Most of us were distracted by the bomb of an ending in Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life, but once that feeling passed, we sort of realized something — Gilmore Girls really did no service to Rory’s poor, neglected boyfriend Paul.
Paul was barely there — a punchline much like the never-seen Tito from My So-Called Life. He is to Gilmore Girls what Barb was to Stranger Things. In the few times we do see him, no one can even remember who he is. They might have well just shipped him off to the Upside Down with poor old Barb (actually, they’d make a pretty lovely couple if you ask us).
Gilmore Girls faced a bit of criticism for the character, as it’s pretty unlike Rory to selfishly ignore her boyfriend of two years. Quite honestly, he seems perfectly nice (albeit a bit nerdy). Rory isn’t a mean girl, so what happened?
Lauren Graham thinks you’re reading too much into it. In a SAG-AFTRA panel on Tuesday, the actress admits the character was just a punchline. In fact, she didn’t actually read the criticism to begin with because who cares about Paul anyway?
“We don’t pay attention to anything. We don’t know. None of us are on the internet almost at all. I know what you mean [about the Gilmores constantly insulting him], but the show has a sense of humor and that’s its sense of humor,” she said.
“I just thought it was a funny runner. The whole show has a kind of heightened theatrical quality,” she continued, adding, “To me, it was just more of a metaphor that this isn’t the right guy and this is how they communicate about it.”
Costar Scott Patterson sort of agreed that Paul was done a disservice. “Paul was the sacrificial lamb and he knew it,” he said. “The audience knew it!”
Let’s be real though: we all know someone like Paul. If you don’t, it’s probably because you do, you just can’t remember!
