☕ Episode Overview

This week on Non-Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve break down Gossip Girl Season 4, Episode 17: “Empire of the Son,” an episode packed with daddy issues, secret affidavits, emotional implosions, and one very frozen kiss. From Bart Bass’s legacy of trauma to Serena’s worst decision-making instincts, the guys unpack one of the most pivotal episodes of Season 4.

With corporate warfare at the Empire, friendships tested, and a romantic line crossed that can’t be uncrossed, this episode marks a major tonal shift as the show heads into a long hiatus.

🔮 Predictions & Speculation

1. Is Bart Bass really dead… or just Gossip Girl dead?
2. How long can Dan and Blair pretend this was “just curiosity”?
3. What happens now that Lily has turned herself in?
4. Is Serena about to pivot straight back into old patterns?

📝 Episode Grade

1. Steve: B+
2. Leif: B (upgraded to a B+ emotionally once Ben exits the chat)

🥓 Final Thoughts

“Empire of the Son” is a turning-point episode—emotionally heavier, more character-driven, and finally rewarding long-term tension (even if it leaves us painfully blue-balled). With major reveals, evolving dynamics, and the promise of chaos ahead, this is peak Gossip Girl momentum heading into hiatus.

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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.

I think we all know Nate is like Pete Rose when it

comes to getting laid.

I think. I think Nate asks for consent, but.

He dives in head first.

But he dives in head first. But yes, I agree with

that part.

Hey, Upper East Siders, and all you scandalous

listeners out there, you just tuned into the non

judging breakfast pod where the coffee is strong,

the waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter

than ever. My name is Leif and I'm, um, your

seasoned Gossip Girl veteran.

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

rookie, the. What are we saying now that I'm in

season 4? Leif, shut it down. What?

This. Olvis, shut it down.

So here's the deal, folks. Leaf has been watching

Gossip Girl since it first aired, and I'm diving

in for the first time. And together, we're your

dynamic duo, bringing you all the drama, romance,

and sometimes questionable fashion choices of this

iconic 2007 series.

Bring your magnifying glasses, because each week

we're dissecting every juicy detail of the show

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

tea. And expect some iconic phantom moments too,

because what's a deep dive without a little drama?

And since we are all about inclusivity here 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 or a cup of coffee or go

ahead and roll up whatever Nate has this week. And

let's get into this, uh, before.

We get to the episode, I hear you had a milestone

on the way up here.

Yes, my. My car reached 100,000 miles right when I

parked right here in front of the. Right here in

front of your place.

Any particular, uh, memories over those 100,000

miles that stand out?

What's really funny is I. I, uh, remember when I

first got the car and I went up to my annual

homecoming retreat up in Lockhaven with all my

friends and all my fraternity brothers. And five,

uh, after being there for about 20 minutes, I

needed to get something from my car. And when I

went out and I couldn't get the new key fob that

went with the car to work. And I kept trying and

figured out that this isn't my car. And I realized

that I knew how I was going to get arrested that

weekend. It was going to be trying to get into

many other people's cars because that was me

sober. And I knew that There is a long weekend

ahead of me of trying to remember which car was

mine, but. Yeah. But other than that, watching

both Jake and Emily drive in it at one point or

another was also a super cool thing. Like,

watching your kid drive is really cool and

extraordinarily nerve wracking. But more cool than

nerve wracking.

It made me think of that, uh, How I Met yout

Mother episode where they have. They show, like,

all the flashback to all the memories they had

with the car. Yeah, yeah.

With the, uh.

I. Uh-huh.

Would walk 5,100 miles. Yeah. The. The Proclaimers

song. Who's stuck in the cassette player?

Well, now that we've bored everyone, we are

actually here to talk about Gossip girl.

Yes.

Season four, episode 17, Empire of the Sun.

Yes.

Original air date was February 28, 2011 and so the

spelling of the episode is sun, as in father and

son. But it's based on a movie called Empire of

the sun within the Rising Sun.

Yes, yes.

S U N. Yes. Uh, which is described as a young

English boy struggles to survive under Japanese

occupation of China during World War II. Directed

by Steven Spielberg and starring Christian Bale,

John Malkovich, and Miranda Richardson. Damn.

I did not realize that Christian Bale was in that,

because I think I saw that movie. What is it,

like, 80.

87.

87, I think.

So he would have been like, a kid.

Yeah, I think I saw that movie in the theater.

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, he was. Yeah. I mean, the

movie was like, there is this young emperor kid,

but there's this. An American kid or maybe a

British kid who was. Who befriended him. I think

it may have been a British kid. Again. Like, I saw

this in the theater, so I was nine.

Yeah.

But. Yeah, And I believe this came out around the

time of. What's the Eddie Murphy movie?

Beverly Hills Cop.

No, no, no.

48 hours.

No, the one where he. Where he goes on a trip on,

like, a mystical Asian adventure. Uh, I got the

knife.

Yeah. I should talk about that. The Golden Child.

Golden Child, Yeah. So these two movies kind of

also hold similar places in my brain, and I don't

know which ones are which, because I was. Again, I

was nine and a much more racist.

I haven't seen Empire of the Slime, but I feel

like it's a very different movie.

Very. Oh, my God. It's a completely different

movie. It's just that because I saw these two

movies that were. It's like one was almost a

parody of the other. Uh, but it wasn't, you know,

it was just Very similar themes. So it's like. Oh,

is that the. No, no, that's not the Eddie Murphy

one.

So this episode of Gossip Girl is written by

Robert hall, who's done quite a few episodes

already. Season 2, he did X Files, It's a

Wonderful Lie, the Grandfather, and in season

three, the Lost Boy, the Treasure of Serena Madre

with Joshua Saffron, uh, the lady vanished and Dr.

Estranged love. And then so far this season he did

Goodbye Columbia and Gaslit Once Again with Joshua

Safran. So his two best episodes were co written.

Yeah.

And then a mix of decent to not, uh, so decent

episodes.

Yeah, and he's had some really bad ones too. Which

one with Gaslit just happened.

Yes, the one, uh, that's the one where.

Oh, that's like the last good one of season four.

That's the one where Jenny leaves. Right. Like

that's the one where everything comes out.

Yes, everything comes out. Yeah. Serena's in the

Ostros Center. She just woke up.

Yeah. Yes, yes. Being drugged. Yeah, yeah.

The great scene with Dan and Lily at the loft.

Mhm. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you had the

convergence at the end where they all confront

Juliet. Is that that one too? No, uh, or that was

the two or three episodes.

Yeah, that was you at the opera, you mean? Yeah,

that was, uh, like episode eight, maybe.

Oh, okay.

This episode was directed by David Warren. It's

his first of three episodes. Uh, but his longtime

tv, uh, director worked on Ugly Betty, Weeds,

Desperate Housewives, the 90210 reboot, Carrie

Diaries, iZombie, Grayson, Frankie. Pretty wide,

solid.

Some solid credits there too.

Why don't you give us that vulture recap?

Okay. Uh, fathers have played a dark and terrible

role in many works of art. They can be scheming,

indifferent, cruel, or merely hapless. And Gossip

Girl is no exception. In last night's episode,

Raina finds out that her father, despite his

cuckold family man, main and midwestern love of

hot dogs, actually is as scheming and conniving as

any given billionaire businessman. For instance,

Chuck Bass. Meanwhile, on a father son coffee date

that stretches into lunch, Dan can't tell Rufus,

who is like his best friend, about his friendship

with Blair. It is because he's scared he might

have feelings for Blair or because his father is

wearing the rolled jeans of the creative

judgmental. Maybe a little of both. It appears

later in the episode when Rufus makes a snotty

remark about how crazy it would be if the secret

relationship Dan was going on about was with

Blair. Obviously, Rufus Raised him with more sense

and morals than to involve himself with a rich,

scheming bee like that. Dan Humphrey pays for his

glibness later when Billy Baldwin swashbuckles

into town all tasseled helicopter hair and long

legs and not looking at all sorry about his

earlier attempt to break up Rufus and Lily's

marriage to assert himself as man of the house now

that Lily has sent herself to prison. But as

usual, it is Chuck who suffers the worst paternal

insult. This time, Bart Bass has betrayed him from

beyond the grave, which we are to understand from

his copious scotch drinking at the end of the

episode is the most frustrating kind of betrayal.

Most likely because you can't tell. You can't yell

you never loved me at someone who is dead. Well,

you can, but usually by the time you get in the

car and drive out to the grave site and you have

A, already calmed down about it, and B, realize

the gesture is super derivative. Why Chuck chose

to take the very weird and improbable information

given to him from a boozed up Russell Thorpe, his

father's sworn rival, instead of, you know, at

least nexiting on it or something is confusing.

Nexus. Nexusing. Um, is that a reference to

something that I'm missing?

I, I'm not sure. It's capital.

It's the capital N. Yeah. Weird.

Guessing it is, but yeah, I don't know.

My phone made it through the Vulture recap, which

is really good.

Nice.

And now I don't need it.

And it was a long one, but it was a pretty good

one, though.

Yeah. Yeah, it was.

We open Act 1 in media res. A somber Lily and

Rufus are walking up a grand staircase to meet

some lawyers at the top.

And right here it's like, oh, wow, Lily's turning

herself in. Like, that's cool. But then flashback.

I've never been to court in New York City, but I'm

guessing that is some kind of recognizable

courthouse.

I would assume so.

I, I, that's a very nice architecture.

I would, I would even go as far as to say it's

probably one of those buildings that is so cool

looking. And it's probably all offices at this

point. No actual courtrooms, because you see that

in Phillies. I'm like, all the courthouses in

Philly are just buildings that are very, uh,

they're not as big and beautiful. But City hall,

that no longer has any courtrooms. That's where

you would want to shoot any court. That's where I

think they shot the court scenes for like

Philadelphia and stuff like that.

And Then we go to 12 hours earlier and with a

Gossip Girl narration. They say Rome wasn't built

in a day, and yet, what a difference a day makes.

We see a much happier Rufus and Lily having

breakfast on the tv. We see Chuck ringing the bell

at the New York Stock Exchange. Nate and Raina are

making googly eyes at each other. Serena dismisses

a missed call notification from Vanessa before

walking into Blair's room, who is also watching

Chuck at the stock exchange. A little quick, uh,

montage at the open the episode.

Yeah, yeah, I thought that was also kind of funny

with Chuck, like young bass. Young Mr. Bass

ringing the bell.

Yeah. We move downstairs and the besties are

having breakfast being served by a skeptical

Dorota. Blair is acting very Zen despite having a

pretty bad week last episode. Serena is concerned

that Ben stopped communicating right after they

had sex for the first time. After Sarina leaves,

Dorota confronts Blair about being too content.

Blair, trying to save face, orders Dorota to go

pick up her cocktail dress for Chuck's party

tonight. Once Dorota leaves, Blair texts someone.

The coast is clear. Come over.

Ben is the shittiest fucking person on the planet.

Like the fact that he doesn't have any response to

her and I. We know why, but it's also like, you

can't drop her a text. Yeah. Can't be like, yo, I

can't talk. My mom's here. So Serena being a

little upset here makes sense. Uh, but I also. I

love Blair's Zen here. Mhm. And this. We didn't

get to Dorota confronting her yet, Right?

Ah, well, she confronts her about being too

content.

Yes. Yeah. It's so good when she's like,

something's wrong. You haven't yelled at me. Yeah.

And she's like, well, here's something I'll yell

at you about. You haven't picked up my dress from

Chuck's party yet. And it was. And Dorota just

having that look of like, I'm on to you, like, so

just her suspicion was so good. I really loved the

foils of Rufus and Dorota in this episode.

Uh, Chuck enters Russell's office looking for

Reina. Chuck, ever the multitasker, decides to do

a little gloating, but Russell brushes it off and

hints at having one last card up his sleeve.

Something that I've kind of picked up from Robin

is she tells me all the time that in Jewish

custom, you don't celebrate something before it

happens. And when Chuck is like, yeah, I'm going

to close this big Deal tomorrow. So I'm going to

have a huge party tonight. It's like, bruh, uh,

like, close the deal first. Close the deal, then

have a big party.

Yeah. Reyna asked Nate if he told Chuck about them

yet. Nate says he hasn't. Serena gives him the

option of backing out or diving in head first. I

think we all know Nate is like Pete Rose when it

comes to getting laid.

I think. I think Nate asks for consent, but.

He dives in head first.

But he dives in head first. But, yes, I agree with

that part. Uh, oh, yeah. I like them together, so

I thought it was nice.

They're fine.

Yeah. I mean, Nate is always going to just be

boring when he's in a relationship, but, like,

it's cute.

Dan has arrived at Blair's to go to the Joseph

boys exhibit. Blair is still planning, uh,

entrance and exit strategies to present a layer of

plausible deniability. When Dorota calls out

looking for Blair, and she ushers Dan out of the

bathroom into Serena's room. Dorota enters and is

wondering who Blair was talking to. Blair deflects

the question and says she will come to the

cleaners with Dorota. As Blair walks out to get

her coat, Dorota spots Dan's New York magazine. He

left a moment earlier.

This scene was perfection. Like, I loved every bit

of it. I loved the banter between the two of them,

having an exit strategy and an excuse for why they

would have run into each other at the same place.

The plausible deniability. And then kicking him

into Serena's room. And Dorota coming in and just

Doroda being totally sus is so great.

And what are you speaking to?

Yeah, maybe it's your sixth sense hearing voices.

Yeah, it was perfection.

Daniel Humphrey.

Yes, the full government name, too. Daniel

Humphrey. Which. And even I, uh, I can't wait. I

love. I love Dorota.

In this whole episode, Serena goes to the loft to

find out why Ben has been dodging her. However,

Ben doesn't invite her in because his mom is

visiting and he hasn't told her about him and

Serena. Gossip Girl begins quipping as the scene

shifts to Lily getting her dry cleaning back along

with an orange jumpsuit.

No, here. Why don't we just have lunch at my place

on nice, neutral ground where I can, like, let's

go to my penthouse apartment.

Uh, that's actually after the commercial.

Oh, is it after the commercial?

This is where he's like, oh, this is Serena. She's

friends with my roommate Dan.

Yeah. Yeah. There was Another part here.

That's so fucked up, man.

Yeah. Yeah. And there was something else in that

scene, and I wish I could remember it, but I'll

try to find it for the postscript. There was

something else that, like, really hit me in their

conversation, where it's like, serena, what the

fuck?

Then we see Lily getting the jumpsuit.

Yeah. From. From Russell. Which, like, Russell,

like, good move. Yeah, Good, good move.

And this is kind of what Gossip Girl said in

between those two scenes. Sorry, S. Looks like

your sweetheart's mom is still a little sour. But

when it comes to life's bitter pills, the hardest

to swallow is a taste of your own medicine. Holy

mixed metaphors, Batman. We move into Act 2. Ben,

still out in the hall with Serena, explains why he

didn't tell Serena his mom was here. Serena

suggests lunch. Just the three of them.

Yeah. So this is. You know, let's just go back to

a nice, neutral place and have lunch. The three of

you can go to any place in the city, and you

choose to take her to your home to impress

somebody who hates you. And largely why she hates

you is because your family used your monumental

wealth to put her kid in jail. And so just the

detachment of Serena to be like, let's just go.

Let me just go get lunch at my place. By the way,

while I'm ordering, I'm not going to ask you if

you have any food allergies, so don't. Then don't

tell me if there's anything you can't eat now that

I'm placing an order for food. And also. Yeah,

like, order there. Why are you. A lot of this

episode I really liked. There's so much I like.

The stuff that I didn't like was the. Why, like,

why would you do that dumb shit? And this is one

of those things.

But I don't think that's necessarily bad writing

for Serena.

Uh, yeah, I don't think it's out of Serena's

character. I mean, it's a very Serena thing to do.

Oh, I'll just show you how great I am by taking

you to my house. That's not really my house.

That's not your house, Serena.

That's Blair's house.

Yeah, that's Blair's house.

I guess that's why it's somewhat neutral. Yeah,

it's not even really her ass. She just has a room

there because.

She'S technically actually homeless.

Well, she's not. I mean, she has a room there.

She's. She. I mean, she has a room there, but she

doesn't really have, like, but she, like, lives

with Blair.

Yeah.

So, like, it's not like if at any given moment,

Blair could just kick her out.

Although, like we said recently, she has enough

money in her trust fund that she can.

Yeah. Just buy anything. Yeah, go.

Like, Eric was about to write a hundred thousand

dollar check like it was nothing.

Right? Yeah, Eric. Yeah, Eric was just. And her

and their mom was like, no, I'll do that. Like,

she was saying, like, oh, no, I'll buy lunch this

week for 100 grand. That he was just like, on. On

the day his. He can get into it, you know, he can

get to his trust.

And Lily thought that was a reasonable amount for,

like, some, uh, amount of drugs.

Yeah. Yeah. How much can one banana cost?

Lily and Chuck are discussing the jumpsuit and

decide Russell must be behind it. However, if he

had actual proof, he would have moved already.

Chuck suggests Lily take a closer look at Ben

while he investigates some other leads. Yeah, that

was a little bit of a loose plot, Right. Because

what other leads did he investigate?

Yeah, yeah.

Not that we needed more Chuck, but.

No, but. But, like, it was just sort of.

Uh, I want to go home and smoke some weed.

Right. Yeah, you.

You go do some work.

Well, and also, actually, you know, the other

leads that I. I bet what he was. I wonder if we're

supposed to be thinking that he does. Isn't going

to look at other leads, but he wants to go

confront Nate about the Raina thing. Gonna follow

a lead to Nate's.

So, I mean, by your reasoning, Nate is also

homeless.

Yes.

Because he's living with Chuck.

Yes. Although Nate does own an apartment somewhere

between Columbia and nyu.

Did he buy that or did he rent that?

Oh, I don't know. I don't know. Well, and the

other side of that is also that. Well, yeah, I

mean, by that logic, although I feel like Nate is

a little bit more autonomous, but, uh, but, like,

yeah, if Chuck was mad right now, he could just be

like, get out. Yeah, but again, like, any one of

them could stay at any place in the entire city

that they want to. Oh, I'm just gonna rent out the

roof of the plaza.

Dan invites Rufus to coffee to ask vague advice

about his situationship with Blair. When he

doesn't like what Rufus has to say, he decides to

blow Blair off to make the coffee a lunch.

It's so great. Like, what? No, I don't have

feelings for her. I don't even need to go see her.

Look, let's go have lunch right now. Like, it was

Absolutely. Great.

Yeah.

As we know, the Blair's doing the same thing right

now to going to the cleaners because. Yeah. So

good.

Dorota and Blair are also walking together. After

Blair deflects a series of probing questions,

Dorota comes right out and shows her Dan's

magazine and accuses her of having an affair with

lonely Boy. When Dorota demands they tell Serena,

Blair also decides to blow off the quasi date with

Dan.

Yeah. I loved that Dorota called him Lonely boy.

You and lonely boy are having an affair? It was.

Which. The only time that that's really come up is

on Gossip Girl, so you just know that Dorota is,

like, catching up on Gossip Girl or Gossip Girl.

Wow.

She. They're always quiet. They. You know, people

always say too much in front of people that are.

That, you know, that they see as.

That's true. That is true. Serena has invited Ben

and his mother over to the Waldorf apartment for

lunch, but things are going awkwardly. Serena

excuses herself when she gets an urgent text from

Lily. Lily wants. Serena asked Ben if he told

anyone about the affidavit.

Yeah.

Yeah. This is where you get the lactose

intolerant.

Yeah. Yes. And.

And I guess we're having salads.

Yeah. You didn't think. If someone's like, hey,

I'm gonna get lunch.

What do you like?

What do you like? And also, though, okay, if

you're ordering nothing with dairy, please. Both

ends of this is a very simple conversation that.

Oh, my God.

I mean, it is like a trope to get pizza when

you're in New York City. I guess.

Mhm.

But yeah, I mean, it would. Would have been smart

to ask first.

Yeah. Yeah.

But again, a total Serena thing to do.

It is a very Serena thing to do. Everybody likes

what I like. Also, I think that might be the first

time we've seen the meat pizza on the show and

they didn't even eat it. And also, Serena, you're

not lactose intolerant. You and Ben aren't. Go

ahead and eat the pizza. And why do you have two

pizzas for three people?

Because they have one slice of each and then throw

the rest out.

Yes. Yes. There's one pepperoni, one mushroom.

Uh, I see how these people prepare meals. Yes.

Would you care for a water? No.

Right into the trash. Lily is shocked and annoyed

when Vanessa shows up at the penthouse, but her

ears perk up when Vanessa reveals she has to tell

Serena something about Ben.

Yes, Lily, we're all annoyed when Vanessa shows

up. Um.

She'S not even A character anymore.

Yeah, yeah. She's just a plot device.

Ben admits to his mother that he and Serena are

dating, but she already knows she is against it

because as long as he is with Serena, there is no

hope of getting his name cleared. She excuses

herself to grab her purse before leaving. The

camera pulls out, and it's revealed that Serena

was eavesdropping on the conversation.

Not mad at mom here. She's not really wrong. Like,

you don't have a chance. Like, the person that you

want to be to deserve this other person you can't

be because you have to destroy her family to do

it. And when he's like, no, I'm not going to do

all that. I won't do that, and she's like, oh,

well, I think I left my purse upstairs in the

bedroom. Yep. Why were you. Why did you take them

on a tour upstairs to your room? Serene. Why did

you take his mom to your room?

But I guess the whole thing, you know, leaving

people's coats on the bed or something. But when

it's only three of them.

Well, and.

And I'm sure the Walters have a coat rack.

Well. But she does give her a tour of the entire

place because she says, oh, I'm so. I'm exhausted

from all the walking after seeing the entire, uh,

house. So she does make a dig about it being too

big of a place.

Blair and Dorota shopping trip is still ongoing,

but when Blair spots Dan, she pushes Dorota to go

grab them a table for l. Dan and Blair realize

they both stood each other up when Dan tells Blair

that Rufus will be coming out of the restaurant

behind him any minute. The two part ways.

Dan was stone cold in this whole scene. And it was

amazing the way he's like, yeah, I'm standing you

up. No, I'm standing you up. Yeah. Uh, but. And

she goes to explain. He goes, well, I'm just gonna

say that, uh, my dad is about to come out here,

and I don't see an exit strategy for you. We're

not done here. Yes, we are. But also on top of

that, their looks at each other, the fleeting

look, the looks on their faces when they're both

contemplating the gravity of that moment. I really

liked, uh, the acting in this, especially Blair

and Dan just really conveying so much in their

face. I should also make mention Blair's makeup in

this. The. That they have it very toned down to

make her almost look like she's not wearing

makeup, which, again, it's like she's not out

flirting. She's not out impressing people. She's

not out trying to look pretty. She's not trying to

impress this guy because she doesn't like him,

because she's just hanging out with him. So I

think that it was cool, cool, cool that they made

that note and how they toned down her makeup, too.

We get another Gossip Girl narration before going

to the break. Why would a friendship based on

fight suddenly end in flight? They say we only run

from the things that truly scare us.

Right on, Gossip Girl. Right on. Uh, I'll give her

that one.

That was a good one.

Yeah.

We move into Act 3 at the Empire. Chuck confronts

Nate and Reina about them being together. And Nate

admits that he likes Reina, and Reina likes him.

He's just talking to Nate first, right? Yeah,

yeah. But it's funny because, like, it's such a

good scene for these two because they've been here

before with Blair, where Nate almost strangled him

on the back of a car. And now you have. It's like,

bro, I talked you up. I did everything you wanted

me to do. Nothing has happened. I like her, so.

And she likes me.

Uh, and she likes me. And that's where we're at.

And, you know, Chuck being like, there's a knife

in my back. And he's like, hey, like, I'm not

trying to do this to you. This is just how. Where

we are. And then Chuck's like, okay, well, let me

just, you know, get one thing out of this. Which

then I'm like, oh, God, is he gonna manipulate

Nate? Is he gonna have Nate manipulate Reina as

they're starting to date? But even then, he

doesn't. He just wants to talk to her at the loft.

Blair tells Dan that the reason she stood him up

is because Dorota assumed them sneaking around

meant they were having an affair. They come up

with a plan to send a tip to Gossip Girl that a

big secret's going to come out at Chuck's party

tonight. So they reveal their friendship. It will

be underwhelming and quickly forgotten. It's a

piece of plaid.

It really is. Like, oh, wait, that's the big news.

They're friends. Like, it's actually a really.

It's a decent plan for these two. Uh, and, yeah,

it's, like, light scheming now.

It's pretty. Caught him for big news to come out

these parties. They weren't really thinking about

that. But, yeah, it was a good idea.

But for it to be something so minuscule, you know,

the hype being like, well, if Something always

comes out. You're right. But at the same time,

like, oh, and that's not even worth hyping.

Chuck meets with Reina and asks her to stop her

father from revealing Lily's dirty laundry. Yeah.

Happened.

Lily brings Vanessa to the Waldorf apartment to

tell Serena what she overheard from Ben last week.

Serena is doubtful, but when Vanessa leaves, Lily

tells Serena that she should believe her. Serena

reveals that she kept the affidavit, and when she

and Lily go to check its hiding place, they find

it missing.

Yeah. Smooth. You took it out of the safe.

Yeah.

And put it in your dresser drawer and then told

the guy who is most affected by it where it is.

You dumb asshole.

Pretty much.

Also, Vanessa, you also left out the bit about Ben

threatening to murder Damian. Yeah, yeah. He beat

up Nate's dad. Oh. And he threatened to kill a guy

if he did anything.

No one cares about Damien.

No. Oh, do you think he could have gotten it done?

Like Lily's like, oh, does he know people? Maybe I

should keep Ben around. Maybe I need Ben in my. In

my blackmail. In my blackmail account file.

And, uh, this is what Gossip Girl has to say about

it. Looks like the jury on Ben might be out after

all. We move into Act 4. Chuck enters the party of

the week to a sea of congratulations and photo

ops. After a quick speech, Chuck goes to Lily to

explain the plan to expose Thorpe to Reina.

Yeah. As far as Chuck plans go, it lines up and it

works so good. Good job. This was one of those,

like, they needed so much of this. They needed

big, heavy weight that they didn't have. It was

all of these big, dramatic things. It's like, uh,

it felt weak.

It appears Reyes most defining characteristic at

this point is she has firm boundaries. Once you

cross that boundary, she's done.

Yeah. Yeah. At least the third or fourth time you

cross it, she is done. And she also has always

maintained this family. Family, family thing.

Mhm. Apparently she's Vin Diesel from Fast and the

Furious.

Family.

Serena tells Lily that she hasn't heard from Ben,

but still thinks that she can stop him from if he

shows up tonight. Serena apologizes to Lily, but

Lily admits that everything is ultimately her. Her

responsibility.

Yeah.

This is the kind of the start of Lily finally

taking responsibility.

Yeah, Lily, I, uh, mean, Lily had a good episode

in Moral Standards. In Moral Standards in

parenting. Yeah. Her shit with the DA later too,

like, was super good. And like, Kelly Rutherford

had a good episode too. But yeah, this. Her taking

ownership. And you know, she also did last week.

Was it last week with the trust fund, where, you

know, when she paid off Damien instead, uh, like,

she did start showing that, like, accountability,

but here she starts to actually be like, wow, I'm

going to actually need to face up to this.

Blair asks Serena if she saw the Gossip Girl blast

about a big secret coming out. Serena says she

has, and it tells Blair she thinks it's about the

affidavit. Dan comes up and sees Blair profusely

apologizing and assumes she told Serena about

Blair and Dan hanging out. Before Dan can put his

foot in his mouth, Blair shushes him, which is.

So good because Dan always does that shit. Dan

always fucks up like that. So for Blair to just

cut him off, which, again, also shows the

chemistry with these two that they've hung out

enough that they know when to cut each other off.

She knows Dan well enough to know that he's going

to come up and say something smug and stupid and

out the whole thing.

I feel like they balance each other out because

Dan is too honest and Blair is too schemy.

Yes, yes.

They meet in the middle.

Exactly. Exactly. And it's why their schemes

always work, I think, because, like, it has to be

something that Dan will be willing to go along

with.

Serena confronts Ben about the affidavit, which

she denies having taken. He does, however, admit

to having Howie beat up and then finally show

Serena some of that anger we've been seeing

lurking under the surface.

Although when he gets angry, when she's like, oh,

I understand, he's like, you don't? Uh, I'm not

mad at him for that. He has really done a lot to

prove to Serena that she can trust him. And

Serena's not going to. And of course, Serena's not

going to, because look at Serena's entire life

friendship, like, all of her upbringing. She has

never been able to trust anybody, um, for more

than 10 minutes at a time. And that's maybe Blair

here and there. But, like, she also can. The one

thing she can trust about Blair is that the second

Blair needs to, she's going to do something to

Serena if she. If it'll help her, you know? So,

yeah, Serena, of course, isn't gonna trust him.

He's a convicted felon after all.

Yeah. Mrs. Sharp approaches Lily, and Lily quickly

figures out that she is the one who stole the

affidavit and has teamed up with Russell.

I love the. Wow. You people just think money can

do anything. So I'm gonna sell this thing off to

the highest bitter and get my son. And I do Hope

that she may cut a deal with Russell before just

handing that over. Like I'm hoping that she walked

out of there with a Benz at least.

Or did, uh, she just go for revenge?

Yeah. Yeah. Is it just get my son out scot free

and we're good. Which noble. But come on, lady.

Dan once again goes to Rufus for advice. But

before he can ask, Rufus gets all judgmental

because he saw Dan talking to Blair. Lily

interrupts and asks for a moment alone to talk to

Rufus, not Blair Waldorf.

That would be crazy. Come on.

Raina enters the suite and is surprised to find

Nate. Before she can explain what's going on, she

pulls him into another room. Just as Russell,

Chuck and Lily head off the elevator. Russell

quickly gets to the point, revealing he has the

affidavit and threatens to reveal it if Chuck

doesn't sign over Bass Industries. Reyna bursts in

and rebukes her father. After Reyna storms off

with Nate, Lily tells Russell and Chuck that she

has already called the DA and plans to turn

herself in once Lily leaves. Russell hints there

is more to his hatred of Bart than just the love

triangle with Lily, which this one.

Reina. This is where it was like, how dare you

blackmail them? But like, uh, again, like you

said, Reina has always shown that, like, she does

have boundaries and she does operate within a

code.

Yeah, everything's got to be on the up and up.

Yes.

She does not like the scheming.

Yeah. And she hated it from Chuck. And then to see

it turned around. Hated it when her dad did it. So

I thought it was a little underwhelming. I. I felt

like a lot of the stuff was underwhelming with

overreactions to it. Mhm. Oh, I have this

affidavit that proves that you did something

wrong. I mean, I get it. He is blackmailing her,

so I get why that's bad. But I also feel like he.

They could have done something with more gravity,

I felt, but I don't know.

And this is what Gossip Girl has to say about it.

Careful, Chuck. When it comes to Bart Bass seek

and who knows what you may find. We move into Act

5. Nate catches up with Reina on the street

outside the hotel. Nate encourages her to look

past his faults and realize that her father still

loves her. They kiss before going somewhere to

watch the game highlights.

Nate is. Nate should be a therapist. I keep saying

it. He's right. I know that there was that moment

when I stopped idolizing my dad, but there's a

time before that. And then there's that moment.

But then when you look back and you see all of

these points where it's like, oh, wow, my dad's

just like another human being who fucks up a lot

and you have to take the good and the bad and you

know how I feel about my dad. Like, I don't even

talk to him because I have difficulty really

having that relationship. It doesn't mean I don't

love him. But, like, that disillusionment, it's

heavy.

Yeah. When.

When you have that. That notion of, like, this guy

that I remember my best friend at a bar in

California when we were hammered was like, your

dad's an asshole. And I was like 23 years old, and

I was like, what? My dad. What are you talking

about? My dad's amazing. And then like a little

while later being like, oh, he's kind of an

asshole. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he does drink gin at 10am

and say it's nude somewhere.

Hang out with Cece.

They would get along masterfully. Although, m. My

dad never had the bank account CC would. Would

require.

Yeah.

And he retired, making decent money as an

architect and lived in, like. He built a home for

like 3 or 400,000 and then was estimated for like

1.6. I don't know how much he actually sold it

for, but it was like this beautiful house on the

Admiral Sound in North Carolina. So nice.

Serena finds Ben, and the two mutually apologize

for their respective wrongs. And then they break

up.

Sweet. I was good with this one with, uh. But,

like, here's a big difference, though. He dumped

Serena. Serena usually does the dumping. Serena

usually gets what she wants, then realizes it's

not what she wants and breaks up with them. M. She

did it with Colin. She did it with Nate. She did

it with Aaron. She did it. She did not do it with

Gabriel, but Gabriel was scamming her. But most of

the time, Serena is the one who's like, no, no,

this isn't what I actually want. Sorry. Goodbye.

And now here it's Ben who's doing it, which I can

only imagine Serena is just there is that part of

Serena who moves on quick. But I can only imagine

her now being like, oh, now I'm so sad that Ben's

gone, which will annoy me. But now also, of

course, she's going to try to make a move back at

Dan and. Well, we'll get to. We'll get to all of

this at the end of the episode.

In predictions, Russell reveals that Bart killed

Reina's mother in the arson incident. We Learned

about all the way back in season two. The security

guard died while going back in to save her.

Da, da, da. Uh, yeah.

Is this the real truth now?

Yeah. Uh, I mean, who knows? Who knows?

Or this another fake out?

Because. Because Raina was all like, you know, my

mom left when I was a kid. And then he's sitting

here like, nobody knows. Not even Reina knows what

happened to her mom. Why? Why doesn't she know?

Why wouldn't you say, oh, yeah, this guy killed

your mom, and I did nothing about it. You know,

why? Like, why didn't you do something about it,

Russell?

I let him bully me out of New York.

Yeah. I let him kill my wife and bully me out of

New York. Russell, like, you kind of suck here.

And all of this. It's like, I'm going to dismantle

his empire. No, you're going to dismantle his

kid's empire. And his kid didn't do shit to you.

And the kid will be the first person to tell you

that his dad's kind of a piece of shit, but he

loves him. Kind of like how your kid feels about

you right now.

Dan and Blair are at the bar and realize they will

need to be there for Serena, Eric, and Lily and

mutually agree to a friend breakup.

Yeah, because, you know, it's not a good time to

be friends right now with everything. They're

going to need their friends, and they. Dan and

Blair. Or Dan Coma Blair, if it's in a list. But

why would you ever do that? Because they have

absolutely nothing in common.

So did you believe this?

Absolutely not. Not for a goddamn second. No.

A devastated Chuck stumbles down the stairs and

tells Serena to shut the party down.

All of this.

Oh, Chuck. So dramatic.

So dramatic. So dramatic. Dramatic was Batman.

It's the empire of the Sun. Christian Bale. Where

is she? Shut it down.

Uh, it goes to the final commercial without a

Gossip Girl blast, but we come back for the

epilogue. Lily and Ben are meeting with the DA who

lets bed know that Lily insisted that his record

be expunged.

She had one demand.

Really?

She's making demands. She's making demands when

she's the one that's. Oh, she's making the demand

for you guys to do the right thing that would

happen anyway in the first place because she's

coming into admitting that everything was wrong.

So noble, Lily. So noble. But also in this. This

is where the. The DA Is like. She's like, do you

have kids? And my kids stopped smiling at me a

long time ago. And my Daughter told me she's proud

of me and, like, the way Kelly Rutherford just

delivered that whole thing, uh, it hit me. It hit

me in the feels, and I thought it was wonderful.

Yeah.

I feel like she's probably channeling some real

life emotions there, because I think this is

during the period where she's kind of separated

from her kids.

Yeah.

Outside the office in an empty courthouse, Dr.

Daddy returns and lets Rufus know that Cece called

him in because it's time to circle the wagons.

I will say I did see his name in the opening. Uh,

in the opening. So when it was walking through,

and I was like, did you see that? And Robin was

like, no. What? And I'm like, don't worry about

it. So I knew he was popping up at some point,

but, you know, he pops up at the end, which means

he's here for a bit, at least an episode or two.

Um, we're getting Cece back, so we should

definitely, uh, reach back out to Caroline

Lagerfeldt.

Nate and Reina are playfully arguing while walking

back to the Empire and find Russell waiting for

Reyna outside. Nate goes inside so Rena can speak

with her father alone. Russell apologizes to tell

her that he's returning to Chicago and hopes that

someday she might forgive him.

I like this. I like that. He's like, okay, I lost.

I'm going back to Chicago. I'm good here. And now

she's like, no, I think I kind of like it here. I

kind of belong here. It's like, sure, you have a

trust fund and you can do whatever you want. I

guess our multi million dollar company doesn't

really. Multi billion dollar company doesn't

really need you involved that much. She's like

this high up person in this company, and now she's

like, oh, but I'm just gonna stay here now. Yep.

Uh, so. But I do like.

I mean, the company was moving to New York, right?

Yeah, that company's very, uh, mobile. Yeah.

Uh, but I liked their conversation at the end and

their little patch up and her staying here and her

staying in New York because I really liked her

addition to the cast, which I don't usually like

additions to the cast, so I've really liked her.

Chuck asks Serena if she. She has seen Blair.

Serena says she left a while ago. It probably went

home. Chuck is so angry, he can barely pour the

shots he is pounding down. He says Blair is the

only one that can understand what he's going

through and stumbles off to go find her.

No, you don't get it. He killed two people. So you

didn't know he killed somebody. Yeah. Like you're

worried that he lied to you, which you're just

taking Russell's word for it too. Like you're

just.

Although, uh, the first one was framed as an

accident at least like he killed someone. But like

I feel like Chuck would be the type of like. Yeah,

it was an accident though.

Yeah.

Yeah. This one is applied is kind of on purpose.

Yeah, yeah.

Which. Which also it's like, no, the security

guard was going in there to save her. It wasn't an

accident. It's like what did he have her tied up

in the boiler room? Like, was it an intentional.

Very elaborate way to kill someone.

Yes.

Even Barbass.

Yeah. Although Heather's. Have you ever, uh, you

know the movie Heather's.

And that movie is incredibly over the top.

But it is how his dad killed people.

Blair walks into the foyer to find Blair waiting.

Or uh, find Dan waiting for her. Dan is worried

that there is another reason why they had they'd

been sneaking around. Rufus's earlier advice has

clearly gotten to inside his head. As they

continue to banter, Dan inches closer to Blair and

eventually puts his hand on her shoulder. He

suggests just one kiss to make sure there isn't

something more between them. Blair agrees, but Dan

hesitates before Blair pulls him in for a freeze

frame kiss.

Loved it. I got the When Harry Met Sally here too.

Because this is. Because this is again taken right

from When Harry Met Sally. The whole like, we

won't know. We need to know. And we won't know

unless we do.

Yeah.

So I'm hoping that next episode we end up in Cat's

deli.

And Gossip Girl ends the episode with this. The

question of whether we can fight fate will always

remain a mystery. But the bigger question is what

happens when we stop fighting it. Xo. Xo. Um.

Gossip Girl.

Yeah. Yep. Loved that end. Love that scene. Love

the homage.

And goodbye Ben.

And goodbye Ben forever. Yes. I was hoping you

were gonna say that.

Uh, I was.

Goodbye.

See it again now.

Yes. Uh, but this was like sweeps week. So this

episode aired on February 28th. The next episode

that come six weeks later is April 18th. Wow. And

very painful. And this is kind of when I caught up

to the show and really jumped. It's the fandom. So

I expect to see my name pop up in some of these

episodes. Right. Soon.

This random comment here on Reddit says.

Uh, pre Reddit, but yeah, okay, but.

Really, I thought Reddit was 09. Uh, or even

earlier than that. I Think it was. It had to have

been 0809 because I think I was still married when

it first started.

But yeah, I'm mainly on the television pity or fan

forums.

Okay. Okay.

So what are your predictions?

Okay, my predictions. Okay, I'm going to. I've got

a wild one here. And it has to do with you saying.

And I don't even want to look at your face when I

say it just because I don't want you to give

anything because this is probably my most wild

thing. I don't think Bart Bass is dead. I don't

think Bart Bass is dead. And I think that we're

going to get some kind of beyond the grave pop up.

Now one thing that the, uh, where this thought

originated from may have absolutely nothing to do

with anything because I cannot remember when you

started saying and then we never saw them again.

But I don't remember you saying that when Bart

died. Of course then Bart did come back again for

uh, uh, you know, the.

Yeah, because I usually say when the actor's never

going to appear again.

Right, right.

Which the actor has been back.

That actor did come back again. So. So yes, there,

there is always the flashback. We. There is

something going to happen. Cathartic about the

Bart Chuck thing. So there's this thing tugging at

my head of like, where could they take this to

really fuck with Chuck for his dad to fake his

death like his mom did? I just think that I. First

of all, we are on a recycled hash after hash of

Chuck storylines. So bringing back another dead

parent, uh, there's just a few things that are

just tugging at my head about it. So I don't know

if I'm accurate. Again, like I said, this is

probably my most off the rails prediction that

I've had. But just some little things have just

tugged at me with this Russell Chuck through line.

Now my other big prediction is Chuck and Serena

are about to walk in on Dan and Blair. The Chuck

is going to find going right now looking for Blair

and Blair is with Dan and Serena is with Chuck. So

it does make sense for there to be a big mess

there and whether or not they get caught or

whether or not they sneak around for real. I think

that we're going to see them in a situationship

for a little bit and we'll just see how well they

hide it or if it's out in the, out in the open.

But I'm really curious as to how that plays out.

Are they gonna send Lily to jail? I don't know. I

don't Feel like they can do that for a long period

of time. I also feel like this is the kind of.

That someone like Lily has, uh, you know, timed

serve, you know, like time served. And like,

nobody really is gonna question.

How did she serve though, right?

No one's gonna question that. No one's asking

that. You know, I mean, she'll show her house

arrest, you know. Oh, that would be fantastic.

House arrest. She has to have parties at her house

all the time.

So I gotta give you two spoilers for. From a

casting perspective for next episode one. We're

finally gonna get to meet the mysterious blonde

that's from the Season 6 cover and is on the HBO

wallpaper there.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

She finally appears. And also we get to finally

meet adult Carol.

Oh, the aunt. Oh. Cause we're circling the wagons.

That seems like a wagon that might get circled,

so. Oh, that's really cool because I've been.

Cause I was really. I really loved Ritter. Uh,

Kirsten Ritter's performance earlier, I would.

Just say remember that feeling. Although you might

recognize the actress who plays Carol. She was on

Lost. I forget the character's name. She was like

one of the others.

Oh, okay.

Any other predictions?

Um, oh, uh, all kinds of drama with Rufus and

William and Cece, so I'm curious how that plays

out too. I, uh, did have another prediction. What

was it? My, my. I think I had a Ben based

prediction, but I was like, uh, but it was sort

of, uh, if he's not gone, something's going to

happen. But I kind of also had a feeling Ben was

gone after this one. The. The. The. After the

breakup. I do believe the other person that you

never said that about was Aaron Rose. So I do have

this stinking sneaking feeling that Aaron Rose is

showing up.

At technically Blair's stepbrother.

Yeah. Well, yeah.

I mean, he was a fairly major character in the

books. Although he was completely different in the

books.

Well, and you know, he is Blair's stepbrother,

which also makes him fair game for Blair in Gossip

Girl. Morality.

I think they did date in the books.

Oh, did they? Excellent. I was thinking about

reading at least the first book.

That was weird. Ghost in my kitchen.

Sounds like it. Doing dishes.

Well, thank you.

Uh, anything that happens in our house, especially

ghosts, are always what we go to if it is

something that we know one of us did. But don't

want to blame the other person because there's

only two of us. So if my shit got moved like m.

And I know I didn't move it. Uh, but it's like,

okay, ghosts. All right, I'm not, I'm not going to

blame Robin. I'm going to blame the ghosts for the

goddamn cleaning people.

On that note, let's get into segments this week in

fan. We jumped in the Wayback Machine and travel

to the Television without pity forums from 2011.

Hello there, Peabody. Here. And this is the

Wayback Machine for traveling through time.

And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman.

Hello.

Good boy. Overall impression. They love the

episode.

Yeah, I like this episode. I thought it was a huge

step up from that run of just real shit episodes.

The last episode's good too.

Uh, right, yeah, that's what I'm saying. These

last two I liked.

Again, there is perfection other than being blue

balled by the freeze frame.

Yes. Yeah, word. That was how I felt. I was

actually expecting the walk in the Chuck Serena.

Like I was expecting the kiss to happen a little

longer and then for them to stop. And as they pull

away, there's the other two standing there like,

what the fuck is this?

So some of our younger listeners might not get

this reference because it was very of that time.

Vanessa was compared to the Microsoft paperclip

annoying even when it's giving useful info.

That, that is so fucking spot on. So spot on. God

damn it, Vanessa. You are clippy. You are clippy.

Go away, Chuck. No one cares about you.

Yeah. Can someone send Chuck to a back alley in

Prague? Only with someone who knows how to finish

the job.

They're disappointed about the long hiatus.

Yeah.

And as usual, a lot of love for the Chuck and Lily

scenes.

Yeah, yeah, they're great. I love Chuck and Lily.

That is it for this week in fandom.

I almost, I almost think Chuck and Lily have the

most healthy relationship of anyone on the show

because they know at any given point the other

will sell them the fuck out and not think twice

about it and then come back the next day and be

like.

My B. I think Dan and Rufus have a fairly healthy

relationship.

Uh, yes. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I think that. But

theirs is built on trust and trust can be broken.

Lily and Chuck have no trust.

Let's get into episode grades. I went first last

week, so you get to go first this week.

I really enjoyed it. I felt like there were a few,

just a few weak points in plot devices that they

used. I'm going to go a B plus for the overall.

Yeah. So, uh, for me, I, I also liked it. The

writing was solid, the directing was good, acting

was good from pretty much everyone. Mhm. I think

maybe Raina Was a little bit weak with the

overreaction.

Yeah. Yeah.

I started out as a B, but then I remember Ben was

gone, so I bumped into a beat. In stockwatch. Who

do you got going up?

Well, I'm going to give it to Ben because he's got

his record expunged and he's free of these

psychotic people, so. And now he can go be

inappropriate elsewhere. Good. Uh, riddance.

You're disgusting. Get out of here. I am also. And

this one hurts. M going to give it to Vanessa for

doing the right thing, coming in and helping out

and giving some. I'm going to give it to Clippy.

Some useful information. Yeah.

For the useful information. Uh, Dare. Dan and

Blair are both going up. Obviously, I'm going to

give Nate and Raina both an up. Uh, Raina was. I

was on the fence because of, like, losing the

relationship with the dad. But I think that she's

in a step. She's in a really good place for her

with staying behind and being with Nate. So I'm

going to give both of them. And, um, I'm going to

give it to Rufus for good dadding. You know, he

was. He was a solid dad for Dan in this episode.

Oh, and De Rota. De Rota goes up for. For sure,

100%. Oh, and Chuck. Chuck. I know that Chuck is

all gloomy at the end and shit, but Chuck just got

fucking Bass Industries, so I'm gonna give it to

him for his literal stock leap. No matter how mad

he is about it. Get over it. Your dad killed

someone else. Like, yes, this person. And the only

reason that this one matters is cause you kind of

know their name. Like when it was just security

guard accident. You're cool, but it's so. Yeah,

don't. So I. I'm gonna give it to Chuck. Even

though he's spiraling, but he doesn't get it very

often. He goes down a lot for me.

I have similar list, but not exactly the same. I

had Dan and Blair because they had a very cute

episode and got to make out.

Yes.

Rufus and Dorota for being good, uh, foils for

them.

Yes.

I had Lily going up for finally coming clean and

take responsibility.

On the fence with Lily because I ended up giving.

I'm, um. Spoiler alert. I was going to give her

down, but I was so on the fence because, yeah, she

did the right thing, which is going to jail.

Is she, though?

Is she, though? Well, but for now, the question

mark.

But in her mind, that's worth it because her kids

smiled at her.

Yeah. Yeah.

And lucky I did have Ben going up because he got

his name cleared.

Yeah.

Even though he's still a creep.

He's a creep.

Um, well, guess that's not uncommon in the real

world.

Yep. Yep.

Uh, and also Vanessa, because, yeah, like you

said, she didn't do anything particularly

offensive and she was somewhat useful.

Yeah. Yes.

But, yeah, I did not have Reyna going up. And

Nate, I had as neutral because. And I'm thinking

about just changing neutral to going, Nate, Who do

you have going down?

So I am sending Lily down for going to. For. For

the. Because I feel like her literal stock would

be plummeting right now. Um, I'm. Oh, you know who

else I'm giving it up to? I'm sorry, but William,

for showing up and catching Rufus off guard. But

I'm going to give. So, yeah, I'm giving Lily the

down. I'm giving Russell the down. I'm giving

Ben's mom the down for not actually like, yeah,

she kind of got what she wanted. But fuck you,

you're kind of an asshole and lactose intolerant.

Mrs. M. Sharp.

Mrs. M. Sharp. I am going to. He was mentioned, so

I'm going to let Howie go down because he was

mentioned for getting his ass kicked. So I'm gonna

go ahead and send Howie down. I think that's it

for me.

Uh, for me. I had Russell going down because he

obviously lost the episode. Yeah, I had Reyna

going down because I thought losing her dad was a

bigger deal than starting. Just starting a

relationship with Nate.

See, I, I kind of felt like she didn't lose her

dad in the end, that she reconciled and became her

own person. It became independent from him. So

that. But I see what you're saying.

And I also had chuckling down because. Yeah, he's

spiraling. Yes.

Hard. I, I kind of. I. I kind of figured you

would. And I kind of figure that that's one of

those one up, one down things because. Yeah.

And I didn't have this originally, but speaking of

one off, one down. I'm gonna put William going

down because he was just a smug asshole and he

still hasn't suffered the consequences for his

shitty actions last year.

Yeah. Yeah. No, he has not. Consequences don't

often happen to these people. Like real ones.

That's why I didn't give Lily down.

Yeah.

So I gave Lily up.

Yeah. But here's the best outfits from the last

episode we see.

Who did you have for best outfit?

I was torn on this. I'm gonna give it to Blair.

Her that flower print dress. And it was even. It

was more the accessories, the necklace, the way

that it looked against the dress and with her

makeup the way it was. I, I was really on the

fence because I thought Lily's dress was also

pretty dope.

I also have the same dress. Um, it was a Dior

dress. And she's wearing. Did you notice the

little silver balls on her shoes?

No, I didn't.

There's little silver like puffy balls on the tips

of her shoes.

Oh, adorable. Yeah, I didn't even notice they're

black pumps.

That is it for segments. Do you have anything you

would like to plug this week?

Well, first of all, you should check out First

Farm to Fable, one of the most recent episodes. I

was a guest on there. We had Mike, uh, Ross on

here last year or two years ago. Yes, for season

two. And so I was on his show. Uh, we recorded it

the other day so it should come out in another

week or two, I think.

And what episode was that?

It was Upgrade Season 9, Episode 18. Although it

can if you're watching Smallville along with this

thing. It hulu, it's episode 18. Some streaming

platforms, it's different because they had two

episodes. Some of them have a two part episode

listed as one episode. Uh, yeah. So. And it was

fun. It was very much like, like Mike coming on

our show. I haven't watched Smallville, at least

not that far. And so was the big difference was

that I had seen the first three, four, four, uh,

and a half seasons of Smallville. So I had a

background and I could answer some of the things.

And it was also really interesting to watch

another WB show that. That was kind of a

predecessor to Gossip Girl that is also doing the.

Well, it's now running at that point. It's running

simultaneous with Gossip Girl on.

The c. On the cw.

Right.

Yeah. So. Because, uh, at that point I thought I

brought that up to Mike but he wasn't sure when it

switched. But yeah, so it was on the cw. So it

followed that same trope of I didn't need to watch

the last three episodes because they caught me up

in the dial. I watched the previously on. But the

dialogue in so many places. It's like, oh, well,

you've been out of the job from uh, uh, Spectre.

Is it? Who does she work for?

The Daily Planet?

No, no, no. The Tess worked for the adversary who

was working with Zod. Uh, she was worse.

She's the CEO of LexCorp.

But you. But there was something about Spectre.

There's Some kind of government agency that she

was, uh, fired. Checkmate. She was fired from

Checkmate Spec. That's right. Spectre is, uh,

James Bond, but she was fired from Checkmate. And

there were these weapon stashes all over the place

and Brian Austin Greene's appearance, like,

everything. I was just caught up everywhere I

needed to be. Uh, so it was like, yeah, that was

easy. It was fun. And I had a lot of fun talking

to Mike about the episode. So. Oh, and you can

find me on TikTok and Instagram Steve Marshon M M

A R C H I O N and go ahead and give me a follow

and see what I'm doing there.

Yeah, for me, I am going to plug season two of

Fallout. Um, I've seen the first episode and by

the time you've gotten this episode, you're

listening to this, it'll probably be two or three

episodes out by then. Yeah, really good show. Fun.

Season one was spectacular. So I'm really, I don't

know if I'm gonna watch it now. I tend to wait

until things are done so I can binge it.

See, I love. I've come back around to liking week

to week because then you can talk about the

episodes with people.

I get that.

And then think about what's coming next and

analyze it.

Yeah, my big problem. And I guess I also don't

have a lot of folks that I am talking to about

that about shows other than Robin.

That's what Reddit's for.

But, but yeah, I, I understand that. I just, I

struggle with it because I just want to sit down

and watch.

Uh, I mean, if it's there, I will.

Yeah.

But I kind of prefer week to week.

Yeah, well, and, and this has been really

interesting for me doing this podcast and doing a

week to week podcast and watching this like I

would have had to when it came out, only with

things like not waiting six weeks.

This gap was painful. Yeah, it was painful.

Yeah.

But yeah. So check out Fola. Uh, if you want to

follow me on social media, you can find me on

Instagram and bluesky Hot Capricorn. That's H O T

C A P I C O L A And if you want to follow the

podcast, you can find us on TikTok, Instagram and

Threads. Ah, non judging breakfastpod. And if you

want to find links to our Patreon, our Discord

server and our subreddit, they are all on our

website. Non judging breakfastpod.com and if you

would.

Like to send us an email, we would love to hear

what you have to say and even read it here on the

show. Our email address is non judging

breakfastpodmail.com so go ahead, send us your

thoughts. We'll let you know what we think about

your thoughts. Also, while you're listening, if

you could go ahead and hit that like and the

subscribe or follow button and also leave a

comment if you're listening on Spotify and Apple

podcasts. That really helps our boost our

visibility. So give us your thoughts on the

episode right there in the comments section and

we'll get back to you. And while you're at it, go

ahead and let your friends know what you're

listening to. Tell your work friends or your home

friends and make us the water cooler talk this

week.

Uh, next week we will be back to talk about season

four, episode 18, the dare episode. Typically

traditionally this episode.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

Cause that was also the play.

Yep. And also when they had their first scheme in

season one.

Oh, right. Cause that was a short season.

And in season three, it was the Dorota's wedding

where they had, like, several, like, very like,

touching scenes at the wedding.

Yeah, yeah.

And the episode description. So the episode is

titled the kids stay in the picture. And the

episode description reads, as Lily awaits the

consequences of her decision, William

Vanderwoodsen, CeCe and Lily's sister Carol come

into town to support her. Blair has an epiphany

about her future and grapples with the knowledge

of whom she is destined to be with.

Uh oh. Uh, oh. I mean, Blair, when you and Chuck

said that you're gonna come back together one day,

you knew that there was gonna be other people

along the way. So here's your other people. He's

had other people along the way. You have other

people, too.

Until next time. You know you love us.

Xoxo.

Every time you walk away or run away you take a

piece of me with you there Every time you walk

away or run away you take a piece of m me with you

there Every time you walk away or run away you

take a piece of m me with you there oh, it seems

I'm walking right to your door.

My heart's still resting looking for something

more.

Are you ever gonna see everything you mean to me?

I'm trying really hard to believe.

Every.

Time you walk away or run away you take a piece of

me with you there Every time you walk away or run

away you take a piece of me with you there Every

time you walk away or run away you take a piece of

me with you there Never feels right when I'm out

here on my own I left last night and it feels like

way too long are you ever gonna see ever?

Everything you mean to me I'm trying really hard

to believe every time you walk away or run away

you take a piece of meat with you there Every time

you walk away or run away you take a piece of me

with you there Every time you walk away or 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 or run away you take a

piece of me with you there Every time you walk

away or run away you take a piece of me with you

there Every time you walk away or run away you

take a piece of me with you there Every time you

walk away or run away take a piece of me with you

there Every time you walk away or run away you

take a piece of me with you there Every time you

walk away or run away you take a piece of me with

you there Every time you walk away or run away you

take a piece of me me with you there uh. Every

time you walk away or run away you take a piece of

me with you there.