live-action TV for a change
Jan. 12th, 2010 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingblossomFor a few years now, I've wanted to watch more of Gilmore Girls. I heard about it when the series was in its fifth season of syndication, and fell in love with its wit, charm, and characterization. There were a lot of blog posts talking about it, but I wanted to see what the show was like in its earlier seasons, and have a chance to catch up with the storyline, instead of catching random episodes here and there. Sometimes I would look around for the show in DVD stores and stare at the boxsets wistfully, then put them down after taking a look at the price tag. It didn't make sense to plonk down that much money for a show I hadn't seen much of before, especially when I wasn't sure what the rewatch value would prove to be.
I saw more random episodes and tried to look for the series to download in college, but that generally failed to work. I ended up seeing more episodes from s6 than anything else, and by that time, the story had kind of derailed with ridiculous subplots, so I wasn't thrilled with that either.
Then sometime after Christmas this year, I finally saw the first season boxset for sale. (In fact, pretty much every season was there except for s2, so yay.) Based on that and the fact that I REALLY WANTED TO SEE IT WITH SUBTITLES TO CATCH ALL OF THE BANTER, I snapped it up when I had the chance.
And the moral of this story is that I'm drinking coffee as I write this post.
So, where to start? I'm up to 1x14 right now, which is about mid-season. The last episode I left off on, That Damn Donna Reed, was a huge clunker. This is remedied by the fact that pretty much all the episodes before that were fantastic, especially Concert Interruptus. I think that or Rory's Party may be my favorite so far, although it's a close call between the two. In fact, before I get into specific episode reactions, I want to talk a little about my thoughts on various plot threads, characters, and their relationships.
To me, this show has focused on four main aspects so far: the Gilmore family dynamics (particularly those between Lorelai and Rory, and Emily and Lorelai), Rory's acclimation at Chilton, Rory's tentative affair with Dean, and Lorelai's love-love (not-so-love, maybe?) relationships. I think the show succeeds best at the first. I have some issues with the inconsistencies in portrayal for Emily and Richard, but this show shines most when all four Gilmores are together. There's a lot of realism in the inter-generation family relations -- for example, Lorelai, who gave up everything to branch out on her own, can't understand why Rory takes so easily to Emily and Richard's lifestyle. Emily, who makes barbs at Lorelai with the slightest provocation, dotes endlessly on Rory, as long as Rory stays within the boundaries of what she considers ideal behavior. And Richard, who would rather pay attention to his business more than anything else, ends up being much fonder of Rory than he expected.
I liked the parallel scenes set up with Lorelai in the pilot. When Lorelai goes (for the first time!) to ask for money for Rory's Chilton education, she is questioned by Emily and Richard before she even gets the words out of her mouth. Both of them assume that she's asking for money for herself, but Lorelai insists that the money is for Rory, maintaining resolute independence even though Emily uses that need to set up the Friday night dinners. This is the same as the opening scene: Lorelai goes to get Rory coffee, and is met with a "=_=" look from Luke, who thinks she's getting yet another cup of joe for herself. Like an addict. But she insists that it's not for herself, even though Luke assumes that it is.
This repetition works as a great, subtle way to establish character.
The Friday night dinners are also great set pieces. There's some great dialogue in these scenes, and the best thing is that they give equal focus to all of the characters. I think the show slacks off on this in later seasons, which is a shame.
Another thing is that I'm only midway into s1, and I can already tell that I'm going to hate the romantic subplots. Rory's are already a waste of screentime, and that's before all the complications that later seasons bring. This may be because I find Dean dull, although did I like the scene where she accidentally stole cornstarch from the grocer's after kissing him. XD I just find Jared Padalecki to be the weakest actor in the cast. Compared to everyone else, he generally looks confused and awkward, like he's floundering under water. I also didn't like the way he was shoehorned into the plot, and thought his lines were sort of laughable. As for Tristan, he's just a complete pain in the neck.
Lorelai's romantic issues are frustrating for other reasons. Max is actually a pretty likable character, but I can tell nothing's going to last with Lorelai because of her Issues when it comes to dating. That, and I was sold on Luke/Lorelai from episode one. I have no idea why it takes them seven seasons to get together. Their scenes together are wonderful; aside from Lauren Graham, no one else quite sells the rapid-fire delivery bit as well as Scott Patterson does. I really liked this exchange in The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton:
Lorelai: [sighs] I already had the longest day of my life and, oh, look, it's only ten. How nice.
Luke: There's no coffee.
Lorelai: That's not funny.
Luke: I can give you herbal tea.
Lorelai: This is not an herbal tea morning. This is a coffee morning.
Luke: Every morning for you is a coffee morning.
Lorelai: This is a jumbo coffee morning. I need coffee in an IV.
Luke: I can give you tea and a Balance bar.
Lorelai: Please, please, please tell me you're kidding.
Luke: I'm kidding. [goes to retrieve the coffee pot.]
Lorelai: You're sick.
Luke: Yup.
Lorelai: You're a sadist, you're a fiend!
[he walks back over with the coffee pot]
Lorelai: You're pretty.
Luke: For here or to go?
Lorelai: To go, please.
Luke: You wanna know what this stuff does to your central nervous system?
Lorelai: Ooh, do you have a chart? 'Cause I love charts.
Luke: Forget it, kill yourself.
Another note: why go out of your way to establish romantic tension between these two if nothing ever happens between them for seasons and seasons? When stretched out that long, it feels...less than honest is what I want to say here.
This is a good segueway for me to say that I heart Luke. I love the contrast between his personality and Lorelai's -- his conversations with her are a delight. There's also something about his gruff, no-nonsense manner (yelling at Taylor for trying to hang up decorations in his diner) and down-to-earth kindness (dropping everything to drive Lorelai to the hospital) that's really likable. If Lauren Graham weren't such a fantastic actress, he'd be my favorite character.
Speaking of which, Lorelai! Life of an adult, heart of a kid. I really, really like her. I don't know what to say beyond that. In the hands of a lesser actress, she could be grating, but Lauren Graham knows how to take all of Lorelai's various quirks and make her character seem cohesive and whole. There are so many different facets to her personality; Gilmore Girls' scripts take advantage of that by showing the differences in her interaction with the cast. One minute, she's put together and charming at the inn; the next, she's like a big teenager hanging out with Rory. She's a frustrated daughter with Emily, and a more sensible confidante to Sookie. I could keep on going. She's a 1920s screwball comedy heroine transplanted into the 20th century, and somehow, it works.
I also like Rory a lot more than I expected. This is quite a feat, considering that I spent most of s6 chanting "schadenfreude!" under my breath. She's fairly realistic so far; bookish, sweet, a little shy but not ridiculously so. I'm prepared to not like her so much when I watch more of the later seasons, but for now, she's good in my books. I like seeing her life at Chilton: my favorite Rory-moment so far was when her car got hit by a deer while driving to school, and the ensuing blowout that followed when she found out she couldn't take the Shakespeare test because she was late. I was cracking up because it was just ridiculous enough to be true.
Again, her relationship with Lorelai is the heart of the show. Yes, it is idealized, but in a way that leaves me smiling when they're together. Nonetheless, I don't always buy the parent/child inversion: she got on my nerves when telling Lorelai to get rid of her old stuff in Concert Interruptus. Seriously, who talks like that to their mom?
If this show were still running, and the script writers were taking tips from me (yeah, right), I'd tell them to cut some of her screentime with Dean and focus more on her interaction with Paris and Lane. I have faith that both of these characters will get more development later, but I'd rather see them than Dean, at any rate. I already like Paris a lot. She may be a Libby, but she's a neurotic, geeky one with immense focus and drive. And odd moments of vulnerability. I get the impression that Paris was originally supposed to be a minor character, but that her role in later seasons was expanded because she proved to be a more interesting character than was expected. Liza Weil is great here -- has she been in anything else?
I like Lane a lot, too; not for any reason I can pinpoint, but just her overall demeanor. Her mom's something of an Asian-American stereotype, so I'm not keen on her so far. There are moments when she's amusing, and yeah, there are parents like that, but she's way too much of a caricature. The show also expects me to look at Lorelai in comparison to her and think she's all the cooler for that, which is a lame characterization device.
Let's see, what else...I don't have much opinion on the townies so far. Kirk and Michel are cool; Sookie gets on my nerves once in a while, but she's fine otherwise. Stars Hollow itself screams out ideal: is there really any place in the U.S. that would just take in a sixteen-year-old pregnant mom without much judgment, let alone an upper-middle class suburban town in Conneticut? I can deal with this to some extent; it's fiction, and this whole show is practically overflowing with WAFFy feel-good vibes. But every so often, I tilt my head to one side and think, "Hey, this is way too good to be true." Maybe that's the point. You're supposed to want to live there, even if such a place doesn't actually exist.
So, yeah -- Gilmore Girls! Occasionally awkward, mostly wonderful. It's an awesome show. I may have to blog episode-by-episode as I watch the rest of this season. :D
I saw more random episodes and tried to look for the series to download in college, but that generally failed to work. I ended up seeing more episodes from s6 than anything else, and by that time, the story had kind of derailed with ridiculous subplots, so I wasn't thrilled with that either.
Then sometime after Christmas this year, I finally saw the first season boxset for sale. (In fact, pretty much every season was there except for s2, so yay.) Based on that and the fact that I REALLY WANTED TO SEE IT WITH SUBTITLES TO CATCH ALL OF THE BANTER, I snapped it up when I had the chance.
And the moral of this story is that I'm drinking coffee as I write this post.
So, where to start? I'm up to 1x14 right now, which is about mid-season. The last episode I left off on, That Damn Donna Reed, was a huge clunker. This is remedied by the fact that pretty much all the episodes before that were fantastic, especially Concert Interruptus. I think that or Rory's Party may be my favorite so far, although it's a close call between the two. In fact, before I get into specific episode reactions, I want to talk a little about my thoughts on various plot threads, characters, and their relationships.
To me, this show has focused on four main aspects so far: the Gilmore family dynamics (particularly those between Lorelai and Rory, and Emily and Lorelai), Rory's acclimation at Chilton, Rory's tentative affair with Dean, and Lorelai's love-love (not-so-love, maybe?) relationships. I think the show succeeds best at the first. I have some issues with the inconsistencies in portrayal for Emily and Richard, but this show shines most when all four Gilmores are together. There's a lot of realism in the inter-generation family relations -- for example, Lorelai, who gave up everything to branch out on her own, can't understand why Rory takes so easily to Emily and Richard's lifestyle. Emily, who makes barbs at Lorelai with the slightest provocation, dotes endlessly on Rory, as long as Rory stays within the boundaries of what she considers ideal behavior. And Richard, who would rather pay attention to his business more than anything else, ends up being much fonder of Rory than he expected.
I liked the parallel scenes set up with Lorelai in the pilot. When Lorelai goes (for the first time!) to ask for money for Rory's Chilton education, she is questioned by Emily and Richard before she even gets the words out of her mouth. Both of them assume that she's asking for money for herself, but Lorelai insists that the money is for Rory, maintaining resolute independence even though Emily uses that need to set up the Friday night dinners. This is the same as the opening scene: Lorelai goes to get Rory coffee, and is met with a "=_=" look from Luke, who thinks she's getting yet another cup of joe for herself. Like an addict. But she insists that it's not for herself, even though Luke assumes that it is.
This repetition works as a great, subtle way to establish character.
The Friday night dinners are also great set pieces. There's some great dialogue in these scenes, and the best thing is that they give equal focus to all of the characters. I think the show slacks off on this in later seasons, which is a shame.
Another thing is that I'm only midway into s1, and I can already tell that I'm going to hate the romantic subplots. Rory's are already a waste of screentime, and that's before all the complications that later seasons bring. This may be because I find Dean dull, although did I like the scene where she accidentally stole cornstarch from the grocer's after kissing him. XD I just find Jared Padalecki to be the weakest actor in the cast. Compared to everyone else, he generally looks confused and awkward, like he's floundering under water. I also didn't like the way he was shoehorned into the plot, and thought his lines were sort of laughable. As for Tristan, he's just a complete pain in the neck.
Lorelai's romantic issues are frustrating for other reasons. Max is actually a pretty likable character, but I can tell nothing's going to last with Lorelai because of her Issues when it comes to dating. That, and I was sold on Luke/Lorelai from episode one. I have no idea why it takes them seven seasons to get together. Their scenes together are wonderful; aside from Lauren Graham, no one else quite sells the rapid-fire delivery bit as well as Scott Patterson does. I really liked this exchange in The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton:
Lorelai: [sighs] I already had the longest day of my life and, oh, look, it's only ten. How nice.
Luke: There's no coffee.
Lorelai: That's not funny.
Luke: I can give you herbal tea.
Lorelai: This is not an herbal tea morning. This is a coffee morning.
Luke: Every morning for you is a coffee morning.
Lorelai: This is a jumbo coffee morning. I need coffee in an IV.
Luke: I can give you tea and a Balance bar.
Lorelai: Please, please, please tell me you're kidding.
Luke: I'm kidding. [goes to retrieve the coffee pot.]
Lorelai: You're sick.
Luke: Yup.
Lorelai: You're a sadist, you're a fiend!
[he walks back over with the coffee pot]
Lorelai: You're pretty.
Luke: For here or to go?
Lorelai: To go, please.
Luke: You wanna know what this stuff does to your central nervous system?
Lorelai: Ooh, do you have a chart? 'Cause I love charts.
Luke: Forget it, kill yourself.
Another note: why go out of your way to establish romantic tension between these two if nothing ever happens between them for seasons and seasons? When stretched out that long, it feels...less than honest is what I want to say here.
This is a good segueway for me to say that I heart Luke. I love the contrast between his personality and Lorelai's -- his conversations with her are a delight. There's also something about his gruff, no-nonsense manner (yelling at Taylor for trying to hang up decorations in his diner) and down-to-earth kindness (dropping everything to drive Lorelai to the hospital) that's really likable. If Lauren Graham weren't such a fantastic actress, he'd be my favorite character.
Speaking of which, Lorelai! Life of an adult, heart of a kid. I really, really like her. I don't know what to say beyond that. In the hands of a lesser actress, she could be grating, but Lauren Graham knows how to take all of Lorelai's various quirks and make her character seem cohesive and whole. There are so many different facets to her personality; Gilmore Girls' scripts take advantage of that by showing the differences in her interaction with the cast. One minute, she's put together and charming at the inn; the next, she's like a big teenager hanging out with Rory. She's a frustrated daughter with Emily, and a more sensible confidante to Sookie. I could keep on going. She's a 1920s screwball comedy heroine transplanted into the 20th century, and somehow, it works.
I also like Rory a lot more than I expected. This is quite a feat, considering that I spent most of s6 chanting "schadenfreude!" under my breath. She's fairly realistic so far; bookish, sweet, a little shy but not ridiculously so. I'm prepared to not like her so much when I watch more of the later seasons, but for now, she's good in my books. I like seeing her life at Chilton: my favorite Rory-moment so far was when her car got hit by a deer while driving to school, and the ensuing blowout that followed when she found out she couldn't take the Shakespeare test because she was late. I was cracking up because it was just ridiculous enough to be true.
Again, her relationship with Lorelai is the heart of the show. Yes, it is idealized, but in a way that leaves me smiling when they're together. Nonetheless, I don't always buy the parent/child inversion: she got on my nerves when telling Lorelai to get rid of her old stuff in Concert Interruptus. Seriously, who talks like that to their mom?
If this show were still running, and the script writers were taking tips from me (yeah, right), I'd tell them to cut some of her screentime with Dean and focus more on her interaction with Paris and Lane. I have faith that both of these characters will get more development later, but I'd rather see them than Dean, at any rate. I already like Paris a lot. She may be a Libby, but she's a neurotic, geeky one with immense focus and drive. And odd moments of vulnerability. I get the impression that Paris was originally supposed to be a minor character, but that her role in later seasons was expanded because she proved to be a more interesting character than was expected. Liza Weil is great here -- has she been in anything else?
I like Lane a lot, too; not for any reason I can pinpoint, but just her overall demeanor. Her mom's something of an Asian-American stereotype, so I'm not keen on her so far. There are moments when she's amusing, and yeah, there are parents like that, but she's way too much of a caricature. The show also expects me to look at Lorelai in comparison to her and think she's all the cooler for that, which is a lame characterization device.
Let's see, what else...I don't have much opinion on the townies so far. Kirk and Michel are cool; Sookie gets on my nerves once in a while, but she's fine otherwise. Stars Hollow itself screams out ideal: is there really any place in the U.S. that would just take in a sixteen-year-old pregnant mom without much judgment, let alone an upper-middle class suburban town in Conneticut? I can deal with this to some extent; it's fiction, and this whole show is practically overflowing with WAFFy feel-good vibes. But every so often, I tilt my head to one side and think, "Hey, this is way too good to be true." Maybe that's the point. You're supposed to want to live there, even if such a place doesn't actually exist.
So, yeah -- Gilmore Girls! Occasionally awkward, mostly wonderful. It's an awesome show. I may have to blog episode-by-episode as I watch the rest of this season. :D
no subject
on 2010-01-19 03:38 pm (UTC)And then I saw it at the store.
I'm only on episode 2 right now, but it's still all your fault. <3
mood: happily surprised
on 2010-01-20 02:27 am (UTC)