The Dream Is Over
May 16th, 2007 by Cooper Levey-Baker in Television
Last night, circa 8:50 p.m. EST, sobs were heard ’round the world, courage journals were fervently scribbled in and tears welled up in even the most cynical of eyes. What caused such an outpouring of emotion? Was it the new disc of self-loathing emo from the hot new band Crowbar Heart? A communal reading of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel? Or just a, like, totally bummer day? None of the above. The cause of such distress could only be linked to one event: The series finale of Gilmore Girls.
I’ll admit it: I came to the much-heralded WB-cum-CW series late, only latching onto the river-rapid dialogue sometime last year. ABC Family began showing the entire series from the pilot on last fall and, with the handy help of TiVo, my wife Rachel and I were able to literally scan all seven seasons within the past year, watching the ups and downs of Stars Hollow and, of course, the changing love fortunes of both Lorelai and Rory (legal name: Lorelai) Gilmore. So how did the finale stack up?
The main plot points in recent episodes have been two: Rory’s graduation from Yale and her deepening involvement with the narcissistic cad (IMHO) Logan Huntzburger, and Lorelai’s tentative moves toward reconciliation with the love of her life/town grouch Luke Danes. Rory ditched Logan in the penultimate episode, turning down his proposal, and in the finale finds a job as a journalist covering the Barack Obama campagin for an online magazine. This plot line was handled well: Rory’s commission was believable, if a little farfetched (riding on the bus with Obama straight out of school?), but at least she didn’t land some amazing dream job and marry Logan to boot, which would have ended things on a too-saccharine note.
As for Lorelai/Luke, I have a little baggage to unpack before I can explain how/why The Kiss (as it shall hereafter be known forever) won me over against my better judgment. I’ve never been a big Luke fan. Sweet enough, he clearly cares about the Gilmores, but I could never get over his hiding his daughter April from Lorelai. His act is all simple and plain-spoken, but what a secret to keep! So I was glad last season when Lorelai bid him good day and shacked up with Rory’s father, Christopher. After she and Chris split, I knew that before long, the show’s writers would be itching to give viewers exactly what they wanted, a Lorelai/Luke reunion, and I’d been dreading it. Also, the show in general had lost something big-time this year: The writing wasn’t as sharp, Lorelai/Rory seemed like schtick, seven seasons is a long time, etc. So I feared the worst, a giant sappy wedding closing out the series or something equally insulting.
Instead, the writers did me proud, leaving things mostly unspoken, with a romantic kiss between Lorelai and Luke and a brief domestic scene between the two of them and Rory, the morning the latter is set to fly to Iowa to cover Obama. I cried. Big deal.
The creators also nodded to the hardcore fans, with a closing shot fading from Lorelai and Rory chattering in Luke’s diner, out through the plate-glass window and the mother/daughter team’s conversation slowly going quiet, a shot perfectly mirroring the one that closes out the pilot. An elegant way to shut things down.
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
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