| Review:
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To be honest I only ever heard of Gilmore Girls one
time before when the mother and daughter of the series were
mocked by the Family Guy and my wife had a quick retort
to the show’s defense. Then, not a week later, I volunteered
to do the review for Season 5. In some ways I’m glad I did,
and in others I’m kicking myself at the same time, as I’m
still kind of lost at the moment entering a series so late
into it’s over all drama. In my research, prior to watching
season five I learned that this show’s premise is supposed
to be a mother and daughter who are so close that people
mistake them for sisters. Something must have gone horribly
wrong along the way because in Season Five I felt that there
was a sharp wedge between Lorelei and Rory… a huge sharp
wedge. I don’t know if that was there all along, or if it’s
new, but I felt a mother desperately trying to get close
to her daughter, only to be pushed away by the 19 year old.
To be honest this show was a mixed bag for me, though
my wife was very excited to receive this early Christmas
present, and was able to hop right into the set I took longer
to get my bearings in the story, and have come to certain
conclusions that may not accurately reflect the series as
a whole.
Firstly, that the show opened up with Rory helping
what I later earned is her ex-boyfriend commit adultery
didn’t exactly put her in a favorable light with me, and
said ex-boyfriend, Derek, seemed to have a really sweet,
very loving wife who was desperate to please him, and crushed
when she learned of his infidelity. This did not put him
in a favorable light with me either. Neither character found
redemption with me throughout the season, even with the
huge decision that Rory has to make when Preppy boy Logan
comes into the picture (who looks freakishly like the guy
I sit behind at work I might add…) I did not find a single
redeeming quality to Rory, and I came to really detest Derek.
I’m not too fond of Rory’s grandmother either who is even
more shallow and self absorbed than she is!
Thankfully, there’s Lorelei who is funny, charming,
and witty, and (According to my wife) finally with the guy
of her dreams and they exhibit some amazing chemistry. I
especially enjoyed the episode where the whole town finds
out that they are together, and how the town reacts to it,
and how they react to their reaction! It was a very funny
episode. Lorelei is what made this season so enjoyable for
me as she did for Gilmore Girls what Qui Gon Jin did for
Star Wars Episode 1, held the show together, and prevented
it from becoming un-enjoyable. You see, unlike her daughter
and her mother, Lorelei is not shallow, hollow, and self-serving.
She’s quite the opposite in fact. There were numerous occasions
where it was tempting for me to forward through Rory’s scenes
just to get back to her mother again. She does an excellent
job keeping an otherwise stale story afloat, and making
it actually entertaining! The show is slower paced, and
more character driven, but as long as you don’t mind that
you’ll probably find this series enjoyable.
Perhaps the biggest head scratching moment I had was
when I read the back of the package and noticed a small
add for the series’ sound track… The music is used very
rarely, and what is there is uninspired. Numerous heavily
dramatic moments passed in this season where (especially
with Rory) I just wasn’t feeling it from the actors, this
lack of feeling could have been eliminated with some dramatic
score, an acoustic guitar… anything, But in most cases there
was nothing. I suppose after 5 season you might have enough
licensed material for a single CD, but don’t expect much
from the show itself.
The sound was decent for what it is, plenty loud on
its own merits, but lacking any explosions and anything
fancy like that it doesn’t really need anything big sound
wise so it delivers for what it is. The video is light years
better than the grainy mess that was American Gothic, but
its still not as clean as say 24 (Insert whatever season
you choose) and for the sharp trained eye be warned there
are frame rate drops which causes the camera movement and
the action on the screen to appear somewhat choppy. Its
very subtle, and having worked in film editing myself, most
likely the result of the way it was filmed rather than the
video transfer. This effect is less noticeable on a smaller
screen, and isn’t as bad as the first couple seasons of
Deep Space Nine where any sharp movement of the actors or
the camera caused significant choppiness in the presentation,
as well as a motion blur. Gilmore Girls Season 5’s frame
rate dips are nowhere near that bad, but are noticeable
on a big screen like mine, and my wife noticed them as well.
Again people running this on a smaller TV (Like DS9 before
it) may not find it all that noticeable. (3.5 out of 5)
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| Special
Features: |
Commentary by creator/writer/producer Amy Sherman-Palladino
and writer/producer Dan Palladino on You Jump, I Jump, Jack.
Gilmore Girls Turns 100 – featurette on the 100th episode
Behind-the-scenes of the 100th episode
Who Wants to Talk Gilmore? the season's wittiest wordplay
moments
The special features are nice, nothing spectacular,
sans the Featurettes concerning the 100th episode. It’s
always nice to have features that focus on the history behind
the show, and I’m always eager to see what goes on behind
the scenes. It would have been nice to have more than what’s
there, but what’s there isn’t bad.
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