5 things I noticed about Gilmore Girls 20 years later

2. What’s with the double standard?

In the sixth season, Lane Kim, Rory’s best friend, gets engaged to her Hep Alien bandmate Zack Van Gerbig at the age of 21. He proposed to her at Luke’s Diner in front of several townspeople who all applauded in approval. When Lorelai and Rory hear the news, they are both just as excited for her.

Three episodes later, Lane’s had a bachelorette party and two versions of her wedding: one Korean, one American.

Um, OK. That was fast.

The following season, Rory’s long-time boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger, proposes to her the night before her Yale graduation. But this time, Lorelai is super skeptical about her daughter, 22, getting engaged so young.

The reasoning seems to be that Rory was graduating from Yale and destined to become an award-winning journalist. She had things to do before considering marriage. She was going places.

But Lane never made it through college, so settling down at a young age was best for her, right? No.

Like Rory, Lane had career aspirations. For goodness sake, the woman snuck around and defied her mother, the frighteningly strict Mrs. Kim, to pursue her dream of being in a rock band.

Now, it might not have been as lofty a goal as Rory’s, but it’s something Lane was working hard toward – and at the risk of losing her mother’s respect.

The writers took Lane’s years of hiding things under her floorboards and mattress, along with her newfound independence, and trashed them with one terrible storyline.