Hello everyone! It is finally the time of year for pumpkin spice, autumn colors, and of course, Gilmore Girls! The fall season is finally here, and I am very excited to launch my second series of Gilmore Girls articles. I will be releasing one article a week for the next several weeks. I hope you all enjoy them, and please feel free to share your comments and feedback!
Spoilers ahead!
Lane Kim, Rory’s music-obsessed, spunky, and loyal best friend was completely betrayed. I firmly believe she deserved a better ending to her story.
Lane’s character is incredibly ambitious. She was motivated to pursue her passion for music even when she knew her mother (who she greatly respected) would disapprove. She fiercely fought for opportunities to learn to play the drums and to carve her own path for herself.
First, I think she should have ended up with Dave (her first real boyfriend). Not only was David sweet, considerate, sincere, and driven, but he goes above and beyond to understand Lane’s complex relationship with her mother. He finds ways to get to know her family by performing at various religious events and embracing her family’s values. In one of the most iconic and heartfelt scenes of the show, Dave reads the entire Bible in one night to try and decipher what her mother said in response to his request to take Lane to Prom. (You can watch Dave ask to take Lane to the prom in Season 3, Episode 20 at 16:45.)
Dave’s character, played by Adam Brody, left the show because he received a larger role in “The O.C.” as “Seth Cohen.” In this interview with USA Today, Brody states he enjoyed his time on Gilmore Girls, although he struggled with the precision of the dialogue and banter. According to this interview, the show had two script supervisors. Brody credited the writing of Gilmore Girls for its rarity and the unique rhythm of the scripts.
In the show, we are told that Dave has decided to attend college in California, and it is never disclosed how or when he and Lane end their relationship. This opens the door for Zack, the lead singer and guitarist of Hep Alien, to pursue Lane.
Zack is immature, whiny, unhelpful, and self-centered. To top it off, he ruins the most important music opportunity Lane ever gets. I think the writers did Lane’s character a true disservice by having her marry Zack and by having Zack ruin their one shot at performing for a record label.
You may be asking yourself, was Zack really that bad? I am here to remind you of some of his worst moments. We will start with the absolute worst one.
In season 6 after Lane and Zack have been dating a while, Lane talks with Rory about how many of Zack’s songs are girl’s names. Lane asks Zack if he could write a song using her name, and he immediately shuts it down. Zack claims nothing creative rhymes with “Lane” (even though he has a song called Lorraine). This is just the start of Zack’s constant gaslighting…
Their bandmate Brian, kindly drafts a song called “Lane” which makes Zack incredibly jealous. It makes him so jealous that on the evening a record label is watching them perform he adds a random person to the band without warning, throws out their rehearsed setlist, and gets into a fight with Gil and Brian on stage before they can even begin to perform. Toxic masculinity, gaslighting, immaturity, and self-centeredness are all wrapped up into a lovely package and dropped on Lane’s doorstep. (Season 6, Episode 10.)
Of course, the drama of this plot point is by design. It causes the audience to feel empathy for Lane and to intentionally dislike Zack’s character. However, his character is never redeemed in my eyes. After breaking the band apart, Zack becomes miserable without Lane. He offers what I would call a VERY lame apology to Gil (a bandmate) and Brian (his best friend). Rather than officially apologizing to Lane, he explains how he “doesn’t feel good” about any part of his life without her. Then he proposes to her in Luke’s diner.
In my opinion, Lane’s character would have had much higher standards and would have had much stronger feelings about the mistakes Zack made. However, she says yes and becomes engaged to Zack.
That particular plot point is used to pivot Lane’s entire storyline. She ends up stuck in Stars Hollow, pregnant with twins just weeks after being married, AND unable to join Zack when he gets the incredible opportunity to perform on tour in a famous band, Vapor Rub.
Throughout the series, Lane’s character becomes coined as the “lowkey girlfriend.” She doesn’t expect diamond rings, and in a sense is “not like other girls.” While it is fine to embrace a low-maintenance character, Lane was determined to travel, explore the world, and play music as much as possible.
Instead, her story is summarized with her accepting that she cannot do the same things Zack can do because she is a mother. Zack takes over her job at Luke’s, and it mentioned how rarely she is able to leave the house and socialize. While this is expected of a new mother, I found it incredibly sad for Lane’s story.
With everything Lane fought for, I think she deserved a deeper ending and more screen time.
For further context, here is all that Lane went through to accomplish her music goals.
In high school, she joins the marching band and collects hundreds of CDs and records that she must hide under her floorboards. She learns all she can about her favorite artists, all while having to hide her love of rock from her strict mother.
As she grows, she finds more ways to learn the drums including practicing on Lorelai’s kitchen pots and pans and hiding her drumsticks in her house. She later joins a small band where they practice for free in the Stars Hollow music store and later in Lorelai’s garage.
When Lane’s band, Hep Alien, has the opportunity to play at CBGBs Lane is willing to sneak out of her mother’s house in the middle of the night. This inevitably is an action that she cannot come back from. Mrs. Kim states if Lane is to continue this lifestyle, she must move out, and do it on her own.
While Mrs. Kim later grows to support Lane’s music career, this point in Lane’s story is incredibly difficult for her. Any daughter would have a difficult time charting a path their mother disapproves of. We all want our parent’s validation, approval, and respect. However, Lane is strong, and she knows what her heart desires.
As her story continues, she moves in with her bandmates while working at Luke’s to pay the rent. She begins dating Zack in season 5, and in season 6 Mrs. Kim helps the band book their first tour at various churches after they have hit a creative wall. This opens the door for Zack to AGAIN, ruin an important opportunity for Lane.
Lane helps the band accumulate over $9,000 in revenue from their tour, which she points out is enough to record a CD and release music. After returning to Stars Hollow, Zack and Brian take the $9,000 WITHOUT telling Lane and spend all of it on bogus recording equipment that they ultimately refuse to help learn how to use.
Time and time again, Zack disregards and disrespects Lane. Although he may not be able to see it, he destroyed some of her most important music opportunities.
Some smaller moments that are red flags in my opinion include Zack being incredibly mopey at Mrs. Kim’s Lunar New Year Dinner, his making a big deal about Lane choosing not to wear her glasses, his flirting with Lorelai (before he dates Lane), his reputation with women prior to dating Lane, and his pettiness over expenses when Rory stays with them for an incredibly short amount of time. (I feel like I could write another article dedicated to even more of Zack’s worst moments.)
Lane is kind, friendly, selfless, fierce and simply deserves someone worthy of her spark. I am forever a Lane advocate, part of team Dave, and a Zack hater.
Leave a Reply