7 Times Rory Gilmore Wasn’t A Girl’s Girl

Gilmore Girls is beloved for being effortlessly rewatchable and its familiar characters who you genuinely want to succeed. But over the course of more than 150 episodes, they’re bound to stumble sometimes. The series produced its share of problematic moments, many of which came at the expense of the women in the Gilmores’ lives.

Indeed, the titular mother-daughter duo weren’t always girl’s girls — and Rory, in particular, often disregarded friends, loved ones, and perceived romantic rivals throughout the show’s seven seasons and revival. While she could be a great friend to Lane and Paris, she also had a habit of brushing off women who weren’t in her close circle or got in the way of her relationships.

Here are seven times Rory missed the mark.

Visiting Jess In New York

If being a girl’s girl — in its purest sense — means celebrating and centering the women in your life, then Rory missed the mark in Season 2 when she took an impulsive trip to New York to visit Jess. The risky decision led to her missing her mom Lorelai’s graduation day, and even Rory is surprised at herself for doing it.

While Jess and Rory’s flirty, impromptu outing set them up as a ship-worthy couple, it was a low for her.

Being Mean To Shane

Look, holding a grudge against your crush’s new girlfriend is standard high school stuff. But even so, Rory was particularly hostile toward Shane, whom Jess started dating while Rory was in Washington, D.C., for the summer. Despite being in a relationship herself, Rory goes out of her way to belittle Shane at her beauty shop job. “For you, how ice is made is probably fascinating,” she says.

That Cruel Ballet Review

Remember when Rory wrote that straight-up mean review of a school ballet performance, likening the dancer to a hippo? Even after being confronted about her words, she reviews another show, and learns all the wrong lessons from the experience. “Sometimes you have to make an enemy,” she tells Lorelai, as if the problem with her review was simply being a tough critic and not needlessly criticizing another woman’s body.

Her Comment To Asher

Later, in Season 4’s “Afterboom,” Rory continues the body-shaming by telling Asher Fleming, who’s having an affair with Paris, that one of the women at his book signing had “fat thighs.” She might think she’s standing up for Paris here, but she’s only contributing to a paradigm that hurts them both.

Sleeping With Dean

Obviously, sleeping with a married person (whose spouse isn’t down for that) is never girl’s girl behavior. But what adds another icky layer to Rory and Dean’s affair is that she was school friends with Lindsay! That isn’t to say they were besties, of course, but their acquaintance should have given Rory pause. “He’s not a married guy,” Rory tells her mom. “He’s Dean! My Dean.”

All The Cheating, Actually

Rory’s knack for infidelity didn’t stop with Dean. She also carried on an even longer affair with Logan in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, despite him being engaged to a woman named Odette. She seems to operate on the logical fallacy that former school-days sweethearts are fair game forever. Rory may not be a girl’s girl — but she is consistent.

Keeping A Secret From Lucy

In Season 7, when Marty pretended not to know Rory, his former bestie-slash-crush, she might have been too shocked to set the record straight right away. To be clear, it was weird for Marty to tell his girlfriend, Lucy, that he didn’t know her. It was also a bad boyfriend move of Logan to reveal the truth at dinner. But for Rory not to tell Lucy the truth for weeks — and only acknowledge it when forced to — remains one of her most perplexing storylines.