After a 10-year hiatus, America’s favorite mother-daughter duo have returned to the small screen through Netflix’s four-episode revival. While many of the characters may have aged over the past decade, Stars Hollow remains a quaint, quirky and colorful town that fans have cherished and adored since the very beginning. Revivals can be a tricky terrain to navigate in when trying to please the masses across the world, especially with a program often considered a staple within the millennial generation. Luckily, the show’s original executive producers, Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband, Daniel, had full control over the Gilmores’ return, keeping them in touch with their original style and flair.
Each 90-minute episode presents the viewers with a new season in a year in the life of the eccentric cast of characters: Winter, Spring, Summer and the Fall finale. Avoiding spoilers, Rory enters as a 32-year-old Yale graduate with limited job prospects and lives “here and there,” giving her character many avenues to explore within the plotline as she also juggles multiple romantic relationships and family issues. Lorelai’s success with the Dragonfly has her thinking of bigger things like expansion of the inn … and her family tree. Of course, the relationships in her life are as rocky as they’ve ever been — continuing the lovable persona of having everything together, yet nothing at the same time. And let’s not forget Emily Gilmore, the often forgotten “third Gilmore girl,” who evolves as one of the show’s strongest characters emotionally and mentally as a newly-widowed socialite who finally gets a grip on reality — transforming into someone the revival couldn’t survive without.
Throughout the four episodes, each and every original Gilmore Girls character makes an entrance, no matter how small (except, of course, the late Richard Gilmore). Whether that is April Nardini’s quick return on a visit from MIT or Luke’s complete involvement in numerous plotlines, Stars Hollow comes alive yet again. Regardless of each character’s relative importance to the show, each added to the unfolding plot, which culminates in the highly-debated cliffhanger of an ending: the “final four words” that leave the world wanting more. The ending has given critics the opportunity to suggest potential spin-offs or even another season within the revival. No matter the outcome, fans reveled in the return to Stars Hollow, embracing the alterations that came with it after 10 years.