‘Gilmore Girls’: Did Anna Nardini Lie to Luke and Lorelai?
Gilmore Girls creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, introduced Anna Nardini and April Nardini during the show’s sixth season. April, Luke Danes’ long-lost daughter, appeared and promptly ruined Luke and Lorelai’s relationship. Fans mostly hated the character, but they had even more disdain for her mother, Anna. When you look at Anna’s character closely, there is a serious inconsistency that might make her appear even more sinister. Did Anna lie about her family tree?
Anna Nardini and Luke Danes dated roughly six years before Gilmore Girls began
April appeared in Luke’s life when she was 12. While he didn’t initially know who she was, he eventually learned that April was the daughter of his former girlfriend, Anna. Based on April’s age, it is easy to figure out when Luke and Anna dated. The pair would have dated and broken up about seven years before Gilmore Girls began.
Miss Patty and Babette both seemed to know exactly who Anna was when Luke’s new status as a dad spread around Stars Hollow. Lorelai, however, had never heard of Anna. Fans found that fact hard to believe, but it is easy enough to explain. In season 5 of Gilmore Girls, Luke referenced a horoscope Lorelai wrote him the first time she came into Luke’s Diner. The horoscope was written eight years before the episode, meaning Luke and Lorelai met three years before Gilmore Girls began. Their first meeting would have been a full three to four years after Luke and Anna’s relationship ended.
Anna Nardini may have lied to everyone about her life
When Luke first found out that he had a child, April claimed her uncle helped her test DNA to figure out exactly who her father was. On the surface, the entire premise seems a bit unlikely but still plausible. April having an uncle who was a scientist would certainly explain April’s interest in science, at least. Still, fans noticed a problem.
In a later episode, Anna claimed that she has ‘only-child syndrome” while talking to Rory Gilmore. Anna reinforced her status as an only child when she headed off to New Mexico to help her mother following surgery. She claimed there was no one else who could do the job. If Anna were an only child, and April never knew who her father was, she wouldn’t have an uncle. Even if April had known Luke was her father, she still wouldn’t have had an uncle. Luke’s only sibling was his sister, Liz Danes. Liz’s husband, TJ, was a carpenter.
Was April’s non-existent uncle a case of lazy storytelling or was Anna lying?
Anna was among the most hated characters to grace Gilmore Girls. Her attitude toward Luke, his relationship with Lorelai, and his role as a father were troubling to fans. Because she was a largely unlikeable character, it would be easy to assume Anna and April could be lying about the paternity testing and how April did it. Several Reddit fans note that Anna appeared to have a romantic interest in Luke once they reconnected and may have concocted April’s project to get back in touch with Luke.
While the theory is interesting, it seems more likely that Anna and April’s differing stories on their family tree is simply a plot hole. Gilmore Girls has several serious plot holes about family. For example, Richard Gilmore’s mother, Trix Gilmore, was spoken about in the past tense and then showed up alive and well several episodes later. Lane mentioned her father in early episodes, but fans never see him. Rather abruptly, Lane stopped mentioning him.
