Jesse (John Stamos) lies about his experience raising Michelle (Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen) in Full House decades later in Fuller House. Initially hesitant to give up his rock-and-roll lifestyle to help raise his nieces, Jesse ultimately had a change of heart after spending more time with the Tanner girls. While he bonded with all three girls, he always had a special spot for Danny’s youngest daughter, possibly because she was barely a year old when he started taking care of her.

Over the years, Jesse and Michelle further developed their relationship. He would help her with her school work, accompany her to many extra-curricular activities, and impart important values on her. Even when Jesse got married and had his own kids, Nicky and Alex, he remained close to Michelle. On the heels of his wedding, he was supposed to move out of the Tanner house and into a new home with his wife, but leaving proved to be so difficult that Jesse ended up staying, settling in the attic with Becky (Lori Loughlin). Looking back at Full House, there’s a case to be made about Jesse playing more of a father figure to Michelle than Danny was during her younger years.

This dynamic was sorely missed in Fuller House with the youngest Tanner kid not appearing in any of the five seasons. As it turns out, while the Olsen twins were invited multiple times to partake in the project, they refused to be involved, explaining that they had long retired from acting. Despite this, Fuller House found ways to incorporate Michelle to its story; there were several references to the character in the show’s final nine episodes, including one featuring Jesse reminiscing about his days raising Michelle in Full House. However, he had some of his details mixed up, creating confusion for fans of the original series.

In Fuller House season 5, episode 15, “Be Yourself, Free Yourself”, Jesse visits the Tanner home, frustrated about a biting incident with their adopted daughter, Pamela (Madilynn Jefferson), at school. With Becky out-of-town in Nebraska, he didn’t have a other support system other than DJ (Candace Cameron-Bure), who listened to him recap what happened. Mad and obviously not thinking clearly, Jesse floated the idea of Pamela getting back on whoever bit her, and he was motivated to find out who the mysterious kid was. DJ reprimanded her uncle, reminding him that was the wrong way to address the issue and advising that it would be best for the teachers to handle the matter. Jesse was relentless, however, recalling how “all those years ago when someone pinched Michelle I said ‘Go pinch him back!'” 

Jesse is referring to the events of Full House season 4, episode 6, “A Pinch for A Pinch”. In that episode, Michelle was bullied by her classmate, Aaron (Miko Hughes); Jesse did tell Michelle to retaliate by pinching back, but after a talk with Danny (Bob Saget), which made him realize the error of his ways, he reversed course. At the end of the episode, Jesse explained to Michelle that his initial advice was wrong. “If you have a problem, you should try to solve it with words like, “knock it off” or, the ever-popular, “buzz-off Bucko.” And if that doesn’t work then you find a parent or a teacher to help you. But absolutely no pinching or hitting,” he told her. Given this, it’s odd that almost 30 years later, he would only remember his bad advice and considered applying it in a new situation despite clearly knowing it was wrong.

Perhaps Jesse was just too mad at the situation with Pamela in Fuller House that he threw reasoning out the window and resorted to his old ways. As he said in Full House, in his younger days, retaliating was his go-to move when someone wronged him.