'Gilmore Girls': The Road To Recovery - 04.18.07

[conradv]

Los Angeles Times Show Tracker

'Gilmore Girls': The road to recovery

For any long-term relationship stuck in a rut, getting that magic back isn’t easy.

Invested "Gilmore Girls" fans this season have been burned one too many times, yet we keep coming back for more, even when most of it has been watching two once-strong women unravel into love-hampered know-nothings.

Viewers return time and time again — note the series’ increasingly strong ratings on the CW — because as out of character as Lorelai and Rory have been acting, Lauren Graham can still turn a phrase better than most actresses working in TV comedy. And despite the absence of creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, the dialogue has managed to come within spitting distance of her signature pop culture-laced, tongue-twisting witticisms.

Now there’s more reason to hope: Tuesday’s episode felt like a big first step on the road to recovery.

The story centered on new beginnings, set against the start of spring and the construction of a celebratory hay bale maze in Stars Hollow — an obvious but choice metaphor for a show that’s lost its way.

Everyone find their way out of it -- literally and figuratively.

Lorelai and Luke finally — finally — bury the hatchet over Lorelai’s impulsive decision to marry Christopher. Now they can proceed with the inevitable getting back together. They exit the maze separately, but happy. Sure, it’s been coming since they broke up, but at least it makes sense.

Rory and Logan decide to stick together whether or not Rory stays local or takes a faraway journalism job. They make their way through the hay hand-in-hand.

One could quibble with Lorelai’s oddly-timed questioning of Logan. The moment arrives a couple seasons late; he and Rory have been together for some time now, and he’s been a jerk for about that long.

One could really quibble about the exclusion of Emily and Richard, always the high point of a "Gilmore Girls" episode, in an otherwise solid installment that involved most of Stars Hollow’s quirky denizens and the return of a strong-minded mother-daughter team.

Now that the writers have resumed treating these ladies with some respect, the rumors that the show will indeed return for an eighth season might not be a bad thing.

Credit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2007/04/gilmore_girls.html#more

[ObessedwithGG]

Great article conradv, and so very true!  It was good to see the episode with the great Gilmore flavor that has been missing this season.  Our girls are finally back!

[JillianLovesFood]

Very truthful article. It wasn't all sweet stuff but it wasn't harsh either. You can tell this person really gets the point of journalism.

I think Lauren Graham was really on top in this episode. Her facial expressions and the emotions shown through her eyes were amazing and gave her scenes a little extra something to them. Even IF this episode HAD sucked with all the effort Lauren put into this episode, I still would've kept watching it and cheering for GG. Seriously I have stated at the CW boards before that RRK is the most talented of all the writers in the staff and should without a doubt continue to write most of the episodes. I think the problem she faces is not having enough time to show all that she wanted to put so she has to cut people out who she normally would've had like Lane, Emily and Richard. Also if she had more time she would've shown when Rory and Logan meet the twins and the first town meeting where they discussed the spring maze festival. If she had more time maybe she would've made Lorelai and Luke's maze talk longer and more indepth but then again I think she was saving that for the next episode.

[Challie]

It was good to see the episode with the great Gilmore flavor that has been missing this season.  Our girls are finally back!

I read this board all the time & rarely post, but tonight I have to say it.  The Gilmore flavor was missing most of Season 6, not this season and has steadily coming back the most recent 4-5 episodes.  Others have probably said this before, but when AS-P had Luke stepping pretty far out of character excluding Lorelai when April turned up, and then more egregiously when Lorelai slept with Chris, she really painted the series in a corner.  She didn't know she and DP weren't coming back so it wasn't painting into a corner intentionally or spitefully, but nonetheless, I really think David Rosenthal has done a great job of getting through that tunnel and bringing the show to where it is right now, especially after the last couple of shows. 

Then again, I think most of us here have a truly insane amount of emotional investment in L/L and for those characters to not get it back together would be perverse on the point of the producers & writers to not make it happen.