TV shows we love: Gilmore Girls

By Mary Spyrou

If you are looking for a heartfelt witty comedy-drama head back to the early 2000s to appreciate Gilmore Girls and their 2016 reunion.

In the close-knit town of Stars Hollow lives a perfect mother daughter best friend duo. A relationship that if you cannot relate to, you are sure to envy. The mother, Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham), got pregnant at 16 and rebelling against her high society family’s wishes to get married, she ran away. In an attempt at autonomy Lorelai raises her daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), almost entirely estranged from her parents. The series takes place about 16 years later with a teenage Rory and portrays their life together. Lorelai follows her own liberal parenting methods, saying, “We’re best friends first and mother and daughter second.”

The studious Rory aspires to go to Harvard, so Lorelai enrols her in a private school to better her chances. However, this means Lorelai must borrow money from the people in her life who know her the least… her parents. Rory’s grandparents lend them the money but there is a catch, Friday night dinners. Rory, who was the reason Lorelai broke free from her suffocating past, becomes the very same reason Lorelai must return.

Writer Amy-Sherman Palladino made Rory and Lorelai so well-versed you might need to turn on the subtitles to keep up with their quick wit as they make multiple subtle references to figures from journalism, movies, books, sports and historical events.

Describing their household as a democracy, Lorelai and Rory talk about almost everything, from romantic interests to school/work issues. They are both equally authentic and flawed, sometimes making it difficult to decide who to side with. The mother who lost her teenage daughter because she did not know any better about parenting? Or the child who simply wanted to have a voice when it came to her own life? Follow the Gilmore Girls adventures to make up your own mind!