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| Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fifth Season | |
| Warner Bros. // Unrated // $59.98 // December 13, 2005 | |
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| Review by Scott Lecter | posted January 15, 2006 |
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The
true test of any person (creative or not) is how they respond to
adversity. How does one recover from their lowest of lows? How
does one attempt to turn those lows upside down and create
something successful again? The fourth season of Gilmore
Girls marked a largely transitional year for the show.
Characters went in opposite directions, people changed,
relationships turned around, and the two closest people on the
show (Lorelai and Rory) had to be separated for an extended
period of time. In my estimation, Amy Sherman-Palladino and
Daniel Palladino did a pretty fine job of making it work in their
show's fourth season. While it may have lacked a little bit of
the usual vivaciousness, the fourth season of Gilmore Girls
still had plenty of comedy and drama to satisfy viewers. It
seems, unfortunately, that I'm in the minority with that opinion.
The fourth season of Gilmore Girls turned out to be the
show's lowest rated and probably their least critically adored.
So
how would the show's creators respond to their least loved, least
watched season? Clearly reverting to what worked in the first few
seasons of their show wasn't going to be an option this time
around. Rory is all grown up now. They can't just have her move
back home with Lorelai because the audience was having trouble
not having a constant Rory-Lorelai connection. Instead, they
decide to take a few chances and make the most well crafted
season to date. What Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino
do with season five of Gilmore Girls is incredibly
smart. Not only do they add a little spice to their show by
bringing on a few fresh faces, but they also finally respond to
the pleas of Gilmore fans everywhere by giving them a
few things that they've been begging to see since the show's
inception. They take some real chances in the fifth season and
prove that taking the biggest chances often reaps the biggest
rewards.
Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fifth Season picks up, literally, where
the fourth season left off. Only this time we get to see the same
scene from a completely different perspective. The change in
perspective is one that immediately tells the viewer a lot about
where Gilmore Girls is going in its fifth season.
Instead of seeing the events through Lorelai's eyes, we're now on
Rory's turf. We see how the big event unfolds for her, we see
(through her perspective) how Lorelai reacts, and we see the
ultimate fallout from Rory's completely uncharacteristic, but
completely logical (given her age and growing maturity),
decision. This is just the beginning of what will be a tumultuous
year in the life of Rory Gilmore, and we're going to be along for
the entire ride. By putting the very first moments of the show's
fifth season in Rory's headspace, viewers get a little taste of
what's to come, and it’s a great introduction to the
important events that will shape how these characters grow in
this rebound season.
What
makes season five so entertaining is the way that the show's
creators decide to weave completely new wrinkles into a fairly
worn outfit. Sure, Rory's had boyfriends before – we all
remember the Dean and Jess days – but she's never had to
deal with them in the way that season five forces her to deal
with them. She's in completely new territory with Dean this time
around, and we see that not only is she not prepared for what
transpires, but she's also clearly in over her head. She's also
met new potential boyfriends before (e.g. Jess), but never the
way she meets Logan Huntzberger, and never on her own turf. In
the past, Rory always had Lorelai right there waiting to pick up
the pieces if everything with "the new boy" fell apart.
This time, however, Rory's all by herself up at Yale and must
learn to deal with Logan's advances on her own – good, bad,
or ugly. Luckily for her, and for the show's creators, Rory not
only learns to deal with these new challenges in her own special
way, but she also ends up growing more, as a person, in season
five than in any previous season. Sometimes we have to wander
through life just to see what "sticks," and it appears
that Rory learns this very valuable lesson during the fifth
season of Gilmore Girls.
There
are so many little things that make season five the best yet for Gilmore
Girls. The appearance and emergence of Logan Huntzberger as
a main character took the show in a different direction from
previous seasons and gave it a very unpredictable feel for the
first time in a quite a while. Paris – while it seems like
she gets slightly less screen time this season – not only
becomes even more neurotic and, therefore, more entertaining, but
she also finally finds someone that is just about as maladjusted
to spend her time with. Not to mention the fact that the
increased presence of Doyle's character finally gives Danny
Strong a chance to really shine on Gilmore Girls. And
last, but certainly not least, we finally get to see the
relationship form that we've been waiting to see for years. Were
it not for the expert chemistry of Scott Patterson and Lauren
Graham, the whole Luke-Lorelai relationship would be one filled
with sappy emotion and familial melodrama. Fortunately for us
viewers, Gilmore Girls employs two great actors who know
just the right time to turn up the funny and turn down the
melodrama.
So
I've pretty much made it sound like Gilmore Girls: The
Complete Fifth Season is the absolute perfect season of
hour-long television. Well, let's not get carried away. There are
a few bad seeds in season five that keep it from being perfect,
most of which seems to be the result of the show's creators just
not really knowing what to do with characters that once had
larger roles. Jackson's run for town selectman not only feels
rushed and silly, but it's also just downright not very
entertaining. Sookie seems to be starting her transition from
"really funny character" to "slightly funny, but
more annoying, character" and, while Lane's interest in Zack
is a worthy storyline, the band itself just appears to be
spinning its collective wheels. Nevertheless, I'm probably
nitpicking with these few gripes. There is a lot more good than
bad in season five. Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino
really should be commended for putting a shiny new coat of paint
on their show, bringing back the critical praise, and recovering
from the fourth season's low ratings. It's not just the fact that
we learn a whole lot more about these great characters during the
fifth season of Gilmore Girls. It's also the fact that
the characters learn a whole lot more about themselves
during the season. That's certainly more than we get from most
shows on television, and easily a worthy reason to tune in every
single week.
The DVD
Disc 1:
"Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller" (original airdate:
09/21/04)
"A Messenger, Nothing More" (original
airdate: 09/28/04)
"Written in the Stars" (original airdate: 10/05/04)
"Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too" (original airdate:
10/12/04)
Disc 2:
"We Got Us a Pippi Virgin!" (original
airdate: 10/19/04)
"Norman Mailer, I'm Pregnant!" (original airdate:
10/26/04)
"You Jump, I Jump, Jack" (original airdate: 11/02/04)
"The Party's Over" (original airdate: 11/9/04)
Disc 3:
"Emily Says Hello" (original airdate: 11/16/04)
"But Not as Cute as Pushkin" (original
airdate: 11/30/04)
"Women of Questionable Morals" (original airdate:
01/25/05)
"Come Home" (original airdate: 02/01/05)
Disc 4:
"Wedding Bell Blues" (original
airdate: 02/08/05)
"Say Something" (original airdate: 02/15/05)
"Jews and Chinese Food" (original airdate: 02/22/05)
"So…Good Talk" (original airdate: 03/01/05)
Disc 5:
"Pulp Friction" (original airdate:
03/08/05)
"To Live and Let Diorama" (original airdate: 04/19/05)
"But I'm a Gilmore!" (original airdate: 04/26/05)
"How Many Kropogs to Cape Cod?" (original airdate:
05/03/05)
Disc 6:
"Blame Booze and Melville" (original airdate: 05/10/05)
"A House Is Not a Home" (original
airdate: 05/17/05)
Episode titles in bold are personal favorites on
each disc though the entire season should, preferably, be viewed
in order from beginning to end.
Video:
Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fifth Season is presented in an adequate
1.33:1 full frame transfer that is easily better than original
broadcast quality, and is certainly on par with the previous
season on DVD. There are a few problems with this transfer, but
for the most part these episodes look great. All the various
colors that are the visual highlight of the show come across
beautifully on this DVD set, although overall color can, at
times, be a bit soft. Flesh tones are accurate, and shadows and
blacks are nicely rendered. Detail sometimes leaves a bit to be
desired, as the overall image is occasionally soft. There's nary
a sign of edge enhancement or visible layer changes on these
discs, and the only really noticeable blemish on this transfer is
the abundance of grain from time to time. The show has an overall
graininess to it that is far from distracting, but in some
lower-light scenes grain rears its ugly head in a big
way. Even these instances, however, are less frequent than in the
first and second season sets. Nevertheless, the visual
presentation on these discs is on par with what most of us have
come to expect from a typical TV-on-DVD release and certainly
outshines anything you might have seen during the original
television broadcast.
Sound:
The
audio on these discs is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 format
that also stands up nicely to the usual TV-on-DVD expectations.
Dialogue, as in previous seasons, is absolutely the most
important aspect of Gilmore Girls, as it comes
rapid-fire throughout every episode, and is presented beautifully
on this track. It comes across as crisp, loud, and distinct, and
is clearly the focal point of this audio presentation. The
soundtrack, however, also plays a crucial role in the show and is
presented nicely here as well. Balance is good across the front
soundstage, though there is some very slight level fluctuation
and some episodes seem a bit louder than others. The surrounds
provide some support to the soundtrack as well. The overall track
sounds just as good, if not better, than it did when originally
broadcast, and when piped through Dolby Pro Logic II encoding
actually comes alive. This is especially evident in episode 4,
"Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too" when Lane's band provides
some live entertainment during the town selectman elections.
Extras:
The first thing I thought when I saw the box for Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fifth Season was, "It's about
time!" While there are both negatives and positives about
the assortment of extra material that appears in this season set,
the inclusion of a commentary track is something that Gilmore
fans have been begging for since Warner Bros. released the very
first season.
That
being said, the best extra feature included on this set is the audio
commentary, with series creators Daniel Palladino and Amy
Sherman-Palladino, for episode 7 "You Jump, I Jump,
Jack." It's immediately clear why nearly all of
best episodes of Gilmore Girls have been written by one,
or both, of these two. Daniel and Amy are funny, intelligent, and
highly entertaining as they speak about their show, its creation,
and how far it has come in the five years since it began. The
most interesting moments come when the couple speaks about their
cast and some of the very obscure pop-culture references
sprinkled throughout the show's rapid-fire dialogue. The only
problem in an otherwise excellent commentary track, however, is
the fact that there's a lot of introductory material covered by
Daniel and Amy that could have been avoided had they recorded
commentaries for some of the earlier seasons. Still, this is a
very insightful track, and here's hoping we get another one or
two on the season six box set.
All
the rest of the extra material in this set is located on the
sixth disc. The best of which is an approximately 15-minute
featurette called "Gilmore
Girls Turns 100: Taking Stock on Reaching
Five Years and 100 Episodes" that basically does
exactly what its title says. By mixing in a few clips from the
show with numerous cast interviews, this featurette is a nice
retrospective look at the first five years of Gilmore Girls.
Just about every cast member chimes in with their thoughts about
their character, the show's creators, and its critical success. A
few participants even weigh in on what it's like to have to
relive all the early episodes as they air in syndication on the
ABC Family channel. While the lack of participation from show
creators Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino is
disappointing, this is still a very entertaining bit of extra
material and is probably the best featurette on any of the Gilmore
Girls season sets so far.
The
only other substantial extra feature on this set is a 5-minute
featurette called "Behind the Scenes of the 100th
Episode." Hosted by Melissa McCarthy, this short
feature is basically an on-the-set look at the filming of the
100th Gilmore Girls episode. Shot on location, the
historic episode features Richard and Emily's recommitment
ceremony, as well as a myriad of other important happenings.
McCarthy gives us a brief tour of the location while stopping
from time to time to chat with some of the principle cast
members. This isn't exactly a hugely in-depth featurette, but
there are some very funny, candid moments and the fly-on-the-wall
approach makes it entirely enjoyable.
We also have a very short featurette called “Who
Wants to Talk Gilmore?: Season’s Wittiest Wordplay
Moments,” which is my least favorite type of
feature. Running just over a minute long, this is simply a
collection of short clips from the season that include shots of
characters saying funny lines and otherwise being
“witty.” This is a bit of wasted bonus material, in my
opinion. They tried to make a feature like this work on the just
about every other Gilmore Girls season box as well. It
was pretty much a waste of time then, and it's still a waste of
time here.
One
feature that has become a staple favorite of mine on these Gilmore
Girls season sets is the “Your Guide to
Gilmore-isms” booklet that usually rounds out the
extra material. This booklet is a kind of “Annotated Gilmore
Girls” that is really a treasure trove of information
on the many different wordplays and pop-culture references that
are scattered throughout the season’s rapid-fire dialogue.
Unfortunately for this season's set, Warner Bros. has chosen to
go the cheap route and not include the actual booklet in the box.
I repeat: the booklet we've come to know and love is
not included. Instead, Warner Bros. has included a
simple insert that tells the consumer to visit www.gilmoregirlsdvd.com
and download a PDF file of the booklet. Not only does this seem
like a very cheap way of doing things, but it also seems like a
bit of a cop-out on the part of the studio. Needless to say, the
omission of the booklet is a huge disappointment.
A Note on the Packaging:
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fifth Season is packaged
exactly like the previous two seasons. This time, however, I
managed to receive my copy with only one cracked plastic holder,
and no scratched discs or "floaters." Maybe I'm just
lucky. I don't particularly like this packaging and I'm still
going to urge Warner Bros. to switch over to the slim-cases in
cardboard packaging like many studios are using for their DVD
sets these days.
Final Thoughts:
Gilmore
Girls really bounced back from a lackluster fourth season
with an excellent fifth season full of interesting characters,
shifting relationships, deceit, and some really satisfying growth
in the main players. Just when Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel
Palladino could have hung it up and let their precious show drift
off into obscurity, they take a few chances, give their viewers
what they've been wanting since the very beginning (e.g. Luke and
Lorelai), and revive not only the critical praise, but also the
show's ratings. While it may not be the perfect season, Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fifth Season is pretty darn close and is
probably the show's best season to date.
With such a successful season for the show quality-wise, it's
nice to see Warner Bros. finally step up and provide an
audio commentary for one of the season's highlight episodes. It
would have been nice to have one on an earlier set – to get
those pesky introductory comments out of the way – but being
able to hear Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino opine
about their "baby" is definitely a treat. With the
audio-visual quality being nearly identical to the other season
releases, the few extra features make the difference here. While
it's a huge disappointment to see the "Guide to
Gilmore-isms" booklet omitted from the set, the inclusion of
two nice featurettes and the superb quality of season five make Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fifth Season a highly recommended
release.