WhileRory’s story inA Year in the Lifewas heavily criticized upon the revival’s release, the biggest issue with thisGilmore Girlsplot was largely glossed over. On the face of it, Rory’s plot in 2016’sGilmore GirlsrevivalA Year in the Lifeshould have been a triumph. The original show might have offered a relatively optimistic vision of Lorelai balancing her career and motherhood, but her romantic and financial struggles were never far from the show’s focus. As such, Rory struggling to find her purpose while also having a hard time professionally made perfect sense.
However,Rory’sA Year in the Lifestorywas instead viewed as one of the revival’s worst failures. WhileEmily’sA Year in the Lifeplot finallymade her feel as essential to the show’s overarching story as Lorelai or Rory, Rory spent the revival failing to establish herself as a journalist, cheating on her boyfriend with an engaged Logan, and generally floundering through life professionally and personally. This could have been a canny commentary on the unstable gig economy and rapidly changing romantic culture inherited by promising students who graduated around the same time as Rory.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life’s Story Already Happened In Season 5
An Aimless Rory Already Struggled With Her Career In The Original Show
For viewers who graduated when Rory did, the 2008 financial crash and its attendant impact on the economy sent their sunny dreams of a perfect career into disarray. As such, Rory’sA Year in the Lifestory revealing that she wasn’t the motivated, ambitious, successful career girl that Stars Hollow expected could have been compelling. A lot of reviewers at the time complained thatA Year in the Life’s version of Rory didn’t feel the same, but this was never the real problem with her plot.
Rory was never going to act or talk the same after ten years had passed, and this is especially obvious given the clear differences between season 1’s version of Rory and season 7’s heroine. The strange reality is thatGilmore Girls: A Year in the Life’s Rory plot is not annoying because it is unexpected, but because it is repetitive. Surprising as it might sound, the real problem was that viewers had already seen Rory struggle with her career choices and waste her time with Logan instead of facing her problems head-on.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Undid Rory’s Character Development
Rory Grew Out Of Her Entitlement In Seasons 6 and 7
Bizarrely,Rory’sA Year in the Lifestory plot was a retread of her already divisive season 5 arc. What made this worse was the fact season 5’s version of the plot, wherein Mitchum’s mild critique of Rory’s potential sent her into a season-long tailspin, was already aGilmore Girlsstory viewers could have done without. Although plenty of audience members might have been able to relate to receiving more positive reinforcement in education than in the world of work, it was still hard to root for Rory when she reacted to Mitchum’s reasonable advice as if it were a personal attack.
A Year in the Life’s Rory story made this worse as the revival proved Rory still wasn’t as motivated and focused as she seemed in the original show’s early years, nor was she the paragon of moral virtue Stars Hollow thought. Rory’s earlier romantic indiscretions could be chalked up to her youth, but cheating on her long-term boyfriend Paul with Logan in her 30s was less easily defensible. Thus, it was tough to root for Rory as she scoffed at an interviewer asking her why they should take a chance at her.
The hard-partying Rory of season 5 was at least cutting loose for the first time after a sheltered upbringing, but the revival’s heroine was just continuing a years-long affair while taking a dismissive attitude toward work.
While Rory didn’t react to every professional setback inA Year in the Lifeby joyriding and crashing a yacht, this only made her entitlement more annoying. The hard-partying Rory of season 5 was at least cutting loose for the first time after a sheltered upbringing in a small town, but the revival’s heroine was just continuing a years-long affair while taking a dismissive attitude toward work and then acting shocked every time she fails an interview or gets fired. While some of thefunniestGilmore Girlsscenesarrived in the otherwise imperfect season 5, the revival had less to distract viewers from Rory’s shortcomings.
A Year in the Life’s Rory Ending Mirrored Her Season 7 Fate
Rory’s Original Ending Felt More Earned
In both season 5 andA Year in the Life,Rory’s confrontation with her own failures was conveniently offset by a major opportunity landing in her lap. Shortly after Mitchum tells her the hard truth about the difficulties of working as a journalist, Rory becomes the editor of Yale’s paper thanks to a well-timed coup that ousts Paris. Shortly after she realizes that she has been unsatisfied with her career as a journalist for years inA Year in the Life, she pens an entire memoir in a matter of weeks.
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Rory writing a book about her upbringing as convenient as her getting a job covering Obama’s presidential campaign at season 7’s ending. However, that role was at least foreshadowed when she met Lance Barber’s editor a few episodes earlier in season 7, episode 1, “Introducing Lorelai Planetarium”. The question of when she switched from working as a journalist to becoming a novelist in the revival is less clear, and the fact that Jess told her in passing that she should write a book hardly seems like enough of an answer.
Rory’s A Year in the Life Fate Makes Another Gilmore Girls Revival Harder
A New Series Would Need To Change Rory’s Story Once More
WhileRory’s messyGilmore Girlslove lifeis enough reason for the show to attempt another revival, herA Year in the Lifestoryline will make this harder. Viewers have now seen Rory struggle with the world of work twice and, both times, she has been handed an unlikely deus ex machina that meant she didn’t have to fret for too long. Season 7’s ending seemed to prove that Rory really did care more about journalism than settling down with Logan, but her failing career and continued affair in the revival disproved this.
Gilmore Girlsneeds to move past the repetitive story ofA Year in the Lifeif the show ever returns in the future.
AnotherGilmore Girlsrevival could not simply reveal that Rory once again became unhappy with her careerand once again ended up in a romantic rut with Logan in the years that followed. This pattern was frustrating the second time around and would become outright annoying on a third outing. As such,Gilmore Girlsneeds to move past the repetitive story ofA Year in the Lifeif the show ever returns in the future.
