Discussion on #LGBT themes surrounding coming out and being outed.

Hey Upper Eastsiders and all you scandal-loving listeners out there! Welcome back to the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, where the coffee is strong, the waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than ever. Join Leif, your seasoned Gossip Girl veteran, and Steve, the newbie diving into the Upper East Side for the first time.

This week, we dive into Gossip Girl season 1, episode 16, titled “All About My Brother”. Original air date: May 5, 2008.

Join us as we dissect the drama, romance, and sometimes questionable fashion choices from this iconic 2007 series. We break down the battle between Queen B and Little J, the unexpected twists with Eric, and the ever-looming presence of Georgina Sparks. Plus, we discuss the deeper emotional moments, like Lily's heartfelt conversation with Eric, and the shocking confession from Serena that leaves us all on the edge of our seats.

The TWoP Bayliss recap reads: G threatens to spill S's deep dark shit, B and Little J use Gossip Girl to spread scandalous rumors about each other, and Lonelyboy catches Asher in the act.

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

Jenny just comes across so arrogant.

Yes.

So.

Oh, my God.

So cute. And at the same time, it's, like,

think for a second, Jenny. Let's say Eric does have a

crush on you. He's probably going to treat you a

hell of a lot better than Asher and provide

all the same accent.

Hm.

Hey up, recyers. 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 Leif, and I'm your seasoned gossip

girl veteran.

And I'm Steve. I'm the newbie, the

greenhorn, the, I don't know, what do you call the new kid on the block

in Gossip girl terms? Leaf.

I think they would label you as a project. You

know, type of girl has the potential to be up there,

right?

Yeah. Well, find me a man to host my first upper

east side party, and let's get started.

Sounds good.

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

Gossip girl since it first aired, and I'm diving in for the

first time. And together, we're your dynamic duo,

bringing you all the drama, romance, and

sometimes questionable fashion choices from this

iconic 2007 series.

That's right. Each week, we're going to take a deep

dive, looking at all the obscure,

references, parallels, and of course, the couture

catastrophes one episode at a time.

And since we are all about inclusivity here at the non

judging breakfast pod, there is always room for you at the

non judging breakfast table. So grab

your coffee or a mimosa,

maybe celebrate yesterday's holiday with

some of Nate and Chuck's special medicine. And

let's get started on this show.

We are going to be talking about season one,

episode 16, titled

all about my brother. Original air

date was May 5, 2008. Did you get

the reference?

I did not, get the

reference.

So I have not seen this movie. But now,

having looked it up, I am probably going to go watch it later today

because it sounds absolutely insane. It, is a

spanish movie. It won several, awards at

Con, including best film and best director.

But it stars a single woman. The

only known actress that I, at least for

me, that I recognize was Penelope Cruz. But she's, like, the fifth

star, so she's fifth listed on

it. But, yeah, it's a single woman,

who is a supervisor at

a organ donation type of thing.

I'm in.

And her son is

in love with some actress, and she's, like, trying to chase her down

and get an autograph, gets hit by a car, and he dies.

And then, so the mom

decides she's gonna go track down the

father who she never told her son about because

apparently the father is a she transgender,

woman named Lola. And so

she. And then along the way, she makes friends with another

transgender woman who's a sex worker

and then also a nun at a batter

woman shelter who apparently is

hiv positive and pregnant with

Lola's child as well,

and. Yeah, so, I could go check this movie

I'm in sounds

interesting. It is a, Spanish, but, yeah, it is called

all about my mother and came out in 1999.

but now we're going to talk all about my

brother. The television without pity.

Bayless recap reads, g threatens

to spill S's deep, dark shit. Bea and little J

use gossip Girl to spread scandalous rumors about each other,

and lonely boy catches asher in the

actual.

It's funny because it's not really accurate. Little

J. Doesn't use Gossip Girl to spread

scandalous rumors about Blair. She uses

gossip Girl to spread scandalous rumors about

Jenny. Jenny uses

gossip Girl to spread rumors about herself?

Well, no. So at the beginning, like, before the

episode, and, like, right at the beginning, the gossip girl

monologue talks about, like.

Oh, the war between the two of them.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah. And Jenny's sewing labels into things at

the gap, and.

Yeah, and then players, like, hooking up.

With some bartender, saying, eric is gossip Girl.

Yeah.

Yeah, I forgot that. We do get that. Especially

the. That rundown with Eric and

Serena. Yeah.

this episode was written by Paul

Scariato, first time Gossip Girl writer, and

this is his only episode of Gossip Girl, but he is a pro

CW writer. Beyond Jane the Virgin

921 reboot and other stuff

on the CW, it was directed by

Janice Cook. this is the first of her five

Gossip Girl episodes, but also a ton of

other tv. One tree Hill charm,

Dawson's Creek, etcetera.

Yeah. And right before

we started, I said, how much of a

turnover was there in. In the.

During the writers strike? And I don't think there's a way to

really know that. There, might be a way of

diving deep enough to really find that out, but

it just. These

episodes, since the

writers strike, just.

Which is the second one,

isn't it?

The third, because there's the one without Georgina

and then the two with Georgina. Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah. And. And, you know,

the. The one without. The first one

without her was. Was a. Was a good

episode, but, the writing in general, there's so much of

it just feels forced or.

And it doesn't have the same

intelligence behind the characters a lot of the time.

You know, let's go ahead and get into the

episode. The gossip Girl opening

monologue spotted Jenny Humphrey

wading in the Met fountain fishing for change.

Blair Waldorf seen dallying with an

off duty doorman at the Blarney stone on a Monday

night. It looks like a battle between Queen

Bee and little J. Has moved from the streets to the

blogs. Who's sending this to debasing

a dish? I have a feeling

as we, as we mentioned there, they're going back and forth with

Gossip Girl.

Yeah.

Obviously just telling lies. And Gossip

Girl through the episode kind of.

She's not too happy about this.

Right. They even mentioned that she's lost

credibility. that gossip Girl

is losing credibility and. Yeah, gossip

Girl is not happy about it.

this is the most. We see

Gossip Girl as a character.

Yeah.

I feel that until now there was a lot

of background, but this is the first time that Gossip

Girl was really like

a character on the show.

Gossip Girl monologues as Jenny and Blair

face off at the top of the Met steps. Jenny

is hosting a party with Asher and Blair

isn't invited. Lines have been drawn,

sides have been chosen.

Yeah. and now Blair's nemesis from last

week is a part of the group. there,

she's sort of in the background, and you have these sort

of very unclear lines

drawn, these battle lines between the

Blairites and the little Jays. Yeah.

And. Yeah.

Two sides.

Yeah.

You see two factions within. Within the. The

bigger faction.

Yeah. But none. But zero loyalty.

Yeah, there is. They're ready to jump size

at any.

Time, at any given moment.

Yeah.

And, like, they'll. They'll switch sides, like in the moment.

Right. You know, it's. Yeah.

And Rufus calls Jenny while looking at the

Evipe to her party. Jenny lies about

her plans for the night.

Yeah. Little Jay caught in a lie.

Not a good look. Not a good look.

Rufus is holding it in for now.

Yeah. You know what? I am.

I am going to give Rufus some credit on some.

Some of the parenting, because I've been shitting on his parenting a lot

lately, and I think there are some good moves in

this episode and hanging on to that

lie. That's a good one. That's a good

one.

Where is jealous of Jenny's new

status? So, yeah,

after, Jenny walks away, we see Blair kind of like

mocking Jenny but like, clearly jealous.

Yeah. Yeah. Jenny

has way more power than Blair is comfortable

with. Blair's inching her way back in,

but she still has competition, and

she doesn't like it.

Then we got Eric and Serena

walking down the street and get another blast from

Jenny. Gossip girl monologue told no

lies. Serena gets a call from

Chuck.

I love any scene with Serena and Eric together.

Yeah. Like, they just.

Yeah, there's great, great sibling relationship.

They really do. They just feel so honest

together.

And Eric definitely brings Serena down earth.

Yeah. Yeah, very.

Just kind of, like, likes to float up in the clouds, but.

Yeah, yeah. And. And Eric really does

kind of ground her a lot of the time.

yeah. And she says to chuck that she's free of

Georgina. Of course she is.

Yeah. Not so

fast. Back in Brooklyn, it

appears Sarah has weaseled her

way in with Dan and Vanessa. They are

discussing Jenny and Asher as well as Dan and

Serena. It looks like Sarah is finally going to meet

Serena.

So we discussed again, prior to

this, Michelle Trachtenberg and how

I gave her a pass on Buffy because I

thought it was just really bad writing.

Her second season on Buffy, season six,

I thought the writing was terrible

for her, and I gave her a

very big pass. And like you said, she played an

annoying little sister, and she. She nailed it.

I just. She

doesn't, She doesn't carry anything,

and when she's on, I find her to be so bad

that Vanessa is a welcome

distraction.

Yeah.

Like, oh, good, Vanessa's

here. Oh.

can't believe you just said that.

But that's how it felt. It's like, yeah.

Yeah, she does definitely has

zero charisma at this point. Hopefully the show

can lean into her character a little better. I think they're

trying to bring the character from the books, but

let's see if they can, because we know she's. She's going

to be a long time recurring character, so hopefully

they can steer interacting with

the character a little better.

Yeah. Because it just falls

so short and just every little,

like, every little, like, eye

twitch and. And neck

movement. It's like you're

so obvious in every. It's like not even

acting anymore. It's like. Like middle

school.

Like I said, I've only read the first book, but from what I

understand, the Georgina character is kind of like a

mix of Serena and Blair. So she's got the

charisma Serena, but the scheming of

Blair. and, yeah, Michelle

tragedy just isn't that.

No, no.

Eric confronts Jenny about not calling him and

then questions her relationship with Asher,

jenny, a total stuck up bitch, blows

Eric off.

This. This scene is so great on so many

levels. especially the second watch

through. Yeah. The first watch through,

it's you. The first watch through,

maybe.

Yeah, maybe Eric is jealous.

I assumed Jericho was jealous.

Eric was jealous. But it also seemed

like. Yeah, this guy Asher, Eric

might know something that he doesn't, you know?

and I definitely does seem like a douche.

Yeah, the guy seems like a douche. And

I. You know, I. Yeah, yeah.

And he.

And he looks.

And he looks like he should be, you know,

graduated from college, worked on.

His NBA at least,

but, yeah. Good scene. Well acted by both of

them.

Yeah. Yeah. And Jenny just comes across so

arrogant.

Yes.

So.

Oh, my God.

So cute. And at the same time, like,

think for a second, Jenny, let's say Eric does have a

crush on you. He's probably going to treat you a

hell of a lot better than Asher and provide

all the same access.

Yeah, but

not the same status.

But not the same status, right.

Well, nah, definitely not, because he's not.

He's.

No, no, I mean, like, easy.

He's a Eric. I mean, I love Eric, but he's a

loner.

Yeah.

he's not a big, popular lacrosse player.

I. My. Well, was more in reference to.

By the end of the episode, they both

can provide probably about as much status.

Yeah. yeah, this story would

never work today.

No, no.

Our weekly dose of Dorina Pda.

Dan and serena making out. They see

jenny making out with asher, but serena

can't m meet serena, sarah tonight. She has to go

to dinner.

Yeah, yeah, they.

She can't meet sarah yet.

Sarah, I did like

serena's advice to dan.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Just like. Yeah,

chill leg. Yeah. Jenny is. Jenny is

going to have boyfriends.

Of course, what dan sees in the next scene

makes it kind of retroactively

justified.

Very much so.

and then as dan is walking out of school,

he spots asher kissing someone, and

that someone is wearing a st. Jude's

uniform.

I gotta say for one, now I know that they were

trying to hide the person that he was kissing,

and I did, for a quick second, have the

thought of, is that eric? Because you see, like,

tiny, tiny bit of blonde

hair, but for definitely a.

Short, shorter guy, too.

yeah, yeah, with a shorter guy.

But of course, eric is our short king.

Yeah, yeah, but you don't

really see

the kiss. You know, I m feel like they could

have done more. It was almost

like he had his back to someone. It could have been

a lot of other things. Yeah. You know, I

think if they showed.

More of it, though, it would have been too obvious.

Well, and I think. And that's what it is, is that when you

first see it and your first time watching this,

it's like, was that okay if you say

that's what you saw?

Yeah. So that was, like, before

commercial that goes into the commercial break. Cause it's like a big reveal. He's

kissing a boy.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

Boom, boom, boom. And to be fair,

there are even today, there are places

where you. Where people have to stay closeted. Yes.

And that people are, you know,

indeed.

Unfortunately.

Yeah.

But I think, like, the gossip

girl reboot version of which is the

same school, I think there's several

openly gay characters right from the start.

Outside the palace hotel, Lily is

doing wedding planning on the move. When Rufus

shows up to interrupt, he claims to need advice on

her parenting. On, parenting Jenny?

Yeah. You know who I go to if I need

parenting advice? The person who has

been admittedly, like, the most absent

parent.

Well, he actually does mention that Allison's, like, at

some retreat, right?

No, no.

Ik fucking the neighbor.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We. Yeah, we all

know. We all know who Allison's doing, what Allison's

doing.

He, to be fair, the writers do mention that she

is unreachable.

Right.

So that they give an excuse. But

is that, like, the only other parent, you know?

The only one.

The one that's your only adult friend.

Yeah.

It's like, it's Lily, and then your son and your daughter is

only. We know.

Yeah. At which, which, like, if you're going to

Lily for parenting advice, like, like.

You'Re a call first.

Yeah. And, and im gonna be honest,

Rufus, it feels like youre just trying to get back in touch with

Lily again. Yeah.

Dan confronts Asher about kissing a

guy. Asher denies it and tells Dan he is going to

pop jennys cherry. Dan takes

offense, but Jenny steps in before punches are

thrown. Dan is clearly just trying to protect his

sister from a two timer douchebro. But,

Jenny lashes out at Daniel.

Yeah. And, like, yeah. What if

this 25 year old is saying he's going to sleep with my sister?

I'd be upset, too.

Yeah.

But, of course, Jenny won't, especially.

And the way he said it.

Yeah. Yeah. There's also the matter

of, like, when. When he's,

like, I didn't want to tell, like, when

Asher steps in to make an excuse for

Dan knowing something that,

that Dan didn't just continue to be like, no, I

saw him kissing a dude like I.

No, no, that's not it. Although I I

do like, as far

as story wise, I like

why that shut him down because of how. What it

leads into, and especially the. The four

G's quote with Blair and everything. So we'll

get to that. Yeah.

I mean, I think it was. It was. I mean, it's a

very douchey move, but it was.

It was very calculated by Asher to, you know,

get dad to get angry at him so he.

To deflect, to keep himself in the closet.

Yeah. Yeah.

It was not a cool move, but it was very

calculated. I'll give him credit for that.

Yeah.

And then we get. Blair and

serena are, ah, discussing jenny's popularity.

Serena can't hang out with blair tonight either. Family

dinner must be important. Kind of the same scene here.

Then dan shows up and bemoans the situation with

jenny and asher. Blair lets dan know

that girls only care about the four

g's, guys, girlfriends, and gossip girl.

Yeah. And this was the important thing is that, like,

again, we're where Gossip girl is being

made more of a character in this

episode. This was a huge launching

point where. Where Dan is like, okay, she's not going to

listen to her brother or dad. She's only going to listen to

her boyfriend, her girlfriends, or gossip girl.

Which one does Dan have access to? Gossip

girl.

Yeah.

And. And it was just well played by dan.

back in the b storyline, Rufus and lily

are talking and shopping.

Lily's parenting advice boils down to, with teenage girls,

you have to deal with 100 bad days for one good day.

aside from that, the other parenting advice

that she gives about, like, let your daughter come to you. Yeah.

And, like, because it was good

advice.

Yeah. It's so funny because Lily. Lily

really, like, lily on

paper, is a good mom. It's like when she actually

puts moming into practice that she's,

like, absent and doesn't actually listen to her.

Lily is a very intelligent woman.

Yeah. She's super smart, and

she has a lot.

She's just also very selfish and narcissistic.

Yeah, exactly. And that. And it's so

true. And it's a great,

I really love the advice that she ends up giving,

and I love, like, the way that she

parents other people's kids. It's as

long as they're not hers. She's a great mom.

And of course, Kelly Rutherford does a great job of

making the character three

dimensional.

Yes.

With her acting.

absolutely. She. Yeah. I mean, she

carries everything that she's in.

I mean, she had several great scenes this episode.

Yeah.

That is the end of act one. We move into act two.

It looks like dan took Blair's advice to heart

because gossip girl sends a blast about Asher kissing

a boy. But due to all the false rumors, she

doubts the veracity. Jenny assumes Blair,

who denies sending the tip.

Yeah. Yeah, that was great.

Like, wish it was me.

Yeah, I wish it was me, but it wasn't. And

so. Which then throws Jenny, you know,

because now who's gunning?

Who else is coming for me? Yeah. She. She thought

she only had to worry about Blair, but, who else is after?

Yeah.

Serena gets a phone call notifying her of

a package delivery from Georgina Sparks. The

bitch is back. Dan walks up

confused.

Yeah. And so then instantly, Serena starts

being weird again.

Yeah. And Dan recognizes her right away. And,

like, what's going on? She just

moralized.

And, now I watched this episode

twice, and the first time through, once

again, I'm sitting there saying, someone

better be dead.

Honestly, like, when I first watched this,

I. That, like, never crossed my mind. It was

a total shock because I didn't think the show

would go there.

I didn't either,

because like I said, I said last week

that if they went there, it would kill

some of the levity that's already in the show.

And every one of these scenes with

Serena so held

hostage when her entire

life is out there, the only

thing left is that she either did

something terrible to Blair or she

killed somebody.

Yeah, the killing system never crossed my. I just thought

she was being an idiot.

I sarcastically thought that she killed somebody

because I thought it. I didn't think it would actually

be that, but I thought that's the only thing that could be this

dramatic.

Blair corners Dan, who instantly

knows Dan is the one who sent the tip about Asher.

Dan confirms that the tip was true. Blair

tries to recruit Dan, but Dan doesn't have the stomach

to go through with it.

Is that Katie Holmes joke?

Is that not Katie Holmes?

Not Katie Holmes.

Tinsley, Mortimer.

No, she says. She says, you don't

want her to end up like another Katie Holmes situation.

Oh, yeah. Okay.

Is that. Or is that insinuating that Tom Cruise is

gay?

I think so.

Yeah. That was. That was. That was kind of what I was getting

when the vibe I got from it. I thought that was

a weird jab.

More chemistry, though, between Dan and Blair, though. The little

hand on the chest there, like, pushes him into the corner.

Yeah. Blair is starting to see

what Serena.

Has yeah, but, I also want to make the.

So she also makes a joke about Tinsley

Mortimer, like, compares,

gossip girl's credibility to Tinsley Mortimer

after several martinis. Now, Tisley

Mortimer is a celebrity in the fashion world,

and funny enough, she, does make a

cameo as herself in the second season premiere.

So she didn't mind that joke about her.

Yeah. Yeah. Ah. Hey, you

know, I feel like you can't

on a grand scale of things.

You know, m act from the commercial break,

Rufus sees lily in her wedding dress, and

hubba hubba, sparks are flying between

these two despite Lily being engaged to

Bart.

Yeah. Why. Why did you take Rufus

with you to try on your

wedding?

I didn't think.

Are you fucking kidding me now?

Ah. Again, her acting in this scene

is amazing. that look that she has when she.

When she turns her back and you see them both in the

mirror, it's shot

beautifully. I meant to say this in the

beginning when I was shitting on the writing, but the

directing in this, she did. The director

got amazing performances out of.

The actor, and as I mentioned,

the writer. This is their only episode. The director did come

back for four more.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This.

Yeah. But this was a

yes. Great. It

was. And it's funny, it was great

directing on bad writing because why would he

be there? On what planet

would your ex be

shopping for your wedding dress that, you

know is still hung up on you at least a month ago?

Yeah, it's definitely bad writing, but it's

so typical of the CW and that

this genre, it just. It just, you know,

fair drama because, you know, this

couple's supposed to be together, so. Of course. Of course he's

gonna see her in the wedding dress.

Yeah.

And we. And see how beautiful she is.

Is. Of course, Kelly Rutherford is a very beautiful

woman.

Yeah. Yeah, she. Yes.

Back at school, gossip girl has gone

silent. Jenny tells her friends Asher

went to the third base.

oh, jenny. Now we're telling.

Now we're telling sex lies to your friends.

Yeah, friends.

You're now telling them what? Yeah,

I like the,

I think it was hazel. Good for you, little j. Make

them work for it.

Yeah.

First they thought, like. Like, she gave him a headshot.

At. Ah.

Blair, as we discover, is and Nellie have stolen

Asher's phone. it appears Blair's scheme is

in motion.

So, like, again. Again with the writing.

Because Blair's schemes prior to the

writers strike were never,

like, felony. They were

never really illegal. I

don't. Aside from the drinking or,

like, locking Jenny in the. In the

store that she was going to get out of, but, like,

now we're, like, stealing phones

and downloading people's data

and reading their emails

and. And, yeah,

there's.

Fortunately, I think Blair is starting to get flanderized.

Yeah. Yeah. And because last

week, it was, like, stealing the batteries and, like,

you know, her big, flow ride a

Flo rida gate that she ran.

Yes. Jenny is eager

to shut down the rumors, tries to get aggressive

with Asher. Asher finally admits to being gay, but

wanting to keep their arrangement going. Jenny's moral

high ground continues to crumble beneath her as she

agrees to keep up the ruse.

Little J's world is just

caving in around

her. Everything. Like, everything.

She.

It's.

It was on such wobbly ground

last week, and now it is

just caving

in, and she sees it and doesn't know what to

do.

Serena arrives home to get her delivery and

finds a flash drive. It appears that

Georgina secretly filmed a sex tape

with her, Serena and some

guy.

And again, first time watching this,

I'm like, is this about her sleeping with

someone? We know that she slept with her

best friend's boyfriend, so how could this be

worse? That guy better end up dead.

And that is the end of act two. Moving into

act three, gossip girl sends a blast about

Asher and Jenny doing the deed.

Dan confronts Jenny about it. She tells Dan that the

blast isn't true but that she wants people to believe it's true.

Dan admits to suddening the first tip about

Asher, and.

And when he. I gotta say, dan.

Dan always is the big brother, but

Dan also sometimes thinks that the big brother

has more of an entitlement than it actually

does. Yeah.

like, have old fashioned views.

Yeah, when. When she. When he says, like, these

are things. I'm your big brother. This is my business. No,

it still isn't. Like.

Yeah, and also, you know, despite, you know,

Asher is a fucking asshole douchebag,

but even he doesn't deserve to be added like

that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Cool.

Yeah, it is really shitty.

and, you know, and it's not just Dan, like,

Eric, actually, also, like,

I understand why Eric did it, but,

you know, Asher did not get to have a choice

on his. Yeah. On his coming

out. Also, when Dan,

you have been the subject of gossip girls

posts, too, so don't start, you

know, shitting on your sister for being in them

because you've been in gossip girls post because

you're dating Serena fucking Vander Woodson.

So, yeah. So get off your high

horse. Let your sister make

mistakes. Yeah.

Larry calls serena. Serena is clearly flustered

by georgina, the Georgina situation. And

blows off Blair. Yeah. I,

like Serena. Continues to spiral.

Yeah. I'm just. I was over all

of this an episode ago, and I just,

like, it just

doesn't feel like Serena, you know?

And I guess, you know, the.

Yeah.

Yeah. Back at the family dinner,

Lily is catching up with Georgina. Georgina

is finally showing some charisma, but then

accidentally outs Eric. Lily,

a very unfortunate reaction. Eric

storms off, and Serena chases after him,

and, accidentally is in, air quotes there.

Yeah. Yeah.

Michelle Trachtenberg is, again,

terrible.

I thought she was better in the scene.

Like, the first half. I generally bought the

charisma.

I.

She was carrying the conversation.

I guess I was put off from the beginning with the whole,

you forgot to tell your mom that I'm coming for

dinner. She always uses this,

like, it's sort of like someone

said, be charismatic, and she's just

going with that note, and.

And it's not something you can

just do. And, of course, Lily's.

Lily's reaction, it's another

piece of her acting chops that, like,

that is such an honest reaction, and,

like, no, no one

wants their mom to react the way that Lily

reacts. Yeah, but many moms are

going to react the way that Lily

reacted, and it was so

honest, and it was so. Especially

for 2007, especially

for the upper, upper

class 2007 people, that

that was. That clearly was not in

fashion, because Asher had to go through great lengths

to hide it.

And honestly, we find out from our explanation,

it's not even about

hating gay people. It's afraid for him.

Yeah.

He's already, you know, committed, trying to commit suicide once.

Yeah. And we'll. And I. And we'll talk about.

I want to, like, talk. Yeah, because

that.

We'll get to that scene.

Yeah. Yeah. And because I think it's

important that we left this scene with Lily looking

like an asshole. Yeah. and. And it's.

And. And a lot of people, especially

watching it today, would. Would look at her

and, you know, be upset by

that, but I still feel like this was

one of the best written. Written scene. Written

moments. Yeah. yeah.

Jenny tries to slip out of the loft, require

practice, but Rufus finally confronts her on the

lies. Very hardcore scene.

Rufus and Jenny appear to be at an

impasse.

Yeah.

you were giving Rufus credit earlier, but I

don't think that was good parenting, because he's basically

trying to scheme against his daughter, and, it doesn't

work because obviously, what is he.

Really going to do what I meant.

By shading her to the bed?

What I meant by that earlier was more of

what Lily was saying. Waiting for her

to come. Waiting for her to come to him.

There is a big piece of it that, like, really

what this result that ended up happening, that's

where was going to have to go. That's, you know,

this, I think is in line with waiting for her to come. And

when she says, I'm going, and he says, no, you're not.

And she says, what are you going to do? It's like,

okay, she. And, I

do really like his. What he says when he's like, you

already lost my trust. You want to lose my respect

to, that 15 year old. When she hears it,

she's going to be mad and storm

off. But it's going to resonate with

her later on and it does, you

know, so I actually still kind of side

with his decisions of. I

get what you're saying about him scheming. I

don't feel like my kids lie to me because I don't feel like we have a

relationship where they ever have to. We

don't have, you know, they don't get

grounded, they don't, you know, and I'm. And I'm also

a lot of times the parent away from the parent, you know,

because I do believe in

letting your kids make mistakes. Your kids have

to make their own mistakes and being there for

them when. When they make them and pick them up.

And I kind of saw it in that vein that he was watching

her make these mistakes so that he

could be the person that loves her when

she fucks up. But she had to fuck up.

I mean, that's what it came to at the end. But, But

he tried to, like, confront her

and, you know, he

basically lied to, respond to her lie by

scheming against her. That's fair.

And. Yeah, and then just like try to confront

her on it and then. Yeah, it

just. I don't think it worked out for him.

That's fair.

Serena tries to confront comfort Eric. But

he was already been getting advice from Chuck.

Eric reveals that he is the one. He was the one who

is kissing Asher. Serena is a great sister.

I love Chuck looking out for

Eric. I love that, you know, this thing

happens and

Eric turns to Chuck and.

And, you know, despite the

issues with Chuck, I do like that Chuck has

been a good big brother to Eric.

And again, we see Chuck and Nate not

in the episode, but they are making sure

Chuck is still felt in the episode. But nothing for Nate.

Nothing for Nate. No, but Chuck has felt the, you know,

there's the conversation, the phone call earlier, and then

this phone call here. But, yeah,

like, once again, Chuck's presence.

Finally at the party. Wealth really does

buy a life of excess. Drinks are

flowing as paralyzer by finger eleven

provides ambiance.

pretty, extra travagant high school party.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jenny's first upper east side

party is. Seems to be quite. Quite a

hit. Yeah, until

it is not a party.

Until someone crashes it.

And this party is being crashed by none other than

Blair Waldorf herself.

I love the line. The most important

parties to attend are the ones you're not invited

to. Blair just walks

in looking fucking

fabulous and just walks

in, owns the party, and everyone

gasps. She lays down that

line and then goes to find the host.

Amazing.

we get. We got a commercial break, and then we come back.

Serena unexpectedly shows up to see Dan

at the cafe and finally gets to meet

Sarah, who of course, we all know is actually

Georgina.

Yeah.

And, yeah,

it's so. It is.

Yeah.

very soapy.

So obvious. And so being

weird. Like, if I was Dan and

Vanessa watching this person be like,

hi,

Serena, I'm

Sarah, and I have this

thing that I want to watch.

Yeah, it's really bad.

You want to watch it?

you're being weird. Like, how does no one

like, this person's

weird? Yeah, I think that.

I think that's why they've limited the scenes.

They. The Vanessa Sarah

dan French was developed off screen for a reason.

Yeah. Ah,

because they didn't want everyone to get too attached to

Vanessa because

she's more likeable. When Georgina.

When Dan and Vanessa step away, Georgina

threatens to show Dan the sex tape. It

appears that Serena is able to buy Georgina's silence for

a bit longer by, you

know, continuing to hang out with her.

Yeah. Yeah. She's holding her hostage to

hang out because something's on that tape.

Whatever happens after that sex scene,

she just got.

Okay, I, What. What do we think

Georgie's motivations are?

that's the thing. Is it, like, is she in love with

her or blackmailing her to blackmail.

Her, or does she just want to hang out? Like, she just wants to be her

friend?

Yeah, that she's. That's what she seems to want. Like,

I want to hang out. And the only way you'll hang out with me is if

I blackmail you.

Yeah.

And. Yeah.

Weird writing.

Yeah, really weird.

Back at the party. The ting tings are playing

as Jenny is awkwardly lying to her friends

about losing her virginity with Asher. But the

conversation is interrupted when one of Jenny's

minions informs her that Blair is

crashing.

She gets that bitch. She gets

so whiny, Jay.

Jenny just gets so whiny.

And how dare she?

How dare she? And she's just like her.

Like, she didn't, like, crash, like, five parties already.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like. Like, she hasn't

crashed. Yes. And, but again,

I think Taylor just nails the

15 year old little brother.

Oh, yeah. She killed the acting.

Yeah.

Blair confronts Asher. She

tries to push Asher into adding himself because he doesn't want

to out. Because she doesn't want to out Eric. However,

Eric steps in and tells all the

tea. Asher uses a not so nice

slur, and Eric gives Blair the go ahead

to send an email to gossip girl.

yeah. And now we're once, once again,

like, in the

realm of television and plot and

storytelling. I get what Eric

did. It's grimy to out someone like

that. And, yes, this guy was being a total

douchebag. And, yes, Blair had the proof right there and

didn't want to out Eric. you

know, this guy was an asshole. And,

you know, if Jenny wants to pretend to be his boyfriend,

then that really should. Or be his girlfriend, then

that's really up to her.

Yeah.

And, like, I get. I get.

Nah, I mean, Eric didn't actually Adam. He just

could go. No, he just gave the go ahead to

Adam. Like, don't. Don't. Don't protect

him on my sake.

Yeah. Yeah, right. And.

And, I mean, like, you're also now dealing. Like, you

don't know what this guy's family situation is. You don't know that this

guy may not now be completely cut off.

Yeah.

Like, sent to a conversion camp.

Yeah, definitely more bad on

Blair than on Eric, I think. I mean, Eric

definitely, like, in the moment, I probably would. I

reacted exactly the same, you know?

And there is that. Like. Like, Eric is also.

Yeah, go fucking said that.

Yeah. Eric is also hurt by this. By this guy

being. Being an asshole and calling him,

a derogatory slur. Yeah. Like, I. Eric

had motive, and I'm not mad at Eric for

it. It's. I'm more just saying and on a general

purpose.

Yeah, you shouldn't out people.

Don't out people.

Agreed. But then we go

to commercial break again, and then we come back.

Lily is. Has a phone conversation with Eric. She

regrets her reaction. Sexuality coming

out, and, yeah, this is a great scene.

Yeah. from.

From Kelly Rutherford and really opens up

Derek vows. She's just. She's just afraid for him.

And as the

parent to a queer kid,

I felt this scene.

I mean, I got emotional watching this scene

because it is

years before Bailey

ever came out to me. A friend of mine said, what

would you do if your kid was gay? And I said, love

him. And I

said, what else can I do but

love them? And they said, so you wouldn't care if they're gay? And

my response was, I do care. I don't want them

to. I hear the stories. This was a gay

friend that was having this conversation. I said, I've heard

your stories and the things that you've gone through, and

I'm afraid for my kid to have to go

through those things, but

with my. Whoever my kid is, I'm going to love my

kid, and that doesn't matter.

So when Lily opens up about her

reaction just being that fear and

that, and especially this kid that already

attempted suicide once, that,

you know, it just really. It will really.

It definitely pulls our strings so much.

I sat there, and I had to pause it and

collect myself watching that scene because it really

resonated with me.

Jenny finally admits that she didn't sleep with Asher.

It was one lie too many for the mean girls. It

looks like Blair wins this round.

yeah, Blair won, but. But might

not. She doesn't seem to feel too great about it.

You know? She. She feel that it

seemed like a bittersweet victory.

I don't know. Well, I mean, we get.

We get to one more scene coming up, but I think at the

moment, she was definitely happy.

Oh, I, Okay. Oh,

yeah, that is the scene I was thinking of. The reason I said

that, I think that she really

likes Jenny as a rival,

and I think that Jenny bowing out had

sort of that.

That's coming up.

Okay.

Yeah. Oh, that's. That's happened to happen yet.

Yeah. So that. That would be the end of act three. So we

move into the epilogue. At the palace

hotel, Lily apologizes to Eric

for her reaction, possibly Lily's

best parenting of the series. And Kelly Rutherford absolutely

knocks it out of the park.

Yeah. And it's funny. This is the scene that I

got me emotional. That's why I jumped ahead

there, because I was going in

that, Yeah, that's the one

that where when she's talking to Eric and

really when she says, since we're being

honest, can I be honest, too? And it's

just so heartfelt and

so real.

Then we get Jenny showing up at Blair's penthouse to

wave the white flag. It appears Jenny is running

back to Brooklyn, tail between her legs. However,

Blair does give Jenny some props. Something

tells me this isn't the end of this rivalry.

Yeah. This was the scene that I. That I was going

for before, and. And you.

You get Blair liked the

challenge. All these other girls, just. They fall in line.

Yeah. Yeah. And. And she liked the rivalry

with Jenny, and as Blair said,

the only reason Jenny couldn't keep up is because she didn't have the

money to.

Yeah, which.

That has been the problem all along. She. She stole the

dress because of the money. She. Everything came down

to her not having the money that

Blair did, and Blair liked that.

Serena is trying to throw shade on Sarah

for apparently no reason. Yes.

Yes. Dan. To just trust her. But dan knows Serena has

been lying to him. Dan begs Serena to talk to

him, but she just can't get the words

out.

All you have to say is

that's.

Yeah, this is someone else. She's lying about who she is. She is a

crazy person.

Yeah, that's not Sarah. She's nuts. I

know her. Please don't hang

out with her and don't listen to

anything she says because she makes stuff up about

me, and.

I can verify it by just, you know, showing you one

of the 50 other people who know who she is. Including my

mother.

Yeah. Hey, remember all those packages that were

randomly being sent to me that we thought were from Chuck, and then I

was being weird. It was this person.

Yes, but Serena is under Georgina's

spell, apparently,

as it looks like Serena is getting

ditched. Sarah, George and slash

Georgina doubles back to get in a few last digs at

Serena before catching up with dan and vanessa.

That double back was so dumb. Such terrible

writing. I'm going to run inside real quick

again. Turns and then

walks up to Serena to like, hey, I got

you.

Gotcha.

And, like. And they're not that far

away. Neither of them turned around

to see if Serena got into a cab yet.

People only hear over here conversations in teen dramas

when you can't see them. If you can see

them, talk all you want.

Yep, yep, yep. They're in view.

Dan and Rufus are playing a therapeutic

game of Scrabble. When Jenny comes home broken down,

Rufus comforts a crying

Jenny.

my note on this says, this is dumb,

too, but I'm talking specifically about the

therapeutic scrabble.

The scrabble?

But that's such a dad thing to just work out

his anger through words.

It is, but it's also. It's

so done. It's, you know,

it's like it was just. I was like, really?

Are we doing this now?

This is the scene where I do give Rufus some

decent parenting.

Yeah.

Because he was just there for.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yep. And like I, Like I've said throughout, this is

you got to let your kids make their mistakes and be there

for them to help them with the

aftermath. And that's what he does.

And, of course, we get the final scene of the episode,

Serena showing up at Blair's penthouse.

A sobbing Serena confesses to blair

that she killed somebody, and the baseline

drops the kills.

Ura fever plays as we

cut to black.

Any predictions for next week?

I mean, we're gonna. We're gonna find out the.

A little more detail about

how she killed this person

or if she killed them, because it just

seems so like everything else for her to think

that she killed someone. Are we.

Are we assuming it's the guy on the tape or is it someone

else completely?

My. My assumption was the guy on the tape because

Georgina says the

whatever. What happens immediately after.

So I was assuming the guy on the tape

that. Yeah.

And that someone either dies or

almost dies, that it is left in a

scenario where Serena

believes she killed someone. I'm not even convinced

Serena killed someone. I'm convinced Serena's

convinced she killed someone.

So, any other predictions?

I feel like. I feel like we might

see some kind

of jenny Blair,

something boiling up there,

you know, maybe even something on a positive end with

them because I feel like their story now needs something

new.

Well, I mean, it seems like Jenny is gonna step

back for a while.

Yeah. Yeah. It seems like she's gonna step back,

but I don't think Blair necessarily wants. That is my

point.

But we are getting towards the end of the

season, right. So you gotta think maybe

that storyline is wrapped up. Oh, that's fair.

Yeah. Yeah.

Let's go ahead and get into some segments.

This week in Phantom, I jumped into the wayback machine to

go back to the television without pity forums from

2008, and this is the wayback machine

for traveling through time. These were the

reactions. Fans don't like Jenny,

but they feel sad for. They don't.

They don't like what she did, but they. They feel bad, you know?

Yeah. She was an asshole throughout the. For the past

three episodes, but at a

filing.

Filing pressure down, he feels so bad for.

When she asked, can I play?

Would she ask to sit down?

Yeah. and I think that's down to Taylor's acting.

It is, absolutely.

Is Georgina just crazy or crazy in

love with serena?

Yeah. she has no motive.

Like, yes, it's a baffling character.

It's just an agent of chaos, and I usually love

an agent of chaos, but this just

three cheers for queen.

Bee back on top.

Yep. Queen bee back on top.

And, yeah, like. Like, you, people

are predicting a lion king type situation

where Georgina just tricks Serena into

thinking she killed someone.

That that's where my head's at. My

other. If she actually killed someone, I'm

thinking it is some kind of, like, huge.

Accident thing that, like,

dan is stupid, vanessa is pointless.

Yeah.

Yeah. Like, Dan is definitely very oblivious in this

episode. Plus the whole adding asher

on, gossip girl.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

And, of course, Vanessa just certain was just kind of there.

Yeah.

She was there to literally pointless.

Yeah. She was there to be. She was there to get a laptop.

She was there for the film conversation.

Yes. Blair

and, Eric are a great team up.

I want. I want a Blair and Eric

episode.

Yeah.

I love that. Once again, we.

Yeah, we see that there is history there.

Yeah.

Let's see more of it. Let's see. Let's see it. Let's see some present.

Yeah, I I'm not going to out

you because I care about. There

is no other character on this show

that Blair would show that kind of restraint for.

A lot of people watch the show for the first time and

were hooked. Apparently, there was some heads up about an

lgbt storyline, so a lot of people turned, tuned in

for the first time. Oh, and I liked it.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

So.

Let'S go ahead and move into some

episode grades.

you went first last time, so I will go first this

time. I thought it was a little bit better than

last episode, but I'm going to give it a b minus.

The directing was really good, a lot of good acting, other

than Michelle Trachenberg, writing was

definitely poor, so that brought it down to b

minus.

Yeah. Honestly, I'm the

same. and for exactly all the

same reasons. Bad writing, great

directing, mostly great

acting, except for r1, except for

one key actor being really terrible.

So. B minus.

Yeah, b minus.

Doc watch going up. I

had Lily. Even though she had the bad initial reaction,

I thought she. She came through in the end and gave good

advice to Rufus, as well. So good parenting

by lily, great acting by Kelly Rutherford.

So stock up. Blair stuck up. She. I

mean, even though she added Asher, she clearly

won the episode. Eric, I gave

him stock up for, you know. You know, he.

You know, he was added before. He might have been ready, but

he dealt with it, and now it is out there, and,

you know, his family is accepting of it,

so. Good for Eric.

And then I also gave Chuck stock up.

He was a good brother.

That's a good one. I missed that one.

What do you got for going up?

I had Eric going up. Eric and

Blair, pretty much same reasons you had said. I

had Lily going up for the same reasons you had said.

I had Georgina going up. Her plan is

working. Her plan is working.

Yeah. Georgina's up.

Yeah. I had Vanessa go up because she was less

annoying during the presence of

Georgina.

Yeah. I just kept her neutral because I

agree with the forums. She's just pointless. She's there.

Yeah, she's neutral. And then I had

Rufus going up as well. I thought,

especially in the end, letting Jenny come in.

I felt like, especially after Rufus having a

rough couple of episodes, I felt like this was a little

better.

Yeah. Going down. Dan.

Dan.

Yeah. Outed Asher on Gus

Girls, Serena for just lying to everyone and

just being run over by Georgina.

Jenny, she fucking lost big.

She hit rock bottom, finally hit rock Bob.

So hopefully we can start redeeming her character.

That last scene, that kind of looked like we might get some redemption for Jenny.

Hopefully. Asher, just because he's a fucking

asshole.

Yeah. And he got outed. Yeah.

Yeah.

And.

And, Rufus. I had him going down.

Oh, God.

Because you can't scheme against your

daughter, especially if your daughter happens to be Jenny.

So.

Yeah.

Who do you got going down?

aside, from Rufus, my list was exactly the same in

the exact same order you listed it. Jenny,

Serena, Dan, Asher. Oh, I guess I had different

order, but I had all the same, all the same

notes for pretty much all the same reasons.

Dan outing Asher, Asher being a complete

douchebag. Jenny crashing

Jenny, you know. Yeah.

Jenny's stock is at its absolute lowest

that it's been, so. Yeah.

But here's the best outfits from m the last

episode we seen.

Moving on to best outfit. Queen

Bee takes it home with the fully

incredible black dress and matching

headband. And, she's got the diamond dangle

earrings and the long strand of pearls with, like, the

double loop. What? One loop is like a choker. Like, real

tight on the other loop. Like what?

That the fucking accessories tied

that together. I had the same thing that this

is the first. I think this is the first time that we picked the

same outfit, and it was the most obvious

one. But God damn, did she just

look stunning in that.

I will give honorable mention both to

Nelliuki. I like the yellow dress with the blue,

the bright blue glasses. I like the combo.

And also Jenny's party dress was very

stylish as well.

Yeah. Yeah.

Plugs. I, did, watch, the

full season of fallout. It is awesome.

It is so good.

So good.

And it just feels like fallout.

Yeah.

and it didn't. Man, I could do

a whole thing on.

Yeah. And yeah, I'm super excited for the

teaser and the final scene.

Oh, my God, it's so. Yes, absolutely.

and again, like the storytelling of that where

they really did like the way that they pulled the

plot together. and,

and, and there's. I. There's so many things that

weren't even explored yet. You know, there are

different factions that we. That, you know, are there or

different. I don't know if you call them

creature types. Like. Yeah, you haven't

seen everything yet. So it

just was. It felt like

fallout soundtrack. The soundtrack is

dead on.

Oh, yeah. you got anything to

plug?

I am on July 19, I will

be playing a show at Fat lady brewing. so

come on out and enjoy some live music.

It'll be a part of love fest. check out

my TikTok. Steve Marshawn. M a r c

h I o n. It doesn't sound how it's

spelled. And you can pretty,

much find me on any of the other socials.

Alright? Uh-huh. And if you want to follow the podcast, you can follow

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We will be back in two weeks for our next

episode. Season one, episode

17 Woman on the

Verge the max episode

preview reads, serena falls back into

old habits. Dan assumes the

worst.

Well, I mean, he should. Cause

apparently it's the worst possible

scenario. So.

Yeah.

keep assuming, Dan.

well, until next time. You know you love us.

Xoxo. Take care.