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Wasting no time, Fall begins with Lorelai (Lauren Graham) attempting to deal with the aftermath of last episode’s fallout. Audiences find Lorelai as she’s rarely seen, alone and out of Stars Hollow. She’s clearly out of her element and feels lost.

Lorelai, searching for some direction in her life, decides to complete the “Wild” trail. And there’s a nice running gag about the “book vs. movie.” It was also especially nice to see Stacey Oristano, who played Truly on Bunheads.

Although it was fun to see Lorelai bond with her fellow “book” girls, the fact is they don’t really add much. Their only real purpose is to be an audience for Lorelai to spill her guts out to. Luckily, Graham, as usual, gives a great performance.

Not surprisingly, Lorelai doesn’t actually do any hiking. She forgot her permit, so she decides to get coffee instead. But because the place is closed, she walks around and stumbles onto a vista. And that’s where she has the epiphany she was looking for.

While enjoying a beautiful view, Lorelai calls her mother because she’s finally ready to share a memory of her father, Richard (Edward Kirk Herrmann). At the night of the funeral, Emily (Kelly Bishop) put Lorelai on the spot to say something nice about her father, but she drew a blank. Instead of saying something pleasant about her dead father, she shared a wildly inappropriate story. This caused a major rift between the mother and daughter and was one of the driving conflicts of this revival.

At the time, it seemed like an unnecessarily cold thing for her to do. But in hindsight, it becomes clear that the reason she couldn’t come up with a nice memory is because she hadn’t processed her father’s death yet. Her father was such an important part in all of their lives that it makes sense that his death would leave a large void. After a tumultuous year, Lorelai is better equipped to deal with her loss, and she shares a wonderfully moving memory about a birthday she spent with her dad. The moment clearly means a lot to both women. It was exactly what Emily needed to hear and what Lorelai needed to get out.

It was very moving to see the two women coming together after so many years of conflict. And seeing Emily hug the phone when they finished their conversation was a nice touch. Resolving her problem with her mother lifts a big weight off Lorelai’s shoulders and gives her a better understanding of what else she feels she is missing in her life. Now, she realizes that what she really needs isn’t space but to solidify her commitment to Luke (Scott Patterson).

It’s a very touching and perfect way to end Lorelai’s arc in the series. It’s also very nice to see her realize that she didn’t actually need to do the trail. It admittedly had a few pleasant moments, but Lorelai’s excursion definitely had the potential to get old fast.

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