The only way to explain the logic of the show, if not to see it cynically as the producers/writers and what was convenient, is that this is how they themselves behave and see the world.

Jess leaving Stars Hollow under these circumstances is no more illogical than Lorelai leaving home (unless she had depression after the pregnancy). No matter how bad Emily and Richard were, they supported her and did not shun her. They probably would have supported HER to go through college as well while they took care of Rory.

And it’s no more illogical than Lorelai shunnng Rory when she goes back to her parents, or refusing to tell Christopher that she loved him for 15 years while she had no one, or to give him a chance at doing something other than a success while she was a maid, and so on and so on.

From one perspective, it seems that the Palladinos know this and are mocking — or making comedy — out of this defiant behavior, that many people engage in on one or two issues in life, but seems to be an epidemic among the Gimores and the Danes clans.

But then the way they left the series, it’s hard not to see it as the way they live life.

Remember, Amy is a woman who said you will have battles with your family until the grave. It’s not normal. Neither are these people, which is why it can be fun to laugh at them and be sad for them, rather than venerate them.

After the fight with Luke, Jess leaves for many reasons: he disappointed Luke and he knows that he broke his promises and Luke is right(though if he stayed another day, Luke would have calmed down and tried to talk with Jess and help him), he disappointed Rory and he couldn’t do for her the one thing she asked ( taking her to the prom), he’s curious about his father and he wants to know him and now seems the “perfect time”.

I know that Jess had to leave the show (to do the spin-off that we never saw, and to leave Rory without boyfriend when she starts college) and I try to understand this leaving. Jess was a coward, he had that tough look but he was a shy boy (the fact that he never told Rory that he likes her-in season 2-and in season 3 seems very difficult for him to admit that “Dean was right”) so he was very insecure on his relationship with Rory. He knows he didn’t treat her right (and I think at this point he really loves her) and he hurt and disappointed her and it is for the best to leave. Also the fact that Dean will always be near Rory emphasized his insecurity that determined him to leave the town.

When that did not happen he would have had nothing to lose by taking one shot at the equivalency tests to satisfy Luke’s condition for him to stay. But that was not what the producers and writers wanted so that was never considered. [It is really tough for me to look at the storyline as presented and interpret it only by what is shown and said when there is such a sideshow going on with the producers of the content].

But I degress. For all his faults, I thought Jess got a raw deal on how he had to leave [like Max before him and Dean, Digger, and Chris after him] but that simply was the GG way. It was of course nice to see a “redeemed” Jess in later years, but that was as much a convienient short-term plotline device to refocus Rory than anything else. If Rory had not needed an attitude readjustment we would never have seen Jess again.

It’s very difficult to say over and over again that Jess was a victim of Dean starting a fight that led to his downfall. It’s not quite the full story. Jess picked that fight for months and months of antagonizing Dean and Dean resisted, showing incredible restraint at what is truly obnoxious behavior and taunting on Jess’ part. As I have tried to say before, Dean hitting Jess at the party was not fair and is probably rationalized, but if we go back to look at the scene, what pushes Dean over the edge is the feeling that Jess hurt Rory in some way. And Jess could have walked away — as Dean did over and over, when Rory asked him to stop. The bigger issue of course is that it falls to Luke to clean it up on Jess’ behalf, when he sees Dean taking responsibility for his mistake and Jess continuing to cause chaos with no concern about who is hurt.

I’m not sure, as mcityrk says, that this is so over-the-top for the character. Jess is explosive and offensive from the moment that he arrives. And I think as others have said in response to Amy Sherman Palladino’s exit, it is very fitting with her very defiant behavior.

I do not know how hard the graduation test is in the U.S., but Jess would presumably have to study for it, and if it did not cover only literature and rock, he might not pass that without school. Luke feels deeply betrayed on this point, and again, does not suddenly cut him off. He tries to come up with a solution to Jess’ failure but it’s Jess who will have none of it.

Luke seems shocked that Jess left in the next episode. For him, it seems that he had conditions for him staying and expected Jess not to leave Rory, at least.

Jess’ rapproachment with Luke in Season 4 seems to show that Jess knew he was wrong. That reconciliation is one of the most touching point of the series.

He had a lot of issues to work through, which he took out on both Luke and Rory a lot. Between Rory not sleeping with him, Luke kicking him out, and his Dad showing up, Jess just had a mini-crisis – I think.

Whether his Dad found him that way or not, Jess would have connected with his Dad. He would have gone to find him anyway, had he not shown up. I believe that.

As for Luke, he was just trying to protect Jess. I think he should have told him that his Dad showed up, just to be honest. However, Luke knew that Jess would leave with him. He knew that if Jess knew his Dad came, he would want to leave with him.

I think Jess always had a right to know who his father was and that this was actually an example of how Luke sucked as a parent. I think this was deliberately on the heels of Luke not believing the truth about who started the fight; Luke again fails at truth over Jimmy not realising that you need to give kids that sort of trust for them to give it to you.

I disagree with earlier posters about Jess’ promise to Luke about getting his life together at the end of season two. I think he did mean it and was quite shocked to be told he couldn’t graduate. I feel that Jess failed to put the minimum amount of effort in, but that was a misjudgment on his part (and, yes, he shouldn’t have been aiming at minimum) – as he tells Rory before it happens that he’s “got it covered” (or some similar phrase) meaning he wasn’t doing so much work to affect school (and was wrong). And, as an aside, it’s interesting that people feel that he had to leave – that Stars Hollow wasn’t the sort of place where he (or anyone else?) would be able to change; perhaps because it is so unchanging itself and that’s much of its charm.

I feel that season three contains a lot of bad stuff for Jess – things that go wrong for him but the kick-off event is not his (eg. deviled eggs, the swan attack, Dean starting the fight). I always felt this was an excellent comparison with season two. That in two, Jess does a lot of (all of?) the kick-off stuff himself (bidding on the basket, doing the police tape, turning up at Rory’s with food) and comes out of it OK (whilst Taylor, Dean and Dean again struggle). This is reversed, in part, I think, to show that Jess struggles as much or more with bad karma than those other characters (plus that the karma came back and got him). Luke kicking him out is just another bad event that he doesn’t deal with well (ie. he leaves instead of trying to sort stuff with Luke).