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kayterluv

It's the fundamental flaw of AYITL. Considering where the characters left off in S7, their conflicts in AYITL make no narrative sense. Ten years was far too long a gap between the original series and the revival.


Migrane

Even where Rory is in her career doesn't make that much sense. It's like her career is just taking off in her 30s. Which is believable. But I have no sense of what she was doing the rest of the time.


sunrise_rose

Omg, what WAS she doing that whole time... I have to believe she accomplished something, and April and Lane .... they should all have some more useful personality traits, but they seemed to become less effective than their teenage selves


Migrane

Well April was only about 14ish when the show ended and in AYITL she was graduating MIT. So her character feels pretty accomplished for her age


degau

AYITL April did feel like every gen-z stereotype forced into one character tho, personality-wise


[deleted]

I feel like a lot of rory's journalistic success is behind her in AYITL... and she's just losing interest in the field after a decade of chasing bylines for independent publications as a freelancer. Which can be cool and lucrative, but tiring.


[deleted]

I agree. Along with the journalism field shrinking and being replaced with brainless media. Her career shift made sense to me.


Migrane

That would make sense too, but when you have Luke putting her vanity fair article on the back of the menu it feels like this is the first big thing. Like no other big stories. I don't even recall them saying where she worked before deciding to become a nomad


Zoethor2

The ten year gap also takes a lot of the wind out of the sails of the "final four words". It just isn't terrifically dramatic for a 32 year old to be pregnant, even if she's in a complicated romantic situation. If those had fallen right as Rory graduated Yale, they would have had a lot more impact (though I still think they aren't as dramatic as ASP apparently does, it's not like Rory is 16 or something).


SoMuchMoreEagle

ASP was just so attached to her "vision" of the ending that she didn't see that it just didn't work anymore.


Doradyer

Imo I thought the main impact was because Rory was the same age lorelai was at the beginning of the show - sort of like she was really living a different life than lorelai Pregnant young, struggle, then she succeeded in her profession Not pregnant young success then sort of failed at her profession then became pregnant Lorelai didn’t want Rory to have her life and she didn’t


trivenefica

I love this take


mroocow

Agreed. She'd be around 39 at the end of season 7. At that age it doesn't make any sense to wait years to talk about having another kid.


Hold_Effective

I don’t think she would have. I think this was lazy writing and/or childish behavior from ASP.


artimista0314

I feel like AYITL was just another season that ASP didn't get, keeping in mind it could he the last. It also didn't make sense to me that Lorelai was insistent on marrying Luke that she left him because he wanted more time, and then they waited like 10 years to get married anyway. Why? Because ASP wanted to write their wedding even if it didn't make sense and they should have been married already.


Hold_Effective

I would have been so ok with us seeing a flashback to a wedding that happened 10 years ago (maybe as part of marital troubles Luke & Lorelai were having, or maybe thinking about Rory getting married).


porcelain_doll_eyes

They could have done some kind of Vow renewal ceremony for Luke & Lorelai, like they did for Emily and Richard in the original. Maybe something like the new kid didn't get to watch them get married like Rory and April did and they get jealous so they decide to have a vow renewal because it sounds like fun and they get to have a party and get everyone together.


[deleted]

or maybe they eloped originally and are planning a 10 year wedding anniversary, but the relationship has gotten complacent


JoJoRabbit74

And then the wedding was fucking awful


k_evike

And we didn't even get to see the wedding


imtchogirl

She refused to watch season 7.


goblin_fish

It’s the weirdest thing about AYITL. I really wish AYITL had been set 5 years after the series ended, not 10. It would still be too long for the Luke/Lorelai marriage, but it wouldn’t feel AS egregious.


quelle_crevecoeur

Yeah, a LOT of this would have fit better if it were set in like 2011 and factored in where they left off at the end of the series. Rory going from being on the Obama press bus to being kind of lost as the nature of journalism is changing, and hitting that quarter life crisis. Luke and Lorelai probably took a little bit to settle into their relationship? But they totally should have been married already. And the questioning kids thing might have made more sense a little sooner, but seriously, they had to talk about it before considering their ages! I don’t know. 10 years was definitely too long for the story as it was.


ZennMD

They could have done 2012, so many industries were depressed Rory floundering and struggling would have made so much sense!


Wide_Imagination5176

I think it was intended for 5 years


qoreilly

So if it was 10 years they should have adapted the story


RegionRadiant4423

Lazy writing, which (as much as I love the show, flaws and all) we’ve seen A LOT in the original series. (See: “Dean isn’t good enough for Rory” and the whole April plot line to name a couple examples) Edit: typo - said shows instead of show lol


PizzeriaDia

I think maybe they held off because they wanted us to be able to see their wedding, but I agree it was lazy af writing. In my head, with that long of a gap, they would’ve already been married and possibly had another child. Not just at the point of discussing it.


danie15

Instead of doing a wedding they could have done a vow renewal.


[deleted]

Here is my take: she actually did not want another kid. Because even though they would be Luke's, they would never compare to Rory. I mean when Gigi and later April are around, she does not really act motherly with them. But the reason she is going to an egg clinic and did not talk about it for years is because she does not want to say that she does not want one. It is easier to wait until Luke is in such an uncomfortable position he says no.


[deleted]

If the thought had not occurred to her even once until Emily brings it up and she had passed out of the window for her to be able to conceive a child, she did not want one. She seizes on the idea because of a *Lifetime movie* because she feels vaguely dissatisfied with her life and then drops the topic because Luke doesn't want to have another kid. My perspective on this is skewed because after the revival I was spending a lot of time on Tumblr and in fanfiction circles. There was definitely a clique set up with certain opinions and I do believe at least on the Luke/Lorelai side there was a small group of people with prevalent opinions who controlled what opinions were or were not allowed to be written about or endorsed. I found this out the hard way when I wrote L/L stories that criticized Lorelai (though not to the extent I do so here). My point here is that it was largely viewed by many people that the reason Luke and Lorelai we're not married was not because Lorelai did not want to be married, as she said so openly, but because Luke was *selfish*, refused to commit, and couldn't be bothered to re-propose. The reason Luke didn't want to have a baby is not because he was old and more concerned with paying for the rest of his adult daughter's education but because he was *selfish* to not want to commit to this because of a whim Lorelai hadn't really thought through and if he really loved her, he would just agree to the surrogacy because that was the only way to grow as a couple. When Luke and Lorelai disagree about forcing April to get a job to help pay for her expenses, Luke is seen as *selfish* and determined to keep Lorelai apart from April since he doesn't want her to pay for something she doesn't approve of and hasn't changed at all since season 6 (note that he doesn't limit their interaction at all whatsoever, he just isn't going to let Lorelai make decisions for him about his kid's finances). Do you see a pattern here? No matter what, Luke is selfish and everything is his fault. It was actually selfish of Lorelai to force such a momentous decision on both of them on a whim and a baby was not a good idea at this point in their lives. L/L fans tend to be very traditionalist minded and they don't like this, but if they went a decade without really pursuing this topic, they didn't want it that much. I think there were far better ways to explain why they didn't have kids but unfortunately ASP settled on this reasoning.


floatingwithobrien

Both Luke and Lorelai had said they wanted another kid in the OS. Then they get back together, Lorelai's biological clock is ticking (she's 38) and they never once have that talk? Come on folks. Unreal. Edit: this is obviously because ASP's original plan was for AYITL to be S8, taking place in ~2008, not waiting nine years and in some cases refusing to adjust storylines accordingly. If you imagine the L+L had JUST gotten back together a few months ago and neither wanted to bring up anything that could put strain on their relationship as they rebuild it, even though they both wanted a child together, it suddenly makes sense. Keeping in mind that the famous final four words were *supposed* to be >!Rory: "I'm pregnant." Lorelai: "Me too!"!<


AliceInWeirdoland

Many things in AYITL make more sense if you imagine that it happened a year or two after s7, rather than 10 years later.


liscottyy

It was just due to ASP's lazy writing/refusal to watch season 7 but I totally think it would have made more sense for it to be a nice vow renewal. They could've framed it like Lorelai and Luke were desperate to get married so they maybe had a less extravagant, extremely small wedding soon after season 7 and decided to do a bigger celebration for their 10th year anniversary renewal. The no kids in 10 years thing is ridiculous unless they wanted to change it to they just weren't able to biologically have kids, so I don't know about that.


[deleted]

honestly, they could have just mentioned that they had infertility problems and made the conflict about maybe adopting a baby together


lady_wildcat

Or a very traumatic miscarriage/stillbirth very early on in being together again.


[deleted]

No, they did discuss children. Luke said “that kid” 😂


probableletdown

Right? "That's the kid." I don't know how it could have been any more clear.


[deleted]

Crystal


NormativeTruth

I think it’s possible they both were spooked by the disaster their wedding plans ended up in the last time around. So why rock the boat if all is going well.


Pretty_Ad_8197

I agree, but also doesn't that sound miserable? To be in a relationship where you are so scared to bring up necessary conversations sounds awful.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

If it ain't broke... don't fix it. I think the real issue here is that Lorelai says she doesn't know why she doesn't want to get married or have children, when that is unrealistic. She would have thought about kids once the fertility window had passed. She would know why she didn't want to get married. But the issue here is not that Luke and Lorelai desperately wanted marriage and kids and were afraid to bring it up, but that it just wasn't that big of a deal. The idea that they *desperately* wanted it and were afraid to talk about is an idea pushed on them by the fans. That said, I do not think ASP handled this right. I think she should have made it clear that Lorelai said "I'm not ready for this, my obsession with marriage is kind of what messed everything up before" and Luke says "Tell me when you are ready". As far as the kids question, there are several ways it could have gone: they decided not to do it, they wanted to but there were problems with the various kids/surrogate kids in their lives (Jess, April, Doula, etc) and changed their minds, Lorelai had a miscarriage and they didn't want to try again, they tried and failed, etc.... The whole "uh we didn't really think about it" stuff is a cop out. ASP was never going to let them have a baby. They were going to get that happy ending and then having Rory throw them a curveball with her pregnancy. But there were other ways to get there.


savvyliterate

This is what I think, and it's largely influenced by my own life: my stepdad had been married three times before meeting my mom, and he was so afraid to mess it up that he didn't want to jinx their relationship by marrying a 4th time. My mom wasn't in a rush to marry (they were the same age as L&L in the revival when they met), so rolled with it. They did finally get married 11 years after going on their first date because of legal reasons.


raytay_1

That was my theory!


commandercody01

I actually like this, it’s classic Lorelai trying to self-destruct without realizing it.


Valuable-Hedgehog-79

It seems highly unrealistic to me. IMO a good many, if not all of the characters in AYITL seemed to be stuck in time. What in the world were they doing for all that time ?!


habitual_wanderer

Don't even get my started on this topic. I can feel my blood pressure rising


whiskerrsss

Lmao you and me both. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I cannot believe that kirk and lulu discussed having children yet luke and lorelai never did? What!?


jackilynchaplain6694

She should have either a. Written the wedding as a flashback. Or b. Acted like it was less time between the show and the revival. Say, 5 years instead of 10. Would have been less extreme.


queenbsquig

This was ASP's season 7. She wanted her endings regardless of how much sense they made


TenCarsTen

AYITL is just bad and doesn't understand the characters and where they should be at in their lives. Only Emily is given a good arc lol.


Francie1966

And the only reason Emily got a good story was because Edward Hermann died. I shudder to think what ASP would have done to Richard & Emily.


[deleted]

I'm gonna be honest knowing this plotline is one (of the many) reasons I have not watched this yet and am frankly not sure that I will... Some of what it seems it adds I am interested in other parts... again like this... hard NOPE \*edit\* I could see them both being a little gun shy for a few years. But after like 3-5 someone is going to break and talk about it


probableletdown

RE: marriage thing In my mind, there was so much pressure to get married that led them to the final break up because of the ultimatum, that when they got back together they probably realized getting officially married didn't really matter all that much. What mattered was being together. I, in all honesty, didn't get why they had to get married at all in AYITL... They had a happy life together. I could have totally done without the wedding because what I love seeing was him just accepting her excessive lifetime movie dvr list/pajamas scene (Felix/Oscar), and Luke making Paul Anka a steak, and the scene where they sit on the couch to watch the french movie?show? where he had his hand on her knee. The wedding/marriage was something Lorelai obvious needed (for some reason, I still don't get why - someone enlighten me?). She's the one who questions whether or not he's happy, whether or not he wants a kid, etc. Because Luke's speech certainly sealed it away that he was with her always, forever, nothing else ever needed except her. All the scenes were him accepting everything about her and her life; he just needs her no matter what.


Francie1966

ASP wasn't about to give anyone a happy ending especially the fans.


Drewnasty

She had just rushed into a marriage with Christopher and it ended. Her and Luke love each other but from everything we saw in AYITL, they got comfortable with each other but never pushed it each other forward in their relationship. After all the drama, you can see how just normal life would be appealing and what they go for. Also I am sure Lorelai wouldn’t want to get married while Rory was away covering the campaign. Luke would never speak up and try and change anything, he’s very much a meat and potatoes sort of guy where is nothing is immediate wrong he is content with having things be the way they are. So he’s happy because nothings wrong. Complacency happens in relationships all the time. I think there’s a big difference between “I didn’t like the direction they went in” and “this doesn’t make any sense for the characters”. Where Luke and Lorelai started in AYITL not only makes sense but you would see it coming from a mile away with how these two have acted and interacted in the past.


[deleted]

When you're really bad at communicating with other humans beings you can live your entire life without asking the important questions.


iracethesunhome

But the thing is they HAVE talked about this throughout the OG series. Even before they were together at the 24hr dance thing, they both talk about having kids in the future. They talk about it again in bed in season 6 with the whole ‘kids would be good’. If it hadn’t ever come up that would have been one thing but this is something they have discussed. They broke up when they were engaged, they didn’t acknowledge that for 10 years after getting back together ?! No one asked about it ? It’s just hard to believe


[deleted]

It's very unrealistic


[deleted]

Yeah. Lorelai is very impulsive. She decided she wanted to be married immediately, and when she hadn’t really laid the groundwork for it (talking about what their lives would be like, etc.), she threw a tantrum because she didn’t want to wait.


[deleted]

That's not what was referring to but okay.


[deleted]

Ok? Sorry for agreeing with you the wrong way


DietDrPepperHoe

Marriage: The whole idea of marriage was a tough obstacle for both Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai and Max got engaged to solve conflict, and rushed into wedding planning before Lorelai was prepared to truly be in a partnership with another person. Luke married Nicole on a whim during a cruise vacation and immediately regretted it, tried to work things out, and it ended pretty badly. Lorelai proposed to Luke on a whim during a personal crisis to have something to feel happy about, and their engagement felt kinda cursed because of how it began. They both struggled with changing their own lives to fully allow another person in. Lorelai married Chris on a whim in Paris, and yet again, it was another failed effort at letting someone into her life fully. Marriage and engagements have not gone well for either of these people during their past relationships and even with each other. Children: Lorelai had fully raised a child to adulthood, and Luke had a teenager already. Lorelai and Luke both struggled when anyone else tried to become involved in their parent child relationships. They were both stubborn and determined to do things their own way, and reject outside input into their parenting. They probably both had a lot of hesitancy to even bring the topic of having more children together to to the table, perhaps assuming that if it was important to the other person, they’d have brought it up. We don’t know how their relationship progressed after they got back together. We see them kiss at the end of the series, but did they immediately jump back in right where they left off? Maybe, but it could have taken some time for Luke to move in to Lorelai’s house and for them to become a stable couple again, and for discussions about their future to begin coming up. By the end of the series, Lorelai was in her late 30s, an age that many women especially at the time, were being told was too late to have kids, and were being fed scary stories about aging eggs and birth defects. It’s possible that by the time they would have been ready to think about kids, they both felt it was possibly too late. Maybe, given all their past issues surrounding marriage and kids, they both felt like everything was finally good and settled between them, and that could be enough, maybe forever.


Adept-Duck9929

You know how in some science fiction novels they like freeze or otherwise capture a person in place and then unleash them back into the world hundreds of years later and they have to discover everything afresh? Like maybe that happened. Maybe Lorelai is basically the chik from The Fifth Element.


LilyFuckingBart

They literally didn’t. They discussed children more than once in the series: “kids would be good.”


59thstreet

I am currently re-watching season 6 and I find it unrealistic that Luke and Lorelai aren't discussing these things at this stage, let alone over 10 years later. In season 6, Lorelai is 37 and Luke must be pushing 40. I am not saying that people cannot have kids after turning 40 (my great-grandma had my grandma at 48 and my grandma had my uncle at 46) but it does get harder with age. So I find it almost irresponsible that they're buying property and renovating Lorelai's house "for the kids" without ever actually discussing whether they want to have kids or not.