femfebruary: emily gilmore

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Asked by queenslayerbee: Gilmore Girls / Emily Gilmore / what do you think of her life going forward? (as in, past the revival)

Emily's storyline in the Revival was up and down, but that was true for the Revival in general. I thought her grief over losing her husband was handled well, for the most part, with her visibly struggling and trying to honor him in her own way, even if it was pretty awkward at moments.

I did enjoy her going off on the DAR - that was pretty funny. Selling the house was the right choice, because it would be just a big reminder of Richard and I can't imagine her living there alone. I was surprised that she ended up in Nantucket, and it was nice to see her use her own talents to find a career she enjoys. I think she'll be able to unwind and find herself while being occupied for a certain amount of time, but she'll find her way back to Hartford eventually.

When she finds out about Rory's pregnancy, that would probably be one of the reasons she returns, or at least visits more often. I can't imagine her not wanting to be around her great grandchild. She'll probably work as a docent for quite some time and then I can picture her getting a little restless. Emily could go back to charity work on some level. Her life has definitely been a series of what she should do and maintaining image, and that includes the DAR, but my guess is she had to enjoy certain aspects of it, especially the organizing and being in charge. Her life in Nantucket is definitely a much needed break, but I don't see her it as her final ending.

Comments

[queenslayerbee]

I can imagine the sense that history is repeating itself with Rory's pregnancy* would be a particular concern of Emily -and of Lorelai herself, but once Emily came and said it Lorelai would get on the defensive.

*imo the circumstances are quite different, in both positive and negative ways for Rory, but there IS a sense of "this was doomed to happen" anyway. Which as a tragedy enthusiast I personally enjoyed in the revival, but ymmv.

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The circumstances definitely play a role, as you said. Rory is at an uncertain place in her life, career wise, but she is at least in her 30s so it is definitely not the same as being pregnant when you're a teenager. And she arguably has more support than Lorelai did too. I can see Emily still trying to insist on the father taking accountability and Lorelai would totally get defensive at that point.

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of the insistence that everyone turn into their parents. It just didn't make a lot of sense, and characters like Paris and Lane really got screwed over because of it. The only one who got lucky was Jess and his minimal role in the revival probably helped. I did end up being grateful that the original show runners left in s7 - whatever else went wrong that season, at least they stuck the ending. If this had the original ending, it probably would've retroactively ruined the show for me.

[queenslayerbee]

I'm the opposite there, tbh. I HATED season 7 lmao (this is when Lane was TRULY screwed over imo), while I was actually pretty pleased with the revival. It was a bleak ending of things for some but tbh I think it felt true to the characters, especially to Rory.

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Oh, not arguing season 7 wasn't a mess because it totally was - the Lorelai/Christopher revival (and getting married wtf), Rory spending a ton of time pining over Logan, and Lane's pregnancy (and lbr: most of her relationship with Zach, which was why I wasn't a fan). I just meant the final scene with Rory and Lorelai in the diner with Luke mirroring the pilot was better than her possibly revealing she was pregnant.

I am glad you liked it but I thought the revival was disappointing - the second half was better than the first though. I don't think the show's tone was meant for characters to be this bleak and it felt like the showrunners were trying to do the season 7 they never got to do, which doesn't work 10 years later. Rory's career uncertainties felt IC but the rest of it was weird.