IN 2016, Netflix created a four-episode miniseries of the show Gilmore Girls, which ran from 2000 up until 2007. The show was beloved by people everywhere for its quirky characters; girls everywhere either wanted to be Rory or to be Lorelai’s daughter, too.
However, people found themselves rather disappointed with the remake when one scene showed Lorelai and Rory fat-shaming a number of people as they sat judgingly by a poolside. It was a turnaround from the sweet, loving Gilmore Girls people have come to know and love over the years.
But in all honesty, looking back at the show, this behavior didn’t come out of nowhere. Under the sweet facade of homey Stars Hollow, there are bouts of problematic behavior from practically every character.
Gilmore Girls is still a beloved show. Even now, people are still talking about whether Rory should’ve ended up with Jess, Logan, or – god forbid – Dean.
And while it’s fun to re-watch this series filled with lovable characters, one can’t deny that it’s a product of its time, just as all shows are.
That being said, some moments in the show probably wouldn’t fly if they were made today.
Whether you love the show or hate it, it’s impossible to deny that there were some moments within the show that, on re-watch, will probably make you think:How the hell did I forget about this? or Why did I ever think that was okay?
For those moments, here are republicasia’s top five picks.
- Jess pressuring Rory to have sex (Keg! Max)
Introduced in the second season of the show as Luke Danes’s nephew, Jess Mariano was quick to steal Rory’s heart with his bad-boy bravado and his intellect, which rivals that of her own. Even when she had a boyfriend, Rory couldn’t help but catch feelings for him.
Eventually, after quite some pining, they finally start dating. But their relationship hits a lot of rough patches real quick. One of their worst moments was at a party they attended because Rory wanted to show support for Lane’s band.
After pestering Rory to leave with him almost the entire night, Jess ends up hiding away in one of the rooms. Rory finds him and tries to ask him what’s wrong, but he responds by kissing her. One thing leads to another, and then soon enough, he tries to take things to the next level, which Rory rejects.
More than once, she tells him to wait, but he keeps on going. When she pushes him off, he gets mad. When she starts to scold him, asking him, “You didn’t think it was gonna happen like this, right?” he yells at her and tells her that he didn’t invite her into the room – she came there all on her own.
Now, for viewers of the show, the context of this scene is that Jess was going through a lot of things unrelated to his relationship, and ended up unfairly lashing out at Rory, making it seem as if he was yelling at her because she didn’t want to have sex with him.
Deep down, Jess isn’t mad at her. He even says as she leaves that she didn’t do anything. But that doesn’t erase the fact that he kept going even when she told him to wait, and yelled at her when all she wanted to do was cheer him up.
- Rory cheating on both of her boyfriends… with Jess (I Can’t Get Started & The Real Paul Anka)
Don’t worry, Jess isn’t the only one getting called out today. Rory’s done some pretty iffy things too – one of which is cheating on both her partners with Jess.
Come to think of it, there’s a lot of cheating that goes on in Gilmore Girls that we just don’t seem to talk about. Lorelai cheating on Max, Rory cheating on Dean, Dean cheating on Lindsay, Rory cheating on Logan… the list goes on and on.
One of the most disappointing things to many fans, though, was Rory ruining her first relationship by continuing to flirt with Jess even when she was in a committed relationship, and then eventually kissing him at the end of Season 2.
While this is definitely not a safe space for Dean apologists, that doesn’t mean that he deserved to get cheated on.
Things only got worse when, after hitting a rough patch with Logan, she went all the way to Philadelphia just to see Jess, allowing him to kiss her and then telling him: “I couldn’t even cheat on him like he cheated on me,” even though she’d agreed with Logan before this that no, what he did wasn’t considered cheating.
Mind you: this was long after she rejected Jess after he told her that he loved her and that he wanted her to move to New York with him, flat-out telling him that she didn’t want to be with him.
Even he found himself saying that he didn’t deserve how he was being treated. (Know your worth, king.)
- All the fat-shaming that went on (a lot of episodes, but especially Die, Jerk)
It’s hard to pinpoint all the times Rory and Lorelai had shamed people for their looks.
It was especially confusing to hear such awful insults coming from them considering that there were several plus-sized people within the main cast of the show. Their sudden attacks on plus-sized people always felt oddly misplaced.
Some stand-outs were Rory telling a professor that one of his students had fat thighs, and Lorelai accidentally grabbing someone else’s shopping bag and then making fun of the panties she’d purchased due to their size, guffawing for the entirety of Luke’s diner to hear.
One of the worst cases of this, though, was when Rory wrote an entire review on a ballet shown at Yale University, practically obliterating one of the ballerinas just so her piece would stand out to her editor.
Most of her notes had little to do with the girl’s dancing. She, instead, pointed out the rolls of flesh under the poor woman’s bra strap, and of course, how can one forget that she’d compared the girl to a hippo, of all animals?
And the craziest thing about this is that Rory still tried to justify what she’d said, as did her grandparents and her editor after reading her piece. If anyone thinks that the ballerina calling Rory a jerk was uncalled for, then perhaps pretty privilege is real.
- Everything about Rory and Logan’s first conversation (Written in the Stars)
This may hurt all the Logan fans out there, but this is all in the line of duty. Though it’s quite admirable how much growth Logan showed from his first appearance on the show compared to his last, it doesn’t make his first conversation with Rory any less cringe-worthy.
If your memory’s a little hazy, Rory runs into Logan after he and his friends mistake her dorm for that of another girl. Rory then acts coldly toward Logan, saying it’s because he’d treated her friend Marty rudely the other day just because he’d served as a bartender at one of Logan’s parties.
Rory scolds him, telling him he has no right to talk to people as if they’re beneath him. She explains that just because her friend bartended for him and his friends, that doesn’t mean it was okay for Logan to treat him like a servant. All very good points.
Ever the privileged white boy, Logan then rebutted by saying: “I paid him, he served. That’s what a servant does.”
He even brings up the “it’s a free country argument” to justify his actions, saying he has the right to speak to anyone however he pleases. And he doesn’t even really believe in his point – he just wants to argue.
The scene ends with Logan telling Rory: “Now tell me that wasn’t fun,” which hello, it definitely wasn’t. Also, he forgot her name more than once. How hard is it to remember “Rory?”
Today, people may frown upon this kind of argument, and may not find Logan as charming as he used to be. The whole conversation oozes elitism, but again, admittedly, this is something he does grow out of eventually.
- Doyle harassing Rory? Hello!? (Bridesmaid Revisited)
After breaking up with their respective partners, Rory and Doyle bump into each other, both drunk and saddened by the fate of their relationships. They open up to one another, and then both decide to go home, leaning on one another just to get out the bar’s door.
It’s a cute moment. Rory even gives Doyle his jacket because he feels cold. It’s a nice, tender moment that shows the human side of both these characters – that in the darkest of moments, you’ll always have your friends by your side.
That is, until Rory hugs Doyle and he starts kissing her neck without her consent. Hello, how is that not harassment? How was he never called out for his behavior, aside from Rory telling him to go home?
This is never again brought up in the series. She never mentions it to her partner, Lorelai, or even to Doyle’s girlfriend Paris, who just so happens to be her best friend. And Doyle continues to become a recurring character after that, even getting back together with Paris in the same episode.
Was this meant to be a funny moment, this scene that makes light of sexual harassment? If anything, it just felt unnecessary, ruining what – at first – was a sweet, tender moment between friends.
It’s shocking this scene was ever okayed, especially given that this came out during the later years of the show.
