Today we continue our Gilmore Girls discussions by starting the series over once again, heading back to where all our fond memories started! In the Gilmore Girls premiere ‘Pilot‘, we’re introduced to Rory Gilmore as a very studious girl with a great mom and best friend. But she’s also a girl whose head is turned by the new boy in town, Dean. She crushes so much that she actually considers not going to Chilton, the private school she was just accepted into.
Image Credit: TheWB.com
Are you surprised that Rory had doubts about Chilton just because of a boy she just met? Perhaps it’s more surprising, given what we’ll later know of Rory, but at this stage, perhaps it’s normal. Just a teen girl putting her heart first and defying her mother.
To me, the pilot episode shows Rory as a real teen girl, undergoing real problems and emotions. It’s not just about designer fashion (heck, Rory even wore oversized, frumpy clothes sometimes) or being perfect in everything, though it is obvious Rory is smart. To me, this is why I loved Gilmore Girls, and why I loved it less later. For the realism of it all.
Here are the Rory & Dean moments from the Pilot Episode:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC4fWJfRl7c]
Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.
I definitely agree that the charm of these earlier seasons was because Rory reminded me so much of me and my friends. She didn’t worry a whole lot about how she looked (because no one would spend hours doing their hair daily like she seemingly did in later seasons) and sometimes wore unflattering clothes and worried about the same types of problems that everyone goes through. Going to a new school with all new people is a huge change and as excited as you might be for the opportunities which accompany that change, it’s always daunting to go out of your comfort zone so Rory’s hesitation was completely understandable – especially with a cute boy as a distraction.
Side note: It would have been kind of cool to have seen what Rory was like in the public school for a few episodes just to see how much better off she is at Chilton intellectually.
I completely agree with what Jessica said.
Rory didn’t seem remote to me because I felt – and was – just like her in high school. That’s why the show spoke to me even though it was long after I graduated.
We didn’t care about hair or clothes and were work-driven, still we had a lot of fun.
I liked the fact that from the very first episode we can notice the great chemistry between Rory and her mother but also the fact that she can disobey sometimes and let her heart guide her choices.
I also think that would have been great to see her at public school with Lane.
At the same age, I was a sailor. And while I was working: painting, washing, and so one, I dreamt that one day I would become a student. That idea fascinated me. Since then, I have in some way achieved my dream, and studied a lot. Yet, the passion remains the same… I still love study, and love seeing other study, or become a student. What, he/she feel? How she (Rory) will react? What’s her scoop of mind? What does she really understand? What will happen next? How, if I had been lucky enough to get a teaching job, my young students would have reacted. Everyone is so different, yet, there is a constant pattern anyway? Do I have to challenge this pattern? How will she react?
Life is study, I think! And watching GG, was like to reset some patterns.
Of course, Rory will face a choice, a very hard choice. And behind the scene, there is another reality: Having been deprived of the occasion to study at time, that is Lorelai regret. And she will help her daughter to do the right choice: “Boys will always be there”, she said, implying, that everyone has a unique mind or spirit, and nothing is more important than that, to take care of it. Like if, someway, a spirit could blaze for ever, or shine only briefly like a spark: Is Rory willing to be only a beautiful spark, or blaze for ever? That the mother question?
I agree. The pilot really showed Rory as a totally average teen. I also think the later seasons lost that realism. I adored Rory so much in the pilot. She was fresh faced, could care less about fashion, was innocent, and newly boy crazy over Dean. Ugh . . . good stuff.
I completely agree with all of the past comments, but firstly can I just say thanks so much to everyone who has written / commented on all of the past episode discussions. They are really great and enable Gilmore Girls to keep going and i’m excited that we are starting again at the pilot. It’s also great to know about other GG fans because where I live they are scarse, i mean it’s growing after my non-stop reference but still quite scarse!
I agree that Rory in the first couple of seasons is much better, realistic and more relatable than in later series. When I began watching the show I fell in love with Rory and it was her character that I linked onto and related too (again hard working, studious etc) I also empathised with her vulnerability (like at the dance). Unfortunately in later series I lost that connection and instead began appreciating the talent which is lauren graham, now looking back (i have just purchased season 1 on dvd and season 7 is running on TV here in England) I find it strange to think that the girl who i fell in love with who hooked me ( i guess age also had a factor because i was a lot younger at the time) is the same as the Rory that we see leaving Yale. She changed so much and in many ways lost the small town charm and personality – with clothes, attitude – that we all grew to love from Rory.
I don’t think we can expect Rory to be the same girl she was in the pilot at age 16 and when the series ended when she was 22. That would just be crazy. She grew and matured over the seven seasons into a young woman. When we first saw Rory she was a typical teenage girl with insecurities and first crushes. What was nice about GG is it allowed the character of Rory to be shown that way instead of some teen beauty queen whose only concern was whether or not she’d make the cheerleading squad. I agree, it made Rory more believable. However, I don’t think her character become less realistic over the series. Rory still had issues and doubts – dropping out of Yale comes to mind – about herself as well all do when we’re trying to find our place in the world.
I agree with Kelly. I was a lot like Rory at 16. Didn’t wear make-up or worry about how fashionable my clothes were. Just like most girls or young women, I became more concerned with those things as I got a little older. I think it’s very realistic that Rory started wearing more make-up, styling her hair, and wearing fashionable clothes as she got older. She still dealt with real issues, and had the same insecurities anyone her age deals with. I like the fact that we were able to watch her grow as a person. I really hope there’s a season 8.
I believe the same as the past comments have said. Rory was very laid back in the first few seasons. I mean even when she like someone a lot like Dean or Jess, if something bad happened between them, she wouldn’t mope around worried. When she goes to Yale and Logan comes into her life she becomes worried about their relationship. Now, that can happen with people when they really like or love someone, but in Rory’s perspective- I saw a change and not just in boys. I mean clothes and personality overtime.
I look up to Lauren Graham. She is just like Lorlei in sooo many ways.
You know, becky, I almost never meet anyone who already watches Gilmore Girls, but so far, lending people my season one DVD set seems to get them hooked. They get to the end of the season and want to know what will happen next! Sometimes they get hooked almost from episode one, some need to go a few more in, but everyone who has gone halfway through the season has finished it and wanted more! Then they start going on this site, or on other sites linked to this one, and get DVDs and other Gilmore-related merchandise, and so it goes! Now I have people to respond to online who comment on the show, and friends who are watching it to talk to about it in person as well.
And of course, remember that you can continue the fun on twitter – there is a NEW Gilmore Girls character on now, Lorelai’s DOG. I’m not making this up, it was a great surprise to me — go to twitter.com/PaulAnker if you don’t believe me, or go to the RoryGilmore character’s page to see what other characters are online. It’s funny the adventures they are having.
Season One is my favorite season of the show – everything is fresh and new and it just feels like someplace you’d like to go and stay awhile. It’ll be fun to find out what questions we get to talk about on the show for this season! I felt the characters to be very real right from the start, including Rory with her teenage crush on Dean. Luckily, she was able to have both Dean and Chilton — and I agree with Jessica and Mac that it would have been nice if we could have seen Rory in Stars Hollow High with Lane so we had a comparison to Chilton — I’m guessing nothing in Stars Hollow High would have been remotely comparable to Paris, Madeline, Louise, and Tristan!