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Gossip Girl S2E16 - You've Got Yale!
Episode 16 • 1st December 2024 • Non Judging Breakfast Pod • Mithril Chain Network
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Summary

Welcome back, Upper East Siders! In this episode of Non Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve delve into the drama of Gossip Girl Season 2, Episode 16, "You've Got Yale!" As Blair anxiously awaits her Yale acceptance, tensions simmer with a side of scheming and betrayal. Serena faces a moral dilemma after receiving her own acceptance, while Chuck battles Jack for control of Bass Industries. Meanwhile, a new teacher, Ms. Carr, enters the scene and quickly becomes the target of Blair's wrath. The hosts navigate the tangled web of secrets, power plays, and questionable decisions with their signature humor and insight. Don't miss this deep dive into the chaos of Manhattan's elite!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

02:30 Sensitive Topics Disclaimer

05:00 Discussing "You've Got Yale!"

10:45 Yale Acceptance Drama

20:00 Chuck vs. Jack Showdown

30:00 Serena's Dilemma

38:15 Blair's Schemes Against Ms. Carr

45:00 Episode Highlights and Reflections

52:30 Stock Watch: Characters Rising and Falling

1:00:00 Best Outfits and Fashion Highlights

1:05:00 Predictions and Closing Remarks

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 


Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

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#GossipGirl

Transcripts

Leif:

Hello. Here at the non judging breakfast pod, we like to

Leif:

keep things light. However, sometimes the

Leif:

show and therefore our recaps touch on some serious

Leif:

topics. This episode contains

Leif:

discussion about sexual assault. We

Leif:

avoid getting into any graphic detail. However,

Leif:

we understand that this is a sensitive topic for many

Leif:

people. Additionally, if you or a loved one

Leif:

has been a victim of sexual violence or may be a

Leif:

victim of sexual violence, the national sexual

Leif:

assault Hotline can be a valuable resource.

Leif:

They offer 24. 7 live chat and other

Leif:

information. Just visit

Leif:

www.org.

Leif:

that's rain with

Leif:

2ns.org. They also have

Leif:

a phone hotline at

Leif:

100-656-4673.

Leif:

Hey Up Restarters to all you scandal loving listeners out

Leif:

there, you just tuned into the non judging breakfast

Leif:

pod where the coffee is strong, the

Leif:

waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than

Leif:

ever. My name is Leif, and I'm your seasoned Gossip

Leif:

Girl veteran.

Steve:

And, and I'm Steve. I'm the newbie, the

Steve:

greenhorn, the. I, don't know, Leif, what do we call the season

Steve:

two Gossip Girl newbie?

Leif:

do I really have to keep coming up with these? I thought second season

Leif:

seniors got a free pass.

Steve:

I'm. I'm sorry, but as long as these new teachers keep

Steve:

showing up, your new quips are going to need to keep showing

Steve:

up.

Leif:

All right then, so here's the deal, folks.

Steve:

Leif has been watching Gossip Girl since the beginning, and I'm

Steve:

tuning in for the very first time. And together,

Steve:

we are your dynamic duo, bringing you all of the

Steve:

drama, romance, and sometimes questionable

Steve:

fashion choices of this iconic

Steve:

2007 series.

Leif:

that's right. Each week we'll be taking a deep dive into the

Leif:

show one episode at a time. We'll analyze all

Leif:

the hidden parallels and obscure references.

Leif:

Plus we'll also be touching on all the behind the scenes

Leif:

gossip and some stories from fandom.

Steve:

And, since we are all about inclusivity here at the non judging

Steve:

breakfast pod, there is always room for you at the non judging

Steve:

breakfast table. So go ahead and grab your coffee, a

Steve:

mimosa, or some of Nate and Chuck's special medicine,

Steve:

and let's go ahead and get into this.

Leif:

Sounds good. And this episode will be releasing

Leif:

on December 2nd. So happy birthday

Leif:

to Steve and very much. Yeah.

Steve:

Ah.

Leif:

And hopefully everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving if you

Leif:

celebrate it in your country. I know we do have a lot of international listeners

Leif:

lately.

Steve:

Yeah, that's. And welcome from around the

Steve:

world. We're really happy to have you and we really

Steve:

appreciate the Listen, Please,

Leif:

Write in and, interact with us.

Steve:

Yeah, tell us about where you live and

Steve:

how Gossip Girl is received

Steve:

in your. Where you are.

Leif:

And of course, if you really, really like us, you can subscribe to our

Leif:

Patreon, where you can support the podcast for as little as $1

Leif:

a month@patreon.com

Leif:

non judging preface pod.

Steve:

And that Patreon also can lead to fun stuff

Steve:

like watch parties with Leif and I where we'll

Steve:

watch different movies and shows that

Steve:

these cast members are in. So, definitely

Steve:

join that Patreon and help us out and be a part

Steve:

of it.

Leif:

So today we are here to talk about season two,

Leif:

episode 16, you've got

Leif:

Yale. It was originally aired on

Leif:

January 19, 2009. And of course the

Leif:

title is a reference to the movie with Tom Hanks and

Leif:

Meg Ryan. You've Got Mail.

Steve:

Sleepless and Co. That's right. No, the other

Steve:

one.

Leif:

The worries of Stalker.

Steve:

Yeah, I'll be honest, I didn't see it because

Steve:

every, all, I've seen like pieces of you've Got Mail.

Steve:

I never watched the whole thing because I just felt like it looked

Steve:

like Sleepless in Seattle again.

Steve:

Wasn't it even the same director too?

Leif:

It might have been. It's got, it's definitely a

Leif:

funny movie. You got a, young Dave Chappelle and there is as his

Leif:

friend, but the whole concept is kind of

Leif:

creepy because he's basically like

Leif:

talking to her online and learning things about her, but

Leif:

then also as, ah, someone else and

Leif:

then flirting with her in real life as himself.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, see? Yeah, I never saw it.

Steve:

And like. Oh, haha.

Steve:

Such Roman. Like the rom coms of the early

Steve:

Internet. Like, isn't this cute?

Steve:

No, that's. That's criminal.

Steve:

It's adorable.

Leif:

It's not criminal, but it's definitely, yeah.

Leif:

Weird and manipulative.

Steve:

Yeah, it's definitely creepy.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Episode was written by our buddy Josh Saffron.

Leif:

This is his fourth of five episodes this season.

Leif:

this season he's also done 201 Summer

Leif:

Kind of Wonderful, episode six, New Haven

Leif:

can Wait and the Magnificent

Leif:

Archibalds.

Steve:

I, I found the writing in this to

Steve:

be better than it has been

Steve:

lately. I actually really, I actually had notes about the

Steve:

writing that there were maybe a couple little things,

Steve:

but there were a lot of things that I really liked about it in

Steve:

this episode.

Leif:

And it's like this is also now the second Yale

Leif:

episode that he's done because he did, the one where

Leif:

they actually go to Yale.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, he.

Leif:

So I kind of looked up his Biography. He didn't actually go

Leif:

to Yale. He actually graduated from, the Tisch program at

Leif:

nyu.

Steve:

Oh, okay.

Leif:

But he was born in New Haven. Oh.

Steve:

So. So he's grew up around this area.

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

So that does make a lot of sense. Well, and, and also

Steve:

New Haven.

Steve:

Can't wait.

Steve:

New Haven Can Wait was also a good. Yeah.

Steve:

Episode.

Leif:

That was a very fun episode.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I really liked it a lot. So I, I do

Steve:

feel like, like, Jess, Josh, Saffron has.

Steve:

Saffron has some good episodes, and he.

Leif:

Is de facto showrunner at this point.

Steve:

Oh, is he? Okay. Yeah. That, and you.

Steve:

It reads in this episode. It reads like

Steve:

this was. It's, it was almost like when Joss Whedon

Steve:

directs an episode of Buffy, you know,

Steve:

that major Consequential Things

Steve:

Happening episode.

Leif:

Was directed by Janice Cook. This is her second

Leif:

of three episodes this season. So

Leif:

the first one she did was

Leif:

203 the Dark Knight.

Steve:

Which one was the Dark Knight?

Leif:

That was the power adage. Okay. I thought, I thought

Leif:

was a much better directed episode than this one.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

This one. I, I thought the directing was not great in this one,

Leif:

actually.

Steve:

Okay. I, I, I didn't think the

Steve:

directing stood out in this one.

Leif:

Or maybe not the directing, but the editing of certain

Leif:

scenes was kind of weird.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Out of order.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially later in the episode.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you go give us a the Vulture

Leif:

recap?

Steve:

So here is the Vulture recap.

Steve:

Gossip Girl es and flows. And

Steve:

after last week's tsunami of plot

Steve:

lines, this week's episode, EB

Steve:

Meant we got to see some of them through.

Steve:

Dan and Serena, thrown back together with the

Steve:

tide, seemed jaded as they talked

Steve:

lifelessly about their Faulknerian

Steve:

situation. Meanwhile, their parents,

Steve:

Lily and Rufus, were also back together

Steve:

and acted like the season one version of the

Steve:

teenagers. All public makeout

Steve:

sessions and fraught talk of their different

Steve:

worlds. Jack, having run

Steve:

his course, had to be disposed of. His

Steve:

attempted rape of Lily, filmed with

Steve:

gritty handheld camera and containing

Steve:

an oddly lingering shot of him

Steve:

grabbing his own crotch, was the

Steve:

dramatic pinnacle of the surely

Steve:

planted, pinnacle of the episode

Steve:

that was made all the more exciting by the

Steve:

rumors last week surely planted

Steve:

that Lily may be killed off.

Steve:

Next up is a plotline that looks like it might be

Steve:

ripped from the headlines. A budding

Steve:

forbidden romance between Rachel, a

Steve:

comely young literature teacher from Des Moines,

Steve:

and lonely lit boy, Dan.

Steve:

Ideally, this will end with Dan selling his body for the

Steve:

1922 version of Ulysses,

Steve:

plus more pointless Yale mishagos.

Steve:

We pretty much know they're all going to end up at

Steve:

the same school anyway. And a, kinder,

Steve:

gentler Chuck.

Leif:

Yeah, the. The Chuck glow up

Leif:

continues.

Steve:

Yeah, he's such a sympathetic character right

Steve:

now that even when he is his fucking worst

Steve:

right now, you're still like, oh.

Leif:

Let'S, get into the episode. Act one

Leif:

begins. Gossip Girl narrates true love

Leif:

and betrayal. Revenge and more revenge.

Leif:

A heroine with an impossible goal. If only Mozart

Leif:

had lived on the Upper east side. But you can't keep the magic

Leif:

Flute Amadeus. All this queen wants is a

Leif:

golden ticket to Yale.

Steve:

I loved that Harold. And forgetting his name.

Leif:

Ramon.

Steve:

Ramon. Ramon. I love that Harold and Ramon were

Steve:

there for Blair.

Leif:

And.

Steve:

And it was funny. I almost thought that they would be in the episode, but it

Steve:

was just this, you know, yay. It's Yale day

Steve:

cameo, and I thought it was adorable. the other

Steve:

big note from this is, oh, great. Dorota now gets to take

Steve:

care of a dog, too.

Leif:

Yeah. This episode does open with Harold and Ramon, and they are

Leif:

back in town to give Blair support. While waiting for the word

Leif:

on Yale emissions, Blair reiterates that

Leif:

she is done with Chuck.

Steve:

Yeah, he's as dead to me as

Steve:

his dad.

Steve:

Cold. Burn.

Steve:

Cold.

Leif:

I burn.

Leif:

Then we get Dan pen slips Serena,

Leif:

Blake some tongue as he arrives at the penthouse. They are

Leif:

also waiting to hear from Yale. Dan is worried for

Leif:

himself, and Serena is worried that she will get in

Leif:

bed, get in, and Blair won't.

Steve:

Valid. Valid. Defeat her.

Leif:

So I did go back and rewatch the kiss the

Leif:

second time, and was definitely some tongue there.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Steve:

They're. They're. As of right now, they're

Steve:

feeling okay about things.

Steve:

Okayish, almost. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan and Serena catch Rufus try to sneak out

Leif:

unseen, and things get super awkward. After

Leif:

the kids run off, Lily invites Rufus to his first big

Leif:

society event. Then Eric comes into the kitchen

Leif:

and finds some kissing and drops the line of the

Leif:

episode.

Steve:

Poor, poor

Steve:

Eric.

Leif:

I would say get a room, but your room is right

Leif:

above mine.

Steve:

Please remember that.

Leif:

I will.

Steve:

He's so, like, first of all, I. I

Steve:

believe at this point, Eric has got to be my favorite

Steve:

character. But, And I feel weird saying that because there's

Steve:

no. There's no danger in loving Eric because Eric

Steve:

is the most lovable person on this show.

Leif:

He's not really even a main character.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. But every time

Steve:

anymore. Every time he's on gold,

Steve:

his lines are gold. Usually it's something a

Steve:

lot more deep and meaningful, and

Steve:

he's being the adult of the show. But this, again,

Steve:

even then, he is kind of being the adult of the show.

Steve:

Also, I love how when Rufus takes the pivot from, like, you

Steve:

know, getting a full eight hours of sleep, she's like, well, we're gonna go to the

Steve:

opera. Make it a full 12 hours.

Leif:

Jack and Chuck have a round of verbal

Leif:

sparring. Chuck is clearly not giving up on taking

Leif:

back Bass Industries. It also sounds like Jack

Leif:

is doing a shit job of running the company, but he still

Leif:

managed to come out ahead in this war of words.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Ew.

Steve:

they're just disgusting. The entire first

Steve:

part of the conversation is just disgusting.

Leif:

Also, did Chuck catch hepatitis

Leif:

while in Thailand because his skin was looking very

Leif:

yellow?

Steve:

I, I. It's possible.

Steve:

Along with whatever else he caught in Thailand.

Leif:

Dan and Serena arrive at school and meet Serena's new

Leif:

favorite and as Dan points out, young teacher Ms.

Leif:

Gar. Not sure how someone so inexperienced

Leif:

got a job at their top prep school.

Steve:

Yeah, a top prep school. I don't

Steve:

think I could get a job there with 16 years of

Steve:

glowing experience.

Leif:

Would have to have connections to get a job there.

Steve:

Yeah. Also, you're a brand new teacher at

Steve:

a brand new school. Did they not warn you about flirting

Steve:

with students? This first conversation you're having with

Steve:

Dan, you're like, ooh. And, like, talking

Steve:

about what? I, I forget what it was that they

Steve:

shared, but they definitely shared a flirty

Steve:

moment that it was that. That Robin and I,

Steve:

they.

Leif:

They shared the whole class thing.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Leif:

These students are like, so. They won't hold the door for

Leif:

someone. Just assholes.

Steve:

And the, I'm. I'm over in Brooklyn. Oh, that's the

Steve:

other side of the bridge. Right? You'll

Steve:

fit in just fine here. But that little banter, it's

Steve:

like, this was a little flirty.

Leif:

And of course, I mean, she does look younger than him.

Steve:

Yeah, I looked it up. She is four

Steve:

years older than the actor is four

Steve:

years older than, than Blake

Steve:

Lively, and three years older than Penn

Steve:

Badgley. So that four years,

Steve:

technically, she could have

Steve:

just graduated.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And gotten the job right out of college. Which is how. What she

Steve:

kind of insinuates.

Leif:

Yeah. It's her first paying job.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

We get a quick scene of Blair minions in

Leif:

tow, entering school. Blair is forcing them

Leif:

to refresh her email and see if the message from Yale

Leif:

arrived. However, Nelly seems to be

Leif:

still hoping to get into Yale herself.

Steve:

Yeah, it's kind of a non scene, kind of

Steve:

a disposition.

Leif:

Although it is interesting that Blair is kind of

Leif:

reigned in the minions now.

Steve:

Yeah, well, she needs these. She needs them.

Leif:

yeah.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

That's the whole point of that scene, I think.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. They're still hers. Yeah.

Leif:

Yeah. Nate and Dan are walking in the halls, and Nate is

Leif:

fishing for advice on taking Vanessa to the opera

Leif:

in his family's box. Dan gets an alert on his phone that

Leif:

gives him an excited face. But the scene cuts before we find

Leif:

out the news.

Steve:

I really liked the Nate and Dan again.

Steve:

I always. I. You know how I feel about Nate.

Leif:

I stand the Clockwork Orange,

Leif:

and Nate. dad just. Just kind of looks down

Leif:

and shakes his head. Ah.

Steve:

Yeah. And I love how Nate has the huge

Steve:

smile on his face afterwards, too. Like,

Steve:

I'm going to smile. Like, I get why you're not

Steve:

like.

Leif:

Or was that just bad acting by Chase? because he

Leif:

actually does know what it is.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

He's laughing at the character.

Steve:

Yeah. Because that was what I couldn't

Steve:

gather is because he delivers the what's a Clockwork

Steve:

Orange? And then he's laughing, and it

Steve:

almost is like he knew what a Clockwork Orange is, but

Steve:

he clearly didn't, the way he said it the first time.

Steve:

And so I'm gonna.

Leif:

Yeah. Was that Chase just breaking character?

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, that's what it seemed like.

Leif:

Chuck goes to ask Lily for help with his

Leif:

Jack problem.

Steve:

I loved it. I loved that Chuck was like,

Steve:

I have this thing. I know that there's an

Steve:

avenue to solve it going to the person I don't want to

Steve:

see.

Leif:

Serena. Blair and the minions are in the courtyard when

Leif:

Serena and Blair get messages from yell.

Leif:

Serena got in, but Blair is waitlisted.

Steve:

Nelly is feeling herself now. Nelly

Steve:

is really.

Leif:

It's in bold letters. You were waitlisted.

Steve:

Yeah. Nelly is playing with

Steve:

fire at this point.

Leif:

We'll see.

Steve:

I want a spin off of Nelly

Steve:

today. Being the most successful of all of

Steve:

them.

Leif:

Dan rushes up to celebrate getting into Yale.

Leif:

Serena. But Serena lies and says she was also

Leif:

waitlisted. Yeah, I get it.

Steve:

I, Yeah, I. I did. I. I thought that it was

Steve:

fair for Serena to not want

Steve:

to put that out there yet. because she.

Steve:

Not only for the Blair thing, but she was no

Steve:

longer convinced that that's what she wanted. You could kind

Steve:

of see that. I know that conversation happens later, but

Steve:

you could see that turning in.

Leif:

Well, I think you really see it when she gets the phone call

Leif:

and she. She realizes, you know, I, She kind of already knew,

Leif:

but she fully realizes the reason why she got in.

Steve:

Yeah, exactly.

Leif:

So that is the end of the first act with a.

Leif:

We ended with a narration from Gossip Girl.

Leif:

They say it's not over until the fat lady

Leif:

sings. But who's that I hear tuning up in the wings?

Leif:

Sor. I think it's curtains.

Leif:

And we move into Act 2. Chuck is

Leif:

still meeting with Lily, discussing his failed

Leif:

juvenile plans to take down Jack. Lily agrees to help

Leif:

and asks Chuck to move back in.

Steve:

I thought that was sweet. The scene was really

Steve:

sweet. I also thought that Chuck was

Steve:

completely justified to get upset at the

Steve:

end. This is where he. Where the. It ends with her on the

Steve:

comp phone with Rufus, right?

Leif:

No.

Steve:

Or is that later?

Leif:

That's later.

Steve:

Oh, okay. I just love this team up, though. Yeah.

Leif:

Although. So I'm confused on

Leif:

Chuck's plan. So if Chuck. If

Leif:

Jack hypothetically did sleep with the trans

Leif:

prostitute, how is that going to get Chuck back to Company?

Leif:

So we already found out he doesn't have the morality clause. Only

Leif:

for Chuck.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

So what. How does that help him?

Steve:

I feel like it is just one of those

Steve:

shock things that the writers throw in there to

Steve:

make it seem scandalous. Keep in mind, this

Steve:

was how long after the.

Steve:

When did the Eddie Murphy prostitute

Steve:

happen? Because that. That was huge

Steve:

news and really made.

Steve:

And there was someone else, wasn't There wasn't. Didn't Hugh Grant

Steve:

also get caught with a trans prostitute?

Leif:

No, I think it's just an ugly prostitute.

Steve:

Oh, okay.

Leif:

I was like, you cheated on Elizabeth Hurley with

Leif:

her.

Steve:

But I wonder if it felt like it

Steve:

was a, embarrassment thing.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And in 2009,

Steve:

there was a different stigma around it than there

Steve:

would be today. But, yeah, it wouldn't cost him

Steve:

his job necessarily.

Leif:

Blair is whining to the headmistress about

Leif:

not getting it to Yale. The headmistress reveals

Leif:

that another female student got in ahead of her.

Leif:

Of course, because of Serena's earlier lie,

Leif:

Blair assumes it's Nelly Dan

Leif:

Humphrey.

Steve:

He's like a cafeteria lady that won the lottery. There's

Steve:

no way he's letting go of this.

Leif:

You couldn't pry that acceptance from him with

Leif:

his life.

Steve:

I will say, from the first time she appeared

Steve:

until now, Headmistress Queller has started to

Steve:

grow on me as.

Leif:

Although it's a different actress.

Steve:

What's that?

Leif:

It's a different actress. Pretty sure.

Steve:

Is it? Oh, I felt that as

Steve:

an educator, she was a little bit more

Steve:

believable in this episode, instead

Steve:

of the whole, like, I'm going to suspend the whole class kind

Steve:

of attitude that it was, right up

Steve:

to when she's done with Blair. And Blair

Steve:

walks out of the room and she's up against her door with

Steve:

the sigh of being done

Steve:

dealing with Blair. It. It really

Steve:

struck a chord with me as a former

Steve:

teacher because I've had those

Steve:

interactions and I've had that, it. I.

Steve:

She.

Steve:

I really empathized with her as a

Steve:

teacher. In this episode,

Steve:

Serena is talking to.

Leif:

Ms. Carr, who seems to genuinely care about Serena's

Leif:

future and is giving solid advice.

Steve:

This is when I looked up how old she was. It was good

Steve:

advice and she's, serving as a good

Steve:

mentor. It's a shame she's going to steal her

Steve:

boyfriend.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Blair shows up and gets

Leif:

handed her assignments since she missed first period.

Leif:

Ms. Carr exits. Blair and Serena discuss

Leif:

Blair's witch hunt of Nelly. Blair is being extra

Leif:

cunty towards Serena and Dan. However, before Serena can

Leif:

retort, Blair sees her grade and storms

Leif:

off.

Steve:

I'll be stuck with all the other financial idiots.

Leif:

Serena gets a call from Dean Bar's

Leif:

office asking for permission to release the information

Leif:

about Serena coming to Yale. Serena says she'll have

Leif:

to call her back.

Steve:

And like you said earlier, this is when we

Steve:

really. She has the conversation of I don't know if this

Steve:

is really what I want and then have it thrown

Steve:

right in her face. We want you here because

Steve:

of your name and your status.

Steve:

And Serena already kind of knew

Steve:

that. But for them to then say it again.

Steve:

After not accepting Blair, I felt that that

Steve:

was too much for Serena. Especially since Serena had already

Steve:

tried to pull the strings to get Blair in.

Steve:

That should have been a non issue based on

Steve:

the things she already did. So Serena has every right to

Steve:

be mad about this too.

Leif:

Lily is meeting with the board member from last week who

Leif:

states they would love to have Lily in charge but that their

Leif:

hands are tied. Jack enters and gets creepy

Leif:

with Lily.

Steve:

Yeah, I loved how much

Steve:

of a rock Lily is in

Steve:

to Jack the whole episode. Even in the

Steve:

worst scenario, Lily is

Steve:

a rock and does not

Steve:

cede an inch to him without

Steve:

being physically moved. And

Steve:

it's just, it. It just drives

Steve:

home the strength of that character who she's always

Steve:

been and I've always. She's always been

Steve:

an admirable person in

Steve:

certain. In, in her strength. Not in her parenting, but

Steve:

in her strength and in her demeanor.

Steve:

She's always very admirable and this whole

Steve:

episode really made me

Steve:

take charge. yeah.

Leif:

Blair goes after Ms. Carr for the grade, demanding

Leif:

the standard free pass offered to second semester

Leif:

seniors. Ms. Carr refuses to

Leif:

budge.

Steve:

She grabs a teacher and

Steve:

starts forcing her down the hallway.

Steve:

In what world?

Leif:

Yeah, Blair was horrible.

Steve:

yeah. Yeah. And it's funny. Blair was

Steve:

horrible this whole episode. I also felt like it

Steve:

was a return to season one. Blair. I felt like there

Steve:

was. I felt like her scheming was a little bit

Steve:

more. It was a. A little better written.

Steve:

I felt like Blair was better written even if she was

Steve:

an. Throughout this whole episode. And

Steve:

what world is she not getting suspended for

Steve:

grabbing a teacher like that?

Steve:

If a student. yeah.

Leif:

She's bullying a teacher.

Steve:

She's bullying a teacher who isn't having it.

Leif:

Yeah. Blair runs crying to Serena,

Leif:

stating that she just lost. Yeah.

Leif:

And we go to a commercial break and come back.

Leif:

Lily and Chuck are, ah, searching for ideas to take

Leif:

down Jack. They're having a nice moment until

Leif:

Lily takes a call from Rufus. Chuck has a

Leif:

predictable reaction before leaving.

Steve:

Getting Jack on Megan's list. If only his

Steve:

apartment were a few blocks closer to a

Steve:

playground. that's fucked.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Not that Jack doesn't necessarily deserve it because

Steve:

Jack is a sexual predator for

Steve:

sure. Yes. So it's not

Steve:

unjustified. And Chuck was completely

Steve:

justified. It is too soon. Lily, it is too

Steve:

soon to take your new boyfriend to the opera.

Steve:

Yeah, it's too soon.

Leif:

But Lily does what Lily wants to do.

Steve:

Yeah, I mean, I was just praising Lily for not giving a

Steve:

fuck. And that's Lily. Yep.

Leif:

Serena, while talking to Dan, catches Blair

Leif:

making plans to haze Ms. Carr. Serena tells

Leif:

Blair that she doesn't have to because Serena turned down the

Leif:

acceptance and now Blair will get in.

Steve:

Calling her Rachel really bothers me too.

Steve:

I've had students that try to call me Steve, and it was

Steve:

always, I'm not your friend. I'm your teacher.

Steve:

I can't be your friend. I, You can call me Marshawn. You don't have

Steve:

to call me Mr. Marshawn. They can call me Marshawn. But I'm not

Steve:

Steve to you guys.

Leif:

Inappropriate. Inappropriate all around inappropriate

Leif:

relationships. We finally get a nice

Leif:

scene walking in the park. Nate is about

Leif:

to invite Vanessa to the opera in his family box seats when

Leif:

Vanessa beats him to the punch and invites him

Leif:

to her nosebleed seats.

Steve:

We've been doing so many archibaldy things, so I bought

Steve:

you tickets to the opera. More

Steve:

archibaldy things?

Leif:

No, because she's. She is a big opera

Leif:

fan.

Steve:

Oh, Okay. I didn't.

Leif:

I didn't catch and see with Nate and Dan earlier when they're talking about

Leif:

the ring.

Steve:

Okay. Oh. Oh, is that.

Leif:

That's an opera. Yeah.

Steve:

Oh, I. The ring cycle I thought the

Steve:

Ring. I didn't. I did not understand how it

Steve:

was related to the Ring.

Steve:

The movie where you

Steve:

watch a movie and then you die five days

Steve:

later.

Leif:

No, this is. That Kurt Wagner is the Ring cycle.

Steve:

Oh, yeah. I, I did not know that. I didn't.

Steve:

I didn't. I don't know Wagner that well,

Steve:

which.

Leif:

Is kind of interesting that a person of color would be

Leif:

into that particular opera.

Steve:

Yeah, well, yeah, especially and

Steve:

Wagner in general. When I. When

Steve:

I got married, the rabbi

Steve:

was said to us, you can play Here

Steve:

Comes the Bride if you want to,

Steve:

but being that Hitler was such a gigantic

Steve:

fan of Wagner, we tend to not play it in

Steve:

synagogues. And we were like, we don't need

Steve:

that. We had Andre sing us down the aisle instead.

Leif:

Yeah, there you go. At the loft, Eric is

Leif:

helping Rufus with his Opera for Dummies book while

Leif:

Jenny looks on bemused.

Steve:

It was great. I love you, Eric.

Leif:

But unfortunately that Jenny looking on was

Leif:

her one contribution to this episode.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

She was basically a non entity.

Steve:

Yeah. That happens a lot though, Jenny.

Steve:

When there's big stuff like this, they often write Jenny

Steve:

out. But it's weird to see more Eric than Jenny in an

Steve:

episode.

Leif:

Penelope and Iz are literally playing the

Leif:

devil and angel on Blair's shoulders. However,

Leif:

is his half hearted effort as the angel leads to

Leif:

Blair deciding to haze Ms. Carr after all.

Steve:

Yeah, this is Blair's worst move

Steve:

in a while. It is also,

Steve:

I felt like the first time that they kind of

Steve:

recaptured Blair's. As I said earlier,

Steve:

season one scheming

Steve:

and season one Blair's

Steve:

vitriol in her

Steve:

attitude that she's.

Steve:

She hasn't been the out to get you schemer

Steve:

that she was last season. So I actually

Steve:

really liked a lot of the writing and a lot of

Steve:

how this played out with this plotline, even though it was

Steve:

a terrible move for Blair.

Leif:

Spotted B hot. for teacher.

Leif:

Too bad Ms. Carr doesn't remember the devil's in the

Leif:

details. We move into

Leif:

Act 3 at the

Leif:

opera. Rufus and Lily are talking to Dan and

Leif:

Serena about visiting Brown and Yale in the fall.

Leif:

Lily nods to Chuck across the lobby.

Steve:

Rufus and Lily tone it down like you

Steve:

are in public. You are not

Steve:

teenagers. Tone it. Just turn it down a

Steve:

bit.

Leif:

I thought Matt Settles acting was horrible in this episode.

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. last episode too.

Steve:

Because he really tried to push

Steve:

the broodiness in the last episode and then in this

Steve:

episode he tried to really push the juxtaposition

Steve:

of that.

Leif:

Dan runs off to talk to Nate and Vanessa because his

Leif:

conversation with Lillian Rufus went from family ties to

Leif:

Faulkner. In one cocktail flat, Dan sticks his

Leif:

foot in his mouth and Nate is forced to admit that he had

Leif:

better tickets available.

Steve:

Yeah, fix your face, Vanessa. Fix your face. He

Steve:

didn't tell you until now, but don't roll your eyes at

Steve:

him because he has these tickets. Fix your fucking

Steve:

face.

Leif:

And of course, you know, classic dad just sticking his foot in his mouth.

Steve:

Yeah, classic Dan. Especially to

Steve:

Nate that he'll always say that thing

Steve:

that he shouldn't say. It was great because it's so

Steve:

innocent. Because why? Oh yeah, you're going to enjoy that.

Steve:

You know, it's such an innocent thing. He had no way of

Steve:

knowing.

Leif:

And he's. He just tried to be a bro and he's just not used to being a bro.

Steve:

Yeah, exactly. He's like, I have a

Steve:

friend.

Leif:

Rufus and Lily meet up with Jack and the publicist.

Leif:

And we met in season one, episode seven. A

Leif:

nice continuity there. Jack is as creepy as ever. And it's

Leif:

revealed that Eric misread the opera calendar.

Steve:

Yeah, that interaction, the

Steve:

writing on that, I love that they. First of all, I love that they

Steve:

sent the PR lady to babysit

Steve:

Jack. This episode had so many

Steve:

little one shot cameos like that.

Steve:

And I, yeah, I loved that they

Steve:

sent this person to babysit Jack. I thought that was

Steve:

great.

Leif:

Bruce Kaplan, the Bass family lawyer and business

Leif:

manager, comes up to Lily and mentions some documents he has been

Leif:

working on. This gives Lily a light bulb

Leif:

moment.

Steve:

This. I loved this too. The way that he

Steve:

comes up and I'm so sorry for your loss and I'm

Steve:

so sorry for everything that

Steve:

happened.

Leif:

That he's like, oh, that, yeah,

Leif:

yeah.

Steve:

And, and yeah, and that moment

Steve:

of. Especially for how Rufus

Steve:

kind of reacts. Like, oh, like yeah, I

Steve:

really liked the. I liked that they forced

Steve:

that interaction to

Steve:

Lily. That she is having to face that people are

Steve:

still coming up to her consoling

Steve:

her for someone she's not really sad is

Steve:

dead.

Leif:

Lily goes over to Chuck and tells him to meet her back

Leif:

in the lobby in 15 minutes.

Leif:

Yeah, so not just a setup scene there.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Vanessa is being a little stubborn about the seats, but

Leif:

Nate starts cracking up with a couple of golden girls sit

Leif:

down next to them. And one starts coughing and wheezing.

Steve:

Fix your face, Nate. Cuz when you,

Steve:

when Nate starts saying like, oh, you know, if we were down

Steve:

there. And Vanessa pushes back and then Nate gives the eye

Steve:

roll and it's like, calm down, Nate, you agreed to

Steve:

this. But I also love the resolution of it. Of

Steve:

These two of this lady just coughing and

Steve:

coughing and Nate just cracking up until they

Steve:

go. I thought it was cute. I loved seeing

Steve:

Nate happy this whole episode end.

Steve:

But I really like seeing Nate happy.

Leif:

very boring.

Steve:

Yeah. but Nate's boring. Nate's kind of boring.

Leif:

Dan finds Serena in the lobby and tells her that it's

Leif:

not that she wants to go to a different school that upsets

Leif:

him. It's the fact that she told him for months that going to

Leif:

Yale together is what she wanted. Serena and

Leif:

Dan admit that staying together is going to be tough with

Leif:

steaming the whole world against them, but they decide to

Leif:

fight through it.

Steve:

I was so irked by this. You don't have.

Steve:

Serena's right. That you don't have to make any decisions now. But that was

Steve:

the wrong answer in the moment. Because just date

Steve:

each other until you go to school, and then if it works, it works.

Steve:

And if it doesn't, it doesn't. And, if the parent thing gets in the way, then

Steve:

you stop. But for right now, Serena's right.

Steve:

Just see where it goes. And there's also. This

Steve:

moment really reveals. There's this dramatic

Steve:

irony where we as an

Steve:

audience know that Lily and Rufus

Steve:

are really like the love of each other's lives

Steve:

for decades that this has been playing out, that they

Steve:

have loved each other for as long as

Steve:

they've known each other. And Dan and Serena are like, eh,

Steve:

it might not work. We don't know how this is going to go. This is probably going

Steve:

to peter out anyway. Because we've

Steve:

seen over and over that Dan and Serena

Steve:

don't really know the magnitude

Steve:

of the Rufus Lilly history. I feel.

Steve:

And I like that. I like that they're just like kids

Steve:

that are. That don't grasp the severity of their parents.

Leif:

I'm going to flip back on you on that one. And I say

Leif:

they actually do get it, but that they're the same

Leif:

thing. And they, Rufus and Lily just like Dan,

Leif:

Serena constantly break up and get back together.

Steve:

That's fair, too. That's fair, too. Well, and especially

Steve:

that that's what the kids are seeing. You know,

Steve:

my. The reason I said that they don't really grasp it

Steve:

is because of the number of times that Dan in the past has

Steve:

also been like, oh, yeah, that's right. You know her.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, that's right. Didn't you guys date or something?

Leif:

I think that's just Dan being willfully ignorant

Leif:

because he doesn't want to think that about that. Because he wants to

Leif:

sure. Have sex with his girlfriend without Thinking.

Steve:

About their shared sibling.

Leif:

Yeah, sure.

Steve:

I would want that too.

Leif:

Dan and Serena catch Rufus and Lily making out on their way

Leif:

to their seats. More awkwardness. And then

Leif:

Lily gets the papers from Bruce Kaplan.

Steve:

You belong in our world. That's the only one that

Steve:

matters. That was very sweet.

Leif:

Lily Lair is entering the opera with

Leif:

her father and gets a call from Queller who states that she can

Leif:

still end Ms. Carr's class with an A. Average

Leif:

Blair decides that she has to cancel the sabotage and

Leif:

runs out of the opera.

Steve:

Yeah, too late, Blair. Too late.

Leif:

And so I think we've already talked a little about the relative

Leif:

wealth of the different families. But I think this was another

Leif:

scene.

Steve:

Showing that where Blair was in regular seats, she

Steve:

wasn't in a box. Yeah.

Leif:

The other three families all have boxes.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's a real. I did not

Steve:

really catch up on that. They were mezzanine. They weren't.

Leif:

Yeah, they were nice bleeds.

Steve:

They were nice seats. Or, actually they were pit. Right. Or not pit,

Steve:

but I think they may have been orchestra seats. Yeah.

Leif:

They didn't have their own private box.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Ruse Kaplan and Lily find Chuck in the lobby and present

Leif:

him with an adoption papers that Lily and Bart had been

Leif:

preparing before Bart's death. If Lily and Chuck sign the

Leif:

papers, then Lily will be Chuck's guardian and

Leif:

not Jack.

Steve:

My favorite part of this scene, it is the

Steve:

only Chuck and Blair scene

Steve:

when you see Blair run behind

Steve:

Chuck.

Leif:

And there's, gotta be some symbolism.

Leif:

And I feel like that was copying from something

Leif:

else. I feel like I've seen that before.

Steve:

Yes, I feel like I have. What

Steve:

I really, the message I got from it

Steve:

is we have been so focused

Steve:

on these two characters getting together

Steve:

for 16 episodes now.

Steve:

15 episodes. And so they

Steve:

really wanted to point out these two characters

Steve:

are not interacting in this

Steve:

episode. And the best way to show it is

Steve:

to set Chuck there and have her run

Steve:

behind. And then you go, wow.

Leif:

Neither of them saw each other.

Steve:

Neither of them saw each other. And that's the first scene

Steve:

they've had together all episode. So

Steve:

it really, I felt, put a huge

Steve:

barrier at the end of, the last

Steve:

episode. So anything else going forward with Chuck and

Steve:

Blair on the other side of that run through?

Steve:

We do know that this episode, there was a wall

Steve:

between them. And I really liked that, that it

Steve:

was not the Chuck and Blair show. And

Steve:

in case anyone didn't notice, they forced you

Steve:

to notice by having Blair run behind

Steve:

that that was why I loved. It was the shortest

Steve:

thing But I loved that moment. Oh, also, Lily

Steve:

is brilliant.

Leif:

Sticks and stones may break bones, but a poison

Leif:

pen is the best revenge. We

Leif:

move, into another commercial break and then we

Leif:

come back. Blair finds Ms. Carr and

Leif:

sort of tries to apologize. Ms. Carr says she

Leif:

accepts the apology, but declines the opera invitation.

Leif:

As Blair gets back into her town car, Ms.

Leif:

Carr calls Queller.

Steve:

I had mad respect for car in this

Steve:

scene. I accept your apology. I'm not taking

Steve:

anything from you. I shouldn't have fallen for this in the

Steve:

first place. Goodbye. Yeah. This little

Steve:

shit. Absolutely.

Steve:

All of it.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Ms. Carr, you handled that well as a rookie

Steve:

teacher.

Leif:

She does. Yes. Seems like she does well with the, with the,

Leif:

the female students. But I'm not sure her interactions with the

Leif:

veil students are very appropriate.

Steve:

Not appropriate, but I think she's going to do really well with them.

Leif:

She's gonna be popular at least.

Steve:

She'll be popular at least.

Leif:

Nate and Vanessa are sitting in the box seats and then

Leif:

begin to make out more cute,

Leif:

boring scenes from them.

Steve:

Yeah, I'm glad they had it. I was glad.

Leif:

Then the episode takes a turn as a coked up

Leif:

Jack bursts in on Lily in the bathroom.

Steve:

Robin's note. Here it is. Intermission. How is

Steve:

Lily the only woman in the bathroom

Steve:

at intermission? That gigantic bathroom.

Steve:

No other women beat her there or, or while

Steve:

she was in there all the time she was in that room.

Steve:

No other women came in before Jack.

Leif:

Dan and Rufus are talking about the

Leif:

superficiality of society people and then mention

Leif:

they haven't seen Lily all intermission.

Leif:

Dan asks Chuck if. If he's seen

Leif:

Lily. He mentions that Lily went to the powder room and

Leif:

notices that a line is forming.

Steve:

And again, just setting that whole thing up.

Leif:

Jack takes creepy to the next level and starts

Leif:

getting physical with Lily. Things are looking pretty grim

Leif:

when Chuck bursts in and punches Jack. Lily. Thanks

Leif:

Chuck. As a concerned Riz comes in late and

Leif:

escorts Lily out.

Steve:

This was intense.

Leif:

Yeah, it was very. I, I also, I think the,

Leif:

this is where I. The editing was really kind of weird because it looked

Leif:

like out of order.

Steve:

Yeah. Yes. It was cute

Steve:

weird. And there were some shots that I felt were

Steve:

supposed to make us. There's only so much they

Steve:

can actually show on a network television show.

Steve:

But some of them. I felt like they showed us nothing by

Steve:

trying to show us more. I was

Steve:

squirming.

Leif:

I'm sure I was very uncomfortable.

Steve:

Yeah, I live react video. I haven't watched it back yet,

Steve:

but I know I was squirming

Steve:

when I was Watching that, it was really intense.

Leif:

This is also where Matthew settles. Acting was

Leif:

really bad.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

When he comes in at the end, like, what's going

Leif:

on?

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

We move into the epilogue.

Leif:

Back home the next day, Lily and Rufus are

Leif:

joking over an article titled Bass Exit to

Leif:

Brooklyn. Chuck comes up the elevator. Rufus

Leif:

exits, giving Chuck a handshake. Lily tells Chuck that

Leif:

the company isn't his on his 18th birthday, and

Leif:

she wants Chuck as part of her family. Chuck agrees to move

Leif:

back in the handshake.

Steve:

I really dug when. When Rufus walked up

Steve:

and just stops and shakes his hand and

Steve:

walks out.

Leif:

And, like, he knows Chuck doesn't really like him. but yeah, he's got to

Leif:

give him his little respect.

Steve:

Yeah. There was. There was so much said in that scene

Steve:

that I really liked, and it was really sweet for

Steve:

Chuck to want to move back in.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

For the first time, it seemed like Chuck was doing something that

Steve:

wasn't a scheme too. Maybe it is,

Steve:

but it didn't feel like it.

Leif:

Blair and Serena are on the phone teasing each

Leif:

other. Blair has a meeting with Queller this morning.

Steve:

I really liked the interaction. The

Steve:

classic Serena Blair phone

Steve:

call banter. Loved it. I don't think

Steve:

that you're going to enjoy this conversation, Blair.

Leif:

Serena then calls Dan, who ignores the call.

Leif:

Ms. Carr shows up to the Brooklyn gallery and oddly, tells

Leif:

Dan to call her. Rachel.

Steve:

Yo, what the fuck? What the fuck

Steve:

is this teacher doing seeking out a

Steve:

student? weird. Yeah. You've been working there

Steve:

for like a week and you're seeking

Steve:

out a student that you met once in

Steve:

passing that said that you should go to

Steve:

Brooklyn.

Leif:

yeah. Showing up at his dad's gallery.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And call by her first. Dan.

Steve:

And yes. That is such.

Leif:

Yeah. Dan is like, you know, very appropriate. He's like,

Leif:

Ms. Carr. And then she said, oh, call me Rachel.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

What?

Steve:

Yeah. Why would you do that if you're not trying

Steve:

to establish a beyond

Steve:

student teacher relationship in your first week

Steve:

of school? I cannot imagine any

Steve:

teacher anywhere, anywhere

Steve:

walking in in their first week of school and being like, yeah, I could

Steve:

hit that. And I even mean disgusting

Steve:

fucking teachers that end up doing that.

Steve:

I guarantee none of them in their first week of school met a

Steve:

kid and was like, that's the one for me.

Leif:

Yeah. even just going to meet a

Leif:

student alone outside of school is weird.

Steve:

Is. Is super weird. I have

Steve:

had moments where stuff like that has happened,

Steve:

and immediately it is. I look to make

Steve:

sure I am not alone. I make sure that there are

Steve:

witnesses around. I make sure that there's More, if I

Steve:

used to have students show up at my door when I lived in

Steve:

California, and it would be. They

Steve:

never crossed the threshold of my house. It would be like, hey,

Steve:

can we borrow some guitar cables here? Boom. Go. Get

Steve:

away. If I. Between the hour

:

00. I don't want. We cannot

:

have a relationship.

Leif:

Then Blair is meeting with Queller, who reveals

Leif:

that Ms. Carr told her about the hazing

Leif:

Blair has put on detention. Yale has been

Leif:

notified and her acceptance put

Leif:

on hold. Wow. That all happened pretty fast.

Steve:

Yeah. And, mine. I. Is Blair

Steve:

on a leash now? It seems like Blair is on a little

Steve:

bit of a leash, which. That's interesting.

Leif:

It's crazy that Queller has that much power too.

Steve:

I'm thinking a super prestigious school

Steve:

like that, that send. That sends a couple

Steve:

students every year to Yale, that Yale

Steve:

probably has that kind of. I think that that

Steve:

could make sense. I. I think that a blemish

Steve:

on a record could. If you're on a wait

Steve:

list and then you're just accepted, I could see a, A, big

Steve:

enough blemish being.

Leif:

Well, yeah, that could get you kicked out. But that. That's not the fact

Leif:

that it's on hold for, you know.

Steve:

Right.

Leif:

For Queller to say yes or no.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Okay.

Steve:

That point. Yes.

Leif:

If you complete the tension to my satisfaction.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

L can still be possible.

Steve:

Yes. Which I do agree that that

Steve:

is a stretch. Although I also

Steve:

would think that in the Gossip Girl

Steve:

universe, or in any. I guess, even in ours,

Steve:

Queller could have a relationship with a

Steve:

dean at a high level place in there.

Steve:

Queller. If Queller's an alum or something like that, or

Steve:

that, you know, she is a headmistress of a prestigious school, probably

Steve:

talks to a lot of colleges

Steve:

regularly. It's a stretch. I'm willing

Steve:

to forgive the suspension of disbelief on this

Steve:

one.

Leif:

It just feels like the school would ask, like, why.

Leif:

Why are we putting this on hold? And then when they find out, like, they

Leif:

would just say, no, she's out.

Steve:

Yeah, Yeah, I. I agree. I agree. Which

Steve:

is. I like that

Steve:

the universe of Gossip Girl has established that Queller

Steve:

has this power. I kind of like that.

Leif:

Blair exits the office, where Doroda is waiting with

Leif:

the bulldog Harold bought for Blair. But Blair says

Leif:

it's time for war.

Steve:

oh, is it war?

Leif:

Yes. Going black ops.

Steve:

I love that.

Leif:

Dorota's like, oh, boy, more work for me.

Leif:

Yeah, I'm gonna have to be digging

Leif:

through some teacher's garbage can or something. Like that.

Steve:

Exactly.

Leif:

And we end with a narration from Gossip Girl.

Leif:

The thing about New Beginnings is that it requires

Leif:

something else to end. Some endings take a long time

Leif:

to reveal themselves, but, when they do, they're almost

Leif:

too easy to ignore. Some beginnings start so

Leif:

quietly, you don't even notice they're happening.

Leif:

But most endings come when you least expect

Leif:

them, and what they pretend is darker

Leif:

than you ever imagined. Not all beginnings are

Leif:

a cause for celebration. A lot of bad things

Leif:

begin. Fights lose, season. And the worst

Leif:

thing of all but be starting something.

Leif:

XOXO Gossip Girl.

Steve:

Yeah, that's our episode.

Leif:

And then another reference that the target audience might not get that

Leif:

want to be starting something.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

So predictions.

Steve:

Dan Carr. The Rachel Dan thing

Steve:

is a, is a big prediction that is going to happen

Steve:

while Blair is looking into car.

Steve:

So that's going to be a thing. Yeah. So

Steve:

I think Dan and Serena are pretty much done

Steve:

again. Again. And I don't think it's the

Steve:

last time because I'm sure they get back together again at some

Steve:

point. Like, it just feels like that's how this

Steve:

is going to go. Maybe not this year, maybe not until next

Steve:

year. But like the Vulture report said, like, how. Oh, yeah, they're

Steve:

just going to all go to different schools next year. Like, come

Steve:

on.

Leif:

Where are they going to go, though?

Steve:

I mean, I was kind of figuring Yale. Where did they

Steve:

shoot? Did they shot it at Columbia, Right?

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Because Blair's only applied to Yale, so I've always kind

Steve:

of. I've kind of assumed that they would all.

Leif:

That means leaving New York.

Steve:

What?

Leif:

That means leaving New York.

Steve:

Oh, it wouldn't go to nyu. Columbia's in New

Steve:

York, so. So it makes a lot of sense in

Steve:

Harlem. Oh, so it's not on the Upper east side, though.

Leif:

There are. No. I don't think there are any colleges on the Upper east side.

Steve:

Oh, I thought NYU had, but they wouldn't.

Steve:

Yeah. I didn't. I didn't think that far ahead. Well, we're going

Steve:

to learn about what college they're all going to go to. That's my other

Steve:

prediction.

Leif:

Maybe they'll just all get jobs and skip college.

Steve:

Yeah, they're all going to work for Chuck. They're going to be the new

Steve:

board.

Leif:

That is our episode. So let's get into some

Leif:

segments. This week in fandom.

Leif:

We jumped into the Wayback Machine to go to the Television Without

Leif:

Pity forums. hello there, Peabody

Leif:

here. And this is the Wayback Machine for traveling

Leif:

through time. And this is my boy

Leif:

Sherman.

Steve:

Speak, Sherman. Hello.

Leif:

Good boy. Eric is hilarious.

Leif:

Agreed. And then why did Blair only apply

Leif:

to one school? Yeah, stupid. At least apply

Leif:

to the other Holy Trinity schools.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Kelly is noticeably pregnant.

Steve:

Is she? I wasn't paying enough attention. I didn't notice it.

Leif:

A few people were curious if there was symbology

Leif:

with the scene of Blair running through the lobby

Leif:

while Chuck is drinking and neither see each other.

Steve:

Yeah. Like I said. My guess is that

Steve:

they wanted to really emphasize that the two of them

Steve:

had no interaction.

Leif:

Yeah. But again, I just feel like I seen that scene

Leif:

somewhere that. Like that same scene. So, hopefully someone can write in

Leif:

and let us know. Lily, was being shitty to her kid.

Leif:

Her bio kids, and Bart's memory. Yeah, she was good to

Leif:

Chuck. But yeah, having sex in front of their kids

Leif:

and basically.

Steve:

And well, I mean, that's true to form. Lily has always

Steve:

been a better parent to everyone other than her kids. Yeah.

Leif:

That's it for this week in fandom. So let's go ahead and move

Leif:

into episode grades.

Leif:

I did not like the writing as much as you in this

Leif:

episode and largely because so

Leif:

many of the main cast were just not really doing

Leif:

anything. I have a lot of neutrals in stock watch.

Leif:

Oh, okay. So I think they needed to get the main

Leif:

cast more involved.

Steve:

That's fair.

Leif:

So I ended up with a C plus.

Steve:

Wow. That's. This is probably our biggest

Steve:

juxtaposition because I gave this one an A

Steve:

minus. I really did enjoy a lot of the writing.

Steve:

I see your point for sure about

Steve:

the main cast. I feel like the

Steve:

main cast wasn't interacting with each other.

Steve:

I feel like some of that was by design to try

Steve:

to shake. I felt like it was a shake up episode

Steve:

a bit. Which, is also. I liked that. I

Steve:

liked that it was different from a lot of the other

Steve:

formula. I didn't like the

Steve:

A minus. The minus comes from the really weird

Steve:

Rachel Carr decisions of having

Steve:

her come to a new school and start flirting with students

Steve:

immediately. Yeah.

Leif:

Moving to stock watch, as I

Leif:

mentioned, most of the. A lot of the characters got neutral.

Leif:

Serena, Nate and

Leif:

Vanessa, Lily.

Leif:

All. All neutral.

Steve:

Oh. See, I gave a lot of them.

Leif:

Ups or downes for

Leif:

me, going up. I had Dan because he got into

Leif:

Yale. Chuck because he

Leif:

seems to have won against Jack.

Leif:

I gave Rufus up. Now I'm kind of

Leif:

forget forgetting why I did, but I guess because he's just

Leif:

getting laid and being Rufus

Leif:

and getting laid. And I had Eric going up because he was just funny. This

Leif:

episode I actually gave Nate and.

Steve:

Vanessa an up for finally having a full

Steve:

episode where they were on a date and had nice

Steve:

things happen for them. I had Lily and

Steve:

Rufus going up. Lily, because she's

Steve:

now in charge of Bass Industries. She,

Steve:

worked out this scheme with Chuck to. And she

Steve:

was a good mom to Chuck

Steve:

today. so I did have her and Rufus

Steve:

going up. Rufus, because he's again, like in a

Steve:

winning relationship now. Chuck was going

Steve:

up because of. For obvious reasons, Chuck

Steve:

won over Jack. I had Eric,

Steve:

and I had. Had Mistress Queller going

Steve:

up.

Leif:

Yeah, the reason why I didn't have Lily going up is

Leif:

because she was a horrible parent to her actual kids.

Leif:

And also just the, I don't know, her whole

Leif:

reaction to the Jack thing, like, why wouldn't

Leif:

you turn him in? And why. Why let them

Leif:

go back to Australia?

Steve:

Yeah, I feel like that is

Steve:

really the show morality. Even

Steve:

more. I feel like that's

Steve:

the show they've. They do that over

Steve:

and over. They just, oh, yeah, he tried to sexually

Steve:

assault me, but I just want him to leave me alone

Steve:

now. It's. They treat it like it's

Steve:

not criminal on this show. Which is one

Steve:

of my big hang ups about Gossip Girl

Steve:

going down.

Leif:

I had Blair as she lost

Leif:

Yale. Ms. Carr because she's

Leif:

creepy. And Jack, for the same reason I.

Steve:

Had Blair going down. I

Steve:

had. I originally had Serena and Dan going down.

Steve:

I'm just going to make Serena. Dan got into Yale,

Steve:

so I'm keeping him neutral. But Serena is

Steve:

also seems to be losing Dan. So

Steve:

I had Jack going down. because

Steve:

Jack sucks. I kept Car at

Steve:

neutral because Car was like winning in

Steve:

a way at the end. But she's creepy as fuck.

Steve:

So I felt like her weirdness balanced

Steve:

out.

Leif:

Let's go ahead and move into best outfit.

Steve:

But here's the best outfits from the.

Steve:

Last episode we see.

Leif:

For me, I had Lily's purple dress with the black straps

Leif:

that she wore to the opera. It was by Max

Leif:

Azeria.

Steve:

I almost picked that one. my first watch through.

Steve:

That's what it was. But my second watch through, I decided on

Steve:

Blair's black and white coat. That. That winter coat

Steve:

I did like. Yeah, I like, like the square

Steve:

pattern on it. And I really like that coat.

Leif:

And an honorable mention to Serena's opera

Leif:

dress because she always rocks the yellow or gold.

Steve:

Yeah, she does.

Leif:

So that is it for segments. You got anything to

Leif:

plug this week?

Steve:

I do. If you are listening to this right now,

Steve:

in the day it came out or

Steve:

before Thursday, this Thursday at,

Steve:

6:00pm December 5th, I will be playing at

Steve:

the Christmas Village at Love park in

Steve:

Philadelphia. Come on out. I'll be playing some Christmas

Steve:

songs, some rock songs, some original songs,

Steve:

all on the ukulele. And you can come

Steve:

back, join the.

Leif:

Fun for me, I am going to plug

Leif:

Helldivers 2, which I'm, a little bit late to the party as

Leif:

usual. But it's a really fun game. It's kind of basically

Leif:

ripping off the movie Starship Troopers and you kind

Leif:

of. It's co op, four player co op. And you fight some

Leif:

bugs or robots.

Steve:

Dave plays that, right? I think Dave is really into that. Our

Steve:

friend Dave Siegel.

Leif:

And if you, yeah, if you want to play with me, you can, find me on Instagram

Leif:

at Hot Capicola. And you can follow

Leif:

the podcast on all the social medias at

Leif:

nonjudgingbreakfastpod. And that's

Leif:

on threads, Instagram, TikTok.

Steve:

And, if you want to get in touch with the pod, please feel free to send

Steve:

us an email@nonjudgingbreakfastpod

Steve:

Gmail.com. we'd love to hear your

Steve:

thoughts, read what you have to say on air and

Steve:

continue the conversation. Also, please

Steve:

Visit our website

Steve:

nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com through

Steve:

there, there are links to our patreon, as

Steve:

we discussed earlier. And you can join our discord

Steve:

again to keep this conversation going. And

Steve:

also please, if you're listening now, tell your friends

Steve:

what you're listening to. Like, follow,

Steve:

subscribe, share the

Steve:

comments really help our visibility on Apple, on

Steve:

Apple podcasts. So please be

Steve:

involved and let us know what you think.

Leif:

And we will be back next week to talk about season

Leif:

two, episode 17

Leif:

titled Carnal Knowledge.

Steve:

Is that spelled C A R?

Leif:

R Now? Just, just one.

Steve:

Okay, I. Because that would have

Steve:

been.

Leif:

I was a little on, on the nose.

Steve:

It would have been a little on the nose.

Leif:

The Netflix episode description reads,

Leif:

Blair comes up with a plan to get revenge on her

Leif:

teacher. Chuck wakes up in a hotel and

Leif:

tries to piece together what happened the night

Leif:

before.

Steve:

Oh, interesting. Especially after Chuck is

Steve:

just having.

Leif:

Not interesting.

Steve:

Not interesting.

Leif:

This is one of the most reviled stories in Phantom because, yeah, Chuck

Leif:

just goes off on his own for two episodes

Leif:

and tries to solve some Eyes Wide Shut

Leif:

type mystery.

Steve:

They're really, really trying to show

Steve:

that Chuck can be.

Leif:

Do something other than Blair. Yeah, and it

Leif:

never works. Yeah, he just can't carry

Leif:

a storyline himself.

Steve:

Robin asked, why does he always

Steve:

talk like Batman? I'm like, so that you don't know he's

Steve:

British.

Leif:

Oh, until next time, you know you love us.

Steve:

XOXO Every time you walk

Steve:

away run away you take a piece of me

Steve:

with you every

Steve:

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

Steve:

me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

oh it seems I'm walking right to

Steve:

your door

Steve:

my heart's still resting looking for

Steve:

something more

Steve:

Are you ever gonna see everything you mean to

Steve:

me I'm trying really hard to believe

Steve:

every time you walk away I run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

never feels right when I'm out here on

Steve:

my own

Steve:

I left last night and it feels like

Steve:

way too long

Steve:

are you ever gonna see everything you mean to

Steve:

me I'm trying really hard to believe

Steve:

every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of m me with you there.

Steve:

Come.

Steve:

Back to me

Steve:

smile and you'll make my life

Steve:

complete

Steve:

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

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

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

Steve:

of me you will with you there

Steve:

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

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away and run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there.

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