Note: If they'd shaved five minutes off of the musical (which still made me laugh a lot), this would be a 10. It just falls short.
A year in the Life was outstanding and extremely satisfying. I sincerely hope that all of the upset fans out there griping about the plot lines don't discourage that Palladinos from exploring more of these characters if they truly want to. Warts and all, these are some of the best characters ever written.
So Rory's a mess. What's new? She's been a mess since meeting Logan. Or did we conveniently forget dropping out of Yale, stealing a boat, getting arrested, doing community service, and having a huge blowup with Lorelai? We wanted her to be "more together" in the interim? I'm not sure I know anyone whose 20s weren't a mess. It comes with the territory. Maybe being pregnant is what will FINALLY get her to come to grips with growing up, something that Logan (as much as we kinda like him) wasn't ever going to insist that she do. Quite the opposite, actually. He can't grow up either.
Lorelai's a lesser mess, but still a mess. At the Inn, she misses Sookie like she misses her right arm. She still can't commit completely to Luke or be completely honest with him. She's holding back and stuck. Somewhere inside her are some serious daddy issues that she can no longer resolve with her dad. The scene with the "Unbreakable" song was gut-wrenching. Lauren Graham didn't have to say a word to make everybody bawl -- she just sat there and looked scraped raw. It was powerful stuff.
The real heroine of A Year in the Life -- the character with the biggest arc -- is Emily. She owned the revival. Emily sees what Lorelai and Rory have and it hurts her because she'll never have it. She never knew how to have it. But she had -- and loved and adored - - Richard. And now he's gone and she's just wrecked and lost (sleeping until noon!). But she's tough and she'll get through it and burn whatever bridges need to be burned. Kudos to the Palladinos for making Richard's death the linchpin event of the whole revival. I can't think of a better tribute to Edward Herrmann than having Richard's palpable presence driving the narrative. And Kelly Bishop was awesome. I think both her and Lauren Graham deserve Emmy nominations (if not actual Emmys) for the revival. That's what great acting looks like.
Here's the skinny, folks. These characters, with all of their mistakes and bad decisions, belong ultimately to the writers. They do not belong to us. We can love them, but with these particular characters, it's kinda like loving a real live human. They will say and do things that will confound and frustrate us. They've been doing that the entire time, maybe some of us weren't paying attention. Carping about what happens in their lives is like carping about what happens in your friends' lives. You can choose to care for them or not, but they're gonna do what they do. And thank you to the Palladinos for doing it your way. If that's the end of the story, it was a great, great ride.
A year in the Life was outstanding and extremely satisfying. I sincerely hope that all of the upset fans out there griping about the plot lines don't discourage that Palladinos from exploring more of these characters if they truly want to. Warts and all, these are some of the best characters ever written.
So Rory's a mess. What's new? She's been a mess since meeting Logan. Or did we conveniently forget dropping out of Yale, stealing a boat, getting arrested, doing community service, and having a huge blowup with Lorelai? We wanted her to be "more together" in the interim? I'm not sure I know anyone whose 20s weren't a mess. It comes with the territory. Maybe being pregnant is what will FINALLY get her to come to grips with growing up, something that Logan (as much as we kinda like him) wasn't ever going to insist that she do. Quite the opposite, actually. He can't grow up either.
Lorelai's a lesser mess, but still a mess. At the Inn, she misses Sookie like she misses her right arm. She still can't commit completely to Luke or be completely honest with him. She's holding back and stuck. Somewhere inside her are some serious daddy issues that she can no longer resolve with her dad. The scene with the "Unbreakable" song was gut-wrenching. Lauren Graham didn't have to say a word to make everybody bawl -- she just sat there and looked scraped raw. It was powerful stuff.
The real heroine of A Year in the Life -- the character with the biggest arc -- is Emily. She owned the revival. Emily sees what Lorelai and Rory have and it hurts her because she'll never have it. She never knew how to have it. But she had -- and loved and adored - - Richard. And now he's gone and she's just wrecked and lost (sleeping until noon!). But she's tough and she'll get through it and burn whatever bridges need to be burned. Kudos to the Palladinos for making Richard's death the linchpin event of the whole revival. I can't think of a better tribute to Edward Herrmann than having Richard's palpable presence driving the narrative. And Kelly Bishop was awesome. I think both her and Lauren Graham deserve Emmy nominations (if not actual Emmys) for the revival. That's what great acting looks like.
Here's the skinny, folks. These characters, with all of their mistakes and bad decisions, belong ultimately to the writers. They do not belong to us. We can love them, but with these particular characters, it's kinda like loving a real live human. They will say and do things that will confound and frustrate us. They've been doing that the entire time, maybe some of us weren't paying attention. Carping about what happens in their lives is like carping about what happens in your friends' lives. You can choose to care for them or not, but they're gonna do what they do. And thank you to the Palladinos for doing it your way. If that's the end of the story, it was a great, great ride.