Rory Gilmore has a few men who pursue her throughout the “Gilmore Girls” series. Are they all decently attractive? Yes. Are they all super in love with Rory? Absolutely. But are they all equally perfect for her? Hell no.
With the new “Gilmore Girls” spin-off series, “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” premiering Friday, Nov. 25, it is important to understand there is no way to possibly make sense of Rory ending up with anyone besides Jess Mariano, the uber sexy, mysterious, big-time reader, and bad boy.
Of course, Jess seems totally out of the picture at the end of the original “Gilmore Girls” series. The last boyfriend we see Rory with is Logan Huntzberger, royal, too-much-money-to-handle, Yale-legacy assh---. Logan and her break up though, because he proposes to her and she is not interested in marrying him. This decision makes sense to Rory’s character: She has been taught her whole life by her mother to avoid the pretentiousness of people like Logan and to be more down to earth.
Rory’s other relationship was in high school, with Dean Forester, the grocery store bag-boy who seemed destined to live in a small town his whole life. Dean is too eager to settle down and start a normal life, and leaves little room for Rory’s ambitions to be a big-time journalist. I should add, Dean ends up married and divorced by the end of the “Gilmore Girls” series.
With Logan and Dean out of the picture, only one man is left — Jess — and he’s not a bad option either. In fact, he proves time and time again to be the frontrunner from the beginning.
Jess might be considered a “bad seed,” but he is also exciting, and provides Rory with a much needed energy to her persona. He brings out a side of her that is usually inhibited by her brainy, good-girl quality.
Jess sticks up for Rory time and time again. He fights for her, he makes sure she’s safe, and he pursues her.
The relationship between Jess and Rory also mirrors that of Luke, Jess’ uncle, and Lorelai, Rory’s mother. Both Lorelai and Rory have similar personalities, and thus obviously look for similar things in men. It only makes sense they would end up with the uncle/nephew combination in the end.
My only hope entering the new Netflix series is that the writers thought about this relationship choice as logically as I did. It’s so obvious that no other choice is right for Rory: There was only, and will always only be, Jess.
Make sure to check out the arguments for Dean and Logan before picking a side.
Reach Opinion Editor Rebecca Gross at arts@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @becsgross
