Gilmore Girls at 20: We take a look back at the best episodes of all-time
Twenty years ago today, the first episode of Gilmore Girls was broadcast. Like a breath of fresh air (or a gulp of fresh coffee), the two Lorelais would burst onto our screens in a flurry of wit, burgers, and virtuosic pop culture references.
The series - starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel - has since amassed something of a cult following. It’s not hard to see why: from its never-miss-a-beat dialogue to the twinkly, chocolate box setting of Stars Hollow, Gilmore Girls is filled to the brim with tasty small screen morsels.
Very few shows paint their characters quite so richly, or mention Rosemary’s Baby, Moby Dick, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and RuPaul within minutes of the opening credits. Very few shows feature quite so many references to Paul Anka, or quite so many Pop-Tarts. In fact, there are very few television shows that people might actually choose to live in, but Gilmore Girls is probably one of them.
So in celebration of twenty years of Gilmore Girls, here's a look back at some of the best episodes from the show. And yes, there are spoilers ahead.
20. Kill Me Now
Season 1, Episode 3
Rory and Richard’s fondness for one another is one of the few stable pillars of Gilmore Girls, so this gentle amble into their relationship - complete with Plato, country club gossip, and an interesting selection of hats - is an endearing place to start.
19. Rory's Birthday Parties
Season 1, Episode 6
A tale of two birthday parties: one in Hartford, populated by canapes and strangers, the other in Stars Hollow, populated by feather boas and, well, Stars Hollow.
Notable highlights include Richard reading a fashion magazine and deciding that he is in fact an "autumn," but the heart of the episode lies in Emily's bittersweet realisation that she barely knows her own daughter.
18. Scene in a Mall
Season 4, Episode 15
One of a few unsettling but endearing occasions when Emily’s veneer shatters (into a million very expensive pieces). Here, she tries to spend all of Richard’s money at the mall before she is duly intercepted and taken to the food court by Lorelai and Rory, paying Lorelai a rare compliment and enjoying a banquet of fast food in the process.
17. A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving
Season 3, Episode 9
Gilmore Girls is the perfect accompaniment to autumn, so what better way to bask in this seasonal prowess than with four Thanksgiving dinners squashed into one episode?
16. Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist
Season 4, Episode 17
It’s not often that we get to see Rory outside her typical habitat of libraries, diners, and lecture halls, so this brief jaunt down to Florida is a refreshing change of pace (if only to watch her refuse a party in favour of takeaway pizza and Bill Moyers’s The Power of Myth).
15. Raincoats & Recipes
Season 4, Episode 22
Lorelai and Sookie finally open their inn, Lorelai and Luke finally kiss, and Kirk runs around screaming (again).
14. Friday Night's Alright for Fighting
Season 6, Episode 13
On the list purely for its final ten minutes, in which icily-slick editing creates the perfect, crystalline montage of a Gilmore family feud.
From screaming at each other one moment to hysterically giggling the next, this scene functions like a whistle-stop tour of years worth of arguments, all at breakneck speed.
13. Those Are Strings, Pinocchio
Season 3, Episode 22
An array of big moments - Rory graduates from Chilton, Lorelai buys the Dragonfly Inn, Jess and Rory are no more - lightly dusted with a very sweet tear-jerker of a speech from Rory as valedictorian.
12. You Jump, I Jump, Jack
Season 5, Episode 7
This Brideshead Revisited meets A Midsummer Night’s Dream romp in the woods is worth watching just for the gorilla masks.
11. I Get a Sidekick Out of You
Season 6, Episode 19
Lane and Zack’s wedding - complete with excellent soundtrack, White Stripes-inspired wedding cake, and performance by the newly-weds themselves - is exactly as you’d imagine Lane and Zack’s wedding to be: musical, slightly chaotic, but very happy.
10. That Damn Donna Reed
Season 1, Episode 14
In which Rory demonstrates that she is nothing if not dedicated in making a point, this particularly entertaining episode cements the series firmly within its feminist ideals.
9. Norman Mailer, I'm Pregnant
Season 5, Episode 6
Perhaps one of the most iconic lines of all seven series. And yes, that is actually Norman Mailer.
8. Love & War & Snow
Season 1, Episode 8
No one loves snow quite like Lorelai Gilmore - and no town looks quite so good under a fresh glaze of snow as Stars Hollow.
This is the first time we get to witness this gloriously wintry pairing, and it does not disappoint. (Lane also features in a near-perfect moment involving a marching band and a hair touching incident, which brings an extra splash of warmth to the proceedings).
7. The Festival of Living Art
Season 4, Episode 7
Nothing says Stars Hollow quite like a town-wide festival inviting people to pose as life-size works of art.
Notable highlights include Rory as the “Portrait of a Young Girl Named Antea,” Lorelai as Renoir’s “The Dance at Bougival,” and Kirk as Jesus himself in “The Last Supper.”
All topped off with the news that Sookie is having her first baby.
6. The Bracebridge Dinner
Season 2, Episode 10
Horse-drawn carriage rides in the snow! A wildly inaccurate historical dinner! Vast heapings of general Stars Hollow madness! A glittering gem of an episode.
5. Bon Voyage
Season 7, Episode 22
On her very first day at Chilton, Rory’s headmaster asks her what she wants to be when she grows up. Rory tells him that she wants to be Christiane Amanpour, so it’s hard to imagine a more poetic finale than Rory meeting Christiane Amanpour at the Dragonfly Inn in her pyjamas, just days before heading off to start her first job reporting on Barack Obama’s campaign trail.
And if that wasn’t enough to set you off, Luke’s farewell party could melt even the steeliest of hearts.
4. The Road Trip to Harvard
Season 2, Episode 4
A perfect New England road trip to Harvard, replete with Hootie & the Blowfish, two very enthusiastic Lorelais, and unnervingly kitschy B&Bs. This is vintage Gilmore Girls: quality mother-daughter time spent with nothing but one other and a very enthusiastic amount of coffee.
3. The Lorelais' First Day at Yale
Season 4, Episode 2
Rory heads to Yale for the first time, but finds that she still isn’t quite ready to be left alone. Lorelai naturally swoops to the rescue, ordering enough takeout food to feed a small army and winning over the entire population of Rory’s new student halls in the process.
The show’s creator Amy Sherman-Palladino claims that she first pitched Gilmore Girls as a half-formed idea about “a mother and daughter, but they're more like best friends." This episode is one of the best illustrations of that dynamic.
2. They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?
Season 3, Episode 7
The perfect blend of eccentric Stars Hollow traditions, boyfriend drama, and mother-daughter bonding, this episode takes place in the midst of a 1940s era 24-hour dance marathon.
No image has ever encapsulated Gilmore Girls quite so brilliantly as Kirk circling Lorelai and Rory in a Rocky-inspired victory lap, as Rory sobs on Lorelai’s shoulder.
1. Pilot
Season 1, Episode 1
It’s hard to think of another pilot that could top a list of best episodes, but there’s just something about the first ever episode of Gilmore Girls.
Every character is already perfectly shaped: Lorelai makes her first appearance while ordering a cup of coffee, Luke berates her for it, Rory has her head firmly lodged in a book. Stars Hollow already glows under a blanket of fairy lights, Richard and Emily already seethe under a blanket of quiet rage, conversations are already uttered at a speed that only dogs can hear.
Simone de Beauvoir and Herman Melville feature in almost the same breath as RuPaul and lip gloss. A glittering introduction to a world fizzing with wit, heart, and warmth.
Gilmore Girls seasons 1-7 & Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life are available to stream on Netflix now
