Dave Rygalski Was The Best Gilmore Girls Boyfriend
Forget what Adam Brody said, Dave will always reign supreme.
When it comes to Gilmore Girls, there is no debate more heated and ongoing than the one about Rory’s best boyfriend. You’ll likely never move from your position of Team Jess, Logan, or God forbid, Dean — and there really is no right answer. Even I, a Jess girl since 2002, can admit there are valid points from the Logan and Dean stans.
But at the end of the day, all fans should know deep down that none of these boys were the best BF on Gilmore Girls. That title rightfully belongs to Dave Rygalski.
Dave (played by Adam Brody) was the perfect boyfriend. He was Lane Kim’s ideal guy, and if Brody didn’t have to leave the show to play Seth Cohen on The O.C., they would have joined the ranks of The Office’s Jim and Pam and New Girl’s Nick and Jess as one of the greatest TV couples of all time.
Their brief romance was so impactful that fan edits of Dave and Lane are still being made for TikTok 20 years later.
Dave is the definition of ‘if he wanted to he would.’
I’ve only ever seen one person refute the claim that Dave was the best Gilmore Girls boyfriend — and surprisingly, it was Brody himself. While promoting Nobody Wants This, the actor said in an interview with Elle that Dave didn’t deserve the title of best boyfriend because “he wasn’t around that long.”
Brody believes fans didn’t get a chance to see “how he would have been in the long term,” which is a fair point. However, I don’t believe Dave was destined to be a horrible match for Lane, and I have the receipts to prove it.
Dave & Lane Are Based On A Real-Life Couple
Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino based Lane Kim off one of her IRL besties Helen Pai, who was also a producer on the show starting in Season 2.
Lane’s band Hep Alien is an anagram of Pai’s name, and Dave Rygalski is the actual name of her husband. The two have been married for over 20 years. In 2020, the real-life Rygalski did a Q&A for fans and shared how he and Pai met. The two were “concert-going friends” for three years before they started dating, which is similar to Lane and Dave’s love of music that brought them together.
One TikTok user put it, “I found peace with Gilmore Girls knowing that the woman Lane Kim is based on... Helen Pai moved out, found her freedom, followed her dreams, married her Dave in real life and generally seems like a very cool person who is getting a real happy ending.”
Dave’s Actions Prove He Was In It For The Long Haul
When Lane first meets Dave in Season 3 of Gilmore Girls, he impresses her with his knowledge of bands like the Dead Kennedys and immediately matches her “audio geek” freak with a portable setup. With Lane’s accidental “I love you” slip-up, it was quite literally love at first sight.
Not only did Dave check all of Lane’s musical boxes, but he was charming and respectful, and he read the entire Bible in one night for her.
In the same interview, Brody said that Dave could have been “love bombing” Lane — but these actions don’t sound manipulative in the slightest. Someone who plays songs for five straight hours without a break and runs over a mile to see you at a hockey game is not love-bombing. He is straight-up infatuated.
If anything, Dave set the standard for how a boyfriend should act. If he’s not getting calluses on his fingers from playing hymns all Thanksgiving for you, he’s not worth your time. As one Reddit user said, “Dave is the definition of ‘if he wanted to he would.’”
In Another Universe, These Two Were Endgame
Even if the writers had to throw in a few obstacles within Lane and Dave’s relationship, there’s no doubt in my mind that they would have persevered. “It’s literally criminal that they didn’t end up together,” one fan wrote on TikTok fan edit. “Dave was perfect for her and she was perfect for him, they were soulmates period,” another commenter said, garnering nearly 1,500 likes.
He supported Lane’s dreams, shared her musical interests, would go above and beyond for her family, and delivered kisses that left her speechless.
We’re currently in a Brody renaissance thanks to Nobody Wants This, and there’s plenty of love for Seth Cohen. But it’s time to put some respect on Dave Rygalski’s name — the true heartthrob of Stars Hollow.
