Gilmore Girls - The Death of a Show

[spoilers ahead]

Gilmore Girls revival begins with the death of Richard Gilmore, and yet it felt like the death of not just the paternal figurehead in the show but rather the death of all old-fashioned family values, respect for others and personal worth.

1. The original show began with Rory wanting to go to Fez one day while her grandpa encouraged her to be brave and pursue her adventurous dreams.  The girl who always wanted to be a foreign correspondent and cover war overseas instead writes frivolous consumerism-obsessed stories about why people stand in lines.  She ultimately writes a book about her mother's life story, in a way selling her mother's most personal experiences for money and fame - something that she knows makes her mother uncomfortable. Why does she do this?  It was an easy story to write.  I kept hoping Rory would write a story about her grandfather and herself to deal with her grief but no - the easier story gets written.
2. She does fulfill her lifelong dreams of traveling but for the wrong reasons.  She goes abroad to have an affair with someone who is engaged with absolutely no regards for his fiance.  While she cares about not becoming a geisha or an other woman for herself, a role she took on much younger in life with Dean, gone is the concern Rory had felt for Dean's wife, the guilt she had felt for helping someone deceive their partner or even Lorelei's well-placed anger - replaced by a snide comment for Rory being "sluttier."  Being slutty may not be wrong depending on the circumstances, but helping someone cheat is definitely wrong!
3. At the same time, Rory dangles a guy she has no feelings for for 3 years! She has this person meet her grandmother, her mom, and many of her friends while she can't seem to remember that he is a part of her life.  That is a terrible thing to do to another person!  Wasting 3 years of his life - the revival's creators go over this like it's one big joke - like the jokes they had about Kirk's or Paris's personalities. 
4. Furthermore, the show originally talked about what being a good father means - it's knowing that you have a kid, trying to get access to that kid and trying to be there for your kid no matter what.  Luke tries that despite not getting an opportunity to be there (Anna pushes back on his efforts) and that makes Luke a good father.  Lorelei gives Chris the chance to be there and he doesn't take it again and again - it made him a terrible father.  And yet the revival screwed all of this by having this little chat between Rory and Chris where Chris said that him being away was basically the arrangement that Lorelei wanted - the complete opposite of the original series! And it seemed like Rory was deciding to raise her kid alone on purpose - which was exactly what Anna had done and was completely unfair to both Luke and April.

Ultimately I felt like the whole revival was a big slap on Richard Gilmore's face. Rory was a kid born in privilege with understanding parents - she was supposed to have a different life. She could have anything that she wanted and yet what she chose was to pine for the wrong guy - Logan - and live a life in misery to have an unplanned kid. It's actually very tragic. We understood where Lorelei came from - parents who did not get her, young age, charming boy - we understand why she had an unplanned kid at 16.  At 32, Rory's unplanned kid simply because she was having a career slump - it makes no sense and just feels irresponsible while harming so many lives in the process - the father who may not know, the fiance of the father who will ultimately be hurt knowing about the cheating, the kid who will have as terrible a relationship with his/her father as Rory did with Chris for most of her childhood.