Gilmore Girls is a tale of reproductive justice.
I’ll die on this hill. Where many see just a perfect, cozy show to watch in the fall, my many, many rewatches have shown me something deeper about this 2000s-era TV hit.
Think about it: When protagonist Lorelai Gilmore (played by Lauren Graham) became pregnant at 16, all the adults in her life wanted her to do things their way. Her old-money, traditional parents wanted her to marry her boyfriend Christopher; Christopher’s father wanted Lorelai to get an abortion, as we see in a season 3 flashback.
Instead, after giving birth to her daughter Rory (played by Alexis Bledel), Lorelai ran off from her parents home in Hartford, Connecticut to charming Stars Hollow, became a maid at the town’s Independence Inn, and built a life for herself—even if it meant she’d struggle more on her own than she would have under her wealthy parents’ roof.
Was Lorelai’s decision the best one? I don’t know. But it was her decision. And reproductive justice is about the right to choose whether or not to have a child, and the right to raise a child in a safe, healthy environment. Lorelai chose both to have Rory and to leave Hartford, opting to raise her child in a small town that she felt had a supportive community.
Whether you’ve been a fan since the show’s debut 26 years ago or you’ve never seen an episode, these are my recommendations on the five best Gilmore Girls episodes to watch for a nostalgic trip to Stars Hollow.
“The Bracebridge Dinner” (Season 2, Episode 10)
This is my favorite episode to show Gilmore Girls newbies. It has everything that makes the show special: a gathering of all the eccentric townies, a wacky event, Stars Hollow in its wintry finest, and a snow(wo)man that looks like Björk. During the episode, Lorelai and the Independence Inn’s chef, Sookie, work overtime to put on a historically-accurate dinner for a group of guests whose flight gets canceled thanks to a blizzard. With the event and food already fully paid for, Lorelai and Sookie invite the entire town to stay at the inn for the titular Bracebridge Dinner—complete with sleigh rides in the snow.
“A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving” (Season 3, Episode 9)
The two Gilmore girls have somehow committed themselves to four Thanksgiving dinners. First, they bop over to the home of Rory’s best friend Lane Kim, where Kim’s health food-obsessed mother makes everyone eat a chewy, bland “tofurkey.” Then, at lifelong townie (and lifelong grump) Luke Danes’ diner, Lorelai and Rory enjoy a quiet, if boring, meal with Luke and his nephew Jess Mariano, who is also Rory’s boyfriend. After watching Sookie suffer the indignity of her husband’s family deep-frying a turkey at their third stop, they finally make it to Lorelai’s parents’ home for a refined, if tense, dinner. This episode is chaotic, but it shows off what makes Gilmore Girls so special: its quirky community.
“The Festival of Living Art” (Season 4, Episode 7)
While chef Sookie gets ready to give birth at home with the help of a midwife, the rest of the town prepares to host the Festival of Living Art, in which they pose as figures from famous paintings like Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” and Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Dance at Bougival.” This episode won Gilmore Girls its first—and only—Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic). One caveat about this episode: Midwives are not portrayed in a particularly flattering light, and the show pokes fun at Sookie’s midwife, Bruce. I would recommend reading this archival RNG interview with a midwife to understand more of what they do and the important role they can play in the birthing process.
“Raincoats and Recipes” (Season 4, Episode 22)
I see the Gilmore Girls 7-season story arc as having two halves: There’s before “Raincoats and Recipes,” and then there’s after. This episode marks both the beginning of Lorelai’s relationship with Luke and a fundamental shift in the relationship between Lorelai and Rory, who’s now in college. (If you’re mad about this spoiler, please. This came out 22 years ago.) Lorelai and Sookie finally open their own inn—The Dragonfly—and invite their friends and family for a test run weekend. It is, of course, tumultuous: Oddball townie Kirk, a Stars Hollow icon, worries about freaking out his girlfriend with his night terrors; Lorelais’ parents, who already have a strained relationship with their daughter, fight with each other nonstop; and Rory has romantic tension with her now-married ex-boyfriend. As Luke and Lorelai finally get their swoony moment, Rory makes a mistake that drives a wedge between her and her mother.
“You Jump, I Jump, Jack” (Season 5, Episode 7)
Now, I know entitled nepo baby Logan Huntzberger is perhaps the most controversial of Rory’s boyfriends. (Again, don’t get mad at me for the spoiler. You’ve had two decades!) But no matter how you feel about Logan, you can’t deny he makes Rory a little more fun, and this episode exemplifies it best. In it, while trying to prove herself at the Yale Daily News, college sophomore Rory stumbles upon a secret society that Logan just so happens to be part of. She follows them on a retreat in the woods, where she’s exposed to their mayhem—and even joins in on a little of the fun.
At its core, Gilmore Girls is a testament to the life a pregnant person can build for themself when given the freedom of choice—including the freedom to raise their child as they please, to make mistakes, and to control their own bodies.
