11 things nobody wants to admit about Gilmore Girls

11. The show never knew what to do with Lane

As important of a character as Lane was for all seven original seasons, Gilmore Girls simply couldn’t figure out exactly what to do with Rory’s punk-rock best friend. Like Lorelai and Rory, Lane was at the center of a complex mother-daughter situation, with her mother, the iconic but staunchly traditional Mrs. Kim. Lane wanted to rebel, but playing the drums and dating boys was too much of a rebellion for Mrs. Kim, thus their constant push and pull.

Most of Lane’s love interests were to be kept secret from her mother because her disapproval loomed large. When Lane opted to bypass college in order to pursue a career in music as the drummer of her band Hep Alien, the real cracks in the show’s foundation of her treatment started to appear. She started dating Zack, who’s not the best but he’s also not the worst. (But he’s no Dave Rygalski, that’s for sure!)

The show has always had a weird relationship with sex regarding its female characters, and that’s extra apparent in Lane’s story. The first time she has sex, after she marries Zack, she describes it as an awful experience. She then becomes pregnant with twin boys. Ever since these storylines happened in the late seasons of the original series, fans have long lamented that Lane didn’t have a chance to be young her pursue her dreams.

She didn’t need to become the Travis Barker or Avril Lavigne of her generation. Hell, she didn’t really even need to leave Stars Hollow. The story did feel a lot like they needed to keep her in Stars Hollow though, which made the pregnancy storyline convenient. What would have happened if, even just for a season, Lane officially moved in with Rory out by Yale and tried doing music? What if she did get her taste of independence and freedom and then made the choice to go back home? What if she opened a music studio in town akin to Miss Patty’s? There were options!

If you look at it from another perspective, it’s kind of poetic and cyclical that Lane would become a mother. She fought her own mother kicking and screaming throughout her adolescence, and entering motherhood would give her a fresh firsthand perspective on what it’s like to care about your child, and even to break the cycle. Lane and Zack’s journey to parenthood also wasn’t sugarcoated at all. But those aren’t key takeaways from Lane’s pregnancy or motherhood, leaving her character arc rather unfinished and full of potential — even in AYITL.