Netflix released its long-anticipated revival series: “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” on Friday Nov. 25. Consisting of four 90-minute parts—one for each season of the year—the series takes us through an entire year of fast-talking, coffee gulping and town meeting shenanigans. The entirety of the revival was written by the original “Gilmore Girls” creator and writer Amy Sherman-Palladino and husband Daniel Palladino. The series begins in one of Lorelei and Rory’s most beloved seasons—winter. We are warmly welcomed back into the picturesque town of Stars Hollow as Rory returns home for a visit with her mother Lorelei. The beginning of the series answers all the questions devoted “Gilmore Girls” fans have been holding in their hearts for years.
In each episode we return to one of Stars Hollow’s quirky festivals—in one episode we watch as the town’s resident control freak Taylor plans a musical.
After years of wondering, we learn that our favorite bookworm has had quite a successful career as a journalist and writer for The New Yorker. Meanwhile, most will be relieved to find out that her quirky mother has been with her diner-owning boyfriend Luke for nearly nine years and is still running The Dragonfly Inn. At the Inn things are status quo, although Sookie has taken some time off and Michel is beginning to feel restless.
The series does not neglect the death of actor Edward Herrmann, who played everyone’s favorite grandfather, Richard Gilmore. We learn that his character has passed away as well, and his death serves as an important point around which the revival is fixed. The series serves up a classic Gilmore fight, as Lorelei argues with her perfectionist mother Emily over something Lorelei says at her father’s funeral.
We also learn the fate of Rory’s hilariously intelligent school friend Paris, who, after all her hard work at Yale, is working at a fertility clinic. We discover that she has broken up with her long-time boyfriend Doyle and has two children.
Although we are more than happy to simply experience the wonderfully wacky town of Stars Hollow, fans of the show knew that there had to be more in the cards for this eccentric mother-daughter duo. And the series does not disappoint.
Though some may argue that the overall plot linking these four seasonal parts may appear weak, these revival episodes were intended to give the show’s fans just a little more time with their favorite characters—and this the series achieves masterfully.
We are immersed once again in the witty banter between the Gilmore women, watch as powerful matriarch Emily passive aggressively takes down those who don’t meet her standards, worry over the fate of Luke and Lorelei and laugh at the quirks of the small town in which they live. Just like the original series, this revival captures the journey of Lorelei and Rory as they navigate professional life and personal relationships.
Each of the impressive women in this series feel lost. Although the series is known to serve up hilariously odd situations, we see that the Gilmore women are struggling with issues we’ve all come up against. Whether it be loss of work, relationship doubts or moving on to a new, unknown way of living, the revival perfectly captures the circle of life through three generations of women.
But don’t be fooled—this revival wouldn’t be complete without shocks and scandals. The final four words, which Sherman-Palladino has had locked and loaded for years now, have been kept secret since the original series began. Cementing the show’s theme of the transience of life and love that holds us together, the words are surprising to say the least, and have viewers everywhere screaming for more.