Few shows scream “fall” the way that Gilmore Girls does, which is exactly why a rewatch this time of year is necessary. As I’ve started my own rewatch of the comedy-drama series that focuses on a mother-daughter duo and their small-town adventures, I’ve been reminded of the characters I love, the storylines that keep me on the edge of my seat, and, of course, the rival of Team Dean, Team Jess, and Team Logan. But just as the episodes are going by all hunky-dory, one character always finds a way to throw a wrench into Lorelai’s (Lauren Graham) and Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) world: Christopher Hayden (David Sutcliffe), aka Rory’s dad.
It’s not enough that Lorelai was a single mom from Rory’s infancy, but Chris must continuously remind viewers he still hasn’t grown up to be any sort of stable father figure. (If you ask me, Luke Danes, played by Scott Patterson, stands in that place. But that’s a story for another article.)
And just in case your brain has blocked out all the disappointing ways that Chris has shown up — or should we say, not shown up — over the years, here’s why he’s possibly the worst character in the entire series.
When he springs Sherry on Lorelai and Rory
In Season 2, Episode 14, Rory’s dad calls to check in with Lorelai, and she invites him to attend Rory’s debate at Chilton. Not only does he show up late, but he fails to mention that he will be bringing his girlfriend of eight months, Sherry (Mädchen Amick), whom Lorelai and Rory have never met, completely blindsiding them.
Then, he has the nerve (!!!) to tell Sherry that if something “pressing” was happening, Lorelai could get Rory out of weekly Friday dinner with her grandparents. Sherry does everything but hold Lorelai hostage until she agrees, and Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop) are furious that Rory misses their weekly dinner.
When he leaves Lorelai for Sherry
In Season 2, Episode 22, Chris shows up to Rory’s doctor appointment unannounced to watch her get the cast off her arm. Lorelai invites him to Sookie St. James’ (Melissa McCarthy) rehearsal dinner, and he attends. At the event, she then invites him to Sookie’s wedding, and he says yes. The night before the wedding, Lorelai and Chris rekindle their romance — despite Chris and Sherry just recently ending things.
At the wedding, they act like they’re in love, with PDA and everything. In fact, Richard and Emily attend the wedding, and when Lorelai fills her mom in, Emily admits she’s very happy about it. Emily always wanted her daughter to marry Chris when she got pregnant, after all. Right before Lorelai is set to walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid, though, Chris says he has to leave: Sherry had called and revealed she was pregnant. He says he missed things with Rory and didn’t want to do that again with this new baby. (Um, hello, being a dad to the new baby and being there for Rory and Lorelai are not mutually exclusive!)
To top off this huge blow, before leaving the wedding, Chris has the nerve to ask Lorelai to tell Rory the situation for him. Chris continues to fail to be a partner, a dad, or even just a considerate human being.
When he doesn’t show up to Rory’s Chilton graduation
At this point in the series, Chris has one child, and he still manages to miss one of the biggest days of her life in Season 3, Episode 22. Before Rory’s high school graduation begins at Chilton, Lorelai reveals that Chris won’t be attending because he’s out of town. Out of town? Out of TOWN?! As if that’s not lousy enough, Rory is the valedictorian, so she gives a speech and everything. Luckily, she wisely doesn’t thank him and gives all the praise to her mom, as well as her grandparents.
When he asks for baby help from Lorelai
In Season 5, Episode 6, Sherry is “away” — which we come to find out means she accepted a job in Paris and abandoned her newborn — and the nanny isn’t answering the phone. Desperate, Chris calls Lorelai for help. The whole thing is laughable because he complains to her about how hard it is… as if she didn’t have to do the same thing all by herself, too, and at only 16 years old.
Rory finds out Chris called her mom so she could come to the rescue and is not happy. She shows up at her prodigal dad’s place and tells him that her mom is in a happy relationship, and he needs to leave her alone because he’ll mess it up. Rory is all too familiar with how her dad wiggles his way back into Lorelai’s life, makes promises, and doesn’t follow through, leaving her mom disappointed.
When he shows up at Richard’s and Emily’s vow renewal
In Season 5, Episode 12, Emily realizes that Lorelai and Luke are getting serious. So, she shows up at Chris’ place, slips him an invitation to her and Richard’s vow renewal, and more or less says that he has to swoop in and win Lorelai back. Chris shows up to the wedding, strolling into the ceremony late. At the reception, he has the nerve to pout as he looks on at Lorelai and Luke together. And then he tells Rory about his first kiss with Lorelai. Uh, OK?
Later on, Lorelai catches Rory and Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) making out in a back room, and Chris and Luke catch a glimpse of them, too. A few boozy drinks into the evening, Chris tries to play dad and act all tough like he’s going to beat up Logan. It then turns into a scene between Chris, Lorelai, and Luke, with Chris drunkenly telling Luke that he’s just with her “for now” and that he and Lorelai “belong together.” Now, did Emily invite him? Yes. Does that mean he had to come, get drunk, and play a part in Lorelai and Luke breaking up? No.
When he literally goes MIA for a whole year
Stealing a yacht, getting arrested, and taking a break from Yale was just the start of Rory’s serious rough patch at the end of Season 5 into Season 6. And guess who failed to lend support for his ex or his daughter? Exactly. And that’s because he didn’t call his own daughter or try to mend things with Lorelai for an entire year! It’s not until Season 6, Episode 9, that he calls Lorelai with “good news.” In the next episode, we find out that Chris’ grandfather died, leaving him a lot of money. He set up his younger daughter, Georgia “Gigi” Hayden (Nicolette Collier), and now wants to buy Lorelai and Rory whatever they want, which ends up being Rory’s Yale tuition.
OK, maybe this is his way of chipping away at making things up to them, so I’ll give him that.
When he exists in most of Season 7
I hate that Chris got what he wanted but didn’t deserve: Lorelai. A string of minor issues add up to the end of Lorelai’s engagement to Luke, and Chris slides in to become Lorelai’s rebound-turned-serious relationship. *sigh* Here are a few more moments to remind you how truly awful Chris is:
- When Lorelai and Chris head to Paris in Episode 7 so Gigi can build a relationship with her mother, he brings up getting married on the trip — even though Rory, you know, that daughter he always seems to forget about, isn’t there. Lorelai isn’t into the idea, but Chris keeps at it, and they get married. When they return to Stars Hollow, Chris is so oblivious that instead of anticipating Rory’s feelings about not being informed or being there, he wants to pop bubbly.
- In Episode 10, Chris gets pouty because Lorelai doesn’t want to make a baby with him right that very moment. Then, he brings up this issue in front of Emily — something we all know will bug Lorelai to no end. To top off the episode, Chris and Luke cross paths, and Chris initiates a physical fight.
- Chris finds the character witness letter that Lorelai wrote on behalf of Luke’s custody battle in Episode 11. Should Lorelai have told him about it? Yes. Should Chris have told Lorelai he went after her ex-fiancé one episode earlier? Also, yes. But he didn’t, so he has some nerve being mad at her over secrets. Personally, I think half the reason he was mad about the letter was because Lorelai wrote how much Luke was there for Rory, including giving her birthday gifts and being at her high school graduation. Chris has no one to blame but himself for not being able to say the same.
- In Episode 12, Rory, Lorelai, Emily, and Logan head straight to the hospital when Richard has a heart attack and requires emergency open-heart surgery. Where’s Chris? Nowhere to be found. Sookie and Michel Gerard (Yanic Truesdale) check up on their friend and send over treats, and Luke doesn’t even think; he just goes to the hospital to see if he can be of some help and does some errands for Emily. Then, he comes back to the hospital to bring them plenty of food from his diner. When Chris finally shows up, he has the nerve to get ticked off when he sees Luke there. Sorry that someone actually cared and wanted to bring food so that they didn’t have to live off of hospital sandwiches, Chris!
- After not showing up at the hospital in a timely matter, we learn that Chris only stayed there for an hour before disappearing — again — because he needed space. In Episode 14, Chris says he can’t handle seeing Luke around all the time and acts like a victim in all of this.
Thankfully, fans don’t have to suffer the fool that is Chris for *too* long. He and Lorelai have a heart-to-heart and decide that their relationship isn’t right, so they get a divorce. Still, Chris’ sh*tty behavior manages to feel more infuriating with every single (annual) rewatch.
