Gilmore Girls

10 Best Episodes of Gilmore Girls

Set in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the series follows the captivating lives of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a mother/daughter pair who have a relationship most people only dream of.

Written by Sophie and last updated on feb 04, 2023.

PS: The following content contains spoilers!

PPS: I will admit that parts of this page was written with the help of AI - it makes my work so much easier to not start from a blank page!

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Gilmore Girls - S7E20

#15 - Lorelai? Lorelai? (Season 7 - Episode 20)

After getting into a science camp, April tells Luke that she cannot go on the boating trip with him over the summer. Zach is asked to go on tour with another band. A drunk Lorelai serenades Luke at Karaoke night. Logan gets a job in San Francisco, where he then goes to Lorelai's home to ask permission to propose to Rory and take her with him. Lorelai, shocked, gives no answer.

The episode was rated 7.90 from 459 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S1E21

#14 - Love, Daisies and Troubadours (Season 1 - Episode 21)

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Paris wreaks her revenge after Tristan lies about going to a concert with Rory; Rachel leaves Stars Hollow after she becomes convinced that despite his protests, Luke is in love with Lorelai; Rory's defense of the Stars Hollow troubadour during a town meeting brings her back together with Dean, enabling her to finally say, and mean, the words that he's been longing to hear; Luke and Max meet and engage in a little not-so-friendly rivalry as Max begins to suspect, despite her protests, that Lorelai and Luke were once an item; Max proposes to Lorelai with a thousand yellow daisies.

The episode was rated 7.91 from 565 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S5E13

#13 - Wedding Bell Blues (Season 5 - Episode 13)

Emily and Richard renew their vows in front of 100's of their closest friends with Lorelai as Emily's Maid of Honor, and Rory as Richard's Best Man. Luke gets in a fight with Christopher over Lorelai. Logan comes to the ceremony with a girl that looks like his girlfriend, and Rory gets jealous. Rory confronts Logan and Logan and Rory go a level up from flirting.

The episode was rated 7.93 from 493 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S1E6

#12 - Rory's Birthday Parties (Season 1 - Episode 6)

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It's Rory's birthday, and her grandmother and mother each plan a party representative of their respective styles; Emily's elegant party so discomfits Rory that they argue; to make peace, Emily and Richard attend Lorelai's informal bash the next evening.

The episode was rated 7.94 from 654 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S5E1

#11 - Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller (Season 5 - Episode 1)

Things are still testy between Lorelai and Rory, and Rory's refusal to discuss the Dean situation causes Lorelai anguish; Emily announces that she and Richard have separated; Sookie is ecstatic when Kirk tells her that Luke and Lorelai kissed; Rory's attempt to meet Dean and discuss what happened leads to a lot of action, but no talk; Dean provokes an argument with Lindsay after leaving Rory's house; Emily decides to go to Europe and invites Rory to accompany her; Lorelai and Luke are very tentative with each other the day after until they are able to reassure each other that they're on the right path; Luke heads off to Maine for a week to help Liz and T.J. with their Ren Faire booth; Rory decides that she needs a break from both Dean and her mother, and decides to take her grandmother up on her invitation to go to Europe.

The episode was rated 7.94 from 524 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S4E2

#10 - The Lorelais' First Day at Yale (Season 4 - Episode 2)

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While Luke is willing to lend Lorelai his truck to help Rory move into her dorm, he's not too thrilled when the project turns out to take all day to accommodate Lorelai's last minute shopping trips to keep Rory's room on a par with the rest of the dorm, to say nothing of Lorelai's seeming inability to drive a stick, losing his spare tire, and saddling him with the old mattress from Rory's dorm room; Rory's roommates turn out to be a jock, a 15 year old prodigy sorely lacking in socialization skills, and none other than Miss People Person herself, Paris Geller, who arrives with a life coach in tow; Nicole's partners descend on the diner and threaten to ensnare Luke in a morass of paperwork and legal complications when he refuses to hire a lawyer or even discuss accepting a settlement; responding to Rory's attack of homesickness after just four hours, Lorelai returns to Yale and sets up a dorm-wide takeout food test to judge the quality of the local restaurants, their delivery speed, and

The episode was rated 7.95 from 524 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S3E13

#9 - Dear Emily and Richard (Season 3 - Episode 13)

Luke and Nicole have a successful first date; Jess and Dean trade verbal blows; Sherry goes into labor with only Lorelai and Rory for company; Lorelai reminisces about her pregnancy and Rory's birth; Lorelai introduces Emily to modern entertainment technology; Richard and Emily decry Lorelai's and Rory's plans to backpack through Europe; the war between Paris and Rory continues when Paris picks a photo of the ""Franklin"" staff for the yearbook that has the worst possible shot of Rory.

The episode was rated 7.97 from 514 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S5E16

#8 - So... Good Talk (Season 5 - Episode 16)

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When Richard and Emily return from their second honeymoon, Rory attends Friday-night dinner without Lorelai, who refuses to speak to her mother or see her, and plans a girls' night out with Sookie instead. Richard and Emily then give a 100-year-old Greek book to Rory and have yet another maid. Rory surprises everyone with a rare outburst at her grandmother for interfering in Lorelai's love life. Meanwhile, Luke, who's miserable without Lorelai, takes his anger out on his customers and his dark mood causes him to burn the food and when one customer wants his omelette redone, he throws him out of the diner. When a meter maid is writing a ticket to put on Luke's boat (that is parked in front of the diner) Lorelai comes in time to put some quarters in the meter. Emily goes to the diner to talk to Luke. Meanwhile, Lane has a horrific realization about her mother's inluence.

The episode was rated 7.98 from 493 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S5E7

#7 - You Jump, I Jump, Jack (Season 5 - Episode 7)

After Kirk spills the beans that her daughter is dating Luke, Emily demands that Lorelai bring him to dinner so that they can get reacquainted; although Lorelai tries to warn him away, Luke goes anyway and is subjected to an evening of oblique insults from a passive-aggressive Emily; after Zach announces that he's ready to start going out with Lane, they spend a cozy first date at home after banishing Brian to Lane's bedroom; having not learned his lesson with Emily, Luke agrees to accept Richard's invitation to go golfing, and both men turn a deaf ear to Lorelai's pleas to cancel; Rory gets her story on the ""Life and Death Brigade"" by being blindfolded and whisked away by Logan and his friends to observe the elaborately staged weekend in the woods, and finally, after Logan encourages her to take a risk, to participate in the event's breathtaking finale.

The episode was rated 8.01 from 509 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S1E9

#6 - Rory's Dance (Season 1 - Episode 9)

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During dinner at her mother's, Lorelai finds out that not only is there a formal dance at Chilton, but that Rory doesn't want to go. On the way home, Lorelai convinces Rory that she needs to have this experience, and even offers to make Rory a dress. Lane prods Rory into asking Dean to go, and she nervously does. Even though he says he doesn't really like dances, he agrees to go with Rory. When Emily arrives at Lorelai's the night of the dance to see Rory off and take some pictures, she finds that Lorelai has thrown her back out. She decides to stay and to take care of Lorelai,and they manage to get in some nice mother-daughter bonding during the course of the evening. The dance starts off well; Rory's dress is complimented, Dean is admired, and Paris is embarrassed when everyone finds out that her date is her cousin and that he insisted upon being paid to escort Paris. Unfortunately, Tristan baits Dean, and they almost get into a fight before Dean warns him never to come near Rory aga

The episode was rated 8.02 from 620 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S4E14

#5 - The Incredible Sinking Lorelais (Season 4 - Episode 14)

When Trix returns to town and berates Lorelai and Richard for being financial failures, Richard angrily sets his mother straight, to Emily's delight; Lorelai and Sookie explore ways to ease their financial crunch and raise money to pay their construction crew, one of whom is now Dean; Janet and Paris go head-to-head over the constant presence of Janet's boyfriend in the suite; Lorelai and Rory play an increasingly frustrating game of telephone tag; after Paris, Tanna, and Janet complain about close quarters in the suite, Lane moves out of the dorm and in with Lorelai, and gets her job back at Luke's; Lorelai and Sookie have a heated discussion about sharing the responsibilities of opening their inn; Rory is distraught when one of her professors tells her to drop a class because she can't handle her course load; Lane runs into her mother and receives a frosty reception; at the end of a very long, hard day, Lorelai and Rory still can't manage to connect, and end up taking solace in the

The episode was rated 8.02 from 481 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S6E13

#4 - Friday Night's Alright for Fighting (Season 6 - Episode 13)

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Friday Night's Alright for Fighting is the name of an episode for the American comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls.

The episode was rated 8.02 from 482 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S4E22

#3 - Raincoats and Recipes (Season 4 - Episode 22)

Momentous changes are in the air as: the Dragonfly Inn approaches opening day by having a shakedown weekend; Rory and Dean take a major step forward in their relationship, to Lorelai's dismay; Emily and Richard admit that they're separated; Kirk decides to let Lulu in on the deep, dark secret of his night terrors; Jason appears at the Inn to plead his case with Lorelai, to no avail; Luke answers Lorelai's question about the status of their relationship when he makes it passionately clear to Lorelai that they're dating, to which she enthusiastically agrees.

The episode was rated 8.10 from 528 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S3E22

#2 - Those Are Strings, Pinocchio (Season 3 - Episode 22)

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Rory finally learns her mother can't afford to buy the Dragonfly Inn since financial aid for Yale didn't come through. She decides to take matters into her own hands with a quick visit to her grandparents' right before graduation. Luke has second thoughts about a trip with Nicole after something Lorelai tells him. Jess makes silent contact with Rory after she gives her speech at Chilton.

The episode was rated 8.17 from 511 votes.

Gilmore Girls - S7E22

#1 - Bon Voyage (Season 7 - Episode 22)

Rory lands her dream job as a political reporter in Ohio. Luke enlists the help of everyone in Stars Hollow to throw her a graduation party in order to say goodbye. Luke's thoughtfulness brings out a long-awaited reaction from Lorelai.

The episode was rated 8.39 from 544 votes.

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