Gilmore Girls Fans Feel That The Writers Shortchanged Paris
If there's one thing "Gilmore Girls" never lacked, it was memorable characters. The show's cast of oddball figures wasn't just restricted to the residents of its central town of Stars Hollow, either. As a matter of fact, the series' two leads, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel), encountered plenty of unforgettable characters in their adventures outside of Stars Hollow, including Paris Geller (Liza Weil).
Introduced early on in "Gilmore Girls" Season 1, Paris begins her series-long arc as a rival classmate to Bledel's Rory. As time goes on, however, Paris and Rory slowly grow from rivals to friends. By the time she's reintroduced as an immensely successful businesswoman in 2016's "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," Paris ranks firmly as one of Lorelai and Rory's fiercest allies. That said, there are some "Gilmore Girls" fans who think the show didn't treat Paris particularly well for most of its original run.
In specific, on the official "Gilmore Girls" subreddit, u/EltonsontheAir responded to a post asking for fans' "unpopular opinions" about the show by writing, "I always hated the way they made Paris fail and then Rory succeed in the areas Paris failed as some way to prove Rory was smarter or better than Paris."
In the same comment, u/EltonsontheAir noted several ways in which "Gilmore Girls" repeatedly tears Paris down in order to build Rory up, including the series' decision to not only make Rory her class' valedictorian instead of Paris but also have Rory get accepted into both Harvard and Yale while Paris only gets into the latter college.
Gilmore Girls fans think the show 'downplays' Paris' strengths
Based on the responses that the above Reddit comment received, it seems safe to say that there are plenty of "Gilmore Girls" fans who think Paris deserved better treatment from the show's writers. Responding to their fellow fan's original comment, u/Good_Establishment_8 even wrote, "I agree with all of this. I felt slightly better when Paris was the [more] successful one in ['A Year in the Life']." Meanwhile, in the same thread, u/iammoonbird observed, "The character development of Paris is so good but every time she's at her peak, the show downplays her."
For her part, "Gilmore Girls" star Liza Weil herself has admitted that she found it initially difficult to embody the toxic, confrontative version of Paris that viewers are first introduced to in the series. While promoting her role in "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," the actor told Cosmopolitan, "In Season 1, it was hard. I do remember feeling like, 'Oh gosh, what is the value of portraying a mean girl on television? I'm not sure if it was helping anybody.'"
While Weil was quick to acknowledge her character's faults, the actor also noted, "The thing that's the most lovely to me, looking back at my time on 'Gilmore Girls,' was how fortunate I was to be a young actor and to be on a show that made it really cool for girls to be smart." In other words, while Weil hasn't forgotten about Paris' darker moments on "Gilmore Girls," she ultimately seems proud of just how much her character got to fail, succeed, grow, and change over the course of the show's run.