Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 26, 2017

In a television landscape that is today so concerned with larger-than-life characters, huge production values, sweeping narratives, blood and guts, sex, dark themes, and endless spectacle, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life offers a welcome return to a simpler time in television that was more character focused and less about building up the peripherals to staggering, top-last-week heights. Gilmore Girls debuted in 2000 on the WB network and ran for seven seasons. Its central story followed a young girl named Rory and her life alongside her single mother Lorelai in small town Connecticut. It also explored Lorelai's own issues with her parents, and the show was essentially the story of "mother and daughter against the world." A Year in the Life picks up their story nearly a decade later, opening a window into the lives they've built for themselves in the time away from the screen.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life revisits the town of Stars Hollow nine years after the TV show ended. This four-part special affords viewers the opportunity to see how the characters have evolved over time. While the focus is on the three Gilmore “girls” -- Emily, Lorelai, and Rory -- the show additionally depicts some of the townsfolk and side characters as well, offering a more broadly sprawling, but still intimately focused, reunion tale. Has Lorelai repaired the strained relationship she shares with her mother, Emily? Did she end up with Luke or were her bridges burned? Did Rory conquer the journalistic world after college? In four parts succinctly titled “Winter,” “Spring,” “Summer,” and “Fall,” these questions and many others are answered, but at the same time new ones open up, leaving the show on something on a string cliffhangers and the characters in limbo, both asking unanswered questions that, hopefully, will find resolution in another special somewhere down the line.

Much like the long-running TV show that preceded it, A Year in the Life deals primarily with family drama and related issues: romance, jobs and careers, friendships, and other day-to-day ups and downs. While Lorelai and Rory are nine years older, they may not be nine years wiser and many of the issues they deal with are similar in nature to the ones they dealt with during the TV show. While the calendar has flipped, the characters have not. Just as fans were originally drawn to the show's quirky characters, their life dilemmas, and comings-and-goings, fans will again be drawn into this new chapter that recaptures many of those same quirks and introduces and explores a few new ones, for instance Rory’s decision to give up her apartment and travel from friend to friend instead of putting down roots, or Lorelai’s passing fascination with hiring a surrogate. 

Series creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino return as the writer/director team for A Year in the Life, allowing for an intimacy of continuity and connection to the old series, not just as it returns to familiar faces and places but through the more subtle but critical tonal and structural qualities that give a show a personality beyond the persons in front of the camera. Lauren Graham (Lorelai) and Alexis Biedel (Rory) don’t miss a beat, each turning in wonderful work reprising their roles, maintaining that sense of character and community that eases the audience’s transition back into the world of Stars Hollow. The duo’s well-versed and chemistry-laden familial bond elicits a realistic mother-daughter relationship and, despite the nine year break, both actresses provide that same familiarly quirky, funny, and poignant depiction of their relationship as it has grown, and here continues to grow, over time. Kelly Bishop also does an excellent job reprising the role of Emily, capturing essential and intimate character growth through trials that have come to define her life since the audience last caught up with her.  Scott Patterson (Luke) continues to be the steady rock to counteract Lorelai’s impulsive personality and offers a nice change of pace and perspective when the show gets too drawn up in Lorelai’s or Rory’s drama.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was shot on video and maintains something of a television show/sitcom look about it. It's a bit on the flat side, and noise and compression artifacts are something of a regular and often heavy companion, but core basics are presented in good working order. Image detail is largely fine. Skin textures find sufficient complexity, environments are pleasantly sharp across a wide range of varying quality interior and exterior locations, and clothes enjoy solid to, sometimes, bountiful textures, particularly some heavier garments seen in the Winter segment. Colors are pleasantly neutral, revealing a satisfying level of vibrancy. The palette never drifts too far towards or away from a baseline, real life accuracy. Black levels are fair and flesh tones appear within the actors' natural complexions. This is certainly not a release for top-flight BD PQ, but fans should find it an agreeable presentation.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack handles duties commendably well. The show starts with one of the most, if not the most, dynamic sound presentations across the two discs, with voices popping in around the stage, both directly imaged and flowing about the listening area. Music is healthy and presents with satisfactory width and clarity alike. Atmospherics and light ambient effects filter through with good stage presence and deliver critical, albeit often light, mood-shaping elements. Dialogue propels the majority of the show, and it features solid front-center placement, clarity, and prioritization.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life contains no supplemental content on either Blu-ray disc. No DVD or digital copies are included, either.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life doesn't redefine the series, which is a good thing. It's just an honest continuation, with some natural progressions, interesting dynamics, and plenty of familiar vibes. Warner Archive's Blu-ray offers acceptable video and audio. No supplements are included. With none of the rest of the show on Blu-ray, this comes recommended only to series veterans who won't be lost within the first minutes.