Revisiting Gilmore Girls: Why Rory is the Actual Worst

I recently sat down to rewatch Gilmore Girls – searching probably, as a lot of people are, for some sort of comfort in these insane times, in the form of cosy settings and familiar characters. GG is a great show because the conflict is never too threatening, the characters are never in any real danger, and by the end of most episodes everything has returned to the status quo. Some things do change over time such as – spoiler alert – Rory leaving school and going off to college, Lorelai and Luke ending up together, Rory cheating on her seemingly perfect love interest Dean with Jess. And other characters tend to appear and disappear at random intervals, sometimes even changing names – did anyone else realise Kirk was in the pilot with a different name? And what really was the point of Lane’s character other than to be incredibly annoying?

 

I didn’t watch GG when it first aired, I was too young to have any interest. But in the age of streaming I eventually caught up with it, and I was enamoured with Stars Hollow and its tribe of quirky characters, as well as sympathetic with Lorelai and her mean parents, as well as Rory in her adjustment to private school. Except now, when I sat down to rewatch it, I found myself getting annoyed with the characters – especially with Rory.

 

In the 2016 sequel to GG, A Year in the Life, a lot of viewers came away with the opinion that Rory had turned out – well, to be blunt – unbearable. She was extremely unappreciative, dishonest and immoral. Not at all the Rory we knew. Or was she?

 

I would argue that Rory was always a pain in the hole. From the minute we meet her, she’s been given an amazing opportunity to go to a private school, funded by her grandparents. And as soon as she meets a boy she likes in her old school, she acts like this great opportunity is a prison sentence. And don’t even get me started on how she treats Dean once she gets sick of him.

 

We’re constantly told by other, older characters throughout the first season how much of a ‘great kid’ Rory is and how much everyone loves her. But we’re told this. We never see much of it.

So, with rumours of a second season of A Year in the Life sprouting up, we can only wait and see whether things have changed. Whether the insufferable Rory character was a mistake or misstep, whether it was a temporary decision made by the writers that will eventually pay off, or if that just is Rory’s character; we were just too blinded by the charms of Star’s Hollow to see it.