She is a self-absorbed teen, and you're right, it doesn't make her evil, just a flawed teenage girl that has a lot of growing to do. That's why I don't hate the character, I don't support a lot of her decisions but at the same time, who knows, maybe the show wouldn't be as interesting if they made her perfect.
Self-absorbed teen girl and then self-absorbed adult. This show went from a dramedy to a tragedy. Still one of my favorite and what I listen to a podcast about.
She’s an adult for like the last three seasons of the show and the revival. let’s not excuse her disgusting behavior with the “she’s just a kid” argument
I mean if she wasn't, we wouldn't have anything to watch. Her being literally perfect and getting into Harvard would be kind of boring. We love to critique and analyze her behavior, but if she realized she was emotionally cheating and broke up with Dean lets say in the episode where he is very clingy, and she got together with Jess a whole season earlier, we wouldn't really get the same satisfaction out of her romance with Jess, would we? The whole "will they won't they" wouldn'tt unfold and that's half the fun of season 2-3 :)
I am team Logan. I think he's the best suited to Rory because he idolised her the least out of her boyfriends and saw her for exactly what she was - which was his counterpart in privilege and entitlement as well as her drive. He doesn't idolise her in the same way that Dean and Jess did
I love your analysis., but I’m still kind of on team Jess. To me he was the one who challenged her and helped he get back to school and get back on her feet by writing a book. It’s just their timing was never right for them.
It's about dang time someone considers the guys' experience of Rory rather than just what they can do for her. I've always been team 'Rory-sort-yourself-out-and-leave-the-guys-alone'. Nice work.
Thank you! I understand why the focus is usually on who the best guy is (because we are following Rory) but if Dean/Jess/Logan were the main characters, I wonder if the fandom would root for Rory.
@@PensiveWhiskers I really don't think they would, considering we don't really exactly root for her in the end in her version of the story either. So if she really was glossing over all her imperfections and mistakes her version, and yet we still saw her for what she was, I think we'd just dislike her more in the unfiltered version. However, she really did treat Logan the best, but it seems karma caught up to her anyway. I also think we'd hate some of the other side characters less, too if we got to see their growth more.
I’ve always felt that Rory and Logan’s relationship was by far the least toxic (although still somewhat toxic). This is for a multitude of reasons (especially the fact that they were both adults), but i think one of the main reasons was that logan felt secure in their relationship. dean and jess both seemed to feel inferior to rory, they idolized her and felt like they weren’t good enough to be with someone like her. this insecurity showed in different ways. dean responded to it by being extremely clingy and overbearing while jess would ghost and ignore her whenever he felt insecure.
@holly5699 that's part of the appeal of Jess/Rory in the end though too. Many Rory/Jess shippers do not deny the toxicity and issues in their s2 & s3 interactions and brief actual time dating but Jess grows and matures into someone worthy of Rory indeed and many Rory haters will argue she's no longer good enough for him but that's a different conversation. I think Rory herself doesn't feel good enough for Logan at times but I don't think she ever acted that way with Jess. It's just interesting if you consider Rory/Jess shippers as in for the long run. As in for the s6 version of Jess (and if you'd like the revival).
Okay but Logan literally proposed and Rory said no 😭 Then a few years later after Logan got ENGAGED, Rory started an AFFAIR with him Not very healthy to me 🤷♀️
I don't understand the " Dean shouldn't have broken up with Rory in public" argument. She's been literally humiliating him by flirting with Jess, which was also in public by the way... So what should he have done?
I don't think that someone treating you badly is an excuse to treat someone badly back. It's an opportunity to rise above and lead by example. So there is a lot he could've done. He could have pulled her aside, walked away, saved it for another time etc if her response to any of his options was to make it public that would be on her at that point. To be clear I'm not defending Rory. I Just that I don't think humiliating anyone is ever okay.
@@samanthas8340 rising above sounds good in theory but I wouldn't expect this level of awareness and wisdom from a what he was? 16? So he behaved just like a normal teenager would do. To my mind, he even did it adequately and shouldn't have done it another way, cause his first priority was defending his dignity, which was being undermined by Rory. So, Dean (as any other human being) shouldn't sacrifice himself just to avoid some awkwarness and inconvenience the other person(his abuser) might feel. And, as you suggest, if he saved it for another time, then he probably couldn't break up with her at all, as he wanted this relationship to last so much that he could just turn a blind eye to these things Rory did.
@@samanthas8340 sorry but if my boyfriend was openly flirting and hanging around another girl in front of me, im not gonna sit idly and wait for a good moment to break up with him
She was even doing it at the time Dean broke up with her!! She was making a scene!! Because she was jealous of Jess and Shane WHILE DANCING WITH DEAN!! Off course it was ok for him to break up in public.
@@samanthas8340 I don't think an "opportunity" to be the bigger person translates as an obligation of being the bigger person; she was dancing with him while making a scene to another guy... she deserved it.
I personally always felt really bad for Dean since he was a super sweet and dedicated boyfriend until Rory cheated on him. THAT breaking of trust was what ended up making him crazy. He was literally traumatized. He married a girl that he had only been dating for a few months because he was terrified of being betrayed/abandoned again. And although I can’t excuse his behavior in the later seasons when they got back together, Rory continued to be really not good for him. I have so much respect for the way that the writers managed to show flaws and trauma in believable (if not occasionally extremely frustrating) ways
I feel bad for Dean because Amy Sherman hates him and destroyed his character for the benefit of Rory's arc; he was smart, funny, secure, polite... by the time Rory's done with him, Dean's this shell of a guy, bitter because Rory's not with him... whaaat? I actually think the only thing i enjoyed about the revival was that Dean got his life back together, found someone else and moved out of that toxic town. Also, i hope Rory gets back together with Logan 'cause, after the revival, both Paul and Jess are way too good for her.
I don’t think THAT’s why he married Lindsey, he announced the engagement right after the fight with Jess at the house party. Lindsey probably gave him an ultimatum and he proposed. You’re right about the repercussions of Rory’s cheating on Dean, but I don’t think he ever wanted to marry her, he only did it to save their relationship when she forced his hand.
Rory was horrible to him. The lies, the gaslighting, the manipulation, the cheating...people crucified Dean for cheating on Lindsey (which was wrong) but forget how awful Rory was with him
i rewatch this show now and honestly, i'm amazed at how horrible Rory treated Dean. She literally kissed Tristan the night after Dean told her he loved her and started dating Jess a couple of weeks after Dean gifted her a car. No wonder he turned into obsessive stalker. I'm glad they give him a closure and a happy life in the mini-series, he deserved it
Rory 100% led Jess on in Philly! She even says she intended to cheat on Logan but ultimately couldn't. Jess tells her he doesn't deserve to be treated like that.
I’m team season 1 Dean and post-Rory Jess, because the Dean we got for the rest of the series is the sad clone they replaced him with after they assassinated his character 😭 S1 Dean was charming, a reader, and a movie buff who could keep up with Rory. They had to dumb him down to make Jess seem smarter bc “oh Jess reads!” but so did Dean? that’s why he was interested in Rory in the first place, he saw her reading and would ask her about her books. he even recommended her a few. degrading one character to make another look better isn’t that impressive writing-wise, especially since Jess’s intelligence never came up after he got with Rory. Jess developed into a great character, but he was more fun as a friend than a love interest. instead of Jess being attractive because he’s ‘smarter’, he should have genuinely just been Rory’s friend. Dean is still smart, but emotionally immature, and they break up because he was too jealous and possessive. S1 Dean could be rash too( aka the “I love you” breakup) so I think it would have been believable and less frustrating. Plus, it would’ve created an opportunity for Jess supporting Rory post-breakup, which probably would have been adorable. they could have still gotten together, they just dragged us through a poorly written love triangle to get there and massacred my boy ☹️
I loved Dean the first season but they made him way too perfect at first. He read, he could fix things, fine as hell, gentle, and obsessed with her. Dude built her a car! So then they had to dumb him down and make him seem like a failure to make it make some kind of sense she would choose someone else over him or not end up with him. They should have worked in more obvious flaws throughout or have him be the one to start losing interest or them mutually grow apart as happens with first love.
@@mamimelusine If they'd planned it well, I think they could have used that as a flaw itself! Dean constantly worshiping her reminds me of people who fall in love with love (aka me lol) and idealize their partner to the point they don't actually know them. I'm not sure if this what the writers were trying to do by making Jess seem smarter, implying Jess understood her more? If they were, they didn't do a great job of it. I agree they should have showed Dean losing interest. Since he was the one who pursued her in the first place and expected true love, him breaking up with her after she didn't say "I love you" back should have been the start of him realizing Rory isn't the perfect angel he thought, she's just a person. They didn't have to make him stupider to justify them breaking up, sometimes its just not a good match! The show had all the pieces, but it could have been done much better.
literally, dean was such an intelligent and nice guy, but they made him into a cheating manipulator who suddenly didn't read as much as jess or didn't get rory's book references. he became so possessive and jess just egged him on
I’m going to be real… as much as the show does frame Jess and later Dean as not being good enough for Rory… they’re actually too good for her. Logan is really the only good match for her in background and personality. I’m not team Logan, but I’m also not Team Rory. I’m honestly Team Moving On because all these men can’t seem to move on from her very well… also she has cheated on everyone she’s dated except Jess, and I honestly think that part of why she didn’t cheat on Jess was because he didn’t stick around long enough… but she did use Jess to cheat which is also a pretty bad way to start their relationship… Rory was honestly a pretty bad girlfriend to all of them, and way to much work for the only real reward of having a special Main Character Girlfriend
Your "Team Moving On" comment made me laugh out loud. I am on Team Moving On with you. I do wish that the show would have allowed these men to move on. The only one who does is Dean in the revival.
@@PensiveWhiskers I think Dean was only able to get over Rory because he had is obsession and backslide so early in his life that he could grow from and have the perspective that the whole experience was because he was so young. For Jess and Logan, she will forever be the one the got away. That's also how they frame Marty, and she never even dated Marty!
Uhhhh no Dean was a controlling insecure shithead. Placing your partner on a pedestal and being possessive is NOT a sign of healthy love. Jess was also an insecure shithead and was not ready to open up and be vulnerable which caused Rory a lot of hurt and eventually led to their breakup. Logan is very secure, doesn't fawn over Rory but he does respect her. I actually think Logan is the only one to really be smarter than Rory and all the problems that do occur are the result of Rory who can't really handle not constantly having the upper hand in a relationship. Only when Rory gets over her own insecurities is she able to be a better girlfriend. People blame Logan for not getting Rory to go back to Yale but he is the ONLY ONE who truly respects Rory's agency to make her own decisions. Logan is by far the most emotionally mature and equal partner to Rory. Rory was a dumbass to not marry him because Logan would've absolutely let her have her own career, it was only the rest of Logan's family who thought that wouldn't be possible I think
@@FemkevanDrooge Sure, all of this is true. But my comment was less about the boys/men and more about Rory herself. The way the show frames her as Very Special and Impossible to Get Over is very weird to me, particularly as she is a serial cheater.
Rory was somewhat of a decent girlfriend to Logan, but that went all out the window during the revival. Her problem is that she gets very possessive over her exes. When she had an affair with Dean she excised it as “my Dean.” Flash forward to the revival she had a full on affair with Logan even though he’s engaged and she’s with someone else all because she was with Logan first. She never takes responsibility for her actions. It drove me crazy! 😊
You're right; it's not great and there is no accountability. I guess we have to appreciate that at least the show was being consistent with her character.
That’s true even during the revival when he’s like yeah I come to London but you’re gonna have to stay and I’ll tell him she’s like oh cause your fiancé is there and ask all disappointed and it’s like you have no right to be upset. You know he has a fiancé you shouldn’t be doing this in the first place but since you are complications, cannot make you upset.
That's so true for Rory. Rory has a sort of superiority complex. She thinks she's better than other girls and she wants other people (including guys) to just adore her. That's why she couldn't handle it when Logan's dad told her she's not it. She's like the least resilient person I've seen on screen. I think that even though she has this idea of the kind of person she wants to be she doesn't have a healthy sense of self and regulates on the approval of people around her. Which also explains why she's so non-confrontational.
@@prachi2612 my favorite part about what Logan’s dad said is that he was right. Her entire life is in shambles in the revival and she’s not a journalist like she thought. Working on Obama campaign did nothing for her. And somehow she’s still entitled and expects to get hired for jobs without interviewing
I definitely got annoyed by Lorelai's actions throughout the series and Rory learned so much bad behaviour especially about relationships from her mom. And those parallels were always shown in the series. I got so mad especially when she was still in love with Luke, she got married to Christopher 😑😩
27:15 I doubt Jess ever asked a single thing of Rory. He didn’t have any other friends in Stars Hollow, so there were no social events to drag her to. He was a bit of a lone wolf with an independent streak. He worked at Walmart instead of taking a loan. And if he wasn’t with Rory, he usually seemed to be reading or working.
I think Loagn is the best for Rory, even if he is not my favorite of the boys. Dean matched Rory morally, but he was not a match for her intellectually. Jess matched Rory intellectually, but not socially. Logan matched Rory morally, socially, and intellectually. Rory needs someone who matches her so that they challenge her to be their equal, if she thinks (subconciously) that she has something her partner doesn't, she will likely disrespect them and that's when it seems she walks all over them. Because her and Logan are on such equal footing, they develop a mutual partnership.
´Dean was not a match for her intellectually’ Because she rambled about the books she had the luxury of time to read yet couldn’t come up with a story to write about beside her own and mother’s even though her mother wasn’t ok with it ? Snobby ? Yeah. Intellectual ? Meh.
@@emmaunderbluesky7511 IKR ??? She is just bookish & has no real life skills. Everybody in the show was more talented / skilled / intellectual/hard working than her. Jess wrote a novel at a young age without even going to pretigious school like Yale, Dean worked for Dooses while he was 16 & wanted to work hard to save up for townhouse. Lane found her passion for drumming & despite her strict Korean mom managed to create a small successful band. Paris got accepted to a 1000 grad schools ended up a doctor. What did Rory do other than reading fat novels at 15 & cheating with her bfs & acting like a saint. The more I watch video essays I feel like punching Rory for being a-hole. The reason she bent over backwards for Logan is because they are rich. She's just exact opposite of her mother Lorelai, she loves the rich toxic hateful loose moralled people like Emily & Richard
@@emmaunderbluesky7511oh yeah definitely, consuming 'intellectual stuff' (who decides what is intellectual? But that's another discussion) doesnt make you 'intellectual'. It's just some kind of show-off and used for ego push. Producing something intellectual is what may make so. 'intellectual'. But Rory was just driven by her emotions and had nobody tell/show her how to work on herself. She was living in her bubble (like most of us) I'm 29 and just realizing some stuff, so I dont blame her 😅
Did you see the things Dean read in S1? That dude was intellectual af, but dude worked part time, played softball, took care of his sister and went to school. He is far more intellectual and successful than Rory will ever be. They literally met because he was also interested in her books
I’m one of the few Dean fans. It’s not that I don’t like the other guys, but I feel like Deans faults are overblown (or even invented aka the way Jess is a “reader” and therefore better for Rory, even though he’s a reader too in season one. Just not as much). But then I see Jess or Logan acting like a jerk, and people don’t acknowledge it the way they do Dean.
I like your comment very much because - while teen me adored Jess, now I feel for Dean. That guy is hated more online than Voldemort honestly. His character was murdered. He is always what the plot needs him to be, never got a clear direction. He starts out as a fairly intelligent guy, who generally gets Rory's refrences, reads for her, who does the work with family, and friends. Then he suddenly is the small town idiot dispite coming from a city originally, just so we see how Jess is better. And then by S5 he is somebody I want to hit. Poor guy, deserved better. But great vid after all :)
How does Dean deserve better when he cheated on his wife. He had anger issues and was very controlling. Always mad at Rory for something stupid never really let Rory explain things without blowing up at her. Rory always had to ask are you mad everytime she ask him something. @@dianaszuts398
They are all jerks but to me dean is the worst because to me he has to most red flags of an abuser. His actions mostly weren’t outwardly abusive, but he seems the type of man to lean more and more into this abusive tendencies as he gets older. Like we see with Lindsay. This is just my perception of him.
I like Dean too. Especially in the beginning episodes he was kinda adorable. Ya he's a little problematic especially in the later seasons 4 and 5 lol. But I very much liked him at first. And ya I don't not like the others but Dean gets dragged so hard
This doesn't really address your comment but for me, the biggest problem when it comes to Dean is how the character was used as a plot device. The show gave Jess and Logan more characterization and a fuller backstory. It didn't seem like the show was interested in developing Dean as a character. It's possible that people forgive Jess' and Logan's actions because the show gives the audience a backstory which explains their actions. The show writers didn't care to give Dean a backstory or explanations. His character was also changed over time.
Only 11 mins in but regarding Rory’s lack of remorse: that’s definitely in her character. She wasn’t a good friend to Lane and was quick to drop her as soon as she got a bf. Their friendship was already in shambles when Rory started going to Chilton, only it’s hard to notice because as OP says, we see the story through Rory’s gaze.
That seems like a stretch to me. In what ways does Rory fail Lane as a friend or act like a bad friend? There are many instances of her being a good friend to her.
@@VioletEmerald pensive whiskers does a video about this called: Rory‘s relationship with Lane (a conversation). The video addresses a lot of my thoughts but ultimately argues against my beliefs and recognizes more of the positive aspects of their friendship, but all the negative things addresses are what hit home for me
I don’t blame Dean for getting jealous because imagine your partner is hanging out with someone who you know is interested in them and then knowing that they’re interested too, him cheating on Lindsay but let’s not forget his behavior when Rory didn’t say I love you to him (I would have left him). It’s funny that Jess is paranoid when Rory hangs out with Dean (he deserves it) because he knows that Rory is willing to cheat but Jess was too emotionally immature and needed to work things out on his own but doesn’t excuse his behavior or the way he treated people Logan also cheated on Rory but I feel like he called her out the most and her self righteous attitude that oh I’m not privileged even though I went to a boarding school and an Ivy League school And Rory had issues herself and I wish that Lane or someone called her out in being a home wrecker she hates it when she gets cheated on but it’s okay when she does the cheating cause they were her boyfriend first? Like child grow up. Also to add Rory loves living in the past she can’t move on from it for example cheating with Dean and cheating with Logan due to nostalgia.
Rory was being a typical terms get who likes someone else. It happens I work at a high school and I see this stuff all the time. Plus Dean anger gets him all the time. I wish Lorelai would just here him yell at Rory one time she wouldn't like it.
I just don’t understand team Jess. Their relationship was terrible and then when Jess finally matured, Rory became a mess. I always felt that they were never on the same page and that they are best as friends. And by the time the revival came around, Jess became too good for Rory. With Logan it’s totally different. For me it always felt like they suit each other best. They’ve had a mostly mature relationship and are on the same wavelength.
I feel like with Jess. It was really right person wrong time because the timing never matched up properly. I think the best time would’ve been in college when he kissed her but she was still with Logan if she hadn’t have been with Logan I feel like they were closer to the same page at that time because she was back at school. Thanks to him so she was getting her life together. He had his life together and they got it my shop. Well I think they would’ve been better is teenagers if they had clear communication but the communication was really not good.
I disagree completely. Their relationship is fine, they have only like 3 episodes where they are fighting (Dean and Logan have a lot more) and they have literally no relationship problems. While Rory is not compatible with Dean IMHO and she is with Jess and Logan, there is a fundamental difference between Jess and Logan, namely that Rory's relationship problems with Jess come from him lacking communication skill due to still being a kid, while her problems with Logan arise from him just being an ass and manipulative. He has many inherent character flaws due to him growing up insanely rich, esp. the gambling after losing millions of dollars gave me the ick. In many scenes, Rory felt like a trophy wife to me when she was with him. She was often uncomfortable around his acquaintances and their relationship felt just cold to me
@@fynnfish I think she had a good relationship with Logan but he was a jerk a lot of the time and she didn’t turn into an entitled baby and that got even worse because she can’t handle rejection either so an entitlement and not being able to handle. Rejection is not a good combo, but you are so right about Jess I was talking to my cousin yesterday and it was my first time meeting her but she was a Gilmore girls fan so we were talking about it and I asked her about her thoughts on Dean. We both don’t like Dean. She asked me about Logan and I said that I was a C but we both said we like stress the most and it was like a right person wrong time thing because you’re right they’re only problems were with their communication skills, and like when they were adults especially in a year in the life like he’s the reason she went back to college because he yelled at her and was like what are you doing? This is not who you are and he is the reason that she wrote a book that she started getting her life together because her life was in shambles, he was also still in love with her at that point and I think if they had gotten back together at that time it would’ve worked but I also think that she is not good enough for him because Rory is not a good person I don’t think there’s anything I can do to defend her. She’s just not a good person so he deserves better than her.
@@oliviapedersen8309 In the Year jn the Life she def wasn't a good person but recently rewatching the show i felt like she wasn't a overall bad person, she just does a handful of shitty things, which feels a lot after her being such a angle as a child. Of couse the whole cheating with Dean thing and how she treated her mother for months after the Yacht incident (that was so out of character....) she showed zero accountability in both instances. And also, I disagree with the video here that she kind of went along with Jess' kiss in season 6. She says "I can't even cheat on (Logan) the way he cheated on me" making it full on sound like she went to Philly for the PURPOSE of cheating, which is pretty wild. She also full on lied to her mother that nothing happened in Philly and never told Logan which annoys me because that is such a big betrayal???? Also now after I watched the last third of the video I have to add, the creator mentions several times that Rory is a good girlfriend by accommodating Logan and this doesn't sit right with me because to me it often felt like she had to endure things that were not ok, that she didn't stand up for herself in important situations (she did tell him he was a jerk twice which was good of her) but still I think she became smaller with him instead of growing, she didn't compromise but just gave in or gave up or didn't speak up and that didn't sit right with me
I don’t think Rory is mature in her behavior with Logan. I think she’s insecure. She people pleases Logan and changes who she is to be Logan’s girlfriend. Of course she falls in love with the one who is emotionally distant with her. Her daddy issues really come out with Logan. It’s why she can’t let go of the relationship 15 years later. She wants to prove to herself that she’s good enough to be loved by him and every time he pulls away it just hooks her into the relationship more.
How did she change herself? Logan knew her and loved the things about her that made her who she is. And since when was a Logan emotionally distant? You mean when they weren’t together and she proposed that she is fine being casual? Then when she changed her mind and he made the decision to be her boyfriend took care of her and was there for her constantly?
I personally think Jess was always more willing to understand and trust Rory than vice versa. He didn't want her to go with Dean at the stars hollow fair because he didn't trust Dean. He even confronts Dean and tells him that he knows what he was doing, and Dean confirms it. In most cases one partner can trust the other to not cheat, but I think Rory would have been influenced without Jess there. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I think even young Jess deserved to be with someone who actually trusted him. He may have been a jerk to everyone else, but he never gave her a reason not to trust him. He had a lot of growing up to do, but she was the only one who was allowed to see his soft side, and his potential. Maybe if she had trusted him, then he would have felt safe enough to open up more.
He didn't trust Dean because he was scared Dean would do exactly what Jess did when Dean and Rory were in a relationship: ruin it. Jess was a loser for trying to get with Rory when she was in a relationship, and Rory was a loser and a cheater for allowing it.
@@EvySversaI'm looking at it all objectively. Jess was wrong for pursuing her, and Rory was a cheater for her behavior as well. I have a better understanding of Jess though. He was immature, and he was faced with new feelings. It may not have been spoken but I believe 100% that this love was his first love. He had never seen a healthy relationship to know what to do, or not do. I remember when I fell that hard for someone. I wasn't thinking clearly. There's a lot I would do differently after the fact. I will give him credit for breaking up with Shane, and not cheating on her. It shows he thinks about other people, and he has morals.
I'm team Jess, because I think he's the only one she really respects. She doesn't respect Dean because she thinks she's smarter than him, she despises that he didn't go to college. Shee doesn't respect Logan because she doesn't think she's as spoiled as he is, at least he confronts her about that at one point. She never looks down on Jess's life choices because he is the only one she respects as an equal.
@@StrawberryK11When he was with Shane she judged Shane but she didn't seem to judge Jess for it. She seemed very jealous and insecure about it instead. But yes when he was dropping out of high school or at least skipping school I think she might've had big feelings about that but we don't fully see her feeling like she was better than him. She knew he was smart enough to graduate. She told him in the car when she was meant to be tutoring him that night that he could do more. That was her respecting him as a person and she maybe didn't understand his choices but she found it confusing or even intriguing. She wasn't looking down on him for the choices most of the time. She just wanted to understand.
Growing up I fell for all the guys just as Rory did but I find it disturbing to see Dean's behaviour as an adult, his anger borders on abusive and I think he could have ended up getting violent. I also don't think it is an accident that Lorelei is never around for his outbursts. Jess was troubled but he communicated with Rory in a more mature way than she did with him. Logan always felt like a temptation for Rory to take the easy road, using her money and privilege as a cushion. I hated that he asked her to marry him without having a conversation about it first and basically making it an ultimatum. I personally feel Rory was the most herself with Jess and he challenges her without steering her off course, he is also correct in pointing her towards being a writer rather than a journalist in A Year In The Life. We rarely ever see her read the paper or show real interest in current events she is mainly consuming literature.
While I agree Dean was overly aggressive it is also true that teenagers are just overly emotional. Also If Rory had the outburst Dean had no one would be questioning if she could be abusive or not.
@@Tilleyforever44 I didn't forget but I honestly think that both that and Dean's anger is an example of ASP not seeing that she was making her character's problematic. But with Dean it is a consistent character trait and where with Jess it was a one off so I found Dean's anger more relevant. Obviously not true for real life.
@@LauraSomeNumber if Rory had acted the way Dean was no one would be saying it was signs of her possibly being abusive in the future. I don’t know if there’s any other way to explain it simpler than that.
I think we tend to forgot she was a young teenager having her first experiences with love, heart breaks etc. At this age, most of us were sometimes selfish, sometimes wrong, sometimes not acting in the best way. It's part of growing up and getting experience. None of us can say they were perfect right away. With Dean and Jess she had never broken up with someone before. She didn't want to admit it was over and she liked Jess. She wasn't ready to do the mature and grown up thing of breaking the heart of someone you still care for. She dragged it out and was very immature about it. But to me, that's very realistic. Breaking up with your first love, realising that you fell out of love but you have nothing really bad against the person is so hard and you sometimes make wrong choices to avoid dealing with it. For me that was a good representation of how a good person can sometimes act wrongly, not making her a bad teenager but just.. a regular teenager. The problem is that she doesn't learn from her mistakes and doesn't grow, she continues to be selfish and continues to prioritize her needs over and over
About the article: we don't really know what she wrote. But i think it fits with Rory's writing on a whole: everything we hear about her writing feels like she is very good at the craft of writing, witty, well flowing, good research, delievering what is asked....BUT: she doesn't have a strong opinion about anything... She kinda likes the egalitarian view, but also supports the snobbish views, and whenever she is confronted about a thing she wrote she crumbles. Which is why i think Mitchum was an ass, as his feedback was not constructive, but he is not wrong. A journalist gets attacked when he makes a stand. So you should have a conviction to back it up Rory...doesn't.
Great video! I would like to mention that the reason Rory is jealous of Bobby is because Logan never mentioned to her that Bobby is a woman, and so Rory feels distrusting towards Logan because he is spending time with a beautiful woman and thinks highly of her, while not being open about it Rory. I love Jess' character, so I always want Rory to end up with him, but this video helped me see how Rory and Logan's relationship help Rory mature or at least be on the other side like Dean and Jess, and that was an interesting parallel. Rory does need to become a better communicator, but most of all she needs to become a more self-aware person who is less of a people pleaser.
The guys need to be a better communicator too not just Rory. The behavior is something else and everyone is ongoing that and blaming Rory for everything.
I feel like people pleaser is not the right word for Rory. Watching it as an adult really gives her entitled vibes. Like she can do whatever she wants and still feels entitled to be loved. Funnily it isn't even her fault, cause her parents, grandparents and her whole town is encouraging her behavior.
Excuse me. An over 40 minute video?! What did we do to deserve this 🥺🥺 thank you for putting your time into this videos! ❤ tbh Rory just seems like the girl that’s IMPOSSIBLE to please but I always loved Jess!
Hahahahaha, thank you for saying that ☺. I have so much more appreciation now for people who do 1 hour + videos. I'll be going back to my small topics and shorter videos for now.
I think this is the first video on the subject that I've seen where no one is cast as a villain - their actions and choices are presented as objectively as possible while taking account of the fact that all of them (including Rory herself) are teenagers or very young adults still sorting their heads out and making mistakes as they do it, meanwhile so many people seem to be after one or other character expecting them to act like perfectly mature and self-aware adults, and when they fail to live up to that, their minute actions are read as a sign of possible abusive tendencies and other horrific things.
exactly! it frustrates me when people judge the actions of 20 year olds saying they're full grown adults. like yes technically they are adults but 20 is so young!! they're allowed to make mistakes. that being said it obviously doesn't excuse all their actions (like stealing a bloody yacht!)... but like cut them some slack lol
Thank you! I really tried. Naturally, I have my own biases which come out in my opinions but I agree with everything you said; they are all teenagers or in their early 20's and it is kind of to be expected that they will make stupid mistakes and act immature.
Please don’t apologize for your hard work! It’s us who should thank you for an insightful take on a show that has already been talked about by everyone and their mother. Loved it :)
I really appreciate you bringing up her privilege. It's not like she's a terrible person, but I wish the show would have had her confronting this more. Also, I hope you do some more Buffy essays.
I will definitely do more Buffy videos. 🙂I kind of put more pressure on myself when it comes to talking about Buffy, but as I improve in my quality, I will make more and more Buffy videos.
Tbh, with regards to Dean, the show was on his side more so than Rory. She is criticised by Lorelai repeatedly, and she herself takes blame after the dance for messing with his head. When she’s stressed about the car or the bracelet and how angry he could get, Lorelai does not find her fear at all problematic, and instead considers his rage justified and just wants Rory to make it right
Thank you! My favorite thing is when someone hasn't seen a show but wants to watch a video on it anyway. I do the same thing. I only cover a small portion of all that happens so the video doesn't cover the full picture. This video in particular is very skewed since I only covered one side of the story. I appreciate you watching. 🙂
I like Logan and Rory's relationship. She had the freedom to grow with him because he let her do her thing. But I'm still all for Jess. He was the only one who knew how to speak to her and make her think. He challenged her in a way no other boy would. They just never found their moment, and maybe that was the point. I wish they had done Year in the Life differently, I was looking forward to seeing how their relationship would've grown over the years. I saw them as always keeping in contact with each other. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but in a close friendship way. Especially because Luke and Lorelei were together, they would've seen each other over the years. It just would've happened, even if it was once a year around a holiday or something. I didn't like how they stunted, not only Rory, but Lorelei too. They didn't grow at all! Not an ounce. People naturally change over the years. It's just what happens. And I felt that Rory almost grew down instead of up when it came to relationships was just weird to me. They made it like she never actually learned anything about being in a relationship. But that's a topic for another moment.
Out of all the characters in Gilmore Girls Jess showed the most character growth. Jess was introduced as a troubled teen with potential. He made mistakes, but he worked very hard and became successful on his own without any help. Jess also became emotionally mature. As you mentioned, Jess challenged Rori more than the other guys. He challenged Rori with her choice of career, books, and life choices. Jess also didn't allow Rori to take advantage of his interest in Rori and his insecurities.
Rory’s world was bigger than Dean and Jess’ when she dated them and Logan’s world was always bigger than Rory’s, both because of his family being richer than her grandparents and him being older than her.
This was a good watch. I never actually finished the series, so there were lots of things i was unaware of before. I always saw Dean as doing so many correct things very early on. After learning what happens after they break up, it really just strikes me as a guy who gave something his all, and it crashed and burned for him, and he never fully recovered from it. I see his cheating as an end result of him never actually recovering or coping with the way he was treated in the first place.
Thank you! 🙂It did take longer than my other videos, but it also strangely made me more efficient while editing. Since I knew how much I had to do, I worked much faster. Reminds me of Parkinson's Law (work expands to fill the time available for its completion).
I love how you analyze everything and all your details. You don’t just fill in gaps, you make it a conversation and fill it for the ppl who I don’t have to talk to about this show 😂❤ I feel validated and like I’m listening to a friend converse with me
Oh wow, thank you! I am doing this to have a conversation with people so the fact that you feel that way is very reassuring for me. I definitely want people to feel like I am proposing a discussion rather than just sharing an opinion.
Writing this before watching the full video. This is hard because Logan and Jess are both team Rory, but in different stages of their and her life. Younger Jess had so much sh**t he had to work out before he was mature enough to be a good romantic partner. But when he did reach that spot and found himself and a potential career, he did visit and support her and want the best for her and we see that in the revival. You won me over on Logan. Filled in a lot of the gaps that I forgot. Logan sees both the good and bad sides of her which is why they work. They find out everything about each other, their flaws, their interests, and passions. They can fight, but come back together again even if they have to separate for a while. That seems to be a mature and healthy relationship. But they do need to fix their stuff first before being end game. While I am future team jess, I am fine if she picks wither him or Logan, but in the right way. Meaning not through an affair. Edit: you and Serena Skybourne filled in some gaps.
I like Serena's videos too, she breaks down her thoughts really well. I wasn't intending to change anyone's view on Logan (I don't think I have a fully formed opinion on this character), but it's awesome that you have a new perspective!
You know, I really appreciate you doing this because I’ve tried for a long time to see from the guys’ point of view but I always get so caught up in the show that it’s hard to be objective. I especially liked you pointing out some of the foils between Logan and Rory (some of which I caught, some of which were completely new to me and tbh I don’t know how I didn’t notice before). I think after this I’ve formed a new conclusion: Jess is my favorite PERSON out of the 3 boyfriends, but Logan and Rory deserve each other
I think the three boys helped Rory to grow up Dean was so sweet with Rory and loved her with all his heart, he was her first love and they learned together how to be in a relationship, he was always there for her when she needed him and, honestly, I felt so bad for him because of the way Rory treated him. She knew since season 2 that he they weren’t meant to be, when Jess mentions the things he sees to think that they aren’t compatible, she just sticks with him because se likes to have him, and even when they broke up she still acts like she deserves some type of loyalty from him. She made him go mad because she kept playing with him while cheating him. I always loved Jess, I don’t excuse him for all the wrong thing he did, he was a jerk, especially in the beginning, but I can understand him, he didn’t felt loved by his mother and that affected all his relationships, he made it difficult for Luke to love him but step by step they ended up with a solid relationship. I remember one scene with him a Lorelai, when she offers him chinese food, at first he rejected it and acted cold but after a few seconds he saw that Lorelai was being genuine with her kindness and the he softened a little. We have to remember that they were 17 years old kids. The reason why I love him and I think he gave a lot to Rory’s development is that he always told her when he thought that she was doing something wrong, he wanted the best for her and at the end that’s why he left, and even after that he had no problem pointing out Rory’s wrong decisions when the met again. I don’t remember a lot about Logan, I think that he also really loved Rory, he was different from her previous boyfriends, he came from a rich background and introduced her more in that world. I didn’t feel comfortable with Rory’s actions and how she let that world to absorb her but I understand that it was something meant to happen, her grandparents were from the high society, she wasn’t living with her mother (who always tried to teach her have her feet on earth), and was dating a rich boy at university. At the end what stopped them from being together was that Logan wanted compromise and Rory wasn’t ready, the problem is that she also didn’t let him fully compromise with other person and they didn’t knew how to let go their relationship. In A Year in Life Rory treated her boyfriend terribly not even remembering his name, and was cheating him with Logan, who was also about to marry. I think they wanted to end with a beginning of a story that we just saw. Rory’s gonna have her baby alone with Lorelai’s and Luke’s help, Logan’s gonna be to her and her baby Like Chris was for her and her mother and maybe, she learns how to be an emotionally responsible adult and finds love. My theory is that Jess is always going to be there, just like Luke for Lorelai. And for Dean, I really hope for him to live a happy live full of love.
I like how kind you are in your comment. I also think that all of the love interests were good for the purpose of helping Rory grow. I don't dislike any of the guys she was with (although I do judge some a lot of their actions harshly, there's not enough there for me to hate them). I think all of the boys genuinely liked her and wanted the best for her, even if they didn't always go about it in the best way. I would have wanted Rory to be solo at the end or with someone new that we haven't seen, just for some variety and to show that you never know where life takes you.
I consider every guys’ flaws, which is why I don’t have a preference for any guy. I always felt like they were there to teach her something rather than there to actually be her soulmate. Both Lorelai and Rory ought to focus on themselves first before they got involved in the serious relationships that they did. Because Rory just ran to whoever was available at the moment.
Yes! I agree. They all represent different chapters in her life and lessons that she needed to learn, none of them are meant to be perfect or necessarily need to be “the one”.
Thank you! This was such a big topic and while editing, I realized that what I said is a very abridged version of my full opinion. I would like to be more concise in presenting my opinion so that I can capture all of it in one video (that isn't an hour long). But thank you for the encouragement! I will keep at it. 🙂
I love the first 3 seasons and can watch those over and over. Rory makes mistakes that, to me, are mostly understandable due to her being a teen, though I hated how she hurt Dean. And she was so nasty for a bit there when she was mad at Jess for dating Shane. I like both Dean and Jess, even though they're so different. Dean is just a decent, steady, loyal guy who knows what he wants in his relationship with Rory. He was very good to her overall, and, as you said, really put up with a lot to be with her. He got frustrated at times, but I thought it was justified due to the way Rory treated him in seasons 2 and 3 (lying, cheating on him, expecting more from him than she was willing to reciprocate). Also, he was still really young. He was actually quite mature as a whole. He took good care of Rory. Jess has always been a very fascinating character to me. Milo Ventimiglia did a really great job portraying his complexity, making him lovable despite his rough shell. It's easy to see why Rory was so interested in him. She should have broken things off with Dean before pursuing Jess instead of stringing him along, but yeah. Logan just bores me as a character. I don't rewatch seasons 4 thru 7 much, partly because I can't stand how season 4 ended, partly because Rory and Logan bore me together, and partly because I just don't like the storyline/Rory's character arc. Rory started out so promising and is a total mess by the reboot. She and Logan are cheating on their boyfriend ajd fiancee, respectively, so tonke they deserve each other. Jess has his life figured out and shouldn't stay around to bail Rory out and help raise a child not his own, and Dean seems to have the happy marriage and family he always wanted. Rory needs to shape up! So I guess I'm Team Jess . . . for someone else! I love your videos! They are so fun to listen to, and you have great points. I like that you try to be fair, and you focus on characters most people don't. Loved the video about Jess and Luke in particular. I feel like I could discuss Gilmore Girls forever, so thank you!
Hey! I'm very happy you're enjoying the videos!😁I know what you mean about Logan; I had the same feeling. I have nothing against the character, I know some fans are adamantly against him, but I just felt kind of bored (and this is not a dig at the actor, I think the actor did a good job). I couldn't get into the relationship with him and Rory, it didn't feel as exciting to me as her other relationships. I also saw Seasons 4-7 many years later so I was much older, that might have had an impact.
I found your videos earlier today, and I’m binge-watching them. I love your videos, not because I always agree with you, but your deep dives into these characters are thoroughly fascinating, entertaining and you raise some insightful points that linger with me. As a longtime Gilmore fan, Thank you for making these❤!!
Thank you for watching them! ❤ I'm really happy that my thoughts are able to offer something new. Please don't hesitate to share your own thoughts if you disagree or if there is something that you want to expand upon that I didn't cover. I welcome all opinions!
I've always been a fan of Dean (partly because, my goodness, Jared is so charming), but I also loved Logan. Dean's actions have pretty clear triggers, and in his own way, he suffered a lot from Rory's manipulation. They were young minds (I consider 18-19 still young, to be honest), and you do foolish things for 'love' or when trying to hold onto it as it slips away. I don't necessarily think he was justified, but it definitely makes sense(why he does what he does/behaves in certain ways). Rory is selfish as hell, but hey... aren't we all at that age? Logan was thrilling in that he saw right through her and she couldn't stand it (she is a "I can fix him" girl for sure).
Logan is the best, but Jess is my guilty pleasure. Honestly I think fan fiction does a far better job at portraying all the nuances of their relationship than the show writers were. I think if Rory had had the opportunity to try again with Jess later on, it probably would've worked out a lot better. However Logan still worked the best for Rory overall.
25:31 I was on this episode on this part and that’s what made me search out this video. Because Rory was ridiculous in this scene and I just can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to be a guy that liked Rory. How frustrating and confusing her behavior could’ve been. Thank you for making this video and for including this part 🤧
I grew up being team Jess but apon my 5th rewatch I realized that I think Logan is best suited for Rory. I’ve been on the fence of my what team I’m on ever since. I have never been team Dean but looking back there’s plenty of times where I feel bad for Dean and not just like “oh I feel sorry for the guy” like genuinely awful. Imagine getting attacked by Luke in the street and then KNOWING your girlfriend likes someone else but is still dating you. But to be honest I started hating Rory in season 4 and on just because that’s when she was considered “an adult” and was still making awful mistakes. S1-3 was just a teenage girl doing what ever teenage girl should MAKE MISTAKES but plenty of people around Rory always justified her actions. I wish more people pointed out in the show how bad she treated Dean. But my final statement must be: Justice For Paul.
Rory being judgmental of Logan's friends at his launch party has NOTHING to do with Rory's privileges. She was wrong, cruel, and childish regardless of where she comes from. Rory could have been a homeless orphaned women growing up, and she still would have been in the wrong.
TL;DR: Jess is my favorite, but I think there’s something to be said about how each of the boys family life’s compares to Rory. Logan has the old money, but his only good family is his sister. Dean comes from a family with two married parents and a sister. Jess was raised by a single mom, had no relationship with his dad until he was 17, and didn’t get a sibling until he was an adult. In that way Jess’s home life actually makes him the most similar and relatable to Rory. Also a year in the life established that Logan is Rory’s Christopher, Dean is her Max, and Jess is her Luke. While I am forever and always Team Jess, my high school friend coining the phrase, “Jess is dream man, number always,” to describe this feeling, I like what you pointed out here with the ages everyone was at the time of their relationships. Rory handled her relationships with Dean, and then Jess, more immaturely than with Logan because she was a teenager when she was with them. The second time she was with Dean was sort of a regression in maturity, since their relationship seemed primarily physical. They were basically acting on all the teenage horniness their relationship didn’t have the first time around. Another thing to keep in mind is how Rory’s family and home life compared to each of them. While she certainly had many of the privileges that Logan did when it came to her grandparents, she didn’t grow up with that. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that she got the benefits of coming from money, like not worrying about private school tuition, and even then almost all the money that was given to her was used for school. Even when her grandparents got her a car for graduation, Lorelai didn’t throw up a fuss, since that was something Rory would need to have at some point. The money that was given to Rory directly by Richard for Fez was spent on the trip she and her mom had been planning for years. He gave it knowing that she would use it well. That’s where the similarities to Logan stop, as pretty much the only person in his family who isn’t awful is his sister, versus everyone in Rory’s family genuinely cares about her. With Dean she has the biggest contrast in home life, as shown by the way he reacts to her not saying I love you back. I liked what you said in the Lindsey video, about Dean’s apparent expectations on what his marriage should be like. Something I wanted to add is that when Rory points out that her parents, who aren’t together anymore, said, “I love you,” to each other his response was, “you don’t get pregnant from saying I love you.” My dude, she knows that. What she was trying to say is that you don’t always stay together either. She hasn’t grown up with married parents, or even parents who were together. So she has every right to feel anxious about responding to the words, “I love you,” when she has no reference of it lasting. And it wasn’t until she was a teen that she started to get to know her grandparents better, so she couldn’t use their marriage as a reference. The person she had the most in common with when it comes to over all family dynamics is Jess. They both have parents who aren’t together. She sees her dad very rarely, versus he didn’t meet his dad until he was in his teens. They were raised primarily by single moms. They also were only children until gaining a little sister as a teen (Rory) and an adult (Jess). They had extended family members try and take them under their wing and impart life lessons, with mixed results. Even though he and Luke didn’t always agree, Luke was always there for him. Luke was hard on him with Rory, because of the fact that Rory was like a daughter to him. He knew she could be a good influence on Jess, but he also knew that Jess needed to work through some issues before he would be good for Rory. If a year in the life showed us anything it’s that Rory and Dean’s relationship has come full circle in that they are truly friends, or at least friendly, aware of their mistakes, but mature adults about it. Rory and Logan’s relationship seems to have become a sort of codependency safety net for the two of them, where they’re not being fair to each other, or their respective partners, but are unwilling to fully commit to each other again. Jess and Rory’s relationship is a friendship, even if he’s still carrying a torch for her, if that look in the window is any indication. I think that Jess will be for Rory, what Luke was for Lorelai. Logan is Rory’s Christopher, and Dean is her Max. I’d be very interested to see where this characters end up in another revival.
I never hated Dean. She was generally good guy, who made some mistakes. Gosh I felt his pain when Jess appeared. It wasn't nice from Rorys side. Rory never loved Dean in real way. I think she liked more the way he treated her.
Hey! Just wanted to say I really enjoy your GG videos. Love that this one is so long! I would really like your perspective on "a year in the life", especially reflecting how the characters are portrait cause I was really baffled by how weird they all got. I dev would watch that video! ❤
Hi! Thank you! A few others have asked for a video on A Year In The Life so it's on the docket, I'm not sure how soon I will make the video as I have a few video ideas before that but it has been added to my list of ideas. 🙂
‘Til this day, I think Dean was the best boyfriend Rory had - even if he wasn’t as “cultured” as she is. He really loved, cared for, was attracted to, and protected Rory. (He wasn’t perfect, but neither was Logan and much less Jess…) Yet, Rory not only fell for the typical bad boy while in a relationship with a caring individual, but also treated Dean like shit by cheating on him instead of properly cutting him loose. To me, that was the beginning of her downfall… and, as much as I detest Jess, I cannot put all the blame on his back.
Thanks for sharing this perspective, since she is the protagonist. It also just sounds like great writing to me! They get us to love Rory and relate to her being a human with flaws. And we watch her learn and grow and try to find herself with all that life throws at her. Sometimes I think viewers forget the reasons characters are written the way they are. These things didn’t actually happen, rather the writers are constructing a compelling narrative, one that is frustratingly relatable. We wish we all could be honest and do the right thing, but it’s easier said than done. Ultimately, we learn by our mistakes, not by being the perfect daughter, mom, girlfriend or wife. That’s why I love the Gilmore Girls. (Especially Emily, that woman is hilarious!)
the entire show for the most part revolves around rory struggling to fit into both worlds. during her chilton time, she's most happy at stars hollow but still wants to maintain the connection with her grandparents. in her yale era, we see her slowly shift into that world of wealth, privilege, lavish lifestyle and logan represents that. even if she does enjoy the perks of living wealthy in the yale era, she struggles to respect herself when she sees her there. this is exactly the reason she writes that article in s7 excluding herself from the world of logan, because she is ashamed to admit that she is a part of it, she doesn't respect herself when she is a part of it especially when people see her as one. also exactly why she turns down logan's proposal and follow's obama's campaign. i have always seen rory as someone who fits in both stars hollow and her grandparents world, but she respects herself and finds it fulfilling when she is independent. being independent meant lorelai's world when she was a 16 year old. but, she's not a kid anymore, so for rory, being independent now means a world that exists outside of stars hollow, and the gilmore or huntzberger dynasty. cut back to the short amount of time she stays with lane after going back to yale, and how she gushes to lorelai after they reunite, about finding a new job, doing things on her own etcetera even if it's not anything that big. people always want to classify rory as either lorelai or emily but i think shes neither. she doesnt despise the privileged life like lorelai does but nor does she see it as the only way of living like emily did. lorelai hates emily's world but rory does like attending emily's parties. but, also emily gushes on and on about the burkin bag rory's gifted, but rory's like "yeah its cute. i like it". that was pretty much her reaction and rory doesnt realize what that bag would mean to girls like honor who is a part of that world, that some girls would die to have it. she isnt blinded immensely by it. finally, rory has lived her entire life, under the expectations of lorelai in the stars hollow world or the standards of emily/huntzberger family from the privileged world. rory has to branch out, has to find her own path away from both of these worlds, and stick to it for a longer period of time to succeed. i don't think her renting an apartment in nyc, that is told in ayitl is a coincidence either. jess is the only person on the entire show who breaks the dichotomy of lorelai and emily's world. he is depicted as someone who doesn't belong to either of the worlds and is a free-spirited soul. rory has mostly been family bound her entire life and it would give her character a new dimension if we let her find her own way. but, shes still a very community/people oriented person at heart and thats never going to change. teen jess was the opposite of that. the adult jess we see in ayitl though, is still the free-wandering soul he always has been, but is now trying his best to be a part of the community more. helping liz & tj out, visiting them, being a support for luke and from what we see in s6, he has developed friendships too which might have only grown further by "a year in the life". he represents exactly what rory wants now. i also dont think its a coincidence that in ayitl, emily has given up the lavish lifestyle and has conformed to finding herself. so, there is not even the concept of an "emily's world" anymore, one less pressure to rory. analyzing all this, it's almost obvious, the path, amy sherman palladino has chosen for rory in the future, even if it is never explored in another revival. plus, the circle of life in gg diverged with lorelai making a new path for herself, with her stepping out of the gilmore house, so the circle would end there too. rory is not helpless like lorelai was at 16, she has her mom, luke, enough money from richard's fund. she would not have to raise her kid in a "potting shed" even if she sees no success in her career. you contradict your own points. you say in the first para that rory itself is wealthy and is about to inherit a fortune but end your comment with "she would not choose to raise her kid in a potting shed". why would she have to? logan is not her saviour nor is jess. she could very well raise the kid on her own, if she wants to. now, this doesn't mean jess is who she should end up with. it just means rory should find someone who she is genuinely interested in and who can offer something unlike the stars hollow world or the lavish world. whether it be jess or anyone new.
The way Rory handled Jess' black eye situation is something that I, too, had issues with from when looking at both points of view. She was definitely more disrespectful not just towards Jess, but also towards Emily who decided to just act oblivious when she could have spoken up. Rory is her granddaughter anyways... I don't want to overthink the other possible outcomes if Emily had stepped in, but I do feel as if a lot of the dysfunction within the Gilmore household starts with not so much Lorelai, but with Emily and Richard themselves. It just boggles my mind how the writers decided to handle Emily's character in that particular scene.
I personally think it has to do with the way the characters are written. Jess has a lot of sarcasm, and wit that makes it apparent he fits in with the gilmores and Luke and other characters who have that type of dialogue combined with his mutual interest in books and pop culture. Take the scene with him and Paris and rory eating in the kitchen together. Jess can keep up, whereas Dean and Paris would have had nothing to talk about. Despite Jess not being the best boyfriend when he was a teen, his overall character was built to fit in the world better. The show could have written Dean this way but instead they sort of assassinated Dean's character by making him kind of dull and someone who is just all about rory and doesnt have much back story of his own. This is just my opinion though.
I think both the actors and writers managed to create a great chemistry between Rory and Jess, which kinda makes you want to root for them. And you can argue their relationship was failed but then again, they had a very short time together which did not allow them to grow together like she did with Logan.
Me personally: I hate Dean for Rory because he never was supportive towards Rory. He never did anything for her without complaining, he even wanted her not to go to Harvard. (He complains that she has to do so much for achieving the goals for Harvard). They just aren’t meant to be in my opinion. Plus Rory loves the privilege of her grandma’ status and she obv wants to be rich, but Dean always was happy to be a simple man. This can’t work. Why I like Jess is because Jess never had anybody that believed in him. All of the people in his life (even his own mother) let him down. With Luke and Rory he experienced acceptance for the first time and I can see how he tries to be a better person for them but he doesn’t know how to do that. But he becomes a better person over time. And I fully hate relationship-Rory because she doesn’t deserve any of them hahaha Stil love the series!
Thank you so much for this analysis! Modt of the points I see exactly like you, I just wanted to add one more thing that is crucial to me for Rorys character. She isn't only beong idolized by Dean and Jess, who feel inferior to her, but also by her mother and the people of Stars Hollow. It's their prerogative to be partial to her because they saw her growing up and love her, and she is a very lloveable person, a "good girl". But from the beginning of the show there are also many situations where esp. Lorelai doesn't see clear or acknowledge Rory's faults. One of the sentences one hears a lot from her is "Rory isn't like that" when she's confronted with her daughter's faults. Like for example Rory throwing a fit at school after being late and not being allowed to write the test. Or when Dean breaks up with her, Lorelei automatically assumes that it's his fault. Same when they steal the boat. It's Logan's fault (yes, but only part of it). This "she can do no wrong" attitude doesn't help Rory growing up and taking responsibility for her actions.
I like how you phrased it and I would agree, I think I there is idolization of Rory coming from Lorelai and I think Luke, Emily and Richard do this as well.
I think Jess and Rory are probably the best for eachother in the present day. Rory is a mess at this point and time, but I feel like timing was always their enemy. Jess to me was a terrible boyfriend. Heartbreakingly bad. Terrible. It ruined Rory to me. Like I feel like that abandonment sorta had her all messed up and had her running back to Dean because of the trauma of him just leaving like Christopher always does. So I feel her to be just this lost soul who doesn't really understand men. She was terrible to Dean and I feel like Jess was her karma. In the heaviest way. Logan, to me, is an absolute dumpster fire of a boyfriend. Absolute trash. Hot, burning garbage. Such a waste of time. He is rude, classist, egregious, self-agrandasing, self-absorbed, etc. I felt there was redemption for him during the double date getaway weekend episode in season 7, yes I felt for him, but just not great at all and Rory breaks her neck for him. So doting. Not to defend Rory to an extreme, I get it, we are supposed to hate her, but I like season 7 Rory, even that article she writes is like, whatever to me, tbh. I hate when people prop up Logan when he sticks it to her for the article. Yes, they both have privilege, sure, but their are levels to privilege. We see that his family thinks SHE is a pauper of sorts, so it really is not the same. She is a Gilmore, sure, but she also grew up living in a potting shed...so...no, not the same. Sure her Dad and Grandparents have cash flow, but she has to beg for it usually. Until 16, did she really have money? Did she really GROW UP in D.A.R world...no, not quite. He jumped off a cliff (reference) trying to get in her ass about her privilege. She's not THAT privileged to the extent Logan is. Let's be real. It's apples and oranges to me. They come from 2 different worlds and that's just what it is. I think we look at white, pretty, affluent privilege very harshly these days and that is valid and yes, she does have that, but Rory and Logan are not the same. Does she use those things to her disposable, yes, but is she the female Logan? Absolutely not, I'm sorry. I don't buy it. It's a bridge too far for me. I watched this in real time for the original run and we didn't use privilege as a lens like we do now, but in real time (week to week) I think it came off more that Rory wasn't really like the rich Chilton and Yale kids. Was she becoming MORE like them as time went on? Sure, but does that take away her potting shed upbringing...no. I get it, Rory has villain eras, but I think she was just being a judgemental brat who was sorta confused about how to navigate a world she was slowly seeing herself slip into, but not actually or technically coming from that world. I think it's just a little more complicated than people make it out to be. All those things mentioned about how those people for the start up are completely a mystery to Rory and that is sooooo valid, yes, but she made a mistake and she was a terrible brat with that article, yes, she's a bit of a dumb dumb in social settings. But I think she was uncomfortable at the party because she's a simple small town girl, so she judged what she doesn't understand, and why doesn't understand? Because she doesn't come from that world, because she didn't grow up with glitzy stuff like that. If she was as privileged as we claim she is, would she not just fit in effortlessly at that party? I don't think it's as simple as privilege or no privilege, I personally think it's more like levels of privilege and I think Rory is fairly new to the game of privilege at that point and even with this I think she's pretty low on the privilege totem pole as pointed out by Logan's own family, professionally at the paper and with the mother. I would love to see her with someone like Jess where money and privilege is just less of an issue because if we are being honest, Rory could live without the privilege if it came down to it, because she is Lorelai's daughter and she would make it work, because I do belive LL showed her what it means to work hard. We have seen her do jobs at the Stars Hollow Bookstore, the Independence Inn part time, Yale's Cafeteria and by the reboot she is freelancing to the point where she doesn't even have a place to live of her own, idk, it doesn't quite scream cashmere, pearls and champagne to me...but I fully understand and respect that people see her as a rich brat I get it, but I think the writers really gave us something a bit more nuanced than that. But this is such a great video essay. I don't agree with it all but hey, that's just how it is. This is so well-structured and well-made and so meaty. Thank you so much! This was honestly my Saturday night. Congrats on getting this out. It deserved all the attention and views!
I always felt that Dean was actually the only one who really cared about Rory in a pure way. And the jealouy...c est moi... Rory did him dirty, ofc he was jealous and suspicious. I think he was exaggerating bcs of her behavior. She really is too self absorbed and it's something that bothers me a lot. Did she really cared about them? I feel like she only cared about their attention to her.
Sometimes what i feel is this fandom overly criticize men for doing the same thing that Rory has done with her every relationship. We can see in one part where she is doing lane's hair colouring, she has you don't want to someone too much that at one point it will feel boring. Which speaks everything about her and later on rejecting Logan's proposal. She wants her bf to be there, call her, ask her about her days and so on which exactly what Dean did for her. But later, she started acting like it was too much and dean not giving her space. But then when jess doesn't do those things, she gets mad. She doesn't like when jess doesn't pick her phone or doesn't call her. But she does exactly the same thing to dean. Rory was emotionally equally abusive as Dean was. I think sometimes people forget that Dean was also 16. He was with her for 2 years and never actually tried to have a sexually relationship with her without her consent while jess being a bf for 1 week and getting mad for not wanting to sleep with her was equally red flag to me. And also, i think rory cheating on Dean, kind of fucked up and very messy. Dean thought that jess was responsible for her cheating on with him. He kind if idolize her. Which we can see that he hadn't moved on. He blames jess but not rory. That's why he was nice to her even after breakup. But the scene where he comes to Yale carrying Bookshelf when tells rory about leaving school. I don't think it's Rory fault, but i think at that point where he feels was rory still loves him and cares about him and his future rather then Lindsay ( i can be totally wrong on this). And after that he starts being around her.
You make a really interesting point that I haven't thought about before. I think your theory makes sense: Rory expressing concern over Dean leaving school could have led Dean to feel that she cares about him and increased his interest in being around her. Like you said, that was not intentional on Rory's part but I could see how he could have interpreted her reaction in that way.
Anyone who doesn’t realize that Rory is the villain in this show is foolish. She is the catalyst for everything bad that happens. The issue is the writers don’t realize this because they write in what they’d do
Hahahaha, thank you! 😄I will make them longer. Now that I've done this video, a 20-minute video feels like a piece of cake. I would like to have hour long video essays eventually, as I enjoy watching those.
@@PensiveWhiskers it's kind of funny that the two shows you love the most are my favorite ones and I love cats too 😅🤣 You have a beautiful voice and I love when you talk about what could have happen after the show ends... so love it!! And thank you!
As someone who never watched that show bc is not my thing and came here completely neutral : - Dean was mostly always doing his max or near max for Rory and she most of the time doing the bare minimum and the rest of the time no effort at all , so if Dean was my friend , I would not want him anywhere near Rory because she cheated and rarely, if ever put the same amount of effort as him, so I would hope Dean finds a girl that puts the same amount of effort as him into the relationship... (and seems to me by the comments that Rory cheating make just another case of hurt people hurt people, so Dean becomes kinda shitty in his next relationships and somewhat with her as well when they rekindle, but again, it's a reaction of something she did) (As well, Dean cheating his then wife was shitty too, but still doesn't change that they are not good together at all) - Jess : Well, a relationship that started out of an affair will never be able to hold a solid trustful foundation , so the relationship doesn't seem like it would last anyways, as well, because it seems like Jess was more an adventure than because she actually liked him for him , hence the constantly trying to shape him... Again I only see that is another boyfriend who is most of the time doing his max and her doing the bare minimum , seems like with Jess she did more often her max than with Dean , but still not as often as Jess did his max for her, it's the typical relationship I would look at it and say it would last max 2 years or 3 pushing really hard , again, they are better off , if both were my friends I would tell both that seems like this relationship will lead to a dead end eventually and that they are more likely to end up hurting each other, so no Jess Thanks. - Logan : It started with the reversed position of her doing the max and him doing the bare minimum until eventually evened out in the end , about the "cheating" I don't know if Logan cheated on her bc it was said on the video "they were on a break" and for me it's not cheating , but, if they weren't then, it is cheating , also Rory cheated in him too, so if both cheated on each other they have to chose either to keep the relationship or not, even though Logan cheated in a way worse way than Rory did , I guess their dynamic was the last toxic for both of them, would I recommend them to get together ? Nope, they either cheated on each other or Logan got cheated on, I would say for both of them to try if they want to, but I don't see that being a life long commitment, but it's up to them. Having to pick one I would say she definitely should be with Logan, they were almost never toxic for each other, besides all the cheating they could actually get along and have a healthy relationship , so I guess I am "Team Logan" if I have to pick one , but if I can say with all honesty : I am team neither ... Rory needs to do a lot of inner work and to find someone who as well done such inner work and make it work together.
This was interesting to read! Thank you for providing an outside perspective. To be fair though, the video doesn't capture all of the scenes so there is information missing.
I always thought that all three of their relationships have a lot to do with the age of the characters and their experience. With Dean, their relationship seems very naive and more build on a vague sense of romantic attraction then shared interest or dreams, which is also why rekindling the relationship later on didn't work out. Jess and Rory are very teenage, they have more in common then Rory and Dean, they like the same books and music and in some way come from a similar background (chaotic teen moms, absent fathers), but they also can't communicate and especially Jess has a lot of emotional baggage. Their relationship was fast, passionate and, for a lack of a better word, angsty. It all seems very YA romance. I personally am team Logan, because I they seem the most compatible and stable, but I think it gets overlooked that they are the only adult relationship on the show. When they met they are still pretty young adults granted, but they aren't super hormonal anymore. They are also at a point in their lives, where a lot of people start choosing their partners more deliberately
I guess most of my videos are not safe for you to watch yet (in terms of spoilers). In some videos, I try to divide the seasons by chapters, but the others are scrambled. I have a video coming up that covers a character that is only in the first 2 seasons. Enjoy the rest of the show!
When people ask if I have a team I answer in a ‘what was my favourite relationship?’ way. but when people ask who I think Rory should have ended up with I always say “None of them” I don’t think Rory met the love of her life by 22 and that’s okay lol. I think they were great dating experience where she could learn about healthy dynamics not taught to her by her mother and could learn about herself. But no, I don’t think she needed to spend the rest of her life with only these 3 options 😂
I don't like Rory. She's a brat. I have more respect for Dean because he showed he cared about her while she's focusing on herself. Her behavior drives me nuts
“when it comes to jess i think rory was a fairly decent girlfriend, there was nothing i wouldnt expect from a 17 year old” this is why i’m team jess. jess taught her how to be in a relationship. i think they were so good for each other tbh. they both learned a lot from each other, they should’ve been end game imo. they actually have the same interests (plus chemistry!!) that i feel she didn’t have in her other relationships
Great video! I think Logan is the best for Rory although I don't actively ship her with any three of these guys(I ship her with Paris lol). I used to ship her with Jess quite a bit when I was younger. I do like both Jess and Logan as characters, and I think them being more fleshed out, who have something to them apart from their relationship with Rory is why people come at Dean harder. I also think Dean sucks but people are too harsh on him at the same time! Like all of his actions have the worst possible interpretation, but Jess gets excused for Kyle's bedroom cause he was sad or whatever.
I agree with your analysis on Dean; I said something similar in another comment -- that Dean wasn't given enough of a characterization or a backstory so it's easier for the audience to defend Jess and Logan but not Dean because they get story arcs that are not related to Rory. Dean did have a storyline with Lindsay but that still tied back to Rory.
I totally agree with another commentor about wanting to know your opinions on AYITL! And of course I love your analyses on the characters and the show.
Hi! Thank you! I started working on the AYITL video but I keep putting it to the side because it's going to be a long one. I have this problem where every time I have a topic that I want to do a really good job with, I start to procrastinate and I do other videos instead (maybe out of fear?). I definitely want to cover AYITL and I hope it won't take me months.
I think it is interesting that the guy she is perhaps best suited to, Logan, is similar to her in privilege, something that she forgets she has due to Lorelai's attempts to give Rory a normal/grounded upbringing. (Although Rory deep down prefers the privileged lifestyle and benefits she experienced at Chiltern etc) It's also interesting that Lorelai rebelled against her privilege and that is part of why she is well suited to Luke, both have built their own small businesses etc
Hi, I think you did an absolutely accurate analysis and I can agree with almost everything. However, I am really astounded about the general phenomenon that started on Tiktok that (mostly) Gen Z crowd analyses every inch of the series and especially there ist a lot of criticism for Rory. You get the impression that we have only perfect, mentally healthy people out there, furthermore in healthy relationships. I think the fact that Rory and Lorelai are not perfect, that they are vulnerable, weak and make a lot of mistakes, makes this such great storywriting. It makes them more human and real in a way. I am not perfect, I did a lot of crap in my life for sure, I have my issues with self-respect, just as Rory, who as a young girl breaks down under the first serious criticism she faces. I mean, I give my best, I try to be a good person and to learn and grow, but I am far from being in an ideal place and probably I never will be. Isn't this the essence of being human? In my opinion the imperfection makes the series' characters so relatable. Also I love the complexity of how the family drama ist presented. While Richard and Emily surely are toxic parents in a lot of ways, the writers succeed in avoiding a black-and-white scheme where the elder Gilmores are just the evil, bad or wrong ones. The viewer experiences Richard's and Emily's emotions, their longings, vulnerability and even trauma (of having lost their daughter emotionally) as much as they are shown Lorelai's and Rory's perspective. I think the series is really iconic and a masterpiece of storytelling. ❤ Greetings from Germany!
Hey! 🙂 I know what you mean, I think there has been a trend of overanalyzing when it comes to the show and specifically criticism of Rory. I try to make my videos a bit balanced so as to not rip a character to shreds. With this one however, the intent was to be biased from the get go since I'm supposed to be taking only one side in the argument (the boys' side). I like the idea of shifting perspectives. I also don't like the idea of perfect characters. I still like Rory as a character because of it. All of the characters on the show are flawed which is why I think this show had such a lasting impact.
I couldn't quite get past all the times it was said that "Rory was a pretty good girlfriend to X this season" when that was almost always qualified by "she cheated on him".
About the revival: I don't why NOBODY gets that Rory doesn't fail professionally. When the revival ends, he's about to publish "Gilmore Girls", that is so obvious is about to be the break through of her carreer, Just as the series was the break through of Amy Palladino's carreer. And the fact that the idea for the book came from Jess, Rory's intelectual soul mate was so sweet. I don't understand why people don't seem to notice that. She's not a failure, she's about to become a successful writer. It's so obvious te me that that was Amy's intended with the hole "gilmore girls" book idea. And the last line: mom, i'm pregnant. Narrative rhyme. Genious.
I feel like Rory is just…very much a self absorbed teenage girl. Not evil, but not the saint the narrative and side characters try to treat her as.
She is a self-absorbed teen, and you're right, it doesn't make her evil, just a flawed teenage girl that has a lot of growing to do. That's why I don't hate the character, I don't support a lot of her decisions but at the same time, who knows, maybe the show wouldn't be as interesting if they made her perfect.
Self-absorbed teen girl and then self-absorbed adult. This show went from a dramedy to a tragedy. Still one of my favorite and what I listen to a podcast about.
She’s an adult for like the last three seasons of the show and the revival. let’s not excuse her disgusting behavior with the “she’s just a kid” argument
@@char4980you are totally right plus rory seems like she never learned her lesson to me
I mean if she wasn't, we wouldn't have anything to watch. Her being literally perfect and getting into Harvard would be kind of boring. We love to critique and analyze her behavior, but if she realized she was emotionally cheating and broke up with Dean lets say in the episode where he is very clingy, and she got together with Jess a whole season earlier, we wouldn't really get the same satisfaction out of her romance with Jess, would we? The whole "will they won't they" wouldn'tt unfold and that's half the fun of season 2-3 :)
I am team Logan. I think he's the best suited to Rory because he idolised her the least out of her boyfriends and saw her for exactly what she was - which was his counterpart in privilege and entitlement as well as her drive. He doesn't idolise her in the same way that Dean and Jess did
Agreed!
That is an interesting take! I haven't heard that rationale being given before but I like it.
I love your analysis., but I’m still kind of on team Jess. To me he was the one who challenged her and helped he get back to school and get back on her feet by writing a book. It’s just their timing was never right for them.
I think he did idolize her to some extent and I would argue that it would be wrong for him not to (if there were romantic potential)
That being said I liked Logan and all of the boys
Wow, I completely missed that Rory faces exactly what her past boyfriends felt during her relationship with Logan. A taste of her own medicine.
It's about dang time someone considers the guys' experience of Rory rather than just what they can do for her. I've always been team 'Rory-sort-yourself-out-and-leave-the-guys-alone'. Nice work.
Thank you! I understand why the focus is usually on who the best guy is (because we are following Rory) but if Dean/Jess/Logan were the main characters, I wonder if the fandom would root for Rory.
@@PensiveWhiskers I really don't think they would, considering we don't really exactly root for her in the end in her version of the story either. So if she really was glossing over all her imperfections and mistakes her version, and yet we still saw her for what she was, I think we'd just dislike her more in the unfiltered version. However, she really did treat Logan the best, but it seems karma caught up to her anyway. I also think we'd hate some of the other side characters less, too if we got to see their growth more.
I was looking for this video as well. Rory was a selfish as fuck. I love that Jess realized he was too good for her
@@StewNWTthis. Jess was obviously the best choice, but she doesn’t deserve him
I mean...most of the guys needed to sort themselves out too
I’ve always felt that Rory and Logan’s relationship was by far the least toxic (although still somewhat toxic). This is for a multitude of reasons (especially the fact that they were both adults), but i think one of the main reasons was that logan felt secure in their relationship. dean and jess both seemed to feel inferior to rory, they idolized her and felt like they weren’t good enough to be with someone like her. this insecurity showed in different ways. dean responded to it by being extremely clingy and overbearing while jess would ghost and ignore her whenever he felt insecure.
100%
@holly5699 that's part of the appeal of Jess/Rory in the end though too. Many Rory/Jess shippers do not deny the toxicity and issues in their s2 & s3 interactions and brief actual time dating but Jess grows and matures into someone worthy of Rory indeed and many Rory haters will argue she's no longer good enough for him but that's a different conversation. I think Rory herself doesn't feel good enough for Logan at times but I don't think she ever acted that way with Jess. It's just interesting if you consider Rory/Jess shippers as in for the long run. As in for the s6 version of Jess (and if you'd like the revival).
Okay but Logan literally proposed and Rory said no 😭
Then a few years later after Logan got ENGAGED, Rory started an AFFAIR with him
Not very healthy to me 🤷♀️
She's the only one toxic
@@yukipotato4767he was still the best, remember what happened at the party w Jess?
I don't understand the " Dean shouldn't have broken up with Rory in public" argument. She's been literally humiliating him by flirting with Jess, which was also in public by the way... So what should he have done?
I don't think that someone treating you badly is an excuse to treat someone badly back. It's an opportunity to rise above and lead by example. So there is a lot he could've done. He could have pulled her aside, walked away, saved it for another time etc if her response to any of his options was to make it public that would be on her at that point. To be clear I'm not defending Rory. I Just that I don't think humiliating anyone is ever okay.
@@samanthas8340 rising above sounds good in theory but I wouldn't expect this level of awareness and wisdom from a what he was? 16? So he behaved just like a normal teenager would do. To my mind, he even did it adequately and shouldn't have done it another way, cause his first priority was defending his dignity, which was being undermined by Rory. So, Dean (as any other human being) shouldn't sacrifice himself just to avoid some awkwarness and inconvenience the other person(his abuser) might feel. And, as you suggest, if he saved it for another time, then he probably couldn't break up with her at all, as he wanted this relationship to last so much that he could just turn a blind eye to these things Rory did.
@@samanthas8340 sorry but if my boyfriend was openly flirting and hanging around another girl in front of me, im not gonna sit idly and wait for a good moment to break up with him
She was even doing it at the time Dean broke up with her!! She was making a scene!! Because she was jealous of Jess and Shane WHILE DANCING WITH DEAN!! Off course it was ok for him to break up in public.
@@samanthas8340 I don't think an "opportunity" to be the bigger person translates as an obligation of being the bigger person; she was dancing with him while making a scene to another guy... she deserved it.
I personally always felt really bad for Dean since he was a super sweet and dedicated boyfriend until Rory cheated on him. THAT breaking of trust was what ended up making him crazy. He was literally traumatized. He married a girl that he had only been dating for a few months because he was terrified of being betrayed/abandoned again. And although I can’t excuse his behavior in the later seasons when they got back together, Rory continued to be really not good for him. I have so much respect for the way that the writers managed to show flaws and trauma in believable (if not occasionally extremely frustrating) ways
I feel bad for Dean because Amy Sherman hates him and destroyed his character for the benefit of Rory's arc; he was smart, funny, secure, polite... by the time Rory's done with him, Dean's this shell of a guy, bitter because Rory's not with him... whaaat? I actually think the only thing i enjoyed about the revival was that Dean got his life back together, found someone else and moved out of that toxic town. Also, i hope Rory gets back together with Logan 'cause, after the revival, both Paul and Jess are way too good for her.
I don’t think THAT’s why he married Lindsey, he announced the engagement right after the fight with Jess at the house party. Lindsey probably gave him an ultimatum and he proposed. You’re right about the repercussions of Rory’s cheating on Dean, but I don’t think he ever wanted to marry her, he only did it to save their relationship when she forced his hand.
Yes ....I will always be team Dean lol....like it's not fair how they changed him
@@THINGSANDTHOUGHTSbyBIGSIS It was so satisfying to FINALLY see a man who had gotten over a Gilmore girl
Rory was horrible to him. The lies, the gaslighting, the manipulation, the cheating...people crucified Dean for cheating on Lindsey (which was wrong) but forget how awful Rory was with him
i rewatch this show now and honestly, i'm amazed at how horrible Rory treated Dean. She literally kissed Tristan the night after Dean told her he loved her and started dating Jess a couple of weeks after Dean gifted her a car. No wonder he turned into obsessive stalker. I'm glad they give him a closure and a happy life in the mini-series, he deserved it
Rory 100% led Jess on in Philly! She even says she intended to cheat on Logan but ultimately couldn't. Jess tells her he doesn't deserve to be treated like that.
The king of self respect!!!!
THIS Y WE LOVE JESS
I’m team season 1 Dean and post-Rory Jess, because the Dean we got for the rest of the series is the sad clone they replaced him with after they assassinated his character 😭
S1 Dean was charming, a reader, and a movie buff who could keep up with Rory. They had to dumb him down to make Jess seem smarter bc “oh Jess reads!” but so did Dean? that’s why he was interested in Rory in the first place, he saw her reading and would ask her about her books. he even recommended her a few. degrading one character to make another look better isn’t that impressive writing-wise, especially since Jess’s intelligence never came up after he got with Rory. Jess developed into a great character, but he was more fun as a friend than a love interest.
instead of Jess being attractive because he’s ‘smarter’, he should have genuinely just been Rory’s friend. Dean is still smart, but emotionally immature, and they break up because he was too jealous and possessive. S1 Dean could be rash too( aka the “I love you” breakup) so I think it would have been believable and less frustrating. Plus, it would’ve created an opportunity for Jess supporting Rory post-breakup, which probably would have been adorable. they could have still gotten together, they just dragged us through a poorly written love triangle to get there and massacred my boy ☹️
I like your alternate ending, I think it would have been more consistent to Dean's character.
I loved Dean the first season but they made him way too perfect at first. He read, he could fix things, fine as hell, gentle, and obsessed with her. Dude built her a car! So then they had to dumb him down and make him seem like a failure to make it make some kind of sense she would choose someone else over him or not end up with him. They should have worked in more obvious flaws throughout or have him be the one to start losing interest or them mutually grow apart as happens with first love.
@@mamimelusine If they'd planned it well, I think they could have used that as a flaw itself! Dean constantly worshiping her reminds me of people who fall in love with love (aka me lol) and idealize their partner to the point they don't actually know them. I'm not sure if this what the writers were trying to do by making Jess seem smarter, implying Jess understood her more? If they were, they didn't do a great job of it.
I agree they should have showed Dean losing interest. Since he was the one who pursued her in the first place and expected true love, him breaking up with her after she didn't say "I love you" back should have been the start of him realizing Rory isn't the perfect angel he thought, she's just a person. They didn't have to make him stupider to justify them breaking up, sometimes its just not a good match! The show had all the pieces, but it could have been done much better.
literally, dean was such an intelligent and nice guy, but they made him into a cheating manipulator who suddenly didn't read as much as jess or didn't get rory's book references. he became so possessive and jess just egged him on
I love this idea very much because its works with all the characters way better than canon.
I’m going to be real… as much as the show does frame Jess and later Dean as not being good enough for Rory… they’re actually too good for her. Logan is really the only good match for her in background and personality. I’m not team Logan, but I’m also not Team Rory. I’m honestly Team Moving On because all these men can’t seem to move on from her very well… also she has cheated on everyone she’s dated except Jess, and I honestly think that part of why she didn’t cheat on Jess was because he didn’t stick around long enough… but she did use Jess to cheat which is also a pretty bad way to start their relationship… Rory was honestly a pretty bad girlfriend to all of them, and way to much work for the only real reward of having a special Main Character Girlfriend
Your "Team Moving On" comment made me laugh out loud. I am on Team Moving On with you. I do wish that the show would have allowed these men to move on. The only one who does is Dean in the revival.
@@PensiveWhiskers I think Dean was only able to get over Rory because he had is obsession and backslide so early in his life that he could grow from and have the perspective that the whole experience was because he was so young. For Jess and Logan, she will forever be the one the got away. That's also how they frame Marty, and she never even dated Marty!
Uhhhh no Dean was a controlling insecure shithead. Placing your partner on a pedestal and being possessive is NOT a sign of healthy love. Jess was also an insecure shithead and was not ready to open up and be vulnerable which caused Rory a lot of hurt and eventually led to their breakup.
Logan is very secure, doesn't fawn over Rory but he does respect her. I actually think Logan is the only one to really be smarter than Rory and all the problems that do occur are the result of Rory who can't really handle not constantly having the upper hand in a relationship. Only when Rory gets over her own insecurities is she able to be a better girlfriend. People blame Logan for not getting Rory to go back to Yale but he is the ONLY ONE who truly respects Rory's agency to make her own decisions. Logan is by far the most emotionally mature and equal partner to Rory. Rory was a dumbass to not marry him because Logan would've absolutely let her have her own career, it was only the rest of Logan's family who thought that wouldn't be possible I think
@@FemkevanDrooge Sure, all of this is true. But my comment was less about the boys/men and more about Rory herself. The way the show frames her as Very Special and Impossible to Get Over is very weird to me, particularly as she is a serial cheater.
@@OcyTaviAh Okay yes that is ALSO very true
Rory was somewhat of a decent girlfriend to Logan, but that went all out the window during the revival. Her problem is that she gets very possessive over her exes. When she had an affair with Dean she excised it as “my Dean.” Flash forward to the revival she had a full on affair with Logan even though he’s engaged and she’s with someone else all because she was with Logan first. She never takes responsibility for her actions. It drove me crazy! 😊
You're right; it's not great and there is no accountability. I guess we have to appreciate that at least the show was being consistent with her character.
That's messed up. She has no respect for other women and her ex's feelings. Yikes
That’s true even during the revival when he’s like yeah I come to London but you’re gonna have to stay and I’ll tell him she’s like oh cause your fiancé is there and ask all disappointed and it’s like you have no right to be upset. You know he has a fiancé you shouldn’t be doing this in the first place but since you are complications, cannot make you upset.
That's so true for Rory. Rory has a sort of superiority complex. She thinks she's better than other girls and she wants other people (including guys) to just adore her. That's why she couldn't handle it when Logan's dad told her she's not it. She's like the least resilient person I've seen on screen. I think that even though she has this idea of the kind of person she wants to be she doesn't have a healthy sense of self and regulates on the approval of people around her. Which also explains why she's so non-confrontational.
@@prachi2612 my favorite part about what Logan’s dad said is that he was right. Her entire life is in shambles in the revival and she’s not a journalist like she thought. Working on Obama campaign did nothing for her. And somehow she’s still entitled and expects to get hired for jobs without interviewing
Rory treated all of her boyfriends similarly to the way Loreali did even Luke, disposable and she could just pick them up whenever she wanted.
yess i feel so bad for dean luke and jess but logan is js an a-hole tbh
Hmmm Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree :(
Could you do this with Lorelia and her boyfriends?
omg yes, love this idea
yes! This would be great. There's always so much discourse about Rory's relationships but not nearly as much discussion about Lorelai and her guys.
This would be great!
I definitely got annoyed by Lorelai's actions throughout the series and Rory learned so much bad behaviour especially about relationships from her mom. And those parallels were always shown in the series. I got so mad especially when she was still in love with Luke, she got married to Christopher 😑😩
27:15 I doubt Jess ever asked a single thing of Rory. He didn’t have any other friends in Stars Hollow, so there were no social events to drag her to. He was a bit of a lone wolf with an independent streak. He worked at Walmart instead of taking a loan. And if he wasn’t with Rory, he usually seemed to be reading or working.
i mean, the only thing he asked was that if they could leave the party early and even rory could not do that
@@sof5611wait thats so true
I think Loagn is the best for Rory, even if he is not my favorite of the boys. Dean matched Rory morally, but he was not a match for her intellectually. Jess matched Rory intellectually, but not socially. Logan matched Rory morally, socially, and intellectually. Rory needs someone who matches her so that they challenge her to be their equal, if she thinks (subconciously) that she has something her partner doesn't, she will likely disrespect them and that's when it seems she walks all over them. Because her and Logan are on such equal footing, they develop a mutual partnership.
I like how you wrote out the dynamic between Rory and the 3 guys, that's a really good description.
´Dean was not a match for her intellectually’
Because she rambled about the books she had the luxury of time to read yet couldn’t come up with a story to write about beside her own and mother’s even though her mother wasn’t ok with it ?
Snobby ? Yeah. Intellectual ? Meh.
@@emmaunderbluesky7511 IKR ??? She is just bookish & has no real life skills. Everybody in the show was more talented / skilled / intellectual/hard working than her. Jess wrote a novel at a young age without even going to pretigious school like Yale, Dean worked for Dooses while he was 16 & wanted to work hard to save up for townhouse. Lane found her passion for drumming & despite her strict Korean mom managed to create a small successful band. Paris got accepted to a 1000 grad schools ended up a doctor. What did Rory do other than reading fat novels at 15 & cheating with her bfs & acting like a saint. The more I watch video essays I feel like punching Rory for being a-hole.
The reason she bent over backwards for Logan is because they are rich. She's just exact opposite of her mother Lorelai, she loves the rich toxic hateful loose moralled people like Emily & Richard
@@emmaunderbluesky7511oh yeah definitely, consuming 'intellectual stuff' (who decides what is intellectual? But that's another discussion) doesnt make you 'intellectual'. It's just some kind of show-off and used for ego push. Producing something intellectual is what may make so. 'intellectual'. But Rory was just driven by her emotions and had nobody tell/show her how to work on herself. She was living in her bubble (like most of us) I'm 29 and just realizing some stuff, so I dont blame her 😅
Did you see the things Dean read in S1? That dude was intellectual af, but dude worked part time, played softball, took care of his sister and went to school. He is far more intellectual and successful than Rory will ever be. They literally met because he was also interested in her books
I’m one of the few Dean fans. It’s not that I don’t like the other guys, but I feel like Deans faults are overblown (or even invented aka the way Jess is a “reader” and therefore better for Rory, even though he’s a reader too in season one. Just not as much). But then I see Jess or Logan acting like a jerk, and people don’t acknowledge it the way they do Dean.
I like your comment very much because - while teen me adored Jess, now I feel for Dean. That guy is hated more online than Voldemort honestly. His character was murdered. He is always what the plot needs him to be, never got a clear direction. He starts out as a fairly intelligent guy, who generally gets Rory's refrences, reads for her, who does the work with family, and friends. Then he suddenly is the small town idiot dispite coming from a city originally, just so we see how Jess is better. And then by S5 he is somebody I want to hit. Poor guy, deserved better.
But great vid after all :)
How does Dean deserve better when he cheated on his wife. He had anger issues and was very controlling. Always mad at Rory for something stupid never really let Rory explain things without blowing up at her. Rory always had to ask are you mad everytime she ask him something. @@dianaszuts398
They are all jerks but to me dean is the worst because to me he has to most red flags of an abuser. His actions mostly weren’t outwardly abusive, but he seems the type of man to lean more and more into this abusive tendencies as he gets older. Like we see with Lindsay. This is just my perception of him.
I like Dean too. Especially in the beginning episodes he was kinda adorable.
Ya he's a little problematic especially in the later seasons 4 and 5 lol.
But I very much liked him at first.
And ya I don't not like the others but Dean gets dragged so hard
This doesn't really address your comment but for me, the biggest problem when it comes to Dean is how the character was used as a plot device. The show gave Jess and Logan more characterization and a fuller backstory. It didn't seem like the show was interested in developing Dean as a character. It's possible that people forgive Jess' and Logan's actions because the show gives the audience a backstory which explains their actions. The show writers didn't care to give Dean a backstory or explanations. His character was also changed over time.
Only 11 mins in but regarding Rory’s lack of remorse: that’s definitely in her character. She wasn’t a good friend to Lane and was quick to drop her as soon as she got a bf. Their friendship was already in shambles when Rory started going to Chilton, only it’s hard to notice because as OP says, we see the story through Rory’s gaze.
That seems like a stretch to me. In what ways does Rory fail Lane as a friend or act like a bad friend? There are many instances of her being a good friend to her.
@@VioletEmerald pensive whiskers does a video about this called: Rory‘s relationship with Lane (a conversation). The video addresses a lot of my thoughts but ultimately argues against my beliefs and recognizes more of the positive aspects of their friendship, but all the negative things addresses are what hit home for me
I don’t blame Dean for getting jealous because imagine your partner is hanging out with someone who you know is interested in them and then knowing that they’re interested too, him cheating on Lindsay but let’s not forget his behavior when Rory didn’t say I love you to him (I would have left him).
It’s funny that Jess is paranoid when Rory hangs out with Dean (he deserves it) because he knows that Rory is willing to cheat but Jess was too emotionally immature and needed to work things out on his own but doesn’t excuse his behavior or the way he treated people
Logan also cheated on Rory but I feel like he called her out the most and her self righteous attitude that oh I’m not privileged even though I went to a boarding school and an Ivy League school
And Rory had issues herself and I wish that Lane or someone called her out in being a home wrecker she hates it when she gets cheated on but it’s okay when she does the cheating cause they were her boyfriend first? Like child grow up.
Also to add Rory loves living in the past she can’t move on from it for example cheating with Dean and cheating with Logan due to nostalgia.
Rory was being a typical terms get who likes someone else. It happens I work at a high school and I see this stuff all the time. Plus Dean anger gets him all the time. I wish Lorelai would just here him yell at Rory one time she wouldn't like it.
I just don’t understand team Jess. Their relationship was terrible and then when Jess finally matured, Rory became a mess. I always felt that they were never on the same page and that they are best as friends. And by the time the revival came around, Jess became too good for Rory.
With Logan it’s totally different. For me it always felt like they suit each other best. They’ve had a mostly mature relationship and are on the same wavelength.
This!
I feel like with Jess. It was really right person wrong time because the timing never matched up properly. I think the best time would’ve been in college when he kissed her but she was still with Logan if she hadn’t have been with Logan I feel like they were closer to the same page at that time because she was back at school. Thanks to him so she was getting her life together. He had his life together and they got it my shop. Well I think they would’ve been better is teenagers if they had clear communication but the communication was really not good.
I disagree completely. Their relationship is fine, they have only like 3 episodes where they are fighting (Dean and Logan have a lot more) and they have literally no relationship problems. While Rory is not compatible with Dean IMHO and she is with Jess and Logan, there is a fundamental difference between Jess and Logan, namely that Rory's relationship problems with Jess come from him lacking communication skill due to still being a kid, while her problems with Logan arise from him just being an ass and manipulative. He has many inherent character flaws due to him growing up insanely rich, esp. the gambling after losing millions of dollars gave me the ick. In many scenes, Rory felt like a trophy wife to me when she was with him. She was often uncomfortable around his acquaintances and their relationship felt just cold to me
@@fynnfish I think she had a good relationship with Logan but he was a jerk a lot of the time and she didn’t turn into an entitled baby and that got even worse because she can’t handle rejection either so an entitlement and not being able to handle. Rejection is not a good combo, but you are so right about Jess I was talking to my cousin yesterday and it was my first time meeting her but she was a Gilmore girls fan so we were talking about it and I asked her about her thoughts on Dean. We both don’t like Dean. She asked me about Logan and I said that I was a C but we both said we like stress the most and it was like a right person wrong time thing because you’re right they’re only problems were with their communication skills, and like when they were adults especially in a year in the life like he’s the reason she went back to college because he yelled at her and was like what are you doing? This is not who you are and he is the reason that she wrote a book that she started getting her life together because her life was in shambles, he was also still in love with her at that point and I think if they had gotten back together at that time it would’ve worked but I also think that she is not good enough for him because Rory is not a good person I don’t think there’s anything I can do to defend her. She’s just not a good person so he deserves better than her.
@@oliviapedersen8309 In the Year jn the Life she def wasn't a good person but recently rewatching the show i felt like she wasn't a overall bad person, she just does a handful of shitty things, which feels a lot after her being such a angle as a child. Of couse the whole cheating with Dean thing and how she treated her mother for months after the Yacht incident (that was so out of character....) she showed zero accountability in both instances. And also, I disagree with the video here that she kind of went along with Jess' kiss in season 6. She says "I can't even cheat on (Logan) the way he cheated on me" making it full on sound like she went to Philly for the PURPOSE of cheating, which is pretty wild. She also full on lied to her mother that nothing happened in Philly and never told Logan which annoys me because that is such a big betrayal???? Also now after I watched the last third of the video I have to add, the creator mentions several times that Rory is a good girlfriend by accommodating Logan and this doesn't sit right with me because to me it often felt like she had to endure things that were not ok, that she didn't stand up for herself in important situations (she did tell him he was a jerk twice which was good of her) but still I think she became smaller with him instead of growing, she didn't compromise but just gave in or gave up or didn't speak up and that didn't sit right with me
Rory was always quick to recognize privilege in others but never herself.
I am team Jess because he is my favourite by far, but in terms of who is better suited with Rory it's probably Logan
I don’t think Rory is mature in her behavior with Logan. I think she’s insecure. She people pleases Logan and changes who she is to be Logan’s girlfriend. Of course she falls in love with the one who is emotionally distant with her. Her daddy issues really come out with Logan. It’s why she can’t let go of the relationship 15 years later. She wants to prove to herself that she’s good enough to be loved by him and every time he pulls away it just hooks her into the relationship more.
Yeah I agree! That's why her being with Logan bothered me a lot of the time
How did she change herself? Logan knew her and loved the things about her that made her who she is. And since when was a Logan emotionally distant? You mean when they weren’t together and she proposed that she is fine being casual? Then when she changed her mind and he made the decision to be her boyfriend took care of her and was there for her constantly?
I personally think Jess was always more willing to understand and trust Rory than vice versa. He didn't want her to go with Dean at the stars hollow fair because he didn't trust Dean. He even confronts Dean and tells him that he knows what he was doing, and Dean confirms it. In most cases one partner can trust the other to not cheat, but I think Rory would have been influenced without Jess there.
It may be an unpopular opinion, but I think even young Jess deserved to be with someone who actually trusted him. He may have been a jerk to everyone else, but he never gave her a reason not to trust him. He had a lot of growing up to do, but she was the only one who was allowed to see his soft side, and his potential. Maybe if she had trusted him, then he would have felt safe enough to open up more.
didn’t he even make a point to officially break up with Shane before letting anything happen with Rory? I respect that so much
@@2sakiss Yes. That is not the action of a bad guy. He even kept the secret about their first kiss because Rory asked him too.
That breaks my heart 😢 I love Jess
And agreed
He didn't trust Dean because he was scared Dean would do exactly what Jess did when Dean and Rory were in a relationship: ruin it. Jess was a loser for trying to get with Rory when she was in a relationship, and Rory was a loser and a cheater for allowing it.
@@EvySversaI'm looking at it all objectively. Jess was wrong for pursuing her, and Rory was a cheater for her behavior as well. I have a better understanding of Jess though. He was immature, and he was faced with new feelings. It may not have been spoken but I believe 100% that this love was his first love. He had never seen a healthy relationship to know what to do, or not do. I remember when I fell that hard for someone. I wasn't thinking clearly. There's a lot I would do differently after the fact.
I will give him credit for breaking up with Shane, and not cheating on her. It shows he thinks about other people, and he has morals.
I'm team Jess, because I think he's the only one she really respects. She doesn't respect Dean because she thinks she's smarter than him, she despises that he didn't go to college.
Shee doesn't respect Logan because she doesn't think she's as spoiled as he is, at least he confronts her about that at one point. She never looks down on Jess's life choices because he is the only one she respects as an equal.
I don't know - she does when he dropped out of high school or got with Shane
@@StrawberryK11When he was with Shane she judged Shane but she didn't seem to judge Jess for it. She seemed very jealous and insecure about it instead. But yes when he was dropping out of high school or at least skipping school I think she might've had big feelings about that but we don't fully see her feeling like she was better than him. She knew he was smart enough to graduate. She told him in the car when she was meant to be tutoring him that night that he could do more. That was her respecting him as a person and she maybe didn't understand his choices but she found it confusing or even intriguing. She wasn't looking down on him for the choices most of the time. She just wanted to understand.
Growing up I fell for all the guys just as Rory did but I find it disturbing to see Dean's behaviour as an adult, his anger borders on abusive and I think he could have ended up getting violent. I also don't think it is an accident that Lorelei is never around for his outbursts.
Jess was troubled but he communicated with Rory in a more mature way than she did with him.
Logan always felt like a temptation for Rory to take the easy road, using her money and privilege as a cushion. I hated that he asked her to marry him without having a conversation about it first and basically making it an ultimatum.
I personally feel Rory was the most herself with Jess and he challenges her without steering her off course, he is also correct in pointing her towards being a writer rather than a journalist in A Year In The Life. We rarely ever see her read the paper or show real interest in current events she is mainly consuming literature.
While I agree Dean was overly aggressive it is also true that teenagers are just overly emotional. Also If Rory had the outburst Dean had no one would be questioning if she could be abusive or not.
All good points, although you forgot to mention that Jess sexually assaulted her and made her think it was her fault.
@@Tilleyforever44 I didn't forget but I honestly think that both that and Dean's anger is an example of ASP not seeing that she was making her character's problematic. But with Dean it is a consistent character trait and where with Jess it was a one off so I found Dean's anger more relevant.
Obviously not true for real life.
@@FellDownTheCornHole I don't understand the last sentence. Can you elaborate?
@@LauraSomeNumber if Rory had acted the way Dean was no one would be saying it was signs of her possibly being abusive in the future. I don’t know if there’s any other way to explain it simpler than that.
I think we tend to forgot she was a young teenager having her first experiences with love, heart breaks etc. At this age, most of us were sometimes selfish, sometimes wrong, sometimes not acting in the best way. It's part of growing up and getting experience. None of us can say they were perfect right away. With Dean and Jess she had never broken up with someone before. She didn't want to admit it was over and she liked Jess. She wasn't ready to do the mature and grown up thing of breaking the heart of someone you still care for. She dragged it out and was very immature about it. But to me, that's very realistic. Breaking up with your first love, realising that you fell out of love but you have nothing really bad against the person is so hard and you sometimes make wrong choices to avoid dealing with it. For me that was a good representation of how a good person can sometimes act wrongly, not making her a bad teenager but just.. a regular teenager. The problem is that she doesn't learn from her mistakes and doesn't grow, she continues to be selfish and continues to prioritize her needs over and over
About the article: we don't really know what she wrote.
But i think it fits with Rory's writing on a whole: everything we hear about her writing feels like she is very good at the craft of writing, witty, well flowing, good research, delievering what is asked....BUT: she doesn't have a strong opinion about anything...
She kinda likes the egalitarian view, but also supports the snobbish views, and whenever she is confronted about a thing she wrote she crumbles.
Which is why i think Mitchum was an ass, as his feedback was not constructive, but he is not wrong.
A journalist gets attacked when he makes a stand. So you should have a conviction to back it up
Rory...doesn't.
Great video! I would like to mention that the reason Rory is jealous of Bobby is because Logan never mentioned to her that Bobby is a woman, and so Rory feels distrusting towards Logan because he is spending time with a beautiful woman and thinks highly of her, while not being open about it Rory.
I love Jess' character, so I always want Rory to end up with him, but this video helped me see how Rory and Logan's relationship help Rory mature or at least be on the other side like Dean and Jess, and that was an interesting parallel.
Rory does need to become a better communicator, but most of all she needs to become a more self-aware person who is less of a people pleaser.
The guys need to be a better communicator too not just Rory. The behavior is something else and everyone is ongoing that and blaming Rory for everything.
I feel like people pleaser is not the right word for Rory. Watching it as an adult really gives her entitled vibes. Like she can do whatever she wants and still feels entitled to be loved. Funnily it isn't even her fault, cause her parents, grandparents and her whole town is encouraging her behavior.
Excuse me. An over 40 minute video?! What did we do to deserve this 🥺🥺 thank you for putting your time into this videos! ❤ tbh Rory just seems like the girl that’s IMPOSSIBLE to please but I always loved Jess!
Hahahahaha, thank you for saying that ☺. I have so much more appreciation now for people who do 1 hour + videos. I'll be going back to my small topics and shorter videos for now.
"Who's right for Rory" well, I didnt realize this then, but if GG had happened in a different time the answer would obviously be Paris
Hahahaha, I support this idea. What's their couple name, Pory?
Honestly, agreed.
Yeah, I always secretly hoped that this would happen. Although I would be worried about Paris, because she could then have done a lot better..
I have always shipped them bro, they literally kissed. Yeah Paris did it for “attention” but did she really?…
I think this is the first video on the subject that I've seen where no one is cast as a villain - their actions and choices are presented as objectively as possible while taking account of the fact that all of them (including Rory herself) are teenagers or very young adults still sorting their heads out and making mistakes as they do it, meanwhile so many people seem to be after one or other character expecting them to act like perfectly mature and self-aware adults, and when they fail to live up to that, their minute actions are read as a sign of possible abusive tendencies and other horrific things.
exactly! it frustrates me when people judge the actions of 20 year olds saying they're full grown adults. like yes technically they are adults but 20 is so young!! they're allowed to make mistakes. that being said it obviously doesn't excuse all their actions (like stealing a bloody yacht!)... but like cut them some slack lol
Thank you! I really tried. Naturally, I have my own biases which come out in my opinions but I agree with everything you said; they are all teenagers or in their early 20's and it is kind of to be expected that they will make stupid mistakes and act immature.
Please don’t apologize for your hard work! It’s us who should thank you for an insightful take on a show that has already been talked about by everyone and their mother. Loved it :)
I really appreciate you bringing up her privilege. It's not like she's a terrible person, but I wish the show would have had her confronting this more.
Also, I hope you do some more Buffy essays.
I will definitely do more Buffy videos. 🙂I kind of put more pressure on myself when it comes to talking about Buffy, but as I improve in my quality, I will make more and more Buffy videos.
Tbh, with regards to Dean, the show was on his side more so than Rory. She is criticised by Lorelai repeatedly, and she herself takes blame after the dance for messing with his head. When she’s stressed about the car or the bracelet and how angry he could get, Lorelai does not find her fear at all problematic, and instead considers his rage justified and just wants Rory to make it right
i have not seen a single episode of this show nor do i intend to. this was a great watch
Thank you! My favorite thing is when someone hasn't seen a show but wants to watch a video on it anyway. I do the same thing. I only cover a small portion of all that happens so the video doesn't cover the full picture. This video in particular is very skewed since I only covered one side of the story. I appreciate you watching. 🙂
😢 it is a lovely show tho
I like Logan and Rory's relationship. She had the freedom to grow with him because he let her do her thing. But I'm still all for Jess. He was the only one who knew how to speak to her and make her think. He challenged her in a way no other boy would. They just never found their moment, and maybe that was the point. I wish they had done Year in the Life differently, I was looking forward to seeing how their relationship would've grown over the years. I saw them as always keeping in contact with each other. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but in a close friendship way. Especially because Luke and Lorelei were together, they would've seen each other over the years. It just would've happened, even if it was once a year around a holiday or something. I didn't like how they stunted, not only Rory, but Lorelei too. They didn't grow at all! Not an ounce. People naturally change over the years. It's just what happens. And I felt that Rory almost grew down instead of up when it came to relationships was just weird to me. They made it like she never actually learned anything about being in a relationship.
But that's a topic for another moment.
Out of all the characters in Gilmore Girls Jess showed the most character growth. Jess was introduced as a troubled teen with potential. He made mistakes, but he worked very hard and became successful on his own without any help. Jess also became emotionally mature.
As you mentioned, Jess challenged Rori more than the other guys. He challenged Rori with her choice of career, books, and life choices. Jess also didn't allow Rori to take advantage of his interest in Rori and his insecurities.
Rory’s world was bigger than Dean and Jess’ when she dated them and Logan’s world was always bigger than Rory’s, both because of his family being richer than her grandparents and him being older than her.
Exactly this!! The fact that Logan was older than Rory definitely played a part in their dynamic.
This was a good watch. I never actually finished the series, so there were lots of things i was unaware of before. I always saw Dean as doing so many correct things very early on. After learning what happens after they break up, it really just strikes me as a guy who gave something his all, and it crashed and burned for him, and he never fully recovered from it. I see his cheating as an end result of him never actually recovering or coping with the way he was treated in the first place.
I loved Dean the best, he was the most stable and loving boyfriend for her imo.
They never would have lasted, they're too different
this video was a masterpiece and must have been a beast to edit. Thank you
Thank you! 🙂It did take longer than my other videos, but it also strangely made me more efficient while editing. Since I knew how much I had to do, I worked much faster. Reminds me of Parkinson's Law (work expands to fill the time available for its completion).
I love how you analyze everything and all your details. You don’t just fill in gaps, you make it a conversation and fill it for the ppl who I don’t have to talk to about this show 😂❤ I feel validated and like I’m listening to a friend converse with me
Oh wow, thank you! I am doing this to have a conversation with people so the fact that you feel that way is very reassuring for me. I definitely want people to feel like I am proposing a discussion rather than just sharing an opinion.
Writing this before watching the full video.
This is hard because Logan and Jess are both team Rory, but in different stages of their and her life.
Younger Jess had so much sh**t he had to work out before he was mature enough to be a good romantic partner. But when he did reach that spot and found himself and a potential career, he did visit and support her and want the best for her and we see that in the revival.
You won me over on Logan. Filled in a lot of the gaps that I forgot. Logan sees both the good and bad sides of her which is why they work. They find out everything about each other, their flaws, their interests, and passions. They can fight, but come back together again even if they have to separate for a while. That seems to be a mature and healthy relationship. But they do need to fix their stuff first before being end game.
While I am future team jess, I am fine if she picks wither him or Logan, but in the right way. Meaning not through an affair.
Edit: you and Serena Skybourne filled in some gaps.
I like Serena's videos too, she breaks down her thoughts really well. I wasn't intending to change anyone's view on Logan (I don't think I have a fully formed opinion on this character), but it's awesome that you have a new perspective!
She really was the ✨ princess✨ of Star's Hollow.
You know, I really appreciate you doing this because I’ve tried for a long time to see from the guys’ point of view but I always get so caught up in the show that it’s hard to be objective. I especially liked you pointing out some of the foils between Logan and Rory (some of which I caught, some of which were completely new to me and tbh I don’t know how I didn’t notice before). I think after this I’ve formed a new conclusion: Jess is my favorite PERSON out of the 3 boyfriends, but Logan and Rory deserve each other
I like that conclusion!
I think the three boys helped Rory to grow up
Dean was so sweet with Rory and loved her with all his heart, he was her first love and they learned together how to be in a relationship, he was always there for her when she needed him and, honestly, I felt so bad for him because of the way Rory treated him. She knew since season 2 that he they weren’t meant to be, when Jess mentions the things he sees to think that they aren’t compatible, she just sticks with him because se likes to have him, and even when they broke up she still acts like she deserves some type of loyalty from him. She made him go mad because she kept playing with him while cheating him.
I always loved Jess, I don’t excuse him for all the wrong thing he did, he was a jerk, especially in the beginning, but I can understand him, he didn’t felt loved by his mother and that affected all his relationships, he made it difficult for Luke to love him but step by step they ended up with a solid relationship. I remember one scene with him a Lorelai, when she offers him chinese food, at first he rejected it and acted cold but after a few seconds he saw that Lorelai was being genuine with her kindness and the he softened a little. We have to remember that they were 17 years old kids. The reason why I love him and I think he gave a lot to Rory’s development is that he always told her when he thought that she was doing something wrong, he wanted the best for her and at the end that’s why he left, and even after that he had no problem pointing out Rory’s wrong decisions when the met again.
I don’t remember a lot about Logan, I think that he also really loved Rory, he was different from her previous boyfriends, he came from a rich background and introduced her more in that world. I didn’t feel comfortable with Rory’s actions and how she let that world to absorb her but I understand that it was something meant to happen, her grandparents were from the high society, she wasn’t living with her mother (who always tried to teach her have her feet on earth), and was dating a rich boy at university. At the end what stopped them from being together was that Logan wanted compromise and Rory wasn’t ready, the problem is that she also didn’t let him fully compromise with other person and they didn’t knew how to let go their relationship.
In A Year in Life Rory treated her boyfriend terribly not even remembering his name, and was cheating him with Logan, who was also about to marry. I think they wanted to end with a beginning of a story that we just saw. Rory’s gonna have her baby alone with Lorelai’s and Luke’s help, Logan’s gonna be to her and her baby Like Chris was for her and her mother and maybe, she learns how to be an emotionally responsible adult and finds love. My theory is that Jess is always going to be there, just like Luke for Lorelai. And for Dean, I really hope for him to live a happy live full of love.
I like how kind you are in your comment. I also think that all of the love interests were good for the purpose of helping Rory grow. I don't dislike any of the guys she was with (although I do judge some a lot of their actions harshly, there's not enough there for me to hate them). I think all of the boys genuinely liked her and wanted the best for her, even if they didn't always go about it in the best way. I would have wanted Rory to be solo at the end or with someone new that we haven't seen, just for some variety and to show that you never know where life takes you.
I consider every guys’ flaws, which is why I don’t have a preference for any guy. I always felt like they were there to teach her something rather than there to actually be her soulmate. Both Lorelai and Rory ought to focus on themselves first before they got involved in the serious relationships that they did. Because Rory just ran to whoever was available at the moment.
Yes! I agree. They all represent different chapters in her life and lessons that she needed to learn, none of them are meant to be perfect or necessarily need to be “the one”.
Totally agreed 👍🏾 she learned from almost of them even Dean he taught her what consistency from a man looks and feels like
Oh my god this video is just what I was looking for. Finally some objectivity. Great job!!
I don’t think you bit off more than you can chew, your videos are really good and a lot of fun to watch! I can’t wait for the next one 🙂
Thank you! This was such a big topic and while editing, I realized that what I said is a very abridged version of my full opinion. I would like to be more concise in presenting my opinion so that I can capture all of it in one video (that isn't an hour long). But thank you for the encouragement! I will keep at it. 🙂
I'm very surprised you didn't include the sprinklers scene - I think this scene really shows how much Jess truly cares about Rory
Hey! In this video I was only analyzing Rory. That scene I think was more about Jess’s actions than Rory’s actions.
11 minutes in and I am loving this analysis, spot on!!
Thank you! I hope the analysis held up for the rest of the video.
i love how u have such a deep understanding of healthy relationships and ur applying that to rory's diff relationships ty for the video!
Hahahaha, I'm not sure I have a deep understanding of healthy relationship, but I appreciate you saying that. :)
I love the first 3 seasons and can watch those over and over. Rory makes mistakes that, to me, are mostly understandable due to her being a teen, though I hated how she hurt Dean. And she was so nasty for a bit there when she was mad at Jess for dating Shane.
I like both Dean and Jess, even though they're so different. Dean is just a decent, steady, loyal guy who knows what he wants in his relationship with Rory. He was very good to her overall, and, as you said, really put up with a lot to be with her. He got frustrated at times, but I thought it was justified due to the way Rory treated him in seasons 2 and 3 (lying, cheating on him, expecting more from him than she was willing to reciprocate). Also, he was still really young. He was actually quite mature as a whole. He took good care of Rory.
Jess has always been a very fascinating character to me. Milo Ventimiglia did a really great job portraying his complexity, making him lovable despite his rough shell. It's easy to see why Rory was so interested in him. She should have broken things off with Dean before pursuing Jess instead of stringing him along, but yeah.
Logan just bores me as a character. I don't rewatch seasons 4 thru 7 much, partly because I can't stand how season 4 ended, partly because Rory and Logan bore me together, and partly because I just don't like the storyline/Rory's character arc. Rory started out so promising and is a total mess by the reboot. She and Logan are cheating on their boyfriend ajd fiancee, respectively, so tonke they deserve each other. Jess has his life figured out and shouldn't stay around to bail Rory out and help raise a child not his own, and Dean seems to have the happy marriage and family he always wanted. Rory needs to shape up! So I guess I'm Team Jess . . . for someone else!
I love your videos! They are so fun to listen to, and you have great points. I like that you try to be fair, and you focus on characters most people don't. Loved the video about Jess and Luke in particular. I feel like I could discuss Gilmore Girls forever, so thank you!
*boyfriend and fiancee
*so they deserve
Hey! I'm very happy you're enjoying the videos!😁I know what you mean about Logan; I had the same feeling. I have nothing against the character, I know some fans are adamantly against him, but I just felt kind of bored (and this is not a dig at the actor, I think the actor did a good job). I couldn't get into the relationship with him and Rory, it didn't feel as exciting to me as her other relationships. I also saw Seasons 4-7 many years later so I was much older, that might have had an impact.
@@maddiesenator5491 Btw you can edit comments on TH-cam ;) just click the 3 dots.
Oooohhh finally some comments I totally agree with can't see what everybody sees in Logan.... nothing against Matt Czuchry😘
what a fantastic channel!! keep up the great work, I love these deep dives
I found your videos earlier today, and I’m binge-watching them. I love your videos, not because I always agree with you, but your deep dives into these characters are thoroughly fascinating, entertaining and you raise some insightful points that linger with me. As a longtime Gilmore fan, Thank you for making these❤!!
Thank you for watching them! ❤ I'm really happy that my thoughts are able to offer something new. Please don't hesitate to share your own thoughts if you disagree or if there is something that you want to expand upon that I didn't cover. I welcome all opinions!
I've always been a fan of Dean (partly because, my goodness, Jared is so charming), but I also loved Logan. Dean's actions have pretty clear triggers, and in his own way, he suffered a lot from Rory's manipulation. They were young minds (I consider 18-19 still young, to be honest), and you do foolish things for 'love' or when trying to hold onto it as it slips away. I don't necessarily think he was justified, but it definitely makes sense(why he does what he does/behaves in certain ways). Rory is selfish as hell, but hey... aren't we all at that age?
Logan was thrilling in that he saw right through her and she couldn't stand it (she is a "I can fix him" girl for sure).
Logan is the best, but Jess is my guilty pleasure. Honestly I think fan fiction does a far better job at portraying all the nuances of their relationship than the show writers were. I think if Rory had had the opportunity to try again with Jess later on, it probably would've worked out a lot better. However Logan still worked the best for Rory overall.
25:31 I was on this episode on this part and that’s what made me search out this video. Because Rory was ridiculous in this scene and I just can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to be a guy that liked Rory. How frustrating and confusing her behavior could’ve been. Thank you for making this video and for including this part 🤧
I grew up being team Jess but apon my 5th rewatch I realized that I think Logan is best suited for Rory. I’ve been on the fence of my what team I’m on ever since. I have never been team Dean but looking back there’s plenty of times where I feel bad for Dean and not just like “oh I feel sorry for the guy” like genuinely awful. Imagine getting attacked by Luke in the street and then KNOWING your girlfriend likes someone else but is still dating you. But to be honest I started hating Rory in season 4 and on just because that’s when she was considered “an adult” and was still making awful mistakes. S1-3 was just a teenage girl doing what ever teenage girl should MAKE MISTAKES but plenty of people around Rory always justified her actions. I wish more people pointed out in the show how bad she treated Dean. But my final statement must be: Justice For Paul.
Rory being judgmental of Logan's friends at his launch party has NOTHING to do with Rory's privileges. She was wrong, cruel, and childish regardless of where she comes from. Rory could have been a homeless orphaned women growing up, and she still would have been in the wrong.
I have no problem with an hour long video essay. I watch these while working on spreadsheets, so I have nothing but time. Keep them coming!
You got it! 😄
TL;DR: Jess is my favorite, but I think there’s something to be said about how each of the boys family life’s compares to Rory. Logan has the old money, but his only good family is his sister. Dean comes from a family with two married parents and a sister. Jess was raised by a single mom, had no relationship with his dad until he was 17, and didn’t get a sibling until he was an adult. In that way Jess’s home life actually makes him the most similar and relatable to Rory. Also a year in the life established that Logan is Rory’s Christopher, Dean is her Max, and Jess is her Luke.
While I am forever and always Team Jess, my high school friend coining the phrase, “Jess is dream man, number always,” to describe this feeling, I like what you pointed out here with the ages everyone was at the time of their relationships. Rory handled her relationships with Dean, and then Jess, more immaturely than with Logan because she was a teenager when she was with them. The second time she was with Dean was sort of a regression in maturity, since their relationship seemed primarily physical. They were basically acting on all the teenage horniness their relationship didn’t have the first time around. Another thing to keep in mind is how Rory’s family and home life compared to each of them. While she certainly had many of the privileges that Logan did when it came to her grandparents, she didn’t grow up with that. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that she got the benefits of coming from money, like not worrying about private school tuition, and even then almost all the money that was given to her was used for school. Even when her grandparents got her a car for graduation, Lorelai didn’t throw up a fuss, since that was something Rory would need to have at some point. The money that was given to Rory directly by Richard for Fez was spent on the trip she and her mom had been planning for years. He gave it knowing that she would use it well. That’s where the similarities to Logan stop, as pretty much the only person in his family who isn’t awful is his sister, versus everyone in Rory’s family genuinely cares about her. With Dean she has the biggest contrast in home life, as shown by the way he reacts to her not saying I love you back. I liked what you said in the Lindsey video, about Dean’s apparent expectations on what his marriage should be like. Something I wanted to add is that when Rory points out that her parents, who aren’t together anymore, said, “I love you,” to each other his response was, “you don’t get pregnant from saying I love you.” My dude, she knows that. What she was trying to say is that you don’t always stay together either. She hasn’t grown up with married parents, or even parents who were together. So she has every right to feel anxious about responding to the words, “I love you,” when she has no reference of it lasting. And it wasn’t until she was a teen that she started to get to know her grandparents better, so she couldn’t use their marriage as a reference. The person she had the most in common with when it comes to over all family dynamics is Jess. They both have parents who aren’t together. She sees her dad very rarely, versus he didn’t meet his dad until he was in his teens. They were raised primarily by single moms. They also were only children until gaining a little sister as a teen (Rory) and an adult (Jess). They had extended family members try and take them under their wing and impart life lessons, with mixed results. Even though he and Luke didn’t always agree, Luke was always there for him. Luke was hard on him with Rory, because of the fact that Rory was like a daughter to him. He knew she could be a good influence on Jess, but he also knew that Jess needed to work through some issues before he would be good for Rory. If a year in the life showed us anything it’s that Rory and Dean’s relationship has come full circle in that they are truly friends, or at least friendly, aware of their mistakes, but mature adults about it. Rory and Logan’s relationship seems to have become a sort of codependency safety net for the two of them, where they’re not being fair to each other, or their respective partners, but are unwilling to fully commit to each other again. Jess and Rory’s relationship is a friendship, even if he’s still carrying a torch for her, if that look in the window is any indication. I think that Jess will be for Rory, what Luke was for Lorelai. Logan is Rory’s Christopher, and Dean is her Max. I’d be very interested to see where this characters end up in another revival.
I agree 100%
I never hated Dean. She was generally good guy, who made some mistakes.
Gosh I felt his pain when Jess appeared. It wasn't nice from Rorys side.
Rory never loved Dean in real way. I think she liked more the way he treated her.
I’m Team nobody - now that I’m an adult
Yeah she should get her shit 😢
The only reason Rory told Dean about the car accident was because she knew he was going to find out even if she didn't tell him.
Fr
Growing up is realising that Rory was the problem lol 😭
Hey! Just wanted to say I really enjoy your GG videos. Love that this one is so long!
I would really like your perspective on "a year in the life", especially reflecting how the characters are portrait cause I was really baffled by how weird they all got. I dev would watch that video! ❤
Hi! Thank you! A few others have asked for a video on A Year In The Life so it's on the docket, I'm not sure how soon I will make the video as I have a few video ideas before that but it has been added to my list of ideas. 🙂
‘Til this day, I think Dean was the best boyfriend Rory had - even if he wasn’t as “cultured” as she is. He really loved, cared for, was attracted to, and protected Rory. (He wasn’t perfect, but neither was Logan and much less Jess…)
Yet, Rory not only fell for the typical bad boy while in a relationship with a caring individual, but also treated Dean like shit by cheating on him instead of properly cutting him loose. To me, that was the beginning of her downfall… and, as much as I detest Jess, I cannot put all the blame on his back.
Thanks for sharing this perspective, since she is the protagonist. It also just sounds like great writing to me! They get us to love Rory and relate to her being a human with flaws. And we watch her learn and grow and try to find herself with all that life throws at her. Sometimes I think viewers forget the reasons characters are written the way they are. These things didn’t actually happen, rather the writers are constructing a compelling narrative, one that is frustratingly relatable. We wish we all could be honest and do the right thing, but it’s easier said than done. Ultimately, we learn by our mistakes, not by being the perfect daughter, mom, girlfriend or wife. That’s why I love the Gilmore Girls. (Especially Emily, that woman is hilarious!)
the entire show for the most part revolves around rory struggling to fit into both worlds. during her chilton time, she's most happy at stars hollow but still wants to maintain the connection with her grandparents. in her yale era, we see her slowly shift into that world of wealth, privilege, lavish lifestyle and logan represents that. even if she does enjoy the perks of living wealthy in the yale era, she struggles to respect herself when she sees her there. this is exactly the reason she writes that article in s7 excluding herself from the world of logan, because she is ashamed to admit that she is a part of it, she doesn't respect herself when she is a part of it especially when people see her as one. also exactly why she turns down logan's proposal and follow's obama's campaign. i have always seen rory as someone who fits in both stars hollow and her grandparents world, but she respects herself and finds it fulfilling when she is independent. being independent meant lorelai's world when she was a 16 year old. but, she's not a kid anymore, so for rory, being independent now means a world that exists outside of stars hollow, and the gilmore or huntzberger dynasty. cut back to the short amount of time she stays with lane after going back to yale, and how she gushes to lorelai after they reunite, about finding a new job, doing things on her own etcetera even if it's not anything that big. people always want to classify rory as either lorelai or emily but i think shes neither. she doesnt despise the privileged life like lorelai does but nor does she see it as the only way of living like emily did. lorelai hates emily's world but rory does like attending emily's parties. but, also emily gushes on and on about the burkin bag rory's gifted, but rory's like "yeah its cute. i like it". that was pretty much her reaction and rory doesnt realize what that bag would mean to girls like honor who is a part of that world, that some girls would die to have it. she isnt blinded immensely by it. finally, rory has lived her entire life, under the expectations of lorelai in the stars hollow world or the standards of emily/huntzberger family from the privileged world. rory has to branch out, has to find her own path away from both of these worlds, and stick to it for a longer period of time to succeed. i don't think her renting an apartment in nyc, that is told in ayitl is a coincidence either. jess is the only person on the entire show who breaks the dichotomy of lorelai and emily's world. he is depicted as someone who doesn't belong to either of the worlds and is a free-spirited soul. rory has mostly been family bound her entire life and it would give her character a new dimension if we let her find her own way. but, shes still a very community/people oriented person at heart and thats never going to change. teen jess was the opposite of that. the adult jess we see in ayitl though, is still the free-wandering soul he always has been, but is now trying his best to be a part of the community more. helping liz & tj out, visiting them, being a support for luke and from what we see in s6, he has developed friendships too which might have only grown further by "a year in the life". he represents exactly what rory wants now. i also dont think its a coincidence that in ayitl, emily has given up the lavish lifestyle and has conformed to finding herself. so, there is not even the concept of an "emily's world" anymore, one less pressure to rory. analyzing all this, it's almost obvious, the path, amy sherman palladino has chosen for rory in the future, even if it is never explored in another revival. plus, the circle of life in gg diverged with lorelai making a new path for herself, with her stepping out of the gilmore house, so the circle would end there too. rory is not helpless like lorelai was at 16, she has her mom, luke, enough money from richard's fund. she would not have to raise her kid in a "potting shed" even if she sees no success in her career. you contradict your own points. you say in the first para that rory itself is wealthy and is about to inherit a fortune but end your comment with "she would not choose to raise her kid in a potting shed". why would she have to? logan is not her saviour nor is jess. she could very well raise the kid on her own, if she wants to. now, this doesn't mean jess is who she should end up with. it just means rory should find someone who she is genuinely interested in and who can offer something unlike the stars hollow world or the lavish world. whether it be jess or anyone new.
What in the hell are u being graded for this or smth
The way Rory handled Jess' black eye situation is something that I, too, had issues with from when looking at both points of view. She was definitely more disrespectful not just towards Jess, but also towards Emily who decided to just act oblivious when she could have spoken up. Rory is her granddaughter anyways... I don't want to overthink the other possible outcomes if Emily had stepped in, but I do feel as if a lot of the dysfunction within the Gilmore household starts with not so much Lorelai, but with Emily and Richard themselves. It just boggles my mind how the writers decided to handle Emily's character in that particular scene.
unpopular opinion ik but how isn’t jesse the most hated boyfriend? how are people hating on dean so much? i feel like im really missing something.
I personally think it has to do with the way the characters are written. Jess has a lot of sarcasm, and wit that makes it apparent he fits in with the gilmores and Luke and other characters who have that type of dialogue combined with his mutual interest in books and pop culture. Take the scene with him and Paris and rory eating in the kitchen together. Jess can keep up, whereas Dean and Paris would have had nothing to talk about. Despite Jess not being the best boyfriend when he was a teen, his overall character was built to fit in the world better. The show could have written Dean this way but instead they sort of assassinated Dean's character by making him kind of dull and someone who is just all about rory and doesnt have much back story of his own. This is just my opinion though.
Jess grows and matures throughout the series. He starts.off as a jerk but he grows up and becomes a success through hard work
@@MsJubjubbirdyeah the writers did mature jess in the later seasons which I really liked because some people do change
I think both the actors and writers managed to create a great chemistry between Rory and Jess, which kinda makes you want to root for them. And you can argue their relationship was failed but then again, they had a very short time together which did not allow them to grow together like she did with Logan.
Me personally: I hate Dean for Rory because he never was supportive towards Rory. He never did anything for her without complaining, he even wanted her not to go to Harvard. (He complains that she has to do so much for achieving the goals for Harvard).
They just aren’t meant to be in my opinion. Plus Rory loves the privilege of her grandma’ status and she obv wants to be rich, but Dean always was happy to be a simple man. This can’t work.
Why I like Jess is because Jess never had anybody that believed in him. All of the people in his life (even his own mother) let him down. With Luke and Rory he experienced acceptance for the first time and I can see how he tries to be a better person for them but he doesn’t know how to do that. But he becomes a better person over time.
And I fully hate relationship-Rory because she doesn’t deserve any of them hahaha
Stil love the series!
currently binging all your analysis videos again. theyre so well thought out!
this gonna be good! 🍿
Thank you so much for this analysis! Modt of the points I see exactly like you, I just wanted to add one more thing that is crucial to me for Rorys character. She isn't only beong idolized by Dean and Jess, who feel inferior to her, but also by her mother and the people of Stars Hollow. It's their prerogative to be partial to her because they saw her growing up and love her, and she is a very lloveable person, a "good girl". But from the beginning of the show there are also many situations where esp. Lorelai doesn't see clear or acknowledge Rory's faults. One of the sentences one hears a lot from her is "Rory isn't like that" when she's confronted with her daughter's faults. Like for example Rory throwing a fit at school after being late and not being allowed to write the test. Or when Dean breaks up with her, Lorelei automatically assumes that it's his fault. Same when they steal the boat. It's Logan's fault (yes, but only part of it). This "she can do no wrong" attitude doesn't help Rory growing up and taking responsibility for her actions.
I like how you phrased it and I would agree, I think I there is idolization of Rory coming from Lorelai and I think Luke, Emily and Richard do this as well.
She should have ended up with Jess. He ended up being more her type. But they drove Roy's character into the ground.
I think Jess and Rory are probably the best for eachother in the present day. Rory is a mess at this point and time, but I feel like timing was always their enemy. Jess to me was a terrible boyfriend. Heartbreakingly bad. Terrible. It ruined Rory to me. Like I feel like that abandonment sorta had her all messed up and had her running back to Dean because of the trauma of him just leaving like Christopher always does. So I feel her to be just this lost soul who doesn't really understand men. She was terrible to Dean and I feel like Jess was her karma. In the heaviest way. Logan, to me, is an absolute dumpster fire of a boyfriend. Absolute trash. Hot, burning garbage. Such a waste of time. He is rude, classist, egregious, self-agrandasing, self-absorbed, etc. I felt there was redemption for him during the double date getaway weekend episode in season 7, yes I felt for him, but just not great at all and Rory breaks her neck for him. So doting. Not to defend Rory to an extreme, I get it, we are supposed to hate her, but I like season 7 Rory, even that article she writes is like, whatever to me, tbh. I hate when people prop up Logan when he sticks it to her for the article. Yes, they both have privilege, sure, but their are levels to privilege. We see that his family thinks SHE is a pauper of sorts, so it really is not the same. She is a Gilmore, sure, but she also grew up living in a potting shed...so...no, not the same. Sure her Dad and Grandparents have cash flow, but she has to beg for it usually. Until 16, did she really have money? Did she really GROW UP in D.A.R world...no, not quite. He jumped off a cliff (reference) trying to get in her ass about her privilege. She's not THAT privileged to the extent Logan is. Let's be real. It's apples and oranges to me. They come from 2 different worlds and that's just what it is. I think we look at white, pretty, affluent privilege very harshly these days and that is valid and yes, she does have that, but Rory and Logan are not the same. Does she use those things to her disposable, yes, but is she the female Logan? Absolutely not, I'm sorry. I don't buy it. It's a bridge too far for me. I watched this in real time for the original run and we didn't use privilege as a lens like we do now, but in real time (week to week) I think it came off more that Rory wasn't really like the rich Chilton and Yale kids. Was she becoming MORE like them as time went on? Sure, but does that take away her potting shed upbringing...no. I get it, Rory has villain eras, but I think she was just being a judgemental brat who was sorta confused about how to navigate a world she was slowly seeing herself slip into, but not actually or technically coming from that world. I think it's just a little more complicated than people make it out to be. All those things mentioned about how those people for the start up are completely a mystery to Rory and that is sooooo valid, yes, but she made a mistake and she was a terrible brat with that article, yes, she's a bit of a dumb dumb in social settings. But I think she was uncomfortable at the party because she's a simple small town girl, so she judged what she doesn't understand, and why doesn't understand? Because she doesn't come from that world, because she didn't grow up with glitzy stuff like that. If she was as privileged as we claim she is, would she not just fit in effortlessly at that party? I don't think it's as simple as privilege or no privilege, I personally think it's more like levels of privilege and I think Rory is fairly new to the game of privilege at that point and even with this I think she's pretty low on the privilege totem pole as pointed out by Logan's own family, professionally at the paper and with the mother. I would love to see her with someone like Jess where money and privilege is just less of an issue because if we are being honest, Rory could live without the privilege if it came down to it, because she is Lorelai's daughter and she would make it work, because I do belive LL showed her what it means to work hard. We have seen her do jobs at the Stars Hollow Bookstore, the Independence Inn part time, Yale's Cafeteria and by the reboot she is freelancing to the point where she doesn't even have a place to live of her own, idk, it doesn't quite scream cashmere, pearls and champagne to me...but I fully understand and respect that people see her as a rich brat I get it, but I think the writers really gave us something a bit more nuanced than that. But this is such a great video essay. I don't agree with it all but hey, that's just how it is. This is so well-structured and well-made and so meaty. Thank you so much! This was honestly my Saturday night. Congrats on getting this out. It deserved all the attention and views!
I always felt that Dean was actually the only one who really cared about Rory in a pure way. And the jealouy...c est moi... Rory did him dirty, ofc he was jealous and suspicious. I think he was exaggerating bcs of her behavior. She really is too self absorbed and it's something that bothers me a lot. Did she really cared about them? I feel like she only cared about their attention to her.
Sometimes what i feel is this fandom overly criticize men for doing the same thing that Rory has done with her every relationship. We can see in one part where she is doing lane's hair colouring, she has you don't want to someone too much that at one point it will feel boring. Which speaks everything about her and later on rejecting Logan's proposal. She wants her bf to be there, call her, ask her about her days and so on which exactly what Dean did for her. But later, she started acting like it was too much and dean not giving her space. But then when jess doesn't do those things, she gets mad. She doesn't like when jess doesn't pick her phone or doesn't call her. But she does exactly the same thing to dean. Rory was emotionally equally abusive as Dean was. I think sometimes people forget that Dean was also 16. He was with her for 2 years and never actually tried to have a sexually relationship with her without her consent while jess being a bf for 1 week and getting mad for not wanting to sleep with her was equally red flag to me. And also, i think rory cheating on Dean, kind of fucked up and very messy. Dean thought that jess was responsible for her cheating on with him. He kind if idolize her. Which we can see that he hadn't moved on. He blames jess but not rory. That's why he was nice to her even after breakup. But the scene where he comes to Yale carrying Bookshelf when tells rory about leaving school. I don't think it's Rory fault, but i think at that point where he feels was rory still loves him and cares about him and his future rather then Lindsay ( i can be totally wrong on this). And after that he starts being around her.
You make a really interesting point that I haven't thought about before. I think your theory makes sense: Rory expressing concern over Dean leaving school could have led Dean to feel that she cares about him and increased his interest in being around her. Like you said, that was not intentional on Rory's part but I could see how he could have interpreted her reaction in that way.
Anyone who doesn’t realize that Rory is the villain in this show is foolish. She is the catalyst for everything bad that happens. The issue is the writers don’t realize this because they write in what they’d do
Loved this, and the length!! :)
Thank you! 🙂I am working on making my videos longer while still making them cohesive.
Rory grows and her relationships grow. They match in their own time
Fsntastic video, my favourite gilmore girls video so far, you're so so engaging and straight to the point
“Never pick a team” - Lauren Graham
I really like your essays! Make them longer 👌
Hahahaha, thank you! 😄I will make them longer. Now that I've done this video, a 20-minute video feels like a piece of cake. I would like to have hour long video essays eventually, as I enjoy watching those.
@@PensiveWhiskers it's kind of funny that the two shows you love the most are my favorite ones and I love cats too 😅🤣
You have a beautiful voice and I love when you talk about what could have happen after the show ends... so love it!! And thank you!
As someone who never watched that show bc is not my thing and came here completely neutral :
- Dean was mostly always doing his max or near max for Rory and she most of the time doing the bare minimum and the rest of the time no effort at all , so if Dean was my friend , I would not want him anywhere near Rory because she cheated and rarely, if ever put the same amount of effort as him, so I would hope Dean finds a girl that puts the same amount of effort as him into the relationship... (and seems to me by the comments that Rory cheating make just another case of hurt people hurt people, so Dean becomes kinda shitty in his next relationships and somewhat with her as well when they rekindle, but again, it's a reaction of something she did)
(As well, Dean cheating his then wife was shitty too, but still doesn't change that they are not good together at all)
- Jess : Well, a relationship that started out of an affair will never be able to hold a solid trustful foundation , so the relationship doesn't seem like it would last anyways, as well, because it seems like Jess was more an adventure than because she actually liked him for him , hence the constantly trying to shape him... Again I only see that is another boyfriend who is most of the time doing his max and her doing the bare minimum , seems like with Jess she did more often her max than with Dean , but still not as often as Jess did his max for her, it's the typical relationship I would look at it and say it would last max 2 years or 3 pushing really hard , again, they are better off , if both were my friends I would tell both that seems like this relationship will lead to a dead end eventually and that they are more likely to end up hurting each other, so no Jess Thanks.
- Logan : It started with the reversed position of her doing the max and him doing the bare minimum until eventually evened out in the end , about the "cheating" I don't know if Logan cheated on her bc it was said on the video "they were on a break" and for me it's not cheating , but, if they weren't then, it is cheating , also Rory cheated in him too, so if both cheated on each other they have to chose either to keep the relationship or not, even though Logan cheated in a way worse way than Rory did , I guess their dynamic was the last toxic for both of them, would I recommend them to get together ? Nope, they either cheated on each other or Logan got cheated on, I would say for both of them to try if they want to, but I don't see that being a life long commitment, but it's up to them.
Having to pick one I would say she definitely should be with Logan, they were almost never toxic for each other, besides all the cheating they could actually get along and have a healthy relationship , so I guess I am "Team Logan" if I have to pick one , but if I can say with all honesty : I am team neither ... Rory needs to do a lot of inner work and to find someone who as well done such inner work and make it work together.
This was interesting to read! Thank you for providing an outside perspective. To be fair though, the video doesn't capture all of the scenes so there is information missing.
I always thought that all three of their relationships have a lot to do with the age of the characters and their experience.
With Dean, their relationship seems very naive and more build on a vague sense of romantic attraction then shared interest or dreams, which is also why rekindling the relationship later on didn't work out.
Jess and Rory are very teenage, they have more in common then Rory and Dean, they like the same books and music and in some way come from a similar background (chaotic teen moms, absent fathers), but they also can't communicate and especially Jess has a lot of emotional baggage. Their relationship was fast, passionate and, for a lack of a better word, angsty. It all seems very YA romance.
I personally am team Logan, because I they seem the most compatible and stable, but I think it gets overlooked that they are the only adult relationship on the show. When they met they are still pretty young adults granted, but they aren't super hormonal anymore. They are also at a point in their lives, where a lot of people start choosing their partners more deliberately
I love this show ❤️ I’m currently on season 2 and I hope to watch most of all of it before I watch this!
I guess most of my videos are not safe for you to watch yet (in terms of spoilers). In some videos, I try to divide the seasons by chapters, but the others are scrambled. I have a video coming up that covers a character that is only in the first 2 seasons. Enjoy the rest of the show!
TBH Never Have I Ever clicked on a vid so fast and quick wit it
When people ask if I have a team I answer in a ‘what was my favourite relationship?’ way. but when people ask who I think Rory should have ended up with I always say “None of them” I don’t think Rory met the love of her life by 22 and that’s okay lol. I think they were great dating experience where she could learn about healthy dynamics not taught to her by her mother and could learn about herself. But no, I don’t think she needed to spend the rest of her life with only these 3 options 😂
I’ve never thought about some of these perspectives before. Great video!!
Thank you! 😀
I don't like Rory. She's a brat. I have more respect for Dean because he showed he cared about her while she's focusing on herself. Her behavior drives me nuts
“when it comes to jess i think rory was a fairly decent girlfriend, there was nothing i wouldnt expect from a 17 year old” this is why i’m team jess. jess taught her how to be in a relationship. i think they were so good for each other tbh. they both learned a lot from each other, they should’ve been end game imo. they actually have the same interests (plus chemistry!!) that i feel she didn’t have in her other relationships
Great video! I think Logan is the best for Rory although I don't actively ship her with any three of these guys(I ship her with Paris lol). I used to ship her with Jess quite a bit when I was younger. I do like both Jess and Logan as characters, and I think them being more fleshed out, who have something to them apart from their relationship with Rory is why people come at Dean harder. I also think Dean sucks but people are too harsh on him at the same time! Like all of his actions have the worst possible interpretation, but Jess gets excused for Kyle's bedroom cause he was sad or whatever.
I agree with your analysis on Dean; I said something similar in another comment -- that Dean wasn't given enough of a characterization or a backstory so it's easier for the audience to defend Jess and Logan but not Dean because they get story arcs that are not related to Rory. Dean did have a storyline with Lindsay but that still tied back to Rory.
I totally agree with another commentor about wanting to know your opinions on AYITL! And of course I love your analyses on the characters and the show.
Hi! Thank you! I started working on the AYITL video but I keep putting it to the side because it's going to be a long one. I have this problem where every time I have a topic that I want to do a really good job with, I start to procrastinate and I do other videos instead (maybe out of fear?). I definitely want to cover AYITL and I hope it won't take me months.
I think it is interesting that the guy she is perhaps best suited to, Logan, is similar to her in privilege, something that she forgets she has due to Lorelai's attempts to give Rory a normal/grounded upbringing. (Although Rory deep down prefers the privileged lifestyle and benefits she experienced at Chiltern etc) It's also interesting that Lorelai rebelled against her privilege and that is part of why she is well suited to Luke, both have built their own small businesses etc
Hi, I think you did an absolutely accurate analysis and I can agree with almost everything. However, I am really astounded about the general phenomenon that started on Tiktok that (mostly) Gen Z crowd analyses every inch of the series and especially there ist a lot of criticism for Rory. You get the impression that we have only perfect, mentally healthy people out there, furthermore in healthy relationships. I think the fact that Rory and Lorelai are not perfect, that they are vulnerable, weak and make a lot of mistakes, makes this such great storywriting. It makes them more human and real in a way. I am not perfect, I did a lot of crap in my life for sure, I have my issues with self-respect, just as Rory, who as a young girl breaks down under the first serious criticism she faces. I mean, I give my best, I try to be a good person and to learn and grow, but I am far from being in an ideal place and probably I never will be. Isn't this the essence of being human? In my opinion the imperfection makes the series' characters so relatable. Also I love the complexity of how the family drama ist presented. While Richard and Emily surely are toxic parents in a lot of ways, the writers succeed in avoiding a black-and-white scheme where the elder Gilmores are just the evil, bad or wrong ones. The viewer experiences Richard's and Emily's emotions, their longings, vulnerability and even trauma (of having lost their daughter emotionally) as much as they are shown Lorelai's and Rory's perspective. I think the series is really iconic and a masterpiece of storytelling. ❤ Greetings from Germany!
Hey! 🙂 I know what you mean, I think there has been a trend of overanalyzing when it comes to the show and specifically criticism of Rory. I try to make my videos a bit balanced so as to not rip a character to shreds. With this one however, the intent was to be biased from the get go since I'm supposed to be taking only one side in the argument (the boys' side). I like the idea of shifting perspectives. I also don't like the idea of perfect characters. I still like Rory as a character because of it. All of the characters on the show are flawed which is why I think this show had such a lasting impact.
Jess has always been my favorite, and while I rooted for him, I also with like ‘dude run!’ 😂
I couldn't quite get past all the times it was said that "Rory was a pretty good girlfriend to X this season" when that was almost always qualified by "she cheated on him".
40:28 didn’t Rory say after Jess kissed her that she can’t even cheat right, she went to him to cheat on Logan to get back at him
About the revival: I don't why NOBODY gets that Rory doesn't fail professionally. When the revival ends, he's about to publish "Gilmore Girls", that is so obvious is about to be the break through of her carreer, Just as the series was the break through of Amy Palladino's carreer. And the fact that the idea for the book came from Jess, Rory's intelectual soul mate was so sweet. I don't understand why people don't seem to notice that. She's not a failure, she's about to become a successful writer. It's so obvious te me that that was Amy's intended with the hole "gilmore girls" book idea. And the last line: mom, i'm pregnant. Narrative rhyme. Genious.