After watching “Gilmore Girls” for about a year now, I have finally finished the comedy-drama television series that kept me company during one of the craziest years of my life (thanks a lot, COVID).

Like any television series, “Gilmore Girls” had its good and bad moments. The series had moments that made me laugh, moments that made me cry, and moments that made me go, “Why did the writers decide to do that? Did they lose their minds?”

Despite it all, I enjoyed every second spent watching the series and loved how the series ended.

I love that Rory’s dream to become a reporter came true, even though it wasn’t in the way she imagined.

I love that Luke and Lorelai ended up together after years of being a will-they-or-won’t-they couple.

I love that Lorelai had a better relationship with her parents at the end of the series, with Lorelai and her parents deciding to continue the Friday-night dinners that brought them closer together.

Despite my love for the series finale, I do wish it would have ended a little differently.

Various things about the series finale disappointed me, but if I got into all of them this would be a very long column.

All I’m going to say is that nothing disappointed me quite as much as how Lane Kim’s storyline came to an end.

Don’t get me wrong – I love that Lane was able to slowly repair her relationship with her mother and that she found love with Zack, but she deserved so much better.

Lane lived years under her religious and conservative mother’s strict rules, leading a double life to keep her rebellious lifestyle a secret from her mother.

Then she moves out of her childhood home and lets her mother into her world of rock music and band tees, slowly getting her mom’s acceptance and finding the freedom to do what she wants, which includes playing the drums in her band, Hep Alien.

With the help of her mom, Lane and her band are even able to go on a small tour, performing for Seventh Day Adventist churches across America.

I was so happy that at last we got to see Lane experience the freedom she was wishing for, and I was excited to see her have a successful and bright future.

Then everything changed when she married her boyfriend and bandmate, Zack Van Gerbig, and had her first time with him on a Mexico beach.

After her first time having sex, she finds out she’s pregnant with twins, then spends the rest of the series taking on the responsibilities of being a mother at the age of 22.

Just like that, Lane’s dreams of being a rock star were ripped away and replaced with the stresses of motherhood.

When Lane moved out of her mom’s house, I thought that she was finally getting to be the master of her own destiny. I thought that she would have her big break and no longer be tethered to Stars Hollow.

Then the show writers ruined all that potential and opportunity, forcing Lane to stay in Stars Hollow for good and forget her dreams of fame.

I know some people will argue her story arc is a realistic one, especially considering that the chances of a small-town rock band making it big are pretty slim. To that I say, “B.S.”

It wouldn’t have been totally insane to add in a storyline where a famous producer hears Hep Alien play and decides to sign them or something like that.

If Rory Gilmore gets opportunity after opportunity thrown at her no matter how many drawbacks she has in life, why can’t Lane? If Rory Gilmore gets to leave Stars Hollow to pursue a career in something she’s passionate about, why can’t Lane?

Lane’s story arc is such a letdown because I expected so much more for her and her future. The writers had her work so hard and suffer so much for the freedom she craved just to take it all away in the last season, and that’s super upsetting.

I’m not saying that Lane couldn’t have found happiness in marriage and motherhood. I’m saying that her storyline ending with her being thrown into motherhood instead of achieving her dreams of becoming a rock star did not make sense for the character.

I’ve yet to watch the series revival on Netflix, “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life,” so that is definitely next on my watchlist.

Despite my complaints, I’m excited to see the sorts of storylines the writers explore with the revival now that all the characters are older and wiser. And I hope that the revival gives Lane the happy ending I think she deserves (or as close to the version that I, and I’m sure many “Gilmore Girls” fans, imagined for her).

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez is an English major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or knmoralesrodriguez@eiu.edu.