Season 6

[Viqutorious]

Nevermind.

Edited September 18, 2016 by CheeseBurgh

[hippielamb]

Partings

Nice symmetry between the opening and final scenes. Good bookends to this episode.

Loved Mitchum's scene with Rory. She thinks everything is about her, that I rather enjoyed Mitchum telling her the real reason for his decision. I guess you could argue Rory has embraced her Gilmore destiny by being so selfish but she does it with less charm than her mother.

The troubadours were fun just by Taylor's reaction. He seems stuck in the '50's with his attitudes.

Loved the Friday night dinner scenes, not only for the Lor & Chris moments but also for the elder Gilmores who were very funny. Their fake laughter with Lynnie and the Rory Gilmore Building idea had me laughing.

I think Lorelai knew it was over between her and Luke since the last episode. Avoiding him, and the somewhat manic ultimatum (which felt like a Hail Mary pass) leads me to believe this.

I'm glad to be done with season 6. It had a few fun moments but was much too serious and downright depressing for my tastes. 

[Spartan Girl]

Anyone with half an ounce of common sense and maturity would have just talked to Luke, even to break things off, instead of hiding from him all week and blindsiding him with the ultimatum.  Just sayin'.

[FictionLover]

5 hours ago, hippielamb said:

Partings

Nice symmetry between the opening and final scenes. Good bookends to this episode.

Loved Mitchum's scene with Rory. She thinks everything is about her, that I rather enjoyed Mitchum telling her the real reason for his decision. I guess you could argue Rory has embraced her Gilmore destiny by being so selfish but she does it with less charm than her mother.

The troubadours were fun just by Taylor's reaction. He seems stuck in the '50's with his attitudes.

Loved the Friday night dinner scenes, not only for the Lor & Chris moments but also for the elder Gilmores who were very funny. Their fake laughter with Lynnie and the Rory Gilmore Building idea had me laughing.

I think Lorelai knew it was over between her and Luke since the last episode. Avoiding him, and the somewhat manic ultimatum (which felt like a Hail Mary pass) leads me to believe this.

I'm glad to be done with season 6. It had a few fun moments but was much too serious and downright depressing for my tastes.

I only watched this depressing episode once so I don't recall what bookends you are referring to and its just too sad to watch it again to find it to fond out  :(

[lulu1960]

Quote

Nice symmetry between the opening and final scenes. Good bookends to this episode.

If I am not mistaken. the opening scene has Lorelai laying on the couch (at Sookie and Jackson's),facing the camera,  all forlorned and sad, and at the end she is laying in bed (with Chris), facing the camera, looking forlorned and sad.

Edited September 21, 2016 by lulu1960

[cantbeflapped]

So, I'm behind in the rewatch as I paused right when Mrs. Kim was about to tell Lorelai that she needed a man to come to the wedding.  (Hated that contrivance.)  I was strongly considering skipping a few episodes for the first time this rewatch.  These are so hard to watch.  But seeing folks here find things to appreciate in these episodes makes me think I might just soldier through!  

[FictionLover]

39 minutes ago, cantbeflapped said:

So, I'm behind in the rewatch as I paused right when Mrs. Kim was about to tell Lorelai that she needed a man to come to the wedding.  (Hated that contrivance.)  I was strongly considering skipping a few episodes for the first time this rewatch.  These are so hard to watch.  But seeing folks here find things to appreciate in these episodes makes me think I might just soldier through!  

You are a stronger person than me, CANTBEFLAPPED!

[Smad]

35 minutes ago, cantbeflapped said:

So, I'm behind in the rewatch as I paused right when Mrs. Kim was about to tell Lorelai that she needed a man to come to the wedding.  (Hated that contrivance.)  I was strongly considering skipping a few episodes for the first time this rewatch.  These are so hard to watch.  But seeing folks here find things to appreciate in these episodes makes me think I might just soldier through!  

Seriously, live up to your name. You can't be flapped, remember? Although I'm one to talk. Conveniently my later Seasons abruptly end at 6.08 and start again in 7.15. I just can't find the epiosdes in between. Maybe I just can't find them because I don't have them (seriously I don't).

[hippielamb]

21 hours ago, cantbeflapped said:

So, I'm behind in the rewatch as I paused right when Mrs. Kim was about to tell Lorelai that she needed a man to come to the wedding.  (Hated that contrivance.)  I was strongly considering skipping a few episodes for the first time this rewatch.  These are so hard to watch.  But seeing folks here find things to appreciate in these episodes makes me think I might just soldier through!  

cantbeflapped, I felt similarly during parts of this rewatch but it's been a lonnnnnnng time since I watched them all in order with no flash forwarding. Once this rewatch is over, I am digging into season 1, my GG happy place.

[junienmomo]

1 hour ago, hippielamb said:

cantbeflapped, I felt similarly during parts of this rewatch but it's been a lonnnnnnng time since I watched them all in order with no flash forwarding. Once this rewatch is over, I am digging into season 1, my GG happy place.

I tried this. It failed at episode 6.08, so I stopped. I'm back in seasons one and five.

[cantbeflapped]

5 hours ago, hippielamb said:

cantbeflapped, I felt similarly during parts of this rewatch but it's been a lonnnnnnng time since I watched them all in order with no flash forwarding. Once this rewatch is over, I am digging into season 1, my GG happy place.

Yeah, it had been a long time since I saw some of these S6 episodes too.  And I did soldier through yesterday evening....made it to season 7... Yay!  And there were little things here and there to appreciate....mostly things mentioned by others upthread.  

One of the most noteworthy moments of these last four episodes of season 6, to me, was Lorelei flat out telling Linny "I want another kid".  I'm 99% spoiler free for the revival but I'll just say if Lorelai doesn't have another kid, there should be a really good explanation... I guess any more discussion of this should be in the revival thread...not the spoiler one though....I don't go there.  :). 

Also, I really dig Logan and Rory's angst filled goodby in Partings.  (AB's crying problems aside.)  Logan's limp really added to the effect, I think....her at the door....him at the elevator....well done.  

[Guest]

In an attempt to catch up with the rewatch, I finally finished Season 6 last night. I think the part that bugs me most about the ultimatum is Lorelai's hypocrisy. When she and Rory were fighting, she delayed everything for 6 months. Luke was supportive. And while none of the things she said about April were wrong, if he had dared saying anything like that to discount her relationship with Rory, she would have lost it. 

[Melancholy]

So just thought about He's Slippin' Em Bread, Dig and the Christopher-hate was re-dredged up. Even in an ep that's supposed to be flattering to him as he offers to pay for Yale, he doesn't know that Rory dropped out of Yale. Just another instance of him being completely checked out as a father that he didn't have Clue 1 on what was happening in his daughter's life for the last seven months AT LEAST. I mean, everyone acts like Chris was more involved in Rory's life from 16 on when the show began compared to when she was a child and he'd never visited Stars Hallow. "More involved" means that there's sporadic gaps where there's a weekly phone call but these long stretches (where coincidentally, there's no Lorelai/Chris romance storyline) where he's completely checked out. 

[readster]

2 hours ago, Melancholy said:

So just thought about He's Slippin' Em Bread, Dig and the Christopher-hate was re-dredged up. Even in an ep that's supposed to be flattering to him as he offers to pay for Yale, he doesn't know that Rory dropped out of Yale. Just another instance of him being completely checked out as a father that he didn't have Clue 1 on what was happening in his daughter's life for the last seven months AT LEAST. I mean, everyone acts like Chris was more involved in Rory's life from 16 on when the show began compared to when she was a child and he'd never visited Stars Hallow. "More involved" means that there's sporadic gaps where there's a weekly phone call but these long stretches (where coincidentally, there's no Lorelai/Chris romance storyline) where he's completely checked out. 

That's why I got so sick of Chris, everyone acted like he was involved more and he wasn't, he just wasn't. He was involved if it involved Lorelei or related to her. I don't care how much "in love" AS-P was with Rick Suttcliff or the chemistry he had with Lauren Graham, he was a spineless, oblivious asshole and always got a damn pass because: "He's Rory's father." Oh shut up! Anyone can be a sperm donor, takes a man to be a father and Chris just wasn't.

[Smad]

10 hours ago, Melancholy said:

So just thought about He's Slippin' Em Bread, Dig and the Christopher-hate was re-dredged up. Even in an ep that's supposed to be flattering to him as he offers to pay for Yale, he doesn't know that Rory dropped out of Yale. Just another instance of him being completely checked out as a father that he didn't have Clue 1 on what was happening in his daughter's life for the last seven months AT LEAST. I mean, everyone acts like Chris was more involved in Rory's life from 16 on when the show began compared to when she was a child and he'd never visited Stars Hallow. "More involved" means that there's sporadic gaps where there's a weekly phone call but these long stretches (where coincidentally, there's no Lorelai/Chris romance storyline) where he's completely checked out. 

IMO the problem here is ASP. I don't think that Chris was ever intended to be Christopher: Father of Rory Gilmore. The premise of the show alone meant that he would never play the role of father. It's not GG if there is an involved father in the picture. It seemed that he would always play the role of Christopher: Lorelai's Maybe Romantic Endgame. IMO ASP not being a mother herself didn't see the major problems that way of storytelling would bring with it. It's probably why she always has everyone brush off Chris's deadbeat-ness. It's like telling the audience 'That's not why he's here people. He's not here to be Rory's father'. It's actually kind of troubling that ASP didn't see how wrong it was to often have Chris use Rory as a stepping stone to get to Lorelai. Or that his deadbeat-ness should not be a hinderance to a possible L/C endgame. I'm not a mother either but even I can see that something is very wrong with that picture.

[RachelKM]

11 hours ago, Smad said:

IMO the problem here is ASP. I don't think that Chris was ever intended to be Christopher: Father of Rory Gilmore. The premise of the show alone meant that he would never play the role of father. It's not GG if there is an involved father in the picture. It seemed that he would always play the role of Christopher: Lorelai's Maybe Romantic Endgame. IMO ASP not being a mother herself didn't see the major problems that way of storytelling would bring with it. It's probably why she always has everyone brush off Chris's deadbeat-ness. It's like telling the audience 'That's not why he's here people. He's not here to be Rory's father'. It's actually kind of troubling that ASP didn't see how wrong it was to often have Chris use Rory as a stepping stone to get to Lorelai. Or that his deadbeat-ness should not be a hinderance to a possible L/C endgame. I'm not a mother either but even I can see that something is very wrong with that picture.

I posted something very similar in another thread (or maybe even this one, I get confused sometimes :) ).  Like you, I was struck by the way the show's focused on Christopher almost exclusively through the lens of Lorelai's love interest and barely acknowledge his status as Rory's father.  Even when it was referenced, his being Rory's dad was generally discussed in the context of how it fit in vis-a-vis his relationship with Lorelai, i.e. Rory shutting him out because of Lorelai, will dating Lorelai effect their renewed closeness, etc.  People like to complain about how Lorelai hand-waves his absenteeism as a father, but the it's the show that does this as part of a broader theme of brushing off the fact that he is a father at all, except as it relates to his relevance to Lorelai.

Edited October 10, 2016 by RachelKM

[readster]

7 hours ago, Smad said:

IMO the problem here is ASP. I don't think that Chris was ever intended to be Christopher: Father of Rory Gilmore. The premise of the show alone meant that he would never play the role of father. It's not GG if there is an involved father in the picture. It seemed that he would always play the role of Christopher: Lorelai's Maybe Romantic Endgame. IMO ASP not being a mother herself didn't see the major problems that way of storytelling would bring with it. It's probably why she always has everyone brush off Chris's deadbeat-ness. It's like telling the audience 'That's not why he's here people. He's not here to be Rory's father'. It's actually kind of troubling that ASP didn't see how wrong it was to often have Chris use Rory as a stepping stone to get to Lorelai. Or that his deadbeat-ness should not be a hinderance to a possible L/C endgame. I'm not a mother either but even I can see that something is very wrong with that picture.

Right and that's where problems where with Anna IMHO too. It was like: "See, she sacrificed everything to be a mom to April." Instead it came off as: "Luke is a complete moron for not tearing a new one to Anna and thinking handling everything in secret was a good idea instead he was a spineless coward about it." I think if AS-P or her husband (How I refer to him) were parents they might have seen this instead of having a hard on for Rick Suttcliff or other actors they thought had great chemistry, but were piss poor characters. 

[Viqutorious]

People do realize Chris was a 16 year old when Rory was born I hope. I have a 17 year old son who would be the worst father on the planet at this point in his life. He's a nice kid, but not Dad material! My oldest son would have made a passable father at that same age.

I'm not excusing him but Chris was let off the hook by everyone, including Lorelai when he was a teenager. We aren't discussing a grown man with a fully formed frontal lobe. I cut him slack due to his age and circumstances.

[TimetravellingBW]

I'll cut Chris some slack for not coming through when he was 16. Especially as he was willing to marry Lorelai and work for Richard so he didn't completely bail. But he has zero excuse for seeing Rory once or twice a year until she was 16. He didn't mature by 22, by 25, by 30. That isn't a teenager, that's a fully grown man and plenty of guys become fathers and actually hold down full time jobs at those ages. And never at any of those ages was full, 24/7 fatherhood required. Just showing up when he says he would and visiting his daughter in her home town. Chris had 16 years to get himself together and took far too long. 

[junienmomo]

4 hours ago, TimetravellingBW said:

I'll cut Chris some slack for not coming through when he was 16. Especially as he was willing to marry Lorelai and work for Richard so he didn't completely bail. But he has zero excuse for seeing Rory once or twice a year until she was 16. He didn't mature by 22, by 25, by 30. That isn't a teenager, that's a fully grown man and plenty of guys become fathers and actually hold down full time jobs at those ages. And never at any of those ages was full, 24/7 fatherhood required. Just showing up when he says he would and visiting his daughter in her home town. Chris had 16 years to get himself together and took far too long. 

And don't forget financial support. When he was working or using his presumed trust fund to "find himself" he should have found a percentage of that to send to Rory whether Lorelai asked for it or not. As of adulthood he was a deadbeat dad and was worshipped in spite of that fact. That turns my stomach even before I met the character.

[Kohola3]

Quote

 As of adulthood he was a deadbeat dad and was worshipped in spite of that fact. That turns my stomach even before I met the character.

And when he told Lorelai to take off her shirt in front of his 16 year old daughter on a public street solidified my disgust at our very first glimpse of him. Set the groundwork for my loathing throughout the series.

[Smad]

5 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

And when he told Lorelai to take off her shirt in front of his 16 year old daughter on a public street solidified my disgust at our very first glimpse of him. Set the groundwork for my loathing throughout the series.

Haha same for me. Who the hell yells that in the middle of the street where children could be in earshot (not just Rory)? I mean good God man, don't you have any children yourself to know how totally inappropriate that is? Oh wait.

And Rory's reaction to him said more than a thousand words. Lorelai recognises him but Rory stands there with a confused look on her face. Then Lorelai says his name and Rory still stands there until literally a lightbulb goes on. Good grief. When was the last time she saw him that she is unable to recognize her own father even after his name was said?

And this is then followed by Christopher Returns. The episode made me wonder how one can walk upright without a spine. And Chris doing what he does best. Step 1) get alcohol, Step 2) find vulnerable Lorelai and Step 3) take off cothes. Guess it's a blessing that Lorelai had previously gotten into the dating game and had a sexual relationship with Max so she was all covered in the birth control area. Otherwise history would have repeated itself because we all know that birth control and Chris do not mix.

[Melancholy]

I guess to pile on some more, this most recent Chris-bashing wasn't started to criticize his 16-year old self. It was started to criticize how he behaved at around 36 near the end of the series. Apparently, he couldn't even stay in touch with his daughter for months to know that Rory dropped out of Yale and drastically changed her life for the worse for months. After five years of promises that he wanted to be a more involved father and self-pitying naval-gazing that he hated the distance between him and Rory. Practically all of the series characters are living in this many-episode drama that Rory is taking her life off course and then, wanders in THE ACTUAL FATHER to quip after he's learned for the first time when it's all over.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Melancholy

[readster]

1 hour ago, Melancholy said:

I guess to pile on some more, this most recent Chris-bashing wasn't started to criticize his 16-year old self. It was started to criticize how he behaved at around 36 near the end of the series. Apparently, he couldn't even stay in touch with his daughter for months to know that Rory dropped out of Yale and drastically changed her life for the worse for months. After five years of promises that he wanted to be a more involved father and self-pitying naval-gazing that he hated the distance between him and Rory. Practically all of the series characters are living in this many-episode drama that Rory is taking her life off course and then, wanders in THE ACTUAL FATHER to quip after he's learned for the first time when it's all over.

I completely agree. I get the 16 year old being cut slack, considering his age, maturity and his view on everything from his own family and on. However, that's where everyone seem to focus on. His 16 year old self not being ready and constant excuses that a man in his 30s, who got a very good job, home, inheritence continued to be a guy who was happier to have sex and be married to his original daughter's mother than to care about either one of his kids unless it suited to be with Lorelai. That is where the line is drawn. 

[shron17]

5 hours ago, readster said:

Apparently, he couldn't even stay in touch with his daughter for months to know that Rory dropped out of Yale and drastically changed her life for the worse for months.

I remember when we started hearing spoilers about end of season 5/Rory's meltdown ASP said in one interview that she would probably go to her dad.  Maybe David Sutcliffe wasn't available since that obviously changed.  It certainly would have changed dynamics between all the Gilmores in season 6.  

[readster]

3 hours ago, shron17 said:

I remember when we started hearing spoilers about end of season 5/Rory's meltdown ASP said in one interview that she would probably go to her dad.  Maybe David Sutcliffe wasn't available since that obviously changed.  It certainly would have changed dynamics between all the Gilmores in season 6.  

I agree and I know that David Sutcliffee was busy due to various factors, so hence they changed to the Elder Gilmores, which still made sense. However, continued to paid Chris as oblvious to his oldest daughter's issues. When AS-P and her husband kept saying: "He's learn and give him a break." What crap!

[hippielamb]

4 hours ago, shron17 said:

I remember when we started hearing spoilers about end of season 5/Rory's meltdown ASP said in one interview that she would probably go to her dad.  Maybe David Sutcliffe wasn't available since that obviously changed.  It certainly would have changed dynamics between all the Gilmores in season 6.  

I seriously doubt Chris would have gone against Lorelai, like the Gilmores did. He always defers to her on all things Rory. I would have liked to see him at least know about it, pre-thanksgiving lunch because I think he would have understood that Rory needed a break, and that it is not the end of a world for a kid to drop out. 

[readster]

Right, and it would have had Chris going back to why he dropped out of college himself, but was over different reasons. Yet, they couldn't think of that. 

[Melancholy]

I really can't picture Rory moving in with Chris at the end of S5. It just doesn't parse. I can't even buy ASP writing the "Rory v. Lorelai rift" storyline without writing towards the series-long theme of Emily/Richard seeing Rory as a second chance at raising a daughter and Rory being seduced by the kind of life they can give her. As I see it, that E/R theme was one of the main reasons for writing the Rory end of S5/early S6 story. I get why people take creators at face value, but it sounds to me, like ASP was trying to create misdirection on Rory's storyline to maximize suspense. (Although, admittedly, I could have more easily believed ASP if she said that they were considering having Rory move in with Logan at the end of S5. Partly because Rory speeding along becoming Mrs. Huntzberger also feeds into the themes that S5/6 was going for. But also because there's a pretty long list of people who I could picture Rory turning to in her time of need before Christopher.) 

[hippielamb]

On 10/13/2016 at 11:08 AM, readster said:

Right, and it would have had Chris going back to why he dropped out of college himself, but was over different reasons. Yet, they couldn't think of that. 

It's very vague but I am under the impression that Chris never went to college, rather than dropping out. He said something like, if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant, he still wouldn't have gone to Princeton. He could have sympathized with Rory over leaving school. It's sad that she didn't really have much of a support system during that time. 

On 10/13/2016 at 11:55 AM, Melancholy said:

I really can't picture Rory moving in with Chris at the end of S5. It just doesn't parse. I can't even buy ASP writing the "Rory v. Lorelai rift" storyline without writing towards the series-long theme of Emily/Richard seeing Rory as a second chance at raising a daughter and Rory being seduced by the kind of life they can give her. As I see it, that E/R theme was one of the main reasons for writing the Rory end of S5/early S6 story. I get why people take creators at face value, but it sounds to me, like ASP was trying to create misdirection on Rory's storyline to maximize suspense. (Although, admittedly, I could have more easily believed ASP if she said that they were considering having Rory move in with Logan at the end of S5. Partly because Rory speeding along becoming Mrs. Huntzberger also feeds into the themes that S5/6 was going for. But also because there's a pretty long list of people who I could picture Rory turning to in her time of need before Christopher.) 

Yeah, I think the plan was always to put Rory in the Gilmores world and see how she fares without Lorelai. Even when Emily had Rory at the house watching ballroom dancing tapes back in season 4, Rory had to have mommy save her. From the beginning she has been very understanding of her grandparents, even criticizing her mother's actions regarding them. She needed to see the Gilmores through adult eyes.

[Guest]

I don't think she had adult eyes for the situation. She had to do what amounted to roughly 12 hours of community service a week,  yet whined she couldn't really work because of that. She had no bills or responsibility.

[readster]

1 hour ago, hippielamb said:

It's very vague but I am under the impression that Chris never went to college, rather than dropping out. He said something like, if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant, he still wouldn't have gone to Princeton. He could have sympathized with Rory over leaving school. It's sad that she didn't really have much of a support system during that time. 

Yeah, I think the plan was always to put Rory in the Gilmores world and see how she fares without Lorelai. Even when Emily had Rory at the house watching ballroom dancing tapes back in season 4, Rory had to have mommy save her. From the beginning she has been very understanding of her grandparents, even criticizing her mother's actions regarding them. She needed to see the Gilmores through adult eyes.

Actually, Straub said if it wouldn't have been Lorelai or Rory, Christopher wouldn't have dropped out of school. Then he had told Lorelai he still would have dropped out. I took it more that he went in, but barely made it to his first semester/year before saying: "Forget this!"

[Kohola3]

Quote

I took it more that he went in, but barely made it to his first semester/year before saying: "Forget this!"

And then fumbled around for the next 16  years apparently unable to either make a decent living or dial a phone.  Then he inherited his fortune which allowed him to throw money around at will.  What a frickin' loser.

[moonb]

Straub refers to being "humiliated" that Christopher didn't go to Princeton specifically, like every other Hayden male. You could interpret that as Chris having attended a lower prestige two or four year degree program, like Lorelai did. I could see Chris taking years to get a college degree though.  

I don't know if season 5 Chris could have had that much influence on Rory, since she's angry at him earlier that year for what she thinks is interfering in Lorelai's life, and she's pretty cold to him when he shows up at Yale after Straub dies.  David Sutcliffe's availability aside, it's telling that in the GG universe, no one - not Lorelai, Rory, Emily or Richard - thinks to call Chris and tell him about Rory's dropping out. They just don't take him that seriously.

Edited October 15, 2016 by moonb

[readster]

23 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

And then fumbled around for the next 16  years apparently unable to either make a decent living or dial a phone.  Then he inherited his fortune which allowed him to throw money around at will.  What a frickin' loser.

I just decided to watch that episode and yes, Straub said that didn't "complete" Princeton like the rest of the men in his family and after what was said to Lorelai in that same episode. It seems like he tried another college, but didn't make it either. Why he was doing odd jobs and had built up a rep to be a consultant with a private company that was making money. So, he fell up to success, but still didn't hit him in the head he didn't know how to be a father and his idea was just throwing money out and trying to adapt back to a lifestyle he was happy with ie Lorelai and being with her. Why he said that kissing Lorelai was the best moment of his life and his other idea of "growing up" was being there for Sherry since he got her pregnant too. But then his idea of "being there" was just paying the bills. When Sherry left it was AS-P's classic: "Feel sorry for poor Christopher, he just can't catch a break." Where I wanted to say: "Yes, that was horrible, but the man has to grow the hell up and be a MAN!" 

[andromeda331]

On ‎10‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 0:09 PM, Kohola3 said:

And then fumbled around for the next 16  years apparently unable to either make a decent living or dial a phone.  Then he inherited his fortune which allowed him to throw money around at will.  What a frickin' loser.

Exactly. He didn't stay sixteen. He had plenty of time to grow up and he didn't.

[readster]

That's exactly it and everyone cut him slack because of what his "sixteen year self did". Yet, no one for one second went: "He is in this 30s now, get a life, Chris." Oh no it was: "Poor Chris, here have some inheritance." "Here I sleep with you just by looking at you." "Oh yeah, should be married and be one big happy family." "Give the man some slack." Oh shut up!

[JAYJAY1979]

Finished season 6...and while it wasnt GG at its best..it certainly is heads better then a lot of shows.

With that said, season 6 reminded me of a primetime soap more then any other previous season.  Mother/daughter conflict lasting half a season...the arrival of a daughter no one knew existed....the daughters mother providing a wedge between the main super couple, and the young couple going through typical angst..with a hint of class differences hinted at.  Plus the season ending cliffhanger as well.

Only problem ASP had was that there wad very little fall out or long term effects once an arc resolved.  Case in po8nt..loralei and rory's estrangement that lasted 9 or 10 episodes.  Very little long term effect or permanent change in their relationship...once they reconciled nothing changed.

Character growth also seems a foreign concept to her...so ill be intrigued to see how season 7 differs without her at the helm.

Also, rory has little to no trouble going back to Yale...it was almost as if she never left...other then the brief therapy scene...that only touched on her relationship with Logan...while loralei and rory have a very unhealthy relationship...too much emeshment and co deoendency...which season 4 briefly touched on.

[junienmomo]

6 hours ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

Finished season 6...and while it wasnt GG at its best..it certainly is heads better then a lot of shows.

With that said, season 6 reminded me of a primetime soap more then any other previous season.  Mother/daughter conflict lasting half a season...the arrival of a daughter no one knew existed....the daughters mother providing a wedge between the main super couple, and the young couple going through typical angst..with a hint of class differences hinted at.  Plus the season ending cliffhanger as well.

Only problem ASP had was that there wad very little fall out or long term effects once an arc resolved.  Case in po8nt..loralei and rory's estrangement that lasted 9 or 10 episodes.  Very little long term effect or permanent change in their relationship...once they reconciled nothing changed.

Character growth also seems a foreign concept to her...so ill be intrigued to see how season 7 differs without her at the helm.

Also, rory has little to no trouble going back to Yale...it was almost as if she never left...other then the brief therapy scene...that only touched on her relationship with Logan...while loralei and rory have a very unhealthy relationship...too much emeshment and co deoendency...which season 4 briefly touched on.

When writers run out of ideas and refuse to consider others' inputs, they tend to resort to hackneyed soap opera plots. 

ASP desperately needed an editor that she would listen to. Instead she put a choke hold on her own idea until she killed it. 

I figure they had 4-5 seasons worth of good material. The should have stopped then. 

[ChlcGirl]

On 8/24/2016 at 5:11 PM, junienmomo said:

The ultimatum sounded exactly like Emily to me. 

Then, as the season progressed, Lorelai vacillated between depression about Rory and manic Rory behavior like when Rory called about the party. I'm currently toying with the idea that the writers were taking her down a bipolar path. 

I know I'm late to the party on this topic, but I'm just at 6 in my rewatch.  Re: how Lorelei sounded like Emily with her ultimatum ... Did she though?  If we equate Rory wanting to drop out of Yale with Lorelei getting pregnant, Emily ultimately let Lorelei do exactly as she wanted, i.e. have Rory and not marry Chris.  She didn't kick her out of the mansion or force her to do anything.  We never even heard what Richard and Emily did that made Lorelei's life so unbearable other than trying to make her behave as a young girl in her social class should act.  Not such a massive deal.

In fact, during this rewatch, seeing everything with more (ahem) mature eyes, it seems to me that Lorelei's emotional maturity seemed to have stopped somewhere around 16.  She acts like a put upon teenager whenever she gets around her parents. It's not attractive in the least.  And it seems to occur even when they try to approach her like an adult.

[junienmomo]

3 hours ago, ChlcGirl said:

I know I'm late to the party on this topic, but I'm just at 6 in my rewatch.  Re: how Lorelei sounded like Emily with her ultimatum ... Did she though?  If we equate Rory wanting to drop out of Yale with Lorelei getting pregnant, Emily ultimately let Lorelei do exactly as she wanted, i.e. have Rory and not marry Chris.  She didn't kick her out of the mansion or force her to do anything.  We never even heard what Richard and Emily did that made Lorelei's life so unbearable other than trying to make her behave as a young girl in her social class should act.  Not such a massive deal.

In fact, during this rewatch, seeing everything with more (ahem) mature eyes, it seems to me that Lorelei's emotional maturity seemed to have stopped somewhere around 16.  She acts like a put upon teenager whenever she gets around her parents. It's not attractive in the least.  And it seems to occur even when they try to approach her like an adult.

I don't think Emily 'let' her do what she wanted, rather when Lorelai left, she couldn't do much. It seems very unlikely that police would haul a seventeen year old out of her private living situation in order to return her to her parents. 

You said it very well about the put upon teen. She felt very comfortable in that role and I'm guessing had dramatized it heavily in her mind so she was always searching for the insult. Granted, they were very frequently actual insults, but she sometimes behaved like an abused dog when she wasn't. 

[ChlcGirl]

7 minutes ago, junienmomo said:

I don't think Emily 'let' her do what she wanted, rather when Lorelai left, she couldn't do much. It seems very unlikely that police would haul a seventeen year old out of her private living situation in order to return her to her parents. 

You said it very well about the put upon teen. She felt very comfortable in that role and I'm guessing had dramatized it heavily in her mind so she was always searching for the insult. Granted, they were very frequently actual insults, but she sometimes behaved like an abused dog when she wasn't. 

I didn't mean what Lorelei did after she left, but rather Lor not following "the plan" once she got pregnant.  Emily and Richard wanted her to marry Chris.  Lor nixed that but it wasnt like they kicked her out of the house.  She stayed there, rent-free and not going to school.  Had she wanted to, I have no doubt that R&E would have paid for a baby nurse to take care of Rory while Lorelei went to school. I also think that your daughter getting pregnant at 16 is probably much more traumatic than your daughter dropping out of college at 20, yet it was only Lorelei that dropped some serious ultimatums on her kid.

I also think that the estrangement between Lor and her parents was more because she wanted it rather than they did.  The worst thing I saw them do over the course of the show was the nonsense with Christopher in S5.

I say all this even though I think Rory was an idiot through the end of season 5, and all of 6 and 7.  I seriously disliked her.  

[ChlcGirl]

Great Christ above! Has anyone mentioned that in the first episode, when Lorelei confronts her parents while they're in bed Richard is wearing a GOLD CHAIN?

WHAT IN THE HELL?

[Kohola3]

Quote

Great Christ above! Has anyone mentioned that in the first episode, when Lorelei confronts her parents while they're in bed Richard is wearing a GOLD CHAIN?

I remember being shocked as well.  Just so NotRichard.

[PamelaMaeSnap]

On September 8, 2016 at 3:50 PM, cantbeflapped said:

He has an interesting theory.  He thinks part of the dinner didn't actually happen, alternated between reality and showing subtext or something.  I don't agree with him, too artsy fartsy for GG, but thought it was interesting anyways

I actually thought the same thing, that there was some sort of alternate reality going on there (says the person who JUST watched this episode in the last few days, trying to time the end of my bingewatch of S7 with the day before I start my Thanksgiving festivities, highlighted, of course, by watching the whole reboot with my daughter with cups of coffee and matching Dragonfly Inn t-shirts) ... I watched it twice and still couldn't quite figure out if they were trying to imply that it was just a wild and crazy long night with lots of chair switching or a pastiche of coulda-been alternate reality moments when in fact it was just a quiet drama-free FND.

I would have thought the latter except for the subtle looks of exhaustion and defeat on L&R's faces when they left. And I haven't listened to Gilmore Guys to hear what they think (I guess I should, because it was one of the most fascinating scenes ever).

[Guest]

I think it was meant to be clear that the fight is what led to them reinstating Friday night dinners instead of that being a one-off, so I disagree with the theory. 

[Taryn74]

1 hour ago, ChlcGirl said:

Great Christ above! Has anyone mentioned that in the first episode, when Lorelei confronts her parents while they're in bed Richard is wearing a GOLD CHAIN?

WHAT IN THE HELL?

Bahahahahahaaaaa.  Definitely a WTF? moment.

[readster]

Even if it was Edward Hermann's personal chain, that just made no sense at all. 

[Bumblebee Tights]

22 hours ago, ChlcGirl said:

Great Christ above! Has anyone mentioned that in the first episode, when Lorelei confronts her parents while they're in bed Richard is wearing a GOLD CHAIN?

WHAT IN THE HELL?

??? . I love this comment so much!

[ChlcGirl]

I am now in the second half on 6 and can I just say how much I hate pretty much everyone on the show right now?  Lorelei acts like a child instead of a woman of 37 in almost every episode.  I'm exhausted by all her quips.  Luke vacillates between a doormat and an asshole, depending on the episode.  Rory is so special snowflakey my palm itches to slap her face.  April, shut up.  liz and TJ, kill.  Richard & Emily, shrill and judgey.  And I can not stand, honest to God HATE, Paul Anna and all of Loreleis stories about him.

Hate, hate, hate.