#Anti Liz Danes

[jessmmariano]

If I think about Jess’s childhood/high school years too much I get sad because no one deserves that. And Gilmore Girls just glosses over it.

I get that’s not the tone of the show, but how on earth did Liz get a redemption plot? Meanwhile, so many fans hate Jess just because he made mistakes at seventeen. His mother was an alcoholic and addict who drank while she was pregnant. Jess worked two jobs while in high school so he could be financially secure. It was heavily implied that Liz was constantly dating/marrying men who mistreated her and Jess. Yet so many fans continue to hate Jess.

[frazzledsoul]

A non exhaustive list of terrible things Liz Danes did/said after she showed up:

- Makes a beeline straight for the pot the minute she shows up

- Hasn't called to check on Jess once in the nine (!) months he's been gone from Stars Hollow

- It's established that she generally has a terrible track record with men/employment/stable housing

- It's also established she is easily able to manipulate Luke into doing her bidding and in pretending that every new terrible idea is no big deal

- Makes a show of introducing Jess to TJ and acting like she's the best mom ever despite his obvious discomfort

-Makes several statements to Lorelai to the effect that Luke has been cleaning up after her for her entire life and finding her jobs, apartments, helping her out financially, getting rid of dangerous men

- To quote Jess verbatim: "I don't like this guy. I don't like any of the guys. She doesn't give a crap what I think. I've got nineteen years of proof to back me up". She always chose her men over him, no matter how terrible they were.

- Luke is involved in sussing out Jess's whereabouts and living situation, giving him a place to sleep (thanks to Lorelai), offering him money to fix his car. Liz is not involved in any of that and doesn't offer. She signed off on being the parent a long time ago.

- Liz shows back up for the wedding and immediately manipulates Luke into helping arrange the wedding, selling jewelry in the diner, inviting strippers to the diner...when she's around, he ends up doing her bidding almost automatically. Zero boundaries.

- There's more references to her sketchy self-employment and the many times Luke watched it fall apart.

- Luke's the one who goes to New York, finds Jess, has him go back to Stars Hollow as a favor to him. No comment from Liz on his lifestyle or offering him a place to stay. Luke is the only one who fights with him about it. Luke's also the one to give him romantic advice as Liz is not involved in that at all.

- Liz reveals her romantic history right before the wedding. Second husband was okay, third husband was not and died mysteriously, boyfriend after third husband was also okay. This is also the only wedding she's not been drunk at.

- Liz assumes Jess broke Rory's heart even though she has no idea who that is. Lorelai steps in and defends Jess, saying it just didn't work out.

- Luke is roped into taking care of Liz and TJ for several weeks after they are in a car accident and following them around on the Ren Faire circuit. I only mention this because he is, as always, forever her caretaker.

- Liz and TJ get into a screaming fight early in S5 and ruin Luke and Lorelai 's date.

- Sometime in S5 or S6 Liz mentions that she's never made dinner, not once. Jess is around 20 years old at this time period. How did he eat?

-Liz manipulates Luke into letting TJ work at the construction at Lorelai's house. She cries and throws a tantrum until he gives in. TJ somehow knocks a big hole in the upstairs of Lorelai's house.

-Liz does not show up to Jess's open house, nor does she ever mention it (or him at all) afterwards. Luke shows up to support him and tells him he's proud of him. Mom can't be bothered.

-When Liz finds out she's pregnant with Doula, she casually mentions to Luke (in public!) that she binge drank while she was pregnant with Jess. Luke isn't shocked by this.

-Liz claims to Luke that TJ abandoned her after she told him she was pregnant. Luke goes to TJ and TJ reveals that Liz got violent and threw half the household objects at his head and kicked him out when he was excited about it. Luke goes to Liz afterwards and she rants that if she stays with TJ her kid's going to end up ruined and she'll have to send it away. Luke is the one who reminds her that Jess turned out OK and that he's actually doing great (not that Liz has any knowledge of this at all or should receive any credit for it). Liz and TJ reconcile.

- Liz and TJ invite Luke over for dinner in early S7. Their stove is broken. He has to make dinner himself (because of course he does). Despite formerly being supportive, they tell him Lorelai was bad for him and Liz says some mumbo jumbo about how they were never meant to be together. Luke runs into Lorelai at the grocery store and says the whole thing was a bad idea and he'll be civil to her, but he's not interested in a personal relationship again. Lorelai basically doesn't go anywhere in town she could run into him for the next six months (okay, the romantic advice isn't terrible per se but Liz is seriously inconsistent on this issue).

- Luke attends Doula's birth. Liz is excited about April being a free babysitter.

- Liz dumps Doula on Luke at work a few weeks after she is born because she "needs a break" and disappears for hours.

-Liz and TJ invite themselves to stay at Luke's apartment some weeks later, shortly after Lorelai and Christopher have broken up. Now Liz is all excited about Lorelai and Luke getting back together (pick a lane, woman).

-In the series finale, Liz tries to dump Doula on Luke at work AGAIN (how often does she do this?) Luke stops her before she can leave, and makes her take the baby with her.

-Liz and TJ are mercifully offscreen for AYITL. Jess fulfills the role of being Luke's sounding board and attempting to comfort him when he has problems with Lorelai and there are already enough quirky townies, so she isn't needed. TJ and Liz are involved in a mysterious vegetable cult that they eventually get kicked out of, which provides a reason for Jess to come into town every so often. He's now the support to his family that Luke used to be on his own. It's implied that this is not the first time TJ and Liz have gotten involved in a cult over the past few years

My point to all of this is that Liz is not stable, she's not a decent person, she has not "redeemed" herself, she may be clean and sober but she's still horribly selfish, unreliable, and a pain in Luke's ass. There's a bunch of stuff that is implied in Jess's behavior that indicates she was a horrible mom, but we don't get the full picture until she shows up. The full picture is...a lot worse.

[queenunderthatmountain]

do you ever just think about how it might have been if Jess had moved in with Luke just a few years earlier

[feralgodmothers]

Luke’s sister and nephew for the bingo?

For Liz:

And Jess:

[praedictas]

UPDATE    ,    AFFILIATE  SEARCH!

currently  looking  for  some  affiliates  in  the  following  fandoms  with  the  following  characters.    i'll  happily  accept  ocs  and  crossovers  but  i've  also  added  some  mw  canons  simply  for  anyone  who  may  be  interested  in  adding  new  muses  and  aren't  sure  where  to  start!

SUPERNATURAL :   bodi  campbell   +   dean  winchester    ,    sam  winchester    ,    jo  harvelle    ,     ellen  harvelle    ,    ash    ,    john  winchester    ,    bobby  singer    ,    castiel    ,    the  original  characters  within  bo's  family    (    message  me  to  discuss    ).    THE  VAMPIRE  DIARIES :    dumon  soylemez    ,    sefa  soylemez    ,    ziya  soylemez    ,    finn  mikaelsøn   +   katherine  pierce    ,    elena  gilbert    ,    klaus  mikaelsøn    ,    rebekah  mikaelsøn    ,    elijah  mikaelsøn    ,    freya  mikaelsøn    ,    esther  mikaelsøn    ,    marcel  gerard    ,    davina  claire    ,    caroline  forbes    ,    alaric  saltzman    ,    jenna  sommers    ,    sage    ,    rose  marie    ,    bonnie  bennett    ,    hayley  marshall    ,    sheila  bennett    (    looking  primarily  for  an  anti  canon  take    ,    willing  to  work  with  the  ideas  i  have  in  mind  to  create  pretty  much  a  canon  removed  universe    ).    GILMORE  GIRLS :    jess  mariano  +  rory  gilmore    ,    lorelai  gilmore    ,    luke  danes    ,    liz  danes    ,    dean  forester    ,    logan  huntzberger    ,    lane  kim    (    would  really  love  to  finally  play  with  this  verse  i've  had  in  mind  forever  set  after  the  events  of  season  7  but  replacing  the  revival  and  basically  follows  their  lives  after  the  events  of  the  show  as  adults.    i'd  be  willing  to  make  this  into  a  full  fledged  like  small  group  verse  if  people  showed  interest!    ).    SCREAM :    lucas  prescott    ,    stu  macher    ,    billy  loomis   +   sidney  prescott    ,    tatum  riley    ,    dewey  riley    ,    sam  carpenter    ,    tara  carpenter    ,    kirby  reed    ,    casey  becker    ,    randy  meeks    ,    roman  bridger    ,    basically  anyone  tbh  lol.    FEAR  STREET :    tommy  slater   +   ziggy  berman    ,    cindy  berman    ,    deena  johnson    ,    sam  fraser    ,    josh  johnson    ,    any  of  the  characters  from  the  upoming  film.    THE  ADDAMS  FAMILY  /  WEDNESDAY :   pugsley  addams  +   wednesday  addams    ,    morticia  addams    ,    gomez  addams    ,    fester  addams    ,    enid  sinclair    ,    tyler  galpin    ,    xavier  thorpe    ,    bianca  barclay.

on  top  of  this  i'd  love  to  have  some  affiliated  characters  /  verses  for  my  ever  after  high  /  descendants    ,    resident  evil    ,    and  comic  book  characters!    i'm  always  willing  to  put  together  a  group  chat  for  anyone  interested  in  starting  an  affiliated  group  verse  or  anything  similar.    i've  also  been  toying  with  the  idea  of  making  a  joinable  group  verse  for  this  concept  i've  always  had  about  a  crossover  of  things  like  buffy    ,    tvd    ,    spn    ,    etc.  in  a  more  hbo  style  setting  with  a  big  combined  plot  so  if  any  of  these  things  sound  interesting  please  reach  out  and  lmk!

[antimatterpod]

On Raffi by Anika Dane is in the current issue of Star Trek Quarterly

The Diversity Paradox: Star Trek, Star Trek fandom, and the limits of fandom as progressivism by Liz Barr is in Speculative Insight

SECOND, it’s time. Anika and Liz are being called away from a fancy 32nd century cocktail party to stand in an empty void and discuss the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery‘s fifth and final season…

Compared with the over-the-top emotional drama monarchs of Star Trek: Picard‘s third season, it’s just nice to be with competent professionals who get the job done

Picking up the threads of Star Trek: Picard‘s first season

Captain Picard is still the most important individual who ever existed

This arc so far has the Star Trek V problem: they can’t actually meet God, so the real meaning of life will be the friends we made along the way

Tilly has a rare but valuable anti-ambition arc

Moll and L’ak have wandered in from another series, but we’re not mad about it

It’s nice that Vance has a wife and Tilly has a love interest, but we’re still shipping Vance/Tilly and we’re not sorry

[georgianadarcies]

luke saying that liz was a “nut job” and a “selfish basket case” and that “you could never count on liz for anything” and everything else he says about her… gee I wonder why jess had such a terrible childhood

[clerati]

I am so bored of this take, mostly because it's just an exceptionally bad faith reading of canon.

Jess says nothing to imply that he is suggesting Rory drop out of Yale, or that she abandon her family. He actually says, "it's perfect, your stuff is all in boxes". Why is her stuff in boxes? Because it's the start of summer break. What *is* implied by his saying "we'll work, we'll live together, we'll be together"? That he can't afford to keep her. And we know Jess' situation at this time. He can't afford to keep her for the length of summer break or probably even a week if we're being honest. He can't. What is implied by his saying "we belong together, but not here, not Stars Hollow"? That to make their relationship work, they need to find some third place that's their own where they can figure out their relationship on their own terms.

We know from how Jess behaves in previous seasons that he absolutely respects Rory's relationships with her family, with how he tries to get along with Lorelei and Emily (accepting that he'll have to keep working on his relationships with these people despite the fact that they actually work against him and his relationship with Rory herself). We have no reason to believe that's changed, and we should be interpreting the above scene through that lens unless we are given reason to otherwise. I'm not even touching the idea that he's asking her to drop out of Yale, because he is *so consistent* in the show's runtime in supporting her with Harvard/Yale and her future dreams in general that to think that he would ever do anything else is just... beyond ridiculous.

But the most damning thing is in the next episode, when Rory is talking about the incident with Lane. It's implied that she actually considered it. Rory actually considered running away with Jess, but ultimately felt that he was too unreliable to take a risk on. The fact that she *doesn't* make these complaints is damning to the argument that he was suggesting what he's being accused of suggesting by OP and others previously. She's literally ragging on Jess and actually communicating her ill-feelings about her relationship with him. Do we have any reason to believe she would leave out that he's asking her to drop out of Yale and abandon her family? No, we don't. That doesn't make any sense. If Rory had interpreted the conversation that way (and this is a clue from the writers to how *we* should interpret the conversation), she would have mentioned those things. She would have mentioned them above the fact that he's unreliable, because she's literally complaining about why she felt he was wrong to ask her for that (and by extension why getting back together with him at all is a bad idea).

So now that we've deconstructed that this is a bad faith reading of canon. Here's what I think actually happened. Jess reads a self-help book on relationships. It helps him with his relationship with Luke. He feels like he's now got the key to being good at relationships despite having had this book for all of a weekend and having exercised what he's learned from it exactly once. So, he goes over to his ex-girlfriend who he has never stopped loving and *begs* her for another chance, because "[she] can count on [him] now". Why does he think she can count on him now? Well, he has this book that's taught him about relationships... Is this still a stupid, ill-thought out, and just desperate and reckless act (even though he just means for the summer or less)? Absolutely, yes. And it makes sense for him as a character.

Jess is a very troubled kid who has never had stable housing and grew up in a neglectful at best (abusive in any case, but likely worse) family situation with his druggie single mother and her string of bad boyfriends/husbands (getting this info from Luke and Liz). He's a good person, but he literally doesn't know how to "act good", because it's barely ever been modeled for him. Obviously, Luke was a much better guardian than Liz and wasn't abusive, but there's a reason Luke bought that book and he did kick Jess out when he had no where else to go (though I give that Luke probably didn't expect Jess to clear out the next day, but he should have, given that he was shipped to Stars Hollow in the exact same span of time with only what he could carry until his stuff could be sent after him). With this context, it makes sense that Jess would behave in desperate and impulsive ways. We've seen it before, when he left Stars Hollow after the car accident, and when he told Rory he loved her. He's a very troubled kid who is arguably at the lowest part of his arc (life, except the whole, growing up with Liz as a parent part, which is absolutely worse). It all makes perfect sense.

I love Jess. I *love* Jess. We all know that I *love* and *deeply relate* to Jess. Is he flawed? Yes. Are there things he can fairly be criticized for? Yes. Did he ask Rory to drop out of Yale and abandon her family? No, he didn't. He would never do that.

Why would it be that after Luke gives Jess the "You Deserve Love" self help book, and Jess actually reads it and takes it in, AND considering he knows how important Yale and her family are to Rory and how he's let her down in the past, WHY would he go straight to Rory and try and convince her to abandon everything to be with him?? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

[scoopsgf]

I still remember when someone was like "not enough people appreciate what Liz has managed to do so here's a shout out to Liz!" re: her sobriety, and I don't mean to dismiss something as crucial as that in general, but in Liz's case, it's not so great when your 'changed' life has you dismiss all the damage you did to get there. Like Jess is NEVER given a moment where he can actually be uncomfortable with his mother and be allowed to do that, it's always either Luke or someone else harping on him about it and it's just awful? The kid was pretty much abandoned by his only parent, why is everyone ignoring this fact. And when fandom is all "well he was a troublemaker!!" it's hysterical because the worst he does in Stars Hollow is steal a gnome and garden tools. I doubt he was running a crack ring in New York despite some Logan fans' conspiracy theories that he was actually selling meth during season 4/5 to young children there.

THIS! there’s a reason most sobriety programs have you attempt to make amends with the people you wronged—because those things need to be acknowledged so your relationships can heal, and that way you have a solid support system. sobriety is no joke, and it’s a huge struggle, but you can’t just disregard the people that you hurt. and liz hurt jess. she drank while pregnant with him and was off the wagon throughout his childhood, and im sure there was a part of him wondering: if she could get sober for her second kid, why not for me? also do logan stans actually think that. like pls tell me that’s a joke and not a legitimate theory??

[sagesfandomspot]

Luke suggesting Liz, of all people, to Lane for pregnancy tips genuinely made me anxious. Like, I would’ve trusted Lane more with Taylor Doose idc but not Liz 😭

Nooo kidding like Liz is the LAST person I would send Lane to. Like Luke says "she's a veteran" like sure she's been pregnant a couple times, but did she handle each of those pregnancies well at all?? Binge drinking and kicking her husband out and seemingly not telling her first kid about her second kid all points to no. Lane could easily go to Lorelai for advice, and sure, Luke and Lorelai were on the outs at this point, but there's gotta be someone besides Liz for Luke to point Lane to.

[jojoblessed365]

Okay, this is just a theory and because I'm ferociously bored, so here goes:

I just finished watching Wednesday and while watching episode 5, I couldn't help but draw parallels between Gomez-Morticia-Wednesday and TJ-Liz-Doula respectively.

Both sets of parents are full-on sexually romantic with no boundaries whatsoever, and their children can't help but blanche at that. I personally feel that Liz and TJ are egotistic and tend to get wrapped up in their own problems and Doula is sadly caught in the middle.

Also, it would be a good conflict- that no matter how much Liz has changed and handling parenting in two completely different ways (being a single mom with Jess and then co-parenting with TJ their kid Doula), Doula ironically becomes a version of teen Jess.

And then I watched episode 7 and loved the relationship between Uncle Fester and Wednesday. And I immediately thought of the possible rapport between Jess and Doula- coming in whenever she needs a shakeup in her life or going through an existential crisis.

Anyway, I believe that if the Palladinos ever want to go back to Stars Hollow and the Gilmore universe, it would be so fun to see a different perspective and they should take Doula's POV, given that we haven't seen her and she is a "blank slate"; also I'm so bummed we never got to see the Jess spinoff and I think they could recycle the material and use Doula as the lead where she searched for a family member and attempts to find herself. And then Jess periodically comes to check on her, much like how Lenny Bruce would pop in at odd times in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.

Anyway, I'm fully out of steam!!! Drop your thoughts in the comments or reblog!!!

Mic drop!!!

[sarabethsilver]

Exactly this. If Liz weren't a parent? Most of this stuff wouldn't matter. If she wanted to smoke a joint every morning, drink a six-pack every night, and get remarried every year? Have at it. But if you think about those things in the context of her being a parent? And not just to independent 17yo Jess... but to a baby, a toddler, a school-age kid? The implications are really scary.

The BEST case scenario is that they were financially insecure, moved constantly, had a new guy in the house every few months, and had all their things stolen multiple times. She's baseline totally unpredictable, which for a small kid is completely terrifying. And when Jess became resentful, Liz blamed him, shipped him off, and never spoke to him again.

And the real scenario is probably worse than that. Liz, while SOBER, blows up at TJ, throws things at his head, and kicks him out. TJ's few interactions with Jess consist of him saying he wouldn't kick Jess out of bed, mocking him for reading, and smacking him around. And that's the "best guy" she's ever dated. It's not hard to imagine Liz's temper, paired with substance abuse, after you add in a guy who is worse than TJ? Along with Jess at younger ages?

Liz was never retconned. Abusive parents can look really cheerful and funny if you don't have to depend on them to survive.

people are always saying that liz wasn’t as bad as they thought when she came on the show and that jess’ past is just assumptions. i don’t think this is true. liz seems all nice and delightfully cooky as a person, a bit unstable but harmless. this would be true and she would be within her right to be that way IF she wasn’t actually being responsible for another person’s life and well being. it doesn’t matter that she’s nice if she failed at that.

it’s directly stated that she drank while pregnant, has trouble having fun without alcohol, has been drunk at all of her many weddings, that one of her husbands died, that plenty of them robbed her, that she loses appartments, can’t hold down a job etc. the show made a point to show she’s done drugs in the past. and all of these things is being played off like well, she’s just luke’s flighty sister, haha, he has to bail her out, what are you gonna do? but the thing is, even if jess’ role in all these situations is never mentioned we know that he was around during all of it. i don’t think it’s so crazy to assume that it, well, affected him.

[lanzhans]

ok <3 been seeing a lot of liz danes hate on my dash AND I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE. it drives me insane how she just. became a regular on the show when we all saw the impact she had on jess as a mother??? like??? he literally admitted himself that it was bc of her he didn’t think he deserved to go to college. HELL she literally said herself SHE BINGE DRANK when she was pregnant with jess and it was played off as a literal joke?????? even when luke described her before she came to stars hollow it was implied that she was a horrible mother yet when she comes they suddenly develop a relationship?? after years and years of luke cleaning up her messes???? and everything that she did to jess WHO LUKE LOVES BTW is just. glossed over??? makes me beyond enraged sorry

[marian0]

Rewatching gilmore girls, and I’m at the part where liz is getting married to TJ. And the whole thing just makes me so mad. Liz was a horrible mother to Jess and the entire time she is on screen gushing about her wedding, her friends, her new life, I cant help thinking about how much Jess must have gone through as a kid with her. Like I’m happy for her that she got better and got married, had a kid, started a new family basically getting a second chance. But it sucks that the show and by extension Luke and Liz never once mention how she fucked up as a mother.

The absolute worse is Luke acting like Jess is the bad guy for not wanting to attend the wedding, and guilt tripping him. Luke goes all the way to New York to tell him he has to attend the wedding because he was there for Jess when no one else was and so Jess owes him? Not once did he stop and think, WHY is Jess refusing.

I will never forgive the show for downplaying Jess’s shitty upbringing and Liz’s negligence, while simultaneously treating him like a villain for the most basic teenage stuff

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Hi. Love your acc.

I just wanted to know your thoughts on the following: What is your headcanon for Jess and his relationship with Doula? Also, would Jess love modern hits such as- Shut Up and Dance or artists like Drake and Charlie Puth?

Also, could you follow me? I would like to chat with you about something. Thanks. 😀

Hi! I'm glad you like my account!

The fact that Jess didn't appear in season 7 at all and we never got to see him meet his sister is a crime and my villain origin story. But I like to believe the tried to be as good a big brother to her as he could. He provided her with books and CDs and a safe space to come to when her parents were fighting. I like to imagine a teenage Doula getting into a fight with her parents or just getting sick of her parents in general, stepping on the nearest bus and showing up on Jess's doorway with the words: "Can I crash here?" And Jess just lets her in without question and doesn't pressure her to talk about it because he knows best what growing up with his mother was like. And yeah okay Liz may have changed since Jess was a kid but she's still nowhere near perfect. So Jess cooks/orders a bunch of food and lets Doula sleep in his bed while he takes the couch. They watch some movies (Almost Famous) or listen to some of his favorite records until Doula finally decides she feels better and goes back to her parents in the morning, maybe with a new book or CD from her big brother.

As for if Jess would like mainstream music- maybe he would have it as a guilty pleasure that Rory later uncovers and he's embarrassed about it which gives Rory a good way to tease him. Jess is as much of a music snob as Lane. He would always roll his eyes at whatever hit is on the radio and be like: "Jeez, people don't know good music" while actually enjoying the music in secret.

[sarabethsilver]

I feel pretty comfortable calling Liz an abusive parent. Do I think Jess was physically hurt in a systematic way? No, there's no direct evidence of that. But that's not the only kind of abuse there is. A parent who is routinely intoxicated, creates a home of total instability, and abandons her kid completely at 17 is abusive. I also think the likelihood that Jess got screamed at and occasionally hit is near 100%. (Remember, the show makes a point to tell us about Liz throwing heavy objects at TJ's head while screaming at him to get out, then twisting the narrative to make it sound like TJ left her.)

It's possible for both things to be true: you can see a parent as abusive and still have empathy for them. Most abusive parents have their own history of trauma. The only reason I don't feel empathy for Liz is that the show doesn't give me anything to build empathy off of. There's no direct reference to her trauma. There's not a speck of her feeling badly about how she treated Jess. Instead, the show makes it clear that Jess was abused and neglected, but also treats that abuse and neglect like a big ol' joke. Like one of Liz's little personality quirks. She likes jewelry, she believes in astrology, and she's casually abusive to her son. For a show that's so nuanced in exploring intergenerational trauma with every other parent on the show, the way Liz is written is very striking to me.

I am not a Liz Danes apologist despite everything I'm about to write. She was not the mother that Jess needed, but I do think there's an explanation for it.

The working timeline in my head is that Luke's & Liz' unnamed mother dies in 1980, when Liz is about 14 and Luke is 16. The Danes are coded *very* masculine (their mom doesn't even get a name!), and I think Liz' mom dying when she was basically a freshman in high school fucked her up.

Luke and William were close, and I suspect that Liz and her mom mirrored that. I don't think William gave Liz the support she needed when his wife died, in part because he was grieving himself. And I think she felt alienated because she wasn't interested in any of the same things her father and brother were. I doubt that Luke and William made an effort to bring her into their two-person dynamic. She felt like the odd one out, ignored, and grieving because the person who anchored her in the family was gone.

So she meets Jimmy her senior year of high school, she gets accidentally pregnant with Jess before graduation, Liz and Jimmy get married shortly after graduation, maybe because William insists on it, and move to NYC to get out from under her family's thumb.

Liz already feels rejected by her family when Jimmy leaves, further rejecting her. I do think she's a NYC party girl and a big part of parenting culture in the early-mid 1980s was to be yourself and your kid will figure out who they are on their own. (Latchkey kids unite!) So she did.

This is, I guess, my way of saying I don't think Jess needed to have experienced the scale of abuse that I see in some of the fanfics in order to be an angry and sullen kid. Liz mirrors the disinterested parenting she got from William, at the same time she's always trying to have fun and only be as responsible as she has to be.