NWR: Rory Gilmore (angel or just too damn arrogant)

loro929

SO, I am not going to lie, since October 1, I have been binge watching the Gilmore Girls whenever I can squeeze it in. I haven't watched the show since its original run (which ended in 2007?!), so yeah, I haven't seen the episodes for a while. From when it was on TV, I was always an avid fan of the show, and dare I say even a tad envious of the little worry-free bubbly world that Rory and Lorelai called home. When they announced that it would be on Netflix, I could not wait. Now, (already) deep into the 4th season of the series (don't judge, I know I am a pathetic binge TV watcher), I have to say I am a bit disheartened over my second go of the show.

For some reason, I can only see Rory as an arrogant, spoiled, petulant snob who is enabled by everyone around her because she is "THE BEST EVER". Maybe it is rewatching the show with adult-in-the-real-world eye's but the show really has taken on a different tone for me. Maybe I shouldn't be so invested in TV shows, but did any other GG fans out there have the same impression? I guess it is the genius of the show that it is multi-dimensional and adults as well as teens can relate to it. But damn, does RG get under my skin.

amelisha

Oh, man, I had a very similar reaction. I loved Gilmore Girls when it originally aired and I was nearer Rory's age, but now, I find Rory nearly insufferable. 

I really, really emphasize with Lorelei, now (being much nearer to her age.) Our lives don't have much in common at all but even so, she's a way more interesting character and I feel like I get her way more than Rory.

pinkcow13

I still watch the show whenever I get the chance to catch re runs on TV. I definitely love Lorelei, and I feel that her relationship with her parents, particularly her mom, is just like mine with my parents (besides the whole rich thing). 

I think I liked younger Rory more than older Rory. I felt that the younger she was, the more gullible and innocent she was. As she got older, she just, IDK kinda got on my nerves. It was like she was sheltered as a kid and as a result, she couldn't handle being an adult.

bethsmiles

Yes! I've been re-watching it since it was added to Netflix as well and I honestly started to wonder why the hell I ever liked her character. The first few seasons she was the Rory I remembered and then she gets to Yale and just became awful. And I forgot how ridiculous her reasoning for dropping out of Yale was. So what if one person told you you weren't perfect?! Oh yeah, you don't know how to take criticism because everyone just tells you how amazing you are. Anytime someone told Rory she wasn't perfect she freaked out.

I found a whole new love for Paris though. She is so fantastic, I don't know how I missed her amazingness the first I time I watched the show.

Simky906

It's ok, you're not alone in your binge watching! Early on Rory is pretty cool, a little naive, but generally enjoyable. Once she gets to Yale, she gets pretty insufferable. Also, I never liked her relationship with Logan, so that makes the later years worse for me as well. @bethsmiles Have you seen the actress who played Paris is now on How to Get Away with Murder? I like to pretend that's how Paris turned out as an adult, after some serious therapy of course.

theycallmelinz

I didn't watch GG when it came on TV, so I'm looking forward to catching it now on Netflix. However, I've had that same experience with so many shows from when I was younger. Things I LOVED or found to be hilarious, seems kind of dumb to me now. However, Friends is coming to Netflix in January and I am OMGSOEXCITED.

buttercup1958

I feel the same way. I love GG. I have the complete series and I have watched all of the shows at least 5 times. I really wish they shown more of Jess as a grown up. I really liked how he turned out. I love Paris and  Lorelei. I saw them as my role models well tv character role models ha. Rory was always too whiny to me. She never took the blame for anything really. I grew up watching that show so I may be too invested too. I also really liked Jason too. I wish they kept him in the show somehow.

hellohkb

I'm binge watching too and just got to season 4. This is my first I'm watching the series. I actually used to hate it but FH loves it and he insisted we watch it. Now I'm hooked but I'm mainly still it in because I love Lane, Dave, and Luke. And I'm Team Dean all the way. FH is Team Jess and I hate it.

I find both Rory and Lorelei really arrogant, spoiled, and ungrateful. Personally, I don't think Richard and Emily are that bad. A little judgy, pushy, and embarrassing but so are my actual parents. You don't see me getting up in arms about them, especially if they were doing me a tremendous favor of putting my kid through one of the most prestigious high schools (and now college) in the country. They act like they are so annoying and awful.

Your grandparents bought you $25k worth of furniture and stereo equipment for your dorm room and the first thing you do is call your mom and bitch about it? Fuck off, Rory

amelisha

hellohkb said:

I'm binge watching too and just got to season 4. This is my first I'm watching the series. I actually used to hate it but FH loves it and he insisted we watch it. Now I'm hooked but I'm mainly still it in because I love Lane, Dave, and Luke. And I'm Team Dean all the way. FH is Team Jess and I hate it. I find both Rory and Lorelei really arrogant, spoiled, and ungrateful. Personally, I don't think Richard and Emily are that bad. A little judgy, pushy, and embarrassing but so are my actual parents. You don't see me getting up in arms about them, especially if they were doing me a tremendous favor of putting my kid through one of the most prestigious high schools (and now college) in the country. They act like they are so annoying and awful. Your grandparents bought you $25k worth of furniture and stereo equipment for your dorm room and the first thing you do is call your mom and bitch about it? Fuck off, Rory

Right?! I get that they were not nice and very hard on Lorelei when she was a teenager but seriously...they would have taken care of her. Just because they didn't approve didn't mean they weren't loving.

My parents thought my whole university degree was a waste of time but they still paid for it, which I love them so much for. And I happily complied with all requests regarding visits/part-time jobs/living situations etc while I was in school because they were giving me a huge generous gift. Because they love me. And they express that love best by buying me things and always have. So I feel kinda bad for Richard and Emily too.

thisismynickname2

I always loved that show!  I rarely get the chance to see a re-run.  I do remember that when Rory dropped out of Yale I thought, finally--- something in her life isn't perfect. 

But yeah, holy over-reaction. Someone said she can't take criticism and by golly, you're right. 

Inkdancer

I don't judge her too hard, because I find her to be a realistically written teenager. I was definitely a little bitch when I was 16, and didn't snap out of it until I was 20 or so. Spoiled? Sure. But still a very interesting character! If she were a real person in my life, I might react differently.

TBF, I freaking love GG forever.

wrigleyville

I love Paris. Forever and ever.

mschristie123

I always loved to hate Paris. I was so excited to see her on Scandal a few seasons back and now on HTGAWM!

I totally agree with not liking older-Rory. Especially her relationship with Logan. Ugh. That was about the time I stopped watching GG. I couldn't get into it in the same way anymore once she was all annoying at Yale. I was freaking obsessed up til that point though. I was in loooooove with Jess (milo ventimiglia). And she and I were in the same grade, so she graduated high school when I did- that grad episode so was soooo emotional haha.

loro929

I also have a new found love for Paris, and Michele! His witticisms make me crack up. But yeah, the Yale years are the worst. NOt only does she stop reading books(and become a bored debutante in her grandparents pool house- nothing wrong with it just that it is very atypical behavior of a character who was crafted as a lover of learning and reading just for the sake of learning and reading) but she really thinks she is a planet that everyone and everything must revolve around (case in point sleeping with married Dean - really unforgivable). Also, agree with PPs regarding more more Jess. He was that bad boy with a heart of gold that really made something for himself. I read somewhere once that Dean was Rory's Luke, Logan was Rory's Max and Jess was Rory's Christopher. I think it was a pretty well summed up analogy. ***heres to hoping they kick start a movie a la Veronica Mars).

JennyColada

Even when I watched the series the first time as a teen I found Lorelei a much more relate able character than Rory (plus I also don't find the actress to be particularly good or convincing).

iloveotters2014

One thing I've noticed watching the second time around is Dean was kind of any angry jerk most of the time. Rory may be immature but it's like every time she opened her mouth he yelled at her. Plus you don't demand someone tell you they love you back once you say that you love them.

One of my favorite moments so far was when Sookie says she had 2 people drop out of the wedding and asks Lorelei to ask Richard and Emily....then when Lorelei asks her parents they point out how rude it is to get a pity invite so close to the wedding. Go Emily!

wrigleyville

The actress who plays Rory has this weird, whiny mumble, and it gets on my nerves. She had a small part on "Mad Men", and she annoyed me there too.

I loved GG when I first watched it back in 2007 (Netflix had all of the DVDs), but I watched it more for Lorelai, Richard, and Emily than Rory.

wrigleyville

Since we need some Richard and Emily love in this thread:

bethsmiles

Simky906 said:

It's ok, you're not alone in your binge watching! Early on Rory is pretty cool, a little naive, but generally enjoyable. Once she gets to Yale, she gets pretty insufferable. Also, I never liked her relationship with Logan, so that makes the later years worse for me as well. @bethsmiles Have you seen the actress who played Paris is now on How to Get Away with Murder? I like to pretend that's how Paris turned out as an adult, after some serious therapy of course.

I didn't know she was on How to Get Away with Murder! I had no interest in that show but now I feel like I have to watch it.

I felt like Emily and Richard weren't that bad too! They weren't perfect but usually their heart was in the right place. I'm sure I'm very much in the minority here, but Logan was my favorite of Rory's boyfriends. I think people were too harsh on him and made it his fault that Rory made stupid decisions. Logan didn't have anything to do with Rory's self-pity spiral but he did try to be there for her. Maybe, the Jess we saw later in the series - the one that got his life together could have been good for Rory but not the Jess she actually dated. He was a jerk. Dean was a controlling jerk.

After e-watching it, I've come to the conclusion that the side characters were who really made the show.

wrigleyville

I loooooooooooved loved LOVED it when Logan totally called Rory out for making fun of trust fund kids when she was at Yale on her grandparents' (and then father's) dime, not to mention living in Logan's apartment rent-free. She was so flabbergasted. It was brilliant.

JennyColada

@bethsmiles, I never understood what Rory saw in Jess anyway. It kind of seems like they dated just because...he was there. He never seemed particularly good for her or like she even found him that interesting. The relationship seemed very forced.

loro929

@JennyColada‌ i think they made that relationship happen because they needed to give Rory a "see, I am not so perfect dimension" by dating the intellectual yet misunderstood bad boy. Dating Jess somehow made he a risk taker who followed her heart. She had perfect, safe, hometown Dean but was ultimately bored with him and went for the more exotic, city boy biker who can recite Proust. @wrigleyville‌ I think you bring up such a great point! Throughout he film she feels so morally entitled because she doesn't consider herself rich like her other classmates (both in Chilton and Yale). The irony of the whole situation is that she is actually (by her grandparents) richer than most of them. This also gives her a lot of leeway to make some of the decisions she made, for instance, because there were no actual financial consequences. She never had to worry bat student loans, or where the rent check was coming from ever - which, as you mentioned made some of her actions so much more insufferable because people who aren't trust fund babies don't always have the luxury to take the time to decide what they need/want because they have to worry about paying rent. TK ate my paragraphs.

wrigleyville

To be fair, she was planning to pay her grandparents back**, so it was sort of like a student loan and not like she was living off of them. But still.

**She made the same deal with them that Lorelai did while they were paying for Chilton. Friday night dinners, every week, and paid back in X amount of time. Rory offered to start the payments upon graduation, but Richard told her to wait until she was 25 so she'd have three years to find a good job and put some money away.

But still.

Aray82

I also never got why everyone was so enameled with Rory, probably because I went to private high school and knew girls like her who just seemed to get heaps of praise and we're not necessarily the kindest, most genuine people. I loved the Suki and Jackson storyline and I'm so happy Melissa McCarthy is a fierce comedic powerhouse now!