Do You Skip Season 7 of ‘Gilmore Girls’ or Are You a Masochist?

There are few constants every autumn. Trees change their color, nights grow longer, temperatures remain 80 degrees in places they shouldn’t, and the girlies? Well, they return to the only dramedy that imagines what it would be like if you and your mom were not only best friends, but more importantly, your small town’s two hottest residents: Gilmore Girls, a series that debuted before Clinton left office and concluded before Obama took it.

From October 2000 to 2006, witty (albeit wildly fat-phobic) single mom Lorelai (Lauren Graham), her chip-off-the-old-block daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel), and an endearing ensemble of townsfolk held court on the WB, just before the network became known as the CW in a merger deal. Its seventh and final season wrapped up in May 2007. Since then, Gilmore Girls has both held fast to its loyalists and accumulated a new audience that’s not only allowed its legacy to endure but offered it a certain seasonal relevance, per new streaming data. Since 2021, Gilmore Girls has been among the top 10 Netflix shows of the year, and in 2022 and 2023, the series topped the streamer’s charts beginning in September and stretching until the end of the respective calendar years. Basically, by the time Target’s range of pumpkin spice candles hit shelves, thousands of fans have already begun humming along to its theme song, Carol King’s “If You Lead” and deploying the “I, am an autumn” audio on TikTok.

Personally, I don’t just rewatch Gilmore Girls every fall. That’s the work of amateurs. I rewatch the series three to four times a year depending on my schedule, the quality/quantity of newer series, and finally, the current state of my mental health. This year, for instance, I’ve only watched it top-to-bottom twice, though my bottom is very notably not season 7. Why? Because I refuse to dignify its existence. Let me explain.

By the time Gilmore Girls‘ season 7 premiered, the show’s creator, Amy Sherman Palladino (devastatingly a Zionist), was no longer involved in the series. Frankly, it showed: Namely, in its canonically incongruous plot lines for the lion’s share of the characters fans most cared for.

First, did Rory’s best friend, Lane Kim (Keiko Agena), not deserve far better than to end up strapped to Temu Kurt Cobain and a set of twins at 22 years old? She was supposed to be a famous drummer on the cover of Rolling Stone, damn it! Second, I’m sorry, but Rory—a person of privilege, to be sure, but not a nepo baby—immediately landing a job as an embedded reporter on the Obama campaign right out of college? I never bought it. Worst of all the arcs, however, is Lorelai’s marriage to Rory’s father, Christopher Hayden (David Sutcliffe).

The season opener—Lorelai waking up with Christopher after breaking off her engagement to Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), the diner owner that she spent the previous six seasons flirting, fighting, and ultimately, falling in love with—was only a harbinger for the horrors to come. Not only was their one-night stand immature and abrupt, but given Christopher’s wavering interest in his own daughter, it’s upsetting in the same way that learning your best friend slept with their problematic ex is. Then, six episodes later, Lorelai and Christopher get married in Paris without any witnesses, least of all, Rory…as if this isn’t a series about the singular intimacy of Lorelai and Rory’s relationship. Sure, they break up by the end of the season, but only after everyone in Lorelai’s life expresses their distrust of Christopher and he abandons her when she needs him most. For a woman who all but refused to commit to a single partner in nearly seven seasons, it’s confounding that, when it comes to Christopher, the one who’s given her every reason not to stand by him, she’s Tammy Wynette…

I could go on but the important thing is, I’m not alone in my disdain. There are innumerable Reddit threads dedicated to denouncing the series’ seventh season. One, for example, is simply titled: “Season 7 is unwatchable.” Another begs the salient question: “Why does Season 7 suck so bad?” My favorites, however: “Season 7 feels so…weird” and “The Infamous Season 7.” Have I ever contributed to them? Maybe!

That said, I ask you all: If you’ve returned to Gilmore Girls this fall, do you, too, skip season 7? Or are you a masochist?