#dynamic: luke & jesse.

[stellaluna33]

There's something about Lorelai, Luke, Rory, and Jess all having to "be the adult" as teens.

[notes-in-the-margins]

Jess Mariano's big Californian adventure!

3x21

[sarabethsilver]

I've always wondered what Jess thought about Luke prior to his S2 arrival. We know that Luke had intermittent contact with Liz over the years, and that he sometimes financially bailed them out of bad situations. But Jess has seemingly never been to Stars Hollow, there's no reference to Luke spending time with Jess in the 17 years since his birth, so... what does Jess think, exactly? How has Liz explained their lack of contact with Luke? What's the family narrative around why Jess has never set foot in Stars Hollow before this?

Forget Jess not really knowing Luke before being forced to move to Stars Hollow. I think it's more likely that Jess distrusts, or is at least suspicious of, this random uncle. This stable guy with lots of money who knows SOMETHING about Liz's complete instability... and yet never did anything besides write a check, maybe move some furniture into a new apartment, and then disappear for months at a time. While Liz - the master at blaming other people for her problems - probably framed the dynamic in a less-than-ideal way.

None of that is Luke's fault, of course. He tried to help the best way he knew how. He's certainly not the blame for the fact that Liz is impossible to track down. But far from being a new, neutral family member whom Jess gets to live with, Luke is inextricably linked to Liz: the sister he helped and sometimes didn't help, while Jess was all alone going through whatever shitstorm Liz was creating. Whatever negative feelings Jess has about Liz are certainly tied into Luke, especially at first.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

I Am All In Rewatch - Luke & Jess- Episode 2x6

No, it's like he what we're seeing now is like, you're not fit for society, and you're in boot camp and I'm your drill instructor, and this is what's happening. And once you're prepared, you will have more scenes with other people. -Scott 

[captainshyguy]

yknow tht poll a while back where its like 'do you ever cosume a content for media you're not into' and many of us were baffled and said no?

yeah no, between me rbig breaking bad memes and death note memes i get it now

[sageandred]

The uncommunicative messes REAL love languages are

Being clingy af

Downplaying your sappy feelings

Being stupid together

Showing up nonchalantly to important events or meetups

Taking the admission of your nice gestures to the grave

[saltygilmores]

THOUGHTS WHILE WATCHING GILMORE GIRLS: S3/EP4/ONE’S GOT CLASS THE OTHER ONE DYES (PART 5)

Parts 1-4 and all other episodes are linked in my pinned post.

OMG. PHRASING, LUCAS. PHRASING!! IT'S OKAY EVERYBODY! HE MEANT METAPHORICALLY, PEOPLE.

I mean, your affair with Dean Forrester should already have you on some kind of registry.

Luke is giddy with delight over Lorelai's humilation at the school and is giggling up a storm, a gigglestorm the likes of which I've never heard before from him. Let's alll point and laugh at Lorelai! It's fun.

The KarenDebbies are descending upon us. I can't wait to hear Lorelai say the word "condoms"!

I've never seen him this happy before?

Sadly with no context I wouldn't be able to tell if this was 2023 or 2002. Karens: Why were you discussing your pregnancy, why didn't you change the subject? Lorelai: I tried but they kept coming at me like I was poland and they were Nazis. Urrrp.

In my unrated Gilmore Girls rewrite titled The Hollow, I promise to rewrite this episode so that we see Lorelai throwing condoms at high school students.

Well as long it's just a banana and you don't bring Dean for the subject of your demonstration. KarenDebbie: What kind of mother are you?! Lorelai: The kind that doesn't just gloss over uncomfortable topics!

My ass you don't. She spends a good 75% of season 3 moving heaven and earth to interfere in Jess and Rory's relationship and cockblocking them to make sure these two legal adults don't fuck each other instead of giving Rory any sort of useful information about sex and you should know better than anyone that that's a solid recipe for teen pregnancy, Miss GlossyPants. Speaking of. Guess who else is about to get a fumbling attempt at Awkward Parental Sex Talk? This li'l guy.

We don't want Shane to get pregnant. It would make her already tragic impending death even more tragic.

So, what's up with Luke's apartment? There's a guitar, bongos, and maracas (plus a sign he stole from a bus stop). Does he have a secret past in some kind of salsa band?

Luke referring to a human being as something you can "stash in a closet" like an old box of Monopoly is fucking hilarious. The delivery is also very "Jess are you a gigolo?" and "What are you, a drug dealer now?" Like he knows it's a ridiculous question but he's also mildly concerned that the answer is going to be Yes. And now, for all time favorite exchange in the entire Gilly Girls World:

Jess and Rory are cool and all. But Luke and Jess are it for me. These two are the reason I keep watching. Their dynamic is so perfect and things were never the same after Milo left, not only because of the breakup of Literati but because I desperately miss these two guys playing off each other.

I don't know. I feel like Shane wouldn't give a flying cupcake about getting caught. She had no problem repeatedly barging into the diner to hump Jess' leg while Luke and Lorelai were watching and Luke had to part them like Moses parting the sea to wait tables, and she had no problem playing tonsil hockey with Jess against a tree for hours in view of hundreds of people. More evidence that this little dude is lying and that Closet Girl wasn't actually Shane.

We know, Jesstopher. We know. You little freakazoid.

Amen, brother.

Bolt the doors Lucas he's gonna run! Luke should be pulling a Lorelai and throwing bags of condoms at Jess. Stars Hollow called an emergency town meeting after he drew on a sidewalk with chalk. I can't imagine the fate of both Jess and Luke if it were discovered that Jess planted his demon seed in anyone but especially precious Rory.

I love it when Luke tells Jess to shut up. Fantastic stuff. Luke: If you care about this Shane girl you have to treat her better. Jess: I don't care about her. I don't know her last name. She mentioned it once, didn't stick. We're just "hangin out." Staaahp. Jess is so deliciously blunt and nonchalant about her. Anyone fellow Millenials here? Does anyone else remember that in high school in the late 90's and early 2000's "hooking up" (or in Jess' case, "hanging out") meant literally anything you wanted it to mean and so one of your friends could say "I hooked up with Jason last night" but that could mean they either made out for a few minutes or they were full on bumping uglies or something in between and you often had to ask uncomfortable questions. It was a very confusing time. It kept us all on our toes.

Luke, you have a pair of eyes. You've seen what they do in your diner. There should not exist any doubt that they're not convening in your apartment to play checkers.

I'm telling you, the dynamic of the entire Danes-Mariano family is so complex and interesting and I would twist my nipple for this show to delve into it as much as humanly possible at the expense of pushing Rory and Lorelai to the side (Lorelai off a cliff). I've hit the ceiling for screen shots here on Tumblr.com so here's the last three minutes of the episode: Luke: You need to find a girl you actually care about. Jess: Yah like it's that easy. Luke: Ya huh it's that easy if you try Jess: The girls I like don't give a damn about me. I'm not just gonna sit around hoping they change their minds and notice me, unlike SOME PEOPLE. Luke: Da fuq does that mean Jess: ya fixed any neighbor's porshes *porches lately? Luke: Shut up Jess: I've got a little self esteem Luke: Shut up Jess: Gotta go, Shane's horny again Well, that attempt at the Birds and Bees talk certainly went off the rails. Luke was able to impart to Jess that teenage boys have raging hormones and they tend to like girls and Jess don't be an idiot. It's okay Luke, at least you tried.

[jessmalia]

Luke: You’re adorable!

Jess: No, I’m not!

Luke: I just walked in on you singing to your cat, “If you’re happy and you know it say meow!” and you started to cry when it meowed.

[emmafallsinlove]

Favourite Jess moment?

“i want to be good. life’s just not letting me.” from 2x12 because while i know it has been said sarcastically, i think that’s the core to jess’ character. he wants to be good, life never let him to be good. no matter where he would end up people would look at him at this trouble maker boy, would blame him for things he didn’t even do, and i hate it for him because he is so so good, he is.

kind of reminds me of the pjo musical (one of my all time favorite musical in fact) that in the song good kid like those part are so jess coded it’s insane (and while percy jackson is definitely my all time favorite character since i was like 9 and i’m 23 now so…. i loved percy for 14 years?) ANYWAY

SO JESS CODED IT’S INSANE 😭

[springmagpies]

I could write an essay on why I love the Jess and Luke swan scene so freaking much. The symbolism! The comedy! The parental heart to heart! The bonding! Jess opening up without really realizing it and Luke finally getting the swing of what his parenting mode looks like with Jess! I LOVE IT!!

[daisyjoners]

tag dump!

[stellaluna33]

Another way in which the Diner Dudes mirror the Gilmore Girls is that Lorelai's Older Sister energy with Rory is matched by Luke's Older Brother energy with Jess. Like, he cares about him and looks out for him, obviously... gives advice when he can... but there's also the nonstop ribbing and mockery (and it's mutual as well). In all ways but literally, he is giving Jess a noogie, and that cheek pinch at the Employee of the Month ceremony was pretty darn close. 😂😭

[carriessotos]

tag dump! lune's version - 02.

[rowanhoney]

realising I probably love gilmore girls sm because it lets me process a lot of my trauma like damn some people need a hug

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

I Am All In Rewatch - Luke & Jess - Episode 3x6

That was one of my favorite scenes between Jess & Luke. Yeah, but it was another side of Luke where he smiled, but he smiled, it was light. It was like he wasn't being It was just another side you got to see of Luke. And I really I enjoyed, God, I enjoyed working with Milo. Oh my God, we had so much fun. But it was just such a I mean, it was just another side of Luke and a wonderful scene, you know, wonderfully written scene. -Scott 

[thefirst3chapters]

Luke and Jess's dynamic in "Swan Song" stands out in a really interesting way.

It's one of the only times when they're living together that Luke insists on hearing Jess's side of a story, and Jess is actually quite responsive to that. (He also fesses up to working at Walmart with minimal prodding and continues to share details about it even though Luke laughs at him the entire time.) Luke, like Rory, assumes at first that Jess fought with Dean and then gives up when Jess gets defensive; however, when Jess doesn't want to talk to Rory, Luke decides that he needs to demand an answer: "Look, you're my responsibility. You're exhibiting signs of violent behavior and I don't care how much you don't want to talk about it, you're not leaving until you tell me. Now tell me, where'd you get the black eye?"

Once he says this, Jess doubts that Luke will believe him but tells the truth in all its humiliating glory. When Luke then doesn't believe him, Jess gives away even more information, and Luke joins him on the absolutely ridiculous revenge mission and even rows the boat to get there. It seems like this gesture resonates with Jess because he continues to willingly answer Luke's questions. Most notably, he says that he doesn't know why Rory wants to be with him. That's a pretty significant insecurity for him to admit! Then Luke offers sincere advice, and while Jess puts up a wall of sarcasm ("Give it a rest, Dr. Phil!") and says that he doesn't care, he does his best to implement this advice on the same day.

Luke isn't exactly kind in the beginning of this plot thread, and he initially reinforces Jess's hesitancy to trust him, but then he tangibly demonstrates that he cares and makes an effort to take Jess's perspective seriously, and Jess is honest with him and ultimately accepts his guidance. That doesn't seem like a coincidence.

Side note: Just realized that Jess has sarcastically likened both Luke and Lorelai to famous psychologists.