What a summer it’s been here at the blog. I’ve looooved talking about Gilmore Girls (ahem, guys) each Friday with such awesome guests. Alas, all good things must come to an end. I actually though we were ending this thing a couple weeks ago, but then two more awesome guests came forward.
Including kind and brave Charissa Kerley. Kind because she’s writing about the Gilmore Guy who many viewers tend to disparage and brave because…well, he’s the guy many viewers tend to disparage. LOL! But Charissa is here today to point out his good qualities. His Season One qualities, if you will. I’ve had the fun of getting to know Charissa online and I think she’s a blast (and NOT just because she agrees with me on the awesomeness of Jess)…so I’m thrilled she’s here today.
If you missed any of the past Gilmore Guys posts, you can catch up here. And who knows, this was so much fun that maybe it’ll be back…you never know. But be sure to enjoy Charissa’s post, join the conversation and enter the giveaway below. Take it away, Charissa…
*****
Dean Forrester.
Saying that name stirs up a lot of emotions in the Gilmore universe. Lately I’ve found as I’ve entered into many lovely GG debates that many of those emotions are bad. So here I am, a die-hard Team Jess fan, writing a post in defense of the good ol’ Dean Forrester.
Yes, I said he was good. Yes, I realize he cheated on his wife at the end of S4 and beginning of S5 with Rory. Yes, I agree cheating is wrong. Now give me a chance to defend him.
Dean was cool…for awhile.
Dean was an incredible boyfriend to Rory. He went above and beyond to impress Lorelai so he could be accepted into Rory’s world. He built her a car to keep her from enduring the long city bus rides to Hartford. He protected and defended Rory when needed, `a la Tristan at the Chilton formal. He understood and appreciated her love for books and even had several intelligent conversations with Rory about different books and authors that she enjoyed. He escorted her to her ridiculous coming out party even when he found out he had to wear white gloves and coat tails on his tuxedo. They were practically perfect together.
Enter Jess Mariano (swoon). Jess showed us a new side to Rory, but he also showed us a new side to Dean. A protective, jealous, sometimes yelling Dean. But who could blame him? All of Stars Hollow could see that Jess was out to win Rory and (gulp) Rory couldn’t resist him. So after months of trying to overlook the Jess factor, Dean finally stood up for himself and broke things off with Rory.
Well, this is a pretty great photo. LOL…
After a little awkwardness Rory and Dean decided to still be friends. And it worked out well, until… well it didn’t. Dean tried to move on from Rory and made the horrible mistake of getting married before he was ready and before he had actually fallen out of love with her. Poor Lindsey was his rebound, and she just couldn’t measure up to what Rory had meant to him. So, yes, after some trouble in his marriage Dean made the terrible mistake of being unfaithful to his wife and getting back together with Rory.
I’m not excusing it. Cheating is wrong and they were BOTH wrong for it. Rory was Dean’s kryptonite. He admitted that he was a fool when it came to her and that he had hurt a lot of people. After ending things with his wife, he and Rory tried to give their relationship another go, but they just couldn’t recapture the magic they once had. They had both become very different people, and finally, when Rory came parading out of her grandparents’ house dripping in diamonds with a crowd of pretty boys in suits behind her (I’m looking at YOU pretty boy Huntzberger), Dean once again showed some self respect and removed himself from her life.
Dean was human. He made mistakes, but he also had a lot of great qualities that I think Gilmore Girls fans tend to overlook in the later seasons. Dean will always be Rory’s first boyfriend, first love, and first heartbreak, and I choose to believe that Dean went on to do great things in life and be the good guy that he naturally is to a wife whom he loved even more than that what’s-her-name Gilmore girl.
*****
Charissa Kerley is a Gilmore fanatic (Team Jess for life!) and an aspiring author from Horn Lake, MS. She has been married to her husband Brad for six years and is the mother of a miniature yorkie named Yoshi. When she’s not typing away on her laptop she is a full time nanny and is also heavily involved in the missions and music ministries at her church.
Giveaway Time
I ran out of actual Gilmore Girls paraphernalia a couple weeks back. Sorry about that, but there’s still fun stuff up for grabs (although I’m clearly a little biased on one of the items!): a $10 Starbucks gift card and my latest book, HERE TO STAY, which has been compared in multiple reviews to Gilmore Girls…which, yes, did in fact make me die of happiness.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Comments 23
Dean should get some slack because he’s a really good guy deep down. I really loved him on the show.
Author
I liked him too…for awhile. 🙂
I understood Jess’s bad-boy appeal, but always thought Dean was good for Rory. He was a decent guy who made mistakes.
Author
He definitely did make some mistakes. I like what Lorelai said at some point in the series…she said Dean was the perfect first boyfriend. I tend to agree. From a TV standpoint, I don’t think they could let that relationship go on forever, though, because it was too perfect. Maybe a good thing in real life, but not in storytelling. LOL!
Dean was always high on the list for me. He is a good guy deep down and definitely deserves some slack. 😉
Author
I liked S1 Dean for sure…but the more overbearing and jealous he got, the less I could handle him. But in the start, he was a good guy.
Love it!!!
Author
Seriously important question. I know you love Logan. But say he’s out of the picture. Who do you choose? Dean or Jess? 🙂
My guess to the answer of this question for Jesse probably depends on what version of Dean you are referring to, because she originally loved loved loved Dean up until the end of S4 and preferred him over Jess. But I know that she decided she didn’t like him as much after the affair fiasco and she did like the older, wiser Jess just not as much as she liked (barf) Logan.
Author
Haha your “(barf) Logan” made me laugh. I will say this about Logan. He made some incredibly thoughtful grand gestures. But I gotta go with sensitive, writerly Jess every time…even if he does talk out of the side of his mouth. Hehehe…
I knew there had to be some Dean lovers out there!
Author
You were right. 🙂
You KNOW I’d come out in support of the oft maligned Dean. Poor guy was nothing more than a victim of writers with an agenda. Sweet, Pre-Jess Dean, who was smart and loved books, and cared about other people, and watched movies with the girls, and BUILT CARS, and was pretty much perfect for Rory in every way. Until Jess and his slick hair and his disrespectful attitude, and bad boy ways entered the picture. Then the writers had to start messing with Dean’s character and making him seem like a dumb thug so we’d like Jess. Well, I for one was not duped.
As for everything that happened after that, I refuse to acknowledge it. It’s defamation of character, a writerly cardinal sin.
Author
LOL okay Erin, I completely agree with you that Dean’s character TOTALLY suffered at the hands of the writers. They morphed his character in S2…and then continued to do so until by S4 the guy was unbearable.
BUT, and hear me out, from a television writing standpoint…they kinda had to do something. Dean was too perfect for Rory. There was so little room for conflict and tension there…and you just can’t do that on TV long-term. In a way, it’s a shame they had them get together so early because it pretty much forced them to break them apart…although, I understand that, too, because stringing them along in a will they/won’t they way would’ve been too Luke/Lorelai-ish.
So as much as I, too, blame Dean’s character shifting on the writers, I get why they did it –they had to find a way to give Rory a more interesting love life. Plus…I just love Jess. Not because he was the token bad boy. But because he was one of the most layered characters on the show…one of the most flawed, but therefore, one of the ones with the most opportunity to change. Even though we only got to see that change from a distance in S4-S6, I love that it happened.
Wow, awesome-ly written response Melissa!
Author
Thanks, Charissa. Clearly I think about this show way too much. LOL!!
I really liked Dean in the early seasons – he was a good guy. Too bad that he and Rory outgrew each other.
Author
I like that you say they outgrew each other. I think you’re right. Because even if none of the craziness had ever happened with Jess and with Dean getting married and all that, I think eventually they would’ve run into trouble because Rory was always destined to go off do big things and Dean would’ve tired of following her around eventually.
Sure, why not
Yes, go easy on him.
I think we should cut him some slack. Yes he was wrong to cheat on his wife but Rory knew he was married. So they both messed up. I liked dean though!
I think we should cut him some slack, simply because of season one. {Also, I wish there would have been a post on Tristian. If I remember correctly, we wasn’t too bad when he was sent away.}
I liked Dean. I think we should definitely cut him some slack.