I love the works of writer, director, producer Amy Sherman-Palladino. She is the creator of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the first two seasons of which have been A+, and before that, the long-running Gilmore girls, which was an “A” show until…Ms. Sherman-Palladino went rogue and destroyed her two leading romantic characters, Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes.
Gilmore girls got so irritating at the end of the sixth season that my wife, the Beautiful AP, and I dropped out early in the seventh season. We became disgusted with the character of Lorelai and felt heavy-hearted for the mistreatment of the wonderful character of Luke.
You see from season one the audience knew (as did the entire fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut) that ultimately Lorelai and Luke would get together and marry. In a romantic comedy (some writers call this show a dramedy) the relationships dictate the eventual resolutions.
In this case, Luke and Lorelai were meant for each other. But our show-runner, Ms. Sherman-Palladino, decided to take Lorelai, the somewhat goofy, talkative, eccentric but lovable and accomplished main character and have her do two things that destroyed the entire series: Lorelai gave Luke a long-winded ultimatum about the two of them getting married right now, without letting Luke respond (Luke often finds it difficult to get his ideas into conversations), and then, after stomping away, she went to her ex-boyfriend and the father of her daughter and slept with him that night.
That night!
My wife and I looked at each other and both of us shouted, “What the hell?”
How could this charming character act so out-of-character? Yes, she had many affairs but her relationship with Luke went way back and was way deep.
From that point we couldn’t stand the character of Lorelai. Her witticisms were wormy; her machine-gun aphorisms and analyses were annoying; everything about her turned us off. How strange to suddenly despise a character you loved for so many episodes. How strange indeed.
The character went from humorous to humorless.
The show went from fun to exasperating.
I am talking about the writing of the show, not the acting—which was all topnotch. The creator suddenly didn’t know her creation and ruined it, like God wiping out his creation in a flood.
The Internet is replete with dismayed Gilmore girls fans who mourn the loss of their beloved characters and practically accuse Amy Sherman-Palladino of homicide.
With the third season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel set to premier in a couple of weeks, my wife and I are cautious. Will Amy Sherman-Palladino ruin her characters in this show as well? Can a writer of such magnitude actually enjoy destroying her creations? It remains to be seen.
My wife and I can only hope that Sherman-Palladino will give her audience members what they want…a satisfying ending.