Are you Team Dean, Jess or Logan? The moment it was revealed that all three of Rory's ex-boyfriends would be back for the Gilmore Girls revival, fans immediately started picking sides. Some wrote passionately about which guy is really the one for Rory, while others started hypothesizing what these guys' returns will mean for her. (Consensus? A lot of drama.) No one blames anyone for hoping that sparks will be rekindled with any one of these guys. This is a TV show, after all. But what was always so great about Gilmore Girls was that Rory and her mom Lorelai were always more focused on their own lives and each other to let a man get in their way. That's why, if the show wants to stay true to itself, Rory should stay single in the revival.
This is probably a very unpopular opinion. And I will admit I got really excited when Milo Ventimiglia (aka Jess Mariano) revealed he would be in three out of the four 90-minute episodes they plan to shoot. But, as excited as I may be, a decade is a long time, and it's hard to believe that Rory hasn't moved on from those men of her past. (Even Jess.) Rory's goal was never to be married, or to be a wife. She just wanted to be like Christiane Amanpour, an international journalist who was on the front lines for the biggest news stories. We can hope that Rory is still on that path, and, if she is, it's unlikely that she has much time for love with all her traveling. Especially rekindling it with someone she knew when she was still in, or just barely out of, her teens.
Those years after college are when you find yourself, when you figure out the person you want to be, and, while doing this, you often leave those from your past behind. These men would also likely do the same. It will be nice to see where these guys ended up after Rory, but, for their sake, I hope that they've moved on, found their own way, and aren't just pining away for our Rory Gilmore. It does no one any good to live in the past. Just think about how sad Dean seemed in those final seasons when he no longer was with Rory. He was so bitter — no one wants that Dean back for the revival. We want more for all these men, just as we do for Rory.
We know Rory is single but dating, like most woman her age, so it can also be assumed that, like a lot of women in this day and age, she's not interested in figuring out her love life just yet. She's more interested in figuring her own life out. She's not worried about having it all as she embarks on her 30s, but instead working towards her series-long dream of being a journalist. She didn't go back to Yale to just find a man and settle down; no, she went back to earn the degree that would get her back on track. Since Rory has always looked to her mother, she knows there's no need to rush love. Lorelai had relationships throughout the series, but her main goal was to open her own inn with Sookie. Once that happened, it seemed like she was more open to love (with Luke), because she had found happiness on her own. This show was all about women figuring it out for themselves and the revival should be the same.
The show's final scene, like the last scene of the show's series premiere, features Rory and Lorelai together in Luke's Diner drinking coffee and talking. This choice says a lot about the Gilmore Girls: It was always about the relationship between a mother and daughter. That's why this revival should explore what's happened to the two of them in this past decade. I want to see what happened in Rory's life after she left on that bus, how she found her way without Lorelai by her side. On her way to full fledged adulthood, she may have caught up with Dean, Jess and Logan, but think about how many of your exes are still a huge part of your life? Not many, I would guess. It's hard to believe Rory's life would be much different.
No one's saying Rory should be a nun, but it would do the character great injustice to place too much focus on her love life in this revival. Or, worse, put the focus on Rory having to choose between these three men. A lot may have changed in the past decade, but one thing will always be true: Rory Gilmore is defined by so much more than who she is dating.
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