‘Gilmore Girls’ Borrowed a Relationship Dynamic From ‘Sex and the City’
On the surface, Gilmore Girls and Sex and the City don’t appear to be two shows with a ton in common. Still, Gilmore Girls tended to borrow storylines from seemingly unrelated shows. Rory Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger’s odd sort-of-cheating scandal in season 6 was like Ross Geller and Rachel Green’s cheating storyline in Friends. Gilmore girls may have also borrowed a relationship dynamic from Sex and the City.
Rory and Dean’s cheating scandal seemed to mimic the dynamic seen between Mr. Big and Carrie
While Dean Forrester and Rory seem nothing like Mr. Big and Carrie Bradshaw on the surface, if you look a little deeper, you might notice some similarities in their relationship dynamics, especially in the later seasons. Rory, like Mr. Big, was tough to nail down and had a difficult time expressing her feelings. Dean, much like Carrie, was needy and desperate for the attention of the one he loved.
Rory responded to the news of Dean’s impending marriage with shock and horror. Carrie responded to Mr. Big’s big news in much the same way. Rory and Dean also engaged in an extramarital affair, just like Carrie and Big. Both trysts ended in a truly explosive way, too. Dean’s marriage ended when Lindsay read Rory’s letter exposing their sexual encounters. Natasha left Big after she caught Carrie leaving the apartment she shared with Big after a midday romp.
Rory and Dean didn’t end the same way as Carrie and Mr. Big, though
While Rory and Dean had some similarities to Carrie and Mr. Big, despite their age differences, their love stories didn’t end the same. When Sex and the City ended, Carrie ended up with Mr. Big, after he finally had a change of heart and went after her once she moved to Paris. Their relationship still experienced bumps after they reunited, but they ended up getting married. Rory and Dean didn’t end up together in the long run, although they briefly reconnected after the affair.
Rory and Dean dated a total of three times, but their third try was short-lived. After Dean and Lindsay divorced, he quickly began dating Rory again but realized, equally quickly, that he no longer fit into her world. They broke up, and Dean was only seen one more time before his character was never mentioned again. Dean did show up in the revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, but he wasn’t Rory’s love interest. He was happily married with children.
Gilmore Girls seemed to borrow other elements from Sex and the City, too
Rory and Dean’s relationship wasn’t the only thing seemingly lifted from a show intended for much more mature audiences. Richard and Emily Gilmore attended the same colleges as Charlotte York and Trey McDougal. Richard was a Yale graduate, like Trey. Charlotte and Emily both attended Smith College.
Gilmore Girls fan favorite, Emily, also references the famed HBO series. Emily’s opinion of Carrie and her pals certainly didn’t seem positive. Still, she was aware of the show. Amy Sherman-Palladino, the Gilmore Girls’ showrunner, has never mentioned if she was a fan of the series.
