The Verse’s Allie Jackson reviews the Gilmore Girls revival ‘A Year in the Life’ from 2016.
Quick wit, pop culture references, and a crazy town mayor. Not much has changed in the town of Star Hollows, except everyone’s a little older and the quality of the filming has improved of course. This revival of the 2000-2006 series of Gilmore Girls follows Emily, Lorelai, and Rory Gilmore through the seasons of the year. If you haven’t yet watched the original series, I would definitely give it a shot before these new episodes.
It begins with clips of the characters’ voices in the background from previous episodes that are almost a decade old. Jogging your memory almost instantly to the time when Rory accidentally shoplifted after her first kiss, or when it was brought to everyone’s attention that ‘Luke can waltz!’. Each episode has its own mini-plot and yet they all seem to be woven together in a sense of forming a conclusion for all of your questions. Except for the last episode, which I won’t spoil completely, but will leave you with several big questions. If you are already familiar with the show, then quotes such as ‘Since when did Kirk have a pig?’ and ‘But you did leave me in a bucket!’ will not confuse or surprise you in any sense.
Even in such a quaint, yet a slightly insane town, the characters have their fill of existential crises which is pleasant in the sense that you don’t envy their ‘perfect’ lives. However, I personally would love to live in Stars Hollow. In between the comedy and kooky town meetings, the show deals with grief, feeling lost career-wise, marriage, changes etc, to give it a sense of grounding and relatability.
Although the show has all the original characters, the same town, the same houses; it has lost a margin of its cosiness and nostalgic feeling with the up to date references, and the sharpness of the picture when you’re used to watching these characters in a slightly fuzzy, less vividly colourful way.
Ultimately, it’s fun. It’s a fun way to bring the characters back in a flurry of jokes, crying, and pet pigs. It’s not perfect, and revivals typically aren’t. However, isn’t it always nice to check in with old friends once in a while? That’s what this feels like.
