GILMORE GIRLS

THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: implied sensuality, thematic elements

Rated:

Throwing new relationships and changes in Stars Hollow into the lives of its characters and its viewers, the third season of Gilmore Girls brought a lot of twists and turns as it continued to follow the lives of the charming and often eccentric occupants of the little town whose greatest concern is how long to time the one working traffic light.

It has been a long summer. Rory (Alexis Bledel) has been in Washington with a school group for two months learning about student government, and her mother Lorelai (Lauren Graham) has been dealing with the aftermath of her disappointment over not being able to pursue a relationship with Chris (David Sutcliffe). For one glorious day she thought it might actually work, that she and Rory's dad could build a life together, but with a simple phone call, her dreams came crashing down around her. She still has not told her condescending parents the reason for the breakup, the fact that Chris' girlfriend is pregnant and he wants to be there this time to raise his child. Knowing that her mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) will not take the news well, Lorelai hides it from her as long as possible, but inevitably it comes out and the Gilmore household is in an uproar.

In the meantime, Rory has her own romantic problems. Distancing herself from her boyfriend Dean (Jared Padalecki) over the summer, she has thought far too much about the boy who kissed her at the wedding. But upon her return, she is devastated to see that Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) has moved on, and now has a blonde bombshell on his arm. The friction between the boys and Rory grows as she deals with the complications of being in student government with the overly-ambitious Paris (Liza Weil), who will not be happy until they make the librarian resign and has better things to think about than the motion that hem lines be raised a quarter of an inch. And then there is Lane (Keiko Agena), who has met the boy of her dreams but cannot bring him home because he's a musician... and isn't Korean.

There are a lot of fantastic moments in this season, and it has one of the better finales that I have seen on the show. A lot of the focus is on Rory finishing up her last year of high school and readying for college. That Harvard goal she has been striving for since the beginning is within reach, but you shouldn't assume that everything will work out as planned. Her story is more in the forefront while Loreali's love life takes a back seat. But still there is the angst, the mother-daughter fights and attempts to reconcile, and the ever-present Friday night dinners at the Gilmore household. The last episode features a tear jerking speech from Rory in front of her classmates as Valedictorian, and the series on the whole deals with a lot of issues that kid in that age group have to contend with -- whether or not to become intimate with a boyfriend, passing into adulthood, and taking financial responsibility for college. It's also quite a bit cleaner than the first two seasons, which is nice.

Aside from Lane constantly lying to and manipulating her mother in order to spend time with her new boyfriend, the content is not all that disconcerting. Chris is living with his girlfriend. Rory denies to her mom that she has thought about sex, then turns around later and warns her that she might go for it. Lorelai is "okay" with that, but it's clear from her concern and overly watchful behavior that it troubles her, perhaps not so much that it's wrong, but that it might get Rory pregnant. Jess and Rory start making out in a bedroom at a party, but she pushes him away and he's upset. Dean assumes he tried to assault her, and a fight breaks out. Paris confesses that she gave away her virginity to her boyfriend in a rather frank conversation with Rory, then breaks down in a rage at during a televised speech and says that it must have ruined her chances at getting into Harvard. There's a scattered amount of language.

The Gilmore girls are not perfect, but they are human enough for us to empathize with and even understand them. They somehow manage to become such a part of your life that you miss them when the last disk is finished and the silence falls. And apart from a few condescending remarks about God being a woman, and liberal worship of a few unsavory politicians, it's a fairly safe venue for family viewing, particularly among the females of the household.