Eleven years after the original Gilmore Girls ended, Netflix released a four-part series revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. The four episodes revolved around the seasons and showed different aspects of Stars Hollow and updates about the characters fans missed.
Similar to the original series, the characters made a plethora of mistakes and tried learning from them, but some fans felt like the mistakes the main characters were making showed no growth from the end of the original series. More than that, fans took to Reddit to share what parts of the revival they would change.
Paul Had To Go
While some would say the revival improved the original Gilmore Girls, others would say it destroyed the outcomes for the likes of Lorelai, Rory, and company. One of the odder choices the writers made in the revival is for Rory to have a boyfriend named Paul that she kept forgetting about.
Although Rory was in a strange long-distance relationship with Logan, she was also, apparently, committed to Paul. Charlote1902 told Reddit how they wished Paul never happened. "It just felt way too over the top for Rory - the girl who always has a list, a schedule, and a panic attack if she turns up anywhere late - to be totally checked out of a supposed relationship," they wrote. It did seem out of character for Rory to forget she was dating someone.
It's All About The Lighting
One of the biggest differences between the original series and the revival was the lighting. The original series had darker lighting, making the scenes appear cozier and more throughout. The revival, on the other hand, was far brighter than any original episode. It didn't add up for Gilmore Girls fans who watched the final season before jumping into the revival.
Kitten-Rouge wrote, "I would also like to remove the really bright lighting." They continued explaining, "The kitchen looked so homely, but in the revival, the front of the house looked like something from a Disney Christmas movie and the kitchen looked way too bright and glossy." Fellow Reddit fans agreed in the thread.
Why Were Luke And Lorelai Still In A Standstill?
One of Lorelai and Luke's greatest downfalls in the original series was their poor communication. They both kept things from each other until a fight boiled over. In the revival, fans were hoping Lorelai and Luke's issues were resolved, but they were anything but.
FrazzledSoul wrote, "I would remove the whole 'we didn't get married or have kids and no one is really sure why' plotline from Luke and Lorelai's plot, and write them as having figured [stuff] out with a kid or two." Others agreed that Luke and Lorelai's reality was disappointing and they would have changed it.
Why Did All The Couples Need To Be Miserable?
When the original series ended, Lorelai and Luke were finally together, Rory was newly single, and Paris and Doyle were excited about their future. Fans questioned what would become of the characters in the revival, and as it turned out, things changed drastically and fans wished to change it.
"Paris and Doyle’s divorce. Why does [Amy Sherman-Palladino] have to make all characters miserable? I feel like Paris and Doyle would work out if they were real people," WitchHazel told Reddit. Fans would change the fact that Paris and Doyle were so miserable to keep them as a unit.
Rory's Pregnancy
At the end of the revival, Rory dropped a bombshell: she was pregnant. Fans think a second season of Gilmore Girls is coming because of the way season 1 ended.
Since Rory was sleeping with more than just Logan, fans had no idea who the father of Rory's child would be. Because of this, ScreenHype would change this storyline completely. The Redditor wrote, "Since Logan lives abroad and is engaged, the reality of their situation didn't look good. I'm sure that Logan will be as active a father as realistically possible, but the sad fact is that he'll end up missing out on a lot of his child's milestones simply by virtue of the fact they live in different countries."
The Musical Was A Waste Of Time
Throughout A Year In The Life, it was introduced that Stars Hollow was working on a play — Stars Hollow: The Musical. Viewers saw tryouts and met a few people that were auditioning. However, fans didn't care about this plotline.
One Redditor wrote, "The musical. Gosh, that was so much wasted time." It was realistic that Stars Hollow would have a musical about their town, but after 10 years of being without the series, fans didn't care about it and would have changed it for more time with the characters.
Why Did Logan Need To Be Engaged?
Fans were stunned to find out that not only was Rory dating a man named Paul, but she was also in a complicated relationship with Logan. After breaking up at graduation, fans learned that Rory and Logan were in a long-distance love affair.
Logan was engaged to an heiress named Odette, but that didn't change their relationship. One of Logan's biggest mistakes was remaining engaged to Odette while continuing to sleep with Rory. Crittab would have changed this entire storyline. They wrote, "[Odette] didn't need to exist. [I don't care] as much about Paul, but Logan shouldn't have been engaged."
There Was No Need For A Revival To Begin With
Fans of the original series wanted a revival for years because they wanted to know about the characters' outcomes. Did Lorelai and Luke ever marry? Did Rory become the success her family thought she'd be? There were a lot of unanswered questions.
However, JohannesKronfuss didn't think A Year In The Life was needed. If they could change something, they'd change the revival's existence. "I would remove the revival itself." They continued saying that most of the revival was "unnecessary" and "lost."
Why Did Rory Need So Many Phones?
At the start of the revival, Rory just got to Stars Hollow but was interrupted by a phone call. Rory had multiple cellphones because of work but she couldn't find proper cell reception. What's odd about this is that this was never an issue in the original series, so it made fans question its existence in the revival.
Rory looking for cell reception was supposed to be a funny scene, but it's also something that Puzzleheadedcupcake would change. "Rory having multiple phones." They thought it was odd that she had multiple phones to begin with because Rory didn't necessarily have a job at this point.
Rory's Failures
Fans were surprised to see Rory Gilmore in a rut in the revival. Her love life was a mess but her job was worse. She had a lot of connections as a journalist but she didn't have anything concrete.
Captainmcpigeon told Reddit that they would have changed Rory's career. "Have Rory fail at hard-hitting journalism, fine, but have her pivot into something real instead," they wrote. Instead, Rory turned down a teaching position at Chilton and turned to writing a book instead.