Gilmore Girls: Team Jess, Team Dean or Team Logan?

Gilmore Girls is a 2000s nostalgic series on Netflix containing 7 seasons with 22 episodes in each season. The series focuses on the mother-daughter bond between Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) and her mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham). The two-act sister-like, enjoying movie nights with junk food and are extremely close in age as Lorelai gave birth to Rory when she was 16 years old. The show focuses on their life in a small town in Connecticut named Stars Hollow. The mother and daughter duo partake through romantic relationships, family drama with the grandparents and life-changing events. 

One of the biggest debates amongst Gilmore Girls fans is which boyfriend Rory should have ended up with. Throughout the show, Rory progresses from her first love Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki), to troublemaker Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) and lastly, newspaper peer Logan Huntzberger (Mathew Czuchry). 

To deal with the intense debate, I asked fellow Gilmore Girls fans at Oak Park High School. 

“Personally, I’m team Jess! I feel like their personalities are most compatible and if anything, they can both help each other grow and become better people. I love their dynamic and their moments together throughout the seasons,” freshman Dasha Heydari wrote to the Talon. 

“They [Jess and Rory] are so perfect together and supportive of both of their journeys. At the end of the show, Jess loved his dream and wrote a book. He always supported Rory and I feel like they had unfinished business when they met again,” freshman Diya Johny wrote to the Talon. 

“I am Team Jess. He is the best male character in the series. At first, I definitely thought the Dean was better since he made an entire car for Rory. However, Rory did not appreciate this and instead fell in love with Jess. At the same time, Jess is entirely in love with Rory. I think Dean is the ideal boyfriend for Rory, but she was seeking more than the perfect romance and took a chance on Jess. I think the relationship between Rory and Jess is amazing in its own way as they both push each other to become better people,” sophomore Sydney Herstein wrote to the Talon. 

Though there were lots of Jess supporters, Dean and Logan also were shown support. 

“Out of the three boyfriends Rory dated, Dean is definitely my favorite,” freshman Giselle Lahooti wrote to the Talon. “He was always there for her [Rory] when she needed comfort and protected her. He never had intentions to hurt her and treated her with respect. He was the perfect first love and the kind of [the] first boyfriend you would want. He made Lorelai, Rory’s mother, like him as well and agreed to do many things in Rory’s favor. Watching their love story grow from Season one to Season 4 was so entertaining and seeing them bump into each other at the market where they shared their first kiss in the revival 15 years after they dated was so bittersweet and interesting to see.”

“I am Team Logan,” freshman Tara Ezhari wrote to the Talon. “So many people like Jess. The writers spent most of the time building up their relationship and but a very little amount of time actually showing them together. Rory meets Logan at Yale and he becomes her college boyfriend. I love Logan’s growth as he is first shown as an uncommitted playboy. Despite his reputation with the ladies, he becomes very committed to Rory and even proposes to her at their graduation party. Unlike all the other characters, Logan admits to his faults and apologies when necessary and does not run away when the relationship gets tough. He also makes very romantic gestures like buying Rory a Birkin Bag. He also fits into her mother’s world as they both try to be independent and flee from their rich parents’ lives.”

“I am Team Logan, although I really liked Jess, I think that Logan brought out a good side of Rory when they started getting more comfortable with each other. She was also able to help him become a better man from the beginning where he did not care about anything to towards the end where he was more of a respectable man,” junior Karina Brewer wrote to the Talon.