5 things you realize after rewatching Gilmore Girls Season 1

Let’s rewatch the first season of Gilmore Girls and over-analyze boyfriends, proposals, fights, and the scene that could have ended the series.

Right now, most of us are probably still ignoring that “shows I’ll watch when I have time” list and diving back into the shows we know will rock us into comfort. For some, Gilmore Girls offers an escape to a corner of the world where the biggest worry is whether Al’s Pancake World’s latest salute to Paraguay will result in food poisoning.

There’s no doubt that Gilmore Girls fans have watched the series, especially the first season, 10 times over, but on every watch, there’s something new to unpack and fresh hot takes to serve up like a cup of Luke’s coffee. After watching the first season of one of The WB’s most iconic shows, we’re opening up the floor to five new realizations about fights, proposals, boyfriends, and so much more.

1. Lorelai and Rory fight… a lot.

We’re accustomed to looking back at Gilmore Girls Season 6 with a chill down our spine because the titular girls weren’t on speaking terms. But Season 1? There’s quite a bit of fighting. Lorelai and Emily’s spats are a given, but Lorelai and Rory tangle about everything from boys to lies to running away to the grandparents’ house.

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It’s expected for mother and daughter to fight, but not this mother and daughter. Strangely, Lorelai rarely dishes out a punishment but does make sure Rory understands the fault in her behavior. In some cases, the issues clear themselves up with time and boredom, as if two sisters had fought over a shared blouse and not falling asleep at Miss Patty’s all night with your boyfriend.

2. Max’s proposal arrives fast.

Those thousand yellow daisies sure sneak up on you, don’t they? The spark between Lorelai and Max ignites as early as the fourth episode, but Lorelai’s cold feet about going all in on a romantic relationship pumps the blows out the flicker before it can become a flame. Near the end of the season, Lorelai and Max start talking again and their talking somehow leads to an engagement. There’s a fast turnaround there that no one really questions?

Like, they hadn’t even met each other’s parents, friends, nothing. But of course, it makes sense for Lorelai to overcompensate and rush into a marriage with a guy that’s right on paper to prove some sort of point to the world.

3. Rory deals with some heavy stuff.

Did anyone stop to recognize how intense Rory’s initial encounters with her grandparents were? For multiple episodes in Season 1, Rory was forced to confront shame, guilt, and other undue emotions about her conception. She heard both sets of grandparents express resentment about Lorelai getting pregnant, not getting married, and ditching the privileged future they had planned for her.

As much as Lorelai and Emily reassured Rory that those conversations had nothing to do with her, imagine how that feels for a teenager, what kind of impact that has. Maybe her drive to succeed came from subconsciously wanting validation. Not to mention, Rory must have had issues with her father (and men in general) that the show never really dug into. No wonder she wasn’t able to tell Dean she loved him.

4. Tristan is actually more interesting than Dean.

Sorry about it, but we all have to come to this realization sooner than later. In fact, if you’re a member of Team Dean, please explain it to the class because very few of us agree with you. Now, admitting that Tristan is more interesting than Dean isn’t to say Rory should have dated him. She had the right instincts. There’s something about him, though, that’s insanely watchable, whereas Dean was boring and frankly kind of rude throughout Season 1. Dean spent most of the first season undercooked and undeveloped, but Tristan was a hate-to-love character on sight.

5. The final scene could have ended the series.

Thankfully, we were able to spend six more glorious seasons and one Netflix miniseries with Gilmore Girls. But there was arguably a time when Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino weren’t sure The WB would pick up the series for Season 2.

Being so, the final scene of the season finale, which finds Lorelai and Rory gleefully running toward each other after individually mending their own complications with commitment and intimacy, could have wrapped up the original story about a tight-knit mother and daughter. If we’d never seen them again, we’d know the Gilmore girls would be okay.

Do you agree or disagree with our post-Season 1 rewatch thoughts? Sound off in the comments!

Gilmore Girls is available to stream on Netflix.