Review: Gilmore Girls – Season 7, Episode 22 “Bon Voyage”

Welcome to the very last review of the original run of the Gilmore Girls! I can’t believe I did it.

I’m avoiding address this FINAL REVIEW thing and how I feel about it until the end. Let’s do the review thing so I don’t get all sappy and (more) boring (than normal).

Lorelai makes Rory get out of bed to come to the inn because Christiane Amanpour is sitting in the lobby reading a book. Rory doesn’t believe her but she’s there! She’s sitting! I’m glad they were able to get her to do this cameo because Rory has been talking about her since the beginning. Because Rory is a character on a television show Amanpour gives her her card and offers to look at her work.

Rory and Lorelai are planning a trip around the country to ride all the rollercoasters. Lorelai takes this opportunity to tell Rory that she has to reenact her entire graduation ceremony because she lives in a town full of insane, bored people. She tells her that she has to wear her cap & gown again. If I remember correctly our gowns were loaned to us and we had to return them before leaving the ceremony. I bet Yale kids get to keep theirs.

Rory is late to Friday Night Dinner because she’s having a drink with a contact. When she arrives she tells everyone that she’s got a job! She’s working for that guy she met at Smarmy’s party as a political reporter following the Obama campaign. Honestly, this is probably better for her than her living in her grandparents’ apartment and taking cabs to work every day. Sleep in crappy hotel rooms and make no money! DO IT!

The people of Stars Hollow could not give two shits about Rory’s job. They’re pissed that there won’t be a reenactment party and they do their best Children of the Corn impression to illustrate their displeasure:

Since everyone is devastated by the news that they will not be able to attend a weird Stars Hollow party, Luke decides that he wants to do something nice for Rory (and, by default, the town.) He enlists Sookie’s help in throwing Rory a surprise going away party. Sookie thinks this means he LURVES Lorelai. He does, but, come on. It’s for Rory. It’s not “I’m doing something nice for this kid so her mom will fuck me” nice. Is it? Oh God. What if that’s it? What if that’s why Luke wants to do a Nice Thing?

I doubt it, though. He’s always cared about Rory.

The town holds an impromptu meeting and Taylor picks now to stop being an unrecognizable pod person and start being the stickler for the rules that we all know and love. But since this party involves Rory, Princess of Stars Hollow, the townspeople tell him to shove all his rules and regulations and do whatever they want in the name of Gilmore.

They start getting ready for the party while Lorelai and Rory spend the majority of their time being sad about Rory leaving. Luke sews a bunch of tarps and ponchos together in the diner so he can try and salvage the party. There’s no way he’d have it done by the next morning if he was working by himself, and the rest of the townsfolk have decided to disappear when he could use a few extra hands.

The next day Rory and Lorelai drive up on a huge tent where everyone is waiting for them with signs.

I like this picture because it looks like Zach is really concentrating as he runs through the obviously manufactured rain. You can see the California sunshine in the background!

Once the girls get to the tent we spend a good two minutes panning over all the characters that we’re never going to see again (at least until the revival.) I was sitting here wondering if the last scene we’d ever get of Edward Herrmann was the one from Friday Night Dinner at the beginning of the episode and then this popped up:

No lie, I legit teared up. It’s going to be terrible to watch the revival episodes without him in them.

Spacey Grandpa tells Lorelai that this party isn’t just for Rory. It’s a testament to everything Lorelai has built-in Stars Hollow. (Well, yeah. She became queen of a town in a country without a monarchy. That’s quite the feat.) He gets choked up when he tells her that she’s a remarkable person.

Too many tears.

Taylor gives a gross speech about birthing Rory into the world that everyone would be better off forgetting going forward. That night, Judgy WASP Mom wants to loan Lorelai money for the inn but it becomes obvious that she only wants to see her and she’s worried that she never will now that Rory is leaving. So Lorelai tells her they’ll talk about it at dinner on Friday night. Spacey Grandpa doesn’t say anything, making his words to Lorelai the last that Richard Gilmore ever speak.

CRYING. OH GOD. CRYING.

Rory walks them to their car and Sookie takes the opportunity to tell Lorelai that Luke planned the entire thing. Lorelai goes to track down Luke to thank him and he says that he just wanted to see her happy. But he says it with this expression so it kind of sounds like “I wanted to see you happy before I wear your skin as a suit”:

Then they kiss.

The next morning Rory and Lorelai have Luke open the diner early so they can have coffee and eat pancakes. All the while he’s thinking “SKIN. SKIN. SKIN.”

The show ends with the same shot as the pilot – the girls in the diner as the camera pans out.

That’s it. The end.

I think what I can say about this show overall is it’s a quiet, quirky little show that had a surprising amount of heart. It’s completely different from what I originally thought it was back when it aired (the promos didn’t do it many favors.) Am I a fan of the show? I guess. I’m still not in love with it. I like it but I don’t think I could call myself a “Gilly,” the term coined by the Gilmore Guys to refer to the dedicated Gilmore fan base.

I’d like to answer the question that the Gilmore Guys have posed to fans about the revival: What do you think the final four words of the series will be? I think they’ll be, “Because we’re Gilmore girls.” I know it sounds strange. But I think they’ll come after Rory and Lorelai and maybe even Judgy WASP Mom have had a conversation about the future – how will they know they’re going to be ok? How do they know if everything will work out for them? Rory or Judgy WASP Mom will say, “How do you know?” and Lorelai will shrug and smile and say, “Because we’re Gilmore girls.”

I want to close out this review by thanking each and every person who has ever read one of my reviews. Whether you’ve read every single one or just happened across a random one before saying “WTF is happening here?” and clicking away, THANK YOU. This has been one hell of a journey and knowing that other people are out there enjoying (or not!) these reviews has meant a lot to me. Special thanks to those who have messaged me or commented on the reviews themselves.

HUGS FOR EVERYONE!

See you for the revival!