Gilmore Girls had its fair share of heartbreaks and shocking twists, but (temporarily) breaking up Emily and Richard was one of the show’s worst mistakes. In between perpetually refilled cups of coffee and constant pop culture references, the warm-hearted CW dramedy Gilmore Girls was filled with relationship drama throughout its long run, but one couple managed to weather the show's seven dramatic seasons with almost no hiccups.
Lorelei’s blue blood parents Emily and Richard may have had a tough time connecting with their daughter, but the pair was usually unshakeable as a couple. Throughout the show, the duo was reliably united despite the constant drama, save for one storyline which proved to be one of the series’ worst mistakes (alongside poor April Nardini, that is).
What made Emily and Richard's surprise break up so disappointing was, while they may have been perpetually sniping at each other, their break-up (and eventual inevitable reunion) never made sense for the lone stable couple on the show, and signaled a decline in the character development of the series. Before the storyline, Emily and Richard were always a united front despite their good-natured arguing, and a couple who cut off their pregnant teenage daughter does not seem like a pair who would separate over a business venture. The series could have explained this surprise development, but instead, Gilmore Girls never properly delved into just what made their disagreement so intense that one bad day at the office ended up undoing decades of partnership.
Sure, Emily wanted Richard around more instead of always off at work, but she also grew bored with his company at times and sometimes wished he were back in the office. The break up’s lack of grounding was particularly egregious because viewers have seen the pair united through far more tumultuous emotional terrain, like Richard’s secret lunch with his former fiancee. This problem was exacerbated when they reunited too quickly and easily, with the show papering over the breakup swiftly via a reunion that was immediately followed by a lavish vow renewal.
The pair never actually address the business decision which led to the breakup and, as Lorelei is dating Luke Danes, Jason (the character ostensibly at the center of the dispute) isn’t mentioned again for years. Instead, they just decide they need each other and must have forgotten this for a moment a few episodes earlier. This flippant undoing of the potential divorce is indicative of another problem with the storyline.
The tone of the plot is never clear as at first, Gilmore Girls treats the break up as a tearjerking tragic moment. But within a few episodes, the pair are living in the same house and bumping into each other, turning a pool-house into a bachelor pad, and planning awkward dates to move on. The story feels as clumsy as Gilmore Girls' messy much-hated seventh season because it's never clear whether viewers should be heartbroken or laughing at their goofy sitcom-style inability to live apart. If, for example, the pair broke up as a result of Emily’s meddling with Lorelei and Rory’s love lives it might have made sense, with Richard being tired of Emily’s over-involvement. However not only was that not the cause of the breakup but Rory also starts a relationship with Logan, and Luke and Lorelei break up, the moment Richard and Emily reunite. A
s a result of this plot pile-up, by the time they're back together Richard and Emily are already once again the show’s only stable, reliable couple and their brief separation is forgotten in an instant. It's a messy plot that Gilmore Girls never justified, and one which signaled a shift in the show's usually careful and considered approach to character development into the uneven, Lane Kim-ruining later years.