The cast of Gilmore Girls has been busy with successful new ventures. Between Scott Patterson's (Luke Danes) Gilmore Girls-themed podcast, Milo Ventimiglia's (Jess Mariano) performance in the finale for This Is Us, and the new official Gilmore Girls cookbook that's been released, the series is as beloved as it was when it came out over 22 years ago.
On Reddit, fans have dissected the series and spoke about all the ways the show gave them life and, at the same time, second-hand embarrassment. From Lorelai to Chris to Lane, the characters of Gilmore Girls made viewers unintentionally embarrassed.
Rory's Study Tree
Gilmore Girls had plenty of amazing episodes but 'An Affair to Remember' wasn't one of them because of one embarrassing choice Rory made.
Redditor KaleidoscopeTop3988 shared a photo of Rory arguing with another Yale student about her "study tree." They wrote, "Rory giving me second-hand embarrassment." In the scene, Rory was angry with another student for sitting under a tree where she typically sat under. Instead of finding another tree, Rory rebelled and was angry at the student for taking "her" tree, which was childish and strange.
Lorelai's Forceful Nature With Max
Max Medina was one of Lorelai's best boyfriends because of how much he loved her, but in the end, they weren't meant to be. Lorelai loved Max but wasn't in love with him enough to marry him. Despite knowing she wasn't serious with Max, she ignored his feelings and personal boundaries in one awkward scene.
Redditor c-wheezer got second-hand embarrassment when Lorelai refused to step away from Max, even though he begged her to leave him around. "[Max] is trying to get away from [Lorelai] by pushing desks and chairs in between them while backing away from her. He obviously looks and acts uncomfortable but Lorelai keeps advancing on him," they wrote. The Redditor noted if roles were reversed with a man aggressing a woman, the situation would have been taken more seriously.
Zack's Reaction To Brian's Song
Some Gilmore Girls fans felt like Lane's story didn't end well in A Year in the Life. She wanted to play in a rock band, tour the world, and spread her wings outside of her mother's tight grasp. Instead, she fell pregnant, got married, and stayed put in Stars Hollow.
When Lane and Zack were dating in the original series, Zack was overcome with anger when their bandmate Brian wrote Lane a song. Profanxiety said the moment where Zack acted out over the song was the most embarrassing. "I can't stand the episode Zack turns into a d*ck because Brian wrote a song called 'Lane.' I literally fast forward every scene he's in."
Emily's Dance With A Stranger
There were countless times Emily overstepped her boundaries on Gilmore Girls, but in one episode, the roles were reversed. While on a girls' trip with Lorelai, Lorelai encouraged Emily to dance with a handsome stranger who flirted with her. Because of Lorelai's insistence, Emily danced with him but soon regretted it because it felt like she cheated on Richard.
Moonlightmantra wrote, "The scene where Lorelai pressures Emily to dance with that guy during their spa weekend and you can tell Emily is crawling out of her skin and it makes me crawl out of mine too." Between Lorelai's forceful nature and Emily's panic — the weekend was ruined.
Rory's Change Of Tone
Reddit has a plethora of problems with Rory's behavior over the years on Gilmore Girls, and one of them is her tone of voice. Although this was an acting choice by Alexis Bledel, fans were embarrassed by the choice in particular scenes.
CalamityStacy called the change of tone Rory's "grown-up" voice. They wrote, "Any time Rory uses her 'grown-up' voice and cadence, like when she’s running the dance at the old age home, when she’s making the speech at the USO DR dinner, or when she is 'managing' the group doing community service picking up trash. That sing-songy tone drives me crazy."
Christopher Tried Too Hard At The Knit-A-Thon
When Christopher and Lorelai decided to give their relationship another chance after her breakup with Luke, she was nervous about bringing Christopher around Stars Hollow for fear of judgment. But when the big knit-a-thon arrived, Lorelai had no choice but to introduce Christopher to everyone, as they knitted to raise money.
In an attempt to be likable, Christopher donated enough money to the cause that the knitters no longer had to knit... It's this moment that gave CloudPictures second-hand embarrassment. "Chris donating all the money during the knit-a-thon, I can't watch it." Without a purpose, the knitters no longer had a fun afternoon planned because of Christopher.
How Was Davey Supposed To Turn It Down?
Because of her spunky personality and loyalty, Sookie was one of Gilmore Girls' best characters. However, this didn't mean that she didn't have her annoying moments.
When Julgwill wrote, "You heard me, Davey, turn it down!" about Sookie yelling at her toddler son to turn down the TV during a group dinner. This scene was embarrassing because it was obvious Davey was too young to understand what Sookie meant. Luke and Lorelai's uncomfortable facial expressions said it all. CaptainSmarkey wrote, "Omg this bothers me so much! He’s literally an infant and can’t turn the TV down!"
Lorelai's Speech At Lane's Wedding Was Mortifying
Somewhere along Luke and Lorelai's relationship timeline, she knew they weren't going to end well when he had a biological daughter that he didn't tell her about. With their wedding on hold because of this breaking news, Lorelai got drunk at Lane's wedding to cover the pain.
Artimista0314 was horrified by this moment, writing, "When Lorelai gets drunk at Lane's wedding and makes the speech about how everyone doesn't need to save the date for June 3rd because she's never going to marry Luke. I want to skip it every time."
That Embarrassing Turndown Service
When Luke was dating Nicole, Lorelai respected their relationship but didn't necessarily understand it since Luke and Nicole were so different.
In one scene, Luke and Nicole stayed at the Independence Inn and Lorelai showed up for a turndown service. Once she realized Luke and Nicole were staying there, she became awkward and dragged her feet to make it, ironically, less awkward. Chelc_ wrote, "When Luke and Nicole stay at the Independence Inn and Lorelei does turn down service… She can’t get the fire started, and then she awkwardly makes Luke and Nicole move out of bed so she can legit turn down the bed and leave mints. Aghhhh." The embarrassment made it hard to watch.
Chris' Behavior At The Yale Daily News Lunch
There was a multitude of things that led to Lorelai and Christopher's divorce, but one of those things was how little Christopher knew Rory. When he and Lorelai visited Yale and met Rory's colleagues at the Yale Daily News, he invited everyone to lunch at an upscale, fancy restaurant.
He assumed the group of classmates were Rory's closest friends and invited all of them to spend time with him and Rory outside of school. McMc10001 said this moment was one of the more embarrassing. "When Christopher takes the Daily News staff out for lunch, not realizing they aren’t actually Rory’s friends. And then he talks about rich people things. And then he invites them all skiing. And then that poodle-haired guy goes on his creme Brulee rant." As always, Chris tried too hard to fit in and splash his money around, and it didn't work.