#jess and doula

[jojoblessed365]

For those who miss So Far Away.... Here's the highly anticipated sequel!!!!

First 2 chaps out now!

Tagging @ernestonlysayslovelythings as my lovely co-writing partner on this and dedicated to @disasterbiwriter

For those who would like to visualize Doula, here's a picture of the actress I had in mind:

[teddypickerry]

au! where jess is a protective older sibling taking care of a little sister/brother like they’re his own WHEN.

[mrsmess]

[frazzledsoul]

[honestlydarkprincess]

evan 'i specialize in scratches' buckley, you have no game but don't worry, eddie and i are still in love with you

[stellaluna33]

I know that I've written fanfiction depicting a sweet relationship between Jess and Doula, his younger half-sister, as have many other wonderful writers, and I have my reasons why I think such a relationship might be plausible, but just as a reminder...

This relationship is a COMPLETE Fanon invention with absolutely no mention in Canon.

The show itself never indicates that they have any kind of relationship, and the Palladinos either neglected or forgot to mention Doula AT ALL in the Revival. So... All I'm saying is, keep that in mind if you feel tempted to compare Jess's situation to Rory's, over the fact that the show didn't portray much of an on-screen relationship between Rory and Gigi and may have forgotten to mention her once or twice.

Anyone who has interacted with me here KNOWS how much I love BOTH of these characters, but I just think it's extremely telling that the fandom reacts to Jess's lack of an on-screen relationship with his half-sister by INVENTING ONE and saying, "Well, SURELY they had more of a relationship that we couldn't see!" ...and reacts to Rory's lack of an on-screen relationship with her half-sister by concluding "Well, she must not love her half-sister!"

[the-overreactress]

I really wonder what Jess thought about No Child Left Behind, particularly as a high school drop-out. Like, does he tell self-deprecating jokes about how he single-handedly foiled W. Bush’s plans to keep all kids moving, regardless of whether they were ready?

Probably later on, 2007-2016 era, he was a little more willing to consider this seriously and get his GED. I want that for him. But I also want for him to be his critical, mocking self in the face of less-than-ideal education policies. Maybe he finally confronts why traditional school didn’t suit him, be it a possible ADHD diagnosis, the structure, or his unwillingness to participate in anything where he knew he’d be ruthlessly mocked. Maybe all three? Maybe he really fights for Doula and Rory’s kid and any other kid in his life who doesn’t automatically excel in school, but he knows is smart and capable in a good environment. What if he VOLUNTEERS and tutors or something? Maybe this is all too ooc for him, but I WANT it.

Anyway, thinking about Jess Mariano challenging the American education system and its failures is my new favorite past time.

[teddypickerry]

this is adult jess trying to figure out bereal

This would be adult Jess trying to use facetime 😅

[alyheartsjess]

unpopular gilmore girls opinions (non controversial edition)

-doula is a cute name. maybe it’s because english isn’t my first language and i didn’t know what a doula was, but i love how it sounds

-jess’ unkept season 4 hair is the best, unmatched. i’m sorry that you couldn’t afford hair gel baby, but you looked great

-i can’t fully hate TJ because he reminds me of joey from friends

-i like dean more than logan because at least when i watch dean, i don’t have to sit there knowing there’s actually people rooting for that guy

-april is a saint and an angel for totally just happily going along with everything

-rory’s fuckass bob was fine after it had grown out a little. very her. it’s really just the events associated with the bob.

-there’s not one fully healthy parent on the show. like try and name one

-the best example of luke not being a great conversationalist isn’t the april situation, it’s the fact that him having a sister who also was a teen mom never came up until his seventh year of being friends with lorelai

-there’s nothing i need more than clarity about what happens at stars hollow high. like sometimes i need that more than literati going on dates scenes

-lane and zach are fine

-i hate jess’ brown coat even tho everyone shot me down on my last post talking about it

ok that’s it for now

[teddypickerry]

do we have a doula fan cast/headcannons or do all of us just collectively not give a shit about her? (unless it includes big brother jess) gonna say it’s the latter.

[saltygilmores]

(Gilmore Girls) talking points I can and will discuss for hours at any time (mostly Jess stuff though)

Saw someone do this on Instagram and thought I'd do it too.

Dean is An Abomination and his own parents tried to abandon him on the side of the road (he made his way back somehow, crafty son of a bitch) Lorelai is a terrible horrible no good immature person, a gignatic hypocrite, a bad mother, and she dismisses and often encourages Dean’s abuse towards Rory How Lorelai married into Jess' family and now there SHOULD BE a cloud of shame hanging over her head that she treated her nephew like shit for no reason for years and now she has to look him in the eye at every holiday and family gathering for the rest of time, but she has no shame. Aunt Lorelai remember when I was 17 you said I should die in a fire and you'd rather save your shoes? Anyway, Pass the turkey. How much does Rory tell Jess about what Lorelai says about him behind his back Lorelai and Dean's affair (The DALA)

Justice for Lindsay Lister Nearly any Pre and Post Stars Hollow Jess Headcanon (That Usually Do Not Involve Rory) (his entire childhood, his entire adulthood, his ho life, his success as a popular author, Jess as a brother to Doula, life in Philadelphia, stories with his Truncheon buddies, Jess as a mediocre drug dealer in NYC #heytawd), Jess traveling cross country (love that one so much I made an absolutely massive Spotify playlist to accompany it), did he ever go to college? Among the carousel of rotating Mom's Boyfriends and Stepfathers did he ever have a few good ones in the mix? Liz likely didn't have a car and would never care to teach him, so who taught him how to drive?

If Jess had such a terrible childhood did Luke ever try to intervene? How much did he know? How much did he see Jess as a kid? Was Jess ever in foster care? Liz Danes...just Liz Danes. Could probably discuss this trainwreck and the people in her orbit until i was blue in the face. I have thoughts. Headcanon: Jess has had sex with any other similarly-aged existing character on the show besides Rory at some point (this would be in the future, during his Ho Years.. I don't really find any joy in the thought of him cheating on Rory) Where do Rory and Jess go on the dates that are (infrequently) implied they have Why does Luke always bring up how severely he underpays Jess for working a the diner? How often does Jess wait on Rory and Lorelai's table? Do they actually tip him, ever? Shane, Shane’s murder The date of Jess' birthday (it's late August or early September, babes. I'm unflinching on this but willing to hear all sides)

The origin of Jess’ unusual name How do Jess and Rory celebrate birthday and holidays together (within the OG series timeline)? If they actually do? Does Jess actually want to celebrate his birthday or Christmas? What gifts do they buy each other? The prom that never was Rory loses her virginity to a stupid butthead but doesn't put out for Jess for like 8 months and frequently teases him while the poor thing doesn’t even have the privacy to jack it once in a while to a Maxim magazine (but also, did they or did they not come fairly close off screen at some point, when and where?) gurl you interrupted a steamy makeout session so you could run home and talk to your mom! You talk to your mom every second of every day! And before that, you run away after your first real make out sesh so you could go talk to Dean! You are beyond help. What is up with that "We haven't seen each other in four years" comment between Jess and Rory in AYITL? What the hell happened in 2012? What is the day to day life in Stars Hollow High like between Jess, Dean, Lane, Lindsay without Rory around? Do Dean and Jess have any classes together? Where do they sit in the cafeteria? How come Lane and Dean never told Rory that Jess was skipping school? Especially when Dean has an incentive to spill the tea (getting Jess in trouble) and Lane is a hopeless gossip and there's no effing way she could keep something like that from Rory for that long

What is The Subsect actually about

What would it be like if Jess went to Chilton with Rory? How would he even get in (I really have to stretch the limits of my imagination but I have a few weak theories)

Madelyn and Louise (they’re awesome)

The friendships that could have been between Jess and Paris or Jess and Lane

How Rory is too dopey to see that Paris is in love with her

How disaster follows every female character who loses their virginity (even when in the confines of marriage)

The child bride epidemic on this show

Dave Ryglaski is mediocre. Alex is under rated and it’s a shame the Male Gilmore Girls Character California Wormhole probably sucked him in like Dave was, never to be seen again.

I don’t even care about her storyline: April as a character is so incredibly annoying I can’t watch any scene she is in.

Jason DiggerStiles is so uninteresting and his chemistry with Lorelai is so weak and the insurance storylines are so fucking insipid I have to skip all of those scenes too.

The only characters who emerged from season 6 with any sort of diginity intact were Jess and Paul Anka.

[shirleyjacksonenthusiast]

The deliberate absence of abortions in Gilmore Girls

The philosophy, "Love is hard. One must not give up" permeates through the show. Extravagance (effort) and not extravagance (monetary) is shown to be the key to love. It's present of course in Luke's storyline but also for Dean, Jess, Logan, Jason, Dave, Lane, Richard, Emily, etc. Both platonic and romantic, over and over you see that none of these characters get over their love especially on screen. But this thought process becomes cancerous when it comes to pregnancy.

As I've been going through the seasons, multiple pregnancy plotlines have popped up. Over and over, someone gets pregnant and there is never any mention of abortion. I'm not just talking of people having it but also of taking it under consideration. Emily and Richard suggested marriage to Lorelai over and over but no one ever mentions that Lorelai ever even considered abortion.

With Lane as well, you see her completely panicking over being pregnant, the word abortion is never used. No matter how unprepared anyone is, what their financial circumstances are, or how one got pregnant, no one ever considers getting an abortion. Lorelai tries to convince Sookie that having a third child with Jackson (i won't go into Jackson, it pisses me off too much) would be a good thing. She seems to be in league with her best friend's husband over her best friend here. No mentions of getting rid of the baby, just a load of how they're so angry and how could he do this.

Babies are the hardest part of the "Love is hard. One must not give up" philosophy and the show preaches it. Every single good character seems to overcome the difficulties of childcare. Liz fails as a parent to Jess but ultimately is shown to succeed with Doula because she's "good" now. Her redemption has turned her into a good mother. Lane, Lorelai, Sookie, they're good people so they succeed with their babies.

Sherry and Christopher fail with GG at first but Christopher is never shown to be an evil person, just an irresponsible one so he eventually succeeds. Sherry's redemption is off screen so we never get to see her succeed.

While the show is never shy in its discussions of sex, it is very shy when it comes to the consequences. Everyone chooses to have the child over and over and over no matter what they want in their life. This is the one thing that stood out to me that had no standing in the real world. We fall into the extremes of the love is hard philosophy and take cutting people we love off or aborting babies out of the real life equation. Even if we see certain instances of cutting people out, it gets resolved if the love is strong enough or if they just put in the effort.

Gilmore girls ultimately becomes a show for the romantic where everything works out eventually. We can't live in a utopia, that counteracts the difficulties and the effort to overcome them philosophy. It's about community and help yes, but mostly it is about resilient individuals who happen to be in a community. We also see Rory reading Ayn Rand in one of the seasons. Most of the books mentioned are very intentional and I think we must look closely at why Fountainhead is considered a book that aligns with their ethics.

In the end, these characters will choose to believe in their individual strength and have the child and raise it correctly because they are good people in the narrative. No one ever wants to question their own capability or capacity. In the end, we will see children running around and their parents' finances being sorted BECAUSE they are good and hardworking, there is no other option.

[lolabelinda]

Analysis of scene: AYITL Fall "Rande Gerber hot"

Okay, so I just have to talk about this scene after rewatching it recently.

Jess is sitting (quite comfortably) in the Gilmore's house. Now to me this feels like he's been there before, I mean after he left Stars Hollow to live elsewhere.

He says to Rory he hasn't seen her in 4 years, but presumably he's been back to the Hollow a fair few times to visit Luke, his mum and sister Doula and likely just missed Rory those times because she was in NY or travelling.

During this time I'm guessing he spent some time at Lorelai's house and even spent time with both Luke and Lorelei.

We can tell this because even though Lorelei makes several negative comments about Jess throughout the revival ("throw a ball with, not at") I think a lot of that is just habitual banter, kind of a joke that they've never gotten along.

When Lorelei comes in to ask about ordering pizza she points (I think???) at Jess and says "extra cheese?" implying she is familiar enough to know his pizza preferences.

She could be pointing at and asking Luke, but being how much of a health freak he is, it's unlikely he would want extra cheese.

Then she protests when he goes to leave and blows him a kiss (!!!)

I mean I do think she is extra happy at this point in her life, so maybe she doesn't want to be annoyed by him. But all these things are very friendly and familiar and I believe were written into the scene to show the audience how their relationship has evolved (especially if they are trying to set up the whole Rory/Jess relationship that's implied for the future).

I wonder how he feels being there, with his history with Rory (although we rarely see them spend time there when they are together) and sitting there surrounded by pictures of her.

Also, why is he there?

I am guessing he has been asked to be Best Man to Luke (which is so cute to think of Rory being Maid of Honour also) and is there to try on his suit.

We see that Miss Celine was there on an earlier day with all the clothes and I would say maybe if Jess had a specific suit it would've been kept there until the wedding.

Jess may have already tried it on and then is waiting to see Luke's. He still has his bag, so presumably he's just arrived in town.

Although when Rory enters (and you'll notice he looks up from his book at this point) she doesn't seem surprised to see him so I'm guessing she already knew he was there.

Although Lorelei doesn't seem surprised either, so maybe they'd seen a bit of him in the lead up to the wedding (or it just didn't work for the flow of the scene for either of them to acknowledge his arrival).

Also when Jess leaves he says "back at 10?" Implying he is coming back the next morning, I'm guessing to get changed for the wedding.

I recently saw an interview where Milo talks about that last look he gives Rory through the window. He was basically saying you know, he didn't know what it meant, read into it what you want, but that Amy just asked him to look lovingly at Rory.

It's funny though because to me that is not a loving look. Like it is, but to me it's a longing look.

There is love there too, but if it was just "oh we shared something special and I'm remembering that but I've moved on" sort of look (which is what Milo implies) it would probably be more warm, smiling, satisfied type of look.

But no way... He looks sad, longing and loving. Almost even regretful.

The whole scene is the best ❤️

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Has anyone ever noticed how there is an unrealistic amount of only children on the show? Lorelei, Richard, Lane, Paris, Christopher probably too, Rory for the first 18 years of her life, and Jess for the first 22 years of his life... I mean this was in the 2000s when the birth rate wasn't THAT low yet. So why? Was ASP just too lazy to write more characters and introduce more complicated family dynamics? Even the sibling relationships we do get are not well fleshed-out, except Luke and Liz. Jess and Doula don't even meet in the original show, Emily has a sister we never get to see, Dean has three sisters but we only meet one. Is ASP an only child? I will say though, Rory and GG's relationship is very realistic for two half-siblings who have 18 years between them.

[anxiouspotatorants]

@stellaluna33​ be careful what you wish for.... Now let’s start off with a far too long list of Eurovision headcanons I have for Gilmore Girls.

While Richard and Emily did technically come across Eurovision (or at least national selection season) in the first half of the 80s (thank you @thatscarletflycatcher​ for that amazing headcanon) Lorelai herself wasn’t introduced to the world’s best singing concert until she met Michel. Michel told Lorelai about that time Celine Dion participated and won for Switzerland, which Lorelai then had to find proof of. Soon enough she catches her first taping of Eurovision (maybe 98 with Dana International) and she’s been obsessed ever since.

Lorelai loves everything at first, but over the years she grows a special kind of love for the truly tacky Eurovision entries. The more glitter and nonsensical english lyrics the better. 

Rory is obviously brought into this in her early teens and bonds with her mom over it. She does love a good tacky entry as well, but what really made Rory come back for the competition every year is all the political gossip and drama that seeps into each year. The voting results announcements is when Rory inches closer to the screen.

It’s not enough for Lorelai to enjoy this by herself with Rory. She shares her opinions with Michel (who hates it), makes a whole themed yearly event of it with Sookie, spreads the gospel of Eurovision to Miss Patty and Babette, and tries at least once to convince Taylor to make Eurovision week an offical town holiday or at least an event. Taylor will not approve of this anti-American nonsense. That is his loss.

Of course Luke is forced to sit through this every single year. And no he does not like it. He gets angry about the hypocrisy of all the “peace and love”-songs sung by artists representing countries that do not have peace and love in their policies, is intimidated by all the glitter, and could really do without the akward hosts. He will admittedly enjoy the odd dad-rock entry that comes every year, but keep it to himself since everyone else roasts them.

Since Michel is the one who introduced everyone to Eurovision (well, he introduced Lorelai who introduced everyone, but it wouldn’t have happened without him) and since he’s the only actual European around, Michel feels very protective and possessive of it. He will let Rory bait him into talking about how he as a Frenchman views other European countries (it gets stereotypical), and he will at the same time tear a hole into anyone who scoffs at ‘ethnic’ or non-English songs. 

Like his uncle, Jess is not a Eurovision fan and would really like to skip watching this, if only to avoid the crowds that Lorelai gathers for the event. He does like it when audience members sneak up on stage or something goes really wrong. Teenage Jess could stay away because of how things were going around that time of year, but adult Jess who visits multiple times a year for Doula and Luke and has to remain on civil terms with Lorelai cannot escape. And yeah, it might bring Rory joy to watch him awkwardly sandwiched between TJ and Luke watching Verka Serduchka scream numbers in German.

Lane loves Eurovision. She loves the showmanship, loves the variety of musical entries, loves being introduced to country-specific genres. When the internet community around Eurovision grows, she starts finding updates (and eventually streams) of the national selections around Europe and starts watching them as well. For Lane, Eurovision-season starts in December the year before.

Paris doesn’t really get Eurovision at first (noting the same hypocricy issue as Luke), but with time she starts to let loose and enjoy the circus for what it is. She tends to change what genre she prefers every couple of years, but she’s a loyal Portugal-supporter and likes pretending to be as above everyone else as Michel simply because she can speak Portuguese.

Dean never really got Eurovision, but would be fine watching it as long as he was spending time with Rory. Logan tried to convince Rory to get tickets with him and just head on over to Europe once for a finale, but to Rory that would be a betrayal against her tradition with Lorelai and the town. Either they all go or none of them go.

Richard and Emily are appalled by how tacky the whole event is, but they will watch it in the privacy of their home because it’s become a guilty pleasure. They tend to prefer French entries when the French aren’t sending songs like “Moustache”.

Lane has tried to get Hep Alien to add at least one Eurovision song to one of their setlists. She tends to try with safe rock songs like “We Could Be The Same” by maNga or “Something Better” by Softengine, but really she would love to do something hilarous and out of the box for their band, like “Secret Combination” or a Johnny Logan song.

Oh, but Jess liked “Viszlat Nyar” by AWS. He didn’t expect something like that to show up on Eurovision. It was nice.

Rory really enjoys that semi-indie music thing that’s been going on in Belgium and the Netherlands lately. Think “City Lights” by Blanche and “De Diepte” by S10.

Michel’s the kind of Eurovision-fan who prefers divas singing ballads or dancing girls with a whole crew on stage. 

Babette and Miss Patty will cheer for any entry with skimpy outfits, particularly shirtless men. “OPA” in 2010 was a moment for everyone: a fun one for the two of them and traumatizing for everyone else.

Miss Patty makes a whole separate drink for Eurovision. It has edible glitter in it.

Nobody in town seems to know what to make of Australia being in the competition. People like Lorelai and Sookie and Liz don’t mind, while people like Taylor find it categorically wrong that a European song contest has a country from the other side of the globe participate. But nobody even jokes about the US joining. Michel has made sure of that.

Lorelai’s all time favourite entry is Ukraine in 2004. Michel’s favourite is Switzerland in 1988 because of course.

Sookie uses Eurovision week as an excuse to experiment with different European cousines. At first she would do dishes from the host country, but nowadays she will occasionally switch to the country she’s rooting the most for that year or a country that hasn’t had a win in ages.

Michel still has access to voting, and when people catch wind of this it becomes a nightmare for him. Everyone wants to use Michel to vote for their favourite entry, but he refuses to do it for free, and refuses to blow up his phone credit for them. Eventually he gives the entire town 10 votes that they can bid on or agree on together, but either way Michel is getting compensation for this.