The sixth season of Gilmore Girls is not as
good as the ones that precede it, but it is entertaining as it follows
the lives of our favorite mother-daughter pairing. There is a bit more
angst... okay, a lot more angst this season, accompanied with the twists
and turns of plot that we all love so much. Not to mention the witty
puns.
Everything has changed in Stars Hollow, the quiet
little town where Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis
Bledel) make their home. Having decided to quit college after being told
she is not a good enough writer to be a journalist, Rory has moved in
with her overbearing but understanding and supportive grandparents,
Richard and Emily (Edward Herrmann, Kelly Bishop). She and her mother
have not spoken a word since the violent argument over whether or not
she was going to abandon her school for a year or two of "mere
existence." Not to mention the fact that she is stuck doing massive
hours of community service simply because the judge did not look kindly
on her theft of a boat while out on the shore with her boyfriend. It
does not take Rory long to figure out that living with her grandmother,
even happily situated in the boathouse, is not all fun and games.
Meanwhile,
Lorelai has adopted a stray mutt in the hopes of relieving her
loneliness and has proposed to Luke (Scott Patterson), the owner of the
local diner where she spends most of her free time. After numerous years
of on-again, off-again attraction, flirting, and arguing the two of them
have finally decided to tie the knot, to the delight of everyone who
knows them. But life in that sleepy little suburb is never what you
expect, and there is a wedding, a breakup, numerous hurt feelings, a
repaired relationship, and the return of someone from the past to look
forward to, not to mention a ton of witty one-liners and pop culture
references. Kudos to you if you get half of them.
I think the reason I was not terribly fond of this
season is because Lorelai and Rory are angry at one another and not
speaking through half of it, which cut severely down on those fantastic
mother-daughter bonding moments that made the first five seasons so
hysterical. It's just not the same show when Rory is not getting random
phone calls from her mom at 2am, or dragging her to Friday night dinner
with the Gilmores. There is a huge portion of early episodes that
feature Richard and then Emily, and then they somewhat vanish for an
equal number of episodes -- which was kind of a drag for me, because I
love the jaw-dropping conversations they manage to have with a straight
face. But there is a lot to like about the season and it constantly
surprised me with its twists and turns. I was sorry how some things
ended and amused with others, but overall it left the impression that
Rory is growing up. Not all of her decisions are wise, however.
Although
there is never any graphic content, the audience knows Rory and Logan
(Matt Czuchry) are involved in a sexual relationship. When her
grandparents find out, they are understandably upset and as such are
depicted as terribly old-fashioned and narrow minded. Rory eventually
moves in with Logan and continues to stay in a relationship with him
even after she discovers that during a brief break, he cheated on her.
Lorelai and Luke have a similar physical relationship -- sometimes he
spends the night at her place, or she spends it at his. More problematic
is in the last episode, when she wakes up naked in bed next to her
ex-boyfriend after a fight with Luke.
There are some sexual conversations and occasional
innuendo, along with mild language. The show's cavalier attitude toward
casual sex bothered me, but what bothered me more was the excessive
drinking that seemed to show up in almost every episode. Both Lorelai
and Rory, as well as Logan and other members of their inner circle, get
fall-down-drunk on several occasions, usually downing their sorrows in a
bottle of whatever happens to be handy. This is particularly
disconcerting when you realize that Rory is under age. Also, on these
instances it's implied that all you need to sober up before getting in
the car is a good shot of coffee. I don't like drinking in general, but
drinking and driving sends a bad message. Christian audiences might also
be mildly offended at Lane's wedding ceremony, in which her mother
pretends they are devout Buddhists to appease her Korean grandmother.
Massive statues of Buddha are brought in and bowed to.
While
standing as godmothers to Sookie's children, Rory and Lorelai express
general disillusionment with the church and religion, intimating that
they don't really get it. Which brings me to my next point: Gilmore
Girls has never been a show of great depth. It has some fantastic
emotion and will have you laughing one moment and crying the next, but
there is no moral compass in these women's lives and therefore most of
what transpires is meaningless. It seems more apparent in this season
more than any other that they are blindly wandering through life without
a reason for their existence, a very sobering thing to contemplate.