In fact, there are many great lines in Gilmore Girls—the critically-acclaimed American comedy-drama series which ran from 2000 to 2007 on The WB and The CW. The series, depicting cross-generational family dynamics against the backdrop of an idyllic revolutionary-style Connecticut town, is famous for being ‘dialogue-driven’. The witty banter that characterises the mother-daughter duo of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) propels the series, written by the tireless Amy Sherman-Palladino.

As the story goes, Sherman-Palladino was the writer and showrunner for Gilmore Girls for Seasons 1 through 6, but not for Season 7, due to salary dispute. She returned to spearhead the Gilmore Girls revival series which featured on Netflix in 2016—Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

Where the original series revolves around the plucky, idealistic professional and academic ambitions of both Lorelai and Rory—and the Season 7 series finale sees Rory leave her native Stars Hollows to follow the first Obama presidential campaign as a reporter—the revival series strikes a decidedly anti-climactic tone, with Rory returning home to Stars Hollow as something of a failed journalist.

A Year in the Life—cycling through the yearly seasons, beginning with ‘Winter’ and the aftermath of the death of Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann), the family patriarch—portrays the struggle of three generations of Gilmore girls—including the formidable grandmother Emily Gilmore, played to perfection by Kelly Bishop—to come to terms with the realities of life over time.

As it happens, this more realistic depiction of the Gilmore girls was the stuff of Sherman-Palladino’s original vision for the series. In an interview with Vogue in 2016, she confirmed: ‘This was the story that we wanted to do’. Where viewers balked at Rory’s fate, Sherman-Palladino insisted that ‘the purpose of leaving Rory in this position was always supposed to be that history repeats itself—daughter follows mother; where you lead I will follow. And that life throws you curveballs that you don’t expect.’

The same curveballs come at Lorelai, who in the ‘Summer’ episode is seen to be wrestling with a perfect storm of personal and professional crises. Though perhaps not realising it, she is still mourning her father; her relationship with Luke is stagnating; her prized Dragonfly Inn is under pressure to modernise as Michel plans to leave for the big city; and she is resisting Rory’s will to write a book about their lives.

The episode also features, in comedic balance, the event of Stars Hollow: The Musical—an absurdist lyrical take on the revolutionary history of the town, with failed Hamilton-esque vibes and featuring real-life Broadway stars Christian Borle and Sutton Foster. Aggravating the other (quirky, delusional) members of the committee for the show, Lorelai pans it—but Taylor still calls her to review an additional, potential number.

The song, written by Sherman-Palladino and performed by Foster, is called ‘Unbreakable’, and marks the turning point in the narrative arc of A Year in the Life. Its lyrics hinge on the human act of self-questioning in life—the taking stock of where you are, versus where you planned to be.

Its poignant sense of great expectations, which have somehow failed to be fulfilled, speaks to a seemingly universal tendency to think you are not where you should be in life, and yet just need to keep going.

It’s heartbreaking, but also comforting in its familiarity, and hopeful in its ultimate call to action—'it’s never or now’.

Unbreakable
by Amy Sherman-Palladino

I know how everyone else's life
Is supposed to fly by
Then someone turns and says
What about you?
And I stand here
Mouth open
Mind blank
This should have all work itself out by now
The map of my life should be clear and precise
With little red dashes and circles so nice
Showing roadblocks
And landmines
Oh, I am not unbreakable
I am breaking right now
Maybe everyone can't have the dream
Maybe everyone can't kiss the frog
Maybe it'll be me and a dog
And the little stuff dolphins on the floor
And a little dog door
Oh, I am not unbreakable
I am breaking right now
I need to be unbreakable
Somehow, it's never
Or now