While it might be tough to face, the original Gilmore Girls series finale featured a surprisingly upfront reference to one of the show’s biggest problems that became a major cause of A Year in the Life’s issues. Although the cast of Gilmore Girls were all memorable in their roles, not all the cult dramedy’s plots worked. There were some pointless Gilmore Girls storylines that wasted their potential, as well as bizarre storytelling choices like Lane’s downbeat pregnancy arc or Lorelai and Christopher’s obviously doomed marriage.

However, while a lot of these storylines might have been frustrating, that doesn’t mean they came out of nowhere. In the above-mentioned examples, Lane’s pregnancy was foreshadowed by her abrasive relationship with the feckless Zach, while Christopher and Lorelai’s reunion was hinted at throughout season 6. Similarly, for all the Gilmore Girls revival’s mistakes, A Year in the Life’s divisive Rory story was set up perfectly by a conversation she shared with Lane in the original series finale of the show.

Rory Admitted Everyone Expects Her To Be Perfect In Gilmore Girls’ Season 7 Finale

Rory’s Idealized Depiction In Gilmore Girls Didn’t Help Her In Later Seasons

In season 7, episode 22, “Bon Voyage,” Rory cancels her plans to go on vacation with Lorelai after graduating when she is offered a job as a reporter covering Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Over obsessed with Lorelai’s daughter, the town of Stars Hollow plans a farewell party for Rory. This leads Rory to a conversation on the porch with Lane, where viewers are privy to the following telling exchange:

What makes this comment striking is the fact that, at least until Lauren Graham’s least favorite Gilmore Girls story, Rory really was depicted as a perfect person in the series. This became a problem for the show, as when she went against the expectation of perfection, it was harder for viewers to accept. Whether she was sleeping with a married Dean, getting into trouble with Logan, or dropping out of Yale, choices that would have made another character feel complex and human just felt wrong for someone as flawless as Rory.

Rory Being Perfect Hurt Both Gilmore Girls & A Year In The Life

The Gilmore Girls Revival Suddenly Made Rory Much More Flawed

There are other issues with both A Year in the Life and Rory’s arc in the original series, but the idea that Rory used to be perfect and suddenly became flawed hurt her character arc in both shows. While viewers missed out on Lorelai raising Rory in Gilmore Girls, the first few seasons of the series constantly depicted Rory as selfless, kind, and thoughtful. In conflicts with Paris, Lane, Dean, and Jess, she was almost always in the right, and almost always more understanding than the other party.

As such, when Rory became believably flawed in season 5, this was seen as a betrayal of her old idealized self. Similarly, when she crashed and burned both personally and professionally throughout A Year In The Life, this was treated as an unwelcome surprise even though she warned Lane and the audience that the pressure to be perfect was getting to her in the original Gilmore Girls series finale.