Fans Can’t Help But Notice That ‘Gilmore Girls’ Romanticized Infidelity
Gilmore Girls has experienced a bit of a second life since being added to Netflix. The revival series, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, brought renewed interest, too. The show, however, was not without its problems, and fans who have watched Rory Gilmore and her mother, Lorelai Gilmore, grow up together on-screen, can’t help but notice that the show made light of infidelity quiet a bit.
How many instances of cheating occurred on Gilmore Girls?
For a show that was supposed to be light and airy, Gilmore Girls tackled some pretty heavy topics. Not only did the series focus heavily on dysfunctional family dynamics, but it also had a pretty healthy dose of adultery and general cheating mixed in. Throughout the show’s seven-season run, there were six separate cheating storylines. There were seven if you count Lorelai kissing Luke Danes before hashing out her relationship with Jason Stiles as cheating, and eight if you count Rory’s affair with Logan Huntzberger in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
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Lorelai was the first to take part in an affair. She slept with Christopher Hayden while he was engaged to Sherry. Christopher insisted the relationship was winding down when he slept with Lorelai. Moments later, Rory cheated on Dean when she kissed Jess at Sookie’s wedding. In season 4, Rory slept with Dean while he was still married to Lindsay, shortly after she lambasted Paris Geller for cheating on her boyfriend, Jamie, with a much older professor.
One could consider Rory’s flirtation with Logan while she was dating Dean cheating, too. Finally, Lorelai hooked up with Christopher mere minutes after ending her engagement to Luke Danes. Each incident of cheating was unique, but they all seemed to have one thing in common, each event was treated with a bit more levity than fans would have liked.
Rory Gilmore was a serial cheater
Rory was the Gilmore Girls character who actually cheated on her partners the most often, even though she was presented as cautious. When it came to her love life, though, she was incredibly indecisive. Rory actually cheated or was involved in an affair four separate times throughout the show’s original run and the Netflix revival. Rory, however, had a predictable pattern when it came to her adulterous ways. She always fell back on past loves.
When Rory realized Dean had moved on, she pursued him and eventually helped break up his marriage. Later, she ran to Jess, hoping to get back at Logan for allegedly cheating on her. Whether or not Logan actually cheated is a point of debate for Gilmore Girls fans. When fans reconnected with Rory in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, she hadn’t changed much. Instead of finding a partner who was right for her, she dated a man she could barely remember, while still sleeping with her engaged ex-boyfriend.
There were no repercussions for the cheating
It’s not uncommon for young adults to cheat on their partners. According to The Atlantic, about 17% of people in their early 20s cheated on their partners in 2005. The prevalence of cheating may be under-reported because most people are unwilling to admit to having an affair. 2005 was right around the time that Rory launched her affair with her married ex-boyfriend, Dean. The fact that Rory and Dean carried on an affair isn’t unbelievable, but the fact that there were very few repercussions is a bit hard to swallow.
If you think about it, there were never negative repercussions for the cheating that took place on the series. Rory cheated with Dean, and she got the guy. Rory cheated on Dean with Jess, and still managed to string him along for several more episodes before ending up with Jess. Paris cheated on her boyfriend, Jamie, and ended up in a relationship with the professor she was cheating with. Lorelai slept with Christopher while he was with Sherry, and nothing negative happened. Later, when she slept with Chris after ending her relationship with Luke, she married Christopher, only to get back together with Luke in the end.
