#i may as well tag gilmore girls because her mother is basically lorelai gilmore

[feralgodmothers]

You know. Sometimes. When I brave the Gilmore girls tag and see the acid directed at Liz Danes. I remember. She sent jess to Luke when he was 17. Not as a newborn. Not as a toddler. 17. Her parenting might have been lacklustre in Luke , jess and everyone else’s eyes and I’m not defending her on that. But for her to send him to stars hollow at 17 and not earlier she’s imply some sincere effort on her part. And I’m willing to bet jess gave just as much as he got. Basically what I’m trying to say is. I don’t think Liz is completely at fault. And at the same time I don’t think jess is completely blameless in the situation either.

(This one got super long, I’m so sorry anon)

I agree.  Except I’m willing to defend Liz’s parenting (somewhat) if I’m completely honest with you - because I feel like the amount of hatred she gets is extremely disproportionate to what little we learn about her efforts with Jess. Does she deserve some criticism? Yes (but so does everyone else in this show). I think lackluster was a good word choice to describe her parenting. But even though it’s not fantastic, does it really earn the tsunami of hate she gets from the fandom? 

I think Liz is just the first/main person in a long line of people fans want to point their fingers at for Jess’ shortcomings.  While that’s warranted to a degree, I feel like people conveniently overlook the ‘accountability vs. upbringing’ debate that should come into play here. Because - while it’s true that most issues start from childhood and can be traced back to the parenting someone’s received - most people agree that those things can’t and shouldn’t be used as an overall excuse for bad behavior. And it’s like you pointed out - Jess was SEVENTEEN. He was definitely old enough to be held accountable for his actions. He had already lived through like, 95% of his childhood by the time Liz threw in the towel and sent him away to live with Luke - so it’s clear that she didn’t just ship him off on a whim at the slightest inconvenience. She did her best for 17 years (basically alone) and then handed him over to her older brother after he had gotten out of control and she didn’t know what else to do. I think the fandom plays it up to be far more traumatic and serious than it actually is. 

I’ve made a post before in Liz’s defense comparing her to Lorelai, and I still love/heavily sympathize with their contrasting parallels. If I remember right, I think they were about the same age?  Which means Liz had been a teen mom too. I think watching Lorelai do such a phenomenal job against all odds makes people forget just how hard being a single teen mother would be - especially while being away from your family and everyone you used to know. It’s really not unreasonable for someone in that position to be mentally and emotionally unprepared for motherhood.  Where Lorelai had Chris, who was at least willing to marry her and be a regular family, Liz was abandoned by Jess’ father the minute she gave birth. Where some people (Lorelai) are able to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and soldier on with cheery optimism, others (Liz) struggle, and feel completely overwhelmed. Where Lorelai successfully found help and a supportive community, Liz just found crappy, unreliable boyfriends. Yet Liz soldiered on in her own way anyway, throughout several difficult stages of child-rearing. She may not have made the best decisions, and developed some unhealthy coping mechanisms - but she loved her son, and did the best she could to juggle her heavy burdens. Despite battling with addictions, poor self-esteem, and having her heart broken over and over again - she managed to raise her son. And even when she did finally send him away to live with Luke - her motive sounded like it was based on Jess’ well-being and future, rather than just trying to get him out of her hair. 

As far as Jess giving what he got, I’m going to be controversial and say that I think he may have given worse than he got. People act as if Jess only lashed out because his mother sent him away, when it was essentially the other way around. Look at his first real encounter with Lorelai (a woman he didn’t even know): he mocked her to her face when she tried to reassure him, and he barreled right over appropriate personal boundaries when he said “are you sleeping with him? Because you’re either naive or you’re sleeping with him”. 

Like, that is GROSS. A person doesn’t just say that to someone they don’t know out of the blue - by this point, the kid had developed a pattern of saying whatever he wants to people (if he even deigns to speak to them at all).   I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if his last encounter with Liz involved him saying something that cut her deeply, and that that was the reason she didn’t want him back for winter break. For goodness sake - LUKE GOT DRUNK because Jess hurt him so badly during one of their interactions. Jess has a way of jumping right to the most hurtful things to say, and IT BROKE LUKE ONCE. And Luke is the stable one in the family! So imagine Jess’ harsh way with words against his mother, who is way less stable than Luke and also probably way more sensitive. 

(Of course, I’m not trying to flip the script and say that Jess should take all the blame and Liz did nothing wrong. There’s nuance to almost everything, and I think it’s only fair that the discussion surrounding Liz be nuanced as well, and not so one-sided all the time.)

When you look at Jess’ time with Luke - he was only with his uncle for a couple of years, and during that time, Luke had several periods of being run ragged and driven nuts trying to clean up his nephew’s messes and keep him straight. And after only two years - Luke kicked him out as well. Why is it okay when Luke does it, but when Liz does it - she’s considered a menace? We saw how Jess being kicked out in S3 ended up being the best thing for him, so how do we know that Liz kicking him out in S2 wasn’t actually the best thing that she could do for him at the time? I honestly think both decisions were for the best. Luke did have some good influence on him when Liz sent him his way, and Jess FINALLY gets with the program after he’s blown all of his chances with everyone and has to figure crap out on his own. Which is why I’ve said before - coddling is not what Jess needed. Tough love is what he needed, and tough love is what ended up fixing him. Someone like Jess who thinks they know everything and that they have the whole world figured out better than anyone will never learn things the easy way. It wasn’t until his smart mouth, bad attitude, and dumb decisions caught up with him that he was finally able to realize his actions have consequences - and that you can only bite the hand that feeds you so many times before that same hand turns to shoo you off their porch. I think Luke kicking him out also brought home to Jess that his mother sending him away wasn’t just one of her flighty decisions - but rather it’s his own behavior that pushes others beyond their limit.

I’ve seen some explain Jess’ pushing buttons and testing boundaries as some tragic attempt at a self-fulfilled abandonment prophecy (and I do understand and respect their reasoning on that), but personally… I don’t think that’s what it is. I think he does it in a similar way that toddlers do it - to see what they can get away with. Because at that stage, parents are supposed to train their kids with firm and consistent boundaries on what’s acceptable and what’s not - and I don’t think Jess really had much of that. I think Liz was only able to handle surface-level parenting.  I think he got a lot of praise and fussing over in general, but the deeper, more substantial things were met with flighty weakness and emotional deficiency.  Understandably, I think Jess grew up to resent that - since as you get older, you become more aware of the different roles your parent SHOULD fill, and you start to see where they lack. That’s why I also said in a previous post that emotionally neglected children will crave/seek out structure, stability, and discipline - because they want to know at what point you’ll actually step up, be a parent, and GUIDE THEM.  I feel bad for both of them to an extent, but I feel like Jess gets an overabundance of understanding from the fandom, while Liz gets nothing but hate, and it’s very imbalanced imo. We don’t need to infantilize him. We know he has issues - and we can see where some of those issues come from - but that doesn’t give him the right to say and do whatever he wants. 

I also want to address some people’s assumptions about Jess’ being physically abused. Some believe he received rough treatment from one or more of Liz’s exes, and some even imply that Liz herself might have abused Jess. I can’t speak on that with any authority of course (none of us really can, because it’s not something that’s ever brought up in canon) - but I can give my personal opinion, which is: that Jess was not physically abused. 

Liz is very physically affectionate with him, and I paid special attention to his body language around her.

He doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t even recoil in disgust (and we all know how Jess has no trouble expressing disgust). At worst, he just seems to feel a little awkward, and I think that mainly comes from meeting her new boyfriend. (Also, I love that little head nuzzle. He even closes his eyes and leans into it. 🥺 They do have a bond. 💖)  Her touch here is gentle and natural rather than forceful or fake.  And yes, I know - in real life, abusers are known for switching between gentle/loving and harmful/violent. But Jess has the type of personality that would have zero tolerance for hypocrisy. If you ever laid a hand on him, he would never let you touch him again, and by the same token - if any of Liz’s exes had laid a hand on him and Liz had turned a blind eye to it - I think Jess would hold her responsible for that and deny her attempts to embrace him here. I honestly think that at worst, he just couldn’t rely on her to be a stable support, and he gets exasperated by/resents her flightiness. I feel strongly that the tension between them is 100% emotional, because honestly - both Jess and Liz are pretty emotional people, just in different ways. Liz’s emotions are open, exposed, and external - constantly reaching out, while Jess does his best to keep his internal and closed off, essentially hiding behind his sarcasm and rough edges. I think his frustration and disappointment in Liz’s life choices is why he guards his so closely. I think he concluded that Liz’s way of expressing emotion was the “wrong” way and that it brought them no benefits over the years. I feel like he also may have started suppressing his emotions because Liz would be so quick to fuss over him, and that’s not what he needed or was looking for when he had a problem. He needed stability. He needed reliable, long-term solutions. And unfortunately, achieving that (either for herself or for her son) was Liz’s #1 struggle.  I do believe she did her best and was trying, though.

I think she loved him, cared for him, and provided for him the best way she knew how, and again - it wasn’t until she was at the end of her rope in the very last hour that she shipped him off to Luke.  To LUKE - her big brother, who she looks up to and 100% trusts, the only man she could always rely on, and who she believes with her whole heart can fix anything. 

Liz may be far from perfect, but I think she also deserves far more credit. 

[lgbtkendricks]

WHERE YOU LEAD (bechloe fic) CHAPTER 1

Beca decides it's about time she brings Chloe home to meet her mom. (rewrite of my 2016 fic ‘how chloe met beca’s mother’...which was real bad bc i was real young)

-

“Hello?”

“Hey mom-“

“Beca? Is that really my little girl? The girl I looked after and watered and fed for 18 years so that she could get a college education before pursuing her music artist dreams in the city of angels whom I haven’t seen since?”

“I saw you like a month ago!” Beca laughed, fidgeting nervously with her powerpuff girl keychain.

“Hmm, I’m having a…vague rememory…so!” her mother’s voice rose an octave. “Why are you calling on this sunny 90 degree LA day?”

Beca put her phone on speaker and went back to scrolling through her computer. “Can’t I just call my mother to tell her how much I love her?”

“Yeah, right. You never call me first, this is like- a Christmas miracle! If Santa Claus was a bratty, tiny superstar.”

“Mom.” Beca rolled her eyes, unamused at the height dig.

“Hey! After your whole music thing, you could star in that movie!”

“Mom!” she barked out a laugh. “My acting career started and ended with orphan number 32 in Annie.”

“But they let anyone on the screen these days! You could be the next…oh wow, all of Hollywood and I can’t think of a super famous nepotism actor who can’t act-“

“Anyway.” Beca said pointedly.

“What do you wanttt?” her mother’s voice sounded out teasingly.

“Um, w-well…” Beca stuttered. She was starting to feel a little nervous now. What if her mom didn’t approve? What if she hated the idea? What if-

“Welllllll?”

“I’m seeing someone.” Beca blurted out, ripping off the band aid before she gave herself another chance to back out. It wasn’t really the seeing someone part she was afraid of, but rather the billion follow up questions she knew were imminent. And the high pitched squeal that came from her phone’s tinny speakers simply proved her point, making her cringe and roll her desk chair away momentarily.

“Get OUT of here! Finally, Beca! It only took you 24 and a half years!”

“Wha-that is not true, I dated Jesse.” She cringed as she said it. What a dark time.

“Uhhhh, yeah, for such a small amount of time that I only found out he existed half a year after you broke up,”

“Two months is not a small amount of-“ her mother giggled through the phone, and Beca reddened. “Shut up.”

“Okay, so tell me about this someone. Who is he? What’s he like?”

Beca was quiet for a moment. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She hated that – she was being ridiculous and she knew it. This was her mother, for god’s sake. Her mother who makes rainbow cupcakes and glittery cocktails to hand out at the town pride parade. Beca had nothing to worry about. She didn’t know why she hadn’t told her before.

“Uh, well, she is a girl. I’m seeing a girl.”

Read the rest on AO3 :)

[gilmoristic]

If Kira Had Written the Gilmore Girls Revival

Below are the plot points I would have incorporated either based on the ones that were in the show or not including certain points at all.

Luke & Lorelai have been married for seven years & they have 5-year-old twins ( boy & girl ). They’ve added on an extension to the house because Lorelai still wanted Rory to have her own, old room.

The girl is named Emily after Lorelai’s mother, but they call her Emmy & the boy is named William after Luke’s father, but they call him Will.

Paul Anka is very protective of Emmy & Will even in his old age.

There is a scene where Luke talks about teaching his children to fish when they’re old enough to hold the rod like he taught his niece.

You see the nightgown Lorelai wore in her dream about Luke draped across a chair in their bedroom.

The revival opens with Rory returning home from London where she unsuccessfully tried to work with Naomi on a biography. Rory attends the day at Chilton with Paris, but Tristan is not there. She meets with the headmaster, listens to his offer to teach & tells him she will consider it.

She ultimately decides to accept the position for one semester to give her time to stay in Stars Hollow & reevaluate her career. After all, she only had that one stellar article in the New Yorker. She teaches in Max’s old classroom.

She lives at home with her mom, spending as much time as she can getting to know her brother & sister better since she’s been away so much.

Rory only has one cell phone & she delivers all of her belongings to her mom’s house, not all over the globe.

She is not dating Paul anymore -- broke up with him six months ago when she realized there was nothing there. Instead, she meets a fellow English teacher at Chilton & they begin to click without her realizing it. They enjoy casual, semi-flirty banter over coffee in the teacher’s lounge. 

At the end of Summer, Rory runs into him in Hartford, they have dinner & things happen. Rory tells her mother she is pregnant at the end of Fall after having the conversation with her father. 

Rory still decides to write the Gilmore Girls book, but her position at Chilton is open-ended, insinuating she may go back after the book is complete ( & after the pregnancy ).

Emily’s story is basically the same because it was one of the few plots on the actual revival that was done rather well.

The only difference is Emily has a loving relationship with her two, young grandkids & they adore their grandma. She dotes on them & sees them regularly in Stars Hollow.

The conflict between Emily & her daughter remains the same following Richard’s recent passing.

Richard’s final words were instead “I would still rather be in Philadelphia.”

The conflict between Luke & Lorelai surrounding this remains the same, including her nature trek. Upon her return, Luke expresses his fear of divorce & Lorelai says she wants to renew their vows -- gives a “why do we need to do it on a milestone like 5 or 10 years” monologue. They renew seven years of marriage, symbolizing the seven seasons of the original show. This is the “wedding” at the end of Fall except Emily, their twins & Sookie are there ( Sookie’s short scene is at the wedding, not in the kitchen ). 

Paris & Doyle are still married but they are struggling to stick together. They have two, young children. Rory helps them stitch their marriage back together. 

Jess is in town for his little sister’s birthday party. He & Rory have a good time at the party together, laughing over Doula who is like her mother but loves books like her brother. It’s insinuated that Rory and Jess are on good terms, but they are platonic. 

There’s also a sweet moment with Jess & Luke’s kids.

No adjustment on the scene between Rory & Dean. It was good as it was.

Logan isn’t in the revival, but Rory is seen reading Times magazine where he is on the cover & the article praises his success in CA ( where he still lives ) despite being out of the Huntzerberger business. She has a brief conversation with Lane later about how she is happy everything is working out for him. 

The way I’m going with my version, I don’t think Logan is necessary as he is outside of Stars Hollow, unlike Dean & Jess who have their connections.

Michel confirms at the end of Fall that he will stay at the Dragonfly because of the expansion & because he wants to raise his kid with Lorelai’s kids. 

Sookie tells Lorelai when she shows up that she is returning to the inn & is sorry for being gone for so long. We also find out the name of Sookie’s third child.

Hep Alien had a hit single, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to catapult them to the Rolling Stones cover. Zack is trying to write their next hit with Mrs. Kim.

Mr. Kim is seen hanging out with his grandkids in the background.

April visits her dad. It’s mentioned that he did attend her high school graduation & he’s already booked a hotel for her college graduation.

She still has a thing for turquoise & brings her brother & sister turquoise items.

There are certain scenes that are automatically deleted because of plot changes & I would also reduce the musical drastically. I tried to cover the main characters, but obviously, there are fine points that need to be tuned too. I didn’t want to turn this into a novel, though.

If you decide to do your own list, tag me so I could read or send in a message if you wanna chat about the list!