I've been fading in and out in my Gilmore Girls watching this season, mostly because WB has been pretty inconsistent with the new episodes. But I've caught the last few episodes, including the most recent while I was at home for Spring Break, and I decided to rededicate myself to it.
So I turned it on tonight and settled in. It started out well enough; Rory moving back home after her long fight with Lorelai, the two of them making up, Rory going around Star's Hollow saying hi to everyone, etc. Lane was working on writing a song with Zack and the band. Luke was being reticent and hiding something (clearly his long-lost daughter). And Rory and Luke were not speaking to each other after a nasty fight. But something seemed... off. The dialogue didn't seem to be quite addressing the specific big events of the last episode. After about 20 minutes I started to wonder whether it was a new episode or not. I finally decided it must be a re-run halfway through the show.
I submit to you that this is not the sign of a good show, particularly not an ongoing drama with an evolving plotline. The show's becoming like Pachelbel's Canon; you watch an episode and have no idea where it fits in the overall plot. On a broader level, it shows they're running out of serious ideas and are falling back on standard WB drama tropes. Rory's fighting with Richard and Emily! Now she's living with them. Now she's fighting with Lorelai! Now they're friends again. Is this an episode where she breaks up with Logan, or one where she gets back together with him? Flip a coin! And for Pete's sake, Luke's daughter.
Moreover, they've fallen back on lazy characterization to motivate the conflicts. Almost all of the fights that come up lately would be solved if the characters just talked and listened to each other, which they used to do in the first four seasons of the show. But no. Now they keep secrets for no reason except to cause a fight when the secret gets revealed. They jump to conclusions then refuse to listen to reasonable explanations. The characters we've come to love over five years have been replaced by short-tempered idiots.
There are a dozen other smaller things. The dialogue has lost a lot of its snap. The pop-culture references seem forced (moreso than usual). Rory's turned from sweet and interesting to obnoxious and shallow. And it hasn't helped that Rory and Lorelai have spent most of the season not talking to each other.
I'll still watch the show when there are new episodes on, if I remember (next new one in two weeks. This is why I've missed most of the episodes this seaseon). Nonetheless, I can't help but feel the show's run its course, and perhaps ought to have ended a season or two ago.
UPDATE: On the plus side, Paris is still fun. Probably because she's relegated to sidelines comic relief, so we don't have to care about TEH DRAMA with her.
