In the early 2000’s TV show “Gilmore Girls,” main character, Rory Gilmore is a young scholar facing the trials and tribulations of high school. With this comes her first two boyfriends, Dean Forrester, and Jess Mariano.

Dean is a bad boyfriend. He embarrasses Rory in public, has jealousy issues and has misogynistic tendencies. No matter how tall or nice he is to his little sister, he never fails to disappoint.

Jess is much better suited to Rory. He challenges Rory, cares about her dreams and they have more in common. Jess is a better boyfriend for Rory no matter how nice Dean may have been in the beginning.

While Dean has his ups, he definitely has more downs. During their two-month anniversary dinner, Dean flips out when Rory doesn’t feel comfortable saying “I love you,” breaking up with her on the spot. That is an irrational and immature response, especially since it had only been two months since they started dating. Jess, on the other hand, never pressures Rory to commit as quickly and gives her time to adapt after her breakup with Dean.

While Jess and Dean both regularly get into fights with each other over Rory, Dean still picks these fights after he and Rory break up. Dean shows troublesome signs of jealousy by yelling at Rory after Jess stopped by to deliver food and following her to study a Romeo and Juliet scene with a classmate. While Jess did get jealous when Rory was going to go to the winter festival with Dean while they were dating, this was not common and he had good reason since he didn’t quite understand what their relationship was at that point.

One of Dean’s most troubling moments is his misogynistic behavior. In an episode discussing gender roles, Dean tells Rory about how he would like a wife who stayed at home and cooked, prompting a series of lessons learned for him. Jess, on the other hand, shows that he supports Rory’s dreams, convincing her to go back to Yale after she drops out and constantly challenging her intellectually, introducing her to new writers and different perspectives. Dean constantly demands her time, especially when he knows she has some sort of extracurricular and is always making snarky comments about how she’s staying in to study or never has time for anything.

When Dean has an affair with Rory, he also blames it completely on her and never takes responsibility for his actions. Jess stays loyal throughout their relationship and admits when he’s wrong. He never gets married because he knows he’s in love with Rory as we see in “A Year In A Life.”

Throughout the events of the show, Jess Mariano shows his commitment to Rory’s happiness by making her a better version of herself constantly, while Dean brings out her worst. It’s safe to say that Jess is a better fit for Rory.