The Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life Scene That Lauren Graham Thinks Is Perfect
"Gilmore Girls" fans love the show for the unparalleled bond between mother Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel), as well as the unique characters and relationships of Stars Hollow that include chef Sookie (Melissa McCarthy), cafe owner and Lorelai's love interest, Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), and Lorelai's parents, Emily (Kelly Bishop) and Richard (Edward Herrmann). But the biggest thing that set "Gilmore Girls" apart and made it different from other shows at the time was the breakneck speed at which the characters all spoke to each other, especially Lorelai.
One particular scene in "The Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" saw Lorelai call her mother and tell her about "the best birthday I ever had," which began as a terrible day getting dumped by her boyfriend and taunted at school and ended with being 'rescued' by her father who's suddenly there, holding a pretzel — the very thing she wanted at that moment. She talks nonstop for four minutes, and to Graham, it was perfect. "It is, ultimately, a story about a pretzel, yet it is the way she got to express her love and her devotion to her father and mother, and it's in the form of this tiny, little, small life moment. That, to me, is what the show does so beautifully," she told IndieWire about the scene. The scene was Lorelai's moment to express how much her dad really meant to her, something she'd had difficulty with at his wake.
Graham finds joy in the fast talking and monologues
The late Edward Herrmann, who played Lorelai's father, Richard, liked his character and found him easy to relate to, but he didn't like the precise, fast-paced talking and 80-page scripts, telling A.S. Berman for "The Gilmore Girls Companion" that "even for old pros like Kelly [Bishop] and myself it was tough." On the other hand, Graham found beauty in it, telling the Los Angeles Times that "there's a kind of joy — that language does something to you — it's really invigorating." She's also quick to acknowledge that it's a lot more work. "I liken it more to theater," she said. "You've got long speeches, long sentences that require more sculpting, and you have to be prepared."
Lorelai's monologue is infused with so much emotion and regret, years of distance put between her and her parents, but in those four minutes, we saw it all crumble as she remembered one of her fondest memories of her father, a moment frozen in time that was kept a secret for all of these years. Emily didn't even get one word in, but the smile on her face said that she knew this was Lorelai's moment. This scene, and others like it from the original series run, are the emotional backbone of the show, and it's impossible to imagine anything different.