(Gilmore Girls fan site)John Carlton in his blog recently summed up the answer to how Luke and Lorelai can make a relationship. He didn’t mean to. He wasn’t talking about Gilmore Girls. He was talking about life in general, about business, about focusing on your destiny. And yet I heard him talking about Luke and Lorelai. Isn’t that always the way with GG? Here’s what he wrote:
I have now lived long enough, survived enough adventures, and observed enough other clueless people get a clue… that I can safely say everyone has a handful of moments in their life that shape who you are and how successful you will be. Most of these life-changing moments involve some sort of crisis or problem. Finding true love is great… but it’s now you handle heartbreak that really defines you.
Luke and Lorelai have certainly undergone their share of heartbreak. And this is why they can get together, and why they must do it this season.
There is an important reason why Luke and Lorelai have to get back together this season. It has to do with story. Start by looking at season 1, 2, and 3. This is a single story. It starts with Rory going to Chilton and ends when Rory graduates from Chilton. In the process, she encounters numerous hurdles she must overcome. Lorelai and Sookie also want to start their own inn. They also face numerous hurdles. And in the end, they prevail. These three seasons are one self-contained story. At the end of season 1 is a cliffhanger. Season 2 also ends with a cliffhanger. And with season 3, everything is resolved. No cliffhanger. All the loose ends are tied up. Lorelai and Rory go to Europe.
Well… There’s one possible season-3 cliffhanger. At the end of season 3, Luke has a dream that Lorelai asks him not to get married to Nicole, when they go on the cruise. It’s clear that Luke still has a thing for Lorelai. But this is not really a cliffhanger, because during seasons 1, 2, and 3, Luke and Lorelai’s relationship didn’t change. It’s not a story yet, it’s just a situation. And it’s a situation that still exists. It has always existed. Luke has always had a thing for Lorelai. This circumstance was the subject of several scenes. But they never acted on it. They never even acknowledged it. They encountered no challenges in their love or because of it. Their relationship never changed. It was never a story itself. Until season 4.
In season 4, the girls come back from their European trip, and a whole new story begins. This story is about Rory at Yale. She must go through numerous challenges before she can graduate and open the next chapter in her life. The story is also about Rory and Logan. They establish a relationship, through numerous trials. It’s about Lorelai and Rory’s relationship, how it changes. And a changing relationship always presents challenges. And it’s about Luke and Lorelai.
It begins as Lorelai and Sookie actually get their new business up and running. If you’ve ever started a business, you know that just making that leap is a huge deal. And that’s a leap they made in the first three seasons. But with season 4, they actually have to make it a going concern. This one-season story thread is actually part of the Luke and Lorelai story, though. When everything is falling apart, and Lorelai is at the end of her rope, who is there to catch her? Luke is. And when she finally succeeds, her success results in their first kiss. The plot thickens.
Anyhow, for this story to end with a happy ending, a few things need to happen: Rory must graduate from Yale. Rory must start a life together with Logan. Lorelai and Rory reach a new status quo in their relationship. All these are set up to happen. Finally, Lorelai must get together with Luke.
Lorelai and Luke’s relationship is part of the story. If Lorelai and Luke don’t get together, it will be a sad ending. They can’t put it off until season 8, because season 8 is a different story. If the writers try to put it off until season 8, the whole thing will just be confusing. Luke and Lorelai must live happily ever after—this season—or else the story will have an unsatisfying ending.
Ironically, the trials that have torn them apart have also been systematically tearing down the walls separating them:
Lorelai, she still has feelings for Luke. When Christopher accused her of having feelings for Luke, I immediately thought, Of course, she has feelings for Luke. You don’t get engaged and then not have feelings for your ex-fiance! But that had nothing to do with her marriage. But Chris pushed her and prodded her and finally got her to admit what he needed her to believe. And the most she could way was that she really wanted to want to love him. Ironically, if he had been a little less… Christopher… she probably would have. But he pushed her away. Right into the love of her life. Once Luke Danes is in your life, he’s in your life forever.
And Luke is obviously still in love with Lorelai. He always has loved her, and he always will. Yes, he tells her that he’s over their relationship, that it wasn’t anyone’s fault, that they just weren’t right for each other. He says this, because he feels he needs to convince himself of it. But when she’s in trouble, he’s still there for her. When Richard is in the hospital, he’s there for whatever her mother needs. Not because he likes Emily, because he doesn’t. But he runs Emily’s errands, because he’s there for Lorelai. And in the quiet moments, when he’s alone with his own thoughts, we can see on his face the utter heartbreak that he feels whenever he thinks about her.
This situation is a bomb ready to explode. And all it needs is a trigger, an instigating event. The event can come from almost anywhere. Maybe April will broach the subject with Luke. Or maybe with Lorelai. April is a prime candidate, because Luke loves his daughter. Or maybe Rory will figure out what’s going on and let them in on the secret. Or maybe the new Honest Logan will intervene. Or it could be a chance meeting that escalates into a real conversation.
Whatever may happen, it’s about how Luke and Lorelai feel about each other. Whatever the situation may be on the surface, that’s just a cover. That’s just the fuse of the bomb. The power behind the explosion comes from what’s happening inside.
Whatever the instigating event, I believe only one thing more is truly necessary for Luke and Lorelai to get back together. That one thing is that they need to tell each other how they feel. It will be ugly. But if they can get past the facades they show each other when they’re in polite company, if they can drill down to the heartbreak, they’ll realize there will never be anyone else for either one of them. Luke may even shed a tear or two.
And this would be enough to make for a happy ending. But they can go further. Because once the walls have broken down, there’s really nothing else in the way. At the end of season 6, Lorelai wanted Luke to elope with her. It seemed sudden. But she was right, because the obstacle keeping them from getting married was that Luke wasn’t putting her first. If he had been ready to marry her, the specific date wouldn’t have mattered. It could have been June 3, or it could have been on a moment’s notice. And the same applies now. If they overcome the obstacles keeping them apart, that gives them a happily ever after. At that point, they can set a date, or they can elope, or they can just be happy together.
Now, whether the current production and writing staff will let them get married… We don’t know what they’re going to do. Amy Sherman-Palladino had a vision for Gilmore Girls, and I trusted her vision. I trusted her to give me a satisfying story. But when she left, her vision left with her. (And that’s why I’m really looking forward to The Return of Jezebel James.) But GG’s new leadership has not yet earned my trust. I do not know that they will do the right thing for the story, because there are a hundred excuses someone could make as to why it can’t work. One of those excuses is that if Luke and Lorelai were to get married, there would be many viewers who would criticize the choice. I trusted Amy Sherman-Palladino to be true to the story. Once you decide that Luke and Lorelai must get married to make the story complete, it’s simple to find a way that they can. But if you start with the fear of making a mistake, you won’t be true to the story.
A story is a lot like a real relationship in that respect. If you’ve been married for any number of years, you know that the biggest part of marriage is just accepting togetherness. It’s not so much about the magic. And it’s not about finding a way to stay together. Because once you accept that you’re together, it’s almost always possible to find a way to make it work. But if you approach the relationship with fear, you’ll sabotage your love every time.
The Palladinos had a vision. This vision made Gilmore Girls a world-wide phenomenon. David Rosenthal and his team should maintain the vision, until the end. To do so, they need humility and courage. Maybe they have it in them. Maybe not. They have not yet earned my trust.
But whatever the writers do, Luke and Lorelai can get back together. They can get married. And it can all happen within the next 5 episodes, and it can be plausible. The love that is at the root of this truth is what I was thinking of when I posted the video, Luke & Lorelai: I’ve Always Loved You. Watch this video if you haven’t already. (Watch it again if you have!) Think about it. It’s a love not bounded by time, by circumstance, or even by poor choices. It is full of forgiveness and full of grace. Unconditional. More on this later.
-TimK
P.S. What do you think? Am I crazy? Or can Luke and Lorelai actually get back together this season?
As one fan put it to me recently, “I thought you would like to hear of the extremes that people love this show.” She then went on to describe a tattoo she was getting in honor of Gilmore Girls. And I thought I was a fanatic. But I believe i…
Hi, Laur. If it seems like they just can’t reconcile, doesn’t that make it all the more powerful when they do?
When Steven Spielberg directed Jaws, the story goes, when he got to the end of the movie, where the shark dies— Peter Benchley had written the original novel and the screenplay. And Spielberg’s ending was different than the original ending. Benchley disagreed with Spielberg’s ending, because he said it was unbelievable. He said no one would believe that an air tank would explode like that or that it would explode a shark like that. Because none of that could possibly happen in real life. And as the Mythbusters proved, Benchley was right. The ending to Jaws could never happen in real life.
But Steven Spielberg said, he’s had the audience on the edge of their seats for 2 hours, and he’s going to give them a satisfying ending! And you know what? Spielberg was right. In theaters, when the shark exploded, audiences cheered. They not only believed the impossible; they exulted in it!
As you say, whether it’s believable or not is another story.
It has nothing to do with what would happen in real life. It has to do with the drama. It has to do with identifying with a hero who, being in an impossible situation, somehow overcomes, triumphant. It’s the plausible impossible. And that’s what I want to see of Luke and Lorelai.
-TimK
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Lorelai & Luke - Can They Make It
This is quite a compelling argument. And not totally crazy for most Gilmore fans. They are cut from the cloth that believes true love can conquer all. Before I make any enemies with that statement, know that I too am a believer in love. But so much has happened between these two that it’s beginning to seem beyond true love. These are fundamental characteristics that ruined them in the first place. Both are learning and have had some eye-opening experiences that may allow them to move past their issues. Never say never, that’s my motto. There is every chance they can be back together and happy by the end of this season if the writers want it that way. Whether it’s believable or not may be another story.