Here's an indisputable fact: Team Jess is the only Gilmore Girls boyfriend team that matters. Thanks to the storied acting talents of the then-24-year-old Milo Ventimiglia, Jess has lived on for years as Rory's most short-lived (yet perfect) relationship. (To be fair, the competition was kind of stacked in his favor; Dean was terrible, and Logan wound up being terrible, especially in the revival episodes.) But have you ever stopped to wonder what drew you to Jess in the first place? Milo has, and now, he's filling in the blanks.
"Still to this day, you know, it blows me away — the impact of the Jess character, how much everyone was in love with him and wanted to find a guy like Jess," Milo told W magazine. "He was kind of trouble, you know."
But surely, he means the good kind of trouble. After all, Milo, who stars on the NBC hit This Is Us, reprised his role as Jess on the four-episode Netflix revival of the series, where he once again made an unsuccessful play at winning Rory's heart (her loss, if you ask us). Although the actor may have been shocked at Jess' wide appeal, he still managed to pinpoint the exact traits that made the character such a heartthrob.
"He had good hair, he had that pompadour thing going and he had dope jackets and he always had a book in his back pocket," he said. "And I feel like, well, if you got that hair, and you got a cool jacket, and you got a book in your pocket, you must be good for a girl."
Well, there you have it: Good hair + dope jackets + book lover = the perfect significant other. Just take it from Jess — ahem, we mean Milo.
