Lorelai Gilmore, as played by the wonderful Lauren Graham, is usually the merriest of characters, a wellspring of fun and laughter. However, in this sixth season of "Gilmore Girls" she is forced to cope with levels of disappointment and heartache unprecedented in the show's history. The first half of the season Lorelai is estranged from her usually "freakishly close" daughter, Rory (angelic Alexis Bledel); and in the second half she watches in anguish as her fiance and soulmate Luke (Scott Patterson) slips away from her.

Some fans of the series were upset by the Lorelai's rift (including reportedly Graham herself) but I thought it was a daring move by the writers. Rory has always been a little too good to be entirely believable, and it was interesting to watch Bledel's fine work at displaying Rory's bafflement in screwing up her life. Graham also shone as she showed Lorelai's stoicism and trademark mental toughness as well as the grief lurking underneath. When the reconciliation finally came it was a classic Gilmore moment.

The revelation of Luke's long-lost daughter was derided by many as a "Cousin Oliver" moment, and I had problems myself with the haphazard plot mechanics. But the emotional content of the storyline rang true. Scott Patterson was touching as a man clearly in over his head, and once again Graham was heartrending as Lorelai desperately tried to hang on. This season the many, many laughs were balanced by a lot of tears and some viewers didn't like it. But if you view this season as part of the journey and not the final destination I think you will get a better perspective. We all await with some trepidation a new season without the Palladinos, but given the set-up of this eventful sixth season the next could be fascinating.