Summary
In this episode of the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve dive into Season 2, Episode 4 of Gossip Girl, titled "The Ex Files." They explore the scandalous secrets, dramatic confrontations, and shifting power dynamics among the Upper East Side elite. From Vanessa discovering Katherine's affair with Marcus to Serena's unexpected rise as the new queen bee, the hosts break down every juicy detail. They discuss the intricate schemes orchestrated by Chuck, the emotional turmoil of Serena and Dan's breakup, and the fallout from Blair's dethroning. Along the way, they share their thoughts on the episode's writing, directing, and acting, while also touching on some behind-the-scenes gossip and fandom reactions from 2008.
Keywords
Gossip Girl, Season 2, Episode 4, The Ex Files, scandal, affair, breakup, power dynamics, Chuck Bass, Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, Vanessa Abrams, Nate Archibald, Katherine, Marcus, emotional turmoil, dethroning, schemes, drama, Upper East Side
00:00 Introduction and Random Facts
09:02 Eagles Game and Sports Talk
17:12 Pathfinder Game Anecdote
22:22 Gossip Girl Season 2, Episode 4 Overview
27:32 Breakfast Scene with Serena, Eric, and Lily
47:02 Dan and Serena's Awkward Encounter
51:07 Blair's Schemes and Chuck's Manipulations
53:47 Vanessa's Discovery and Confrontation
01:04:00 Dan and Amanda's Date and Serena's Reaction
01:06:26 Lily and Rufus' Complicated Relationship
01:10:00 Blair's Master Plan and Vanessa's Interference
01:15:00 Serena's Transformation and Rise to Power
01:20:00 Final Thoughts and Predictions
01:25:00 Fandom Reactions and Episode Grades
01:30:00 Best Outfits and Plugs
01:35:00 Sign-Off and Teaser for Next Episode
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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#GossipGirl
That was a really weird, gross scene, I thought. But they agreed,
Leif:they were gonna both let the past go and move
Leif:forward.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:So fucking move forward.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Willy, what the fuck are you doing? And Rufus, why are
Leif:you even entertaining this at this point?
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 freshen, and the gossip is hotter than
Leif:ever. My name is Leif, and I'm your seasoned gossip
Leif:girl veteran.
Leif:And I'm Steve the newbie. The
Leif:greenhorn. I don't know, Leif. What do you call the
Leif:new kid on the block in second season terms
Leif:in Gossip Girl?
Leif:I don't know, but if you keep sneaking up on me, I think we gotta put a
Leif:bell on you.
Leif:Kinky. Think about it. Oh. Yo.
Leif:So here's the deal, folks. Leif is watching.
Leif:Leif is a fan of Gossip Girl since it first
Leif:aired, and I'm watching for the very first time. And together,
Leif:we're your dynamic duo, bringing you all the
Leif:drama, romance, and sometimes questionable
Leif:fashion choices of this iconic
Leif:2007 series.
Leif:That's right. Each week, we're going to be taking a deep
Leif:dive, analyzing the show one episode at a
Leif:time. We're going to look at all the obscure references,
Leif:parallels, and of course, the couture
Leif:catastrophes. And along the way, we're also going to
Leif:be looking at some fandom stories and some
Leif:behind the scenes gossip.
Leif:And, since we are all about inclusivity here at the non
Leif:judging breakfast pod, there is room for
Leif:you at the non judging breakfast table. So go ahead
Leif:and grab your m mimosa or a cup of coffee or
Leif:some of Chuck's special medicine if it's that kind of
Leif:morning. And let's go ahead and get started.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:So, this episode will be coming out on
Leif:September 9, which means we're, three
Leif:days out from the eagles first game
Leif:of the season.
Leif:Yes.
Leif:We are all Brazil.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Who are we playing?
Leif:Packers.
Leif:The packers. Starting off against? Oh, that's the m. Is that the
Leif:Mexico game?
Leif:Brazil.
Leif:Brazil. In Brazil. Yeah, they actually were.
Leif:You're not allowed to wear green.
Leif:Not allowed to wear green. I was just about to say that that
Leif:is like that. That they're worried about
Leif:the gang colors. And so, I'm guessing
Leif:it'll be a black and white.
Leif:Thank God for football season. Cause I know you like baseball, and I
Leif:do root for the Phillies, but this is the worst time of the year
Leif:for me, sports wise.
Leif:And. And right now, like, right now, when this
Leif:airs. I cannot imagine how fucking stoked I'm gonna
Leif:be if they keep going the way the Phillies are always
Leif:really great.
Leif:So that's awesome. But, yeah, I just can't take the grind
Leif:of the baseball season.
Leif:I love it. I watch, I watch almost every
Leif:single game. I watch every game I can
Leif:or I listen on the radio. I'm just an absolute
Leif:nut. And, like, I love going to, like, minor league
Leif:games. I'm going to the Trenton Thunder on Sunday and
Leif:then I'm going to the Phillies on Monday. So,
Leif:also, I want to say happy birthday to
Leif:the wife of the pod, Robin. It was her
Leif:birthday yesterday.
Leif:Happy belated birthday.
Leif:Yeah, happy belated birthday, Robin.
Leif:and even though we don't know whether or not you're
Leif:ever going to see this, this should be the only place I wish her a happy
Leif:birthday
Leif:and be like, oh, I did wish you a happy birthday.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:I'll vouch for you
Leif:back to June when we're recording this. I heard you murdered
Leif:someone this week.
Leif:Oh, so I did. Once
Leif:again, this is the third time I've killed
Leif:Dan. I run a Pathfinder game on Wednesdays,
Leif:and it is the third time that I have killed the
Leif:magus. We play with a gentleman named Adam Freire, and
Leif:we have developed the Adam Freire guide to
Leif:frontline fighters. And the number one
Leif:rule is a minimum of
Leif:ten hit points per level.
Leif:So these guys are a 10th level
Leif:party. So to be a frontline
Leif:character in the way that we
Leif:play, your best bet is to have 100 hit points at
Leif:this. At least. At least. If you're going to
Leif:be upfront, visible,
Leif:and sometimes the only target available, which is
Leif:all of the boxes that were checked last night, you
Leif:need at least 100. Give me a guess
Leif:on the hit points.
Leif:90 lower.
Leif:Ouch. 85
Leif:lower. Wow. Is he
Leif:not leveling?
Leif:I, I. You're. You're
Leif:going to be shocked.
Leif:70 lower. Okay, just.
Leif:Just.
Leif:He was at.
Leif:What's the point?
Leif:He had 60 hit points.
Leif:And how. I don't know.
Leif:But. But when I killed him, it
Leif:was. I remember, like, I. It
Leif:was. I was. I had to quicken. Scorching Ray and an attack.
Leif:I hit him with a quick and scorching ray and an attack. And
Leif:then the other guy went and hit him with a quick and scorching
Leif:ray. I wasn't even rolling enough
Leif:dice. I was rolling five e dice
Leif:in a Pathfinder game. I was rolling three d
Leif:six per ray instead of four. When he
Leif:said, well, that's it. I'm dead. I was like, I
Leif:barely hit you. Like, I barely hit
Leif:you. How are you dead? And I kind of felt bad
Leif:because it was the third time I killed him.
Leif:But then when he said he had 60 hit points and
Leif:everyone at the table gasped,
Leif:Isaiah was like, minimum ten per level,
Leif:bro. Minimum ten per level.
Leif:What are you thinking? He's like, we're. We're
Leif:in a world where we just fought Lamias and there
Leif:are magical beasts just walking around. How are you at
Leif:six? He's like, I'm a wizard at 85.
Leif:Yeah, that something's to got to be
Leif:wrong there. That's got. That's impossible.
Leif:Speaker two. He had a zero con. He had a plus zero con.
Leif:He had a decent ac, but he was also the
Leif:most hittable in the party. Like, he had the lowest
Leif:ac and the lowest hp,
Leif:and. And in that. In that particular
Leif:combat, they were fighting genies. They put up a
Leif:wall at fire.
Leif:In a ring around too much playing five e.
Leif:Yeah. So
Leif:today we are here to talk about Gossip Girl, season two,
Leif:episode four, the X Files.
Leif:Yes, of course.
Leif:A take on the X Files.
Leif:The X Files. Yeah, I.
Leif:Yeah, yeah, I definitely. I mean, I was a
Leif:huge X Files fan. And, fun, for a while.
Leif:Yeah, I was a huge fan.
Leif:I got into it. I feel like the movie was, like,
Leif:announced, and my. My roommate was,
Leif:like, super into it and then got me
Leif:into it, and we went and there it was, playing enough
Leif:that we were able to watch from the beginning.
Leif:And, by the time the movie came out, I was already kind of bored with
Leif:it.
Leif:But being that that's when I got into
Leif:it, it made it more.
Leif:You know, it was more interesting to me
Leif:because that's when I got into it.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:but, yeah. And then it just did. It went on too long
Leif:with. Not. With no real
Leif:conclusion to it, no real answers.
Leif:But I loved it for a while.
Leif:This episode originally aired on September 22,
Leif:2008. The Gossip Girl
Leif:wiki episode description reads, vanessa
Leif:discovers a scandalous secret about Katherine and enlists
Leif:Blair's scheming expertise to use
Leif:the information to help Nate. Meanwhile,
Leif:Lily finds herself drawn back to
Leif:her ex Rufus once again, and Dan and
Leif:Serena face off in light of their breakup.
Leif:Yeah, accurate.
Leif:Written by Robert hall. This is his
Leif:first of, ten episodes writing Gotham. Segura
Leif:also had credits for Veronica Maurar's Once
Leif:Upon a Time and Gotham.
Leif:Okay, that's the second Gotham writer that
Leif:we've had. Gotham was well after this, right?
Leif:Yeah. Was that Cw
Leif:Fox?
Leif:maybe.
Leif:Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. And that
Leif:was also the dude from the OC.
Leif:Yes. Brian, Ben Mackenzie.
Leif:Ben McKenzie played, commissioner Gordon. Really liked the
Leif:first season of that show. Yeah, I felt like it kind of
Leif:didn't know what to do. I feel like they were
Leif:like, oh, this will never get through the. This will never go
Leif:anywhere. And then they made this great first season, and they're like,
Leif:oh, it is going somewhere.
Leif:This episode was directed by Jim
Leif:McKay. Only episode of Gossip Girl. This
Leif:guy's got a kind of unusual career. Like, he does, like,
Leif:one or two episodes of, like, a bunch of
Leif:shows, including stuff like the Wire,
Leif:breaking bad, interesting. Big love,
Leif:blue bloods, treme, and then
Leif:I've never seen any of his movies. Our song,
Leif:girls town, and everyday people.
Leif:That is. That. That is an interesting resume.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:He stick around? Like, I guess maybe he's just trying to learn.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:I was gonna say, either he's
Leif:really difficult to work with and people don't want him
Leif:around long, or he's just one of those.
Leif:I want to pop in and. And try
Leif:this out.
Leif:Yeah. You know, we get into the
Leif:episode. Wakey, wakey, Upper east
Leif:siders. Welcome to the first day of senior year. And
Leif:in the onset of a new social
Leif:dynasty, the big question is, was
Leif:Serena single and on top of the world? Will
Leif:Katsus become the house of Vanderwitson?
Leif:So they have the foreshadowing here, and there's
Leif:a bit in this scene. There's quite a bit in this scene of the.
Leif:Of foreshadowing, the end of
Leif:this and
Leif:the crowning of Queen s, which
Leif:I thought that was really interesting to see in the
Leif:gossip girl monologue.
Leif:And then we open with Serena, Eric, and Lily
Leif:eating a very delicious looking breakfast. Lily
Leif:and Serena are, being cute mother and daughter for once.
Leif:It's ruined by Chuck walking in and making a gross
Leif:quip. He also reveals that Dan, Serena broke
Leif:up and that the throne is hers for the taking.
Leif:Yes, again, that
Leif:foreshadowing. And Chuck, you
Leif:know, basically saying the
Leif:throne is there for the taking. And Serena being like, that's
Leif:not my thing. Like, that's Blair's thing. Like, leave me out of
Leif:that. I also really loved Eric's
Leif:reaction to the food. Like, are we expecting more
Leif:people here? And Lily's like, I'm trying to be a
Leif:mom. And it is funny cause
Leif:Lily does struggle to mother her own kids,
Leif:and she's so good at mothering other people that it makes sense
Leif:that she'd have a breakfast for ten people
Leif:to mother.
Leif:Her kids just throw money at
Leif:it.
Leif:It was so good to see Lily again, though, and,
Leif:like, she has a tough episode,
Leif:but, man, it was so good to have her
Leif:back. Yeah.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Like, I didn't realize how much I missed her. I knew I
Leif:missed her from episode one of the.
Leif:We talked about the storylines probably were supposed to be
Leif:hers.
Leif:Yeah. But when she actually was there, it was
Leif:like, oh, it just was so good to have her back.
Leif:Eric and Chuck leave for school, and then Lily and Serena
Leif:discuss the breakup again.
Leif:Some cute mother daughter stuff here. And
Leif:they have that, cute
Leif:relationship and trying to understand each
Leif:other and, like, I'll be okay, or at least I hope so.
Leif:Yeah, I like that. Lily and Serena seem to be in a good place
Leif:right now.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah, they really. Yeah. And it was also
Leif:nice that she was, you know, asking about the romantic getaway
Leif:and asking about her relationship with Bart, and it really
Leif:was, you know, in the previous episode, she wanted
Leif:that two way conversation. M with
Leif:Blair. She gets that with Lily here. Yeah.
Leif:In Brooklyn, Dan and Rufus are discussing
Leif:the same breakup. Rufus advises Dan to
Leif:lay off the sarcastic deflection when he
Leif:sees Serena. Dan immediately uses sarcasm to
Leif:deflect. Jenny is also worried about confronting Blair
Leif:again.
Leif:Yeah, I liked Rufus here. Rufus trying to give
Leif:some dad advice again.
Leif:He was trying to be very good advice.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Really?
Leif:Don't be a dick, Dan.
Leif:yeah, exactly. It's
Leif:not too difficult to follow, apparently.
Leif:it is.
Leif:Apparently it is. And I
Leif:also, this scene was the first time that we
Leif:really get the breakdown of the victims and.
Leif:And. And projects.
Leif:Yes, and.
Leif:And we. We really see. And
Leif:when Jenny breaks that down and, like, her fear of
Leif:going back, she's.
Leif:She's worried about being a victim this year.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Good day. Plays over a montage of Blair interview,
Leif:interviewing applicants looking to join the
Leif:clique. Hey, look. Another person of color. I'm
Leif:sure she'll see her right. All the time again.
Leif:No, they picked the white girl.
Leif:No, we're gonna. We're gonna see her again.
Leif:Right? they picked the white. They picked the white girl.
Leif:Aw. I
Leif:did see Iz kind of look, like, disappointed that she
Leif:got shut down.
Steve:Yeah, a little.
Leif:Little smidge there.
Leif:Well, I mean, she vacations in the Adirondacks. What are
Leif:you thinking?
Leif:But she's got.
Leif:The doctor for the dicks.
Leif:They get there, they turn her down.
Leif:Serena is walking into school and sees Dan
Leif:riding in the courtyard and immediately freezes up.
Leif:Yeah. You feel it bad for Serena? Yeah, because she
Leif:said that last episode, she still loves
Leif:Dan.
Leif:Yeah. And Dan said. Dan was saying it, too.
Leif:Like, dan did say I
Leif:still, and she said, I know. I. Me, too.
Leif:And so it was a two
Leif:way thing, but, yeah, it's awkward to see.
Leif:To see each other, you know? Yeah.
Leif:Blair and the minions are
Leif:bemoaning the lack of quality candidates when Chuck shows
Leif:up with another folder to add to the pile.
Leif:Why? Did they suspect something here? It
Leif:seems weird.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. And
Leif:my, when Chuck was like, oh, here's another
Leif:candidate to the fold. When. When Chuck.
Leif:A transfer student.
Leif:A transfer student. I mean, I figured he was
Leif:up to something to get Blair back, which
Leif:I still do. but, like,
Leif:you know, I didn't see the scheme laid
Leif:out. to be. I'll be. I'll be honest
Leif:right now, they got me on the. On
Leif:the red herring here. Like, they did. Like,
Leif:I fell for it on the first watch.
Leif:Which. What? Right? Which one?
Leif:Amanda? Not one. I shouldn't say red herring, but, like, I
Leif:did not see them working together.
Leif:Okay, that.
Leif:That caught me. That. That. That surprised me.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:that was good. Yeah. Chuck having
Leif:her resume and whatnot also
Leif:didn't really. On the first watch, that
Leif:didn't register on my radar.
Leif:Like, it kind of did. Like, oh, that must be the girl chuck was
Leif:talking about. But, like, it didn't really
Leif:register. It's like, of course, chuck stalking the new
Leif:girl.
Leif:Well, he does have that little conversation with eric about how he's
Leif:using Blair's system to scout potential dates.
Leif:Yes. Yeah. again,
Leif:I wish I would have remembered to bring up Eric Moore in
Leif:that first scene because the Chuck Eric
Leif:relationship, and he's like, bring. Bring the orange juice. I
Leif:have champagne chilling in the limo, and he's like, he's
Leif:kidding, I think.
Leif:But, But back to this scene.
Leif:Yeah, it didn't register. It registered to me that it
Leif:was a matter of what I really saw
Leif:was, here's another girl I'm going to give to
Leif:Blair to make her jealous so
Leif:that I'm going to be flirting with. So I'm going to show Blair I'm
Leif:interested in this girl. That's what I saw,
Leif:and I did not see what it was coming.
Leif:Coming in brooklyn, Nate ambushes
Leif:Vanessa. I, don't know a lot, but if a woman
Leif:isn't returning your phone calls, just showing up, probably not a
Leif:good idea.
Leif:Yeah, Vanessa, you could have told him. You. You
Leif:could. You could have said, hey, yeah, she
Leif:blackmailed me and said that you would tell.
Leif:Where the captain, I guess. Yeah, maybe Catherine,
Leif:part of the blackmail is he can't say anything. Well, I'll
Leif:just assume that.
Leif:Yeah, but even if that was, what would she do
Leif:at that point?
Leif:Like, she would reveal where the captain is?
Leif:Yeah, maybe, but that's the whole
Leif:blackmail. Yeah. Yeah.
Leif:I mean, personally, I think
Leif:captain should be revealed, but.
Leif:Yeah, well, the captain. A. The captain should be revealed. And
Leif:also, I'm gonna reveal that you're
Leif:where your dad is.
Leif:Okay.
Leif:I'm gonna reveal that you're blackmailing a 17
Leif:year old that you're having sex with.
Leif:Although they could skip the country before.
Leif:Yeah. Diplomatic community.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Dan and Jenny are at school discussing breakup
Leif:etiquette. The me girls completely ignore Jenny
Leif:as they walk down the hall.
Leif:I love the foreshadowing here when Dan
Leif:says it's better to be ignored because he
Leif:thinks he's been ignored, but he just hasn't been
Leif:noticed. He's never been shunned.
Leif:Ignored. Yeah, he's never been
Leif:shunned.
Leif:Let the shunning begin.
Leif:So I really liked the second watch through
Leif:when he said that line. Better to be ignored, you
Leif:know, until the birds start flying into
Leif:you and the. And the automatic doors don't
Leif:open.
Leif:Yeah. Out in the courtyard, Dan bumps
Leif:into new girl Amanda. Those
Leif:bangs, though, she just seems weird.
Leif:Yeah. Like, instantly is like,
Leif:yeah. Yeah. And that was my first comment. I go,
Leif:those bangs, though. And Robin gave me the worst look. She's
Leif:like, what's even worse is that you're right.
Leif:But yeah, her voice is like.
Leif:Yeah. Just. Yeah.
Leif:Just off about it.
Leif:Yeah. Every. Every angle. I
Leif:was just like. Although I just thought it was
Leif:bad acting, I still didn't see.
Leif:I mean, it was bad acting.
Leif:It was. I didn't see the setup coming.
Leif:Still, Blair and Serena
Leif:are discussing how it hurts to see your ex dating someone
Leif:else. Oh, how convenient. They walk out into the
Leif:courtyard just in time to see Dan and Amanda
Leif:flirting. Of course.
Leif:Yeah. Even more like they were just. He's talking to
Leif:a new student. Like, he wasn't, like, doing
Leif:anything overtly flirty. Right. He was
Leif:talking to her, and Blair just instantly is
Leif:like, well, that's good. That's a
Leif:thing. And it's like, I mean, he definitely.
Leif:Was flirting and then asked her outd.
Leif:But can you see that from across a courtyard?
Leif:Right?
Leif:I think you can.
Leif:Yeah. I just thought it was. I think
Leif:Blair jumps to conclusions sometimes,
Leif:but I get it.
Leif:Looks like Humphrey defied our great expectations
Leif:in Waldorf's rules of order, daring to
Leif:date before serena. It's only a matter of
Leif:time before it's off with his head or
Leif:hers? Gossip girl quips as we move into
Leif:act two. Blair and serena are, ah, reading
Leif:the scouting report on amanda that chuck conveniently
Leif:provided. Amanda is dan with
Leif:boobs.
Leif:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Serena, this is Dan
Leif:with boobs. So when Serena at the
Leif:edge is like, I'm fine, she gets up and you hear one of the other
Leif:girls. I think it's is go. She's not fine.
Leif:It just. It was just one of those little
Leif:throwaway lines that just. I loved it.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Catherine stages the run in with vanessa at the
Leif:gallery. Katherine hands Vanessa a check made
Leif:out to cash and is gone before Vanessa can
Leif:look up and judge her.
Leif:So stealthy. Like, she was clicking
Leif:around in those high heels. Like Dan said earlier about the
Leif:loft, she was wearing pumps on a concrete
Leif:floor, and then she just bat.
Leif:Yeah. I mean, I know we hate Catherine, but
Leif:I love that dress.
Leif:Yeah, well, I mean, that she has.
Leif:She has good style. She always has.
Leif:I mean, that dress, hugged her form.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah.
Leif:And then Dan and Serena finally
Leif:see each other at school, and it is, of course, awkward
Leif:as fuck. Things are seeming to smooth
Leif:over when Amanda shows up and Dan tells Serena that he
Leif:and Amanda are eating lunch together. Chuck
Leif:is in the background paying very close attention to
Leif:everything that is going on here.
Leif:I was. I was, again distracted by the bangs.
Leif:Like, I thought that they looked like she cut them herself,
Leif:and, it was, like, distracting to me. Like,
Leif:and I don't get distracted by that kind of shit.
Leif:But, like, also in season one, Chuck was always just sitting
Leif:in the background watching people.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah.
Leif:But, yeah, he was.
Leif:Like.
Leif:He definitely was. I mean, Ed was trying to show that he was scheming, I
Leif:think.
Leif:Yeah, I think that was. That was his
Leif:scheming. Look, I. You know, because I
Leif:did. I do remember, like, leaving that scene thinking, what
Leif:is he up to? And, like, why is he so
Leif:vested in Dan and this girl? Like.
Leif:Like, it still wasn't dawning on me. Like, they really got
Leif:me on.
Leif:This, but it was. I I
Leif:thought the writing was good because they. They clearly set it up
Leif:from the very first scene where, you know, he talks about Serena
Leif:should be queen.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Yeah, there's for your take. It's there for the taking.
Leif:Yeah, exactly. And. And it's. So. It
Leif:was. I think this is Chuck's best
Leif:scheme so far because you really don't see it coming,
Leif:and you don't see him doing it. You
Leif:see little strings being pulled, but
Leif:it doesn't seem like it's going the way
Leif:he's describing it.
Leif:And I feel like the writing room host strike is now
Leif:starting to settle down. The show isn't the
Leif:same thing it was for those 1st 13 episodes, but I think
Leif:it's found its new rhythm. It's new. This is
Leif:what the show is now. And I think
Leif:they found their groove a little bit.
Leif:Yeah, I agree with that. I think that
Leif:is all very accurate.
Leif:Chuck rubs the situation in Serena's face and
Leif:then snaps a pic of Dan and Amanda for Gossip
Leif:Girl.
Leif:and this is where I was like, what is he up to?
Leif:Like, careful, b. Cause he's up to something. but
Leif:what? Like. Like, why does that
Leif:relationship mean anything to Chuck? It
Leif:was other than is Chuck trying to get that
Leif:girl because she's the new girl, but that just seemed a little
Leif:too easy. I don't
Leif:know.
Leif:Lily shows up to the gallery to see Rufus because
Leif:she clearly is lonely with Bart still out of
Leif:town. Looks like they are going to see repo
Leif:man together. It's better than Rufus and Vanessa, but
Leif:I don't really want to see these two have an affair. It's easy to
Leif:see why Lily has been married five times.
Leif:Yeah. What the fuck are you doing, Lily?
Leif:Like, what the fuck? And Rufus,
Leif:what the fuck are you doing by inviting her to go to the
Leif:movie with you? Like, what the fuck?
Leif:You're. You're seeing Claire now.
Leif:And so when I was writing that line, I was
Leif:kind of worried it was going to be taken as slut shaming, which is
Leif:definitely not. I'm shaming Lily for being a shitty
Leif:partner.
Leif:Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I. Yeah.
Leif:She's just got back from her
Leif:honeymoon, and now she's hanging. She's going to
Leif:ruin.
Leif:Yes.
Leif:She.
Leif:Her and Bart had that conversation. Let
Leif:it. Let the ass go.
Leif:They.
Leif:That was a really weird, gross scene, I thought. But they
Leif:agreed, they were gonna both let the past go
Leif:and move forward.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:So fuck it. Move forward.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Willie, what the fuck are you doing? And Rufus, why are
Leif:you even entertaining this at this point?
Leif:I think. I think, the first time he got caught off guard.
Leif:Yeah. But, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. I
Leif:love how this resolves itself. I think
Leif:it was perfect. But at this moment,
Leif:I'm like, why are you going to the movies with Lily?
Leif:That's. I mean, she just, like, kind of invited herself. Was
Leif:you, like, can't really stop her from coming. I mean, but you could
Leif:say.
Leif:You could say, that's not a good idea.
Leif:Like, you could be like, hey, I'm not
Leif:ready for that. I'm not. There he could say what he says in the end,
Leif:you know?
Leif:Back at Constance, Blair and
Leif:the negroes are threatening Amanda to stay away from
Leif:dan, and Serena sees and does
Leif:nothing.
Leif:Threatening with, like, violence. She drops
Leif:the, field hockey stick on her foot. She,
Leif:like, threatens her with violence to not go to lunch
Leif:with her.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:And. And Serena,
Leif:like, Oh.
Leif:Really? Lunch Serena. The meal before
Leif:dating.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:That's good. Elsewhere in
Leif:Manhattan, Vanessa is trying to return Catherine's
Leif:check and is about to leave when she hears Catherine behind
Leif:the door. Vanessa, wanting to give
Leif:the duchess a piece of her mind, grabs a check off the
Leif:table, opens the door, and only to see
Leif:katherine and Marcus getting down Game of Thrones
Leif:style. Vanessa snaps a pic and
Leif:peaces out.
Leif:That was so fucking
Leif:gross.
Leif:Well, to be fair, at least it's an age appropriate relationship. Yeah.
Leif:Yeah, at least. At least they're both probably about the same
Leif:age.
Leif:Oh, yeah.
Leif:Was so fucking gross. And,
Leif:like, the whole, like, you know,
Leif:when he spins her around, like.
Leif:And it was like, you're into this, dude. Like, you are
Leif:so fucking into this.
Leif:That's gross, dude.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Weird. Your dad has. Your
Leif:dad's been. You're like, well, maybe not.
Leif:Cause that's why, Cath. Apparently they.
Leif:Those guys just don't fuck their wives.
Leif:Maybe they only fuck
Leif:their. What? Kids.
Leif:Anyone else?
Leif:anyone else? I don't. That's
Leif:so fucking gross. Yeah.
Leif:Dan has been stood up by Amanda, and Chuck
Leif:is only too happy to tell him why. And Dan
Leif:defends Serena at first, but it's clear that Chuck got
Leif:under his skin.
Leif:Yeah. And in
Leif:Chuck likes to think that he knows
Leif:Serena better than Dan. And Chuck knows who
Leif:Serena was before she went away and
Leif:knows the old Serena and,
Leif:well, yeah, Chuck definitely knows Serena better. Yeah.
Leif:They've known each other since they were little kids, right?
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Chuck also really
Leif:liked the old Serena more, which
Leif:that at this point was, like,
Leif:okay, he always has wanted
Leif:Serena to be the old Serena again. So is that where he's
Leif:heading with this?
Leif:On the Met steps, Blair and her minions continue
Leif:to bully amanda. Serena is clearly
Leif:uncomfortable with what's happening, but at the same time, doing nothing to
Leif:stop it.
Leif:Amanda is terrible. Like, I feel
Leif:like every time there's a new character on here, I have something
Leif:to say about their shitty acting.
Leif:But. But, man, she's terrible. And,
Leif:Serena tries to resist, but, like,
Leif:not. Not very hard, but, like,
Leif:God, she's just. She's difficult to watch.
Leif:wait till you meet some of Serena's guest star boyfriends.
Leif:Oh, boy. Oh, my God. Every, like,
Leif:all the men that they've had, all the grown
Leif:ass men that they have had as, like,
Leif:one offs. Yeah.
Leif:At the cafe, Vanessa shows Dan the picture
Leif:of Marcus and katherine. One of the bright spots
Leif:about later seasons is we start to get actual smartphones,
Leif:which means we don't have to look at those shitty flip phone
Leif:pictures anymore. Dan suggests Vanessa take
Leif:the picture to Blair.
Leif:I really love Dan in this scene. I thought he was really
Leif:well written. I thought he was really well acted.
Leif:Look up for revenge, and you'll see blairwaldorff.com.
Leif:dot google revenge, and you'll get
Leif:blairwaldorff.com. and, yeah,
Leif:just, like, the suggestion of going to
Leif:Blair was brilliant. He was
Leif:right.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:And just in general, this. I feel like
Leif:pen. Pen Badgley had a great episode
Leif:acting wise. I felt like he really. He was
Leif:really good.
Leif:I m think he likes playing the asshole.
Leif:Yeah, I can see that.
Leif:and he just is so good with
Leif:the witness, with, like, playing off the wit
Leif:and the sarcasm. I really liked him.
Leif:In this scene at school, Dan
Leif:immediately gives up any moral high ground and takes a
Leif:ride to Douchetown. when confronting Serena.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. It didn't look
Leif:good for Serena either, because she did
Leif:go to the lunch and do that. He
Leif:also. He's putting way more on,
Leif:but so he's.
Leif:Yeah, he's. He's being offensive,
Leif:and she's being defensive.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah.
Leif:Even though she's trying to deny she's doing it, she. She is
Leif:actively participating.
Leif:Yeah, but she.
Leif:She's doing it defensively, though.
Leif:She gave the nod.
Leif:You know, I'm definitely team Serena here.
Leif:Yeah. I'm. I'm a little more team Dan here, to
Leif:be honest. And it's. And it's because. And,
Leif:like I said, like, he. He gave.
Leif:He gives up. The more he had, the more moral high.
Leif:Yeah, he did. He gives it up, but he does, and he comes
Leif:in judgy and Douchey, which is
Leif:classic Dan. And,
Leif:I mean, the whole thing. If Dan, at any point, would
Leif:just accept the fact that
Leif:Serena was born into
Leif:more money than Dan could dream of.
Leif:That's all he has to accept. Yeah.
Leif:That being born into that she
Leif:has a certain amount of attention on
Leif:her, and that's all he ever had to
Leif:accept. My. My only reason that I was more
Leif:team Serena here is because
Leif:she gave Blair the nod. Because she didn't
Leif:tell Blair. No. Absolutely not. We're letting
Leif:this go. She let Blair,
Leif:and she let Serena, for the
Leif:past, for coming up to this point,
Leif:her status as being Serena
Leif:as being the old Serena as having all of
Leif:that status didn't mean anything to her anymore,
Leif:and now it kind of
Leif:does because she doesn't have Dan anymore. Ah. Like
Leif:she had something else that meant more to her.
Leif:But now that that's gone.
Leif:I think for Serena, it's like almost like
Leif:a, ah, natural. It's like almost like a chameleon. Like
Leif:she's a, you know, puts up those, you
Leif:know, you see it when we'll talk. Like when the
Leif:girls bring up the guy, the guys for her to
Leif:date.
Leif:Like immediately. She's like biting her lip.
Leif:Yeah. Like, and doing immediately into a
Leif:doctor's mode. Yeah.
Leif:But, yeah. So we got, after Serena
Leif:leaves, Amanda shows up and basically asks Dan out on a date
Leif:tonight. This is where Dan should have started to suspect something
Leif:was up.
Leif:Yeah. And, and I guess
Leif:the second one, for me, it was. It was a little
Leif:later that, that I thought that something was
Leif:suspicious because this, at this point,
Leif:it was still, we didn't get our lunch date, so let's have a
Leif:date tonight. The choice of
Leif:venue was questionable
Leif:for a first date. Why would you go.
Leif:I believe the word send the message.
Leif:Well, but that was after they showed up. Yeah. You know,
Leif:like, like, why would you go there in the first place?
Leif:At Blair's penthouse, Vanessa is showing Blair
Leif:the picture. Blair is fighting back tears as
Leif:she sends the photo to herself and then
Leif:threatens for Vanessa to keep quiet and let Blair handle
Leif:it.
Leif:And, Leeton Meester, just doing fucking
Leif:lean meester shit. Like,
Leif:just fucking
Leif:great. Great acting, great emotion,
Leif:great, you know, command of the.
Leif:Of the whole thing. The way that Blair is
Leif:able to shut shit down when she
Leif:needs to, she gets emotional, she's crying, she's
Leif:upset. But the second she realizes it's on and how
Leif:she just gets it together and goes right at
Leif:Vanessa. Like, I
Leif:love, I loved every. I mean, I love every
Leif:Blair scene pretty much, but she
Leif:was fucking great.
Leif:Here the sun sets on
Leif:NYC as Dan and Amanda arrive at the club.
Leif:Dan doesn't think it's a good idea, but Amanda is determined
Leif:to send a message.
Leif:Yeah, that's where I should
Leif:have been suspicious when she said that. My first watch through,
Leif:I was like, what are you sending a message for? What are you trying to
Leif:hate?
Leif:Bullies?
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Like the. I hate bullies from earlier.
Leif:I. But, like, let's send a message that they're
Leif:like, what message are you trying to send?
Leif:Like, that was so dumb. What I did love in
Leif:that scene is when Penelope
Leif:bumps is and Iz is like, I'm not sharing my
Leif:lump crab meat.
Leif:What Dan Hemprey does with the other serfs in the village
Leif:is his business. But when he brings his new maiden to
Leif:court, it's a declaration of war. Sound
Leif:the trumpets. Trumpets. We move into act
Leif:three. The next day, Dan is
Leif:woken up by Jenny, who is extremely disappointed
Leif:in big Brother.
Leif:Jenny is adorable here. I loved this scene. I loved
Leif:how outraged she was because
Leif:as much as she is, like
Leif:in the Gossip girls girl.
Leif:Yeah, yeah. And then she's in the Gossip Girl
Leif:universe, but she's still one of those little
Leif:girls reading gossip Girl. So I really loved
Leif:that that came through. She's also
Leif:always been the biggest
Leif:supporter of Dan and Serena. Yeah,
Leif:she's always been their biggest fan.
Leif:Chuck creepily awakes Serena from sleep to show
Leif:Serena the gospel girl blasts about Amanda and Dan's
Leif:date.
Leif:So fucking creepy. That would the.
Leif:How.
Leif:Jesus, I would
Leif:fucking strangle him.
Leif:So weird.
Leif:And I love that. I love the
Leif:Harry Dean Stanton obsession in this episode too.
Leif:Like the constant shout outs to Harry Dean Stanton.
Leif:Jenny finds Vanessa waiting for Blair outside
Leif:Constance. Jenny asks Penelope and is where Blair
Leif:is. The mean girls let Jenny know
Leif:her torment is yet to come.
Leif:So dumb. Like, why are you
Leif:doing this? Why are you gonna pick on
Leif:a fucking girl like that?
Leif:Because that's what they do.
Leif:I know, but so fucking
Leif:dumb. Oh, I actually had a question that I thought
Leif:of earlier in this episode and it is a bit of a
Leif:spoiler question, but I think that it's an
Leif:appropriate one. They're seniors now and
Leif:there's three seasons left of the show
Leif:after this. Five seasons, right. Or
Leif:six seasons.
Leif:There's six seasons total.
Leif:So there's four more seasons to go. Do they
Leif:graduate this year and where? Post high
Leif:school. Yeah, the, big.
Leif:Yeah, college is a definitely a big, like, picking. College is definitely
Leif:a big theme this season. And then they graduate. Jenny and
Leif:Eric obviously still have another year.
Leif:Yeah. Another two years left. Yeah. Okay.
Leif:I. I was. I wanted to know because.
Leif:Because Constance and St. Jude
Leif:have been such a
Leif:backdrop for so many scenes,
Leif:never a classroom.
Leif:Yeah. I mean, that's. That's kind of gone.
Leif:Ok. Ok. I wasn't sure if they were going to continue
Leif:with that or.
Leif:There's a little bit with Jenny and Eric, but
Leif:generally. Yeah, every season is a year.
Leif:Okay, that. That's what I thought. I just
Leif:wanted to clarify.
Leif:Serena is rightfully pissed at Dan, who is
Leif:least attempting to apologize. Serena's
Leif:brilliant solution to the drama is to refer to a
Leif:third wheel on Dan's and Amanda's next
Leif:date.
Leif:Yeah. How is this a good idea? What. What is
Leif:the. What?
Leif:What's the purpose?
Leif:In what universe do you say just.
Leif:Because you're gonna be friends, you don't have to hang out with her on a date?
Leif:On the first date, I mean, well,
Leif:second date, but still, like, yeah, like, what?
Leif:Why?
Leif:What good is any of that? Like, hey, you know what? Maybe I should
Leif:introduce her and you should. I should meet her and you should
Leif:introduce her and we should hang out.
Leif:Cool.
Leif:You know, but like, no,
Leif:don't go out tonight together. And why are
Leif:you going out to like, a fucking party
Leif:bar, you know? Why are you going to the party
Leif:of the week, Barna, instead
Leif:of, you know, getting to know each other
Leif:somewhere else? Anywhere?
Leif:Yeah, maybe the
Leif:cafeteria. I mean, you go to high school together.
Leif:Yeah. The courtyard there where you're. Where you hang out more
Leif:than you go to class.
Leif:Vanessa goes to a restaurant to find out what Blair's
Leif:plan is. Vanessa sees Blair with Marcus and
Leif:assumes Blair is doing nothing. Vanessa storms off
Leif:before Blair starts verbally smacking Marcus around.
Leif:Then Katherine shows up so she can get her just
Leif:dessert courtesy of queen Bee.
Leif:Vanessa's so goddamn stupid. She's so fucking
Leif:stupid to sit there to her. Blair to tell her
Leif:like a couple days ago, hey, I got
Leif:this. And then she sees one
Leif:look and is like, oh, well, I'm gonna go to the duke
Leif:instead. Like, you
Leif:fucking idiot, you.
Leif:Vanessa, right?
Leif:Like.
Leif:Like, no, worse.
Leif:You underestimated
Leif:fucking Blair, you idiot.
Leif:But Blair is fucking masterful. I loved
Leif:it. I love the, you know. I beg your
Leif:pardon? Oh, you have? Oh, not yet, but you will.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:It was a great plan. Yeah,
Leif:Vanessa screws it up. Looks like she. Yeah, she screws
Leif:everything up as usual. She's going to spill the tea to
Leif:daddy lord.
Leif:Yep. Fucking with Bee's plan B's got a plan
Leif:and you're fucking with it.
Leif:Vanessa, Dan and Amanda are out
Leif:on their date. Serena is clearly feeling left out
Leif:when Dan and Amanda start nerding out on poetry.
Leif:Yeah, yeah. These two people are on a date getting
Leif:to know each other.
Leif:She's dying with booze.
Leif:Yeah, and. Yeah, and like
Leif:you're going to be insecure. Like that is going
Leif:to be the feeling you have when these two people are getting to know
Leif:each other and you're trying to get to know her too, because
Leif:they have chemistry. You and Dan have
Leif:chemistry. You do, but
Leif:you can't. But you're not together.
Leif:So let him be with somebody
Leif:else. Why did you think that was a good idea?
Leif:Serena goes to the bar to get a drink and catch her breath.
Leif:Penelope. And is encouraged. Serena's competitive
Leif:side. It looks like old Serena might be making
Leif:a comeback.
Leif:Who drinks like that? Who drinks a martini like
Leif:that? Like, she drinks martinis like, she eats
Leif:strawberries. Like. Like no one
Leif:does.
Leif:Yeah. This is what I was talking about earlier, how, she just instantly goes into
Leif:seductress mode.
Leif:Yeah. Like, without a. Without a thought about
Leif:it. But, like, the martini glass on
Leif:her lip, it's like, what is
Leif:that?
Steve:Sexy.
Leif:Like, I.
Leif:When Blake Lavie does it?
Leif:Yes. Yeah, I guess I'm. I mean,
Leif:never wanted to be a martini glass before, but.
Leif:We turn back from commercial, and Dalton's, lacrosse
Leif:captain is boring the rest of the table with tales of glory
Leif:on the field. The girls step away, and lacrosse
Leif:boy tries to have a dude pro moment with Dan, who just
Leif:shakes his head.
Leif:And walks away smoking
Leif:hot. Right? And Dan's just like,
Leif:it's so great. I love that.
Leif:I. Ah, loved. Yeah. How he's just, like, really great.
Leif:Yeah, I. The whole look of, like, I
Leif:can't do this. I can't.
Leif:I can't.
Leif:Just walked away. Loved it.
Leif:Dan and Serena talk at the bar. Serena is
Leif:breaking down in tears. Dan dearly
Leif:wants to comfort her, but decides against
Leif:it. Things end. And Serena politely
Leif:telling Dan to get the fuck out.
Leif:You see the turn. You. You see that.
Leif:That you. You see the,
Leif:Why should I leave?
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Why should. Like, this is where all my friends
Leif:are. Yeah.
Leif:And, like, your kind of place.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Dan, you can't afford a year, and
Leif:she's not wrong. Like, why are you there in the first place? Like,
Leif:why is that where you went on this date? Yeah. Like,
Leif:which really tells me that Serena picked the location,
Leif:right? Like, it seems like, why would you let her pick the location
Leif:of your three way date? Like, weird.
Leif:but, yeah, you just see that kind of.
Leif:That turn in her face that.
Leif:That, like, you know. No, I need him to
Leif:live. He's the only one that can keep padme alive.
Leif:Darth serena.
Leif:Darth Serena.
Leif:Blair reveals the truth about Catherine
Leif:and Marcus to Nate. Blair blackmailed Catherine
Leif:into paying off the archball debt and to leave New
Leif:York with Marcus. However, v blew up the
Leif:plan by going directly to the duke.
Leif:Fucking vanessa.
Leif:Fucking Vanessa.
Leif:Fucking Vanessa. Blair had it covered.
Leif:Blair had everything covered. And
Leif:you actually probably would have won in the end
Leif:here too. Like, you probably. Nate may
Leif:have still been mad because his reasons for being mad weren't
Leif:about you fucking with Blair's plan, it was
Leif:for not going to him in the first place.
Leif:Yeah, which is funny because his, because her whole thing to
Leif:Vanessa. I, will say this. Vanessa's whole thing to
Leif:Blair was. I don't want Nate to know.
Leif:Yeah. So in that
Leif:respect, Blair was kind of
Leif:fucking with Vanessa's, side of it because she
Leif:did ask for that one thing to be kept out of it.
Leif:But the thing that Nate's mad about
Leif:isn't her fucking with Blair's plan.
Leif:It's not telling her in the first place.
Leif:You went to Dan and then Blair.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Friends with Blair.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah.
Leif:You hate Blair at the club, chuck
Leif:eggs on the mean girls to nair teeny Amanda.
Leif:yeah, this is, this is so
Leif:fucking dumb. yeah. yeah.
Leif:Especially when you find out later that, you know, he, he
Leif:all this.
Leif:Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you realize that
Leif:he was, that he set her
Leif:up for this. Like, ah, he's the one that was like, here. Don't you guys
Leif:remember how to throw a nair teeny?
Leif:Look? Yeah.
Leif:In Brooklyn, Lily is still lonely and makes another
Leif:unannounced popover. It looks like Lily is looking
Leif:for net for some Netflix and chill. Rufus
Leif:does the right thing and shuts that shit down.
Leif:Yeah, I I feel for Lily
Leif:here. Yeah. I really do.
Leif:But you knew you're getting into.
Leif:Rufus was absolutely right. Rufus
Leif:made it clear. You. You made
Leif:this choice. I wanted this too, and you
Leif:did not. Like,
Leif:although he could
Leif:have, he could have been a little less with the
Leif:kiss when Claire showed up.
Leif:It didn't have to be quite so, like.
Leif:Yeah, it could have been a very. It could have been a
Leif:very quick, nice kiss. It would have
Leif:communicated everything. But
Leif:he definitely was like, I need to let Lily
Leif:know what I'm, what I'm saying here. There
Leif:is that little thing in the back of my
Leif:head that says,
Leif:if Claire wasn't on her way,
Leif:what would Rufus have done? If he
Leif:didn't already have a date with Claire?
Leif:Would he have come to that same
Leif:conclusion?
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Like, he didn't.
Leif:I guess we'll probably never know.
Leif:Yeah, but he did the right thing. That's, that's what's
Leif:important here.
Leif:Blair schleps all the way to the outer burrow to
Leif:give an essay. Tongue lashing. In the words of Red
Leif:Foreman, Vanessa is a dumbass.
Leif:Yeah. You don't go to the queen if you don't want her to actually
Leif:get you. Don't go to queen bee if you don't want her to get shit done
Leif:like, she's gonna have a plan. And, like,
Leif:she's such a fucking dumbass.
Leif:Penelope dumps a martini glass full of
Leif:Nair on Amanda's head, whose hair begins
Leif:to immediately fall out.
Leif:I felt really bad for her. Yeah, for we
Leif:before he does. She was paid. Yeah, I still feel bad,
Leif:even after. But before that, you felt really bad for
Leif:her.
Leif:Yeah. Although Robin does point out that it doesn't
Leif:work that fast, that Nair has to, like,
Leif:sit for 20 minutes.
Leif:I kind of figured, although that
Leif:was, like. I mean, do you normally. Don't you, like, diluted with
Leif:water or.
Leif:No, I.
Leif:Who knows? Someone, right. Didn't tell us.
Leif:Yeah, I have never naired judgmental.
Leif:Dan is in fine form when he tears Serena
Leif:apart. Look out, Dan. You may be
Leif:creating a monster.
Leif:Yeah, you've got this misplaced anger here,
Leif:Dan, and, it's going in the
Leif:wrong direction, and it's gonna bite you in
Leif:the ass.
Leif:Spotted a beautiful blonde phoenix
Leif:rising from the ashes of a major public
Leif:humiliation. Welcome back, Serena.
Leif:Consider us your humble servants, because if looks
Leif:could kill, we wouldn't want to be Dan
Leif:Humphrey. We move into the epilogue.
Leif:Vanessa tries to apologize to Nate, but
Leif:Nate turns her line from earlier back on her. They were
Leif:never really friends anyway.
Leif:Yeah. I don't like this, Nate. Because you
Leif:lied to Vanessa. Like, you lied about the
Leif:affair you had a lot of
Leif:that you lied about.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:And,
Leif:Nate, as usual, being a hypocrite.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Nate, this was not a good look for you
Leif:at school.
Leif:Is in. Penelope approached Jenny for some grade
Leif:school level bullying.
Leif:Yep. And it's like, basic bullying. It's like,
Leif:I'm gonna take your bag and dump it out. Like.
Leif:Like, jenny's right. Like, is that it? Like, is this
Leif:what?
Leif:But then they're right.
Leif:Over time, that will really annoying.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Yeah. After the second time, I start swinging from.
Leif:Dan leaves a message for Amanda,
Leif:apologizing for himself and to Serena.
Leif:Hey, Dan, how about actually apologizing to Serena?
Leif:Mm Mm Came at her pretty hard.
Leif:You came at her pretty hard. Dan.
Leif:Dan. Dan really wants Serena to be accountable
Leif:for shit that she has, that she
Leif:completely accounts for.
Leif:And then he also wants her to be, because he
Leif:wants her to be accountable for being
Leif:this super popular
Leif:person, but he also wants her to
Leif:be accountable for the actions that other people
Leif:do around her
Leif:and wants her to be accountable for
Leif:Penelope dropping this nair on her.
Leif:And it's like, I get that you're pissed,
Leif:but, like, you. You have always
Leif:expected Serena to be more
Leif:just different, you know, someone
Leif:more than she is.
Leif:Yeah. We see Chuck
Leif:having a meal with Amanda. It looks like Chuck
Leif:orchestrated the whole thing to make Serena queen.
Leif:Chuck is such a loving brother wanting the best
Leif:for his sister. Right, right.
Leif:Yeah. Once I realized that Chuck was
Leif:behind all of this first, like, like I said,
Leif:the first watch through chucks up to something, but
Leif:I had no idea where it was going. I
Leif:I didn't see his hand. Yeah. In
Leif:any of this.
Leif:This is definitely Chuck's first big, successful
Leif:scheme.
Leif:Yeah. Everything else has blown up in his face. Every
Leif:other scan scheme that Chuck has had, has blown up in
Leif:his face because it has always been to
Leif:get some kind of explosive
Leif:behavior out of Blair, and now
Leif:he's, you know.
Leif:So this is just part one of the scheme, obviously.
Leif:Yeah. Well, part one of the scheme is to knock Blair
Leif:down and crown Serena
Leif:as the new queen so that then.
Leif:So Blair now needs a new
Leif:king to elevate her
Leif:ranks.
Leif:So it looks like
Leif:Jenny is ditching school to go to do
Leif:more work at the atelier. Running from your
Leif:problems never solves anything, little j. Yeah.
Leif:Apparently she can hide an atelier.
Leif:Penelope was like, you can't hide an atelier or.
Leif:Or the Waldorf, warehouse
Leif:anymore. Well, apparently she can.
Leif:Apparently, she chooses Laurel's bullying over
Leif:yours. Yeah.
Leif:Back at school, headbands have already been
Leif:replaced with scars, and Serena is extremely
Leif:condescending to Blair right in front of the minions.
Leif:God, we saw last season how
Leif:fast these girls were to switch loyalties. Blair is
Leif:caught off guard here, but I can't wait to see her
Leif:counter punch.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. Just the way that Serena
Leif:takes the scar. Takes the headband
Leif:off of her head.
Leif:The scarf. Yeah, you're right.
Leif:Or the scarf. Yeah, she's. Well, she's wearing the scarf
Leif:as a headband. right.
Leif:Yeah, but very much in
Leif:blair's style. And.
Leif:Removes it, saying, this is not
Leif:the style now, and
Leif:ties it around blair's neck. You
Leif:sweet little thing. This is what we're doing
Leif:now. M. Who
Leif:I like serena's
Leif:transformation.
Leif:We are not.
Leif:Serena also arises.
Leif:We're no longer wearing.
Leif:Chuck reveals to blair that he is the puppet
Leif:master behind it all.
Leif:I wonder how that. Oh, I know how this
Leif:happened.
Leif:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Leif:A reggae beat drops as we see Dan
Leif:being completely shunned by everyone in.
Leif:The school when
Leif:he fucking realizes what's
Leif:happening, and he realizes he is in
Leif:over his head and, like.
Leif:And, and Serena comes by and doesn't even
Leif:glance at him. Yeah, it was just.
Leif:Oh, and that is our episode.
Leif:Any predictions?
Leif:Well, queen bee is not going
Leif:to let this go. Queen
Leif:bee is going to want her thrown back.
Leif:So there's definitely going to be a scheme to take down
Leif:Serena. Now. Blair, this is.
Leif:Serena is kind of your fault here, too, because
Leif:had you not convinced her that Dan moving
Leif:on was a bad thing, she would
Leif:never have forced her way into
Leif:this. Yeah. Relationship with dan,
Leif:the three way date. It wasn't a date.
Leif:So, yeah, blair's going to counter punch.
Leif:Are we done with Amanda? Is she coming back?
Leif:No, she's okay. Yeah, she seemed, when
Leif:she first entered, I was like, oh, is this a new character
Leif:that we're gonna have to see over and over again?
Leif:Actually not.
Leif:No. Cause she's going to boarding school in vermont.
Leif:Yes. So let's go ahead and get into some
Leif:segments this week in fandom.
Leif:we jumped into the wayback machine. Gonna go back in time to
Leif:the television without pity forums to see what they were
Leif:saying back in 2008. Hello
Leif:there, peabody here. And this is the
Leif:wayback machine for traveling through time.
Leif:And this is my boy Shermandhe. Speak,
Leif:Sherman. Hello. Good boy.
Leif:Chuck is an awesome villain.
Leif:I agree. The key word here being villain.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah, he was a great
Leif:villain.
Leif:More. Vanessa is the worst, but some at
Leif:least felt bad for the way Nate treated her at the end.
Leif:Yeah, I'm with that. Vanessa
Leif:was.
Leif:Vanessa sucked, but she didn't really deserve.
Leif:Yeah, it was a little too harsh at the end, and
Leif:I, both.
Leif:Of the guys were really over harsh in this day. And
Leif:Dan.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I felt. I
Leif:even felt Dan was maybe
Leif:a little more justified in his
Leif:level of anger because of what just happened to
Leif:his date, Nate. I feel like he just
Leif:comes at her really hard when. When he. Without any
Leif:self reflection, I still kind of hope Nate and
Leif:Vanessa find a way together like I do
Leif:in, defense of Nate.
Leif:He was like, blair got
Leif:the restitution money, paid that. That was
Leif:huge.
Leif:Yeah, it's. Well, it's just that Nate
Leif:specifically said. That's not what I'm upset
Leif:about. I'm upset about you not coming to me,
Leif:which that is also kind of like. Is that
Leif:really what you're upset about? Because it seems like you're upset about
Leif:the money thing.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:Like, you're right.
Leif:Mixed opinions on Serena's heel turn.
Leif:Some people like this. Some people didn't.
Leif:I really like serena, how she's been, but I, guess
Leif:I'm kind of ready for.
Leif:I like this readiness right now.
Leif:I thought it was done. Well, I'm. I'm a
Leif:little. I'm a little saddened by it, but I think that's
Leif:what makes a good heel turn. A good heel turn?
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:You know, when rock. When the rock
Leif:came out and started shitting on Philadelphia
Leif:for one of his heel turns, I remember being so
Leif:mad and being like, oh, they got me.
Leif:Gotcha.
Leif:Many were completely shocked by Marcus and
Leif:Katherine, and then at least one person thought the
Leif:whole thing was completely illogical.
Leif:I mean, I wouldn't say completely illogical,
Leif:but it was pretty disgusting. And.
Leif:Yeah, that whole blot line. Well, the.
Leif:The logical comes from the fact that
Leif:if Marcus could get it up for katherine, why can't
Leif:he get it up for Blair? And then also,
Leif:if Katherine's all so fucking Marcus, why is
Leif:she so desperate to fuck Nate?
Leif:Yeah. I mean, there is all of that. You are correct.
Leif:And then why does Dan have such a huge
Leif:influence on Serene's personality? Yeah, but
Leif:last year, he was making her, you know, making her
Leif:dad makes her a better person.
Leif:Yeah.
Leif:And this year, you know, because of how
Leif:he's treating her, she's going to the dark side.
Leif:Yeah. Yeah. She does hate, but, you
Leif:know, love can do that. Yeah. Right. Love
Leif:will definitely make you change your
Leif:personality.
Leif:Fair. But does Dan deserve that?
Leif:No.
Leif:No.
Leif:Moving on to some episode
Leif:grades. You went first last time, so
Leif:I'm going to go ahead and go first this time.
Leif:Not quite as good as last week, but I thought this was a very
Leif:solid episode. The directing was solid. The acting
Leif:was nothing to stand out from the acting, but
Leif:it was definitely solid all around. There was nothing bad except for
Leif:the Amanda, the guest star. The writing, I think, was,
Leif:like I said, I think they're hitting their groove. like, this guy
Leif:comes back for ten episodes, mostly in this
Leif:season, two, three, and four, mostly. So, yeah,
Leif:I think they're hitting their groove. So I gave this episode a b.
Leif:Yeah, I'm with you on that. I actually was
Leif:a b. I was kind of between a b and
Leif:a b minus, and then landed on a b
Leif:for pretty much everything that you just
Leif:said. Like, the. I felt like it
Leif:was a better written episode. I found they felt they're
Leif:finding that groove. Like you said, I felt that
Leif:Amanda was
Leif:poorly acted and cast, but I feel
Leif:like that happens a lot on this show.
Leif:and in general, I just. I felt like it was
Leif:solid, and it was definitely a step up
Leif:from the beginning of this season.
Leif:The first two episodes, the half were just off.
Leif:Yeah, they were really tough to watch.
Leif:Stock watch going up. I
Leif:had Serena and Chuck. Serena, because
Leif:she. She's now queen and Chuck is his scheme.
Leif:He ran through the whole episode. He ran episode,
Leif:yeah. And then I also had Rufus going up because
Leif:he. He started off weak with, you know,
Leif:caving her at the first attempt, but then he finished
Leif:strong, and he's got a girlfriend now, so. Good for
Leif:him.
Leif:Yeah. Yep.
Leif:Who you got going up?
Leif:All three of the same. I, had Serena,
Leif:Chuck, and I, Rufus, all for
Leif:all for those same reasons. I also had
Leif:Nate's stock going up because
Leif:he's free of Catherine, or at
Leif:least he should be free of Catherine.
Leif:Yeah. I originally had Nate stock going up, but
Leif:I, because he was such a dick at the end, I had kept him in
Leif:neutral.
Leif:that is a fair, a fair thing. I
Leif:was kind of on the, on the cusp of that, but I went ahead and
Leif:gave him the up going down.
Leif:Dan, you were a dick all episode dick.
Leif:And, yeah.
Leif:Jenny, because you're, you're.
Leif:You're skipping class now and you're. You're getting
Leif:bullied and, yeah, not. Not looking good for your
Leif:future right now. Jenny. Vanessa, you're
Leif:a fucking idiot. Blair, she.
Leif:She is dethroned again. Once again
Leif:already.
Leif:and then, Lily, just because she was being
Leif:really sad and pathetic.
Leif:I have one more. I actually had all of
Leif:the exact same ones as you had Dan. I had
Leif:Lily. I had Blair.
Leif:This is actually her. Yeah, I guess
Leif:this is her second dethroning, isn't it? Because she was
Leif:dethroned by her first, by her first scandal last
Leif:season. But yeah, blair, I had Jenny, I had
Leif:Vanessa. I also had Amanda's
Leif:stock going down for just being
Leif:fucking awful.
Leif:Yeah, I just didn't really count her because, yeah, she's.
Leif:I didn't know if she was going to be back or not. And
Leif:so I figured, anyone's fair
Leif:game.
Leif:so I actually want to add Catherine and Marcus to my
Leif:down.
Leif:Same. I actually thought of that when you were
Leif:going through your ups and I meant to add them to my down as
Leif:well, that both Catherine and Marcus getting shipped
Leif:off.
Leif:Thankfully, they are also gone.
Leif:Sweet. I was actually worried she was going to come back
Leif:at some point.
Leif:I'm sure Nate will fasten the old.
Leif:Lady to bang for money.
Leif:Here's the best outfits from the last
Leif:episode we see.
Leif:For best outfit, I had Serena's
Leif:gray and black bandage dress from etterville.
Leif:Jenna.
Leif:All right. For me, I had
Leif:Blair's outfit on selection day.
Leif:The.
Leif:When she had the white cape.
Leif:Yeah, the white cape that, like, giant brooch holding
Leif:it together and. Like, yeah, I just
Leif:thought it looked so.
Leif:Yeah, I believe the cape was from Marc Jacobs.
Leif:Okay. Okay. Yeah. Very elegant and
Leif:very. I like that a lot.
Leif:So that is it for segments. I don't really have
Leif:anything to plug this week. do you got anything?
Leif:I don't think I have anything coming. Oh,
Leif:if you are in the Lockhaven
Leif:area, I'm actually going to be playing the fringe fest
Leif:next month in October. I'll give you more
Leif:details on that. I can't remember the exact weekend,
Leif:but I will be up there playing the
Leif:Lockhaven pringfest.
Leif:you can follow me on social media on
Leif:Instagram apicola, and
Leif:you can follow the podcast on Instagram and
Leif:TikTok on judging Breakfastpod.
Leif:You can also find us on Facebook.
Leif:just search for nonjudging breakfast pod. You
Leif:can also find us on Twitter.
Leif:And we now have a website,
Leif:nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com. from there, you can find our
Leif:discord server.
Leif:And if you want to get in touch with us and send
Leif:us an email and let us know what you're thinking, we'd love
Leif:to hear your thoughts and read them on air. Our
Leif:email address is
Leif:nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com.
Leif:and also, while you're sitting there
Leif:listening, please be sure to, like, listen to,
Leif:like, subscribe, leave a comment. It really
Leif:helps with our visibility, especially on iTunes and
Leif:the Apple podcasts. And also, more
Leif:importantly, tell a friend what you're listening to and
Leif:listen together and have, an
Leif:enjoyable experience with us.
Leif:Next week, we'll be back to talk about season two,
Leif:episode five, the Serena
Leif:also rises. The max
Leif:episode preview reads, blair
Leif:decides to sabotage her mother's show at
Leif:fashion week.
Leif:Jesus, Blair, what is wrong with
Leif:you?
Leif:she's obviously going through some shit.
Leif:Yeah. She's going to be frozen. Well, yeah.
Leif:Yeah. I mean, who is she going after?
Leif:Jenny, Serena or both? I
Leif:mean, cuz. Yeah,
Leif:I'm assuming both.
Leif:Yeah, because I. Presumably Jenny's involved with the
Leif:show and maybe.
Leif:And maybe Serena, too, now that Serena is
Leif:queen and sir, you know, the fashion model.
Leif:I don't know if you saw the thumbnail.
Leif:No, I didn't.
Leif:Okay. Yeah.
Leif:Is Serena and, like, is. Yes. Arena in a dress. Yeah.
Leif:Yeah, I did see it now that I think of it,
Leif:but yeah, so that all tracks. So of
Leif:course that's gonna piss off Blair.
Leif:Well, until next week, you know you love
Leif:us.
Leif:Xoxo.
Steve:Every time you walk away run away you take a
Steve:piece of me with you there
Steve:every time you walk away or run, away you take a piece of
Steve:me with you there
Steve:every time you walk away or run hm. 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 my
Steve:own
Steve:I left last night and it feels like
Steve:way too late
Steve:are you ever gonna see everything you mean m to
Steve:me? I'm trying really hard to believe
Steve:every time you walk away, 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: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 piece
Steve:of me with you there
Steve:every time you walk away or run away you take a
Steve:piece of me with you there
Steve:every time you walk away or run away you take a
Steve:piece of me with you there
Steve:every time you walk away, 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 or run away you take a
Steve:piece of me with you there.