YOU’VE BEEN GILMORED: Our Guide To Binging Gilmore Girls In Time For The Revival

As November 25th is fast-approaching, and the Gilmore Girls revival ‘A Year in the Life’ nears closer on Netflix, binging the entire seven seasons in preparation is a must-do for any self-respected Gilly.

Luckily Gilmore Girls  (along with Buffy The Vampire Slayer) is one of the most easily bingeable series, simply because it’s impossible to watch just one episode at a time.

For the uber-fan, or the Gilmore novice, we’ve made it easy for your binge-watching pleasure, and have listed the best and worst seasons, episodes and scenes. But be pre-warned, there are a few spoilers in there.

COOPER BOOM. Good luck!

Our guide to bingeing GG, in time for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life:

Best Season

Season 5
It’s a hard choice between season 5 and 6, but 5 edges an inch forward because it’s not quite as distressing viewing, with six’s big Gilmore girls fight and the introduction of April Nardini a.k.a the series destroyer. The fifth season has some of the best episodes and story lines, as Luke and Lorelai start dating, Rory meets Logan and the Life and Death Brigade and Emily and Richard reunite.

Honourable mention
Season 6
Many, many, many great eps.

Worst Season

Season 7
The dreaded season 7 is just wrong. The show’s final season went ahead, without its creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Dan – and with that, the Gilmore Girls voice was gone. Sure, the season’s writers tried their best, but without the classic Palladinoisms – the snappy dialogue and pop culture wit – it falls pretty flat.

Dishonorable mention
Season 1
Like most show’s first season, they were still finding their feet and the series’ voice. Plus too much Dean and Max Medina equals snoozeville for me.

Best Episodes

‘So… Good Talk’, Season 5
This is the ‘Luke and Lorelai reunite after their first break-up episode’ and it’s done beautifully. It’s also an ep where Rory surprises everyone, yelling at Emily for breaking up the pair, and for once I’m on Rory’s side. The ending is everything. Lorelai is missing Luke, and watching A Star is Born, which features the tragic AF song ‘The Man That Got Away‘, by Judy Garland, when all of a sudden Luke walks in without saying a word, and they go to pash-town. Soo many tears.

‘Friday Night’s Alright For Fighting’, Season 6
This is a classic episode, that needs more than one watch. As Friday night dinners resume at the Gilmore house, the entire evening becomes a lightning rod for every single issue plaguing the foursome, from the beginning of the series. It’s spectacular, as the night jumps from savage arguments to hilarious confessions. It’s perfection.

Honourable mentions
‘They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They’, Season 2
‘Wedding Bell Blues’, Season 5

Worst Episodes

‘That Damn Donna Reid’, Season 1
It starts off okay as Dean and Rory fight over his approval of the domestication of housewife and TV character Donna Reed. Rory is outraged that Dean thinks it’s no big deal that 1950’s women were socially oppressed and argued that women shouldn’t have to meet some preconceived concept of womanhood.

These are all wonderful and valid points, that are true to the show, until Rory ends up dressing up like a housewife and making Dean dinner, reversing the meaning of the entire episode. Such a frustrating watch.

‘A Vineyard Valentine’, Season 6
This episode is just weird in every sense of the word and many regard this as the absolute worst of the entire series. As the Gilmore gals head to Martha’s Vineyard for Valentines Day, the setting, the dialogue and all the characters – especially Luke – contradict the norm the entire series.

Rory and Lorelai at times act like strangers. Rory suddenly cooks and goes to the gym, which is just wrong. Luke is frustratingly uptight and lies to Lorelai about a gift he gives her, which was bought by Logan – who acts like an arrogant knob. Who are these people?!

Dishonourable mention 
All the episodes where Christopher and Lorelai are a couple – so a fair slab of season 7.

Best Scenes

Lorelai and Luke kiss for the first time, Season 4
We had been waiting three whole seasons for this. Finally after their first date for Liz’s wedding, and confusion over whether Digger was back(ergh), Luke and Lorelai kissed. It was a perfect moment, as Luke leans in and Lorelai freaks out saying “What are you doing?” to which Luke replies “Will you just stand still?”. Made all the more perfect, as a naked Kirk burst through the two, amid a sleep-walking terror.

Rory’s graduation speech, Season 3
As Rory gives her valedictory speech, try and watch this without wailing like a banshee, I dare you. My fave part is dedicated to Lorelai, as Rory says: “My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be,” she said. “As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don’t know if she ever realised that the person I most wanted to be was her.  Thank you, Mom: you are my guidepost for everything.” *CRIES HYSTERICALLY*

Honourable mentions
Luke takes Lorelai to dinner and tells her he’s “all in”, Season 5
Rory and Logan jump off platform at Life & Death Brigade party, Season 5

Worst Scenes

Mitchum tells Rory she should give up her dreams, Season 5
This is a tough watch. After Rory has been interning with Logan’s Dad’s newspaper, despite thinking she was about to be offered a position, instead Mitchum crushes her dreams, with four words: ‘You don’t got it’. This sets off a line of upsetting series-changing events in the following season.

Lane finds out she’s pregnant after losing her virginity, Season 7
Wtaf, guys? Lane really got the worst treatment out of the entire cast, but this scene and storyline sealed her doom. After marrying Zack – a perpetual grump, terrible waste of a person – and having sex just ONCE, which Lane described as horrible, she becomes pregnant. Why?! Repeat after me: LANE KIM DESERVED BETTER THAN THIS. She deserved the life of a rockstar.

Dishonourable mentions
Lorelai sleeps with Christopher after fighting with Luke, Season 6
Luke is uncharacteristically horrible to Lorelai after break-up, Season 7

There’s a catch with this guide. While certain episodes and seasons are better than others, it is still essential viewing to watch EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. True Gillies, learn to love the stuff you hate. A Gilmore on a bad day is still better than any other series on a good one.