Reasons to Ship Rachel and Jesse from Glee 

And you know what else is fun? Actually liking things!

Reasons to Ship Rachel and Jesse from Glee

I had only planned on doing one picspam for this month\'s challenge at

picspammy, but I have become so enamored with the pairing of Jesse/Rachel on

Glee that I simply had to take advantage of this month\'s "Reasons To..." prompt again. Seriously, they are delightful. COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DELIGHTFUL. And here\'s why. Spoilers up to 1.19 - "Dream On".

It can be difficult to introduce a new love interest for a main character when she already has established history with other romantic leads. So, Jesse St. James had an uphill battle ahead of him. I will admit that when Jesse first came on the scene I kind of hated him. But to be fair, there was a lot of douchbaggery going on in "Hell-o" (SCHUUUUUUESTER *angry fist shake*) so my tolerance for jerk asses was quite low. But upon further reflection, and after seeing him several more times, I came to the conclusion that Jesse St. James is an absolute treasure. He is a gift to us all. He has this faux sincerity that is equal parts douchey and endearing. He has hilarious lines and superb delivery. Jonathan Groff is gorgeous and wonderful and I want him to stay on the show forever and ever to the end of time. Half the appeal of St. Berry is because Jesse is entertaining as a character in his own right. Jesse St. James is a toolbag, and I love him for it.

I\'m getting out of Ohio soon. I\'ve got a full ride to a little school called the University of California: Los Angeles. Maybe you\'ve heard of it? It\'s in Los Angeles.

I picked the Stephen Sondheim biography section for a clandestine meeting place because only he would be able to express my melancholia.

Come out so we can at least talk about it. Or sing about it.

Jessie, give us a show face. That\'s a show face guys. You want to look so talented, it\'s literally hurting you. I want a look so optimistic, it could cure cancer.

JUST LOOK AT THEM. GOD. It\'s a totally shallow point, but it\'s fun to ship people who are beautiful together (I like to think that in that gif Rachel and Jesse are both thinking, "That\'s right. We\'re the King and Queen of Glee Club and we\'re better than you." Pay special attention to their complementary luscious locks.

No offense to Cory/Finn, but I think it\'s fabulous that Lea/Rachel has a singing partner who is her equal in terms of voice and performance quality. They sound phenomenal together (which isn\'t surprising considering their performance history together). More Rachel/Jesse duets please! They always look so engrossed with each other. (Side note: you can listen to their cut duet "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love" here).

♫ Hello, Is it me you\'re looking for? / I can see it in your eyes / I can see it in your smile / You\'re all I\'ve ever wanted / And my arms are open wide. ♫

♫ I was beat incomplete / I\'d been had, I was sad and blue / But you made me feel /Yeah, you made me feel / Shiny and new. ♫

♫ Once upon a time there was light in my life / But now there\'s only love in the dark / Nothing I can say / A total eclipse of the heart. ♫

Oddly enough, the episode where I knew I had fallen hard for this pairing was "Home", in which they hardly had any face time or lines. But they were always there in the background being absolutely fucking precious. It probably stems from Lea and Jonathan being BFFs in real life, but I find Rachel and Jesse to have a really lovely, natural chemistry together. As Tyra would say, they smile with their eyes when they look at each other. Plus, they have a really nice physicality in their scenes together in that they\'re always finding some little way to touch each other. They\'re just cute, what can I say? CUTE CUTE CUUUUUTE.

Here\'s the thing: Jesse is basically a male version of Rachel. They\'re both self-centred, ridiculous, overly-dramatic divas. Also, they are both total dorks. I love all of their scenes together where they basically explode with musical theatre geekery. I adore that Rachel Berry has some one to stan over music with. Someone just as talented and ambitious as she is. Moreover, even though Jesse\'s intentions have been shown to be shady I am so excited that there is a character with potential to be a true friend and partner to Rachel. One of my biggest pet peeves on the show is the Kick Rachel Berry Club, and so it\'s nice to have someone who could actually like her the way she is. I feel like Rachel could be happier with Jesse than with any of the other male leads on Glee because they are superbly well-matched. And ridiculous. Did I mention ridiculous?

Does this scene an explanation? LOOK AT THESE DRAMA QUEENS. You know they are meant to be because Jesse was more insulted he had to share the male lead with two other less talented dudes. Aww, special snowflakes.

JESSE: That\'s not a dream. A dream is something that fills up the emptiness inside. The one thing that you know if it came true, all the hurt would go away. You singing "Don\'t Cry for Me Argentina" in front of a sold-out crowd isn\'t a fantasy. It\'s an inevitability.

RACHEL: I thought you\'d never come back.

JESSE: Are you saying your fathers impregnated Patty LuPone in the Mariott in Akron. Was Mandy Patinkin in on this?

RACHEL: All you have to do is look at pictures of her in her performance in Master Class in 1996. Look at the pain in her eyes and the hurt she\'s feeling from giving up her obviously talented little girl.

RACHEL: Money, a sense of charity for those in need. I guess you\'re right. Do you wanna hear my research that proves that my mother is Bernadette Peters?

But of course, shipping Rachel/Jesse requires a certain amount of self-delusion because there is a huge chance that this relationship will end in tears and heartbreak. I\'d be the first person in line to defend Rachel Berry and moan over the shitty treatment of her by other characters. But Jesse/Rachel are just so fabulous together that I can\'t help myself. "Dream On" did offer a glimmer of hope by making Jesse\'s motivations slightly less nefarious and showing that he is genuinely starting to care for Rachel. I was pleased to see that Jesse is a tool because that\'s his personality rather than because he\'s planning on sabotaging New Directions. But the fact remains that Finn/Rachel is the "official" canon couple on Glee. It\'s the default. We don\'t even know if Jonathan Groff will be signed on for next season (I\'d be delighted to be informed otherwise!). We were told in "Hell-o" that Jesse is a senior headed for school in California, so things don\'t look good. But I prefer to live in my happy bubble where the Rachel/Jesse pairing gets resolved a la 10 Things I Hate About You (i.e. they have a blowout over Jesse\'s ~betrayal but Jesse admits he truly loves Rachel and they continue to be absurd and absurdly talented together while living happily ever after in New York with their beautiful hair).

I have to ask you something. And I need you to tell me the truth because if you don\'t there will be consequences. Life and death consequences. Because if I give myself to you and it turns out that you\'re just playing me, I might die. Not literally but emotionally. It\'ll be the kind of heartbreak that girls like me hold for the rest of their lives, like Barbra in The Way We Were.

JESSE: Look, when you told me to seduce her—

JESSE: Whatever. The thing is, I was into it because I thought it would be a good acting exercise but now, I think I kind of like her. I don’t want her to get hurt.

Hahahaha I love you so much!!! This is the best picspam ever and I agree with pretty much everything.

I loooved when they were adorable in the background in "Home". LOL!

Here\'s the thing: Jesse is basically a male version of Rachel.

Hee thank you! The compulsion to spam them, it was compelling. I remember "Home" being the episode where I was like, "WTF I SHIP THEM NOW? Yes, I totally do!"

Why, hello there new favorite couple. Awesome picspam and they ARE perfect for each other. I mean, Finn who?

*Sigh* I want Jesse to come back so badly next season.

Thank you! I mean, I have never actively disliked Rachel/Finn (they\'ve had their moments), but after experiencing the epicness that is St. Berry I could never find a Rachel/Finn (Or Rachel/Puck. Or Rachel/Will. Or any Rachel pairing really) acceptable again. I will be heartbroken if JGroff isn\'t signed on for season 2. Jesse St. James is one of the main reasons I keep sticking with the show through the back nine.

Well, perfection deserves perfection ;). Thank you so much! I\'m glad you enjoyed :).

I love how your reasons are so straight to the point but yet all so true. XD

Has a very fair share of experience of shipping doomed ships and it\'s very true that it requires a lot of self-delusion.

I don\'t think I\'ll ever fall in love with Glee again when JGroff leaves. And not just because of St. Berry but he\'s grown to be my favorite character, even if he is a douche.

I think I kind of like her. I don’t want her to get hurt.

And it isn\'t helping that the writers keep on giving him lines like this, making it harder to let go of him and the ship.

Wonderful picspam. I am so memming this to cheer me up every once in a while. ♥

Thanks! I\'m glad I managed to be straight to the point, because I tend to get TL;DR when babbling about fandom :P.

Seriously, Rachel/Jesse has kept me interested in the back nine. I\'ve been overall dissatisfied with these past few episodes but Rachel/Jesse keeps me watching. I\'d love to see more of Jesse outside of the St. Berry pairing. I want to see more interaction with him and the other glee members. He has a lot of potential as a character and JGroff is great in the role. I will be epically saddened if he doesn\'t return. I\'ve been so spoiled by them/him that the show just won\'t be the same if he leaves (See? Babbling).

I don\'t really care about pairings in canon Glee but I would pick R/J over R/F almost any day, if only \'cause it\'s a pity that they have default pairings in a high school series and also \'cause R/F is so predictable but with little real chemistry.

I agree about giving real friends to Rachel. I\'d like to see that instead of all the romance triangle.

Yeah, I\'ve surprised myself with how much I love Rachel/Jesse considering I\'m not an obsessive shipper period, let alone with

Glee. It\'s odd because the show gives us the potential for a lot of different pairings, but then it always goes back to established OTPs (or at least you know the writers intend to go back to the defaults). If you ship anyone but the established couples you\'re kind of screwed as a fan lol. I don\'t dislike Rachel/Finn, I just don\'t find him that interesting. I always think of they got together, what the hell would they talk about? I like them as friends but I don\'t think they should become anything more because they\'re just not that compatible to me.

Regardless of whether or not they keep Jesse around, I just want Rachel to have a friend. Man. Like, make Mercedes or Kurt or anyone in the glee club be genuinely nice to her, sheesh.

This entire picspam is made of win.The moment Jesse St James came in the picture, I pretty much said, "GTFO, Finn. I WANT THESE TWO TOGETHER INSTEAD."

Finn who? N\'aww I don\'t mind Finn, and I never really

disliked Rachel/Finn but any other Rachel pairing is pretty much unacceptable to me now. I\'ve been spoiled.

The bubble is a ginormous happy place and everyone is welcome :D.

They are just so gif-able because they make the most gloriously absurd faces.

THEY ARE FABULOUS. NOW & FOREVER. And their RL-BFFery does not hurt at all. :DDDDD I hope he stays forever and ever.

Oh, their real life BFFery simply enhances the whole thing. They\'re fantasticals (I only hope people don\'t get their hopes up RPF shipping Lea and Jonathan because, you know, gay). I will be absolutely crushed if he doesn\'t come back. They\'ve been my favourite part of the back nine.

i love finn too,but i really like this couple!

Great pictures ,and the quotes you picked so beautiful.

Thank you! I don\'t mind Finn, he\'s definitely had his moments. And I don\'t even mind Rachel/Finn so much as a pairing but they\'re not nearly as interesting or meant for each other as Rachel/Jesse.

LOL, ok, so I was scrolling through my flist top to bottom (I usually do it the other way) and I see this picspam, but I scroll by, planning to go back when I\'m done checking the flist. And I didn\'t see the user name of who posted it, but I thought, "Hmm, gotta tell Meaghan about this!" Then I scroll down more and there it is again, in your LJ, and I go, "Oh,

of course she posted it! What was I thinking?" LOL, you, my dear lady, are predictable in your esteem. ;)

Aww, I forgot he was a senior. :\'( Maybe he\'ll be failed so he can stay in Glee Club?

Their dialogue is so ridiculously musical based, I love it. Melancholia.

LOLOLOL cool story bro! Ha, sorry I\'m so predictable but you know. Gotta show the love. And I am

definitely picspammed out. I\'m kind of worried that the next Picspammy challenge is going to be appealing :P.

I had the exact same thought! Yes, Jesse is one credit short so he has to stay in high school for another year. Yes.

Melancholia killed me. HE USED IT IN A SENTENCE. Never change Jesse!

I have to say, out of all the (canon) ships on Glee, this is the only one that\'s made me really care, and you\'ve perfectly described all the reasons why. It kills me that they are so damn doomed. *sigh* I WANT THE HAPPY ENDING THAT YOU DESCRIBED.

Jesse/Rachel really surprised me because I usually don\'t ship pairings intensely, let alone on

Glee. I mean I have my favourites, but it takes a lot to get my rabid about a ship. Jesse/Rachel kind of just have this magical formula that has totally enchanted me.

I\'m glad Glee is as convoluted in the writing department as it is because it means that there is hope they will pull something out of their asses to make Jesse stay!

But I prefer to live in my happy bubble where the Rachel/Jesse pairing gets resolved a la 10 Things I Hate About You (i.e. they have a blowout over Jesse\'s ~betrayal but Jesse admits he truly loves Rachel and they continue to be absurd and absurdly talented together while living happily ever after in New York with their beautiful hair).

This is wonderful, thanks for making this picspam. ♥

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed. I just adore them so much that I simply had to express my love through multiple images and gifs. *Sigh* back to my happy bubble.

Your intentions are so good, but I can\'t help to like them together (and I love Jonathan AWESOME Groff). In Dream On I think I sympathize with them, cause Rachel take care of him and vice versa, but fuck, evil!Jesse is way more interesting (shit, St. Berry in Dream On was \'perfect\', I feel like I\'m betraying my F/R side). Good job :)

Oh I definitely don\'t want Jesse to lose his bite. I don\'t want him to become this schmoopy guy at all. But, I think he can still be his dastardly self and still be with Rachel. They can, you know, just be fabulous divas together and have little schemes to make themselves

I AGREE WITH THIS WHOLE POST SO MUCH

That was pretty much fabulous. I love them together and have hopes that they won\'t end in tragedy and TEARS.

Thank you! In some ways, I\'m glad the writing for

Glee is convoluted because it means there is a glimmer of hope that the writers will pull something out of their asses and keep them together. Or at least bring Jesse back for next season. Don\'t let me down show!

OMG CAN I FALL AT YOUR FEET, PLEASE!? I didn\'t know you loved them as much as this, and now I just want to hug you. And them, also, but you\'re not fictional!

I also want to say that your "natural chemistry" point is so, so, so true - I adore how they\'re always touching each other or leaning on each other or putting a hand on the hip (very close to the butt) or something (have you seen them walking away from the practice room during

Home?! nfgh!). And because of that they play off each other so well, it\'s ridiculous and delightful. (And they are totally engrossed with each other! What a fantastic way to put it.)

LOVE THIS SO MUCH. You have no idea how much I am spazzing in my seat right now. I just want to keep this open in a tab forever and ever.

I didn\'t know you loved them as much as this

I CLEARLY HAVE BEEN FAILING AS A FANGIRL UP UNTIL THIS POINT. Maybe I didn\'t flail over them enough in my episode reviews? Consider that rectified! Anyway, you always make such beautiful points about them that I could never hope to explain my love for them so eloquently *HUGS BACK*

It\'s funny, because I think we were supposed to believe that Jesse was just using Rachel and didn\'t really care about her, but Lea and Jonathan\'s performances really told the story of "this guy is totally falling for her." It\'s almost like they had to write that confession into "Dream On" because I never would have believed that Jesse was just acting. Come on. Look at his face when they hug! That is the face of a happy dude. And all of the touching and little moments! Lea and Jon are what really sell this pairing for me.

THIS PICSPAM IS PERFECT, AWESOME, FLAWLESS, ETCETC

Rachel and Jesse are awesome together and I want them to be the endgame couple so bad. :( I agree with all of your reasons for shipping them, and like you I am content to live in a happy bubble where they get to live happily ever after being divas and geeking out over musical theatre.

God, I wish so much that they were the end game couple. Even if they just brought Jesse back for next season I would be happy because then at least they would get more scenes together and I could delude myself into thinking that Rachel/Finn isn\'t the show\'s OTP (I don\'t even really mind that pairing so much, I\'ve just been spoiled by St. Berry). At least there\'s fic.

Thanks Jen! And I like to think your icon is giving the Sue Sylvester stamp of approval lol.

I have never actively disliked Rachel/Finn (they\'ve had their moments), but after experiencing the epicness that is St. Berry I could never find a Rachel/Finn (Or Rachel/Puck. Or Rachel/Will. Or any Rachel pairing really) acceptable again.

I used to ship Finn/Rachel but after discovering St. Berry I don\'t want Finn to be with Rachel ever again. I don\'t really "ship" couples in Glee, I learned not to. I shipper Quinn/Puck and see how that went. I don\'t really hope too much when it comes to the couples in this show but I really hope Jesse comes back next season. It\'s almost like he -has- to.

I don\'t care how their relationship ends this season it can always go back to where it was. The only problem is that Jesse (or JGroff) is a guest--star and no matter which show you\'re watching, shipping a main character with a guest-star is almost destined to be doomed like you say. But I still think they\'re the best couple in the whole show -they just have ~something that makes the IT for me.

Your picspam is the closest to perfection I\'ve found concerning St. Berry and I nearly weeped when I finished reading it. It was that beautiful. I have to agree with everything. *hugs*

I thought Rachel/Finn had some cute moments, but I was never invested in them. It\'s like, if they got together what would they talk about? What do they have in common besides a mutual crush? Sure Finn likes music too, but I don\'t think Rachel could spazz over it with him like she does with Jesse. St. Berry surprised me because although I\'ve had preferred pairings on the show, it\'s not worthwhile to become invested because a) the show tends to sink my ships (oh hai Puck/Quinn and Will/Emma) and b) they give us all of these moments with multiple pairings but they\'re flashes in the pan. It\'s clear the writers have certain end game couples, and I wish they were more flexible about what pairings are the official OTPs of the show (maybe season 2 will prove me otherwise?). But anyway yeah despite all of these qualms I can\'t help but love Rachel/Jesse and I will be crushed if JGroff doesn\'t come back.

It\'s true that it\'s not even the storyline that makes Rachel/Jesse doomed, because let\'s face it the writers can pull anything out of their asses to try and make something work. But they\'ve written Jesse in a way that let\'s him leave the show at the end of this season, and that gives me sadface.

I love this! Every point is 100% awesome and true. Plus, matching showface = true love. :P

Thank you! And yes, they both are pretty fantastic at doing overly dramatic and ridiculous show faces.

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