I am so happy to write about something I loved rather than a
stupid comic book adaptation franchise who continues to make one stupid
decision after the other and is still going forward with replacing one of
unexpectedly good casting decisions, even though my blog specifically told them
not to. And they always find a way to sneak into my new entries in the form of
unnecessarily long sentences. I will stop now. And begin this topic. No more DC
dissing.
I will begin with a huge thank you to Amy Sherman-Palladino,
for never letting me down. I have been a Gilmore Girls fan since forever and
when I heard a new Sherman-Palladino series was happening I could not help but
be thrilled. And then I found out it was an Amazon production, which meant good
budget and some of those swear words you always felt Lorelei would use but
somehow didn’t. And I was right! Beautiful characters, beautiful setting and
most importantly, those Amy Sherman-Palladino dialogues. I could listen to her
witty, never-ending sentences for hours and I wouldn’t even care what the topic
was. Honestly, between Midge (the marvelous Mrs. Maisel) talking about brisket
and a doctor talking about my urgent blood test results, I would take the
brisket.
And what an empowering series for women! I know feminism is
finally a thing in Hollywood, but I just think this is how it should be done.
New characters, with original storylines, drawing influences from female
comediennes who were renegades amongst a male-dominated profession. Yes, I
think it should be that specific. Re-boots are okay and so is giving Kristen
Wiig diarrhoea while in a puffy dress, but this is just so much better. The
main character is a beautiful, feminine woman who is also smart, strong-minded,
competent, funny and pissed off. This is the empowering bit. But there is
another bit there; the realistic bit about why gender inequality sucked and
sucks. She is also a wife that had to down-play her wit to protect her
husband’s ego. She is also insecure about her looks, even though she is
gorgeous, because a woman with personality does not measure up to a thin and
proportionate woman. Okay, it is set in 1958, but is this not some of the
oppression that lingers on? And isn’t it beautiful to show that behind a
seemingly mainstream, pretty, pleasant woman there is brains and madness? I
think it is.
So Lorelei 2.0 is a great character and Rachel Brosnahan,
who portrays her, is a good lead. It is not just her though; just like Gilmore
Girls, all the surrounding characters are an absolute joy. This is perhaps the
least realistic depiction of society, the one in Amy Sherman-Palladino’s world.
Everyone is funny, everyone is smart and everyone is enjoyable. I am fine with
watching a spin-off series with Drina Romanoff, the fortune teller, THAT is how
good all the supporting characters are. And you have got to love Tony Shalhoub,
any scene he is in is the best and I am now obviously watching all of ‘Monk’
just to get more of him.
I started the previous paragraph with a subtle hint of
judgement, the Lorelei 2.0 comment. It is true, the characters, the
relationships, the pace, the dialogues are all very similar to Gilmore Girls, but
is there anyone who minds? Lorelei (now Midge) was a terrific character, Richard
and Emily Gilmore (now the Weissmans) were lovable in all their oppressive
parenting glory, Sookie (now Imogene) was a loyal friend and Chris (now Joel) was
a jerk but no one really hated him, did they? So yeah, it is all very familiar,
I mean Alex Borstein is in both, but it is just that good. And the story line
is just that good. It doesn’t matter
that it is familiar, it is familiar for all the right reasons.
And I just want to say this. I know a lot of men have missed
out on Gilmore Girls because at a first glance it looks like a family drama
aimed towards girls. I know some guys possibly felt ashamed to engage in the
mother-daughter drama. Well, if you need an excuse to watch this one, so you do
not miss out on another Sherman-Palladino series, Rachel Brosnahan flashes a
comedy club. Feel free to say you watch it for the nudity and actually watch it
for the words.
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