31 Times Gilmore Girls Had the Best Representation of Female Friendship

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16. Mia’s Relationship With the Gilmore Women

Season 2, Episode 8 “The Ins and Outs of Inns” & Season 7, Episode 17 “Gilmore Girls Only”

Mia (Kathy Baker) is more than a friend, to Lorelai and Rory she is family. She took in sixteen year old Lorelai and baby Rory, giving them a place to live and Lorelai a job as a maid. She is the origin of Lorelai’s desire to have her own inn and the reason she became the self-sufficient woman she is today. Her friendship was a life raft for a struggling teenager who desperately needed support and acceptance. Mia provided everything Lorelai was looking for in a mother figure, she is warm, big hearted, and kind- everything Emily is not.

What makes Mia such an important person in the lives of the Gilmore women is her ability to build a relationship with Emily despite their differences. Emily is jealous of Mia. Mia was there to see Rory grow up and has a relationship with Lorelai that she can never have. She is the representation of all the years lost between Emily and her daughter.

When Emily first meets Mia in season two (then played by Elizabeth Franz) she is angry. She believes Mia should’ve sent Lorelai home to her family, not taken her in. Despite their original disagreement, Emily begrudgingly asks Mia to send her pictures of Rory and Lorelai from the time they were living with her. Emily in her own Emily way is thankful for Mia and the part she played in her daughter and granddaughter’s lives. It is a touching moment of female solidarity that goes beyond normal friendship. These women are bonded by their love for Lorelai and Rory and their desire to do what is best for both of them.