As much as I love Gilmore Girls, I have to admit that it isn’t Alexis Bledel’s best show. Gilmore Girls is a cultural touchstone that has continued to resonate with viewers over the past two decades. The show found a second life after it was released on Netflix, even garnering enough attention to get Gilmore Girls‘ divisive revival.
Like many others, I immediately became engrossed in the world of Gilmore Girls back when it was on the air. I’ve watched this show more times than I can count, as it’s my special interest. Gilmore Girls merch hangs on my walls. I make Gilmore Girls art. My love for Gilmore Girls knows no bounds.
As I’m a Gilmore Girls superfan, some might expect that I would defend the show as Alexis Bledel’s best performance. However, I must concede that her best show came out much more recently on Hulu, showing her growth as an actor.
Alexis Bledel Is Known For Gilmore Girls, But The Handmaid’s Tale Is Her Best Show
Gilmore Girls is such a profound show that even people who haven’t seen the show know who Rory Gilmore is. There are non-stop debates about Rory’s storyline and her boyfriends. Even as she’s aged, Bledel is still immediately recognizable as Rory. Since the original show ended, Bledel has continued to be typecast throughout most of her career.
Rory was the quiet, bookish Mary Sue character who floundered a little bit as she entered adulthood. In many ways, Rory is written so that the young audience can project themselves onto her, which is a useful approach but leads to shallow character development. Most of Alexis Bledel’s roles feel like extensions of this character.
However, she finally breaks out of this archetype with the role of Ofglen/Emily Malek in The Handmaid’s Tale, which is, without a doubt, her best show to date. Ofglen was nothing but character development. She never remains stagnant, and there’s always something going on under the surface.
This gives Alexis Bledel more to work with. She’s allowed to really prove that she can handle more serious and heavy storylines, and she knocks it out of the ballpark. It’s no wonder that she received 3 Emmy nominations for her role as Ofglen and won the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for The Handmaid’s Tale.
Why The Handmaid’s Tale Surpasses Gilmore Girls, Despite The Latter’s Legacy
The Handmaid’s Tale and Gilmore Girls are unbelievably different shows, so it’s pretty much impossible to compare them. The genres, styles, and storylines are nothing alike. The only similarities are that they both center on women and feature Alexis Bledel. As such, when I say that The Handmaid’s Tale surpasses Gilmore Girls, I’m explicitly talking about Alexis Bledel’s involvement in it.
Even though Gilmore Girls has a bigger legacy, Alexis Bledel’s performance in The Handmaid’s Tale is bound to affect more people. Rory Gilmore speaks to the experiences of a middle-class gifted teen girl. It’s a meaningful experience to highlight, but she’s likely to appeal primarily to teenagers and young adults.
The Handmaid’s Tale, in contrast, speaks to very relevant issues that impact people across the board, such as religious extremism, bodily autonomy, stripped rights, and unchecked patriarchy. Those issues impact teens as much as they do adults. Her character’s desire to rebel against the people oppressing her will resonate with a larger audience. In this way, The Handmaid’s Tale surpasses Gilmore Girls for Alexis Bledel.
Alexis Bledel Gets More Time In Gilmore Girls, But Her Handmaid’s Tale Performance Is Better
Considering Alexis Bledel is one of the three titular Gilmore Girls, it sort of makes sense that the actor has continued to be defined by her performance as Rory Gilmore. She appears in all 153 episodes of Gilmore Girls, an impressive accomplishment that only seven other actors can claim. However, the reality is that Lorelai and Emily outshine Rory.
Rory Gilmore was Alexis Bledel’s first role, so she was still developing her skills as an actor. Prior to Gilmore Girls, Bledel had only been in front of a camera as a model. She was good, but the 19-year-old was trying to find her footing and hold her own against the powerhouses Lauren Graham and Kelly Bishop simultaneously.
In comparison, Bledel only appears in 21 of the 66 episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, as she left the show after season 4 and only returned for The Handmaid’s Tale‘s finale. Even though she is only in a third of the episodes, she’s given a lot of material to work with. Ultimately, her performance is a million times better.
It helps that Alexis Bledel didn’t have to create her character from scratch going into The Handmaid’s Tale. She had Margaret Atwood’s book character for reference, and Bledel also revealed to Bustle that they gave her the first three scripts ahead of time. Because of this, Ofglen feels like a fully formed, extremely nuanced character from the start of The Handmaid’s Tale.
The actor called Gilmore Girls “great training grounds” for her role in the Hulu show when speaking to Bustle. In The Handmaid’s Tale, it feels like Bledel has a firmer grasp on her craft as an actor and a deep understanding of her character.
Most notably, she executes emotional moments more convincingly than she did in Gilmore Girls. This was one of Bledel’s biggest weaknesses as Rory. Bigger moments, like Rory in the therapist’s office, felt like overacting. I watch Bledel as Ofglen, and I’m so absorbed that I don’t notice her acting. Instead, I feel her sadness, her rebellious nature, and her drive.
