
The long time creator of the show, Amy Sherman Palladino, left after the sixth season. The New York Times recently congealed my worry into a coherent, and entertaining, article.
The article’s gist is how the “Lore of Yore” would spout off a seemingly endless array of prattle spiced with obscure pop-culture references in order to avoid having to confront her loneliness. A large part of Gilmore Girls’ humor lay in these eclectic tirades (at one point I even considered penning a “Gilmore-pedia” website; thankfully I resisted). In shows past, at certain pivotal moments we witnessed the true sad, silent pouty Lorelai, usually late at night after the Pippi Longstocking videos and junk-food buffet were devoured, but it wasn’t a regular occurance.
This season, there’s a sedate Lorelai that’s a bit too easy-going, not as freak-out-able, whose only bite is a litany of petty annoyances. The not-so-funny bad French accent in the last episode, and the ease at which she found herself in the arms of Christopher are good examples.
Meanwhile, Rory has traded in the brainy reading, writing, and arithmetic for relative relaxation. Totally caught up in the upper echelon of Logan’s uber-rich trust-fund world, she pretty much does nothing except wonder what Logan’s up to while Yale has become seemingly all too easy. She’s happy, but for I as a viewer, ennui is too precious a word: it’s sheer boredom.
I’ll stick through Gilmore Girls through this, the hopefully last season. I’m hoping for a few kicks in the ribs when Luke finds out Lorelai and Christopher have gotten hitched. He’s always good for punching someone in the face or gruffly ranting at someone who’s tweaking his world into disorder.
But other than that one plot element, I fear we’re looking ahead to some weary episodes with “Snorelai” and “Bore-y Gilmore”. I wish I didn’t even have to come up with such nicknames to entertain myself, marking time until the season finale.