‘Gilmore Girls’: Did You Ever Notice That Rory Had Exactly Two Friends of Her Own the Entire Series?

Gilmore Girls fans came to know Rory Gilmore as diligent, determined, and studious. While it was made clear, early on in the series, that Rory wasn’t exactly a “joiner”, it became painfully apparent that Rory wasn’t just someone who didn’t join large groups. She was pretty resistant to developing and maintaining friendships. For seven seasons, Rory had precisely two friends that were her own, and that didn’t change nine years later when Netflix released Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

Rory’s only friend at Stars Hollow High was Lane Kim

When the series began, Rory and Lane were best friends. In fact, Lane appeared to be Rory’s only friend at the school. After she left Stars Hollow High for Chilton, she never spoke about a single person at the school again, even though, for the entirety of her time at Chilton, Rory dated someone who attended Stars Hollow High.

Rory was totally disconnected from the kids in her town. She had no idea who Dean was friends with at school, and she could barely muster up the enthusiasm to hear about her one and only friend’s crush. Lane, on the other hand, clearly had other friends. She didn’t belong to any extracurricular activities, either. Sure, she considered the adults in Stars Hollow her friends, but when it came to her peers, her social circle was incredibly limited.

Rory’s only friend through the majority of college was Paris

Rory’s anti-social tendencies didn’t clear up after high school, either. She made it through the majority of Chilton without making a single friend. Sure, she was friendly with Paris in high school, but their relationship was closer to that of competitors than actual friends. Once in college, Paris and Rory’s relationship developed into a genuine friendship, but she did very little to branch out and befriend more people.

Her one attempt to befriend a member of the opposite sex didn’t end well, either. Not only did Marty develop feelings for Rory, but then he got super creepy when he reappeared in the final season of the series. In the end, all of the friends Rory collected from college, weren’t friends in a traditional sense. They were Rory’s acquaintances. Everyone she knew at Yale, except for Lucy and Olivia, were somehow connected to Logan.

The revival doesn’t show Rory with new friends, either

Adult Rory didn’t fare much better in the friendship category. When fans reconnected with her in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life she, once again, had not made a single new pal. Sure, she retained Lane and Paris as pals, but beyond that, she didn’t seem to have a single new friend in her life.

So, why was Rory seemingly so anti-social? Lorelai had a pretty expansive group of pals. She had an entire town of people that she interacted with every day, many of whom were her close friends. Babette and Maury, Miss Patty, Luke, and even Kirk would all consider Lorelai their friend. Michel, Jackson, and Sookie were all close pals, as well. Obviously, Rory didn’t get her lack of social skills from her mother. Perhaps, Rory was more insecure than most people realized. Could her desire to steer away from forming close connections be caused by intensely low self-esteem?