TV and Sympathy

The look of loss is in her eyes

Over at TV Squad, blogger Joel Keller discussed the look on Lorelai's face at the end of the Gilmore Girls finale: The look that said "What the hell did I just do?" The look that said "I just threw away the best relationship I've ever had to sleep with the guy who has given me nothing but trouble." He goes on to say how important that look was to the overall feel of the finale.

I completely agree with him. To me, Lorelai's expressions bookending the episode (there was a similar one at the beginning of the ep, when she wakes up at Sookie's) were the high point of what was an otherwise disappointing finale.

Lorelai's looks were played perfectly by Lauren Graham, who has long been woefully underappreciated awards-wise, if critically praised. She is so good at expressing a slew of emotions at once, and her face before the credits rolled revealed a stony look of regret and disbelief with a dash of self-loathing. It's a look that says you want to go back in time to take back what you just did, but you know you can't.

What Lorelai did was believable, I suppose, and in character. I still think Luke would've fought harder to be with her, considering he pined for her for years, but he's been so scattered the past few months that it might be in character. In truth it's hard for me to judge what I thought of it all, since I'd been spoiled about the ending for weeks. Having known the outcome beforehand, I can't say for sure whether the pieces fit together in a way that made sense.

In his post, Keller later went on to say: "what I'll take away from this season is [Lorelai's] look." I hope so. That look set up a different chapter in Lorelai's life: knowing she had something good, and she lost it. I just have to wonder where she'll go from there.

posted by Veltman @ 11:44 PM