“This Is As Much Your Moment As It Is Rory’s, [Katy].”

As of today, I’m just one episode away from wrapping my start-to-finish Gilmore Girls marathon. I’d have finished months ago if I hadn’t been sharing the DVDs with, first-time watcher and my sister, JSmo. But the truth is, I’m glad for the delays. Not because I haven’t enjoyed these last few seasons and not just because I’m glad for her to have had the chance to become friends with the Gilmores, but because I’m honest-to-goodness sad that the next 45 minutes I spend with the reigning Lorelai and her lady-in-waiting will be my last.

Of course, I’m exaggerating. I own the entire series on DVD for goodness sake. But I still sighed along with Rory today as she looked around her empty college apartment and closed the door for good, even with the words “wide open” on her lips. (You guys remember when Lex pointed out the immense importance of doors in this show, right?

I guess I’m just reliving that same twinge of sadness I felt last year when I sat on my couch in near tears, bidding the girls, “Bon Voyage. Forever.”

And I was a little sad today thinking about how even if I wrote one heck of a new post about those fast-talking gals, it just wouldn’t be as fun as it was back when those final episodes were first hitting the airwaves and I’d only begun to warm up the For the Record keyboard.

I also realized that I never wrote a review of “Unto the Breach,” and, honestly, it’s a big episode that deserves a review. But I didn’t write one. And I’m not going to now. Maybe the next time I move into Stars Hollow for the television equivalent of seven years, I’ll do a write-up for each and every episode. But, really, when you’re watching back-to-back you get to experience Gilmore Girls‘ novelesque quality on a whole new level. The connectedness of the story and character arches is almost too prevalent to break the show down into episodic reviews.

So I’ll do one of two things: 1) Try to rehash my most recent thoughts on each season and do 7 reviews, or 2) Just jumble all my most recent thoughts on the entire season into one fabulous post. (That’s the new word in school.)

I will say, as I have before, that while I still think the first 5 seasons are much stronger, I found more highlights in Season 6 than I did upon first reviewing. Same goes for Season 7. (Actually, there are several top-notch episodes in Season 7. If you haven’t watched it twice, you’re missing out.) I think having the entire story in view freed me up to really think about the functionality of the characters, how well they were written, and how well they were enacted. (Yep, even Chris and April. Though I still wouldn’t spend much time in the same room with Lucy and Olivia.)

Plus, I found myself appreciating those quieter moments (and entire episodes) in Season 7 that left the forums rumbling with complaints to get on with it already! At airtime, there was just too much tension built-up around Luke and Lorelai. Any time that wasn’t spent actively working toward their resolution left the fans screaming, “Wasted!” But, really, that sort of pace is classic Gilmore. Remember, we didn’t see any big action with the main characters until 10 episodes into the first season with “Forgiveness and Stuff.”

It’s not so ridiculous to think that Rosenthal was taking his time, not just to give the characters a realistic way to grow through and out of the Season 6 finale, but to lay the ground work for who the characters had become over the last six seasons and who they would be in his first and their final season. The fans were outraged with how the Pallidinos left things, and it makes sense that Rosenthal would give them a slow-burning redemption, which, for my money, we got with episode 13, “I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia.”

And that’s all the Gilmore gab you’ll get from me until I’m ready to do some serious analysis of the series as a whole. If you really need a good old-fashioned For the Record dose of Gilmore fever, feel free to check out the reviews I wrote during the airing of the final season:

Looking Up (Kind of) in the Land of Stars and Hollows (”Hay Bale Maze”)

Still Gilmore After All These Years (”It’s Just Like Riding a Bike”)

All’s Well That’s About to End Well (”Lorelai? Lorelai?”)

“Bon Voyage”: The Gilmores Sail into Blissful Immortality (”Bon Voyage”)

Like I said, there’s no coverage of “Unto the Breach.” But, of course, fellow Gilmore buddy John absolutely covered it. And I had myself quite the Gilmore-appropriate rant in his comment section. I’m sure he won’t mind if I re-post my response here: (DON’T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN SEASON 7!)

“But for all the things I loved about this episode — and even the things I’m still a bit uncertain about — I can’t believe how poorly they handled that last scene between Rory and Logan. And I suppose the argument could be made that it went down the way it did because it was all so abrupt and unexpected, but that still doesn’t excuse how awkward (and really, kind of awful) that scene was.”

EXACTLY. I absolutely needed a hug and a “See you around, Ace.” Chris walked in for that scene, and having not seen any other part of the episode, said, “That was an easy breakup.” It’s rare that I agree with anything he has to say about the Gilmores, but he was exactly right last night. And he shouldn’t have been. There’s just so much I didn’t like about that situation!

For one thing, Rory, you mean to tell me you’ve been dating this guy and saying “I love you” for all this time and you haven’t given any serious thought to marrying him? I’ll always love you. But I’m disappointed in you. You at least could’ve drawn up a decent pro/con list about it during sometime in the last few years. Sheesh. That right there shows me you aren’t mature enough to get married. When we first met Logan, I never thought I’d say this, but that boy has grown up and surpassed you.

That’s not true in every way, but it is in regard to relationships. I agree, John, that I’m glad she listened to her heart, and I’m not saying she should’ve said “yes.” But I am saying that after all the good growth we’ve seen in Logan and in Rory in her interactions with him, I expected more from her. Poor Logan. It should’ve never come to this. If by two years in you can’t say, “I really want to marry this guy,” or at the very least, “I really think I could marry this guy,” it’s not fair to stay in. And her final response to him about wanting to keep her life wide-open and not being able to do that if she married him? In other words, “I like being with you, but I’m not willing to let you stake any claim in my life. You’re nice to have around, and I like the feeling of being in love, but really, can’t we just keep things open?” Good grief. Logan had a right to be mad. And I’m with him on the “all or nothing.” Maybe if she had said, “I love you so much and I want to marry you, but I just don’t think we’re mature enough yet,” they could’ve kept going. But even that would be hard.

BUT! As mad as he deserved to be, I still say the Logan we’ve seen develop over the last few seasons would’ve responded differently. His terse, “Bye, Rory,” was a major step back for him. (I hope the writers didn’t give us that as a “reveal his true colors” moment in order to make us happy that Rory rejected him. Because I don’t believe it. And I’m not happy about it.) I understand that sometimes that’s the easiest way out. But my heart’s invested in these two. I didn’t need to see them stay together. But I needed to see them have a real, honest-to-goodness heartbreaking split. The Logan we know would’ve let his love prevail over his hurt feelings (although I guess he could still reappear in the final episode and give us what we’re longing for). How could there not have been a hug or a kiss on the cheek or a handholding with a slow pulling away? How could Rory have not shed a single tear? I don’t care how much she wasn’t ready to get married, if she really loved him at all, even if they had stayed together, she should’ve gotten teary-eyed telling him “no” because she knew how much it would hurt him. I would’ve.

Gaaaahhhh!

Okay. I have to take care of Caelyn. But! There were some things I really loved about this episode and about your review.

“Between Richard’s rascally razzle and Emily’s debutante dazzle, it was definitely one for the history books.”

“There were lots of little moments in this one where Lorelai was moved to tears, and Lauren Graham plays that kind of thing with such beauty. (I’m sure she also picks her nose beautifully; I’ll admit that I’m a little biased.)”

“The next scene, where Rory and Lorelai talk about it, also felt hollow, and the soft little sigh Rory let out when she looked at her apartment for the last time had more impact for me than the entire Rory/Logan breakup that preceded it.”

. . . To name a few of many. I just needed to get that frustration out first. Thanks for being there, John, as always. And, as always, wonderful commentary.

I still don’t like the way they wrapped things up with those two, but my thoughts aren’t quite the same. Yes, I would’ve liked to have seen more emotion between the two of them, but I get the coldness now too, even if I don’t feel it was an accurate reflection of how the characters were developed over the course of Season 7. Also, I was probably too hard on Rory, even though I still think she should’ve already had a pretty good idea of whether or not she wanted to marry Logan, before he even asked. And, to clarify, I’m not pro ultimatums. I just think Logan was right to say that if they weren’t going to move forward, there wasn’t any point in them continuing the way they were.

I do like Logan for Rory, but I think I probably would’ve done the same thing (almost) if I’d been in her shoes. I wouldn’t have asked someone I loved to be with me but let me keep all my strings unattached. I certainly wouldn’t have done it at my college graduation, a few steps away from my entire family. And I would’ve cried. But I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t know in my heart it was right. In that way, I think that scene was a reflection of the growth we saw in Rory over the course of the series. She went from being someone who almost exclusively relied on her head to someone who takes chances for what she knows in her heart. (Actually, I think we witnessed Lorelai teaching that quality to Rory, and Rory teaching Lorelai to pay attention to logic too, until they both ended up at exactly the place the needed to be for the finale.)

Anyway, more on what’s in my own Gilmore heart in future posts.