Summer’s come and gone, we’re almost two months into school and a cool breeze has started to stir the drying leaves. As the most aesthetic season arrives, we’re indoor-bound and ready to ignore our homework by Pinterest-prepping for FNL while watching our comfort fall TV shows. So, while we’re all starting our yearly re-watch of “Gilmore Girls,” let’s reflect back on how the infamous Rory Gilmore went from Stars Hollow’s pride and joy to just that: hollow.

Since the very beginning, Rory was a victim of only-child syndrome, and sheltered from the reality of decision-making. While her mom, Lorelai, had some maturity issues herself, she was quite open about her experience growing up with controlling rich New England parents and becoming a teen mom. Rory was lucky to grow up beloved and surrounded by the quirky residents of Stars Hollow, but you would think a brilliant wannabe journalist from her background would have some type of humility.

Constant reminders that she was the golden child of the town, destined for all the top colleges and praise couldn’t have been good for her ego or ability to recognize consequences. Even before her Yale years that led her down a path of self-destruction, she didn’t experience any repercussions after breaking Dean’s heart, causing a drunken fight and just being pretentious all the time. Sorry, even as someone who is Team Anyone-But-Dean, he was in the right for breaking up with her like that. Rory, showing up outside your newly ex-boyfriend’s window and expecting him to immediately forgive you and go back to being best friends isn’t quirky and sweet, it’s just naïve.

While all that isn’t necessarily Rory’s fault, it set her up to become, honestly, selfish. From the beginning, she was always self-centered, but what can you expect from her small-town upbringing? It’s the fact that while she was supposed to be the compassionate and quiet best friend, she couldn’t look up from her boy problems when her own best friend, Lane Kim, was getting shipped off to Korea.

All of this accumulated into Rory’s true downfall: any episode past season five. Yes, there were the early signs, like skipping out on Lorelai’s college graduation to go traipsing around New York in season three, but Rory’s true colors of narcissism really showed in her affair with newly-married Dean. The downward spiral of getting entrapped in the highs of her grandparents’ New England life with Logan Huntzburger, to (spoiler alert!!) dropping out of Yale and having to build herself back up was never fully resolved. The only catharsis out of the last few seasons was Jess yelling at her, “Why did you drop out of Yale, Rory?,” a scarily similar parallel to the TV show of the summer “Your wedding’s at a country club, Belly!”

And don’t even mention “A Year in the Life.” It’s as forgettable as Rory’s boyfriend, and worth leaving off the rewatch timeline this season. Poor Paul.

Now that we’ve rehashed all the reasons not to fall back in love with Rory, maybe we can take a few pointers for ourselves. Stay socially aware, people, and the world outside our own little Stars Hollow will make you a better person (by hopefully not ruining your character development first).