<P> The third season of Gilmore Girls, an American comedy - drama television series, began airing on September 24, 2002 on The WB . The season concluded on May 20, 2003, after 22 episodes . The season was aired on Tuesday nights at 8 / 7c . </P> <P> The season opens with Lorelai having to break the news to Richard and Emily that she and Christopher aren't getting back together, although this does result in her mending her rift with Luke . Rory is estranged from Christopher for a time but later gets back in touch, resulting in the girls attending Sherry's baby shower and supporting her in labour until Christopher arrives . Lorelai has trouble getting back into dating, receiving a dinner invite from Kirk, intermittently dating Alex, the business partner of an old friend of Sookie's, and having a brief reunion with Max . </P> <P> Rory tries to forget about her kiss with Jess by throwing herself into her relationship with Dean, but Dean breaks up with her when she spends a dance marathon obsessing over Jess and his girlfriend Shane . Rory and Jess get together, and the positions are reversed when Dean starts dating one of her old classmates, Lindsay Lister, and they become engaged . Jess takes a job at Wal - Mart to buy a car and skips class to take extra shifts . He is told he hasn't done enough to graduate and ends up trying to sleep with Rory and fighting with Dean . After a visit from his estranged father Jimmy, he leaves town without telling Luke or Rory to stay with him in California . </P> <P> Lane finds a band to be drummer with and Lorelai and Rory let them practise in the garage . Lane starts dating bandmate Dave Rygalski in secret, using her mother's preferred prom date Young Chui as cover, until she gets drunk at a party, rings her mother and tells her everything . Dave pleads their case and Mrs Kim lets them go to the prom together . Paris starts dating Jamie, a student from Princeton that she and Rory met in Washington, but falls out with Rory when she thinks she has told student council rival Francie about them . However, it is Rory that Paris turns to when she sleeps with Jamie and fails to get into Harvard . Luke rents the premises next to the diner to Taylor to open a soda shop, and ends up dating Taylor's solicitor Nicole Leahy . </P>

When do rory and jess finally get together
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