Jess Mariano
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Jess Mariano is a fictional character on the television series Gilmore Girls, played by Milo Ventimiglia.
Background
Jess was raised by his mother Liz Danes, who was famous for having bad relationships. When she had trouble dealing with her son she sends him to her brother Luke Danes. Jess was a troubled young man at the time. His father Jimmy (played by Rob Estes) departed after his birth when he told Liz he was going to get diapers and never returned. His mom sent him away from his home in New York City to live in Stars Hollow with his uncle.(Season 2 Episode 5-Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy). Jess was intellectually inclined and well read. He resented being shipped off to his uncle but attempted to feel at home by smoking regularly, vandalizing Doose's, and stealing lawn gnomes. He was not well liked by Lorelai, but his literary and pop culture/music knowledge appealed to good-girl Rory.
Relationship with Rory
Jess and Rory officially started dating after the Dance Marathon when Dean, who was at the time dating Rory, realized that Rory liked Jess, and broke up with her. Shortly afterwards, Luke broke up their first kiss as a couple before it began to set some ground rules so that Jess wouldn't corrupt the innocent Rory. (Season 3, Episode 8-Let the Games Begin)
Their relationship was bumpy because of both Jess's and Rory's constant insecurities and lack of communication. Rory was left in the dark to a lot of Jess's troubles and Rory had a hard time fitting Jess into her everyday life. Jess's main insecurity was with Rory's previous boyfriend Dean, who was intent to win Rory back. This culminated into a fight that Jess and Dean had at a party thrown by Dean's friend Kyle. Jess also failed to tell Rory that his frequent absences caused him to flunk out of school and miss prom, which prompted an argument between Jess and Rory, and then a full-blown brawl with Dean after Dean came upon a tearful and distraught Rory at a party. However, in season 6 Jess has written a book and started a publishing company in Philidelphia, making something of his life. He even pays Luke back for all he did to take care of him. When Rory comes to visit him, the two kiss, unfortunately for Jess, Rory has already moved on to her next boyfriend, Logan.
Break-up
When he found out that he would not be allowed to graduate from Stars Hollow High because he had cut too many classes, he took off on a bus to Venice Beach, California to find his father without telling Rory. This was intended to be the introduction to a Jess spinoff, but production costs in Venice were too high, so the concept was scrapped. So, Jess met his father, who ran a hot dog stand, and his father's girlfriend Sasha (Sherilyn Fenn, who also plays Luke's old flame Anna Nardini in Season 6), a stereotypical California free spirit/artist type with a daughter named Lily and a lot of dogs. (Season 3, Ep. 21 "Here Comes the Son")
He called Rory a few times, always hanging up without speaking, until Rory finally told him she couldn't continue to set herself up for hurt, on her graduation day.
- Rory: Jess, is that you? Jess, I'm pretty sure it's you and I'm pretty sure you've been calling and not saying anything but wanna say something. Hello? You're not going to talk? Fine, I'll talk. You didn't handle things right at all. You could've talked to me. You could've told me that you were having trouble in school and weren't going to graduate, and that your dad had been there, but you didn't. And you ended up not taking me to my prom and not coming to my graduation and leaving again without saying goodbye again, and that's fine, I get it, but that's it for me. I'm going to Europe tomorrow and I'm going to Yale and I'm moving on. And I'm not going to pine. I hope you didn't think I was going to pine, okay? I think. . .I think I may have loved you, but I just need to let it go. So, that's it, I guess. Um, I hope you're good. I want you to be good, and, um, okay, so, goodbye. That word sounds really lame and stupid right now, but there it is. Goodbye.
- —Season 3, Ep. 22 "Those Are Strings, Pinocchio"
Return
Jess disappeared from the show for a while, but reappeared to steal back his car from Luke, tell Rory he loved her, and disappear again. He showed up at his mother's Renaissance-Faire–themed wedding (after Luke chased him down in New York and guilted him into coming). He later showed up at Rory's dorm room at Yale, asking her to run away from school to join him in New York. She shot him down and told him no.
Jess reappeared again in season 6. He now lives in Philadelphia and had just published his first book. He told Rory that he couldn't have made it to where he is now without Rory's help and they have a happy reunion, both excited to see each other again. They made plans to have dinner which were thrown off by Logan's unexpected return from a trip with his father. Logan immediately became defensive and the dinner quickly became a full blown argument between Jess and Logan. Jess finally left, but not before expressing his concerns to Rory about her life.
Also in season 6, in the episode "The Real Paul Anka," Jess made an appearance. Invitations to Jess' open house at his new book store/art gallery/publishing house in Philadelphia were sent to Luke and Rory, and both attend. Luke, who was nearby chaperoning a field trip with his daughter, April, catches up with Jess and introduces his nephew and his daughter. Before Luke leaves, Jess gives him a copy of his book and the money he owed Luke for the repairs on his car from season 4, as well as money Luke spent on him such as paying off Kyle's parents for damage Jess caused at a party at their house between him and Dean. Rory, having relationship troubles with her boyfriend, Logan, travels to Philadelphia while he is out of town. Rory and Jess kiss, but she quickly stops him before they can go any further, admitting that she loves Logan despite all of the bad things he has done and cannot cheat on him, even though he cheated on her. Jess is shocked the two are still together and is disappointed and feels misled. Rory agrees it was wrong of her to come like that and leaves.
Spin-off
The WB was originally going to air a spin-off featuring Jess as the main character, called "Windward Circle", in which he gets to know his estranged father better and befriends a bunch of California skateboarders. (The Gilmore Girls episode 3.21 "Here Comes the Son" acted as the pilot for the show.) However, the network cancelled the show before it aired, citing high production costs to shoot on location in Venice Beach as the reason. It was originally picked up as a mid-season show, set for January of 2004.
Ventimiglia says that his future with Gilmore Girls is all but done after the departure of Amy Sherman-Palladino, and that he felt that Jess "turned into a grown-up" during his last appearence and that his character was fully-developed. [link]
{| align="center" class="toccolours" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto; width:50%;" ! style="background:#ccccff" | Characters of Gilmore Girls |- | style="font-size:90%;"| Main Characters |- | style="font-size:80%;"| Lorelai Gilmore | Rory Gilmore | Luke Danes | Sookie St. James | Lane Kim |- | style="font-size:90%;"| Minor Characters |- | style="font-size:80%;"| Michel Gerard | Emily Gilmore | Richard Gilmore |- | style="font-size:90%;"| Recurring Characters |- | style="font-size:80%;"| Paris Geller | Kirk Gleason | Christopher Hayden | Logan Huntzberger |- | style="font-size:90%;"| Eliminated Characters |- | style="font-size:80%;"| Dean Forrester | Jess Mariano | Max Medina | Jason Stiles
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