Luke/Jess arguments are on par with Emily/Lorelai ones

All of that angst, tension, conflict and hurt… rooted in love. Luke and Jess are easily the most intriguing parent/kid relationship on this show for me, alongside Emily and Lorelai.

Whenever Luke confronts Jess on a matter that is very personal to him- Rory, school, his mom- he becomes defensive. Luke is just desperately trying to keep his nephew on the right path and look out for him but by doing so he inevitably has to touch on topics that hurt Jess. So in turn, Jess hurts Luke.

Honestly, I can’t shake the impression that Jess feeling like “he’s all alone in the world and has no one behind him” has actually become a safety net for him. He craves it. That attitude is how he copes with the world. To him failure and disappointment seem inevitable but at least it will only be him. So, when Luke steps up for Jess’ sake so that he does have someone who cheers him on, he rejects it. Not because he doesn’t love or trust his uncle but because he throughly does and can’t handle the pressure of potentially letting him down. Because now, Jess isn’t all alone anymore and that makes it seem like there’s more at stake.

The very fact that Jess knows exactly where to hit Luke to truly hurt him says a lot about how attentive and receptive he is to him. Luke is an emotionally closed off person. Sure, he’s easily aggravated and annoyed but not hurt. Jess is trying to push him away, he wants Luke to give up on him too. In a way, Jess is trying to protect his uncle from the disappointment that he feels like he’ll surely bring about on him. Luke and Jess have an initially strained relationship because of how much they love each other, not despite of.

Similarly to Emily and Lorelai having trouble showing vulnerability around each other too and resorting to hurtful remarks to establish some distance again. They thoroughly love each other. To the point that they don’t know how to deal with and healthily express it… 😔🤚🏻