This week on Non-Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve dive into Gossip Girl Season 5, Episode 7, “The Big Sleep No More”—an episode packed with masquerades, messy schemes, and recycled drama.

From yet another mask party to Blair’s ongoing Chuck obsession, the guys aren’t holding back. They break down the Sleep No More-inspired chaos, Diana’s increasingly unhinged manipulation tactics, and why Nate might be the most easily played character on the Upper East Side.

Plus:

• Serena vs. Gossip Girl heats up 🔥
• Ivy’s world starts to crumble 👀
• Dan proves once again… he might be the worst 😬
• And is this the most frustrating episode yet?

Grab your coffee (or mimosa) and join us for a brutally honest recap filled with laughs, rants, and a whole lot of side-eye.

Episode Highlights:

• Why the masquerade trope officially needs to retire
• Blair’s “test” of Chuck… and why it backfires
• Diana Payne: Mastermind or worst character ever?
• Nate’s never-ending manipulation saga
• Dan’s book tour meltdown (and why it doesn’t land)
• Ivy vs. the Upper East Side: cracks begin to show

Segments:

• 🕰️ Wayback Machine (2011 fan reactions)
• 📈 Stock Watch (Who’s up, who’s down)
• 👗 Best Outfit of the Week
• ⭐ Episode Grades (Spoiler: not great…)

----------------------------------

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your pods.

📱 Follow us on Threads, IG & X @NonJudgingPod

🧇 Leave a review if you love waffles and wild plot twists

🔗 http://nonjudginbreakfastpod.com

🔗 http://njbpod.captivate.fm/discord

----------------------------------

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 

Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

My moment of hope was gone the instant he showed

up on the Upper east side. He should have stayed

in Portland. Hey, Upper east siders and all you

scandal loving listeners out there, you've just

tuned into the non judging breakfast pod where the

coffee is strong, the waffles are fresh, and, and

the gossip is hotter 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, Leif. What are we

saying now that we're here in season five?

Oh, look, they have red hots you never could

resist. Do you want one?

Leaf, are you trying to make me kiss you? Because

it's working.

Okay, let's go.

Damn remote recording.

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

Gossip Girl since it first aired, and I am 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

tea. And expect some iconic fandom moments too,

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

And since we are all about inclusivity here at the

non judging breakfast pod, there is always a seat

for you at the non judging breakfast table. So go

ahead and grab a mimosa cup, of coffee or grab

something from Nate's stash and let's go ahead and

get into this.

I feel like good guy Chuck isn't like, you know,

indulging as much as he used to.

Well, before we get into the episode, since our

last recording, two, shitty but famous people have

died. Yeah, Chuck Norris and Nicholas Brendan.

Yeah, Chuck Norris didn't die. He became death, I

believe. But yeah, it's funny because he. Yeah,

it's one of those. I never really gave a shit

about Chuck Norris or any other stuff. But didn't

he get his start playing an Asian guy? Or am I

thinking of.

You're thinking of David Carradine.

David Carradine. Yeah. Who got his start.

Chuck Norris guy start as the bad guy in a Bruce

Lee movie.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I. Yep, I remember now.

But so, we have two, kind of tropes going on in

this episode. We got the lucky number seven, which

is the Chuck and Blair episode. And we have the

masquerade ball going on. Which means no one can

recognize anyone because they're wearing a mask.

Yeah. Yeah.

Except for Chuck.

So fresh. So fresh. So original. This is the third

masquerade, I believe. Yes.

We are here, of course, to Talk about Season 5,

Episode 7, the Big Sleep no More original air date

was November 14, 2011 and it was actually based on

two things this week, of course. The movie the Big

Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart and Laura Bacall,

and also the performance we see, Sleep no More.

Yes. Which I looked into a little bit before the

episode where it was this. Essentially, it was

Macbeth performed throughout a house, and

everybody has to wear a mask and go room to room

and see different aspects of the performance. So

neat, if that's your thing.

I do have one friend who said he has been there,

been to it, like, a lot of times. I'm not sure if

you went through it enough to see all 52 cards.

Wow. I didn't realize that every time you went, it

was also different. I thought it was just an,

ordering thing, but that's interesting.

Well, I'm not sure, but based on what I saw in the

episode, it seems like you get a different

experience based on what card you draw.

Yeah, that makes sense. I thought it was cohorts

going through, but that makes sense, too. Yeah.

And I actually did try and watch the movie the Big

Sleep, and, I mean, I did make it through, but I

was sleeping through some of it. Noir just is not

for me.

No. No.

But, yeah, directed by Howard Hawks and starring

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and John

Ridgely. Came out in 1946. Episode was written by

Dan Steele. This is his first of two Gossip Girl

episodes and first all of first ever writing

credit. Well, he did go on to do, 23 episodes of

the, Josh Schwarz show Heart of Dixie, and he did

22 episodes of a show called Faking It. And he

also wrote the romcom Xmas starring Leighton

Meester and Robbie Amnell.

Oh, I don't know who Robbie Amnell is.

He's the brother of the guy from Arrow.

Oh.

He was on a couple CW shows.

So, yeah.

Episode was directed by Vincent Misiano. This is

his first of two Gossip Girl episodes. Second is

all, like, right around the corner. Episode 10 of

this season. So they. They booked them, like, back

to back, it looks like. But he's. Yeah, been

around for a while. He started on Ally McBeal,

done five episodes of the West Wing, five episodes

of Law and Order, show that I like, but no one has

ever seen Eli Stone. And he also did 11 episodes

of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

what was Eli Stone?

That was the lawyer who was a prophet. Starring

Johnny Lee Miller, the guy from Hackers,

Trainspotting, and later, elementary.

It sounds familiar, but I can't place it.

Some notable guest stars. This episode we get two

returners. James Naughton as the grandfather and

Brian J. Smith as Max Harding, you, grandfather,

let me just say now, and we'll, obviously we'll

get into why later, but. But you. I have a rant

prepared about this. It's a very short rant.

Well, before we get to that, why don't you give us

the Vulture recap?

Speaking of short rants, Vulture this week says

trench coats, Venn diagrams, red hot candies. The

plots within last night's plot of Gossip Girl

contained as many elements and were as difficult

to understand as Sleep no More, the Macbeth

inspired show in Chelsea where much of the action

took place. Shivy and Serena hatched a scheme to

get the attention of Gossip Girl. Shivey. There we

go. I was. Shivey and Serena hatched a scheme to

get the attention of Gossip Girl. Blair planned to

entrap Chuck, who colluded with Doroda on a

counter attack. And of course, Diana plotted

against everyone with, as it turns out, a, silver

fox we've seen before. M. Vulture is just giving

up.

yeah.

Vulture's like, do I have to? Do I have to?

Yeah, Had. It's having fun. Behind you.

Yes, I know. I apologize for that. That's Parisa

Tomei.

So we open Act 1 with another Blair as Audrey

dream. this time, Blair is in the tennis court

scene from Sabrina. She is expecting Louie, but

finds Chuck there instead. In the movie, Audrey's

character is flirting with the older brother of

the character she is romantically linked to.

Oh, God, Blair, like, come on, just stop from the

get. It's like, oh, my God, it's another Blair

Chuck dream. Just get over this. Like, why are we

doing this again? And I'm not. I don't mind the

dream sequences in theory. Like, I think it's such

a cool part of Blair's personality. I'm just tired

of the chair. I'm dreaming about Chuck. Yeah, I'm

just tired of the chair of it all.

Aren't we?

so much.

Also notable, the. The person, the actor across

from Audrey in the scene in the movie is, once

again, go back to the. The title Humphrey Bogart.

Yeah, which Chuck. Chuck, you're no Humphrey

Bogart.

So we open up with a Gossip Girl monologue. Good

morning, Upper east siders. Or is it? We heard a

certain future royal has more than one rude

awakening this week. Blair wakes in a huff along

with Gossip Girl's musings. Blair tells Dorota

that she is being haunted by Chuck's fake apology.

But Dorota is not sure that it was fake, seeking

to distract herself from thoughts of Chuck. Seems

fruitless when the. The Bass man is above the fold

in the newspaper for his philanthropy and on the

top of the page of, on Gossip Girl because of his

love of animals.

First of all, I love that we've already

established that Chuck doesn't know how to be

good, and it's like, what do I do? Pet dog. Give

money to charity.

Solve all your problems with money.

Yeah, I like to buy one. Good. Please.

One ticket to heaven, sir.

Yeah. How much for an alignment shift?

We'll take you to paradise.

At the Empire Suite, Nate is shocked to see Chuck

up and about so early. But Chuck clearly

subscribes to the proverb of idle hands are the

devil's plaything. Nate is tired of only getting

work and sex with Diana. He needs some romancing

outside of the bedroom.

So Nate, for one, like, oh, my. But my. But my

emotional needs aren't being taken care of. And,

like, kudos to you, Nate, for knowing that and for

being vocal about it at the same time. maybe

you're just in a really unhealthy relationship.

Date someone your own age, Nate.

Yeah, date someone your own age, Nate.

You're in college supposedly.

Yeah. And Chivey is right there, and, well,

obviously. Totally.

I mean, he doesn't need another shady character

like. Like that.

Yeah, but I mean, like, his options are limited.

What do you.

What do you mean his options are limited?

He's. You're right. You're right. You're right.

He's Nate Archibald. He has no. He has no living.

The limit does not exist.

Dan is video chatting with Rufus and Lily about

his book tour, but something seems off. Serena and

Charlie walk through the room, but Serena coldly

says she's too busy to chat.

Serena's still mad that she lost her job over

doing something Dan didn't ask her to do. She lost

her job canning the project that Dan was really

excited about without telling Dan first.

Serena, if you freeze framed it, you could have

seen that. Lily's contact list includes Blaine

Trump, who is online, Serena, who is offline,

Eric, who is online, and Archibald offline, Topsy

Taylor online, Dan Humphrey on call, Jenny

Humphrey offline, and Fabiola Baraska Online.

Do we meet Fabiola in another episode?

Possibly.

I think she did a cameo once. She's a real person,

right? Like that's a designer or something?

Something like that, yeah. In the hallway, Charlie

wonders what's up with Serena and Dan. Serena says

it's a long story, but is more worried about no

one reading her blog. Without Gossip Girl's shield

of anonymity, it's hard to just take shots at

people. Charlie suggests telling a real story

about herself to grab the reader's attention.

Yeah, I really don't have much to go on with. With

this yet, but they're just sort of, I don't know.

This whole pitting Serena against Gossip Girl

thing, it feels like it should be interesting.

Yeah.

I'm just waiting for that to happen. It's a good

idea. Like, it's a. It's a really good idea. Meta.

Right? It's a cool idea for the show to. To go

for, especially because if I remember correctly,

at this point, they were kind of going season by

season, maybe even half season by half season on

whether or not they're going to be renewed. They

were kind of in the spiral by now, so it almost

feels like they're like, okay, we need to really

go. We need to turn this back into Gossip Girl.

Because, like, season three, Gossip Girl kind of

took a big step back, and then last season was

more prominent, but now having it be like, okay,

we're going after her a little bit more grown up

of a plan and a little bit more planned out than

when they went after her in season two.

Yeah.

Was that season two? Yeah. So I think that on,

where

the plan was just texting her and saying, meet me

at the spot.

Yeah.

With zero leverage.

Yeah. Yeah, man, did we show her.

But yeah, it kind of sense. You sense it's coming

to towards an end here. It's coming towards a

conclusion.

Yes.

Yeah. And so I think that the meta plot of Serena

going after Gossip Girl is a good one. I. Man,

maybe they just need a better actor than Diana.

Like, I don't know what the disconnect is, because

it's just so bad. Like, it was just.

She didn't need to be in the relationship with

Nate.

Yeah.

Why couldn't it have been, like, a male professor

or something that was mentoring Nate?

Because Nate needs the honeypot. If anyone knows,

you know, I know how to get that kid's attention.

Let's send a hot older woman to seduce her.

But as I've been saying. No, but as I've been

Saying all along, that was not the plan at all.

And Diana went against it.

Right, right, right, right. Because she ran into

him early.

That was never the plan. And the grandfather's

actually pissed off about that. So, again, why

could. Why couldn't it have been a male teacher or

something?

But it's funny, because we didn't see Grandfather

be pissed off.

We did.

Grandfather was like. I felt like he was just

like, oh, well, you fully rehabilitated my.

But, from. Well, you get from the context of the

earlier context conversation where you don't

actually hear him, but from her reaction.

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, I don't. I forgot about

that.

Yeah, that's actually coming up right here.

Eric at the Spectator. Diana is having a

surreptitious phone conversation with someone who

is unhappy about something Diana did to keep Nate

at the paper. She promises she will keep him and

Serena there. She then spies on, Nate and Charlie

talking out in the main office area. We don't find

out here that it's Grandfather, but we find out

she's talking to that same person we saw at the

beginning of the season, and he's not happy about

what. What she's been doing.

Yeah, I forgot about that scene.

Nate is trying to lay his game down, but Charlie

says she has a boyfriend and he has a girlfriend

that's also their boss. Diana calls over for

Charlie to come to her office, and Charlie says if

he wants something more from his relationship, ask

for it. But ask Diana, not her.

Yeah, fair. Aside from Nate not even knowing about

the constant jeopardy Ivy's job is in,

not just her job.

Well, not. Yeah, not just her job, but, like, her

whole thing. But, like, even without Nate knowing

that Nate, like, you're going to a girl who is

probably a little into you. You're picking up,

she's into you to lay your problems about her boss

on it. How do you not see that? This is already

just not how you. Who to go to?

Yeah.

A worried Rufus gets off a call with Alessandra

and tells Lily that Dan has been missing his book

signings.

Dan, I'm so fucking mad at you.

Yeah. This is like, we're contractually obligated

to keep Pen in the episode, so we have to put some

kind of stupid story. We couldn't just have him

off on his book tour, right?

What's he making right now? Obviously, like, Penn

is making a movie or doing some other thing.

He is shooting readings from Tim Buckley at this

point.

Okay.

Yeah. He's working seven days a week right now.

Yeah. It felt like he was like you. Exactly like

you said that he was contractually obligated to

sit into a, to be in the episode. And so they had

him in for like five minutes. Not even. Yeah.

Blair is walking with the park with Dorota in an

attempt to distract herself from Chuck, but is in.

But instead she spots Chuck rescuing a duck. After

some witty banter, Chuck goes along his way with

monkey. Blair continues to rant to Dorota that

Chuck's new attitude is just a ruse.

I did love the throwback to the peace treaty of 08

when that she gets the D or 09 or whatever it was

that she gets the duck bond.

And Dorota once again carrying, like, the fancy

artisan bread.

Which is actually really bad for ducks. Like,

feeding ducks bread is actually really bad for

them.

And artisan bread is probably even worse than, you

know, like, regular loaf bread.

Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Because it's as heavier.

Yeah. And the grains aren't as finely milled and.

Yeah.

Diana tells Charlie that she wants to start a war

between Gossip Girl and Serena, but just uses that

as a lead in to question why she was hanging

around Nate again. Charlie says that was all Nate

and suggests loosening up with him a bit. Diana

shuts the advice down and tells Charlie to keep

pushing Serena. Charlie then says she doesn't want

to do anything to jeopardize her life, the life

she has now, Especially not over a guy.

Yep. Good move, Charlie. Good move.

Then enter a guy outside the Spectator. Serena

bumps into and has a meet cute with Ivy's old

boyfriend Max. He's in town looking for Ivy, who

he thinks works in the building.

You should have stayed in Portland, Max.

Yes, he should have.

You should have stayed in Portland.

But did you notice this is almost exactly the

scene from the book where Sarita bumps into the

guy.

Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And this is what Gossip Girl has to say as we go

to the first act break in drama. There are many

ways to unmask a villain. Sometimes you know who

the bad guy is from the start, but most times you

find out they've been right in front of you all

along.

We move into Act 2. Nate hangs back to talk to

Diana after a staff meeting because he is confused

as to where the relationship is going. Diana

suggests that they should take a few days off

while she's in Paris and that, he have some fun

while she's gone. When Nate asks if that means

they aren't exclusive, she says whatever makes him

happy because she can't Afford to lose her right

hand man.

Nate, Seriously, fucking Nate here, it's not a

real relationship. And that's what he's really

just not getting, right? Like, you're not in a

real relationship because this person doesn't care

about you. And how are you not seeing that at all?

How do you not feel used?

Because he's her right hand man. He's.

Yeah, yeah. It is just classic, poor dumb Nate to

just get manipulated. But God, Nate, it's so sad

to watch.

In real time, we are back to Venn diagrams. Blair

is clearly questioning her decision to marry

Louis. She knows that Chuck is chucking with her

head and has come up with a test to prove it.

I was just over every scene with Blair in it. this

whole episode, maybe the first time, this whole

series that I've been like, I don't give a shit

about the Blair story. We've done this so many

times. It's just so redundant and petty. And can

we please stop this constant run around?

Well, I think the props department is over it as

well. Did you freeze frame the Venn diagram at

all? No, there's a pro and cons list and a Venn

diagram. The list was kind of partially cut off.

We saw good with children. Chuck, no. Louis, yes.

Polite Chuck no. Louie yes. And then it's kind of.

Then we don't get any more Louis answers because

it's cut off, but it's well mattered. Chuck, yes.

Gracious Chuck no. Well read Chuck yes. Respects.

And then you can't even see what the. What the

word is after that. Chuck no. So he doesn't

respect someone. But then. But then when they got

really lazy and it shows that they don't care

about the storyline either. The Venn diagram.

Under New Chuck, you have animal cruelty,

inhumanity, starving children, lies, poorly run

charities. Under both, you have Russians, cheap

liquor, and 200 thread count sheets. And then

under old Chuck, you have ageism,

unattractiveness, hostile takeovers, early morning

walking the dogs, and, dog excrement hair. So

that's clearly should have been under new Chuck.

Like, it's like everything's all reversed. So they

were very rushed in the props department on that

one.

Yeah, yeah, that's funny.

Serena and Max once again exit the Spectator. The

security guard couldn't identify anyone there

under the name Ivy Dickens. No duh. However, Max

tells Serena the real reason he is in town is for

a job interview. Serena offers to show him to the

restaurant.

Serena just runs into the boy and takes him on to

the restaurant again.

What I don't get is, like, so a couple weeks ago,

he was a line cook or something at, like, a diner.

Just like.

Yeah.

And then he went to some restaurant in Portland

for, like, two to three weeks, and now he's

getting an interview at Bergdorf's.

Yeah. Well, no, not even because she took him to

Burgdorf's for lunch. He was going somewhere else

entirely. But it was like, a super fancy. I forget

what it was, but it was, like, a super fancy

somewhere where Serena goes. Yeah, somewhere that

Serena frequent. Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, pretty impressive, move up the career

chain for our boy Max. I almost wonder if Ivy

secretly set him up for an interview.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or Diana. you know, if Diana

found.

I don't know if Diana knows about Max, though.

Oh, maybe not.

Serena gets a call from Charlie and tells her she

met a cute guy. Charlie urges her to take him to

lunch at a hot location. Serena doesn't want to

make him late, but Charlie continues to push the

idea

she could have taken him to lunch anywhere close

to where he was going to be anyway. All of this

just seems to be so, like, forced drama. Hey, I

have an interview. Cool. I'll show you how to get

there. And then afterwards, I could take you to

lunch.

Sarita doesn't wait around for people, but

she, like, would have. I don't know. Like I said,

it just feels so forced.

After the call, we find out Diana was listening

over Charlie's shoulder. She tells her to get over

there to get a picture and send it off to Gossip

Girl along with a depressing message. As she is

about to leave, Nate comes over to talk to her,

but she just shuts him down.

Yeah, good on her. Good on her. In this moment to

be like, leave me alone with this shit, Nate.

Rufus has gotten off the phone with a, hotel in

Baston and found out that Dan never checked out.

He is still worried because it isn't like Dan to

miss an obligation. Lily says they can go to

Boston and check on him.

It wasn't even that Lily said, we can go to Boston

to check on him. It was the way that she's like,

no, I know you. Like, we're going there. Like, I.

Yep. Yeah, you're. You're good. And. And when

she's like, we can catch a flight there. And he's

like, it'll be quicker to drive. It was just. I

really liked that little bit of Lily that we got.

Nate is following an annoyed Charlie down the

street. Nate tells her that he and Diana might not

Be as much of the couple as he originally thought.

Poor simpleton.

Yeah, you poor, poor, silly guy.

Oh, we're not exclusive. So I'm basically going to

go flirt with another co worker.

Yeah. And the one that I was flirting with last

week to make you jealous, for that matter. Yeah,

it's just. Yeah, come on. Poor dumb Nate. Just do

better.

Serena and Max are outside the restaurant when Max

says he is relying on Serena to get to his

interview on time. Serena's conscience gets the

best of her and she tells him he better go

straight to his interview.

Yeah, I do appreciate that this version of Serena

is like, no, I could be actually ruining this

guy's career. I'm gonna not do that to him.

Well, we're seeing both Serena and Chuck both

reflecting on the book and growing from it. I wish

we saw that more with. Not just that, but with all

the characters.

Yes.

The book should be more of a story, I think. Not a

story itself, but more of a plot driver.

yeah, I knew exactly where you were coming from.

And instead they're like, well, Dan's not here.

He's just on this book tour. But that could still

be pushing everything.

Yeah.

And, yeah, it's just sort of an afterthought of

it. Especially with Blair, you know, especially

how she's.

Well, she starts even. Ready yet?

Yeah.

Other than the sex scene, right after Sarita

ditches Max and he heads off to his interview, we

see Nate is still failing to lay his wrap down

with Charlie. However, when Charlie spots Max

coming, she pulls Nate in for a kiss. An excuse to

cover her face. It works as Max walks right by the

kissing couple.

This was probably the one point of the show that I

kind of laughed a little. And I do like Charlie. I

do like her.

She is probably the most interesting thing right

now.

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like we're still getting

the same level of effort from Ed as we always

have. I haven't really seen, too big of a drop,

off there. I feel like Layton is still putting in

the work, but I feel like Blake and Pen are just

checked out, and I feel like Chase is a little

checked out of it. Even though this is probably

the most Nate heavy plot we've had in a while and

probably the least boring Nate storyline. But that

doesn't say anything because it's still not a

great storyline. And it's not not boring. It's

just less boring than anything else Nate has ever

been tied up in.

And also for this seaweed, it's pretty clear that

Max does not know Ivy as well as Chuck knows Blair

because otherwise he would have sensed her there,

Right?

Yeah.

Unfortunately, Gossip Girl did catch Charlie

kissing Nate, and Diana doesn't look too happy

about it.

Yep, of course she did.

And this was the Gossip Girl blast. oh, Charlie,

looks like you stayed in character all too well.

Too bad there's always an understudy waiting in

the wings for you to slip and fall.

We move into Act 3. Back in the office, Diana is

grilling Charlie about the kiss. However, she does

believe Charlie's max explanation and says she

will deal with him as long as Charlie can convince

Nate that she isn't interested in him. Charlie

seems a bit confused when Diana suggests that she

do that by asking Nate out on a date. Yeah,

rightfully confused.

Yeah, because Diana gets all these big plots for

teenagers, by the way, for like these 20 year old,

19, 20 year olds that she is, like here, like

manipulating and plotting against.

Yes.

And just all these brilliant ideas. It's so lame.

As Nate returns home, Chuck mocks him. about the

poll on Gossip Girl, we get some classic Nate

fusion as he is getting mixed signals from the two

women currently in his orbit. Chuck tells Nate

about the Sleep no More performance he will be

attending tonight. When Chuck begins to invite

Nate, he shows Chuck the text he got from Charlie,

also inviting him to the event.

Yeah, I also want to point out that this is the

only interaction we have with non judging

Breakfast Club members. That there's a couple

times that Nate and Chuck cross paths and that's

it. The gang isn't together or doing anything.

Which of course is always one of our big

highlights when they all are together, especially

in the end of an episode and even in this when

they're all sort of in the same place, they're not

together.

Well, you also get Chuck and Blair.

Yeah, but you get just very little and. And even

that's not satisfying.

Sarita and Blair are both bemoaning that Gossip

Girl never posts what you want when you want it.

With Blair's advice, Serena decides blogging isn't

for her and goes to tell Diana. She suggests that

Blair should leave Chuck alone and focus on

working on her relationship with Louis. Blair

agrees, but immediately calls for a ticket to

tonight's performance. When Serena leaves, Dorota

eavesdrops on Blair's phone call.

It's just so tired. this conversation. They've had

it how many times? Like, oh, well, I'm gonna go do

this, but don't go doing this, and I won't go

doing this. And then Blair Goes and does it.

Serena shows up at Diana's office ready to quit,

but is interrupted by the arrival of Max, who came

to thank her for her apricot tip. Diana suggests

they go out to celebrate tonight with dinner and a

show. Serena can go home and change and Diana will

give Max the details.

Yeah, just instantly comes up with new ways of

manipulating teenagers. Good job, Diana. Good job.

You're so on top of this and so smart. Honestly,

like, she's. Is she the worst character ever on

Gossip Girl? Is she the worst one? Who else?

Karen? Yeah, Aaron's pretty terrible.

Gabriel.

Gabriel's pretty terrible.

But they didn't last as long.

And they were running schemes on their peers. They

were running schemes on people that were like

maybe two or three years younger. Maybe one.

Aaron's case, like 10. The camp counselor. And

Aaron wasn't really running schemes. Aaron was

very out on, out in the open about like, yeah, I'm

just a shitty guy. Like, I'm just going to treat

you like shit. But Gabriel was running schemes,

but he was running it on another 19 year old. You

know, someone who's closer to being a peer. This

is a grown ass woman, like in her probably 40s

now, who is manipulating a whole bunch of 19 and

20 year olds. Grow up like you're trying to make

your mark as the new person who is spreading teen

gossip. You grimy.

Well, Gossip Girl decides to point out that we

have a party of the week. Seems the play's the

thing tonight. But watch out, players, you might

be the ones getting played. We move into Act 4.

Chuck enters the hotel to the sound of big band

music and MC takes the stage and begins explaining

the guidelines of the show. Chuck, having been

dealt an ace, takes the door to his left. We then

see Blair carrying a full deck, pull an ace and

follow him. Dorota in KGB mode grabs someone's

card and also follows.

It's not nice to steal. Also, why wasn't that

person already in? Like, she had the ace card?

Why, why were you waiting?

I mean, I guess people are just like chatting up

in the lobby. that's where the bar is. So you know

people are gonna linger at the bar.

Yeah.

Nate and Charlie enter together. Charlie seems

anxious and excuses herself to talk to Diana.

Originally, Diana had just planned to catch them

together, so Nate would come running back to

apologize to her. But it seems she has something

else in mind. Charlie rejoins Nate.

Everything about this is just so fucking annoying.

And especially Diana. These are kids that you're

just toying with.

She's trying to get her back.

Yeah, but like, she's also like, toying with this

20 year old.

Max arrives at the party and Diana waves him over.

When he asks if Serena has arrived yet, Diana lies

and says she's already in side. Diana says that

Sarita wants Max to find her and she's wearing a

dress that matches the one Charlie was wearing.

Yep. Wait, so they're gonna get Serena mixed up

for the other blonde at the masquerade?

Never happened before.

It's the third. This is the third fucking dime.

They're all wearing masks of disguise.

Yeah, it's the third fucking time you've used this

same trope. Imagine being the guy. It's like,

here's your shot at writing a Gossip Girl episode

for the first time. Oh, you know what? I'm gonna

write these two episodes. It's already been done.

Yeah, like this whole thing we just saw this, was

it two seasons ago or was it last? It was last

season, right?

It was season four. And season one had the mask

balls.

Yeah. When we had the people kissing Serena

and well, Noah's kissing Serena.

No, everyone thought they were kissing Serena.

That's right. And then, the other one where we're

professing our love to Serena, who

isn't Serena, who has a very distinctive body.

Yes. Who's the tallest fucking person at any of

these parties? Wow, Serena, you sure did lose an

inch and a half. You sure did lose like four

inches.

But, two cup sizes.

Yeah, and two cup sizes, but man, I'm gonna go for

it.

Chuck is enjoying the show while Blair watches

from the shadows. Dorota comes up behind Blair and

confronts her on breaking her promise to Ms.

Serena. Blair says she isn't going to undermine

Chuck, just reveal his evil doings. Blair then

distracts Dorota and follows after Chuck.

I hate when they make Dorota dumb because, like,

it was funny, you know, there's the famous Russian

actor and she turns around, she's like, where?

Where? It's like, But it was still the guy got a

Chuck.

I didn't really take that as DRO to being dumb.

More that just Blair knows the buttons to push,

Right?

Yeah.

And yes, Serena arrives late, which we learn was

at Diana's suggestion. She once again lies and

says Max hasn't arrived yet. Diana tells Serena to

wait at the bar for Max while she goes inside. We

then see Diana whisper something to the doorperson

before slipping them some cash.

Yep. Way to manipulate these teenagers even more.

Yep.

Diana, you grimy, grimy lady.

Nate and Charlie Momentarily reconnect. But when

Nate spots Diana watching them, he suggests they

split up again. Nate walks over to Diana, who says

she has decided she would rather spend time with

him than go to Paris. Nate says he's already here

with someone else, but she counters that Charlie

is seeing someone and maybe using Nate to make

him, jealous.

And like, she's just like, pulling all these

strings. It's so frustrating. It's like she's

pulling all these strings and it's just. It's,

just pathetic to me.

Yeah. Back in the bar area, the doorperson from

before asks Serena if she wants to join the last

group. Sarita says she's still waiting for someone

and then mutters under her breath that he seems

not to be coming. Some NPC snaps a photo of Serena

sitting alone and depressed.

The one that was paid off, if I'm correct.

So it was always taking a picture of Serena,

right?

You're.

Blair wanders through the performance wearing her

mask until she finds Chuck alone in a candy shop.

Even with the mask, Chuck instantly recognizes her

and says he should get back to the performance,

but Blair blocks his exit. Blair does her best to

tempt Chuck into making a pass, and eventually he

gives in and kisses her. Dorota looks through the

window in shock.

Yeah.

Blair. Blair, what are you doing?

Yeah, first of all, you came in and gave Chuck

very, very hot, right? You came in hot, and you

were trying to get this reaction out of him, and

you got it. And I don't know how you can say that.

He's a terrible person for reacting that way

because you went in with every intention of

getting him to do exactly what he did. You caused

that to happen. And if you did not go in there and

if you did not push this whole thing, that

wouldn't have happened and he would have left you

alone. And more. I'm just annoyed at the whole,

at, this even being a thing. Why are we doing

this?

Diana finds Charlie and tells her it's time to go

kiss Nate and. And points to a man in the crowd.

Charlie walks over and kisses him, but whoops,

it's actually Max. And Nate sees the whole thing.

Whaaa.

And, they have to take their masks off to kissy.

She still doesn't fucking see him.

Yeah, she comes in with her eyes closed. Also,

he's like 4 inches taller than Nate too.

Is he?

I thought he would seem like he was taller than

Nate.

I, see about the same height.

I got the impression, I felt that Max was really

tall because of how Much taller. He is than

Serena.

Was he taller than Serena?

I thought so.

What's the actor's name again? Max or no. Brian.

J. Smith. How tall is Brian J. Smith? Six foot.

Six foot. Six foot. How tall. How tall is Nate?

I think he's listed six foot.

Well, I mean, you could be listed as six foot.

Well, I mean, that's what this guy's listed at,

too, though, so.

yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. I used to

always say I'm six two, six three on dating

websites.

five, ten.

Okay. Yeah.

All right. Yeah.

And how tall is Blake Lively? Five' nine, I think.

Five' ten.

Also five' ten.

Yeah. I mean, I guess he's a little

bit taller, but, I mean, like, those two inches,

if you kiss someone earlier that day, those two

inches are going to be noticeable.

Yeah.

You know?

And this is what Gossip Girl has to say about the

scene. It's been the performance of a lifetime for

cousin Charlie. But tonight, it looks like it just

might be the final curtain.

We move into Act 5. We return with a slap. Blair

slapping Chuck, that is. She says she now knows

she made the right choice with Louis. Chuck is

surprisingly calm about the whole thing and

watches Blair storm out before looking and seeing

Dorota through the window. Dorota looks knowingly

at Chuck.

And again, like, I'm annoyed with Blair this whole

episode, it's just a dumb story for her. And I'm

just over this whole thing, and so I'm just

annoyed by this still.

Rufus enters the loft on a phone call, presumably

with a mechanic. It sounds like he had planned to

drive to Boston, but the car broke down before he

got out of the garage. He comes back to the loft

to wait, but is surprised to see Dan in his room.

One of the things that I found kind of funny about

this. Dan drives that car all the time, doesn't

he? Isn't that the car that Dan.

I mean, not all the time. Whenever they need to

leave town.

I guess what I found funny about it is that Rufus

was like, man, I don't even know the last time I

drove this thing. Like, I never drive it. And it's

just sort of the. That car actually gets driven

somewhat regularly, just not by you. That. It just

kind of, to me, established that Dan is just,

like, taking this car all the time. I thought it

was just more

like once or twice a year, which.

That's fair, too, because that would kill a car.

Yeah.

So, yeah, either way, I just. I. Yeah, I found it.

I found it. To be believable, but also just like I

would find it also believable for Rufus to have no

idea how much that car is actually driven.

Diana finds Serena still waiting alone after the

show and shows her the Gossip Girl blast about

her. She then uses this as leverage to convince

Serena to continue helping her in a quest to take

down Gossip Girl.

Yeah, good job, Diana. You really manipulated

another teenager. Good job.

After Sarita leaves, Nate also comes out and sits

down next to Diana, next to Diana and says she was

right about Charlie. Diana then plays some more

mind games with him and makes him think everything

with the relationship is up to what he wants.

Yeah, I doubt that he's going to be upset about it

again later. It's just so, the whole thing. I, I

just, I hate this.

Back at the loft, Dan is explaining he stopped

going to the signings because no one was coming.

Rufus counters with the fact that Lincoln Hawk

used to play for empty bars at first, but word of

mouth eventually spread and they made it big.

I hated Dan here as a performer, as someone who

has played, has been playing music for a long

time. You're on this book tour to sell books and

you can't expect people to just know about it and

show up. Your job now, when you're an artist, your

job is not to make art. Your job is to sell your

art. And that is the sad thing about the society

that we live in, right? That is how our society

operates. That you can that your art doesn't mean

shit if you're not going to sell it. And now I'm

not speaking from a philosophical point of view.

I'm speaking from the capitalism point of view

that Dan has created this book that he has to go

and sell. And as an artist and as a performer,

yeah, I've played to rooms where no one is there.

I've run an open mics where people haven't shown

up and it's just me and a bartender and maybe the

cooking staff occasionally comes out to see a

song, but you just do that sometimes. And

sometimes it is like that for a couple shows in a

row. And then later on you have shows where you

are on a huge stage and you get plenty of people

out to it. And so it's just. It was so frustrating

for me. And it is so like Dan. Dan doesn't

recognize. He's so used to seeing all of these

people with enormous privilege that he discounts

his own privilege as if he's the underprivileged

one in this group. But you're not Dan and you

never were underprivileged. You may have been

lesser privileged than the people you are

surrounded by, but at no moment were you ever

underprivileged in your life. And I think that

this is when it really shines that Dan is like,

man, this stuff that I actually have to work for

now is too hard. And I don't like it. And I'm just

so disappointed in him.

Yeah. Also, unless you're like George Martin or

Dan Brown or something, you're not going to get

more than like 10 to 20 people at a book signing

in 2011. No, you're just not.

Yeah, at that point, you're not there to sign.

You're not there. Well, let me flip that. people

aren't going to be there to see you. People are

gonna see you because they're there and your job

is to sell them your book.

Yeah.

Hey, I'm signing these. Hey, you should check this

out. You should buy this book. I'm gonna sign it

for you. I know me. If I see. If, I were to come

across that and it seemed like a book I'd be into,

I'd probably do it. I've done that before where

someone's like, hey, I wrote this. And kind of it

is like, okay, sign it for me. And I'm happy to

read it because if I don't like it, then maybe

someone else will want this signed copy. And if

not, I'll have a signed copy of a book I like.

In an effort to get Max away from her Upper east

side friends, Ivy has brought them out to the

street. She pretends she kissed him on purpose

because she recognized him and wants to reconnect.

When Max reveals he was there with Serena, Ivy

gets even more desperate to get him out of there.

But Max stands his ground and goes back inside.

Ivy, you had so many ways to play this and you

played it wrong. You could have played it better.

You played it wrong. First of all. The first way

you could have played it is opening your eyes

before the kiss.

Diana walks up behind Ivy and taps her shoulder to

gloat a bit. She then fires Ivy and snaps a

picture to send to Gossip Girl. The only question

is which name she is going to send it under.

Yes. You sure did manipulate and destroy this 20

year old Diana. Good job. Great. Even within the

morality of Gossip Girl, how we discussed that

many times, I'm no less annoyed.

This is what Gossip Girl says about it all. Masks

eventually have to come off, and with them, so do

the gloves.

We go into the epilogue Speaking of gloating,

Blair is gloating to Dorota for being right about

Chuck not having changed. Dorota just smiles and

sends a thank you text to Chuck.

Yeah, they were plotting together to make sure

Blair knew that Chuck hadn't actually changed just

to send her back into Louie's arms. And, God damn

it. Does it make sense? the thing that really

annoyed me about the end and them working together

and all that, is that within the context of

everything else. Yeah, yeah, it makes sense. Like

that adds up. And I hate it. I hate that it does.

At the Empire Suite, Chuck smiles at the text and

then explains the plan to Nate. Nate says he

decided to not let anyone else pull his strings.

Just then, Diana gets off the elevator and

queries, you wanted to see me? Nate leads her into

the bedroom while Chuck smiles in amusement.

Someone's going to pull your string, all right,

Nate. She's going to keep pulling your string for

as long as you let her.

Serena finds Charlie pacing in her room. Charlie

is worried if Gossip Girl is out to get her. She

says she quit her job and wants to go home again.

However, Serena says she can't let Gossip Girl

bully her. Serena reiterates that Charlie is

family and she will protect her. Serena just has

to make a quick phone call and then they can chat

more.

I, like kind of where they were going with this,

this attempt to make Gossip Girl more relevant.

Like I was saying that the meta idea of Serena

going after Gossip Girl, but also Gossip Girl

hasn't been super relevant in the past two

seasons, the way that they're making her now. And

so I think that having Charlie be the target of

Gossip Girl and Serena being like, okay, now she's

going after someone I love, I can't let her do

that. I thought that that stuff was actually good

motivation and good plot development. I. If I were

Ivy, I would empty that account in gtfo. Or at

least I wouldn't even empty it. I'd take a few

hundred grand in cash in a briefcase and I would

dip and just never be seen by any of these fucking

crazy people again.

That's what she's trying to do, right?

But just do it. What does Yoda say?

In the bedroom, Diana says she really likes Nate,

but she was just trying to play it cool before.

She's not ready to commit to a serious

relationship as equals. Her phone rings and Nate

tells her to answer it while he goes to get some

champagne. It's Serena who says she is ready to

take down Gossip Girl now. They make plans to meet

first thing tomorrow morning.

So, Nate, all of this stuff and all this

seriousness, and then she's like, so it's just you

and me. And he goes, just you and me. And we'll

just see where it goes. Well, you're see where it

goes. Isn't that how, you got to here? Isn't this

what seeing what it. And that's a writing thing.

Like, that's not even a character thing or

anything else. That's just bad writing. You have

nothing better for Nate to say than see where it

goes? Come on.

Dan is texting with Rufus and thanking him for the

pet talk and is on the road. But we see Dan hasn't

left the loft yet.

You baby, you tool. Fuck you. Dan would.

I like.

And I just, again, I would love to go on the road

and go from place to place and not get paid, not

have anybody there, but just have the experience

of doing it, you know, Ah, these kids.

But of course he was being paid to do it, right?

But he'd be getting paid. And it's a fucking like

job obligation. Like, you have a job now, Dan, and

it's to sell books.

Chuck goes into his bedroom and is about to throw

away his mask, but decides to keep it in a place

of prominence instead.

Yeah, I kind of felt like when I saw that, I was

like, I wonder how much the Sleep no More people

paid Gossip Girl to have the constant reminder of

their show on Chuck's dresser for the remainder of

the series, if it's still there next week.

The other things we see on his dresser are two

photos. One is a baby and one is a dark haired

woman. I think it's supposed to be Chuck's mom.

Although, I don't know why he's keeping a photo of

her. Yeah, and then he's also got like a fancy old

alarm clock, a cigar box and a sword. And then a

caddy with various, toiletries.

Is it one sword? I thought it was two.

It's a sword and the scabbard.

Oh, okay, okay. I don't know why my brain made it

a katana and a wakasashi over top of each other.

Is that the right word? Did I say that right?

Sure, why not?

That's the small one.

Why not?

Things I've learned from Dungeons and Dragons. My

weapon knowledge is not from being a violent

person. It's all from dnd. I wouldn't know what a

glaive was. A faard. Isn't that the captain of the

Enterprise?

Before Nate can return with the champagne. Diana

has jumped on another call and tells the

grandfather that everything is in place. Nate

called it. Nate's image has been already

rehabilitated, and Serena is right where they want

her to be.

Okay, so first of all, called that one from the

get. Right? First person I said was grandfather

when I was trying to think of someone manipulating

Nate. And then I kind of pulled back from

grandfather, and here's why. And here's the rant.

You had jobs lined up for Nate.

No, he didn't. His mom.

The whole thing.

His mom did.

His mom. Okay, so here's part of the. Then here's

again, some bad writing for it. Because the

conundrum Nate kept presenting back then was,

here's what my family wants me to do versus what

Diana wants me to do. Nate all this time, felt

like he was going against his family by going with

Diana.

But you could argue that maybe grandfather just

knows Nate by now. He knows that Nate wants to be

a rebel.

Right. So let's. So let's go there first.

Let's so make it. So we'll make it look like he's

going against the Valley, but really, he's just

doing what we want him to do, so.

Right. So I'm really just manipulating him into

what I want. But also the simple fact that Ann had

these jobs lined up that were good jobs. And also,

Nate, you haven't even graduated from the college

you're still going to, and you're worried about

these jobs. But let's just set that aside for a

second anyway. But Nate was ready to acquiesce to

what the family wanted them to. Wanted him to do.

Again. it was never the family, though. I think

you're conflating the grandfather and his mom.

There's no indication that they're the same thing.

I just felt like a lot of the wording early on in

this season led me to put the two together,

because he would refer to it as my family, what my

family wants when talking about the jobs from his

mom. And so that's. But all of that aside, all of

these things aside, it's just dumb. I'm just so

annoyed that it's like, now grandfather is trying

to re.

We also know that Anne is estranged from the

family still.

Oh, See, I kind of thought that she was back in

with them after she and Howie split. But, the

other thing here, how he's like, you have

successfully rehabilitated my grandson's image. 1.

When was his image really tarnished? Right. He's

the one that went against the guy who was being

corrupt and stood up to Trip.

No. Yes. But his image was tarnished when he took

the blame in the campaign. No one knows about. No

one knows about the whole thing with Trip and

Serena.

Right. I forgot he took the. Yeah, yeah, I forgot

that he did that. But now his image is

rehabilitated by banging his boss at this dying.

Well, again, grandfather's not happy about that

part.

He is.

Right.

He's not happy about that part. But you did hire

this person to manipulate him into coming to work

for your newspaper to rehabilitate his image. But

even if you're not happy about that part, then you

must admit your son, your grandson's image, has

not been fully restored because he's banging his

boss in public. Yeah.

that's really hurt as image, I don't think.

Yeah. What's the goal here, grandpa? What's the

goal?

I mean, that's a very Kennedy kind of thing. Yeah,

it's like he's married or anything. Yeah, neither

are married. They're two single people fucking.

Yeah. Nate bagging the hot older lady, that's good

for his image.

Classic Nate.

Grasshoppers just want her manipulating him too

much.

Yeah, well, it's hard to not, you know, when you

start down that road and you see how easy it is.

Diana caught feelings.

Yeah.

Max is still at the hotel and sees the blast about

Charlie and is confused at one, that they are

calling her Charlie Rhodes, and two, that she is

Serena's cousin.

Yeah. Who are you going to tell about that? Max.

That's to see.

I really thought it was going to be the real

Charlie that was going to blow up her spot, but

now, no, it might be Max. Unless she can convince

him not to.

This is what Gossip Girl says to end the episode.

Lock your windows, Upper East Siders. Looks like

Serena's cuckoo cousin Charlie is off her beds

again and about to jump to her own conclusion. We

all wear different masks for different reasons.

Some masks we put on because it's truly who we

want to be. Some wear because we can't bear to

face what's really underneath or because it's what

someone else needs us to be. And some masks we

wear because we hope to stay hidden. But that's

the problem with masks. They can be ripped off at

any moment. X.O.X.O. gossip Girl. what is coming

next?

I think Charlie's gonna get away with it somehow.

I think that she can convince Max to keep quiet.

But it's gonna be expensive. It's gonna be costly.

I shouldn't Say expensive. I'm gonna say costly.

Grandfather is trying to get Nate back in the

fold, which means that's gonna blow up in

grandfather's face. Ah, man. Dan, you idiot. I

don't even know Chuck, man. I'm hoping Blair will

actually move on from this stupid Chuck shit. At

least until the wedding, which I'm assuming

Louie's gonna come back and we're gonna see them

start patching things up maybe. And. But then more

drama there, because Beatrice is gonna be mad

about stuff and. Yeah, I think that's most of it.

oh, and Serena going after Gossip Girl. Yeah, I

think that Serena. I think that we're gonna see

that ramp up a little bit, and I think that could

be interesting. If I'm correct, the Gossip Girl

reveal is the final episode of the series.

Yes.

Okay. I thought. I thought that had been

established. Okay. Which means that they started

down this storyline, and then they were like, oh,

we have another season. Oh, oops.

Well, they're still thinking it's someone else at

this point.

Oh, fair. They think that Gossip Girl is someone

else, and now all of the fan base is probably

thinking of who it is, and then they're gonna be

like, no, and make it someone else. Like Lost. Oh,

they're on heaven. No, they're not all dead yet.

I'll say. There is going to be something in, the

next episode that is a hint to who they think

Gossip Girl is right now.

I love it.

Let's get into segments.

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.

This week in fandom, we travel to the Television

without pity forums from 2011. Their overall

impression of this episode, no bueno.

Yeah, this episode sucked.

Yeah. Blair is pathetic.

Pathetic. And I hate pathetic Blair. She's been

pathetic before. And yeah, I hate it when they

play her like this.

And Chuck's redemption is too heavy handed.

Yep, we get it. You're a good guy. Now, Chuck. For

now.

Dan is a loser.

Yep. Yep. You suck.

Nate is Nate.

Yep.

Serena continues to have her best season since

season one.

Agreed. Agreed. That Serena, that self reflecting

Serena, it has been, a. Ah, positive. I like her

story arc right now.

It's not a good thing if Ivy is your most

interesting storyline.

Ouch. No lies, though.

And finally, they are confused about the

grandfather's attentions. Why would he want Nate

to join the Spectator? And why does he care about

Serena at all?

Yeah. Although he was mad at Serena for something.

I forget One of the. I think the last plot he was

tied up in, she did something to upset him. And I

forget what. Oh, she was Tripp. Yeah, yeah. She

was the other woman with Trip. So like, she was

like the cause of the Trip scandal. So I get why

he's after her too.

On to episode grades. It is your week to go first,

man.

Non judging. Breakfast Club was hardly together at

all. The party of the week was a mask party that

was already done two other times. So many recycled

plots. Weak. Blair. this is a. I'm. I think I'm at

a D minus. I really hated this episode. Like, I

was just bored and annoyed and I think that Diana

Payne really is like the worst character that

they've had. Like, and she gets worse every

episode.

Yeah, this was not a good episode. The only kind

of interesting thing is Ivy and I guess the sleep

no more thing was kind of cool, I guess. Sort of.

Yeah. It was a neat taste of a New York art piece

that rich people would go to. So, like, I thought

it fit, but it was also like, well, actually not

rich people.

It was like a hipster thing.

Hipster. Well, yes. Yeah.

So I gave it a slightly better than you because.

Only because I know there's much more worse to

come. So I gave it a D.

That's frightening. We have not failed an episode,

and this one was close. But I think that being a

little bit interested in Ivy kept it afloat for

me. But we're.

We still have room to fall.

Yep. Vulture hasn't given up yet, which is really

where my, like, wall kind of is where my. That's

the tunnel. I'm seeing us.

The interesting thing is the episode they quit on

is the first episode back from winter break. So

they waited through break, saw that episode, and

then quit.

And they were like, fuck this. I'm done.

Moving to Stockwatch. Who do you got going up?

I'm giving Chuck an up. I do feel like he is doing

what he's supposed to be doing. I'm giving Serena

an up because I also feel like I like the

character development and I like that she is

honestly trying to be a better person. I'm giving

Diana and up because her schemes are working out.

I'm giving grandfather an up because his stupid

ass scheme is working out. I'm giving Rufus an up

for being some. Some good dad advice. I'm gonna

give Max the up for having a successful interview

and getting the follow up. And does Nate go up

now? I'm leaving Nate neutral because he's a

dumbass who's being played neutral. Nate, I think

that's it. I'll give Lily the up. Lily was good,

too. What did Lily do that I liked? Oh, driving to

Boston thing. Those are my ups. Oh, Dorota. I'm

sorry. And I'm gonna give Dorota an up for being

fun. Dorota.

For me, I had. Even though she's the worst, Diana

is obviously succeeding. She's manipulating

everyone right now. I had Rufus going up for

giving some good advice to Dan. I had Chuck going

up for being mature. And I had grandfather going

up for manipulating the scheme, but that is it.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a fair list.

Who do you have going down?

Charlie. She's fired. She's busted. She's on the.

She's on the ropes more than she has ever been.

I'm going to send Blair for being a pathetic loser

in this episode. Dan for being a more pathetic

loser than Blair in this episode. was there anyone

else that really. I think that might be it. I

don't think that I want to give Nate a down. I

just think that he's coasting. So, yeah, I think

that'll be it for mine. Let me hear what you have

to say and see if I change my mind.

All, right. So for me, I have Dan going down

because he is a big, fat loser.

Yeah. Big loser. Fuck you, Dan.

Blair for being pathetic.

Yeah. Fucking pathetic.

I have Serena going down for being manipulated and

also just kind of being sad.

That's. That is fair.

I like her growth, but she's being manipulated.

Clearly lost the episode.

Yeah, that is totally fair.

Ivy, because she's been walking the line, but she

kind of crossed over to the bad side this episode.

it looks like she is about to get caught. you had

Max going up. I had him going down because he is

also being manipulated here and just being drug

all around, and, you know, he's not getting that

fucking job.

I was giving him an up because I had a moment of

hope for him, and I've liked.

My moment of hope was gone the instant he showed

up on the Upper east side. He should have stayed

in Portland, But that is. Oh, I also have Nate,

going down because he is also being manipulated,

and he hates. He hates that.

So it's funny, he says he hates it, but he sure is

good at it. Yeah.

But here's the best outfits from the

last episode we've seen.

Who do you have for best outfit?

Man, this one was tough for me. I think probably

Charlie's dress at the. At the end, at the Sleep

no More.

The gold dress.

That gold dress. And like with the sort of

stripiness on it. Yeah, I'm going to give it to

her.

for me, I gave it to Serena's black beaded mini

dress with the cow necks from the Moshido Spring

2010 collection.

Okay. That was at the end too, as

I had like the gold little buckle thing on the

front too.

Yeah, that was, that was actually my, my second

choice for the episode because I did really like

that one too. Yeah, like, even Blair's outfits

weren't fun.

I would have liked your outfit from the park if it

wasn't leopard print.

Yeah, like everything that.

So, not Blair.

Yeah, Blair was just done dirty this whole

episode.

That is it.

For segments, do you have anything you would like

to plug this week?

I, don't really have anything specific, but you

can go ahead and find me on TikTok or Instagram.

Steve Marshawn. M A R C H I O N. And yeah, go

ahead and find me there. Give me a follow. Get in

touch for me.

Since our last recording, I binged, the first

season of the show Overcompensating. It's on

Prime, Amazon Prime. It is a show, with a college

freshman entering his freshman year and he is a

closeted gay band and hijixes ensue. But if you

would like to follow me on social media, you can

find me hotcapicola. That's H o T C A P I C O L A.

And you can follow the podcast non judging

breakfastbod on Instagram, TikTok and Threads. You

can also find links to our Patreon, to our Discord

server and our subreddit, all on our website

nonjudging breakfastbod.com

and if you'd like to get in touch with us, we

would love to hear what you have to say. So please

feel free to send us an email at non judging

breakfast podmail.com and we'll maybe even if we

get the chance, read what you have to say here on

the podcast. And while you're at it, if you could

go ahead and give us a like subscribe follow. And

if you're listening on Spotify or Apple podcasts,

if you could leave us a comment because that

really helps boost our visibility. and finally, go

ahead and let your friends know what you're

listening to. Tell your neighbors, tell your co

workers, make us your water cooler. Talk every

week at work.

And we will be back next week to Talk about Season

5, Episode 8 All the Pretty sources. The episode

description reads, Serena is hard at work planning

a dream bridal shower for Blair, but it should

come as no surprise that Serena has to plant some

false information about the shower in order to

keep Blair from finding out all the details. Chuck

and Dan decide to spend the day together to

distract themselves from the fact that they didn't

make the invite list for Blair's shower. Nate and

Serena find a silver bullet in Diana's war against

Gossip Girl, but struggle about whether to use it

or not.

Oh, boy. I feel like that has some good potential

for some fun. Blair, Serena, best friend stuff,

and Chuck and Dan and. And also, it sounds like we

have a Chuck and Dan team up, which there. That

has always been gold. So I feel like we have the

recipe for a better episode than we just had. this

is episode eight, right? We're going into episode

eight. we're getting close to Thanksgiving, but I

guess it's not Thanksgiving yet. And is it 10?

That's always the Serena Dan episode.

Usually. Yeah, usually.

Ah, episode 10. So we're not at anything, any kind

of special landmark here, so hopefully this has

some good payoff.

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

XOXO Every time you walk away 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 oh it seems I'm

walking right to you door my heart 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 run away you

take a piece of me with you there Every time you

walk away I run away you take a piece of me 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 everything you mean to me I'm to

trying 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?

Uh?

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 and

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 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.