6 Unpopular Gilmore Girls Opinions

It’s so easy to get sucked up in their New Englandy rom-com paradise world, and please remember that the pilot aired almost 15 years ago.

So something that has given me a lot of joy in the past few months is the fact that every season of Gilmore Girls is on Netflix, readily available for me to watch whenever I feel like ignoring my adult life and imagining I’m back in my senior year of high school. (5 PM, every weekday on ABCFamily. Exactly when I was done with my homework. Thems were the days!)

People have a lot of strong feelings about Gilmore Girls. I mean, A LOT. And that makes sense, because it’s a show a lot about feelings. How easy was it to get invested in the times and trials of that quick-witted, fast-talking mother-daughter duo? Remember Rory’s first year at Chilton? Lorelai's graduation? That old-timey dance marathon? Luke and Lorelai's first kiss? Okay, okay - ANYTHING Luke and Lorelai?

Not being 16 years old anymore, my relationship with GG is equal parts dreamy sighs and eyerolls. Because yeah, when you take a step back, beneath those timely quips and cute outfits Lorelai and Rory are objectively kind of self-centered and terrible. And if you don’t have any taste or tolerance for quirk that might come off slightly contrived now and then, this is not the series for you.

1. Lane and her band could have had their own TV show.

I would write for one of these points that “Everything after Season 5 was the worst and I like to pretend that none of it ever happened”, but I don’t think that’s a very unpopular opinion because I like to think that a fair portion of Gilmore fans agrees with me on that one. (Two words: Luke’s. Daughter. Why, God?)

ANYWAY. Lane’s band. There’s Lane herself, navigating her new world of rock n’ rebellion while still not wanting to be completely cut off from her ultra-conservative Korean American mother. There’s her love interest, the slightly arrogant, slightly clueless Zach who secretly harbors a heart of gold. Then there’s the skinny Jewish asthmatic who plays a mean bass and my personal favorite, Sebastian Bach as the veteran, glam-rock era rocker who values rock n’ roll as much as his wife and kids. Such great characters, such effortlessly hilarious back-and-forths. I totally would have watched a spin-off show of just them touring, getting big, and balancing that fine line between being themselves and “selling out”, etc.

2. Rory’s college storylines were a lot more boring than her high school ones.

So many of Rory’s storylines in college were cringeworthy compared to the ones when she was in high school. Shouldn’t it be the opposite?

Like, isn’t high school supposed to be that time where you have a lot of awkwardness and uncertainty and college is where you start getting a stronger sense of yourself? I feel like we experienced exact opposite happened with Rory. In high school, Rory was actively shutting down private school assholes, balancing her Ivy League ambitions with her personal relationships, and navigating her relationship with the opposite sex with relative emotional intelligence.

In college… Rory kind of flounders. I can’t think of any notable storyline that involved any strength of character on her part, only weakness.

3. Lorelai’s parents should have raised Rory.

As someone who has seen Every. Single. Episode. of 16 and Pregnant, I feel qualified to tell you-- without a doubt-- the most unrealistic aspect of Gilmore Girls is the notion that a debaucherous 16-year-old got knocked up and suddenly abandoned her partying ways, never to return to them again. (ARE WE REMEMBERING JENELLE EVANS, PEOPLE?!)

Here is just a short list of hardships that Rory would not have had to endure had she been raised by adults (or at least IN TANDEM with adults):

- Being born a caffeine addict (and continuing this addiction her whole life)

- Being responsible for organizing her mother’s financial affairs

- Being responsible for her mother, in general

- Attending schools (prior to Chilton) that were not best suited for her ivy league aspirations

- Enduring the emotional hardship of watching her mother and father’s on-again, off-again relationship, including their spontaneous marriage and equally spontaneous separation

- Living in an actual shed during childhood and infancy

The more I look at this list, the more I realize this show could very easily not been a comedy. So kudos to the writers for figuring out how to spin it!

4. Rory’s yacht-stealing escapade was stupid.

For those of you who had stopped watching by the time we got to the end of Season 5, Rory was semi-dating this rich guy named Logan whose family didn’t approve of her and yadda yadda yadda (I’ll let you fill in your own mental gaps there, as they are far more interesting than the reality of the script.)

Anyway, Rory gets mad that Logan’s dad doesn’t approve of her, so she and the jerk she’s semi-dating (and really barely knows) randomly steal a yacht at his sister’s engagement party. They get arrested and Rory has to do 300 hours of community service.

If you think this whole thing is beyond ridiculous and out-of-character, you’d be correct. For the life of me, I can’t fathom why this would have seemed like a good idea to a person who was used to dealing with the consequences of her mother’s epic life mistakes...and the only conclusion I have reached is that is it intentionally doesn’t make sense and was simply included to get more viewers.

Rory’s yacht-stealing was Gilmore Girls’ version of Jumping the Shark, in which the show had run out of original ideas and just put weird stuff in there in a desperate attempt at ratings.

5. Paris and Rory were better enemies than friends.

There are some people in the world who are so much more fascinating when pitted against each other. Rory Gilmore and Paris Geller are two of these people.

To me, Paris was the Draco Malfoy of Gilmore Girls, right down to her blonde roots and misplaced sense of entitlement. The rivalry between the two of them added some complexity to Rory’s character, as she all-too-often seemed to be untouchable and unrealistic in her perfection. However, when we add the challenge of a schoolmate who is both extremely conniving and overwhelmingly driven to success, we get some interesting character development.

But all of this changed when they randomly became friends at a concert, and it got even worse when they went to Yale together. Maybe I only speak for myself when I say this, but I honestly stopped caring about Paris when she stopped being a character foil.

6. Jess was not that great.

I wholeheartedly believe that he is the worst person Rory has ever dated - or possibly even just known. I want to talk about Jess, now. Yes, everyone’s favorite. Out of all of these unpopular opinions so far, I anticipate getting the most flack for this one.

Listen, I understand that Rory and Dean definitely had its shelf-life. It was an adorable “first love” story - he was good to her, they were cute together, they had a lovely two seasons in the sun but it was definitely“puppy love” and yes, destined to run it’s course. This isn’t about that.

What it’s more about is how everyone acts like Jess was the be all and end all. Whereas when I go back and watch episodes, I’m like - if this as a friend of yours, would you be encouraging her to date this dude? My answer is a big, fat, neon-red “NOPE”. Especially after the car accident jag. Even more especially after the time he almost raped her. (Yeah, most diehard JxR advocates always seem to gloss over that one.) I never thought it was a good sign that he rarely made an effort to ingratiate himself with other people in her life or seemed to have any consideration for her time or feelings unless it was convenient for him.

Anyone else out there possibly feel us on these? If not, that’s all right. I’m sure there’s plenty else that we can agree on. Like, how depressing is it that the shows pilot aired almost 15 years ago? Yup. Thought you’d think so too.