History YMMV / GilmoreGirls

* PayingTheirDues: Rory isn't a big fan of any implication that she even has dues to pay toward her dream of becoming a foreign correspondent. She seems totally unaware that generations of journalists have begun their careers in small media markets before moving on to big-name outlets. Even her idol, Christiane Amanpour, got her start at an NBC affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island--ironically enough, the same city where Rory turns down a newspaper job for an extremely competitive ''New York Times'' internship [[spoiler:that she doesn't get.]]

* PayingTheirDues: Rory isn't a big fan of any implication that she even has dues to pay toward her dream of becoming a foreign correspondent. She seems totally unaware that generations of journalists have gotten their start in small media markets before moving on to big-name outlets. Even her idol, Christiane Amanpour, got her start at an NBC affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island--ironically enough, the same city where Rory turns down a newspaper job for an extremely competitive ''New York Times'' internship [[spoiler:that she doesn't get.]]

* UnfortunateImplications: The original show was not considered perfect in the representation department either, but ''A Year in the Life'' has been considered even worse in its treatment of homosexuals and POC, (especially considering nine years have passed), along with Rory and Lorelai spending the opening scene of "Summer" making fun of overweight people. [[http://www.thefrisky.com/was-gilmore-girls-always-as-racist-homophobic-and-fat-shaming-as-the-revival-is/ This article in particular]] sums the issues up.

** Rory's feelings towards Dean in season 4 and beginning of season 5. Was she really still in love with him or did she simply miss how "special" and safe Dean made her feel (in her own words) in a season of living away from home and not getting close to any new people, next to how both friends and even her own grandma were hassling her for not having a boyfriend? The fact that her relationship with Dean becomes very awkward once they actually try dating again and she moves on ''extremely'' quickly once he breaks up with her one final time gives support to the latter interpretation.

*** In the same episode, Jess's response to Dean's, "You think this is funny?" is, "Well, it’s no Lenny Bruce routine but it has its moments." Amy Sherman-Palladino would go on to feature a fictionalized Lenny Bruce in ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'' (where Jess's actor would cameo).

** Rory and [[spoiler:Dean in the latter half of season 4. Because of having ended their relationship abruptly over Jess, it's established that they're not entirely over each other, but the amount of time and focus spent on their NewOldFlame tension gets old fast, particularly as Dean serves no other purpose in the season but to be a SatelliteLoveInterest while Rory's character regresses to eventually cheating with a married man. Thankfully season 5 picks up the slack somewhat as their rehashed relationship is short-lived and Rory finally moves on. Whether Logan was an improvement from Dean (or Jess), however, is up for much heated debate, as mentioned below.]]

** While Rory and Jess had a turbulent relationship in the show and stayed together the shortest amount of time out of Rory's three boyfriends, Alexis and Milo [[RomanceOnTheSet dated in real life]], lasted for almost four years and even discussed marriage together.

** Rory and [[spoiler:Dean in season 4. Because of having ended their relationship abruptly over Jess, it's established that they're not entirely over each other, but the amount of time and focus spent on their NewOldFlame tension gets old fast, particularly as Dean serves no other purpose in the season but to be a SatelliteLoveInterest while Rory's character regresses to eventually cheating with a married man. Thankfully season 5 picks up the slack somewhat as their rehashed relationship is short-lived and Rory finally moves on. Whether Logan was an improvement from Dean (or Jess), however, is up for much heated debate, as mentioned below.]]

** In "One's Got Class And The Other One Dyes", Debbie and a few other parents become enraged when Lorelai says that she didn't regret having Rory when a bunch of high schoolers asked her about her pregnancy while Lorelai was trying to give a career speech. While whether or not the mothers' accusations that Lorelai was glamorizing TeenPregnancy were justified is a debate of its own, they do bring up a good point that Lorelai could've just ''turned down answering the questions in the first place'' to ignore any potential unfortunate implications.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: In ''A Year in the Life'', Rory is 32, the same age Lorelai was at the beginning of the original series. In a meta sense she's even older as Lauren Graham was 33 at the filming of the pilot and Alexis Bledel is 35 at the release of the revival.

** Rory and [[spoiler:Dean in season 4. Because of having ended their relationship abruptly over Jess, it's established that they're not entirely over each other, but the amount of time and focus spent on their NewOldFlame tension gets old fast, particularly as Dean serves no other purpose in the season but to be a SatelliteLoveInterest while Rory's character regresses to eventually cheating with a married man. Thankfully season 5 picks up the slack somewhat as their newfound relationship is short-lived and Rory finally moves on. Whether Logan was an improvement from Dean (or Jess), however, is up for much heated debate, as mentioned below.]]

** Lorelai's one bout of nerdiness to match her daughter's, when she memorized Luke's oven manual. Four seasons earlier she had no idea what a broiler was. She never does anything remorely similar again.

* DownfallBySex: Paris blames not getting into Harvard on sleeping with Jamie (Lorelei calling Rory "the good kid" when she overhears the conversation), Lane's first time on their honeymoon and the awful experience it was, unexpected pregnancy (Lorelai, Rory, Sookie, Lane in a sense), Rory's decision to steal a yacht and sleep with Logan ruins her life (though not nearly as much as it should have) but not his, and all the times that Lorelai and Rory cheated on their boyfriends.

* HarsherInHindsight: Lorelai delivers a preemptive speech about how upper class youth feel entitled to everything and can do anything they want. [[spoiler:Rory steals a yacht at the end of season 5 and isn't on speaking terms with her mother for about half a season. And Richard and Emily defending Rory to the Huntsburgers after Mitchum tells her that she "doesn't have it", given Rory's personal and professional (or lack thereof) behavior in the revival.]]

** In a season 3 episode, Lorelai eavesdrops on a conversation Rory has with Paris where she reveals that she never slept with Dean, nor had done so with Jess yet, making Lorelai proudly say to herself how she "got the good kid." [[spoiler:Come the season 4 finale, Rory sleeps with Dean while the latter ''is married to someone else'', greatly upsetting Lorelai and having to listen to Rory childishly attempt to excuse the ordeal.]] Made even worse by ''A Year In The Life'', where [[spoiler: Rory is willingly sleeping with an engaged Logan while herself having a boyfriend she considers 'too forgettable' to actually break up with, and apparently ends up pregnant with Logan's child or possibly even a random third candidate, dressed in a Chewbacca costume]].

* KarmaHoudini: Rory, especially in the revival.

*** Additionally, Mitchum isn't being nasty when he says it, and it seems that he very deliberately couches it in as gentle a way as possible. He emphasizes that he's been wrong before and could be this time, and he also gives Rory some other career recommendations based on what he's observed of her.

** In the revival, quite a bit of time is dedicated to Rory trying to revive the old Stars Hollow gazette, this goes nowhere and it's never resolved. One of the main problems Rory encounters is the lack of staff and the outdated systems they use. Another plot point that goes nowhere besides as a throwaway gag is the Thirtysomething Gang. Now where could a group of tech-savvy millennials with nothing better to do than drink milkshakes go to find useful employment?

** Rory and Logan in ''A Year In The Life'' [[spoiler: as they have an ongoing affair while she has a boyfriend and he's engaged. The show plays it like they have some star-crossed lovers-thing going on even though they could get together in a minute if they wanted to, as Logan never explains ''why'' he has to marry his fiancee and the only reason Rory hasn't broken up with her boyfriend is she keeps ''forgetting he exists.'' Plus, Rory at some point has a one-night-stand (cheating on ''both'' her boyfriend and Logan) which she treats like no big deal, making the idea that she and Logan still have "true" feelings for each other come off as rather questionable on Rory's side.]]

** Rory's treatment of Lorelai in ''A Year In The Life'', from [[spoiler: apparently coming back to stay out of nowhere, insisting on writing a memoir despite Lorelai's objections and getting mad at her for objecting. Then spoils her wedding day by announcing her pregnancy.]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Lorelai delivers a preemptive speech about how upper class youth feel entitled to everything and can do anything they want. [[spoiler:Rory steals a yacht at the end of season 5 and isn't on speaking terms with her mother for about half a season. And Richard and Emily defending Rory to the Huntsburgers after Mitchum tells her that she "doesn't have it", given Rory's personal and professional (or lack thereof) behavior in the revival.]]
** Lorelai is relieved to find out that Rory hasn't slept with either Jess or Dean in Season 3, saying "I've go the good kid." Considering that Rory had already cheated on Dean with Jess, and would cheat with Dean while he was married, cheat on Logan with Jess, cheat on Paul with Logan and on Paul and Logan with the Wookie...
** When Sookie and Jackson are on their first (somewhat disastrous date), Lorelai comments that she'll wear blue to the wedding. Two seasons later...
** In season one, after Lorelai confides to Luke that Dean reminds her of Christopher, Luke tells her he isn't surprised, as Rory and Lorelai are a lot alike and could reasonably have similar tastes in men. Jess and Logan haven't even been introduced as characters and the revival has yet to make the LikeParentLikeSpouse LoveTriangle explicit, so re-watching ''that'' scene in retrospect is just hilarious.

* HarsherInHindsight:

* EndingAversion: [[spoiler:The final four words in ''A Year in the Life'' caused most, if not all of the fandom to scream in anger, especially the implications that foreshadowed it.]]

* AcceptableTargets:
** People who listen to Top 40 Music. The only time that type of music was played was either when they needed actual music for a party scene or the network forced a track onto the show as ProductPlacement, and the few other times (when Nickelback made its way into the "Wedding in Paris" promo, for instance), it was only in network promos and not the actual episode.
** Quite often, upper-class people are the butt of jokes.
** [[spoiler: Millennials, as of ''A Year in the Life.'' Between Lorelai's digs about trigger warnings and the Thirty Something Gang, it's clear the show doesn't think much of the generation. Which, funnily enough, is the target audience for Gilmore Girls.]]
** [[https://www.glamour.com/story/gilmore-girls-fat-shaming-scene-was-unnecessary Fat people]], HollywoodPudgy, or rather [[https://www.bustle.com/articles/152139-9-ways-i-hope-the-gilmore-girls-revival-is-more-body-positive-less-early-2000s anyone with an eating disorder]]. It's especially grating as the BigEater titular duo keep consistently thin figures despite all the junk food they eat and exercise they rarely do.
** Women who are housewives instead of working on a career.
** High society ladies and trophy wives.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Rory’s whole personality is this in a nutshell. She was raised by a mother who had her as a teenager (and has a SEVERE CASE of Arrested Development) who raised her as more of a best friend/ surrogate sister than daughter and treats her as a paragon of pure perfection (“If you see a child walking around reading a book wearing a halo, that’s my daughter.”), has rich, old money grandparents who CONSTANTLY dote on her and buy her anything she ever wanted, grew up in a small town where EVERYONE worshipped and adored her, had no trouble getting any guy she ever wanted, is naturally intelligent, and is constantly told what a great person she is. Not surprisingly, for all her positive attributes (natural empathy, intelligence, curiousity), Rory is essentially a spoiled, sheltered, self centered person who is so used to being praised and worshipped for everything she does that whenever she has to face real and genuine criticism in any way, shape, or form, and has a complete and total meltdown.
** In the episode where Dean and Jess get into a fistfight, while Jess is a good fighter able to hold his own, Dean is almost a full head taller, furious because he thought Jess hurt her, and is noticeably much stronger. Not surprisingly, he ends up getting the better of Jess (he ends up, among other things, throwing the first and last punches of the fight).
** Lorelai thinks of herself as the hip, cool parent all the other kids wish they had for a mom (and at times the show seems obsessed with portraying her that way) and thinks of and speaks of her daughter as the physical embodiment of pure perfection. Not surprisingly, when she is forced to acknowledge her daughter is FAR from perfect and acknowledge Rory has shortcomings, that’s when Rory and Lorelai have their worst fights.

** Rory's treatment Lorelai in ''A Year In The Life'', from [[spoiler: apparently coming back to stay out of nowhere, insisting on writing a memoir despite Lorelai's objections and getting mad at her for objecting. Then spoils her wedding day by announcing her pregnancy.]]

** In the Season 3 finale, when Rory is made valedictorian, Paris tells her that valedictorians often end up unsuccessful in later life according to statistics. In the revival ''A Year In The Life'', [[spoiler: Rory struggles with her lack of a career, despite all her academic achievements.]]

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Regarding Jess's LongingLook at Rory at the end of ''A Year In The Life'', indicating he might have feelings for her. Some fans are hopeful that Rory/Jess might get a happy ending after all and think they could be great together now he's matured from the original series. Others - including a lot of former Jess/Rory fans - don't like the implication that Jess is still pining for her and thinks he deserves better than [[{{TookALevelInJerkass}} Rory, given how her character has regressed]]. A final group still don't like Jess or Jess/Rory at all, and would prefer Rory with someone else (like Logan) or for her to stay single.]] And Rory tells Lorelai that she's pregnant on Lorelai's wedding day.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Lorelai delivers a preemptive speech about how upper class youth feel entitled to everything and can do anything they want. [[spoiler:Rory steals a yacht at the end of season 5 and isn't on speaking terms with her mother for about half a season]].

** In the Season 3 finale, when Rory is made valedictiorian, Paris tells her that valedictorians often end up unsuccessful in later life according to statistics. In the revival ''A Year In The Life'', [[spoiler: Rory struggles with her lack of a career, despite all her academic achievements.]]