Gilmore Girls Series Re-watch Recap: Season 3

Posted December 26, 2016 by Cristina (Girl in the Pages) in TV / 4 Comments

gilmore-girls21With the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life revival recently launching, I’ve decided to make it my mission to re-watch all of the seasons before I revisit Stars Hollow in the Netflix special. It’s been about 10 years since I watched the original show (I only made it through seasons 1-5) and I was a huge fan as a teenager, so it’s interesting to see how my perspective on the show has changed now that I’m an adult! You can read my thoughts on Seasons 1 & 2, or continue below to my thoughts on Season 3.

*Warning! This post will contain spoilers for Seasons 1-3!

borders12inch_0019_hue_saturation-70

Season 3

Plot: Season 3 marks the beginning of Rory’s senior year at Chilton, so it’s understandably a season where a lot of big things happen and major decisions are made. The beginning of the season continues the cat-and-mouse game that Rory and Jess still have going on (UGH) until Dean FINALLY (and rightfully) breaks up with her selfish face (that was a great episode). Insult is continually added to injury for Lorelei as Sherry keeps appearing in all of her pregnant glory, and Lorelei gets roped into attending many of Sherry’s milestone moments, such as her baby shower and the birthing of Gigi. Tension runs strong in the Gilmore family as Richard tries to influence Rory to choose Yale over Harvard and Lorelei wants Rory to stick to the original plan (Rory picks Yale, of course, because it’s way more plausible with the plot that she’d choose the college in the same state as her hometown and thus has a convincing reason to stay on the show). After 1 and a half seasons of watching Jess and Rory emotionally cheat with each other, they finally come together only to break up by the end of the season. An unexpected fire at the Independence Inn forces Lorelei and Sookie to set their plans to open their own inn and motion. Finally, much of the progress that seems to be made in mending Lorelei’s relationship with her parents is fractured when she pays them back for Rory’s Chilton fees, thus ending their Friday-night dinner deals.

Characters: Rory continues to be selfish and annoying, as usual. Lorelei continues to grow on me and become more mature (basically the more I start to like Lorelei the more I dislike Rory, it’s pretty directly proportionate). I was happy to see Lane get a lot of character development this season, finally standing up to her mom a bit and starting a band. Luke ends up getting involved in a pretty serious relationship with Nicole, Taylor’s lawyer of all people, and while I was happy for him I also just didn’t get it. Richard becomes super meddling with all of the college stuff and it reminds Lorelei a lot of why she won’t ever be able to have an amicable relationship with her parents (which is sad, because a part of me was really rooting for the three of them).

Settings: Stars Hollow gets even more quirky and eccentric this season with events such as the 24 hour dance marathon and the visiting of a group of Edgar Allen Poe impersonators. Rory also tours multiple “colleges” (AKA fake Harvard and Yale which was really her walking around UCLA). There’s also a random episode where Jess goes out to California to visit hid Dad who is total troll just like him.

Romance: I hate to say “I told you so,” but…oh wait, never mind, I don’t hate it, I love it because I was right that Jess is a pile of garbage as a boyfriend. Rory is miserable 85% of the time she dates him (he blows her off, never calls when he says he will, won’t go to town functions that he deems “lame”, etc.) with the only time they’re not fighting being when they’re kissing. And then, in a move surprising no one in my household, Jess tries to force himself on Rory when they’re alone in a bedroom at a party, gets pissed off and blames her for leading him on when she pushes him off her (rape culture, anyone?) and Dean beats him up (hooray!) Dean is also engaged to Lindsey as a result of the shortest courtship ever (AKA he’s desperately and misguidedly trying to get over Rory and the emotional damage she did to him). Lane starts a secret relationship with Adam Brody who I totally forgot was on this show (until he leaves to go to “college” AKA he left to film the O.C.) Lorelei dates a nice guy named Alex for a few episodes until the relationship sort of mysteriously fades off and Max conveniently comes into town and it looks like they may rekindle their romance for a hot minute (which doesn’t happen, thank god). Basically everyone sort of ends the season single.

Loves

  • The fight scene between Dean and Jess because you KNEW it was inevitable.
  • Lane and Adam Brody’s cute, clandestine, “faux-Christian” romance.
  • Sookie’s pregnant!
  • Jess working at Walmart LOL (It’s only funny because he tries to be so anti-establishment but he’s willing to work for a major establishment and forsake his education just to make money. What a hypocrite).
  • When Rory brings Jess to dinner with Emily and Emily handles it like a pro.
  • Flashbacks! More young Lorelei and Christopher, please!
  • The fact that they did a Thanksgiving episode! I feel like this holiday is often left out of TV shows (and books too, for that matter…)

Loathes:

  • Taylor as he becomes more annoying and makes more and more grabs for power.
  • Rory going behind Lorelei’s back and asking her grandparents to finance Yale.
  • Dean + Lindsey
  • Paris and Rory’s weird student council argument/power struggle.
  • The Stars Hollow High PTA mothers.

borders12inch_0019_hue_saturation-70

Lightening Round!

Favorite Character: Lorelei really grew on me this season!

Favorite Couple: Lane + David

Most Hated Villain: Jess. I HATE JESS. STILL.

Favorite Secondary Character: Kirk is still my fave right now. I just feel so sad for him.

Favorite Episode: “Dear Emily and Richard” (Episode 13) I loved seeing the flashbacks to Lorelei’s past when she was Rory’s age! More please!

Are you a Gilmore Girls fan? What do you think of Season 3? No spoilers for the Netflix revival, please!!!

Save

Save

Tags:


4 responses to “Gilmore Girls Series Re-watch Recap: Season 3

  1. Ohmygoodness finally someone else who thinks Jess was a terrible boyfriend! He’s such a problematic teenager, and I felt terrible at how Rory treated Dean. (Though I dislike how he handled things afterward with Lindsey.) I think it’s sad too when we see why Lorelai has such a difficult relationship with her parents, but I keep rooting for them to get it together too. Also, I think this may be an unpopular opinion, but I like Lane with Adam Brody’s character much more than I do her and Zach. Looking forward to see what you think of the next season, Cristina!

    • YES I don’t understand why everyone loves Jess!!!! Him and Rory were just terrible to each other!!! I vaguely know that Lane and Zach get together later on from watching the series years and years ago, but he’s such a troll right now (I’m in the middle of season 4) that I don’t think I’ll like him much more when the get together.

  2. I too, loathe Jess as a boyfriend(even though the episode where they get together is one of my favorites — it’s just such a well-done episode, and while I don’t like Dean either, I do like him finally standing up for himself). It’s interesting to me that you loved the flashback episode, because I remember the fan communities I was somewhat involved w/ in high school all hated it. I don’t dislike, it particularly, but I don’t love it either. I like the idea more than the way the episode actually plays out. And Lane and Dave’s romance is definitely a highlight of the season–I feel like their pretty functional, caring relationship definitely contrasts the mess that is Jess and Rory.

    • YES I think the episode is called “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They” and it’s such an iconic episode (I loved the dance competition!) I didn’t realize I was in the minority of liking the flashback episode, I just thought the actress playing young Lorelei did a good job capturing her spirit (and I loved seeing a younger portrayed Richard and Emily!) I definitely miss Dave and Lane, and I’m feeling so bad for her in season 4, which I’m currently in the middle of right now.

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.