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anxiouspotatorants · 1 year

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Hi.

So I reread your headcanon of Doula being a rebel like teen Jess, and I would like to add something -

So I read in a Medium article of how siblings, when even despite being given the same treatment from parents, they end up becoming two very different people; they cited Luke and Liz as an example.

So I was wondering- could this mean that Jess and Doula can become mirror versions of each other even despite experiencing different versions of Liz as a mother?

So... For example, Liz ran to New York and raised Jess as a single mom, and Jess had to do most of his growing up on his own; so maybe Liz and TJ are romantically entangled that they don't pay attention to Doula, and she's supposed to take care of herself and doesn't tell Luke or Lorelai, because she feels like a burden. And then, there's the relationship between Liz-Jess and Liz-Doula, where the former is somewhat complex and the latter parallels ASP's fraught mother-daughter/daughter-in-law relationships (Lorelai-Emily, Midge-Rose, Fanny-Michelle from Bunheads) but Liz is the immature one and Doula is the one who looks pained but has the final mic drop (you can see that in GG season 2 episode 2; Mrs Maisel season 3 episode 8, and Bunheads episode 11).

In terms of Jess and Doula's relationship, it could parallel Luke and Liz's, but sometimes it can parallel Lorelai and Rory's relationship, where Doula says something and Jess is inspired in many ways...

I also think Doula and Rory should have a love-hate relationship, where Doula doesn't like the way Rory is very indecisive in choosing Jess or Logan and she gives her a very rude awakening/ shake up like Jess's tough love talk in GG 06x08. But then, she shows that she cares for Rory in different ways like encouraging her to pursue Jess or even help babysit Rory's kid and listen whenever Rory feels low.

What do you think? I would love to know your thoughts.

Thanks. 😃

So it's been a while since I came up with my Doula headcanons so I don't quite remember my reasons or if I imagined that a rebellious Doula was going to live in a AYITL-canon world. I think what I was mostly interested in was how Jess is sort of unique on the show when it comes to being such an outcast in town. I liked the idea of a grown Jess seeing his past replay itself with another teen and him standing up for that kid and sort of healing his inner child through that experience.

I also think it would've been a great excuse to get to interrogate Liz' parenting and what this was truly like. Because we sort of take for granted that she either 100% sucked or that she was just some goofball based on how we as viewers interpret the hints and references to Jess' childhood and her love life before TJ. But we never get a proper canon dive into how Liz was as a mother to Jess, and I think showing how she raises or fails to raise Doula could force that into the light.

I also just liked coming up with a different approach to Doula because at the time I wrote that headcanon I had only seen headcanons about Doula where she was a very ideal little sister who was mostly there to help set up Jess and Rory, and one thing I love about Gilmore Girls is how so many side characters genuinely get to exist outside of the romantic plots. We would not have characters like Lane or Paris or Sookie in the capacity that we have if all ASP and crew cared about was writing Rory and Lorelai's romantic storylines and their conflicts with Emily and Richard. So I'd like to think a teenaged or grown up Doula would get to be her own character with an actual arc in relation to her brother, if the show had continued in some way. And teenage rebelliousness felt like an obvious but solid route to go.

#thanks for reading my headcanons!#doula danes #jess mariano #gilmore girls headcanons #my headcanons #other people's headcanons #gilmore girls #the potato rants

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iscahmckrae · 2 years

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WIP about Jess and Doula that I may or may not finish. @milothirst recently posted a similar scenario, and this story has been collecting dust since 2018, so I thought I might as well share.

trigger warnings: mentions of suicide attempts and mental illness.

Spilling the Beans

“She ate poison beans.”

“Poison beans?”

“I know it sounds fake and like I’m making it up from Jack in the Beanstalk, but it’s true. The doctors figured out it was poison something, and they finally got her to admit it was beans.”

“Poison beans…”

“I guess she figured poison we wouldn’t know about and wouldn’t be able to figure it out until it was too late, since we took the bar out of her closet.”

“What are you talking about, Liz?”

“Shoot! I wasn’t going to tell you about that.”

"About what?”

“It’s not important now, forget I said anything.”

“Liz,” he growled. “Why did you take the bar out of her closet?”

"Don’t freak out.”

"Please tell me I don’t have to not freak out about what I’m starting to imagine I should completely freak out about!”

“It didn’t work, and I didn’t want to worry you!”

“What didn’t work?”

“God--I knew if you found out I didn’t tell you, you were gonna be mad at me.”

“Liz…” Jess intoned through gritted teeth.

“Don’t be mad.”

Jess let out a heated sigh away from the phone and tried silence.

“It broke.”

“The bar in her closet.”

“It couldn’t take her weight.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“I thought it was a one-off. A teenage drama thing.”

"I swear…”

"She likes science and stuff like April, and I thought that was a good thing. I didn’t think she was trying to kill herself. I mean, with beans! Who would have thought she’d be up to something dangerous when it was just beans?”

“Science and stuff…”

“She said she needed them for a science experiment and not to touch them or cook with them.”

“Yeah, that’d be kind of a bad idea if they’re poison.”

“Exactly! But, I didn’t know about that.”

“Right.”

“I just thought they were beans!”

“Which they were.”

“She’s smart like you, but screwed up like me!”

“Not a good combination.”

"You think I don’t know that?”

When he entered the hospital room, Doula was sitting up in bed; and she looked downright chipper, despite the reason she was in said hospital bed, despite her pallor, and in spite of the fact that not a single friend or family member was there at the hospital at the present moment. Well...now there was...one. But, before. Nobody. Then again, realizing that they shared dna, perhaps the reason she was looking more chipper than not was that there wasn’t a single friend or family member there at the hospital. Considering the way her expression fell a few notches when she saw him walking in.

“Mom was not supposed to tell you about this. Mom was not supposed to tell anyone about this. Although I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

"Yeah, Liz never could keep her trap shut,” Jess acknowledged with a grim smile and a quick raise of the eyebrows.

Neither spoke for the space of several seconds. Watching her body language for signs that doing so would be unwelcome or cause discomfort, Jess sat at the end of his sister’s bed.

"So, which was worse?” He leaned forward and spoke lowly, almost conspiratorily.

“Which?” Doula frowned, questioning his meaning, which was clearly expected.

“Yeah, which...having the pole give out and whatever happened with that, or the whole stomach getting flushed out thing?”

“Ugh…” Her head turned to the side involuntarily, and her face greyed at the reminder.

“So...door number two, huh?”

She shrugged. “Both were bad.” Her lips tightened and he waited because he could tell she had more to say. “The worst part of the hanging thing was Mom and Dad.”

Jess tried to keep his expression neutral, but at the word hanging he had difficulty.

"Mom’s face just...I couldn’t… And Dad immediately started scream-crying at me. It was awful.”

Jess nodded, trying not to imagine, frankly. Couldn’t help it, but…

"I thought if I just got sick from something I ate, they wouldn’t have to know.” Her eyebrows raised, and she looked down at the thin, white blanket bunched around her waist. The hospital noises seemed loud for a few moments.

Jess lamely attempted a smile. “Yeah, but Liz never would’ve cooked again...which would maybe be a good thing.”

She almost laughed. Her eyes crinkled, anyway. And her lips twisted upward for a second.

After a decent interval, Jess broached it. He placed the question softly but directly. “Can I ask why?”

She looked straight ahead--straight through him. “I don’t like it here.”

“Here...like Stars Hollow here?” he asked, even if the hospital was in the next town over. That wasn’t where she’d been when she made this decision.

“This planet.”

Jess nodded slowly. “What’s wrong with it?”

She shrugged one shoulder...looked at the floor over by the doorway to the bathroom.

Jess spoke around the lump in his throat, which came out as kind of a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” The faraway look was gone and she looked at him again, puzzled and almost amused.

“There’s no way I shouldn’t have known this was going on with you.”

She pssshed a laugh and waved his words away with her hand.

“No, I mean it. You’re my sister, and I should know what is happening in your life, and I don’t.” His eyes pierced in their apology.

"Stop it. Nobody knew about this. Not anyone in the world.” She shrugged and scowled dismissively. “Not even Mom and Dad knew anything. I made them believe it was the music I was listening to before that got me all depressed and gave me the idea of how to do it. They threw away a bunch of my CDs but they thought I was fine after that. You think you know me better than they do?”

“No, and that’s the point. I should.” Jess spoke the words emphatically. “I’m not gullible like TJ and Liz. I’m not gonna buy your crap; and I am gonna actually listen to the things you say and pay attention to the things you do, and know when there’s something wrong, when there’s something going on with you...or at least I would if I wasn’t going out for the worst-brother-of-the-decade award, and actually talked to you once in awhile, came to see you, had you come visit us--"

"Why do you think my depression is your fault?” Doula cut in with such a change in tone that it drew Jess up short. He puffed a deep, short breath and scraped his lower lip across his teeth, slowly.

“I didn’t say that it was--”

She broke in again as if she’d never paused to let him answer, “...like it’s something you can fix--it’s not something you can fix.”

He looked her dead in the eye and sighed through his nostrils. A pause, and a shift in the eyes. Just a half a centimeter or so.

"You’re as bad as Uncle Luke,” she chided, half frustrated, but mostly deadpan.

“Nobody’s as bad as Uncle Luke.”

“That’s what you think.”

Jess looked out the window. He remembered a time when he wasn’t much older than Doula that he tore into Luke for his fixing.

Doula looked at him intently, her eyes squinting, “You know it’s not like I walk around sad and moping all the time. It’s not written all over me. In general, I tend to be happy all the time. I just happen to also be suicidal.”

Jess turned back toward her, a tiredness in his eyes. “Huh.” He shifted on the bed to get out of the way of the IV tube he realized he was partially sitting on. “You call that happy, hm?”

“YES! I DO!” She yelled, a sparkling, though somewhat maniacal smile spread across her face to emphasize her point. “I’m happy right, now, though I’m sure you won’t believe it!”

A singular expression stole into Jess’ eyes and played with his lips as he looked at her. “Well, then I really do need to get to know you better!” They obviously did have matching Danes blood running through both their veins, as both would be damned if they conceded their point.

"Fine! GET to know me! I’d like that just fine--but don’t be surprised when you get the phone call that I tried again, and this time it worked.”

He knew she wanted him to be stunned into walking away. He knew that one from the inside. Instead he just looked at her.

“At this point, that wouldn’t surprise me at all. It would hurt like mad, but it wouldn’t surprise me.” He took a breath and then pulled something out of his pocket. “So, I guess I’d better make the most of whatever time we’ve got.” He pulled the lap tray over between them and opened the deck of cards he held. “Golf or Speed?”

Doula blinked at him for a second. “There’s a card game of golf?”

He raise his eyebrows while looking down at the cards he shuffled, lips bitten together, bobbing a nod at her question.

"Not much skill involved in Speed. Show me Golf.”

Jess nodded again, starting to flip the cards back and forth between them.

“So...beans,” Jess quirked an eyebrow at her while shuffling.

Doula’s eyes widened with a swirling sort of nod that seemed to be the rough equivalent of a yeah, so? eye roll.

"Where’d you come up with that?” Both eyebrows that time.

Doula paused in picking up the cards he dealt her. “You know, there’s a very useful web application, goes by the number-inspired moniker of Google, lots of useful information. You should look into it.”

Jess nodded with his tongue lightly in cheek. “What--it didn’t mention all the fun vomiting and seizures?”

“I figured I’d live through it, or rather…” she tipped him a look for a measured beat.

"Lemme guess, you figured the ride to the hospital would be just long enough.” There was only a little bitterness to his voice as he said it.

“Who knew they’d call an ambulance?”

“You got a point there. I’d have figured they’d be debating how bad it was for awhile, arguing about taking you to the ER vs. scheduling a doctor’s visit, and then only getting you into the car when things got really bad.” Jess arranged his cards in the two rows that the game required as he talked.

"Oh, they were debating all of that...while I puked my guts all over the floor. When the convulsing started, I think that’s where the panic-induced 9-1-1 dialing came into play.”

“Logical.”

Liz and TJ appeared in the doorway. “You came!”

"I said I was on my way.” Jess stood in nonverbal, non demonstrative greeting.

“I know, I know--I told Luke so he would go home and sleep--but, you’re here!” Liz grinned, stepping forward and enveloping him in a hug.

Jess forced a closed-lipped smile, followed momentarily by a raise of the eyebrows and a kind of shoulder pat in return for the hug. “So…”

“We were just down in the cafeteria,” Liz told him, nodding in an explanatory fashion.

“I needed vanilla pudding so my head wouldn’t explode,” TJ added.

Jess nodded with eyebrows drawn.

“He gets these really crazy low-blood sugar attacks,” Liz added sagely, forehead creased.

"I get so I can’t see straight and I go all woobly like my skull is gonna split in two.” He gestured in completely unhelpful illustration.

Because it was TJ, Jess didn’t bother to ask how woobliness related to splitting skulls. It was better just to go with it.

“And, since we were there, we did the dinner thing. Did you eat anything on the way?” Liz asked with sporadically characteristic concern.

"Oh, I’m good.” Jess answered, squelching slightly unreasonable annoyance that his needs were consulted when they had yet to even look in Doula’s direction since stepping into the room. “Just…” eyebrows raised, “kickin’ it with Doula.” The tilt of his head indicated their card game.

The utterance of her name seemed to be all that was needed to set TJ off. His eyes welled with tears and a squeaking noise accompanied biting his own fist and turning to face the wall.

"He’s having a really hard time with this,” Liz explained.

"Clearly.”

TJ talked squeakily, still with his back to the present company. “One minute she’s all sciency and the next she’s twitching on the floor and needing an ambulance!”

“It didn’t happen that fast,” he heard Doula mutter.

"The doctor says the seizures will probably continue. No way of knowing for how long. And there could be permanent damage.” It was strange how collected Liz became in the face of TJ’s disintegration.

Jess had done skimming research and realized this was likely the case. Didn’t make hearing it exactly easier. His head raised and lowered in a slow rhythm.

“Seizures!” TJ reiterated tearfully.

Jess took a deep breath and sat back on the bed to keep Doula from feeling too talked-about-without-anyone-remembering-she-was-in-the-room. “Yeah, well...I may be somehow cosmically responsible,” he joked, without sounding in the slightest as if he were joking. “Sisters having seizures seems to be a theme.”

“What?” TJ squeaked.

“Oh, Jimmy’s kid!” Liz comprehended.

"His step-daughter, Lily,” Jess confirmed.

Liz’s eyebrows furrowed. “I remember Luke telling me about that. How is she?”

Jess licked his lips and drew a card from the pile, contemplating it as he spoke, “Oh, she’s...been in remission for a few years now. So...fine, for all intents and purposes.”

“Did she lose her hair?”

Again...they were here for Doula, right? It just didn’t set well. Jess placed the card face up in the discard pile. “It grew back.” He tilted a look at Doula to indicate it was her turn.

“Can I…?” Doula put a finger on his discard. He tipped her a nod and she picked it up, biting her lip before using it to replace one of her own. “Shoot!” She placed the better card reluctantly into the discard pile.

"Thank you,” he smirked softly, retrieving her discard and placing it in front of him.

She stuck out her tongue, and gloated a moment later when her brother realized he’d just thrown away the exact card he needed.

TJ whimpered, Liz gossiped, and the two of them continued to play.

“Why don’t you ever call her ‘mom’?” The question followed prolonged silence, broken only by card flipping. Doula’s voice was softer than it had been before. There was almost none of the wall of apathy in it. This was something she cared about. And that made Jess mentally cringe.

He drew a very quiet, very masked, long breath and swallowed. “Complicated.”

The word came out soft. And it was a word he hated. But, if anything fit…

“Cop out.” Her mouth hardened, the rigid apathy returning, much to his self-pummeling.

His tongue planted itself momentarily into a cavity in one of his molars that he kept intending to get fixed. “She wasn’t…” he bit his lip pensively for half a beat, “a mom to to me, really...when I was a kid.” Deep brown eyes met hazel ones keenly, cautiously. “She had problems,” head nodded forward, “psychological... complicated... problems.”

A caveat, please. One screwed up sibling to another, her problems make ours seem almost nonexistent - multiple suicide attempts notwithstanding.

Her eyes filled up with fear, just below the brim, and holding.

"Pretty well doomed, huh?” A warbling somewhere behind the placid surface.

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

He almost put another card down, but wound up just fiddling with the corners of it. Plunging in. “She didn’t think I was her kid.”

Worried, puzzled eyes.

“That’s…” he shook his head, “she didn’t act like it because she didn’t think it was true.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Jess looked back into his sister’s eyes directly. “I said, she had problems.” His expression flattened, his lips a long line. “By the time she started wholeheartedly pretending I was really her son, it was a little too late.”

“Are you saying you were adopted?”

"I’m saying she didn’t remember being my mother. No morning sickness. No labor. No delivery rooms. Luke remembers, but she doesn’t.”

“That’s really weird.”

"Yes, it is.”

Doula flipped a card with glazed-over eyes.

“She’s your mom. Completely,” rubbed one corner of the card where it was getting soft and thick, “She’s only partly mine.” Glance upward.

Returned glance. Shallow.

“Not enough for the word to mean what it should.”

Doula’s eyes skimmed her tray, sliding just next to where the cards were lined up. Her head rose and fell, wobbling like a breeze-stirred rocking chair.

"Okay. I don’t need any more.”

A fear behind the calm; and it reminded him how fragile she could become. He wanted to drop the subject anyway.

He finally discarded the frayed cardboard. “Okay.”

#jess mariano #doula danes #gilmore girls fanfiction #tw: suicide #tw: mental illness #this is an incomplete rough draft #should I flesh it out?#particularly the intro conversation #bare bones dialogue #so long since I looked at this

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bpinheiro18 · 3 months

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frazzledsoul · 9 months

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Kind of obsessed with the idea that out of the three questionable pregnancies that S7 of Gilmore Girls gives us, the one that concerns me the most is the one with the fortysomething second time mom who actually wanted a kid.

Sookie and Jackson? Obviously not ideal, but Sookie was a good mom to her first two kids and I never got the impression that she resented Jackson or her third child to the extent that she would take her frustrations out on them, or that she would ever do so if she even had that resentment. In the AYITL era, the third kid is not mentioned, but they seem to be a happy family.

Lane and Zach? Yeah, let's not sugarcoat this. They didn't want the babies initially and Lane has a harder time coming around to her circumstances changing than Zach did. They seemed a lot more positive about the situation once the babies actually came and were able to communicate (!) about what was best for their family. In the AYITL era, Zach is still struggling with art vs survival but Lane seems... absolutely blissful? Her life didn't work out like she thought, but it's not a bad one. They seem to be good parents. Also, Lane has the bohemian mom interior decorating style on point.

Liz and TJ? First of all, they are an absolute mess and have always come off like morons who can't take care of themselves. They have a violent fight when Liz finds out she's pregnant, at which point she throws things at his head, kicks him out of the house, and then cries that she's been abandoned. But hey, it's all cool because she's not going to binge drink this time. Dumps Doula as an infant on Luke at work because "she needs a break" and then does it a second time. Fast forward to the AYITL era and she and TJ are getting ensnared in cults and Jess is coming in from out of town frequently so he and Luke can control the situation. One can kind of infer that one of the main reasons Doula would even remain alive (since AYITL does not explicitly acknowledge her) is because her more stable male extended family members, who have been cleaning up after Liz their entire lives, remain involved in her life.

The whole cult business kind of implies that Doula should probably be in Luke or Jess's care anyway. The situations of the other two couples are imperfect, but they can care for their children. Can Liz and TJ? It's doubtful.

#gilmore girls #liz danes #sookie st james #lane kim #doula is sixteen by now time for the tradition of shipping off the wayward teen to commence anyway

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wonderlandleighleigh · 1 year

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Jess and Doula (if there was a headcanon for them)

Luke and Liz

This could work for either:

#liz danes #luke danes #jess mariano #doula #gilmore girls #waste another years

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disasterbiwriter · 2 months

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Everglow (1122 words) by SarabethSilver Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Gilmore Girls (TV 2000) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano Characters: Jess Mariano, Rory Gilmore, Matthew of Truncheon Books (Gilmore Girls), Chris of Truncheon Books (Gilmore Girls), Lane Kim, Luke Danes, Lorelai Gilmore, Liz Danes, Doula (Gilmore Girls), Paris Geller Additional Tags: Mental Health Issues, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Literati, Fluff and Smut, gilmore girls season 8?, except it's mostly Jess-focused, Jess is working on himself, good thing he has his bestie Lane Kim, will add more tags as this thing grows wildly beyond my control Series: Part 3 of Parachutes Summary: A year into their relationship, Rory and Jess are stronger than ever… but now comes the hard part. Career transitions, family drama, and more than one unexpected turn of events. Mostly written from Jess' POV. A Literati Season 8.

@sarabethsilver thought she could sneak these goodies under the radar but LO SHE CANNOT

#SARABETH YOU SNEAKY MINX #I HAVE READ 0 WORDS OF THIS AND IT'S STILL GETTING THE FIC REC TAG #Gilmore girls #Gilmore girls fanfic #Fic rec #SarabethSilver #Get in loser it's Literati Season 8

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saltygilmores · 9 months

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Please vote in the original Bloodbath Poll Here!

#gilmore girls #paris geller #lane kim #jess mariano #luke danes #lorelai gilmore #please vote in Part 1 too #and let me know if you can come up with any more bloodbaths I missed #rory gilmore

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mrsmess · 1 year

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Jess, Doula and some bedtime beat poetry.

#gilmore girls #pic for fic #art for fanfiction #jess mariano #doula danes

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jojoblessed365 · 6 months

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For those who miss So Far Away.... Here's the highly anticipated sequel!!!!

First 2 chaps out now!

Tagging @ernestonlysayslovelythings as my lovely co-writing partner on this and dedicated to @disasterbiwriter

For those who would like to visualize Doula, here's a picture of the actress I had in mind:

#doula danes #so far away #jess x rory #jess mariano #rory gilmore #literati #gilmore girls #milo ventimiglia #jess and doula #izabela vidovic #alexis bledel

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halliescomut · 1 year

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Uncle Jim thoughts Part 1

So we're halfway through and God I have so many feelings about Jim.

Like, I did make the joke about how he's basically Luke Danes translated to Thai, and like....I can list the similarities...you know what, I think I will.

Both run a eating establishment in their town

Both haven't dated due to a big heartbreak (For Luke it was Rachel, for Jim it's his ex, who either has no name, or I can't find it.)

Both consistently do things to help their community without expectation of thanks, and honestly would prefer not to be recognized for it. (Yes, Jim is more personable, while Luke is quite cranky, but they're both still doing it.)

Both have a sassy 'troublesome' nephew who's not really bad, just in a rebellious phase and feeling very hemmed in.

Both struggle to communicate with said nephew. (Hopefully we'll see a similar resolution to Jim and Li Ming that we see with Luke and Jess.)

Both are dealing with a love interest that is a bit free-spirited, a bit sarcastic, a bit whimsical.

Both said love interests have an ex who still feels entitled to them in a way that's quite concerning tbh. (Yes, Lorelai and Christopher's connection can never really be cut, since Rory exists, but Chris still felt entitled to Lorelai even though he'd not done much to deserve it and broke her heart more than once.)

Both are consistently providing assistance to their loved ones at their own expense. It's more obvious with Jim, as he's actively dealing with economic instability, which Luke never had to do (both because of the actual timing of that show and because money politics in Gilmore Girls makes absolutely no sense) but they both are willing to forego things in order to provide for others, and they do so without complaint.

Both are set in this idea of pursuing stability over pursuing more intangible things like 'happiness'. They see a specific value in contentment vs. ecstatic joy, and they believe that to be more easily attainable and far less risky.

Not really a similarity between Jim and Luke, but I can see a parallel with Leng and Praew in Liz and TJ. They're family that's a point of stress, but also a point of joy. And like, idk how quickly time will pass for the second half of the show, but I would be so ecstatic to see Jim with baby LP. I really liked seeing Luke's interactions with Doula, and as an aunt myself, there's something so wonderful about having this new little piece of your family. This person who has these parts of all the people you love in them, your sibling, parents, grandparents, and on. Like I don't believe people need to have children to feel fulfilled, but I think this feeling of seeing some of your favorite people inside this new unique little human is just amazing and so special.

Okay, end of that list for now. What I specifically wanted to kind of talk about was the relationship of Li Ming and Jim, because it's just so realistic. Jim and Li Ming are both kind of feeling the same way in the show, but they're reacting so differently and it's because of their ages. They both feel stressed and hemmed in by the life they're currently leading. I do believe that Jim very much enjoys running the Chicken and Rice shop and being a part of his community. He definitely has a genuine affection for everyone there, but because when it all started it was with the promise of not doing it alone, it's become very bittersweet to him. Li Ming, as a young adult, quite reasonably wants to get a chance to experience more of life, and part of that is travelling, but he's limited by social and financial circumstance.

Jim, as someone who's in his late 30's almost 40, is reconciling with his life and is most concerned with stability, especially after a few years of economic instability. And he's trying (poorly) to express that to Li Ming by encouraging him to go to university so that he has the best chance at finding a stable job. Because Jim doesn't necessarily believe that one, fairytale endings even exist any more, and two, that even if they did it's far too late for him. And he wants to be sure that when he's no longer there as a support that Li Ming is in a place to support himself.

Li Ming, who's still a teenager is still in that place where he feels comfortable taking risks. He doesn't believe that it will be easy or simple to do the work and travel program, but he knows that he's capable of it, and Jim's insistence that he not go feels more like Jim saying he's incapable. But he's also existed at least for a few years in a place where he knows he has Jim's support. He's operating in a place where he believes that if he tries and fails, he still has Jim to bail him out. And in that very particular myopia of teenage-dom he doesn't fully see that part of Jim's fear is that Jim won't have the means to bail him out. Li Ming is not stupid, he's fully aware of their social status, their financial struggles to an extent, but Jim is also consciously hiding the worst of it from him.

It's a consistent conversation that you hear all the time 'money can't buy happiness' and it can't but what financially insecure people would tell you is that money can buy stability. It can provide opportunities for growth and self expression. It can provide the ability to seek medical care. The joy that we find in life is most often through our interactions with loved ones. So no, money can't buy happiness, but if you're not working a 60 hour week, then you would have the time, space, and opportunity to spend time with your loved ones, to create that happiness and peace. Not having to consistently worry about how you're going to pay this or that, means enormous weight taken off of your shoulders.

Now I don't necessarily think Jim's in the wrong in his feelings, because the reality is everyone's feelings in this situation are very valid and very understandable. But as Wen point's out to him he needs to try and put himself in Li Ming's mindset. He needs to think about how he felt at 17. In that same vein I do think that Li Ming could benefit from spreading some of that compassion he has for Heart to Jim just a little bit. And it's very true that they're both so stubborn in this situation, not because they truly believe they're 100% right I think, but because there's a fear that they're wrong. Jim is, like every good parent, incredibly worried that he might be in the wrong here, but is stuck thinking about the long-term. He's preoccupied with making sure that in the long run Li Ming will be able to be self-sufficient. And Li Ming is worried that even though he so desperately wants the opportunity and chance to travel, what if he fails. And they're both kind of doing that thing where they are taking those fears out on each other, because they know that the affection there is deep.

In like, another little sidenote, because of all of the random things I pick up about emotion and emotional reactions. There's a statement I came across almost a year ago that so completely altered my way of think both about my own emotions, but also the emotional behavior of others...and it's that anger is a secondary emotion. Anger is a reaction to another emotion, whether it's fear, pain, shame, frustration, whatever. Their arguments, that anger, is based on Jim's fear and Li Ming's frustration.

I don't necessarily have a way to wrap this up...likely because there's no resolution to the story. But I just really love the honesty and authenticity of the story that's being shown. There are a lot of stories about family drama, but this one in particular very clearly expresses the deep affection they have for each other, even while they're fighting. Situations like this are never really black and white, especially when our actions stem from love. It doesn't mean that their choices are correct, that's why there's the saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, but it opens a door to understanding the characters and for the audience to connect. Because if you've been a provider for someone, like Jim is for Li Ming, you can understand his perspective, and we've all been kids like Li Ming, so there's understanding there as well. And I just think it's sets all of the audience up to self-reflect a little bit on how we've handled similar situations in the past, and how we could potentially handle situations in the future.

As a slight additional sidenote, yes we clearly see the acting from Earth and Fourth is top tier, and I don't know exactly how much of the screenwriting was done by P'Aof, but he is credited for that. But at the very least his directing here is so beautiful. Like, I'm not surprised, his credits are full of amazing series, but like every creative, the more you work the more you grow and improve, and I think this is his best work. It's really just great. He's definitely become a master in his craft, and while I've seen a good amount of his work, this really makes me want to seek out other projects of his that I haven't seen yet.

Well....that's idk, 1400+ words, so I guess I'll wrap it up here.

#Moonlight Chicken #Moonlight Chicken the series #Li Ming #Uncle Jim #Thai BL #Moonlight Chicken meta #There's probably more #but I already rambled forever #fourth nattawat #earth pirapat

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sagesfandomspot · 9 months

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Okay this is v random but I recently got back into Literati fan fiction and I swear I remember reading a fic (admittedly years ago) where Liz fell off the wagon and Doula ended up in Jess and Rory’s care. Am I nuts or does that fic exist? And if it does do you know where it is or what the title is?

Hi! So I know something similar happens in @scoopsgf's fic The Weight We Carry (which is an incredible Jess-centric fic that shows the entire show and the gaps in between. I've read it multiple times, highly recommend), where Liz relapses and Jess isn't Doula's only caretaker, but he does take on a lot of the parenting, and Rory kind of helps out. Another one is @jojoblessed365's The Danes Duo where Liz sends Doula to live with Jess in a very full-circle-moment kind of way. Those are the only two I can think of right now, but if I remember more I'll add them!

(if you're looking for that type of fic, @ernestonlysayslovelythings has an active fic right now that involves Jess taking in Doula while in a relationship with Rory. warning, it is heavier and deals with potentially triggering subject matter, but it is so good and I highly recommend.)

#enjoy rediscovering literati fanfiction!!!#and if you end up thinking of the fic before me pls share because I'm always down for more fanfiction #ginnypotterdensicaskett

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emmafallsinlove · 1 year

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Hi!!!

So, out of genuine curiosity, if they were to make spinoffs from Gilmore Girls, what would you like to see?

Personally, I would love to see a spinoff of Jess and someone who could be a version of Jess, like Doula, who we haven't seen. And also, it would be flipping the main idea of Gilmore Girls- from 'mother and daughter being friends' to 'brother and sister being more like a father and daughter'. And then Rory could be like the stand-in version of Luke, and she finds herself pining over him.

Another one, for me, would be Jess's spinoff but with Doula instead, maybe finding a relative and staying with them, eventually trying to piece together her identity as both a Danes and well, TJ's last name...

What do you think of these?

Also, love your AYITL 2 head-canons... Do you have any ideas for Doula and what her relationship could be with Jess? And who do you think should play her? My personal pick is Izabela Vidovic, cause she has the same eyes as Milo Ventimiglia, and she has a very distinct Jess vibe, if you see her in Homefront (2013) and the Veronica Mars reboot.

Anyway, sorry this got too long. Thanks. 😃

God I love your asks!! Anyway I never put too much thought to gilmore girls spinoff but however, if we’re talking about next gen thing? i want it to be about Rory’s kids, or rather, the Mariano - Danes family after Liz left again. In my headcanons, Liz leaves again and she never comes back, which lead Luke takes care of Doula as he did with Jess. But Doula is more open and yeah, in a lot of hurt, but she still has her father and her uncle and Lorelai to take care of her. I’d love to see Lorelai - Doula dynamics because I think, by the time Liz would leave, Lorelai is already part of their family at this point. Doula calls Lorelai “Aunt Lor” since she can remember, they are a family and the situation is very different to what it was with Jess.

But I think Jess would struggle with that a lot. With Liz’s leaving again. He’d blame himself over it again and again, he wouldn’t want Doula to feel what he felt since he was 8. But I also think about how he’d never pack her stuff and told her to leave with him. She has her father, and while I don’t think T.J is very bright or smart, I think he would do anything for Doula to make her feel okay again.

I would love to see Rory & Doula relationship! Especially if Doula ain’t book-nerd as her brother and his wife. I think their relationship would be so interesting to explore. Mostly because I don’t think Rory was around when Doula was growing up, not as Luke or Lorelai were.

I see Doula as more of a gamer teenager? She’d love Zombie and Apocalypse shit, her favorite game would definitely be tlou in my opinion and I think she’d make everyone play it!

Doula and April relationship is something that I would love to explore as well! Actually, I would love to explore Rory - April relationship but also April / Jess / Doula relationship with Luke and his different approach to each of them.

I read @lanekim great fanfic the other day (haven’t finished it yet!!!) about how Luke is actually the town dad and how he takes in the kids nobody wants and i think it’s very true and i think he is a father figure to most of the kids of stars hollow, not just to Rory or Jess…

Anyway now I need that Doula spinoff lol 😂

#omgggg thank you for this ask it was such a blast #gilmore girls #ask*

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