Studio 54 Secrets: Ivy’s Gotcha, Dan’s Twitter War, and CeCe’s Collapse (Gossip Girl S5E9 Deep Dive)

Leif (a longtime Gossip Girl fan) and Steve (a first-time watcher) recap and review season 5, episode 9, “The Roads to Perdition,” noting Andrew McCarthy’s direction, returning characters (including Tripp), and nonstop disco-themed Gossip Girl narration. They cover CeCe’s Studio 54 celebration, Carol’s uninvited return, and revelations around CeCe’s illness after chemotherapy pills are spotted and she collapses during Serena’s planned “gotcha” exposing Ivy and Max. Ivy and Carol flip the situation by claiming Max is blackmailing Ivy with a sex tape, getting him kicked out; Carol also steals Max’s playbill and hints something happened to the real Charlie. Dan tracks down his online critic—Alessandra—who admits the hate account was marketing, and they join forces. Nate navigates a Spectator story implicating Tripp. The hosts grade the episode, do stock watch, and tease episode 10.

00:00 Thanksgiving Check In

00:36 Podcast Intro Setup

02:32 NFL Affair Double Standard

04:50 Episode Details Credits

09:31 Vulture Recap Meta

11:35 Act One Disco Begins

18:05 Act Two Family Schemes

24:18 Act Three Fallout

31:07 Dan and Alessandra Team Up

31:29 Nate vs Trip Scandal

31:58 Chuck and Blair Reckoning

32:44 Serena Gotcha Chaos

33:57 Max Gets Booted

37:54 Epilogue Disco Debrief

41:00 Ivy and Carol Dark Secret

43:07 Final Monologue and Next Week

47:04 Way Back Machine Reactions

49:42 Grades and Stock Watch

53:30 Best Outfit and Plugs

59:03 Outro Song

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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.

Have they done Thanksgiving already?

Nope.

Oh, so this should also be Thanksgiving then too?

Nope.

Is there a Thanksgiving episode this season?

Nope.

The closest thing was the, uh, feast of Assumption, but that,

but Thanksgiving, what I have know

to tell you,

but that is Thanksgiving on Gossip Girl is a tradition.

Wow.

Hey, Upper East Siders and all you Scandal loving listeners out there.

You just tuned into the Non Judging Breakfast Pod where the coffee is

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

My name is Leif and I'm your seasoned gossip girl veteran.

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

I don't know.

Leave.

How about now that we're in season five, what are we calling me?

Your transformation really is astounding.

Care to share how you gave up your bad bass ways, how you went from Charlie

Sheen to Charlie Brown Bar to Mitzvah.

There really is no

answer to that question.

It's an evolution.

Hmm.

So here's the deal, folks.

Leif has been watching Gossip Girl since it first aired, and

I'm diving in for the first time.

And together we are 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.

One 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 fantom moments too, because what's a deep dive?

With that, a little drama.

And since we are all about inclusivity here on 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 roll something up that

old chuck might have lying around and let's go ahead and get into this.

I guess he knew Chuck has it lying around too, 'cause he had it for Dan last week.

Yeah.

I, nothing wrong with little herbal, uh, relaxation.

No.

A little herbal medication.

Absolutely not.

But I love America, but I hate America.

Yes.

And not just even for like the big obvious reasons, E even the little ones.

And, and it is something that's actually reminding me of the first season

of Gossip Row with Nate and Serena.

Mm-hmm.

How everyone just blamed Serena, especially Blair and

Nate kind of got a free pass,

right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm seeing like the same thing play out right now in NFL fandom with Michael

Ra, Mike Vrabel and, uh, Diana Rossini.

Oh, I have not been paying attention.

Uh, so like, they have gotten, I mean, they, they're

both, they're both married.

Uh, Diana Rossini is a reporter and he is a head coach.

Mm-hmm.

And they have, there's photos that strongly imply they're having an affair.

Oh, wow.

Vrabel is basically skating by, but Reini, like, the language

towards Reini is so horrible.

Yeah.

It's just like, it's ridiculous.

And like, oh.

And they mask it.

Oh.

You know, she is a reporter, so she's, she's violating the integrity.

She's a sports reporter.

Okay.

Seriously.

Yeah.

Let, let, that's number one.

She's not, she's not commenting on world politics

here.

Yeah.

Number one, sports.

Yes.

Sports journals don't really have much integrity and two.

Supposing, I mean it's like probably 90% that they are sleeping together.

Even if they are, maybe they just are just to sleep together

'cause they want it to fuck

Yeah.

Let people fuck.

Which is uh, one of

my, which you know, adultery is wrong, but who knows

what their situations could be.

Yeah.

I don't know what agreements they have with their partners, with their spouses.

Secondly, Vrabel could EAs as easily as Coldwell 'cause he could be

violating league rules and letting out things that his team doesn't want let out.

Yeah, e Exactly.

We don't know if he doesn't, you know,

so he could be violating the integrity of his job as well.

So if anything, they should be getting equal treatment.

Yeah.

He might shout out trick play formations in the throws of passion.

Wild cat.

Plus I just never trust anything coming outta New England.

Yeah,

yeah.

Anyways, that really grinds my gears, but.

We got a little bit better episode of Gossip Girl to talk about

this week, season five, episode nine, the Roads to Perdition.

I love that title.

Original air date was November 28th, 2011.

And based on the movie, A to Perdition, the Sam Mendez movie, uh, with starring

Tom Hanks, uh, Tyler Lan and Rob Maxey

comic book movie, if I remember correctly.

Is it?

I believe so.

I believe it was based on that comic book.

Hmm.

Uh, says it's a, I I've not actually seen it.

I mean, mob Enforcer son in 1930s, Illinois witnesses a murder forcing

him and his father to take to the road and his father down a

path of redemption and revenge.

Yeah.

It's a, it, it, it's a worth the watch.

I, I remember watching that movie.

It's.

This episode was written by Natalie Krinsky.

This is her first of four episodes, but she came on as story editor

at the beginning of season five.

Okay.

Prior to Gossip Girls, she did, uh, one episode each of the 9 0

2 1 oh reboot and g Grey's Anatomy.

Mm-hmm.

At least semi solid credits.

Yeah.

She's not a complete newbie, but not much After Gossip Girly there

has, since she did, uh, one episode of something called The Red Band

Society and a screenplay in 2020.

Yeah.

I, I've known real notes on the writing in this other than other than they have

my one line that I hate in all TV shows, which is I love this song, which it, it's.

And they do it in Buffy all the time.

The only other time I remember them doing, yeah, you

gotta sell records, Steve.

I know you gotta sell records, but, but this was, but it was like a seventies.

It was what we are family or something like that, that they were playing.

Like, it was like, I get

Sister Sledge needs to feed her family.

Yeah, I guess she does.

I guess she does.

Uh, and this, yeah, it's fitting.

We get Andrew McCarthy back to direct the episode

That, and, and, and there there's the rub.

Right?

Because the writing wasn't too bad, but man, Caroline needs Carol.

I'm sorry, Carol needs better direction.

Yeah, she's not a great actor.

I mean, this could be, his best episode

could be

considering so far the previous ones were the lady vanished touch of Ava.

Ock roommate and the princess and the frog.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, he has,

I I think it might be best episode.

Yeah.

This probably is

guest stars.

We get back friend of the pod Caroline, all Lagerfeld as Cece.

Uh, Sheila Kelly as Carol, who Steve, uh, ripped the, a moment ago,

and she might be great in other stuff, but every time she's on

Gossip Girl, she's a little worse.

Yeah.

Uh, James Naughton as the grandfather,

solid grandfathering

Brian J. Smith as Max Harding

should have stayed in Portland,

Marinati as Alessandra Steele and the return of Aaron Vet as

trip, which in the subtitles in the captions two Ps this time.

And we get newcomer Robert Lone as a Dr. Krueger.

I believe I've seen him in something before.

He looked really familiar.

Yeah.

But, or maybe he just reminded me of, uh, Gunn.

Tim Gunn.

Nah, he doesn't look like Tim Gun.

He looks like someone else.

No, he reminded me of

Tim

Gunn.

Ah,

and then we got two cameos, um, Elizabeth Quinn

Brown and Sylvia Winestock.

Almost like if Tim Gunn and Martin Mull had a baby.

I was gonna ask, is Dr. Kruger an ongoing car?

We'll see him.

I don't Here and there Don't think so.

I think it's kind of one and done.

Okay.

Might have one more appearance, but I think Chuck is cured.

Yeah, of course.

I mean, he, he left it, it only takes

like a month.

She knows about the ring.

I

want the therapy And you're goods.

Yeah, I know.

Why did I spend 15 years?

Yeah, but I mean, she knows about the ring, so he's.

Why don't you give us that vulture recap.

On the surface, the world of gossip Girl glitters.

But beneath the layers of lame and sequins are soft, vulnerable creatures who must

muddle through life's struggles like everyone else, albeit more comfortably.

On last night's episode, Dan continued his quest for popularity fighting

against the outpouring of negative reviews of his novel on the internet.

Nate faced with personal and professional quandary, was forced to look within

himself and ask, what would JFK Jr do?

Meanwhile, Chuck made strides toward enlightenment with the help of a Buddhist

monk only to be interrupted by Blair, who wanted to know how he'd transformed

himself from Angry lost Soul to Zen Master elsewhere on the Upper East Side.

Ivy fought to hold onto the peace and love she had been searching for her

entire life, which was under threat from Carol and Max who had both shown

up looking for vengeance and money.

All Gossip girl characters are searchers, but Chuck Bass is correct for them.

There will be no answers because on this show, as one problem is

solved, another arises in this way.

Gossip girl mirrors life.

Indeed.

There's just no energy in it anymore.

Vulture just feels like they're hanging on.

Yeah,

every week.

I don't really blame him.

Mm-hmm.

And the funny thing is, I feel.

The whole thing.

The dance storyline in this is, is very much a meta commentary

on the fans right now,

Uhhuh,

because it's, it's real, very much is a Twitter war between

the Chair and the Dan fans.

And that's like the only people are watching anymore.

Yeah.

That that scans.

That scans and, and they're getting none of it.

And they're getting neither Louie who isn't even on the fucking show.

We get into act one, gossip Girl poses.

On the Upper East Side, staying alive isn't as easy as it appears.

And after last week's security breach leading to no new tips, it looks

like I might be dancing by myself.

Did I miss disco references All throughout all of Gossip Girls?

Oh, you didn't catch that

Now I, I didn't I Staying alive is when I caught it this time I didn't

even realize it when I was watching.

And then I heard Staying alive here and it's like, oh, god dammit.

God damnit.

Oh yeah, they're coming.

Lily and Charlie are looking for outfits for a celebration of cece at Studio 54.

Just then, Cece arrives off the elevator.

We learn Carol isn't invited.

Yeah,

because let's specifically talk about the people we don't invite.

Yes.

Yeah.

Uh, so Petty.

Yeah.

It's, yeah.

Tom Petty,

Serena and Max Return Home from a night of Sightseeing Max offers to bake a cake

for Cece's party Serena's in as long as she can get sexual with the food.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

As long as, yeah, as long as we can make this away.

As long as this is a horny cake I'm in.

I love that the writers are totally aware of it.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Rufuss shows up to the loft and finds Dan fighting Twitter trolls

that are bashing his novel online, or Rufuss is done with Sad Sack Dan,

and closes the laptop and says he expects Dan at the party tonight.

However, Dan is brought back down into the Depression when he sees a Gossip

Girl blast about his number one hater,

and I mean, good on Rufuss for giving him the pep talk and

acknowledging like, yeah, I know you skipped out on your book tour,

Dan, get off the fucking internet.

Come on.

Thankfully, I believe this is the last episode where he,

where Penn was doing double duty filming Greetings from Tim Bup.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

I believe he comes back to a full-time schedule next week.

Thank.

Thank the writers that he could actually interact with people.

Yeah.

Blair and Roa discussed the status of the wedding.

It's still on.

Blair needs to figure out how to get Louis back to the good guy He was.

Okay.

Blair and Roa.

ROA mentions her baby a couple times this episode.

Blair.

Mm-hmm.

Does not once make mention of being pregnant for the second episode in a row.

She does make one gesture to her belly at one point with the cake tasting.

Well, I do feel like the her outfit is very pregnant.

Coated.

Sure.

Is very, yeah.

Sure.

But they're mentioning the pregnancy as often as they're mentioning Columbia.

I feel like it's somewhat intentional that they are Referenc

mentioning it, but not having Blair directly mention it by

having the clothes and having the road and mention her pregnancy.

They're making you, they're reminding you it's there, but Blair is the one

who's intentionally not talking about

it.

Okay.

That, that makes sense.

Which I think is good writing.

Sure.

If that is what they're doing.

If that's what they're doing, yeah.

Even with Rufuss going on his rent of all the stuff he was he let go of with Dan,

he doesn't mention dropping out of NYU or like not attending college anymore.

Maybe he's doing online classes.

Yeah.

But they pretty much all seem to have forgotten that they were in college.

They're all still probably paying tuition, but just forgot and it's just gonna keep,

I think all of 'em, including Dan, just have minions

going to classes for him.

Yeah.

Even Dan has minions now.

Yes.

Nate is addressing his employees, some of them old

enough to be his grandfather.

After the meeting, a young staffer approaches Nate with a lead about a

congressman's wife cheating on him.

Nate is bored until he finds out the congressman is our old buddy cousin trip.

Woo.

Can't wait to have trip back in the mix and his wife.

Oh,

cats are horrible.

Oh God.

At least they're worse than di they, they make Diana look great by comparison.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

Almost Miss Diana with the re reappearance of Trip

Max meets Ivy at a diner to let her know he is dating Serena as insurance.

In case Ivy decides not to pay the blackmail money, he once again

threatens to show the playbill revealing his true identity.

Ivy warns Max not to let Lily see him with Serena.

Yeah, max.

He should have stayed in Portland.

You just should have stayed in Portland Max.

'cause now you are really more and more.

Unredeemable because now you're also like, now I'm dating your cousin.

If you were really into her, maybe like you wouldn't be such a dick about it.

Fucking max.

He kind of applies that he is into her though, because he is like,

I, I'm a, I'm having fun with her.

Yeah, yeah.

Which

I guess, I mean, I guess he gets to make out Serta possibly.

Or which I guess is in arable.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I could, I could imagine.

That's pleasant.

Ivy calls Carl, they work out a plan for Ivy to separate Max and

Serena while Carol tries to get the money outta Cece to pay Max off.

Yeah.

And then we also realize that Carol is here in New York City.

Yeah.

During that, hey, gossip Girl continues her disco references as we go to break.

It looks like I'm not the only one doing the hustle.

Oh God, damnit.

Like how did I, how did I miss this?

How was I paying No attention to that?

Lots and lots of drugs.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Too many.

Not enough.

We go into Act two.

Lily and Cece are still prepping when Carol shows up uninvited and she

claims she is there to mend fences.

Cece agrees to allow Carol to come as long as there are no outbursts.

I love how they have to warn this 45-year-old woman, no outbursts

and watching the acting of Carol.

I feel like she's trying, like I do feel like she's trying to do something

intentionally where she's trying.

To split the Valley girl accent that Kirsten Ritter had in

the pi, in the backdoor pilot.

Mm-hmm.

With also like a Florida accent.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I can see it.

I can see it,

but it more just kind of goes back and forth.

Yeah.

Than being like a hybrid, A true hybrid.

Yeah.

She just feels, as an actor, she feels, it feels like she's being given a lot

of, I don't know, just bad direction, like how you have all these secrets.

I, I don't know.

I don't know how to describe it.

I feel like the actress probably just doesn't want to be there.

Yeah.

That's what it feels like.

Like, oh, you need me back.

Oh, this was an ongoing recurring role.

Her agents forcing her to do it because it's probably the best

money she's getting right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Charlie shows up to talk to Serena about her date with Max,

and then tries to poo poo the plan.

Second date.

When Charlie brings up the mysterious ex-girlfriend, Serena begins to doubt

herself and decides to cancel the date.

Yeah.

Ivy, you have not known Serena very long, but you know her very well.

Ivy walks in there and plays Serena like a fiddle.

Well done.

Yes, just You may not be cousins by birth, but you have acclimated nicely.

I just sow a little bit of doubt about this new boy.

Blair shows up the Empire Suite and is surprised to find Chuck doing

yoga with an older sate male teacher.

Blair wants to know how Chuck changed for the better so she

can help Louis revert back.

I'm just,

leave him alone, Blair.

Leave the man alone.

I want an episode where Blair

does not talk to Chuck.

Just leave him alone.

Blair.

Sorry you're watching the wrong show.

I know, but God damn it.

Leave him alone.

Uh, yeah.

Yeah.

The grandfather is impressed with Nate's new staff, but not as

thrilled when he finds out Nate plans to run the story about trip.

Once it's verified, however, Nate convinces him that the spectator

running the story would be better than letting the post get ahold of it.

I kinda liked the grandfather Nate stuff.

I didn't like the trip storyline, but I did like Nate kind of going, not against

grandfather, but still sort of like holding his own against grandfather.

I was okay with it.

Yeah.

I liked the storyline.

I didn't mind trip.

I mean, I hate Tripp, but I think he served The purpose

in this episode is fine.

Yeah, and my problem with Trip in this episode I'll

get to when we get to Tripp.

Oh yeah.

Which,

that's,

I think

that's more of my issue.

I, I think I know what you're talking about.

Carol and Charlie returned to the penthouse and make an obvious

attempt to get Cece to hand over the money to, for Charlie to buy an

apartment, but Cece ain't having it.

Carol makes a dramatic exit and Cece gets lightheaded and has to sit back down.

Charlie rushes over and gets a look at the pill bottle that fell out of Cece's purse.

Charlie is extremely concerned.

However, Cece tries to play it off as simply high blood pressure.

Robin, when Carol walked out, Robin goes, she is not a great actor.

But then also my favorite Robin line of this episode was when she, ZZ is

like, if you could do me a big favor and just go grab me a glass of water at

Prophet Said, and by water I mean gin

to take these pills.

What,

what does Carol say?

She says, like, I, I'm going out to the street where I'm actually welcome.

Whatcha talking about?

Uh, but yeah, the pill bottle that IV pulls out is a, it's a

capecitabine, which is a oral form of chemotherapy used in breast,

colorectal and advanced gastric cancers.

Do we know what?

Has it ever established what cancer she does have?

Uh, I don't think so,

but I mean, this isn't the first time she's had cancer though, either.

Nah,

so yeah.

Not good.

Not good.

Max gets a voicemail from Serena canceling their date.

He immediately texts Ivy that she has a 24 hour deadline to meet you, asshole.

Uh, Serena really blows up Ivy's spot.

You know the wording that voicemail?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But she doesn't know, you know, she doesn't mean to, but

this is what Gossip Girl says about it.

If you ever find yourself sick with Saturday Night Fever, the last thing you

want is for someone to turn up the heat.

How did I miss that?

I don't know.

How

did I

miss

that?

I, I feel like some of that, I feel like that one, I kind of clocked it,

but like was not paying attention to it.

God damnit.

Steve,

do

you always pay attention to what Gas Grill saying?

Always?

Yeah, I often do.

It's when she does this shit that I, that I don't know why,

it just goes right over my head.

Like the Rolling Stones one.

We move into Act three.

Serena is surprised and delighted to find Max waiting in the Waldorf foyer.

When she comes downstairs, max baked the cake on his own

and is just dropping it off.

Serena admits the real reason she canceled.

Max lies and says he hasn't thought about Ivy since meeting Serena.

Serena's horny brain goes into overdrive and she decides to invite Max to the party

and meet the fam Max declines and says he'll pick Serena up tomorrow instead.

Yeah.

And we get to pay off from the earlier scene.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Where Mitch is, he can't see.

See Lily.

'cause Lily would recognize him.

Yeah.

Back at the penthouse, Charlie brings Cece some ginger tea and reveals

she knows what the pills are for.

Cece asks her to be honest about why Carol wants the money.

Charlie sticks to the story and Cece seems to buy it because

she says she'll uncap the trust.

Yeah.

I love the relationship between Cece and her faux granddaughter.

She's very sweet to her.

Yeah.

Nate is meeting with Tripp about Maureen's affair.

Tripp appears to be blindsided by the whole thing and begs Nate not

to be too harsh with his reporting.

After Tripp leaves, Nate calls the grandfather to tell him he thinks

Maureen is lying about the affair.

So your cousin calls you in and is like, Hey, I need to talk to

you about this thing that my newspaper uncovered that has to do with you.

And Trip walks in and he is like, oh, now that you hate me, bro, he's

giving you a heads up about this.

Oh, I bet you're loving every second of this trip.

Calm the fuck down.

Nate took a fucking bullet for you to get elected in the first place.

So like clearly he is not just throwing you under the bus, sit

and fucking talk to the guy.

He's just from the get.

He's just a fucking asshole to Nate and just assumes Nate is going to be.

The piece of shit that trip is,

well, the wor two piece, the worst, the worst line is the one when he

walks out, he says, I guess we're even,

oh yeah.

I guess

we're even now for what Nate's doing, his job, what you did trip

was get into an accident with his, one of his best friends, then make

it look like she was driving and leave her there to potentially die.

Yeah.

And now Nate and be eaten by wolves.

Yeah.

And and Nate helped you get out of that whole scandal when

it went down too, didn't he?

Or I, I thinking right before that.

The, the scandal before that.

Yeah.

He kinda went against Vanessa.

So

this is, this is why the last one is because why Trip thinks Nate hates him.

'cause Nate should rightfully hate him

because he should hate him.

Yeah.

Because of what he did to Serena.

Yeah.

At this point he, uh, remember Nate shows up to the hospital

and punches trip or no trip.

Trip shows up wanting to see Serena and Nate punches him.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Fuck you Tripp.

Fuck you.

Tripp just comes in so hostile to the guy that should be hostile to

him who is not for a second hostile.

I doubt Nate remembers all of it.

Dan somehow tracks down the, I hate Humphrey Twitter user,

and it turns out it's Alessandra.

Okay.

Joe Goldberg going on the internet and tracing back to find this fucking

troll and going to their house.

Like, I love what he is standing out front and he is like,

do you know who lives here?

I'm not a stalker.

Thi this person's the stalker.

I, I like that they leaned into how crazy it was for him to be doing it.

Yes.

But in order to pull that off, he would've had to have

hacked Twitter and find out where this person is logging in from,

right?

Yes.

And then track that

ipx.

Yes.

Some serious Joe Goldberg.

Shit.

Joel Goldberg isn't

nearly that smart.

He thinks he's that smart.

He thinks he is that smart.

Yeah.

He's

not.

Blair is attending a therapy session with Chuck, but things aren't going well.

When Chuck tells Blair that he left her engagement ring on the

doorstep of Harry Winston, Blair gets emotional and f flees the session.

I love how Chuck Acquiesces to having her there and indeed

spends most of the time talking about his dog because she's there.

Uh, but also like Blair knew about the ring.

Right.

What

about Barry Winston ring the possession of it that he bought it?

Yeah.

She had seen it before,

right?

Yeah.

She saw it at, at in Paris.

She saw it.

Remember?

Yeah.

I thought

when Serena goes to claim it,

right?

Yes.

Right.

I thought I also remembered him having it.

On him when the confrontation with Jenny at the end of season three took place too?

Uh, yeah.

I don't think he actually opened the box though.

Okay.

Okay.

I think Dan came like, he was about to ask and o he was

like asking and opening the box and I came up and punched him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good times.

That sounds about right.

Oh, season three

and I like the bad between Blair and the therapist.

Yeah.

You seem confused.

Yeah.

I was bulimic as a teenager.

My dad came out when I was 15.

This is not my first therapy session.

Rufuss and Lily are getting ready for the party, and Carol walks

in on Lily badmouthing her Rufuss exits to let the two sisters duke it out.

Lily is pissed at Carol because Lily believes she forced Charlie

to live under the name of Ivy.

Serena is out in the hall and hears everything.

Serena immediately leaves a message for Max to come to the penthouse to hang

Serena.

God damnit.

Talk to the people that you're worried that talk to Charlie,

but then she doesn't get her whole gotcha moment.

I know.

Just such an asshole like has to have for someone who's all like the past couple

weeks, oh, I can't stand when Gossip Girl puts all these people on blast.

It's so wrong for Gossip Girl to put these people on blast.

Now she's gonna do it to her fucking cousin.

Well, she's doing it again in private, at least

sort of in front of the whole family.

The front, yeah.

Gossip girl.

Speaking of her, she continues her disco references by saying Chaka.

Kahan might have been every woman, but it looks like Charlie Rose is

about to have trouble being two.

That was Chaka Kahan.

Sure.

We move into Act four.

Alessandra explains she created the Twitter account to

drive interest in Dan's book.

She apologizes and offers to shut it down, but Dan says he has a better idea.

Yeah, kind of funny and kind of see where this is gonna

go, that they're gonna team up.

Nate is explaining to the grandfather that Maureen is lying about

the affair as a political strategy and trips bid to become Governor.

Grandfather wants Nate to keep the story under wraps and Nate

promises to do the right thing.

Yeah, and it's so Nate of him, I'm, I'll do the right thing

and it's like, yeah, you will Nate.

Yeah, you will sweetie.

Nate, you'll do the right thing.

ROA is helping Blair with cake tested when they are interrupted

by Chuck getting off the elevator.

Roa quickly ushers the chef out of the room so Blair and Chuck can talk.

Chuck says he moved on because that's what Blair asked him to do.

Blair says she blamed him for the darkness, but now RI realizes she

brought out the darkness in Chuck and now she is doing the same with Louis.

Maybe you just have shitty taste in men.

Blair, maybe you just have a,

yeah,

maybe you just like people who are shitty, people better go

find Dan before Alessandra claims that 'cause that Window's closing.

Rufuss, Lily, Cece, Carol, and Charlie are pre-gaming for the party.

The first three are having a great time, while the latter two are

bitterly whispering to each other.

Max gets off the elevator and Ivy runs over to start arguing with him.

However, Sarita jumps out of the closet in a gotcha moment for Max Ivy, and then he

does just come out of nowhere

and the ensuing chaos Cece passes out.

Aha.

Gotcha.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

Also, I love how Cece's like, you know, back in our day there's a

little something, there's a little appetizer to go with these drinks.

Oh, boy.

Uh, yeah.

Then the whole Ivy Max confrontation here is what you, what Serena does

just kind of pop out of nowhere.

Gotcha.

A gossip girl continues on just when things are about to hit the fan, they hit

the ground instead with a thud act five.

Cece has regained consciousness and tries to play it off like it was nothing.

Charlie steps in and saves Cece from further explanation by telling

them Cece has been over dieting and that's why she passed out.

Serena says that once Cece has had something to eat, Charlie

can get back to explaining what's going on with her and Max.

Yeah, she definitely doesn't have cancer.

Nate gets some applause from his staff and congratulations

from the grandfather.

His story didn't name names, but it made it clear Trip, tried to

pull some shady shit, and the spectator was having none of it.

I always loved you, but now I respect you.

So wait, grandfather, what you're saying is that until now you didn't respect me.

Correct.

Hanging on by a thread son.

So keep up the good work.

I mean, the story was like, it's so obvious he's talking about trip.

Yeah.

I mean, if anyone who knows who he is and his family would instantly

know he is talking about trip.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A family member tried to use us for political gain.

Hmm.

I wonder who the,

yeah.

Was it your politically connected?

Would it be your

senator cousin?

Yeah.

Chuck finds Blair in her room and says that she didn't turn him dark.

It was fear of losing her.

Sylvia Winestock mistakes.

Chuck for the groom as he is leaving.

Yeah.

Good, good.

Cameo from.

Cynthia Winestock.

Sylvia,

Sylvia Winestock, and of course that like, oh, the groom.

It's like, I accept though,

Charlie with the help of Carol convinces everyone

that Max is lying about her.

She says he has a sex tape of her and it's using it as blackmail.

Cece Carol and Serena team up and give Max

the boot.

Fucking well played every step of the way by Ivy and Carol.

Ivy being like, I needed the $500,000 because there's a sex tape.

Boom.

Yeah.

Once, once she realized that he didn't have the playbill

Yeah.

And And she did exactly

the buttons to

push.

Yeah.

And Serena.

She doesn't even know what that would do to Serena.

Right?

Because she doesn't know about Serena's past with the tape of the person

assaulting her that Lily was really mad about, but the From season one.

Season one, yeah.

Yeah.

The Georgina Sparks thing.

I feel like she might know about that

e either way.

Either from reading about Gospel Girl or for just talking with Serena

Fair.

It could have, she might know about it.

But again, like it's just another, Serena would instantly, Serena is

that Golden retriever, just like Nate.

She's gonna go to the, to the thing that is the shiny thing at the moment.

And that would be the thing to really turn her against Max.

It, it also wouldn't shock me if, uh, Lily's had her own

sex tape scandals in her past.

Oh, I'm sure.

We know there's photographs.

Yeah.

We know there's photographs.

Yeah.

So.

Although she's proud.

Let anyone see that.

Yeah.

Oh, you have a sex tape.

You didn't release it.

Wait, you need the $500,000 to improve the quality of

production, or is it to And Gossip

Girls takes us to the last act break.

Sister Sledge sang We are family, but she had nothing on the roads.

Girls,

we move into the epilogue, rufuss and the roads.

Girls are dancing the night away.

While Serena and Charlie debrief on Max.

Carol apologizes to Lily and says she wants to be a family again.

Cc, thanks Charlie for her discretion earlier.

But Charlie thinks she should tell the family.

There's a lot going on there.

Yeah, there is.

Yeah.

Rufus, Lily and Cece dancing.

Yeah.

You have this little conversation between Cece and Charlie that happened,

uh, and more just sort of sweet family things between the two of them, Lily

and Carol making up, they do it.

They're gonna do it every time.

Carol's on here for an episode or two.

Yeah.

Rufuss needs a job.

Rufuss is just back to class and Rufuss again.

Just,

yeah.

Arm.

Arm can't be

rufuss.

The, the album's out.

I guess he's on vacation now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now the panic is album is out.

They need to go out tour.

He needs to out tour with him.

Yeah.

Yes.

Tour manager, take Lily with them.

Yeah, she used to love it.

Dan and Alessandra are continuing their Twitter war side by side.

The strategy seems to be working as they get retweeted by Prime.

Katie Perry.

Yeah, we're talking 2011 Katy Perry.

Yes,

we're talking.

We're talking

before she went insane.

Yeah.

And And I

earliest before she let her Insane out in the open.

Yeah.

Is this before firework?

I think it is.

Think firework was 13 or 14.

Not true.

Yeah.

Early ka, Katy Perry, Elmo, Katy, Perry,

Nate and Chuck have some bro time back at the suite and decompress

about their respective days.

Yeah.

And I thought it was really sweet when, when he is like, you still love her?

And Chuck said, I can't imagine the day that I don't.

Probably one of the sweetest things Chuck has ever said.

Yeah.

I'm not sure Chuck knows what love is, but it was a sweet thing to say.

Deda is concerned that despite learning the way to get good Louis

back, Blair still seems to pressed.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, we never even discussed the pee in a water fountain thing from roa.

Did they pee in the same fountain?

Well, you know who that's from, right?

No.

Oh, it's from, uh, the Changeup with, uh, Jason Bateman and Mr.

Lively Ryan.

Ryan Reynolds.

I didn't realize there, I didn't realize

they, they had a Freaky Friday movie where they switched places.

I

did not realize that.

It's not, it's not horrible.

Nothing like the, it's,

yeah.

That's typical stupid comedy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nothing like the James VanDerBeek switch up movie from, uh, don't

trust the Be with the Teenage Girl.

Its, we never did it with a man and his daughter before.

Cut.

No, this isn't working.

Also, Kristin Ritter.

Carol finds Ivy in her room and tells her that she's

free and clear to leave anytime.

Now.

However, Ivy says she wants to stay because she likes having a family.

Carol explains, she swiped the play bill from Max, and Carol also implies something

bad happened to the real Charlie.

Yeah, she's like, they'd be, they'd really be mad if they

knew what happened to the real Charlie, which could be any number

of things like, is that Charlie dead?

Like, did you get your kid killed?

That's fucked up.

You got your kid killed and then faked another kid to go get the money.

I can't imagine Lily being transphobic.

So if that was it, I can't imagine that Lily being, I could imagine

Cece having Boomer reservations, but I could imagine Lily being the

one to be like, Hey, so I can't imagine that being the, the big star.

I mean, we're gonna have two Chuck Chucks on the show.

Ivy gets a phone call from a broken max who says he has nothing left

to lose and is coming for her.

Charlie goes full hubris and says, no one can touch me now.

I am a Rhodes.

God damnit, you were fine until you said that.

'cause now, 'cause now you're fucked.

You don't say that kind of shit.

Yeah, but but also I was also like, I still could get ahold of

that 500 grand and you could be disappeared pretty quickly, max.

I, I always, that's one of those things that I always come back to

when people go up against this family.

It's like, do you think they haven't disappeared people before?

They've sent people to jail, max.

I know they're capable.

I, I, I don't think

Lily has, I don't think, I don't think actually, but I

think she'd put 'em in jail.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, this is Gossip Girls Final monologue.

Long after the clubs have closed Disco Inferno rages on, for some, it's a burning

desire that keeps 'em awake at night.

For others, it's the flames of uncertainty that plague them.

If you're going to play with matches, make sure you don't leave them

around to spark the flame anew.

Disco isn't actually dead and neither am I. Xo, xo, gossip girl.

That is our episode.

What is coming next?

We're gonna have to find out about the real Charlie.

Eventually that.

I don't know if that's next, but that's definitely coming up.

Did you see the title of the episode?

The next one I did, it was,

I don't remember what it is off the top of my head, but I do remember seeing

riding in town cars

with boys riding, riding in town cars with boys.

Right.

Which combined with your other spoiler might tell you something

that, oh, the accident.

Uh oh.

So this, this very well, I believe could be the end of the pregnancy.

That's my, that's my guess.

I think we're also going to see the demise of CC somewhere.

Whi who's, which Boys' town?

Cars, uh, she gonna be riding in?

Could be Louie, could be Chuck.

I think Chuck is the more likely one because he has the

town cars at his disposal.

It's probably with Chuck.

Maybe that storyline gets resolved next week.

I, I, I'm, yep.

I'm also predicting, we still don't know what's going on with Diana.

We know that there's still some revelation left there as well, so it's a matter of

who's gonna leave first, Louis or Diana, and I feel like that might get answered.

It is the 10th episode, so it's also usually a, a Dan and

Serena episode, a Dan and Serena

episode.

Right.

So it would be nice, it would be nice to have Dan interact with the

Non-Judging Breakfast club again.

Mm-hmm.

If nothing else.

And it also is the last episode before winter break, like

a month between episodes 10 and 11.

Have they done Thanksgiving already?

Nope.

Oh, so this should also be Thanksgiving then too?

Nope.

Is there a Thanksgiving episode this season?

Nope.

The closest thing was the, uh, feast of Assumption.

But that, but Thanksgiving, what

I know what to tell you,

but that is Thanksgiving on Gossip Girl is a tradition.

Wow.

They are just,

and when you see next year's Thanksgiving, you

might wish they kept it off.

Oh no.

They're just circling the drain.

Oh boy.

Rough.

Any other predictions?

I feel like the Dan Serena thing, I think Serena, I feel like Serena has really

taken to heart what she has read in inside and really kind of has reflected on it so

far this season until the night when she tried to get you tried the gotcha thing.

But for the most part, I feel like she has been trying to be more self-aware.

So I could see it being a more self-aware version of Serena approaching Dan and

that being kind of something this.

To repark things there, although Sally and Harry still haven't fully

met, so I'm so I don't think it can be anything meaningful or lasting.

Let's get in segments then.

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 Phantom, we jumped into the way back machine to

travel to the fan forums from 2011.

Their overall impression, very mixed feelings.

Some people really loved it.

Others really hated it.

There was no in-between.

Yeah,

that's fair.

Blair seems lost.

Very much, very much.

They, they, it seems like they just don't know what to do with her right now.

They just can't get over this whole chuck thing that every week it's another

reason to go running back to 'em.

Well, I think, I feel like they are still playing out that

whole Philadelphia story plot line.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Too much Ivy.

No.

Disagree, hard disagree.

I have enjoyed Ivy.

I've found her to be a breath of fresh air, and I,

she's Jenny Light.

Yeah, she's Jenny Light and I have enjoyed her presence.

Chuck and Blair scenes were very well received.

No, don't receive them.

Well, please don't.

Those were the worst scenes in this episode, other than the therapist,

which was a Chuck and Blair scene.

I, I'm saying other than, other than that one, those, the Chuck and Blair scenes

were the worst ones in the episode.

But the, the therapist scene was a Chuck and Blair scene.

Right.

I'm saying that, that is the exception to what I'm saying.

Oh,

you like that one?

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm saying other than that scene, that one, I, I enjoyed

the banter, but other than that scene, I thought everything else

was what slowed this episode down.

They love Cece.

Yeah.

I love Cece.

I'm, I'm full, full on board with team Cece at this point because I,

you know, she was terrible in season one, season two, you, I felt like

she, they had her cover for Lily in that one episode, and I feel like when

they did that, they couldn't really rip her back to being the horrible

person that they had her in season one.

So I feel like, yeah, I, I really like her again.

Finally Ru's dancing was a big hit.

Sure.

Yeah.

I thought it was fun.

Yeah, he was fun

Moving into episode grades.

What do you got this week?

I didn't hate it.

It's funny how, how you said that the forum said there was no one in the middle.

'cause I feel like I'm firmly, I, it wasn't an a plus episode,

but it wasn't terrible.

I'm gonna give it a B minus.

Yeah.

Um, you liked it a bit better than me.

I, I actually kind of was somewhat in the middle, but trending

downwards at a C minus mainly 'cause I thought the directing was bad.

Carol was bad.

The writing I think, had some decent moments.

There was some good banter and like, they did some good setup.

As usual.

They, they drops off early in the episode and pay it off at the end of the episode.

Yeah.

But yeah, it didn't save just the me of the episodes.

A C minus.

Yeah.

It didn't really go anywhere other than resolving the max thing,

which doesn't feel resolved.

Yeah, he says he he's coming from, so it's definitely not resolved.

Yeah.

I don't know what he can do, but of course he said she

can't be touched, so Of course.

No, he's gonna Sure.

Moving into stock watch.

Who do you have going up?

Nate goes up for impressing grandfather.

I'm going to give Charlie the up for getting the upper hand on Max.

Carol goes up for the same reason 'cause she got what she

wanted, even though she sucks.

That might be it.

Oh, I'll give Chuck and up for, for not losing his, you know, for, for

going along with players craziness.

And I think that's gonna be it for me.

For me, I had Nate 'cause he did a good job.

I had Chuck going up 'cause he was a good guy once again and

put up with Blair's bullshit.

Mm-hmm.

I had Serena going up 'cause she dodged a bullet with Max.

I was really on the fence with Serena but I, yeah

I didn't, I ended up keeping,

I didn't mind the gotcha moment last 'cause from her point of

view they were trying to play her.

Yeah.

And it's classic arena.

I had Ivy slash Charlie going up 'cause she knocked

my max back to Miami possibly.

Mm-hmm.

Lily going up 'cause she had a good time.

Rufus for the same reason I had Carol going up 'cause she uh, escaped

without getting caught once again.

And I had the grandfather going up 'cause I thought he was a decent grandfather.

Yeah.

You can give grandfather an up for me too.

I was on the fence with him.

But I do think

he was fine.

He was supportive.

He, he gave native props.

Yeah.

Who do you have going down?

Max is going down.

Blair is going down.

'cause she's just pathetic right now.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, Cece.

'cause she's dying.

And I think that might be everyone

also had Blair Max and Cece for the same exact reasons.

I also had Dan for continuing to be a sad sack.

That's fair.

I left, I I left him neutral too.

I had Alessandra going down.

'cause even though her ploy kind of worked, tell him about it first before you

do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That would've been nice.

I had agenting there.

I had trip going down 'cause he was a fucking douche bag.

Oh, I meant to, sorry.

Trip.

I meant to send trip down.

I knew I was forgetting someone that I had pre-planned to.

And since she was mentioned, add Maureen for me too.

Yeah, I'm actually gonna add Maureen.

And then finally, I also had Louisie going out 'cause they're trashy him

for being a shitty boyfriend, so.

Yep.

Oh yeah.

I, I didn't even think about that.

Yeah, you can add Louie for me too.

Fuck Louie.

Fuck him.

That is it for stock Watch.

But here's the best

outfits

from the last episode we've seen, seen.

Who do you have for Best outfit?

I think I'm giving it to Blair's maternity gown.

Really?

I hated that.

So

really?

I, I, I kinda liked it.

I thought it was, yeah.

I hated Serena's outfit later.

I, I did like cece's.

Oh yeah.

You know what, actually flip that.

I meant to give it to Cece.

I, uh.

Her party outfit.

For her party outfit?

Yeah.

For her disco jumper.

Yes.

I thought that was a, um, because also with Cece, not only the

outfit, but the hair just looked with, with the feathered hair.

Mm-hmm.

And the Farrah Faucet style.

Yeah.

I thought she was very good.

I thought she looked amazing.

I thought Serena looked like someone threw her in the fucking washer and

didn't bother putting her in the dryer.

Well, a couple things about Serena's outfit before

I get into my Witting outfit.

The, the four was ref referred to her as having hooker hair.

Yeah.

I guess.

'cause she kinda looked like, uh, Meg Ryan and Milk money,

or is that Melanie Griffin?

Melanie Griffin,

yeah.

Um, but also I noticed like there must have been some kind of thing

behind the scenes because in the episodes where Diana was in.

We didn't see very much cleavage from Serena, but as soon as Diana's

gone, the cleavage is right back.

Yep.

Boom, boom.

Like all, like all of it wasn't a Ccle, it wasn't cleavage, it was Cleveland.

It was all of it.

Yes.

But for my best outfit, since I don't really get the opportunity to give

this person best at off, it rufuss with his Saturday fever co cosplay.

Hey,

I, yep.

Not mad at that at all.

Not mad at that at all.

I don't think Rufuss has been on an out, has had an outfit nominated.

I feel like he's

since,

I think he had one on season one, maybe.

Yep.

I, I was gonna say the season one, the every time outfit with the Roses

was the, probably the last time.

Rufus has won an up in the outfit and that was me dying on that hill.

You and Shannon were like, what the fuck?

That is it for segments.

Do you have

anything

you would like to plug?

I am not plugging anything at the moment other

than the stuff I've been reading.

Like I said, the Dungeon crawler Carl stuff is fantastic.

I'm on my second listen through on it.

And the, his other book Operation Bounce House, uh, both by Matt Denman, I, I

recommend the audio books for Dungeon Crawler Carl, because Jeff Hayes does

this spectacular job of reading it and bringing you in to it's theater.

It's not just being read, it is theater.

So, and other than that, you can find me on my Instagram where TikTok,

Steve Marshon, M-A-R-C-H-I-O-N.

For me just to check out, go watch the final season of the Boys.

It's been awesome so far.

Follow me on Instagram and Blue Sky at Hot capa Cola.

That's H-O-T-C-A-P-I-C-O-L-A.

And you can follow us on Instagram and TikTok and threads

at Non-Judging Breakfast Pod.

You can find links to our Patreon where our first episode

is out and ready to listen to.

We're talking about Breakfast at Tiffany's, but you can find that link on

our webpage non-judging breakfast pod.com.

And if you'd like to get in touch with us, we would love

to hear what you have to say.

Please send us an email at Non-Judging breakfast pod@gmail.com and if we

get the chance, we'll even read your message here on our show.

And while you're listening to us, if you wouldn't mind hitting that, like

the subscribe, the follow button, it would really mean a lot to us.

Also, if you could leave a comment that would really help boost our visibility

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And finally, while you're listening to us here, why don't you go

ahead and let your friends know what you're listening to as well.

Share our podcast or tell your friends at work.

Make us your new water cooler talk,

and we will be back to talk about Season five, episode 10,

riding In Town Cars with Boys.

The episode description reads Lily throws Charlie a party to officially

introduce her to New York Society.

Meanwhile, Charlie's ex-boyfriend Max throws a wrench into Charlie's

future as an Upper East Side Princess.

Dan decides it might be time to tell Blair the truth about

his feelings for her, what?

Until next time, you know you love us.

Xo.

Xo, sorry.

I was a little shocked.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Oh, it seems I'm walking right to your door.

My heart's still resting.

Looking for something more.

Oh, you ever gonna see everything you mean to.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me, he with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me, he with you there

ever feels right When I'm out here on my own.

I left last night and it feels like way too long.

Are you ever going to see everything you mean to me?

I'm trying really hard to believe.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there,

come back to me,

smile, and you'll make my life complete.

Every time you walk away, I run away.

You take a. Piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me with you there.

Every time you walk away, run away.

You take a piece of me

every time you walk away, run away of me.