Warning: If you have not seen Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life in its entirety, STOP READING NOW. The below is filled with spoilers.
As someone who caught on to the Gilmore Girls craze after it hit Netflix, I have waited quite a while to know how the Gilmores’ story would end. Granted, I have not waited as long as tried-and-true WB-era Gilmore fans, but still, I’ve had months going on years to think about every possible scenario. At least that’s what I thought.
In my dream world, Lorelai and Luke were happily married, and Rory finally chose a beau. I went back and forth on whether it should be Jess or Logan, but I wanted a feeling of finality to Rory’s love life. For my sanity to remain intact, I needed Rory to stop being so wishy-washy and make up her mind.
The season seven finale, which eventually served as the original series finale, left the Gilmores’ love lives somewhat up in the air. Rory had just turned down a proposal from Logan, and Lorelai and Luke were kissing on the street and trading bickering banter over coffee pours in the diner.
As a lover of all things Rory and Lorelai, I was happy with the mother-daughter duo going about their lives as normal, maintaining their quick rhythm, even if they were both single. But the series was so much about love and relationships that I couldn’t settle with the Amy Sherman-Palladino-less ending we were given when the series was canceled.
So when the Gilmore Girls revival was announced, I thought we’d finally get our answer. Yes, Luke and Lorelai are now married, and their wedding was entirely sweet and romantic and Stars Hollow-y. But after watching Rory and Logan rekindle their friends-with-benefits, no-strings-attached relationship—which didn’t work out so well for them in season five, I must say—for four installments, I thought Rory was moving toward her happily ever after.
But Logan was engaged and he and Rory said a completely devastating and seemingly permanent farewell in the lobby of a New Hampshire bed and breakfast come “Fall.”
And then there’s Jess, who appeared in the Netflix event much less than I would’ve liked. He only briefly showed us how much he still cares for Rory near the very end of the revival, staring longingly at her through her living room window. It was short, but a very meaningful glance.
With minutes left, Rory’s romantic future seemed quite dim. Then she and Lorelai exchanged the final four words:
“Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m pregnant.”
It makes sense, right? This moment is the entire series coming full circle. But it also leaves so much up in the air. Who is the father of Rory’s baby? You might think Logan, but there are rabid Team Jess fans in comment threads around the internet at this very moment arguing that that one look through a window meant he could very well be the daddy.
Regardless of if you even care who the father is or how Rory’s love life will turn out, there’s the very obvious question of whether Rory will tackle life as a single mom. It seems kind of a given, if this plot point is meant to mirror Lorelai’s story.
I totally realize these are all just details, but I don’t know yet if I can be satisfied with this conclusion of Gilmore Girls. I absolutely love that Rory will have the chance to emulate her mother and possibly raise a baby right alongside her. What better story could we ask for?
But I need more than a shocking cliffhanger of an ending to satisfy me. And frankly, I think the Gilmore girls deserved better.
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