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Gossip Girl S2E10 - Bonfire of the Vanity [w/Shannon Kelly]
Episode 10 • 20th October 2024 • Non Judging Breakfast Pod • Mithril Chain Network
00:00:00 01:58:49

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Summary

In this episode of the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, hosts Leif and Steve are joined once again by the hilarious Shannon Kelly to dissect Season 2, Episode 10 of Gossip Girl, "Bonfire of the Vanity." The trio dives into the chaotic world of the Upper East Side, where Serena grapples with Aaron's questionable dating practices, Blair faces off with her mother's new beau, and Jenny's fashion dreams go up in flames—literally. They discuss themes of betrayal, parental expectations, and the complexities of teenage ambition. Shannon brings her unique perspective to the table, adding depth and humor to the lively discussion.

Keywords

Gossip Girl, teenage ambition, betrayal, parental expectations, fashion, relationships, podcast, analysis

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

02:15 Guest Introduction: Shannon Kelly

10:00 Discussing "Bonfire of the Vanity"

15:20 Serena and Aaron's Relationship Dynamics

22:45 Jenny's Fashion Dreams in Flames

30:30 Blair's Battle with Cyrus

38:15 Dan's Moral Dilemma

45:00 Chuck's Emotional Moment with Bart

52:30 Episode Grades and Reflections

1:00:00 Stock Watch: Characters Rising and Falling

1:10:00 Best Outfits and Fashion Highlights

1:15:00 Plugs and Closing Remarks

Special Guest

Shannon Kelly

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 


Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

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

#GossipGirl

Mentioned in this episode:

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Transcripts

Shannon:

There's nothing like a teen girl loves more than like a guy with

Shannon:

daddy

Shannon:

verified.

Leif:

Yeah. Teen girls

Leif:

love you, Robin.

Leif:

Hey, upper east 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

Leif:

waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than

Leif:

ever. My name is Leif and I'm your seasoned

Leif:

gossip girl veteran.

Leif:

And I'm Steve, your newbie, your greenhorn,

Leif:

your, I don't know, Leif. At this stage, what do we

Leif:

call the new kid on the block? In Gossip girl

Leif:

terms, I'm not sure.

Leif:

But I think Blair could hear your desperation from the other room.

Leif:

Well, it is pretty much pouring out loud and

Leif:

clear. So here's

Leif:

the deal folks. Leif is seasoned

Leif:

veteran to Gossip girl. And I am watching right now for

Leif:

the very first time. And the two of us are your

Leif:

dynamic duo, bringing you all the dirt,

Leif:

the scandals, and the sometimes

Leif:

questionable fashion choices of this iconic

Leif:

2007 series.

Leif:

That's right. Each week we're going to take a deep dive into the

Leif:

show, analyzing all the obscure

Leif:

references, hidden parallels, and of course

Leif:

the kator catastrophes. And along the way, were also going

Leif:

to take a look at some fandom stories and some behind the

Leif:

scenes gossip.

Leif:

And since were all about inclusivity here at the non judging

Leif:

breakfast pod, theres always a seat for you at our non

Leif:

judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab

Leif:

your mimosa, your cup of coffee, or some of

Leif:

nate and chuck special medicine if its that kind of morning.

Leif:

And let's get into this.

Leif:

Okay, Steve, we are not alone. Once again, we

Leif:

have a guest. We're back for the second

Leif:

time, the stupendous, the

Leif:

spectacular Shannon

Leif:

Kelly.

Shannon:

Hi. What an intro.

Leif:

Don't forget funny too.

Leif:

Yes, incredibly funny.

Shannon:

Shannon Kelly. Funny girl.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yes. Be funny.

Leif:

First member of the two timers club.

Leif:

Yeah. welcome back to the show, Shannon.

Leif:

We're really glad to have you again.

Shannon:

I'm, very happy to be here.

Leif:

I'm pretty sure that we are, recording this

Leif:

podcast. Your second podcast, before. We have

Leif:

played another session of your d and d game though

Leif:

too.

Shannon:

Yeah, don't remind

Shannon:

me. I'm more

Shannon:

dedicated to this craft at the moment.

Shannon:

Okay.

Leif:

It's the right move.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

In fact, I think we're going to replace you with you.

Shannon:

Sorry. Women power.

Shannon:

Yay.

Leif:

So today we are here to talk about season

Leif:

two, episode ten, bonfire of the

Leif:

vanity. The original air date was

Leif:

November 10, 2008, and of course, this is

Leif:

a reference to the movie bonfire at the

Leif:

vanities.

Leif:

Yeah, bond bonfire, the vanity yeah. I. I

Leif:

did. I didn't see it. I. This was one of

Leif:

the really, really.

Leif:

Novel by Tom Wolf.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah. It's one of the really rare movies

Leif:

that my dad's like, no, that's too grown up for you. So

Leif:

I never actually saw it, and I feel like you.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

What came out when you were. When did they come out?

Leif:

I think I was.

Leif:

Didn't it come out, like, late eighties,

Leif:

early nineties? Like, I think I was

Leif:

under 15.

Shannon:

I have never heard of this.

Leif:

That's got, Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis,

Leif:

and Melly Griffin.

Leif:

Yeah. This was actually. This was one of Tom

Leif:

Hanks early films

Leif:

too, if I remember correctly. Was it a

Leif:

comedy? Let it meant to

Leif:

be funny.

Leif:

It's got some funny parts.

Leif:

Okay. Cause, like, you know. Cause, you

Leif:

know, Tom Hanks wasn't really known for anything outside

Leif:

of comedy until.

Leif:

What, castaway? Or was there something before that? Oh,

Leif:

no big. well, that was a comedy.

Leif:

What?

Leif:

That was a comedy.

Leif:

Well, what? Castaway?

Leif:

No big.

Leif:

Oh, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.

Leif:

No, no, I'm saying he was only known for comedy.

Leif:

No, until, like, Philadelphia, I guess, was maybe his

Leif:

first big dramatic role, and then everyone was

Leif:

like, holy shit, he's got more than that. So that's why I was

Leif:

figuring this out.

Leif:

Then he did like, Boris Kampf right after that.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He became, like, the serious

Leif:

actor at that point and was no

Leif:

longer locked into comedy.

Shannon:

But was bonfire vanities as dramatic

Shannon:

as.

Leif:

I do not know. None of us have seen it.

Leif:

Have you seen it? Nah. yeah, I

Leif:

feel like I've probably seen clips.

Leif:

So this episode was written by Jessica

Leif:

Queller. She is back. She previously

Leif:

wrote roman holiday. Blair Waldorf,

Leif:

Smuth. Hi. And the Serena also

Leif:

rises. All good episodes.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Shannon:

Female power.

Leif:

Yeah. and. And all

Leif:

three episodes. Also very, like, important

Leif:

episodes, really, you know, especially the

Leif:

roman holiday and where. Blair Waldo.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Like, very pivotal episodes and very

Leif:

important. Yeah. So, I mean, it adds

Leif:

up.

Leif:

A very, very Blair heavy episodes.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Even. Even though I was Serena in the title was.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Really a Blair episode.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, true.

Leif:

And then it was directed by David von

Leif:

Ankin. This is first and only

Leif:

time on Gossip Girl, but he has been

Leif:

directing tv mostly from 2001

Leif:

until present. Californication. Bunch

Leif:

of procedurals.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Nothing really stands out. Too much.

Leif:

Yeah. and honestly, it's.

Leif:

No, no, no big notes on the directing

Leif:

player and others.

Leif:

This kind of generic.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah. Just. It felt like a. Ah. Very

Leif:

regular episode, you know, you get some good

Leif:

performances out of the, out of people, but they were also the people

Leif:

that you always get good performances out of. You know,

Leif:

looking at you, Margaret Collins. Mark Margo.

Leif:

Margaret.

Leif:

Margaret. Yeah, looking at you, Margaret Collins.

Leif:

we got the Jacobs, tv

Leif:

without publish, without pity recap lit here.

Leif:

So Serena slash Aaron's pretty much

Leif:

non starter this weekend since they just go

Leif:

around and around having the same fight as last week.

Leif:

Aaron is a giant whore. And the

Leif:

same resolution as every week of the show

Leif:

ever. This is somehow Serenas

Leif:

fault. On the other hand, we got to hear

Leif:

the best song of all time, sex

Leif:

on Fire by the kings of Leon, twice.

Leif:

Several months later than

Leif:

usually on point. The show

Leif:

gives us new tunes. Not that im, grateful

Leif:

for the chance to listen to it one more time.

Leif:

And more importantly, wasnt Cindy Lauper on the

Leif:

soap opera hawking that same song on, that one

Leif:

soap opera with the awesome gay dudes, like six

Leif:

years ago? How of the moment, Gossip

Leif:

girl? Anyway, lots of pretty

Leif:

pictures of Serena, no interesting

Leif:

dialogue, the manufactured sexiness

Leif:

running through the Central park in your underwear, lots of

Leif:

awesome music and creen

Leif:

shots. I take it back.

Leif:

That's exactly what dating Serena

Leif:

van der Whitzel would look like.

Shannon:

Jenny and Agnes wait a whole 17

Shannon:

seconds before turning on each other like coke fueled,

Shannon:

rabid kittens. And while it's adorable and we get to

Shannon:

see both of them go completely effing nuts

Shannon:

together and separately, like four deliriously

Shannon:

awesome times each, Jennys constant attempts to

Shannon:

go roguely adult dont really scratch Agnes

Shannon:

itch. She ends up setting all of Jennys

Shannon:

designs on fire. Jenny gets minorly

Shannon:

suicidal, tries to go into business for herself,

Shannon:

is brutally rebuffed, and spends the night crying like

Shannon:

a lunatic in an alley before pulling it together and getting

Shannon:

herself emancipated.

Leif:

Im torn as to which of the other stories

Leif:

I adored more. I usually tell you in order, but

Leif:

this time, I just dont know. Blairs interactions with

Leif:

Eleanor Wal with Eleanors boyfriend

Leif:

Aaron's dad are twisty, delicious,

Leif:

but on the other hand, Dan Humphrey made me

Leif:

cry. You know what? That's embarrassing

Leif:

enough that we're going there. Dan is put

Leif:

is put by Noah Shapiro into the position

Leif:

of doing Bart, a, Bart Bass expose,

Leif:

Baree capper beloved New York

Leif:

magazine, and dutifully tries to

Leif:

get some dirt when he happens onto bigger dirt

Leif:

than he was expecting. He has,

Leif:

several moral meltdowns in a row

Leif:

before pulling possibly the

Leif:

greatest move in the history of the show in

Leif:

an apology for digging up shit,

Leif:

including for real Barts real

Leif:

estate related manslaughter arson from the

Leif:

eighties. He gives up, all his notes to Bart

Leif:

and includes the Charlie trout short story.

Leif:

Hes the only person on earth with the means and

Leif:

opportunity to heal chucks relationship with his

Leif:

father, so he just

Leif:

fucking does it. Brooklyn,

Leif:

I heart you tonight. It feels

Leif:

weird.

Leif:

Blair is all excited about meeting Eleanors new

Leif:

man because Cyrus Rose evokes

Leif:

images of Cary Grant, but what she gets

Leif:

is Wallace Shawn. This causes her to

Leif:

go berserk. So while she is busily shitting

Leif:

all over Serenas relationship as usual, she

Leif:

has to also break up Cyrus and Eleanor.

Leif:

She takes him to dinner to dig for dirt

Leif:

whiles kind of totally in love

Leif:

with his weird little ass, but then gets

Leif:

pushed by her bitch mother yet again into

Leif:

ignoring the angels of her better nature, and she

Leif:

uses the story to break them up.

Leif:

all this takes place with the amazing ceiling

Leif:

camera setup that makes him look like an actual hobbit,

Leif:

reining his neck up to talk to everybody. Of

Leif:

course, Cindy Lauper shows up on Blairs

Leif:

18th birthday party to remind Blair how, much

Leif:

she actually adores him. And

Leif:

then he locks it down by admitting that he

Leif:

manipulated Blair into giving up all her ammo on

Leif:

the first go. we call that forced

Leif:

perspective. This alcohol

Leif:

gaming by the dwarf is, of course,

Leif:

catnip for Blair, and she agrees to

Leif:

an uneasy truce that is

Leif:

translated from Blair's language, means

Leif:

they are BFF. Of course,

Leif:

her many quick changes of heart are

Leif:

rewarded the next morning when Eleanor

Leif:

announces he's moving in that very

Leif:

day. Happy birthday, Blair bear. You get a

Leif:

weird little sicilian dad and Aaron,

Leif:

Bobby Frey brother. Xoxo.

Leif:

next week, Nate and who cares what else?

Leif:

That was fun.

Leif:

Yeah. Inconceivable. Special guest this

Leif:

in this episode.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

That's going to come up a few times. Probably

Leif:

going to be a few references.

Leif:

Not enough.

Shannon:

Conceivable.

Leif:

I wanted to, actually, because while Sean is on

Leif:

this, should you just call me Sean? Because, Wallace,

Leif:

Sean is on this episode. It's not always

Leif:

about you.

Shannon:

Shannon,

Shannon:

self proclaimed narcissist.

Leif:

he was just recently, there was an interview with Preston and

Leif:

Steve in the latest Philadelphia magazine. Preston and

Leif:

Steve, if you're listening from anywhere that's not in Philadelphia, are

Leif:

radio personalities. And they were

Leif:

talking. They were asked what their worst interviews

Leif:

were. Their first one was Wayne Brady. They said he was just

Leif:

a dick. But the other one that they said

Leif:

was Wallace Shawn. That they were expecting,

Leif:

like, this, like, classic comedy

Leif:

comedy guy like this really funny dude this.

Leif:

And he just was a really flat interview, apparently

Leif:

so. Yeah. But we would still like to invite

Leif:

Wallace, Sean to come on

Leif:

an episode and discuss your. Your role

Leif:

on Gossip Girl. Yeah, I would love to prove

Leif:

precedence.

Leif:

It's definitely one of the great recurring characters. The Gossip girl.

Leif:

Yeah. And, I mean, who doesn't fucking

Leif:

love Wallace?

Leif:

Not enough.

Leif:

We move into act one.

Leif:

Gossip Girl is again silent.

Leif:

The episode opens at the Humphrey loft as Dan

Leif:

and Rufus are discussing Jenny's new living

Leif:

arrangement.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

No gossip girl at the beginning.

Leif:

No. Oh, wow. Yeah. I didn't even catch

Leif:

that. That's weird because it doesn't happen often. It's

Leif:

only happened one other time.

Leif:

Second time, I think this happened.

Leif:

Yeah. More courtney love than June Cleaver

Leif:

was my only note for this. I loved that.

Leif:

Talking about Agnes.

Leif:

Agnes's mom. Yeah.

Leif:

The minions are back. Blair is making plans

Leif:

for her 18th birthday. Sounds like Eleanor has

Leif:

a new boyfriend. Serena is

Leif:

still distracted by the whole Eren situation.

Shannon:

I like the line from one of the minions. She goes,

Shannon:

like, even moms have

Shannon:

boyfriends.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

The writing theme throughout the episode that. Well, I think it was

Leif:

just a theme that none of them have boyfriends.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

That's just. That's been back to season one.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah, because remember jet? That was, like, Jetty was gonna get a

Leif:

boyfriend because no one else could get a boyfriend.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

For some reason. Yeah, I guess these girls are just so

Leif:

insufferable. I mean, they're attractive enough.

Leif:

Boyfriend.

Leif:

Like, they're super attractive and super rich.

Leif:

How.

Leif:

How unsufferable.

Leif:

do you need to be but.

Leif:

To turn off high school boys? M maybe

Leif:

Asher's just leading all the lacrosse Stephen orgies in the locker

Leif:

room.

Leif:

Jenny and Agnes are meeting with a business

Leif:

manager, but Agnes is cray

Leif:

craye.

Shannon:

Oh, God. Jenny. Jenny, in

Shannon:

this, like, she's so professional, and, I mean, I guess it's

Shannon:

unprofessional to, like, disagree with the person you're doing

Shannon:

the interview with, like, with your partner in front of the guy, but it's like, her

Shannon:

answers are so on point, and, like,

Shannon:

Agnes is all over the place. What are you

Shannon:

doing?

Leif:

Yeah, and, like, why didn't you rehearse your

Leif:

pitch? And, like, this isn't. This isn't your

Leif:

first pitch, so why haven't you worked this shit

Leif:

out in between all of these other pitches? Like, why are

Leif:

we watching this meltdown at this

Leif:

point?

Leif:

You know, I have a feeling they did. And then just Agnes

Leif:

just going off book, immediately.

Leif:

And I think that's kind of my point. And, like, my other

Leif:

note here is just, how dumb is Agnes?

Leif:

Because, like, you are blowing this thing up.

Leif:

Like, how fucking idiotic

Leif:

is it to just be here and, like, blowing up on this

Leif:

person, on your partner in front of the person you're trying

Leif:

to get to fund you?

Shannon:

Yeah. Sabotage.

Leif:

I mean. Yeah, I think it's a bad picture of

Leif:

mental. I think they're just trying to do. It's a bad portrait of mental

Leif:

health.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

I think they're just trying to show, oh, this girl's clearly

Leif:

unstable.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. I think you're very right.

Leif:

I, just think that the execution.

Leif:

Yeah, I think that the execution of Agnes in

Leif:

this episode and, like, the, like, you know, we kind of

Leif:

saw that she was, like, the, you know, maybe a little bit

Leif:

of the bad girl, whatever, but, like, the

Leif:

total. No longer, like, a good

Leif:

partner anymore in this was a. Was a

Leif:

weird. Was a. An abrupt turn.

Shannon:

Yeah, I agree. I feel like she, like, sold Jenny a dream

Shannon:

in the, like, episodes prior, and then it was like

Shannon:

she was going to be this, like, promising partner, and

Shannon:

then she does do a complete 180.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

interesting that you guys are saying, like, mental illness, because that I didn't

Shannon:

register that while I was watching it. I felt I

Shannon:

really liked her justification, actually, after the interview. And

Shannon:

they're kind of, like, going at it with one another, and she says, we're artists.

Shannon:

We're passionate. Like, I thought that that was, like, a smart

Shannon:

writing. Just.

Leif:

Anyway, like, I feel like they could have done

Leif:

something before this where they showed,

Leif:

like, oh, Agnes is just using Jenny.

Shannon:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Which they could set that up in, like, one scene.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

You know, but if she's gonna, like, use her to her

Shannon:

own advantage and not self sabotage, like, Agnes

Shannon:

shouldn't go to the interviews.

Leif:

Well, yeah, but I think. I think, again, I think they're trying to

Leif:

show someone who is mentally stable, but you're doing a very poor job

Leif:

of it.

Leif:

Yeah. And I. And I kind of had that same.

Leif:

Sort of, like, they want her to be. Oh, my God.

Leif:

They want her to be explosive and. Yeah.

Leif:

And, Yeah. And I just thought that this

Leif:

was a bad scene to do it in. You know?

Leif:

I mean, she literally says, I am crazy.

Shannon:

Yeah, she does.

Leif:

Yeah, you're great.

Shannon:

I'm crazy.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Blair is excitedly talking to

Leif:

her mother about Eleanor's new boyfriend while Dorota prepares

Leif:

for his arrival. However, when Cyrus

Leif:

arrives, he is clearly not what Blair

Leif:

expected.

Shannon:

First of all, why does it matter to Blair that,

Shannon:

like, her mom's boyfriend is attractive?

Leif:

I mean, it shouldn't but Blair is all about image, so I totally

Leif:

get it.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. And I don't think that it. And going

Leif:

with that, I don't think it's, like, attractive, to

Leif:

her that she wants to be attracted to them. She

Leif:

wants her mom and. And stepdad to look good next

Leif:

to each other.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I don't know. I feel, like, a little creeped out by. In the scene pro, and

Shannon:

she's like, oh. Like, my mom has always had good taste

Shannon:

in men.

Leif:

I do have that written down. I do actually have that in

Leif:

the earlier scene. She's too excited about getting a

Leif:

stepdad.

Shannon:

yeah. I also. I think not

Shannon:

enough is a risky catchphrase.

Shannon:

I just want to point that it's cute at first. It's like,

Shannon:

oh, give me a hug. Not enough.

Shannon:

Maybe he's around cooking dinner. It's like you

Shannon:

throw in a little garlic. Not enough. Then, like,

Shannon:

one day, it's his birthday, you get him this sweet,

Shannon:

thoughtful, really promising present, and he

Shannon:

opens it up, and he's.

Shannon:

You're cheating on me. Am I not enough for you?

Leif:

You think, where have you

Leif:

been? I

Leif:

also love the line when she goes Deroda. Are you

Leif:

insane? I don't know.

Shannon:

I don't know. I like that one.

Shannon:

Honest.

Leif:

Yeah. And, like, just, like. So why did. I don't

Leif:

know.

Shannon:

Like, she went to, like, a different place.

Leif:

Chuck is trying to bond with his father, but Bart

Leif:

completely blows him off. Poor Chuck.

Shannon:

such a cold line. Like a, nice

Shannon:

thought, but misguided as

Shannon:

usual.

Leif:

Just beat a dick to be a dick.

Leif:

Yeah. It's like, how can I crush my

Leif:

son today?

Leif:

How can we make the audience feel sorry for Chuck

Leif:

Moore?

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. It's ridiculously, And the fact that he

Leif:

immediately wants to go and dance.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shannon:

There's nothing like a teen girl loves more than, like, a guy with

Shannon:

daddy

Shannon:

verified.

Leif:

Yeah. Teen girls

Leif:

love you, Robin.

Leif:

Dan is meeting with Shapiro to get

Leif:

his letter of recommendation. However, that letter also

Leif:

comes with a job offer that involves investigating Bart

Leif:

bass. Apparently, writing a short fiction

Leif:

qualifies. Wanting to become an undercover investigator.

Leif:

Reporter. I mean. Yeah, I wrote a couple of short

Leif:

stories, so I'm an undercover reporter now.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

For the New Yorker.

Leif:

For the New Yorker. What? Who in their right

Leif:

fucking mind goes to a teenager and is like, hey,

Leif:

you used to date. You're his

Leif:

stepdaughter's ex boyfriend.

Leif:

Can you dig up some dirt for us?

Leif:

You're friends with him, son.

Shannon:

The way he says it, he does say it like a raider, that he's like you dated the

Shannon:

stepdaughter. You know, son,

Shannon:

so weirdly worded.

Leif:

We get a needle drop as sex on fire

Leif:

by the kings of Leon plays. As Serena is standing

Leif:

in Times Square and sees herself on one of the big

Leif:

screensh, Aaron shows up and asks

Leif:

Serena to pose for him. Then, they make out in front of

Leif:

everyone in times fair to see right up on the bis big

Leif:

screen.

Shannon:

What?

Leif:

So creepy.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I literally wrote barf

Shannon:

right down to.

Leif:

The fucking kings of Leon song. Right down to sex

Leif:

on fire being like their new theme

Leif:

song.

Shannon:

And like, I feel like I have too much to say about

Shannon:

this.

Leif:

And it gets creepier.

Leif:

It does? Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah, this is.

Leif:

Well, I mean, like, yeah, but

Leif:

like, yeah. Hey, can you meet me in Times Square?

Leif:

And hey, just look around because guess who else is looking at

Leif:

you? Everyone.

Leif:

Of course. Cerita would love that.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I don't know if you've been to times square, but it is actually

Shannon:

factually like the point

Shannon:

on the earth's surface that is closest to hell.

Shannon:

And there's no way this scene

Shannon:

completely broke any suspension of disbelief that I have because

Shannon:

Times Square, there's no way, first of all, that you can

Shannon:

afford to put a live stream of an

Shannon:

image of your girlfriend, like, on one of those

Shannon:

televisions. And then there's no way the crowd would not, would just like

Shannon:

walk by like no big deal. Like everybody would be

Shannon:

photobombing that.

Leif:

My only when I saw

Leif:

him have her up there. I'm under the

Leif:

impression that part of Aaron's, like,

Leif:

art is like computer

Leif:

savvy and shit like that, that it was somehow a

Leif:

Hackley thing, that he somehow, that was my

Leif:

impression.

Leif:

That also he is super rich and.

Leif:

He is super rich.

Leif:

He is from the upper west and he went to summer

Leif:

camp in Switzerland.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, his dad is a

Leif:

corporate lawyer on

Leif:

an entertainment lawyer. but he was also one of, but he

Leif:

was also one of Eleanor's.

Leif:

Lawyers for the divorce proceeding.

Leif:

Yeah. Oh, for the divorce, that's right.

Leif:

Which is also weird.

Leif:

Yeah. Why would he be? Yeah, why?

Leif:

Well, don't worry about it.

Shannon:

Aaron did have two lines in the scene as well that, like, also

Shannon:

made me throw up in my mouth, which was the first one was

Shannon:

like, I've shown you the most beautiful places I know and

Shannon:

now I'm showing them you,

Shannon:

which is awful. And then after, like, she's like,

Shannon:

oh, my God, we're on the screen. How'd you do it? He's like, this is

Shannon:

nothing. I want you to pose for me.

Leif:

But apparently gossip girl execus spotted.

Leif:

Sna brings sexy back to Times

Leif:

Square. Move over Disney. 42nd

Leif:

street is steaming up.

Shannon:

I don't get it.

Shannon:

Yeah, Disney. And why move over Disney? I don't get that.

Leif:

I think the officer, used to be

Leif:

in Times Square.

Leif:

Well, at around that time, Times Square

Leif:

was, like, right before that, Times Square was

Leif:

like, a porn hub. Like, you could just. It was

Leif:

all, like, sex shops and porn shops, and

Leif:

then New York had this big effort to clean it up,

Leif:

and so in order to clean it up, they basically.

Leif:

Disney basically bought out times square,

Leif:

and. And, like, there's all kinds

Leif:

of Disney shit there.

Shannon:

I actually get it now. Okay. So, like, yeah,

Shannon:

sna it is, kind of.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

because they're bringing the porn back. Okay.

Leif:

Yeah, I. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

And, ah, we move into act two at

Leif:

school, Blair and Serena have a conversation

Leif:

about Cyrus, who is a hugger, and it has a

Leif:

catchphrase. Serena is still on cloud nine because

Leif:

of her date with Aaron.

Shannon:

Okay, this is. I was telling Steve on the way down here,

Shannon:

like, I researched something for this because, like, I knew a little

Shannon:

bit about it, but then I went down a rabbit hole. But I.

Shannon:

Blair says to her something about, like, oh,

Shannon:

like, you don't want to be his muse. Or she says, like, oh, I

Shannon:

can be his muse, and, like, I can be, his lover

Shannon:

and muse to famous artists like Picasso. There's lots of women who

Shannon:

have done it. Picasso, like, beat the shit out

Shannon:

of all of his, like, girlfriends and wives. He

Shannon:

was, like, a terrible human being. It's like,

Shannon:

serena, bad, bad example.

Leif:

Someone doesn't understand art. Yeah.

Leif:

I actually, wrote down one of Blair's quotes for the scene.

Leif:

Serena, a guy starts out in his blue period, and

Leif:

everything is great, but it's only a matter of time before he's

Leif:

into cubism. M. And it's another girl's eye coming out of her

Leif:

forehead.

Leif:

Yeah. I love it. Yeah.

Shannon:

Truly. That was great. She also refers to Cyrus as

Shannon:

a gnome in this scene.

Leif:

Well, he's the first million. That's why he's got the charisma

Leif:

boost.

Leif:

We were talking about our super niche d and d

Leif:

references on the way.

Shannon:

Up, only for our listeners, who both like gossip

Shannon:

girl and dungeons and dragons.

Leif:

You know, they're peppered throughout.

Leif:

They're trying to expand their base.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Dan gets an interview with Bart by flattering

Leif:

Bart and putting his own, dad down. Not only that,

Leif:

but Dan gets to shadow Bart for two days

Leif:

a week. Dan is, like, a super master

Leif:

manipulator here.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. Throwing Rufus under the bus like

Leif:

that.

Leif:

You saw how that lit Bart's eyes upennesse. He

Leif:

loved that.

Leif:

Yeah. Like, he and dan knew

Leif:

it. Yeah.

Shannon:

I kind of wish the writers had leaned into that more. Like, I feel like

Shannon:

they made Bart a little too gullible in this entire episode, and,

Shannon:

like, they kind of pushed him into, like, buying

Shannon:

Dan's stuff. And if they made it more petty and about, like, him

Shannon:

wanting to get it rufus, I would have dug that. If they,

Shannon:

like, leaned into that.

Leif:

I do wish that there was a.

Leif:

Little bit more, but, like, I. Dan has superpowers,

Leif:

apparently.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

As we'll see it in the upcoming scene.

Leif:

And it's also really funny because

Leif:

he uses his dad in this scene as

Leif:

bait. And his dad earlier in this

Leif:

episode says

Leif:

in the first scene with the two of them, he says, I

Leif:

know you don't approve of this. And he says, I don't believe in

Leif:

using people to get what you want. And so now

Leif:

he's using his dad

Leif:

to get what he wants. And also, like,

Leif:

in doing that, he's also, like, my dad was. You

Leif:

know, his music never took off his

Leif:

whatever, and, like, kind of throws that under the bus.

Leif:

And in that earlier scene, it also is paralleled because he's

Leif:

like, it's a good thing you're a musician and not an actor.

Leif:

Yeah. You know, and there

Leif:

is that, part of me that when I. When he said the thing about,

Leif:

I don't believe in using people, and I do have this

Leif:

kind of belief that most of the people that

Leif:

you look up to that are musicians and stuff

Leif:

like that got there by being shitty at some point or

Leif:

another to other people. And maybe

Leif:

Rufus never did the shitty thing to stab someone

Leif:

in the back to really take his career where it could have

Leif:

gone.

Leif:

You know, we already kind of established that he

Leif:

quit because of his kids. He, like, we just saw

Leif:

he turned out another tour. Yeah, the

Leif:

college stadium tour.

Leif:

Yeah. That's why he resents Jenny. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan could have been. Dan could have handled it on his

Leif:

own.

Leif:

But Jenny is freaking out on Agnes for

Leif:

flaking out, but Agnes is hungover and couldn't

Leif:

care less. When Agnes leaves to go to sleep it

Leif:

off, Jenny goes behind her back to try and make a

Leif:

solo meeting with the business manager from earlier.

Leif:

This was the first time Robin noticed the vitamin

Leif:

water. Robin was like, does vitamin

Leif:

water sponsor this episode? And I'm like, yeah,

Leif:

they sponsor the show.

Leif:

They pop up a lot.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Another pyramid of vitamin water.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

For the record, throughout this episode, I completely

Shannon:

backed Jenny. Like, backing yourself like, I

Shannon:

completely disappointed, and I, like, am, in her corner.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

I agree completely.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Bart is inviting Dan to the Rangers game that he had

Leif:

zero interest. With Chuck back at

Leif:

act one, Chuck enters the room and has a.

Leif:

Has his cold, black heart broken yet

Leif:

again?

Shannon:

It's such a dick move.

Leif:

I have no time for games with

Leif:

you, Chuck.

Leif:

But this. But my new son.

Leif:

My new son. I can take my chosen

Leif:

son, the son I

Leif:

choose. That Eric's not available.

Leif:

Yeah. I mean, it's so

Leif:

blatantly manipulative.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Shannon:

It's like he's trying to hurt Chuck's feelings.

Leif:

It's actively trying to hurt Chuck's feelings just to

Leif:

get the audience on Chuck side.

Shannon:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

It's at all.

Shannon:

Writers are trying.

Leif:

Yeah, the writers are trying to just bury Chuck. But also,

Leif:

I love how Chuck is like, wait a second.

Leif:

Like, what's Dan Humphrey doing

Leif:

here? And then we

Leif:

get, like, the Batman look, as he likes, like.

Leif:

Like, puts together. Like, this shouldn't be

Leif:

happening.

Leif:

Cyrus gets Eleanor tickets to see Cindy

Leif:

Lauper during Blair's party, but suddenly Blair

Leif:

desperately wants Eleanor at her first grown up

Leif:

party. B, maybe you should start acting like a

Leif:

grown up, and people will treat you like one.

Leif:

I mean, yeah, I actually don't have any notes on

Leif:

that because I think Eleanor. I think Eleanor did

Leif:

everything that was needed to be done in that scene.

Leif:

Why would you want to go to your kids 18th? why would she want

Leif:

you?

Leif:

Why? I never wanted my

Leif:

parents. I didn't want my parents at my younger

Leif:

parties.

Leif:

Like, jenny is once again

Leif:

meeting with the manager, this time without Agnes.

Leif:

However, the manager tells her she will need her parents signature

Leif:

because she is under 18.

Leif:

Is Agnes 17? They established

Leif:

in an earlier episode that Agnes is 17.

Leif:

She might already be emancipated or her.

Leif:

But she was.

Shannon:

M. Signed the papers, maybe. And now Benny.

Shannon:

On her own. Yeah, the guy

Shannon:

did confirm in the scene, though. He was like, oh. Like, she's like, I'm working

Shannon:

on my own now. And he's like, glad to hear it.

Leif:

Also, he thought she was over 18,

Leif:

too.

Shannon:

Yeah. And then I love how he's just like,

Shannon:

oh, we just need your parents to sign the

Shannon:

papers. What papers?

Leif:

No, the papers, Shannon.

Shannon:

The papers.

Leif:

The papers.

Shannon:

The writers are just like.

Leif:

I think he said incorporation papers, didn't he?

Shannon:

No, he. I checked. He just says the. I'm pretty

Shannon:

sure he just says the papers.

Leif:

it takes me back to the Muppet movie, the first

Leif:

Muppet movie, where it's like, we would like the rich

Leif:

and famous contract and they're like, here you

Leif:

go.

Leif:

Aaron is preparing to photograph and then

Leif:

possibly murder Serena. This

Leif:

seriously looks like a kill room from Dexter.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Yeah, it does. Yeah.

Leif:

And he starts taking the pictures and she's like, what do you want me to

Leif:

do to me? Like, I'm thinking like

Leif:

a dude and especially like, me in my twenties with an

Leif:

r as an art. Like, if I was doing this, if I was

Leif:

trying to pull the shit that Aaron is trying to pull, the

Leif:

words try less and

Leif:

try nothing at all don't sound like directions

Leif:

to me. They sound

Leif:

more like requests for

Leif:

what he wants her modeling.

Shannon:

Yeah. The only feedback he gave her was don't cover your face. And then

Shannon:

I could, like, feel her. Like you. Like if you are

Shannon:

photographing a model, like you want them to feel comfortable. And I could feel

Shannon:

how uncomfortable. I felt uncomfortable the whole scene.

Shannon:

Anytime he's on camera, I feel uncomfortable.

Leif:

He's so fucking creepy.

Shannon:

He's so creepy. Every scene he's in, my note is

Shannon:

Barfdeze.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Dan isn't the only one doing some investigating.

Leif:

We see Chuck has trailed Dan to the New York magazine,

Leif:

where it just so happens there's an intern that Chuck

Leif:

presumably slept with.

Shannon:

Wait, Steve, can you, like, help me understand

Shannon:

this? This is another gossip girl quote that I didn't

Shannon:

understand because she goes like, did Brooklyn boy

Shannon:

think he could bury the bone in the backyard and

Shannon:

no one would find it? Every bass will have his

Shannon:

day. I'm like mixing metaphors

Shannon:

or.

Leif:

Yes. Yeah, the first one is obviously,

Leif:

you know, you can bury, you know, the dog

Leif:

buries the bone. That's the old cartoon.

Shannon:

I just didn't know if every bass will have his days, like, connected

Shannon:

to.

Leif:

No, I don't think so.

Leif:

Yeah, I think that they just didn't know how to finish

Leif:

that thought.

Shannon:

Okay.

Leif:

Yeah, pretty much.

Leif:

And I have, my note is that you can't out Chuck. Chuck.

Leif:

Serena arrives at the apartment the next day and

Leif:

enters his creepy shrine to her. Things

Leif:

appear to be progressing to sexy times when

Leif:

Erens next model shows up and puts

Leif:

Serena in the metaphorical cold shower.

Leif:

Hes such a fucking creep. And hes an even

Leif:

bigger creep for not having a conversation

Leif:

about his polyamory

Leif:

ahead of time. And, like, I know we havent gotten there

Leif:

yet, but, like, when someone else shows up and after

Leif:

you've been, like, doing all this creepy shit, and

Leif:

then.

Shannon:

It'S like, yeah, she was like, a little bit

Shannon:

cringe in saying, like, I thought modeling was our thing.

Shannon:

Like, right in front of the girl.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shannon:

quite cool. Yeah.

Leif:

But that's the whole reason why Serena likes them, though,

Leif:

is cause she can be the muse.

Shannon:

Yeah, I did kind of. Like, I had a little. Like, I identified with Serena in

Shannon:

the scene. Cause she does the thing of, like, she's feeling

Shannon:

insecure about something, so she just says it out loud. She's like, oh, my

Shannon:

God. I should be cool and mysterious and stop talking.

Shannon:

Like, kiss. Yay.

Leif:

Dan gets a mysterious email to meet someone who

Leif:

claims to have info on Bart.

Leif:

He's on the job one day, and people are studying.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

It's like, ok, how did this guy find Dan?

Leif:

Yeah. And. And how is that

Leif:

not suspicious to you? Dan, which is I.

Leif:

Which is my note for when they actually, like, meet up,

Leif:

is, like, why? I, like,

Leif:

whoa, someone's just reaching out to me, even though

Leif:

absolutely no one on fucking earth knows I'm

Leif:

doing this.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Blair is complaining to Eleanor about Cyrus

Leif:

at breakfast, but Eleanor is glowing with, quote unquote,

Leif:

love is here and is hearing none of

Leif:

it. When Eleanor leaves to get ready for

Leif:

her date, Blair tells Derota that it's time for a

Leif:

scheme. That was a Grace Kelly.

Leif:

Yep.

Shannon:

Yeah, I am Grace Kelly. Grace Kelly is me. And,

Shannon:

yeah. Done with it.

Leif:

she didn't mention this in this scene, but the thing with Blair

Leif:

is Grace Kelly and are Grace Jones.

Leif:

I hear their dark sides are Grace Jones.

Leif:

Dan is meeting with the tipster, who is

Leif:

surprised at Dan's age. The man claims Bart

Leif:

committed arson and insurance fraud in order to

Leif:

build his empire.

Shannon:

Yeah, this was a stupid, unbelievable scene. Like, in addition

Shannon:

to the Times Square one.

Leif:

Yeah. And, like, the. Where

Leif:

it's unbelievable is that Dan fucking believed

Leif:

it. But, like. Like, you know, this guy

Leif:

is, like. And. And we'll get to this,

Leif:

too, that the information is accurate.

Leif:

So Chuck gave him this

Leif:

guy. You know, like, clearly, like, this was

Leif:

orchestrated by Chuck.

Shannon:

Right.

Leif:

This guy reaching out to Dan. I can only,

Leif:

I don't think. I did not think that that's. I

Leif:

think it was just, like, dan is, like, super powered

Leif:

journalist. He's good at everything.

Leif:

Okay. All right. I actually got the

Leif:

impression that this was Chuck's scheme of, I'm

Leif:

gonna out him by getting him to go.

Shannon:

And, like, that's an interesting, like, interpretation.

Shannon:

like, I kind of wish the.

Leif:

Writers did do that, but

Leif:

I think. I really think it was just. Dan is the

Leif:

superhero.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I think it's literally, like, nobody on earth knows.

Shannon:

Like, you're right. Nobody knows. And so your

Shannon:

explanation made more sense, but

Shannon:

at the end of the day, nobody knows. And he somehow met

Shannon:

a knowing.

Leif:

By my experience with these writers, I think they were just kind of

Leif:

saying, you know, Dan is just really good at things.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I knew what you're working on, but not that you're 18,

Shannon:

but now.

Leif:

That we've had this discussion, it makes me just lose even

Leif:

worse.

Leif:

That is kind of funny. You thought that.

Leif:

Yeah, I would. Because I. Because, like, would I. Would anyone put

Leif:

it past Chuck? No, like, Chuck. It's not like Chuck

Leif:

to go after his dad if he thinks he can clearly

Leif:

patch it up, you know? And that's why

Leif:

I went there.

Shannon:

Like, I love that your brain came up with an explanation that,

Shannon:

like, the writers were too lazy to tell.

Leif:

Dan is telling Rufus about the story,

Leif:

who advises Dan to be cautious with releasing the

Leif:

info, as Serena and Lily could get hit in the crossfire.

Leif:

Their conversation is interrupted when Rufus gets a call

Leif:

from Allison regarding Jenny.

Shannon:

My note for Rufus this entire episode.

Shannon:

Wrong and strong.

Leif:

Like, so, yeah, this is kind of interesting. I was

Leif:

thinking about this today, or, last night when I watched the

Leif:

episode. This. The show is kind of

Leif:

retconning reality. They're saying the moral

Leif:

thing is to bury this, you know,

Leif:

huge crime that happened.

Shannon:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

The moral thing is to hide this huge crime.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

So they are retconning reality.

Leif:

I was trying to understand my note for a second. Then I. Then I

Leif:

flat. Then I, Now I'm remembering the scene that this. This is

Leif:

where Dan and Rufus are talking. Rufus, like, you're gonna ruin that

Leif:

whole family.

Shannon:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

And it's like.

Leif:

And, like, at this point, it's just. It's just arson insurance for us,

Leif:

right. But we're gonna find out that it's also

Leif:

manslaughter.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And I.

Leif:

And I might.

Shannon:

But.

Leif:

But I'm saying, like, if Bart's an arsonist, right?

Leif:

Like, why I. Why is Rufus just like.

Shannon:

Oh, well, yeah, yeah, I guess, like, you could make the

Shannon:

argument that, this has been my brain correcting

Shannon:

for the writer's mistake. It's like, maybe it's because he, like, still

Shannon:

loves Lily and he's trying to protect her, but it's like he comes

Shannon:

across as just, like, Dan. No, no,

Shannon:

no. This is not the moral thing to do. Like, think about

Shannon:

their family. And it's like, if. If they. If the family

Shannon:

comes under fire, it's Bart's fault, not your

Shannon:

son.

Leif:

And also, I mean, yeah, be tough for a little

Leif:

while for Lily, but she would get through it. She's not

Leif:

involved in this at all.

Leif:

And how. How tough would it be for Lily?

Leif:

Lily is not.

Leif:

She would be in the press for a few months.

Leif:

Yeah, but she wouldn't be. But financially she

Leif:

wouldn't.

Leif:

That's why I say she would get through it. But it would be. Yeah, it would be a

Leif:

tumultuous few months while she's in the press and whatnot.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Which, like, which he would hate.

Leif:

Which, here's another leg. Like, a. The writers

Leif:

probably didn't think of it. Theory on it, though, is with

Leif:

that he loves her because, like, rufus

Leif:

is really telling his kids, don't use people

Leif:

to get what you want. Don't use people to get what you want.

Leif:

So he can't really say, oh, but publish that

Leif:

story, because then that's going to give him what

Leif:

he wants, a single lily. So maybe

Leif:

there's, like, a little bit of a, I can't now tell

Leif:

my kid to go do the thing that's going to give me what

Leif:

I want after telling him that that's bad. But also,

Leif:

I don't think that that's bad.

Shannon:

What it is. Like, it just keeps snowballing because now

Shannon:

my brain is like, well, maybe his, like, head fell off after, like, they

Shannon:

got married, and now he just, like, has no sense of right and

Shannon:

wrong. He's just taking it out on his kids. Like,

Shannon:

he's just, like, angry all the time.

Leif:

Yeah. I mean, well, and we discuss often about how

Leif:

he parents his children differently.

Shannon:

Yeah. And season two.

Leif:

Yeah. And then how Dan is. And, like,

Leif:

here, he does give Dan the tough love when Dan's doing things

Leif:

that he doesn't.

Shannon:

Oh, you mean he parents Jenny and.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah. And then Jenny, it's

Leif:

like, you know, I'm going to shit on your dreams

Leif:

every step.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

so also with this scene going back to our conversation

Leif:

from last week, Steve, where you. We

Leif:

were disagreeing on whether Dan ratted out

Leif:

Jenny.

Leif:

Right, right.

Leif:

It's. Dan and Jenny are clearly still close because she's still

Leif:

calling and talking to.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

So even if he did, it was more of a situation where he. He

Leif:

just got caught and he didn't. He couldn't lie right through his

Leif:

face.

Leif:

And that was mine.

Leif:

And she didn't blame him.

Leif:

Yeah, that was my impression. But you're right. She doesn't blame him.

Leif:

So Blair is at a restaurant with

Leif:

Cyrus, pumping him for information. Cyrus

Leif:

reveals a story about falling in love with another woman while

Leif:

overseas in the military, even though the woman died

Leif:

he still divorced his wife when he returned home. he sure

Leif:

did.

Leif:

Now, he met this other person in

Leif:

Vietnam, which ended in

Leif:

1975.

Leif:

oh. we're gonna do mathematic.

Leif:

So that means that he was married.

Leif:

That the latest that he could have

Leif:

met the golden lion. Right? Golden lion. That was what

Leif:

she called her, is

Leif:

1975. So that means he was

Leif:

married in 1975, and he came

Leif:

home and divorced his wife. So that would seem that

Leif:

he would be divorced no later than

Leif:

1976, which puts

Leif:

Aaron's birthday

Leif:

about 15 years before

Leif:

Serena's,

Leif:

at a minimum.

Leif:

At a minimum, she would be born in

Leif:

1990. If she's 17

Leif:

now, maybe he's just.

Shannon:

Like, on his, like, 10th college degree.

Leif:

Well, he's graduating. He's no longer in school. like, they've

Leif:

said that he went to college.

Shannon:

God, he's even creepy.

Leif:

Yeah. So, like, unless something comes out that

Leif:

he's from a different marriage, then he's.

Leif:

Then. Then he would have.

Leif:

I don't think it's ever confirmed or denied. Cyrus

Leif:

said otherwise or not.

Leif:

So. So in the interim,

Leif:

eight plus 15 is 23.

Leif:

So she was eight, and he was 23 when they were married.

Leif:

With their little licorice rings that he

Leif:

kept. That he kept

Leif:

turning Jackson ten for another

Leif:

nine years.

Leif:

Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

Leif:

That's fucked up.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Yeah. I mean, one of my notes, too, was like. And when it gets

Shannon:

revealed that he's Aaron's father, I was like, why?

Leif:

Yes.

Shannon:

That we didn't need that. That didn't need to happen. And now we

Shannon:

have even.

Leif:

It's because the books. It's because of the book.

Shannon:

They've deviated, but they kept Ed Westwick around. They

Shannon:

can deviate from the books here.

Leif:

But, I mean, that's. That's where the characters were, that they

Leif:

stole the names from the book characters. I don't know

Leif:

why they decided to do that.

Leif:

Yeah. And it felt very much like the,

Leif:

you know, a throwback to the. The laziness of the duchess

Leif:

and. And. And, Marcus,

Leif:

you know, like, they're just.

Leif:

They happen to be related.

Leif:

Yeah. Oh, and they're related now, too. And.

Leif:

And it was just such a throw away. Like, he's

Leif:

my son and he's been doing this. We'll get to

Leif:

that.

Shannon:

I feel like I came into this recording not really with

Shannon:

the, the mindset of, like, the. The writing was really lazy this

Shannon:

whole episode now. Like, it was.

Leif:

It really was.

Shannon:

I can catch it. You've convinced me.

Leif:

Yeah. Like, my grade on paper

Leif:

is now going down.

Leif:

I think it is. Mine is as well.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah, mine has definitely dropped quite a bit now that

Leif:

we're, like, really finding a lot of this.

Shannon:

Yeah. One thing I do like about the scene that I did

Shannon:

like is that, again, Leighton's acting

Shannon:

is so good. She barely has any lines. And the way

Shannon:

that she goes from fake scheming, like, interested what

Shannon:

he's saying to, like, actually, like, dreamy eye it over what he was

Shannon:

saying, it's just.

Leif:

Like, yeah, she's bored that she sees. She finds

Leif:

something she can use, and she locked right in.

Leif:

I also think because Blair's a

Leif:

romantic, I feel like she did, in her heart,

Leif:

have, like, a, oh, that's a sweet story. Like, I

Leif:

did get that vibe from her, and I think that the

Leif:

whole thought is, oh, this really is a sweet story that

Leif:

I used to. because

Leif:

we also really see that, like, cyrus really is, like, a

Leif:

loving, very pragmatic, but also

Leif:

very heartfelt and loving guy. and I have

Leif:

the note that he felt true love but not high

Leif:

adventure.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Serena calls erin to invite him out

Leif:

on a date, but finds out that he is still hanging out

Leif:

with Daniel.

Shannon:

One of serena's favorite places is

Shannon:

the old puppet theater in central

Shannon:

park.

Leif:

Sure, sure.

Leif:

It's probably one of his, too.

Leif:

I mean, he's probably taken many dates to the

Leif:

puppet show in central bois.

Leif:

30 years old.

Shannon:

probably fucking the puppets.

Leif:

The poor puppeteer gets to his house, he's like,

Leif:

did you bring him?

Leif:

Go get him. Go. Go get him. Well, I'm not here for

Leif:

you.

Shannon:

I'm glad that you both agree about aaron, because we had not talked about

Shannon:

this. Yeah.

Leif:

Also, my note here is serena. He's banging other

Leif:

women.

Leif:

Looks like bee's prophecy came true.

Leif:

One day you're the muse, the next day, you're old

Leif:

news.

Leif:

Eleanor knows her kid. Wait, wait. Am I the right

Leif:

place? Never mind. I, skipped the scene.

Leif:

Eleanor confronts Blair about her lunch with

Leif:

Cyrus. Blair reveals that Cyrus cheated

Leif:

on his ex wife. This has desired effect

Leif:

because without context, it devastates

Leif:

Eleanor.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. First of all, I love that Eleanor just knows

Leif:

her kids so fucking. Yeah, she knows her so

Leif:

well. But also, like, without the context of, like,

Leif:

yeah, he had an affair in the

Leif:

seventies with his, with his ex

Leif:

wife. Yeah, like, it was the

Leif:

seven. Like, what?

Leif:

I don't think the time would have affected that. I

Leif:

think it was more of the fact that he never loved the first

Leif:

wife.

Leif:

Well, that too. Yeah.

Leif:

Like, it really like a marriage of, convenience when he's about to

Leif:

ship off to war.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is a. But, yeah, I think that

Leif:

there. Yeah, there's a. There's a bunch of things here that are like,

Leif:

that make the context very important.

Leif:

But I don't think the 30 years would have mattered to Eleanor

Leif:

at all.

Leif:

No, I could see that. I think I get you there.

Leif:

The business manager's assistant makes the blunder

Leif:

of the episode when she calls Agnes's

Leif:

phone, trying to reach Jenny. Agnes

Leif:

learning of Jenny's betrayal goes

Leif:

ballistic. This fucking assistant.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Is this where the dress.

Leif:

No, no, this is just.

Leif:

Yes, this is where she finds out. Oh, okay. The

Leif:

assistant tries to call Jenny, but. Oh, I mixed up. You must have mixed up up

Leif:

your phone numbers.

Shannon:

Well, and no, she. Jenny, I think, called from.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

no, she said. She says, I must have mixed up your

Leif:

phone.

Steve:

She.

Leif:

She does say that, but I think that we're supposed to

Leif:

believe that it's because she did steal the

Leif:

number. She goes into Agnes's phone. She did

Leif:

use Agnes's phone, make the.

Shannon:

Writing for the show again.

Leif:

So I. Yeah, yeah.

Shannon:

I don't know.

Leif:

And, ah, then we move into act three.

Leif:

At Blair's party, the minions are desperate for Dick.

Leif:

Serena is depressed about Erin. Blair

Leif:

forces her way to comforts the.

Shannon:

Rita I love when the one minion is like, like, about

Shannon:

Aaron and Serena. Like, oh, he totally loves you and Blair.

Shannon:

Just side by

Shannon:

side.

Leif:

I did a quick double take because for a second, I thought the waiter was

Leif:

Tom Felton.

Leif:

Oh, no.

Leif:

Do you know who that is?

Leif:

No, I don't. Draco.

Leif:

Malfoy.

Shannon:

Oh, now I have to watch

Shannon:

back. Ah.

Leif:

Was it not him or.

Leif:

No, it's just some goofy looking blind.

Leif:

Kid contest winner,

Leif:

probably.

Leif:

Yes. Jenny arrives back at

Leif:

Agnes's place to find Agnes carrying Jenny's dresses

Leif:

outside. She proceeds to throw them into the metal

Leif:

trash can, douse them with lighter fluid

Leif:

before setting them ablaze. Jenny

Leif:

is forced to watch in horror as her

Leif:

dreams literally go up in smoke.

Leif:

Not only that, but Jenny is running out of

Leif:

places to stay.

Shannon:

Yeah. Okay, so here we have the dress burning.

Leif:

I want to teach Jenny two fighting moves.

Leif:

One is a good, like, you know, but the other one is just.

Leif:

Or just slap it about her.

Leif:

Yeah, or just slap that shit out of her hand. Jenny should have

Leif:

fucked her up. Jenny should have, like, thrown some fucking

Leif:

punches at that point.

Shannon:

Yeah, I felt like her as an actress. Like, Like you could feel it. Like

Shannon:

it. I think everybody watching that feels that way. It's like, oh,

Shannon:

come on, like, do something. Like, push her. Like, you would actually, like, fight this girl. But

Shannon:

it's like, I think she played off what she was

Shannon:

probably, like, told to do directly. Crying. Yeah. So,

Shannon:

like, I was willing to kind of, like, set that aside for

Shannon:

now because to me, this is, like, ignoring the fact that

Shannon:

she didn't try to, like, push agnes away. This is the most

Shannon:

traumatic scene in the entire show

Shannon:

for me personally.

Leif:

Like, yeah, it is.

Shannon:

I really, really love Jenny's season two

Shannon:

arc, and I feel like. Like, I love this

Shannon:

idea of somebody being undeniable at something. It's the, you know,

Shannon:

it's like you're not just. You're not. You don't just have a hobby.

Shannon:

You have a craft. Like, you're an artist. And the idea of, like, a young

Shannon:

person being undeniable at something and then

Shannon:

wanting, like, having, like, a, ah, life calling that's

Shannon:

beckoning them and just having.

Leif:

It there and having it right there, and it's literally

Leif:

going up and fleeing.

Shannon:

And, like, I would cry if somebody deleted my save

Shannon:

of Baldur's gate three. Like,

Shannon:

I can't imagine my life's work

Shannon:

going up in flames.

Leif:

Yeah. My other note

Leif:

on this scene was the bad pyro

Leif:

was that she sprays the stuff on, drops the match in, and then

Leif:

there's, like, there's, like, a tiny little flame and there's, like,

Leif:

a.

Leif:

Yeah, come on, hit the fucking button.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Ah.

Shannon:

I think Agnes in the scene actually does make good points

Shannon:

in terms of, like, how she is valuable to their

Shannon:

partnership and, like, the connections that she's gotten her.

Shannon:

A gorilla, like, fashion show, like, all that stuff. But it's

Shannon:

like, it is still Jenny's designs.

Shannon:

She is the designer. You are like, it's her

Shannon:

work. It should have her name on it. Those dresses do not

Shannon:

belong to you, Agnes. But I do in terms of, like, if I

Shannon:

were to compare.

Leif:

But, yes, she should probably get 50% of the money,

Leif:

though.

Shannon:

That's, like, fine, but, like, it still should be under Jenny's

Shannon:

control.

Leif:

Yeah, but she should be, definitely guiding

Leif:

it.

Shannon:

Yeah. And I just. I do

Shannon:

like comparing, like, Agnes to Georgina

Shannon:

sparks. I think Agnes is a much better crazy. Even though it's like,

Shannon:

it's still like, okay, we have a crazy girl. But I do just

Shannon:

love Jenny being like, are you insane? And, like, that earlier, her

Shannon:

just being like, yes,

Shannon:

yes, I'm insane.

Leif:

To,

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Will holland. back at the party, Serena meets

Leif:

Cyrus, who turns out to be Aaron's dad. Cyrus

Leif:

comes the serena to give Aaron, or, Cyrus

Leif:

convinces Serena to give Aaron yet another chance.

Leif:

WTF? Serena?

Leif:

First of all, why do they need to be related. We kind of talked about that.

Shannon:

why?

Leif:

But the other thought that I'm. That I had was where he's

Leif:

like, where she's like, you know what? I'm gonna go to him right

Leif:

now.

Shannon:

Written down, too.

Leif:

But, like, you're his dad. Does his dad not

Leif:

know that he bangs, like, half of

Leif:

the bangs, all these models? Because, like,

Leif:

that's really bad wingmanship if you do

Leif:

know to be like, yeah, go on and visit him. I'm sure there's no

Leif:

one there right now. Yeah.

Shannon:

Ah. My note was more. So, like, why does Serena. Every time

Shannon:

Serena learns something about eren, she just drops

Shannon:

whatever she's doing. Like, I'm so sorry. I have to

Shannon:

go. Stop. You had

Shannon:

plans.

Leif:

Honestly, though, now that you mentioned that

Leif:

Serena does that all the time throughout this entire

Leif:

show has just. Whenever she gets that one text, it's just

Leif:

like, you know what? I'm good here. I'm going to the.

Leif:

Like, she does. I gotta go.

Leif:

Ah.

Leif:

All the time. Cause she actually doesn't.

Leif:

Like. It's definitely a meme.

Leif:

Yeah. Is it really?

Leif:

Yeah, I gotta go.

Shannon:

I wish I was that, like, confident and. Yeah, like,

Shannon:

bye.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

So on, this rewatch, I caught something.

Leif:

Now, this is somewhat spoiler, but, you know,

Leif:

Wallace character is recurring throughout the series,

Leif:

and for pretty much a fan, I'm like, him and

Leif:

Dorota are kind of, like, the two kind of flawless

Leif:

characters in fandom. But watching this here,

Leif:

he totally gaslights Serena in this scene.

Leif:

yeah. Cuz, like, he's like, oh, he might m like,

Leif:

she's, like, totally, like, right. That feeling that

Leif:

he's, you know, Aaron's totally

Leif:

sleepy with other people, and, oh, he must

Leif:

really like you and blah, blah, blah.

Shannon:

Yeah, I guess, like, the way I think of their whole

Shannon:

thing is, like, I don't feel like. Like Aaron and Serena

Shannon:

haven't committed to each other. And, like, if I was, you know, at

Shannon:

that age in high school, I would be just as upset as her, and I feel,

Shannon:

like, risk about the whole thing. But as an adult, it's like, you

Shannon:

do kind of, like, some people do date, like,

Shannon:

multiple people at the same time, and you're getting to know multiple people

Shannon:

and figuring out who's right for you. So it's like the writers,

Shannon:

like, through this weird adult concept on this,

Shannon:

like, teenager, but, he might actually

Shannon:

genuinely like Serena. Maybe Cyrus has

Shannon:

picked up on that.

Leif:

I agree that, but I feel like he's trying to tell

Leif:

her what to feel.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

I think he's totally wing Manny for.

Shannon:

His, he is wingman.

Leif:

Yeah, for his son, and I. And, like. Like, on the one hand, I

Leif:

don't. I don't think that the concept of wing manning

Leif:

for your kid is necessarily in and of itself

Leif:

back. Like, I talked my kid up his girlfriend, you know,

Leif:

like that. I don't think that is a bad

Leif:

thing. I think that if you know your

Leif:

kid is polyamorous and

Leif:

you're sending somebody who doesn't know, and you're saying, no, no,

Leif:

nobody really likes you without also giving

Leif:

her, like, oh, yeah, you know, he might also date other people, but he

Leif:

really likes you. Like, there is an element of you

Leif:

are you either don't know your kid

Leif:

or you're holding something back from Serena.

Leif:

And I would almost like to think he just doesn't know his kids,

Leif:

you know?

Leif:

But we see he's a smart guy. It picks up

Leif:

on a lot of stuff.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah, he is.

Shannon:

Yeah. I just wouldn't go so far as to call it gaslighting.

Shannon:

I just would assume it's like. Like, almost like maybe he

Shannon:

wanted to give her some reassurance, like, it. Maybe

Shannon:

he does know, like, my kid does like you more than these other girls.

Shannon:

But, yeah, you're right. He doesn't address the fact that, like, hey, you

Shannon:

guys got to talk it out. I know he's seeing other girls, but

Shannon:

he does feel this way about you. He doesn't frame it in that

Shannon:

way. I wouldn't call it that gaslighting, but I

Shannon:

would call it, like, okay, you're

Shannon:

rushing a little stuff under the carpet.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. You either don't know stuff or you're ignoring.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Blair's scheme seems to have worked because Eleanor

Leif:

sees Cyrus and throws him out of the party.

Shannon:

How did you guys feel about her reaction in terms

Shannon:

of, first of all, did you find it realistic? And then

Shannon:

also, do you think it's an overreach reaction or, like,

Shannon:

I.

Leif:

It was definitely a bit overdramatic, but

Leif:

it sort of makes sense in the context of she just

Leif:

is been. She was burned so bad, but, yeah,

Leif:

her first husband hiding stuff from her.

Leif:

I know what you're kind of saying.

Leif:

But, yes, it was definitely overdramatic.

Leif:

Yeah, it was definitely. It was

Leif:

definitely a five minute

Leif:

scene crunched down into a

Leif:

two minute into a 1 minute reaction,

Leif:

which. Which I totally

Leif:

know. What?

Shannon:

Well, I actually, like, didn't know. I was, like, curious what you guys thought,

Shannon:

because I feel like my initial knee jerk

Shannon:

reaction is like, oh, come on. Like, you're not gonna have a conversation, but I

Shannon:

actually do think that, like, depending on your life experiences, like,

Shannon:

that's not how I would react to that kind of news, but, like, it. I

Shannon:

think some people might like that. Might just.

Leif:

Yeah, I'll.

Shannon:

Context. Deal breaker.

Leif:

Like, I felt like it was definitely in character for Eleanor.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also have the note that we receive

Leif:

the most Wallace Sean bass in this.

Leif:

When he looks over at her and he's got, like, the.

Shannon:

Yeah, the lips go, like.

Leif:

Yeah, flip out.

Leif:

Yeah. And, like, the forehead all crunches down.

Leif:

And Blair is shocked when Cindy

Leif:

Lauper shows up to the party at the bequest of

Leif:

her pal Cyrus rota is also a fan, but

Leif:

Blair, grossly conscious and goes after Cyrus. Oh,

Leif:

Blair and I throw it.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

She's all starstruck.

Leif:

Yeah. Misses Lawper,

Leif:

Miss Lauper, Miss Lubber. She's so great.

Leif:

Dan is meeting Bart with his, with puppy

Leif:

dog eyes, confronts Bart about the

Leif:

fire. Even Bart is hopeless to resist.

Leif:

Those big Ernest Brown peepers. He not only

Leif:

amidst starting the fire, but that someone died and said

Leif:

fire. Chuck bursts in to cut his dad

Leif:

off, but too late, the cat is already out of the

Leif:

bag. Bart offers a bribe, which

Leif:

Dan walked away from that.

Leif:

So again, this is where I, at this point, I thought Chuck set

Leif:

this thing up. Like, I thought that Chuck was like, yo, I'm gonna

Leif:

catch Dan. Fucking.

Shannon:

Yeah, that does make sense. There's an opportunity there where the

Shannon:

writers done something.

Leif:

Yeah. So then when he sees him and he's like,

Leif:

dad, don't say another word. It's like I was

Leif:

like, yo, did you set up your dad? And then,

Leif:

like, once, you then realize that it was much fucking

Leif:

worse because, you know, Chuck does that. Chuck sets up

Leif:

these schemes and they blow up in his face,

Leif:

especially in season three.

Leif:

So the main reason why I don't think that story is the way

Leif:

they're going is because in the scene with Dan and Rufus, when

Leif:

they're talking about it, he, dad mentions he,

Leif:

like, checked the story out and, like, check.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, he does. He does say that he did the fact check on

Leif:

it. You're right. Yeah.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

And, well, clearly it did happen.

Shannon:

Yeah. I think, like, even though, like, I find a,

Shannon:

the scene also quite unbelievable that Bart would just,

Shannon:

like, let that information go without

Shannon:

anything.

Leif:

Oh, my God.

Leif:

He just couldn't resist Dan's eyes.

Shannon:

Couldn't resist it.

Leif:

So dreamy.

Shannon:

I will say, though, when, like, when Dan

Shannon:

says to him, like, like, and he's like, what's it gonna cost to make this go? And

Shannon:

Dan's like, I don't want your money. I was like, I've never

Shannon:

liked Dan Moore. And then this moment, because,

Shannon:

I don't know, the idea of information being

Shannon:

more powerful than money.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Like, but.

Leif:

But I mean, like, I love that. Like, I'm with you.

Leif:

Like, I totally get it. Like, there. There was a show that I was

Leif:

watching there. The. The show the blacklist when

Leif:

it first came out that it's the James Spader show.

Leif:

And the first season of it was fucking

Leif:

awesome. And at least I loved it.

Leif:

and it was just this guy didn't

Leif:

need money for anything because he just

Leif:

had so much fucking information on

Leif:

so many people that that was his whole

Leif:

currency. And it was just. It was hot.

Leif:

It's funny you mentioned James Spader because I've seen

Leif:

him mentioned several times and, like, multiple

Leif:

threads on Buffy forums over the past, like, week or two

Leif:

because, like, young fans are, like, just don't get the

Leif:

reference from the pilot episode of James Spader being, like, a hot

Leif:

guy.

Leif:

That's so funny because he

Leif:

is. Yeah. Oh, my God.

Leif:

Now he's, you know, he's an old guy.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Like, back then, he. For a minute, he was like, the,

Leif:

you know, sexy Hollywood stud. He does sex, lies,

Leif:

and videotapes and. Yeah, but,

Leif:

yeah, there's that line of, like, in the pilot of, Buffy.

Leif:

Yeah. Where she. Yeah, where she talks about James Spader

Leif:

being a hottie.

Leif:

And Chuck confronts Dan in the elevator and

Leif:

threatens to destroy Dan if he reveals the info

Leif:

on Bart. Dan claims that this

Leif:

is bigger than him and Chuck, so Chuck resorts

Leif:

to begging.

Leif:

Yeah, your dad's a murderer.

Leif:

And, like, so, like, yeah, your

Leif:

family. Your family might. Might

Leif:

be kind of fucked. But what about the dude's family that

Leif:

your dad. Yeah. Fucking killed? I, like, he doesn't have a

Leif:

name.

Leif:

Seriously, I got saying earlier,

Leif:

this show is rewriting reality. They're

Leif:

recounting reality. The morals thing here is

Leif:

not to give up Bart here.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

It's to cover this up and protect the wealthy.

Leif:

Yeah, protect.

Leif:

Protects the moral thing to do, Steve.

Leif:

Protect the Bart and Lily's

Leif:

relationships.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

And we have the moral thing.

Shannon:

The pillar of morality.

Leif:

Rufus.

Leif:

Telling dad, you cannot reveal this. Yeah. You

Leif:

cannot turn in this murderer.

Leif:

You have to withhold this information,

Leif:

which now makes you complicit.

Leif:

Dan is now a felon for

Leif:

not turning him in. Good job. Good

Leif:

parenting, Rufus.

Leif:

Fucking dickhead.

Leif:

Blair fights Cyrus on the sidewalk, still

Leif:

waiting for his driver to come back from dinner. But

Leif:

Cyrus reveals that he planned everything and proved

Leif:

that he could out scheme Blair. And does it without being

Leif:

vindictive about it. Cyrus received some

Leif:

high praise from Blair before they returned to the party

Leif:

together.

Shannon:

I love that your description there. He

Shannon:

can out scheme her without being vindictive because my

Shannon:

note for the scene was, I love that Cyrus

Shannon:

wins Blair's approval by playing her game

Shannon:

his way. M. I think it's so adorable.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

And again, he plays it without being mean like Blair is.

Leif:

Yeah. Does it. He does it a nice way.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

He gets your favorite, you know, recording artist to come to her birthday

Leif:

party.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was. It was

Leif:

good. I. And I. It really

Leif:

made me, with the exception of, like, his

Leif:

blind spot for his child, which I guess it.

Leif:

But it really. That was really endearing. Like,

Leif:

he's a schemer, but he does it in, like, this fun.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Nice way.

Shannon:

Yeah. Them trailing off at the end, too, and being like, you're not

Shannon:

what I had in mind. He's like, well, you're not what I had in

Shannon:

mind. Oh, yeah.

Leif:

Ah. Anybody want to be done?

Leif:

Dan sends a story about Charlie trout and the

Leif:

father never loved him to Bartley. Along with the

Leif:

interview tape and an apology note, I wrote in all.

Shannon:

Caps, oh, my God. Dan's awful writing would

Shannon:

never impress Yale.

Leif:

Oh, is this when you, when you.

Shannon:

Oh, yeah. I will pause the screen. I read every single word,

Shannon:

and I'm.

Leif:

Just like, that poor

Leif:

intern. That poor intern.

Shannon:

Don't think so. You named Chuck bass

Shannon:

Charlie trout. Really?

Leif:

I do think, like, I brought up before

Leif:

we were, before we started doing this that they

Leif:

show that whole story, and you can actually read

Leif:

the Charlie strout. The first page of the Charlie

Leif:

trout story. And it took me back to

Leif:

Blair when, in the episode where they went to

Leif:

Yale, blair has a letter that she gives

Leif:

to the dean, and the first

Leif:

paragraph is about blair, and the

Leif:

rest of it is just an HB lovecraft

Leif:

story filling in the rest of the page.

Shannon:

That's so funny.

Leif:

Yeah. The player probably would

Leif:

be a fan of HBO and would play direct.

Leif:

Serena arrives at Aaron's apartment, who is still with

Leif:

Danielle, and Aaron admits that he likes

Leif:

the date around. Serena storms off.

Leif:

Hopefully this means she found a clue.

Shannon:

What?

Leif:

Yeah, like, I'm

Leif:

not polyamorous. I'm in a monogamous marriage,

Leif:

but I have friends that are polyamorous,

Leif:

and anyone in the polyamory community

Leif:

will, this isn't how you do it.

Leif:

No, I don't think he is polyamorous.

Shannon:

I don't think. I don't consider it polyamorous either. I consider

Shannon:

him just being, like, not exclusive. We are dating. Not,

Shannon:

like, official.

Leif:

The reason I keep coming back to the term

Leif:

polyamory for him him is because his

Leif:

exact words were along the lines of, I

Leif:

like to date more than one person at a, time. he

Leif:

doesn't just say, I like to date around. He

Leif:

said, I, I don't know how they do it in high school.

Shannon:

Yes.

Leif:

So I like to date around. I like to date

Leif:

more than one person.

Leif:

I mean, far be it for me to consider myself an expert

Leif:

on polyamory, but I believe it really refers to actually,

Leif:

like, a committed relationship with multiple.

Leif:

Yeah, I. But. And that's fair, and that might.

Leif:

But isn't he also trying to have

Leif:

maybe not a committed relationship, but a

Leif:

relationship? Right. And, like,

Leif:

yeah, I don't know.

Shannon:

I could. I can, like, see your point for sure. I just don't

Shannon:

know if, like, I think it's.

Leif:

Yeah, I think it's implied that, like, eventually they would become

Leif:

an agonist.

Shannon:

I do think, like, he would probably like polyamory,

Shannon:

like his character. I think it suits his character, but I get

Shannon:

the sense that he's just, like, I'm not committing to.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

I'm sampling around so I find what.

Shannon:

I like, which is fine, as.

Leif:

Long as she's up about it.

Shannon:

Like, then they should just, like, end it.

Leif:

Yeah, they should. They should really just end it.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and. And,

Leif:

you know, and again, no matter what, you would.

Leif:

No matter that the term for what is going on

Leif:

that you. It all starts with that very first

Leif:

time being like, look, I'm dating more than

Leif:

one person, and if you're interested, then I'll

Leif:

date you, too, because that. That is the whole. They

Leif:

do mention, even later in the episode, they do say the

Leif:

words open relationship. Blair and Serena,

Leif:

when they're talking to each other, they discuss how

Leif:

Serena isn't. She wants to be a hippie

Leif:

girl from the sixties, but she doesn't want. But

Leif:

she could never have an open relationship.

Leif:

So there were other things that led me to think that this

Leif:

was his, how he dated.

Leif:

I also feel like it was probably a

Leif:

lazy m. Maybe not lazy, but ignorant on the

Leif:

writer's part of not knowing how,

Leif:

of not really knowing the way to

Leif:

bring this subject.

Shannon:

Yeah, the terminology and, like, just having Erin

Shannon:

clarify with her. Like, it, like, clarify for the

Shannon:

audience and for her. But, yeah, I don't know. Well.

Leif:

Cause it's been three episodes now of Aaron

Leif:

having other women around while.

Leif:

And then Serena being like, oh, I thought it was me. Oh, but there's

Leif:

these other women kissing you, and, like, at any point.

Leif:

And, like, the last episode, he should have been like,

Leif:

look, I'm not exclusive with you. Boom.

Leif:

There. Boom.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Done.

Shannon:

Also, maybe, like, don't date her. She's in high school, and you are.

Leif:

Like, 15 years old.

Shannon:

I don't know how you do it in high school. Like, what a

Shannon:

line.

Leif:

He's older than me.

Leif:

Pretty gross.

Leif:

Rufus is playing guitar in the dark when Jenny

Leif:

enters.

Shannon:

Sorry.

Leif:

Lincoln Hawks emo, baby.

Leif:

The base of the basement page.

Leif:

Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Leif:

Jenny enters and agrees to return home only if

Leif:

Rufus will sign the incorporation paperwork.

Leif:

Rufus gets all high and mighty and

Leif:

refuses to sign the papers. Jenny, as stubborn as

Leif:

ever, digs in her heels as well. We

Leif:

see Jenny all alone, walking down the

Leif:

streets after dark. Poor little orphan

Leif:

Jenny looks like she needs a

Leif:

daddy warbuck. But daddy Warbucks don't grow on

Leif:

trees. At least trees that grow in Brooklyn.

Shannon:

Another bad one. Yeah, another

Shannon:

really bad one. Gigi.

Leif:

Rufus is such an idiot.

Shannon:

Wrong and strong.

Leif:

Like.

Leif:

Like, so, I mean, yes, Jenny is wrong to

Leif:

try and emotionally blackmail, but just agree to it and

Leif:

get her back in the house.

Leif:

Yeah, get her back. Now, Jenny. Jenny is

Leif:

diabolical in her attitude. Right?

Leif:

And I, Like, Jenny is

Leif:

coming in, and she is emotionally blackmailing her dad. And,

Leif:

like, no doubt about it. I also go back

Leif:

to, if you would have supported your kid

Leif:

in their efforts from day fucking

Leif:

one right now, you would be

Leif:

sitting down, working out your fucking rich and famous

Leif:

contract for your kid. Yeah.

Leif:

Fashion show. It was ridiculous how much he overreacted to

Leif:

that.

Leif:

Yeah, but. But it's not even just the fashion show. It's

Leif:

been every step of the way. He has been putting his

Leif:

fucking foot in the way of. Of

Leif:

everything she's tried to do. He has been

Leif:

constantly sabotaging his kids

Leif:

fucking dream, meanwhile, telling the other one.

Leif:

Yeah, just, keep. Keep doing it as long as you don't hurt

Leif:

people. Yeah, and. But, no, not you.

Leif:

You're not going to get it. Like, fuck you,

Leif:

Rufus.

Shannon:

Yeah, I'm so annoyed. Like, I hate

Shannon:

Rufus. They're out this whole storyline, and, like, saying, like, I

Shannon:

won't sign my name to favorite condoning who

Shannon:

you've become. It's so harsh. And, like, he should

Shannon:

be a proud of his daughter.

Shannon:

Like, yeah, your daughter is incredibly talented

Shannon:

and recognized within, like, that community, and,

Shannon:

like, you're an artist, Rubio. You're a

Shannon:

musician. And the idea that, like, he would not. I

Shannon:

get being scared. Like, I get being scared for her. In terms

Shannon:

of, like, oh. Like, you were, like, this is, like, risky. In

Shannon:

terms of you pursuing this.

Leif:

Guess what? If she fails, she can still go back to school.

Shannon:

Yeah, exactly. And if she just

Shannon:

had your support during it, like, you guys could figure something

Shannon:

out. But, like. Like, just him. If this

Shannon:

was, like, real life and not a show, like, he is,

Shannon:

like, losing his daughter from this. Yeah.

Shannon:

And, like, maybe forever, like, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Several episodes ago, Eleanor calls him on it. Like, if you

Leif:

had all of your shit laid, all of your dreams

Leif:

answered when you were 15, would you have

Leif:

stayed in school? Like. No.

Leif:

And we move into the epilogue.

Leif:

Jenny wakes up at the gallery and calls the business

Leif:

manager. She begs for a Sunday meeting. At least

Leif:

she has somewhere to sleep.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Thankfully, her poor father owns multiple Brooklyn

Leif:

properties.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

chuck in his room when Bart knocks at the

Leif:

door. Because of Dan's story, Bart

Leif:

apologized for being a. The cold to chuck all these

Leif:

years. We see that Chuck has a picture of his mother

Leif:

on the nightstand. Bart invites Chuck to the

Leif:

hockey game. I, like to see it.

Leif:

I loved it. I got a little emotional. I'm not going to lie. I

Leif:

got teary. I got a little bar bass in my eye

Leif:

watching that. Like, it was.

Leif:

I don't want Bart to be a

Leif:

cartoon evil villain. I want him to be a,

Leif:

cold businessman. Yeah, but he should have

Leif:

some art.

Leif:

And. And, I mean, like, when. When they were

Leif:

talking, when he said the line, every time I look at you,

Leif:

I turn to rob and I go. I see her

Leif:

because, like. But, like, But also, it's so heart wrenching

Leif:

because, like, you know that I like

Leif:

it. Just thinking about that, like, losing

Leif:

someone that you love like that. And then every time you see your kid,

Leif:

like, you're. You're reminded of them, you know,

Leif:

like. Like, that's gotta be

Leif:

really tough for him. And it really makes a really

Leif:

sympathetic side to Bart here. The

Leif:

murderer.

Shannon:

Yeah. I think also much like, Blair's scene with

Shannon:

Cyrus where she doesn't have a lot of dialogue, but her acting

Shannon:

really comes through and she has a lot of facial

Shannon:

expressions and she conveys emotion really well. And this

Shannon:

change in emotion that gradually shifts

Shannon:

from one to the other. I think Ed Westwick, also a really

Shannon:

nice job in the scene, like, starting out kind of, like, you know,

Shannon:

like, defensive and then, like, kind of slowly becoming, like,

Shannon:

surprised and, like.

Leif:

And warming.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Dan tells Rufus that he killed the Bart story.

Leif:

We also find that found out that even though

Leif:

Rufus and Jenny are fighting, Jenny still

Leif:

calls Dan to talk to him. in my opinion, is further

Leif:

evidence that Dan didn't rat out, Jenny last week we talked

Leif:

about earlier.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Jenny is once again meeting with the manager, who tells her

Leif:

that only the other option is to become an

Leif:

emancipated miner.

Leif:

Back to the one with Dan, though, where he

Leif:

saved. Where Rufus is, like, you know, you

Leif:

saved that family.

Leif:

Just to really put a period on that sentence

Leif:

of, like, rufus just condoning murder to save

Leif:

a family.

Shannon:

And family. As if it's not like they're

Shannon:

friends.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Like, yeah. Then of course, like, Dan is the one to then

Shannon:

suggest to Rufus, like, save our family.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Call Jenny. Like, let her take the win, even if

Shannon:

you don't agree with her, and it's, like.

Leif:

Exactly. Yeah. And Dan is absolutely right.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

It's kind of a relief. Last time I came on, like, I was very Dan

Shannon:

bashing. So, like, even though Dan is unrealistically

Shannon:

superhero in this episode, it's, like, kind of nice to be on

Shannon:

his side for an episode. And, like, I don't always hate

Shannon:

Daniel.

Leif:

it also brings me to the point where Leif had said

Leif:

that episode ten tends to be a big Dan and

Leif:

Serena episode, which I always heard

Leif:

you saying a Dan and Serena

Leif:

episode, but it was a Dan

Leif:

and Serena episode,

Leif:

so that was.

Leif:

Yeah, I did kind of get away from the formula, but

Leif:

I think Aaron is just such a Dan substitute.

Leif:

That, though, kind of works.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

He really is just diet Dan.

Shannon:

Dan look good. Is that what's part of what's.

Leif:

He's diet Dan?

Leif:

Yeah, I think it's. Yeah, I feel like he does.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And he's just dad, but older and creepier.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Only twice the age.

Leif:

he's in his thirties.

Shannon:

He's older than Cyrus.

Leif:

He's Benjamin bunging it.

Leif:

and to the Jenny thing, I completely support

Leif:

emancipation.

Shannon:

Yeah. I mean, I think it's insane how much emancipation comes

Shannon:

up in teen dramas because it's not that

Shannon:

easy to get. But, I loved the idea of

Shannon:

it. I was happy with my family, but I was just, like,

Shannon:

who? What if I could be on my.

Leif:

I think the reason why it comes up is so many of these actors

Leif:

are our best because both and Taylor are

Leif:

a mess. M. And I think Layton might have been as well.

Shannon:

Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Leif:

Layton had a, crazy childhood.

Shannon:

Yeah. Yeah, you told me last time I was on, but,

Shannon:

like. Yeah, so that's, like, good justification. I don't think, like, you

Shannon:

disagreeing with Rufus is enough to get you emancipated,

Shannon:

but, yeah.

Leif:

Pat, was emancipated, but he still, like, lived with his mom. His mom was still, like,

Leif:

his manager. He just did that so he could work full time.

Leif:

Yeah, I was gonna say there. There are circumstances of

Leif:

emancipation in. In the entertainment industry that

Leif:

are like, that. That it's like, to get them so they don't have to go

Leif:

to school and they can work.

Leif:

Yeah. Cause they're not. If they're minors, they can only work a certain amount

Leif:

of hours or sag.

Leif:

Yeah, which is probably why we don't see Jenny on

Leif:

every episode.

Leif:

Yeah. Blair and Serena are having a phone

Leif:

conversation about casual dating. That's where you

Leif:

mentioned before about.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

she's. Yeah, like, you want to be a sixties hippie, but you're

Leif:

still kind of conventional.

Leif:

Yeah. I mean, this is a whole conversation

Leif:

supporting the idea of them

Leif:

being in an open relationship.

Leif:

Even if it is just for now, it is still. You

Leif:

are sharing him, Zachary.

Shannon:

Yeah, that's fair. I also, like. Even though I was

Shannon:

playing Devil's advocate earlier with you, I feel like, in support

Shannon:

of what you're saying, I also do believe in the idea

Shannon:

of when you're dating someone, you

Shannon:

shouldn't be thinking about who they will be in

Shannon:

the future. You should look at who they are right now. And

Shannon:

so if you're looking at who he is right now, like, he is

Shannon:

seeing other women and, like, that might not ever stop.

Shannon:

So, I mean, Serena's high school doesn't know about

Shannon:

her, but I feel, like. Don't

Shannon:

know no better, but I feel like I can change

Shannon:

him. Okay. Like, he's already shown

Shannon:

you time and.

Leif:

Time again, so I. Yeah, like, I agree.

Leif:

So he is doing the open. I just think there's a

Leif:

distinction between, like, Polly. I mean, I don't

Leif:

think power is, like, necessarily an open relationship.

Leif:

Best all the time.

Shannon:

No, I think it's usually, like, you.

Leif:

Know, who we need on the. On to talk about this

Leif:

is Andre, who is polyamorous,

Leif:

and is very involved in the, like,

Leif:

Philadelphia polyamory, like, community, too.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Some people don't bring us enough information on

Leif:

polyamory.

Shannon:

Oh, my God. I'm, like, the most monogamous.

Shannon:

I don't even, like, want to think about it. That's

Shannon:

awesome. I don't judge it. I do not judge it. But, like, for me personally,

Shannon:

I'm like. I'm like, I'll get upset at an

Shannon:

imaginary man in my head.

Leif:

I'm so monogamous, I only date myself.

Shannon:

Yeah. Really?

Leif:

Yeah. I can see Shannon throwing her laptop out of a

Leif:

window after a dating game.

Leif:

She talked her after Dream

Leif:

daddy's the.

Shannon:

Only time that dream daddy I get to be polyamorous, but,

Shannon:

like, it's like a Mormon polyamorous where it's like, it's just

Shannon:

me. Like, you don't get to be it,

Shannon:

but that's different.

Leif:

But that's dream dad.

Shannon:

That's dream dad.

Leif:

daddy.

Leif:

Okay.

Shannon:

Sorry.

Leif:

Blair is surprised to find Cyrus at the

Leif:

breakfast table and is even more surprised to find out that

Leif:

he is moving in, effective

Leif:

immediately.

Shannon:

Still laughing.

Shannon:

Oh, yeah. I, I mean, that is, like,

Shannon:

I don't know. That's a lot. That's a little quick,

Shannon:

Cyrus, but I also, like, follow your heart.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

I mean, why not? They're in their sixties or

Leif:

whatever. Fifties.

Shannon:

There's no way. Well, he might be, but I don't think Eleanor

Shannon:

is at least fifties.

Leif:

I would think.

Leif:

I think late 40.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

I think around my age. Right?

Leif:

Like, I think she's older than you.

Leif:

I think she is older than me. I don't know if

Leif:

she's supposed to be old.

Leif:

I think she just wanted. She had well

Leif:

taken care of.

Leif:

Yeah. Had kids when she was a little bit older, and.

Leif:

Yeah. she just has all the best products.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Stylists and.

Leif:

But also, like, you know, I, this

Leif:

kind of makes me think of my dad, who, like,

Leif:

the, he told me one time he was dating someone, and

Leif:

then, like, a week later, when we, he introduced us, he was like, we're

Leif:

getting married. It's like, oh, hi,

Leif:

my new stepmom. And then, like,

Leif:

and then another time, he was like, oh, yeah, I'm sort of seeing this woman.

Leif:

Then he called. Then I'm calling him. He's like, yeah, we

Leif:

eloped over the weekend, and it's like, oh, you,

Leif:

you know, the other woman died,

Leif:

in between. Yeah, he's not married. He's not

Leif:

polygamous. He's not marrying. But,

Leif:

like, he, my, he and my mom split my, this is my

Leif:

dad's fourth wife. He's, but his two of his wives

Leif:

died.

Shannon:

Yeah. My grandfather, there was a similar thing. Like, yeah, had three

Shannon:

wives die, and then it like, yeah, more marriages.

Leif:

People just can't be alone.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Yeah, come on.

Shannon:

It's like, yeah. I mean, like, if. I don't know, if,

Shannon:

I don't know.

Leif:

If I can keep doing that. Like, could you keep, oh,

Shannon:

You're like, yeah, I can't handle that heartbreak.

Shannon:

It's like getting a new dog.

Leif:

I mean, I get that. Yeah. What

Leif:

you're, I get what leap is saying. I was

Leif:

saying to Robin, like, I don't know if I want something like this

Leif:

again. Like, this is, like, our marriage is something

Leif:

that is so special to me. I don't think I want that.

Shannon:

Zachary, I thought you were saying it in terms of, like, oh, you. Serial

Shannon:

monogamous. It's like, well, that's not really

Shannon:

fair.

Leif:

Aaron shows up for his day with Serena, who thought they

Leif:

had broken up somehow. Aaron's speech

Leif:

about non conformity works on Serena, who decides

Leif:

to go out on a casual date with Aaron,

Leif:

prove just how much of a free spirit she

Leif:

is. Serena goes on a date wearing only a

Leif:

jacket and her sleeping gown.

Leif:

Some surprises hit you over the head like a squash

Leif:

racket, and others sneak up when you

Leif:

least are expecting it. And sometimes the

Leif:

biggest surprises are the ones you spring on yourself.

Leif:

Scampering about in a slip is one way to

Leif:

shed old skin. But will embrace free

Leif:

love be as easy as flinging off a pair of fendi

Leif:

flat? Looks like someone's going barefoot

Leif:

in the park.

Shannon:

Yeah, this one's too long. And, like,

Shannon:

the gossip girl quotes, in general, I think they're

Shannon:

ridiculous.

Leif:

Well, the end of the episode, one's always long.

Shannon:

Yeah. Yeah, this one. But I do. Actually, this might be the

Shannon:

only gossip girl quote that I I don't

Shannon:

really like it in reference to Serena and Aaron, but I do really

Shannon:

like the quote. Sometimes the biggest surprises are the ones

Shannon:

you spread on yourself. I think that's like. Yeah, I'm like.

Shannon:

Like that. I like it. And

Shannon:

isolated from

Shannon:

too much. Aaron.

Leif:

He's so creepy.

Leif:

Yeah. Like, he's creepy in this scene. Like

Leif:

the, going out in the slip. It's like, what is. What is

Leif:

that?

Shannon:

Yeah, what is. What did it accomplish?

Leif:

What are you proving?

Leif:

She just wants to prove how much of a free spirit she

Leif:

is.

Leif:

Yeah, I I kind of like the.

Shannon:

Way she says no, but, And then I was like, but.

Leif:

But why?

Shannon:

But why?

Leif:

It's cause she. It's. I mean, yeah, she

Leif:

doesn't like to admit it, but she is just as concerned about

Leif:

image as Lily is. But it's just. She wants a different image than

Leif:

Lily has.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon:

She might be, like, even not really because it's not like she's

Shannon:

putting these other women down that he's dating, but she might be, like,

Shannon:

kind of, like, leaning towards, like, pick me

Shannon:

type, where it's like, I'm gonna, like, look at me. I'm

Shannon:

the free spirit. Like, I bet all those other bitches you date are.

Leif:

Yeah, I kind of felt.

Leif:

I kind of felt bad, too. But it was also still, like,

Leif:

like, why did. Why?

Leif:

Like, there are a hundred things that she could have worn.

Shannon:

Yeah. I think the reason is, like, his. His

Shannon:

speech is like, oh, like, I know you grew up on the

Shannon:

upper east side, but, like, do you really want that life? Like, I want to do what I

Shannon:

want to do. And, like, and then she's like, like, oh, yeah, you're

Shannon:

right. I am that kind of person. Let me prove it now by going

Shannon:

out and muscle you.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

But Blake lively hasn't shown her a, photo

Leif:

for skin. This.

Leif:

It's in her contract.

Leif:

But that is the female power.

Leif:

I mean, she paid good money for them. Might as well show them

Leif:

off so that with our

Leif:

episode. Steve, any predictions?

Leif:

Oh, my God. Like, this Aaron thing is

Leif:

gonna eventually blow

Leif:

up. It is not

Leif:

sustainable.

Leif:

They're not gonna get married

Leif:

again.

Leif:

and at the wedding, someone would come up and kiss Aaron and be

Leif:

like, oh, hi. And he'd be like, oh, yeah, Serena, I'll catch up with you

Leif:

later. And, like, walk off.

Leif:

Oh, yeah. This is who we are now.

Shannon:

Oh, yeah. I have my second wedding then.

Leif:

Oh, I've got another wedding to go do.

Leif:

I got another wedding at 03:00

Leif:

weddings.

Shannon:

Weddings for our thing.

Leif:

so let's go ahead and get into some segments.

Leif:

We hopped into the wayback machine to

Leif:

go visit this week in fandom. hello there,

Leif:

Peabody here. And this is the wayback machine

Leif:

for traveling through time.

Leif:

And this is my boy Sherman. Speak,

Leif:

Shermandhe.

Shannon:

Hello.

Leif:

Goodbye.

Leif:

The, tells you without pity. red was missing. It was a

Leif:

lost the ether. So I went over to fan for him,

Leif:

and they did not like the episodes. Not great

Leif:

overall. It's kind of boring. Sad about no Nate.

Leif:

Yeah. But we knew Nate was going to be here

Leif:

because he's in the Hamptons. Yes. You know, because he's.

Leif:

I'm kind of indifferent to it. I know. I know. You're a big Nate guy.

Leif:

I love Nate.

Leif:

I mean, I love Nate, but he does not add

Leif:

anything to the story.

Leif:

No, no, no.

Leif:

So it makes sense he's not here.

Leif:

Yeah. I just like good guy Nate when Nate is there and

Leif:

be and I right now, I really feel bad.

Leif:

Jenny could have used some rescuing this week, right?

Leif:

Jenny could really. Jenny could really.

Shannon:

I'm glad I didn't. Come on. A Nate and Jenny.

Leif:

Oh, Allison, your feelings about Nate and Jenny, that was last

Leif:

week.

Shannon:

Yeah, that was. Yeah. That would have been either. The. We like

Shannon:

the last eight and nine is when he's like.

Shannon:

Like, I just like, I get, like, I kind of like

Shannon:

somebody being, like, attracted to

Shannon:

her, pursuing this, like, art in the way that she is and, like,

Shannon:

doing the gorilla thing and, like, having, like, I do like that, like.

Shannon:

Like, piquing somebody's interest. It just shouldn't be Nate.

Shannon:

Like, wait, anyway, I mean,

Shannon:

the actor, whatever.

Leif:

The characters are only two years apart.

Leif:

Yeah. It's a sophomore and a sophomore and a junior.

Shannon:

I just, like, don't. I don't know. I just.

Leif:

It's definitely weird because the actor's age difference, but

Leif:

in the reality of the show there, I mean, I have no

Leif:

problem.

Shannon:

Yeah, I get her being into him, but, like, I, Like,

Shannon:

just because he kind of, like, moves in or whatever and, like,

Shannon:

it's, like, there, but I just don't know.

Leif:

I understand it from Nate's perspective because

Leif:

Nate sees pretty thing. Nate likes pretty

Leif:

thing fair.

Leif:

And they do have other history of friendship

Leif:

and even, like, somewhat flirty like.

Leif:

They had in the past.

Leif:

Yeah. There was a season one thing where they gave a

Leif:

hug and had, like, a very, like,

Leif:

touching moment.

Leif:

So, like, there is a. I mean, that was definitely.

Shannon:

Maybe I am, like, I'm just. I'm, like, going off the

Shannon:

vibe of, like, the actors. I might be just, like, going off.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I don't like that.

Leif:

Oh, yeah. I mean, Chase Crawford

Leif:

was. The reason why the story never really happened fully

Leif:

is because Chase Crawford was uncomfortable with it.

Leif:

M that's good. Yeah.

Leif:

Good for him.

Leif:

Good for him. Yes. Because.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

You know.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Ed Wesker clearly was not.

Shannon:

He does, like, look, he is good guy Nate to her, and I do think

Shannon:

she deserves a good guy. Uh-huh. I just

Shannon:

don't. I don't.

Leif:

And I liked her for Nate,

Leif:

too, because, like, all the other women in his life

Leif:

walk all over him.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon:

You've convinced me. I was wrong.

Leif:

No, I totally get it.

Shannon:

I actually take it back.

Leif:

The visual of it is definitely weird because the

Leif:

age the actor. But from a storytelling

Leif:

perspective, I love named Jenny.

Leif:

Yeah. I really do. From a storytelling.

Leif:

They were sad about Nate, but

Leif:

mad about no chair.

Leif:

Oh, yeah.

Leif:

No Chuck and Blair interactions at all.

Shannon:

it's.

Leif:

Doesn't happen often.

Shannon:

Yeah. And, like, because I've, like,

Shannon:

now I feel like I'm getting the episodes a little bit out

Shannon:

of order, but, like, can you remind me of the last, like,

Shannon:

interaction that they had?

Leif:

So in episode seven,

Leif:

Blair, like, the whole thing was with Dan and

Leif:

Blair, and, like, Dan was, like, giving her advice,

Leif:

and, like, she was gonna tell him that.

Shannon:

Okay.

Leif:

Love him.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Good. That's that's what I wanted to. That is, like, the moment,

Shannon:

for me, that episode. And, like, that scene when she

Shannon:

doesn't say it and, like, they blame Dan for it. Like, that's the

Shannon:

moment where, like, I stopped being, like, a chair shipper

Shannon:

because it's like. Like, this ain't love. Like, this isn't

Shannon:

how you express love to one another. Like, he's not

Shannon:

good. it's actually, Dan's done you a favor,

Shannon:

Blair, so, yeah, I get that the fandom was,

Shannon:

like, on them and probably for, like, they

Shannon:

will drag it out and whatever else, but, like, I. Yeah,

Shannon:

after that episode, I don't. I don't care, but I'm not mad. I'm m not mad. No

Shannon:

chair.

Leif:

And also, I mean, like, there were definitely

Leif:

fans at this point in the forums

Leif:

saying, yeah, this is getting boring.

Leif:

Yeah, this is gonna be, you know, another, What do they

Leif:

compare stuff which relates.

Leif:

They.

Leif:

Compared to the. On the sea. Oh, Seth and summer.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

We're just, you know, I mean, they actually said

Shannon:

it, Ella. I mean, you guys probably already talked about this, but

Shannon:

they said it out loud. He's like, yeah. Like, you know that lift, if

Shannon:

we get together, that's the end and not the beginning. And it's like that as

Shannon:

the writers being like, no, yeah,

Shannon:

yeah. Why didn't Jenny stop? Yeah. Okay.

Leif:

Yeah. So as we also talked about this, but

Leif:

a lot of people were, why didn't Jenny try and stop Agnes for

Leif:

burning dresses?

Shannon:

Yeah. How could the writers have fixed that, I wonder, since

Shannon:

we're fixing their writing today?

Leif:

Yeah, I mean, I think maybe, like, Agnes could have just

Leif:

been waiting there with, like, the match over the background.

Shannon:

The amount of, like, physical struggle, even if, like, it

Shannon:

still goes.

Leif:

I mean, they might have tried to shoot that. It

Leif:

just looked really bad because the actresses are not

Leif:

physical actresses. They just aren't good at

Leif:

that kind of thing. Yeah, but, yeah, like, I think the only way they could

Leif:

have fixed it would be to just have, like, Agnes waiting with,

Leif:

like, the match over the barrel as, ah, Jenny walks

Leif:

in.

Shannon:

That's sinister.

Leif:

Yeah. Which would have been. Which, I mean, that would have been a

Leif:

powerful scene. That would have been, you know, hey, and,

Leif:

like, do all of her. Like, I did all of this shit and all that shit, and

Leif:

then that's.

Shannon:

Not a mic drop. That's a match.

Leif:

So, yeah, so we normally go to

Leif:

television without pity for us, where Dan is probably the most

Leif:

hated character, but fan forum. Jenny is really

Leif:

hated.

Shannon:

Really? I don't like fan forum.

Leif:

and, yeah, that becomes more

Leif:

prevalent in fandom. which is so funny.

Leif:

Cause I think Jenny. Like, Jenny's

Leif:

attitude towards Rufus at the end was, like I said, it's

Leif:

kind of diabolical. Like, I'm done. Move in if you

Leif:

look, sign shit. But it's also. She

Leif:

was backed into a corner, especially

Leif:

in her perspective. Like, you know,

Leif:

I need to get what I'm after and everyone.

Leif:

but my dad is telling me I need to get this, so

Leif:

I don't see where the hate comes from. Yeah.

Shannon:

And I think it's still accurate as, like, an angsty teen with, like,

Shannon:

parents. Like, yeah, like, teen, girls talk their parents like

Shannon:

that.

Leif:

Yeah. My theory is one

Leif:

that she actually does act like a teenager, and people just don't like

Leif:

teenagers.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

And then two, Jenny beats

Leif:

Blair, and people don't like Blair

Leif:

losing.

Leif:

Yeah. It's fair.

Leif:

I'm right there with preach.

Leif:

But, yeah, that's always been my theory is, yeah, people just

Leif:

don't like that she beats Blaire.

Leif:

Yeah. And I think the other one is also true, the fact that she plays

Leif:

a teenager so fucking perfectly

Leif:

because, like, I love

Leif:

teen. Like, I have three teenagers, and, like, I've worked

Leif:

with teenagers throughout my entire career, and I

Leif:

love the kids that I've worked with. But

Leif:

I was about to say I love teenagers and wanted to come out, like,

Leif:

love teenagers. Like, that's

Leif:

not enough.

Leif:

Oh, my catchphrase.

Leif:

But my point being that, like, they can also

Leif:

be really fucking angsty,

Leif:

whiny and annoying.

Leif:

And they.

Leif:

And teenagers in general will often feel like the

Leif:

whole world is happening to them and not

Leif:

recognize that there's an entire other world that's going

Leif:

on and that things just happen to fucking suck.

Shannon:

On the streets of New York City by yourself with a

Shannon:

suitcase at that age and, like, it's nighttime. Your

Shannon:

dad just, like, basically told you.

Leif:

Basically kicked one out for the second time.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

so I'm over here laughing to hear

Leif:

dangerous catch.

Leif:

I'm just picturing a scene where Cyrus just has.

Leif:

He has a very large penis, and he's just,

Leif:

like, part way in. This partner's like,

Leif:

hold on.

Leif:

Wait, wait.

Leif:

Not enough.

Shannon:

He whips it out, and his partner's like, not

Shannon:

enough. Like, I

Shannon:

had bigger.

Leif:

Oh, man.

Leif:

There seems to be a great amount of concern for the amount of cleavage

Leif:

that Serena is showing.

Shannon:

What's the concern?

Leif:

Yeah, I guess they were saying, like, why. Why

Leif:

are they forcing her to show cleavage?

Leif:

Oh.

Shannon:

Like, as if, like, lively was nothing.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Okay.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Do we know an answer to that?

Leif:

I'm gonna say she was on board with it just based by her

Leif:

personal style. Yeah, but I mean,

Leif:

maybe she was against it. I mean, she was much younger then, I guess.

Shannon:

Like, you are still portraying a high school student, though.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shannon:

I don't know. I show as much cleavage.

Leif:

You do? Yeah.

Shannon:

Don't want ladies.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

yeah.

Leif:

So they were attacking Eric Daven say, like,

Leif:

yeah.

Leif:

Why?

Leif:

Why?

Shannon:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how much you want. Not what your

Shannon:

boss wants.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Power.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Moving on to episode

Leif:

grades.

Leif:

Okay.

Shannon:

My grade. I have no fucking idea.

Leif:

Now I know my leaf goes first this week.

Leif:

Yeah. Ah, I'm erasing my original grade

Leif:

right off of that.

Leif:

Can I ask what your original grade was

Leif:

originally?

Leif:

Was gonna be? A bit b.

Leif:

Okay. Mine was originally a b plus.

Shannon:

Mine originally was a b.

Leif:

Okay. But no, it is not.

Leif:

Like we said, the directing was not bad. It's not good.

Leif:

So that's like a c directing.

Leif:

The acting. Again, there were some good

Leif:

moments.

Leif:

There were good moments in the great.

Leif:

Acting and some average moments. I'll give that a

Leif:

b on the acting. The A

Leif:

storyline, which I'm gonna say was the Jenny

Leif:

storyline, I mostly like, other than

Leif:

the few lazy bits about it. It. But the B

Leif:

storyline with Blair was kind of boring. And then the

Leif:

sea storyline is the one I would have liked to see more of the Blair

Leif:

either Dan, Chuck and Bart stuff.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

And that, like, because that was really, like, murder

Leif:

and insurance fraud. that's exciting.

Leif:

This one also had a d storyline too, because there

Leif:

was the Serena Aaron storyline as well. Yeah.

Shannon:

Like that. So much time.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

Like, I feel like that was their.

Leif:

I guess. I guess that's probably the C storyline. And the Dan

Leif:

storyline is, like, the deal storyline.

Shannon:

Or.

Leif:

Or I would actually flip the

Leif:

Blair storyline to be the D

Leif:

storyline.

Shannon:

Okay. Okay.

Leif:

Like, if I was writing it. But I think the way they rated it was

Leif:

the piece. Like, that was the party of the week. Was her birthday

Leif:

party.

Leif:

Oh, yeah, you're right. That is the party of the week.

Shannon:

As we're talking about this, I feel like, we should, instead of referring

Shannon:

to characters by name, refer to them by letter, like the show. So, like, the

Shannon:

b storyline is the a storyline.

Leif:

Oh, yeah. So ultimately, I'm, gonna

Leif:

land at a c.

Shannon:

The straight c. The whole letter.

Leif:

Yes.

Shannon:

Okay, hold on. I'm thinking. Okay. Am I next?

Leif:

Yes, you're.

Shannon:

Okay. So I like initially b. And

Shannon:

my thought process was, very similar to yours. Like, nothing

Shannon:

special about this episode. But it didn't feel like there was anything

Shannon:

bad. I think it's interesting the fandom is, like, simultaneously

Shannon:

calling it boring, which, like. Yeah, it was. But, like, them and then hating

Shannon:

Jenny because Jenny is the most interesting.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

She's driving the plot. Yeah. Like, the dance stuff is

Shannon:

interesting, but it's, like, so unbelievable that,

Shannon:

like, I'm not compelled by it, but, like, the Jenny stuff.

Shannon:

Like, I wanted to come on this episode because of, like,

Shannon:

her storyline and because I like. I really, really like her

Shannon:

character arc in this season, and it kind of comes to, like, a

Shannon:

hit in this episode. I hate Aaron. I hate him a

Shannon:

lot. He's in this episode a lot. So, like, I,

Shannon:

But now I, like, can I just give it, like, pass? Fail. Like,

Shannon:

it passed.

Shannon:

Like, I don't. I don't. I feel like I'm. How?

Leif:

Well, I mean, yeah.

Shannon:

it's like, I'll give it.

Leif:

I'm just gonna call that a c then.

Shannon:

It's a c. Well, and,

Shannon:

like, yeah, I wish I could. I wish I could

Shannon:

divide the episode into, like, the parts that I like about

Shannon:

it are solid. Like. Like, I think

Shannon:

Denny's story is, like, a line a other than Agnes.

Shannon:

Like, very sudden switch. And then I think

Shannon:

the acting is decent, other than, like, those lack of

Shannon:

a hustle to the dresses. And then if I could. But then the

Shannon:

rest of the writings. It's a c, I'm

Shannon:

convinced, right down the

Shannon:

middle.

Leif:

Yeah. I came into it at a b because my

Leif:

initial knee jerk of watching it.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah, there. There's stuff that

Leif:

happens.

Leif:

That I really like. I really

Leif:

like Bart's interaction with

Leif:

Chuck at the end. And I'm a sucker for a good

Leif:

ending. Like, if you can give me a good enough ending to

Leif:

something, I'll forget how terrible the rest of it is. Phantom

Leif:

menace. Like, that's why I saw it

Leif:

so many times in the theater when it came out. It's like, the bending

Leif:

battles are so cool. Anyway, anyway, but, like,

Leif:

you know, I really liked how certain things tied up.

Leif:

I love Wallace. Sean. Like, I,

Leif:

He's a national treasure, and I loved him in

Leif:

it. And so it brings me to kind of like, what leaf

Leif:

was doing with.

Leif:

With his, you know, he was coming up.

Leif:

No. No idea. I was completely

Leif:

blindsided, and it was fantastic. I

Leif:

was so happy when to be blindsided by it. It

Leif:

was like.

Shannon:

What was your reaction?

Leif:

React. I'm

Leif:

not enough? No, I. I actually.

Leif:

I actually turned to Robin, was like, And was

Leif:

like, that's Wallace trauma. That's who Preston and Steve were just talking about. So

Leif:

it's not even necessarily a great

Leif:

reaction for him. And

Leif:

actually, no, I'm wrong. The very first word

Leif:

I said. Inconceivable.

Leif:

The very first word I said when I saw fair.

Leif:

Evil. So, I want to start with,

Leif:

like, the writing. And the writing just wasn't

Leif:

great here. Like, there were. She. She wrote some great

Leif:

episodes, but the writing had all of these

Leif:

weird flaws. Like, all of these. We

Leif:

want this store. We want the story to do this.

Leif:

How do we do it? I don't know. So you have this

Leif:

covering up murder and blowing up

Leif:

in front of the agent that's trying to sign you to a

Leif:

huge fucking fashion deal, and

Leif:

creepy dude that refuses to say that he dates

Leif:

more than one person at a time until he absolutely

Leif:

fucking has to. So you have all of these, like,

Leif:

really weird things despite there being

Leif:

cool outcomes. And then when you talk about

Leif:

the directing, like, when I think of

Leif:

the directing, I always think of the performances a director

Leif:

gets out of someone. And when we talk about the

Leif:

good acting in this episode, where do we get the good

Leif:

acting? We get it from Leighton Meester. We get it from Margaret

Leif:

Collins. We get it from Wallace Shawn. We get it

Leif:

from Taylor Mumson. We get it from the four people from.

Leif:

From those three. You know, the.

Leif:

The three cast members. They are

Leif:

always spectacular. They are always the

Leif:

best actors on the show. So there were no

Leif:

spectacular performances, except

Leif:

maybe the. I think the best directed scene was

Leif:

Bart and Chuck at the end.

Leif:

That. That was a. That was a

Leif:

beautiful performance. That was beautifully

Leif:

directed. But I dropped a grade and a half. I

Leif:

went to a c as well. Across the board.

Shannon:

It's like a c that I'm a hand holding club.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

It had so much potential, like, so much going on for it that I

Shannon:

do enjoy from this episode. Yeah, the writing really sucked it. Ah, yeah,

Shannon:

I agree.

Leif:

Cut out all the air and stuff and flesh out

Leif:

the Dan and Chuck, so it's more believable.

Leif:

Yep. Which it's also interesting because they usually only

Leif:

do three storylines because we. We were talking about

Leif:

this, a couple episodes ago, someone who had never seen

Leif:

Gossip girl was on, and he was

Leif:

like, I was amazed that they had these three

Leif:

stories going all at the same time.

Leif:

And every one of them came to a conclusion. Came to a

Leif:

conclusion. And every one of them had a rising

Leif:

action, a climax and an epilogue and a

Leif:

Daniel and, like, and. And he's right. And then

Leif:

I really realized, like, this is. That's the,

Leif:

trademark of this show. They do that ever. All the time.

Leif:

Josh Schwartz in general, I think he does that in all his.

Leif:

Yeah. And it's great storytelling. Like, it is probably the

Leif:

thing that makes this show

Leif:

that engaging.

Leif:

It's great. But it also leads the burnout.

Shannon:

Yeah, sure.

Leif:

And especially.

Leif:

Well, especially sharing through stories too fast and,

Leif:

ah, that's another trademark marker Josh Ford shows.

Leif:

Oh, is it? Well, that, you know what? That makes a lot of

Leif:

sense. But also, they kind of run through the,

Leif:

like, because they're doing. They run through all these stories in, like, three

Leif:

episodes because of the. The rule of three, you know?

Leif:

And, oh, does that mean are they going to be

Leif:

done with Aaron soon?

Leif:

We can only hope.

Leif:

Next episode is Aaron's fourth. So we got a.

Leif:

We should be right, or is it three?

Shannon:

I don't know.

Leif:

Well, so we got. We got three episodes of him doing the same

Leif:

thing. Now he can just do something else.

Shannon:

It is interesting that, like, this, ah, like, the critique

Shannon:

that maybe there's so much going on in this episode that it felt like there was,

Shannon:

like, nothing going on. yeah,

Shannon:

I'm trying to wrap my head around that.

Leif:

yeah, moving

Leif:

into stock watch. So

Leif:

going up, I had Dan because in

Leif:

the context of the show, he did the right thing,

Leif:

and he's super master

Leif:

manipulator and got whatever he wanted all episode

Leif:

long. So he went up, even though I hated him.

Leif:

Aaron went up because, I mean,

Leif:

he's getting all these good looking women, and they're falling

Leif:

for his every line, so. Sure, why not?

Leif:

Cyrus, because, he out schemed Blair, and he. He's in

Leif:

a new relationship that he seems to be enjoying.

Leif:

Eleanor, for the same reason. She's got a new bow and

Leif:

seems to be really happy about it. So Eleanor goes up

Leif:

and Chuck, because he got to have a nice

Leif:

moment with his daddy.

Shannon:

Yep.

Leif:

Shannon, who you got going up?

Shannon:

I had almost identical to you and wrote down,

Shannon:

like, almost all the same reasons. Aaron,

Shannon:

reluctantly, relationship

Shannon:

with his father is improving. Cyrus, you

Shannon:

know, he won. He earned Blair's

Shannon:

approval. Mama. Blair got a good

Shannon:

guy. I did not have Dan going up

Shannon:

only because, like, even though he

Shannon:

did the, like, right thing by the show's standards and, like,

Shannon:

he probably does feel, like, good about

Shannon:

that, he had this opportunity,

Shannon:

like, with this publishing company. Like, he

Shannon:

had, like, an opportunity to do something big and that would have, like,

Shannon:

advanced his career in a certain way.

Leif:

Well, he did. He did get the recommendation letter for Yale that he's been

Leif:

waiting, he's been trying to get for the past, like.

Shannon:

Four or five years. He still wrote it for him.

Leif:

He handed him a letter.

Leif:

That was the first thing.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I feel like. I just feel like he sunk an

Shannon:

opportunity.

Leif:

Oh, yeah.

Shannon:

I have him. I don't have him going down. I just, like, have him straight.

Shannon:

But all the other ups that you had, I also had a.

Shannon:

Yeah.

Leif:

I think I also follow the same checklist. I had

Leif:

Cyrus. Cyrus is the first one I wrote down because

Leif:

Cyrus won, you know, Cyrus.

Leif:

And then I had Eleanor for the same reason. Eleanor has a,

Leif:

has a relationship, and she's happy. I had

Leif:

Aaron reluctantly going up because

Leif:

Aaron, you know, Aaron is fucking winning.

Leif:

Got what he want.

Leif:

Yeah. And then I had Chuck and Bart going

Leif:

up because Chuck. Chuck reestablishing with

Leif:

Bart. And then also Bart getting away with

Leif:

literal fucking murder. And then I also had Blair going

Leif:

up because of, You

Leif:

know, I did feel like by the end with

Leif:

Blair and her relationship with Cyrus, that,

Leif:

like, you know, I felt like she went

Leif:

up in the end by helping him out.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

The only. The final scene kept me from having her go up because she was

Leif:

clearly not happy about him moving in right away.

Leif:

Yeah, I get that. But I.

Leif:

That if her ups, I believe so, yes.

Leif:

All right.

Leif:

So for me, going down, Rufus,

Leif:

a hundred times down. Jenny, I had her going

Leif:

down because she. Her dreams are going up in flames.

Leif:

Literally. Agnes, because she. Our dreams

Leif:

are also going up in flames. And she's just crazy.

Leif:

Serena, because she's having the wool pulling over

Leif:

her eyes and is, you know, doing something she's

Leif:

clearly uncomfortable with. And then also

Leif:

the big loser of the episode, mister Smith's

Leif:

assistant. And she was

Leif:

vulnerable.

Shannon:

I love the random throw ins.

Leif:

And then also I had flair going down. Cause, like I said,

Leif:

like, at the end of the episode, she lost. She lost

Leif:

against Cyrus. Heads up. And then she

Leif:

was not happy at the end.

Leif:

That's fair.

Leif:

And then also the minions. Cause they were just so desperate, the whole

Leif:

ops.

Shannon:

The minions, too.

Shannon:

Even moms have boyfriends.

Leif:

Shannon, who do you have going down?

Shannon:

I actually had going down. That might be, like, my

Shannon:

writer brain, like, lizard brain working, but I

Shannon:

just feel like the information that should not

Shannon:

have let slip is out there now. and

Shannon:

that's just, like, it can't be good for him,

Shannon:

but I get that better relationship with

Shannon:

his son. But I don't know. I think he hates Chuck.

Leif:

That's why I had up neutral, because he

Leif:

did escape his, manslaughter charges and

Leif:

fraud.

Shannon:

Yeah, I'm giving him a down for, like, an ominous

Shannon:

foreboding. Like, there's a cloud hanging over him

Shannon:

now, Jenny, I put down, but with, like,

Shannon:

the caveat that it's gotta be rock

Shannon:

bottom, girl. Like, you can only go up from here, but, like, you're at rock

Shannon:

bottom. You're there.

Leif:

She was the highest high last episode.

Shannon:

Oh, yeah.

Leif:

And that.

Shannon:

It makes it. That makes the low feel that

Shannon:

much worse.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I also had Agnes going on because, like, she lost her partnership.

Shannon:

Like, you had an amazing designer that wanted to

Shannon:

work with you, and it was, like, in your age and, like, your friend

Shannon:

circle, like, why you did that.

Shannon:

rufus, big old down. you're losing

Shannon:

your daughter. Rufus. Get it. Get it the

Shannon:

fuck together.

Leif:

Just. Just agree. Get her back in the ass. Else.

Leif:

Shabbat.

Shannon:

Just agree.

Leif:

Anyone else?

Shannon:

All right, Blair and Serena, neutral. Blair, Serena,

Shannon:

Dan. I had neutral for this episode,

Shannon:

Steve.

Leif:

All right, so I had Serena going down for the same,

Leif:

like, because you're still fucking following this guy

Leif:

around when he's.

Leif:

And you're clearly uncomfortable about it.

Leif:

Yeah, you don't. Like, you're not happy about it, but you're just doing it to try to

Leif:

prove.

Shannon:

Yeah, but she's been doing that for a while. So, like, is it a down

Shannon:

or is it just the same?

Leif:

I mean.

Leif:

I mean, you could keep going down.

Leif:

Keep going.

Shannon:

Ah.

Leif:

I had Agnes and. And Jenny. I mean,

Leif:

for the same reasons I had Rufus for being a

Leif:

fucking horrible dad. I also had Dan

Leif:

going down for how you. What you were saying about,

Leif:

like, the. The missed opportunity.

Leif:

Like. Yeah, I know. Like, in the. More I know that he did the moral

Leif:

lesson of the show, but he also kind of

Leif:

shot himself in the foot and covered up a

Leif:

fucking murder and is now a

Leif:

felon for having. For knowing this

Leif:

information and not doing anything.

Leif:

I didn't mention from, this week in fans segment, the fans

Leif:

definitely fully fought into that being the moral act. They're

Leif:

like, thank God Dan finally did something right.

Shannon:

Wow, he really is, like, superhero

Shannon:

powers this episode. He, like, cast a

Shannon:

spell on everyone in the show and outside of

Shannon:

it.

Leif:

So I also had the minions going down as a

Leif:

collective for the same reason.

Shannon:

Lovely. Both thought of.

Leif:

Yes, but I also have Alison

Leif:

going down. You could have fucking been there for your kid too,

Leif:

but you didn't want to start shit with Rufus.

Leif:

no, honestly, that was the right thing. You don't want to get in the middle of

Leif:

it.

Leif:

You're right. But I still wanted. But because I had an opportunity to

Leif:

take a shot at Allison. I took a shot at.

Shannon:

You're going to be an absent parent. I don't think you get a say.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Anyone else?

Leif:

No. No. That is my going down list.

Leif:

moving on to the best outfits.

Leif:

But here's the best outfits from the.

Steve:

Last episode we see.

Leif:

So I want to get some honor mentioned. It's not my winner,

Leif:

but, Bart had some very nice. He had, like, three or four good suits

Leif:

in this episode.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

But, although, yeah, it's going to go to, Blair's outfit

Leif:

from the epilogue. The. It's an

Leif:

Alice and Olivia trellis printed a belted

Leif:

dress. I felt like very, poison

Leif:

ivy coated.

Leif:

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Leif:

Like, sickly, venomous Greene color.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

And the black tights. The black.

Shannon:

She was dressed great, but, yeah, she.

Leif:

Also had a very nice Marc Jacobs dress. The, like, a

Leif:

houndstooth. The dress. The pinkish one. The

Leif:

magenta.

Shannon:

I liked that one.

Leif:

what is your favorite outfit?

Shannon:

so I felt like, there was a correct answer, and it wasn't the dress

Shannon:

you mentioned, but it was Blair, and it was her birthday outfit.

Shannon:

that was insane. It's not something I would ever wear

Shannon:

or could pull off, but, for the kind of

Shannon:

theme that they maybe had going, it looked like some people were kind of

Shannon:

gatsby dressed. I don't know what the theme was, but she

Shannon:

looked outstanding with the open back and

Shannon:

the deep b. And her hair was, like, really well

Shannon:

done as well. Did want to give a special shout out to. I

Shannon:

actually really liked Serena's shirt during her photo shoot, though. It's

Shannon:

like, it's like a sequin baseball tunic. Like,

Shannon:

it's, like, at the sleeves, like a baseball tee, but it just, like, looked

Shannon:

interesting. I've never seen a tunic like that. And I

Shannon:

like Jenny's, like, honk ass makeup. I like her

Shannon:

look. I know she's had it for a few episodes, but I'm, on this one,

Shannon:

so, yeah, I think Blair's

Shannon:

outfit was. It was just like.

Leif:

I did really like that. But as we've mentioned in the

Leif:

past, I'm, just not a fan of white clothes.

Shannon:

Yeah, it's grayish. it's almost like a

Shannon:

brownish grayish look.

Leif:

That was whiter than a lot of clothes they were wearing at the white party.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

I might be misremembering. I just remember the cut of it

Shannon:

and how she looked in it. I also thought she looked sexy as

Shannon:

hell in her bathrobe. That black

Shannon:

robe when she's talking to her mom in the mirror, I'm like, if you were

Shannon:

talking to Chuck right now,

Shannon:

riddle me that. I don't know.

Shannon:

That's. Yeah, that's mine.

Leif:

That's definitely white.

Shannon:

I don't agree. It's like a

Shannon:

cream. It's like a cream.

Leif:

It's a shimmery. It's silk.

Leif:

That's why.

Leif:

Yeah, I'll just say, oh, my, my. Oh, hell

Leif:

yes. I also wrote down Blair's party

Leif:

dress. So

Leif:

I was. I'm right there with you. I love this. And. And.

Leif:

But, I mean, there's white this. That's white

Leif:

Janet. Like that. Okay.

Leif:

But,

Leif:

But, yeah, I loved that dress, too. And I

Leif:

was like, just, I had.

Shannon:

Like, a couple of, like, the outfits this episode. Really good. And I had a couple

Shannon:

in mind, and then as soon as she walked out, I was like, well, there's the correct.

Leif:

Yeah, I really like the cut. I just didn't like the color.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fair. Yeah, yeah. Because

Leif:

there, you're right. This was a great.

Shannon:

The cut was like, I wouldn't pulled that off.

Shannon:

Like, that cut is so impressive on her. I don't know.

Leif:

so, yes. Stevie already gave yours, so that is it for some

Leif:

segments. Shannon, thank you once again for joining us.

Leif:

Thank you.

Leif:

Do you have anything you would like to plug?

Shannon:

Still is pouring away. No, I don't really.

Shannon:

I want to plug this show, so that doesn't really

Shannon:

work. Tell people about this show. That's my

Shannon:

plug.

Leif:

M maybe we'll have a patreon.

Shannon:

And, dad, thank you for listening to me talk about, like,

Shannon:

inappropriate thing. Love you.

Leif:

What were the things that you were saying?

Leif:

I didn't realize Shannon's dad was going to be listening. Let's take

Leif:

this opportunity.

Leif:

Steve, you got anything to plug this week?

Leif:

If you are in the Lockhaven area

Leif:

around August 19, or 18th and

Leif:

19th. Or 19th and 20th.

Leif:

Yeah, that's going to be. Well, this is going to air on October

Leif:

21.

Leif:

Hey, this past weekend, I played a gig up in

Leif:

Lockhaven.

Leif:

So awesome.

Leif:

Awesome.

Leif:

Hope you were there.

Leif:

Nothing from me this week. So we'll just mention

Leif:

the socials. You can find me on

Leif:

Instagram hot capicola.

Leif:

You can find the podcast on

Leif:

Instagram threads and

Leif:

tick tock at nonjudging breakfast pod and on

Leif:

Twitter x at NJB

Leif:

pod. You can also find links to our discord

Leif:

server and Reddit on our website non m judging

Leif:

breakfast pod.com.

Leif:

You can also find my socials. I am Steve Dot

Leif:

Marshan on pretty much everything. M a r c

Leif:

h I o n spelled. And

Leif:

if you want to reach out and get in touch with the podcast, we'd

Leif:

love to hear from you. You can send us an

Leif:

email@nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com.

Leif:

dot. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Discuss

Leif:

them here on the show and let us know what you think.

Leif:

Also, while you're listening, take a second to leave us

Leif:

a comment like us, subscribe to

Leif:

us. And, keep on telling your friends

Leif:

that you're listening to this great pod that's, talking about

Leif:

Gossip Girl.

Leif:

And we will be back next week to continue to talk about

Leif:

Gossip Girl for season two, episode eleven,

Leif:

the Magnificent Archibald.

Leif:

The max episode description

Leif:

reads, it's Thanksgiving and everyone's

Leif:

battling holiday episode.

Leif:

Holiday episode.

Leif:

Yeah, and Nate's back there. I like his.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

Ah, he has the title of the episode.

Leif:

Yeah.

Shannon:

You guys should prepare a Thanksgiving like what

Shannon:

you're eating. Yeah.

Leif:

but, yes, come back next time. You know you love

Leif:

us.

Leif:

Xoxo.

Steve:

Every time you walk away run away you take a

Steve:

piece of m me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of m 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

Steve:

your door.

Leif:

My heart's.

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

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:

never feels right when I'm out here on

Steve:

my own.

Leif:

I.

Steve:

Left last night and it feels like way

Steve:

too long

Steve:

are you ever gonna see everything you mean

Steve:

to 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 there

Steve:

come back to me

Steve:

smile and you'll make my life

Steve:

complete

Steve:

every time you walk away I 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 run away you take a

Steve:

piece of m me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away and run away you take a

Steve:

piece of meat 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.

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