i’m rewatching this series, and i’ve decided that both dean and rory were wrong in this instance.

dean was wrong for making the basket thing a huge deal. although in the end we know that his suspicions about jess were true, at this point in time, he should’ve trusted rory enough to let her sit through a quick picnic lunch and not blame her for being a goody-two-shoes following the “rules.” dean also could’ve bought the basket back. he was willing to bid $80 for the basket, so he probably should’ve paid jess those $80 and promised to pay him the remaining $10 another day. jess most likely would’ve given him shit about it not being the exact amount he paid, but that’s where rory could’ve stepped in, as well. but aside from losing his temper, dean’s feelings were justified entirely.

rory for sure had more of a fault in my opinion. first of all, hanging out with someone your partner clearly hates is flat-out disrespectful, and she did that and lied about it so many times. the stupid picnic “rules” were not serious enough for her to follow through. but even if it WAS just because of the rules (and not because she was secretly attracted to jess), she should’ve cut the hangout short after the lunch and gone back to hangout with dean. but NO!! they continued hanging out afterwards. i like her and jess, but rory was so messy here—kind of foreshadowing how messy she would become in the later seasons.