Emily and Lorelai
Moreover, since we’re on the topic of a fallout constructing an even more substantial relationship, it’s necessary to note that are no words for how much I adore Emily Gilmore’s character arc. Because mother/daughter relationships are often incredibly complex, it’s straightforward to see that though Emily appears to be constantly disappointed in Lorelai, the truth of the matter is that she wants so desperately to be close to her daughter, she doesn’t know how to. And this brings us back to the way people communicate their affection.
No two people, even those who share blood, will emanate love in the same way; therefore, though Lorelai didn’t receive the kind of affection she wanted from her mother, it doesn’t mean it was absent. Emily’s love for her daughter is a potent presence, and it’s that very reason why it’s so challenging to showcase it. Old money and present-day upbringings is a whole topic that can be explored for hours on end, but this strain in their relationship always made the series that much more riveting.
And it wasn’t until Lorelai began to understand how difficult it was to be without Rory that she felt Emily’s pain in her absence. That’s perhaps the most heartbreaking part of their story because history has a way of repeating itself, and we never truly understand our mothers until we become them (even without kids). It’s then where we feel the pain they feel when we worry them, hurt them, or worse, leave them. Emily is an extraordinary woman with a tough-to-crack demeanor, but Lorelai has always been her weakness — the daughter she needed to hold onto and love above all things whom she wasn’t always able to understand. Lorelai was her world until Rory was born. And that’s why it was so easy to love Rory the way she did even before they knew her.
Many of us hear from relatives that being a grandmother changes life more than when becoming a mother. Thus, whatever Emily couldn’t have with Lorelai, the mistakes she made, and the time she lost, she tried to do honor by Rory. And all that, in the most subtly brilliant route, taught her how to find time with Lorelai. There are plenty of impeccable scenes between the two, but what often sticks out is their final scene in the series finale, “Bon Voyage.”
The way Kelly Bishop touches on Emily’s exquisite and profound joy at the moment where she learns Lorelai still wants to continue Friday night dinners is one of, if not the most deeply moving scene between the two (until the phone call in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life’s “Fall”). Friday night dinners were always a way for the family to bond, and often she knew it wasn’t Lorelai’s ideal way to spend the time, but this tells her that it’s a desire now. Lorelai is no longer forced to do something to benefit Rory, but she’s doing it because she wants to spend time with her parents.
At that moment, viewers can finally understand that the love the two women share for one another has always been the force that’s enabled them to stand tall amidst difficulties, heartaches, and disappointments. Emily Gilmore is proud of her daughter, honestly and wholeheartedly grateful to have her in her life, and despite everything that transpires later, Lorelai knows this. The two of them might never giggle through movie nights, but when the time comes to surrender the heartaches that are suffocating her, Lorelai is going to call her mother.
|
