Gilmore Girls’ Luke Danes remain one of the most beloved characters from the show’s seven-season run. As if it were possible, Luke became more beloved in the Netflix revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. While we, too, think Luke and Lorelai Gilmore were the endgame couple of the series, not everything he did was all that great. Luke had some pretty toxic traits and a few moments when he was downright awful. We’ve collected them for your consideration.
‘Gilmore Girls’ fans still don’t know why Luke hated Dean in season 5
Luke Danes had complicated emotions about Dean Forrester, Rory Gilmore’s first real boyfriend. In Gilmore Girls season 1, Luke thought Dean was OK. They even played together on the same softball team. Later, he got into a pushing match with Dean after Dean and Rory broke up the first time. When the couple got back together, Luke settled down again and seemed to accept Dean.
That didn’t last all that long, though. In season 5, after Luke learned Rory and Dean had gotten back together after Dean’s marriage to Lindsay Lister ended, he couldn’t stand the idea of them dating. In one of the most awkward double dates in history, Luke starred down Dean, made him feel uncomfortable for asking for a beer, and ultimately ensured the night ended super early after a very tense game of Bop-It. Luke might not have liked that Dean left his wife for Rory, but he didn’t need to make his feelings about Rory and Dean reigniting their romance so obvious. It was pretty awful for everyone involved.
Luke Danes treated his first wife pretty terribly
In season 4, Luke Danes made a stunning decision to get married. Luke married his girlfriend, Nicole Leahy, during a summer cruise. Initially, the couple decided to divorce, stating that the marriage was a bad decision made in the heat of the moment. Later, they decided to work it out and remained married.
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While Luke insisted that he did want to work things out with Nicole, he was pretty terrible to her. He was dismissive of Nicole’s feelings. He walked away from her during disagreements and ignored her. Luke agreed to move in with her but refused to stay at their shared apartment and never seemed to be particularly invested in the relationship. Nicole eventually cheated on Luke, which ultimately ended the marriage. Nicole was wrong for cheating, but Luke’s dismissive attitude was awful behavior, too. Frankly, he only showed he even cared about her after she had slept with someone else.
Throwing Lorelai’s proposal in her face after their breakup was not Luke Danes’ finest moment
The beloved Gilmore Girls character of Luke Danes devolved a lot between season 6 and season 7. The always reliable and incredibly devoted diner owner learned he had a daughter and boxed Lorelai out of his life. The decision ultimately led to Lorelai calling off their engagement and sleeping with Christopher Hayden. While Lorelai’s decision to sleep with Chris wasn’t great, Luke took cheap shots at his former love instead of gracefully handling the end of their romance.
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In one season 7 episode, Luke might have uttered the most hurtful thing ever said on the show. He told Lorelai that he didn’t care about their breakup and suggested their broken engagement didn’t matter because she was the one that proposed, anyway. Luke only said what he did because he knew it would hurt Lorelai.
