To the delight of people who watched the original Gilmore Girls series, Netflix revamped and released a four-episode follow-up just in time for Thanksgiving. After months of teaser trailers and promotion, the miniseries finally appeared on Netflix Nov. 25 at midnight and the show was met with rave reviews. This is understandable especially for fans of the series but there were a few bothersome things I couldn’t help but notice.

One of the “dramatic” things about the pre-production of the series was whether or not Melissa McCartney’s lovable character Sookie would be returning. She initially stated that she hadn’t been asked but later went on to say that she would be written in.

The problem with this is that it was painfully obvious that they wrote her in extremely late. They tried to tackle this by way of cameo and it just didn’t work. There was the excuse that Sookie had taken off to “find herself” but that was a thinly veiled way of saying there was tension between the writer and McCartney.

To cut them some slack however, show writers seem to always have a hard time coming up with reasons characters aren’t returning so can’t be too hard on that.

One of the other problems was the pacing of the show. There’s that awful time jump between the winter and spring episodes. It’s clearly a completely different season and aesthetically, it seems as though months have passed. However, plot wise, it continued as if it was the very next day. Yes it’s only four episodes but the episodes could have transitioned smoother.

In terms of character development, the fact that Lorelei and Emily Gilmore, the infamous constantly fighting mother-daughter duo has decided to work on their relationship is refreshing. However, in a rush to fit as many characters background stories in a four-episode special, some of the characters ended up coming off as flat.

Rory’s father Christopher made a brief appearance but he added nothing. Also, I get it, people love Jess’s character but his appearance didn’t add anything to the plot other than “inspiring” Rory to write her book, thus creating cheap tension between her and Lorelei.

However, the writer made up for this by bringing back so many of their audiences favorite characters and it was nice to gain insight into the developing personal lives of the characters we’ve all missed.

The most notable issue with the show was the effort to make current topical references. This doesn’t just include referencing things from this year, but also references to make up for the ten-year gap between the season 7 finale of series to the premiere of the miniseries. There are so many cringey attempts to stay relevant including a scene in which Lorelei yells something about a safe space/trigger warning.

All in all, it wasn’t bad as far as revamps go. And fans of the original series will happily look past the flaws if it means the show continues.

The ending seemed to allude to a continuation of the series and the fact that it hasn’t been confirmed is frustrating. But that isn’t so much a flaw with the show as it is in regards to my own impatience.