Gilmore Girls' Christopher: A Portrait of an Absent Father

I love talking about Gilmore Girls, and my last video on Lorelai's love life got me thinking about Christopher's point of view throughout the show.
Our Patreon: / taiajoyflake
You can find us on Facebook, Instagram at Your Little Sister's Productions, and X (Twitter) @YLS_Productions
Avatar artwork by Lindsey K, check her out on instagram at Lindseykart_

[@yourlittlesistersproductions]

Lindseykart_ is the Instagram handle for our avatar artist! Check out her other amazing artwork!

[@mittyceo]

That one fight him and Lorelai had when she said she was finally over him, MADE ME SO MAD, Because, though she worded it a little weird, he knew EXACTLY what she meant, he was just mad that she was closing the door on them. To this day I still think he didn’t care about Rory and only about Lorelai. At least in the earlier seasons but like not to mention Lorelai’s business school graduation he got her a REAL PEARL NECKLACE and for Rory freaking Highschool graduation, he just said “Take some pictures” EVEN LUKE WAS THERE. Theres so much Rory hate but no one ignores her relationship with her father who was barely there for her growing up, no wonder Rory’s history with boys is bad. I see Chris in Logan so much.

[@alyzu4755]

Apparently even David Sutcliffe (who played the role) thought Christopher was kind of an idiot. ☺️

[@crazy4beatles]

I can excuse what a 16 year old Lorelai and Christopher did. But by the time of the show, he should have turned it around or at least made a consistent effort to. Like others say, it felt like he mostly was interested in Rory as a way to access Lorelai. But part of that is because of the sloppy way his character was written. We're filling in the holes because it's not thoroughly explained one way or the other.

[@stephiebella]

I really didn’t like Christopher’s character. I really hated the conversation that Rory had with him in the YITL. It made it sound like he and Rory blamed Lorelei for Christopher’s absence. As if it was Lorelei’s choice that kept Christopher away. Hated when Lorelei married him. It isn’t a wonder that Rory had some messed up relationships with men. I never saw Christopher in Logan but I know a lot of people do. There could have been a better storyline for Christopher. The character just wasn’t developed or interesting.

[@laurao8099]

Only a few seconds in but I have always had a very strong opinion that a father is an everyday person in your life unless he happens to be in the military or have a job that takes him away a lot. A father should be there every single day or at least on a regular basis. There might be some other exception I'm overlooking but I just can't get over the fact that anybody else would just be a really cool Uncle figure in my kids life if they could not be there as consistently as the other parent/legal guardian

[@RilianSharp]

lorelai told christopher she didn't want him to stick around and raise rory. now, apparently, later on, she regretted that, but we never saw her actually say so to christopher and ask him to come be an active parent.

[@Lanaxparillaxwife]

He was just a bad dad period only showing up whenever he wanted to etc

[@JillHope-Bailie-xt5gw]

I do not hate Christopher I he was not for Lorelai. Remember that this was early 2000,'s when teenage pregnancies were frowned on still. Everyone always runs Lorelai for her choice but could you imagine what would have happened if they had gone with Richard and Emily's plan living under the same roof as her parents you see how Lorelai's parents would hame taken over Rory and brought her up the same way they did Lorelai. If Chris and Lorelai did not work out Lorelai would have been blamed again because Chris can do nothing wrong they would have ruled his life because Richard gave him a job and a roof over their heads it would have been a thousand times worse for all three of them. Plus Chris family would be blaming Lorelai for ruining Chris's life and her parents for taking him in

[@dnuck318]

Christopher is just a crappy human being/character In The show.

[@mrdad-zl9zl]

This video made me think, in the same way Chris dipped in and out of our protagonists lives when ever it was convenient to him the writers used him to dip in and out of the plot when it was convenient for adding necessary drama into their dramedy.

[@dayschange2]

Personally, I think that it's fun to look at Christopher in one light and then the other, since we'll never really know for sure. Though I love that you mentioned how unclear the exact circumstances surrounding Lorelei's departure for Stars Hallow really was, because that is something that had stood out to me back when I first watched the slow. It doesn't excuse the fact that Christopher was absent for so much of Rory's life, since contact had clearly been made prior to his first visit to Stars Hallow when Rory was a teenager, but since it was never really clear whether Christopher had been invited to go with them that day that Lorelei left a note for her parents and packed up Rory's stroller, and since we were given multiple examples of how spineless Christopher is, I can't help but wonder if this had been a situation where someone thought they didn't have a choice when they actually did.