A custom image of Alexis Bledel as Rory from Gilmore Girls with thumbs down behind her
The Big Picture Gilmore Girls premiered on The CW on October 5, 2000, and became a flagship series for the network. Audiences loved Amy Sherman-Palladino's quirky, sometimes hard-to-follow, quick-witted dialogue that was a hallmark of the series, and the talented showrunner went on to create another fast-paced comedy, The Marvelous Mrs.
Maisel that included the same trademark sardonic and scintillating wit. Arguably, later seasons of Gilmore Girls fell off the wagon, so to speak. Still, the worst episode of Gilmore Girls is the one that took Rory Gilmore from a confident, capable go-getter and turned her into an unfortunate victim. "Blame Booze and Melville" is the worst Gilmore Girls episode because it was character assassination against Rory. Gilmore Girls TV-PGComedyDrama A dramedy centering around the relationship between a thirtysomething single mother and her teen daughter living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Release Date October 5, 2000 Cast Lauren Graham , Alexis Bledel , Scott Patterson , Melissa McCarthy , Keiko Agena , Yanic Truesdale , Kelly Bishop , Edward Herrmann Main Genre Comedy Seasons 7 Studio The CW Rory Gilmore Is a Motivated and Confident Character on 'Gilmore Girls' Gilmore Girls followed the lives of single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her teenage daughter, Rory, in their fictional town of Stars Hollow. Lorelai had Rory at sixteen and was estranged from her parents until she allowed them to get to know Rory and help pay for her private school tuition. In exchange for tuition, Lorelai and Rory must have dinner with Emily and Richard Gilmore every Friday night so that they may get to know their daughter and granddaughter better. The premise of the show is about the different mother-daughter dynamics: Emily and Lorelai are always in conflict and have very different views on life, and in opposition to that, Lorelai and Rory are close and like best friends. Rory's intellect and drive are hallmarks of her character. She attends a prestigious prep school where she is constantly rivaling the competitive Paris Geller for the top position in the class. In the early seasons, Rory is focused and determined. She dreams of being a journalist and does everything she can to achieve that dream, including setting her eyes on attending Harvard. While she is accepted into every Ivy she applies to, Rory ultimately chooses her Grandfather's alma mater, Yale, and is seemingly on a path to success. Sure, Rory has bumps in the road, mainly in the form of love interests and other typical teen troubles, but she always seems humble and grateful. She works hard, and with the help of her well-off grandparents, Rory is rewarded with every opportunity imaginable. Despite her immense privilege, Rory always seemed deserving of her fortunes. However, in Season 5, Episode 21, "Blame Booze and Melville," this all changes. "Blame Booze and Melville" Assassinates Rory Gilmore's Character To preface, Rory certainly could have been better in previous seasons. She had an affair with her married ex-boyfriend Dean, which was a significant departure from her honest, moral character, but it did reveal her to be just as imperfect and human as the rest of us. Shows need conflict, and the conflicts that Rory and Lorelai faced changed appropriately as Rory grew up. However, in Gilmore Girls Season 5 Episode 21, "Blame Melville and Booze," the series fails Rory completely. This isn't just conflict to drive the narrative; it completely dismantles everything Rory was to viewers. Rory was fallible, sure, but she was never one to give up. In Gilmore Girls Season 5, Rory begins an internship at a newspaper owned by Mitchum Huntzberger , her boyfriend Logan Huntzberger's father. She assists Mitchum and learns her way around the news office. The beginning of Episode 21 shows a confident Rory navigating the ins and outs of the bullpen with ease. She sets up a staff meeting and joins the team during the meeting, while Mitchum leads. After the meeting, Mitchum offers Rory feedback on her internship now that it has ended. He tells her that he has mentored many young people in his day, and in his opinion, she doesn't have what it takes to be a journalist. He tells her journalists need tenacity, and that from what he has seen, she doesn't have the gumption to cut it. Related How Did the 'Gilmore Girls' Revival End Up Worse Than the Original Show? Where they lead, we will follow… for better or worse. Watching this episode of Gilmore Girls years later, this moment hits differently. Mitchum is one hundred percent right in his assessment. The Rory who showed up and did "what was asked of her" does not have what it takes to cut it in journalism. He points out that she had the perfect opportunity to offer her thoughts in the staff meeting, which she didn't do. Her response is defensive, saying she didn't know if she should and is just an intern. He then explains that someone with the guts and determination to make it in the news world would have spoken up if only to be noticed. This pivotal moment in Gilmore Girlstakes Rory from a persistent go-getter to a dejected victim. Instead of taking the opportunity to evaluate herself honestly , she is defiant and petulant. She takes his words as gospel and decides not to fight but to accept his limited view of her. Was he right about her internship? Yes. Was he right that she would never have what it takes to become a journalist? Of the old, driven, bookworm Rory, the answer would have been no. That Rory would have taken the feedback and applied it to her next internship and done better. She would have fought for what she wanted. Instead, she defies all five seasons of character building and does something so un-Rory-like that it just feels wrong. "Blame Booze and Melville" Was a Hard Left for 'Gilmore Girls' Close The other thing that makes "Blame Booze and Melville" the worst episode of Gilmore Girls is that it was a turning point in the show, and not for the better. In one moment, Rory changed entirely. She was no longer the focused, driven scholar audiences came to know and love. She was an entitled brat set on blowing up her life. This episode and the subsequent season finale led to yacht theft, Rory's arrest, and her decision to drop out of Yale. The following season depicts Rory as a college dropout, doing community service, and working for her grandmother's service organization, the DAR. For most people, the privilege of attending a prestigious school like Yale would not be something to throw away over one person's opinion, and the old Rory wouldn't have thrown that chance away either. The thing about “Blame Booze and Melville” is that it didn’t have to be a bad episode, and it didn’t have to derail Rory’s character. Mitchum wasn’t wrong at all in how what he said about her, and he didn’t say it to be mean or cruel, it wasn’t like he told her she sucked, he simply told her she lacked the boldness needed to be a journalist. Had she taken this criticism as exactly that, criticism, and not a direct attack, a whole lot of drama and character assassination could have been avoided. But I think a big reason why Rory took Mitchum’s advice so drastically wasn’t so much because of his standing in his career, but because of his familiarity with her grandparents and her relationship with his son, Logan. When she was offered the internship, she went into it thinking she had basically been given a golden ticket. Obviously, she knew she would have to work just like everyone else, but a small part of her figured this was her easy ride to a journalism career. After all, she’s a Gilmore, and she’s coasted through so much of her academic life on that name alone. Dating Mitchum’s son as well likely had Rory feeling like it would be smooth sailing for her, little did she know Mitchum wouldn’t favor her because of it. Rory took his criticism so personally, when in reality, it was advice that she needed to hear so that she could work on it. She was only in her second year at Yale at the time, so there was plenty of time for her to take Mitchum’s criticism and work at it. Who knows, maybe she would’ve discovered that she didn’t want to be a journalist after all. That would have been the better path for the show to go down rather than this messy character assassination of Rory. It’s not always realistic for someone to stay wanting the same things they’ve wanted since they were a child. Sometimes they stay the same, yes, but not always. We saw this with Rory when she decided to go to Yale instead of Harvard, despite having her mind and heart set on Harvard since she was a child. People change, and maybe Mitchum’s criticism could have been Rory’s chance to explore a different career path, perhaps one still in a similar field of English and literature, but having her drop out and whine about fair criticism? That’s not the Rory Gilmore we started out with. "Blame Booze and Melville" Changed 'Gilmore Girls' Going Forward Much of Rory’s character change can be narrowed down to the fact that she learned just how much privilege comes with her name, and thought she could coast by on it. Lorelai had been keeping their heads above water all on her own for years, and never once relied on the Gilmore name to get a helping hand, until it came down to Rory’s future and getting her into Chilton. As time passed and Rory got older, she realized just how much power the Gilmore name held in social standing, most notably as a Yale alumni’s granddaughter. That’s not to say she didn’t work hard, and earn her spot among Yale’s student body, she absolutely did. It was in these later seasons that we saw a sort of divide between Lorelai and Rory as Rory grew closer to Logan and entered his world of privilege and thus grew closer to her grandparents, and realized how much could be at her fingertips if she took advantage of her family name. But that is not the Rory that fans knew. In fact, Season 1 Rory would have scoffed at later season Rory. In Season 6, Rory is lost in a world of self-pity and entitled frivolity, and honestly, she is hard to like. For a show that spent so much time crafting such beloved characters, tearing them down didn't take long. Instead of finding outside conflict, the show decided to turn the conflict inward and take apart the mother-daughter friendship at the show's heart, causing a months-long rift between the Gilmore girls. Doing this wouldn't have been bad except that it came at the expense of Rory's character. None of the circumstances surrounding her decision to quit college and act like a spoiled brat were in alignment with the Rory we had come to know. Yes, young people change their minds and go through setbacks. In fact, that's what your twenties are for! But to refute all the attributes of a character that viewers loved as much as Rory Gilmore was just mean. For that reason, "Blame Booze and Melville" is the worst episode of Gilmore Girls.
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