Ask anyone who loves Gilmore Girls about their feelings on Jess, Dean or Logan and you are asking for a three-part dissertation about who is right for Rory and who was the biggest jerk. In all fairness, they all had some pretty stellar jerk moments, but they all also loved Rory in the only way they knew how. Dean was a sweet teenager who built her a car. He wanted a perfect innocent Rory. Jess came around when she was ready to try something new and was really her first experience of life outside the Hollow. Logan was the only real “adult” relationship she had. Ask anyone about Rory’s boyfriends and you get two camps: Dean and Jess. Logan always gets the short end of the stick, but he is was the best guy for her and here’s why.
Logan grew up.
It would’ve been so easy for Logan to keep doing nothing with his life. He could have lived off his trust fund and been happy trying not to die in stupid stunts until he was gray, but that changed. Somewhere along the way he wanted more than that for himself and Rory. Yes, he still made a lot of mistakes but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. While he was realizing that he wanted to live more of a life, he also grew in character. He went from being the rude, pretentious guy who dragged her around at a Life and Death Brigade party to someone who remembered an early conversation well enough to give Rory a rocket, and to work on a long-distance relationship with her despite the difficulties.
Logan trusted Rory to make her own decisions.
It might not seem like it, but Logan was only boyfriend who didn’t cling to Rory. Yes, he wanted her and yes, when she left him he begged her to come back, but he always knew that she didn’t need his help to decide. More often than not he leaned on her instincts to make better decisions. Unlike Dean, who got mad when Rory wasn’t ready to tell him she loved him, or Jess, who was always impatient with her reticence to be more “adventurous,” Logan gave Rory the space and time she needed to come to conclusions herself—like when she took some time off from Yale.
Logan was able to show Rory what Lorelai’s old life might have been like.
Throughout the seasons of Gilmore Girls, there was a feeling of, “If Lorelai hadn’t gotten pregnant, this is what her life would be.” Logan was the only time she truly came close to feeling what that life looked like and what it could offer, both good and bad. While Rory certainly wasn’t aiming for a trajectory that would put her where her mother might have gone (barring her time off from Yale when she was working at the DAR and throwing a tea party every other day), it was nice that Logan gave her a chance to experience that type of lavish lifestyle for herself, rather than letting Lorelei force her own opinions on Rory without every giving her the opportunity to see for herself.
Logan made Rory get outside her comfort zone.
Let’s be honest: Dean was a small-town boy and Jess was much too broody for constant fun and socializing. Rory’s time at Yale is the first time we see her truly throw herself into social settings even when she didn’t know people. Whether it was jumping off tall scaffolding holding only umbrellas or making friends with Lucy and Olivia, Logan encouraged her to participate and open up more. No doubt Rory would have grown into that eventually, but neither Dean nor Jess would have given her that same opportunity or the same encouragement.
Logan committed.
For a guy who never had a real girlfriend, he was a good boyfriend. Aside from the fact that money makes everything easier, he gets points for recognizing that he was gonna lose Rory and stepping up. He still made mistakes but he was committed to her even when he knew he was wrong, and relentless in asking for forgiveness. Whereas Jess and Dean bolted at the first sign of trouble (Dean was literally the most obnoxious person to disagree with and Jess was just too damn moody to hold a full-length convo with), Logan tried to stick around and work it out. He was always making adjustments to the way he responded or reacted in order to help his and Rory’s relationship flourish.
Logan wasn’t perfect.
This is an underrated quality in leading men. Rory was so often held up as an ideal that it was hard to imagine a mere mortal being able to keep up with her, and Logan tried. He messed up and made mistakes, but the conflicts between he and Rory also humanized her and showed that even the best relationships have their flaws, but that’s OK.
Do you like Logan, or do you prefer Jess or Dean? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @litdarling.
Team Logan! That was so on point!