Gilmore Girls Bests and Worsts

[mstaken]

Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore? (I love townies. What can I say?)

 

Heh---I don't love the townies as much as you do, but I totally share your love for this episode! Sweet, warm, charming, and with a very 'Classic GG' sort of feel for me. 

[mstaken]

A fun weekend challenge: How would you rank the seven premieres from best to worst: Pilot; Sadie, Sadie; Lazy Hazy Crazy Days; Ballrooms and Biscotti; Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller; New and Improved Lorelai and The Long Morrow. No ties allowed :) 

[lulu1960]

Wow that's a toughie. Because someone was being annoying in each one. Or there was a conflict.

Pilot. Gave us the feel of the show.

Say Goodbye Daisy Miller. Least I got the "if one of us was a frog" convo.

Lazy Hazy... I liked that Lorelai called Rory out on her being wishy washy.

Ballrooms and Biscottis.

New and Improved Lorelai.

Sadie Sadie. I remember daisies and Lorelai telling Luke. Was this the dancing little girl brides? If so I'd move it up.

The Long Morrow. It broke my heart.

[mstaken]

Wow that's a toughie. Because someone was being annoying in each one

 

Hee---excellent point!

 

 

 

 

Ballrooms and Biscottis.

 

 

I'm actually surprised you didn't rank this one higher, if only because I remember it winning one of our elimination games as people's VERY favorite episode of the series. (It might not even be in my personal top 35-40, though I do really like it!)

 

I'll take a stab at answering my own question:

 

1. Lazy Hazy Crazy---this one features of the few Rory/Lorelai conflicts that I enjoy watching and the final 'purse donut' scene of them reconciling is a special favorite of mine, the famous "come again, Mimi" is  one of my favorite moments of the Luke/Lorelai friendship (though I find it ridiculous that they hadn't reconciled until then!), and I'm totally enamored with the Paris/Rory scenes. The scene at Emily and Richard's is hard for me to watch, but overall this is my favorite of the premieres by a surprisingly wide margin. 

 

 

2. Ballrooms and Biscotti---As stated above, I don't love this one quite as much as most do. The 'ice cream queen' stuff is one of those times when I want to reach through the screen and literally throttle Taylor and, while we're on the subject of throttling, Emily is unbelievably infuriating in this one even though I get that deep down it comes from her wishing she were closer to her daughter.  And Luke marrying Nicole impulsively on a cruise ship will never not seem like an out-of-character contrivance to me. That said, I really love the gift giving and the Lorelai/Rory scenes here beyond the telling of it!  

 

3. Pilot---It's kind of clunky in a typically Pilot-y way, but it's got some surprisingly great, quintessentially GG-esque lines and moments 

 

4. Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller---A well-written and nicely acted episode...just one that I don't particularly enjoy watching, primarily because Rory drives me all kinds of crazy here. 

 

5. The Long Morrow---I actually think the Lorelai/Luke scenes are some of the very best acted and written L/L scenes of S5-S7 and was VERY close to ranking this above Daisy Miller, but the Rory/rocket stuff feels really forced to me and the overall tone is somehow a little 'off' to me. 

 

6. Sadie Sadie---As many of you know, S2 is not only my favorite season of GG, but easily one of my most beloved seasons of any show ever. This episode is a glaring exception, though. I can't stand the Dean/Richard stuff or the endless time wasted on Max/Lorelai's clearly ill-fated engagement. But it's still a little better for me than...

 

7. New and Improved Lorelai---Like the vast majority of S6, it irks and depresses me! And it features what is still probably the single flattest, most joyless engagement 'celebration' I've ever seen on TV.  

Edited April 26, 2014 by mstaken

[CleoCaesar]

7. New and Improved Lorelai---Like the vast majority of S6, it irks and depresses me! And it features what is still probably the single flattest, most joyless engagement 'celebration' I've ever seen on TV. 

 

What? You think that two people getting engaged and not immediately kissing or hugging or smiling or even touching is joyless and flat? Well I never!

[Taryn74]

How would you rank the seven premieres from best to worst: Pilot; Sadie, Sadie; Lazy Hazy Crazy Days; Ballrooms and Biscotti; Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller; New and Improved Lorelai and The Long Morrow.

 

 

Ballrooms and Biscotti - aside from the Ice Cream Queen stuff (which, yeah....NO) I love every bit of this episode.

 

Pilot - interestingly enough, I think it's the secondary characters I love most about this episode.  Lane and Mrs. Kim both get pretty hilarious introductions ("I'm hayriding with a future proctologist, I have potential."), as does Sookie.

 

Lazy Hazy - it's got really good points, but for whatever reason I just don't love it.

 

SGTDM

 

The Long Morrow

 

NAIL

 

Sadie, Sadie

[mstaken]

Lane and Mrs. Kim both get pretty hilarious introductions ("I'm hayriding with a future proctologist, I have potential."), as does Sookie.

 

Ha---this was a highlight for me as well :)

 

And you guys know that now we have to rank the finales from most to least favorite, right? Right! Love, Daisies and Troubadours; I Can't Get Started; Those Are Strings, Pinocchio; Raincoats and Recipes; A House is Not a Home; Partings and Bon Voyage. And, remember, because I'm an evil sadist...not ties allowed ;) 

[Taryn74]

Love, Daisies and Troubadours; I Can't Get Started; Those Are Strings, Pinocchio; Raincoats and Recipes; A House is Not a Home; Partings and Bon Voyage.

 

 

TASP

 

ICGS

 

R&R

 

BV

 

AHINAH

 

Partings

 

All chosen for emotional impact, rather than actual quality of the episode.

[lulu1960]

Much easier for me to do.

Raincoats and Recipes. I can watch this one over and over. I love the townies. I love Lorelai getting her dream, and I obviously love the Luke and Lorelai stuff.

Those are Strings, Pinnochio. Heartwarming. And the right man was there watching her graduate. ;-)

Bon Voyage. I did want more as a series ender but as an episode it worked. It was sweet and funny.

I Can't Get Started. I loved Sookie.

Troubedours.

A House is Not Home. Oh Rory. Oh Emily and Richard.

Partings. Sad. Sad. Sad.

[mstaken]

Taryn, you forgot to include Love, Daisies and Troubadours! :) Our ratings are fairly similar:

 

1) TAS,P---Easily of of my top five episodes of the series!

2) I Can't Get Started---But this is definitely in my top 10 :) And, like Lulu, I really love the Sookie scenes. 

 

Those are actually the only two of the finales that I love, but next comes:

 

3) Bon Voyage---an imperfect episode but somehow the perfect emotional resonance for me anyway. 

4) Raincoats and Recipes---I love seeing Lorelai's dream of running an inn become  a reality, but am utterly meh on the rest and hate the Rory/Dean stuff. 

5) Partings---Like most of S6, it's depressing, but well-written and wonderfully acted IMO. 

6) Love, Daisies, and Troubadours----Too much cutesy preciousness, too much Dean, too much Max. 

7) A House Is Not a Home---Ugh. For so many reasons, just...ugh. 

[Taryn74]

Taryn, you forgot to include Love, Daisies and Troubadours!

 

 

Oh!  I guess I really do tend to block out as much Max as I can, ha ha ha.

 

I think I would put it at the bottom.

[nolieblue]

Raincoats & Recipes

TASP

ICGS 

LDT

A House is Not a Home

Bon Voyage

Partings -- terrible in all ways 

[mstaken]

Another fun weekend challenge: which GG scenes jump out to you as being among the very funniest of the series?! 

[lulu1960]

One off the top of my head is Sookie being 'enscotched' from ADFKT

[random chance]

(I need an acronym cheat sheet, I never know what those episodes are.)

Hmmm, this was a funny but not belly-laugh show for me, but Kirk crashing that car through the diner did make me laugh out loud. Also Dave playing the first few notes of a Bowie song or more specifically the look Mrs. Kim shot at him for it, at that Thanksgiving dinner. And probably other Mrs. Kim moments that I can't think of right now - she was always the funniest one, to me.

[lulu1960]

Mrs. Kim was funny because her delivery was so deadpanned. "There were boys. ...and a tiny fridge and guitars and boys"

[nolieblue]

I always laugh out loud when Lorelai tells Rory that Kirk asked her out. And I also like the scene when Luke is trying tO convince Kirk that Lulu likes him.

[Taryn74]

All great examples above!

 

Jason hiding from Gran always slays me.  Along with the look she shoots him after saying that small inns are wonderful places to put all those French antiques.  Bwahahahahaha.

 

Mrs. Kim onto Lane and Dean, working on their science project.  "Reproduction?"  *cackle*

 

Also Mrs. Kim - "You're going to have to do it with this boy, Lane.  You're just going to have to do it."

[lulu1960]

"It's a double entendre. I've been in this country twenty years. I get things."

[Taryn74]

I think we can all agree that Mrs. Kim is FULL OF WIN.  Hee.

 

Hey I think we should have an elimination game of best Mrs. Kim moments.  Let's keep that in mind for when we're done with the traditional favorite episodes rounds, ok?

[eledgy]

 

I always laugh out loud when Lorelai tells Rory that Kirk asked her out.

 

 

I also love Rory's reaction to meeting Paul in Run Away, Little Boy--both her facial reacrions and her lines.

 

"He should've been holding a yo-yo and a lollipop and wearing a beanie with a propeller on it."

[lulu1960]

Great idea, Taryn.

[nolieblue]

I also love AB's delivery of "I do like the chapeau" in Scene in a Mall. It might be my favorite line of hers in the entire series!

[mstaken]

Has everybody already ranked all seven seasons from favorite to least favorite, no ties allowed?! If you haven't, please feel free to do so!  If you have, feel free to do so again...I never tire of learning which seasons resonate most with fans and why :) I also think it's interesting how some of my own preferences change depending on my mood and how frequently I've rewatched certain seasons/episodes. And, if you're up for even more of a challenge, what are your three favorite and least favorite episodes from each seasons?! 

[AlinaRay]

Ohh, my favorite seasons:

 

Season 3 - I feel like everything and everyone hit their stride here, I love almost all of the episodes and I like Rory/Jess. - Although I pretty much hated the Francine storyline.

Season 1 - Has that nostalgic feel, everyone looks so young and it set us up for a great run

Season 2 - While the Rory/Dean stuff doesn't bother me as much as some, I feel like the other two Chilton seasons were a little better.

Season 4 - I liked Digger and seeing Rory sort of start to thrive at Yale; I really liked the end of this season more than anything, with the opening of the inn.

Season 5 - I actually kind of like the introduction of Logan and the Life and Death stuff; the Richard and Emily stuff was okay...love L/L

Season 7 - Again, nostalgia. With the whole new group of writers and such, it took them a while to undo the mess they were left with, but they were just starting to when it ended.

Season 6 - Just...not good.

[Taryn74]

Mine is almost the same as Alina.  I flip-flop back and forth between liking S2 or S3 a little better though.  I think S2 has more of my favorite eps, while S3 has more long-term arcs that I like.

 

Right now, my list is -

 

S2, just for the eps that are my true favorites (Bracebridge, ICGS, Run Away, Little Boy, and others)

 

S3, for more Jess and less Dean, Lane and the band, Trix.  Hate the Francie stuff though.

 

S1, again for the favorite eps (Rory's Dance, F&S, RBP, Cinnamon's Wake, Double Date, Concert Interruptus, etc)

 

S4, I enjoyed Jason (just wish he wasn't there to date Lorelai) and it was fun watching Rory and Paris get used to college life.  Plus, it has Tanna.

 

S5, because it's not S6 or S7

 

S7

 

S6

[mstaken]

Oooh, fellow S3 fans! 

 

S2 is my very favorite, but S3 definitely takes the silver medal. I'll go S2, S3, S1, S4, S5, S7, S6. 

 

S2:  I wouldn't have minded the Dean stuff being a little less dragged out and would have preferred if Lorelai/Max had ended back in S1, but overall this is one of my favorite seasons of any show ever.  

 

S3: I totally agree with you guys about the awfulness of the Francie/student government scenes, but one pleasant surprise of rewatching S3 for me was that they actually don't take up nearly as  much screentime throughout the season as I'd feared. Then again, I now fast forward through all of them, so maybe I'm not one to accurately judge just how long they are :) Oh, and S3 brings us Nicole and her chemistry-free relationship, which...*yawn* Overall, though, this has some of the series' very highest highs IMO. I even like most of the episodes many are meh on...well, except for the skip-worthy awfulness that is Keg!Max :) 

 

S1: Just as Taryn often flips between between S2 and S3, I'm always torn between S1 and S4 for that third spot in my rankings. S1 has more about it than annoys me than S4 does: Too much Dean, too much Max, too much cutesy preciousness in general, and, IMO, an exaggeratedly immature and annoying Lorelai. S1 also has a surprising number of episodes I'm decidedly meh on. On the flip side, S1 has my favorite incarnation of Luke, I adore Rory here, I love watching Rory/Paris first thaw from enemies to friends---well, at least frenemies, I enjoy Tristan (I know...I know!), I love the Lorelai/Sookie friendship this season more than any other, and, as others have pointed out, there's a cozy charm to S1 that makes me all gooey and sentimental. Plus, while there aren't many episodes I love compared to S2 and S3, the S1 episodes I do love are ones to which I'm ridiculously attached.

 

S4: I think it's more consistently good than S1, but it only has one or two episodes I'd consider special favorites of mine. Like many of you, I enjoy Rory's adjustment to Yale and Lorelai realizing her dream of opening her own inn. I also think the growing distance between Richard and Emily was depicted well, and I really enjoy Digger. I dislike Luke's very out-of-character impulsive, drunken marriage to Nicole, immediate separation and then rather inexplicable decision they made to start dating again, though thankfully that's a relatively minor part of the season. This is also the season where Sookie starts to come across as very selfish and grating to me. I loathe the Rory/Dean stuff beyond the telling of it (don't get me started!) and the 'Richard sues Jason, who quickly turns into a stalker when Lorelai dumps him' stuff makes me cringe. Mostly, though, S4 just lacks a certain effervescent sparkle for me that those first three seasons feature. I still love it, just not as deeply as I used to. 

 

S5:

S5, because it's not S6 or S7

 

HA! Yeah, pretty much :) The good news is that my expectations of this season are always comfortably low, so I tend to be pleasantly surprised by how much I do like parts of it---or, well, don't DISlike many parts of it ;) The season actually has some really interesting, thought-provoking material and a lot of energy. There are a few episodes here that I love to a surprising degree---Come Home, Pushkin, Women of Questionable Morals and even So...Good Talk----but the lows are REALLY low for me. The townies feel obnoxiously over the top here, the changes in Rory sadden me, Emily starts to feel like an evil soap opera villainess, I hate the Life and Death Brigade, Lane/Zach feels really forced to me (and I despise Zach until S7, when I find him surprisingly tolerable)...etc.  

 

S7: I actually like parts of this season quite a lot, but I can never shake the feeling that, as others have said, it's not truly Gilmore Girls. Kudos to DR for making Rory and many of the minor characters likable to me again and for cleaning up some of AS-P's end-of-S5/S6 messes better than I could have, but that trademark sharp wit and uniquely GG-esque magic seems conspicuously lacking for large stretches of the season. 

 

S6: Don't get me started!  

[mstaken]

Here's a fun 'best'---what were your very favorite hugs/kisses/dates/etc. of the series?! 

[AlinaRay]

So my top kiss is actually the Rory/Jess kiss by the gas station. Yes, he's incredibly dumb for the cigarette dangling from his mouth, but I love everything else about it. I like the "kid code" they pulled on Luke (and Lorelai, but she knows what's up) and I love, love the song. I've actually sought the song out on youtube and have listened to it over and over. I like how it's "more fun" to run away after a moment like that. Everything about it was just...adorable.

[javajunkie86]

hmm, I did love that Rory/Jess kiss as well! That certaintly stands out in the series for me. Of course my favorite kiss of the show (yes you know it has to be Luke/Lorelai) was when Luke shows up at Lorelai's house and gives her that passionate kiss. It is such a shame we never got to see what they were doing for the rest of the night... I have a dirty mind! lol.  Well I really wanted to hear them communicate their feelings on their seperation, what lead to it, and how they will vow to communicate better.    Of course ASP glossed over that.  I guess that is what fanfiction is for.  As much as I love their date in Written in the Stars, I did enjoy their date at Liz's wedding even though Lorelai wasn't aware it was a date. From the time Luke was nervously getting dressed, to him meeting her, to the dance, and their converstation as he walks her home.   I will never forget that dance and how close they were getting. I even saved it as my wallpaper on my computer.

[nolieblue]

I think my favorite L/L kiss is the one at the end of Pushkin. It's short but I always think that scene/episode is the first time Lorelai realizes that she's in love with Luke.

[lulu1960]

As far as Rory kisses. It's definitely the gas station kiss. Their smiles after felt so genuine. Jess looked so happy. The kid code cracks me up too.

 

I'm going to have to go with the classic Dragonfly kiss as my favorite L/L kiss. But I also thought the kiss on her porch after they went to see St Elmo's Fire was a good one too. That one seemed to have spark.

But I agree with nolie about the kiss in Puskin. The way Lorelai looked as Luke walked away. That was a look of love.

 

As far as hugs. Luke was a very good hugger. The way he hugged Jess after the wedding. He did the squeezing of the head thing. He did that with Liz too.

[Taryn74]

I LOVE Luke's ruffling-the-hair hugs.  They look so genuine and affectionate.

 

Like others, Jess and Rory's "kid code" kiss was my favorite, followed closely by their "you two were like shrapnel" kiss in Luke's apartment.  I just love the awkwardness.  Hee.

 

As much as I love the intensity of L/L's first kiss at the Dragonfly, I think my favorite is when they were in the limo on the way back from NY.  STEAMING HOT.

 

Lane and Zach's first date, when Brian comes home and sits down in between them, is awesome.

 

I know it's L/C, but I really love Chris setting up the drive-in movie for Lorelai.

[mstaken]

I know it's L/C, but I really love Chris setting up the drive-in movie for Lorelai.

 

I love the idea of that date as well; it's so thoughtfully specific to who Lorelai is and what she loves. Plus, I'm totally projecting here because it's the kind of date that I would personally adore :) 

 

I think my favorite L/L kiss is the one at the end of So...Good Talk. I'm not a huge fan of the Dragonfly one just because of the typical rom-com-ish misunderstanding/bickering that precedes it. 

 

 

 

\think my favorite is when they were in the limo on the way back from NY.  STEAMING HOT.

 

Heh---I always skip that episode for Rory-related reasons, but please remind me to check this out when we get to S5 in our rewatch! 

 

 

 

I LOVE Luke's ruffling-the-hair hugs.  They look so genuine and affectionate.

 

I need to keep an eye out for these as well...I'm a huge fan of good hugs :) Rory's hugs are among the only ones I've ever noticed, and that's purely because they tend to be so painfully awkward! 

 

Like many of you, I LOVE the 'gas station' kissing between her and Jess. So much chemistry, so awesomely 'them', and strangely sweet. Were Milo and Alexis dating in real life by then? Poor Alexis usually looks so unenthusiastic at the prospect of kissing non-Milo people on the show! 

 

One kiss that I can't stand for some reason is the one between Rory and Logan in WBB, when he immediately makes that crack about 'kissing a man' since Rory is wearing a tuxedo at the time. In addition to being vaguely homophobic and obnoxious, it's just such a mood killer! 

Edited July 28, 2014 by mstaken

[Taryn74]

think my favorite is when they were in the limo on the way back from NY.  STEAMING HOT.

 

 

Heh---I always skip that episode for Rory-related reasons, but please remind me to check this out when we get to S5 in our rewatch!

 

 

Honestly, I don't even remember what episode it's from!  I made a paltry attempt to find it but gave up.  I just remember the hotness of it, heh.

[mstaken]

I think it's Blame Booze and Melville :) 

[Taryn74]

Ah, yes.  It was.  Hubba hubba!

 

[mstaken]

I love you for posting the picture...especially as it means I might now not have to actually watch the episode where Rory steals a yacht :) 

 

So related (sort of!) to the question above: What are your picks for the series' best and worst relationships? Friendships? 

Edited July 28, 2014 by mstaken

[javajunkie86]

That is one of my all time favorite Luke and Lorelai scenes!  If only GG was on HBO and now on WB/CW. Of course I hated the drama that follows!

 

Best Relationship

let me think.... Luke/Lorelai! duh! Lol. I think it is rather obivious why I love them.  They were always there for each other no matter what. Sure they had their dark moments (the accident and the absurd long lost daughter storyline), but it was clear there was a lot of love between them.   They were simply meant to be, have the whole package. The horoscope: It was written in the stars.

 

Rory/Jess

The rebel who fell for the town princess. I think if the spin off idea never came to be, Jess would have remain on the show for a longer period of time.  Sure Jess had his issues, but it was clear he loved Rory. I liked seeing how Jess envolved in season 6.

 

Worst relationships

Chris aka dopey/absent father and Lorelai.  How can a man want a woman more than his own daughter? How? Selfish,self-absorbed, man child. He was absent for most of her life. I will never forget the speech Luke at Emily/Richards wedding on how absent Chris truely was from Rory's life.  Lucky for us Lorelai ended up with Luke, the right man.

 

Logan/Rory

Rory dealt with so much bad stuff with him, that I had to wonder her mental state of why she put up with him. I guess sometimes girls date guys who remind them of their father. Logan was the younger verison of Chris. h He cheats on her multiple times, helps her steal a yaht, and treats Jess like crap. He was a spoiled brat.

 

Best friendship

Sookie/Lorelai. Always supporitive of one another, heavily involved in each other's lives, went into a business together.I don't think they had to deal with any rough patches in their entire friendship.  They were more like family.

Edited July 28, 2014 by javajunkie86

[lulu1960]

The limo scene is all kinds of hot. Starting from him stroking her leg to tastes like peppermint.

[Taryn74]

The limo scene is all kinds of hot. Starting from him stroking her leg to tastes like peppermint.

 

Yes!  The leg stroking.  GOOD LORD. 

 

I need a moment.....

 

*

 

*

 

*

 

*

 

What are your picks for the series' best and worst relationships? Friendships?

 

 

I really, really enjoyed the evolution of a lot of relationships (romantic and platonic) on this show - Sookie and Jackson, Lane and Zach, Rory and Paris, Gil and the rest of the band (he was like a cool big brother to them), Lane and Kyon, Luke and Jess.

 

Relationships that I did NOT enjoy - Logan and his cronies, Dean and Rory, Max and Lorelai, Lane and Dave.

[AlinaRay]

For some reason, I didn't see Lane and Rory clicking as much as friends, especially after she went to Yale. They rarely interacted, and when they did, it was quick and cut-off. I understand why Lane would want to hide out at Rory's house as much as she could, but I didn't really see what benefit Rory got from the friendship.

[javajunkie86]

It was sad to see Rory and Lane's friendship dissipate like it did especially in season 6. I mean how many months did it take for Lane to meet Logan.    How far was Yale from Stars Hollow?

[mstaken]

I actually think Lane was an interesting counterbalance to Paris: always reflexively supportive and even admiring of Rory (even when she probably shouldn't have been, like after learning of the affair with Dean), while Paris 'got' Rory but perpetually challenged her (again, in ways that were both positive and taken to a negative extreme!) I do agree, though, that past S3 or so I didn't see much of a genuinely BFF-y chemistry between Rory and Lane---more often than not, they seemed to just sort of dutifully trade information about their lives rather than truly clicking. 

 

My favorite friendships/relationships in no particular order: Rory/Lorelai, Rory/Paris, Luke/Lorelai (the early years!), Rory/Jess, Luke/Jess, Rory/Richard, Lorelai/Sookie (though mostly the early seasons!), and probably a zillion more that I'm blanking out on. Emily/Lorelai is probably the one I'm most mixed on, for reasons I'm sure I've already rambled about :) 

 

Least favorite friendships/relationships: Zach/Lane, Rory/Dean, Lorelai/Max, Luke/Nicole, Rory/Logan (what Taryn said! It's not Logan per se, though I'm not generally a fan of Logan's type and can't stand the smirky actor who plays him. And it's not even like I can't see why many adore them. I just happened not to like who Rory was in their relationship and never quite bought that they 'clicked' as a long-term relationship) TJ/Liz, Paris/Doyle, Jess/Liz, Luke/Liz, Colin/Finn/Logan (I think one easy way to have made Logan a lot more likable and show his growth would have been to have him broaden his social horizons and  make friends with far more likable people outside of his Life and Death Brigade-y circle, maybe even 'geeky' ones),  

 

And I'm dying to ask you guys about this one: Favorite and least favorite gifts given throughout the series :) A few favorites that leap to mind: Lorelai giving Rory all that Yale merchandise as a surprise at the end of Poes, The Chuppah, the ice skating rink, Lorelai giving Emily the VCR, and many more I thought about while walking that I've now already forgotten! 

 

A few gifts that left me meh: 1) Logan giving Rory a Birkin bag (Granted, I'm one of the few women on the planet who couldn't care less about handbags and think paying several thousand for one, regardless of how wealthy you are, is kind of absurd! But I just would have loved a gift that was more specific to who Rory is---like, for instance, a new Kindle ::)

2) Dean's bracelet to Rory---because I just can't make myself care about Dean/Rory, even back in those comparatively good early stages of their relationship...but even more so because the whole 'OMG, who stole it and just how mad will Dean be when he finds out?!' plotline annoys me. 

Edited July 28, 2014 by mstaken

[nolieblue]

OMG -- I could not believe how stupid Rory acted when she lost the bracelet. It was, what, three strips of leather? Why not just tell Dean she lost it? Yeesh. 

 

I did like Rory's reaction to getting the Birkin bag -- she wasn't as impressed with it as Logan thought she would be. 

[Taryn74]

Through the eyes of a teenager, I understand why the bracelet was "important" but Dean's reaction to Rory having lost it was just another indication of why their relationship was so toxic.  Dude overreacts to EVERYTHING.  Geesh.

 

And you know what?  It just occurred to me that he did the same thing with Lindsay (remember her desperation to make the pot roast just right so he would be happy?), which to me is just further proof that he was always like that, rather than the show "dumbing him down" once Jess moved to town.  Hmm, this might be better further discussed in the UO thread.

 

Rory's reaction to the Birkin bag was rather hilarious.

[mstaken]

And you know what?  It just occurred to me that he did the same thing with Lindsay (remember her desperation to make the pot roast just right so he would be happy?), which to me is just further proof that he was always like that, rather than the show "dumbing him down" once Jess moved to town.  Hmm, this might be better further discussed in the UO thread.

 

Responding on that thread, Sister Friend! 

[AlinaRay]

I also loved Rory's reaction to the bag; but I also liked it when she told him she loved him and he said something like "the lady at the store told me this would happen" I found that exchange adorable.

 

As far as other gifts; I like the ice skating rink, and all of the Yale stuff at the end of Poes.

 

I hated the car that Dean gave Rory...I don't know, if he were my son, I would not let him put so much time and energy and money into something for a teenage relationship that (at that point) was only three months old. It just seemed like to extravagant a gift for the point their relationship was at. The bracelet was a much more appropriate teenagery sort of gift.

[Taryn74]

I hated the car that Dean gave Rory...I don't know, if he were my son, I would not let him put so much time and energy and money into something for a teenage relationship that (at that point) was only three months old.

 

 

Good point.  And come to think of it (how did this never occur to me before?  LOL) I can't imagine how much time (not to mention $$) he had to have put into rebuilding that car.  This is one for the nitpick thread for sure!

[GrapeEarth]

I am currently doing a rewatch of the series and it's just nice to have it on again. I forgot how much I had loved the show, thank God for DVDs!

 

I have to say that my favorite season hands down is Season Four. I am a sucker for "kid goes to college" seasons or shows which is usually an unpopular opinion, but I like them and I loved Rory's arrival at Yale and it was nice to have a non-romantic season for Rory. Bless AB, but she had what is described as "anti-chemistry" with men on the show, even Milo whom she dated. I only briefly liked Rory with Dean and that was during Season Four/Season Five. AB just looks so awkward having to play romantic scenes with any male. I'm not speculating on her preferences, just that she isn't comfortable doing love scenes it would appear. She had fabulous chemistry with the women of the show, just never with any male.

The only short coming of Season Four is that disgusting Digger. I hated watching that relationship play out during the shows original run and I hate it still. I just could not stand the actor and the character and it's beyond me that Lorelai found him remotely attractive, he is just so beneath her in so many ways.

I love how this season brings Lorelai's dream to reality and I adore seeing the Inn come together and the final few episodes of the season are just perfection.

 

I have a soft spot for the season two opener and it's follow up because The WB played them as a two hour premiere event and it was a LONG summer waiting for GG to come back on. I got a good friend of mine into the show and we spent the summer watching the first season and highly anticipated the second season, we even had a special dinner in it's honor when it came back in the fall. Good times!

 

I think the show really began to decline in Season Five despite finally having L/L together. Rory went from being a character that I liked and identified with to someone I could not stand to watch. Introducing Logan into the show drove Rory's character into a typical WB/CW heroine who pined over a boy and she never recovered in my eyes. I hated how desperate Rory was for Logan and would degrade herself sexually just to have him pay attention to her. I hated how this forever changed how strong and independent she was. It took a long time for me to enjoy Matt in any other role, even his wonderful job on The Good Wife took time for me to warm to because of how much I hated Logan.