Artwork for podcast Non Judging Breakfast Pod
Gossip Girl S2E07 - Chuck in Real Life [w/Michael Ross]
Episode 7 • 30th September 2024 • Non Judging Breakfast Pod • Mithril Chain Network
00:00:00 01:42:12

Share Episode

Shownotes

Summary

In this episode of the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, the hosts celebrate their anniversary while diving deep into the world of Gossip Girl. They discuss character dynamics, the complexities of teenage rebellion, and the impact of wealth on morality. With guest Michael Ross, they explore fandom, gaming culture, and the narrative structure of the show, all while breaking down the latest episode, 'Chuck in Real Life.' The conversation touches on romantic tensions, blackmail, and the overarching themes of love and fear, culminating in predictions for future episodes.

Special Guest

Michael Ross

tiktok - @Mkr_2222

Smallville: Farm to Fable Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smallville-farm-to-fable/id1496557518

The RPG Academy - https://therpgacademy.com/

The AcadeCon (Gaming Convention) - https://acadecon.com/

Keywords

Gossip Girl, character dynamics, fandom, role-playing games, teenage rebellion, relationships, narrative structure, wealth, morality, cultural commentary

Chapters

00:00 Celebrating Milestones and Introductions

03:09 Diving into Gossip Girl: A New Perspective

06:01 Exploring Fandom and Gaming Culture

08:54 Character Dynamics: Favorites and Dislikes

12:12 Understanding Gossip Girl's Narrative Structure

15:04 Episode Breakdown: Chuck in Real Life

18:11 Character Relationships and Conflicts

21:04 Teenage Rebellion and Parental Dynamics

23:47 The Role of Gossip and Secrets

27:08 Blackmail and Power Plays

30:10 The Complexity of Wealth and Morality

32:59 Romantic Tensions and Character Growth

35:48 Thematic Reflections on Love and Fear

39:12 Cultural Commentary and Social Dynamics

42:06 Final Thoughts and Predictions

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 


Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

http://www.nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com 

Discord - http://njbpod.captivate.fm/discord 

⁠Instagram⁠ & ⁠Tiktok⁠ - @NonJudgingBreakfastPod

⁠ X (twitter)⁠ - @NJBPod

Facebook - Non Judging Breakfast Pod ⁠Page ⁠and ⁠Group⁠.

⁠Linktree ⁠

Youtube - @NonJudgingBreakfastPodcast

Questions, comments Sponsorship requests, or business opportunities? Email us at nonjudgingbreakfastpod@gmail.com 

#GossipGirl

Mentioned in this episode:

patreon_02

Transcripts

Leif:

Happy anniversary, Robin. It is our six year Anna

Leif:

wedding anniversary.

Michael:

Happy anniversary very much.

Leif:

Thank you. Surely said that

Leif:

sooner at school.

Leif:

Yeah, she's not even gonna listen this far at the episode.

Michael:

That's any of the editing's for. You can edit and

Michael:

put it at the beginning.

Leif:

Yeah, well, yeah, she's not even able to say the beginning, I don't think.

Leif:

Yeah, well, it's okay. It just became a TikTok cut.

Leif:

Hey, uprise siders and all you scandal loving listeners out

Leif:

there, you just tuned into the non judging breakfast

Leif:

pod where the coffee is strong, the waffles

Leif:

are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than ever.

Leif:

My name is Leif and I'm your seasoned gossip girl veteran.

Michael:

I.

Leif:

And I'm Steve. You're a newbie. You're a greenhorn.

Leif:

You're, I don't know, Leif, what do you call the season

Leif:

two gossip girl newbie?

Leif:

I'm not sure, but, how you doing on bouncing, the ball

Leif:

on your knee thing?

Leif:

I mean, I'm still learning new

Leif:

tricks every day on the soccer field, I guess.

Leif:

Sounds good.

Leif:

So here's the deal, folks. Leap has been a fan of

Leif:

Gossip Girl since the beginning and I'm watching for the first

Leif:

time. And together we're your dynamic duo, bringing you

Leif:

all of the glamour and drama

Leif:

and sometimes questionable fashion choices of

Leif:

this iconic 2007 series.

Leif:

That's right. Each week we're going to go through

Leif:

episode one, episode at a time. We're going to

Leif:

analyze all the storylines, the

Leif:

obscure references, parallels, and of course, the couture

Leif:

catastrophes. Also, we're going to take a look at

Leif:

fandom and stories, behind the scenes along the

Leif:

way.

Leif:

And since we're all about inclusivity here at the non judging

Leif:

breakfast podesthe, there is always a seat for you at our

Leif:

non judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab your

Leif:

coffee, a mimosa or some of Nate and Chuck's special

Leif:

medicine if it's that kind of day. And let's go ahead and get

Leif:

into this.

Leif:

And we are not alone today, Steve. We are here

Leif:

with a guest.

Leif:

Yes, hello. We are here with Michael

Leif:

Ross.

Leif:

Yes, he is the forever host from the Farm, the Fable

Leif:

podcast, as well as the RPG

Leif:

Academy.

Leif:

Hey, that's very cool.

Leif:

Hey, how's it going, Michael?

Michael:

I'm doing very well. Thank you both for having me on today. I'm excited to be

Michael:

here.

Leif:

Thanks for coming on the show. So, I'm going to ask you something. We

Leif:

asked all our guests, what is your history with Gossip

Leif:

Girl?

Michael:

So the sum and total of my experience is the

Michael:

one episode I watched for your show three times.

Leif:

Nice. You watched it three times? Wow.

Leif:

Impressive.

Leif:

Honestly, it's a really informative episode, though.

Leif:

From this episode,

Leif:

who are your favorite and least favorite characters?

Michael:

Eric is my favorite. He is precious

Michael:

boy and should be protected at all costs. And no matter what

Michael:

happens, I hope at the end of the show, he is in a good

Michael:

place. everyone else is. Lesser

Michael:

degree. I mean, Dan's obviously. So, again, I have

Michael:

no history with the gossip girl, but Dan, to me, was the Rory Gilmore.

Michael:

Is he, like, the person who's not wealthy, but he's hanging out with the wealthy

Michael:

kids?

Leif:

He. I mean, that wealthy is

Leif:

relative, right?

Michael:

I mean, not, like, billionaire. He seemed like he was

Michael:

on slightly lower status than ever.

Leif:

Yes, yes. They're. They're. They're Park Avenue princesses,

Leif:

and he lives it. He lives at a

Leif:

dumbo, you know?

Michael:

Okay.

Leif:

Okay.

Leif:

Yeah. His loft only costs, like, a million, 2 million. Their places

Leif:

cost 50 million.

Michael:

Gotcha. Okay, so I felt like obviously, he was sort of almost like

Michael:

the audience character. Like, he's the most normal kind of

Michael:

person.

Leif:

Self insert for the writer Josh shorts.

Leif:

Yeah. So he's meant to be what

Leif:

you're saying.

Michael:

Okay, so. So I connected with Dan a little

Michael:

bit for that. I hated Chuck from the moment I

Michael:

saw him. I continue to hate him every moment

Michael:

of this episode. And Blair.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

yeah. Chuck. Chuck.

Leif:

Chuck.

Leif:

So I've listened to a few episodes

Leif:

of far defable, and I. One of them. I heard you talking

Leif:

about the d 20 cruise. Did you actually go on it or

Leif:

nothing?

Michael:

So, I did not go on it, but I am signed up for the next

Michael:

one. So, you know, I've been doing podcasting for role playing games

Michael:

for, like, 13 years now. It's a big part of who I am. I even

Michael:

run a small gaming convention myself,

Michael:

and a couple of my. A couple of my friends are

Michael:

professional GM's, and they went on the d 20

Michael:

cruise last year, which is, like, basically, it's. It's a cruise

Michael:

completely separate to itself. And then these. This

Michael:

group hosts, like, a small gaming convention within the cruise.

Michael:

So they are connected, but not the same. Like,

Michael:

the cruise line isn't putting the convention on.

Leif:

Right.

Michael:

They host it. so, anyway, so I'm going next year

Michael:

in April, and, a buddy, a friend of mine who's a podcaster with me

Michael:

on the show, and our wives there was. My wife's not

Michael:

a gamer at all. His wife is some, but they're not gonna do the gaming stuff. It

Michael:

just he and I. So I will be going on the d 20 cruise next

Michael:

year. I think it's an April, so I'm very excited about that. Plus

Michael:

it's cruise, but it's also like role playing games together. So like

Michael:

awesome stuff.

Leif:

Yeah, I've been looking at it. It's definitely seems interesting. We're

Leif:

both, big gamers.

Leif:

Yeah, I was the know each other.

Michael:

The episode you sent me to listen to is like an example. I noticed your,

Michael:

your guest at the time, you were talking about playing dd together. I was like, oh, I

Michael:

didn't even realize that you guys were all gamers too, because that's like my

Michael:

wheelhouse, obviously. Even even more so than farm to fable

Michael:

really is the role playing games, though. Farm day was my more

Michael:

active show currently.

Leif:

That's, that's actually the same with us, that we, we met

Leif:

playing Pathfinder. We we both. I played D and

Leif:

d. I played several times a week.

Michael:

Nice.

Leif:

and but also I want to hear more about your gaming convention.

Leif:

what, where and when do you do that?

Michael:

So, it is in Dayton, Ohio each year in November.

Michael:

It's usually the first or second week. It just kind of depends on schedules

Michael:

and availabilities and that kind of stuff. so this year it is the 8th,

Michael:

9th, and 10th. it is called a

Michael:

catacon, which is an objectively terrible

Michael:

name. No one understands what it means. Everyone

Michael:

assumes it's r katacon. Like their brain just puts the r in

Michael:

there. So they think it's like video games, but it's not the.

Michael:

My original show is called the RPG Academy,

Michael:

so it's a shortened version of the rpg academy

Michael:

convention. And it just kept getting shortened down to now it's a

Michael:

catacon. So once you know, that makes total sense. But if

Michael:

you just see it on a board somewhere. No,

Michael:

but it's like we're open to get like 600 people this year.

Michael:

Very focused on RPG's and

Michael:

specifically not the big two. Like, I love D and D, but

Michael:

most of our games are not d and D or path or their

Michael:

gurps and savage worlds and numenera

Michael:

and indie games that haven't been released yet.

Michael:

Dread, like you name it, if you've seen it somewhere, we

Michael:

probably have it at one of our tables.

Leif:

Yeah, we're. I'm in a, Delta. What's it

Leif:

called? Delta Green. Delta Green, yeah,

Leif:

we've only done, I think, three sessions so far,

Leif:

but I'm in one of those and I've played a bunch of

Leif:

other systems too. I've played seven sea back

Leif:

many years ago. Deadlands, the weird

Leif:

west, that. Those stuff. Those games as well.

Leif:

I love that. Little more polyamorous than I am. Ah, I'm kind of

Leif:

a one system kind of guy.

Michael:

No, I like to dabble. I've been playing

Michael:

D and D since I was like twelve, so for me that's been like

Michael:

37 years. but I really enjoy

Michael:

trying different games and every. Every game I play I steal something

Michael:

from. So even when I run D and D, it's. It's sort of like

Michael:

a hodgepodge of all these other things that I've kind of melded together.

Michael:

So I think it makes me a better game master for D and D.

Michael:

When I play other games. I'll play anything at least once.

Leif:

Yeah, I completely agree with

Leif:

that.

Leif:

I agree. I just don't have the time. So if I'm going

Leif:

to play, I'm going to play what I know I like.

Michael:

Again, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that as

Michael:

well. I would like to quickly mention if I can, I know this

Michael:

episode won't be out until after the announcement, but I

Michael:

actually wrote my first game last year. I kick

Michael:

started it, got it published and it's up for an any,

Michael:

which is kind of like the premier, you know,

Michael:

awards recognition for rpg games. Not

Michael:

necessarily streams and podcasts, there's a bunch of those that have come out recently, but

Michael:

as far as like actual books, games, maps,

Michael:

supplements, the enies are kind of the thing.

Michael:

And I'm nominated in two categories. It's an open voting, but

Michael:

again, this won't be out till too late to vote. But it's still very

Michael:

exciting that the first game I ever actually wrote and published is up for an

Michael:

any for best rules. I'm very proud of it. It's, a

Michael:

GM less game about bad

Michael:

action movies and uses nothing but d twelve

Michael:

s, which I think is objectively the best polyhedral to roll is.

Leif:

The I'm sold, you've got

Leif:

me.

Michael:

So you action twelve cinema anywhere games are

Michael:

sold. You should be able to find it PDF, physical copies, it's out in

Michael:

the world, but hopefully you will be in any winning

Michael:

game by the time this comes out. And so just simply

Michael:

nominated?

Leif:

Yeah. Make sure to send us any links or anything

Leif:

that you want us to share. It will share it when you're

Leif:

posting everything from the episode too.

Michael:

Absolutely. I would happily do that. Thank you.

Leif:

Oh, absolutely.

Leif:

And before we get into the episode, a little, sad

Leif:

bookkeeping today. Last night I was not a huge

Leif:

fan of the show, but since it is part of

Leif:

the genre, rest in peace, Shannon Dougherty, who,

Leif:

lost her battle.

Leif:

Yeah. Very sad.

Michael:

Didn't know that.

Leif:

Yeah. Oh, gee. Queen of this. Of

Leif:

this genre. To 920 and

Leif:

charmed.

Leif:

Yeah. We were actually debating before, show if you were a fan of

Leif:

charm, because I know you're a fan of Smallville.

Michael:

So I had definitely watched a

Michael:

few, like, handful of episodes, but it's not something I watch

Michael:

regularly now. Buffy, supernatural. I'm there.

Michael:

But charm just didn't hit.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The number of times people have said, wait, why are you doing

Leif:

gossip girl? Not a Buffy podcast to me

Leif:

is that comes up a lot because everyone knows that

Leif:

I a huge Buffy fan.

Michael:

Oh, yeah.

Leif:

Which. Which, unfortunately, we don't, fortunately.

Leif:

Unfortunately, we don't have Michelle Trachtenberg in this

Leif:

episode.

Leif:

Having a buffy fan on. She makes appearances

Leif:

on the show.

Michael:

Nice.

Leif:

So I had, not yet.

Michael:

Okay. Never.

Leif:

She's hugely popular in fandom, but I. Yeah, she's

Leif:

not.

Leif:

Okay. yeah, at least her first. Her first

Leif:

stint on the show, she was terrible.

Michael:

Okay, so I have a couple, like, general questions,

Michael:

but I don't know if we better ask them at the top or, like,

Michael:

as we go through the episode. Do you have a preference?

Leif:

Whenever you want. Go. Go for it.

Michael:

Okay, so I just. So I

Michael:

understand through cultural osmosis that Gossip

Michael:

Girl is an actual character

Michael:

that somehow has information about the lives of these

Michael:

people. But how much is that

Michael:

actually public knowledge? Because, like, every time there was a voiceover,

Michael:

I kept asking, well, is this information that is

Michael:

being given to the public? Because no one seems to know the things

Michael:

that Gossip Girl is commenting on.

Leif:

And I was like, yeah, there's two different things.

Leif:

So, first of all, it is Gossip Girl is a

Leif:

person, but it was not planned in the

Leif:

writing.

Michael:

Okay.

Leif:

The very end of the show. so that's one

Leif:

thing to take a cat, but also there's. There is, like,

Leif:

there's a difference between, like, this is, like, way out of

Leif:

his time with, like, social media. Like, there's, like, there's blasts that

Leif:

go out and everyone sees them on their phone. But then

Leif:

also, Kirsten Bell is also just doing, like, an

Leif:

over omnipresent narrator.

Leif:

Okay, so. So you kind of have to

Leif:

decipher between what is.

Leif:

Yeah, he's got a hot.

Leif:

And. Yeah, right.

Michael:

That was. It seemed

Michael:

like, you know, and I did recognize Kristen Bell's voice again. I've,

Michael:

also, Veronica Mars, one of my favorite shows. so I recognize

Michael:

the voice but I was like, no one seems to be

Michael:

reacting to this information. If it is, that is somehow getting

Michael:

public. So I was a little confused about that.

Leif:

And then, yeah, usually when it's what? It's just narration. That.

Leif:

That's just narration. When it's. It's getting out to the public, it's

Leif:

when, like, you see, I'm, like, looking at their phones or their computer.

Leif:

Okay.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

So then my other question is, was that part of the

Michael:

fandom? Like, in the scene where v shows

Michael:

Blair the picture, like, she has blackmail photo

Michael:

as a watcher, should I have been like, oh, is v gossip girl?

Michael:

Like, is that something that throughout the show, constantly you're,

Michael:

like, reevaluating who you think it is?

Leif:

I mean, can I take this one?

Leif:

Go for it.

Leif:

So this is kind of my take on it, as the guy watching for

Leif:

the first time that when I. When I

Leif:

episode one, I was making my guesses

Leif:

and I was really kind of diving into that

Leif:

train of thought. And then the more I learned,

Leif:

the more I found out that there is no

Leif:

figuring it out because they didn't know.

Leif:

Sure. So I've kind of. So

Leif:

as the person that dove in with that

Leif:

in mind, in fact, when I, you know, that was what made

Leif:

Bridgerton so fun for me. The first season

Leif:

I watched, Bridgerton was like, it was six

Leif:

episodes in. I was like, that's. That's who

Leif:

it is. and, and so I

Leif:

had that attitude. But then the more I found

Leif:

out that they don't even know who Gossip Girl is until

Leif:

the last season or the last few episodes.

Michael:

That's okay.

Leif:

So they're really. So they. Any clues

Leif:

that they do give you are all not

Leif:

really given. It's all retro added.

Leif:

I guess they did have someone in mind at this point, but

Leif:

it changed because it was like, I think it was the New York Post

Leif:

put out an article, like, basically pointing out how it was that

Leif:

person. They got salty about that.

Leif:

Was it Chuck?

Leif:

Nah, it was Eric.

Leif:

Oh, okay.

Michael:

That would have been my guess. Just this episode alone, I would

Michael:

have assumed it was Eric was younger brother.

Leif:

He's quite quiet and he sees everything.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

I've been thinking Eric for a while. I've been thinking

Leif:

Eric ever since Eric said they

Leif:

even think I'm gossip girl. Although.

Leif:

Yeah, that was basically them that was commenting on the

Leif:

article that, like, at that point, the article, like, a few

Leif:

episodes back, they made, like, a comment like, oh, message boards

Leif:

we're talking about. Oh, it was. It's Eric. It's Eric.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

I mean, he is the choice.

Leif:

Yeah, the. Yeah, the showrunner Josh

Leif:

Schwartz's famous for reading message boards about

Leif:

shows.

Michael:

And then my last question is how old are these

Michael:

characters supposed to be? I assume high school based off of what I

Michael:

saw.

Leif:

But yeah, the main ones are. Yeah, the main

Leif:

ones are now seniors this year in high school

Leif:

and Eric and Jenny are software. Yeah.

Michael:

Okay. All right I'm ready to go.

Leif:

1718 and then, 16.

Leif:

All right, so we are going to be talking about season two,

Leif:

episode seven, chuck in real life.

Leif:

It was. Original air date October 20,

Leif:

2008 it was based on Dan in real life

Leif:

came about the year earlier, 2007 with Steve, Carell and Dane

Leif:

Cook. Oh, yeah. Underrated

Leif:

movie, I think.

Leif:

I never saw it. I remember it coming out.

Leif:

I remember thinking Dane Cook's in a movie.

Leif:

It's a cute little rom.com.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And Dan Cook plays the asshole younger brother.

Leif:

Yeah, it works for him.

Leif:

I did see it. No, I don't feel like

Leif:

I did.

Leif:

This episode was written by Len K.

Leif:

Rosenfeld, back again for Alaska. did

Leif:

school lies and before that, daredevil in first season.

Leif:

Both, we both gave them like a b range in that

Leif:

reversed on the episodes.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

And it was directed by Tony Warmby, who,

Leif:

previously did Victor Victrola school

Leif:

lies and woman on the verge of. So they're,

Leif:

they're team and Tony Warmby up and when Rosenfeld here quite a

Leif:

bit.

Leif:

Yeah, and that. Yeah, and that. That's

Leif:

a. That first one that the victor.

Leif:

Yeah, we both gave that ace. Yeah, that's it.

Leif:

And so this is also the 7th episode again.

Leif:

And the show loves to do

Leif:

the numbers become significant. So seven

Leif:

7th episode is always like a big Chuck and Blair.

Leif:

Okay.

Leif:

Okay. That's interesting. Speaking m of the

Leif:

directors, though. I was, I was watching pretty little liars the

Leif:

other day and Norman Buckley was the director

Leif:

of the episode.

Leif:

He's everywhere.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The Gossip Girl Wiki episode description

Leif:

reads, vanessa blackmails Blair to

Leif:

help him with her cause, which leads to Blair seeking

Leif:

revenge along with Chuck. Meanwhile, Lily

Leif:

Bart throw an extravagant housewarming

Leif:

party with rebellious Serena is not ready to play by

Leif:

the rules. Also, Dan and Jenny

Leif:

discover a big secret Nate has been keeping from his

Leif:

friends.

Leif:

Yeah. Port Nate.

Michael:

So I watched the boys. So I couldn't. Every time

Michael:

Nate was on screen, I'm like the beep. Like, I just couldn't help

Michael:

it.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. I also saw boys before.

Leif:

What, the white watching big episode.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

Have you seen the most recent episode?

Michael:

Yes.

Leif:

Oh, man. what's

Leif:

the octopus name? Yeah, I know,

Leif:

he went dark again.

Leif:

Yeah. Oh, real dark.

Leif:

So we begin act one with a gossip girl

Leif:

monologue. There's nothing quite like

Leif:

autumn in New York, but it's not the only one that leaves the

Leif:

change. Something in the air brings out true colors

Leif:

in everyone. The episode opens at the

Leif:

Vanderbass penthouse for breakfast. It looks like Bart and

Leif:

Lily are laying down the law and this new fat on

Leif:

this new family arrangement.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

so how new is this? So I get that, like, Chuck

Michael:

is stepbrother Bart. Stepfather

Michael:

was this.

Leif:

Bart and Lily got married in the season one

Leif:

finale. Okay, this is what, the 7th episode?

Leif:

So. But, like, Bart was not in every

Leif:

episode. He was away on business.

Leif:

And Lily, too.

Leif:

Yeah, Lily's away for a few episodes, as well at the beginning of the season.

Michael:

So where they're at, is that Bart's penthouse that the

Michael:

other kids we've been to? No, no, no.

Leif:

It's actually. It's actually Lily's pen.

Michael:

Okay, so Bart and Chuck are now the. Okay. Okay.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Cause this. This is now Lily's fifth

Leif:

husband or fourth husband.

Michael:

Yeah. I got the feeling that she has a lot of

Michael:

relationships that don't go well.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Yeah. Very prevalent.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Yeah. And the moment Chuck is on screen, he does this sort of,

Michael:

like, duck face. I hated him.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yes. He is the batman of the

Leif:

epic.

Michael:

He's the guy brooding in the corner.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The actor is british.

Michael:

Smoldering, maybe.

Leif:

So he's kind of hiding his accent by whispering.

Leif:

Yeah. I've always kind of felt that it's

Leif:

like.

Leif:

And the first season, he didn't do it as much, and the accent kind

Leif:

of came through a little bit.

Leif:

And the second season, he really just went into the whispering for

Leif:

the rest of the run of the show.

Michael:

Blue stealing it up.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

At the loft, Dan and Vanessa, and Jenny are.

Leif:

I did want to bring up that, like, dropping new rules

Leif:

on teenagers is just never

Leif:

a good idea.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

It never works.

Michael:

But at the same time, I thought they were all very reasonable.

Michael:

Like, one night a week, we have dinner as a family, don't

Michael:

go out on a school night, and 01:00 a.m. curvy on the weekend.

Michael:

Like, okay, nothing about that

Michael:

sounds outrageous to me.

Leif:

And, ah, you're right. Like, none of it was

Leif:

outrageous.

Leif:

But they're going from no rules to sully having.

Leif:

Yeah. And. And it's also they're going from no

Leif:

rules to suddenly hearing rules from the new

Leif:

stepdad. Yeah. Which was really the thing that,

Leif:

like, who takes

Leif:

that well.

Michael:

Oh, yeah. Nobody. Well, Eric, actually. Eric does, because

Michael:

Eric is a good Eric.

Leif:

Well, I think Eric knows where it's coming from.

Leif:

Yeah. Eric and Bart have a much

Leif:

different history, which. Which, again, it's.

Leif:

You don't see a whole lot of it, but you see that they have a

Leif:

different history than Serena and Bart. And

Leif:

especially, like, there's a friendship that is

Leif:

brewing with Eric and Chuck, where Chuck is

Leif:

really being a really good big

Leif:

brother to Eric, who,

Leif:

again, like, as they point out later in the episode, was raised by his

Leif:

sister. so it

Leif:

was. Yeah.

Michael:

Okay, I got apologies if I keep interrupting you. You

Michael:

can tell me to m shut down.

Leif:

Please. That that's what you're here for.

Leif:

At the loft, Dan and Vanessa and Jenny are

Leif:

discussing saving a historical bar,

Leif:

and also, Dan is trying out for the soccer

Leif:

team.

Leif:

Yeah. Why are teens

Leif:

saving a bar?

Leif:

You're a teenager.

Leif:

It's something Vanessa would do.

Leif:

It is. But there is a very big

Leif:

thread of teen drinking throughout this series.

Leif:

Oh, like, they do just go to bars.

Michael:

Yeah. I mean, there's one part where Chuck. I

Michael:

get his house. I think he's drinking scotch. Like,

Michael:

that's why I said, how old is Carrie? He's, like, drinking scotch in a smoking

Michael:

jacket. That is not. No 17 year

Michael:

old does that.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah, Chuck does.

Leif:

Except for Chuck bass.

Michael:

Except for Chuck.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And now here is. This is a kid who does

Leif:

idolize people, like Joe Kennedy, and,

Leif:

you know, who does idolize these,

Leif:

like, smooth womenizer.

Leif:

he has an aesthetic he's trying to project, and

Leif:

he sleeps with his.

Leif:

Staff at his father's hotel.

Leif:

Yeah, he sleeps with his staff at his father's

Leif:

hotel.

Michael:

Now that sounds about right.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Serena and Eric are walking down the street. Serena is

Leif:

putting all the blame on Bart for the new rules.

Leif:

Who watches tv anymore? who watches tv on a

Leif:

tv on tv anymore?

Leif:

Right?

Michael:

Yeah, he just. He's so centered.

Michael:

Like, nothing bothers him. Like, he's an

Michael:

aspirational figure, just like, yeah, let's go with the

Michael:

flow.

Leif:

He's the one character that's actually been in therapy on the show.

Leif:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Michael:

That makes total sense.

Leif:

So at the beginning of the very first episode,

Leif:

sarita's coming back to New York because Eric had

Leif:

attempted suicide.

Michael:

Oh, okay.

Leif:

So that's like, the inciting, incident of the show.

Michael:

I got you. Okay. Yeah. So I had no. No context for

Michael:

that at all. But just within the show, I was like, I like this kid.

Michael:

He's got a stuff together.

Leif:

And since that, since you meet

Leif:

Eric, this is what you see really

Leif:

grounded, really, like, new perspective

Leif:

and just, you know, really just tries

Leif:

to see the best and everything. And he's the most mature

Leif:

person in the van der Woodson bass family. Robin pointed that

Leif:

out later in the episode. Robin's my

Leif:

wife. I will be talking about her a lot. Happy anniversary,

Leif:

Robin. It is our six year Anna wedding

Leif:

anniversary.

Michael:

Anniversary very much.

Leif:

Thank you. Should have said that

Leif:

sooner at school.

Leif:

Yeah, she's not even listening as far.

Michael:

That's one of editing, sport. You can edit and

Michael:

put it at the beginning.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

She's not even listening to the beginning, I don't think.

Leif:

Yeah, well, it's okay. It just became a tick tock cut.

Leif:

At school, Nate tells Dan that the coach was

Leif:

impressed. The pair bump into Chuck, who trades

Leif:

insults with Dan. Chuck makes a weak attempt at

Leif:

reconciliation with Nate, who proceeds to just brush

Leif:

Chuck off in favor of Daniel. Blair is, of course,

Leif:

waiting in the wings to rub it in Chuck's face.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Leif:

yeah.

Leif:

At the start of the series, Chuck and Nate were best friends, if you

Leif:

couldn't tell.

Michael:

Okay, yeah, I had some context because I didn't know

Michael:

the timing of when that relationship fractured, but that seemed

Michael:

fairly clear.

Leif:

It was basically just an episode or two ago.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

when they visited Yale together, they all visited Yale. And

Leif:

Chuck basically pointed these, skull and bones guys to beat

Leif:

up, Dan instead of Nate. No.

Leif:

And they were. They were mad at Nate because his father screwed him out a bunch

Leif:

of money, because that's why Nate's now poor, because

Leif:

his dad was, like, a financial advisor who

Leif:

did, like, posey skins and.

Leif:

Yeah, and now he's hiding out in

Leif:

Barbados.

Leif:

M Dominica.

Leif:

Oh, Dominica. He's hiding out in Dominica.

Leif:

Ah, it's a whole big thing.

Leif:

Yeah, but that. So they've seized all

Leif:

the assets of that, including the house. That's why Nate

Leif:

is living like he is, squatting.

Michael:

Yeah. Okay.

Leif:

I do love the line. We're inevitable,

Leif:

Walter.

Leif:

We're inevitable.

Michael:

He's like thanos.

Michael:

So I feel like Blair.

Michael:

I mean, I guess, not to jump to it, but, like, on stock watch,

Michael:

she's down for me because it seems so

Michael:

clear that she's transparent. Like, ah, everything she's

Michael:

trying to do, everyone sees through her. I don't think anyone at

Michael:

any point is ever confused about what her intentions are. And

Michael:

even in that scene where she's so much trying to put up this front

Michael:

that her and chuck are over, I'm like, no, you have the odds for him.

Leif:

Like, you.

Michael:

You clearly want this to happen, and you're trying to manipulate things just

Michael:

so that you, like. It's so clear from the

Michael:

beginning. And I don't know if that's supposed to be intentional or not, but. Or

Michael:

if it's, good or bad writing, but I was like, okay, you definitely want this to happen,

Michael:

right?

Leif:

There's an episode. There's a scene, a few

Leif:

episodes where she goes to Dan and Jenny's

Leif:

house to basically tell on Jenny for

Leif:

doing something. And

Leif:

Rufus's response to her is, basically,

Leif:

you don't have my daughter's best interest at heart

Leif:

when you're coming to me, telling me this thing. and her

Leif:

response is, yeah, well, that doesn't matter. Yeah, I'm

Leif:

telling you anyway. So everybody knows

Leif:

that if Blair is talking to you, she's probably

Leif:

scheming to either get something from

Leif:

you or get you.

Leif:

yeah. Then we go to her disciplinary meeting.

Leif:

Yes.

Michael:

Okay. This was. I hated that out of everything I

Michael:

was. I hated that more than anything. It felt so out of place. Like,

Michael:

I get the mean girl sort of thing, but the

Michael:

one lone fake tear on the girl, I just like,

Michael:

what is this in the middle of this episode?

Leif:

Yeah. Blair.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Blair leaves Chuck to join the minions and castigating the

Leif:

underclassmen, but is interrupted by vanessa.

Leif:

Vanessa blackmails Blair to helping with her

Leif:

save a bar project.

Leif:

To be fair, this kind of clip, though, is,

Leif:

like, when she says a disciplinary hearing, and then

Leif:

you flip, flash to her berating a girl.

Leif:

It is very much in line with

Leif:

the show. Like, to me, it was such a. Didn't

Leif:

skip a beat moment, honestly, because

Leif:

of.

Leif:

Yeah, it was almost just like a transition scene.

Leif:

Yeah, because of the way these. These.

Leif:

This clique of girls

Leif:

behave other times throughout the show. Right.

Michael:

But my question is, was it that she wore

Michael:

pants when she should have worn tights or she wearing tights when they were

Michael:

supposed to be wearing pants? I need to know the context.

Leif:

This is actually, Could you ask that? Because this is actually becomes the

Leif:

iconic line in fandom, and it's the

Leif:

fact that she's, you know, this. This wouldn't be a thing

Leif:

that it's become so popular now, but the.

Leif:

The problem is wearing tights just as pants, not

Leif:

underneath your skirt, like,

Michael:

Oh, okay, so tights as pants is

Michael:

bad.

Leif:

Yeah. Cause now it's yoga pants

Leif:

everywhere. Yeah, but, you know,

Leif:

the. Blair is, you know, on the modest side,

Leif:

and at least in public.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And so. Yeah, so you don't. You don't wear tights as

Leif:

pants, and they weren't.

Leif:

And that whole thing wasn't in fashion yet. Yeah.

Leif:

Like. Yeah.

Leif:

Oh, we didn't even talk about the Vanessa part of it.

Leif:

Oh, yeah.

Leif:

So, yeah, Vanessa is suddenly

Leif:

hypocrite number one.

Leif:

Yeah, she's.

Leif:

They're definitely leading into her villain now. Cause, you know, they

Leif:

realize that everyone hates her already, so might as well just make her a full

Leif:

villainous.

Leif:

Yeah. Vanessa has always been

Leif:

the most self righteous character on this

Leif:

show, and she's always, you know,

Leif:

rubbing it in everyone's face how, you know, being

Leif:

rich makes you a bad person, and I'm a poor

Leif:

person, and so I'm a

Leif:

better.

Leif:

Yeah. Out of the blue, she comes in, and black

Leif:

blackmails for. Yeah. Just. Just to. Just to help, you know, her a little

Leif:

project.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Right.

Leif:

And. And also, that's the worst blackmail.

Leif:

Like, everyone knows you broke up, but they don't know why.

Leif:

You're not blackmailing Blair. You're blackmailing

Leif:

the incest judge couple.

Leif:

No, because the blackmail is that she was basically

Leif:

being cucked, and she allowed it. She was going to allow it for a little

Leif:

while.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

yeah, yeah. I had no idea who those people were. I just

Michael:

didn't demon trying to figure it out.

Leif:

At the beginning of season two, Blair was dating a

Leif:

british lord who was also

Leif:

sleeping with his stepmother.

Michael:

Oh.

Leif:

Who was also sleeping with Nate.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

And paying him money for it and.

Leif:

Yeah, and paying him money for it.

Michael:

I mean, it's a good gig if you can get it.

Leif:

yes.

Leif:

He would have rathered Vanessa. Oddly enough.

Leif:

Serena is home reading, and Chuck taunts her about

Leif:

how the new rules don't apply to him. He said the

Leif:

new rules are just to close a business deal, and Serena's

Leif:

notoriety is working against her.

Michael:

So one of the things about this episode

Michael:

that I almost felt like I was going through a fever

Michael:

dream at certain points. Like, if you

Michael:

would have talked to me the moment the first episode was over or, the first time I watched

Michael:

it and said, oh, you actually went into a fugue state

Michael:

and watched three episodes. I would have

Michael:

believed you because so much stuff

Michael:

happens. Every storyline has the

Michael:

introduction, a complication, a

Michael:

redoubt, a twist, and then a resolution. You get,

Michael:

like, seven storylines.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

All in episode. I'm like, how fast is this going?

Michael:

And so, like, the thing with Chuck, like, it's very clear to me. And all this

Michael:

new stepdad's coming in, laying down the law. Turns out that's

Michael:

not actually the case. And then Chuck says

Michael:

that it's about this business dealing, but then based on what they say later. I

Michael:

don't know if that. Like, I don't know if Bart's a.

Leif:

Good guy or bad guy, and that's pretty much

Leif:

every episode of Gossip Girl.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Okay. Art fair.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah, they just bird through storylines,

Leif:

and.

Leif:

I think we'll probably touch more on the Bart thing later. But, like,

Leif:

you do see some different sides of

Leif:

Bart from episode to episode that you

Leif:

go, oh, he's not as bad as he. Wait,

Leif:

that's dark. Like, there are some.

Leif:

Yeah, like, he's good with Eric.

Leif:

He's great. Yeah. He's, been a great dad to Eric,

Leif:

and he actually hasn't been a terrible stepdad to

Leif:

Serena. Ah. You know, and again, like, we'll talk

Leif:

about, like, his confronting her later,

Leif:

which I think he did a great job. You know, he

Leif:

hasn't been really terrible to

Leif:

them. It's Serena just, you

Leif:

know, we will get to that, but,

Leif:

yeah, you make a good point.

Leif:

In typical teenage rebellion, Serena puts on

Leif:

a scandalous dress and waits for bar to get home, so she

Leif:

can flaunt her lack of respect for his authority.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And you see him seeing what she's

Leif:

doing, and he doesn't

Leif:

say, get back here, young lady. He doesn't say, you

Leif:

get in here right now. He doesn't say, I'm going to tell. He

Leif:

doesn't say anything. He. He

Leif:

has the conversation with her. She gets onto the

Leif:

elevator. She makes the comment to her

Leif:

stepdad about not wearing underwear.

Michael:

Yeah. I mean, it. It

Michael:

landed as. As the joke. I'm sure it was intended, but there is

Michael:

that dynamic that just. Yeah, I

Michael:

could have done without that.

Leif:

They do that sometimes.

Leif:

Yes. Serena, though, is very

Leif:

sexualized, and she. And, you could tell from her

Leif:

character it's never really spelled out completely,

Leif:

but she's been sexualized from an

Leif:

extremely young age.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And she's just used to old men creepy on her, I

Leif:

think.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Is she, like, the main character? Like, is the show kind of built around

Michael:

her?

Leif:

It was supposed to be about a friendship between her and

Leif:

Blair. I think it was original, but, yeah, Chuck

Leif:

and Blair kind of stole the spotlight with their

Leif:

relationship.

Michael:

Gotcha.

Leif:

Yeah. I actually, just

Leif:

saw blurb recently that said something about

Leif:

how. How Blake lively went into this show thinking

Leif:

she was gonna be the star.

Leif:

Well, she was the highest paid.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. And then.

Leif:

But the show itself took the turn to

Leif:

make Blair a bigger, more of the

Leif:

star of the show. Because of the

Leif:

romance.

Michael:

Yeah. And I don't know if I mentioned it, but when Chuck

Michael:

was wearing the ascot. I actually hated him more.

Leif:

We refer to that as his Fred look.

Michael:

Yes. Yeah, exactly. The only two people I've ever

Michael:

seen with an ascot is Chuck bass and Fred

Michael:

from, Scooby Doo.

Leif:

And it fits both of them.

Leif:

It does.

Leif:

At the Waldorf penthouse, Blair is waiting for

Leif:

Chuck with drinks. Blair proposes a takedown

Leif:

of Vanessa. I sense some cruel

Leif:

intentions. I literally.

Michael:

I wrote cruel intentions in my notes. Like, that is the absolute

Michael:

vibe I was getting from that whole thing.

Leif:

she also. I feel like gossip girl references

Leif:

Shakespeare, and I want to say Macbeth, but I don't know

Leif:

if that's right. because when she says that, everyone

Leif:

ends up dead.

Michael:

Yeah, I didn't get that reference.

Leif:

I've seen this before, and it made me think.

Leif:

I got the whole quote here if you want to read it.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So, yeah, this is the end of the act. gossip girl

Leif:

blast. Is this just in? Blair

Leif:

Waldorf and Chuck bass placing a wager on the takedown of

Leif:

lonely boys BFF. We think we've heard this

Leif:

story before, and we're pretty sure it ended up with

Leif:

everyone dead. Yeah, I mean, that's

Leif:

pretty much every Shakespeare.

Leif:

I mean, it's every Shakespeare tragedy is somebody.

Leif:

Yeah. But I felt.

Leif:

I felt like it was a Macbeth reference because they try

Leif:

so hard to make the two of them

Leif:

the world. The king and queen.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So we move into act two. The next day,

Leif:

Serena and Blair are at a restaurant. Serena

Leif:

catches the fact that Blair smiles when mentioning

Leif:

Chuck. Eric enters the introduce Blair and Serena

Leif:

to his new boyfriend Jonathan.

Michael:

Yeah, this is where I mentioned that, like, blair's so

Michael:

transparent. Like, Serena, who, doesn't come

Michael:

across as the most perceptive person, you

Michael:

know, instantly realizes that Blair, there's

Michael:

a chuck thing going on.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

And so.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

But you did kind of ask earlier, and I don't. We kind of rush past, but, yes, I

Leif:

think that is intentional in the writing.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. And

Leif:

directing, for that matter. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan has. Oh, and Eric has a

Leif:

boyfriend, so that's. That's.

Leif:

Yeah, I love development. I love development. Yeah.

Leif:

I loved Serena and Blair meeting the

Leif:

boyfriend and. And the, instant

Leif:

approval. Yeah. And, you know, it's one of those things where it's

Leif:

like, you know, Eric's a. Ah, good judge of character, so they're,

Leif:

like, happy for him, and I

Leif:

loved, you see a lot of.

Leif:

When you see a lot of the Blair and Eric

Leif:

interactions, they're some of my favorites because

Leif:

they don't have many, but you always just

Leif:

kind of see this history

Leif:

of these. This, you know, growing up your

Leif:

older sister's best friend, you know, you're

Leif:

all. That relationship between them is

Leif:

always really heartwarming to me.

Leif:

you did say.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Eric is a good judge of character. Although,

Leif:

I guess, boy, you know, like

Leif:

many smart people, we're not always the

Leif:

best judge of partner, because his last boyfriend.

Leif:

Yeah, his last boyfriend was a piece of shit.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Well, again, you gotta have drama from somewhere. So

Michael:

again, this was the only episode I've ever watched. I had no

Michael:

context. And so I won't say that I

Michael:

read Eric as gay, even though,

Michael:

like, sort of the softness of his character did sort of, like, lean

Michael:

that way. But the moment he introduced the boyfriend, I was like, okay, yeah, that totally

Michael:

tracks with everything I've seen so far. So it wasn't shocking at all

Michael:

to learn that, but I, too, was, like, very happy to see

Michael:

that this is just accepting. Tell us all about it. You know, it was

Michael:

just. Which, again, 2007. I don't know. The world keeps changing.

Michael:

But I'm glad that this wasn't, like, a scandalous

Michael:

sort of thing.

Leif:

Yeah, well, and he was

Leif:

outed in an earlier

Leif:

episode.

Leif:

He had a season one, and it.

Leif:

Looked for a second like it was gonna be sort of a scandal. And

Leif:

then they end up having a really great moment with his mom

Leif:

because Lily, the mom, really reacted badly at

Leif:

first, but it was because it was just kind

Leif:

of dropped in her lap and she didn't know

Leif:

how to react. But it. But it was a really great how it

Leif:

played out. They've always been super accepting of

Leif:

him.

Michael:

Good.

Leif:

Dan has suddenly become the Lax bro from

Leif:

episode five, regaling Jenny of

Leif:

tales of glory from the soccer field. Dan

Leif:

response to some teasing about his lack of guy friends from

Leif:

Jenny and Rufus calls Nate to

Leif:

ask him about a mandate. They aren't the

Leif:

Kents, but I do love the Humphrey family dynamic when

Leif:

they are happy. I wrote the

Leif:

Kents in there.

Michael:

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. The one

Michael:

character that we get, like, nothing from, I think, is that Dan's

Michael:

sister Jenny.

Leif:

Yeah. This is a, small episode for her,

Leif:

but, yeah, the next string of episodes are going to be very Jenny

Leif:

heavy.

Michael:

Okay. Yeah, she was, like, kind of like a nothing character. And then the father, I

Michael:

guess, Rufus, again, my Gilmore girls

Michael:

analogy. He's the Luke type, but not really. But

Michael:

I guess that's the closest I could get.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's

Leif:

generally the moral compass of the show.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

He's a former nineties, rock guy.

Leif:

He's from the number nine on the

Leif:

top ten list of most forgotten bands of the nineties.

Leif:

Oh, Rolling Stones

Leif:

magazines. top ten forgotten bands of the night.

Michael:

I mean, better than the 11th place.

Leif:

Yeah. And also, I love

Leif:

just something you probably would

Leif:

have heard about. Cedric is a cabbage patch

Leif:

kid.

Michael:

I googled it. Oh, my m. What's going on? I was like, who is

Michael:

Cedric? And then.

Leif:

Yeah, so Cedric is. Cedric is

Leif:

the. Is Dan's cabbage patch kid. That has

Leif:

been a running joke since

Leif:

season one.

Leif:

Have you watched the OC at all.

Michael:

When it first came on? I think I watched, like, part of the first

Michael:

season, but I have not kept up with it. I don't remember

Michael:

anything about it.

Leif:

And that. So that's also by the same

Leif:

showrunner. Okay, do you remember the Seth

Leif:

character?

Michael:

Sort of.

Leif:

And Adam Brody?

Michael:

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I remember Adam Brody character.

Leif:

He's on Gilmore Girls as well.

Leif:

Yes. Yeah.

Leif:

So he's kind of Josh Schwartz's insert on that show.

Michael:

Okay.

Leif:

His love interests on that show,

Leif:

they both had, like, plastic dolls.

Leif:

Ah.

Leif:

Plastic horses. And so I think on this

Leif:

show, they're trying to set that up with him and Blair, but

Leif:

then Blair and Chuck got really popular, so they didn't do

Leif:

that.

Michael:

Gotcha. Gotcha.

Leif:

Okay, so, like, yeah, it's a

Leif:

weird thing about the show. The overall writing is not

Leif:

great, but they do put all these

Leif:

little teeny things in there. Like, they're almost good

Leif:

writers.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Right. Yeah.

Leif:

Like, they put all these little nuggets. They have obscure

Leif:

references, and, they.

Leif:

Should be writing teachers

Leif:

because they know the tricks of writing.

Leif:

You know, they know that they. They know the.

Leif:

The game of writing, and they have

Leif:

moments of greatness. There are moments of

Leif:

greatness, but a lot of it really is,

Leif:

like, when they start trying to write smart characters, it

Leif:

gets. It gets a little

Leif:

dicey.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

Vanessa is at the bar that she is trying to save,

Leif:

along with Horace, the owner of the bar. They are discussing the

Leif:

situation with Chuck, who pulls, up in his limo.

Leif:

Chuck says he is here to save the day. When someone throws

Leif:

a slushy at Chuck, he gets at his limo and

Leif:

hightails it out of Brooklyn.

Michael:

Yeah, that. That whole scene was kind of

Michael:

weird. Like, I did. Look, you know, I looked up a few things about the

Michael:

show, the. The budgets, and, you know, they filmed in New York.

Michael:

It's very expensive to film there, but that scene

Michael:

felt cheap. And I think it's.

Michael:

Horace comes out, he goes, oh, good turnout, v. There's, like, six

Michael:

extras just sitting there with, like, I don't. Nothing about that

Michael:

felt big or even real. It felt

Michael:

all staged. And it felt was more like a play than a

Michael:

show. That that scene, for some reason, just stood out to me as

Michael:

weird.

Leif:

they do tend to try to make

Leif:

Brooklyn feel poor,

Leif:

like, they. They try to

Leif:

make all. Any scenes in Brooklyn feel

Leif:

a little more drab.

Leif:

Drab, yeah.

Leif:

And the next scene, we get Lily and Serena arguing about the

Leif:

new rules. Serena says she won't be coming to the party

Leif:

tonight. Still thinking it's from

Leif:

Bart.

Leif:

Yeah. Lily and, ah, Lily should have

Leif:

started parenting a long time before

Leif:

this. And it kind of goes back to what I

Leif:

said in the first scene about dropping new rules is that you

Leif:

just can't start parenting, like,

Leif:

now, you know? And I don't know if

Leif:

you have kids. I do. Yeah. I

Leif:

have three teenage plus I

Leif:

have a 20 year old, 18 year old and a 17.

Leif:

and I also taught for many

Leif:

years. And this kind of brings my teacher brain

Leif:

around to where it's, like, the middle of

Leif:

October, and you realize that you have some kind of

Leif:

routine that is way off, and you go to try to fix

Leif:

it. If you tell 30 teenagers,

Leif:

no, we're doing something different starting tomorrow,

Leif:

they're. They're not going to respond well to that.

Leif:

You know? You know, you coming in and being like, this is

Leif:

a new thing starting right now, and you're going to change your

Leif:

behavior now. No teenager

Leif:

responds well to that.

Leif:

Dan shows up at Nate's house and finds an

Leif:

eviction notice. For some reason, dad decides to just go

Leif:

right in and sees evidence that Dan or Nate might be

Leif:

squatting in his own home.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

In a show that is sort of based around the idea that

Michael:

somebody somewhere has access to information that people don't

Michael:

want to know, and he gets out publicly. There is no way that

Michael:

Nate's situation would not be known in that school in 12

Michael:

hours like that. That was, like, the most unrealistic thing in this episode to

Michael:

me, is that no one knows this yet.

Leif:

Wow. That's. I it's really funny that I didn't even

Leif:

think of that, but that is so true. A

Leif:

notice on his door. Like, no one is not going

Leif:

to notice. A sign on

Leif:

his door. Yes.

Leif:

No one is visiting Nate.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Chuck goes to Blair and tells her that the deal is

Leif:

off. Blair ups the stakes to keep Chuck

Leif:

in the game. Careful, b. One

Leif:

thing about making a deal with the devil, he always comes to

Leif:

collect.

Michael:

I think this is where I wrote cruel intentions in my head. It's

Michael:

like that with the, I will put my body on the

Michael:

line for this other thing. It's straight out of that.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. And this is also where you

Leif:

really see, you know, that first

Leif:

interaction where Blair's like, my body wants you, but my

Leif:

brain is too smart for that. So now you

Leif:

see that blair. I mean, scheming

Leif:

is Blair and chuck's

Leif:

foreplay. Breathing. Yeah, and

Leif:

foreplay. and so for Blair

Leif:

to be like, hey, if I make this

Leif:

transactional, you know, it's. It's

Leif:

her brain finding the way to give her body what it

Leif:

wants.

Michael:

I mean, it's like any addiction sort of thing. Like, you're

Michael:

justifying. Well, I I'm out with my friends, so I

Michael:

will engage in this activity or, you know,

Michael:

whatever the excuse is that our bodies will. Our minds

Michael:

will find a way to give us what our body wants again. Therapy.

Michael:

Go to therapy. Therapy's good.

Leif:

Blair has been in therapy.

Michael:

She needs to go more.

Leif:

Oh, yeah. For her bulimia.

Leif:

For bulimia, yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. Specifically for eating disorder.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. That just made me think of it.

Leif:

And in the previous season, we learned that Blair

Leif:

has an eating disorder, so she does see a therapist for

Leif:

that.

Michael:

Well, I'm very happy about that.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

I don't make light of that.

Leif:

No, no. And it actually. And it actually makes her a

Leif:

very sympathetic character in certain. When

Leif:

you see certain lights of it.

Leif:

A lot of pressure from her mom and also from just

Leif:

not intentionally from Serena, but just Serena being

Leif:

who she is.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Which is the person everyone loves.

Michael:

Exactly.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Just, like, effervescently beautiful.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Michael:

Naturally, no effort. And that's not true either,

Michael:

but.

Leif:

And her family was wealthy, whereas

Leif:

Blair's mom has had to, you know, well,

Leif:

they're Waldorfs. But she did have to, like, build up this and the

Leif:

show.

Leif:

They're not the Waldorfs.

Leif:

Oh, okay. All right. They're just Waldorfs.

Leif:

Yeah. Just random name.

Michael:

So, have a question about that, because when Chuck goes to

Michael:

visit Blair, I was a little bit confused about where

Michael:

that was. That was Blair's house, home

Michael:

apartment. Because the way it was staged, it was like it was

Michael:

in a hallway, but there was a table set up with

Michael:

drinks, and there was no one there. It felt

Michael:

really weird.

Leif:

Yeah, that's just, that's one of the sets that. It's a recurring

Leif:

set for Blair's house. Like, it's like a foyer,

Leif:

essentially. They do a lot of, like, a lot. A lot of times

Leif:

when people, like, come to, like, confront her or something,

Leif:

the show loves that. Like, people just show up at

Leif:

a place to, you know, have a conversation. Gotcha.

Leif:

Okay.

Leif:

And then, it's always off an elevator.

Leif:

They all have elevators.

Leif:

They're penthouses, which is really the

Leif:

epitome.

Michael:

Of rich is when you have an elevator that goes to

Michael:

your house.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know how people stay

Leif:

mad that long on an elevator. Like, I mean, like, I get

Leif:

if you're, like, standing upstairs, like, you can keep that

Leif:

momentum going, but if I'm sitting still that long in an

Leif:

elevator, I'm not hot by the time it dings.

Leif:

It's just. What was I here for?

Leif:

Yeah. Blair and Serena are

Leif:

discussing Lily's past husbands. We hear Lily

Leif:

was married to german class with a k but

Leif:

dated. Dated class with a C. Longer.

Michael:

Yeah, I do think, again, talking about the writing, that's actually

Michael:

pretty good writing, and I don't know if, like, if we ever saw

Michael:

that in other episodes.

Leif:

This was just all pre show.

Michael:

Okay, so the idea that they're.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Introducing lore to the world.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Two Klaus's KFC. Yes.

Michael:

I really like the writing of that scene. It sells exactly what

Michael:

we need to know. Tells us everything we. We should

Michael:

learn, does it in a funny and interesting way. So

Michael:

that actually very good writing, in my opinion.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Throughout the show, we get little bits and pieces about Lily's

Leif:

past relationships. They just get. You drop little

Leif:

blurbs like that throughout the show.

Leif:

Yeah. And this is the most that we get in

Leif:

one. Yeah, in one sitting,

Leif:

too, because we've also gotten it throughout the show.

Leif:

We also got the conversation with Blair at one point,

Leif:

and Dan and Nate.

Leif:

Are walking in the park and discussing the Vanderwitson

Leif:

party. Dad discovers that Nate is all alone in

Leif:

the city. Or Nate all alone.

Leif:

yeah. I feel so bad for Nate.

Leif:

He didn't know that Dan and Serena were done, too.

Leif:

I remember thinking that was kind of.

Leif:

So that actually kind of makes sense why people don't

Leif:

know, because he's kind of been keen into himself

Leif:

and staying low on the radar in the

Leif:

social circles.

Leif:

Well, and, I just thought because of the public shunning a few

Leif:

episodes ago that. But,

Leif:

yeah, I was a little surprised about it,

Leif:

but, yeah, that makes sense.

Leif:

Nate's not the most observant guy.

Leif:

No, he is not. Sweet, sweet, cutie

Leif:

Nate.

Leif:

we get a quick needle drop as the scene shifts back

Leif:

to Brooklyn, and we see Vanessa introduce Chuck to

Leif:

horace. They look to be getting along.

Michael:

So is Horace a regular on the show?

Leif:

He's a new character, so. Yes.

Michael:

Okay.

Leif:

Yes. It's actually nice that we actually get a person of

Leif:

color because I was, like, gonna be a real

Leif:

felt he comes. One more episode.

Leif:

Okay.

Michael:

Okay. he felt like he came out of nowhere to me, so I wasn't

Michael:

sure.

Leif:

This is his first appearance, and he comes in one more time

Leif:

in, I want to say, season

Leif:

four.

Michael:

So I know you told me that we don't do spoilers, but can

Michael:

I ask, do they save the bar?

Leif:

I don't think it's ever brought up again, as far as they.

Michael:

Okay, perfect. That's actually the best answer to that

Michael:

question that drags.

Leif:

Yeah, I don't think it's measured again.

Leif:

As far as I can recall, they.

Leif:

Do that a lot, too. They get you really invested in things,

Leif:

and then they're just like. That's all.

Michael:

Yeah. I mean, that, bar styles, like a cool place. It's got a cool

Michael:

history. I hope it's still there. And not a. An arab

Michael:

bread or whatever they called.

Leif:

It, the la palm quintillion.

Michael:

I also googled that it's a bakery.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. When we were watching it, my. My wife,

Leif:

Robin, she said. She said, oh, I did that. So that's how

Leif:

you pronounce that.

Michael:

Yeah, I would. Got nowhere near that.

Leif:

Next scene, we see Dan calling Jenny to hatch a

Leif:

plan to get Nate some good home cooking.

Leif:

Yeah. Dan doing some hardcore friending here.

Leif:

Yeah, they're. They're gonna parry trap Nate.

Leif:

Don't. Don't tell dad, or he might handcuff him to the

Leif:

couch.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

yeah. Serena arrives

Leif:

home to find out that Bart disinvited Eric's new

Leif:

boyfriend, or so she thinks.

Leif:

Yeah, it's a really bad look for Bartley

Leif:

in this moment, and it all

Leif:

is like. Like it. I I felt

Leif:

like the writing did a really great job of making

Leif:

Bart look like an over controlling,

Leif:

demanding dad. And like you

Leif:

said, it wasn't that they were putting unreasonable

Leif:

expectations on it, but they just give you this

Leif:

vibe of him is

Leif:

asserting this control, playing with

Leif:

the expectations.

Michael:

Media literacy teaches us that the new stepfather with

Michael:

the new rules is going to be overbearing, and so he gives

Michael:

us just enough through the eyes of another character that we

Michael:

make assumptions, and then when we learn the

Michael:

truth, it's not, like, perfect, but it's different enough

Michael:

to be like, oh, okay, my expectations have been subverted. This

Michael:

is more interesting than just a clear one way or the other.

Michael:

So. Yeah, I also think that's pretty. Pretty elegant writing,

Michael:

actually, the way that worked out of.

Leif:

Yeah, and. And, you know, as.

Leif:

As a dad with a. With

Leif:

kids with a stepdad, I don't think Bart

Leif:

ever actually oversteps

Leif:

again. We'll get to that. But, like, in this case,

Leif:

in this very specific case

Leif:

now.

Leif:

So both of you are watching this episode for the

Leif:

first time. Did you guys pick up

Leif:

on it at all before the reveal?

Leif:

No. No.

Michael:

I pretty much believe that Bart was controlling,

Michael:

this because of the investment. Based on what Chuck had said, I

Michael:

believe that.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

I honestly don't remember if I picked up or not. But the one

Leif:

clue, I think, is Eric, because he's always kind

Leif:

of like, no, I don't think it's Bart.

Leif:

Well, yeah, he's all. He's. The entire time,

Leif:

he's championing. Championing Bart.

Leif:

And so you have those clues there.

Leif:

It's also, in a previous episode,

Leif:

Bart has shown Lily that he has

Leif:

some kind of information on her that

Leif:

is scandalous, that Lily doesn't want to

Leif:

get out and that Bart doesn't want to get out.

Leif:

So we know that Bart has, like.

Leif:

He does like to control information.

Leif:

Yeah. He controls information, and he has

Leif:

had a private investigator

Leif:

look into his fiance

Leif:

now. Wife.

Michael:

Sure. I mean, when you're talking billions of dollars and

Michael:

mergers, like, yeah. You're going to do your due diligence unless you're on

Michael:

Smallville.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So this is all, like, this is.

Leif:

Yeah. Bart Bass is basically Trump before Trump

Leif:

was a politician.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Because this is 2008 Trump. So he's kind

Leif:

of like a a version of Trump.

Leif:

Yeah. And often, there are many times

Leif:

that he gives off,

Leif:

like, supervillain Lex Luthor.

Leif:

Lex Luthor vibes, you know?

Michael:

Right.

Leif:

He gives you those Lionel

Leif:

Luthor vibes.

Leif:

Outside of the bar, Chuck and Vanessa are connecting,

Leif:

but Chuck gets a text from Blair and appears to

Leif:

refocus on his mission.

Leif:

Looks like they were, He was wavering a little bit. He's actually kind

Leif:

of. Yeah, he liked. He, like. He definitely

Leif:

likes the attention and

Leif:

reinforcement.

Leif:

Yeah. And I feel like. I feel like

Leif:

Brooklyn could do a little good for Chuck.

Leif:

You know? I think that, like, and we see

Leif:

this in a lot of characters, it's almost like they get to Brooklyn, and

Leif:

then they have, like, a soft side to them

Leif:

sometimes, you know, like, the show

Leif:

in.

Leif:

Yeah. This show definitely goes out of its way

Leif:

to tell us that the upper 80 side is

Leif:

clearly a corrupting influence.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The longer you're in contact with, the worse person you become.

Leif:

yeah. And if you're only way upper middle class

Leif:

and not upper class, then you can be a good

Leif:

person.

Michael:

Well, yeah.

Leif:

At the Vanderbass party, Lily is telling her

Leif:

guests about her art collection. Serena confronts

Leif:

Bart about Eric and Jonathan

Leif:

each says it was Eric's decision, and

Leif:

I believe him.

Leif:

So at that point, when Serena says

Leif:

that a billionaire to a teenager,

Leif:

a real even playing ground.

Leif:

That moment, I was still

Leif:

siding with Serena. That moment, I

Leif:

still was like, oh, yeah, you had a

Leif:

conversation with him. Like, yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Ah. Like. Like, How did that

Leif:

conversation go? How. You know,

Leif:

I. So I was still firmly,

Leif:

like, oh, yeah, you had a conversation with him.

Leif:

Chuck and Blair have a quick scene. Blair asked for

Leif:

a progress report, but Chuck now seems

Leif:

disinterested in the mission.

Michael:

Is this the scene where she was wearing the dress that

Michael:

Chuck had bought her? Cause I think there was a scene where she was putting it

Michael:

on with Serena earlier. Cause I. There's one I'm trying to find myself in

Michael:

my notes here. I know there's a scene where it's very clear she's upset that

Michael:

Chuck didn't respond to the dress she was wearing. I think

Michael:

that's the scene that may be mixed up.

Leif:

Yeah, I think. Yeah. Yeah, I think it is.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So as we see, like, Chuck is starting to

Leif:

waver a little bit, but, yeah. Blair's trying to reel him

Leif:

back in. Chuck goes to greet Vanessa.

Leif:

The chemistry is a bit awkward, but they definitely seem

Leif:

friendly.

Leif:

Yeah. I think Chuck

Leif:

kind of saw an avenue to becoming a real

Leif:

boy through Vanessa and,

Leif:

like, being a. I think that Chuck hit

Leif:

Brooklyn and was like, wow, I could maybe be a little more

Leif:

human. And I think that he's

Leif:

kind of seeing that with Vanessa.

Leif:

Well, when he says to Horace, that might be the

Leif:

nicest thing someone's ever said to him, I think he

Leif:

was.

Leif:

I think that was genuine.

Leif:

100%. Yeah.

Leif:

Bart interrupts and pulls Chuck aside. Blair

Leif:

and Vanessa stare daggers at each other from across the

Leif:

room.

Michael:

Yeah. This was again where Bart as bad

Michael:

guy, that we have made these

Michael:

assumptions that he has been the bad guy in returns

Michael:

to the other kids and the rules, but with his

Michael:

own son, he does seem to pretty much a jerk here. I mean, I

Michael:

don't know. Business opportunities.

Leif:

Maybe he was a bad investment pre

Leif:

series.

Leif:

Yeah. And they have. There are

Leif:

these. Chuck is constantly looking for his

Leif:

father's approval and

Leif:

Chuck's. We learned in a previous episode that

Leif:

Chuck's mom died in childbirth

Leif:

or shortly after, because I don't know which one was the lie and

Leif:

which one was the truth. But we do know

Leif:

that there is hostility from

Leif:

Bart towards Chuck. He is always

Leif:

disappointed in him, and he's there. There's an

Leif:

episode where Serena is getting into

Leif:

trouble after trouble after trouble, and she says, it's not me. It's Chuck.

Leif:

And Bart immediately goes, yup. It's got to be.

Leif:

So. So that's kind of the relationship he has with them. He's

Leif:

constantly disappointed and always expecting

Leif:

Chuck to just be a fuck

Leif:

up.

Michael:

That's. Yeah.

Leif:

Shifting back to the loft, it looks like Humphrey game night

Leif:

is in full swing. Nate is a poor lost

Leif:

puppy, and the Humphreys all want to save him.

Leif:

I know. I have a little note that just says, heart

Leif:

freeze with Humphries. With a heart.

Leif:

Just so sweet. Did you recognize

Leif:

Jenny?

Michael:

Hi. There's a flash of memory. She's

Michael:

a singer, right? Yeah, she's in a band.

Leif:

Taylor Mumpson.

Michael:

Okay.

Leif:

She was. She's singer for the pretty reckless. She

Leif:

was also, Lucy, Cindy

Leif:

Lou, Cyndi Lou who? In the Jim

Leif:

Carrey Grinch that stole Christmas.

Michael:

Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Again, spoilers, but I get the feeling that there might be

Michael:

a Jenny Nate situation brewing if he's gonna

Michael:

be staying there. I don't know. Don't have. Tell me. But that would be my

Michael:

guess. I wouldn't be surprised if there's at least some sort of fling in the future.

Leif:

They've definitely had a few moments so far in the show.

Leif:

Yeah, there's some history there that.

Leif:

Nothing really romantic yet, but definitely, like.

Leif:

Yeah. Some intimate conversations and. And.

Leif:

And in clings of Jenny at least

Leif:

having a crush. I feel. I feel like Jenny has

Leif:

a, one of those. She doesn't know she has a

Leif:

crush on him, but has a crush on him. Okay,

Leif:

also, the actors are, what, like

Leif:

15 and 20 something?

Leif:

Yeah. Taylor bumps is the character's actual age,

Leif:

and Chase Crawford is several years

Leif:

old.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Okay. Aren't he?

Leif:

Yeah. Most of them were, like, 18 to 22,

Leif:

I think, when they started shooting, except,

Leif:

I think Eric. Yeah.

Leif:

Now the youngest was

Leif:

1919.

Leif:

Blake was 19. Right.

Leif:

Latent meester.

Leif:

Oh, Layton.

Leif:

All the other ones were 20 or 21.

Leif:

Yeah, but Eric and Jenny were their actual ages, right?

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And their characters are, again, two years younger than the other

Leif:

characters, so.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah, there's definitely a gap

Leif:

there. Vanessa comforts Chuck,

Leif:

and sparks are flying. Blair sees the interaction, and

Leif:

she knows Chuck isn't just pretending anymore.

Leif:

Yeah, I mean, like, Chuck had a good

Leif:

proposal, like, Chuck did the work.

Leif:

And, just shut it down.

Leif:

Yeah, just to shut it down. Like,

Leif:

just to make him disappoint people.

Leif:

Serena is talking to eric, and Eric is not nearly as

Leif:

anti Bart as her. Some reporters come

Leif:

over and start asking Serena and eric questions about the

Leif:

family. Lily comes over for some spin. C.

Leif:

And I think the light bulb is starting, finally starting to go

Leif:

light over Serena's head.

Michael:

So Lily doesn't seem to be the best mom,

Michael:

but she's also terrible at public relations.

Michael:

If she thinks for a moment that this was a

Michael:

good idea, like, that should have been a more

Michael:

controlled environment. You don't let reporters just ask your

Michael:

kids questions like that. Yeah, no, that was

Michael:

a failure in so many regards.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah, I do. Like, they get the resolution to the

Leif:

Eric conversation here where eric's like, no, this

Leif:

was. This was my choice. Like, this isn't how I

Leif:

wanted this to go down. Like, I, you know, I wanted

Leif:

this to come out on my terms and not on mom's terms,

Leif:

and. And that was a very mature decision.

Michael:

Very. Yeah. when. When you hear that side and you see that it

Michael:

was like an he had agency in that decision.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

It is such a much. It's like, that's beautiful in a

Michael:

way. Yeah, it's great. Versus the overbearing, dominant, you

Michael:

know, midwestern value.

Leif:

You're gonna make things look bad. Yeah.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

Looks like the best housewarming just got a little

Leif:

colder. Serena walks down memory lane, has

Leif:

her heading out the door, and we move into act

Leif:

three. Blair is trying to call off the bet with

Leif:

Chuck. Blair's passion for Chuck lays dormant for a few

Leif:

episodes while she's feuding with Serena, but they appear to be

Leif:

fully awakened again. Chuck seems to be catching

Leif:

on to as Blair is being fully transparent

Leif:

in her feelings

Leif:

again. the show goes through storylines fast. Like, yeah, the last few

Leif:

episodes, this was not really brought up at all because she was in

Leif:

the middle of a fight with Serena, but they made up in the last

Leif:

episode, so now she can go back to the, last thing after Chuck.

Michael:

Oh, got you. But, you know, everything's Cartman

Michael:

alive now that.

Leif:

That's.

Michael:

Yeah.

Leif:

And then I love that she gets jealous of

Leif:

Vanessa and doesn't really need to be. I don't

Leif:

think that there was really sparks there. There was just.

Leif:

Chuck was like, someone was actually talking to me like a human.

Leif:

Right. And, yeah, I think the show is trying

Leif:

to write it. There was sparks, but I just think.

Leif:

The actors didn't have the chemistry fair that.

Michael:

Yeah, it came across as I thought you were a

Michael:

disgusting piece of garbage, and it turns out you're just

Michael:

a bad human being like that. That's the progress

Michael:

that went.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

It's not romance in this, you know, on

Michael:

the horizon.

Leif:

Yeah. I've been saying since the

Leif:

end, like, when Leif is asking predictions, and

Leif:

I've been pretty much saying since the end of season one

Leif:

that my number one prediction is that they're all gonna

Leif:

bang at some point.

Michael:

Some point. At some point, it

Michael:

transitions to euphoria.

Leif:

At some point, Eric

Leif:

helps Lilly realize she is oblivious and an

Leif:

absentee motherhood.

Leif:

He's the most mature Vander woods.

Leif:

This is. This is actually my scene of the episode. yeah, the

Leif:

acting scene was really good.

Leif:

Yeah, this is. It may be his best that he's

Leif:

done.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

The since you've been gone was your ringtone was

Michael:

like shit's kiss.

Leif:

And I love. Because Lily goes to

Leif:

Eric because she knows that Eric will tell the

Leif:

truth, right. And, you know when

Leif:

she pushes back and he's like,

Leif:

hey, I'm like, I'm going to show you

Leif:

why it's funny because I forgot to mention

Leif:

that earlier scene where they mentioned how

Leif:

they said that they would go to the Waldorfs or

Leif:

the Archibalds and they would

Leif:

alternate so they wouldn't figure

Leif:

it out. And she's like, we figured it out, but we say anything.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan and Rufus are having a conversation aloft.

Leif:

I am so surprised that Rufus is giving good advice to

Leif:

Dan. Total shocker.

Leif:

Solid dadding. Some solid dadding.

Michael:

Yep.

Leif:

The phrasing was a little, kind of off.

Leif:

Yeah, but, I mean,

Leif:

he didn't write it.

Leif:

Back.

Leif:

At the party, Blair has stolen Vanessa's phone and

Leif:

deleted the blackmail evidence. Blair also

Leif:

haughtily reveals her the bet.

Leif:

Vanessa momentarily defends Chuck before realizing she

Leif:

has egg on her face. After Vanessa leaves, Blair

Leif:

admits defeat and tells Chuck to come claim his

Leif:

prize. So this. This is kind of what I was

Leif:

saying how, I thought Vanessa.

Leif:

They.

Leif:

They were trying to write it as Vanessa was attracted

Leif:

to him.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

It just wasn't reading on the chemistry.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Yeah, I agree. I didn't thought there was any chemistry there. I

Michael:

also, again, this was what, 2007,

Michael:

2008? The cloud

Michael:

existed. Right? So just because Blair

Michael:

deleted that picture off of beast phone

Michael:

doesn't mean that picture doesn't exist in seven other

Michael:

places. So I just thought that was such. I mean, it's not as goofy

Michael:

as, like, I'm rerouting through the subnet hacking you see on tv,

Michael:

but that's also nonsense.

Leif:

That.

Michael:

That take your phone and now the picture's gone. That's

Michael:

silly.

Leif:

Well, I mean, it is. The, they don't

Leif:

have iPads. That technology was

Leif:

out. Was out the real world, but the writers hadn't

Leif:

really discovered it yet, so.

Michael:

Maybe v didn't know, but there were kids in

Michael:

2007 would know how to.

Leif:

Get that picture on the Internet.

Michael:

On the Internet. It would be there forever or something.

Leif:

The real estate was just foreplay. I like that quote from

Leif:

poor Chuck Bass. You made your Bethenne, and now you have

Leif:

to lie in it.

Leif:

Yeah. And, also we, What you had brought up

Leif:

earlier, Mike Michael, about. About

Leif:

Blair's transparency. And here she gets to the point where it's like,

Leif:

well, I have to change the rules of the bet

Leif:

to sleep with you.

Michael:

Right?

Leif:

So, like, now your goal has just all

Leif:

been, you know, shown.

Leif:

You showed your cards.

Leif:

And we move into the epilogue.

Leif:

Dan finds Serena sitting alone outside of

Leif:

Nate's place. Maybe these two can finally find

Leif:

some common ground.

Michael:

Yeah, I was confused on this to begin with. I thought

Michael:

that Blair or that

Michael:

not Blair, Serena was outside, like, her apartment,

Michael:

like, just on the street, but that's. They were at

Michael:

Nate's. Like, I was confused of where that took place.

Leif:

Yeah, that's how it's Nate's.

Leif:

So Serena and Nate have probably

Leif:

the closest thing to an honest friend friendship

Leif:

between any of these

Leif:

characters. They slept together

Leif:

before the series started, and that was

Leif:

a bit. Another big piece of the pilot

Leif:

episode and the early episodes of the

Leif:

series, and. And it has

Leif:

come to a point where they have just become two

Leif:

people that can actually talk to each other, that

Leif:

they. And they don't always have that from the other people in

Leif:

their life.

Michael:

Okay. Okay. So, yeah, I watched the episode three

Michael:

times, and I was, like. Each time, I thought it was a different place, but

Michael:

I never felt secure in what I knew. So I was a little bit confused as to

Michael:

where that happened, but I did. I could tell there was

Michael:

a history between those two characters, Serena and Nate.

Michael:

But m without the context, I didn't know for sure what was

Michael:

going on.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Now this, this watch through, I've found

Leif:

that I've been more annoyed by Dan

Leif:

than ever before.

Leif:

Really? Yeah.

Leif:

Cause I'm, like, going through scene by scene because, like, in this

Leif:

scene, like, initially, he's, like, super pissed

Leif:

off at Serena and, like, being all prissy and

Leif:

to her. And then the sooner she seems sad, he's like,

Leif:

oh, let me save you, Serena.

Leif:

Let me.

Leif:

Let me save you.

Leif:

Oh, go on. Well, but let's

Leif:

also. Let's also just flip to

Leif:

Dan. Dan tries to be a good dude.

Leif:

Serena really did fuck with

Leif:

him by having the entire school

Leif:

ignore him. Right.

Leif:

Like, he was addicted to her, though.

Leif:

he was, but they have reason to. He has reason

Leif:

to be upset with her. And she has reason to be upset with him,

Leif:

and so for him to see her and be irritated, I get that. But

Leif:

also to see someone that you loved, that you were in a

Leif:

relationship with, who is, who does

Leif:

say to you, like, go ahead, go ahead, give it to

Leif:

me. it can't get any worse. That that's

Leif:

gonna shake you. You know, I would have done the same

Leif:

thing. I would have been as

Leif:

annoying as Dan. Yeah.

Leif:

It's, just kind of illustrating his tendency to

Leif:

want to be a white knight.

Leif:

Yeah. I mean, yeah,

Leif:

that's always been in his.

Leif:

Yeah. Past. Watch. When I'm not paying

Leif:

such quite attention to this thing, that annoys me

Leif:

as much just because I enjoy Anne's acting.

Leif:

And I find him witty.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

I've been more annoyed with Dan than I've ever been before.

Leif:

Chuck comes to the Brooklyn bar to apologize to Horace,

Leif:

who isn't having none of that. A despite Chuck

Leif:

leaves, however, we see Vanessa lurking in the shadows, a

Leif:

clear signal that this storyline isn't over yet.

Michael:

Or, I mean, you said they don't go back to the bars.

Leif:

May not be.

Leif:

The.

Leif:

The bar storyline is nowhere but the Chuck and, Chuck

Leif:

and Vanessa. okay.

Leif:

It's not like this was Chuck's fault. Like.

Michael:

No.

Leif:

Like, his dad pulled the deal. Yeah.

Leif:

And Horace is just shitting on him. Yeah. yeah.

Leif:

Serena and Dan have an honest conversation. If only they

Leif:

could have done this when they were dating. Nate catches a

Leif:

stray from Serena. Bart pulls up in a limo

Leif:

to give Serena a ride home.

Leif:

Yeah. I love. I love that she gives this deep

Leif:

advice, and she responds with, I thought you were going

Leif:

to pretend to be nate.

Leif:

Nate has been repeatedly shown as

Leif:

just being a himbo on the show. Oh,

Leif:

okay. He gets great

Leif:

grades, but he's not, really the smart

Leif:

character.

Michael:

He's not a scholar.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Like, they're.

Leif:

He hates. Yeah. He's just not observant.

Leif:

He's not observant. Well, he's also not a scholar in this.

Leif:

He hates reading. He hates, you know, that

Leif:

kind of stuff.

Leif:

Another little consistent piece of writing from the

Leif:

show here we see when Bart, pulls up.

Leif:

Hello, Daniel. All the upper east side parents of the

Leif:

show, throughout the run, they always use the full names.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The only one who says Dan.

Leif:

Nate. Yeah.

Leif:

The upper CI east side parents are always Nathaniel.

Leif:

Daniel. Yeah.

Michael:

Charles.

Leif:

Charles. The first time lily said, oh,

Leif:

Charles.

Leif:

Little, we rip on the writing a lot, so I'll give him some props

Leif:

on that one.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Michael:

Nice.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Back at the vanderbat bass apartment.

Leif:

Lily apologizes to Sarita and Eric for abetting them

Leif:

for large chunks of their childhood. Serena

Leif:

also apologizes to Lily and Bart for her behavior over the

Leif:

past few days. Looks like we have a happy Brady

Leif:

bunch moment. Everyone's here and accounted

Leif:

for, except.

Leif:

Except someone's business. Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. No check in the scene.

Michael:

Yeah, he's got other things to take care of. The whole

Michael:

sitting on the floor, eating the cake, it felt like an

Michael:

after school special sort of thing, like, you know, like all

Michael:

the problems have been solved. I know they aren't, but the way it

Michael:

felt. But the one thing that really stood out to me

Michael:

was the way they kind of laughingly joked about Bart

Michael:

killing the story. Like, the idea of, like, catching

Michael:

and killing stories to keep you out of the public eye is not, like,

Michael:

a ha ha knee slap. That's not, you know, that's not

Michael:

a good thing to be laughing about. I thought it was weird.

Michael:

Right, right.

Leif:

And, it's funny because in. In 2008,

Leif:

the attention wasn't there on. On something

Leif:

like that, you know? Like, I feel like

Leif:

today there's such a heightened

Leif:

awareness for that type of

Leif:

activity just because of

Leif:

the, you know, different media.

Leif:

Yeah. This is just like killing a magazine article.

Leif:

Yeah, well, I'm just saying in general, the.

Leif:

The thought of, like, rich people killing

Leif:

an article didn't, you know,

Leif:

I don't think that was really, like, I

Leif:

don't. I can't buy my words for it, but.

Michael:

No, but I mean, I agree with you. Like, you know, at a high level, it's sort

Michael:

of, like the funny thing, but if you think about it granularly, there are

Michael:

reporters that it's their job to write a story, and they are

Michael:

now probably being pressured by an editor. We will

Michael:

fire you if you run this story. So this

Michael:

party you went to, you got free food, but now you got to do a different story.

Michael:

Like, it's actually kind of awful what the reporters would have

Michael:

gone through in that real experience to so make it so light

Michael:

hearted. At least in 2024, that stuck out to me like a

Michael:

sword thumb.

Leif:

well, and getting that kind of pressure

Leif:

often is very, you know, you're right. It's.

Leif:

It's really putting people in a very bad

Leif:

position, and they are just laughing it

Leif:

off.

Michael:

Right. Yeah. It's just. Ha ha. So,

Michael:

yeah.

Leif:

Oh, we're so rich we can control the

Leif:

mediaev.

Leif:

One thing we've actually been talking about a lot in the first, the middle

Leif:

of the first season was the 2008 writer strike, which

Leif:

also happened on small delta.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

I'm right in the middle of the writers strike season right now.

Leif:

Oh, wow. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Leif:

It ruined so many.

Leif:

what is that on smallville?

Michael:

Seven.

Leif:

Seven. Ooh.

Leif:

Yeah. So in.

Leif:

So that was a big change, but the other big change

Leif:

that kind of happened in the real world that's affecting the

Leif:

writing, I think, also is the

Leif:

recession. 2008.

Leif:

So Josh Schwartz's first show, the OC,

Leif:

kind of brought in a wave of shows like that.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Laguna beach and a bunch of other shows

Leif:

glorifying the rich. But now suddenly,

Leif:

people are not really thinking as highly as the rich

Leif:

because you got occupy Wall street starts around that

Leif:

time. So I think they kind of shifted into showing

Leif:

these people just as being horrible people,

Leif:

and let's just be. Let's just watch the be horrible

Leif:

people destroy each other.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Where in the first season, they were trying to, like, lean into the heart of

Leif:

the show, and, you know, Dan, Serena's relationship

Leif:

was the focus, and, you know, Serena was trying to overcome her

Leif:

troubled past. But, yeah, now in season two,

Leif:

they're really kind of just leading into the craziness

Leif:

of doing horrible things.

Leif:

Yeah. And there's a lot of, like, we've mentioned

Leif:

before that they. They have this juxtaposition of,

Leif:

if you're rich, you'll do terrible things, and if

Leif:

you're less rich, you won't.

Michael:

Or you'll do less terrible things.

Leif:

Yeah. Or you'll do that. And you even see Jenny's

Leif:

character, the more she tries to get

Leif:

in with the rich crowd, the more

Leif:

terrible she becomes. And

Leif:

that was, like, she got to be diabolical in the

Leif:

first season because of that, going from

Leif:

being, like, this super sweetheart. Now she's back to a sweetheart.

Leif:

So I'm waiting for her to be diabolical again because that was fun.

Leif:

Wait till you see the preview for next week.

Leif:

Looks like Nate is coming to stay at the humphries after

Leif:

all. yay.

Michael:

Good for Nate. though I will say two players

Michael:

categories is terrible. Never, ever plays categories of two

Michael:

player. You need at least three, because otherwise, you know,

Michael:

the whole game is built upon the uniqueness of answers. If you only

Michael:

have two people, it just doesn't work.

Leif:

Right, right. Well, I also. I'll get

Leif:

the guitar in the eighties fake book.

Leif:

Yeah. How about wham?

Leif:

Rufus?

Leif:

And that's kind of. I was trying to figure the

Leif:

wham reference, like, wake me up before you go

Leif:

or the other. Like, I can't see why wham would have

Leif:

been.

Leif:

They're just happy.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah, that's fair.

Leif:

That's fair, happy music.

Leif:

The eighties fake book.

Leif:

Chuck and Blair start to go at it, but Chuck

Leif:

demands, and I love you. But now Blair

Leif:

is the one who isn't ready to say it. So Chuck puts on his

Leif:

coat and leaves. Just like the

Leif:

seasons, people have the ability to change.

Leif:

It doesn't happen very often, but when it does,

Leif:

it's almost always right. Sometimes it takes

Leif:

what's broken to becoming whole again. Sometimes it

Leif:

takes opening up to a new people and letting them in.

Leif:

But most times, it's just one person

Leif:

who is truly afraid to show what they feel,

Leif:

getting an opportunity they never thought possible. And some

Leif:

things never change. Let a new game

Leif:

begin. Xoxo, gossip

Leif:

girl. And that is the episode.

Leif:

Say those three words to me. Are you

Leif:

kidding?

Leif:

I loved that. Yeah.

Leif:

So, yeah, the beginning of the season, Blair. Blair demanded that

Leif:

Chuck say, end of season one. It looked like they're going

Leif:

to get together, but Chuck, the last minute, ditches her.

Leif:

And so, at the beginning of season two, Blair like

Leif:

to get like she wants. If he wants to be with her, he has to

Leif:

say, I love you.

Michael:

Oh, okay.

Leif:

He doesn't. She goes off with the dude, the

Leif:

lord.

Michael:

Gotcha. Gotcha. The, the line, if

Michael:

you thought that was long, you have no idea what you're in for.

Michael:

Made me hate Chuck worse. Yeah, I hated him more

Michael:

as the episode went on.

Leif:

Yeah. So, again, watch the pilot.

Leif:

He's. He's awful from the get.

Leif:

Okay, but, I mean, those type of lie, like, yeah,

Leif:

the pilot is not pretty, but those type of lies are actually what makes him a

Leif:

popular character.

Leif:

Yeah, but I think he's. I

Leif:

think one of the reasons he's popular is that

Leif:

he's fun to hate. But there's. Then the other

Leif:

reason he's popular is because it's the sexy bad boy.

Leif:

Dark.

Michael:

Yeah. You want to fix him. like, even in this

Michael:

episode, like, it turns out he did kind of want to help the bar.

Michael:

He did get some, like, maybe fulfillment from this

Michael:

father figure in some way, like treating Emma court like an

Michael:

equal. You know, he doesn't get that from Bart, but it's not

Michael:

enough. He didn't change his character, but there's enough for

Michael:

someone who, if you're really into the show, to think, well, maybe there is

Michael:

a trajectory wherever, you know, it's very much a

Michael:

Lex luthor situation where, like, yeah, we know he's a bad boy. We know

Michael:

it's going to go wrong, but maybe. Maybe we

Michael:

could fix it.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So, any predictions?

Leif:

I, have a question.

Michael:

First.

Leif:

Was Victor Victrola episode seven.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

Okay. That.

Michael:

That.

Leif:

That lines up so well. So Victor

Leif:

Victrola is an episode where Bart does buy a

Leif:

bar. It also has very similar

Leif:

Bart and chuck themes going

Leif:

through it with Chuck. And so it's not

Leif:

just. It's interesting that it wasn't just the chuck and Blair

Leif:

thing, but also the chuck and

Leif:

Bart thing as well, a little bit. I

Leif:

am predicting Jenny's about to get her hat back

Leif:

in the ring. It sounds like. I'm also

Leif:

predicting some more back and forth between

Leif:

Chuck and Blair. yeah. And I'm interested to

Leif:

see what happens with Jenny and Nate now that they're

Leif:

cohabitating.

Leif:

That, would be my big prediction.

Michael:

Is that there will be a romance, at least if

Michael:

not kindled, hinted at with those two. If they're in the same.

Michael:

Same house.

Leif:

What about Dan, Serena? Are they going to get back together again?

Leif:

Honestly, I think they will eventually, but I don't feel like

Leif:

it. I feel like it would be a mistake to do it

Leif:

this soon. I don't think that there,

Michael:

How many seasons did this show run? Six. Okay.

Michael:

Yeah, they're not getting better. They will get back together, but not till, like, season five

Michael:

or something.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Well, they broke up at the end of season one, and they got back together.

Leif:

The second episode.

Leif:

Kind of the first episode of season two.

Leif:

yeah, the very end of the episode, they got back together. They were

Leif:

together for, like, two episodes, and they broke up again.

Leif:

Yeah. I, feel like both

Leif:

of them need to sleep with someone else before they get back together.

Leif:

Nate, love triangle now.

Leif:

Dan and Nader permits now.

Leif:

Oh, get a three love trial going on.

Leif:

Yeah, but that is the episodes.

Leif:

We will move into some segments.

Leif:

We jumped into the wayback machine to check

Leif:

out this week in fandom. hello there. Peabody

Leif:

here. And this is the wayback machine for traveling

Leif:

through time.

Leif:

And this is my boy Sherman. Speak.

Michael:

Sherman. Hello.

Leif:

Good boy.

Leif:

Welcome back to the television without pity forums from

Leif:

2008. Get some very positive first positive

Leif:

reactions to the Humphries in a while. Everyone. Everyone kind of

Leif:

liked when they said set.

Michael:

Okay.

Leif:

They're normally kind of hated in fandom.

Michael:

Really?

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The fandom tends to lean into

Leif:

the rich folks and tend

Leif:

to just kind of go along with

Leif:

the rich folks.

Leif:

Except for the most hardcore of Chuck

Leif:

boys, people like Nate and dad's

Leif:

interactions. I can almost hear the patter

Leif:

of keyboards typing up slash fanfic.

Leif:

Yeah. A lot of people were talking about, like, is this a romance or a

Leif:

bromance?

Leif:

Right?

Leif:

Yeah, because, yeah, they were very

Leif:

cute.

Leif:

Together? Yeah.

Leif:

But, yeah, like, a few. Like, the few Chuck boys were like,

Leif:

oh, Dan doesn't deserve it.

Leif:

Nate needs to go back and worship the altar of Chuck,

Leif:

basically.

Leif:

Vanessa is still the worst, so no shocker there.

Leif:

Yeah, always. She got worse.

Leif:

She. Blackmail.

Leif:

Yeah, this is. This is her.

Leif:

This is her work or actually being.

Leif:

A bad person before, she was just kind of annoying

Leif:

because. So she was just kind of forced

Leif:

into the show because she's. She has no real

Leif:

reason to interact with all these fridge kids other than she was

Leif:

childhood best friends with Dan. Okay.

Michael:

Yeah, that was a. I guess a question I had is I wasn't sure

Michael:

how she circled everything because she seemed to be an outsider.

Leif:

Yeah, she is so, like, right, right from the

Leif:

beginning, even though, like, at the beginning, she seemed like she's kind of a good

Leif:

person. Or at least they're kind of trying to say

Leif:

she was. But everything was forced with her

Leif:

because she had no real place in this world, so she was

Leif:

automatically hated by the audience. Now they're going to

Leif:

just lean into it because

Leif:

she doesn't start being bad to hypocrite.

Leif:

Yeah. One of the things that

Leif:

came up a lot is when Michelle Trachtenberg was on

Leif:

the show, she actually made Vanessa

Leif:

look better.

Michael:

Oh.

Leif:

Like, that's, that's where Michelle Trachtenberg was on

Leif:

the show because she was playing. She was pretending to be

Leif:

someone she wasn't and

Leif:

lying to Vanessa and Dan. And Vanessa

Leif:

was super likable in the scenes where they were

Leif:

together, and then she'd leave and be like, oh, I hate

Leif:

her.

Leif:

People were very happy that Eric has a boyfriend.

Leif:

Yes. Yeah.

Michael:

Yes.

Leif:

And they're glad they're avoiding the same sophomore slap

Leif:

the OC had. so the OC, they decided to try

Leif:

and shake things up by bringing new characters, but on this

Leif:

show, they're kind of shuffling. We got

Leif:

or not romantic.

Leif:

Well, it's early. It's early. Oh,

Leif:

God.

Michael:

I mean, Lily, it's only a matter of time before she goes somewhere

Michael:

else.

Leif:

Yeah. Lily is going to need another husband eventually.

Leif:

Yep.

Leif:

I wasn't the only one that knows Chuck missing from the

Leif:

family moment at the end there.

Leif:

Sorry, I need to add that that's not the Brooklyn bone she's looking

Leif:

for. Yeah.

Leif:

So, yeah, they didn't really touch on it on this episode, but Lily and

Leif:

Rufus have a past. Oh,

Leif:

yeah, they dated, like,

Leif:

before any of the kids were even born. Well,

Leif:

and then they have. They also questionable. Oh, yeah. I

Leif:

mean, yeah, they did.

Leif:

Like, they dated in.

Leif:

Before the show. Before the show start? Like,

Leif:

yeah, before the show start. Well, before the show, when.

Leif:

When his band was touring. They were dating.

Michael:

That's it.

Leif:

But. And then they had a little kind of thing last

Leif:

season for the night before the wedding.

Leif:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Leif:

That she decided to marry for anyways because he only. Yeah, it's really

Leif:

weird, because Rufus wanted to date her but didn't want to get married, but she

Leif:

really wants to get married. Right. then.

Leif:

And Bart.

Leif:

And Bart, we were pretty sure knows. Yeah. Like,

Leif:

Bart went there the next day and was basically like, hey, I have this

Leif:

old apartment that I keep for

Leif:

nostalgia, and I'm thinking I should let it go. What do you

Leif:

think? And she's like, yeah, I think you should let it

Leif:

go. And, like, as if to say, like, I'm ready to

Leif:

move on. Right, right. Yeah.

Leif:

People were wondering, since Lily was such an

Leif:

absentee mother, where was the dad?

Leif:

Why couldn't he have come back and take care of the kids?

Leif:

We've never heard anything about the

Leif:

actual father. Sperm donors.

Leif:

M. Are they related to my

Leif:

wife?

Leif:

Have they given us Lily's real last name yet?

Leif:

Her maiden name?

Leif:

No.

Leif:

Okay.

Leif:

Oh, wait. Has Cece.

Leif:

Yes, Cece's name. So. Yeah, because they

Leif:

introduce cc as Rhodes.

Leif:

They do? Yeah.

Leif:

So we know that's that.

Leif:

So Vander woods and his daughter, her.

Leif:

I'm gonna. I'm gonna have to make an assumption here

Leif:

now that I'm just putting that together. I'm gonna assume

Leif:

that their father is dead, because if their dad

Leif:

is dead, that gives more reason for her not

Leif:

to change her name. And,

Leif:

like, even after being married several times, she kept

Leif:

her name.

Leif:

Well, I think we've talked about this because we talked about your mom, how she

Leif:

never changed her name.

Leif:

Right. But she was never married again, too, so she married

Leif:

it. After she married, she changed her name

Leif:

to Krutzyk for her first husband in March on.

Leif:

But after the divorce, she never changed it. And

Leif:

the fact that Lily has. I mean,

Leif:

because, like, never went back, though. Yeah, she never. Lily never.

Leif:

But Lily never went to any other name

Leif:

other than Vander Woodson. So

Leif:

that kind of tells me that the dad died and left the

Leif:

estate to

Leif:

them and that a lot of the money is in that estate, not

Leif:

that Cece doesn't also have her.

Michael:

I was also curious about the money. Like, is. Is

Michael:

Lily. Does she have money, or is it from the other?

Leif:

Yes. Marriage.

Leif:

She was rich from birth. her

Leif:

mother. We met in season one.

Leif:

That's who we're talking about.

Michael:

Is. Okay, okay.

Leif:

She's. She's really rich. And then she's

Leif:

also married three other guys who are presumably rich

Leif:

as well.

Michael:

The thing is, like, if you know just the big picture, if you have

Michael:

this widower who is very wealthy and she

Michael:

keeps marrying other guys, I feel like she's being fleeced.

Michael:

Like, people are seducing her, trying to get married, taking their cut of the

Michael:

billions and then running. But she obviously has enough money that

Michael:

either that's not the case or those people have their own money, too. I don't know.

Leif:

Yeah, I think it's kind of implied that all our husbands have been

Leif:

wealthy.

Leif:

Yeah. And Lily. And mostly

Leif:

because Lily left

Leif:

Rufus in the first place. Well, she left him for Trent

Leif:

Reznor, but.

Leif:

Well, not really that that was just the excuse she

Leif:

gave. But, yeah, we find. We. That's what. That's what

Leif:

Rufus always thought.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Early in season, we find out that actually, she was threatened

Leif:

to be. No, cC, threatened to

Leif:

disinherit her.

Leif:

Yeah. and

Leif:

then after that, she only dated billionaires. Like,

Leif:

they make many comments about how she only marries

Leif:

billionaires.

Leif:

And then the last point from this week, Chuck, and Blair

Leif:

are hot. Everyone liked their

Leif:

Stevie scene.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So we can go ahead and move into some episode

Leif:

grades.

Leif:

Steve, you are up first this week.

Leif:

So I actually really liked this episode

Leif:

a lot. I really liked the storytelling and

Leif:

the backstories that we got in it. I

Leif:

actually gave this one an a minus.

Leif:

The big knock for me was

Leif:

Vanessa suddenly just being a

Leif:

blackmailer. Like. Like, just Vanessa

Leif:

completely shifting her character

Leif:

to being just as bad as everybody

Leif:

else. I really didn't like that. But outside of that, I

Leif:

really like the way that these stories

Leif:

were told in this episode. So I went a

Leif:

minus. I usually don't go into the a's, but I went a minus on this

Leif:

one.

Leif:

How about you, Michael?

Michael:

So, obviously, I have nothing to compare it to as far

Michael:

as this is the only episode of this show I've ever watched.

Michael:

hard to compare it to other shows and other genres, so I want to go with

Michael:

just a straight down the line. B. I did

Michael:

enjoy parts of the episode. There were parts that were pretty

Michael:

well written. I like how quickly it

Michael:

moved. Like, that was one of my fears that, you know,

Michael:

nothing ever actually changes. It seems like things change a lot in this show,

Michael:

so I could see how it would become compelling, but without

Michael:

anything else to grade it against.

Leif:

B for me, I actually went a little bit lower on this one.

Leif:

It was a good episode. It was slightly, but it was

Leif:

not a great episode, so I gave it a b minus. The

Leif:

directing was pretty good. The writing was solid. The acting was

Leif:

solid, but it just definitely wasn't a standout

Leif:

episode for me.

Leif:

That's fair.

Michael:

It was.

Leif:

It was definitely a midseason kind of transition on

Leif:

Mary because we kind of went through the whole

Leif:

Sereno Blair fight in the beginning of the season,

Leif:

and I think now we're kind of transitioning to this. What's going

Leif:

to happen through the mid season? Okay,

Leif:

moving into Stockwatch, steve, who do you got going

Leif:

up this week?

Leif:

Okay, going up, I had Dan and Nate

Leif:

for, you know, the brohood. You know, the Humphries in

Leif:

general should just get a nod, but I'm really giving it to Dan and

Leif:

Nate. Then I'm also giving it to Eric. Eric

Leif:

really deserves a lot of up stock here for

Leif:

just being the solid brother for, you know,

Leif:

eric has a boyfriend. Like, that's awesome for

Leif:

eric. so I had those three. Those three are

Leif:

my only ups, actually.

Leif:

Michael, what about you?

Michael:

So up, Eric again. Precious boy. Protect him at all

Michael:

costs. I have up for Nate.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Because asking for help can be hard,

Michael:

particularly if you are in a slightly different socioeconomic

Michael:

stratosphere. So kind of like going down

Michael:

maybe to Dan's level. I'm sure that was hard for him. He

Michael:

rejected it initially, came around.

Michael:

So I think he's on the, up.

Leif:

no.

Michael:

And then come back down.

Leif:

Do you want to do.

Leif:

You didn't really see this. Nate's mom

Leif:

is currently staying in their, their Hamptons estate,

Leif:

so it's not as bad as it's paying.

Leif:

Yeah, it's really funny because there's an earlier

Leif:

episode, like, you know, where

Leif:

Nate's like, oh, I'm going to fix this. And, like, all this stuff is

Leif:

happening, and it's like, yeah. Like,

Leif:

it's so horrible that you have been,

Leif:

you know, sent to the Hamptons, to the family

Leif:

estate instead of your upper east side

Leif:

home. Like, you poor thing.

Leif:

His. His name is Nate Archibald, but his

Leif:

mother is a vanderbilt of the

Leif:

real life Vanderbilts. And, this is before they actually lost all their money.

Michael:

So.

Leif:

Okay, that's actually fairly recent.

Michael:

Oh, yes.

Leif:

I didn't know they did.

Leif:

they're still wealthy, but they've

Leif:

lost. They're not generational wealthy anymore.

Leif:

Oh, I didn't know that.

Leif:

Yeah, they didn't teach their, their kids good. They did a lot of

Leif:

gambling and other stupid stuff.

Leif:

Money and.

Leif:

Yeah, after, you know, five or six generations, that,

Leif:

yeah, that goes away, but it did take a

Leif:

while.

Leif:

Yeah, they were stupid for was

Leif:

generational.

Leif:

Well,

Leif:

so moving on to dad. What do you got? Actually, about my

Leif:

ups?

Leif:

Yeah, you're up.

Leif:

Yeah, my upsa. So I had Nate, Dan, Jenny,

Leif:

rufus as well. I had Bart going up

Leif:

because it looked like he was being a bad guy, but he was

Leif:

actually being a good guy. And I know you,

Leif:

Michael. You didn't like, he killed the story, but that just kind of part

Leif:

of the show is we're supposed to accept that

Leif:

that's not really a bad thing. That's not a good thing.

Leif:

I almost gave Barton up, but the chuck stuff.

Leif:

Yeah, right.

Leif:

I just. I just hate shots.

Leif:

Eric, obviously, he goes up, and I also gave Horace

Leif:

an up, even though he looks like he's got loose the bar.

Leif:

I mean, this is good at him on the show. I thought he was a

Leif:

cool guy.

Leif:

Yeah. My only backup to what you said, though, is,

Leif:

like, maybe Chuck wouldn't be such a piece of shit if

Leif:

his dad would just hug him. Yeah,

Leif:

just give the kid a hug, right?

Leif:

You're falling for it. That's the show's right at the eddie.

Leif:

Yeah, I know.

Leif:

I know.

Leif:

Well, I mean, well, you know, it's not like I

Leif:

don't have my daddy issues,

Leif:

so. Going down, right? going down. I have

Leif:

Serena. You made yourself look like an asshole.

Leif:

I have both Chuck and Blair going

Leif:

down for losing it.

Leif:

Yeah, I.

Michael:

Sorry.

Leif:

Literally at some point, but, currently I had

Leif:

Lily also is on my down

Leif:

list, and then Vanessa. I

Leif:

actually forgot to write her down. But then, yeah, Vanessa should.

Leif:

Is, like, my major.

Leif:

Yeah, michael, what about you?

Michael:

So I have Blair again, just so

Michael:

transparent. Everything she's trying to do is everybody

Michael:

sees what's happening, and then she ultimately doesn't get what she wants.

Michael:

So I definitely had her on stock watch going

Michael:

down. I didn't have Vanessa originally, but with the

Michael:

context you have added to this episode, I will add her

Michael:

because I didn't know what the context was for her. I just thought that's who her

Michael:

character was. But if you're telling me that this is, like, departure, that she's

Michael:

just suddenly doing, like, the blackmail stuff, then I will put her on

Michael:

down.

Leif:

In an earlier episode, someone was

Leif:

tried to, like, buy a different tape off of her,

Leif:

and she had the access to blackmail. I

Leif:

guess she kind of did blackmail Blair, but not really because she just gave her

Leif:

the tape. Yeah, like, she had evidence of

Leif:

Blair doing something, and she just gave Blair the

Leif:

tape after Chuck paid her, like,

Leif:

$50,000 for it.

Leif:

He gave her a fake tape, and he.

Leif:

And, yeah, she gave him a fake tape and then

Leif:

gave Blair the real one and donated the money to

Leif:

a, herpes charity for women who have slept with Chuck bass.

Leif:

No, for me going down, I had Chuck and

Leif:

Blair because they both were scheming

Leif:

and it kind of blew up in their faces and they didn't get

Leif:

what they wanted.

Leif:

Vanessa, for the same reasons you guys had, she's

Leif:

taking a turn for the dark side

Leif:

and also Serena because. Yeah, she was just kind of

Leif:

stupid throughout the episode.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, all of that. But here's the

Leif:

best outfits from the last

Leif:

episode we see.

Leif:

Moving on to best outfit. Steve, who you

Leif:

got?

Leif:

my. The slushy suit was. I love that.

Leif:

That. The green shirt, that mint

Leif:

shirt. I just thought it really popped. I love that first

Leif:

outfit, the non ascot outfit of

Leif:

Chuck's. I also want to give a shout out to Horace's

Leif:

shirt. I, loved that shirt.

Leif:

Yeah. What about you, Michael?

Michael:

So just a quick word again. I hated everything that Chuck wore,

Michael:

especially the ascot and the smoking jacket. But

Michael:

I actually thought Vanessa's, outfit at the

Michael:

party.

Leif:

Yeah, I think that for me, though, it

Leif:

was, ah, Blair's black polka dot dress from the. With

Leif:

the pearls, that she wore.

Leif:

In the first act. I almost picked that one.

Leif:

That was actually one of the ones that I started to

Leif:

pick. I love that dress. Ah, and

Leif:

again, part of it is the

Leif:

accessories. They always

Leif:

accessorize her so well.

Leif:

And, of course, Blake's dress or, Serena's dress for horny

Leif:

reasons.

Leif:

Yeah.

Michael:

Like the opening scene where she's wearing, like, a pequ.

Michael:

A, purple sequins vest, a,

Michael:

loose tie, and then, like, It was

Michael:

the weirdest thing.

Leif:

They're allowed to accessorize, like, as much as they want, it seems like.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Not that they ever go to class.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Well, when Serena shows up. Right. Clearly

Leif:

not without the. Without anything under it,

Leif:

you know? And I loved that. we didn't really. I kind of started

Leif:

telling Bart's reaction to that. I was like, hey, I'm glad the suit

Leif:

fits. Like, I'm not trying to change

Leif:

you.

Leif:

That is it for some segments, all we have left is some

Leif:

plugs. But first of all, Michael, thank you for joining us

Leif:

today.

Michael:

Thank you for having me.

Leif:

It was a great time plug for us.

Michael:

So the Ennis will have already been over before this comes out,

Michael:

but if anyone is interested in a GM less role playing

Michael:

game about bad action movies and d twelve dice, you

Michael:

can look for action twelve cinema. I

Michael:

have the podcast, the RPG

Michael:

Academy. It's all about role playing games we've been running for over

Michael:

twelve years. We do segments where we interview people, we do live

Michael:

play, we do reviews, interviews. If it's anywhere in

Michael:

the rpg space, we probably have episodes talking about it

Michael:

somewhere. And then I. Oh, I'm

Michael:

on TikTok now. I just recently started. if you search the

Michael:

RPG academy, you'll find me. But my actual account is like

Michael:

MKR 22. But either way

Michael:

you'll get there. And if you have the misfortune of being in

Michael:

Dayton, Ohio, in November, come to a catacomb because

Michael:

it's a really great convention.

Leif:

It'd be like a twelve hour drive.

Leif:

We're in eastern Pennsylvania.

Michael:

Where are you guys at?

Leif:

I think it's, I think it's more.

Leif:

Okay, eastern, eight to ten, maybe to Dayton.

Leif:

Dayton's like dead center, Ohio, sort of

Leif:

northeast.

Leif:

We're right outside of Philadelphia.

Leif:

I feel like it took me 10 hours to get Sleeto. Maybe it

Leif:

was twelve to twelve.

Michael:

Okay, according to the map, 8 hours.

Leif:

Yeah, I went to, I went to Alabama

Leif:

for a weekend on a road trip a couple

Leif:

weeks ago, so Ohio sounds lovely.

Leif:

Well, if you want to drive.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Okay.

Michael:

Let me know. I know a guy. I can hook you up.

Leif:

Anything you want to plug. Steve?

Leif:

I don't have anything going on

Leif:

right now because I played my gig last

Leif:

night. I would like to shout out to the

Leif:

woman that I met after the show last night because I played every

Leif:

time because it's a regular set. We, see Rufus

Leif:

play a song in season one, and I've

Leif:

learned that song and I now play it whenever I play

Leif:

music, whenever I play a set.

Michael:

Oh, nice.

Leif:

and so shout out to the person who came up to me last night. I wish I

Leif:

caught your name, but thank you for hanging out with us. Good.

Leif:

We got a new fan.

Leif:

Yeah, we, we've got a new fan. She promised to

Leif:

listen. I should have told her pick up around, like, episode four,

Leif:

but I forgot.

Steve:

We have.

Leif:

We definitely had our learning curve. But, I do want to

Leif:

just, plug my TikTok, Steve Marshawn,

Leif:

and Steve dot Marshan, tick tock, and,

Leif:

Instagram Marchion.

Leif:

And,

Leif:

I think that's all for my plugs.

Leif:

Well, if you want to follow me, you can follow me on Instagram.

Leif:

I'm hot capicola. You can follow

Leif:

the podcast on Instagram, TikTok, and now

Leif:

threads non judging breakfast pod. And

Leif:

we are on Twitter as well as

Leif:

jbpod. We also have a Facebook group

Leif:

and page. Just search for nonjudging breakfast

Leif:

pod. And, you can also check our website,

Leif:

notjudging breakfastpod.com and you can find links

Leif:

to our discord server.

Leif:

And if you'd like to give us some comments,

Leif:

questions or remarks on the

Leif:

episode, please feel free to email

Leif:

us@nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com.

Leif:

dot we'd love to hear what you have to say. We'd love

Leif:

to read it back, here on the podcast and

Leif:

we'd love for you to contribute to the conversation, so

Leif:

please do so and get involved with us. We'd love

Leif:

it.

Leif:

So we will be back next week to talk about

Leif:

season two, episode eight. Pret a

Leif:

poor j the Max episode

Leif:

preview reads, a young model

Leif:

encourages Jenny's wild side.

Leif:

oh, Jenny is a designer.

Michael:

yeah, I throw that one

Michael:

liners.

Leif:

Mom'S fashion designing company.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

So yeah, we'll be back next week. Until next time.

Leif:

You know you love us.

Steve:

Xoxo every time you

Steve:

walk away run away you take a piece of me

Steve:

with you there every

Steve:

time you walk away or run away you take a piece of

Steve:

me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

oh it seems I'm walking right to your

Steve:

door door.

Leif:

My heart.

Steve:

Still resting looking for something

Steve:

more.

Leif:

Are.

Steve:

You ever gonna see everything you mean to me I'm

Steve:

trying really hard to believe

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

never feels right when I'm out here on

Steve:

my own

Steve:

I left last night and it feels like

Steve:

way too long

Steve:

are you ever gonna see everything you mean to

Steve:

me I'm trying really hard to believe

Steve:

every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of m me with you.

Leif:

There.

Steve:

Come back to me

Steve:

smile and you'll make my life

Steve:

complete

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away I'll run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there.

Michael:

Close.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube