Leif and Steve do a spoiler free recap of the original Gossip Girl TV show that aired on the CW from 2007-2013.   They take a deep dive–one episode at a time–examining all the references to old movies and literature as well as exploring all the parallels and foreshadowing used by the writers. Not to mention, discussing all the schemes, secret hookups, and couture catastrophes. 

This week the guys break down Gossip Girl season 1, episode 15 titled “Desperately Seeking Serena”. Original air date April 28th, 2008.

The TWoP episode description reads: Jenny meets a new tool, Nate dates an old one, and the mysterious G finally arrives!

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

He is the definition of a square peg right in that square hole. Yeah, yes, exactly. And like, he's

right down the middle. Yeah. Hey, Upper East Siders and all you scandal loving listeners out

there. You just tuned in to 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 Seizing Gossip

Girl veteran. And I'm Steve. I'm the newbie, the greenhorn that... I don't know, Leif, what do you

call the new kid on the block in gossip girl terms? I don't know. He probably stayed up all night crying

when you were trying to do SAT prep, so I think you're still a project. You assume that I did any

SAT prep whatsoever. Although, yeah, that one got me. So Leif is a fan of the show since the beginning

and I'm diving in for the very first time. And together, we're your dynamic duo, bringing you

all the drama, the romance, and sometimes questionable fashion choices of this iconic 2007

show. That's right. Each week, we're going to break down all the latest schemes, secret

hookups, and kittor catastrophes. And trust me, there are plenty of them. And since we're all about

inclusivity here at the non-judging breakfast table, there's always a seat for you. So go ahead

and grab your coffee, grab a mimosa, or some of a Nate and Chuck special medicine, and we're going

to get right into this episode. Today, we are talking about season one, episode 15,

desperately seeking Serena. Did you get the title offering? 100%. I have two older sisters that were

obsessed with Madonna in the early 80s. I have seen desperately seeking Susan. Okay, good. I've

never seen it. I have actually seen that movie multiple times. I loved it. It was this movie about

a woman who becomes obsessed with this other woman. This like, yeah, Rosanna Arquette. Yeah,

Rosanna Arquette becomes obsessed with Madonna's character and basically tries to

become her. Yeah. And I honestly don't remember all the ins and outs of it because I was young, but I

do know I've seen it several times. And it was also probably in the category that we've discussed of

movies that were probably too mature for me to be watching when I was watching them. I also kind of

noticed that for 1985, they actually had a woman director. Oh, yeah. Yes. I remember that

actually. Suzanne Seidlman? Yeah. I've never seen any of her movies, but I guess I've seen her.

She did three episodes of the Sex and the City the first season, including the pilot. Oh, no

kidding. Yeah. All right. It's been a while since I watched that show, so I can't really think of any

details about the individual episodes. But yeah. Yeah. They brought her into do a pilot of a big show,

so she must do a good job. Yeah. Do you look up any of her other movies? She did like two or three.

Nothing stood out. They're all like 80s and 70s pretty much. Yeah. So this episode, written by

Felicia D. Henderson is back. This is her fourth episode of the season already. She did Poison Ivy,

Seventeen Candles, and A Thin Lie Between Eat and Chat. Yeah, what happened? Well, the first two

were really good. Yeah. Oh, I actually really liked Thin Line too. Thin Line was that

culminating episode with everything but Rufus was good. Yeah. Yeah. And then it was directed by

Michael Fields, who also directed Roman Holiday. Which is another pretty good episode. So yeah,

which I mean, spoiler alert, this was not my favorite. This one. Yeah. Not great. This one felt

the writer's strike. Yeah. Yes. April 28, 2008 was the original air date. Yeah. Well, let's go ahead

and get into it. There are three things we do alone. We are born. We die. And if we're a high school

junior headed for college, we take the SATs. And while a test is said to measure our best rates,

preparing for it inevitably brings out the worst. Humility becomes self-doubt. Striving becomes

obsession. Some are driven to self-medication while others cling to the security of being part of

a group. And anyone who's used to bending the rules will find themselves breaking them. Yeah. Got

some girl monologues as we get a montage of our main cast prepping for SATs. Yeah. I like that they

brought in an SATs episode. Like I thought that was neat. Yeah. I feel like it's something that is very

familiar to a lot of the people that would be watching this show. I feel like this show is geared

toward the high school crowd. And with... Now they haven't actually shown any actual class going to

class. Right. But they're finally actually showing something related to actual school.

Yeah. Exactly. And a lot of the prep scenes that we see make sense. Right? Dan panicking. Yeah. You

definitely see their characters coming through. Yeah. Chuck paying someone off. You know? Like I

thought that one was the one that was like... That checks out. Yeah. Rufus gives Dan a pep talk and

informs Jenny that he is walking her to school. Huh. The Dan thing with like when I struck out a

T-ball is one of my favorite things is like... So pathetic. Because it seemed to be like it was on a T.

And he realized it's not pathetic. Yeah. Like I... And it's because you know and you see the kids that

have done that you know and you're like oh my god. Oh it's right there. It's right there. Poor Dan. Poor

Dan. Serena and Blair are in the courtyard discussing practice scores and Nelly Yuki.

Blair's biggest competition for yeah. And so I actually looked this up last night because there

has been changes to the SATs over the years. And when I was in high school the top score was a 1600.

Which it is now as well. I went back. Yeah it did. In 2016. So I know I don't... This was definitely in

that era when it was the 2400 or so. It was the highest. It was 2400 was the highest. Yeah. And

this was after me as well. Yeah. So there was also more questions on it and there was a writing

portion. Now the writing portion is optional and there's only 154 questions and it's back to being

1600 points. And that switch happened like I said in 2016. But in 2017 or 2017. Exactly the show

ended. Exactly. Almost a decade later when they changed it. So they did. And it wasn't the first

time they changed it either. Like even for us like the SATs evolved constantly. So. But now they

really have to keep the braining it in because fewer and fewer colleges are mandating them. So

they're kind of becoming obsolete. So they have to kind of keep themselves relevant. And. Well I

remember like right like towards like basically like the few years after me the ACT started coming

up as like a competition. You can take that like it was like an and or type of thing. Yes. There was

there was a window. And I think that was actually during some of the adjustment period for the SAT.

Yeah. That's like what happened. Yeah. Because when I was in high school it's like you could take

the ACTs but why would you. Yeah. Like and especially and especially me like the kids that

were going to like Harvard and Yale were taking those because I went to a school where kids would

graduate and go to Harvard. You know. Or they'd go to Lockhaven like I did. You know or you know we had

really had a very wide trajectory. Chuck and Blair pass each other and then Chuck sits down and tells

Serena that Georgina is out of the country in Sweden to be specific. Yeah. A little bit of

foreshadowing here as well because he mentions that there is a little redhead that would love to

pretend to be Serena Vanderwoods for a day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He offers. We get Chuck's great orange

trench coat here. Yeah. And then later he has a red coat as well. Yeah. He has an orange coat and then a

bright red coat as well. Yeah. Robin was like that is hideous. What is he wearing? I like it. Yeah. I

was like I think that's kind of dope. Not many people could pull it off but Chuck I thought he

pulls it off. Yeah. Chuck is one of those people that kind of pulls off whatever he wants. Yeah.

Just because it's confidence. Yeah. Yeah. Jenny is trying to set up SAT prep for the minions but

Blair swoops in with a much better study session. The one that only money could buy. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And then Nate and Dan have a brief conversation before Serena show up. They talk

about having a study date. Why are you coming at him so hard for playing soccer though? I think Dan just

and I love how Dan recognizes that he's doing it too. Yeah. Well yeah the reason why he's doing it I

mean I try to get in psychology of Dan I guess is that yeah he was like he's so in his head about the test

he's like why he's so calm and sock. Yeah exactly. Of course it turns out he already took the test and I

haven't taken the test. Yeah and one of the big positives of this episode I felt was cool Nate Dan

stuff. I love their kind of non friendship friendship. They just really I love when they have

scenes together because I like how they act toward each other. Yeah. Yeah but yeah we'll get it to it at

the end there. Yeah we'll get it to it at the end I have things to say about that. Then as Dan leaves

Georgina in the country obviously shows up. Yeah and so I'm a huge Buffy fan. I have seen Buffy I've

seen the series multiple times. Minimum five times front to start. Probably more with starts

and stops and definitely a lot of like favorite episodes that I've rewatched I love Buffy right.

And so I saw Michelle Trachtenberg play a 15 year old at 15 and a 16 year old at 16 and a 17 year old at 17.

So it's really weird to see Michelle Trachtenberg at 20 at like 20 playing a 17 year old where I know

that they're all older than they are but I know she's older so it's a little bit more of like a of a

head fuck to me. Yeah but she always always seemed younger on Buffy. Which she was written so

terribly on but like I could do a thesis on what they did wrong with her character because they wrote

her character like they wanted a little sister they wanted a 12 year old and cast a 15 year old and

then then didn't know how to write for a 15 year old. And so basically wrote the 15 year old as a 12 year

old. That's how it always feels to me. But so you're right because she always played this like young

and troubled Alangeneu but she also was very clearly 15 when she came on like that was what they

always like my 15 year old sister like because she was a freshman when. Yeah. Anyways yeah we got to go

to commercial break and we come back and Georgina threatens Serena into having a drink with her.

Yeah but why why why is why is Serena so scared of her. Yeah like and and this is something that I'm

that I actually bring up later like why is she so afraid of her and it's like everybody knows that

you had a big party patch like is this murder is this like did someone die because how fucking serious

can any of it be if like like because like for someone to have this kind of hold on you when

everything you've ever done has been public and out how is this one thing so shameful. Also I don't I

don't think Michelle Tretcher herself it. No she doesn't sell it off. No she's not threatening she

doesn't come off as threatening and in the books Georgina is a very cow's bag she's like a female

chow. Yeah one of my big opinions of this episode and where I talk about the writer's strike so

Georgina is in the books she's a big character and it feels to me like they came out of the writer's

strike with a okay we've got to introduce someone new like we've got to do something to really punch

this up and kick it up so we've got to introduce her now we can't wait till season one it felt like they

wanted to do this as a season premiere but then came out of the writer's strike and were like well shit

we better do it now and then this is what this was the intro that they got yeah Jenny meets her mini

minion to scout potential boyfriends little Jay is continuing her downward spiral towards evil

yeah yeah the totally brushes off the guy because he's a lowly dog walker. What like we've seen to it

they were well he's just a dog walker he clearly can't own those dogs like for christ's sake and the

dude looks 22 yeah like the like so far they at least kind of pass like we can pretend but this dude looks

like he's like a finance bro on wall street like yeah he probably is now yeah he probably is uh eight

shows up at the cafe to give Dan some sat prep books of Vanessa is a bitch for no reason at all yeah yeah

what the fuck Vanessa like Vanessa like all the dude did was walk in and offer books hey hey guy that

i that i am kind of friends with who i'm trying to be cool with here's some books to help you out and

she's just fucking vile towards him for no reason at all yeah and and i also wanted to make the point of

Nate getting a good score on the sat we talk a lot about dumb Nate right but him getting a good score

on the sat actually makes sense yeah because he's first of all he's you know uh saying what i he is the

definition of a square peg right that square all yeah yes exactly and like i just he's right down the

middle yeah he would know how to go in and take a test like that and he would pay all of the right people to

give him the right test prep yeah all that and he would fancy bucks yeah he wouldn't be nervous

about it yeah his reasoning for already taking it is great i don't want my parents to help my parents

are gonna help me get in there so i need to get in on my own um so like all of that really made sense because

he's also not like normal dumb he's like dumb for his school and he's like dumb in how he acts toward

and how people yeah yeah he's kind of oblivious and naive yeah easily easily led yeah he's easily led

he's a cold retriever yeah yeah easily taught easily led serena and georgina are having drinks

at a bar a peer pressure is a hell of a drug my god it felt like a fucking after school special it felt so

much like a fucking yeah definitely a pit on the nose yeah oh my god but blairs study session was

actually a cover for a nely yuki takedown yeah i mean blairs being devious and being devious and

winning her friends back yeah devious lay in asserting her power they definitely they

definitely did not want to go back to brooklyn no no they were super excited when they figured out

blairs session yeah yeah like oh i can't go study at jenny's off the yeah no the dad's lasagna it is my

nervous again yeah yeah i'm surprised i'm surprised is didn't speak up back at the bar old

serena is back or maybe not so yeah they're they're they're having some fun but then when she uh fires

out about the coke she's she's out of there yeah like you're just out there making bad decisions

and like what did you expect like and then she calls chuck instead of being like hey dan i got i fucked up

i met this i ran into an old friend and blew you off i'm sorry but no i can't let him even know that she

exists so yeah i was gonna get into this later when she's actually at his hotel so i don't know if

either the show is saying just try to ignore the first episode or if she's just so used to being

sexually assaulted by people that are close to her like her stepdad multiple step dads yeah like

that's like oh it's also bad for serena yeah yeah she's able to just go and trust this guy that yeah

they're like he's her only hope is the guy that tried they tried to assault her in episode one and

really honestly and i think that it's like kind of shitty on the writers but i i feel like more than

anything it is a we're just pretending like that didn't happen and we're just gonna make him

because they've done that they've done these episodes to make him look better and he has done

good things and i really feel like the i feel like the writers across the board have let him the only

person who has not let him off the hook is dan and that's about jenny you know and and they they just

ignore the assault on serena well always serena knows about it yeah presumably well yeah serena

calls chuck and asks him to cover for her with dan i'm sure this will go great yeah but yeah and

chuck's creepy yeah so dan confronts chuck about harassing serena serena shows up and is

immediately caught in a lie dan rightly confused leaves chuck wonders why serena doesn't just tell

dan about Georgina yeah my note on this is this is annoying and dumb yeah dan dan knows she has a past

dan doesn't care that she has a past yeah and and like dan is so fucking in love with her that if she

was like look i was drunk driving and killed an old man dan would be like oh shit i'll make sure no one

ever finds out you feel bad about it though he would yeah he would yeah totally but like no it's not a

shoot he would be like oh you feel bad about this that's okay yeah yeah uh yeah totally weird why why

is georgia has so much power yeah it someone better someone better be dead otherwise i'm just like all

of this is just super disappointing unless someone is dead that's why where my bar is set lair

and the minions are trying to pinpoint nelly yuki's weakness it seems like they find it blow

rider yeah yeah she can't hear blow rider is here criminal tonight blow rider song that that that

felt a little forced yeah proud replacement yeah jenny is still scouting for boyfriends and

surprised the dog walker might actually be rich that's my note jenny is not looking good this

episode like a fucking course he is and yeah really hey who are you to be a yeah beggar yeah yeah god

fucking uh we wanted to like you so much jenny so much blair is pure evil as she walks by a yelling

nelly yuki playing a flow rider song and weasels her way in not this song like why are you even

talking there why are you even saying that she's walking down it's her trip tonight it's her yeah

well like she would be out of the hallway if you would have it was just so forced and so like but yeah

it has to show how smart blair is yeah but you know you know you know that whole you know thing about

riders riding smart characters yeah uh Nate meets uh Vanessa Rikofi and Vanessa realizes that Nate

is actually a decent guy and Vanessa still has no boundaries and i guess these two are going to hook

up now he's such an asshole like doesn't apologize for like invading his privacy just to apologize

though i thought you were you told eric had dished each bag yeah yeah like man i just totally judged

you and i love how oh oh su you come to brooklyn often uh yeah my dad's in in rehab like up up in the street

here oh yeah and at that point she does say like oh i'm sorry and he's like it's front page news like

like so like yeah it's like sorry she says sorry to pry yeah yeah sorry to pry yeah okay now you're

sorry well i mean she's pretty sorry oh my god she's such an asshole in this although i do kind of like

the they do have decent they have good chemistry together yeah georgia calls to apologize to

serena jesus christ um and serena gets lord right back in yeah yeah yeah seems like a sudden change

for georgia seems seems a little too oh i get it now let's get together but serena falls right falls

for it yep because she can't say no to this person because someone might be dead dan and jenny are

studying in the loft rufus comes home jenny finds out she is still grounded and is too young to date it

was nice there for a minute come on man first of all too young like 14 like that that's some that's some

dad shit like because if you tell your kid you're too young to date especially at like 14 what you're

saying is you're too young for me to know you're dating someone yeah you're they're not gonna not

do it yeah they're just not gonna tell you they're doing it like different like how are you that

fucking bad at this yeah oh you know why because you are what like 15 when you add your kids like 12 when

you had kids because i think you're what like like maybe 12 years older than dan maybe that's why

you're such a terrible father yeah i think the actress have less than a decade and uh age

difference i yeah i i'm gonna need to look that up because now it's starting to make sense why he's

such a bad father uh yeah and he's gotta be resentful towards his kids because of you as that

young because if you was uh uh you know at a touring band at 12 years old and all that came crashing to

all because yeah because he got someone pregnant he was the rich book chris cross lily lily imagine

that it's like 11 and 12 year olds following following link and hog around it like come on bob i

want to tour with the band wearing acid wash jeans big poofy hair yep yep and then let's see so yeah at

blairs studies shift session and nelly's x shows up it looks like the takedown was a success yeah

yeah because you know because boys are so distracting to girls that they can't study for s

at's yeah yeah yeah yeah i think we'll just move off from that yep Nate and Vanessa are walking down the

street being flirty. They make out on the doorstep of the cafe. We get a reference to Vanessa's

sister's band here, which was cool. They're like, I know that they're a part of the books, but they,

you know, they're not, you said that they're not in the show, but they are canon in the show, which is

really neat that, you know, the lesbian punk band. And yeah. And like, I would like to think, high

school me would definitely be thinking that joke in my head, but I would like to think I would have the

sense not to say it. Nope, nope, high school me. 1994, Steve, through, I mean, college me, college

me would have said that. I mean, I would definitely be thinking it in my head. Nope, I would have said

it. I would have said it, and I would have gotten that reaction, and I would have been the asshole. I

100%, I'm owning it. I know I wouldn't have known better. Serena and Georgina are having

non-alcoholic beverages. Serena opens up about her feelings for Dan. Serena gets up to call Dan,

and Georgina looks bored and decides to roofie Serena's drink. Yeah, womp, womp, womp. Yeah, and

also what drug did you give her that she was then able to go out and, now did they actually go out and

party all night, or did she just drag her up to the hotel and tell her she was out partying all night is

the question. But like, we don't see it. We're, we're drugging people now and telling them that

they started doing Patron, and they, and Serena just, oh, I must have started, like who doesn't

remember when they start drinking? Well, apparently Serena has a history. Yeah, at 13.

Yeah, at 13. Well, and, but like, yes, she has a history, but like, I've been drunk, and I've been

drunk to the point where I don't remember everything I've done the night before, but I've

never been so drunk so fast that I don't remember my first drink. Yeah. Either way, but uh, yeah. So

like, I mean, although at 16, you may not necessarily recognize like, wow, did I get so

drunk that I forgot that first drink? But still, you were drunk, and why were you drunk? Why? What?

Like, what, to what end? Like, oh, so that she misses the SATs. It's like, okay, you're fucking

with her, but like, to what end? Like, well, if here's Georgina, what just wants to be friends

with Serena again. Right, so I'm gonna drug her. Like, well, Georgina's obviously crazy. Yeah,

yeah, I mean, there's that. That's the end of Act Two, so we go into Act Three. Serena wakes up the

next morning in Georgina's hotel room, and Serena's hungover and late for the SAT. Serena

calls Chuck and asks him to hold the doors for her. Again, calling Chuck. Why not call Dan? Yeah,

yeah. I overslept, Dan, hold the doors for me. Yeah, yeah. Why? She's late to other things. Like,

she's not necessarily, I'm not saying that she's late to everything, but she has been shown to not

always be punctual. I mean, I overslept. Yeah. Can you hold the door for me? Yeah. Which is a partial

truth, but it's still truth. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not the whole truth, but it's not lying. Yeah.

Yeah, so. And also, you know, my, why is she ruining Serena? Like, why? But anyway. Because I guess

what they're doing is saying, the writer is saying Dan is making Serena a better person, but Georgina

makes Serena a worse person. Yeah. So, you know, the angel and the devil, essentially. Yeah. Sure.

Ha, ha, ha. Nate shows up to kidnap Vanessa. She reluctantly gets in the car with him. Yeah. Nate,

your privilege is kind of showing here. Just leave work for the day. Yeah, just to have someone cover

for you at your, clearly an hourly wage type job. Yeah, exactly. Just have someone cover for you at

your job. They're called jobs. Ha, ha, ha. Ah. Wait, they give you a, what do you call it, a check?

Wait. Ha, ha, ha. And yeah, the next scene is. Rufus and Jenny are having a chilly breakfast until it

heats up. Oh my God. Like, it's so bad, Rufus. I know. Give her space, give her space. I will say

this. Power dad move. Power dad move of setting the phone down. Yeah. Cancel it. Now, like, I'm firmly

like, Rufus, you are not doing a good job parenting, but that's a power move. Yeah, so the

grounding and telling her to cancel the date is definitely justified because she did steal a very

expensive dress twice. Punishing her makes sense. Don't force the conversation. No, don't

force it to be your friend. Yeah, yeah. And that's the big thing. Oh, we're not gonna sit here and not

talk. Okay, then I'm gonna talk to you about what's bothering me. Oh, well, we can't talk about that.

Like, no, you can't fucking do that. Nate convinces Vanessa to take the SAT just to see what

happens and keep her options open. I mean, again, it's like Nate's privilege is, you know, no, no,

no, I've just brought you here. Surprise, now go take this test that I know you'll be good at. But

it's like, what happens if I do great on that test? Are you gonna pay for my college too? Like, are you

gonna, you know, what comes next? To what end? I mean, I get the point is keep your options open. I

do. And I think that Nate is trying to do a good thing and trying to be nice, all of those things. I'm not

really blaming Nate. It's just from a very privileged perspective. Yeah, you should have

like talked to her and then, right, try to convince her to do it instead of just showing up there. I also

think that this show writes from a privileged perspective sometimes that Vanessa's being

like, you know what, you're right. Was was was like felt very like when someone does something that's

nice for you, you accept it. You know, it's you know, it kind of felt a little. Yeah, icky. Nellie

shows up for the test exhausted for extra measure. Blair steals the batteries from her calculator.

Diabolical, diabolical. And what's really funny is that why did you do that from the start? Like,

like that that is actually better sabotage than getting into her head because. You got to double

up. Yeah, but. Double up on the sabotage. But yeah, that girl was up all night distracted by her

boyfriend. Yeah, like, yeah. Oh, and then we need to talk about how Blair basically tried the

boyfriend or tried to pimp out her friend to pay him. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not doing Todd.

Good for you, yes. Yeah, yeah. Then we see Dan and Blair strangely friendly with each other. Are

wondering where Serena is. Dan sees someone who is clearly not Serena checking in under the name

Serena Vanderwood. Yeah, the little redhead. That's the Chuck reference in the beginning. And

then, yes, we moved to the epilogue after the commercial. We see Dan and Blair exiting together

doing a post game recap. Dan thinks Serena is with Chuck and then sees Serena hugging Nate, which is

apparently bad for some reason to Dan. Blair sees them as well and her looks of this cover make more

sense. Yeah. So it's first like it's kind of weird that Dan and Blair suddenly very friendly. Yeah.

Although at the same time, I could see Blair being like, oh, you're worried about Serena. I'm

worried. You know, I could see that. But she's always been like snarky. Yeah. Yeah. Now, yeah.

Now there's none of it. I have recently found out because and all as we find out this is because it

comes back in Easter egg that Serena or Dan writes about later on like in season five. Apparently,

one of the storylines that were dropped during the strike was there was going to be some kind of essay

contest that Blair was in. And like no one showed up except for Dan. Oh. But that storyline doesn't

ever happen. Yeah. Interesting. And then why is Dan so like perturbed about Nate and Vanessa? I

could, you know, I could see just your you see a friend of yours and they're very friendly with

someone that you didn't anticipate seeing that. I could see that being just like, oh, you know, I

wasn't really thrown by that. I thought he looked upset by it. I didn't really get the sense of upset

as much. I also think that that may have just been pen badgley not communicating his face very well.

But I did because I didn't really get upset. I got kind of like weird mostly because of how Vanessa

talks about Nate. Just just like just for my history of watching teen dramas, that's like a

scene of like it feels like a jealous scene, like they're both jealous. Yeah. Yeah. Well, because

Blair clearly is. Yeah. And it makes totally makes sense why she would be jealous. Yeah. So that's

why. Yeah. Like it seems like it was written for them both to be like jealous. Yeah. Yeah. Which is

why it is weird. Well, although there could just be lingering Dan, you know, there was some kind of

something between Dan and Vanessa. So maybe there's something lingering there. And and but

also. I kind of feel like this creates a Blair versus Vanessa thing. Blair has found that

Vanessa is not easy to go after. You know, she doesn't have the same motivations that Blair is

used to. So that'll be really interesting. Dan shows up at Chucks to confront Serena about the

redhead taking the test for her. He's dressed like Fred from Scooby-Doo in this scene, too. Like when

I see him in like the purple and like it wasn't exactly that, but like that was my first thought

is, oh, my God, he looks like Fred. Yeah, I like that. I was like, yeah, purple sweater over like a

black green and like pink flat paisley. But I had or something like that. And the color of the way it

came up almost looks like an ascot from afar, which made me really think of that. Even Chuck is

surprised when Serena blows Dan off. What does Georgina have on Serena? But seriously, what can

she have? That's my note. But yeah, who's dead? Serena shows up and tells Georgina to never

contact her again. Georgina backs down. Wait too easily. Yeah, well, that seems well undone. Yeah.

At the loft, Asher shows up to have a date with Jenny. Bag of hot dogs at hand. Asher smooth talks

his way into the loft. Food, of course, being the key to Rufus' heart. Yeah, how'd he find her? How

did he? How did Jenny's ungossip girl now? Oh, yeah, yeah. But like her address, though. I guess

someone's parent like phone trees. Yeah. Remember like they remember they try like slowly

is trying to find Dan and like no one knew who you remember early on season. Yeah, because no one

knows who Dan is. So like there must be ways for students to track that other student. Yeah, yeah.

Looks like a guess what they're going on with Jenny and Asher. Jenny has found a young adult. That's

statutory rapist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She is. Clearly, they clearly say he goes to high school.

Yes, yeah, which that's another red flag, Jenny. He's 25 years old and still in high school. Red

flag. And then the final scene of the episode, Georgina bumps into Dan calling herself Sarah

with a dog named Georgie. It looks like sparks, quote unquote, might be flying. Yeah. And like, I

mean, it's a good time to go for Dan because he's pretty pissed at Serena because something's up. I

mean, she's not talking to him. Um. So this is a single white female situation or is she just

trying to drive wedge between Dan Serena so she can get Serena? I mean. Georgina just came in and was

just diabolical from an episode before she shows up, right? Like she just starts doing shit. And

Serena just takes it. Clearly a chaos agent. Yeah. And Serena just takes it and takes it. And it's

like, oh, no, what is she doing? And like, honestly, like, I know that she's like a very

popular character on the show, but I, yeah, that's all it seemed to be is just chaos is just, oh, we're

just going to come in and just fuck with Serena. And it's like, yeah. Yeah. And I think that the biggest

thing is, is that because Serena's past is so established and public and been discussed with

with everyone so much that whatever this is, the severity of it, like now there's like things like,

did she hurt Blair in some way that Blair doesn't know about? Did she hurt and not tell Dan is just a

bad plot line? And it's out of character. Yeah. Well, I mean, it just is. I mean, it's definitely

foreshadowed early in the season where they didn't communicate. Yeah. Yeah. But like, we

thought they learned the lesson. Yeah. Over and all, overall, this just didn't feel like the

writers were like working at this one. Like they just, they just. I don't know. I felt like they

tried to build something up, but just only what's it's still building up. So we don't know. Yeah, it

could be. Maybe she killed someone. Yeah. I mean, let's hope. Wait. Any predictions outside of

Serena and the Georgina plot line? I predict a Blair Vanessa plot line. OK. I predict something

there. And. You know, I do. I do predict. I feel like they're going to work towards some kind of

triangle with Georgina Dan and Serena, but like it's already predicated on a lie from Georgina's

part. So like. You know, Dan's actually going to find out and not go for that. Exactly. You would

hope. Like, well, yeah. And and but I could also see it culminating. I could see this culminating in

the Dan and Serena breakup because I really feel like. I mean, it definitely feels like that's

coming. They they they felt like they've been more and more comfortable, like even with their

conflicts. And and you know, Dan even chimes in in this episode, like dating someone. Dating

someone rich is not without its conflict and not without its problems. So that is our episodes. So

let's get into some segments. This week in fandom, I jumped into the Wayback Machine and checked out

the television without pity forums. And this is the Wayback Machine for traveling through time.

This week, there was definitely positive reactions to Nate and Vanessa. That was pretty

much universal. Yeah, I get that. I thought they I thought. They said chemistry chemistry. About 70

percent or so of the posters refer to Georgina as Don. Yes. And still overwhelming support for

Blair and growing hatred of Jenny. Yeah, yeah, he checks out. Yep. Seems like the book fans were let

down by this episode and expected a lot more charismatic version of Georgina. A lot of dislike

for Michelle Trachtenberg. Yeah, I didn't think she I didn't. I didn't think that she carried the

weight that this character throws around. Yeah, now, yeah. I think you know, she does her character

does stick around for a lot of episodes throughout the series, right? Yeah, I know that she's a

recurring character. And I do think they do lean into her acting style and change the character up a

better later on. OK, that's good. And now is she like a main cast member? Is she more like that she's

never been cast? I technically fit in that says main cast, but she's never she's more like Carter.

Yes, she is the break in case of emergency character. Yeah, if things get a little boring,

they bring her out. Yeah, I wasn't bored. I was not bored. I was. Yeah. But but again, like I said, I I I

really do kind of feel like that was a writer strike decision, you know, a OK, let's bring this

character in now instead of, you know, because people have been waiting too long. And so also in

the forums, like we said, this shows probably targeted to younger high school age students. So

they were commenting on how the writers clearly don't understand how the FATs work. Um, yeah,

although there were some play there were a couple places that that I thought that but there were

also, you know, the whole like shutting the doors thing like that. That's true. Yeah, I know. The

main plot things in it. I felt. Yeah. And there were a couple of Dan and Blair fans. Sprouting up. That

people enjoyed their scenes. Yeah. But like. He can't. Yeah. He can't date everyone. Jenny. I

mean, or Kenny, not Jenny. Let's hope. This suddenly became Game of Thrones podcast. Move

into some episode grades. I went first last time. So you're up first this week. This is probably my

lowest grade to date. I gave this episode a C. Yeah. I yeah, I just. I didn't think it was written well. I

didn't think that that all of I didn't think the characters really came out as. Authentic in a lot

of ways. I really didn't like the introduction of Georgina Sparks. I didn't like Serena's decision

making. I like. I felt like anything. I think I found the words for it. Anything that would be so

serious that Serena is acting this way. Takes puts too much weight on the levity of the rest of the

show. You know, like, like the rest of the show isn't like dealing with murder. It's like season

two of Friday Night Lights. Like, how did we get here? Right or strike? Yeah, which it's the same.

Yep, we got here in the same way. Yep. Uh, I want to even lower. I gave it a C minus. The writing was bad.

Yeah, the right thing was OK, I guess the acting. They didn't have much work to work with, but no one

stood out. That no one stood out. Yeah, the music was good. Those scenes where you're like, wow,

Leaton really. Yes, or, you know, other than the force flow writer, I thought the music was pretty

good. Fit the fit the scenes. But yes, C minus for me. Yeah, I think that is a fair grade. I think this

is the worst episode to date. I agree. Stock watch, we got going up. Nate and Vanessa. I thought those

were good. Dog boy. I couldn't remember his name. Asher. Asher and Jenny. I gave it to Jenny. Like,

she's a terrible person. You're going to be more terrible, but she did find a guy that was she did

accomplish her goal of this episode, even though she was terrible and fucking dumb. I had going up. I

had Blair because she's getting her minions back. It looks like she's definitely on her way back to

being queen. And Chuck, I had going up because he got to like rub one in dance face several times this

week and had Serena turn into him. He got it. I'm assuming the guy you paid off probably got him a

pretty good score. Yeah. Also had Nate and Vanessa going up because they had their little cute

romance going on. And I had to give Georgina, even though the acting was not great. She came in and

caused chaos. So that's funny because it was that all of yours. That's all my going up. Yeah. Because

I actually have Georgina going down because she came in and was just a pain in my ass for an episode.

Yeah. I mean, she was a pain in the ass. It was kind of stupid, but I mean, she accomplished what she was

trying to do. She did. She did. But also you got to go at the very end. She is throwing a temper tantrum

because Serena. Like wanted to not have anything to do with her. Yeah, but like clearly looks like

she's got one over on Dan. Yeah. Yeah, that's true too. I did not give Blair going up. And I now that I'm

looking back like you're right that she really did like make some moves and start getting our minions

back. I felt like it was just such a nothing episode for her. Like I just felt like yeah, the ski was

weak. We weak. As we said, you know, we had weak to write smart characters. You actually have to be

smart. Really smart. Yeah. So but I just taking a face value that she accomplished every she she

wants to do in this episode. That yeah. And that's fair. But I do have Serena going down and Rufus is a

bad dad. I forgot to write Rufus down, but Rufus is a bad dad is becoming more and more of a bad dad. And

yeah, he goes down also. I had Serena. She got played all up so so yeah, she not be going down. Dan

because he was also just being lied to constantly and looks like he's going to get, you know, play

away female. Yeah. And yeah, Rufus bad that. Yeah. Nothing else to say there. He's just the horrible

at this point. I let Dan off the hook because he kind of just coasted throughout the episode. But like

he got played hard by Chuck several times. He did. He did. But yeah, I didn't I let him off the hook.

There enough. Best outfit. Who do you got? But here's the best outfits from the last episode

we've seen. Georgina on the night that she drugged Serena. I liked like the leathery jacket and more

than anything, I liked her accessories. Like she had a really cool necklace. The nail polish was

kind of subtle, but like really kind of made it was like the purpley dark purpley nail polish that

kind of made the outfit pop. So I thought that was really cool. And for me, it was a Blair school

uniform with the white and with black diamond sweater and the matching leggings. She had a top

with like a Brooks Brothers, plaid lined af cape and a red braided a Valentino bag. The the the

designer uniforms for this school are fantastic. Like well, the thing is like they have the uniforms

underneath and they put like stuff on top of it. Yeah, but also it seems as though this school with

some of the outfits, I especially like Blair and and like you could barely see the uniform, I think

it was like. Yeah, she had a sweater over the jumper. You can see the skirt and then you can put

that she had a sweater over that over the jumper and then also a cape on top of that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I

yeah, I just find that sometimes the the the school dress code allows for like definitely a very wish.

Yeah. Yeah. That's it for the segments. Anything you would like to plug July 19th. I'll be at Fat Lady

Brewing and Manny Young playing some music. So please come out to that. It's for part of Love Fest.

Um, other than that, I don't really think I have much plug. Well, if we have any Dawson's Creek fans

in the audience, I would recommend checking out Freaks and Creeks. They are off. It's for first

time watchers going through one episode at a time. They are currently in the second season. They're

really funny. So check that out. Freaks and Creeks. And then if you want to follow us on

Twitter, you can do that at NJB. On Instagram and TikTok, not at non-judging breakfast pod. And if

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with us, please feel free to send us an email at non-judgingbreakfastpod at gmail.com. We'd

love to hear what you have to say. We'll love to read your emails live. If they are appropriate to read

live. And we would love to hear what you have to say. Also, please like, comment, follow wherever

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also more importantly, tell a friend. Listen with a friend. Laugh along with us and joke along with

us. And let us know what you think. And next episode in two weeks, we'll be discussing season one

episode 16 entitled All About My Brother. The Max episode preview reads, one of the Upper East Side

teens reveals that they are gay. I don't know if you did you actually see the description? No, good,

because I actually ungendered. They gave the gender away and the description by ungendered it.

Nice. Well played. So, yep, that is our episode. Catch us back in two weeks. Until next time. You