Gilmore Girls Re-Watch: Pilot! (Season 1 Episode 1)

14 years ago, the first season of Gilmore Girls aired. In The New York Times review following the premiere, The New York Times said the show’s premise “isn’t half bad,” and hesitates to make a snap judgment about the characters we now know will drive the show through seven seasons. Wertheimer applauds Alexis Bledel’s ability to offer an “appealing blend of precocious wisdom and teenage anxiety,” but is more critical of Lauren Graham’s acting skills, saying that she’s a little too much like a character she played previously.

Now, of course, Lauren Graham plays a pretty similar character on NBC’s Parenthood, which is now in its sixth and final season. She may play a similar character in many of her screen appearances, but these have been two very successful shows. And the character she plays is loveable and charming. I actually like that I see a little bit of Lorelai in Sarah Braverman every now and again.

And get this: the now incredibly successful comedienne Melissa McCarthy is deemed to be one of the “supporting players who just may grow on you if given the chance.” Of course, now Melissa McCarthy is perhaps better known for her (often less charming) roles on Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Mike and Molly.

But now here we are, 14 years later, and we know exactly where this show goes. Fans of Gilmore Girls tend to be die-hards, and now that the show is streaming all 7 seasons on Netflix, we can all relive those 7 years of witty banter and pop culture references.

See below for a recap of the pilot episode. And if you’re watching the series for the first time, beware of spoilers. There are a few references to later episodes!

Recap:

The pilot episode isn’t fantastic. It isn’t life-changing or emotionally heavy, and it doesn’t come with any really interesting twists. What it does do, is set the scene for one of the most beloved series (in my opinion at least) on television.

The first character we meet, of course, is Lorelai Gilmore. She’s wearing a large coat and warm hat as she walks down a street that’s obviously positioned in a small town. A conspicuous American Flag is hanging from a nearby building as she heads to Luke’s Diner. And the first thing we learn about her character is that she has an insane coffee addiction. She arrives at the diner, happily, and finds herself pleading as she begs the owner, Luke, for a cup of coffee.

Luke is overtly masculine with his backwards blue baseball cap (also featuring an American flag — make of this what you will), a big green jacket, and a scruffy chin.

Before the credits even have the chance to roll, the pop culture references abound. Lorelai calls the man hitting on her (poor guy has no idea what he’s gotten himself into) a “regular Jack Kerouac.” And when Rory first appears to meet her mother for lunch, she asks for lip gloss. This is a seemingly simple request, but Lorelai pulls out a large bag and lists several ridiculous sounding options. Rory’s reply? “Ru Paul doesn’t need this much makeup.”

And back to Melissa McCarthy. I don’t care how many awards she wins for other roles – to me, she will always be Sookie. This episode exaggerates her character a little more than what we see in later seasons, but we’re introduced to an incredibly spastic and clumsy chef who makes amazing peach sauce (Lorelai says she wants to take a bath in it). Pots and pans come crashing down upon her and she catches things on fire when she dances around the kitchen, all of which is a bit too slapstick. She does remain a zany character throughout the series, but just with fewer injuries.

The close friendship that Sookie and Lorelai have isn’t as well-established in this episode as it is later. But what is revealed is a shared goal between the two: that someday, they will open up their own inn. Spoiler alert – this does eventually happen, which makes for a really fulfilling moment in the series.

This episode also introduces us to Lane, who complains that her parents won’t let her listen to the “evil rock music.” We are quick to learn that Lane’s parents are unusually strict, though we only ever meet her mother. In fact, later in the series, the father becomes forgotten altogether. Strange, since in this episode, Lane says that her mother “doesn’t trust unmarried women.”

But one of the most important themes in Gilmore Girls is Rory’s focus on her academics, and the hope that she will go on to do all of the things her mother couldn’t, because she became pregnant at 16. Our first glimpse of Rory at school shows that she enjoys her schoolwork and wants to do well, but she isn’t necessarily a nerd. While her classmates pass around a bottle of fingernail polish, Rory writes in her notebook diligently. The other girls speculate on what she could be writing, and snub their noses when they see that she is working on the assignment. But rather than be concerned about what these girls think, Rory just smiles and keeps working.

That afternoon is when Rory and Lorelai receive some life-changing news. Rory has been accepted to Chilton Preparatory Academy. Lorelai tells Sookie the news first, and reads her the letter complete with commentary:

Lorelai: “ ‘Dear Ms. Gilmore, We are happy to inform you that we have a vacancy at Chilton Preparatory starting immediately. Due to your daughter’s excellent credentials and your enthusiastic pursuit of her enrollment (I offered to do the principle to get her in) we would be happy to accept her as soon as the first semester’s tuition has been received.’ […] This is it. She can finally go to Harvard like she’s always wanted. And get the education that I never got and get to do all the things that I never got to do. And then I can resent her for it and we can finally have a normal mother-daughter relationship!”

Just this small scene gives us a lot of information. Rory’s goal of going to Harvard, the fact that Lorelai and Rory actually don’t have a normal mother-daughter relationship, and that Lorelai is quick-witted, willing to make a bad joke, and nearly always gets what she wants when she sets her mind to it.

And she doesn’t exactly shield her daughter from talk of sex, though this show is known for staying pretty “family friendly.”

Rory: You’re happy.

Lorelai: Yeah.

Rory: Did you do something slutty?

Lorelai: I’m not that happy.

The pilot episode also sets up what will be the back bone of the series: Friday night dinners at the grandparents’ house. Until now, Lorelai has done her damndest to avoid her parents, and especially to avoid asking them for help. She ran away when she had Rory, and that’s when she moved to Stars Hallow to put down new roots and start a new life. But now that she needs help paying for Rory to attend Chilton, she has no choice but to return.

She’s pretty obviously uncomfortable, slugging down a cup of coffee (like some might do with alcohol) as a way to prepare herself. Her mother seems pleasantly surprised to see her, but the mood quickly changes. Lorelai and her mother sit awkwardly across from one another in the lavish parlor of the giant house, trying to force small talk. When Lorelai’s father enters, he automatically assumes that she needs money.

Richard’s character is one that has changed quite a bit. Perhaps it’s the case that his character is supposed to change because a newly rekindled relationship with his daughter and granddaughter, but in the pilot, his character is almost comically apathetic and detached. The Richard we will come to know and love later is more boisterous, passionate, and… well… awake than he is in this episode.

Gilmore Girls – The Complete Series Collection

Boyfriend #1 for Rory also appears in this episode. There’s a long standing debate (even a poll now on Buzzfeed) about which, if any of Rory’s boyfriends was the “right” one. Dean Forrester is her first. And he also causes the first fight we see between Rory and Lorelai later on in this episode.

The first time Rory and meet Dean is an adorably odd encounter. Rory is cleaning out her locker and sharing her excitement about Chilton with Lane. As she heads down the hall, she drops her things and finds a tall boy standing over her when she picks them up. He actually gets her pop-culture reference to Rosemary’s baby, and it’s obvious he will become an important character. Dean says he’s new in town and mentions he’s hoping to find a part-time job. Rory offers to help, but not without some awkward rambling, including an explanation that Rory is really a nickname for Lorelai, the same name as her mother.

Dean admits he’s been watching Rory, which she finds more surprising than creepy. When she asks him why, he replies, “Because you’re nice to look at. And because you’ve got unbelievable concentration.” The thing about Rory and Dean is that they don’t actually end up having much in common. Dean is more in awe of her than understanding of her, as Jess will comment later in Season 2. But for now, Dean is important to the story because he might just get in the way of Rory’s education.

But not if Lorelai Gilmore has anything to say about it.

When Lorelai realizes Rory has a thing for a guy, and that’s why she doesn’t want to leave Stars Hallow High, she compares Rory to herself, saying she’s throwing important life experiences away for a guy. Rory, of course, insists that’s not the case, but we all know better. She slams her bedroom door in Lorelai’s face, who exclaims, “Does he have a motorcycle? Because if you’re gonna throw your life away, he better have a motorcycle!”

What I like about the whole fight is that it reminds us that at the end of the day, Lorelai is Rory’s mother. The two have such a close relationship that it’s easy to think of them as sisters instead. And there are plenty of moments when Rory acts as the responsible party and the caretaker, offering a role reversal that adds to the show’s charm. But there are also the key, important moments when Lorelai puts on her mom hat, and this is just one of the first ones.

But it wouldn’t be Gilmore Girls if we didn’t see how the fight pains both of them, and also how it brings out their similarities. They each deal with their emotions by turning on music, but they turn on the same song. It’s Macy Gray, which was mentioned earlier in the episode.

I know what you’re thinking. Really? The Lorelais are listening to something as mainstream as Macy Gray? What we learn of their characters later is that this is probably unlikely. But hey, it’s the pilot, and the show is still figuring itself out.

Well, Friday night dinner at the grandparents’ is naturally pretty awkward, especially when Richard wakes up from his quiet daze long enough to bring up Christopher (Rory’s dad). Richard says he heard from Christopher recently via email, and that he’s doing really well for himself. This hurts Lorelai in big way, and she storms into the kitchen. She’s so upset that she starts scrubbing dishes, much to the surprise of the grandparents’ maid.

The fight that ensues in the kitchen between Lorelai and Emily is painful to watch. The two of them just have fundamentally different ideas about life and success and family. Lorelai tells her mother, “I stopped being a child the minute the strip turned pink.” But Emily insists that Lorelai should have married Christopher when she got pregnant. But that her pride got in the way.

In an outburst, Lorelai yells that she wasn’t too prideful to ask for money for Rory’s school. That’s when we cut to a doe-eyed, surprised Rory who has heard everything.

Rarely does a fight between Lorelai and Rory last very long. They make up by the end of the episode and head to Luke’s for coffee and cheese fries. A polished Luke isn’t afraid to express his judgment about their food choices, begging Rory to have something different.

Luke: Rory, please. Put down that coffee. You do not want to grow up to be like your mom.

Rory: Sorry. Too late.

It’s an oddly sweet moment that shows not only that Rory is a lot like her mom, but also that she wants to be like her mom. Right down to her caffeine habit.

Lorelai starts asking about the guy, getting away from the mother-daughter dynamic and back to one of sisters or best friends. “So tell me about the guy. Is he dreamy?” Rory acts embarrassed, Lorelai keeps pressing, and they laugh as the camera zooms out for a classic shot that appears in the credits of every episode, and, significantly, in the series finale. Mother and daughter are seen through the window of Luke’s Diner, chatting and laughing over coffee.

Anything to add, Gilmore Girls fans? Are you doing your own re-watch of the show? Leave a comment with your thoughts — you know I’d love to hear them!

All seven seasons of Gilmore Girls are currently available on Netflix.

Buy Gilmore Girls on DVD, watch online, or get other merchandise at the Gilmore Girls Store.

Ashley Bissette Sumerel

Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.