‘Gilmore Girls’ revival: That rare, emotional Lorelai and Emily scene

By Emily Yahr

The Washington Post

There were a lot of emotional scenes in the highly anticipated “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” revival that landed on Netflix on Friday. But one that really stands out? When Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her mother, Emily (Kelly Bishop), finally have a breakthrough — a very rare sight.

A major storyline throughout the revival is the death of Richard (Edward Herrmann, who died of cancer two years ago). While Emily’s life is shattered after the loss of her husband of 50 years, Lorelai has a complicated time with her grief. As viewers know, Lorelai and Richard had a rough relationship that started when she was little; he was a traditionalist workaholic and she was a rebellious child. Then, Lorelai got pregnant at 16 and ran away with her baby, creating a permanent rift between herself and both her parents.

Since Lorelai also has a rocky relationship with her mother, they struggle to mourn together. This is especially apparent on the day of Richard’s funeral. After the service, everyone goes to Emily’s house, where she asks a small group to share their favorite Richard story. Lorelai panics, and in front of everyone, awkwardly stammers out two embarrassing anecdotes.

Emily understandably refuses to speak to Lorelai for weeks after the funeral incident. Eventually, they sort of reconcile and Lorelai recommends that her mother go to therapy as she grieves. Emily actually takes the suggestion, and insists Lorelai join her. It goes about as well as you would expect. The two of them can’t seem to communicate, and Emily eventually walks out of the session altogether.

Toward the end of the series, Lorelai goes on a “Wild” adventure, with plans to hike the Pacific Crest Trail so she can clear her head. She stumbles upon a beautiful vista and is inspired to call her mother. She gives a monologue that will likely land Graham an Emmy nomination next year.

“I was 13 years old,” she blurts out when Emily picks up the phone.

“It was my birthday,” Lorelai continues, and then tells a nearly five-minute long story. On her 13th birthday, she was on top of the world because she was dating a kid named Royston Sinclair III and even stole her mother’s priceless top to wear to school.

But when she got there, Royston cruelly broke up with her in front of everyone — as 13-year-olds do — and told her there was a rumor that Lorelai wasn’t really a Gilmore because she was so loud and weird, and people thought she was the gardener’s daughter.

On the phone, Lorelai starts to cry, as she explains that she was so devastated that she ran out of school and went to the food court at the mall — where she ran into her father, who was also randomly there in the middle of the day. Richard was furious and demanded to know why she wasn’t in school; she broke down in tears.

When she finally managed to collect herself, expecting her father to ground her forever, she looked up and saw he was holding a hot pretzel covered in mustard — her favorite snack. Then he took her to the movies and he bought her popcorn and candy. After that, he brought her home, where he told Emily that he had picked up Lorelai at school and took her to the country club for a soda.

“It was the best birthday I ever had,” Lorelai sobs, as Emily tears up on the other end of the phone.

Lorelai hangs up. So does Emily. And knowing the Gilmores, they probably will never speak of the moment again.