Gilmore Girls: Season 07 (2006) Reviews

Gilmore Girls begins its seventh season with a new executive producer David S. Rosenthal and a new network (CW, which of course was the successor to the series' former stamping grounds, WB. Alas, Season Seven will turn out to be Season Last: unable to come to financial terms with series stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel (Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, respectively) the network will bring the series to an end with its 153 rd episode on May 15, 2007. It is said by some observers that this move has been implemented so that CW can clear its decks of its "aging" properties to develop its own new series; others opine that the show never really recovered from the 6th- season defection of Gilmore Girls creators Dan Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino, and that its ever-declining (though still respectable) ratings are the true reason for the cancellation. Whatever the case, plans to extend the series past its seventh season with thirteen additional episodes will be quietly scuttled--though the "official" finale is open-ended enough to warrant a sequel or a reunion special somewhere down the line. It cannot be denied that, no matter what the future may hold for Gilmore Girls, the series is still both willing and able to deliver plenty of "bang for the buck." The seventh season begins right where the sixth season ended, as Lorelai agonizes over her one-night stand with her former lover (and father of daughter Rory) Christopher Hayden (David Sutcliffe) following her breakup with her foot-dragging fiance Luke Danes (Scott Patterson). Though Lorelai will marry Christopher during a romantic Parisian getaway, it is clear that her heart still belongs to Luke--and he knows it. Meanwhile, Rory prepares to graduate with a journalism degree from Yale while carrying on a frustrating long-distance romance with Logan (Matt Czuchry), the son of millionaire publisher Mitchum Huntzberger (Gregg Henry). Rory also aquires a brace of new--and typically eccentric--friends in the form of Lucy (Krysten Ritter) and Olivia (Michelle Ongkingco). In other key developments, Lorelai's father Richard (Edward Herrmann) suffers a heart attack, which results in her mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) becoming even more insufferable than usual; Rory's friend Lane (Keiko Agena) returns from her disastrous honeymoon with musician Zach (Todd Lane) with the proverbial "bun in the oven"; Rory interviews for a prestigious reporting job with "The New York Times", but ultimate opts for what she considers a higher purpose in life; and, emboldened by the example of new parents T.J. (Michael DeLuise) and Liz (Kathleen Wilhoite), Luke demands that his former girlfriend Anna (Sherlyn Fenn) to be granted equal parental rights vis-a-vis their daughter April (Vanessa Marano). As all climaxes gather for the Grand Finale, Lorelei divests herself of her new husband Christopher just in time for a reconciliation with Luke, an event fueled by a drunken night on the town and a soulful karaoke rendition of a Dolly Parton tune. And just as all of Stars Hollow is celebrating Rory's graduation, who should appear from the blue but Logan Hertzburn, with a Very Important Question on his lips. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi