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Rory Gilmore, Paris Geller, Lorelai Gilmore and Lane Kim all had very different and yet super relatable arcs on Gilmore Girls. In this compilation, we're diving back into some of our Gilmore...
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00:00Gilmore Girls' Paris Geller is many things. Hyper-intelligent, laser-focused, extremely
00:05intense. She could be combative and, well, straight-up mean. But she became a beloved
00:16character because as the show went on, we got to peel back the layers and see Paris as less of a
00:22looming threat, and more as a real person. As she evolved over the seasons, she never gave up what
00:27made her Paris, she just expanded her world and let down her walls a little bit. While things always
00:33seemed to turn out great for Rory, no matter what, at least for a little while, Paris was hit with some
00:38big setbacks that caused her to have to rethink her single-minded goals for her future. So who is
00:43Paris Geller really? And how did she go from a glorified extra to an iconic character?
00:49I'm the most likely target, so I've already made up a list of enemies which I've narrowed down from 26
00:54to 5. Just at Yale? Just in this building. While Paris was originally intended to be a short-term
00:59character for Rory to feud with upon arriving at Chilton, actress Liza Weil brought such an
01:03interesting energy to the part that the writers knew they needed to keep her around, to see where
01:08this character could go. So while Paris is initially in full-on villain mode,
01:13I'm gonna be editor next year. Well, good for you. I'm also the top of the class and I intend to be
01:18valedictorian when I graduate. Okay. Once it was decided that she would be sticking around, the show
01:23began taking more time to analyze why Paris behaved the way she does. Sure, she really, really wants to
01:29get into Harvard, but there's clearly more going on there. Paris is the quintessential difficult girl.
01:35She's assertive, neurotic, ambitious, high-strung, and totally unafraid to speak her mind.
01:40Brad, your festive interjections are a real kick in the pants, but we're low on time, so can it.
01:44But she isn't just driven by ego. She works hard to be the best at everything because she feels like
01:50being the smartest, most driven person in any room is her only source of worth. While Paris comes from
01:56wealth, her home life is chaotic, with her parents constantly fighting and pretty much ignoring Paris
02:01and her needs as their child. I just can't focus lately. Things are so weird at my house. My dad
02:07finally figured out exactly how much it was going to cost him to divorce my mom, so now he's back.
02:11Her closest familial relationship is actually with her nanny, to the point that she was the
02:16only one who showed up for Paris on her graduation day, not her parents. School is the one place Paris
02:21has ever been able to feel like she's truly in control, and so she focuses her entire being on
02:26getting perfect grades and being the perfect student. What the hell did Romain mean when he was going on
02:30about weeding out the hyper-intense in the interview process? He stopped just short of calling me by name.
02:34I'm losing it. She set up acceptance to Harvard as the end-all be-all in her mind, as if once she's
02:39accepted, her entire life will finally fall into place. Her singular drive causes her to ignore
02:44everything else about life, friends, dating, fun, to the point where she doesn't even really know
02:49how to be a regular teen. I can't do this. What? Date. I can't date. I'm not genetically set up for it.
02:56Her high expectations for herself also lead her to pushing everyone around her towards the same goals,
03:01even if they don't really want that for themselves. Her anxiety around slipping up even a bit,
03:06or being brought down by someone else's failure, leads her to attempt to micromanage every aspect
03:11of the world around her. It says that every other single school in the United States of America is
03:16feeling nothing but shame and defeat and pain because of the people who won the Oppenheimer plaque.
03:21I want to be those people. I want to cause that pain. While the relationship starts out rather
03:25antagonistic, Paris and Rory soon become friends because they fill important gaps in the other's
03:31life. Rory is the only person that isn't afraid of Paris, and so is actually able to reach her on
03:36a human level. And Paris is the only person who doesn't think Rory is a perfect angel, and so
03:41actually pushes her to fight towards her goals and stand up for herself. But this aura of perfection
03:47around Rory is also a big sticking point between the pair. While Paris works so hard to get good
03:53grades, be in every club, try to get people to like her, things just always seem to fall into
03:58place for Rory without her really trying. So, that's how you look when you've just woken up?
04:04Um, yeah. Nothing in my life is fair. When they meet, Rory has never even really thought about the
04:11fact that she might need to plan and work to get into the university she wants, while Paris has been
04:17molding her entire life towards that goal since she was in the fourth grade. I've been a camp counselor,
04:22I organized a senior literacy program, I worked a suicide hotline, I manned a runaway center,
04:27I've adopted dolphins, taught sign language, trained seeing eye dogs. As we discussed in our video on
04:31her, being surrounded by the idea that she was so special just by the fact of her existence
04:36actually hindered Rory. Things always just seem to fall into her lap, so anytime anything didn't go
04:42her way, she couldn't even comprehend it. Paris, on the other hand, always seems to get the short end
04:47of the stick. Even when she should come out on top, the show often throws a wrench in her plans to
04:52make sure that Rory comes out ahead in the end. One of the most egregious examples of this is of
04:56course Rory becoming valedictorian over Paris. As Lydia Venn wrote for the tab, she worked her ass
05:02off for four years, got perfect grades, was president of the student council, editor of the newspaper,
05:06and on every committee going. What more did she need to do? But Paris is always able to see the long
05:12game to plan for the future. I actually googled the personal histories of Ivy League valedictorians
05:17going back 25 years and found some enlightening statistics. They don't necessarily do too well
05:22in later life, did you know that? In the end, while Rory's perfection may grate on Paris, and Paris'
05:27overbearing nature may drive Rory a little mad, they make a good pair because they can support each
05:33other in ways that no one else can. Can you let her off the hook for God's sakes? In case you didn't
05:37know it, Rory's a great person and she does not deserve to be treated this way. Paris. Anyone should feel
05:41lucky to call her a friend, I know I do. Focusing so singularly on school for so long allowed Paris
05:47to ignore every other aspect of her life. She'd built up a hard shell to keep anyone from getting
05:52too close, or getting in her way. But secretly, she longed for connection, but was afraid to reach
05:59out for it. Rory is able to help her start breaking down these walls she's built up, and accept that
06:04it's worth branching out a bit, even if everything doesn't go perfectly. I'm not allowed to have mac and
06:09cheese. Splurge. Come on Paris, stay. Do you have a 24-hour pharmacy just in case I have an allergic
06:15reaction to something? Believe it or not, we do. But, unlike some other hardcore overachievers
06:19on screen, Paris doesn't become a more well-rounded happier person by giving up those difficult
06:24characteristics that make her her. She just opens herself up to new experiences in a very
06:29Paris way. I went over there to study and he lit a fire and then we did it. What are your thoughts on
06:34that? My thoughts? While Paris wants to believe she can do everything on her own, she does come
06:39to accept that sometimes even she needs help. She turns to Rory for advice on boys and relationships,
06:45and even finds connection with Lorelai when Rory drops out of Yale and leaves Paris floundering
06:50emotionally. Paris' nanny had also played a big role in helping her with decision-making and staying
06:55calm. When she started at university, she realized she still needed that kind of support in her life,
07:01and so hired a life coach. She never really chilled out, but she did soften her edges a bit.
07:07The old Paris would have been bothered by your penchant to hover. It would have made her want
07:11to wring your neck till your eyeballs popped out. Oh, but now I accept it because I can't control
07:17everything. Old habits die hard though, and the old Paris does come back with a vengeance on occasion,
07:22like when she's made the editor of the newspaper at Yale. She's so intense and overbearing that the rest of
07:28the staff literally mutiny and overthrow her, and surprise, replace her with Rory. But eventually,
07:33Paris finds a way to use her ambitious, micromanaging nature for good by starting a
07:38tutoring company to help other students succeed. She might not be nice, but if there's one thing
07:44she knows, it's how to get good grades. I just want her to get into a good school.
07:48She has such potential. Well, so did Charles Manson. What? Look at her. Frankly,
07:53it may already be too late. When her parents flee the country and the IRS freezes all of their
07:57assets, she learns what it's like to not have that safety net, and she's not a fan. While Paris does
08:03expand her world during undergrad, she always keeps her eyes on the prize. She wants to set
08:09herself up for a future full of success. So we seem to have a block of eight days here in late
08:13March that is disturbingly for your resume building activity. While Rory begins faltering in college,
08:18her lack of work ethic, and inability to deal with even the slightest criticism finally starting to
08:24catch up with her, Paris' hard work finally starts to pay off. She might have gotten rejected by her
08:29dream school Harvard for undergrad, but things finally go her way when applying for grad school.
08:34Anyway, go ahead. Might as well open Harvard, even though it doesn't matter. Use letter opener again.
08:39We are pleased to...
08:40By learning to harness her powers instead of letting them ruin her life, Paris manages to continue to
08:48work towards her larger goals while also considering things like happiness and personal
08:53growth. I bet we get rid of Kraft Corner. No, that's my emotional homework. She takes her ambition
08:57and ability to learn pretty much anything, and, as we learn in the revival series A Year in the Life,
09:02uses it to get a whole host of degrees, apparently graduating from Harvard Medical School and passing
09:08the bar, and eventually open her own fertility clinic. While golden child Rory is lost in a sea of
09:14malaise and fumbling around trying to figure out what exactly she's doing with her life,
09:19Paris seems to have her life together. But that doesn't mean she has everything figured out.
09:24That desire to be seen as perfect no matter what's really going on still remains, even after she's
09:29accomplished so much.
09:31Check out what's in my briefcase.
09:33Nothing. I brought it because I thought people would think I was more important because I was carrying
09:39a briefcase. But even if she does remain a little insecure, and that underlying fear of failure is
09:45never fully snuffed out, she has built a life she can be proud of. And she didn't have to give up the
09:50more assertive, ambitious parts of herself to do it. It's kill or be killed. I'm not talking the art
09:57of war. Oh no. That's a tiptoe through the tulips compared with what you're going to find beyond
10:03these walls. Paris is the perfect example of how, if they're willing to open themselves up a little
10:08and accept some uncertainty in life, so-called difficult women can use their abilities to create
10:13a better world for everyone, themselves included. You know, it's weird. Most of the time I really hated
10:20you. Yeah, I really hated you too. Gilmore Girls' Rory is a beloved smart girl icon and was the kind of
10:28girl so many of the girls watching at home wanted to be when the show began airing. But given that
10:34Gilmore Girls follows Rory as she evolves through young adulthood, it's not surprising that she had
10:39to learn the hard way that some of her outlook on life was totally wrong along the way. That doesn't
10:44make her a bad person. Messing up is a big part of growing up. But it does give us an interesting
10:49opportunity to take a look back and analyze what specifically about her personality and choices
10:54caused those issues and how they affected her story, for better and worse. So let's take a deeper
11:00look at some of the things even super smart Rory got wrong about life, love, and becoming your own
11:05person, and how they ended up being important lessons for Rory and the viewers. From the very beginning,
11:12it's made clear that in the world of the Gilmore Girls, Rory is seen as a perfect angel. Everyone in
11:17her life holds her up on a pedestal in pretty much every way imaginable. And it's clear that Rory has come
11:23to see herself in this way too. She sees herself as a good and nice person, but unfortunately her
11:29actions don't always align with that self-perception. She can be rude and pretentious, even to those
11:34closest to her. Growing up with a cool mom like Lorelai meant that Rory felt that she was the
11:40level-headed one in the house.
11:41Just hurry!
11:42This sucks, this sucks, this sucks!
11:45It's 7-18!
11:46Oh, for the love of God!
11:48But this led her to discount all of the ways that Lorelai was actually quite clever.
11:52She understands people and the world in a way that Rory doesn't yet have the experience or
11:57interest to. Not to mention, she survived as a 16-year-old mother of a newborn all by herself.
12:03But this conception Rory has of her being innately good and better than everyone can lead her to be
12:09rather entitled and selfish at times. From regular teenager-type mistakes like ignoring her best
12:14friend for her shiny new boyfriend to actually pretty bad things like deciding she's going to
12:19write a book about Lorelai's life without Lorelai's permission because she thinks it'll pull her out
12:23of her jobless and directionless millennial slump.
12:27I sat down and it just came out. Flew out. It's like the story has just been sitting in my brain for
12:33years, taking up space.
12:34And not to mention her whole thing with relationships. Don't worry, we'll get to that.
12:38Rory wants to believe she's above being a rich elitist because she knows on some level that that's not
12:44cool or who she wants to be.
12:47But the truth is, Rory is a snob, as much as she might try to deny it.
12:51When Logan's uber-wealthy parents don't think the sun shines out of Rory's baby blue eyes,
12:57she can't handle it.
12:58I mean, I'm a Gilmore. Do they know that? My ancestors came over on the Mayflower.
13:04She, on the surface, pretends that she thinks she's special because of what she does,
13:08but at times she slips up and makes it clear that she thinks she's special because of who she is.
13:13Wake up, Rory. Whether you like it or not, you're one of us.
13:16You went to prep school. You go to Yale.
13:18Your grandparents are building a whole damn astronomy building in your name.
13:21It takes a long, long time and several wake-up calls for Rory to start unwinding her sense of
13:27self from this idea that she was born better than everyone else, and that being perceived as nice
13:32is the same thing as being kind. In tandem with her snobbish attitude is a feeling that she doesn't
13:37ever really need to try. And to be fair to Rory, for much of her life the universe did seem to reward
13:43her just for existing, so it's not surprising that she began to see things that way.
13:48When Rory and Paris first begin butting heads, much of the animosity on Paris' end comes down
13:53to the fact that it seems like the world just gives Rory whatever she wants, without Rory even
13:59trying, while Paris works incredibly hard at everything she does.
14:03I've been a camp counselor. I organized a senior literacy program. I worked a suicide hotline.
14:07I manned a runaway center. I've adopted dolphins, taught sign language, trained seeing eye dogs.
14:12And for a long time, the show didn't really point things in a different direction.
14:16Rory did just keep winning out through seemingly no real work of her own,
14:20even ending up becoming valedictorian over Paris when they graduated from Chilton.
14:25Rory is also always protected by the cushion of her rich grandparents,
14:28which means she often doesn't really have to feel the brunt of the consequences of her poor choices,
14:34like when she drops out of Yale and then just gets to live in their pool house rent-free.
14:39Because of all of this, when Rory is confronted with a situation where she actually needs to put forth
14:44effort, she doesn't really know how to respond.
14:47Being expected to actually prove that she's as good as she thinks she is
14:50always throws her for a tailspin, like when she attempts to work with Logan's dad,
14:55a wealthy newspaper titan, and he's honest with her about her abilities, or lack thereof.
15:00I just don't think you really have the drive to put yourself out there, to be honest.
15:06To get a story, to dig.
15:07This causes Rory to have such a catastrophic meltdown that it's actually what leads to her
15:12ditching Yale, and though she doesn't totally give up on her journalism dream in the end,
15:16she doesn't really seem to have learned from the whole ordeal,
15:20even by the time we see her a decade later as a grown adult in A Year in the Life.
15:25She goes into an interview and is surprised to be asked questions,
15:28because she just assumed they'd give her the job on the spot.
15:32Um, sorry, I just didn't have a pitch prepared.
15:36That's a little weird, thought you'd bring some ideas.
15:38Don't get me wrong, I have ideas.
15:41Like, um, stuff about the world, uh, culture.
15:46A big issue for Rory was that she was so seldom put into situations where she needed to try growing
15:51up.
15:52She did well in school, and her main hobbies were reading and watching old movies with her mom.
15:56I'm into the Russians lately.
15:57Tolstoy, Turganyan?
15:58Gogol's my thing right now.
16:00She needed more opportunities to try new things, things that she might even be bad at,
16:06to really learn what it means to fail and pull yourself back up.
16:10And this was actually a reason that her friendship with Paris was so key.
16:13Paris was constantly doing new things, everything she could possibly get her claws into,
16:18and so she pulled Rory along with her into those ventures.
16:21They gave Rory opportunities to take risks and try new things.
16:25And Rory was, funnily enough, a bit of a Lorelei for Paris, expanding her horizons on the being
16:31a regular person plane.
16:33I'm not allowed to have mac and cheese.
16:34Splurge.
16:35Come on, Paris.
16:36Stay.
16:37Do you have a 24-hour pharmacy just in case I have an allergic reaction to something?
16:40Believe it or not, we do.
16:41We can't talk about Rory's missteps without taking a look at her very, let's say,
16:45lax respect for relationships.
16:47Some of this was just due to the run-of-the-mill bad choices of teenagerdom, plus the fact
16:53that she was the main teen girl on a WB show, so of course they needed to have her constantly
16:58stuck in some kind of love triangle situation.
17:01But the fact that her cheating became a pattern was a problem.
17:05Her most egregious was, of course, when she slept with Dean, her first love, who she had
17:09actually cheated on with Jess while he was engaged to someone else.
17:13To be sure, as the person actually in the relationship, Dean carries much of the fault.
17:17But it's not like Rory was unaware that he was engaged to Lindsay.
17:21She just saw Dean, like everything and everyone else she wanted, as already belonging to her,
17:26and so didn't think it would really count as being bad.
17:29Well, aren't you glad that it happened with someone who's good and really loves me?
17:35But he's married.
17:37You don't understand the situation.
17:38Is he still married?
17:39Yes, but...
17:40Then I understand the situation.
17:42In a year in the life, she's fully given in to cheating ways,
17:45being also engaged to someone else, Logan's side piece, while she's also in a relationship
17:50with a guy who she and everyone else is super mean to for no apparent reason.
17:54Her cheating is a major symptom of her larger issue of waving away all of her bad choices,
18:00because she sees herself as the main character of life,
18:02and so assumes everyone else should just be beholden to her wants and desires.
18:07Rory isn't a terrible friend.
18:09She's certainly a much better friend than she is a girlfriend,
18:12but that doesn't mean that she doesn't falter along the way.
18:15Part of this is likely due to the fact that the best friend role in her life
18:19was so completely filled by her mother.
18:21She didn't really feel the need to work to foster that kind of deep connection with others
18:26for a long time.
18:27Because Rory is so often focused on herself,
18:30she's not always great at really listening to her friend's problems,
18:33and is often willing to put her needs above their own.
18:35But thankfully, this is the area where Rory has her best growth.
18:40While she might not be a perfect friend,
18:42she does come to be a good friend to those close to her.
18:45From sneaking Lane's CDs when she got grounded,
18:48to letting her live in her dorm room,
18:49Rory did try to make up for the times she made Lane feel second best.
18:53And the fact that Rory isn't in desperate need of friendship
18:56is actually likely what allowed her and Paris to work so well as friends.
19:00She was able to let Paris' meaner side bounce off of her
19:03and continue to be there for her,
19:05and she came to appreciate how Paris was willing to stand up for herself
19:08and her friends.
19:09Can you let her off the hook, for God's sakes?
19:11In case you didn't know it, Rory is a great person,
19:13and she does not deserve to be treated this way.
19:15Paris, anyone should feel lucky to call her a friend.
19:17I know I do.
19:18Many of Rory's biggest issues all stemmed from the fact
19:21that things would always work out in her favor in the end.
19:24She never really felt the need to commit herself to trying
19:27and putting herself out there because of her belief
19:29that the universe would just bring whatever she wanted right to her.
19:32She never seems to truly appreciate the immense safety net she has in life.
19:37Not just a stable, caring mother who loves her deeply
19:40and champions her in almost everything she does,
19:43but also her mega-rich grandparents who are always there
19:46to buy her way into or out of anything she needs.
19:49Plus, that whole town of people who thinks she's the universe's gift to the world.
19:52While things did just keep falling into place for her when she was younger,
19:56in A Year in the Life, we finally got to see how her lack of work ethic
20:00or ability to plan for the future did start to catch up with her.
20:04Everything I own is in boxes scattered around three different states.
20:07I have no job.
20:08I have no credit.
20:09I have no underwear.
20:10She didn't end up becoming the world-renowned journalist
20:12she had always assumed she would be no matter what.
20:15Life actually gave her a big wake-up call
20:18that being Rory Gilmore isn't enough all on its own.
20:21And it might at first seem kind of sad
20:23that this once bright-eyed and bushy-tailed smart girl
20:26ends up miserable and living back at home
20:28without any path toward a brighter future.
20:31Well, it's a group of kids all about your age.
20:33They've been to college, then out in the real world,
20:35and it's spitting out like a stale piece of gum,
20:37and now they're all back in their old rooms, like you.
20:39But that struggle of Rory's is probably the most true to life.
20:43Sometimes we really don't become fully able to acknowledge
20:46that we need to change our lives or rethink our perceptions of ourselves
20:50until we're hit with a really major unavoidable obstacle.
20:54And Rory's belief that everything would work itself out in the end
20:57springs directly from the way the world around her treated her as a child.
21:01Being set up as this perfect person who can do no wrong as a child
21:05can absolutely mess up your sense of self
21:07and your connection to the world around you.
21:09And if you've ever come across hashtag former gifted kid TikTok,
21:13you know that that can be a very real struggle that many relate to.
21:17Really, so many of the most interesting parts of Rory's story
21:20all come out of the conflicts created by her own issues.
21:24She's got such a cushy life.
21:25If she was also the perfect angel everyone pretended she was when she was a kid,
21:29it would have equaled a pretty boring life
21:32where she didn't ever get a chance to learn anything or grow as a person.
21:36And while some parts of her personality might be a little grating,
21:39that doesn't necessarily make her a bad person.
21:41Sure, we probably wouldn't want to follow in her footsteps,
21:44but watching and learning from her missteps can help us
21:47take a second look at our own choices
21:49and maybe help push us to make some better ones.
21:53This adult stuff is hard, isn't it?
21:55Gilmore Girls is a show filled with beloved characters,
21:58but while some were given the opportunity to grow and flourish,
22:01others kind of got the short end of the stick.
22:04Star's Hollow's resident rocker rebel, Lane Kim,
22:07ended up with one of the most disappointing outcomes.
22:10While she began the show with a buzzing love for music and lust for personal freedom,
22:14as the show went on, and her character was pushed further to the side,
22:18so much of what made her Lane was sanded away.
22:22In recent years, as more people have begun re-watching the show on streaming,
22:26a wider conversation has opened up about Lane's bummer of an ending,
22:30and how she deserved so much better,
22:32or at least the chance to have tried to live the life she dreamed of.
22:36I barely got the chance to be a person.
22:37So let's dive in and unpack what made Lane so great,
22:41why her story went off the rails,
22:43and why her ending feels so hollow.
22:46But maybe there is one positive aspect.
22:50Lane Kim, the daughter of very strict religious Korean parents,
22:53is Rory Gilmore's best friend.
22:55She loves music, but not the hymnals her mother forces her to play,
22:59rock and roll.
23:00Her mother is particularly overbearing,
23:03with very strict ideas about how Lane should and should not behave.
23:06You lied to me!
23:07I'm sorry.
23:08Get home!
23:09Right now!
23:10Whoa.
23:11Rough family.
23:12This leads to Lane essentially leading a double life,
23:15pretending to be the perfect religious daughter at home,
23:17while exploring her more alternative side in secret.
23:21Trust God, is that a band?
23:23No.
23:23My life.
23:24Her relationship with her mother isn't necessarily adversarial,
23:27like with many other rebellious teens on TV.
23:30She still loves her mother very much.
23:32She just doesn't want to feel so suffocated by her expectations.
23:36She doesn't want to keep everything she actually cares about a secret,
23:39but she knows that her mother would never approve.
23:42I started listening to rock music when I was seven years old.
23:45I stuck makeup on at school.
23:46I managed to join a band without anyone knowing.
23:48And in the same way that Lane doesn't feel animosity towards her mother,
23:52we can clearly see that, as intense as she may be,
23:55Miss Kim is clearly acting out of her belief for what she thinks will be the best for Lane.
24:01Her life and experiences as an immigrant are very different from,
24:04for example, Lorelai's upbringing.
24:06And so she has quite different ideas about what it takes to create a safe and secure life,
24:11which is her real hope for her daughter.
24:13Lane certainly feels this underlying love,
24:16but that doesn't mean that she wants to stay trapped in her mother's cage forever.
24:20Lane's mix of kindness and rebellion is what endeared her to so many viewers.
24:24Lane and Rory met in kindergarten and have been close ever since.
24:28Rory was always allowed a lot of freedom in her life to do what she wanted,
24:32to try things and fail and fail again,
24:34never really having to worry about getting into too much trouble.
24:38Wayne provided an interesting contrast to Rory,
24:41as because she was so sheltered,
24:43even Rory's relatively tame life in the early seasons felt like an amazing new world for her.
24:48I have been telling you this story for an hour.
24:51It doesn't get dirty.
24:52I can't help it.
24:52I'm obsessed.
24:53I'm totally living vicariously through you.
24:55Rory also helps Lane in her efforts to have some kind of fun life,
24:59free from the watchful eye of her mother,
25:01even smuggling her records on occasion.
25:03Having been friends with each other for so long,
25:05they understand each other on a deeper level.
25:08Did you laugh?
25:11Did you want to?
25:12Lane helps provide a different perspective to Rory
25:15when she encounters problems and setbacks.
25:17And Rory, in turn, helps build up Lane's self-confidence,
25:20and they're always there for one another.
25:23Wish me luck.
25:24Luck.
25:24That doesn't mean they never have problems,
25:26but because they really care about each other,
25:29they're always able to work things out.
25:31Lane living vicariously through Rory is particularly true in the realm of boys.
25:35While Rory has a lot of suitors,
25:37Lane has to hide even the idea of liking boys from her mother.
25:40Oh my god, he kissed me.
25:43Who kissed you?
25:44The lord, mama.
25:45But as the show went on,
25:46Lane was able to capture more freedom for herself,
25:49for a while at least.
25:51After a new music shop opened up in town,
25:53Lane came to the realization that she didn't just want to listen to music,
25:57she wanted to make it.
25:59She began sneaking away in evenings to practice her drumming in the closed shop,
26:03and even eventually joined a band called Hep Alien.
26:05She began really creating a new, solid identity for herself
26:09separate from the one she had so long felt stuck with,
26:12and this brought her more happiness and confidence,
26:15and more willingness to rebel further.
26:17She fell for fellow band member Dave,
26:19who shared her deep, nerdy love of music,
26:21and importantly, wasn't scared off by her intense family.
26:25Really?
26:26After all this, the marathon hymns, the weak punch,
26:29the Krabby Koreans used to want to go out on a date with me.
26:31In fact, he was willing to keep showing up and fighting to be with Lane
26:36and prove that he will be good for her,
26:39no matter how much her mother might disagree,
26:41since he's not Korean.
26:42But Miss Kim can see that he is a good guy,
26:45and that he makes Lane happy,
26:46and so allows them a little leeway to be together.
26:49You can go to the prom, but you cannot get married.
26:52It seems fair to me.
26:53And me!
26:55The person who's going upstairs to think about what she's done.
26:57Being with Dave opened Lane's eyes
26:59as to what a caring relationship with someone you actually enjoy being around
27:02could be like,
27:03and filled her with hope for the future.
27:06But unfortunately, that happiness didn't last forever.
27:09Adam Brody, who played Dave,
27:11was cast as Seth Cohen in The O.C.,
27:13and when that show was picked up for its first season,
27:16he had to leave Gilmore Girls behind,
27:18which meant Dave had to say goodbye to Lane.
27:20He left for college in California,
27:22a nod to Brody's new gig,
27:24and while they tried to make a long-distance relationship work,
27:27in the end, things fizzled out.
27:29Lane and Rory remained close,
27:30even as Rory was off at Childen.
27:32But their lives diverged further when it came time for college.
27:35While Rory was off to Yale,
27:37Lane was stuck going to a religious college to please her mother.
27:40It's got two huge parks with gardens and lakes.
27:44Two parks.
27:45One for boys and one for girls.
27:46There's a separate park for boys.
27:49My life is over.
27:50Oh no, I didn't say that.
27:51You didn't have to.
27:52While she continued to hold on to parts of her life
27:54that felt like her own, like her band,
27:56that might allow her to still have the possibility
27:58of the future she had always dreamed of,
28:01she could already, in some ways,
28:02feel that brighter future slipping away.
28:05Everything's so screwed up.
28:07It's not that bad.
28:08It is that bad.
28:08I mean, look at this.
28:10Look at where you are.
28:11Look at what you have.
28:13I'm so jealous.
28:13You have a little life.
28:14She began trying to push back even harder
28:16against the confines of her life.
28:18Eventually, this led to her double life crashing down
28:21when she snuck away to a gig in New York City,
28:23only to have to call Lorelai for help.
28:26When Mrs. Kim realized she was gone,
28:28she dug through a room and found all of her secrets.
28:31Every part of herself that Lane had tried to hide laid bare,
28:34and in the end, kicked Lane out.
28:36This was, of course, a traumatic experience for Lane,
28:39who was now out on her own for the first time in her life.
28:42But it also became an opportunity for growth.
28:45After living with Rory in her dorm for a while,
28:48I'll fan at him.
28:49Die.
28:50I got you a triple espresso.
28:51All that I'm going to put here right out of reach
28:53so Sleepyhead has to get up to get it.
28:55Die twice.
28:56She was finally able to rent her very own apartment
28:58with two of her bandmates,
29:00giving her a real taste of the independence
29:02she had always longed for.
29:04And though they still did not see eye to eye,
29:07the love between her and her mother was still there,
29:10buried underneath all of the anger.
29:12Eventually, with their new distance and perspective,
29:14they were able to find common ground
29:16and re-enter each other's lives in a healthier way.
29:19Living in the apartment is also when she realizes
29:22that she has feelings for her bandmate, Zach.
29:25He's not a bad guy,
29:26but he feels like such a step down from Dave.
29:29They, of course, share the same general interest in music
29:32in the band,
29:33but there isn't that same spark of understanding and care.
29:36It definitely feels more like the writers just decided
29:39that Lane had to date someone in her band,
29:42and now that Dave was gone,
29:44it was on to the next one,
29:45instead of really trying to put her with someone that fit her.
29:48And that, on its own,
29:50wouldn't have necessarily been a bad thing.
29:52Briefly dating someone you end up realizing
29:54you don't actually connect with all that much
29:57isn't unheard of by any means.
29:59But Lane never gets the chance
30:01to keep exploring her options,
30:03and this is the pattern Lane's life will continue to follow.
30:07It had been so great to watch Lane grow and evolve
30:10and rebel and carve out a real life for herself,
30:13and so watching her be forced to essentially backslide
30:17into giving up everything she had fought for
30:19was a real letdown.
30:21Not only did she get hitched at only 21,
30:24she then immediately got pregnant,
30:26literally upon her first time ever having sex
30:29on her honeymoon.
30:30While I'm pregnant,
30:32we waited until after we were married.
30:33If you don't believe us,
30:34we have a note from our doctor,
30:35which doesn't prove anything,
30:37but it does.
30:37Her band had been planning a big tour,
30:39but after falling pregnant,
30:41that was out of the window.
30:42Well, for her at least,
30:44Zach still got to keep living his dream.
30:46Becoming a wife and mother
30:47certainly isn't on its own a problem or a letdown,
30:51but the fact that it was just used
30:53to take all of the wind out of the sails
30:55of Lane's actual big shot at living her dream
30:58was such a bummer.
30:59Having this engaging, rebellious character
31:02sanded down to
31:03woman who gives up all of her dreams
31:05before she even really had a chance
31:07to start living her own life
31:08was not the future anyone was expecting for Lane,
31:12not even Lane herself.
31:13For years, I was this repressed kid
31:15and then there was the briefest of windows
31:18and then slam.
31:20All of a sudden,
31:21I'm this overburdened mother.
31:23Lane in much of her story
31:24was loosely based on real life co-producer
31:26and friend of Amy Sherman Palladino,
31:28Helen Pye,
31:29including Dave,
31:30who was based on Helen's real life husband
31:31and Hep Alien is even an anagram of her name.
31:34But while in real life,
31:35Helen got to continue building the life she wanted,
31:38unfortunately, Lane wasn't so lucky.
31:40Yesterday, we're sitting on your porch,
31:42playing jacks and praying to grow boobs.
31:45And now, look at us.
31:46I have a husband and two babies in there
31:48and you're about to go off and conquer the world.
31:50As Elena Malik wrote in her piece about Lane for Brit & Co.
31:53As an Asian American,
31:54Lane's experiences mirrored many of my own.
31:57And at a time when there was such little Asian representation,
32:00this was extremely impactful.
32:02With the lack of representation at the time,
32:04it was even more important that Lane was dealt an ending
32:07that she and her viewers could be proud of.
32:10Instead of turning her into somewhat of a cautionary tale,
32:13her story could have been utilized to empower an audience of individuals
32:16who saw themselves in her.
32:19There is one tiny light in the darkness of Lane's ending.
32:23She had a lot in common with Lorelai,
32:25feeling suffocated by their parents,
32:26getting pregnant earlier than expected, etc.
32:29But a really important trait they share
32:31is their willingness to always keep trying to find happiness
32:34no matter what situation they end up in.
32:36While her life did not go the way she had hoped,
32:39Lane still manages to find ways to feel joy.
32:42And she's surrounded herself with people she cares about.
32:45Your friendship means so much to me.
32:47Me too.
32:49I mean, I don't know what it's like to have a sister,
32:51but I feel like I do, you know?
32:52And as we see with Rory,
32:54chasing your dreams doesn't always mean you'll end up catching them.
32:58It will always be a bummer
32:59that Lane was never allowed to have the vibrant young adulthood
33:02of freedom and exploration that she deserved.
33:04But it is nice that in the end,
33:07she was at least able to use that strong spirit of hers
33:10to carve out a secure, comfortable life for herself,
33:13where she could hopefully foster some new dreams.
33:17While she may be the older of the Gilmore Girls duo,
33:20Lorelai Gilmore feels more like her daughter's friend than her mother.
33:24Okay, our house is burning down,
33:25and you can save the cake or me.
33:27What do you choose?
33:28Well, that's not fair.
33:28The cake doesn't have legs.
33:30This unique relationship that defines the Amy Sherman Palladino series
33:34is partially framed as the product of the women's closeness in age.
33:38You do not look old enough to have a daughter.
33:40No, I mean it.
33:41And you do not look like a daughter.
33:44Lorelai was just 16 when she had Rory,
33:46so she remembers vividly what it's like to be a teenager.
33:50But there's another explanation for their mental proximity.
33:53In many ways, Lorelai is still stuck in her own adolescence.
33:56Well, I'm hungry.
33:58Have some more pizza.
34:00It's cold.
34:01Heat it up.
34:02It's not the same.
34:03Lorelai, go to your room.
34:05When we meet her, Lorelai is in her early 30s,
34:08yet she hasn't reached many of the benchmarks we associate with adulthood.
34:12She's been working at the same place since she was a teen.
34:15So Lorelai, how are things at that charming little inn of yours?
34:19They're still charming and little,
34:20and we're just crossing our fingers it doesn't assert itself
34:23and become rude and large.
34:24Her parents still treat her like a teenager.
34:27You wear that in public?
34:28And she hasn't been able to commit to any long-term romantic relationships.
34:33Do you think you'll be single your entire life?
34:34It's not mature and put-together teen Rory,
34:37but Lorelai, who seems to do most of the growing up on the show.
34:41Maybe we'll pull a Freaky Friday.
34:42Or we can just pretend like we did and you can go around acting really immature.
34:46Oh, wait.
34:47Back in 2000, when Gilmore Girls started airing,
34:50Lorelai's adult coming-of-age story was a departure from decades of settled,
34:55all-knowing TV moms.
34:57If you know what you did wrong, I mean,
34:59that's more important than any punishment we could think of.
35:02And it gave us a warm, enviable spin on the traditional mother-daughter relationship.
35:07Thank you, Mom. You are my guidepost for everything.
35:09Today, it's a portrait of delayed adulthood
35:13that's only become more relatable to younger audiences.
35:16Here's our take on how Lorelai Gilmore shows us
35:19that you're never too old to grow up.
35:22You know what's really great about being a grown-up?
35:24This.
35:24Someone willing to throw important life experiences out the window to be with a guy?
35:35It sounds like me to me.
35:36The Lorelai we first meet essentially stopped developing at 16.
35:41After she got pregnant, Lorelai dropped out of high school
35:44to run away with her infant daughter to Stars Hollow,
35:47where she's remained ever since.
35:49Her career has remained largely stagnant as she's still at the Independence Inn.
35:54And although she's worked her way up from maid to manager,
35:57And how are things at the motel?
35:59The inn? They're great.
36:01Lorelai's the executive manager now. Isn't that wonderful?
36:04Her desire to strike out on her own
36:06and build something new with her friend Suki remains a pipe dream.
36:10Someday, when we open our own inn,
36:12diabetics will line up to eat this sauce.
36:14Lorelai's whole personality feels juvenile.
36:18From her manners...
36:19She has this off-putting sense of humor, Mikael.
36:21You'd know that if you spent time with her.
36:23...to her eating habits.
36:24Do we want marshmallows?
36:25Mmm, and jelly beans, and chocolate kisses,
36:30cookie dough we have at home, peanut butter.
36:32Her relationship with Rory is more like that of two sisters.
36:36I have your CD.
36:37Steve?
36:38Lorelai mocks Rory for being too uptight.
36:41My sense of adventure did not translate to my offspring.
36:43...while Rory kids her mother for behaving like a child.
36:47I have vanilla chocolate strawberry and toasted marshmallow.
36:50Anything in there not resembling a breakfast story?
36:52And it's often Rory who's the more responsible one.
36:55I can't be late on my first day of school.
36:57Lorelai's relationship with her own parents
36:59similarly hasn't progressed past adolescence.
37:02Is that a collector's copper? Can I throw it away for you?
37:05Emily and Richard Gilmore still see their daughter
37:07as a reckless girl who can't be trusted to make her own decisions.
37:11I only want the best for her, and since she is incapable of judging
37:14what is right and what is wrong, I had to step in.
37:16I had to act.
37:17And Lorelai is so desperate to be free of her parents' control
37:21that she often behaves like that petulant teen,
37:25obsessed with upsetting them.
37:27It's almost like the absence of their reaction
37:28was worse than any freakout they could have had.
37:31Lorelai acts like a reckless teen in her romantic life, too.
37:35This is weird.
37:35She constantly second-guesses her feelings and behaves impulsively,
37:40rekindling an affair with Rory's father,
37:43dating one of Rory's teachers,
37:45and eventually rejecting marriage proposals from both of them.
37:48For the entire week before my wedding,
37:51I'd wait till my mother went to sleep,
37:52and I'd sneak out of bed, and I'd put on my wedding dress.
37:56Because I didn't want to try on my wedding dress every night.
37:59Lorelai's state of arrested development
38:01is one we've seen time and time again in pop culture,
38:05but mostly in male characters.
38:07From the proud man-child,
38:09Chlorophyll?
38:11More like Borophyll.
38:13to the confirmed bachelor,
38:15we've become inured to boyish men
38:17who spurn marriage, children, and meaningful careers.
38:21It's gonna take a stick of dynamite
38:22to get me out of my parents' house.
38:24And while most of those stories involve
38:26these man-boys eventually growing up,
38:28we're also meant to find their immaturity amusing,
38:32even liberating.
38:33You'll give us so much extra space in our room
38:35to do activities.
38:36But until recently,
38:37the failed grown-up wasn't usually a woman,
38:40and she certainly wasn't a mom.
38:42Before Gilmore Girls,
38:44most TV moms were caretakers and homemakers,
38:47wells of wisdom and sensible advice.
38:49Well, Beaver, today girls can be doctors and lawyers too, you know.
38:54They're just as ambitious as boys are.
38:56Lorelai Gilmore broke with this tradition
38:59by being messy and irresponsible.
39:01We're gonna get in trouble.
39:03You're such a worrywart.
39:04As well as unapologetic about her imperfections.
39:07Her rejection of the expectations society places on women,
39:11and mothers especially,
39:13has since manifested in other popular woman-child characters
39:16who don't have their lives all figured out.
39:19Why aren't you married?
39:20I'm just not.
39:21Right now?
39:21Recently, we're seeing a growing number of pop culture moms
39:25finally following in Lorelai's footsteps
39:28by not conforming to the pressure to be perfect
39:31and conventionally adult.
39:33I can't tell you not to drink and smoke pot
39:35because my senior yearbook quote was,
39:38let's drink and smoke pot.
39:39On Gilmore Girls,
39:40Lorelai's immaturity allows her to relate to her daughter
39:44like a best friend,
39:45an unconventional spin that's central to the show's appeal.
39:48You're drawing me into your drunken world.
39:50It's not a bad place to be, my friend.
39:51And while it's Rory who's technically coming of age,
39:55in many ways,
39:55it's Lorelai's story of growing up
39:58that delivers the deepest satisfaction.
40:01It feels...
40:02right.
40:05Yeah.
40:06Such a long time getting here.
40:08Sometimes it's just a journey, you know?
40:10Traditional coming-of-age stories
40:18typically rely on the idea that people grow up fast,
40:22that often all it takes is one transformative experience,
40:25or even one crazy night.
40:27You just can't stay 17 forever.
40:29These stories all take for granted
40:31that everything will just settle down once you're an adult.
40:35None of this will matter when I'm 38.
40:36But Gilmore Girls challenges this narrative.
40:39For both Rory and for Lorelai,
40:41growing up is a slow process of trial and error,
40:45figuring out who you are and what you value.
40:47And it's never really finished.
40:49One of the main ways we see Lorelai mature
40:52is in her relationship with her parents.
40:55I'm just unbelievably touched.
40:56I'm grateful for what you said to him
40:57for defending me like that.
40:59Over the course of the series,
41:00Lorelai realizes that her determination
41:02to live the opposite of the life her parents want for her
41:06is a self-negating attitude,
41:08one that actually hinders her ability
41:10to make her own choices and define herself.
41:13What if I don't want to do what I want to do
41:15because I want to do it,
41:17but because they don't want me to?
41:18We recognize that she's truly growing up
41:21when she stops seeking not just her parents' approval,
41:24but also their rejection.
41:26As a result,
41:27Emily and Richard at last begin to see Lorelai as an adult
41:31and stop trying to micromanage her life.
41:34I've moved on.
41:35Richard, anything you'd like to add?
41:37I can't think of a thing.
41:39Lorelai's self-actualization
41:41also manifests itself in her career.
41:44I'm diving in.
41:45Suki and I are finally going to open that inn.
41:47When she first discovers the Dragonfly Inn,
41:50it's in disrepair,
41:51not unlike Lorelai herself.
41:54Little paints, some pretty curtains,
41:56$150,000 of construction,
41:57and we're open for business.
41:58But in a testament to Lorelai's growing maturity,
42:02she commits to putting in the hard work
42:04to make her dream a reality.
42:06Lorelai's coming of age is perhaps most evident, though,
42:10in her relationship with Luke.
42:12You two are perfect for each other.
42:14I have always thought that someday,
42:16if you just sort of turned around
42:18and opened your eyes, that you'd see it.
42:19At the beginning of the series,
42:21neither Lorelai nor Luke are ready for anything serious.
42:25I mean, people grow and evolve their whole lives.
42:27The chances that you're going to grow and evolve
42:29at the same rate as someone else
42:30is too slim to take.
42:32Unlike the working-class Luke,
42:34Lorelai dates the kind of men
42:35her parents might have chosen for her.
42:37But you have good breeding.
42:39But even when Lorelai doesn't seem to know who she is,
42:42Luke remains a loyal friend.
42:44Think I can hack being a business owner?
42:46I think you can hack anything.
42:48As well as a surrogate father to Rory.
42:50Luke and I have had our ups and downs over the years,
42:53but through it all, his relationship with my daughter Rory
42:55has never changed.
42:57Luke's and Lorelai's is the sort of bond
43:00that can only develop out of years of patient growth.
43:03I just want you to know I'm in.
43:05I am all in.
43:06In Luke, Lorelai recognizes fully who she is,
43:10and in choosing him,
43:12she's committing not only to him, but to herself.
43:15Luke, will you marry me?
43:16After a lifetime of hasty decisions,
43:19both finally realize the importance of taking the time
43:22to figure out what you really want.
43:24Take all the time you need.
43:26Lorelai's coming of age is contrasted with Rory's own,
43:29and from the beginning,
43:31it's Lorelai's fear that Rory will repeat her own mistakes
43:34that creates most of the conflict.
43:36She was supposed to have more than me.
43:40She was supposed to have everything.
43:41In Arrested Development stories,
43:43a character has often failed to progress beyond a certain stage
43:47because of a critical event or period of trauma,
43:50or because they're hung up on a particular era of their past.
43:54You can come to the city with me like we always planned.
43:57Mavis, I'm a married man.
43:58No, we can beat this thing together.
44:00It's no coincidence that Lorelai stopped growing
44:03at precisely the age when she got pregnant with Rory.
44:07Lorelai feels that becoming a teen mother
44:09required her to sacrifice the personal growth and development
44:13that non-parents get to continue on with.
44:16And when it comes to Rory's future,
44:18it's clear that Lorelai's own lost youth
44:20and all those missed opportunities
44:22continue to weigh heavily on her mind.
44:25She can finally go to Harvard like she's always wanted
44:27and get the education that I never got
44:29and get to do all the things that I never got to do
44:31and then I can resent her for it
44:32and we can finally have a normal mother-daughter relationship.
44:34At first, to Lorelai's relief,
44:36Rory appears to be on a polar opposite path
44:39from the one her mother took.
44:41Yet over time, we see that Lorelai's example
44:44has affected her daughter in more complicated ways.
44:47After being laser-focused in high school
44:49on her goal to become a high-achieving academic superstar,
44:53Rory hits more speed bumps in college and beyond
44:56that cause her to question her assumptions about adulthood
44:59and recalibrate her plans.
45:01I don't want to wander around a school
45:03where everyone else is focused
45:04and working towards something
45:05and I'm just floating.
45:07Ironically, the 2016 revival,
45:09Gilmore Girls A Year in the Life,
45:11shows Rory subtly falling into very similar patterns
45:14as her mother once did.
45:16At 32, around the same age as Lorelai was
45:19when the show began,
45:20Rory is stagnating in her career
45:22and making immature choices.
45:24Sorry, I just didn't have a pitch prepared.
45:27That's a little weird.
45:28Thought you'd bring some ideas.
45:29And in the last moments of the final episode,
45:32history repeats when Rory reveals
45:34that she's about to become a single mom.
45:36I'm pregnant.
45:37We can infer that the father is, like her own,
45:40a rich guy with a controlling family,
45:42while Rory, like her mom,
45:44is planting the slow-growing seeds of a deeper bond
45:48with a gruff yet thoughtful man
45:50who's not just reminiscent of Luke,
45:52but even related to him.
45:54Whatever you say, Uncle Luke, it's Luke.
45:56Just Luke.
45:58While Lorelai's in-depth reaction to Rory's news
46:01is yet to be explored in a potential continuation of the revival,
46:05this announcement is in many ways
46:07exactly the moment she's long feared
46:09for the daughter she was determined
46:11must not end up like her.
46:13You are going on the pill.
46:14What?
46:14You are not getting pregnant!
46:16Yet from what we've seen unfold for her mother,
46:18we can gather that Rory,
46:20who's also double the age Lorelai was
46:22when she got pregnant
46:23and on her way to publishing a book,
46:25will be just fine doing things her own way
46:28in her own time.
46:29Gilmore Girls underlines that
46:31messiness and imperfection
46:33are important parts of achieving true maturity,
46:36and the straight and narrow fast-track path
46:38isn't necessarily the right one.
46:40After spending all those years
46:42watching her mother grow up as an adult,
46:44Rory is ultimately empowered to make mistakes,
46:47go her own way,
46:49and not make big life decisions
46:51before she is ready.
46:52I kind of like the idea
46:54that it's just all kind of wide open,
46:58and if I married you,
46:59it just wouldn't be.
47:05It's the first time in my life
47:06I've gotten to feel like a single,
47:08grown-up woman.
47:09Ultimately for Lorelai,
47:10waiting to grow up until she's an adult
47:12turns out to be a good thing.
47:14The slower timeline gives her the space
47:16to formulate a clear idea of who she is
47:18and what she really wants.
47:20Both her career,
47:21We are such great businesswomen!
47:23and her relationship with Luke
47:25are strengthened by her allowing them
47:27to evolve over time.
47:29This has been a really great first date.
47:31It only took us eight years to get here.
47:32Being a late bloomer actually allows her
47:35to be a more engaged, open mother to Rory,
47:38and it eventually even enables Lorelai
47:41to become closer to her own parents
47:43as they all but start over as friends.
47:46Why don't we just talk about it
47:47Friday night at dinner?
47:49Looking back now,
47:51Lorelai's is a story that proves reassuring
47:54to modern younger generations
47:56who've recently found themselves struggling
47:58with their own late-onset adulthood.
48:00I thought you were up.
48:01It's 7.10.
48:03It's a quarter to six.
48:04No, it's not.
48:05Yes, it is.
48:06I set the clock for a quarter to six,
48:08so it's 7.10.
48:10When Gilmore Girls premiered in 2000,
48:13Lorelai was 32,
48:15which makes her a member of Generation X.
48:17Yet her struggle resembles those
48:19that have become increasingly common to millennials,
48:22many of whom have found achieving the milestones
48:24set by their parents to be difficult,
48:27even unrealistic.
48:29I was supposed to graduate from high school,
48:31go to Vassar,
48:32marry a Yale man,
48:33and get myself a proper nickname
48:34like Babe or Bunny or Shih Tzu.
48:36Young people are less likely to be able to afford a home.
48:40They're getting married later,
48:41if at all.
48:42And both millennials and now older members of Gen Z
48:45are faced with a job market
48:46that's still crowded with boomers
48:48and members of Lorelai's generation,
48:50making it difficult to find work,
48:52let alone a satisfying career.
48:54For many in this environment,
48:56the traditional coming-of-age narrative
48:58in which your most formative experiences
49:00happen in your teens and twenties
49:02and then your life is set in stone
49:04rings false.
49:05Lorelai's trajectory is far closer
49:07to what people today are living.
49:09I just thought I had everything under control,
49:11but I didn't,
49:12and the end is just falling apart.
49:16So young viewers discovering Gilmore Girls
49:18for the first time now
49:20may relate more immediately
49:21to the so-called grown-up
49:23than to the perfectionist youth
49:24who appears to have it all mapped out.
49:26You have so many years of screw-ups ahead of you.
49:29Lorelai reassures us that it's okay
49:31to still be figuring out who you are
49:33well into your 30s and beyond,
49:36and that the usual benchmarks of success,
49:38a career, a committed relationship,
49:41knowing exactly what you want,
49:42are not only still achievable later on,
49:45they may even be better for the wait.
49:47It's really hard to get married.
49:50Believe me, I should know.
49:52The character also gives us a vibrant,
49:55energized portrait of adulthood
49:57that doesn't equate growing up with giving up.
50:00However much she changes,
50:02Lorelai never loses her youthful spirit.
50:05Oy, with the poodles already.
50:07Decades later,
50:08she remains a sympathetic, inspirational character
50:11to mothers and daughters alike,
50:12and an illustration
50:14that when it comes to deciphering
50:16what to do with your life,
50:18we're all making it up as we go along.
50:21That's the take.
50:22Click here to watch a video we think you'll love,
50:24or here to check out a whole playlist of awesome content.
50:27Don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications.
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