While Rory Gilmore is framed as extremely innocent and moral, to the point of being referred to as an angel at times in the series, she lacks any kind of sense of accountability the many times she does do something wrong. It works for a singular watch through of the series as most people aren’t exactly tuning in to pick apart the characters, but its cult classic status has drawn serious criticism of the writing of Rory’s character and the show in general, especially in the later seasons.
Before I begin my tirade I need it to be understood that I have watched Gilmore Girls quite literally more times than I can count. It has gotten to the point where I can place the season and episode that the clips in the intro are from. I do, however, simply go back to the pilot when I finish season five. I occasionally finish the show in its entirety, but I could not, in my wildest dreams, imagine stealing a fucking yacht and dropping out of a goddamn Ivy League and then acting like I’m the victim in that situation.
If this had been a one-off bad choice made in a deeply emotional state that Rory took full responsibility for, it’d be different, but this is simply the most insane instance of her blaming anything except herself. While I do hate Dean Forester, I fear he’s the most poignant example of her lack of accountability considering every time they broke up, it was her fault. However, he got somehow was ostracized by Stars Hollow every single time like it’s fucking Salem and he’s a bad midwife. He confesses he’s in love and she just stares and lets people in Stars Hollow side eye and even physically fight him, but she’s the one crying? She emotionally cheats on him with a 5’9 hooligan and he’s the asshole for dumping her at a dance? He is 100% the asshole for other things (re: cheating on his wife and being a general possessive dickhead) but not a single resident of Stars Hollow takes a second to think or say “Huh, Rory kind of fucked him over!” when she absolutely did!
And she does the same thing to Lorelai (her own mother!) more than once. She consistently goes behind her mother’s back to Richard and Emily, completely ignoring the decades of complicated relationship in favor of an easy solution. They need an exterminator? Let’s go to Emily! Even though Lorelai would actually rather eat the termites than ask her for money! Need money for Yale? Let’s reinstate Friday Night Dinners without consulting Lorelai, who would absolutely have warned Rory that that reinstatement would, in fact, include Lorelai! Need to get your life on track after committing a fucking felony and dropping out of Yale? Let’s live with Richard and Emily and completely ice out our mother who actually wants us to succeed and be happy in life! And whenever Lorelai calls Rory on her shit, she’s confused and indignant and hurt. She’s so used to being the perfect little angel of Stars Hollow that the second she messes up, she immediately tries to deflect and it just makes her worse.
Even in the revival, it’s incredibly hard to empathize with anything Rory is going through because she’s done it to herself. Her romantic life is a mess because she’s dating a man she can’t even remember the name of while having an affair with Logan, who’s fucking engaged! Her career hasn’t taken off because she won’t take risks or go out of her comfort zone. She’s still basically living in Stars Hollow because she hasn’t grown up in the slightest and absolutely no one in her life (except Jess) is willing to call her on it. How are you supposed to root for someone that stagnant?
Featured Image from Warner Bros
