The Tao of Rory Gilmore

Rory Gilmore is that rare breed of girl who could only really exist on a TV show. Rendered with the just the right amount of doe-eyed innocence by Alexis Bledel, Rory is the quintessential manic pixie dream girl–except more well-read and pop culturally savvy. Although she started out as a well-adjusted, precocious teen in season one of Gilmore Girls, Rory ultimately blossomed into someone almost as neurotic as her mother, Lorelai (Lauren Graham).

As a private school girl, Rory cultivated just the right blend of stodginess (as advocated by her overbearing grandparents, Richard and Emily Gilmore) with the street urchin sensibilities of a Stars Hollow denizen. Experiencing a reverse Pretty in Pink syndrome wherein she dated Dean, the local grocery store bag boy, Rory’s predilection for ne’er-do-wells, bad boys and ragamuffins (see: Jess, as beautifully portrayed by Milo Ventimiglia) gradually escalated to the worst kind of suitor: the trust fund baby.

By the time she hit Yale (yes, Yale), Rory had not only graduated from high school, but also to Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), a lazy, passionless sort of fellow whose only true love involved the pursuit of a good time. This ultimately drove Rory crazy, especially after Logan’s journalism magnate of a father told her she didn’t have “it.” And so, after a bit of a downward spiral, including the worst season ever (season six) in which Rory wasn’t talking to Lorelai, she finally pulled herself up by the backpack straps and returned to her scholastic ways. Because Rory wouldn’t be Rory without her head in a book.

Even her evolutionary taste in literature was telling over the seasons. In her more youthful days, faux angst shone through with The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, while her collegiate era revealed a decidedly learned side, with works from the likes of Pushkin and Gogol referenced with ease. And perhaps what fundamentally comprises the tao of Rory Gilmore is her lust for learning, with an emphasis on literature–inevitably attracting the sleazoid likes of Pete Campbell.