By Jae-Ha Kim
Amazon.com
September 19, 2006
The rapid-paced banter between the mother-daughter team of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) is the calling card for Gilmore Girls. The show’s sixth year–which aired during the 2005-2006 TV season–remains witty, charming, and touching. The previous season left Yale undergrad Rory in trouble with the law after a night of very un-Gilmore-like behavior with her rich, handsome boyfriend Logan (Matt Czuchry). This season opens with Rory potentially facing jail time, undecided about returning to college, and–most disturbingly of all–fighting with her mother. This isn’t a fight over who gets to eat the last egg roll, but rather a battle of wills.
It will take a few episodes before the two are talking to each other again and the viewer can breathe a sigh of relief that all is well in Stars Hollow. In the meantime, Rory moves into her busybody grandparents’ pool house. One evening, they invite their minister over to dinner. His job? To encourage Rory to remain chaste. Not one to be told how to live her life, Rory is nonplussed. After telling him he’s a little too late to offer that advice, she asks, “Have you seen The 40 Year Old Virgin“?
After many years of playing verbal footsy, Lorelai and Luke (Scott Patterson) finally get serious and engaged. But just when things are going smoothly, Luke learns of a daughter he never knew he had. The introduction of the little girl doesn’t do much for the plot–other than to slow it down and cause more fights between Luke and Lorelai. When Luke warns Lorelai, “I don’t like ultimatums,” she snaps back, “I don’t like Mondays, but unfortunately they come around eventually.”
This 5-disc 22-episode set includes an eclectic and impressive range of guest stars (Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, Paul Anka, Sonic Youth, and Madeline Albright, who appears in a dream sequence as Rory’s mom). But it’s cast regular Kelly Bishop as Lorelai’s mother Emily who is one of the show’s true gems. Prim, proper, and judgmental, she’s also fiercely protective of her brood. When she learns that Logan’s mother said unfavorable things about Rory, Emily confronts the woman and puts her in her place. Politely, of course.
By the end of the season, one of the main characters will get married, another will have an affair, and a third will have a dalliance with an ex-boyfriend. But the relationship between Lorelai and Rory remains strong. And that’s what keeps viewers watching.
