So, I picked a random WordPress Post-a-Day prompt that made me happy:
Change the end of any famous story, true or fiction.
Think about an ending that has always bothered you or you thought could have been better. Now is your chance to fix it.
I initially thought about Twilight, specifically Breaking Dawn. (No real fight? Seriously?) But a fan already wrote an ending that I like better than the original. Plus, the movie will likely include lots of vampires crumbling like granite mannequins.
Then, I thought about the story that really pissed me off – Gilmore Girls.
If you have any intention of watching Gilmore Girls to the end, stop reading now. (Christy, that’s you.)
A lot of people thought Gilmore Girls jumped the shark when Rory decided to take a leave of absence from Yale (the end of the 5th season/6th season). I didn’t like that storyline, but I thought it ended up being a “that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” kind of thing.
What I hated: April. Luke’s daughter. Season 6, Episode 9. So, starting with that, I have an entirely new ending for Gilmore Girls.
Rory and Lorelai make up, as they did on the show.
Lorelai never gets Paul Anka (the dog). She and Luke do end up getting married in a ceremony that’s a cross between what Emily wants and what Lorelai wants. Luke and Lorelai move into their dream house – whether it’s the one Luke wants to buy for her or the one her mom wants to buy for her. Probably Luke’s though.
The next season ender is a cliffhanger, a la Friends (just before it started to suck) – one of the Gilmore girls is pregnant? Which one is it?…
Thankfully, it’s Lorelai. Who, true to her dream back in Season 3, Episode 1, (I love Wikipedia) is having twins! Luke, Lorelai, and babies. Comedy and drama gold right there. Plus a shout out to long time fans. And of course, because it’s TV, they have 1 boy and 1 girl. Although Lorelai contemplates naming the boy Paul Anka, they go with William, after Luke’s father (I think). I honestly have no idea what name they’d give the girl, other than perhaps going with the middle name Emily, after Lorelai’s mother.
Meanwhile, Rory does go back to Yale. She continues dating Logan. The same issues about their “break” surface. Logan proposes… at this point, I’m not sure what to do. I think that Logan and Rory are rather good for each other – yin and yang. I’d like to see Logan’s parents threaten to disown him if he proposes to Rory, but he does it anyway. So, Logan’s dad arranges for Rory to get a great job opportunity… in some remote town halfway around the world. Rory takes it, and Logan, telling his family to f**k off, goes with her. The last season is them flying off to Bangladesh or something.
Lane doesn’t marry Zach, because that whole storyline was awful! The band forms, does the “artist formerly known as Prince”-like summer tour, and makes a real demo album. Lane ends up getting a gig with a minor, but well known band (insert musical guest spot here). She gets to follow her dream and be a real musician.
Sookie doesn’t make Jackson get a vasectomy. They end up having 3 kids by the end of the series, with a possible 4th on the way.
Doyle follows Paris to law school. (Not medical school. Paris would make a horrible doctor, unless she went into research.)
Emily and Richard continue to be Emily and Richard. Friday night dinners resume shortly after the twins’ birth, and there are heartwarming moments and moments that make you want to tear your hair out.
Christopher (Rory’s Dad) realizes that he’s a total jerk. Not sure what else happens with him… I didn’t like his character much, after Lorelai and Luke got together.
Michel finally gets a love interest, a woman who loves dogs, just like he does.
Kirk’s mom dies, throwing him into a strange multi-episode quest to do all the things he couldn’t do while she was alive. Then, Kirk and Lulu get married.
Why yes, I do like my “happily ever afters” thank you very much!
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Ok, I know this is a post from long ago, but I just re-watched the series, and the ending made my teeth itch all over again. I thought there MUST be some fanfic or something out there with a sensible ending, and here it is. Thanks for changing the history before April arrived… that was just. so. stupid! and completely out of character for Luke. He was never the one with commitment issues. It’s a Gilmore show, and the story should have been about her finally finding the perfect guy and allowing herself to have him. Done. I also especially liked the added touch of freeing Kirk from his mother’s clutches. 🙂
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment!
I heartily approve of this alternate ending. I hated the “throw in conflict for the sake of keeping characters apart” approach that happened when April showed up. It was a cowardly way to tell a story. Your version is much more realized, and realistic, too.
Thanks very much!
I was just re-watching the series (for the fifth time), but got turned off (again) while watching the episode when Lorelai met April. (For the first time) I decided not to continue watching, and wondered if there were like-minded folks somewhere; after googling, I found your site.
Interesting re-write, but I prefer keeping April and having Luke handle her sudden appearance better so that he and Lorelai never have to put off the wedding. HOWEVER, what I REALLY would like to see is Gilmore Girls without the Logan character. Whenever the scenes with him and Rory come on, I mute the TV and squint so that I don’t have to see what’s going on. He was the most obnoxious character on the show, IMHO. In addition, the writers never convinced me that Rory would be attracted to him.
I know from comments that Amy S-P made (I have the entire series on DVD, including commentary by the creators) that she liked Matt C and the Logan character very much, but I’ve read many blogs with people who think it was a bad idea to include him in the show. Just google any variation of JUMP THE SHARK GILMORE GIRLS and you will see what I mean.
I think Logan gets better over time. What I like about my ending is that he grows up and becomes more than just a pretty, rich boy. I guess I do like the actor, too.
I love your alternate endings. Especially for Lane. I hated that she and Zach got married and then got pregnant- never got their big break! So depressing. One question about one of your rewrites though- a WOMAN for Michel? Wasn’t he gay? lol
That’s the thing: They never came right out and said *what* Michel’s sexual orientation was. I think Michel should have a woman because it would show us all that assuming one’s sexual orientation based on stereotypes is just plain wrong. (Although, if Michel did turn out to be gay, that would be OK too.)
I really thought Michel was straight, which was cool because he did have a lot of typically-gay traits. I believe there were several times when he mentioned “the ladies” as the reason for his diet and love of dancing… and I’m pretty sure he made jabs at Tobin for being gay.
I couldn’t agree more. The end to the series made me sick! I just watched it all for the first time. Not only was the last season flat, it was wrong and went against everyone’s character development except rory, til she rejected Logan. Logan never would have ended it there… Even with a rejection. Hello, the whole rocket thing? I will wait for you forever? And then telling her to follow her dream and they’d factor each other in and make it work does NOT add up to him giving up! I choose to believe that since the original writer had ‘different plans for rory’ and really liked the character of Logan, and Dave Rosenthal planned for a final half season for which matt c (logan) was to return, they had every intention of rory Logan together, and created a cliff hanger that ended up severely back firing and dropping them off a cliff. I mean why the hell would they develop a relationship over 3 years to kill it in the second to last episode grr. It was great seeing Logan and Rory grow together. They both had faults but matured tofether despite them. I was heart broken by that weak ending. And Rory being so desperate after her dream job failed as to take a campaign job seriously? She was better than that! And more of a planner! The sf chronicle would have beat that to shreds.
Moving on, Paris doctor bad I agree. She has no bedside manner.
The lane story was terrible. Marrying a stoner moron and having babies and having her dream die? Wtf? She became totally complacent.
Lorelai and lukes story was least disappointing but overly dramatic and April was a horrible addition.
The idea that it was ok for sookie to demand her husband have surgery ithout even a discussion is repulsive.
At the end I felt like I had a show hangover and the last drink wasn’t even good. It’s one thing for a loved show to end, but to end heart breaking is about unforgivable. Hard to believe the writers were so dense.
I just like to think of the show ending somewhere around Rory meeting Logan. It’s better that way. 🙂
OK, I just watched the complete show again… the most important thing i would change its the fact that Rory decides not to marry Logan.. thats just dumb. They were perfect together.
I do agree the whole April thing was plain ridiculous.. but I kind of understand thats life.. sometimes weird and unplanned.
When a show gets cancelled I believe it should end with everthing the audience always wished for.. for me it would be with Logan and Rory together.. maybe Rory getting a really good job in California so she can still visit stars hollow and everything.
I´m not at all bothered with Lane and Zach.. I mean.. she ended up having a great life.. being a really good mom..
Your ending was waaaaay better than the real one btw!
Thanks!! 🙂
Thanks very much!
Yes, it is sad that I am reading/responding to this 3 years after the fact. GG had fantastic, clever writing, and I miss it (sad that Bunheads got cancelled). I wouldn’t say that the Rory leaving Yale made the show jump the shark, but it was certainly a different show after that.
About the name for Luke and Lorelai’s daughter…I see endless suggestions from Lorelai, only to be shot down by Luke as he realizes that she is trying to rhyme with Rory. “How about my middle name – Victoria” “Rory and Tori, no”. “We could do something from Literature, how about something from Dickens, like Dorrit?” “Rory and Dory? Nope”. “Something timeless, like Corinne?” “Rory and Cory? Not going to happen…”
Thanks for your creativity!
I appreciate your comment! It’s amazing how many people come to my blog looking for The Gilmore Girls.
I love your dialogue, too. Thanks!
Heh, I am still following this thread a solid year after finding it. I love the name dialogue, Sarah! It makes me smile, and every time a new comment comes up, I trail off imagining all the other great things they could have done.
Like for the wedding… maybe Lorelai has been getting stressed about it. It’s the night before, and she and Luke are spending the night apart for good luck. Suddenly, she’s up and packing a bag! She makes a frantic call and tells someone to pack up and be ready to go… are her commitment issues coming back? Is she ditching Luke like she did Max? But no, she’s gone to find Luke and elope! Luke looks confused but tells her to wait in the car. After commercial break, Luke hops in the driver’s seat – off they go! …To the neighbor’s house. Luke honks and yells to get your ass out here or you will miss the wedding! They drive around like that and end up with the entire town, all in jammies, surrounding Luke’s huppah. Emily and Rory (secretly notified by Luke) roll up with a ridiculous army of servants and caterers that Emily produced with her magical money powers. Kirk marries them (he has every other job, so why not that??). L&L laugh and gaze at one another lovingly.
By the end of the show, Rory (who we have gradually watched make all her mother’s mistakes, continuing to choose men who are eerily similar to Christopher) seems transformed by L&L’s successful marriage. When the show started, she was almost a Lorelai clone, then she rebelled. But now, she is free to be her own person without feeling like she is rejecting or abandoning her mom. She breaks up with Logan and sets off for a distant land where she will continue to grow…
That’s a really cool idea! 🙂
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You wrote: “A lot of people thought Gilmore Girls jumped the shark when Rory decided to take a leave of absence from Yale (the end of the 5th season…)”
That describes me. I discovered the series late, but watched the first 5 seasons on DVD…
…until Rory dropped out of Yale and moved in with Richard and Emily – leaving Lorelei essentially f-ed over by her entire family. Thus, I never got to see the “April” storyline (which was your own personal shark jump point). However, the real reason I’m writing is because I strongly agree with one of your extrapolated plotlines…
…namely, Luke and Lorelei finally getting married. There has long been an axiom in (Hollywood) television series that the minute you bring the romantic leads together in a show, any interest in the series immediately and irrevocably dies. This often leads to tortuous, artificial plot developments to keep the leads apart (“Moonlighting”). Sometimes I agree with the strategy (“Cheers”), but sometimes I don’t…
…as with “The Gilmore Girls”. They could have mined an entire season out of the marriage of Lorelei and Luke, reaping both comedy and drama – not to mention a fair measure of joy from viewers. Instead, from what I’ve read, they decided to go with anger and angst.
Fail!
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents…
…almost exactly THREE YEARS after your original post!
Thanks for sharing!
I think you’re exactly right: It’s the “Moonlighting” effect. They just did it on “Castle.” Lauren Graham also has to contend with never finding the right guy on “Parenthood.”
Ray Romano and his sudden apotheosis make Jason Ritter is least of which (in my opinion) was already.
Lorelai was too much for him. Hank 🙂
As for GG:
I did not like as the changed of personality Dean’s for to Rory will continue to fall well, but hey, the truth is that the smaller of the Gilmore was not exactly a prude (which was already a bit pathetic the scenes in which Lorelai defended ), and never was very smart as considered the series, the girl was reading Jane Austen but would not learn anything. His scenes of “make mistakes” to me proved me very empty.
But being a Gilmore is still wonderful.
April was the worst of the entire series. Seriously, has no qualm. I keep trying to overcome my aversion to the actress, but she does the impossible: First episode of SAB and already bugging with another paternity test.
GG was a fairy tale perfect for bedtime and wake up with a smile (sounds cheesy but the truth is that for me it was) . It was a ‘happy place’ with their dilemmas and essence Gilmore.
I think the reason true because recent seasons are so faded (so to speak XD) it’s because they were not the Gilmore Girls, was weird. Your Independence, grace no longer were. The family not matter much, I say, a great strength of the series was the recovery of Lorelai and Emily
i wanted to see it! A scene with a lot of screaming, tears and joy! and at the end was solved with two sentences and it was because they had lost time with the tragicomedy of “Lucas is the right or not.”
The truth is I do not want the movie if they do it.
*sorry,sorry if it failed with the English*
Thank you for commenting! I think I understood most of what you said, and I tend to agree with you. Although, I can’t tell if you like Hank or Mark (Jason Ritter) better. I’m a Ritter fan. 🙂
April was definitely the worst!
It is really sad that they ended the show waaaaaaaaaaaay too soon. If they decide to make a movie to end the show right it would be aweful, because my questions go from :”How will the weddings plans turn out” to “what dress will Lorelai wear.”, to “How will Lorelai handle, not inviting Emily and Richard?” to “How will Lorelai handle pregnancy?” to “Is Luke (hopefully) finding out, that April is not his real daughter?” to “How he’s going to make Lorelai stop drinking coffee while she’s pregnant?” to “How many kids they have – twins?” “Will they live in the twickham house?” “What birthday Party they plan to do on Sid and Nancys first/second/third birthday party?” “How will Sid and Nancys first day at school will be?” “Will they go to yale too?” Well I want to see Parenthood with Luke and Lorelai, Sid and Nancy and Rory and the town until Luke and Lorelai are grandparents and Rorys is having her own kid. Ok that would fill 14 more seasons or movies, so Gunsmoke had 20 seasons and amy said she wanted to break that record with gilmore girls so gooooo on!!!! break it!!! we want to see that!!!
Thanks for commenting! I never thought about Lorelai and Luke arguing about coffee during pregnancy. That’s hysterical!
I just watched Gilmore girls on Netflix and this ending is spot on. AND RORY AND LOGAN WERE AMAZING. also, he wouldn’t just leave like that, he would have at least hugged her or something, I mean the whole rocket and ill factor you in and laughing and growing together…. I mean who doesn’t like avocados?! His proposal and that whole episode was so anti-Logan, it was like dean or someone equally horrible switched places with him. And everything else was also spot on. Great job!!
Thanks very much Steph!
I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls on netflix and just finished season 3 episode 1, where Lorelai has the dream where she’s pregnant with Luke’s twins and thought that would be such an awesome beginning of a Gilmore Girl movie (i wish!) That the dream came true. I agreed with everything you said. I also didn’t like how the writers had Dean cheat on his wife with Rory. Hated that storyline! I actually liked Dean-I thought he made such a good boyfriend in the beginning episodes but then they “dumbed him down when they brought in Jess. I never really liked Logan.
I hated that storyline too. Dean getting married, pining over Rory, and her losing her virginity cheating with Dean. I liked Dean all right, but I thought he was rather boring. I never got into Jess, but I did like Logan.
Thanks for commenting!
SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOO glad I found this!!! All the other ones I kept finding were for Rory to end up with Jess!! I could never stand Jess or Dean! & the ending.. horrible.. Logan just walking away.. giving an ultimatum like that!! So not his style!! Love your ending.. I wish they would make a movie.. but I’m too scared they would end it with Rory and Logan not together and it would just make me mad all over again!! Absolutely love your ending!!! I like to just pretend that the last part of that episode didn’t happen.. but I will now add your ending into my head and only see that!! Thank you!!
Thank you so much for commenting! I was never a big Jess fan, myself.
Ok I do love the idea of Luke and Lorelai getting married and having kids,I mean who wouldn’t? And I think that she should totally keep Paul Anka!But I don’t like the idea of Rory and Logan staying together. When I first saw the show my first reaction was like No They Have To Stay Together! I did really like them together but I don’t think that he’s the best guy for her. Rory had reservations about marrying him, she wasn’t sure. I think that you should have no doubt in your mind about marrying someone when they propose when it’s right. I think that it’s time for Rory to explore her career and to go on the presidential campaign and experience her dream job. Honestly I don’t think we’ve met the perfect guy for her. Secondly I actually like April I think that she was good for Luke and that she brought a more loving side to him, I know that she caused a ton of problems between them, and I don’t mean to be harsh but that was on Luke he should’ve been open and honest with Lorelai. Lastly I really like Zach and Lane together. I think that it was a good thing for Lane to settle down unexpected things happen in life and it doesn’t always go as planned but that doesn’t mean that they’re bad things. And her having a family doesn’t automatically mean her music career is over it just means its on hold and who know maybe she’ll open a music store like Sophie Bloom. And personally I think it’d be fun to have someone for Michelle that they’re in love with but still have all of these meaningless fights with. Those are just my thoughts on the ending.
I like that GG went on for 7 seasons. But I think that season 6 should have ended different, thus causing season 7 to be completely different.
At the end of season 6 Lorelai gives Luke the now or never speech and he pauses and she walks away and sleeps with Christopher. Logan told Rory “ask me to stay” and she didn’t, mainly because she agreed that he needed to grow up.
I don’t think Lorelai should have slept with Christopher. The episode should have ended with her walking away. And then season 7 would have started and Luke shows up at her door with his truck packed and they run away and get married. Then in season 7 they have to fight for April since her mom is trying to take her across the country. They win.
As far as Rory goes… Season 6 ends with Rory at the airport. Logan says “are you asking me to stay?” She says “no I’m going with you.”
In season 7 we learn that she was approved to study abroad at Oxford in England.. Not only will this keep her near Logan it will get her away from the God awful building her grandparents built in her name at Yale. She graduates Yale and Logan proposes and she says yes.
Season 7 ends after Rory and Logan’s wedding. Both Lorelai and Rory are together in the bathroom staring at a slew of pregnancy test.
That’s an interesting ending. Definitely better than the real one. Thanks for commenting!
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Oh my gosh, I love it!
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