Ever since I watched Lindsay's Lindsay actress Arielle Kebbel agrees with me. Her storyline is fresh in my memory, as I'm a rather new Gilmore Girls fan. When the show first came out, what I saw turned me off, specifically what I perceived as Rory's cloyingly cutesy-wootsy demeanor. (Having finished the show, I maintain that it does get bad in the later seasons — "Logan! I swear I wasn't working bluuue.") So I never watched. But that all changed during the pandemic when I was in serious need of a comfort show.

Not only was I taken in by Gilmore Girls' cozy vibes, but I really liked Rory in the early seasons. She's smart, witty, and driven. While she has relatable insecurities, she's proud to be her own person, and I wish I had given her a shot when I was younger. But I could not stand her relationship with Dean, especially during Rory's time at Yale. Rory and Dean's early Gilmore Girls romance is sweet, but he quickly shows himself to be all kinds of problematically possessive. The young lad definitely shouldn't have married Lindsay, especially after how he treated her.

Lindsay & Dean's Way-Too-Young Gilmore Girls Marriage Was More His Fault Than Hers

He Was Never Over Rory And Should Have Realized That Before Committing To Lindsay

While every love story is different, every Gilmore Girls fan can agree that Lindsay and Dean getting married fresh out of high school is just weird. Why don't they attend community college, keep dating, and get married after? The impetus for their young marriage was likely from Lindsay's camp. Her family seems more Stepford than Stars Hollow with their ideals, and probably put the idea of marriage in Lindsay's head. And Lindsay unfairly got a lot of hate from Gilmore Girls fans because of this.

In some ways, yes, Dean got a raw deal after he said "I do" with him working two jobs with Lindsay staying at home while her parents do the young couple's housework. But why, dear Dean, did you walk down the aisle in the first place? It's not like getting married at age 18 was a normal thing in the early 2000s. The answer, of course, is Rory. Even though Dean was the one who broke up with Rory, he obviously never stopped carrying a torch for her.

This is ultimately why he dates Linsday. She's the definition of a nice, normal small-town girl. She doesn't have big dreams of going to an Ivy League school and becoming a world-renowned journalist like Rory; she wants to settle down and have a quiet domestic life. Dean and Rory were never going to be endgame, and toward the end of their relationship saw Dean being problematically possessive in an attempt to hang onto her and keep her from being stolen by Jess.

Dean marrying her was his way to convince himself he was rightly and truly over Rory. This is a terrible reason to get married, and unfair to Lindsay.

But someone like Lindsay will always be there. She won't take off for another guy or a glamorous opportunity. Dean marrying her was his way to convince himself he was rightly and truly over Rory. This is a terrible reason to get married, and unfair to Lindsay, which is why Dean should never have gone through with it.

Arielle Kebbel Thinks Lindsay & Rory Should Have Gone "John Tucker" On Dean

Kebbel's Plan Would Have Improved Rory's Character

The reason for Lindsay and Dean's marriage busting up was the same as why it happened in the first place: Rory. Dean and Rory infamously have an affair, which Lindsay learns about and leads to her and Dean divorcing. Lindsay's very last scene in Gilmore Girls is the dramatic confrontation she and her mother have with Rory and Lorelai in the middle of Stars Hollow.

Lindsay has every right to despise Rory for sleeping with her husband, but Dean, the man who vowed to stay faithful to Lindsay forever, deserved the brunt of her vitriol — more than some clothes tossed out an apartment window. Not only did he disrespect Lindsay by cheating on her, but he behaved monstrously to his wife after the fact. The scene where he berates Lindsay for answering his phone is painful to watch, and she's left scrambling to pick up the pieces of their marriage, completely left in the dark as to why it's failing in the first place.

In an interview with Collider, Arielle Kebbel shared her opinion on how she thinks the Lindsay-Rory-Dean storyline should have ended:

"I would like to think that Lindsay would go the John Tucker route, and make friends with Rory and kick Dean to the curb until he was ready to be one of the girls."

Kebbel is referencing the 2006 teen comedy movie, John Tucker Must Die, in which she appeared as Carrie. The film centers around the titular high school It-boy (played by Jesse Metcalfe) who's simultaneously dating three of his female classmates — unbeknownst to any of them. The girls find out and team up to get revenge, only to find themselves becoming friends along the way.

In the same Collider interview, Kebbel reveals that Gilmore Girls was her first acting job in Los Angeles, and that she was 17 years old at the time of filming.

Kebbel's John Tucker idea would have been a much more satisfying ending for Linsday than what she got. Instead of the tired "blaming the homewrecker not the spouse" trope, Lindsay could have confronted Rory, sans her mommy, and tell Rory how much she hurt her. Rory would then in turn apologize and a true friendship could blossom, with Dean forced to fall in line — should Lindsay still want to be with him.

Beyond Lindsay, this storyline would have been a huge improvement for Rory. As I said, she's a great character, but beyond her whole infuriating "He's Dean! MY Dean!" outlook on her affair, I've always found that her limited female friendships leave a lot to be desired. She essentially has two female friends the entire show: Lane, whom she treats like a sidekick, and Paris, whom she's only friends with because Paris informed her they're friends.

If Rory were to befriend Lindsay, it would only be because she apologized for the affair. It would provide Rory with some much-needed ability.

Outside of them, Rory treats her female peers terribly. She looks down on girls like Madeline and Louise for having normal teenage interests like boys and clothes, and who can forget her body-shaming takedown of a ballerina? Sure, she befriends Lucy and Olivia in the maligned Gilmore Girls season 7, but even then she's a bad friend by not telling Lucy that she knows Marty. If Rory were to befriend Lindsay, it would only be because she apologized for the affair. It would provide Rory with some much-needed ability and be an overall improvement on Gilmore Girls' female friendship storylines.

Kebbel Thinks Lindsay Deserves Her Happily Ever After

The Actress Wants A Gilmore Girls Spin-Off

When Netflix released the Gilmore Girls revival miniseries, A Year in the Life, in 2016, Lindsay wasn't part of it, but Kebbel still has ideas for her character. First, Kebbel thinks that Lindsay would have realized her mistake in marrying Dean when they were teenagers, saying, "Honestly, you know what I think Lindsay would say? She would be like, #IGotMarriedTooYoung. They were like 18, in the show, when they got married. What do you expect?" As for Lindsay's future, Kebbel also has thoughts:

I think she deserves a spin-off. For f**k’s sake, she still deserves her day in court, as far as I’m concerned.

Kebbel raises a good point. In addition to Lindsay's terrible final Gilmore Girls scene, the revival catches up with Dean where it's revealed he's married with a wife and kids in Scranton, Pennsylvania. No big surprise there. But that's the life Lindsay wanted too, and she deserves a similar happily ever after.

Personally, I'd like to see Lindsay living a life of domestic bliss on her own (as opposed to her silly parents'). I envision Lindsay likely having moved on from Stars Hollow — it'd be pretty difficult to live in a town that worships the woman who stole your husband. In addition to having the perfect husband and kids, Lindsay could even become the next Martha Stewart. Let's see her host a hit cooking show for an audience who actually appreciates her roast beef. Perhaps Rory could review it and the two could become besties, John Tucker-style, after all.