Gossip Girl Season 4, Episode 20 – “The Princess and the Frog”

Guest: Lindsay Denninger

This week on Non-Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve are joined by author and Gossip Girl expert Lindsay Denninger to unpack one of the most divisive episodes of the series: “The Princess and the Frog.”

Blair’s fairytale fantasy reaches royal levels when Prince Louis proposes—but Chuck’s downward spiral threatens to ruin everything. As the hosts break down questionable directing choices, heavy themes, and CW fairytale overload, they also explore what this episode says about Blair’s growth, Chuck’s toxicity, and why some storylines simply don’t matter.

Plus, Lindsay shares insight into her upcoming book You Know You Love Me: How Gossip Girl Changed Pop Culture As We Know It, and why Gossip Girl walked so other prestige teen dramas could run.

⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of domestic violence and sexual violence.

🧇 Episode Highlights:

1. Blair vs. the royal fantasy: growth or illusion?
2. Chuck Bass hits rock bottom (again)
3. Serena’s schemes and Eric calling it out
4. Nate Archibald: bad at secrets, good at baseball metaphors
5. Vanessa… why are you still here?
6. Fairytale tropes taken way too far
7. Lindsay Denninger on Gossip Girl’s lasting cultural impact

Grab a mimosa, pull up a chair at the non-judging breakfast table, and join us for a spirited (and occasionally frustrated) deep dive into Season 4’s messiest royal moment.

@lindsaydenninger on Instagram

https://substack.com/@lindsaydenninger

Pre-order her book - https://amzn.to/4pUiBfQ

Short Bio:

Lindsay Denninger is an award-winning writer, editorial director, celebrity interviewer, two-time Jeopardy contestant, and storyteller who magically turned a love for esoteric and nostalgic pop culture into a job. When she’s not writing, streaming, or serving as copy director for major global brands, you can find her looking for snacks, reading at least a book a week, finding typos in restaurant menus, perfecting her algorithm, and playing with her dog.

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Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 

Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

Does Chuck's comment apply that it's now a cat and that he eats ass?

I mean, he's Chuck Bass.

He does whatever he wants.

He's, yeah, he does whatever he wants.

Yeah.

I don't think there's much that Chuck doesn't do.

Yeah.

Hey, upper East Siders and all you Scandal loving listeners out

there, you've just tuned into the Non-Judging Breakfast Pod where the

coffee is strong, the waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than ever.

My name is Leaf and I'm your seasoned Gossip girl veteran.

And I'm Steve, the

newbie, the greenhorn, the, I don't know, leaf.

What are we calling me now that we're in season four?

I don't know, but there's no point in being the head of this

podcast if I can't follow my heart.

Steve, will you finish this show with me

Leaf?

I thought you'd never ask.

So here's the deal, folks.

Le has been watching 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 of this iconic 2007 series.

Bring your magnifying glasses because each week we're

dissecting every juicy detail of the show, what episode at a time.

We'll connect the dots, uncover those sneaky little Easter eggs,

and of course, serve up some piping hot behind the scenes tee.

And expect some iconic phantom moments too, because what's a

deep dive without a little drama?

And since we are all about inclusivity here at the Non-Judging

Breakfast Pod, there is always a seat for you at the non-judging breakfast table.

So go ahead and grab a mimosa, a cup of coffee or find

something from Nate's Stash.

And let's see, uh,

go ahead and get into this.

Uh, before we get into it today, we have a guest with us.

We are here with Lindsay Deger.

Welcome to the show, Lindsay.

Thank you.

I'm excited to Inclu Inclusively speak about this episode of Gossip Girl.

Although I will

have some judgments about the episode.

I'm just warning you there.

We, we are with you on that.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

At the end of the last episode of our last episode, leaf said that

this one is maybe his least favorite episode of the series, and I see why.

Yeah, I get it.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, Lindsay is actually an author.

She is releasing a book on February 5th called, you Know, you Love Me, how Gossip

Girl Changed Pop Culture as we know It.

Can you tell us a little bit about the book, Lindsay?

Sure.

It's a love letter from a fan to the fans, uh, about Gossip Girl as

a television show and sort of how it became an icon that set the bar for

every other teen show that came after it.

I like to say that Gossip Girl walked so that euphoria could run.

Mm-hmm.

And you know, the impact on fashion and music and shooting

in New York and how it launched the careers of all these stars just really

can't be understated for how we look at TV today in that, in that genre.

Indeed.

Yeah.

I'm excited to, I'm, I'm excited to, to read it now.

My question is, can I read it as somebody who hasn't finished the series yet, or

do I need to wait until late 2026 when we finish this, when we finish the series?

As much as I would say, jump right in there.

There are some spoilers.

There will be some spoilers in there that you, uh, can't mess.

You can probably read the first half of the book, but Okay, good.

I would say, wait, you know, you, you can, you can jump in.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh, before we jump into this episode, I just want to give a

quick trigger warning for everyone.

There will be some discussion on domestic violence and sexual

violence in this episode.

As always, we will try and keep it as tasteful as possible, but it is in the

episode, so we will have to talk about it.

And we are here, in fact, to talk about season four, episode 20.

The Princess and the frog.

The original air date was May 2nd, 2011.

And based on the movie, the Princess and The Frog?

Yeah, the, uh, the title for this was interesting because we had the, the

previous, uh, princess and the Labrador.

When they said, Dan's not a frog, he's a Labrador.

And so when they had this title, it was, well then they

must not be talking about Dan.

They must be calling Chuck the Frog.

So there was that baseline thing set up there.

There's also the, the whole euphemism, stereotype of French

people being referred to as frogs.

True.

I. Uh, this episode was written by Layla Gerstein, uh, who has

previously written, uh, in season two.

She came on with the Southern Gentleman, preferred Blondes, and

then in season three she did Rufuss Getting Married the last days of the

Disco Stick, the 16-year-old Virgin.

And now this is her third episode in season four.

She already did touch of Ava and Damien Darko.

So there's some garbage in there.

Yeah, I, I, I hated the whole Gabriel storyline.

So, Southern Gentleman's, uh, I, I hated that episode.

I hated the, there's another one in there that you said that I absolutely hated.

Rufuss getting married was what it was.

And then what was the, the last days of the Disco stick was the one

out of all of those that I enjoyed.

And it was mostly just because of the humor in it.

Yeah.

And, and the gaga of it all.

Okay.

And the episode was directed by Andrew McCarthy, who previously has done the

Lady Vanished Te Eva panic roommate.

And now this one.

Yeah.

So

they

bring in the brat pack when

Yeah.

When, when

they need when.

Yep.

And I, I will be having some things to say about the

directing of this episode.

Yes,

yes.

We are also introduced to a new guest, uh, recurring guest star today.

Uh, princess Sophie Grimaldi of Mon, who's played by Joanne Wally.

Oh, okay.

So people might remember her as Soha and will.

Oh wow.

Yeah.

She was also in the movie, the Man Who Knew Too Little with Bill Murray.

This is a like spy parody movie there, and I haven't seen it, but

apparently she's also in eight episodes of, uh, Daredevil the series,

uh, the new one or the Netflix?

The the Netflix one?

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

I don't remember her from it, but

I watched those.

It apparently plays a character called Sister Maggie.

Oh, okay.

So that is from the, I think the either the last season on, yeah, I

guess the last season on Netflix.

Yeah, I know that.

I know who it is She is now.

Well, Steve, why don't you go ahead and give us that Vulture recap.

Sure

thing.

Last week, prince William Duke of Cambridge married a woman he met

10 years ago This week on Gossip Girl, Blair got engaged to a prince.

She has spent approximately 10 days with will She in her handsome Lipsy Prince

Ri really ride off into the sunset for a lifetime of macarons and negotiating peace

in the Sudan, or was Nate Wright when he predicted that she won't end up with him.

We all know that.

And her true fate is to spend the rest of her adult life ministering to the

Unshaven rapey Prince of Darkness.

Here in New York, Blair is only 20 years old and in real life it's too

soon to consider those types of things.

But Gossip Girl, of course, is not real life.

No.

At

least it was brief this time.

Yes.

Oh, you get into Act one once again.

We open in media Res Blair is calling Eleanor with some news and

staring at a ring on her finger.

So this is like the second time in three episodes.

We've gotten this, this technique here, the in media res.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

They did it with Lily going to the VA. I feel like around this

time a lot of CW shows were doing this.

Like I, I remember Small Ball that it's several times, like in season nine,

this would've been around Kyle X, well, I guess Kyle X

where was a few years earlier.

'cause I feel like they did

That was, that was like a, B, C, F, wasn't it?

Yeah.

Oh, I guess it was.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah, you're right.

But all but you know, just to the point of the, this was being used a lot, I feel.

Uh, in this, in this era.

Mm. Yeah.

Perhaps overused.

Yeah.

Yes.

And then we get a Gossip Girl monologue to open up

Once upon a time in the land called Upper East, a beautiful girl met a beast.

But while the beast locked himself in a tower of we, the

girl found herself a prince.

His name Louis

God.

I was so annoyed with the fairy tale Gossip Girl today.

It was so annoying.

As a former literature teacher, bad rhyming just is

fingernails on a chalkboard.

Yeah.

You can only write so many gossip girl, uh, intros before you start to fall off.

I'm sure.

Before you get tired.

Yes.

Yeah,

because there are those episodes where they just nail it.

And then there are those episodes where they'll just phoning it in

or Yeah, let's just uh, do a bunch of Rolling Stones references.

Listen, 24 episodes a season, some of them can't

be winners and that Yeah, yeah.

This one is mid, they prove it.

Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah.

So we return to the previous morning and Chuck is looking at various

articles about Blair dating the Prince.

Chuck calls Andrew Tyler and says he doesn't believe his father

was a cold-hearted killer and to call off the investigation.

So we start off right away with the Dutch angles.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They kept trying to do this, you know,

which, it can be a good technique to show that someone is

off kilter, but I just feel it's a little too avant garde for a CW show.

Yes, it, it was.

Andrew McCarthy read a book.

Yeah, pretty much.

He read a directing book.

Yeah.

I mean, you can treat this show like a student film because

there are so many episodes of it.

So they were just trying something new.

Yeah, yeah.

Pretty much.

Mm-hmm.

Blair and Louie are in a room, canoodling and debating

the Met versus the Louvre.

Louie apparently stayed the night, but is it is already 2:00 PM

despite Blair's pleased to stay, he has royal business to attend to.

The Lovebirds are interrupted by a returning Serena who stayed

at her mom's house last night.

When Louis leaves, Serena puts on a happy face and apologizes for blowing

up last week when Blair says she thinks Louis is going to invite her to spend

the summer with him, Darda enters and comments that she is moving too fast,

so spending the summer is too fast.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Not without a ring first.

Thank God for roa.

Yeah.

We sing her praises regularly, but yeah, she's fantastic.

I loved her this whole episode, the, the one glimmering light, but Serena

already covered it in caddy.

Yeah.

Serena.

Oh, it's two o'clock.

Yeah.

I started my day hours ago.

Yeah.

Like I, what is your day, Serena?

What is your day that you started?

Yeah.

Realistically, she started at noon, let's say.

Like she wants to be high and mighty, but it was like, let's, let's pretend.

Yeah.

And just Serena bringing this whole war is, is so dumb.

Like why are you such an asshole?

Yeah, Dan arrives at the penthouse and gets caught up on Rufuss and Lily's

Netflix queue, and Rufuss tells Dan about a new chop job opportunity.

However, and Dan is actually there to pick up Charlie, when Rufuss advises

caution, Dan says they are just friends.

I

love that Rufuss has a job opportunity.

I think that in the universe of Gossip Girl where we are, to believe that

he was the number nine on the top 10 most forgotten bands of the nineties,

that Rufuss Humphrey would be a good producer for an indie rock band.

Yeah,

I love this.

I love that.

He's like, I don't really want to go back on stage.

I don't want to go out on the road, but producing a band that sounds fun.

And Dan being like, you'd be good at it.

Do it.

Like I, I love that for Rufuss.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's kind of like, why didn't you think of that four seasons ago?

Because Lord knows you don't wanna get back like on the stage.

But like all good former musicians, they all end up back

on the other side of the booth.

Yeah.

Eventually.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Chuck is looking rough.

When Nate returns to the empire.

Nate tells Chuck that Rena is going to continue to search for her mother.

Chuck begs Nate to get her to stop, and Nate says he'll do his best,

but then reassures Chuck that Blair isn't going to end up with Louis.

So at this point, Nate thinks Chuck Spirally because of Blair and Louie.

Yeah.

Which he's not, not spiraling from that too.

That's not his big focus.

But for him, his thing is, I need my confidant right now that I don't have.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right now he only cares about Blair because.

He needs her to take care of him.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Dan and Charlie are having some coffee and she is

enthusiastically thanking him for inviting her to a seminar.

Dan is a bit surprised when Charlie kisses him on the cheek as she gets up to go.

Once again, Vanessa's lurking in the shadows to witness the conversation

go away.

The most intrusive.

They opened

the door for it

this episode.

Oh, they did.

Just please, please get on that plane.

Please go study abroad.

Please go spend the rest of your summers making documentaries

in the Sudan or something.

I don't know.

Go away.

This was at the point of the show where they just gave Vanessa

nothing to work with and it was like, can you just, can we just not do this?

Can we?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's like, please leave

and here's this character who from the start is like, Dan, these people suck.

You don't want anything to do with them.

To now being like, oh, you're just gonna ostracize me from

this group of people that I hate.

It's like, why do you want to be a part of any of this?

Just go to class and meet friends at NYU and make films and leave us alone.

Absolutely.

She just, she is fomo.

She is the most FOMO out of any of the characters on the show she has because

she wants to be included so hard.

Yes.

Just so she can say how much it sucks to be part of the group.

Yeah.

Which honestly sounds like a lot of people I know who went to

NYU, so it's kind of the same.

And I always say it is no slight to the work that, that Jessica does as an

actor because she does a fantastic job.

It's just the writers have done her dirty since her second episode,

a hundred percent.

And

uh, and that has always been the case.

I, I remember her first episode, I said to Lee, I'm like, what?

I don't know where the hate comes from.

I love this character.

She's great.

And then dirty the whole rest of the time.

A hundred percent.

It's like what they did to Katherine Hegel on Grey's Anatomy.

And it was like, there was a point where she was like, I'm not putting myself into

Emmy contention because this stuff is bad.

Like I can't do anything with this material.

And then everybody was mad at her.

But then you watch it back and you're like, oh yeah, I get it.

And this is the same thing.

Yeah, yeah,

exactly.

They should have just had her as a student at Cons, like the books.

Yeah.

Blair and Louis are recapping their meeting with the Monsignor.

Louis tells Blair that he wants Blair to be herself and she doesn't need

to put on a show for his parents.

Louis's about to tell Blair something that he's worried might scare her away

when they're interrupted by Louis's mom.

The princess of Monica drops the bomb that Louis is about to be

married after Blair storms off.

Sophie calls Serena and thanks her for helping her find them.

Serena.

Serena,

you are such an asshole.

Why?

Yeah, just 'cause the attach is out on her.

That's

why.

Yes, 100%.

It is.

Everything Blair ever says about her is why.

Yeah.

I have a lot of empathy.

Maybe sympathy towards Serena.

'cause I feel like of how she's treated by, or how she was treated by her mother.

She's like been abandoned by everybody.

In her

life.

But later on in the season or later on in the series, you see like you could

change this and you can maybe not be like the fixture in the tabloids, and you can

be the good friend that everybody wants you to be, instead of just like having

to suck all the air out of the room.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And, and I ooh, star at the start of the show.

I loved her for, for the first several seasons.

She's such a sympathetic character because of what you said about how, how

terrible her upbringing was, despite all the luxury not having parents

in her life, constant sleepovers between the Archibalds and Waldorfs.

While her mom was away on alternating weeks.

So it it, you feel bad for her, but it gets to a point, like you said, that

it's like now you are doing it and now you are making choices to perpetuate all

of the shit that people say about you.

And somewhere early in this season, it was just the glass shattered

and I can't stand her anymore.

Yeah.

Like late season three.

Early season four, it was like, oh, you suck.

At the beginning of the scene, I did like Hugo Becker's delivery, blah.

You are,

and this is what Gossip Girl says as we go to the first break.

And in all the princess tales, an evil queen does appear, but it turns out the

Queen's helper is the one bee should fear.

We move into Act two.

ROA is massaging Blair's feet and reassuring her about Louis.

She even threatens to have him injured just then.

Louis arrives with flowers in hand and explains that he isn't engaged.

His family just thinks he needs to get married before

taking his place as the heir.

His mother is throwing a party tonight with the top candidates,

and by the end of the night, Louis has to choose to want to marry.

However, Louis doesn't connect with any of them at once.

Blair to be on the list too.

Yep, yep.

Just like

Cinderella, whatever stuff.

Yeah.

Like he doesn't have Yeah.

A hundred other people to choose from.

Yeah.

I think the thing that really gets me is that it's almost like the.

The Indiana Jones thing, where if, if Indiana Jones was not in that movie,

the outcome would be the exact same thing as, as if he, if he was that in

the end of that movie, they would've gotten the arc, they would've opened

it, all the, they all would've died.

And I, I, I feel this way during this episode that everything

that happens just doesn't matter.

No complication in any of this episode is an actual consequence or

an actual complication to anything.

Well, it's, once again, the show is leading too hard

into the fairy tale metaphor.

'cause this would obviously never happen in the 21st century.

Yes.

Although it did

with Meghan Markle and.

But she was, she was allowed to marry him.

It was only the aunt they got married is they kind of attacked her.

Oh, yeah.

You're you're talking about the, it wouldn't be an issue.

You have to go to this ball and pick one of these 10

people to marry Right, right.

Tomorrow.

Right, right.

I mean, that's just the bachelor at this point.

Just given our roses on tv and it's different.

Yeah.

But it's kind of the same thing.

Yeah.

It's a fairytale.

Ultimatum.

Yeah.

And as you said, they just, they just are leaning too hard into it.

Blair calls Serena to let her in on the news.

After the call, Serena hangs up with a smile.

Eric immediately calls her out for having scheme face.

Serena admits she is trying to stop the engagement because

Blair's heart isn't really in it.

But Eric sees right through his sister, who once again has to go.

I. I always love Eric.

The, the sage wise, Eric, who's just like Serena.

She's your best friend.

This is what she's always wanted, and you're being ridiculous.

And oh, so this is for the good people, the principality of Monaco

Serena's interest in foreign affairs.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Eric's another one they never gave enough to do.

He just, he's just there to like be the, the straight man and the adult.

Exactly.

As a 17-year-old,

at a certain point, I think in season two, they asked him to be

regular cla cast, but he declined 'cause he wanted to keep his options open.

Yeah.

Connor Paolo went on to be on that show.

Revenge Yeah.

On ABC with, uh, Emily VanCamp.

And that was, yes, I don't, well, that was another show that fell off

after three seasons, but at least he was entertaining for the first one.

So,

and, and wasn't his character basically written

off after the first season?

It was like maybe two seasons.

He was like the local kid from Montauk or something.

De

Declan.

Declan, right?

Yep.

Poor Connor Paolo

should have stayed.

Gossip girl.

Yeah, it's a shame because he is one of my favorite characters on Gossip Girl.

Nate and Rayer are having dinner at a fancy restaurant and

Nate still sucks at subterfuge.

And Rayer quickly figures out that Nate is avoiding talking

about her mother frustrated.

She leaves to go do some work at her office.

Oh, Nate.

Oh, poor, poor, poor Nate.

Sweet,

sweet child.

He's bad at this.

Yes.

Sweet, sweet Nate.

And you know, talking about the infield fly rule, 'cause it's

the, the start of baseball.

I spring fever is real.

I can, uh, concur.

It's just like we said the before, that like

the princess and the Labrador.

Like Dan's the la No, Nate is the Labrador of the show.

Whoa.

He has pretty hair.

Yes.

He's kind of dumb.

He's good to have him around, but like ultimately he is

not doing anything serious.

Right.

We refer to, uh, Nate and Serena as the golden retrievers.

Exactly.

And because he is just a loyal, he's a loyal dog, but he's loyal

to wherever that shiny object is.

Yep.

And

he is just gonna chase after it until he gets it.

Yep.

And I'm a Nate Stan, despite him being the most boring character.

'cause he gets stuck in these boring relationships and boring stories.

Dan and Eric are eating dinner at the penthouse when Rufuss comes

downstairs wearing his Fonzi jacket.

It sounds like his meeting with the band panic went well.

However, Eric questions his street cred.

Dan suggests bring the band to the loft for dinner.

But not to invite Charlie, because she does seem to have a crush on him.

He promises he didn't lead her on.

Okay.

Penn, you're just so dreamy.

Who's not gonna fall in love with, with that unbuttoned shirt and

slick jacket and that dreamy hair?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was gonna say, I can't say anything about Charlie without

going too far into the future, but like another one who I'm like, why?

What are you doing?

Yes.

Get off

my,

get off.

Get off.

Yeah.

And again, I was down for the ride for the first two episodes with her,

and now it's like, oh, oh, this.

She's a Rhodes.

All right.

At least,

at least she smacked out Vanessa.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah.

True.

Speaking of which, uh, Vanessa finds Charlie reading a chapter of

Mr right in front of you entitled How to Go From Just Friends to Boyfriend.

Vanessa introduces herself and tells Charlie that she is

leaving to study abroad next.

So investor Vanessa doesn't want Dan to end up with Serena or Blair

and offers to help Charlie get Dan.

And

again,

why

do you care?

He, he doesn't wanna be your friend because you keep meddling in shit

and so maybe stop meddling in shit.

Well, it is kind of consistent with the theme of the show that being

in connection with the Upper East Side definitely corrupts people.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, there's that.

Yeah, for sure.

Blair is meeting with Princess Sophie and preaching

the virtue of her family line.

However, someone hands Sophie a folder with a bunch of printouts of Blair's

scandals as chronicled by Gossip Girl.

Sophie is about to rule her out as a potential marriage candidate for Louis.

But Blair begs her case and we end the scene with a hope and a dream.

I

really actually appreciated Blair standing up for herself here

that like, and, and pointing out like I've been stalked and have my

life publicly blasted since I was 14.

Like since I was a child, people have been putting my private life on blast

and chronicling my every mistake.

How are police not involved with Gossip's?

Girl?

I think I, I don't know why today was the first time I had that

question for the first time and all.

I'm like, why aren't the police investigating this cyber stalker?

Yeah, I mean, you, and you would think that, that, uh, Sophie would

understand that, like public scrutiny, maybe not necessarily in the digital

sense, but like you're literally a royal, everybody knows what you're doing.

But

yeah,

even in 2026, the laws haven't caught up to the internet.

So even back then, they're like, oh, this is a blog.

Whatever.

It's fine.

Yeah, you're fine.

Yes, it is that much, uh, worse than what, uh, Perez Hilton was posting.

Yeah.

Guess oh hundred percent.

He was, yeah.

He was bad.

Yeah.

Uh, and then at the end of the scene, another example of I think bad directing,

like, I just don't know what expression Sophie is supposed to be giving there.

Is she like going along with what Blair's saying?

Or is she just like, no, this girl doesn't know what she's talking about?

I can't tell.

Yeah.

Andrew Tyler arrives at the leaning tower that is now the Empire Hotel.

He found a letter in his car that just happened to fall

out of the box of videotapes.

Chuck is too drunk to read it and he asks Andrew to read it aloud.

The letter is from AB Avery Thorpe and she states she was going to

leave Bart to go back to Russell.

As Andrew Tyler leaves, Nate comes home and he ha uh, he and Chuck

discuss his failed date with Rena and Chuck then shows Nate the letter.

Does it say she's gonna leave Bart?

No, it is from Avery.

It was not addressed to anyone.

That's a good catch.

Fair point.

That was, there were red flags.

It's also very convenient.

Yes.

Yeah, there were red flags all throughout this and so we'll get to

this in my predictions at the end, but I'm thinking that some fingers

might get pointed at Russell Thorpe.

Fair enough.

A gossip girl takes us to the next break with.

Poor Chuck.

When you asked Bart about the fire, no wonder an affair was

something he chose not to remember.

We go into Act three.

Derro is helping Blair brush up on a royal etiquette, but Louis interrupts to deliver

a dress for Blair to wear to the ball.

Tonight the Prince is even starting to win over to rda.

Okay.

I didn't really like the dress.

I, I'll tell Jenny Pab you said that.

Yeah.

Jenny Pham was at the time, I guess the only, well, the biggest

designer that Blair was wearing too.

One of the,

oh, okay.

Yeah.

Back at the penthouse.

Charlie is researching places to get pierogis at NYC.

Dan shows up to drop off Rufuss.

Doc Bartons and Charlie invites him to come eat with her.

Dan decides it's finally time to clear the air, but Charlie says

she's only thinking about friendship, everything out in the open.

Dan decides to invite Charlie to Roof's, business dinner

tonight, and she offers to cook.

I wanna be nitpicky for a second.

Go for it.

Yeah.

She wouldn't be going to Queens really?

For pierogi.

She'd be going to Brooklyn to Greenpoint.

'cause that's where the Polish community is to New York or was is still, there's

still some of those places and it's like one of those things that like

when they go from Dumbo to the Upper East side, like as a New Yorker, I'm

like, it does not take 20 minutes.

Maybe in a helicopter it takes at least an

hour.

But one of those things she's like, we'll get

it to that later in this episode.

Yeah.

Like, oh, she's going to Queens.

I was like, no, she's not.

She's gonna Brooklyn, she's gonna Green Point.

So that's just, you know, something that sticks in my cross sometimes where I'm

like, that's inaccurate, pleased writers.

They were, I guess we, she, they hung out in the south all the time, but there's

like, most of the Polish population in New York was in Green Point, Brooklyn.

So I don't, maybe there's a secret Perro place I don't know about, but

to my knowledge it was never Queens.

Maybe they were just doing a bad advertisement for Bing.

That gives you bad answers.

Yeah,

maybe.

Yep.

Yeah.

According to Bing.

Yeah.

Well that's why

yeah,

you're in the wrong borough.

We do often discuss how quick Upper East side, how quick people are able

to navigate New York in opposite world.

Yeah.

I wish that was before, uh, Uber though.

So there were, there were far fewer cars on the, uh, on the roads at that point.

So maybe it.

Faster than it is now.

Who knows?

I mean, they just even commented on a couple episodes ago where Nate told Rena

to go through the park because that's, you know, walking is much quicker than driving

true usually.

So they are aware of it.

They

just choose to ignore it in his suite.

Chuck continues to spiral as Nate comes in for his daily wellness check.

Nate wants to tell Raya the truth about her mother, but Chuck says he should lie

to her or better yet break up with her.

Nate says he actually cares about Raya and Blair was lucky to escape.

Chuck, this infer infuriates Chuck further, and Nate tells Chuck that

the party tonight could end with Blair getting engaged to the French guy

and then he pushes past him to leave.

Never

tell you, tell Nate anything, ever.

The number one rule is never tell Nate a secret.

Which

too late.

Yeah.

But also like, yeah, Chuck, you don't think it's serious.

Well, there's a party tonight and he, it's like, I'm gonna lay out all of this

stuff and exactly how you could ruin it.

So don't,

it's like a bond villain.

It's like, this is exactly how the rest of the episode's gonna go.

Exactly.

The whole, the whole back and forth with Chuck and Nate, Chuck's

like, you don't know what we have.

Yeah.

That's 'cause it's not normal.

It's not normal.

That is one of the greatest in, in this shit episode.

Possibly one of the greatest lines and observations of anyone that, yes, no one

understands it because it's not normal.

Yep.

At least somebody sees it

and every it, it's almost like everybody sees it.

But Chuck, at this point Yeah, because Blair LA last week or

the week before, the whole Chuck Dan thing shattered it for her.

Like that's when she was like, oh, this

isn't normal.

Yeah.

Deda and Blair continue to quiz on the royal family and Monica,

when Serena comes into the bedroom, Blair shows off her the dress, Louis.

But her and Serena is finally realizing Blair is serious about the Prince

Blair invites her to the ball tonight.

Okay.

But yeah.

Uh, I was kind of laughing at, at Blair thinking she's gonna be

negotiating peace treaties in the sedan.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, yes.

As the princess you could probably start your own charities.

Sure, yeah.

Yeah.

You're not gonna be negotiating peace for a little country of like

Monica, who country's like the economy's based around gambling.

Yeah.

And this scene also where you have Serena kind of recognize, oh,

like everything I'm throwing at this relationship to break it up is only

helping because maybe there's actually something here and maybe I, you know, in

that hug, this is where they hug, right?

And she's like, and you see on Serena's face like, okay,

maybe this is more than I am.

Which, which is how they always resolve these fights anyway.

So I kinda like that a little bit.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think that's very true to female friendships like that too.

'cause sometimes you just have say, okay, like I guess we'll let

this roll and see what happens.

Or let her make her own mistake or something.

'cause we'll just have to go.

Okay, sure.

Yeah, marry the Prince or whatever.

I was just talking to my daughter today who recently hung out with a friend

that she doesn't see very much anymore because they are so wildly different in

how they want to do social situations.

And the conversation was, you'll let people make their mistakes and you're

there for them when they need you.

Exactly, exactly.

Dan Rufuss and Eric arrive at the loft to find a catered dinner

rather than a laid back pizza affair.

They had been expecting that.

Just a quick scene.

Yeah.

It was dumb.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's ex That's it.

It, it was.

And then we get Chuck calling for his limo and states that he has a party to

crash before pulling out the big old Harry Winston that almost cost him his life.

So that ring keeps coming back.

Yep.

Yep.

The ring should have stayed in Prague with Chuck.

Yeah.

And Gossip Grill takes us to the next act break with

wonder if Chuck Bass is about to go from down and out to down on one knee.

Nothing like using a rock to get out of a hard place.

Yeah.

Didn't run.

No.

And actually that was probably the best one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The fair.

The fair not to remember was also pretty good.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

We move into Act four at the ball.

Blair is catching Serena up on her study techniques and Serena tells her

bestie that she has it in the bag.

Blair is announced and she gives the proper greeting to Princess Sophie.

Yeah.

Yeah,

we're at the party.

We're, we're at the party of the week.

You're in Blair, but back at the Loft, the guys are scrambling to fight a new

plan without hurting Charlie's feelings.

However, Charlie catches Rufuss leaving and quickly figures out

that she screwed up in tears.

She lets it drop that she was only doing what Vanessa told her to do, which

was like, Vanessa told you to do this.

That seems weird.

I feel like there was a missing scene somewhere.

'cause Vanessa does mention later that she did tell her to have a relaxed affair.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

When they had their little showed out at the end.

So I feel like there was a seeing cut somewhere.

Well, I think that either that or I think that it was meant to

be, we know that Vanessa gave advice because she said that she could give

her better advice than the book would.

So I just kind of assumed.

That this was the advice, but it seems like really bad advice and

not advice Vanessa would give.

But again, the reason why I think there was a scene missing is 'cause at the

time when they first meet, Charlie doesn't know about the party or the dinner.

Oh yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense.

So there, there had to be a scene in between there

and even it was just a phone.

Yeah.

But it got cut for type or whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But also, why would you plan a romantic dinner for all of these people

to impress to, it wasn't necessarily

a romantic dinner, it was just a, a dinner fancy, I guess.

Cater by per se.

Yeah.

Yeah, per se.

To cater.

As soon as I saw those Chiari chairs, I was like, oh, this is it.

This is, she just really overshot this.

Oh, there's a,

they were just looking for PBR at that point,

but we have a song at the house.

I think it's a nice callback though, to like, in the beginning when Serena and Dan

go on their like first date and he takes her to that like really fancy restaurant.

Mm-hmm.

And it was like, oh, I'll have the duck and the whatever.

It was like, this is like what?

Poor, not really, but like this is what people who haven't married four

billionaires, um, think is like fancy.

And in reality it's like, no, we just like wanted to eat pizza with the band.

Yeah.

At the party.

Blair is impressing a shooting gallery of European nobles across the room.

Louis confides in Serena that Blair is doing well and might

be able to win over his mother.

Serena realizes that Louis is also really happy with Blair.

Yeah, this was an episode of The Bachelor for me.

This is like a cocktail party.

I was like, can I steal you for a sec? And she's talking to all the other heads

of state who would not know who she is.

None of the princesses would know who Blair Waldorf is.

Like, can I steal you?

Can I steal you?

Like, how's your time at Oxford?

Yeah, well be fair.

She was always just talking about them so that they probably

just went along with it.

True.

They like to talk about themselves maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pretty young girl talking about being Sure.

Why not?

Yeah, sure.

True.

Serena spots, Chuck entering the party and tries to head him off before

he can cause a scene, but to no veil.

As Chuck pushes past her and tries to grab Blair.

Luckily Blair is able to pull away and walks off arm and

arm with another dignitary.

Chuck being Chuck.

Chuck being Chuck.

Yeah.

Drunk

at a party he wasn't invited to.

Yeah.

Aware is security.

Mm-hmm.

True.

With all these, these d ats and stuff.

Nate goes to Rena's house and admits he was avoiding talking about her mom

because he was protecting someone else.

Never give Nate a secret.

No,

don't tell Nate Secrets.

He's, he is.

If something shinier than you comes along, he's gonna tell them your secret.

Yep.

I also just like, can't care about this storyline.

I just like, at all, every time like, it's like Soma.

I'm like, yeah, sure.

Tell her, don't tell her.

It's good.

Yeah.

And I really liked Reyna when she came on.

I really liked the character.

I really liked the angle that they were going, and then it

just got to this dumb shit.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm with you.

I just couldn't care any less about this.

Yeah.

Oh, the dead guy

may have murdered someone else.

Okay, Chuck finds Princess Sophie and makes some lewd remarks

about Blair and offended Sophie demands to know his identity.

This of course opens Chuck for his signature line to which he adds

that he is the love of Blair's life.

Blair, it Serena walk up and try to get Chuck to leave, but

this Ollie makes him angry.

Chuck tries to grab Blair to give her a ring, but Ollie managed to knock

over a waiter and cause a scene.

Finally, Sophie calls for security.

Blair embarrassed and ashamed, apologizes to the princess before running off

on the brink of tears, Sophie pulls Louis aside and tells him to end it.

Now, I did

find it funny when you see just Chuck asking, you know, he is

asking someone these inappropriate questions about sexual exploits and it

pans over and it's the princess, and it's like, oh, you fucking asshole.

And then just to double down and just to be like, yeah, I'm here to ruin it for

her because I'm the love of her life.

And then that's when it stopped being funny.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And also like, where is security?

Who let this random man close to the princess enough to ask

these incredible questions?

Where?

Yeah.

Who's at the door downstairs?

Nobody.

He chuck

Bass.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I can't imagine the royalty of Monaco doesn't have some equivalent to their

secret service that is escorting them everywhere at all times.

Exactly.

Does Chuck's comment apply that it's now Cat and that he eats ass?

I mean, he's Chuck Bass.

He does whatever he wants.

He's, yeah, he does whatever he wants.

Yeah.

I don't think there's much that Chuck doesn't do.

Yeah.

Like Gossip Girl says this as we go to the act break,

spotted a prince torn between choosing his kingdom or his queen,

we move into Act five.

Returning to the Waldorf apartment.

Blair laments to Serena that this was the worst of her many public humiliations.

Serena tries to defend Chuck, but Blair fires back that she knows

that Serena is the one who sent the gossip Girl scrapbook to Sophie Blair

declares her love for Louis, and that she has finally escaped the black

hole that Chuck dragged her into.

As she runs into her room, the audience sees that Louis getting

off the elevator overheard Blair defending her love for him.

I, this is like one of the moments in the show too, that like, you

see Blair coming up for air from the being dragged down by the weight of Chuck,

and she's like, even if like, I mean, I don't really like Louis's character.

He's fine, whatever.

But like you are like, oh, she's coming out, and then everybody around

you is like, well, why I feel bad for, it's like, why Serena shut up.

Yeah.

Like let her out, like let her like maybe this guy, this rebound guy is

not really the guy for her, but let her get away from Chuck for God's sake.

Yeah.

Yeah, we, I just thought that you and this guy were gonna

have this really

toxic relationship for the rest of your lives.

Yeah.

Like,

so it makes our toxic relationship look better by comparison.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So,

so it makes my string of toxic relationships with inappropriate men look

better.

That's why I liked Blair's lied about having your romantic

fate sealed in 11th grade.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, the only, only thing I wanted to mention is that you, Blair knew all

along that Serena was pulling this shit to try to get in the way, but just

knew it was Blair and Serena's stuff.

This is just what we do.

So then when Serena there stands there, starts defending Chuck, then

Blair is like, Hey, I know it was you like Fredo, I knew, I know it was you.

And, and so it was like Blair was ready to get past all that if he

would've just shut the fuck up here.

Yep, for sure.

Reyna and Nate sit on opposite ends of the couch

with a large gap between them.

Reyna is in shock to learn that her mother is dead.

When she grew up thinking she had been a bed, and Reyna finally realizes why her

father was so intent on crushing bass industries and gives Nate an ultimatum,

unfriend check on Facebook or get out of her office and probably her life,

man, Nate has a choice.

Nate.

Nate has to choose between his friend and a girl.

I wonder where he is gonna go with

this.

Well, he still hasn't made up his mind yet.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah.

This might've been the best like directing shot of the episode though.

Like the way they shot them, like sitting, like the gap between

them was like huge in the shot.

Like, it was almost like the, the, the cushion between them

was like in overinflated almost.

Mm-hmm.

Just to show that there was like a huge gap between them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which it also goes back to kudos to Nate for not being the slimy guy who tries

to take advantage of the situation for once again, not being the you got me guy.

Like we discussed a couple weeks ago when, when Reyna was like, you know,

if I don't have my mom, I have no one.

And Nate had that opportunity to be the we, you got me guy and he

wasn't, he was just the good guy who's there for the person he cares about.

Yeah.

I always say that I want, need to be a therapist.

Certainly seen enough people's problems.

Yeah.

And like has to help them.

Yeah.

He might have trouble with that whole doctor.

Uh, patient coffee thing.

Yeah.

Be a lot of HIPAA violations in Nate's office.

Yeah.

At the penthouse, Charlie is explaining to Dan how Vanessa told

her to go all out with the dinner to impress the business clients.

Charlie admits that she has a crush on Dan and, but Dan seems okay with it and texts

Vanessa to meet him in 20 minutes before inviting Charlie for her first showdown.

Charlie says she wants to handle this on her own, so Dan tell her to

meet back to the loft afterwards.

This is the scene where I was hint at before with the travel, so the

whole thing goes down at the loft, but then Charlie comes back to.

The penthouse.

Dan follows her, then Charlie's gonna go to the lower West side,

presumably down the NYU territory.

Mm-hmm.

And then Bachelor off again the village.

Yeah.

The only way this works is if they have teleportation and we don't,

and we don't know about it, frankly.

It

is it secret underground tunnels.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And even then with super fast cars.

Yeah.

Or like that only super.

Yeah.

But yeah, Charlie definitely, uh, plays Dan perfectly in this episode.

It is.

It just,

yeah.

Dan's not smart, especially when it comes to women, because probably

'cause nobody, no women paid attention to him until Serena, I guess.

And he just is like, okay.

Sure.

Yeah.

Blair is surprised when Louis knocks on her bedroom door and assumes

he is there to break up with her.

But Louis says he wants to be with Blair.

His family be damned.

He gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him.

Yeah.

It doesn't matter if he doesn't become king, if he doesn't

get the throne or whatever.

I feel like that would marry matter to Blair though.

Yeah.

I had that thought that, you know, do you still wanna marry this guy if

you're not going to get all of that?

But Blair would be the one.

Elating.

Macbeth and make it happen, even if she wasn't.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So she was gonna get it no matter what.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

But yeah, no gossip girl monologue.

Guess we go to the final break and come back to the epilogue?

Dan is still at the penthouse when Rufuss gets back from his dinner to

announce he is panics new producer.

Good job.

Rufus.

Rufus.

Ru's got the job.

I'm happy for Rufuss.

He needed that.

Employed.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Charlie finds Vanessa and explains how she used Vanessa as the villain to get

Dan to save her Charlie promises to take good care of Dan while Vanessa is away.

Yeah.

It's a new villain unlocked and you, you are cc's

daughter or a granddaughter.

You have the Rhodes blood in your veins.

But why?

Like you didn't need to do any of this and now you're just gonna

make Vanessa wanna be relevant and that's just not good for any of us.

Yeah.

So like, well I don't wanna go away, I wanna like fight you or something.

Like that's probably what's going through Vanessa's head.

Yeah.

And ugh.

But I can't tell what's going through Vanessa's head 'cause that

expression is not giving anything.

Yeah, yeah.

She gives like a smirk.

It's like, is she happy about this or, yeah, she's bad.

I, I don't know.

Once again, bad directing.

Yeah, it was, it was, yeah.

Brat Pack.

Blair goes to the Empire Suite and finds Chuck sitting in the dark.

She lets her know that she got engaged to Louis.

Chuck gets angry and physical with Blair.

Blair manages to get away from Chuck and run outta the suite.

Nate comes outta his room looking disgusted with Chuck.

Heavy scene, heavy scene,

and they keep doing this to Chuck writing wise, and again, they

should have killed him in Prague.

And now it's just, I, I don't want another glow up.

I don't want to watch him.

And Blair eventually.

Find their way back together.

Like, I just want him, just, I'm done with it.

Yeah.

So this episode aired on May 2nd, May 3rd.

The very next day, E Online came out the interview with Joshua Saffron

and it was mostly filler stuff.

Yep.

But the big relevant question was they asked it Joshua Saffron.

I thought it was interesting that Chuck actually grabbed her, that

the consequences of that fight was Blair had the most perfect,

beautiful dainty injury, which are two symbolically significant things.

Did this moment verge on abuse?

What was going on in this scene?

And Joshua Saffron answered like this, the way we viewed it, I think

it's very clear that Blair is not afraid in these moments for herself.

They have a volatile relationship.

They always have, but I do not believe.

Or I should say that we do not believe that it was abuse

when it's the two of them.

Chuck does not try to hurt Blair.

He punches the glass because he has rage, but he has never

and will never hurt Blair.

He knows it and she knows it and I feel it's very important

to know that she is not scared.

If anything, she's scared for Chuck at what he might do to

himself, but she is never afraid what we, what he might do to her.

Lay and I were very clear about that.

Yeah.

I was going to mention this interview if you didn't, so I'm so glad that this is

the episode that I got to talk about with you and then this, because that's insane.

Yeah.

I have literally a whole chapter in my book about how bad this relationship is.

Mm-hmm.

But as a woman who grew up.

My formative years were during this time and like the onslaught, the unending

misogyny of the two thousands and like how it was to be like a young woman and

then to like have this story be like she knows like she's worried about him because

he like can't control his anger and he has all this rage and it's like, what?

Like at least, I mean today we're still not keeping men accountable

for their own thoughts and actions.

So like nothing's changed, but like to have even one more example of how

bad it was then and look at it now.

Yeah.

And I'm like, nothing's changed, but like I literally had to

write a whole chapter about it.

'cause I have more feelings than probably this podcast can contain about like

how absolutely Banana as it was that this was like the one true pairing

that everybody still talks about.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and that interview is just mind boggling that you have this

man making excuses for another man, assaulting someone to grab

somebody and toss them down.

You are that, that is a textbook definition of assault.

He, uh, physically assaulted her.

Oh yeah.

And yeah, he punched the window 'cause he was full of rage.

Yes.

And someone got hurt.

Even if someone doesn't get physically hurt there,

that's still abusive behavior.

That, that is abusive

behavior.

Punching something over someone's head, that's still a threat.

Yeah.

And congratulations, Blair, that you're not scared and.

I'm glad that she is not intimidated by this abusive person, but not being

scared doesn't make it not abuse.

Yeah.

That you, you're, you can be a victim and not be afraid.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So the, the whole line of reasoning is absurd.

And, and the way that he's, that it's, we all got together and we all

knew this, and Laden knew this, like,

it just feels like damage control after the fact to me.

A hundred percent.

Yeah.

And this is like, I, you know, like I love the show.

We all, were sitting here with criticisms of the show, looking at

it through a lens and that's fine.

But one of the criticisms of the criticism is sort of like,

well, we know it's not real life.

Like this is a big, it's like fantasy and we're not supposed

to like these rich people.

And it's like all blown, it's hyperbole.

It was like, yes.

But this is one of those things that like.

This touches too deeply into real life that like, we have to look

at this as an example of like how harmful it could be for young people.

Look at this relationship and be like, this is normal.

This is like how people should act.

I was like, no, it's not.

Please.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And even if you are gonna present this in a show, present it as the villain.

Don't make that character your romantic lead.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Don't make him sympathetic for the horrific things that he's doing.

A hundred percent.

After

that digression.

Well, we needed to talk about, yeah.

Yeah.

So needed to be

talked about.

But yeah, let, let, let's wrap up this episode here.

I got a few scenes left.

Nate calls Reyna and tells her that she was right and he chooses her over.

Chuck kind of just leaves her a message.

He packs a bag to it looks like.

Yeah.

And says, I choose you.

Yeah.

And we see why she doesn't answer is 'cause Rena is making a call

to Jack, inviting him to New York to help bring down Chuck.

Okay.

Oh, Jack,

Jack.

Uh, not nothing like bringing in a rapist to beat down another rapist.

Yeah,

yeah.

Like a cage match.

Okay, sure.

At the loft, Charlie and Dan are eating the leftovers

from the une catered dinner.

Kind of cute, I guess, even though Charlie is crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But they, they, they could do their thing while, you know,

as a distractor for a bit.

Uh, um, I'm not wholly bothered by them.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's fine.

Go, go find Blair

Dan.

Go find Blair.

Chuck is alone with a bloody hand and his Harry Winston ring.

Good.

Good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Blair is at her vanity trying to cover up the little cut on

her face that Chuck gave her.

When she sees Serena on the other side of the door, the adjoining

bathroom, she closes it in her face.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Not mad at that.

I feel it was very similar to last week when Dan closed

the door in Vanessa's face.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So once again, getting Dan and Blair paralleling

Yes.

I'd rather than get perpendicular in, if you know what I mean.

Unfortunately I do that.

What you eat

and then we, the final scene is actually the same as the opening scene.

We go back to Blair calling her mom to letting her know that she got engaged.

Yes.

Cute.

Great.

And then we get the final gossip Girl monologue.

Once upon a time in the land of Upper East, a beautiful girl fled from a beast.

His closest friends began to retreat while enemies marshaled to plan his defeat

across the river and lands far away.

A mysterious young maiden was making her play and with

the beast finally vanquished.

Most tales they would end with one happy princess and an excited best friend.

But in the land where the best castle comes with a view of the park, it's

important to remember where most fairytales end ours merely starts.

Xo.

Xo, gossip Girl.

That is our episode.

Steve, what is coming next?

First,

I believe that the.

Big reveal of Charlie's last semester or first semester at college that,

you know, beware of is possibly a stalking thing that she was stalking

someone she was in love with.

So I feel like they set that angle up of a crazy stalker storyline here.

Before you continue, I'm gonna kind of reveal one little

bit of information to you.

The final two episodes of the seasons are basically a two-parter, where the,

the final episode picks up like moments after the fir, the next one ends listen.

So it's essentially a two part episode.

Okay.

The ne that's the last two, the next two episodes, right?

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, I'll keep that in mind.

I was, I'm also predicting that the first Blair can't marry Louie.

Like the, it'll it, there will be a wedding.

I believe we're gonna see a wedding.

But they're not gonna get married next, next episode?

Uh, no.

The one after.

Okay.

I'm, I'm guessing, I'm guessing that, that a wedding feels like a season finale.

Okay.

So I, I think that we're gonna see the wedding there, but she's obviously not

gonna marry him, so there's gonna be something that comes together with, I, I

feel like Blair and Dan have to finally, I think Harry has to finally meet Sally

in these next two episodes, so, okay.

I feel like something has to happen here between the two of them.

Uh, man, I'm, I'm just gonna try to, will this into existence.

Vanessa is going to take the scholarship abroad and go to other

countries and leave us alone and be relevant in someone else's story.

Does she do anything on her

way out of

town?

Yeah, she's gonna fuck something up for Charlie.

She's gonna drop something to Dan to try to fuck something up for

Charlie and it's gonna annoy me.

Rufuss is going to be, rufuss has a job.

So I feel like there, I'm hoping that some fun, maybe not story stuff, but

some fun plot lines can come around Rufuss doing cool producer stuff.

It's just some quick references to stuff that he's

doing.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

I'm, I'm hoping to hear of him working more.

I want Rufuss to have a little more independence.

Um, but we

don't actually need to get into the story, so No, no, no, no.

I, I don't, yeah.

Don't need just some casual references though.

I, I was with the bands last

week and blah, blah, blah.

That is what I want.

Yeah.

I want little tidbits of cannon.

Of what, uh, of Rufuss producing panic and other bands.

You, uh, yes.

I don't want any drama around it, but I want them playing a party of the week.

If this, if panic plays a song for us at some point, obviously I'm gonna learn it.

And, and, uh, whenever I play shows, I always play every time

by, uh, Lincoln Hawk, Lincoln Hawk as, as a way of promoting this.

The other thing is I listened back to the podcast.

At time and a half speed.

And our outro is always me playing every time.

And so I always hear it at time and a half speed.

And of course I listen all the way to the end 'cause that's the kind of person I am.

So now when I play the song live, I have to play it at time and a half speed.

'cause that's the only way I hear it in my head.

So I end up playing a very fast version of it.

But yeah, I want to see, I would like panic to pop up at some point.

Yeah.

Any other predictions?

I think that's it.

I think that Louis is on his way out by the end of the season, even

if the princess sticks around.

Let's get into segments.

Hello there.

Peabody here and this is the way back machine.

We're traveling through time and this is my boy chairman.

Speak.

Chairman.

Hello?

Good boy.

This week in fandom, we jumped into the way back machine that travels to the

television without pity forums from 2011.

They, their overall impression, they agree this was a horrible episode.

Yeah.

Is it the biggest topic of discussion though, was Chuck

and Blair should be done?

Yes.

This, this should be the end.

Good.

Yes.

And I fear that it won't be in the long run.

I guess I should've said that under predictions that I, I don't see how

in with two seasons remaining, they don't somehow get back together and

maybe, I mean, I could see them trying to end this series with them getting

married or them not getting married.

But you know, I could, anyway.

Yeah, you got 35 episodes left.

You know,

at some

point we have a lot of space to fill.

Yep.

Charlie is crazy town, but at least she made Vanessa look like a chump.

Nice.

Always appreciated.

Yeah.

There was mixed feelings on Rufuss getting a storyline.

Some people were happy, some people were just not here for it at all.

What

I liked is that it really wasn't a Rufuss storyline.

It was a storyline that used Rufuss as the plot device.

Whereas really it was the Dan and Charlie storyline that

was being brought into that.

So I did.

I did like it.

Yeah.

And everything can't be about the the kids.

It's like,

yeah,

to have them moving

and when and when.

It's not about the kids.

And I've, I've said this over and over, that I don't want it

to be drama about the parents.

I want it to be fun stuff about the parents.

You know?

I want the drama with the kids.

Yeah.

I hated when Lily and Rufuss were constantly on a will.

They, won't they thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage did that.

Like with the OC too, like you needed Sandy Cohen and all the other like adult

players to like keep things moving along.

I think they like, I think they did a better job in the oc, but like I just

want, like Rufus is employed, great.

Lily's doing her thing.

Great.

BART is a huge bot device.

Great.

Like,

yeah.

Yeah.

We'll just ignore season two of the OC with the parents though.

Yeah, true.

The Rebecca stuff

and the Carter stuff.

Oh God, I think I blocked it out, honestly.

You're

right though.

The fans really enjoyed Blair telling off Serena for defending Chuck.

Good.

Yeah, yeah.

Yes, because fuck you, Serena.

And on that note, yes, Serena continues to be the worst.

And then the final kind of note I made was that they kind of wish that

Nate had gone after Blair to see if she was okay at the end there.

I did too.

I, I actually meant to say that, that I, either that or I thought that Nate

was gonna go beat the shit outta Chuck.

Yeah.

Like, I almost wanted Nate to walk in on it and beat the shit outta Chuck.

Yeah.

So I was, I was disappointed that it was just, uh, okay.

Blair stormed out and now I'm leaving too.

I did want him to go after her to make sure she was okay.

Yeah.

Because that would be the nast thing to do, even if

it wasn't a romantic thing.

Nate loves Blair in a way that Nate loves Blair in probably the most innocent way.

Any of these people love each other.

Yeah.

That is it for this week in fandom.

Let's get into episode grades.

It is my week to go first, and like we've said.

The, it was not a good episode.

Really bad episode.

Yeah.

Directing was gone.

Awful.

Acting was okay in spots, but I thought the actors were getting bad

directing, so I didn't know what they were g supposed to be doing.

So that was not good either.

And again, with like those comments from Josh, uh, Joshua Saffron about being

clear with lay, that she's not scared, but she looked pretty scared to me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That looked terrifying.

The only thing that saved this from being an F was the opening

the door for Finesse a leave.

So I, I gave it a D.