Flashback
Lane Kim of ‘Gilmore Girls’ Defied First-Generation Expectations
She may have been Rory’s best friend, but she was more than that to Asian American audiences
The first time Lane Kim of Gilmore Girls falls in love, it’s with an instrument.
Lane lets out a soft “oh my” when she sees it — a sparkling red drum set with gold cymbals — and beams with pleasure when invited to sit on the stool by the crotchety music store proprietor, played by Carole King herself. Blissed out, Lane mimes tapping out a beat.
She has no money, no place to put them, and no way to learn how to play without attracting the attention of her mother, the severe and all-knowing Mrs. Kim who, rumor has it, can hear perverse non-Christian music being played within a football field’s distance. But Lane feels the pull of destiny. “I will figure something out, because I am Keith Moon. I am Neil Peart. I am Rick Allen, with and without the arm,” she says, rattling off a list of iconic drummers. “Because I am rock and roll, baby!”
For seven seasons, Lane, played affectingly by Keiko Agena, was best friend to Rory Gilmore, the youngest Gilmore Girl on the beloved series. Lane could easily have been relegated to a sounding board for Rory’s various dramas and love…
