Thoughts on the Gilmore Girls Revival

As an avid fan of Gilmore Girls, I know that I'm a little late to this party. I watched the revival about a week ago with my mom, who also loved the show. There were a few things that made me unhappy about the way that the original Gilmore Girls ended, so when I found out that a revival was happening, I was excited because I thought that I'd finally get the ending that I wanted.

As of right now, I have mixed feelings about it. So, without further adieu, here are my thoughts, both positive and negative. (If you haven't watched the series yet, I advise you not to read this because... well, spoilers.)

1. I wish that Sookie was in the show more. I understand why she wasn't but I just missed her character so much. It wasn't the same watching Lorelai go through her daily life without her best friend.

2. Luke is still my favorite character in the show. Although it made me sad that he and Lorelai weren't married at the start of the show, it did make me happy that we got to see their wedding in the final episode.

3. I felt so sorry for Emily's character because of Richard's death but I loved that by the final episode, she was starting to flourish. I thought that her character grew and that she became a person that she could be proud of. I loved that she went after what she wanted and got rid of anything that made her unhappy, like the DAR.

4. The surrogacy plot for Luke and Lorelai felt a little bit rushed but I did love seeing Paris again.

5. As a writer, I can relate to Rory's struggles to succeed in that type of business. However, I felt that she made some poor choices and that she should have understood her mother's hesitation about her book a bit more.

6. It was wonderful to see Lane again but I wished that her band had more success, enough success to get them out of Stars Hollow and live their dreams.

7. I was disappointed in Rory's moral choices and how she repeated history. She had already been "the other woman" in a relationship before, when she had her affair with Dean. I thought that she'd learned her lesson, so I was extremely upset when I saw that she was having an affair with Logan. That also made me very upset with Logan's character and I never really understood why he didn't leave his fiancé for Rory. Clearly, they wanted to be with each other, so I don't understand why they couldn't make it work. Also, when Lorelai found out about the affair, she didn't seem that disappointed in Rory and I thought she should have been.

8. I loved when Emily and Lorelai made up after Lorelai's trip to California. The story about her and Richard was very sweet.

9. I loved seeing how Jess turned out. I know that he's probably the most popular of Rory's boyfriends but for me, that wasn't the case when I watched the original series. But now that he's older, I really like who he grew up to be. I can definitely see Rory and Jess being meant for each other now.

10. For years I've heard the Gilmore Girls fandom talk about the elusive "last four words". I knew that we were going to get to hear them in this revival and my mind kept spinning, wondering what they could possibly be. To find out that they were Rory telling Lorelai that she was pregnant, I was shocked, to say the least. I have conflicting feelings about this as well. In some ways, I see it as a cliffhanger. In other ways, I think that it's the perfect ending.

That's the gist of my thoughts and opinions. What about you guys? What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with anything that I've said? There are plenty of differing opinions about this subject circling the internet right now. But I have found something that pretty much everyone agrees on: that random musical number was too long and did not serve the plot.

Many people are also wondering if the cliffhanger means that we'll get more episodes. What do you think? And, if the show did get more episodes, would you watch them?

-Chelsea

The Selection

The Selection, the first book in a trilogy, focuses on the life of America Singer, a girl who is low in her land's caste system but is selected to compete for Prince Maxon's heart. The premise of the story is very similar to The Bachelor. Thirty five women from all different castes are chosen to live in the palace and from those 35 women, the prince chooses a wife. America has no desire to be a part of this but as a reward for being selected, the 35 womens' families are financially compensated. In addition to that, her boyfriend Aspen, who is in a lower caste than she is, tells her to sign up and then breaks up with her.

America feels that she has no choice and doesn't want to be around Aspen at home, so she leaves. She expects the process to be dreadful and expects very little of the prince. Her attitude changes quickly when she becomes the prince's confidante and she starts to realize that there is more to him that meets the eye. But America finds herself in a love triangle while trying to figure out if she wants what she thought she did or if she wants something entirely new.

This is another book that I found through BookTube and I wasn't exactly sure how I'd feel about it. I took a chance on it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually read this at a really good time. It was a fast, easy read. It's subject matter is a lot lighter than what I've been reading recently and it was really refreshing. I really enjoyed Maxon's character and prefer him to Aspen. Sometimes I thought that things came a little too easy to America but it didn't bother me too much.

I really enjoyed seeing America's relationship with Maxon blossom and grow. I also really loved that it wasn't an insta-romance kind of relationship. It started out purely as friendship and grew into something more. I'm still unsure about how I feel about Aspen but I'm sure that I'll figure that out in the second book. All in all, the story pleasantly surprised me and I enjoyed it more than I thought. I finished it very quickly and I plan on picking up the next one, The Elite, very soon!

4/5 stars

-Chelsea