Gilmore Girls fans were heartbroken to find out about Richard's death in the reboot, A Year in the Life. With Richard gone, it was now Emily, Lorelei, and Rory against the world. Richard was the family's rock in a lot of ways and now the Gilmore ladies were on their own.
After a long and emotional wake, Emily had a few of Richard's friends stayed after for drinks. And after a few too many drinks, Emily asked everyone to go around and share one of their favorite stories about Richard. Everyone’s stories were heartfelt and spoke volumes about Richard's character. However, this was something Lorelai struggled with.
Lorelai became jittery and anxious at the thought of saying something nice about her late father because she couldn’t think of anything. She ended up using a bizarre story that only embarrassed her. But after seven seasons with Richard, there were plenty of kind things she could have said instead.
When She Escaped A Blind Date
In 'Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers,' Emily set Lorelai on a blind date without Lorelai realizing it. Her date was nice enough but it became very clear that they had nothing in common. She realized he wasn’t going away any time soon, so she did the only thing she could think of: sneak through her window.
Just as Lorelai was escaping, Richard caught her red-handed. Instead of ratting her out to Emily, he kept her secret safe with him and told Emily she wasn’t upstairs. Just like the story Lorelai ended up sharing with her mom in the reboot, this was another instance of Richard saving her.
When Richard Was Healing From His Heart Attack
When Lorelai was uninvited to her family‘s Christmas party, she had an emotional evening taking it all in. It was the first time she was by herself without her daughter or her parents. But before she could get too into her evening alone, she got a phone call that Richard had a heart attack and was in the hospital.
Lorelai found it hard to go into her father's hospital room to see him in such bad shape. When she mustered up the courage, she and Richard enjoyed a few minutes of special father-daughter time that they hadn’t had in years.
She Saw A Different Side Of Him At The Harvard Vs Yale Game
At the Harvard vs. Yale game, Lorelai and Rory saw a different side to Richard that they had never seen before. He was rowdy, entertaining, and easy to spend an entire tailgate with. He ed the college students and shared his own wild tales of his time at Yale.
Before Emily found out about Richard’s annual date with Pennilyn Lott, Lorelai was having a great day with her dad, doing something they both enjoyed.
They Bonded When He Started His Company
When Richard decided to go into business for himself, there were a ton of things he didn't know how to do. He knew how to run a business and how to make money doing it, but he didn’t know the clerical side of things. Without his longtime assistant, Richard was lost.
Luckily for him, Lorelai knew how to do it all when it came to business. She was an independent woman, who had no choice but to do these things by herself. With Lorelai's help, she got his business off the ground. She took Richard shopping, told him things he would need for the office, and answered calls for him. Seeing them work so easily together was refreshing after years of pent-up aggression.
He Never Took His Anger With Lorelai Out On Rory
No matter what issues Lorelai and Richard were going through, he never let that interfere with his relationship with Rory. Just because he was angry with Lorelai didn't mean he took it out on Rory.
He didn’t talk behind Lorelai's back to Rory and he didn’t ignore Rory just because he was angry at Lorelai. He treated Rory as her own person and respected their time together with or without Lorelai. That in itself could have been shared at the wake.
They Giggled Together When Trix Kissed The Man In The Tracksuit
Lorelai and Rory were shocked to see Emily so distressed over Trix’s appearance in Hartford. Emily and Trix loathed each other but had no choice but to get along because of Richard. But when Emily caught Trix in a compromising position with an older gentleman in a tracksuit, she used this knowledge to hurt her. After years of being a doormat for Trix, Emily told a room full of Trix’s friends that she saw Trix kissing this man.
After the shock of it all subsided, Emily apologized to Trix. Richard and Lorelai couldn’t help but laugh about it when they were by themselves. The image of Trix kissing a stranger in a tracksuit was too out-of-character not to laugh about.
Lorelai Could Have Mentioned All Of The Kind Things He Did For Rory
If Lorelai couldn’t think of good stories between Richard and herself, she could have easily said all of the ways her father helped her daughter. Richard wasn’t a perfect dad but he was a perfect grandfather in a lot of ways.
From paying for Chilton and Yale to giving Rory a car to reading books alongside her — those moments were special enough to share.
He Was Proud Of Lorelai's Business Side
When The Dragonfly Inn opened, it slowly but surely took off and became a must-see inn in Connecticut. Richard was proud of Lorelai and her accomplishment of starting her own business, but his pride beamed when a friend of his, Mike Armstrong, offered to buy the inn and hire Lorelai to help him with other inns and boutiques under his wing. Seeing how successful his daughter became was one of Richard's happiest moments.
The Dollhouse Richard Knew Meant A Lot To Lorelai
When Emily and Richard were cleaning their home and getting rid of things, there were a bunch of things they needed Lorelai to take home with her. Unfortunately, at this time, Lorelai wasn’t speaking to her parents because of their interference with her relationship with Luke.
Emily called Lorelai a few times regarding her favorite childhood dollhouse but Lorelai couldn’t fathom going to their house. Knowing how much it meant to her, Richard showed up in the middle of the night with the dollhouse. Even though Lorelai was upset with her mom and dad, seeing Richard there with the dollhouse was a small peace offering.
He Made Sure Lorelai Enjoyed Rory's Graduation Day
On Rory's graduation day, Lorelai and Emily were bickering as per usual about everything, from the seats to the view of the stage. Adorably, Richard smoothed things over by reminding Lorelai that the day was as much hers as it was Rory's.
It was a big deal for both of them. He took her camera and took the pictures so that Lorelai could be completely in the moment. It was one of his more selfless moments.