Trigger Warning: Discussion on Sexual Assault that happens in the episode.

Leif and Steve do a spoiler free after watch of the OG Gossip Girl.

The guys break down Season 1, episode 1 titled the Pilot. In this episode the privileged prep school teens learn that Serena van der Woodsen is back in town.

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion

Instagram & Tiktok - @NonJudgingBreakfastPod

X (twitter) - @NJBPod

Facebook - /NonJudgingBreakfastPod

Questions, comments? Email us at nonjudgingbreakfastpod@gmail.com

Hello, here at the non-judging breakfast pod we like to keep things light. However, sometimes the

show and therefore our recaps touch on some serious topics. This episode contains

discussion about sexual assault. We avoid getting into any graphic detail, however we

understand that this is a sensitive topic for many people. Additionally, if you or a loved one has

been a victim of sexual violence or may be a victim of sexual violence, the National Sexual Assault

Hotline can be a valuable resource. They offer 24-7 live chat and other information. Just visit

www.rainn .org. That's rainwith2nz.org. They also have a phone hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Hey,

Upper East Siders. Here's what's up. We're going to be working our way through the iconic 2000s TV

series Gossip Girl, one take down at a time. We'll be dissecting each piece of juicy gossip and

analyzing storylines, all while admiring and sometimes mocking the fabulous fashion, devious

schemes and petty rivalries. Alright, while we go ahead and get into it, we're going to be going

through the pilot episode first. It was written by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. On some

sites, they do give credit to Cecily Vons Iscora who did write the books. It was based on, but not on

all sites. The original air date was, so it actually came out on iTunes first. It was

downloadable September 14th, 2007. And then it was actually CTV in Canada on September 18th and

then on the CW on September 19th. I didn't realize iTunes was streaming shows already by 2007. Well,

it wasn't streaming. It was a free download. You download the episode and then later on you could

download for like a dollar each or something like that. And then so I actually wanted to get into

that. Gossip Girl had decent ratings for the CW the first two seasons, but then they definitely

dropped fast. It did manage to get six seasons because they did realize that people were

watching online quite a bit on iTunes. And then also on the CW website, they did stream the past two

or three episodes you could watch. Okay. So, yeah. So it was written by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie

Savage, mainly. Josh Schwartz is obviously from the, came from the OC and then at the same time he was

also developing Chuck. Yeah, which I was a big Chuck fan most of the way through. Yeah, I actually

did watch that from day one. Gossip Girl, I didn't pick up until midway through season four because I

actually discovered the OC while I was in college. I binged that and then binged Gossip Girl caught up

on the midseason break back then with the network TV. So the first season you had 18 episodes, then

season two you had 25, season three through five had 23 episodes each. Usually yeah, 23 or 24. And

then you had a shortened six season. But the way things were done back then, it's different than

from streaming. Shows were written with the concept that people would only watch one in three

episodes. So you had a lot of resetting back to the status quo at the end of episodes so people could

get, if they missed a couple of episodes, they could come right back in. Right. And because you

didn't always have that ability to pick up right where you left off. You would have to have episodes

that someone could watch the episode you're showing and understand the entire plot that's

going on. You had to tell a complete story in every episode. You couldn't have cliffhangers quite

the same way. You did, but you had to complete story arcs every week. So they did bring in a veteran teen

drama director to direct the pilot, Mark Piznarski. He did several episodes of My

So-Called Life, which was really a show that spoke to my generation. Yeah, My So-Called Life and the

start of Claire Danes are really big for us. And the inexors. Jared Leto, unfortunately. Yeah, and

Jared Leto, yeah, Leto. He also directed Everwood, two episodes of Veronica Mars, two

episodes of the 90210 reboot, Friday Night Lights, Riverdale. And then he did do one movie

that I did see this with Josh Harnett and Lili Sobozki, or if I'm probably saying the name wrong.

It was pretty bad, but I did see it. Because I did watch a lot of teen entertainment. Was Friday

Night Lights the show? Yeah, he directed a couple episodes of the show. Okay, okay. Yeah, I forget

the guy who was staying up who directed and wrote the movie and also wrote the show, the showrunner

for the show, but not the director for a huge episode. Yeah, I did watch the first season of

Friday Night Lights and some of the second season then it got into like murder and shit and I was like,

well, okay. Yeah, the first season was definitely really good. I did not like that storyline with the

goofy friend. Yeah. I'm forgetting his name. Anyways, back to Gossip Girl. Yes. This episode,

the pilot, at a privileged prep school for teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the students first

learned that Serena Vanderwitz and his back in town, they learned the all important news in their

lives from the internet blog of the all knowing, albeit ultra secretive Gossip Girl. No one knows

Gossip Girl's identity, but everyone in this exclusive and complicated vicious circle relies

on her website and text messages for the latest scoop. Even Serena's closest friend, Blair

Waldorf, is surprised to find that Serena has suddenly ended her self-imposed exile from a

boarding school in New England and returned to Manhattan for school. Once the Upper East Side's

most notorious party girl, Serena's reason for returning are mysterious, although they may have

something to do with her younger brother, Eric, who is secretly in the hospital following a

suicide attempt which is kept under wraps by their overprotective mother, Lily. Whatever the

reasons, the change in Serena is obvious, especially to Blair, but his friendship with

Serena has always been competitive and difficult. Into this crowd comes Dan Humphrey, a

kid from Brooklyn whose freshman sister Jenny tries a little too hard to fit into Blair's circle

of gossip friends who include Gossip Girl's contacts, Isabelle and Coddy. Blair's nice guy

boyfriend, Nate Archibald, is also troubled by Serena's return for his best friend Chuck Bass,

the school's snobbish, cynic and resident bad boy. Notice about a fling that Serena and Nate had,

which is why Serena left out to avoid a scandal which, in the snobbish world of high society, is

social suicide. Elsewhere, Dan and Jenny's father Rufus, a former rock musician and art

gallery operator, also has a return of feelings for Serena and Eric's mother Lily. Wow, that was a

lot. Yeah. That's a thorough recap. Yes, it is. So, we enter in on the train with a young folks by Peter,

Bjorn and John. We immediately recognize that this is a Josh Schwartz show. Josh Schwartz loves

the indie rock and very current in his music taste. Yeah. Yeah. And it's one of those songs that, as

soon as you hear it, you're like, oh, wow, I remember this. It's really iconic for the time. It

really puts you back into that late 2000s when there was a big push in that indie music, when

everybody was building home studios. Yes. And I think Josh Schwartz actually played a big factor

in the popularization of that genre through the OC and gospel track. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, you think

about those, there are those TV shows where they would literally sell the soundtrack from a show

because they were building that kind of audience with it. And I absolutely agree with that. You

think of shows like the OC that it would say like featuring this episode, featuring music by and

those sort of things. And I think that the same thing could be said about Josh Whedon with Buffy

Core music, as I like to call it, the stuff you'd hear at the bronze. Yes. All right. So we do see

Serena on the train and she arrives at Grand Central Station. And we are immediately

introduced to the concept of Gossip Girl when Melanie 91 takes a pic of Serena arriving. Yeah.

We, we instantly, again, we are put into that time period that that late 2000s when it was the dawn of

social media and when it was the dawn of, you know, anyone could be on the paparazzi, you know, anyone

can spot somebody at this point, anyone can catch a picture and post it. And so it really puts you into

that mindset. And also it immediately tells you it sets up so much in that first bit that this person's

been gone for a while. It's important that she's back and that random people are spotting her and

posting about her coming back. So she's important to a lot of people that, that she doesn't recognize

because Serena doesn't talk to Melanie 91. So it also tells you that Serena is isolated and alone

and, you know, in her fame a little bit. Yeah, stuff like that. And so also we see at Grand Central

Station, as we later find out, after all, is a small island that we see Dan and Jenny returning from

Hudson after a weekend with their mother. So we kind of know right away that their parents are

separated. They're meeting their dad, Rufus, who is a former rocker, one of the top 10 forgotten

artists of the 90s. The number nine on the top 10 forgotten bands of the 90s list, which also I love

that this was seven years after the 90s and his band was forgotten. They're already doing a list of,

there's already a top 10 list. There's already a top 10 list. Yes. So we see Dan staring at Serena

Longley. His stalker crush is back in town. She's been gone for about a year. And everyone's curious

to find out why she's back. Yeah. And they, you know, they do the great setup there with, you know,

with Dan and Jenny, with Jenny making it known right away. Like, you know, it's still not going to

happen. It's been your whole life, you know, just setting that up right there, then in there, that

there's history there. Then there's a one-sided history. And once again, somebody recognizing

Serena that Serena isn't recognizing. So then we jump over to the Waldorf townhouse and don't get

used to the townhouse because it switches to a penthouse after this first episode. Yeah. Not

uncommon. They built sets after the first episode. This was just probably someone's actual

house that they recorded it. Yeah, exactly. So often, and it's not even there. I mean, so many

times on pilot episodes, when you don't know if you're going to get an episode too, it's, okay,

we're going to shoot this where we can. And then if we get the budget, then we build sets. Then we build

sets. And so like most, after this episode, most of the interior shots are on sets, but there is a lot of

location. Everything is in New York. And I actually add a lot to the fandom of the show because

in New York, if you're going to be shooting on the street, you have to put up notices beforehand,

like several weeks beforehand. So people knew exactly where they're going to shoot. Yeah. Yeah.

And so there's fans there. They're stolen scripts from the set. There's photos of the set, you know?

So like there's all kinds of spoilers online and stuff going on. And the fandom was really crazy.

And it really affected the show quite a bit because it was one of the first shows where you could tell

the writers were listening to the fans online. They were definitely paying attention. That's

interesting. That's really interesting. So speaking of replacing the townhouse with the

penthouse later on, the actress who plays Blair's mother is replaced after this first episode as

well. Yeah. And I think that was a good choice because the actress that replaced their Margaret

Collins is definitely a little more motherly looking. The first actress was very young. And we

already have the young parents in Rufus and Lily that I think we should have some like normal age.

These are rich people. They're not running off having kids early. They're getting married,

going to college. Yeah. These are people. And the really big point to that is that we learn this in

other parts of the episode. These are people who had their lives planned out for them. Yes. With a

little bit of nuance to make some decisions. But these are people that had no choice but to follow

these footsteps that were laid out for them. And they're trying and they have those same

expectations of their kids. And that's just a recurring theme in the beginning of this show. And

so speaking of that, we see Nate Archibald with his father, the captain. And we assume he's a sailing

enthusiast of some kind, presumably. But I don't think that's ever really addressed in the show why

he's called the captain. And then we also see Chuck with two of the minions, Cotty and Iz. I don't think

they're named here, but that's who they are. They will be recurring. And he offers to go take a puff

with Nate. So they're stoners apparently. Um, from that first scene, I had that feeling with

Cotty and Iz of there's more to these two than we're seeing already. Like, like, there was just

something there was like, I had a feeling of like, I feel like I need to watch out for these two at some

point because they seemed to be so. They seem to be written almost like window dressing in their

first scene. And I always feel like window dressing is there to look at, you know? So it was

just something in my head with those two. Yeah. I mean, I will say they are recurring characters. So

they will be coming back. And so that that's it for that scene. We then move to Blair and Nate getting

hot and heavy in her body. And then, you know, we're going to see Nate in the bedroom. And then Serena

arrives at the party and when Blair's mom entered, it's yells in that Serena's here. We definitely

see Nate's very interested. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's an instant weirdness there. That, yeah,

that comes through. Yeah. And Blair wants to seal the deal, it looks like, but she, you know, she

reluctantly puts her clothes back on and they go out. Serena's talking to her mom. She's looking

for quote unquote him. And so we don't know who that is, but we later find out that's her brother, Eric.

Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. And there's also, is there also that moment where they see each other, where

Nate and Serena see each other? Was that at that same time? Yeah. So Nate and Serena lock eyes and

then Blair walks out of room between them. So you get the great shot of them like kind of looking.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. And, and, you know, it says so much in that just the way that they shoot it,

just the, the, how uncomfortable she looks, how happy he looks. And then the, and then when Blair

just steps in between, it's just, it's almost heartbreaking, you know? It's, yeah. It's, and so

we also see, see like, Blair's with her minions and she's trying to play it off, like this, she knew

Serena's coming back, but it's pretty obvious that she did not, yeah, that's what he's coming

back. So then we switch to Serena at the Ostrov Center, which is presumably some type of

celebrity rehab type place for rich people to, you know, get over vendors or whatever they're trying

to hide from the general public. And she is, she's looking at her brother sleeping in bed. We don't

know exactly what happened at this point, but I think we do see his wrist bandage. So yeah, yeah, we

do. Yeah, we, yeah, it is evident that there was a suicide attempt. I feel like immediately when

you, when you meet him, I got that impression, maybe it was the conversation they had, but I just

remember feeling like, yeah, this is, yeah. So then the final scene before the end of the cold open

is Dan looking at it and his laptop, and this really weird looking fake cat behind the laptop. I don't

know what the set designer was looking at there, or they decided to put that weird fake cat out there.

And he's just, he's now stalking Serena again, trying to figure out why she's back and

presumably, you know, participating in some kind of online discussion. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, and

like you said, it is just, you know, he's, I feel like he's not even as interested in the gossip side

of it as much as it is just, wow, she's back, you know? And we are back for act one. Serena wakes up to

her brother, Eric, with a bandage on his wrist. Serena is back in town for her brother who clearly

attempted suicide, and Lily comes in completely avoiding the situation, and Serena confronts her

about her avoidance. Yeah, and instantly we see that conflict between Lily and Serena. And the,

yeah, and the sweeping problems under a rug versus directly handling problems between the two of

them. Yes, Lily is definitely concerned about appearances, and we see that throughout the

episodes, making up various stories about where Eric has been, you know, visiting people in Miami,

et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, and obviously embarrassed, you know, and there's the side of it

that is, oh, I don't want to bring shame to the family. I don't want to bring shame to him, but it's

also, I don't want to bring shame to me that you're seeing her come out with too. So, yeah, just the bad

motivations all around with what she's doing here. Then we move on to the Humphrey Loft, where we

have Rufus, the hot rocker dad, played by Matthew Settle, who probably looks like he's about maybe

five to six years older than his son. He looked like he had him in elementary school. Yeah, and he's

mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine, as I mentioned before, as the number nine most

forgotten van of the 90s. And you get your typical family squabbles, and it's momentarily brought

up about the absent mother. She supports Jenny's efforts to, you know, get into the party, but Rufus

is like, oh, no, she's bad, she's bad, bad bomb, bad bomb. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you also have Jenny

addressing the invitations in this scene, too, where there's the setup of how she's trying to

impress Blair and how she's trying to get her way into that group. Yes, it's mentioned that one of

the minions noticed her calligraphy in our class and said that if she makes all the, if she does all

the addresses on the invitations, she can get one to the party. So Rufus at first jumps on her about

it, but then he realizes he needs to be a dad first, and he supports Jenny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah,

and it's also, there is that aspect of the attitude of 90s music would completely scoff at a party like

the one that his daughter is creating invitations for. So it really does kind of fit that aspect, too,

that there was such the counter, I don't want to say counterculture, but the Gen X contrarians that

were always, you know, too cool for a party like that attitude. So next we move to outside of the

palace hotel and Nate is confronting Serena. Clearly something happened to them, but Nate's

with Serena's best friend and Serena doesn't want anything about it. She knows she made a mistake.

Yeah, again, a very telling moment, and they don't necessarily say everything that happened, but

they say enough to let you know that these two have participated in some kind of activity that Blair

would not approve. What was also interesting to me when I was watching was that it didn't come, I don't

believe it had come up at this point that Blair and Nate had been together as long as they have. I think

that comes up later in the episode. So there's almost the feeling of, oh, did they get together

and then she got together with, and then he got together with Blair after Serena went away. Like

that was a lingering question at that point in the episode. Yeah, it's hard for me to remember what I

felt at the time that I first watched it, but we definitely quickly learned that Nate and Blair

have been together since kindergarten. Right, and what it is, is I remember when I heard that in the

episode, I was like, oh wait, but that history between those two, oh shit, like, oh, this is

really bad. I remember that it was when I found out that I found out that later that they had been

together so long. All right, and then so we see the one and only time with Chuck and Nate riding a bus in

the pilot episode, that's never seen again, because why would these two rich kids be riding a

bus when they have limos or driver services? Now, actually, we do fight out later that Chuck is the

only one who does have a limo, because it does make sense, because even rich people in New York still

have nowhere to park a car, unless you're someone who owns multiple hotels. I was going to say, you

would assume that a hotel chain would have a limo service, if at least contracted to them, but the

other Upper East Side teens all have driver services, which we all use, got a car. The

pre-oober days. The other thing with that scene on the bus though, is that it also sets up that

recurring gag of, I go to school with you. I go here. And while Chuck is having an out of it, Nate does

comment, oh, that's funny. Yes, despite being very good looking, Dan is apparently a nobody at

this school. Yeah. And they really set it up that he is almost anti-social and sticks to himself. Yes,

we get the first instance of nervous Dan, where after they get off the bus, he just rambles on to

himself, like he's still talking to them. And that's definitely a recurring trait for Dan. He's

definitely a bit nervous. Yeah. Yeah. And we actually see that in later scenes in this episode.

And then we get Blair and on the Met steps flanked by her minions talking to Jenny as Serena comes up.

And they are sitting on the Met steps, which are basically an extension of the New York City

sidewalks, which are quite dirty. And they're wearing these very fancy designer clothes. And

they are just casually sitting, you know, yeah. And also the kiss on the lips party, I was trying to

remember the name of it, but it's the kiss on the lips party, which I mean, I feel like it's a little,

I want to say on the nose, but you know, it's yes. I believe that is the name of one of the books, kiss on

the lips. And yes, that is the party of the week as is tradition for gospel most episodes and in a party

of the week. Yeah. And this week's party is the kiss on the lips. Yeah. And yeah. And that whole

interaction between the two of them is so interesting where it's, oh yeah, my best friend.

And you can tell that there's that tension there. There's that, yes, my best friend, but oh, but you

can't come because there's, you know, it's not any more any invitations. There's not enough. Yeah.

Yeah. We're at capacity. Yeah. We're at, yeah. Had I known yesterday, like, God, I know you were

coming. Yes. Yeah. And so yeah, it really does set all of that up. They do plant, Serena asked for a

little date there. And I don't know, I think if this show was written a few years later, Blair would be

definitely a queer coded character. Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. There's definitely some sexual

attraction in there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think so too. Yeah. Yeah. And there really is. There really

is that like, with the back and forth like that kind of, yeah, absolutely. All right. And we are back

for act two. And we are in the, on the street with Dan and Rufus hanging flyers for their band. Rufus

makes dad jokes about getting off your blog. And yeah. Yeah. And just again, firmly letting us know

that this is late 2000s when blogs were like, still were at that point for a dad to be referencing a

blog, it tells you the blogs were on their way out. They're like, dad's just learned the word. But I

mean, Rufus is a cool dad and yeah, it's kind of weird. Like even then, were musicians still like

hanging flyers around town? Yeah. I mean, I doubt it. I mean, maybe in New York, I mean, New York, when

sometimes in certain areas you'll see flyers hanging up. But you think that one of the nine,

number nine of the 10 most forgotten bands of the 1990s would have a publicist. Yeah. Yeah. We're

just enrolling some magazine and yeah, I think you could have like a website. Come on. Yeah. You

should have an agent. You should have someone working for you at this point. And so then from

that, see, we burst into the hospital room with Serena coming to kidnap brother Eric. They're

going to a shopping trip at Bendles. Yeah. I guess funny, I had a little bit of anxiety at this, at that

like, oh my God, like you're taking him out of the hospital. Is that okay? Is that safe? But it's

also, the connection that the two of them have was so touching and how she wants to get him out and get

him doing things and doesn't want to hide him away and how she's not ashamed of her brother and what

has happened to him where it really shows you that Serena wants him to be better not be hidden. Yes.

Even early on, I think we see that they kind of took care of themselves to a certain extent. Lily

probably was not the best mother. Yeah. You get that impression a lot. They were sort of the kids on

their own, sort of the upper east side version of a latchkey kid, almost. So then we move into Bendles

and Jenny is shopping for a dress and she has called Dan for advice because she apparently has no

friends either and no mom because she, the mom is in Hudson and dad will not go into her department

store. Yeah. Come on, come on, dad. Like, it's not hard to do. You can go in and tell your daughter she

looks beautiful and at the same time, though, I love that they set up this relationship with Dan

and Jenny. Yeah. They are a close brother and sister that they know that their parents are going

through shit and they have each other for it and that they're, I love the relationship that that

established and, you know, yeah, it's awkward to go with your dress shopping with your sister. Yes.

And he does it anyway. And clearly, like, they have separate interests, but they, yes, like I just

said, they are there for each other. And we see Serena and Eric show up and Dan, you know, like

quickly like ducks behind the clothes rack. Yeah. Again, you see nervous Dan. Yeah. The nervous Dan

spotting of the week where he dims behind the the coat rack as soon as Serena shows up and and he has a

chance to meet the this girl that he's been crushing on forever and hides. Yes. And we also see

so we already saw Jenny, you know, cozying up with Blair, trying to get in with Blair's group, but she

also kind of is playing both sides of the fence here. She she gives Serena an invitation. She's

like, you know, here's an invitation, but don't tell anyone where you got it, which I also find

hilarious because there's only one person writing the invitations. So weird. Don't tell

anyone where you got this thing that is in the handwriting that I was complimented on and hired

to do this thing for. No one will figure it out. Yes. Then we see Nate and Chuck smoking a joint in the

park. They're talking about Nate and Blair having sex for the first time. So apparently they have not

had sex yet. And we got the strong bro culture vibes. You're entitled to type that S. Yeah. Yeah.

You instantly learn how how disgusting Chuck is. Yes. And and yeah, episode one is not Chuck's

finest anything. And so another line right here about Chuck's mother, you know, getting a

medication from people use that to excuse this, the can, you know, as the pilot not being part of

Canada because Chuck's mother is not around after this. And, you know, I will go to detail it is a major

plot point later on, but she is not in the picture. And so that so people use that as an excuse to, you

know, forgive Chuck for what happened to pilot saying it's not in Canada. Oh, yeah. Well, I know

what I watched. Yes. I know what I want. Yes. The show. And I know that I that it that it didn't bode

well for my opinion, Chuck. And and And here's the other side of Chuck is that I've known Chuck. I've

known Chuck's before. And I've been Nate in that sense. I've been a Nate to a Chuck before. And if you

play along, because you don't want to go, you don't want to go to your friends. And now, as an adult, I

look back and I teach my kids to be better than that. I teach my son to be better than that. I teach my

oldest and my daughter to be better than that. And I can't say that I have never known somebody to be a

disgusting creep like Chuck. And have looked for excuses for them. Just like you're saying with the

mom. Yeah. A lot of people, we've all gone through that. But like you said, I do think that is one thing

that Gen Z is they will call people out on it more. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like shows like this made it

acceptable to call people out on it. Yeah. And showed that it was wrong. And also showed people

that, yes, this is happening. You know, there are people doing this. You know? Main characters do

this. Whereas so many other shows, it's the bad person that rolled into town for three episodes

and does something shitty. But no, this is a main character, someone that you're going to have to

watch for a while. You're going to have to lose respect for them right off the bat. Yeah. Close

friends, you know, suddenly you see a real life, close friends and family are sometimes shitty

people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. And yeah, you're absolutely right. All right. So moving on

to Blair and Serena meeting for drinks. They just served kids at upscale bars apparently. And yeah,

I've been drinking from right off the bat with was like, wait, this is high school, right? They said

high school. They said high school. There's an prep school. They said all these things. They're

talking about Dartmouth. So they're not in college yet. So yes, the most of the main cast are

juniors, Eric and Jenny are freshmen. But yes, apparently they can just be served anywhere in New

York. Yeah. Yeah. Walk into bars and order Margenies. So yeah, Serena says she doesn't want

to be queen anymore apparently before she left. She was in the position of Blair is now as queen bee.

She wants to be friends and they see the man friend fences. It's mentioned that while Serena was

away, Blair's parents split up because apparently her father is gay and left her man. And

left her mom for another man. And again, it's one of those things that like that is traumatic with

divorce is traumatic. And you know, learning something about your parents that you didn't know

is traumatic. And so Blair is it's really setting up with Blair and Serena both have very traumatic

family issues taking place right now. That are both more important than the friendship. Both

really need a friend to help them through. So yeah, yeah, right before this happened with Blair, her

best friend in the world just kind of disappeared. Yeah, suddenly to go to a new school. And then her

and of course, at the same time, her boyfriend starts acting kind of weird. Yeah, as soon as her

best friend disappears. So even though Blair is not the best person, you obviously right away kind

of feel sorry for her. And Blair seems intuitive, you know, and you almost get that sense that she

knows there's something there and she doesn't want to. She doesn't want to believe it, but she's

waiting for Serena to tell her. And like, and it leaves Serena kind of hanging at the end that you

can feel there's something she's still holding back. And so as I've seen as we go back to the broken

loft with Jenny and Dan and you know, Jenny's kind of calling out Dan for his disappearing act at the

store and tricks, you know, Dan into going to talk to Serena. Yeah, she's all low. She's probably

just drinking by herself, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And they referenced the birthday party that he saw

her at a birthday party. Yes. And this birthday party becomes a big part of the lore of Gossip Girl.

You know, this is where, you know, they've met, you know, Serena was drunk, but she talked to Dan, who

was accidentally invited to this party. The first party, the high school party went, you know, and

then soon after that, she, you know, soon after that, she kind of, you know, disappeared. Yeah.

So, so even more, you know, of that, of her disappearance affecting other people. And, you

know, and it's funny because she's allowed to disappear. But you have to recognize that there's

a whole world. I don't think that Serena really recognizes that she's the center of an ecosystem

of social culture in her circle, that she's almost, you know, a nucleus. Well, I think she does

realize that and that is kind of why she just left suddenly because she knew she was going to cause,

this is going to cause huge issues for everyone. That makes, that does make sense. But I, but then,

then more to the point, she, I don't think that she really recognized what that and what

disappearing really entailed. That it wasn't just going to be her disappearing, that she's

leaving a vacuum. When she came back, I don't think she was expecting that vacuum to have been filled.

Yeah. And so speaking of that vacuum, we find Jenny, excuse me, Serena at the palace bar,

drinking her sorrows away. And she is confronted by Chuck and they kind of go back and forth to some

quips and Chuck is pretty creepy. And, you know, he offers to take her back into the kitchen to get a

truffle and grilled cheese, truffle oil grilled cheese sandwich which sounds pretty damn good.

Yeah. Yeah. Again, the, just like the skin crawling of Chuck throughout the entire

conversation leading up to, and, you know, the whole like, let's go to the kitchen and you see the

whole like Chuck trying to get her alone, which, you know, becomes a motif. Yeah. Yeah. He

definitely like tells the cooks and stuff that, you know, after they make the sandwich because,

you know, he doesn't know how to cook himself. Yeah. Get out of here. Get out of here. Shoo, shoo.

Yeah. He clears the kitchen in some grand gesture that he thinks is impressive, you know. But yeah.

Yeah. So before we get to that, we do have, it cuts to Nate entering Blair's bedroom and he starts to

confess that Blair's wearing lingerie. They're, you know, they're obviously about to have sex for

the first time. But he begins to confess the secret of why Serena went away. And as we, as it's cutting

back and forth between him talking to Blair and Chuck and Serena talking, because apparently

Chuck also saw this. He was, you know, lurking, watching his best friend have sex. Yeah. Yeah. He

was, yeah, like, but like that seems like such a Chuck thing to do. Yeah. Like, oh wow. Yeah.

There's two people having sex. I'm going to sit and watch. Yeah. Of course, also you're having sex in a

bar at a wedding. Like, you're not really hiding it well. So this is actually at Grand Central Station

as well. This is an actual bar that's at Grand Central Station. Oh really? Because the wedding

happened there, the Shepherd wedding. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, you're having sex at Grand

Central Station. Yeah. You might get an audience. I don't feel like you have an assumption of privacy

at the place where people tend to refer to as one of the busiest places to find things on earth. So as

we're flashing back to the, you know, Nate and Serena hooking up, Chuck begins to get very

aggressive, starts grabbing her. Yeah. And really tries to force himself on her. And really,

and luckily it appears, you know, well actually, unfortunately it appears that Serena probably

has dealt with this before and it reacts appropriately and needs some rain to crash. Yeah.

It gets out of there. Yeah. And did what I taught my daughter to do, you know, hit him. Actually what I

tell my daughter is the number one rule when we watch horror movies is finish the job. You get him

down and if he's still coming after you, you get him down until he's not coming after you anymore. I

believe that's also one of the rules for Zobbyland. You got to do the double tap. Yeah.

Double tap. Yeah. Absolutely. Like, and yeah, good on her. Like, fricking hurt him and get away.

And, and yeah. And as she gets off us, you know, Dan, the perfect stalker moment where, you know, his

crush actually just bumps into him conveniently. I worked that perfectly for him. Yeah. And he finds

her phone and he picks it up as she runs off and. Yeah. And Dan and Chuck show that look. And, and you

kind of have that like. You kind of you're already, I was already excited for, for, for you like

they're going to have this is an over between them. Like, because that was, was that their second time

meeting or did they already meet at the school when he was like, I go here. Yeah. But like, because once

again, because I think Chuck also didn't really recognize him again. Probably not. Yeah. I think

that that was also brought up that Chuck didn't recognize him and, and Dan was like, well, while

Dan was retrieving the phone. And so that, yeah, that sets up the tension for the end of the act. We

get, we get onto the third act. Nate is running with his father in Central Park and, you know, of

course, very competitive. The captain, you know, beats the son. Yeah. Man, it was that whole thing.

The captain just, and we didn't really touch on this earlier, but Nate. Nate from the start is one

of my favorite characters because of how, because of his relationship with the captain. And, and my

relationship with my dad wasn't like that, but it was troubled in its own ways. But it was just, I, I, I

really felt for him right away. And in much the same way that like I've known Chuck's, I've known

Nate's, you know, I've known those guys who can't tell their dad something as simple as like, no, I

don't want to go to the same college you went to. Like, yeah, I know that like you're very proud of

that, but like, I don't want to do that. And, and that, so that race, when they were racing and his

dad beat him and it's like, they're like, like, nothing against beating your kid in a race, but to

be such an asshole about it, like to, to really make your kid like feel like shit for not being faster

than you yet. Like, yeah. So that is definitely a central part of Nate's character. He is a legacy.

His, you know, family has, you know, his future planned out more than any of the other characters.

The other characters actually, you know, so I have something of their own, especially Blair has like

a very clear path planned out of what she wants. Yeah. And as does Dan. Serena is a little more

wishy-washy and Chuck, you know, is, he's more on the business role than the college path. He's on

the, he's on the business path. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and, yeah, and they, what was I trying to say here?

They, they, they all have, even though their parents don't necessarily plan all of their

lives, their parents are all very invested in their plans too. You know, like, but you're right.

The worst of them is Nate, that it is you are expected to go and become a, is it a lawyer? Or, or I

feel like there's something that his dad does that he's expected to become. Well, so that is a

financial guy. Oh, okay. He's not, he definitely wasn't going to go to the same school and it

definitely becomes more of a plot play of what, where, what the plot, the plans are for Nate is. So

we'll get into that in the future. Yeah. But that, that definitely, there is definitely a plan for

him. His mom's side of the family is actually probably the richer and they, they are actually

the Vanderbilts. Oh, okay. So they are old, very old money. Yeah. So, and so also in the scene, we, we

find, you know, the captain finds out that Nate and Blair broke up and he is very distraught about

that. He's like, oh, no, you have to get back together with Blair. You have to get back

together. Yeah. Obviously, there's more to that, but I think we find out later that it's tied to the

business deal with his, the parents. He's trying to get into business with Eleanor Waldorf. Yeah.

And again, it's just the way that these parents are you trying to use their kids as pawns. And, and, and

the other, the flip side of it, the way that it's, you know, you're, you're trying to have your kid

marry his high school sweetheart. Like, come on, dude. Like you're, he's not even, yeah, at 16.

Like, come on, dude. Like that, that doesn't sound like, but I can't. Erred. So that is the original

purpose of marriage, though. It really is. I know. It's so funny when people are like, when people

argue about traditional marriage, I'm like, like, should we be trading land and crowns and

noble, noble deeds? Okay. So after that, we do go to back to the palace hotel. Dan is arriving at the

desk with Saria's trying to return Sarina's phone. Not sure why he didn't just return it again.

He brought it home and they came back in the morning. That's kind of weird. Yeah. Yeah. We'll

just run with that. Yeah. The desk clerk is giving him a hard time, but luckily Sarina just is happy to

walk through. And she, she, oh yeah. Oh, you found my phone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And then

Sarina's mom, Lily, also comes up and trying to get Sarina to go to the party because, yeah, it's about

social standing and, you know, yeah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Her, her mom is very interested in her

attending this party and she is, and she's trying to tell her mom that like, not only do I not want to go

like, really welcome, like they don't really, Blair doesn't really want me there. Like, but she

can't really say that. See, I guess she has to explain why. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And, yeah. And,

and her mom couldn't handle any kind of rift between friends, you know, because that needs to

be swept under a rug. Yeah. And I forgot to also mention, uh, dad definitely makes an awkward joke

about Prince Charming having a foot fetish to the desk clerk. Yeah. I don't know where that came

from, but that was pretty funny. Yeah. Dan Huffery has diarrhea in the mouth sometimes. That's

funny. That's funny. And so, but you know, luckily Dan's there to give Serena an excuse to get out of

the party. Uh, and when she introduced him as Dan Huffery, Lily's eyebrow definitely raises out

that name. Yeah. And, and there, you, you, you've seen the recognition. Um, and then the quick

assumption, it, did they cut right away to, uh, is the name. Yeah. And that's quite the next scene.

But, uh, yeah. So she, she raises her eyebrow at the, the name Huffery, but then she, when she hears

Lick and Hawke, she's like, what? Oh yeah. That's right. Yeah. Because they say that they're going

to the band, to the band. Uh, the next scene is, uh, Nate and Blair at the restaurant. Uh, Blair is

wearing her, uh, her battle attire there. And, you know, they're, they're trying to recognize,

Nate's trying to reconcile on behalf of his dad, basically. Yeah. Um, uh, yeah. And, and, and it,

and it's interesting because like they make a deal and it really is like, uh, hey, this is how we stay

together. And it really felt like a business transaction, you know? And, and that deal is that

Nate will pretend Serena doesn't exist, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. He's not allowed to dog

door and he'll pretend like she doesn't exist, which, you know, I, I immediately was thinking to

myself, how long is that going to last? Uh, then we moved. So that, that we find out, yes, Lily and

Rufus do know each other because Lily comes to the gallery to confront Rufus. They have a history.

They're kind of flirty. But, you know, Rufus is obviously still, you know, because they, you

know, apparently she, uh, she treated, she did on him with Trent and Rithner. Yeah. I, and I loved, I

loved the, I loved the, the, is a comment about how she moved on from, from rock stars to, to

financiers or something like that. It's a billionaires. It's a billionaires. Yeah. From

rock stars to billionaires. Um, yeah. And, and yeah, there, there's the, the history is really

laid out. They clearly had, they, they lay out that they had this thing. Um, and you also kind of

learned that, that Serena and Eric's mom had a wild side to her in her younger days that she was out, you

know, partying with rock stars. Yes. And, and I just kind of have to wonder if it's Trent Reznor has

ever seen this scene. Yeah. And what, what is thought. I want to, I want to see this spittake of

Trent Reznor sitting in its home. We were with a, yes, you know, with it, you know, just sitting at

his house for the first time in 2007 and having to think to himself that I sleep with her. And so we're

back at the loft in Brooklyn. Dan is getting ready for his date and Jenny's getting ready for the

party. Um, Rufus is semi creepy talking about how his daughter looks just like his mom, like the

mother and like just has a weird look on it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah, it's awkward, but especially

with the age that the actor, it just makes it a little awkward. Yeah. Um, the, the, yeah, let me

try. So, yeah. And, and to be fair, the. The portrayal of a father is sometimes difficult not

to be creepier than it actually is, you know, because when we're watching those people on

camera, they don't look appropriately apart in age to be father and daughter. And there's like a

much bigger suspension of disbelief required there. Uh, so we see Blair's mom, uh, being

horrible to her, criticizing her looks. Yeah. So thankfully we never see this actress again. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. She, yeah. And, and it's funny because it is those kinds of things that will, that you get

that insight to how those mother-daughter relationships when, when they, when they do focus

so much on aesthetics and appearances and, and the figure and look and everything. It's, it's really

gross. As we would get a montage of Chuck Blair and Nate Coyote is partying a limo on the way to the kiss

on the list party. Uh, this thing, you know, they look like they're having all kinds of fun. They're

popping champagne and got music playing. But Nate is kind of sitting in the back and doesn't seem like

he's really enjoying himself. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and, you know, you really come to understand that

Nate was, Nate wanted out of that relationship and saw his way out and was going to take it and then had

to, and then took it and then was put right back in. Yeah. His dad forced him back in. Nice. He stuck.

Yeah. And, and, and now he, and now he's just feeling stuck in that future that his dad has laid

out for him. Yeah. Uh, we get a quick scene of Dan looking love struck, picking up Serena in the

lobby. Um, you know, me cute. Moe, he's staring as she comes up on the upper balcony. Yeah. Yeah.

Cute. And so we move to the party. Everyone's arriving. Chuck makes some creepy comments and

goes into full predator mode when he sees Jenny. Um, you know, first Jenny, you know, she's, she

seems just kind of excited, you know, older guy, you know, paying attention to where they're

understandable. Yeah. Yeah. And, and yeah, he, yeah. And, and she, you know, she doesn't hear that

he's the, the, the remarks that he made before he started, of course, you know, circling the

waters. And then so, yeah, yeah. I mean, she just has a guy talking to him. And, and, and I, I just

remember that just cringing when he, when, when they were talking. And so it's, it's tough cause

Taylor Mopson is the actual age of the actress he's playing, which is 14. And then everyone else is in

like 19, 20, 21. Yeah. So it just makes it even more cringy. Yeah. Yeah. It was, yeah, all around us

really gross. And we got Serena and Dan walking on the sidewalk and they meet Rufus as he's loading

the equipment. And, you know, awkwardly cute moment with Serena realizes that Dan brought her

to be his dad. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. And that was cute also. And, you know, and to see her, to see

his dad's band. So you also, you know, she learns that he was, I believe it even comes up then that he

was the number nine of 10 most forgotten bands of the 90s. And so we cut back and Chuck is separated

Jenny from the party and is starting to kiss her and she's clearly nervous. It's really, really

uncomfortable. But, you know, Chuck picks up on him, he backs off. Yeah. We think, okay, not too

bad. He was a little aggressive, but he backed off and, you know, they start talking. You know, he

offers some or a drink though. And then, you know, Jenny's kind of secretly touched you behind your

back. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, she, she learns quickly, this is not a good situation and I'm

uncomfortable and I can't get out of this. And there's that moment where you're a little worried

because she texted the emergency because the prior emergency was the fashion emergency.

Whereas now he almost blows off the text because of it. Yeah. Because we immediately see Dan and

Serena coming out of the show. First, we don't get to see Lincoln Hawk playing. Very disappointed in

that. But we do get some Florida band banner and Dan does get the text from Jenny and he, like you said,

he looks like he's about to blow it off. But he says, you know, she's having problems with some guy and

Chuck and Serena's like, oh, yeah. Let's go. Yeah. Wouldn't Chuck? That's a real problem. That's the

word Chuck. It's like, nope, let's go. Which is good. Yeah. Which again, it shows that very big

shift in, in the very big culture shift of calling that shit out. That I feel like if this show was made

10 years earlier, it would have been a different storyline. Yeah. They clearly all know that he is a

shitty person, but they just kind of accept it because he's part of the club. Yeah. Yeah. So then

we get the arrival at the party of Serena and Dan and this, immediately people just start texting

instead of telling each other that she's there. For some reason, they just, you know, texting

culture is in full swing. Right. Well, and if you remember early texting, that really was like, it

was almost now like, what, the T9 texting? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So then we cut back to the rooftop.

Chuck is now forcing himself on Jenny and she's actively saying no. You know, really hard to

watch. But luckily Dan and Serena arrive and Dan just dropped Chuck with a punch and I cheered.

Yeah. Yeah. Same. I watched with my wife Robin, but it was like, got him. Yeah. Every time, every time.

There's a moment where it looks like he's not going to hit him. When he pulls him away, they start

walking away. Then you're like, okay, okay, but she's safe. But then when he turns, it's like, got

him. But then of course, yeah, Chuck, you know, has to slush shame Serena and as they're walking away.

So Chuck being more of a douche bag. Yeah. It's, yeah, Chuck does nothing to earn any points at all

in the pilot. But we end the episode with Dan and Jenny leaving the party and then we get this cute

scene where Dan grabs Serena's hand and he comes with us and Serena's kind of surprised. But you

know, that's a very cute scene. Yeah. Yeah. And really sets that friendship up, ship in that

relationship up nicely. And we see Nate seeing Dan and Serena holding hands and he's solely drinking

a beer. And then we get Blair and Chuck standing next to each other, getting some chemistry vibes

there. What do you think about the chemistry there? Anything? Um, you know, it was neither of

those characters left the episode looking good necessarily. And so I felt like there was

something maybe there. I didn't really feel chemistry more of a, an alliance waiting to happen

between the two of them. Yeah. Um, and then we end the scene, the episode with Jenny, Dan and Serena

and the cab. And yeah, very cute. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. All right. We are back and we're going to get

into some segments. We're going to start out with episode grades. Steve, what did you think? Um, so I

kind of need to give this one two grades. One as an overall episode of a TV show, which I think was a,

was it B? It was pretty engaging. Didn't really drag it all. Um, but I bump it up to an A when it comes

to being a pilot episode because pilots are so difficult to weave all, to introduce all of these

fresh characters that we've never seen before and weave their stories together. I think it was an A

pilot, but overall it be TV show, be a B episode. So is your final grade of B or an A? I'm going to say a B. I

am going to give it an A. This, I think Josh Schwartz kills it a pilot episodes. Um, I thought, I think it

did a great job at introducing us to all the characters. Great music. Um, we get, you know,

drama, we get action. We get, you know, we get all the relationships set up, I think pretty much from

the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to give it an A. That, that's a fair great. That's a fair great.

All right. I'm moving on to our stock watch, uh, who had a good episode. So I'd say, first of all, um, I

feel that, that Serena and Dan, their stock goes up immediately. Um, both of them, the way that they

are together, they really have kind of almost power couple energy early on. So I feel like both of

them, their stock both went up. Um, meanwhile, obviously, when it comes to sliding stock,

Chuck's stock, when, when took a serious hit, uh, throughout this episode, it started, you know,

dipping and then took a really serious hit. And when you thought it couldn't go down any lower, it

did. Yeah. I'm pretty much in agreement. Uh, Dan, obviously stock up, get to date with this is dream

girl. Uh, Serena comes back and, you know, makes a splash. She's there for her brother. And I think

Jenny also, uh, had a stock up, up moment. You know, she, she's, she's showing, she knows how to play

the game. She's young, but she's, she's on the rise. But yeah, Chuck definitely stocked down.

Horrible episode. Uh, it's going to be interesting to see if they can redeem him. I mean,

as we know, he is a main cast member, so he sticks around. So it's going to be interesting to see

where they take him. Um, I'd also say Nate and Blair stock went down, both of them. And, and I loved Nate

as a character, but acquiescing to a relationship. You're not happy and, you know, for

your father's sake, like, man, you, you're, you're, your stock's plummeting there. Yeah.

You, you could clearly tell that he was not having a good time by the end of the episode. Yeah. And same,

same with Blair. Uh, she is, you know, she's worried, you know, Serena's back and she's

insecure about that. They've always had this competition and for the most part, she's always

lost. Yeah. Now I also, I also feel like, um, like, uh, man, I wish I could think of his name. Rufus's

stock went up, but I also feel like Rufus's stock is like Dogecoin. Yeah. Yeah. But both the parents, I

kind of think we're fairly net neutral this episode. Um, as far as Lillian and Rufus,

obviously, uh, Blair's mom, Eleanor was horrible. The captain's horrible, but they,

they, they're kind of baseline. They didn't really drop. They just kind of are. Yeah. They're

just already there. Although you could argue that Blair's mom's stock dropped so much that she was

removed from the cast and replaced with a new mom. Tushae, Tushae. All right. Moving on, uh, what do

you think was the best outfit of the episode? Um, I actually, because I'm such a much more casual

person and I loved Serena's original outfit with like the skirt, the little train ride. Yeah. From

the train ride. Yeah. The kind of it's something like, I guess sort of boho chic somewhat. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, for me, it was the, uh, outfit that Blair wore, uh, in her lunch, sushi lunch with Nate, uh,

where they were reconciling, uh, obviously like a power off with the, with the red cardigan. You have

the, uh, white button up with the blue stripes and blue Navy stripes and like an untied bow tie

hanging down. I really liked that. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and it really fed into her entire

approach to that conversation and that like I said, it felt like a business meeting. Her outfit

was very intentional. Yeah. Yes. All right. Um, so any thoughts, any guesses on who Gossip Girl is? My

first guess, and I think it's a long shot, but I'm, my original take is Chuck, that I feel like Chuck is

nosy and is always there. Yep. He was, he was watching at the shepherd wedding. He was watching

the sex scene. So he knew that was happening. What's funny is that the only thing going in

Chuck's favor for him not to be Gossip Girl is that he was at, is that he saw Serena and me at the wedding

and didn't talk about it. True. But, but Chuck is my current guess. Okay. Well, uh, I think that wraps

it up from the episode. Anything else you want to add about the episode? Um, nothing I can think of

about the episode itself, but I do want folks to know that they could check us out on Instagram, X,

Facebook and TikTok. Um, X is what we used to call, what we call Twitter. No, no one calls it X. No one

calls it X. We might also have the threads, but. And, and where, where can they find us? Uh, they can

find us at the non-judgmental pod, breakfast pod, the not at the non-judgmental breakfast pod, the

non-judging breakfast pod at the non-judging breakfast pod. And I did write it correctly, but

I'm just saying it wrong now. We'll work on that. We'll work on that. It's a pilot. Yes. And, uh, yes.

Uh, anything else you want to plug? Um, also, uh, come on out to the Christmas village in Love Park in

Philadelphia on Tuesday the 28th, and you can catch me playing some music. I'll be the guy on the

stage with the ukulele. Not nice. Yes. And, uh, so if you follow us on the socials, uh, and then if you

would like to, uh, come check me out on Twitch, I do reviews for PA medical marijuana and also play

some video games and still have a good time. So come out, check me out. It's twitch.tv slash

hotcapicola. Well, I think that's it for now. And, uh, thanks for stopping by and next week we'll be

back for the wild brunch. Yeah. Thank you very much for listening. Bye.