If we take the episodes of Season 7 (and 5-6) on their “merits,” Lorelai’s behavior is horrific. If she didn’t love Christopher it was manipulative to sleep with him again when she had rejected him over and over, and then to MARRY him just because she was “hurt” by Luke. How can people actually defend this behavior?

Lorelai is a character who pushed Christopher away and turned down his marriage on the grounds that “he’s not ready” for marriage – this from a woman who ends up breaking TWO ENGAGEMENTS and going to Christopher BOTH TIMES. It’s pretty clear even from the Palladino’s writing that LORELAI was not ready for marriage and projecting her insecurities onto Christopher. To marry him on top of that after not loving him – NOT DEFENSIBLE.

Of course, the writers of Season 7 are the same ones that let Luke commit an assault and battery – hitting Christopher with no legal provocation (not to mention the fact that Luke drove Lorelai to Christopher by his own emotional abuse, calling Lorelai a cartoon character, among other things). Except for one bit of banter in the town square where Lorelai tells Luke he should have hit her instead – passed off as a joke – Rory and Lorelai go right back to treating Luke as if he never punched another human being in the face.

But this is all part of the “make Chris a punching bag” approach the Palladinos started. In the pilot through Episode 6 of Season 1, we’re told Christopher has always been in touch with Rory smart. By Season 5 the Christopher character is being REWRITTEN to be a moron: Witness Rory saying “Every time you come back Mom ends up crying” FALSE. Through the first two seasons of the show – especially after his first appearance – Lorelai lets him go over and over without shedding a single tear. It’s just more sloppy writing by the Palladinos – one that Lauren Graham made clear that she found unpalatable in trying to pass this off as a credible love triangle.

The Palladinos wrote Christopher out of the show with a soap opera plot and didn’t put Sutcliffe under contract, so he was unavailable for the end of Season 3 and Season 4. The Palladinos’ solution? Make him even more of an absentee than before.

So Lorelai “couldn’t love Christopher” because the writers were determined to go for the romantic comedy cliche – have her “destined” to fall in love with the friend who was right in front of her after they banter and deny their passion for years and of course end up together. It was a foregone conclusion, and Christopher was turned into the boob of the moment to drag out the inevitable.

I mean, the first episode we met Chris . . . Rory didn’t even know who he was at first. Lorelai had to say, “Christopher,” for Rory to know who it was. He is in the picture and out of the picture, and has never cared enough about being a Dad to Rory to move close and stay put.

I do think she doesn’t trust Chris, but I think more than that, she doesn’t respect him. Lorelai is a hard working single mother. Chris can never get his life together, and he didn’t even have to raise their child. So, I bet Lorelai has trouble with that.

Luke or no Luke, Lorelai and Chris were just not meant to be; however, they don’t know that they are not meant for each other unless they actually try to date. These two never formally dated since Rory’s birth. As Lorelai said, Chris has always been a “possibility”. Without having an adult relationship with Christopher, she will always wonder “what could have been”.