Why Did ‘Gilmore Girls’ Betray Sookie St. James?

Unlike so many people my age who grew up with Lorelai and Rory’s unique banter, Luke’s exceptional coffee, and the unrelenting awesomeness of Paris Geller, I had never seen Gilmore Girls until late last year, when I gifted the viewing experience to myself as a graduation present.

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I didn’t expect to enjoy Gilmore Girls as much as I did. I was painfully aware of its implicit homophobia and white feminism — a reflection of the times, perhaps, yet it still hurts! But the idiosyncrasies and quirks of Stars Hollow charmed the bloody socks off me, and I stuck around. I even liked the infamous season seven more than I thought I would. Sure, David S. Rosenthal at the helm of the show could never match the blazing, fast-paced glory of the Sherman-Palladinos. While some of the characters’ portrayals buckled under the weight of this shift in tone and pace (here’s looking at you, Alexis Bledel) there stood a pigtailed diamond in the rough, wearing a chef’s hat — Lorelai’s resident best friend, Sookie St. James.

Sookie’s season seven character arc was a disservice to how important she is to the show, and how good Melissa McCarthy is at playing her. With her humour, sage advice, excellent baked goods, and role as a parent to Rory, Sookie’s characterisation epitomises the ethos of Stars Hollow. And, though she may be a fan favourite now, within the narrative world of Gilmore Girls as it stands, she was criminally under-appreciated.

Sookie St James was another victim to a common trope in popular culture: the under-valued best friend to a fair-weathered protagonist.

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Carrie Bradshaw Syndrome And The Irksome Lorelai

Let’s be real for a minute. While Lorelai may be a wonderful mother to Rory — with a fascinating resilient fragility that never fails to captivate — she can also be incredibly irritating. If it weren’t for Lauren Graham’s nuanced performance, she’d run the risk of being quite unbearable. An ever-petulant daughter (sure, Richard and Emily are difficult, but they’re also dynamic and entertaining and wear amazing clothes) she is truly privileged to have a best friend as loyal and generous as Sookie. In the face of Lorelai’s unrelenting narcissism and endless slew of problems, Sookie not only listens but also gives constructive feedback (often served with a side of something delicious).

Gilmore Girls focuses on the relationship between Lorelai and Rory — so it is understandable that Sookie’s character is not entirely central to their mother-daughter bond. Nevertheless, I don’t think this should serve as an excuse for poor narrative development in contrast to the treatment that the leading roles receive, and herein lies the issue. The secondary characters on Gilmore Girls are popular — some viewers may even describe them as the beating heart of the show — yet the writers miss opportunities to add nuance and complexity to characters like Sookie, which would significantly enhance how loveable they already are.

Friday Night Lights’ Landry Clarke was also susceptible to being manipulated by many Dillon-dwellers. While he typically acknowledged with romantic interests that he refused to be walked all over — after his tumultuous experience with Tyra Collette —  it was never really acknowledged that even his closest friends tended to treat him with disrespect. While Landry and Matt Saracen often proved that they had a surprisingly tender friendship, Matt loved to make fun of, and belittle Landry.

But then there is Carrie Bradshaw syndrome. Many shows fall into this trap. The protagonist is significantly less likeable than the mates who surround them. Think about all the dastardly conversations Carrie has with her pals — she was genuinely perplexed when Charlotte didn’t offer to buy her apartment for her (Charlotte actually pulled through, in the end, trading off her engagement ring), and spends most of her life swanning around Manhattan, desperate for a sounding board, but too self-involved to take on the advice she receives.

Lorelai is certainly not a full-on Carrie. She’s so idiosyncratic and generous and independent that you can’t help but love her, but she is prone to taking Sookie for granted. Whenever Lorelai has a culinary request, it is a given that Sookie will deliver; be it a children’s birthday or a meticulous three-course meal for Emily Gilmore. Whenever Sookie asks Lorelai for a favour, I find it painful to watch. In the final season, when Sookie needs Lorelai to babysit, she delivers muffins (tops only – just as she likes them) to her door with a cup of Luke’s finest, and tiptoes around asking her because she doesn’t want to inconvenience her best friend.

In season one — with Jackson and Sookie one episode away from their first date — Sookie and Lorelai are talking about Max Medina, with Sookie making the shrewd observation that Lorelai, in keeping with the tradition of her previous relationships, is doing the “getaway dance” at the two-month mark. Lorelai defensively condescends Sookie in response. “When did you become the relationship expert? You haven’t been in a relationship in years.”

It’s a heartbreaking moment; made all the more tragic by the fact that, even though Lorelai apologises, Sookie says it doesn’t matter. This is all happening while Sookie is literally making a footbath for Lorelai to nurse her throbbing feet after ice skating. The scene is a microcosm of what their relationship can sometimes be — a dynamic where Lorelai’s ego can impose upon their fruitful partnership and bruise Sookie’s confidence; but her fierce loyalty means she stays put.

And lest we forget, the wedding cake.

Some creators listen to what the people want — shifting the direction of their narrative to make it more ensemble-based, thereby ridding themselves of Carrie Bradshaw Syndrome. With a show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer revolving so specifically around the development of the hero, the legendary Willow Rosenberg initially functioned as Buffy’s shy and geeky best friend. Luckily, Joss Whedon responded to his audience, and literally developed Willow into the world’s most powerful witch (she was also queer, to make matters infinitely more superb).

Tragically, Sookie never received the same treatment. Apart from getting married, having babies, and opening the Dragonfly Inn (which is typically framed as Lorelai’s dream), her character development is pretty minimal, although she had the potential to go so far.

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Justice For Sookie

The final season of Gilmore Girls certainly marks a newfound pizzazz in Melissa McCarthy’s acting style. She becomes even more comfortable in her own skin, and delivers the goofiness and impeccable comic timing that have since become her stylistic trademarks. Never forget, however, the harrowing psychological journey our darling Sookie endures at the behest of David S. Rosenthal. Without McCarthy’s performance, she could have dwindled into a loveable cook with a very depressing life.

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Sookie is arguably at her most passive in season seven. As Lorelai is dealing with the Luke/Christopher overlap, she essentially dictates Sookie’s emotional response to the whole situation. When Lorelai first tells Sookie that her and Luke have broken up for good in the season seven premiere, she responds as any best friend would — she is supportive, she is gently optimistic, and she listens. This is met with heavy sighs, eye rolls, and many “you just don’t get its” from Lorelai. It is a testament to how Sookie is such a pure, patient friend because you can tell she was as sad as we were when one of television’s most iconic couples didn’t work out.

Sookie’s narrative arc reaches its peak in season seven with the realisation that she is pregnant for the third time. Sorry, how is this possible? Didn’t Jackson get a vasectomy last season? OH WAIT. HE DIDN’T. Sookie’s skeezy little pumpkin patch husband lied to her about the operation, and didn’t tell her until it became painfully clear. And while this is maybe one of the most invasive and treacherous things your partner could ever do to you, the Gilmore Girls writers give Jackson no punishment. Instead, they frame him as the victim, and Sookie is chastised by both Lorelai and her husband for feeling betrayed.

While this storyline was written in to accommodate Melissa McCarthy’s IRL pregnancy, it’s not really an excuse. Plenty of actresses have been pregnant while filming roles, but their characters haven’t been pregnant because it makes no sense to their trajectory (Courteney Cox Arquette in Friends, Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City, Zooey Deschanel in New Girl, to name a few). So many cool things could have happened to Sookie instead! Perhaps she could have run away to join Liz and TJ’s Renaissance Faire, or gone overseas to partake in the cooking class of her dreams? It was such a disappointing way to leave a beloved character.

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The Other Best Friend

I would be remiss were I not to mention Lane Kim — Rory’s v cool punk-rocker best friend who suffers a similar fate as Sookie in season seven. Whoever thought it was a good idea to get Lane pregnant with twins as a result of her first sexual encounter shouldn’t be allowed within a kilometre of a writing room. Ever again.

Although Lane’s narrative arc is way more of a ‘shock twist’ than Sookie’s in season seven, their respective plights tread mutual territory. Both Lorelai and Rory’s best friends are way cooler than they are, but their senses of integrity and confidence are absolutely trampled on via their boorish husbands (okay, maybe Zack isn’t that boorish).

Is it an attempt to make the Gilmores look more ambitious than their BFFs? Do some people genuinely think getting pregnant is the sole fulfilment of a woman’s life? I really don’t know. But let’s hope that #justice is served for Sookie and Lane in A Year in the Life. I have total confidence that a return to the Sherman-Palladino’s snappy scripts will add long-overdue fuel to the fire of their incredible personalities.

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Matilda Douglas-Henry is a freelance writer based in Melbourne, and the editor of heapsgay.com. You can marvel at how few twitter followers she has at @matilsmatils