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Stopping by Stars Hollow: A Critic’s First Watch of 'Gilmore Girls' - Season 2, Episode 5

'If you can navigate yourself around a tree, keep on walking.'

By Jacqueline SpencePublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Today is a beautiful day. It’s a warm dry heat with a gentle breeze that rustles the leaves and smells of hope. It’s a good day to garden, a good day to walk in the park, a good day to sit outside and enjoy nature while reading a lengthy novel. Or you could be inside all day writing articles for websites in order to build up your resume with published materials.

Regardless make sure to make the most of this beautiful day. Your articles can be written today, even if you decided to take your lunch break outside. A little sunshine won’t hurt you (unless, of course, you have a sun allergy). So let’s enjoy this wonderful weather with a little stop by Stars Hollow.

Season 2, Episode 5 “Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy”

It’s love triangle time, everybody! It was only a matter of time before Amy Sherman-Paladino introduced a love triangle to help entice their adolescent audience to tune in every week and sell “Team Dean” and “Team Jess” merchandise. And who else would Jess be than Luke’s bad boy nephew? With Tristan gone they needed to fill that James Dean wannabe role to be Dean’s good guy foil.

Now I don’t mind love triangles, but I do mind love triangles when two of the characters involved are in a long-term relationship. Now, I have made my dislike for the current state of Rory and Dean’s relationship abundantly clear in past articles, but that doesn’t mean I want the boy to be cheated on. Plus, in just this first episode, if I had to choose between Jess and Dean, I’d pick Jess because at the least his character is defined.

The introduction of Jess’ character only further goes to showcase how shallow and static Dean’s character is. In just one episode of screen time, Jess’s character has more character history, background, and dynamics than Dean has had in the entire first season. Jess feels like a real person, a true character whose purpose is not just to cause drama just for filler in an episode. Jess is meant to have his own story that coincides along Rory’s, while Dean has had no story besides Rory’s. Dean only exists to give Rory something to do, while Jess exists as his own entity.

We also have the return of Paris and her unnecessary rivalry and hatred of Rory back in the game. I can’t reiterate how much I hate this Paris and Rory back and forth between friends and enemies, otherwise known as frenemies. It honestly is more annoying than entertaining at this point, and with Amy Sherman-Paladino painting such a sympathetic backstory for Paris in season one, it’s really hard to root against her. So instead the whole time this plot is unfolding the audience is left frustrated at Paris and Rory’s inability to bury the hatchet.

Also, using Paris to help resolve the tension between Rory and Max post broken proposal was shoehorned… and unnecessary. Max’s character (as static as he is) clearly would have gone out and talked to Rory. He may have just been a sex object for Lorelai, but at least he was a professional sex object.

Will the Jess/Dean/Rory love triangle cause me to want to tear my eyes out? Will I have to hunt Amy Sherman-Paladino down as berate her for trying to have her audience choose between a dynamic character with a rich backstory and a static plot device as a romantic partner for her female lead? Will Paris and Rory’s feud magically end in two episodes so I won’t have to beat my head against a wall? We’ll see as we move…

Onto Season 2, Episode 6 “Presenting Lorelai Gilmore”

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About the Creator

Jacqueline Spence

A highly opinionated mass media addict, I hold the entertainment industry accountable for plot holes, cash grabs, poor casting, and broken promises in the hopes to inspire upcoming creators to be better.

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