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

This week the guys break down Season 1, episode 6 titled “The Handmaiden’s Tale”

Dan is torn between two girls when his childhood friend, Vanessa, returns home and declares her feelings for him. At the masked ball, Blair sends Nate on a scavenger hunt, but Nate is ultimately distracted by his feelings for Serena. Finally, Lily asks Rufus to accompany her to an Eleanor Waldorf event in order to make Bart Bass jealous.  – IMdB

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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It's the first person of color who is not a minion or a servant to somebody else, which really sends a

lot. It is the C.W. the pretty white people network. As it was now back then. Yeah, yeah. Hey,

Upper East Siders and all you scandal loving listeners out there. You just tuned into the

non-judging breakfast pod. Where the coffee is strong, the waffles are fresh, and the gossip is

hotter than ever. My name is Leaf and I'm your seasoned gossip girl veteran. And I'm Steve. I'm

the newbie exploring the glitz and glamour of the Upper East Side for the very first time. I'm the

greenhorn, the new kid on the block. What do you call the fresh meat on gossip girl leaf? I don't

know. I think they would label you as a project. You know, the girls that have the potential to be a

blaring. All right. So dress me up in an Eleanor Waldorf original and let's get started. Sounds

good. So here's the deal, folks. Leaf's been into gossip girl from the very beginning and I'm

exploring this iconic show for the very first time together. We're your dynamic duo dissecting all

the drama and sometimes questionable fashion choices of our favorite Upper East Siders. That's

right. Each week we'll break down all the schemes, secret hookups, and couture catastrophes. And

trust me, they're a few of them. And because we're all about inclusivity here, whether you're brand

new to the show or a veteran like leaf, there is always room for you at the non-judging breakfast

table. So grab your coffee, grab your mimosa, or some of Neaton Chuck's special medicine, and

let's dive into this. All right. Today we are going to be talking about season one, episode six, The

Handmaiden's Tale. Do you know what that is a reference to? I do. I'm assuming the book, The

Handmaiden's Tale, Margaret Atwood, classic high school canon literature. I've actually

never taught it. But I would also assume that this predates the show. At this point, yeah. There was a

little bit of overlap, I believe, but not at this, the show had not come out at this point. The

original air date indeed was October 24th, 2007. The IMDB episode description reads, Dan finds

himself between two girls when his childhood friend Vanessa returns to New York and declares

her feelings for him, just as he and Serena are trying to figure out what they mean to each other.

At the mass ball, Blair sends Nate on a scavenger hunt, but Nate is distracted by his feelings for

Serena. Although Blair said the outsiders were not welcome to the party, a disguised Jenny and Dan

sneak into the ball. Finally, Lily S. Rufus do accompany her to an Eleanor Waldorf event, only to

make Bart Bass a bit jealous. So, yet a new character, Vanessa, adds to the main cast,

Jessica Zazar. Probably saying that name wrong. Zor. It's like S-Z-O-R, I believe. Yeah. She also

has a podcast. Oh, okay. I mean, if I was on Gossip Girl, I'd have a podcast. She is the only one that

actually, like her and her and Ed Westwood, the only ones who are like still clinging y'all to it.

Everyone else from the show kind of hates to shout. Now that Ken Badgley has his own podcast, he's also

starting to embrace it a little bit. But he also has a lot of other work that he's done. Well, yeah. He's

very famous for you now. And he had his band for a while and he's been in a few whole movies. He was

very popular in EZA. Also, John Tucker must die. He was the good brother. Oh, okay. Okay. That was when

he had the goofy long hair. Oh, wow. Yeah, I can't even picture it's been so long. Anyways, episode

was directed by Norman Buckley. He has been directing for quite a while. Does a lot of big

episodes for Josh Short Shows, including 12 episodes of Gossip Girl. Yeah, I definitely felt

like there was a lot of directorial control in this show, in this episode. Yeah. And it was written by

Jessica Queller, who's been credited as the writer for nine episodes of Gossip Girl. Also

wrote for Gossip Girl Acapulco and Gossip Girl Indonesia. A showrunner for Supergirl. Also

worked on One Tree Hill, Felicity Gilmore Girl, so definitely a veteran of teen drama. Yeah, very

much so. And yet, I think it's an important point to talk about writer's room make-ups a lot of the

time. Because this episode is credited to a woman, but there is just a lot of male fantasy outcome to a

lot of it. I remember the first thing I did after I finished the episode was scroll up to see who was

credited as the writer. Because I was like, did a man write this episode? Because it just... And

again, if you want to explain writer's room. Yeah, so the way a typical writer's room works is all the

writers on the staff are in the room. Obviously, it's an actual room and they storyboard an idea for

an episode. So they come up with all the ideas, but then one writer is assigned the task of putting it

on paper into an actual script right. And then that even then that script form then goes to the

showrunner who has their final cut. Yes. And so it was a team of writers who did this, but I definitely

feel... And we'll get to it as the episode goes on. I feel like there was some very heavy-handed a man

wrote this kind of feeling to a lot of especially later in the episode. Yeah, I could see that. Now is

a good time to point out that I happen to pay attention to our analytics from Spotify. And we

are on now three continents, North America, Europe and Asia. Welcome Europe, welcome Asia.

And our fan base is growing also in the US. So I'd like to hear from you guys. So send some emails to

the non-judgingbreakthespod at gmail.com or check us out on socials and send us some messages

and just interact. We'd love to interact with the fans. Yeah. And as a matter of fact, and I need to get

the actual username up, but one of our followers on threads actually responded to one of our posts

because I had posted about if Lincoln Hawk is number nine on the list of the top 10 most forgotten

bands of the 90s, who are the other... Who are the other nine bands? And Mikey Jerome, the

bartender, responded with a couple good ones. Seven Mary Three. Do you remember Seven Mary

Three? Have we come home? Come, miss. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Okay. Spind Doctors. Oh, they're not

forgotten at all. Which I, yeah, I felt like what spin doctors and bare naked ladies, I felt like

they weren't really forgotten at all. Those were also on this person's list, but Silver,

Silverchair was another one. They're more like a soft metal. Yeah. Yeah. They were, I think they

were like the 17 year olds from from Australia or something like that. I know nothing about them

other than like the general sound. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was very, I was very happy to hear some

contributions to this. Yeah. Keep it coming, guys. Yeah. Hangouts. And I also had a little bit of

a story that I wanted to drop because I was hanging out with one of my closest friends from college.

And he was telling me this story about how his late wife went into a coffee shop in Brooklyn when they

used to live up there. And there was a man who was in there crying. And she was, she was just this most

generous heart. Her name, her name was Joy. And she's just the most generous heart. And she went up

to this person and he had just been dumped by his girlfriend and was just kicked off of, was just

fired from his job. And it turns out that that job was that he was working on a TV show. And this person

happened to be Sebastian Stan that she was talking to right after he got fired from Gossip Girl and

dumped by Lee, Lee Meester. Yeah. Then he's like, you're picked up though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It

definitely took off from there. He was, I forgot that they had dated. Yeah. Briefly. Because yeah,

I was probably. But yes. Yeah, I forgot that they did date in real life. He makes a cameo in Bupkiss,

the Pete Davidson show on Peacock, that he leaves his, he left his cable, his account logged in and

Pete Davidson ordered a bunch of stuff to his Peacock. I don't know what I'm doing without that

show in my life. I've been trying missing out incredibly by not watching that show. You'll be

okay. Anyways, let's go ahead and get into the episode. Yeah. We open the episode with a Gossip

Girl monologue over a montage of Renaissance paintings and pictures of masquerade balls. Yes.

And I wanted to point out that in that opening monologue, there is another direct reference to

the royalty, to these, these Upper East Siders essentially being the royalty of New York or

American nobility, so to speak, which that really stood out to me because you had mentioned it in

episode three, that it's that royal court. Yeah. This is the American nobility. Yeah. I have some

like very brief interactions with these Upper East Side people and it is a total different world.

Yeah. I can imagine. Like one of my dad's friends is from like his parents live on you know, Park

Avenue. Like in the, like my dad went to the wedding for his friend and it was there was insane. Yeah. It

was that one of these big like, you know, plaza hotels or something. Yeah. But anyways, yeah. So

the closest thing I got to a ball in high school was, I think we like trying to convince the DJ to play

that ACDC song, we got the biggest balls of the all, all the school dances. Yeah, we're a big ACDC fans

in high school. All the jocks. Jenny is at a jewelry store running errands for Blair. The jeweler

presumptuously lends Jenny a bracelet and puts it in on Blair's tab. No way this could possibly be.

Right. And I remember sitting there watching that thinking the episodes of Handmaidens Tale, but

they're setting up a Cinderella story already. Like, you know, yeah. Oops. Oh yeah. Yeah. The

titles, so they did much better with the titles in the AC, where the title actually reflects like

multiple things in the storyline usually. Yeah. Yeah. Gossip Girl, sometimes the sword relates to

the story, but it's usually just they want to rubber some stupid movie they were watching that

day. Yeah, or Make a Pun. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So at the Waldorf penthouse, Blair tells Serena her plans

to seduce Nate at the masquerade. Blair wants Serena to help in this little game. Again, I'm sure

nothing will go wrong here. Yeah. Hey, you know that boyfriend of mine that I said never to speak to

you again because you banged him at a wedding? Yeah. Why don't you help me bang him tonight?

Because I'm sure he's over all of that. Yeah. Because he hasn't been weird. So the last person he

talks to before we have sex should be you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Could you could you be the last thing

that he's getting warmed up for me? Yeah. Yeah. The other the other great line in this is when there

when Serena's talking about taking Dan and not sure if he's going to want to go or if he's even

available and Blair says, well, yeah, he is Dan Humphrey after all. Hey, at least she knows his

name now. Yeah. I thought that was great. I thought that was such a great reference back to her never

knowing his name. Yeah. The Humphreys are at the loft also talking about the ball. Dan hates dances

and thinks Serena is fine with him skipping it. But Rufus is skeptical. Yeah. And it seems that not

only does not not only does Rufus think obviously Serena is going to want him to go, Rufus thinks Dan

kind of wants to be where Serena is. And I think yeah, it's pretty clear that Rufus is right. Yeah,

I think I think it's pretty obvious right away. We are still in the good dad Rufus era. We'll see how

long that lasts. I think he's definitely a better dad for Dan than he is for Jenny. But yes. So back at

the penthouse, we find out that Rufus is right to be skeptical because Serena clearly wants to go with

Dan, but is you know, afraid to ask him because she thinks that he doesn't want to go. Classic team,

this communication. Yeah. Yeah. Just talk to each other like it should last. Yeah. Yeah. But we got to

reset and relearn lessons. Yeah. Now we're TV. Yeah. And back at the loft, Dan is contemplating

asking Serena because it turns out he does want to go through the ball. But the conversation is

interrupted by a phone call from newcomer Vanessa who sneaks in through the fire escape while on the

phone. Yeah. And I doubt anything's going to go wrong here too. Any initial thoughts out of

Vanessa? I mean, I thought she was, I guess, fun. I didn't really have any problem with her. I mean, I

thought the story made sense. You know, love your life comes back a year later. The first hint of any

melanin in our main characters. Not minions or servants. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It's the first

person of color who is not a minion or a servant to somebody else. Yeah. Which really says it is the

CW, the pretty white people network. As it was known back then. Yeah. Yeah. As Vanessa walks out

to say hello to Rufus, Dan gets a call from Serena. It appears Serena is about to ask Dan to the ball,

but he is instantly caught lying about Vanessa. Serena changed her mind. It tells Blair that she

needs a date. Yeah, the lies, Dan. Like it was an easy one. Yeah. It was an easy one not to lie about,

oh, an old childhood friend just showed up. Yeah. Like it's an easy one. The only reason to lie is if

you feel guilty. Which they, which he does this situation because at this point, it's Dan who had

said that he loved Vanessa apparently before she went away. Right. But this will be later recon. So

yeah, which which also does make more sense because Dan canonically has always been in love

with Serena. Yeah, it does. It does. At the same time, I mean, I know I was a teenager where I was in

love with my girlfriend, but then met some, but there was someone else that I was in love with that,

you know, I never would have thought I ever would have dated. You know, like, you know, there's,

there's that. Yeah. But I mean, like Dan's like writing stories about Serena. Yeah. So Vanessa in

the books is a little bit of a different character. She's also Dan's best friend, but she is like more

ingrained in the Upper East Side. She is a student at Constance. She has a bald head and she shaved her

head. Her sister is a lesbian punk fan famously. Like that's like mentioned constantly. Folks are

never in the show. It's briefly mentioned in the show, but like they completely take out the fact

that she was a student at Constance. Right. And she is now like even poorer than Dan. I'm just thinking

of the tour of Lincoln Hawk and the lesbian punk band. I just want to get them out on the road

together now. I just want, I want Gossip Girl up a loser. That's the concert I want to see. The most

anticipated concert of 2008. So that's kind of the setup for the episode as we move on to act two, where

we, Nate creeps down the stairs and see over here is his parents arguing about the captain's business

deal with Eleanor Waldorf. Even Nate noticed his father seems to be under some stress. Yeah. And

this is the first time that we're meeting Nate's mom. So Nate is the first character with both

parents. Mrs. The Captain. Yeah, Mrs. The Captain. Although sometimes I feel like it's more

Mr. I can't remember the family now. But what's her family? The Waldorf's? No, the captain's wife.

The Vanderbilt's. The Vanderbilt's. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's Mr. Vanderbilt sometimes.

Yes. Yes. Definitely. She definitely has the more older money. Yeah. Where he's kind of a new venture

capitalist. Yeah. Yes. And so, yeah. So Dan and Vanessa walked down the streets of Brooklyn,

planning Vanessa's first night back in the city. Dan and Vanessa have an awkward conversation

about unrequited feelings. Yeah. And there's the whole what did Dan say a year ago? They don't come

out and say it there. They say it later on. But there is that whole what, you know, what did he say?

Because now he clearly is ready to move on. Yeah. And then, so yeah, Dan, Chuck and Nate are at the

Archibald Townhouse. They discussed the missing money in Nate's account from two weeks ago. They

find a fat bag of coke in one of the books. Nate tells Chuck that it isn't his who could it belong to? I

love how impressed Chuck is when Nate pulls when Nate has the coke. I thought you were strictly an

herbal bad Nate. Yeah. And and there's that you can have you see that look in Chuck's eyes of like, hey,

you know, it's not usually my thing, but I'm good to go. Like, like, yeah, let's let's do a little. See,

I think it was more like, yeah, that I've been wanting to do this for a while and why why weren't

you coming along? Yeah. If I knew you were into this, we would have been like, uh, not ghosts.

Yeah. But these two seem to be fine. And back at the penthouse Blair is trying to find a socially

acceptable date for Serena while the teens are planning a ball. Eleanor is planning a Moroccan

themed party, Luca included. Yeah. Yeah. The totally culturally appropriated party going on

at the Waldorf estate. This all this scene always reminds me so my aunt always tells me that my

grandmother back in like the 70s had a hookah in her house. Geez. As just kind of like as a decoration

decorative piece. That's really funny. Nate is walking the Manhattan streets in search of

someone to talk to. He calls his girlfriend Blair, but only gets her voicemail. Yeah, he is shook over

this coke. I don't know. I don't know how I would react how I would have reacted in high school if I

would have found a bag of my dad's Oh, good. But my dad was so anti drugs. But like, yeah, I don't know

how I would feel like I probably wouldn't really. It's like, I mean, I already definitely do my dad

was smoking weed. So I mean, yeah, I was such a dare kid in high school. Like I may have had the same

response as Nate. Yeah. At the penthouse, Jenny is dropping off the joy that she picked up earlier.

Blair immediately spots the bracelet on Jenny's wrist. And Blair Oh, sweeties Jenny and points out

that freshmen aren't allowed at the dance. Jenny is clearly heartbroken. Blair appears to soften

at the end of this competition. But as she walks away, the camera pans to Jenny scowling at Blair's

back. Uh oh. Yeah, Jenny is. Look out Blair. Yeah. Yeah, Jenny. And this is the first time. So, you

know, that we've always seen Jenny turn the tides in these situations. And this was the first time

that you really see Jenny in a place where she doesn't really know that she hasn't out, you know,

that she's like, actually a little worried about it. And then at the Vander Wittzen suite, Lily asks

Serena about her dress for Eleanor's party. Serena lets Lily know she is not going to the dance

with Dan and Lily is pleased. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, rich boy for uh, who would I be dating? So smooth. So

smooth. But yeah, kind of weird that her mom wants her to quote unquote play the field. Yeah. That's

not normally what parents are looking for. Yeah. But I guess Dash is that that disgusting. Yeah. And

well, and I think it's more of the Rufus thing. You know, here's this, here's Rufus's kid who comes in

and gives me lit whenever I see him. He's just another Rufus and I want, you know, I don't want

that for my kid, but like, you kind of want it for you Lily. Yeah, she might be a little jealous. Yeah.

Back at the loft, Dan leaves the voicemail inviting Jenny to the movies with them and

Vanessa. However, the computer was left on and Dan sees Serena is looking for a date to the ball. Uh oh.

Yeah. Now Dan finds out that Serena is going to the ball and looking for a date. And yeah, and it's yep.

And it's not, and it's not him. And yeah, he doesn't know he's been caught in a lie. Yes. Serena is

chatting with multiple potential suitors while we see Dan reserve a tux. Serena picks a date. So

yeah, like when you say rich boy. Yeah, rich boy, the fourth. The fourth. Okay. Yeah. Which, which

later on because later on, uh, Dan actually makes a reference back to the name. So he calls him pompous

ass the fourth. That. So Nate having nowhere else to turn and knocks on Serena's door. Nate

confesses his suspicion that his father is having having coke and financial problems. I guess he

instinctively knows that Chuck would not be a good help in this situation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which

from Chuck's reaction, Chuck would probably be high fiving the captain right now. Let's do it,

dad. Yeah. Oh, you're upset. Nate. Okay. Hold on. I'm going to go. Where's your dad at right now? And

at the loft, Rufus and Vanessa talk. Rufus is off to a party with a friend. Not a date, a friend. Yeah.

Yeah. Just a friend. Yeah. Who we soon did we don't know yet who it is, right? We've, um, I think we do.

Okay. We, okay. Um, but, uh, Dan calls Vanessa to cancel their movie date, but lies about the

reason. Yeah. That's number two, Danny boy. Yeah. Two, like just lies, fake it lying. Yeah. Early on,

I have lonely boy lies, lies, lies in my notes. And now he hits it again. Not looking good for Mr. Dan.

No. Jenny comes home looking defeated and Vanessa tries to comfort her. Curly Vanessa is very

integrated with the Humphrey entire Humphrey family. Yeah. Um, I actually really liked this

aspect of Vanessa that it kind of evens the teens a little bit that you have someone else who is on the

Brooklyn side of things. It also establishes that same sort of relationship that Eric and Blair have

with Vanessa and Jenny. Yes. That like that's a good point. Yeah. Here's, here's a little sister

to me because my best friend's little sister. Yeah. Right. The show definitely loves going

parallel. So yeah, that's why I stopped seeing it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. At Ellar's party, Rufus and

Lily are talking. Lily introduces Rufus to Eleanor and they both insist it's not a date. Not a

date. Me thinks the lady does protest too much. Yeah. Like way too much. Definitely not a date.

Bart Bass is also at the party with a date and we get an awkward introductions all around. Lily's plan

is beginning to come into focus. I also want to, there's the interaction when, since when, when he

says something about being the patron saint of lost rock stars and she said, since when were you a

rock star? Let's show, let's put a little respect to number nine on the Rolling Stones, Ten Mutes

Forgotten Bands, the 90s. Let's get a little respect for number nine. And we get a quick scene of

the captain fawning over Eleanor. That's very awkward. Yeah. And, and yeah, he just seems

uncomfortable and trying too hard from the gate. Yeah. It's always interesting to see people

acting like they're higher drunk, but not actually being higher drunk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And so back of the law, Vanessa convinces Jenny to crash the ball. Um, yeah, Handmaiden is just Jane

Austen for slaves. Yes. Was was a great line. And really brings out the, the meaning of what you're

doing this whole time, Jenny. Yeah. And everyone is masking up for the ball, including Dan, who

talks, takes a mask off an already drunk patron and a nice social engineering by Dan using the guy's

name to get in the door. Yeah. Yeah. Dan played that so, so smooth. Like, I just, a man wrote this

episode. Like, you know, what's your name, Bao? Boom. Like that is like actually just pen vaguely,

I think. Yeah. Cause I've been listening to his podcast lately. And like, he just like, see,

simultaneously crosses or seamlessly crosses back and forth between being like super arrogant,

but like, and then next many, he's like the nicest guy in the world. He's like super compassionate

and like, it's really unusual. Oh, wow. You like, yeah. He has those moments where he's just

completely smooth. And then you're, you're right. But then he goes like from smooth Dan to

awkward Dan so quickly, but like, and this moment, just being one of those just, it was just so smooth.

Yeah. Vanessa somehow managed to sneak a Jenny into the ball along with getting her costumes from

one of her theater friends. Yeah, that was neat. And, and also establishes another little bit of

background of Vanessa. Vanessa is a theater person at the school where she goes to, where at the

school she attends. She, I don't think it's been mentioned, but she's actually home school. Oh, is

she? Okay. But she's, she's like living on herself by herself. Oh, in New York. Yeah, that adds up.

Yeah. We never actually like see where she lives. Oh, so, so, so the one main cast member who is the one

cast member of color doesn't have parents and we don't see where she lives. Well, like, where is it?

They moved to Vermont or something. Yeah. Oh, and she moves back. Yeah, she just comes back and like,

she, I guess it's mentioned she's living with her sister. So like, there is a few matches of her

sister from the, you know, it's more of a character in the books. Okay. But yeah, like that's probably

where she's living, but they never show it and they never show her sister. And as sometimes I think she

might just be living in Rufus's cafe. All right. And then so Necta's guess who plays as Jenny

nervously enters the hazy lights of the masquerade ball. She's sneaking in. She looks

great in the costume. The like, I just like the way that it's all seen is shot. Yeah. Yeah. With the

very hazy lights and it's like this mysterious world opens up for her. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I

couldn't even tell which cast member it was with those masks on. Like I got that's where this whole

this whole episode took a turn because I just couldn't tell who one long girl looks exactly like

the other. Yeah, yeah, they just all having a yellow dress. Yeah. Dan enters and sees Serena

dancing with someone else. You see, she lives buddy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what do you think's

gonna happen and like, and now imagine being Dan like, wow, this is completely out of nowhere. What

could I have possibly done to deserve this? And it's like, you know, you, you, you, you like I love

how he wouldn't even know that he's caught in this lie, which it's everything he deserves is

happening right now. It's it's everything he doesn't deserve. He screwed up. Yeah, he really

screwed up. And so Vanessa returns to the party because she accidentally took Jenny's keys.

Yeah, so she's come back. That was convenient. Yes. Yeah. But we don't we don't get the payoff

quite yet. Blair is standing with Chuck and asking why Nate isn't looking for Chuck. Once again, that

is a mass Jenny from across the room, not realizing he was one of his previous victims. Yeah. Yeah. And

I actually kind of always wondered it because there is the whole like, oh, they're wearing masks

and don't seem to recognize each other. I also kind of wondered if Chuck figured it out. I mean, he does

by the end. So I kind of wondered if he thought, oh, okay, now she's coming around to me. But either

way, that that whole interaction, I don't know if he ever actually figured it out. He says her name at

the end. He says who did it at the end. He didn't know who it was all throughout. Okay, I, I don't know if

he connects Jenny to the first for the pilot episode. Like I think because I think he not to

excuse what he did, but I think he was probably just drunk and it was just some random girl and he didn't

remember who that was at all. Well, at the end of this episode, he does say Jenny Humphrey got me out

of my clothes. Yes. To get me not to. Then now because that now he knows like this he connects

this. It's Jenny. I'm not sure if he's connecting the pilot episode. Okay. Because I know, I know

there's a, I'm starting to see now the pivot to decanonizing the pilot, which I think is also kind

of shitty of like not, not making the character own it and to soften up on it, which again, just kind of,

you know, it goes back to some of the other problems like problems in this episode. Yeah. But I mean, so

the Josh Schwartz definitely reads message for it. So he got really met with the OC. Yeah. And he

gets met with the show as well. Yeah. But and Chuck was a popular character with young women. Yeah.

This was the era of Twilight and they, I think specifically casted Ed Westwick, another

Englishman, Englishman to kind of be a, a inhale, yeah, another Patterson Patterson light. Yeah.

Diet Patterson. And it worked. It worked. Yeah. Yeah. Because he was by far and still is the most

popular character. Yeah. I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. But I, but I can, but I see the pivot. I

do see the pivot. They're starting more and more to ignore. Yeah. The pilot. So I got behind him as a

entertaining character for a few seasons, but I never got on board with rooting for him as a

romantic interest. Yeah. A lot of people did. Yeah. But I, I'd never, yeah. Yeah. And then, where

were we? So Chuck approaches Jenny and Jenny plays Koi. Yeah. I would say, yeah. And then kind of

thought about, and then so the captain is shooting his shot with Eleanor, but Eleanor doubts that

Nate's mom flashes the Vanderbilt. But Eleanor is kind of showing doubts and then, you know, letting

the captain be represented her company. But, but then, but then Nate's mom steps in with the dowry.

Yes. Well, yeah, the reverse dowry. The reverse dowry. Yeah. She should have this, she should have

this engagement ring. This very fancy diamond. There's so, there's so much to unpack in that scene

though. Like I, because Nate's mom, you see her completely take control, win the deal by shutting

down the captain and saying to the captain like, Hey, you're boring her with business talk. We're

at a party. Yep. And then let's talk the family, the literal family jewels, the literal family

jewels. And she should wear this ring, the Vanderbilt ring. Yeah. Go back to your earlier

point of who wears the past. She has, she also has the family jewels. Yeah. She, yeah, she, she

literally has the family jewels that she has just basically pond off to, to, to close this deal with

her husband. So I'm really happy for the captain. I'm sure that now everything is going to work out

for him. And that's a wrap on, and now he can lighten up on Nate a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see.

Yeah. But I mean, of course, it still has to marry Blair. Of course. He's going to have to marry Blair

and go to dark 16 now. Yeah. Shifting back to Rufus and Lily, Rufus goes in for the kiss to quote

unquote, help Lily make Bart jealous. Yeah. As long as you're watching, he's winning. That's,

that's like my Robin shout out for the day. Because when Rufus says, because Lily keeps looking over a

Bart, and Rufus says, Hey, as long as you're watching, he's winning. And that was when Robin

gave her, her snaps for, for episode seven. But it is a, it's a great message and a great line. And, and

he was right. Make, make Bart be the one who's looking. All right. And then back at the ball,

Serena is bored by her date when Dan steps in, but Serena is clearly upset at him. Yeah. Yeah. The

date's not going well. But also, Dan lied to her and she's mad that he's there. And, and man, is she

going to really let him have it? I don't see him possibly explaining his way out of this. What is he

possibly going to have to say to get himself out of this one? And I don't know if you caught where

Serena's date said he has a summer house at? No, Newport Beach. Oh, that's, that's funny, which is

of course the OC. Yeah. That's, that's, that is a nice little Easter egg. So this show started the

season after the OC ended. So this is the immediate, the immediate follow up. Yeah. So

yeah, you actually started both Chuck and Gossip Girl the same season. Yeah, right after the OC

ended. Yeah, that makes sense. And so, Codion is are trying to lead Nate to Blair, but the only thing

he hears is Serena. Oh, Serena? Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm going to go find her. Yes. You know, Nate the big

golden retriever that he is. Yeah. You just see his ears perk up. Well, tail starts to wag. That's,

that's a leg I want to hope. I really wish the show would have leaned more into Chase Crawford's

comedic side because he does a really good job at it on the police. Yeah. Yeah, he's, he's hilarious.

And whatever he's given like funny material on the show, he does well, but they, they try and give him

like all these serious stories and it doesn't work. It's not his strength. Jenny convinces

Chuck to go to the roof and leaves a trail of his clothes for her to follow. Yeah. Jenny's playing a

little game here. Jenny is playing a little game here and it is brilliant. And yeah, she is, she's

definitely gone full Upper East Side here after, after Blair kind of, you know, spurned her there.

She, ever since that flower, she gave Blair, she's been, she's on a roll. Yeah. Yeah. She, she's ready

to take down Upper East Side. Serena tries to leave but Dan catches up and confronts her. Serena reels

as she caught him in a lie. Dan apologizes and Dan and Serena kiss as Vanessa can feel he sees. So we

get that pay off finally. Yeah. Yeah. Vanessa sees the two of them kiss. It makes sense to her. Why,

why, why Dan canceled on her. And so of course Dan, who, who already has, you know, man, how are you

possibly going to get out of this one, Dan? Now granted, he tells the truth. He doesn't say like,

Oh, I wasn't love him, this person, but he's just like, Oh, I don't know. I've found it. Like, it's

like, great. Yeah. Man, great resolution there. And he's still, he gets the kiss with some mouth. He

does. And then, yeah. And then Vanessa runs off. So, you know, clearly the only thing to do is chase

after that chase after Vanessa to explain. And I'm sure you'll only do that once. Anyway, so that,

that is the end of act two. And we move on to act three. Dan goes after Vanessa, much to Serena's

chagrin. Dan is busted by Vanessa for lie number two. And Dan tries to call it a lie of omission, but

clearly he lied. It told her he was writing an American history paper that was definitely not a

lie of omission. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He outright lied to her. And awkward Dan's excuse.

And Serena also overhears the conversation once again. And Dan chases after Vanessa again. Yeah.

Yeah. Chases after her again. Again. Oh, I've got to go. Like, are you kidding me? Like, well, I mean,

but at least at this point, I'm guaranteed, you know, when Serena sees this, you know, she's not

going to let him chase after twice. I mean, now she's just going to shut that shit down and be like,

well, clearly there's something more there. So, obviously Serena won't let him, you know, get away

with this. Yeah, Serena. Serena Serena Serena. Anyway, Jenny, taken charge here, locks Chuck on

the roof in his underwear. She gets a measure of range from the pilot. Yeah. Jenny. Yeah. That was

great. Take the clothes and run while and the phone. Yeah. And the phone and lock him on the roof.

Brilliant, Jenny. Well done. Yep. Dan continues to have the worst episode as he costs a random woman

on the street. Yeah. He's like, Dan, don't just grab random people on the street. Yeah. Yeah. I'd

like grabbing a woman on the street. That's not a good idea. Yeah. Especially like the one, the one,

like, ethnically different person on the street that you run up to and grab and like, oh, I'm sorry.

You can ask. Yeah. Back at the penthouse, Lily is clearly uneasy to confront her true feelings for

Rufus. I'm ready to confront her true feelings for Rufus. Yeah. So they're having a yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that is that when Bart approaches to right? Yeah, that the scene ends. Yeah. Can I have a word?

Yeah. Can I have a word? Yeah. And there is that, you know, again, Lily definitely has a thing for

Rufus, but I but Lily so far has liked money and power more than love. Yes. Like the and she's

pretty, pretty open about that decision that that money and power has always been more important to

Lily than, than love ever since she left Rufus. Well, no, ever since she left Trent Reznor,

because she she traded because it was after rock stars that she moved on to billionaires. But back

at the ball, Nate is still trying to catch up with Serena as she runs into the ladies room. So he's

foiled again. Yeah. Yeah. And then in the bathroom here, we get the big switcheroo Jenny and Serena

talk about Vanessa. Jenny does a great job talking up Dan. This baby is what got Dan forgiveness and

more than what dad did. Yeah. Yeah. So Jenny, Jenny also, you know, winning for herself and winning

for Dan too. Yeah. Yeah. And Serena then gives Jenny her jacket and mask and of course now they are

indistinguishable from each other. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And now we all even know Lake Lively is about

three or four inches taller. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But probably, you know, and a little bit heavier as

well, but not in a bad way, but just, she's just a larger one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then so we get

that and then Nate approaches Jenny from behind thinking and Serena and tells her he has feelings

for her and kisses Jenny. As Jenny runs away, the real Serena shows up and tells a son, Nate, that she

has to find Blair right away. Again, guys, don't grab women from behind. Yeah. Don't grab women

from behind. Definitely don't kiss women that you grab from behind. Unless you know, unless,

definitely sure who it is and they want it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And neither of

these women want it to be grabbed from behind. Yes. Yes. So Nate has to find Blair right away, but Blair

also mistakes Jenny for Serena, but realizes the truth instantly as she runs. The bracelet falls

off. When Prince Charming rips the bracelet off of Cinderella, because she can't be there when the

masks come off at midnight. Exactly. So apparently the little mask work waters because

even Dan mistakes his own sister for Serena as Jenny runs by. Yeah. Yep. Everybody. Yep. It's the

mask because, you know, you can't see the face. You know, like I said, once the masks went on, I lost all

concept of which character was which, because I just couldn't tell what the mask. All right. That

is the end of Act Three. We move on to the epilogue. Chuck, Nate and Blair all exit the ball. Nate fails

Blair's test and has to go home with Chuck. You thought you're getting Blair, but you got to go

home with Chuck. Yeah. Yeah. I almost felt that for Nate, but he screwed that up himself. Yeah, he did.

My only thing about Nate is all Nate wanted this entire episode was to talk to Blair. So I kind of the

only thing that I felt for with Nate there is that I don't think Nate was expecting to go home with

Blair to have sex the way it was planned out to be. I think Nate just wanted to go be with Blair to

finally be able to talk about what's bothering. Yeah. If Blair would have just answered his calls.

Yeah. Exactly. But now instead he's going to go home and he's a gold retriever. Whatever's the

shiny thing in his face right now is what he's trying to stay up for. So if you're not in his field

of vision, he's out of sight out of mind very, very much. Dan and Serena catch up and somehow Dan still

gets the girl as we were talking about. Yeah. Dan has no right to win. Yeah. What's the rest of this

note? Yeah. He has absolutely no right to win in this episode. He loses in every step of the way

because of everything he does. He lies. He chases after the wrong girl. Wights. Like you do

everything wrong. And in the previous episode, there was a lot of that like, oh, here's this very

typical teen drama plot line. And I was like, oh, I like how they twisted it though. I like how they had

different resolutions. And it feels like they tried to do this again. But it's like, no, he was

shitty. And he did shitty things over and over. And he just was just let him off the hook for all of it.

And then Nate comes home where his mom has found the cocaine from earlier and blames Nate. His father

silently looks on guilt written all over his face. Worst parents on the show. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, especially. And like I'd even just, I put the spotlight clear on the captain with worst parent

on the show. Because she doesn't, she thinks it's Nate's right. Like, and yeah, I'd be, I'd be mad if I

found Coke on my high school kid. Like I've told my kids all along, there's a time and place for

everything. And that's college. And six, you know, I would have, you know, I would have been

upset with that. But the fact that he just sits there and lets him take the fall was just Yeah.

Yeah. That like that dude is a piece of shit. And then the final scene, we get back to the loft and

already got the girl and now he gets his friends. And he gets the friend too. So he gets the fruggy and

gets to eat it as well. Yeah. Yeah. He gets the fruggy and eats the well. He gets the brogy and he

gets to eat it as well. And, and, and like Robin the whole time is watching this, like, why do you have

to have this conversation on a bed though? Like, why are you in his room on the bed though? Like, go to

the living room, go somewhere else. Like, why are you shutting the door? Like, it's still like,

which I mean, so I could kind of understand that in that that's just kind of what you do with the ice

cool friends. You just, I, I get it. What's your room? And you sat on the bed. Yeah. But I would also,

if Serena knew that she who was hanging out on his bed talking to her, I could, she would, yeah, she'd

be jealous. Yes, she could have, there's room for jealousy there. I did want to point out the one line

that I, the note that I had, I finally interpreted it, is the, the ice capades. When Jenny makes the

comment early on, he, he, like, he'd never go to the ice capades. Yeah. And when she says, I've got

tickets to the ice capades, if you're there, I'd go. It's like, but he feels like he is good. Like, I

mean, it's not, but he locked into that because Jenny set him up for it though. Yeah. Yeah. And he

said, yeah, you are absolutely right. He gives the right answer, but he does, but that was Jenny's

win. Yeah. He's, he's, she's definitely heated up for him. Yeah. So the next episode is season one,

episode seven of Victor Victrola, the max episode, pre any predictions? I'm sorry. I wanted

to make one more comment about Vanessa and Dan. Okay. Vanessa, what are you apologizing for? Why

are you apologizing to this guy who fucking lied to you? Who like, like, you don't know that he

accosted the wrong woman, but that he like, why are you apologizing for anything? That's the notice

actually, Vanessa, stop apologizing. Also, a man wrote this. No, but and so the next episode, season

one, episode seven of Vitor Vitrola, any predictions? Um, it sounds like it's a Victor

Victoria play on, on the word, though the words. So, and maybe Victor Victoria comes from the

victor, victor, victrola, is it? But I mean, any idea like where the stories are going? Just by the

title or, or, well, from the stories, because the title tells me there's some kind of

cross-dressing shenanigans, but I could be completely off base with that. But story wise, I

mean, Nate is kind of screwed with what's going on with his family. Like, they're going to make a deal

of it. So he can end up at the Ostroff Center. Oh boy. Yeah. And so like, what's that going to do to

Blair's relationship? And like, it looks like Serena and Dan are just moving along happily.

While the Max episode preview states Serena and Dan finally acknowledge that they are crazy about

each other. Oh good. You know, what, when Robin and I got back from Seattle this summer, we went out to

dinner with our mom and our mom said, you know, I can see now why you two are perfect for each other. We

were like, Jill, it's been 10 years. We've been together a decade. Like you're at our wedding. You

see now that we're good for each other. Sorry, but like, yeah, three episodes in like, you're just

now realizing that you like each other? Again, that's just the network TV thing. All right. We're

gonna take a break and then come back with some segments. Awesome. All right. We are back for some

segments. We're gonna go into episode grids. You went first last time. So I'm going to go first this

time. I thought this was a pretty good episode. There's a lot of drama. I like the directing.

There's a lot of cool shots, especially the shot of Jenny entering the ball for the first time. I

really liked that. The acting was pretty good all around. Dialogue towards the end, the resolution

was not best. And there's also a little trope in it. The tropes with the misdirection with the mass

and, you know, that kind of all brought it down a little bit. So I'm going to go with a B. Yeah. I, and I

really struggle to give this one a B minus. I give it a B minus because of everything that isn't the

writing. Like I felt like the story in this one. Jenny's storyline great, but everything else in

it I just felt was like they, like an excuse for an episode rather than an episode. Like I didn't, I

feel like there was a lot that was well done by, like you said, the directing, the acting in it is

fantastic. You know, there's, that you can't take away from that, but the script itself, the writing

itself, I just, then yeah, it was weak and the storylines were weak and the, you know, Dan

Humphrey winning in the end after all of the shit he did. It was, yeah, I B minus because of everything

else that carried this episode. All right. And so moving on to the stock watch. I had going up Serena.

Because I, she, I mean, she did actually, you know, she, she does like Dan and she got, she got with Dan.

So she kind of won there. You know, I personally wouldn't have forgiven him that quick. I also had

Rufus going up because, you know, he got to kiss Lily. Yeah. So that's a win. Yeah. And then Lily

also going up because well, she got what she wanted. She made Bart jealous, obviously. That

seemed to work out. Her plan worked out. Yeah. Yeah. And she got the kiss for Rufus. Yeah. Yeah.

She didn't seem like she hated. No, no, it doesn't. I think that she liked it more than she wanted to.

Yeah. And then also I gave Vanessa stock going up. She came out on the scene. She, she, she helped

Jenny get into the party. You know, she was a good friend. She was forgiving and she, you know, she

apologized. I see, you know, I said up for her. What about you? So you got going up. Going up first and

foremost is Jenny. Just, oh yeah, owning. Oh, I forget Jenny. Owning Chuck. Yeah, that's fair.

But, but going, she's always going up. Yeah. Jenny was for sure going up. Yeah. I definitely have

Rufus and Lily also both going up because they're both kind of getting what they want and also kind of

figuring out what they want. It's yes. You know, I feel like we've definitely not seen the last of

those two together. I really kind of had Serena breaking even Serena and Vanessa breaking even

for letting Dan off the hook. You know, I thought that their decisions up till up until letting him

off the hook and furthermore apologizing for Dan being an asshole. Like I found both of them to just

stay the same. Nate obviously plummeted. Oh, we got, we're doing up. Oh, we're just doing up still.

Okay. Yeah. So those were my ups. Okay. So make sure you note hate those. You don't have to going down

for me. I had Nate obviously going down because, you know, he screwed up. He tried to kiss Serena,

which he wasn't supposed to do in the first place because he was with Blair, but he ended up kissing

Jenny and he was just an idiot the whole episode of running around like a lost dog. Blair. Yeah. She

tried to set up this elaborate scheme and it crashed in her face. Stocked down and the biggest

drop Dan, liar, liar pants on fire. Yeah. Yeah. Dan had an entire episode of his, Dan had like two

episodes worth of stock drops in one episode because it was like lie, lie, chase after wrong

girl, chase after wrong girl. But as we know, he is a pretty white person. So he gets the fail off word.

Yeah. Yeah. And that is exactly 100% what he did. So that happens. Best outfit for me. It was Serena's

yellow ruffle. It's a Valentino gown with a black faux bolero coat. What faux fur? Nice. Nice. That

was from the, the gown was from Valentino's spring summer 2007 collection. Awesome. For me, it was

Chuck's, how Chuck's ball, the devil, the devil costume was I considered that. It was just so cool.

Like the mask was dope. The red, the I, I was like, man, I want to rock that suit. Like that was a nice

suit. Yeah. And anyway, on to some plugs. Not much going, I haven't seen much lately. I guess the only

new thing I've watched was the Rebel Moon. It was okay, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't, I haven't

gone into that yet. It's, it's, I'm what it is. I'm, yeah, I'm, I'm going to watch it. I'm interested in

watching it, but I've gotten kind of that review all along. My point of what you do is if I had gone to a

theater and spent like $30, I would have been upset, but seeing this on Netflix, I just watched

it at home. I was entertained. Yeah. Yeah. That, that, I get that. Anything for you? Anything to

plug? Um, I will be at the McGillans open mic on February 8th in Center City. So if you want to come

out, I'll be playing some ukulele and playing some songs. You can also follow us on our, follow me on at

Steve dot Martian on Instagram and threads and Steve the Wade wizard on TikTok. And you can also

find my music on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, and most other streaming services. I

heart, we are on the I heart platform. Both we are and yes, and I am. And you can follow our socials,

Instagram and TikTok. We are at non judging breakfast pod and on Twitter, or I guess it's X now.

I don't like calling it that stupid. Yeah. And they're more and more like gradually like now in

TikTok, it no longer shows like within the last week, it no longer shows the Twitter symbol. It's

now the X symbol. So you can find us there on that site at NJB pod. You can also send us some emails at

non judging breakfast pod at gmail.com. Yeah. Send us some emails. We'll try and answer them on

the show. Yeah. We'd love to hear from you and love to hear anything that you have to share with us. All

right. Anything else? No, I think that's it. You can find us, like I said, on Spotify, Apple,

iTunes, I heart. So give us a listen, give us multiple listens. We listen. All right. Yep.

Definitely have a leave a review. Yeah. Like us, follow us, subscribe to us if there's, if that's

how that platform works and do all of that stuff. All right. So next time we will be breaking down

season one, episode seven of VTOUR of VTROLA. Yes. Looking forward to that. So until next time, you

know, you love us XOXO.