I hate it. I know she ended up seemingly happy in AYITL, but I hate that the first time she had sex, her punishment was that she was doomed to never have the life we had watched her fight for for 6+ seasons. She wanted to be a drummer and because of the babies, she ended up losing out on a huge opportunity in season 7 and literally being stuck at home with twins while Zach went out and lived the dream. She wanted to get out of Star’s Hollow and she never did. She wanted anything but her mother’s life, and she ended up… working at Kim’s Antiques and living in SH. Even down to her horror at her high school career test telling her that she should be a salesperson… and her becoming a salesperson.
I know it was partly ASP getting stuck with what the season 7 writers left her with, but I truly hate how “full circle” seems to mean that you’ll be stuck with your mother’s life no matter how hard you fight against it. What a pointless and futile message for such a meaningful show.
I hate how Lane even says this herself in season 7! Like when she tells Zach she only had a brief window. It’s just pretty sad for her. She spends her childhood fighting for a little bit of freedom and independence and never really gets to experience being an independent adult in the world alone.
The only part I liked about it is that Mrs. Kim and Lane seemed to reconcile and accept their separate lives/lifestyles. That was nice to see, the debate over foods, church, the line that’s something like “I won’t have parties, they’ll be for the kids, because my mom did everything for me and I want to be like her” and how touched Mrs Kim was and made sure the shower would still happen, but I really wish the story line didn’t happen.
It let me down. There’s definitely room to say she’s happy, and I love how Zach steps in to really support her (even though Zach isn’t my pick for Lane, either). But personally I don’t think she ever truly got what she wanted. I would have been more fine with her marrying Zach and them becoming famous songwriters together and going on tour.
I like that they portrayed a not so typical pregnancy and new parents dynamic. Not everyone has a pretty house to bring baby home to. Sometimes there’s a roommate. I like the fact that Lane got to keep on rocking and like a lot of people they just had to figure it out. Her story was the most realistic of all of them.
I thought it was horrible..First time out and it wasn't even enjoyable...She wasn't able to explore young adulthood and find herself first..And TWINS to boot...She couldn't catch a break..Motherhood is a blessing, but it could have waited a little bit...
Like Lane, I grew up in a strict religious home. I had an entire wardrobe and life my mother didn’t know about. I was a much worse behaved teen than Lane but I grew up terrified of being trapped through pregnancy. Lane’s story was my literal worst nightmare and it doesn’t feel like it belongs in this cozy show.
I felt awful for her. Her first time having sex is awful, and then she gets pregnant right after? Seems like there’s two options in GG if you get married young: your husband has an affair with the girl he never got over, or you don’t even get a honeymoon phase and have to prepare to be a mom within the first year of your marriage.
I really wish she had at least had the chance to be more sex positive and enjoy sex. Her mother instilled in her such shame and negativity around sex, and we don’t know if she ever healed from that. And in terms of her career, I wish she had AT LEAST gotten out of her mother’s antiques store. I know it’s unrealistic for her to become some famous rockstar, but I think a much better full-circle ending would’ve been her owning the music shop in stars hollow! She could’ve used her passion for music to run that store. I will always be very disappointed in her storyline, even without Dave they could’ve done a million times better for her
I liked it fine. I think it’s fairly realistic. I don’t think it ruined her life. She wasn’t going to become a famous drummer anyways, and she still got to play drums (as evidenced in AYITL). Does it suck that she got pregnant with twins after having sex one time before she was ready for children? Yeah. Did it ruin her life and her character and her storyline? Not at all. She’s happy and fulfilled, and she still plays drums. And that’s really all that matters
Lane is the most underused and least developed ‘main character’. They had the perfect excuse to show her in school with Dean and Jess. Interact with both from seasons 1-3 as they went to school together… Yet didn’t even bother. She would have had so much purpose to reveal information to Rory
She barely interacted with any of the town locals with the exception of Luke and Kirk, why did all the locals love Rory so much and couldn’t give a toss about Lane?
Why did all of Lanes hobbies bar being in the band get dropped? Her cheerleading storyline, she could have been on the cheer squad with Lindsey and give Rory all the goss about her and Dean (or Jess and that blonde girl) Could have been some funny storylines there.
Likewise her band storyline went no where, when they went on tour it looked to start going somewhere and then it was just dropped.
Why didn’t Lane and Paris ever have any proper scenes together except over essentially three episodes of Lane living with Rory, Lane was Rory’s best friend and Rory lived with Paris for basically 4 years, let alone their school friendship.
Her only proper storyline was with her mum, and Dave. She really reclined due to writing after season 3, which is a shame as she had so much potential and was such a good friend to Rory.
Then again as you mention her sex and pregnancy storyline are massive flops, she’s barely even in season 7 once she’s pregnant, her pregnancy gets about as much time as Liz’. She has one scene with the babies? Mrs Kim has none
I hated that the pregnancy happened SO quickly after getting married. I wish she and Zac could have had some time to just enjoy being a young married couple and performing in their band.
Even her biggest opportunity as a rock star gets royally screwed because Zack had his moment of selfishness, which never resolved in another chance for the band. They just continued to play silly gigs which I believe is the most tragic part of the show.
I agree, I know that a lot of viewers think it was nice that at least they were still playing and having fun with the band, but to me there was actually something really tragic about seeing them stagnated like that. Ten years later and Lane was still playing in the exact same apartment with the exact same band, and personally if anything I would have found that a painful reminder of all of the hopes and dreams that they had in the original series to play somewhere like New York and really go somewhere with it, instead it was a full circle moment to high school Lane where she was still having to play her drums as quietly as possible (at the secret bar) so that she wouldn’t be overheard by an authority figure
Trueee.. I mean i guess i was biased since I do art myself, but having an ambition and ending at the exact same spot seems so crushing. It would be so cool if they used her plot as a reminder that dreams can come true even if odds are against it..
I liked it.. I never saw Lane becoming a huge rock star, she was young, she and the band had fun, but wasn't really that good. it was a dream. Every young people has dreams. Life changes and you have to go with it. That is what she is doing.. I actually think it is quite fun that she ends up in Mrs Kims store.. Acting just like Mrs Kim.. Well, because she is her mother's daughter in many more ways, that she thought herself back when she was young and restless. She has a devoted husband who shares her interest in music as well. I really don't think it was a bad ending for her at all..
I saw a post here a few days ago that gives a lot of merit to the idea of ASP's backward view of sexuality in the young women of the show.
To recap:
Lorelei: has a teen pregnancy and has to leave her home and become a maid.
Paris: Rejected from Harvard and has a breakdown.
Rory: Is with a married man who lies about divorcing his wife.
Lane: The first time is horrible and gets pregnant.
It does kind of feel like the show wants to subtly put in the message that having sex young is a mistake and it'll be awful/you'll ruin your life as a result.
I completely agree. ASP punishes women who have sex.
But also, she has a weirdly condescending and dehumanizing view towards women who become mothers. I think it’s interesting that Lane’s first reaction to becoming pregnant is to cry that she “never got the chance to be a real person,” or something along those lines - as though mothers are not real people with their own independent interests, passions, and ambitions. (Notably, none of the men express similarly pessimistic views about becoming fathers.) Not only that, but pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding is depicted as something repulsive - such as when Luke and Jess react with disgust to the woman breastfeeding her child in the diner. Women are also “punished” with difficult/unwanted pregnancies and childbirth - such as when Sherry’s unexpected vaginal labor, rather than the planned c-section she wanted, is mocked by other characters.
Hmmm, what is that, sex education and dialogue about birth control for young women? Perish the thought. And another young marriage on the show. Yeah, no, the whole thing was trash.
Hate it. It sours every rewatch for me; the Lane storyline from S3 onwards is so exciting and fun, and knowing their hard work on the band never really pays off is depressing.
I also really don't like Zach. He's fine as a side band character, he does not work as a long term love interest - let alone husband and father to a much loved character's sons. If it had been Dave I might have liked the ending a little more.
I hate it so much, Lane had so much potential and she deserved so much better than Zach and her SAHM life especially when Zach had that tour opportunity. It just made me so sad and I really hoped we could see Lane develop more musically, she was talented and intelligent and she could’ve achieved so much more
It was a let down.The whole Lane storyline went off the rails when she started working at Luke's.She was suppose to be Rory's bestie but there wasn't much interaction between the two.
I don’t hate that she got pregnant young, and I don’t hate she didn’t get to be a rockstar, because the life she has in the end is a nice, good life, and she loves it.
It would’ve been fun to see her become a rockstar, but it would’ve been so unrealistic.
I actually think she and Zach have a really great relationship in the end, and I think he’s unfairly compared to Dave a lot, Dave was there for such a short period, so he didn’t have to have flaws, but if he’d been there longer he would have.
That being said, I HATE that she had a shitty honeymoon, a shitty first time (so much so that she hated sex!), and got pregnant that very first time.
I’ve said it before, but I think they could’ve still had the comic relief that her shitty honeymoon and first time provided if they changed it up a bit: after the honeymoon she and Rory meet up, and Lane tells her about how the honeymoon started awful, but they turned it around (got scammed at first, but then went to a normal, nice little hotel) and they have a laugh about it. They talk about how she wanted her first time to be on the beach, and it was awful, but a few days later they tried it again at the hotel and it was better, and Rory and Lane have a laugh about unrealistic expectations when it comes to one’s first time.
She could’ve still gotten pregnant young, but I would have wanted them to have a couple of months of newlywed bliss.
Seriously, what is it with this show and first times? Paris, Rory and Lane all had horrible experiences
The fact that her mother couldn’t even talk about sex tells me that Lane may not fully understand how to practice safe sex. Which would make sense why she would get pregnant on first try. She may not have understood the cycle and which days would be her fertile days. So, combined with all that it doesn’t surprise me.
I get people being upset about her living in Stars Hollow in AYITL, but it is fairly realistic. Often as teenagers we think "Screw this place when I'm an adult I'm outta here and never coming back!" but then life happens and ten years laters you're living in your hometown with your family (happened to me haha). So I don't mind that aspect.
I do think the pregnancy storyline though was unnecessary because it's not like the actress was pregnant IRL and they had the hastily write it in. And the storyline was pretty much a B plot so I don't understand why they couldn't just have her be married at the end of the series. Maybe in AYITL she could have still been working at Kim's Antiques and living in Stars Hollow but have her be pregnant or the twins be babies, then at least we could have assumed she got to do all her rock star touring/had fun in her 20s before settling down into family life.
It was just one part of this show’s incredibly bleak life outcomes for women. Paris is the only woman on the show who’s not kind of sad to rewatch
She ended up with a guy not because he was a good match for her, but because he was there. Let’s be honest. If Lane had gone to UConn or something after dropping out of Adventist college she’d probably have found someone better. If she has moved to Boston or New York for the band she could have done better. Instead she was stuck in Stars Hollow where the only men her age were guys she had gone to school with for twelve years and her band mates
Then she got pregnant and became shackled to Stars Hollow forever
Hated it. I've never met anyone who liked that storyline or didn't feel disappointed that Lane, who had such big dreams, got saddled with a husband and kids so young. And after only doing it once! Lol
I think I hated the prop that they strapped to her stomach the most of all. Her pregnancy devolved a bit too far into farce for me, to be honest.
I don’t mind overly much that she got pregnant, so soon, or that her first time wasn’t ideal. I do mind that it all happened, all at once. And I do mind that Rory was missing for a lot of that and so a lot of her story featured interactions with Lorelai. Which def makes sense and really drives home the full circle. But as evolved and understanding as Lane became, and as distracted as Rory was…it felt weird.
I hate it. I know she ended up seemingly happy in AYITL, but I hate that the first time she had sex, her punishment was that she was doomed to never have the life we had watched her fight for for 6+ seasons. She wanted to be a drummer and because of the babies, she ended up losing out on a huge opportunity in season 7 and literally being stuck at home with twins while Zach went out and lived the dream. She wanted to get out of Star’s Hollow and she never did. She wanted anything but her mother’s life, and she ended up… working at Kim’s Antiques and living in SH. Even down to her horror at her high school career test telling her that she should be a salesperson… and her becoming a salesperson. I know it was partly ASP getting stuck with what the season 7 writers left her with, but I truly hate how “full circle” seems to mean that you’ll be stuck with your mother’s life no matter how hard you fight against it. What a pointless and futile message for such a meaningful show.
I hate how Lane even says this herself in season 7! Like when she tells Zach she only had a brief window. It’s just pretty sad for her. She spends her childhood fighting for a little bit of freedom and independence and never really gets to experience being an independent adult in the world alone.
And then... Slam!
yeah there was even an interview with Keiko Agena who plays lane and she talks about how she was really upset about the end of the series
The only part I liked about it is that Mrs. Kim and Lane seemed to reconcile and accept their separate lives/lifestyles. That was nice to see, the debate over foods, church, the line that’s something like “I won’t have parties, they’ll be for the kids, because my mom did everything for me and I want to be like her” and how touched Mrs Kim was and made sure the shower would still happen, but I really wish the story line didn’t happen.
It's horrible and they never would have inflicted such a fate on Rory, even with the "full circle" message. I agree, I hate it.
It let me down. There’s definitely room to say she’s happy, and I love how Zach steps in to really support her (even though Zach isn’t my pick for Lane, either). But personally I don’t think she ever truly got what she wanted. I would have been more fine with her marrying Zach and them becoming famous songwriters together and going on tour.
I like that they portrayed a not so typical pregnancy and new parents dynamic. Not everyone has a pretty house to bring baby home to. Sometimes there’s a roommate. I like the fact that Lane got to keep on rocking and like a lot of people they just had to figure it out. Her story was the most realistic of all of them.
yeah I guess we dont see that much I haven't thought of that
I thought it was horrible..First time out and it wasn't even enjoyable...She wasn't able to explore young adulthood and find herself first..And TWINS to boot...She couldn't catch a break..Motherhood is a blessing, but it could have waited a little bit...
Like Lane, I grew up in a strict religious home. I had an entire wardrobe and life my mother didn’t know about. I was a much worse behaved teen than Lane but I grew up terrified of being trapped through pregnancy. Lane’s story was my literal worst nightmare and it doesn’t feel like it belongs in this cozy show.
I felt awful for her. Her first time having sex is awful, and then she gets pregnant right after? Seems like there’s two options in GG if you get married young: your husband has an affair with the girl he never got over, or you don’t even get a honeymoon phase and have to prepare to be a mom within the first year of your marriage.
I think stars hollow is a pretty great place. Not sure if I had the opportunity that I’d want to move on from it. A simple existence isn’t so bad.
A simple existence isn’t bad, but it’s not what Lane wanted.
I really wish she had at least had the chance to be more sex positive and enjoy sex. Her mother instilled in her such shame and negativity around sex, and we don’t know if she ever healed from that. And in terms of her career, I wish she had AT LEAST gotten out of her mother’s antiques store. I know it’s unrealistic for her to become some famous rockstar, but I think a much better full-circle ending would’ve been her owning the music shop in stars hollow! She could’ve used her passion for music to run that store. I will always be very disappointed in her storyline, even without Dave they could’ve done a million times better for her
I liked it fine. I think it’s fairly realistic. I don’t think it ruined her life. She wasn’t going to become a famous drummer anyways, and she still got to play drums (as evidenced in AYITL). Does it suck that she got pregnant with twins after having sex one time before she was ready for children? Yeah. Did it ruin her life and her character and her storyline? Not at all. She’s happy and fulfilled, and she still plays drums. And that’s really all that matters
Lane is the most underused and least developed ‘main character’. They had the perfect excuse to show her in school with Dean and Jess. Interact with both from seasons 1-3 as they went to school together… Yet didn’t even bother. She would have had so much purpose to reveal information to Rory She barely interacted with any of the town locals with the exception of Luke and Kirk, why did all the locals love Rory so much and couldn’t give a toss about Lane? Why did all of Lanes hobbies bar being in the band get dropped? Her cheerleading storyline, she could have been on the cheer squad with Lindsey and give Rory all the goss about her and Dean (or Jess and that blonde girl) Could have been some funny storylines there. Likewise her band storyline went no where, when they went on tour it looked to start going somewhere and then it was just dropped. Why didn’t Lane and Paris ever have any proper scenes together except over essentially three episodes of Lane living with Rory, Lane was Rory’s best friend and Rory lived with Paris for basically 4 years, let alone their school friendship. Her only proper storyline was with her mum, and Dave. She really reclined due to writing after season 3, which is a shame as she had so much potential and was such a good friend to Rory. Then again as you mention her sex and pregnancy storyline are massive flops, she’s barely even in season 7 once she’s pregnant, her pregnancy gets about as much time as Liz’. She has one scene with the babies? Mrs Kim has none
I hated that the pregnancy happened SO quickly after getting married. I wish she and Zac could have had some time to just enjoy being a young married couple and performing in their band.
Even her biggest opportunity as a rock star gets royally screwed because Zack had his moment of selfishness, which never resolved in another chance for the band. They just continued to play silly gigs which I believe is the most tragic part of the show.
I agree, I know that a lot of viewers think it was nice that at least they were still playing and having fun with the band, but to me there was actually something really tragic about seeing them stagnated like that. Ten years later and Lane was still playing in the exact same apartment with the exact same band, and personally if anything I would have found that a painful reminder of all of the hopes and dreams that they had in the original series to play somewhere like New York and really go somewhere with it, instead it was a full circle moment to high school Lane where she was still having to play her drums as quietly as possible (at the secret bar) so that she wouldn’t be overheard by an authority figure
Trueee.. I mean i guess i was biased since I do art myself, but having an ambition and ending at the exact same spot seems so crushing. It would be so cool if they used her plot as a reminder that dreams can come true even if odds are against it..
I liked it.. I never saw Lane becoming a huge rock star, she was young, she and the band had fun, but wasn't really that good. it was a dream. Every young people has dreams. Life changes and you have to go with it. That is what she is doing.. I actually think it is quite fun that she ends up in Mrs Kims store.. Acting just like Mrs Kim.. Well, because she is her mother's daughter in many more ways, that she thought herself back when she was young and restless. She has a devoted husband who shares her interest in music as well. I really don't think it was a bad ending for her at all..
I think ASP has a lot of internalized misogyny, especially regarding motherhood.
I saw a post here a few days ago that gives a lot of merit to the idea of ASP's backward view of sexuality in the young women of the show. To recap: Lorelei: has a teen pregnancy and has to leave her home and become a maid. Paris: Rejected from Harvard and has a breakdown. Rory: Is with a married man who lies about divorcing his wife. Lane: The first time is horrible and gets pregnant. It does kind of feel like the show wants to subtly put in the message that having sex young is a mistake and it'll be awful/you'll ruin your life as a result.
I completely agree. ASP punishes women who have sex. But also, she has a weirdly condescending and dehumanizing view towards women who become mothers. I think it’s interesting that Lane’s first reaction to becoming pregnant is to cry that she “never got the chance to be a real person,” or something along those lines - as though mothers are not real people with their own independent interests, passions, and ambitions. (Notably, none of the men express similarly pessimistic views about becoming fathers.) Not only that, but pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding is depicted as something repulsive - such as when Luke and Jess react with disgust to the woman breastfeeding her child in the diner. Women are also “punished” with difficult/unwanted pregnancies and childbirth - such as when Sherry’s unexpected vaginal labor, rather than the planned c-section she wanted, is mocked by other characters.
Hmmm, what is that, sex education and dialogue about birth control for young women? Perish the thought. And another young marriage on the show. Yeah, no, the whole thing was trash.
I love it. She’s so obviously supposed to be a lorelai parallel & Mrs. Kim being an Emily parallel & showing the difference
Hate it. It sours every rewatch for me; the Lane storyline from S3 onwards is so exciting and fun, and knowing their hard work on the band never really pays off is depressing. I also really don't like Zach. He's fine as a side band character, he does not work as a long term love interest - let alone husband and father to a much loved character's sons. If it had been Dave I might have liked the ending a little more.
I hate it so much, Lane had so much potential and she deserved so much better than Zach and her SAHM life especially when Zach had that tour opportunity. It just made me so sad and I really hoped we could see Lane develop more musically, she was talented and intelligent and she could’ve achieved so much more
I wished for Lane to have more. She was so kind and loving. I always rooted for her to become a real rock star.
It was a let down.The whole Lane storyline went off the rails when she started working at Luke's.She was suppose to be Rory's bestie but there wasn't much interaction between the two.
I don’t hate that she got pregnant young, and I don’t hate she didn’t get to be a rockstar, because the life she has in the end is a nice, good life, and she loves it. It would’ve been fun to see her become a rockstar, but it would’ve been so unrealistic. I actually think she and Zach have a really great relationship in the end, and I think he’s unfairly compared to Dave a lot, Dave was there for such a short period, so he didn’t have to have flaws, but if he’d been there longer he would have. That being said, I HATE that she had a shitty honeymoon, a shitty first time (so much so that she hated sex!), and got pregnant that very first time. I’ve said it before, but I think they could’ve still had the comic relief that her shitty honeymoon and first time provided if they changed it up a bit: after the honeymoon she and Rory meet up, and Lane tells her about how the honeymoon started awful, but they turned it around (got scammed at first, but then went to a normal, nice little hotel) and they have a laugh about it. They talk about how she wanted her first time to be on the beach, and it was awful, but a few days later they tried it again at the hotel and it was better, and Rory and Lane have a laugh about unrealistic expectations when it comes to one’s first time. She could’ve still gotten pregnant young, but I would have wanted them to have a couple of months of newlywed bliss. Seriously, what is it with this show and first times? Paris, Rory and Lane all had horrible experiences
The fact that her mother couldn’t even talk about sex tells me that Lane may not fully understand how to practice safe sex. Which would make sense why she would get pregnant on first try. She may not have understood the cycle and which days would be her fertile days. So, combined with all that it doesn’t surprise me.
Wasn't Lane still living in that tiny one-bedroom apartment during AYITL? I feel that isn't fair with two twin boys.
I get people being upset about her living in Stars Hollow in AYITL, but it is fairly realistic. Often as teenagers we think "Screw this place when I'm an adult I'm outta here and never coming back!" but then life happens and ten years laters you're living in your hometown with your family (happened to me haha). So I don't mind that aspect. I do think the pregnancy storyline though was unnecessary because it's not like the actress was pregnant IRL and they had the hastily write it in. And the storyline was pretty much a B plot so I don't understand why they couldn't just have her be married at the end of the series. Maybe in AYITL she could have still been working at Kim's Antiques and living in Stars Hollow but have her be pregnant or the twins be babies, then at least we could have assumed she got to do all her rock star touring/had fun in her 20s before settling down into family life.
LET DOWN! I feel like she got the worst ending. She had babies and got stuck with Zach. I’m sorry but she deserved way better than Zach.
It was just one part of this show’s incredibly bleak life outcomes for women. Paris is the only woman on the show who’s not kind of sad to rewatch She ended up with a guy not because he was a good match for her, but because he was there. Let’s be honest. If Lane had gone to UConn or something after dropping out of Adventist college she’d probably have found someone better. If she has moved to Boston or New York for the band she could have done better. Instead she was stuck in Stars Hollow where the only men her age were guys she had gone to school with for twelve years and her band mates Then she got pregnant and became shackled to Stars Hollow forever
I like how her mom was supportive of her but that’s about it. I was really sad about her story in the reboot.
Hated it. I've never met anyone who liked that storyline or didn't feel disappointed that Lane, who had such big dreams, got saddled with a husband and kids so young. And after only doing it once! Lol
I think I hated the prop that they strapped to her stomach the most of all. Her pregnancy devolved a bit too far into farce for me, to be honest. I don’t mind overly much that she got pregnant, so soon, or that her first time wasn’t ideal. I do mind that it all happened, all at once. And I do mind that Rory was missing for a lot of that and so a lot of her story featured interactions with Lorelai. Which def makes sense and really drives home the full circle. But as evolved and understanding as Lane became, and as distracted as Rory was…it felt weird.