Paris Geller is the best Gilmore Girls character, and no one can convince me otherwise

‘No man is an island but this woman is’

4 years ago

One thing Gilmore Girls always nailed was their main characters’ personalities. They were complex, interesting and never one dimensional. But of all the characters to have visited Stars Hollow over seven seasons, there is one person who reigns supreme and that is the one and only Paris Geller.

Paris has been in the show since the second episode and throughout her time she has been Rory’s enemy, her best friend, her enemy again, before finishing the show as her best friend again. But honestly Paris should never have been relegated to the role of best friend, she deserved her own show and quite frankly she stole every scene she was in.

Paris is sharp, witty, intelligent, ambitious and can produce an epic one liner. No she wasn’t always the nicest person in the world and her relationship with Asher Fleming and her treatment of Jamie were not on, but on balance she is still the best character to ever appear on the show.

And this is every reason why Gilmore Girls would be nothing without Paris Geller:

She had this thing called character development

Unlike Rory, who’s personality stayed pretty much whiney and spoilt for the seven series, Paris really developed as a person. She started off as mean, ambitious and would literally do anything to achieve her goals. And whilst she never lost her true self, Paris opened up and softened to a trusted few whilst still retaining her “bite me” attitude to the rest of the world.

She recognised faults within herself and with the help of her life coach she actually worked on fixing the parts of herself that weren’t always great.

Paris ended the show a much kinder and thoughtful person than when she started.

Paris stayed true to herself

Even though she softened throughout the show, at her core she remained her true self and didn’t alter what she liked or didn’t like when reaching Yale.

She tried to throw a party and go on Spring Break but realised that just isn’t her and she was actually perfectly happy being completely different from the rest of her classmates.

Paris never tried to downplay her feelings and thoughts to make others feel comfortable with her confidence. She owned it and throughout the seven seasons she was ambitious, hard working and incredibly intelligent.

That time she called out blatant sexism

In one of the early seasons Rory and Paris got in an argument at school and when being told off by their headmaster, he incorrectly presumed they were fighting over a boy.

Paris quietly corrected him by saying: “Sure. We’re girls, so we could only be arguing about a boy, right? Sexist, white-haired..”

She actually had a properly sad home life

Paris came from a very rich background but under the surface her home life sucked. She hardly ever saw her parents, her mum wouldn’t even stay for more than one lesson on Teacher Day, her nanny is her main support system, turning up at her graduation when her own parents are nowhere to be seen.

And then to top it off they lose all their money and Paris is left with nothing except a fractured relationship with her family, no wonder she would lash out and had problems making real connections when her home life was so rubbish.

Paris should have been valedictorian

There I said it, Paris deserved valedictorian far more than Rory. She worked her arse off for four years, got perfect grades, was president of the student council, editor of the newspaper and on every committee going. What more did she need to do?

Paris doesn’t stay quiet about her achievements

Yes it’s a bit annoying at Rory’s 21st birthday when she keeps doing the skit where she announces she’s editor for the Yale Daily News.

But she is out here owning her achievement and tbh she put in so much work that she deserves the title and why they hell shouldn’t she shout from the rooftops that she got what she had been working towards?

She has no time for social fakery

Paris always says what she actually thinks and has no tolerance for bullshit. She doesn’t put up with boring chat on a speed dating session and she eats before Rory’s 21st birthday in case the food was bad. And you know what, fair enough, some party food is down right awful.

She never sugar coats anything, and in a world in which women are expected to be nice, polite, quiet Paris smashes that stereotype to dust.

She’s actually a good friend to Rory

Unlike Rory who has been known to be a bit self centred when it comes to her friendships, Paris is a supportive friend to Rory in the end.

When Rory finds out Logan has cheated on her, Paris gets her Chinese food and takes down Logan with an iconic speech which includes the quote: “You, Logan Huntzberger, are nothing but a two-bit, spoiled waste of a trust fund. You offer nothing to women or the world in general. If you were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, the only person that would miss you is your Porsche dealer.”

Queen. She is also brutally honest about Rory’s plans to leave Yale after one man told her she wasn’t good enough. She tells her to get her act together and eagerly welcomes her back when Rory realises she’s made a stupid mistake.

When Lucy and Rory were in that non talking phase, Paris fixed the problem by telling Lucy all of Rory’s good qualities and shows real adoration for her friend.

Paris is a talented journalist

Unlike Rory, Paris is actually a pretty talented journalist. She’s not the greatest editor, but her hunt for a story should always be admired.

When they were at Chilton, Paris was determined to find a seedy underbelly town story in Stars Hollow, and for a high school journalist that’s pretty forward thinking. At Yale she has an extreme dedication to the religion beat, even going as far as experiencing Ramadan in order to have a better understanding of the experience.

Her epic oneliners

No one is more savage and brutally honest than Paris Geller. And to end all my evidence Paris is the greatest Gilmore Girls character, enjoy some of her best quotes:

“No, it’s national baptism day. Tie your tubes, idiot.”

“I already wrote his name in my revenge notebook.”

“Who in the world deserves to go to Harvard more than me? I had sex, but I’m not going to Harvard.”

“I’m sorry if you thought we had some kind of deep Thelma and Louise thing going here, but we didn’t.”

“I am not your mother or your hugger. If you need some love, get a hooker. If you’re having a bad day, find a ledge or a way to deal. My door is not open to you. Ever.”

“Typical guy response. Worship Kerouac and Bukowski. God forbid you pick up anything by Jane Austen.”

“No men, just lots and lots of Chinese food.”

“I’m sorry, have I ever been mistaken for a patient person?”

“I’m just dealing with the usual incompetence around here, that’s all.”

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