Goodbye Gilmore Girls!

Well, it's over. The last of the coffee has been drunk, the last of the hyper-fast dialogue has been rattled off, and some very well-paid fashion consultants need to look for new jobs.

The Gilmore Girls series finale was last night, and in short, it went gracefully.

The episode was all about saying goodbye, and although at times, the connection between Rory's goodbye and the show's goodbye was hammered home a little hard, it offered the closure that I needed...for the most part.

Some minor irritations with the episode:

• Some of the material felt recycled from the Ballrooms and Biscotti episode at the beginning of season 4. Sometimes repeated material gives a show continuity; sometimes it's boring. I felt that the discussion of going to the post office tended towards boring.
• I wish that they had done more to acknowledge how Rory and Lane's relationship had changed over the years. From what we've seen, they've drifted apart. It showed in the looks on their faces, I felt, but some discussion of it would have given their conversation more honesty.
• I missed Paris--would it have been too much for Rory to call her and let her know she got a job? And while I thought it was good that they didn't bring Logan back--a reunion between him and Rory would have been too sugar-sweet--I would think that Rory would have been going through a much visibly tougher time of it.
• And my biggest peeve with the episode--the Luke/Lorelai reunion felt forced, and I have NO idea why the camera panned up the way it did, so that we only got the 2 second kiss that we saw in the promo. I have a hard time believing that Lauren Graham and Scott Patterson hate each other so much that they can't hang in there for 15 more seconds to give the viewers legitimate hope that Lorelai and Luke will live happily ever after, instead of this "well, I think they're back together" thing I'm feeling right now.

All that aside, however, I think most of the episode was well-done, even if it didn't carry the same emotional weight that Lorelai's karaoke moment two weeks ago did. Here's what I enjoyed the most:

• Rory's job. I think schlepping it on a bus for next to no pay for a political campaign sounds like a really legitimate first job for a journalist. (I have no experience with this, so I'm completely blowing hot air, but whatever.) She's not working for a big paper, she's working for an online journal, which in the day and age of bloggers covering national conventions seems a very credible job for a brand-new journalism grad. Plus, it's a job I would like :) I think following Obama's campaign around would kick ass.
• The moments with Richard and Emily, particularly when Richard tells Lorelai that the party is a tribute to her, too, not just to Rory. And I am SO glad that Lorelai has finally grown up and started down the path of developing a real relationship with her parents--I was thrilled when she said she'd be there for Friday night dinner.
  
• I thought it was cool that Christiane Amanpour showed up at the inn. And her whole interaction with Rory was wonderful--Rory was giddy, but not stupidly so, and Amanpour was gracious. It helped to bring Rory's dreams and aspirations full-circle.
• I loved the interactions between Rory and Lorelai in the episode. They really brought home how much these two women mean to each other, and how hard it will be for them to really be apart. Lorelai coming into Rory's room to watch her sleep was heartbreaking. Although I didn't cry during the episode, when Rory said, "Mom, you've given me everything I need," I came close.
• But the thing, perhaps, that I most appreciated was the final shot. I had a brief moment of panic when I thought the shot of the tent in the square might be it, and then felt utter relief when I didn't see the credits. The shot of Lorelai and Rory in Luke's diner, with Luke in the background, set up the exact same way as the scene from the end of the pilot episode (picture on right) that has been in the intro sequence for seven years--that sums up the show so perfectly and I loved it.

Thank you, Gilmore Girls, for 7 wonderful seasons. I'm sad to see you go.