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"I am not cut out to deal with people. I was made to be in a lab or an operating room or a bunker somewhere with a well-behaved monkey by my side"
—Paris[src]

Paris Geller is a principal character on Gilmore Girls, portrayed by Liza Weil.

Character[]

Paris is highly abrupt with her speech, very driven and a self motivated person who is not afraid to bring up awkward conversations, often resulting in people running away. She is also one of the smartest students at Chilton. She will go to any length to get into her dream college, Harvard. An over-achiever, she seeks out every position she can hold at Chilton, becoming both editor of the school paper, the The Franklin, and president of the student council.

Madeline Lynn and Louise Grant are her two seemingly oldest friends in high school, though she is very different from them. Madeline and Louise care more about boys and fashion, than they care about school. Rory and Paris have an interesting relationship throughout the series. They start out as rivals, as Paris feels threatened by Rory, but slowly become best friends (with several roadblocks) and roommates. Paris does not cope well with setbacks, such as college and educational issues.

Chilton[]

Rory meets Paris on her first day at Chilton. Paris doesn't want to lose her top of the class standing, and feels that Rory could be the one to challenge that position, after sneaking a peek at Rory's grades. Paris has a huge crush on Tristan, with whom she went to school since third grade (who only had eyes for Rory), and her mom pays her cousin Jacob to take her to the school dance in their sophomore year. Paris even breaks the news of Lorelai and Max's relationship just to get everyone to stop talking about her parents' (very public) divorce. Gradually, Paris comes to view Rory as less of a threat and the two even collaborate on occasions. When Paris gets an A-minus, she pleads for a reluctant Rory to study with her. Rory offers her to stay for dinner (because Jess drops by) and, when a fight with Dean almost breaks out, Paris covers for Rory, knowing that Rory went out of her way to help her. Paris and Jess also meet for the first time and debate passionately about their literary favorites.

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Paris forms a somewhat steady friendship with Rory from then onwards and asks Rory to be her vice-presidential candidate for student council. During their senior year, their "professional" relationship endures further conflict when Francie Jarvis manipulates Paris into thinking that Rory broke her trust by telling about her boyfriend, Jamie, who she met over the summer in Washington D.C. at the leadership camp she attended for student government. Paris and Jamie take the next step into their relationship, leading to Paris worrying if she made the wrong decision and turns to Rory for support. She is rejected from Harvard and has a meltdown live on C-Span, believing that Harvard punished her for losing her virginity. She spends the next 5 days in bed, watching soaps, refusing to call anyone or see what other schools have accepted her.

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With some serious advice from both Rory and Lorelai, Paris starts to seriously consider what school she should attend: Yale, Columbia or Princeton. She accepts Rory being made valedictorian over her (after researching that they don't necessarily do too well in later life). During graduation she swears she does not recognize half her class and when Headmaster Charleston hands her her diploma and congratulates her, she tells him "No hard feelings". She and Rory say their goodbyes and hug while admitting that they spent most of the time hating each other.

Yale[]

Paris surprises Rory on her first day of Yale as her new roommate. Paris had arranged it after her life coach, Terrence, told her that her "journey" with Rory wasn't quite over. She joins the Yale Daily News and ends up breaking up with her boyfriend Jamie for an older man, Asher Fleming, a professor. Paris and Rory attempt spring break and try their hardest to follow the crowd: Getting wasted, entering "banana" eating contests, and ending in Paris kissing a disgruntled Rory. Asher dies over the summer between their freshman and sophomore year and Paris spends the beginning of her sophomore year grieving for him and sets up a wake. She makes fun of "Farmer boy" (Dean) re-entering Rory's life and begins dating Doyle McMaster, the editor of the Yale Daily News. Paris is shocked and outraged when Rory drops out of Yale, and turns straight to Lorelai where she admits Rory was the only person that always listened to her, challenged her, and will lose motivation without her.

She is made editor of the Daily News but becomes too power crazy and won't let anything go to print without it being perfect by her standards, which drives the rest of the staff of the paper to oust her. She is replaced with Rory, and a furious Paris kicks her out of the apartment. Rory has no other option but to move in with her boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger. Rory and Paris eventually become roommates again (along with Doyle), this time, with a binding lease so that Paris can't move every item of Rory's out into the hall again. In preparation for graduation, Paris institutes "Operation Finish Line," with Rory, an obsessive program designed to maximize their choices after graduation. This succeeds beyond her dreams, and she is accepted to multiple law schools and medical schools.

Paris is immediately distressed about finally having to make a choice that will have such a profound effect on the remainder of her life. To this end, in order to think rationally and clear her plate of any undue influence, she breaks up with Doyle. Doyle however, will not accept her breakup and vows to follow her wherever she goes. Paris then decides that she would be going to medical school as she had always dreamed to be a doctor. At their graduation she tells Rory that they're now on their own but Rory is still gonna do such great things with her life. Rory tells her that she hasn't been able to shake Paris off for years and no matter where they end up, they will still remain friends for a very long time.

Relationships[]

Tristan Dugray

Paris has an unrequited crush on Tristan, who is infatuated with Rory. This causes many issues with her building a friendship with Rory. Paris went on a date with Tristan after he was urged by Rory to ask her out. Tristan decided they were better as friends.

Jamie

Jamie is Paris 's first boyfriend that she meets the summer before she is a senior at Chilton. She meets him at the summer student government program in Washington DC. Jamie is a year older than Paris and goes to Princeton. Paris falls for Jamie quickly because she has never experienced someone loving her as he did. Paris loses her virginity to him in Season 3. Their relationship ends when Paris becomes increasingly distant due to her affair with Professor Asher Fleming.

Asher Fleming

In Season 4, Paris meets Asher through Richard Gilmore, because Asher and Richard were classmates at Yale. Despite the massive age difference, Paris and Asher begin an affair which turns into a serious relationship throughout Paris and Rory's freshman year of Yale. Asher dies of a heart attack when he and Paris go to Oxford over the summer between Paris and Rory's freshman and sophomore year. Two weeks before their sophomore year he was teaching a class on Shakespeare and suffers a sudden and fatal heart attack. Paris mourns him for several months.

Doyle McMaster

Paris and Doyle meet through the Yale daily news where Doyle works as editor. They then meet again when Paris can't seem to find a boyfriend and resorts to speed dating. They talk for a while about how they seem to dislike the rest of the candidates in the speed dating. Doyle and Paris are then seen dating. In the Gilmore Girls-Year in the life series, Paris and Doyle are seen to be divorced with two children and constantly argue.

Quotes[]

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"Stay out of my way. I will make this school a living hell for you"
The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton
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"All I had to do was move a decimal point and none of this would’ve happened"
There's the Rub
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"Well, how nice it must be to be you. Maybe someday I'll stumble into a Disney movie and suddenly be transported into your body, and after living there awhile, I'll finally realize the beauty of myself. But until that moment, I'm going to go in there and I'm going to become a Puff. Now get out of my way"
Like Mother, Like Daughter
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"Are you going to move? Or do you need a 5, 6, 7, 8?"
The Big One
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"Who in the world deserves to go to Harvard more than me?!"
The Big One
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"No, Rory. This great man was not brought down by my vagina"
Written In The Stars
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"I need her to be at Yale. Rory has been my only real competition since she showed up at Chilton. She's the only one who's ever challenged me. She's my pace car. She's my Björn Borg. Without her I'll get lazy. I'll fall apart. I'll have frosted hair and dragon lady nails, I'll achieve nothing. I'll become my mother"
New and Improved Lorelai
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"You have no right to be repulsed by my sex life!"
But Not As Cute As Pushkin
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"I wanna live my life so I can read an in-depth biography about myself in later years and not puke"
To Live and Let Diorama
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"Sick people freak me out"
But I'm a Gilmore!
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"You, Logan Huntzberger, are nothing but a two-bit, spoiled waste of a trust fund. You offer nothing to women or the world in general. If you were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, the only person that would miss you is your Porsche dealer"
I'm OK, You're OK

Trivia[]

  • Paris is left-handed.
  • Paris has mentioned that she is Jewish.[1]
  • Paris speaks fluent Portuguese, Farsi, and Mandarin. [2]
    • In Season 2: Episode 16 Paris is shown talking to her nanny (who speaks Portuguese) over the phone, but she speaks to her mostly in Spanish instead of Portuguese. At the end of the scene she even says "Hay mucho mac and cheese," which means "There's a lot of mac and cheese" in Spanish, suggesting she can speak it as well. [3]
  • She has a craft corner.
  • Her first kiss was with Tristin in the 6th grade after he got dared.
  • Near the end of her stay at Yale, she could speak Chinese, Farsi, and a smattering of ancient Aramaic.
  • Lorelai Gilmore, Michel Gerard, Sookie St. James, Doyle McMaster, Logan Huntzberger, Brad Langford, and several Chilton mothers are frightened of her.
    • She frightened Brad so much, he transferred schools.
  • She pretended to have a crush on Jess to stop an argument between Rory and Dean. [3]
  • She never ended up finding out Rory's PSAT scores however the viewers know that Rory's test scores were better than Paris'. Both the verbal and the maths scores were ten points higher than Paris'.
  • Paris thinks Richard Gilmore is good looking. Rory tries to ignore this comment.[4]
  • Before working Rory's DAR event, she had never had any non-volunteering job experience. [2]
    • She volunteered at a hospital since 4th grade, led study groups, taught sign language, ran a suicide hotline, and manned a runaway shelter. She figured that she would have a life after Harvard.
  • She keeps anti-anxiety pills at the bottom of her purse.
  • Her trust fund doesn't kick in until she turns 25.
  • Sick people freak her out. Ironically, she's pre-med.[5]
  • Her Bat Mitzvah dress had menorahs sewn on the collar. [1]
  • Her cousin took her to Chilton's winter formal during her sophomore year; her mother had to ask him, and Paris had to give him gas money to make him actually do it. [6]
  • She has read The Iliad at least three times.
  • She can be seen drawing a Christmas tree in Season 3, Ep. 10, but she's jewish.
  • There is a running gag throughout Season 6 where Paris is always cutting off Luke.
  • She plays Monopoly with her nanny when her parents are out of town; she always beats her.
  • She lost her virginity at 18 to her first boyfriend, Jamie, who was a Princeton man. [7]
  • Ten generations of her family have gone to Harvard.
  • Her mother was a top student at Harvard.
  • Has kissed Rory once.[8]
  • Her father was the head of a pharmaceutical company; when her parents divorced, the details were published in the newspapers.[9]
  • She doesn't have a close relationship with her parents; when she gets rejected from Harvard, she thinks she could feasibly fool her parents into thinking otherwise.
  • Her parents weren't there to see her graduate from Chilton, but instead her nanny and her children.[10]
  • Lorelai took the photo of Paris getting her diploma from Yale, in case her parents didn't come.
  • She is lactose intolerant and cannot eat mac and cheese. [3]
  • At Yale, Paris double-majored in political science and biochemistry. [11]
  • Paris has the same middle and last name as Friends character Ross Geller.

Photos[]

Paris Geller/Gallery

Media[]

In Praise of Paris Geller and Her Anger (VULTURE • NOVEMBER 2016)

Notes and references[]

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