Like many of our fellow Gilmore Girls lovers, we were looking forward to Black Friday for more reasons than the amazing sales we are all getting today. No, we were looking forward to November 25 because Gilmore Girls returned to our lives. We went to bed for a few hours before settling in and watching those four soon-to-be treasured episodes of witty banter, Luke and Lorelai, all of Rory’s ex-beaus, and all of Taylor’s shenanigans.

Here are 104 thoughts we had while watching Gilmore Girls: a Year in the Life (with a few spoilers here and there).

Winter

1. Ah, there’s the classic “la la la la” melody we all know and love.

2. There are our girls. We’ve missed them dearly.

3. Lane! And she’s still with Zack!

4. Kirk! Oh, how we’ve missed Kirk.

5. “I smell snow.” That line gets us every time.

6. They brought back the town troubadour. Amazing.

7. Why haven’t they gone to Luke’s yet?!

8. There’s Luke! We’ve missed him and how awkwardly proud of Rory he always is.

9. Paul?! Who’s Paul?? Bring back Logan. Bring back Jess.

10. Luke and Lorelai’s banter is adorable.

11. Rory and Lorelai are drinking coffee together in the middle of the night! Ugh we’ve missed this.

12. The sign in Luke’s diner… no man buns. Oh. My. God.

13. All we need in our lives is Michel whining.

14. Don’t worry, we miss Sookie just as much as Michel and Lorelai do.

15. It’s Emily Gilmore! Our hero!

16. RIP Edward Herrmann. We miss you.

17. We will always and forever hold out for Emily and Lorelai to have a good relationship.

18. Richard’s funeral is just heartbreaking.

19. Rory may be 32 but she still looks 18 to us.

20. Awww, Luke is so happy with Lorelai. It’s so cute.

21. Of course Paris runs a surrogacy clinic. We’re not surprised at all.

22. Logan in London! And there’s kissing? We can get behind this.

23. Taylor ranting for Luke in Luke’s Diner is so Gilmore Girls and we’ve missed it.

24. Lane’s band is still together. Thank god after everything she went through for them.

25. Emily Gilmore is in a t-shirt and jeans. Honestly, she’s beautiful in everything.

26. Stars Hollow is having a festival. So classic.

27. It took me a whole episode but where was the opening montage?!

28. Lorelai and her mother in therapy…probably a good idea.

29. Amy Sherman-Palladino only wrote the first episode. Hopefully the others don’t turn out like season 7, if ya know what we mean.

Spring

30. Mrs. Kim is in this. We’re dead. She’s the best.

31. They’re just gonna throw in a Mr. Kim and not say anything.

32. Stop mentioning Sookie if she’s not gonna appear. It’s dangling something we can never have!

33. Aaaaaand we’re back in London. God, this is exhausting.

34. So nice to see Babette in a town meeting with her trademark sass.

35. Not gonna lie, this town meeting is kind of droning on. We see why Lorelai brings food to these things.

36. Why wouldn’t Rory just tell her mother that she sees Logan when she’s in London?

37. These therapy scenes are so awkward.

38. We’re glad they’re bringing all the old haunts and places but some of this dialogue is a little awkward.

39. If Michel leaves The Dragonfly, we’re out. For good.

40. Rachel Ray! In Stars Hollow. We’ll take her over Sookie.

41. Just kidding. She already got fired.

42. This maid has lasted quite some time in Emily Gilmore’s house.

43. Chilton! We’ve missed these hallowed halls.

44. Honestly, we were wondering about Luke and Lorelai not getting married too.

45. Rory speaking to little Chilton students is so inspiring.

46. No one gets Paris riled up like Tristan.

47. “Sorry, did I just step into 2003?” It kinda feels like that…

48. Rory should totally be a teacher. Why didn’t we think of this before??

49. Honestly, it kind of feels like the scenes with Paris are the only ones that feel completely honest and real.

50. So glad Logan still calls Rory “Ace.” This is what we live for.

51. “It was always supposed to be Luke.” UGH YES LORELAI IT WAS.

52. What’s up with Cesar’s hair??

53. Only Emily Gilmore can get Luke Danes to change out of his flannel.

54. Is it just us or is a pumped up Rory just a freaking out Rory?

55. Not sure that at 32, Rory should still be talking to her mother about sex, even if it does involve a wookie.

56. Moving home seems like a backward step, Rory. Keep pushing!

Summer

57. Okay…starting episode three. We think they might’ve hyped this up too much.

58. April, get out of our lives. You’re a season 7 mistake.

59. Glad someone commented on Rory’s awkwardly preserved room, even if it was April.

60. Why is Logan entangled to this French woman when he’s clearly in love with Rory?

61. How handy that right as Rory is in crisis, the Stars Hollow Gazette needs help. 

62. What happened to Miss Patty?

63. We knew Rory would save the Stars Hollow Gazette.

64. Michel, please don’t leave.

65. Stars Hollow: The Musical – a masterpiece.

66. Sutton Foster and Christian Borle in Gilmore Girls. We love.

67. Okay, this musical was wayyyy too long.

68. Of course there’s a Hamilton reference here.

69. I’m worried about Emily. Her grief is overwhelming.

70. Jess is back! Oh happy day!

71. “One week later…” What is this a spongebob episode?

72. Why would Lorelai get angry about Rory writing a book about their life?

73. Leave it to Lorelai and Luke to have a raging fight about nothing in the diner.

74. “This adult stuff is hard, isn’t it?” Me too, Lane. Me too.

75. Well, this song that they’re adding to the musical just makes my heart ache.

76. Lorelai is “gonna do Wild?” Really? 

Fall

77. Honestly, just kind of happy to be starting the final episode.

78. Lorelai would never just up and leave to go hiking.

79. Jess caring for Luke is adorable. We always knew there was a big lovebug under that rough exterior.

80. Where are these other Wild women from? A soap opera?

81. The Life and Death Brigade. Yes. This is what we want.

82. Logan and The Life And Death Brigade? This is more classic Gilmore Girls.

83. Are we the only ones who thought that key was going to be an engagement ring? Come on, Logan, just dump the Frenchie and be with Rory.

84. We’ve really missed Finn’s shenanigans.

85. Logan’s abs. Logan’s abs. Are we drooling?

86. Rory’s goodbye with The Life and Death Brigade is so dramatic and we love it.

87.  Lorelai’s speech to the park ranger is perfect and so classic Gilmore Girls.

88. Tears. Tears. Tears for Lorelai’s story to Emily about Richard. Just wonderful.

89. Luke fighting for Lorelai with that big speech – YES.

90. We love seeing Emily happy again.

91. Rory walking through Richard and Emily’s house with those haunting memories. Cue the tears again.

92. Why is Lorelai buying a house?

93. Rory writing this book about her and her mother is so cliché but we love it. 

94. Did Emily Gilmore just swear? This is what we live for, people!

95. Miss Celine is still alive? She’s just a gem in this series.

96. Christopher! He’s still such a heartthrob.

97. Nice to know that Gilmore Girls always starts and ends with Lorelai asking Emily for money, and Emily asking for small things in return.

98. With 20 minutes left in this, Dean reappears.

99. Sookie! We knew you’d come back.

100. “I live for moments like this.” We do too, Michel. We do too. 

101. Lorelai is letting Rory write the book! She’s letting her write the book!

102. Jess will never be over Rory and we will never be over Rory and Jess together.

103. Lorelai and Luke would elope. It’s really the only way.

104. Without giving any major spoilers away, that’s how they’re going to leave us?! There better be more after this…

Personally, we were overall underwhelmed by the return of Gilmore Girls. Maybe they should have been only an hour, and not 90 minutes because they were just too long. Maybe they shouldn’t have tried as hard as they did, because we think the best part about the original Gilmore Girls was the effortlessness with which all the banter and humor was achieved. 

Some of the scenes were perfect, and real, and classic. The last episode was by far the best episode. But much of the dialogue felt forced, like they were trying much to hard to reach that original Gilmore Girls feel. Of course, we loved seeing all of our favorite characters (especially Kirk, because who could forget Kirk?), and we loved returning to our beloved Stars Hollows that we all know and love. Even though we wish some of the writing was better, the scenes weren’t as forced, and everyone wasn’t trying so hard, we really wish there were going to be more episodes. 

Featured Imaged via Netflix screengrab.