Jess and Dean Get Into a Bidding War

Dean puts a $5 bid on Rory’s basket, even though Taylor set the bidding at $3. He is expecting that to be the end of the matter, but is shocked when Jess begins bidding against him. Eventually Jess gets Rory’s basket for $90 – Dean, who has only come prepared with a small amount of money, expecting to win the bid straight away, cannot compete.

Rory’s is actually the most expensive basket we see at the auction, even though it’s tiny with only a few leftovers in it. Even Taylor tries to dissuade the boys from bidding so much, despite the fact the money is being raised for charity.

This interaction is an homage to the box social auction scene from the 1955 musical film, Oklahoma!, based on the 1943 stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which was based on the 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs.

The film focuses on the love triangle between virginal farm girl Laurey (Shirley Jones), charming cowboy Curly (Gordon MacRae), and unchivalrous farm hand Jud (Rod Steiger). Laurey goes to the box social with Jud to teach Curly a lesson, and the two men end up in a bidding war for Laurey’s picnic hamper at the auction. It seems as if Jud has won, but then Curly sells everything he has in order to raise enough money to get the winning bid.

The clean cut Dean and outsider Jess are clear analogies to Curly and Jud, but unlike the film, Dean has no way of instantly raising the money to get the highest bid. It does suggest that Rory accepts the lunch date with Jess because she’s fed up with Dean, as Laurey accepts Jud’s invitation because she’s tired of the way she’s being match-made with Curly. It also hints at Jess’ obsession with Rory, as Jud becomes obsessed with Laurey.

However, in the film, Laurey and Curly end up married, and Jud is killed in a fight with Curly. Perhaps this is meant reflect a bit of wishful thinking from Dean!

[Picture shows Laurey and Jud in Oklahoma!]

Lane’s Plan

LANE: Well, I invited my cousin David to come and bid on my basket, you know, to keep my mother happy … Then when he gets it, we tell my mom we’re gonna go eat over at the park, where Henry’s gonna call on the pay phone at exactly two o’clock for the ‘all is clear’ sign. Then David, with the twenty bucks I give him, will disappear, Henry will arrive, and we’ll finally have our first official date.

With a dating plan this complex and filled with shenanigans, what could possibly go wrong? Henry met Lane in March 2001, so he’s been waiting nearly a year for his first date! And it’s ridiculously complicated. You have to give him points for incredible patience and understanding with Lane’s situation.

“The day after trash day”

LORELAI: You know what’s wonderful about this festival? … That it always falls on the day after trash day. Therefore, all the stuff that you forgot to throw out that you would normally be stuck with for another whole week, you can instead put in a pretty basket and auction off for charity.

The Bid-a-Basket Fundraiser is on a Sunday, so now we know the trash is collected on Saturday in Stars Hollow.

Miami Beach Blue

SOOKIE: And I like your living room. Though that house across the street has sort of that creepy Miami Beach blue, which means that during the day you really can’t look out your window, but at night it’s not so bad.

Miami Beach is a coastal city in Florida, located on natural and artificial islands which separate the beach from Miami. It has a population of around 83 000, and has been one of the most popular resorts in the US since the early twentieth century.

I’m not exactly sure what Sookie means by “Miami Beach blue”, but Miami Beach has a famous Art Deco Heritage District, the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world. Many of the buildings are painted or picked out in pale blue, in line with the city’s beachy aesthetic, and she may be thinking of that.

I don’t know why this is considered “creepy”. All I can think of, and it’s really quite a stretch, is that the house in the famous 1991 “Ghostbusters” case of Stambovsky vs Ackley was painted pale blue.

The legal case involved a woman named Helen Ackley selling her house in Nyack, New York, to a man named Jeffrey Stambovsky, without disclosing to him that the house was reputedly haunted – he refused to sign the contract when he found out about the haunting. The courts ruled in favour of Mr Stambovsky.

The only reason I am even mentioning it is because the film Ghostbusters was referenced in the same scene, the mentalist Kreskin, previously discussed, was among those who tried to buy the house, and because when Helen Ackley eventually sold the house to a different buyer, she moved to Florida, so it all seems to fit, in some extremely nebulous way.

It seems possible that Sookie took note of the pale blue house when the story broke nationally, and for ever after, thought any kind of pale blue house was somehow spooky.

Ghostbusters

LORELAI: Oh, hey, one of them’s seen Ghostbusters 124 times.

Ghostbusters is a 1984 supernatural comedy directed by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Akroyd, Ramis, and Bill Murray as a trio of eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City.

The film was released to critical acclaim, becoming a cultural phenomenon. It was the #2 film of 1984, one of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s, and the highest-grossing comedy ever at the time. It’s theme song, “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr, was also a #1 hit. It is considered to be an iconic 1980s movie, and one of the most important comedy films ever made.

With its dedicated fan following, it launched a multibillion dollar multimedia franchise, including an animated television series and its sequel, video games, board games, books, comics, clothing, music, and haunted attractions.

The 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II was less successful. It was rebooted in 2016 with an all-female main cast, and amusingly, Melissa McCarthy, who plays Sookie, was chosen as one of the stars of the film; it was a commercial failure and received mixed reviews. A second sequel to the 1984 film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, was released in 2021.

Watching the film 124 times between 1984 and 2002 doesn’t even seem that out there – it’s less than once a month. As usual, Lorelai’s obsessions with films are seen as cool and quirky, while anyone else’s are sad and pathetic!

Ling Ling the Panda Bear

LORELAI: I have to go call Patty and stop the forced mating process. I feel like Ling Ling the panda bear.

Ling Ling was a giant panda born at Beijing Zoo in China in 1985. In 1992 he was given to Japan and the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo in exchange for a panda born in Japan. He was paired with a female giant panda named Tong Tong, but they were unable to breed successfully and produced no offspring. Tong Tong died in 2000, and from 2001, the zoo began trying to breed him with other giant pandas, using artificial insemination, to no avail. This is the forced mating process that Lorelai refers to. Ling Ling died in 2008.

“Never see a pie before an auction”

SOOKIE: Because I’m baking for the picnic tomorrow and it’s supposed to be a surprise.
JACKSON: Oh sure, never see a pie before an auction, it’s bad luck.

Jackson is making a joke based on the old superstition that it is unlucky for the groom to see the bride’s wedding dress before their wedding. Not only is it a sign that he is thinking about marriage, it’s a possible foreshadowing of a future episode when a wedding dress is unluckily seen.

Run with the Bulls

LORELAI: Here in my hand I have the pictures and resumes of the top three contenders.
SOOKIE: Anyone good?
LORELAI: No, but two of them have run with the bulls.

A running of the bulls is an event where participants run in front of a small group of bulls through sectioned off streets. The most famous one is is Pamplona, Spain, which takes place at the San Fermin Festival in July each year. The running of the bulls begins at 8 am, and participants must be over 18, not incite the bulls, and cannot be influenced by alcohol. By tradition, participants wear white shirts and trousers with a red kerchief. There are six bulls and nine steers to encourage the bulls. Every year, between 50 and 100 people are injured during the running of the bulls. Since 1910, 15 people have been killed, nearly all by being gored to death.

PowerBar

DEAN: I’m fine with the whole hating him thing, thank you.
RORY: I just think it’s a waste of energy.
DEAN: You know, I’ll have a PowerBar.

The PowerBar was the first “energy bar” made to be used during competitions for endurance athletes. The company was founded by Canadian athlete Brian Maxwell in Berkeley, California, in 1986; the recipe for the bars was formulated by nutritionist Jennifer Biddulph, later Maxwell’s wife. The company was bought by Nestle in 2000.