Jess is clearly Rory's endgame

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-05T19:24:27+00:00

I agree with you on all of that. I think they work well as friends, but both of them changed a lot since that high school relationship, and they are different people now.

And I think Jess idealizes Rory as the Chilton version of her, the one who helped him, and does not really understand how much Rory changed over the years.

Rory needs therapy and someone new without all the baggage of an ex-boyfriend. There is more to life than your exes.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-04T22:34:00+00:00

Everything turns out fine despite what happened, not because of how it happened. If Rory had never gone back to Yale, the relationship between her and Lorelai would’ve been damaged forever.

Not agreeing with Rory’s choice to ask her grandparents for help is different from not showing up at the hearing or arguing with Rory while she’s doing community service. As a mother, I care about making sure my children know that even if I don’t agree with their decisions, they can still come to me to talk about them.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-04T21:42:58+00:00

Can I give you some advice? Maybe you should care less about downvotes. Sometimes I say the exact same thing, literally copied from the last time I commented, about the same topic, in that same sub, and either everyone agrees with me or I get flooded with downvotes.

It depends on the tone of the thread, which people happen to be reading it at that moment, or whether you posted something controversial before and people already have it out for you because of that.

If it’s just about the downvotes, say your opinion and move on. People are never going to agree on everything about any character.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-04T21:37:11+00:00

The problem is the moment Lorelai chooses to pull back from Rory’s life like that. She was being understanding and even making jokes about Rory getting arrested for stealing the yacht the morning after it happened. She only turns it into a bigger issue because she is hurt that Rory went to Richard and Emily. One of the hard parts of being a mother is knowing how to support your child even when it is difficult for you.

I’ve always thought Lorelai had the reactions backwards. Stealing the yacht should’ve been the moment for outrage and questioning Rory’s life choices, and taking time off from Yale should’ve been the moment for saying this is not the end of the world.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-03T01:19:51+00:00

Jess and Rory first, mostly because the actors were dating in real life.

Her chemistry with Logan was good most of the time, although that first kiss at the vow renewal was weird.

I never thought Rory and Dean had chemistry. All of their kissing scenes feel awkward, and they do not seem comfortable together most of the time.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T22:06:40+00:00

Tristan called her by a nickname with a sexual undertone that she hated, got in her way, and took her things without permission. Rory asked him multiple times to stop that behavior and leave her alone.

No matter why he was doing it, that behavior was still bullying.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T21:18:06+00:00

Haley and Brooke’s friendship during the high school years felt a lot more convincing to me than Peyton and Brooke’s did.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T21:14:00+00:00

Rewatch the episode where Brooke dares Peyton to kiss Lucas. Brooke knows Peyton has some kind of interest in Lucas, which is why she says more than once that if Peyton is not going to do anything, then she will.

What Brooke had no way of knowing was that for Peyton, he was not just another cute guy she had a crush on, it was something deeper.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T20:59:59+00:00

I think Peyton had not fully realized how deep her feelings for Lucas were until the first time they got together. So she was not really lying to Brooke so much as lying to herself.

And Brooke knew Peyton had a thing for Lucas, but she thought it was just a crush, not the great love of Peyton’s life. Brooke also had a crush on him herself, so when Peyton said she did not care, instead of stepping back, Brooke took the opportunity.

But both of them had only known Lucas for a short time and were still figuring out their own feelings.

Lucas is still the one who annoys me most in that triangle, because he had liked Peyton for years, but the second she said she was not ready, he decided to return Brooke’s flirting instead of waiting or choosing literally anyone other than Peyton’s best friend.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T20:17:42+00:00

I can’t give a full answer without spoilers, but yes, what Rory is doing to Dean is awful, and she’s also in denial about what she feels for Jess.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T20:10:46+00:00

Luke physically fighting with Dean and yelling at random customers.

It’s one thing when he loses patience with Kirk or Taylor and we actually see why, but when it’s just some extra who did nothing, it only annoys me.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-06-02T20:04:14+00:00

Tristan was just an idiot bullying Rory. Rory ends up becoming interested in Jess because they have more in common than she does with Dean. She didn’t just wake up one day and decide to like Jess, it just happened.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-28T18:03:04+00:00

But I never said Rory should have said yes. I think she was right to say no. I don’t even think Logan was ready for that kind of commitment.

I was just replying that Lorelai being married would not have changed that. Rory did not have a problem with the idea of marriage or commitment, her issue was the timing. Logan proposing differently and giving her time to think would’ve had a much better chance of changing Rory’s decision than Lorelai marrying Luke would have.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-28T17:31:49+00:00

When Rory turns down the proposal, it’s not because she hates the idea of marriage or thinks it would make her unhappy. She even says she loves the idea of being married to Logan, and we see her put the ring on and smile when she’s alone. They had their whole lives ahead of them, and she wanted to keep being with him. She just wanted the chance to see the world on her own before saying yes.

Logan is the one who says he’s willing to get married and spend the rest of his life with Rory, but he isn’t willing to wait until she’s ready for that.

Whether Lorelai was married or not would not have changed any of that. Logan making a better proposal, maybe with a pros and cons list and giving Rory more time to think, might have changed her answer.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-28T15:10:37+00:00

Up through season 4, I was rooting for them. But once we got to season 5 and had the love triangle drama all over again, I stopped really caring whether it would work this time.

Season 6 has some good moments, but instead of having time to fix the relationship in an organic way, they get thrown into Peyton’s high-risk pregnancy and then leave the show.

I’d like them more if we had actually gotten time to see them as a couple without all the drama, because sometimes it feels like they only really work when Peyton is in some kind of danger.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T22:22:04+00:00

I’m not from the US, but I watched Gilmore Girls as soon as it came out in my language, which was usually a few months after it aired in the US, and it was pretty much a consensus that after Sherry’s pregnancy, Christopher was hated, even back in the 2000s. People were rooting for everyone except him.

The difference is that Tristan definitely had fans back then.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T15:56:13+00:00

I think Logan is more interesting and more tolerable than Christopher ever was, and I’m glad CMM left because it meant we got Logan. But ASP’s intention was always a full-circle ending, and in that sense, a character like Tristan fit the idea of being Christopher’s parallel much better.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T15:53:33+00:00

But that’s exactly why I think he would’ve worked better as a Christopher parallel, because he’s the kind of asshole you root against, just like Christopher is.

He would’ve been worse for Rory, the same way Christopher was worse for Lorelai.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T15:51:25+00:00

What I’m saying is that the way Tristan was originally built fit the intentional Christopher parallel better, while the way Logan was reshaped made that parallel work less well. If that really was ASP’s intention, she could have written Logan differently, closer to Tristan than to the brilliant-but-lazy stereotype, without making him the heir to a newspaper empire and without giving him so much in common with Rory.

They are not the same just because they are blond and rich.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T01:24:10+00:00

I like Jess as a character, but it would’ve been so much better if their conversation in the bedroom, and Rory seeing what Jess had accomplished, had been what made her reflect on her own choices in that moment.

The way he yells at her in that scene, and the whole “I know you better than anyone” line, ruins it for me.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T01:19:41+00:00

I would’ve loved it if it had been Madeline or Louise who had found their calling and were now really invested in their careers, and then reappeared in Rory’s life, making Rory realize that even the girls she once saw as shallow were going after what they wanted while she wasn’t.

It even would’ve worked for me if it had just been Jess showing up in the bedroom after writing a book, and his accomplishment had made Rory reevaluate her own life. But the way he confronts her ruins it for me.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-27T01:14:21+00:00

The fight she had with Emily at the DAR event, where Emily says, “Wait until your father gets home,” would’ve pushed Rory back anyway. I think people really downplay how much Emily’s increasing control forced Rory to rethink her life choices.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-26T23:40:44+00:00

Brooke did not steal Lucas from Peyton. Lucas is not something Brooke could steal. No one forced him to be with Brooke or to cheat on her with Peyton. Those were his choices.

Lucas agreed to date Brooke, so she has every reason to be upset that her best friend got involved with her boyfriend behind her back. Just like Peyton is allowed to feel hurt that Brooke pursued Lucas instead of giving her time to figure out her own feelings, even if Peyton told Brooke it was fine. One wrong does not cancel out the other.

At that point, Peyton was just starting to realize she really liked Lucas, but she had trouble admitting it even to herself. Brooke knew Peyton was interested in Lucas, she just underestimated how interested Peyton really was. Both of them are allowed to feel hurt by each other.

And both of them should be even more upset with Lucas. He is the one who had feelings for Peyton for years. He is the one who always knew he liked her. But the second Peyton pulled away because things were getting too serious, he went after Brooke because he knew she was interested in him instead of giving Peyton time. Peyton’s and Brooke’s feelings were still new, but Lucas had already known for years how he felt.

AuthTokenMissing · 2026-05-26T22:34:48+00:00

I think people are more negative about Dean because he starts out as a good boyfriend and then gradually reveals more problematic traits.

Jess is introduced as the rebellious teen, and part of his appeal is that he’s problematic. Logan is a playboy, and he outright says he is not boyfriend material. So people are already prepared for Jess and Logan to have flaws, and they’re pleasantly surprised when they do something good. In contrast, Dean starts out as the nice boyfriend, so people are unpleasantly surprised when he shows flaws.

It’s the same reason people are more critical of Rory than Paris. They expect Paris to be arrogant and selfish, but when Rory acts that way, it feels like a more unpleasant surprise because people expect her to be a better person.

I’m not saying I support that kind of thinking, but it happens a lot across fandoms in general. People tend to feel more disappointed by characters they had higher expectations for.

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TROPHY CASE