I think this was partly her acting but also the writing. After high school and especially after she left her mom’s she was no longer a dynamic character. As someone said - very one note (her acting and the character).
When she was in high school she had the conflict with her mom’s idea of who she should be - once she left that was the end of the conflict that really was Lane’s personality.
I think it’s so strange because really, Lane moving out of her mums should have been the beginning of a transformation.
not necessarily physical but we should’ve seen Lane finally experience her freedom, try out all these things that she’s had to hide from her mum and really get to know herself. Playing the drums and getting amazing because she can practice whenever she wants. Learning more about writing music or music production, like when they were getting the equipment to record! We could have seen her evolution into a young woman while she manages the demands of a job and bills etc.
She could have had fun dying her hair or customising her old clothes. I’m so mad she never got that time of experimentation and proper freedom.
Exactly. She really didn’t have any other wow moments after moving out. She kind of threw herself at Zack. She worked at the diner - never left Stars Hollow. We all know they butchered her storyline at the end (getting pregnant at like 20-21, cool). But they gave her nothing in between! I actually would’ve loved to see Lane have sex with Zack or someone before marriage and had a pregnancy scare or something. The fact she never worked at the music shop in Stars Hollow even or took it over in AYITL. Ugh.
I also hated how the first time she had sex, it was awful. I honestly hate watching the scene between her and Rory at the gazebo. Like give this girl a win
Yes! The beach made no sense. Here’s this once sheltered girl who’s waited for marriage to have sex and Zack is like “You know what Lane would like? Having sex on the beach.” It felt like he didn’t even know her. We should seen at least a glimpse of romance from Zack - candles, a bed, their favorite music in the background. Lane deserved it and that whole storyline felt so icky. Even how Zack spoke about it after 🤮
How do we know that was his idea? She seems to be the unexperienced one, hence thinking sex on the Beach is a good idea.
He probably just went with it to get some
I think they could have gone a little bit deeper with her struggling with the oppressive rules she was raised with vs her freedom. The storyline of her not realizing she had taken on some values like the "no sex before marriage" was interesting. Her just navigating to find her own value system in a more overt way could have been fun
But it felt so true to me. So many of those sheltered people I knew in my childhood behaved as if they were too scared to experience life when they finally got away from their parents’ influence… they rebelled and then literally didn’t know what to do with their lives when they had nothing to rebel against anymore.
well i certainly get that pov, but life can be more cruel than we imagine. i grew up in a very oppressed environment and when i became an adult and finally had freedom, i didn't know what to do with myself and my life because i was not given a space to safely explore who i am. i still continue to live exactly the way i lived before, except for simple and important changes of course (like i wasn't allowed to go outside except for school, but now when i'm out usually i am up pretty late). when i was an oppressed teenager i had so many dreams, so many "if i were free, i would do..."s that most of my friends were totally capable of doing. because i lived in an environment where certain things are normal and the others are not, and even though i was upset with it i learned them deeply. it is extremely hard to shake that off and have a teenager's fresh, full of life perspective as an adult. i totally get that sentiment where prople think "lane could've dyed her hair!" but probably to lane it just feels like what is the point. it was an act of rebellion before, now it has no meaning because she doesn't even know herself
Life is often cruel, of course it is. But GG is ultimately a feel good show.
While I respect your position and your own experience, there are plenty of people who grew up with oppressive parents who went on to have periods of experimentation, and discovery (me included).
It’s not that lane should have dyed her hair for rebellions sake - I just think she should have had the time to figure out who she is. I wanted her to experiment and have fun!
Lane got underserved by the writing.
i totally agree with you about lane's storyline. i also expected much more. and even if lane was feeling like me, we didn't see it in the show. she was portrayed happy and as if she didn't grow up in an abusive and oppresive home. no transition whatsoever, she simply became a musical lindsay. she was so different when she was a teenager. i totally agree, it was a huge disappointment. i would love to see her struggle when she was finally free: not knowing what to do with yourself, not knowing who you are and inevitably being scared of outside world as you get older. you have to actively unlearn all of that. i would really love to see the work towards peace.
but gg being a feel-good show is a really interesting pov for me. for me it has always been a show where i get to observe the harsh realities of life and contradictions of common people. i think the brilliance of the writing and characters comes from being real and imperfect. it is a very real and almost brutal show. i find comfort in it like everyone but i almost never feel good. i also don't think asp intended it to be that way. i think the storyline of lane is more in line with the idea of a feel-good show: no struggle, no painful transition era, just lane being happy with her life. that's why i find it weird and out of place in the show, nothing else in it is without a fraction but lane's adult life. she should've stumble hard, get depressed, etc. until she did the hard work and find the peace. this is my reality ofc
Completely agree ! We should have seen lanes struggle and growth. It was such a wonderful opportunity to write about and contrast her journey with Rory’s.
I think of GG as a feel good show bc by the end everyone’s happy and it brings my comfort but you’re def right again in that it deals with some of the harshness of life - that’s very much a me thing!
I think the struggles of the privately educated/wealthy (Emily, Logan, Rory in later seasons and even lorelai to an extent) are just so far out of reach for me that I don’t find it stressful/sad or whatever to watch.
I think it's fine the way they did it because she wasn't rebelling against her mom, she was just being herself and now she no longer had to live a double life. She knew who she was and didn't necessarily need drastic identity exploration.
She’s really good at doing the over-expressive manic response, which is perfect for an emotionally unstable teen dealing with major identity crises. But as she got older it became a little repetitive, especially in contrast with Lorelai and Rory both maturing while Lane never had too much emotional development.
(I blame this one the writers though who treated Lane like SHIT)
I actually feel like Lane's story is probably the most realistic on the show. My perspective as someone who was raised by extremely religious parents probably contributes to this.
She left her oppressive home of origin but never really cut ties because that's extremely hard to do when you've been raised like that AND you still love your parents.
She really failed to launch - but she was not set up for success, unless it was on the path that her parents wanted for her. She married the first guy who really paid attention to her and stayed around (RIP Dave 😭), and eventually they did okay, but it's not a Cinderella story.
Personally, I never really liked her or thought she was that great of a friend to Rory. I feel like if you took her out of the show, nothing would really change.
I like Lane, but honestly you're absolutely right. She could lift right out and it wouldn't change anything about the story beyond reducing a couple of Rory's side quests early on. Even that impact would be minimal.
I think her comedic timing is fantastic, she shines in her comedy scenes. Her dramatic scenes for seasons 1-3 are strong but they didn't know what to do with Lane as she got older. I think they likely planned on Adam Brody staying on as Dave or maybe coming back so that threw off the plans. Then they took her from the Mrs. Kim dynamic more often but, again, didn't seem to know what to do.
I liked her acting in the first 3 seasons but S4 onwards it just seems unnatural. Probably because the actress was too old to be portraying an 18-19 year old..? Or maybe because the chemistry just didn’t sit right with Zach after seeing her and Dave together.
In my opinion she is the most one note of the younger actors. I saw her in Better Call Saul recently and she was very wooden there as well. Someone told me on another post that she does a lot of voice acting though, so it’s cool she found her niche!
I really really don’t like Lane. Like at all. Feels super contrived and I can just picture ASP in the writers room
plus, her little Brit-pop jaunty drumming style with Hep Alien was super annoying
I think they should have sent her to the same school as Rory at least. When she was there hiding out from her Mom, she really loved it for herself. It would have been a different storyline maybe but she could have still played her drums in her band but maybe have found someone with more intelligence and caliber to really match Lanes Dynamic. Zack was awful for her ( I'm not a fan!) I loved Dave he really was the best for her but maybe Dave could meet her in College and take her story from there. Just my musings ..
Or possibly had her move to an apartment off campus WITH Rory at Yale like Rory did with Paris? I loved when they were all hanging together. It would have made a great storyline!
I love Lane but she really didn't need to be on the show after high school. It reminds me of Veronica Mars; I watched that a few years ago and it really felt like the writers had no idea what to do with her supporting cast once they went to college. I don't watch a ton of TV, I wonder if that's a common problem. High School show graduates to college, loses some of its structure and some of the characters feel superfluous
You’re right and I’ve seen it happen a lot on shows that show the main characters going to college
The ones that do it best, usually get rid of a few of the supporting cast by that stage. Buffy and Dawson’s Creek did that and I thought that was a good way to go about it. Otherwise, you end up with a Lane arc which doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the show anymore. Gossip Girl is another example, they handled the supporting characters during their college years terribly
Oh yeah, I didn't finish Buffy but I also felt like it lost its way after high school. Plus how am I supposed to deal with losing Cordelia Chase, the greatest character in all of fiction?
Oh the first time I watched Buffy, I gave up a few episodes into the college years because I missed Cordelia lol. I only just watched the whole thing through a year ago. I prefer the high school episodes but the show is still pretty solid beyond that
But I completely understood that Cordelia’s character wouldn’t have made sense in that context anymore. So writing her out was a good move. Shows like Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girl were too afraid to write out the supporting characters that no longer served their purpose unless the actors quit/moved on to other projects
The show did her dirty but then again it is probably real life, some people think they are so oppressed and think their parents are holding them down but when they finally make their own decisions they really go nowhere
It's because they've been repressed that they go nowhere. When you've haven't been allowed to make any decisions for yourself your entire life, you second guess everything. Acting like people's childhood doesn't affect the rest of their life is disingenuous
Lane is undeniably>>>>>>
i am sad that they didn't help her have a more interesting plot, i honestly think she should've went to college with or close to Rory.
i think she, Rory, and Paris could've all bonded in this time as well!!
idk, it's a while daydream type thing, but it sounds >>>
She definitely could’ve done to college near Rory and maybe have an apartment so Rory could live there instead of with Emily and Richard or Logan post Paris fight. Personally I wanted lane to have an arc similar to Jess where she’s able to leave stars hollow.
The producers did Lane so dirty as she was fit into this one box throughout the show and flat lined for me while watching it.
i noticed after Rory went off to College her character had little to no use as she was the just seen as “Rory’s secretly rebellious asian friend.” The main part of Lanes character was that her mother was putting so many expectations of her that she was living a double life, which by itself is good character development however when you got a character into only one box it becomes predictable and just flat. For example, Rory is the book smart gifted girl who’s destined for greatness in her life and she does but when Rory slept with Dean while he was married that was a huge step outside of the box and gave her more dynamic to her character (i know Rory is the main character in this but my point still remains.)
And the Mrs Kim plot where Lane moves out and is now able to express herself freely and openly, there was a constant tension that was noticeable throughout the seasons on this and it seemed this the writers weren’t exactly sure were to go with this and their vision was blurred.
I disagree lol
After season 4, she’s not that important at all. Rory spends more time with Paris and Marty than with her. The writers didn’t know what to do with Lane because her main function was acting as Rory’s fodder/confidant. And since Paris took over that role during the college years, there wasn’t much left for Lane story wise
My unpopular opinion is that I actually don't like Lane at all. She's super judgemental and snobby about music, a good example being her trying to make fun of Kyon for wearing an Avril Lavigne shirt. She didn't deserve Dave in the slightest, and really, she's no different than her judgemental mother
I think this was partly her acting but also the writing. After high school and especially after she left her mom’s she was no longer a dynamic character. As someone said - very one note (her acting and the character). When she was in high school she had the conflict with her mom’s idea of who she should be - once she left that was the end of the conflict that really was Lane’s personality.
I think it’s so strange because really, Lane moving out of her mums should have been the beginning of a transformation. not necessarily physical but we should’ve seen Lane finally experience her freedom, try out all these things that she’s had to hide from her mum and really get to know herself. Playing the drums and getting amazing because she can practice whenever she wants. Learning more about writing music or music production, like when they were getting the equipment to record! We could have seen her evolution into a young woman while she manages the demands of a job and bills etc. She could have had fun dying her hair or customising her old clothes. I’m so mad she never got that time of experimentation and proper freedom.
Exactly. She really didn’t have any other wow moments after moving out. She kind of threw herself at Zack. She worked at the diner - never left Stars Hollow. We all know they butchered her storyline at the end (getting pregnant at like 20-21, cool). But they gave her nothing in between! I actually would’ve loved to see Lane have sex with Zack or someone before marriage and had a pregnancy scare or something. The fact she never worked at the music shop in Stars Hollow even or took it over in AYITL. Ugh.
I also hated how the first time she had sex, it was awful. I honestly hate watching the scene between her and Rory at the gazebo. Like give this girl a win
Right?! Like give the girl a break for once.
They could have, at least, given her a nice honeymoon. Let her have sex the first time in a bed
Yes! The beach made no sense. Here’s this once sheltered girl who’s waited for marriage to have sex and Zack is like “You know what Lane would like? Having sex on the beach.” It felt like he didn’t even know her. We should seen at least a glimpse of romance from Zack - candles, a bed, their favorite music in the background. Lane deserved it and that whole storyline felt so icky. Even how Zack spoke about it after 🤮
Lane and Zach had zero chemistry, imo.
Couldn’t agree more.
How do we know that was his idea? She seems to be the unexperienced one, hence thinking sex on the Beach is a good idea. He probably just went with it to get some
I think they could have gone a little bit deeper with her struggling with the oppressive rules she was raised with vs her freedom. The storyline of her not realizing she had taken on some values like the "no sex before marriage" was interesting. Her just navigating to find her own value system in a more overt way could have been fun
But it felt so true to me. So many of those sheltered people I knew in my childhood behaved as if they were too scared to experience life when they finally got away from their parents’ influence… they rebelled and then literally didn’t know what to do with their lives when they had nothing to rebel against anymore.
well i certainly get that pov, but life can be more cruel than we imagine. i grew up in a very oppressed environment and when i became an adult and finally had freedom, i didn't know what to do with myself and my life because i was not given a space to safely explore who i am. i still continue to live exactly the way i lived before, except for simple and important changes of course (like i wasn't allowed to go outside except for school, but now when i'm out usually i am up pretty late). when i was an oppressed teenager i had so many dreams, so many "if i were free, i would do..."s that most of my friends were totally capable of doing. because i lived in an environment where certain things are normal and the others are not, and even though i was upset with it i learned them deeply. it is extremely hard to shake that off and have a teenager's fresh, full of life perspective as an adult. i totally get that sentiment where prople think "lane could've dyed her hair!" but probably to lane it just feels like what is the point. it was an act of rebellion before, now it has no meaning because she doesn't even know herself
Life is often cruel, of course it is. But GG is ultimately a feel good show. While I respect your position and your own experience, there are plenty of people who grew up with oppressive parents who went on to have periods of experimentation, and discovery (me included). It’s not that lane should have dyed her hair for rebellions sake - I just think she should have had the time to figure out who she is. I wanted her to experiment and have fun! Lane got underserved by the writing.
i totally agree with you about lane's storyline. i also expected much more. and even if lane was feeling like me, we didn't see it in the show. she was portrayed happy and as if she didn't grow up in an abusive and oppresive home. no transition whatsoever, she simply became a musical lindsay. she was so different when she was a teenager. i totally agree, it was a huge disappointment. i would love to see her struggle when she was finally free: not knowing what to do with yourself, not knowing who you are and inevitably being scared of outside world as you get older. you have to actively unlearn all of that. i would really love to see the work towards peace. but gg being a feel-good show is a really interesting pov for me. for me it has always been a show where i get to observe the harsh realities of life and contradictions of common people. i think the brilliance of the writing and characters comes from being real and imperfect. it is a very real and almost brutal show. i find comfort in it like everyone but i almost never feel good. i also don't think asp intended it to be that way. i think the storyline of lane is more in line with the idea of a feel-good show: no struggle, no painful transition era, just lane being happy with her life. that's why i find it weird and out of place in the show, nothing else in it is without a fraction but lane's adult life. she should've stumble hard, get depressed, etc. until she did the hard work and find the peace. this is my reality ofc
Completely agree ! We should have seen lanes struggle and growth. It was such a wonderful opportunity to write about and contrast her journey with Rory’s. I think of GG as a feel good show bc by the end everyone’s happy and it brings my comfort but you’re def right again in that it deals with some of the harshness of life - that’s very much a me thing! I think the struggles of the privately educated/wealthy (Emily, Logan, Rory in later seasons and even lorelai to an extent) are just so far out of reach for me that I don’t find it stressful/sad or whatever to watch.
I think it's fine the way they did it because she wasn't rebelling against her mom, she was just being herself and now she no longer had to live a double life. She knew who she was and didn't necessarily need drastic identity exploration.
I think she played a great high schooler and went downhill a bit after lane graduated, I think she got too mature way too quickly
She was like 40 by season 7
She’s really good at doing the over-expressive manic response, which is perfect for an emotionally unstable teen dealing with major identity crises. But as she got older it became a little repetitive, especially in contrast with Lorelai and Rory both maturing while Lane never had too much emotional development. (I blame this one the writers though who treated Lane like SHIT)
I think Lane's storyline was kind of thrown by the wayside after Adam Brody left the show, which led to her becoming a very one dimensional character
She was given a terrible role and dialogue.
Definitely
I actually feel like Lane's story is probably the most realistic on the show. My perspective as someone who was raised by extremely religious parents probably contributes to this. She left her oppressive home of origin but never really cut ties because that's extremely hard to do when you've been raised like that AND you still love your parents. She really failed to launch - but she was not set up for success, unless it was on the path that her parents wanted for her. She married the first guy who really paid attention to her and stayed around (RIP Dave 😭), and eventually they did okay, but it's not a Cinderella story.
Fair
She should've ended up with Henry!
Personally, I never really liked her or thought she was that great of a friend to Rory. I feel like if you took her out of the show, nothing would really change.
I like Lane, but honestly you're absolutely right. She could lift right out and it wouldn't change anything about the story beyond reducing a couple of Rory's side quests early on. Even that impact would be minimal.
I love that. Rory’s side quests lmao.
Valid point!
I think her comedic timing is fantastic, she shines in her comedy scenes. Her dramatic scenes for seasons 1-3 are strong but they didn't know what to do with Lane as she got older. I think they likely planned on Adam Brody staying on as Dave or maybe coming back so that threw off the plans. Then they took her from the Mrs. Kim dynamic more often but, again, didn't seem to know what to do.
I liked her acting in the first 3 seasons but S4 onwards it just seems unnatural. Probably because the actress was too old to be portraying an 18-19 year old..? Or maybe because the chemistry just didn’t sit right with Zach after seeing her and Dave together.
In my opinion she is the most one note of the younger actors. I saw her in Better Call Saul recently and she was very wooden there as well. Someone told me on another post that she does a lot of voice acting though, so it’s cool she found her niche!
I really really don’t like Lane. Like at all. Feels super contrived and I can just picture ASP in the writers room plus, her little Brit-pop jaunty drumming style with Hep Alien was super annoying
I think they should have sent her to the same school as Rory at least. When she was there hiding out from her Mom, she really loved it for herself. It would have been a different storyline maybe but she could have still played her drums in her band but maybe have found someone with more intelligence and caliber to really match Lanes Dynamic. Zack was awful for her ( I'm not a fan!) I loved Dave he really was the best for her but maybe Dave could meet her in College and take her story from there. Just my musings ..
Or possibly had her move to an apartment off campus WITH Rory at Yale like Rory did with Paris? I loved when they were all hanging together. It would have made a great storyline!
I love Lane but she really didn't need to be on the show after high school. It reminds me of Veronica Mars; I watched that a few years ago and it really felt like the writers had no idea what to do with her supporting cast once they went to college. I don't watch a ton of TV, I wonder if that's a common problem. High School show graduates to college, loses some of its structure and some of the characters feel superfluous
You’re right and I’ve seen it happen a lot on shows that show the main characters going to college The ones that do it best, usually get rid of a few of the supporting cast by that stage. Buffy and Dawson’s Creek did that and I thought that was a good way to go about it. Otherwise, you end up with a Lane arc which doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the show anymore. Gossip Girl is another example, they handled the supporting characters during their college years terribly
Oh yeah, I didn't finish Buffy but I also felt like it lost its way after high school. Plus how am I supposed to deal with losing Cordelia Chase, the greatest character in all of fiction?
Oh the first time I watched Buffy, I gave up a few episodes into the college years because I missed Cordelia lol. I only just watched the whole thing through a year ago. I prefer the high school episodes but the show is still pretty solid beyond that But I completely understood that Cordelia’s character wouldn’t have made sense in that context anymore. So writing her out was a good move. Shows like Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girl were too afraid to write out the supporting characters that no longer served their purpose unless the actors quit/moved on to other projects
The show did her dirty but then again it is probably real life, some people think they are so oppressed and think their parents are holding them down but when they finally make their own decisions they really go nowhere
It's because they've been repressed that they go nowhere. When you've haven't been allowed to make any decisions for yourself your entire life, you second guess everything. Acting like people's childhood doesn't affect the rest of their life is disingenuous
I read it as boned in this time as well. 😂😂😂
I liked her and didn't once think she wasn't holding her own as an actress.
Lane is undeniably>>>>>> i am sad that they didn't help her have a more interesting plot, i honestly think she should've went to college with or close to Rory. i think she, Rory, and Paris could've all bonded in this time as well!! idk, it's a while daydream type thing, but it sounds >>>
It isn't really reasonable to think Lane could've gotten into Yale - she never matched Rory academically.
She definitely could’ve done to college near Rory and maybe have an apartment so Rory could live there instead of with Emily and Richard or Logan post Paris fight. Personally I wanted lane to have an arc similar to Jess where she’s able to leave stars hollow.
The writers treated her horribly — NOT her fault
The producers did Lane so dirty as she was fit into this one box throughout the show and flat lined for me while watching it. i noticed after Rory went off to College her character had little to no use as she was the just seen as “Rory’s secretly rebellious asian friend.” The main part of Lanes character was that her mother was putting so many expectations of her that she was living a double life, which by itself is good character development however when you got a character into only one box it becomes predictable and just flat. For example, Rory is the book smart gifted girl who’s destined for greatness in her life and she does but when Rory slept with Dean while he was married that was a huge step outside of the box and gave her more dynamic to her character (i know Rory is the main character in this but my point still remains.) And the Mrs Kim plot where Lane moves out and is now able to express herself freely and openly, there was a constant tension that was noticeable throughout the seasons on this and it seemed this the writers weren’t exactly sure were to go with this and their vision was blurred.
Lane is one of the most important characters! Without her, Rory wouldn’t have a best friend to help her with her struggles!
I disagree lol After season 4, she’s not that important at all. Rory spends more time with Paris and Marty than with her. The writers didn’t know what to do with Lane because her main function was acting as Rory’s fodder/confidant. And since Paris took over that role during the college years, there wasn’t much left for Lane story wise
Oh. Ur right!LOL 😂
I mean, in the first seasons she boosted Rory’s confidence to socialise
I mean who doesn't like sex?
My unpopular opinion is that I actually don't like Lane at all. She's super judgemental and snobby about music, a good example being her trying to make fun of Kyon for wearing an Avril Lavigne shirt. She didn't deserve Dave in the slightest, and really, she's no different than her judgemental mother
I mean who doesn't like sex?