Marie Claire Takes It to the Streets: Team Dean, Team Jess, or Team Logan?

Do you remember where you were on May 15, 2007? We were on our couches watching Rory leave her life behind to follow her career dreams.

It was the series finale of Gilmore Girls, the show that quickly became a mainstay in the pop culture zeitgeist. But as a nation united under Stars Hollow, we are also a nation divided—who among her love interests actually deserved Rory's heart? Was it her first boyfriend Dean, the labrador retriever of a human? Was it Jess, the angst-ridden bad boy whose literary intellect was rivaled only by Rory herself? Or was it Logan, the charismatic rich guy who had a lot of daddy issues? (Sorry, Tristan and Marty, but really, who are we kidding.)

All it takes is the slightest mention of any of these names at MarieClaire.com HQ for us to launch into an immediate—and heated—debate. As a group we've spent an embarrassing amount of time hashing out the nuances of Rory's dating life, and yet every single time someone so much as broaches the topic (which happens quite often, considering we run a newsroom that covers the Gilmore Girls revival as aggressively as a serious breaking news story), we launch right back into a whole new debate. 

So we decided to settle it right here, once and for all.

Let's Talk Rory

The thing that revealed itself to us, very early on, is that fighting the good fight of Which Boyfriend Is Best for Rory is hard when Rory herself can be, frankly, very annoying. (Good for TV, female characters, women, etc. Bad for making an argument for boyfriends.) She's naïve, doesn't really get how the world works (remember when she was only going to apply one school? That school being HARVARD??), and she's put on a pedestal by basically everyone which can't be good for homegirl's sense of worth IRL (she's very fragile, you guys). This, obviously, complicates picking the *best* suitor, but here we go. 

Team Dean Isn't a Real Team at All

Dean, while an adorable first boyfriend, morphed into this kind of stupid dope who cheated on his wife with Rory (her first time, mind you). Not a good look. As MarieClaire.com writer Mehera Bonner puts it: "Dean is barely a person."

We entertained Dean for as long as it takes to dismiss him. I'm sorry Jared Padalecki, hopefully the writers do Dean more justice this time around. 

Not even Dean is Team Dean.

Which brings us to...

Team Jess Sees Them as Soulmates

I'm unabashedly Team Jess, and not because I'm anti-Logan (he's alright but he just was a charismatic asshole who got less asshole-y, IMO). I just think Jess and Rory both needed to grow up and then they'd be perfect for each other. Mehera and social media editor Rosa Heyman are both TJ as well, so I'm not alone.

Here's what you need to know about Jess: Everyone who ISN'T into him says he's 1) angsty and 2) acts like a child. To which I say, 1) he was sent to live with an uncle in a town he doesn't know during high school so, yes, he's going to be angsty and 2) he is a child. But the important point to note is that when Rory starts dating Logan and drops out of Yale—because Logan's publishing mogul father is basically like "uh you're not going to cut it in this industry" and so she decides to try and steal a yacht and then drop out of Yale and be sad (see "Let's Talk About Rory")—Jess is the *only* one to wake her up and make her come back to reality. (Something she's not great at.) Not Logan, not Lorelai, not her grandparents—Jess. He comes back into her life after publishing a book that he wants to show her, realizes Logan is a dick, and heads out of dinner. And this happens:

She's a better person with him, you guys.

Team Logan Sees His Good Side

Logan is privileged and comes with a lot of family issues, but he works through them and gets in touch with his *feelings* thanks to Rory. At first he doesn't even want to date her, because he could hurt her—which is sweet, I guess. He encourages her to take risks and, you know, jump off things with umbrellas because she's gotta learn to live. 

But in all seriousness, everyone who is Team Logan (which includes our boss Jessica Pels and associate editor Lauren Valenti) loves that he 1) is charismatic, charming, and exciting AF and 2) he loves Rory, like, a whole lot. Which is true. I just don't think they were *the* match. 

But he was a good one for the most part. And they had great chemistry. No one can deny that.

So Who Should It Be?

Like Rory, all her men are flawed. Dean was kind of dumb and immature, Jess had some issues to work through, and Logan was bougie beyond all measure. 

While theorizing about where they are now/where the reboot might pick up, we concluded essentially three things: 1) Jess is probably an author 2) Logan works in consulting or runs some sort of publishing empire like his dad and 3) Dean is the new Taylor (AKA the town mayor)...or works at Dairy Queen.

But who will be with Rory? Considering one cheated on his wife to be with her, one cheated on her (okay, okay they were on a break), and one still hasn't slept with her/respects her for her mind and values her opinions, I think we can all agree who is the better fit. (It's Jess, you guys.)

MC.com writer Kaitlin Menza believes that the Gilmore Girls revival finale will take similar cues from Dawson's Creek finale, wherein Rory (like Joey) will have to choose between two men—which could very well be true. 

But honestly, like assistant editor Chelsea Peng states as someone who has never seen the show: 

Good point, Chels. Very good point.

Now it's your turn...

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