S2E10 - Bonfire of the Vanity [w/Shannon Kelly] - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shannon (00:00):
There's nothing like a teen girl loves more than like a guy with
daddy
verified.

Leif (00:08):
Yeah. Teen girls
love you, Robin.
Hey, upper east siders. And all you scandal loving listeners out
there, you just tuned into the non judging breakfast

(00:30):
pod where the coffee is strong, the
waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than
ever. My name is Leif and I'm your seasoned
gossip girl veteran.
And I'm Steve, your newbie, your greenhorn,
your, I don't know, Leif. At this stage, what do we
call the new kid on the block? In Gossip girl
terms, I'm not sure.
But I think Blair could hear your desperation from the other room.

(00:53):
Well, it is pretty much pouring out loud and
clear. So here's
the deal folks. Leif is seasoned
veteran to Gossip girl. And I am watching right now for
the very first time. And the two of us are your
dynamic duo, bringing you all the dirt,
the scandals, and the sometimes
questionable fashion choices of this iconic

(01:15):
2007 series.
That's right. Each week we're going to take a deep dive into the
show, analyzing all the obscure
references, hidden parallels, and of course
the kator catastrophes. And along the way, were also going
to take a look at some fandom stories and some behind the
scenes gossip.
And since were all about inclusivity here at the non judging
breakfast pod, theres always a seat for you at our non

(01:37):
judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab
your mimosa, your cup of coffee, or some of
nate and chuck special medicine if its that kind of morning.
And let's get into this.
Okay, Steve, we are not alone. Once again, we
have a guest. We're back for the second
time, the stupendous, the
spectacular Shannon

(01:59):
Kelly.

Shannon (02:00):
Hi. What an intro.

Leif (02:03):
Don't forget funny too.
Yes, incredibly funny.

Shannon (02:06):
Shannon Kelly. Funny girl.

Leif (02:08):
Yeah.
Yes. Be funny.
First member of the two timers club.
Yeah. welcome back to the show, Shannon.
We're really glad to have you again.

Shannon (02:17):
I'm, very happy to be here.

Leif (02:19):
I'm pretty sure that we are, recording this
podcast. Your second podcast, before. We have
played another session of your d and d game though
too.

Shannon (02:29):
Yeah, don't remind
me. I'm more
dedicated to this craft at the moment.
Okay.

Leif (02:37):
It's the right move.
Yeah.
In fact, I think we're going to replace you with you.

Shannon (02:46):
Sorry. Women power.
Yay.

Leif (02:53):
So today we are here to talk about season
two, episode ten, bonfire of the
vanity. The original air date was
November 10, 2008, and of course, this is
a reference to the movie bonfire at the
vanities.
Yeah, bond bonfire, the vanity yeah. I. I
did. I didn't see it. I. This was one of

(03:14):
the really, really.
Novel by Tom Wolf.
Yeah, yeah. It's one of the really rare movies
that my dad's like, no, that's too grown up for you. So
I never actually saw it, and I feel like you.
Yeah, yeah.
What came out when you were. When did they come out?
I think I was.

(03:34):
Didn't it come out, like, late eighties,
early nineties? Like, I think I was
under 15.

Shannon (03:42):
I have never heard of this.

Leif (03:44):
That's got, Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis,
and Melly Griffin.
Yeah. This was actually. This was one of Tom
Hanks early films
too, if I remember correctly. Was it a
comedy? Let it meant to
be funny.
It's got some funny parts.
Okay. Cause, like, you know. Cause, you

(04:05):
know, Tom Hanks wasn't really known for anything outside
of comedy until.
What, castaway? Or was there something before that? Oh,
no big. well, that was a comedy.
What?
That was a comedy.
Well, what? Castaway?
No big.
Oh, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.
No, no, I'm saying he was only known for comedy.
No, until, like, Philadelphia, I guess, was maybe his

(04:26):
first big dramatic role, and then everyone was
like, holy shit, he's got more than that. So that's why I was
figuring this out.
Then he did like, Boris Kampf right after that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He became, like, the serious
actor at that point and was no
longer locked into comedy.

Shannon (04:43):
But was bonfire vanities as dramatic
as.

Leif (04:48):
I do not know. None of us have seen it.
Have you seen it? Nah. yeah, I
feel like I've probably seen clips.
So this episode was written by Jessica
Queller. She is back. She previously
wrote roman holiday. Blair Waldorf,
Smuth. Hi. And the Serena also
rises. All good episodes.

(05:10):
Yeah, yeah.

Shannon (05:11):
Female power.

Leif (05:16):
Yeah. and. And all
three episodes. Also very, like, important
episodes, really, you know, especially the
roman holiday and where. Blair Waldo.
Yeah.
Like, very pivotal episodes and very
important. Yeah. So, I mean, it adds
up.
A very, very Blair heavy episodes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(05:36):
Even. Even though I was Serena in the title was.
Yeah.
Really a Blair episode.
Yeah, yeah, true.
And then it was directed by David von
Ankin. This is first and only
time on Gossip Girl, but he has been
directing tv mostly from 2001
until present. Californication. Bunch
of procedurals.

(05:57):
Yeah.
Nothing really stands out. Too much.
Yeah. and honestly, it's.
No, no, no big notes on the directing
player and others.
This kind of generic.
Yeah, yeah. Just. It felt like a. Ah. Very
regular episode, you know, you get some good
performances out of the, out of people, but they were also the people
that you always get good performances out of. You know,

(06:20):
looking at you, Margaret Collins. Mark Margo.
Margaret.
Margaret. Yeah, looking at you, Margaret Collins.
we got the Jacobs, tv
without publish, without pity recap lit here.
So Serena slash Aaron's pretty much
non starter this weekend since they just go
around and around having the same fight as last week.

(06:40):
Aaron is a giant whore. And the
same resolution as every week of the show
ever. This is somehow Serenas
fault. On the other hand, we got to hear
the best song of all time, sex
on Fire by the kings of Leon, twice.
Several months later than
usually on point. The show

(07:03):
gives us new tunes. Not that im, grateful
for the chance to listen to it one more time.
And more importantly, wasnt Cindy Lauper on the
soap opera hawking that same song on, that one
soap opera with the awesome gay dudes, like six
years ago? How of the moment, Gossip
girl? Anyway, lots of pretty

(07:23):
pictures of Serena, no interesting
dialogue, the manufactured sexiness
running through the Central park in your underwear, lots of
awesome music and creen
shots. I take it back.
That's exactly what dating Serena
van der Whitzel would look like.

Shannon (07:43):
Jenny and Agnes wait a whole 17
seconds before turning on each other like coke fueled,
rabid kittens. And while it's adorable and we get to
see both of them go completely effing nuts
together and separately, like four deliriously
awesome times each, Jennys constant attempts to
go roguely adult dont really scratch Agnes

(08:03):
itch. She ends up setting all of Jennys
designs on fire. Jenny gets minorly
suicidal, tries to go into business for herself,
is brutally rebuffed, and spends the night crying like
a lunatic in an alley before pulling it together and getting
herself emancipated.

Leif (08:18):
Im torn as to which of the other stories
I adored more. I usually tell you in order, but
this time, I just dont know. Blairs interactions with
Eleanor Wal with Eleanors boyfriend
Aaron's dad are twisty, delicious,
but on the other hand, Dan Humphrey made me
cry. You know what? That's embarrassing

(08:39):
enough that we're going there. Dan is put
is put by Noah Shapiro into the position
of doing Bart, a, Bart Bass expose,
Baree capper beloved New York
magazine, and dutifully tries to
get some dirt when he happens onto bigger dirt
than he was expecting. He has,

(09:00):
several moral meltdowns in a row
before pulling possibly the
greatest move in the history of the show in
an apology for digging up shit,
including for real Barts real
estate related manslaughter arson from the
eighties. He gives up, all his notes to Bart

(09:20):
and includes the Charlie trout short story.
Hes the only person on earth with the means and
opportunity to heal chucks relationship with his
father, so he just
fucking does it. Brooklyn,
I heart you tonight. It feels
weird.
Blair is all excited about meeting Eleanors new
man because Cyrus Rose evokes

(09:42):
images of Cary Grant, but what she gets
is Wallace Shawn. This causes her to
go berserk. So while she is busily shitting
all over Serenas relationship as usual, she
has to also break up Cyrus and Eleanor.
She takes him to dinner to dig for dirt
whiles kind of totally in love

(10:03):
with his weird little ass, but then gets
pushed by her bitch mother yet again into
ignoring the angels of her better nature, and she
uses the story to break them up.
all this takes place with the amazing ceiling
camera setup that makes him look like an actual hobbit,
reining his neck up to talk to everybody. Of
course, Cindy Lauper shows up on Blairs

(10:26):
18th birthday party to remind Blair how, much
she actually adores him. And
then he locks it down by admitting that he
manipulated Blair into giving up all her ammo on
the first go. we call that forced
perspective. This alcohol
gaming by the dwarf is, of course,
catnip for Blair, and she agrees to

(10:48):
an uneasy truce that is
translated from Blair's language, means
they are BFF. Of course,
her many quick changes of heart are
rewarded the next morning when Eleanor
announces he's moving in that very
day. Happy birthday, Blair bear. You get a
weird little sicilian dad and Aaron,

(11:11):
Bobby Frey brother. Xoxo.
next week, Nate and who cares what else?
That was fun.
Yeah. Inconceivable. Special guest this
in this episode.
Yes.
That's going to come up a few times. Probably
going to be a few references.

(11:32):
Not enough.

Shannon (11:33):
Conceivable.

Leif (11:35):
I wanted to, actually, because while Sean is on
this, should you just call me Sean? Because, Wallace,
Sean is on this episode. It's not always
about you.

Shannon (11:44):
Shannon,
self proclaimed narcissist.

Leif (11:50):
he was just recently, there was an interview with Preston and
Steve in the latest Philadelphia magazine. Preston and
Steve, if you're listening from anywhere that's not in Philadelphia, are
radio personalities. And they were
talking. They were asked what their worst interviews
were. Their first one was Wayne Brady. They said he was just
a dick. But the other one that they said

(12:10):
was Wallace Shawn. That they were expecting,
like, this, like, classic comedy
comedy guy like this really funny dude this.
And he just was a really flat interview, apparently
so. Yeah. But we would still like to invite
Wallace, Sean to come on
an episode and discuss your. Your role

(12:30):
on Gossip Girl. Yeah, I would love to prove
precedence.
It's definitely one of the great recurring characters. The Gossip girl.
Yeah. And, I mean, who doesn't fucking
love Wallace?
Not enough.
We move into act one.
Gossip Girl is again silent.
The episode opens at the Humphrey loft as Dan

(12:52):
and Rufus are discussing Jenny's new living
arrangement.
Yeah.
No gossip girl at the beginning.
No. Oh, wow. Yeah. I didn't even catch
that. That's weird because it doesn't happen often. It's
only happened one other time.
Second time, I think this happened.
Yeah. More courtney love than June Cleaver
was my only note for this. I loved that.

(13:12):
Talking about Agnes.
Agnes's mom. Yeah.
The minions are back. Blair is making plans
for her 18th birthday. Sounds like Eleanor has
a new boyfriend. Serena is
still distracted by the whole Eren situation.

Shannon (13:27):
I like the line from one of the minions. She goes,
like, even moms have
boyfriends.
Yeah.

Leif (13:34):
The writing theme throughout the episode that. Well, I think it was
just a theme that none of them have boyfriends.

Shannon (13:40):
Yeah.

Leif (13:40):
Yeah, yeah.
That's just. That's been back to season one.
Yeah.
Yeah, because remember jet? That was, like, Jetty was gonna get a
boyfriend because no one else could get a boyfriend.
Yeah.
For some reason. Yeah, I guess these girls are just so
insufferable. I mean, they're attractive enough.
Boyfriend.
Like, they're super attractive and super rich.
How.
How unsufferable.
do you need to be but.

(14:03):
To turn off high school boys? M maybe
Asher's just leading all the lacrosse Stephen orgies in the locker
room.
Jenny and Agnes are meeting with a business
manager, but Agnes is cray
craye.

Shannon (14:19):
Oh, God. Jenny. Jenny, in
this, like, she's so professional, and, I mean, I guess it's
unprofessional to, like, disagree with the person you're doing
the interview with, like, with your partner in front of the guy, but it's like, her
answers are so on point, and, like,
Agnes is all over the place. What are you
doing?

Leif (14:37):
Yeah, and, like, why didn't you rehearse your
pitch? And, like, this isn't. This isn't your
first pitch, so why haven't you worked this shit
out in between all of these other pitches? Like, why are
we watching this meltdown at this
point?
You know, I have a feeling they did. And then just Agnes
just going off book, immediately.
And I think that's kind of my point. And, like, my other

(14:59):
note here is just, how dumb is Agnes?
Because, like, you are blowing this thing up.
Like, how fucking idiotic
is it to just be here and, like, blowing up on this
person, on your partner in front of the person you're trying
to get to fund you?

Shannon (15:15):
Yeah. Sabotage.

Leif (15:16):
I mean. Yeah, I think it's a bad picture of
mental. I think they're just trying to do. It's a bad portrait of mental
health.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think they're just trying to show, oh, this girl's clearly
unstable.
Yeah. Yeah. I think you're very right.
I, just think that the execution.
Yeah, I think that the execution of Agnes in
this episode and, like, the, like, you know, we kind of

(15:39):
saw that she was, like, the, you know, maybe a little bit
of the bad girl, whatever, but, like, the
total. No longer, like, a good
partner anymore in this was a. Was a
weird. Was a. An abrupt turn.

Shannon (15:52):
Yeah, I agree. I feel like she, like, sold Jenny a dream
in the, like, episodes prior, and then it was like
she was going to be this, like, promising partner, and
then she does do a complete 180.

Leif (16:04):
Yeah.

Shannon (16:04):
interesting that you guys are saying, like, mental illness, because that I didn't
register that while I was watching it. I felt I
really liked her justification, actually, after the interview. And
they're kind of, like, going at it with one another, and she says, we're artists.
We're passionate. Like, I thought that that was, like, a smart
writing. Just.

Leif (16:20):
Anyway, like, I feel like they could have done
something before this where they showed,
like, oh, Agnes is just using Jenny.

Shannon (16:28):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Leif (16:29):
Which they could set that up in, like, one scene.
Yeah.

Shannon (16:32):
You know, but if she's gonna, like, use her to her
own advantage and not self sabotage, like, Agnes
shouldn't go to the interviews.

Leif (16:40):
Well, yeah, but I think. I think, again, I think they're trying to
show someone who is mentally stable, but you're doing a very poor job
of it.
Yeah. And I. And I kind of had that same.
Sort of, like, they want her to be. Oh, my God.
They want her to be explosive and. Yeah.
And, Yeah. And I just thought that this
was a bad scene to do it in. You know?
I mean, she literally says, I am crazy.

Shannon (17:03):
Yeah, she does.

Leif (17:04):
Yeah, you're great.

Shannon (17:07):
I'm crazy.

Leif (17:08):
Yeah.
Blair is excitedly talking to
her mother about Eleanor's new boyfriend while Dorota prepares
for his arrival. However, when Cyrus
arrives, he is clearly not what Blair
expected.

Shannon (17:22):
First of all, why does it matter to Blair that,
like, her mom's boyfriend is attractive?

Leif (17:27):
I mean, it shouldn't but Blair is all about image, so I totally
get it.

Shannon (17:31):
Yeah.

Leif (17:31):
Yeah. And I don't think that it. And going
with that, I don't think it's, like, attractive, to
her that she wants to be attracted to them. She
wants her mom and. And stepdad to look good next
to each other.
Yeah.

Shannon (17:44):
I don't know. I feel, like, a little creeped out by. In the scene pro, and
she's like, oh. Like, my mom has always had good taste
in men.

Leif (17:50):
I do have that written down. I do actually have that in
the earlier scene. She's too excited about getting a
stepdad.

Shannon (17:59):
yeah. I also. I think not
enough is a risky catchphrase.
I just want to point that it's cute at first. It's like,
oh, give me a hug. Not enough.
Maybe he's around cooking dinner. It's like you
throw in a little garlic. Not enough. Then, like,
one day, it's his birthday, you get him this sweet,

(18:19):
thoughtful, really promising present, and he
opens it up, and he's.
You're cheating on me. Am I not enough for you?

Leif (18:31):
You think, where have you
been? I
also love the line when she goes Deroda. Are you
insane? I don't know.

Shannon (18:41):
I don't know. I like that one.
Honest.

Leif (18:47):
Yeah. And, like, just, like. So why did. I don't
know.

Shannon (18:51):
Like, she went to, like, a different place.

Leif (18:55):
Chuck is trying to bond with his father, but Bart
completely blows him off. Poor Chuck.

Shannon (19:02):
such a cold line. Like a, nice
thought, but misguided as
usual.

Leif (19:10):
Just beat a dick to be a dick.
Yeah. It's like, how can I crush my
son today?
How can we make the audience feel sorry for Chuck
Moore?
Yeah.
Yeah. It's ridiculously, And the fact that he
immediately wants to go and dance.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shannon (19:27):
There's nothing like a teen girl loves more than, like, a guy with
daddy
verified.

Leif (19:36):
Yeah. Teen girls
love you, Robin.
Dan is meeting with Shapiro to get
his letter of recommendation. However, that letter also
comes with a job offer that involves investigating Bart
bass. Apparently, writing a short fiction

(19:56):
qualifies. Wanting to become an undercover investigator.
Reporter. I mean. Yeah, I wrote a couple of short
stories, so I'm an undercover reporter now.
Yeah.
For the New Yorker.
For the New Yorker. What? Who in their right
fucking mind goes to a teenager and is like, hey,
you used to date. You're his
stepdaughter's ex boyfriend.
Can you dig up some dirt for us?

(20:18):
You're friends with him, son.

Shannon (20:19):
The way he says it, he does say it like a raider, that he's like you dated the
stepdaughter. You know, son,
so weirdly worded.

Leif (20:27):
We get a needle drop as sex on fire
by the kings of Leon plays. As Serena is standing
in Times Square and sees herself on one of the big
screensh, Aaron shows up and asks
Serena to pose for him. Then, they make out in front of
everyone in times fair to see right up on the bis big
screen.

Shannon (20:45):
What?

Leif (20:47):
So creepy.
Yeah.

Shannon (20:50):
I literally wrote barf
right down to.

Leif (20:53):
The fucking kings of Leon song. Right down to sex
on fire being like their new theme
song.

Shannon (21:00):
And like, I feel like I have too much to say about
this.

Leif (21:03):
And it gets creepier.
It does? Yeah.

Steve (21:06):
Yeah, this is.

Leif (21:06):
Well, I mean, like, yeah, but
like, yeah. Hey, can you meet me in Times Square?
And hey, just look around because guess who else is looking at
you? Everyone.
Of course. Cerita would love that.
Yeah.

Shannon (21:19):
I don't know if you've been to times square, but it is actually
factually like the point
on the earth's surface that is closest to hell.
And there's no way this scene
completely broke any suspension of disbelief that I have because
Times Square, there's no way, first of all, that you can
afford to put a live stream of an

(21:41):
image of your girlfriend, like, on one of those
televisions. And then there's no way the crowd would not, would just like
walk by like no big deal. Like everybody would be
photobombing that.

Leif (21:51):
My only when I saw
him have her up there. I'm under the
impression that part of Aaron's, like,
art is like computer
savvy and shit like that, that it was somehow a
Hackley thing, that he somehow, that was my
impression.
That also he is super rich and.

(22:11):
He is super rich.
He is from the upper west and he went to summer
camp in Switzerland.
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, his dad is a
corporate lawyer on
an entertainment lawyer. but he was also one of, but he
was also one of Eleanor's.
Lawyers for the divorce proceeding.
Yeah. Oh, for the divorce, that's right.
Which is also weird.
Yeah. Why would he be? Yeah, why?

(22:34):
Well, don't worry about it.

Shannon (22:37):
Aaron did have two lines in the scene as well that, like, also
made me throw up in my mouth, which was the first one was
like, I've shown you the most beautiful places I know and
now I'm showing them you,
which is awful. And then after, like, she's like,
oh, my God, we're on the screen. How'd you do it? He's like, this is
nothing. I want you to pose for me.

Leif (23:00):
But apparently gossip girl execus spotted.
Sna brings sexy back to Times
Square. Move over Disney. 42nd
street is steaming up.

Shannon (23:10):
I don't get it.
Yeah, Disney. And why move over Disney? I don't get that.

Leif (23:16):
I think the officer, used to be
in Times Square.
Well, at around that time, Times Square
was, like, right before that, Times Square was
like, a porn hub. Like, you could just. It was
all, like, sex shops and porn shops, and
then New York had this big effort to clean it up,
and so in order to clean it up, they basically.

(23:38):
Disney basically bought out times square,
and. And, like, there's all kinds
of Disney shit there.

Shannon (23:45):
I actually get it now. Okay. So, like, yeah,
sna it is, kind of.

Leif (23:50):
Yeah.

Shannon (23:52):
because they're bringing the porn back. Okay.

Leif (23:54):
Yeah, I. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And, ah, we move into act two at
school, Blair and Serena have a conversation
about Cyrus, who is a hugger, and it has a
catchphrase. Serena is still on cloud nine because
of her date with Aaron.

Shannon (24:11):
Okay, this is. I was telling Steve on the way down here,
like, I researched something for this because, like, I knew a little
bit about it, but then I went down a rabbit hole. But I.
Blair says to her something about, like, oh,
like, you don't want to be his muse. Or she says, like, oh, I
can be his muse, and, like, I can be, his lover
and muse to famous artists like Picasso. There's lots of women who

(24:31):
have done it. Picasso, like, beat the shit out
of all of his, like, girlfriends and wives. He
was, like, a terrible human being. It's like,
serena, bad, bad example.

Leif (24:43):
Someone doesn't understand art. Yeah.
I actually, wrote down one of Blair's quotes for the scene.
Serena, a guy starts out in his blue period, and
everything is great, but it's only a matter of time before he's
into cubism. M. And it's another girl's eye coming out of her
forehead.
Yeah. I love it. Yeah.

Shannon (25:02):
Truly. That was great. She also refers to Cyrus as
a gnome in this scene.

Leif (25:08):
Well, he's the first million. That's why he's got the charisma
boost.
We were talking about our super niche d and d
references on the way.

Shannon (25:19):
Up, only for our listeners, who both like gossip
girl and dungeons and dragons.

Leif (25:24):
You know, they're peppered throughout.
They're trying to expand their base.

Shannon (25:28):
Yeah.

Leif (25:30):
Dan gets an interview with Bart by flattering
Bart and putting his own, dad down. Not only that,
but Dan gets to shadow Bart for two days
a week. Dan is, like, a super master
manipulator here.

Shannon (25:42):
Yeah.

Leif (25:43):
Yeah. Throwing Rufus under the bus like
that.
You saw how that lit Bart's eyes upennesse. He
loved that.
Yeah. Like, he and dan knew
it. Yeah.

Shannon (25:55):
I kind of wish the writers had leaned into that more. Like, I feel like
they made Bart a little too gullible in this entire episode, and,
like, they kind of pushed him into, like, buying
Dan's stuff. And if they made it more petty and about, like, him
wanting to get it rufus, I would have dug that. If they,
like, leaned into that.

Leif (26:11):
I do wish that there was a.
Little bit more, but, like, I. Dan has superpowers,
apparently.
Yeah.
As we'll see it in the upcoming scene.
And it's also really funny because
he uses his dad in this scene as
bait. And his dad earlier in this
episode says

(26:32):
in the first scene with the two of them, he says, I
know you don't approve of this. And he says, I don't believe in
using people to get what you want. And so now
he's using his dad
to get what he wants. And also, like,
in doing that, he's also, like, my dad was. You
know, his music never took off his
whatever, and, like, kind of throws that under the bus.

(26:55):
And in that earlier scene, it also is paralleled because he's
like, it's a good thing you're a musician and not an actor.
Yeah. You know, and there
is that, part of me that when I. When he said the thing about,
I don't believe in using people, and I do have this
kind of belief that most of the people that
you look up to that are musicians and stuff
like that got there by being shitty at some point or

(27:17):
another to other people. And maybe
Rufus never did the shitty thing to stab someone
in the back to really take his career where it could have
gone.
You know, we already kind of established that he
quit because of his kids. He, like, we just saw
he turned out another tour. Yeah, the
college stadium tour.
Yeah. That's why he resents Jenny. Yeah.

(27:39):
Dan could have been. Dan could have handled it on his
own.
But Jenny is freaking out on Agnes for
flaking out, but Agnes is hungover and couldn't
care less. When Agnes leaves to go to sleep it
off, Jenny goes behind her back to try and make a
solo meeting with the business manager from earlier.
This was the first time Robin noticed the vitamin
water. Robin was like, does vitamin

(28:02):
water sponsor this episode? And I'm like, yeah,
they sponsor the show.
They pop up a lot.
Yeah.
Another pyramid of vitamin water.
Yeah.

Shannon (28:14):
For the record, throughout this episode, I completely
backed Jenny. Like, backing yourself like, I
completely disappointed, and I, like, am, in her corner.

Leif (28:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I agree completely.
Yeah.
Bart is inviting Dan to the Rangers game that he had
zero interest. With Chuck back at
act one, Chuck enters the room and has a.
Has his cold, black heart broken yet
again?

Shannon (28:38):
It's such a dick move.

Leif (28:42):
I have no time for games with
you, Chuck.
But this. But my new son.
My new son. I can take my chosen
son, the son I
choose. That Eric's not available.

(29:03):
Yeah. I mean, it's so
blatantly manipulative.
Yeah, yeah.

Shannon (29:10):
It's like he's trying to hurt Chuck's feelings.

Leif (29:14):
It's actively trying to hurt Chuck's feelings just to
get the audience on Chuck side.

Shannon (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (29:20):
It's at all.

Shannon (29:20):
Writers are trying.

Leif (29:21):
Yeah, the writers are trying to just bury Chuck. But also,
I love how Chuck is like, wait a second.
Like, what's Dan Humphrey doing
here? And then we
get, like, the Batman look, as he likes, like.
Like, puts together. Like, this shouldn't be
happening.
Cyrus gets Eleanor tickets to see Cindy

(29:41):
Lauper during Blair's party, but suddenly Blair
desperately wants Eleanor at her first grown up
party. B, maybe you should start acting like a
grown up, and people will treat you like one.
I mean, yeah, I actually don't have any notes on
that because I think Eleanor. I think Eleanor did
everything that was needed to be done in that scene.

(30:02):
Why would you want to go to your kids 18th? why would she want
you?
Why? I never wanted my
parents. I didn't want my parents at my younger
parties.
Like, jenny is once again
meeting with the manager, this time without Agnes.
However, the manager tells her she will need her parents signature
because she is under 18.

(30:23):
Is Agnes 17? They established
in an earlier episode that Agnes is 17.
She might already be emancipated or her.
But she was.

Shannon (30:31):
M. Signed the papers, maybe. And now Benny.
On her own. Yeah, the guy
did confirm in the scene, though. He was like, oh. Like, she's like, I'm working
on my own now. And he's like, glad to hear it.

Leif (30:44):
Also, he thought she was over 18,
too.

Shannon (30:47):
Yeah. And then I love how he's just like,
oh, we just need your parents to sign the
papers. What papers?

Leif (30:55):
No, the papers, Shannon.

Shannon (30:56):
The papers.

Leif (30:57):
The papers.

Shannon (30:58):
The writers are just like.

Leif (31:00):
I think he said incorporation papers, didn't he?

Shannon (31:02):
No, he. I checked. He just says the. I'm pretty
sure he just says the papers.

Leif (31:07):
it takes me back to the Muppet movie, the first
Muppet movie, where it's like, we would like the rich
and famous contract and they're like, here you
go.
Aaron is preparing to photograph and then
possibly murder Serena. This
seriously looks like a kill room from Dexter.
Yeah.

Shannon (31:26):
Yeah, it does. Yeah.

Leif (31:29):
And he starts taking the pictures and she's like, what do you want me to
do to me? Like, I'm thinking like
a dude and especially like, me in my twenties with an
r as an art. Like, if I was doing this, if I was
trying to pull the shit that Aaron is trying to pull, the
words try less and
try nothing at all don't sound like directions
to me. They sound

(31:52):
more like requests for
what he wants her modeling.

Shannon (31:57):
Yeah. The only feedback he gave her was don't cover your face. And then
I could, like, feel her. Like you. Like if you are
photographing a model, like you want them to feel comfortable. And I could feel
how uncomfortable. I felt uncomfortable the whole scene.
Anytime he's on camera, I feel uncomfortable.

Leif (32:11):
He's so fucking creepy.

Shannon (32:13):
He's so creepy. Every scene he's in, my note is
Barfdeze.
Yeah.

Leif (32:18):
Yeah.
Dan isn't the only one doing some investigating.
We see Chuck has trailed Dan to the New York magazine,
where it just so happens there's an intern that Chuck
presumably slept with.

Shannon (32:28):
Wait, Steve, can you, like, help me understand
this? This is another gossip girl quote that I didn't
understand because she goes like, did Brooklyn boy
think he could bury the bone in the backyard and
no one would find it? Every bass will have his
day. I'm like mixing metaphors
or.

Leif (32:46):
Yes. Yeah, the first one is obviously,
you know, you can bury, you know, the dog
buries the bone. That's the old cartoon.

Shannon (32:53):
I just didn't know if every bass will have his days, like, connected
to.

Leif (32:56):
No, I don't think so.
Yeah, I think that they just didn't know how to finish
that thought.

Shannon (33:01):
Okay.

Leif (33:05):
Yeah, pretty much.
And I have, my note is that you can't out Chuck. Chuck.
Serena arrives at the apartment the next day and
enters his creepy shrine to her. Things
appear to be progressing to sexy times when
Erens next model shows up and puts
Serena in the metaphorical cold shower.

(33:25):
Hes such a fucking creep. And hes an even
bigger creep for not having a conversation
about his polyamory
ahead of time. And, like, I know we havent gotten there
yet, but, like, when someone else shows up and after
you've been, like, doing all this creepy shit, and
then.

Shannon (33:43):
It'S like, yeah, she was like, a little bit
cringe in saying, like, I thought modeling was our thing.
Like, right in front of the girl.

Leif (33:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shannon (33:51):
quite cool. Yeah.

Leif (33:53):
But that's the whole reason why Serena likes them, though,
is cause she can be the muse.

Shannon (33:57):
Yeah, I did kind of. Like, I had a little. Like, I identified with Serena in
the scene. Cause she does the thing of, like, she's feeling
insecure about something, so she just says it out loud. She's like, oh, my
God. I should be cool and mysterious and stop talking.
Like, kiss. Yay.

Leif (34:11):
Dan gets a mysterious email to meet someone who
claims to have info on Bart.
He's on the job one day, and people are studying.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's like, ok, how did this guy find Dan?
Yeah. And. And how is that
not suspicious to you? Dan, which is I.

(34:31):
Which is my note for when they actually, like, meet up,
is, like, why? I, like,
whoa, someone's just reaching out to me, even though
absolutely no one on fucking earth knows I'm
doing this.
Yeah.
Blair is complaining to Eleanor about Cyrus
at breakfast, but Eleanor is glowing with, quote unquote,

(34:52):
love is here and is hearing none of
it. When Eleanor leaves to get ready for
her date, Blair tells Derota that it's time for a
scheme. That was a Grace Kelly.
Yep.

Shannon (35:03):
Yeah, I am Grace Kelly. Grace Kelly is me. And,
yeah. Done with it.

Leif (35:07):
she didn't mention this in this scene, but the thing with Blair
is Grace Kelly and are Grace Jones.
I hear their dark sides are Grace Jones.
Dan is meeting with the tipster, who is
surprised at Dan's age. The man claims Bart
committed arson and insurance fraud in order to
build his empire.

Shannon (35:28):
Yeah, this was a stupid, unbelievable scene. Like, in addition
to the Times Square one.

Leif (35:32):
Yeah. And, like, the. Where
it's unbelievable is that Dan fucking believed
it. But, like. Like, you know, this guy
is, like. And. And we'll get to this,
too, that the information is accurate.
So Chuck gave him this
guy. You know, like, clearly, like, this was

(35:53):
orchestrated by Chuck.

Shannon (35:54):
Right.

Leif (35:54):
This guy reaching out to Dan. I can only,
I don't think. I did not think that that's. I
think it was just, like, dan is, like, super powered
journalist. He's good at everything.
Okay. All right. I actually got the
impression that this was Chuck's scheme of, I'm
gonna out him by getting him to go.

Shannon (36:13):
And, like, that's an interesting, like, interpretation.
like, I kind of wish the.

Leif (36:17):
Writers did do that, but
I think. I really think it was just. Dan is the
superhero.
Yeah.

Shannon (36:24):
I think it's literally, like, nobody on earth knows.
Like, you're right. Nobody knows. And so your
explanation made more sense, but
at the end of the day, nobody knows. And he somehow met
a knowing.

Leif (36:35):
By my experience with these writers, I think they were just kind of
saying, you know, Dan is just really good at things.
Yeah.

Shannon (36:42):
I knew what you're working on, but not that you're 18,
but now.

Leif (36:46):
That we've had this discussion, it makes me just lose even
worse.
That is kind of funny. You thought that.
Yeah, I would. Because I. Because, like, would I. Would anyone put
it past Chuck? No, like, Chuck. It's not like Chuck
to go after his dad if he thinks he can clearly
patch it up, you know? And that's why

(37:08):
I went there.

Shannon (37:08):
Like, I love that your brain came up with an explanation that,
like, the writers were too lazy to tell.

Leif (37:17):
Dan is telling Rufus about the story,
who advises Dan to be cautious with releasing the
info, as Serena and Lily could get hit in the crossfire.
Their conversation is interrupted when Rufus gets a call
from Allison regarding Jenny.

Shannon (37:30):
My note for Rufus this entire episode.
Wrong and strong.

Leif (37:34):
Like, so, yeah, this is kind of interesting. I was
thinking about this today, or, last night when I watched the
episode. This. The show is kind of
retconning reality. They're saying the moral
thing is to bury this, you know,
huge crime that happened.

Shannon (37:50):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (37:51):
The moral thing is to hide this huge crime.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So they are retconning reality.
I was trying to understand my note for a second. Then I. Then I
flat. Then I, Now I'm remembering the scene that this. This is
where Dan and Rufus are talking. Rufus, like, you're gonna ruin that
whole family.

Shannon (38:07):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (38:07):
And it's like.
And, like, at this point, it's just. It's just arson insurance for us,
right. But we're gonna find out that it's also
manslaughter.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And I.
And I might.

Shannon (38:18):
But.

Leif (38:18):
But I'm saying, like, if Bart's an arsonist, right?
Like, why I. Why is Rufus just like.

Shannon (38:24):
Oh, well, yeah, yeah, I guess, like, you could make the
argument that, this has been my brain correcting
for the writer's mistake. It's like, maybe it's because he, like, still
loves Lily and he's trying to protect her, but it's like he comes
across as just, like, Dan. No, no,
no. This is not the moral thing to do. Like, think about
their family. And it's like, if. If they. If the family

(38:44):
comes under fire, it's Bart's fault, not your
son.

Leif (38:48):
And also, I mean, yeah, be tough for a little
while for Lily, but she would get through it. She's not
involved in this at all.
And how. How tough would it be for Lily?
Lily is not.
She would be in the press for a few months.
Yeah, but she wouldn't be. But financially she
wouldn't.
That's why I say she would get through it. But it would be. Yeah, it would be a
tumultuous few months while she's in the press and whatnot.

(39:10):
Yeah.
Which, like, which he would hate.
Which, here's another leg. Like, a. The writers
probably didn't think of it. Theory on it, though, is with
that he loves her because, like, rufus
is really telling his kids, don't use people
to get what you want. Don't use people to get what you want.
So he can't really say, oh, but publish that

(39:30):
story, because then that's going to give him what
he wants, a single lily. So maybe
there's, like, a little bit of a, I can't now tell
my kid to go do the thing that's going to give me what
I want after telling him that that's bad. But also,
I don't think that that's bad.

Shannon (39:46):
What it is. Like, it just keeps snowballing because now
my brain is like, well, maybe his, like, head fell off after, like, they
got married, and now he just, like, has no sense of right and
wrong. He's just taking it out on his kids. Like,
he's just, like, angry all the time.

Leif (40:01):
Yeah. I mean, well, and we discuss often about how
he parents his children differently.

Shannon (40:06):
Yeah. And season two.

Leif (40:07):
Yeah. And then how Dan is. And, like,
here, he does give Dan the tough love when Dan's doing things
that he doesn't.

Shannon (40:14):
Oh, you mean he parents Jenny and.

Leif (40:15):
Yeah, yeah. And then Jenny, it's
like, you know, I'm going to shit on your dreams
every step.

Shannon (40:23):
Yeah.

Leif (40:23):
so also with this scene going back to our conversation
from last week, Steve, where you. We
were disagreeing on whether Dan ratted out
Jenny.
Right, right.
It's. Dan and Jenny are clearly still close because she's still
calling and talking to.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So even if he did, it was more of a situation where he. He

(40:43):
just got caught and he didn't. He couldn't lie right through his
face.
And that was mine.
And she didn't blame him.
Yeah, that was my impression. But you're right. She doesn't blame him.
So Blair is at a restaurant with
Cyrus, pumping him for information. Cyrus
reveals a story about falling in love with another woman while
overseas in the military, even though the woman died
he still divorced his wife when he returned home. he sure

(41:06):
did.
Now, he met this other person in
Vietnam, which ended in
1975.
oh. we're gonna do mathematic.
So that means that he was married.
That the latest that he could have
met the golden lion. Right? Golden lion. That was what
she called her, is
1975. So that means he was

(41:26):
married in 1975, and he came
home and divorced his wife. So that would seem that
he would be divorced no later than
1976, which puts
Aaron's birthday
about 15 years before
Serena's,
at a minimum.

(41:48):
At a minimum, she would be born in
1990. If she's 17
now, maybe he's just.

Shannon (41:56):
Like, on his, like, 10th college degree.

Leif (41:59):
Well, he's graduating. He's no longer in school. like, they've
said that he went to college.

Shannon (42:05):
God, he's even creepy.

Leif (42:06):
Yeah. So, like, unless something comes out that
he's from a different marriage, then he's.
Then. Then he would have.
I don't think it's ever confirmed or denied. Cyrus
said otherwise or not.
So. So in the interim,
eight plus 15 is 23.
So she was eight, and he was 23 when they were married.

(42:27):
With their little licorice rings that he
kept. That he kept
turning Jackson ten for another
nine years.
Oh, boy. Oh, boy.
That's fucked up.
Yeah.

Shannon (42:42):
Yeah. I mean, one of my notes, too, was like. And when it gets
revealed that he's Aaron's father, I was like, why?

Leif (42:48):
Yes.

Shannon (42:48):
That we didn't need that. That didn't need to happen. And now we
have even.

Leif (42:51):
It's because the books. It's because of the book.

Shannon (42:54):
They've deviated, but they kept Ed Westwick around. They
can deviate from the books here.

Leif (42:59):
But, I mean, that's. That's where the characters were, that they
stole the names from the book characters. I don't know
why they decided to do that.
Yeah. And it felt very much like the,
you know, a throwback to the. The laziness of the duchess
and. And. And, Marcus,
you know, like, they're just.
They happen to be related.
Yeah. Oh, and they're related now, too. And.

(43:20):
And it was just such a throw away. Like, he's
my son and he's been doing this. We'll get to
that.

Shannon (43:26):
I feel like I came into this recording not really with
the, the mindset of, like, the. The writing was really lazy this
whole episode now. Like, it was.

Leif (43:34):
It really was.

Shannon (43:35):
I can catch it. You've convinced me.

Leif (43:38):
Yeah. Like, my grade on paper
is now going down.
I think it is. Mine is as well.
Yeah. Yeah, mine has definitely dropped quite a bit now that
we're, like, really finding a lot of this.

Shannon (43:50):
Yeah. One thing I do like about the scene that I did
like is that, again, Leighton's acting
is so good. She barely has any lines. And the way
that she goes from fake scheming, like, interested what
he's saying to, like, actually, like, dreamy eye it over what he was
saying, it's just.

Leif (44:06):
Like, yeah, she's bored that she sees. She finds
something she can use, and she locked right in.
I also think because Blair's a
romantic, I feel like she did, in her heart,
have, like, a, oh, that's a sweet story. Like, I
did get that vibe from her, and I think that the
whole thought is, oh, this really is a sweet story that
I used to. because

(44:28):
we also really see that, like, cyrus really is, like, a
loving, very pragmatic, but also
very heartfelt and loving guy. and I have
the note that he felt true love but not high
adventure.
Yeah.
Serena calls erin to invite him out

(44:50):
on a date, but finds out that he is still hanging out
with Daniel.

Shannon (44:54):
One of serena's favorite places is
the old puppet theater in central
park.

Leif (45:00):
Sure, sure.
It's probably one of his, too.
I mean, he's probably taken many dates to the
puppet show in central bois.
30 years old.

Shannon (45:13):
probably fucking the puppets.

Leif (45:19):
The poor puppeteer gets to his house, he's like,
did you bring him?
Go get him. Go. Go get him. Well, I'm not here for
you.

Shannon (45:28):
I'm glad that you both agree about aaron, because we had not talked about
this. Yeah.

Leif (45:32):
Also, my note here is serena. He's banging other
women.
Looks like bee's prophecy came true.
One day you're the muse, the next day, you're old
news.
Eleanor knows her kid. Wait, wait. Am I the right
place? Never mind. I, skipped the scene.
Eleanor confronts Blair about her lunch with
Cyrus. Blair reveals that Cyrus cheated

(45:55):
on his ex wife. This has desired effect
because without context, it devastates
Eleanor.
Yeah. Yeah. First of all, I love that Eleanor just knows
her kids so fucking. Yeah, she knows her so
well. But also, like, without the context of, like,
yeah, he had an affair in the
seventies with his, with his ex
wife. Yeah, like, it was the

(46:18):
seven. Like, what?
I don't think the time would have affected that. I
think it was more of the fact that he never loved the first
wife.
Well, that too. Yeah.
Like, it really like a marriage of, convenience when he's about to
ship off to war.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is a. But, yeah, I think that
there. Yeah, there's a. There's a bunch of things here that are like,
that make the context very important.

(46:40):
But I don't think the 30 years would have mattered to Eleanor
at all.
No, I could see that. I think I get you there.
The business manager's assistant makes the blunder
of the episode when she calls Agnes's
phone, trying to reach Jenny. Agnes
learning of Jenny's betrayal goes
ballistic. This fucking assistant.

(47:00):
Yeah.

Shannon (47:01):
Is this where the dress.

Leif (47:04):
No, no, this is just.
Yes, this is where she finds out. Oh, okay. The
assistant tries to call Jenny, but. Oh, I mixed up. You must have mixed up up
your phone numbers.

Shannon (47:14):
Well, and no, she. Jenny, I think, called from.

Leif (47:16):
Yeah.
no, she said. She says, I must have mixed up your
phone.

Steve (47:20):
She.

Leif (47:21):
She does say that, but I think that we're supposed to
believe that it's because she did steal the
number. She goes into Agnes's phone. She did
use Agnes's phone, make the.

Shannon (47:31):
Writing for the show again.

Leif (47:33):
So I. Yeah, yeah.

Shannon (47:35):
I don't know.

Leif (47:36):
And, ah, then we move into act three.
At Blair's party, the minions are desperate for Dick.
Serena is depressed about Erin. Blair
forces her way to comforts the.

Shannon (47:46):
Rita I love when the one minion is like, like, about
Aaron and Serena. Like, oh, he totally loves you and Blair.
Just side by
side.

Leif (47:57):
I did a quick double take because for a second, I thought the waiter was
Tom Felton.
Oh, no.
Do you know who that is?
No, I don't. Draco.
Malfoy.

Shannon (48:06):
Oh, now I have to watch
back. Ah.

Leif (48:10):
Was it not him or.
No, it's just some goofy looking blind.
Kid contest winner,
probably.
Yes. Jenny arrives back at
Agnes's place to find Agnes carrying Jenny's dresses
outside. She proceeds to throw them into the metal
trash can, douse them with lighter fluid
before setting them ablaze. Jenny

(48:32):
is forced to watch in horror as her
dreams literally go up in smoke.
Not only that, but Jenny is running out of
places to stay.

Shannon (48:42):
Yeah. Okay, so here we have the dress burning.

Leif (48:45):
I want to teach Jenny two fighting moves.
One is a good, like, you know, but the other one is just.
Or just slap it about her.
Yeah, or just slap that shit out of her hand. Jenny should have
fucked her up. Jenny should have, like, thrown some fucking
punches at that point.

Shannon (49:01):
Yeah, I felt like her as an actress. Like, Like you could feel it. Like
it. I think everybody watching that feels that way. It's like, oh,
come on, like, do something. Like, push her. Like, you would actually, like, fight this girl. But
it's like, I think she played off what she was
probably, like, told to do directly. Crying. Yeah. So,
like, I was willing to kind of, like, set that aside for
now because to me, this is, like, ignoring the fact that

(49:22):
she didn't try to, like, push agnes away. This is the most
traumatic scene in the entire show
for me personally.

Leif (49:29):
Like, yeah, it is.

Shannon (49:30):
I really, really love Jenny's season two
arc, and I feel like. Like, I love this
idea of somebody being undeniable at something. It's the, you know,
it's like you're not just. You're not. You don't just have a hobby.
You have a craft. Like, you're an artist. And the idea of, like, a young
person being undeniable at something and then
wanting, like, having, like, a, ah, life calling that's

(49:51):
beckoning them and just having.

Leif (49:52):
It there and having it right there, and it's literally
going up and fleeing.

Shannon (49:56):
And, like, I would cry if somebody deleted my save
of Baldur's gate three. Like,
I can't imagine my life's work
going up in flames.

Leif (50:09):
Yeah. My other note
on this scene was the bad pyro
was that she sprays the stuff on, drops the match in, and then
there's, like, there's, like, a tiny little flame and there's, like,
a.
Yeah, come on, hit the fucking button.

Shannon (50:26):
Yeah.

Leif (50:26):
Ah.

Shannon (50:26):
I think Agnes in the scene actually does make good points
in terms of, like, how she is valuable to their
partnership and, like, the connections that she's gotten her.
A gorilla, like, fashion show, like, all that stuff. But it's
like, it is still Jenny's designs.
She is the designer. You are like, it's her
work. It should have her name on it. Those dresses do not
belong to you, Agnes. But I do in terms of, like, if I

(50:49):
were to compare.

Leif (50:50):
But, yes, she should probably get 50% of the money,
though.

Shannon (50:53):
That's, like, fine, but, like, it still should be under Jenny's
control.

Leif (50:57):
Yeah, but she should be, definitely guiding
it.

Shannon (51:00):
Yeah. And I just. I do
like comparing, like, Agnes to Georgina
sparks. I think Agnes is a much better crazy. Even though it's like,
it's still like, okay, we have a crazy girl. But I do just
love Jenny being like, are you insane? And, like, that earlier, her
just being like, yes,
yes, I'm insane.

Leif (51:19):
To,
Yeah.
Will holland. back at the party, Serena meets
Cyrus, who turns out to be Aaron's dad. Cyrus
comes the serena to give Aaron, or, Cyrus
convinces Serena to give Aaron yet another chance.
WTF? Serena?
First of all, why do they need to be related. We kind of talked about that.

Shannon (51:36):
why?

Leif (51:37):
But the other thought that I'm. That I had was where he's
like, where she's like, you know what? I'm gonna go to him right
now.

Shannon (51:43):
Written down, too.

Leif (51:45):
But, like, you're his dad. Does his dad not
know that he bangs, like, half of
the bangs, all these models? Because, like,
that's really bad wingmanship if you do
know to be like, yeah, go on and visit him. I'm sure there's no
one there right now. Yeah.

Shannon (52:01):
Ah. My note was more. So, like, why does Serena. Every time
Serena learns something about eren, she just drops
whatever she's doing. Like, I'm so sorry. I have to
go. Stop. You had
plans.

Leif (52:13):
Honestly, though, now that you mentioned that
Serena does that all the time throughout this entire
show has just. Whenever she gets that one text, it's just
like, you know what? I'm good here. I'm going to the.
Like, she does. I gotta go.
Ah.
All the time. Cause she actually doesn't.
Like. It's definitely a meme.
Yeah. Is it really?
Yeah, I gotta go.

Shannon (52:32):
I wish I was that, like, confident and. Yeah, like,
bye.

Leif (52:36):
Yeah.
So on, this rewatch, I caught something.
Now, this is somewhat spoiler, but, you know,
Wallace character is recurring throughout the series,
and for pretty much a fan, I'm like, him and
Dorota are kind of, like, the two kind of flawless
characters in fandom. But watching this here,
he totally gaslights Serena in this scene.

(52:58):
yeah. Cuz, like, he's like, oh, he might m like,
she's, like, totally, like, right. That feeling that
he's, you know, Aaron's totally
sleepy with other people, and, oh, he must
really like you and blah, blah, blah.

Shannon (53:12):
Yeah, I guess, like, the way I think of their whole
thing is, like, I don't feel like. Like Aaron and Serena
haven't committed to each other. And, like, if I was, you know, at
that age in high school, I would be just as upset as her, and I feel,
like, risk about the whole thing. But as an adult, it's like, you
do kind of, like, some people do date, like,
multiple people at the same time, and you're getting to know multiple people

(53:32):
and figuring out who's right for you. So it's like the writers,
like, through this weird adult concept on this,
like, teenager, but, he might actually
genuinely like Serena. Maybe Cyrus has
picked up on that.

Leif (53:45):
I agree that, but I feel like he's trying to tell
her what to feel.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think he's totally wing Manny for.

Shannon (53:53):
His, he is wingman.

Leif (53:54):
Yeah, for his son, and I. And, like. Like, on the one hand, I
don't. I don't think that the concept of wing manning
for your kid is necessarily in and of itself
back. Like, I talked my kid up his girlfriend, you know,
like that. I don't think that is a bad
thing. I think that if you know your
kid is polyamorous and

(54:14):
you're sending somebody who doesn't know, and you're saying, no, no,
nobody really likes you without also giving
her, like, oh, yeah, you know, he might also date other people, but he
really likes you. Like, there is an element of you
are you either don't know your kid
or you're holding something back from Serena.
And I would almost like to think he just doesn't know his kids,

(54:35):
you know?
But we see he's a smart guy. It picks up
on a lot of stuff.
Yeah. Yeah, he is.

Shannon (54:40):
Yeah. I just wouldn't go so far as to call it gaslighting.
I just would assume it's like. Like, almost like maybe he
wanted to give her some reassurance, like, it. Maybe
he does know, like, my kid does like you more than these other girls.
But, yeah, you're right. He doesn't address the fact that, like, hey, you
guys got to talk it out. I know he's seeing other girls, but
he does feel this way about you. He doesn't frame it in that

(55:01):
way. I wouldn't call it that gaslighting, but I
would call it, like, okay, you're
rushing a little stuff under the carpet.

Leif (55:10):
Yeah. Yeah. You either don't know stuff or you're ignoring.

Shannon (55:13):
Yeah.

Leif (55:13):
Blair's scheme seems to have worked because Eleanor
sees Cyrus and throws him out of the party.

Shannon (55:19):
How did you guys feel about her reaction in terms
of, first of all, did you find it realistic? And then
also, do you think it's an overreach reaction or, like,
I.

Leif (55:28):
It was definitely a bit overdramatic, but
it sort of makes sense in the context of she just
is been. She was burned so bad, but, yeah,
her first husband hiding stuff from her.
I know what you're kind of saying.
But, yes, it was definitely overdramatic.
Yeah, it was definitely. It was
definitely a five minute
scene crunched down into a

(55:50):
two minute into a 1 minute reaction,
which. Which I totally
know. What?

Shannon (55:57):
Well, I actually, like, didn't know. I was, like, curious what you guys thought,
because I feel like my initial knee jerk
reaction is like, oh, come on. Like, you're not gonna have a conversation, but I
actually do think that, like, depending on your life experiences, like,
that's not how I would react to that kind of news, but, like, it. I
think some people might like that. Might just.

Leif (56:13):
Yeah, I'll.

Shannon (56:14):
Context. Deal breaker.

Leif (56:15):
Like, I felt like it was definitely in character for Eleanor.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also have the note that we receive
the most Wallace Sean bass in this.
When he looks over at her and he's got, like, the.

Shannon (56:26):
Yeah, the lips go, like.

Leif (56:28):
Yeah, flip out.
Yeah. And, like, the forehead all crunches down.
And Blair is shocked when Cindy
Lauper shows up to the party at the bequest of
her pal Cyrus rota is also a fan, but
Blair, grossly conscious and goes after Cyrus. Oh,
Blair and I throw it.
Yeah, yeah.
She's all starstruck.
Yeah. Misses Lawper,

(56:51):
Miss Lauper, Miss Lubber. She's so great.
Dan is meeting Bart with his, with puppy
dog eyes, confronts Bart about the
fire. Even Bart is hopeless to resist.
Those big Ernest Brown peepers. He not only
amidst starting the fire, but that someone died and said
fire. Chuck bursts in to cut his dad
off, but too late, the cat is already out of the

(57:14):
bag. Bart offers a bribe, which
Dan walked away from that.
So again, this is where I, at this point, I thought Chuck set
this thing up. Like, I thought that Chuck was like, yo, I'm gonna
catch Dan. Fucking.

Shannon (57:27):
Yeah, that does make sense. There's an opportunity there where the
writers done something.

Leif (57:31):
Yeah. So then when he sees him and he's like,
dad, don't say another word. It's like I was
like, yo, did you set up your dad? And then,
like, once, you then realize that it was much fucking
worse because, you know, Chuck does that. Chuck sets up
these schemes and they blow up in his face,
especially in season three.
So the main reason why I don't think that story is the way

(57:52):
they're going is because in the scene with Dan and Rufus, when
they're talking about it, he, dad mentions he,
like, checked the story out and, like, check.
Yeah, yeah, he does. He does say that he did the fact check on
it. You're right. Yeah.

Shannon (58:04):
Yeah.

Leif (58:05):
And, well, clearly it did happen.

Shannon (58:07):
Yeah. I think, like, even though, like, I find a,
the scene also quite unbelievable that Bart would just,
like, let that information go without
anything.

Leif (58:17):
Oh, my God.
He just couldn't resist Dan's eyes.

Shannon (58:20):
Couldn't resist it.

Leif (58:21):
So dreamy.

Shannon (58:22):
I will say, though, when, like, when Dan
says to him, like, like, and he's like, what's it gonna cost to make this go? And
Dan's like, I don't want your money. I was like, I've never
liked Dan Moore. And then this moment, because,
I don't know, the idea of information being
more powerful than money.

Leif (58:39):
Yeah.

Shannon (58:39):
Like, but.

Leif (58:41):
But I mean, like, I love that. Like, I'm with you.
Like, I totally get it. Like, there. There was a show that I was
watching there. The. The show the blacklist when
it first came out that it's the James Spader show.
And the first season of it was fucking
awesome. And at least I loved it.
and it was just this guy didn't
need money for anything because he just

(59:03):
had so much fucking information on
so many people that that was his whole
currency. And it was just. It was hot.
It's funny you mentioned James Spader because I've seen
him mentioned several times and, like, multiple
threads on Buffy forums over the past, like, week or two
because, like, young fans are, like, just don't get the

(59:26):
reference from the pilot episode of James Spader being, like, a hot
guy.
That's so funny because he
is. Yeah. Oh, my God.
Now he's, you know, he's an old guy.
Yeah.
Like, back then, he. For a minute, he was like, the,
you know, sexy Hollywood stud. He does sex, lies,
and videotapes and. Yeah, but,
yeah, there's that line of, like, in the pilot of, Buffy.

(59:48):
Yeah. Where she. Yeah, where she talks about James Spader
being a hottie.
And Chuck confronts Dan in the elevator and
threatens to destroy Dan if he reveals the info
on Bart. Dan claims that this
is bigger than him and Chuck, so Chuck resorts
to begging.
Yeah, your dad's a murderer.

(01:00:09):
And, like, so, like, yeah, your
family. Your family might. Might
be kind of fucked. But what about the dude's family that
your dad. Yeah. Fucking killed? I, like, he doesn't have a
name.
Seriously, I got saying earlier,
this show is rewriting reality. They're

(01:00:29):
recounting reality. The morals thing here is
not to give up Bart here.
Yeah.
It's to cover this up and protect the wealthy.
Yeah, protect.
Protects the moral thing to do, Steve.
Protect the Bart and Lily's
relationships.

Shannon (01:00:44):
Yeah.

Leif (01:00:45):
And we have the moral thing.

Shannon (01:00:46):
The pillar of morality.

Leif (01:00:48):
Rufus.
Telling dad, you cannot reveal this. Yeah. You
cannot turn in this murderer.
You have to withhold this information,
which now makes you complicit.
Dan is now a felon for
not turning him in. Good job. Good

(01:01:10):
parenting, Rufus.
Fucking dickhead.
Blair fights Cyrus on the sidewalk, still
waiting for his driver to come back from dinner. But
Cyrus reveals that he planned everything and proved

(01:01:30):
that he could out scheme Blair. And does it without being
vindictive about it. Cyrus received some
high praise from Blair before they returned to the party
together.

Shannon (01:01:40):
I love that your description there. He
can out scheme her without being vindictive because my
note for the scene was, I love that Cyrus
wins Blair's approval by playing her game
his way. M. I think it's so adorable.

Leif (01:01:54):
Yeah. Yeah.
And again, he plays it without being mean like Blair is.
Yeah. Does it. He does it a nice way.
Yeah.
He gets your favorite, you know, recording artist to come to her birthday
party.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was. It was
good. I. And I. It really
made me, with the exception of, like, his
blind spot for his child, which I guess it.

(01:02:16):
But it really. That was really endearing. Like,
he's a schemer, but he does it in, like, this fun.
Yeah.
Nice way.

Shannon (01:02:23):
Yeah. Them trailing off at the end, too, and being like, you're not
what I had in mind. He's like, well, you're not what I had in
mind. Oh, yeah.

Leif (01:02:32):
Ah. Anybody want to be done?
Dan sends a story about Charlie trout and the
father never loved him to Bartley. Along with the
interview tape and an apology note, I wrote in all.

Shannon (01:02:44):
Caps, oh, my God. Dan's awful writing would
never impress Yale.

Leif (01:02:52):
Oh, is this when you, when you.

Shannon (01:02:53):
Oh, yeah. I will pause the screen. I read every single word,
and I'm.

Leif (01:02:57):
Just like, that poor
intern. That poor intern.

Shannon (01:03:01):
Don't think so. You named Chuck bass
Charlie trout. Really?

Leif (01:03:06):
I do think, like, I brought up before
we were, before we started doing this that they
show that whole story, and you can actually read
the Charlie strout. The first page of the Charlie
trout story. And it took me back to
Blair when, in the episode where they went to
Yale, blair has a letter that she gives
to the dean, and the first

(01:03:28):
paragraph is about blair, and the
rest of it is just an HB lovecraft
story filling in the rest of the page.

Shannon (01:03:37):
That's so funny.

Leif (01:03:38):
Yeah. The player probably would
be a fan of HBO and would play direct.
Serena arrives at Aaron's apartment, who is still with
Danielle, and Aaron admits that he likes
the date around. Serena storms off.
Hopefully this means she found a clue.

Shannon (01:03:57):
What?

Leif (01:03:59):
Yeah, like, I'm
not polyamorous. I'm in a monogamous marriage,
but I have friends that are polyamorous,
and anyone in the polyamory community
will, this isn't how you do it.
No, I don't think he is polyamorous.

Shannon (01:04:15):
I don't think. I don't consider it polyamorous either. I consider
him just being, like, not exclusive. We are dating. Not,
like, official.

Leif (01:04:23):
The reason I keep coming back to the term
polyamory for him him is because his
exact words were along the lines of, I
like to date more than one person at a, time. he
doesn't just say, I like to date around. He
said, I, I don't know how they do it in high school.

Shannon (01:04:39):
Yes.

Leif (01:04:39):
So I like to date around. I like to date
more than one person.
I mean, far be it for me to consider myself an expert
on polyamory, but I believe it really refers to actually,
like, a committed relationship with multiple.
Yeah, I. But. And that's fair, and that might.
But isn't he also trying to have
maybe not a committed relationship, but a

(01:05:00):
relationship? Right. And, like,
yeah, I don't know.

Shannon (01:05:04):
I could. I can, like, see your point for sure. I just don't
know if, like, I think it's.

Leif (01:05:08):
Yeah, I think it's implied that, like, eventually they would become
an agonist.

Shannon (01:05:12):
I do think, like, he would probably like polyamory,
like his character. I think it suits his character, but I get
the sense that he's just, like, I'm not committing to.

Leif (01:05:20):
Yeah.
I'm sampling around so I find what.

Shannon (01:05:23):
I like, which is fine, as.

Leif (01:05:26):
Long as she's up about it.

Shannon (01:05:27):
Like, then they should just, like, end it.

Leif (01:05:29):
Yeah, they should. They should really just end it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and. And,
you know, and again, no matter what, you would.
No matter that the term for what is going on
that you. It all starts with that very first
time being like, look, I'm dating more than
one person, and if you're interested, then I'll

(01:05:50):
date you, too, because that. That is the whole. They
do mention, even later in the episode, they do say the
words open relationship. Blair and Serena,
when they're talking to each other, they discuss how
Serena isn't. She wants to be a hippie
girl from the sixties, but she doesn't want. But
she could never have an open relationship.

(01:06:10):
So there were other things that led me to think that this
was his, how he dated.
I also feel like it was probably a
lazy m. Maybe not lazy, but ignorant on the
writer's part of not knowing how,
of not really knowing the way to
bring this subject.

Shannon (01:06:29):
Yeah, the terminology and, like, just having Erin
clarify with her. Like, it, like, clarify for the
audience and for her. But, yeah, I don't know. Well.

Leif (01:06:36):
Cause it's been three episodes now of Aaron
having other women around while.
And then Serena being like, oh, I thought it was me. Oh, but there's
these other women kissing you, and, like, at any point.
And, like, the last episode, he should have been like,
look, I'm not exclusive with you. Boom.
There. Boom.
Yeah.
Done.

Shannon (01:06:56):
Also, maybe, like, don't date her. She's in high school, and you are.

Leif (01:06:59):
Like, 15 years old.

Shannon (01:07:01):
I don't know how you do it in high school. Like, what a
line.

Leif (01:07:05):
He's older than me.
Pretty gross.
Rufus is playing guitar in the dark when Jenny
enters.

Shannon (01:07:21):
Sorry.

Leif (01:07:23):
Lincoln Hawks emo, baby.
The base of the basement page.
Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry.
Jenny enters and agrees to return home only if
Rufus will sign the incorporation paperwork.
Rufus gets all high and mighty and
refuses to sign the papers. Jenny, as stubborn as

(01:07:45):
ever, digs in her heels as well. We
see Jenny all alone, walking down the
streets after dark. Poor little orphan
Jenny looks like she needs a
daddy warbuck. But daddy Warbucks don't grow on
trees. At least trees that grow in Brooklyn.

Shannon (01:08:01):
Another bad one. Yeah, another
really bad one. Gigi.

Leif (01:08:06):
Rufus is such an idiot.

Shannon (01:08:08):
Wrong and strong.

Leif (01:08:09):
Like.
Like, so, I mean, yes, Jenny is wrong to
try and emotionally blackmail, but just agree to it and
get her back in the house.
Yeah, get her back. Now, Jenny. Jenny is
diabolical in her attitude. Right?
And I, Like, Jenny is
coming in, and she is emotionally blackmailing her dad. And,
like, no doubt about it. I also go back

(01:08:30):
to, if you would have supported your kid
in their efforts from day fucking
one right now, you would be
sitting down, working out your fucking rich and famous
contract for your kid. Yeah.
Fashion show. It was ridiculous how much he overreacted to
that.
Yeah, but. But it's not even just the fashion show. It's

(01:08:51):
been every step of the way. He has been putting his
fucking foot in the way of. Of
everything she's tried to do. He has been
constantly sabotaging his kids
fucking dream, meanwhile, telling the other one.
Yeah, just, keep. Keep doing it as long as you don't hurt
people. Yeah, and. But, no, not you.
You're not going to get it. Like, fuck you,

(01:09:12):
Rufus.

Shannon (01:09:13):
Yeah, I'm so annoyed. Like, I hate
Rufus. They're out this whole storyline, and, like, saying, like, I
won't sign my name to favorite condoning who
you've become. It's so harsh. And, like, he should
be a proud of his daughter.
Like, yeah, your daughter is incredibly talented
and recognized within, like, that community, and,
like, you're an artist, Rubio. You're a

(01:09:36):
musician. And the idea that, like, he would not. I
get being scared. Like, I get being scared for her. In terms
of, like, oh. Like, you were, like, this is, like, risky. In
terms of you pursuing this.

Leif (01:09:46):
Guess what? If she fails, she can still go back to school.

Shannon (01:09:48):
Yeah, exactly. And if she just
had your support during it, like, you guys could figure something
out. But, like. Like, just him. If this
was, like, real life and not a show, like, he is,
like, losing his daughter from this. Yeah.
And, like, maybe forever, like, yeah, yeah.

Leif (01:10:05):
Several episodes ago, Eleanor calls him on it. Like, if you
had all of your shit laid, all of your dreams
answered when you were 15, would you have
stayed in school? Like. No.
And we move into the epilogue.
Jenny wakes up at the gallery and calls the business
manager. She begs for a Sunday meeting. At least

(01:10:25):
she has somewhere to sleep.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thankfully, her poor father owns multiple Brooklyn
properties.
Yeah.
chuck in his room when Bart knocks at the
door. Because of Dan's story, Bart
apologized for being a. The cold to chuck all these

(01:10:46):
years. We see that Chuck has a picture of his mother
on the nightstand. Bart invites Chuck to the
hockey game. I, like to see it.
I loved it. I got a little emotional. I'm not going to lie. I
got teary. I got a little bar bass in my eye
watching that. Like, it was.
I don't want Bart to be a
cartoon evil villain. I want him to be a,

(01:11:08):
cold businessman. Yeah, but he should have
some art.
And. And, I mean, like, when. When they were
talking, when he said the line, every time I look at you,
I turn to rob and I go. I see her
because, like. But, like, But also, it's so heart wrenching
because, like, you know that I like
it. Just thinking about that, like, losing

(01:11:31):
someone that you love like that. And then every time you see your kid,
like, you're. You're reminded of them, you know,
like. Like, that's gotta be
really tough for him. And it really makes a really
sympathetic side to Bart here. The
murderer.

Shannon (01:11:46):
Yeah. I think also much like, Blair's scene with
Cyrus where she doesn't have a lot of dialogue, but her acting
really comes through and she has a lot of facial
expressions and she conveys emotion really well. And this
change in emotion that gradually shifts
from one to the other. I think Ed Westwick, also a really
nice job in the scene, like, starting out kind of, like, you know,
like, defensive and then, like, kind of slowly becoming, like,

(01:12:09):
surprised and, like.

Leif (01:12:10):
And warming.

Shannon (01:12:11):
Yeah.

Leif (01:12:12):
Dan tells Rufus that he killed the Bart story.
We also find that found out that even though
Rufus and Jenny are fighting, Jenny still
calls Dan to talk to him. in my opinion, is further
evidence that Dan didn't rat out, Jenny last week we talked
about earlier.
Yeah.
Jenny is once again meeting with the manager, who tells her
that only the other option is to become an

(01:12:33):
emancipated miner.
Back to the one with Dan, though, where he
saved. Where Rufus is, like, you know, you
saved that family.
Just to really put a period on that sentence
of, like, rufus just condoning murder to save
a family.

Shannon (01:12:50):
And family. As if it's not like they're
friends.

Leif (01:12:55):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:12:55):
Like, yeah. Then of course, like, Dan is the one to then
suggest to Rufus, like, save our family.

Leif (01:13:00):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:13:01):
Call Jenny. Like, let her take the win, even if
you don't agree with her, and it's, like.

Leif (01:13:05):
Exactly. Yeah. And Dan is absolutely right.
Yeah.

Shannon (01:13:09):
It's kind of a relief. Last time I came on, like, I was very Dan
bashing. So, like, even though Dan is unrealistically
superhero in this episode, it's, like, kind of nice to be on
his side for an episode. And, like, I don't always hate
Daniel.

Leif (01:13:21):
it also brings me to the point where Leif had said
that episode ten tends to be a big Dan and
Serena episode, which I always heard
you saying a Dan and Serena
episode, but it was a Dan
and Serena episode,
so that was.
Yeah, I did kind of get away from the formula, but

(01:13:42):
I think Aaron is just such a Dan substitute.
That, though, kind of works.
Yeah.
He really is just diet Dan.

Shannon (01:13:50):
Dan look good. Is that what's part of what's.

Leif (01:13:52):
He's diet Dan?
Yeah, I think it's. Yeah, I feel like he does.
Yeah.
And he's just dad, but older and creepier.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Only twice the age.
he's in his thirties.

Shannon (01:14:10):
He's older than Cyrus.

Leif (01:14:16):
He's Benjamin bunging it.
and to the Jenny thing, I completely support
emancipation.

Shannon (01:14:24):
Yeah. I mean, I think it's insane how much emancipation comes
up in teen dramas because it's not that
easy to get. But, I loved the idea of
it. I was happy with my family, but I was just, like,
who? What if I could be on my.

Leif (01:14:38):
I think the reason why it comes up is so many of these actors
are our best because both and Taylor are
a mess. M. And I think Layton might have been as well.

Shannon (01:14:46):
Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Leif (01:14:48):
Layton had a, crazy childhood.

Shannon (01:14:50):
Yeah. Yeah, you told me last time I was on, but,
like. Yeah, so that's, like, good justification. I don't think, like, you
disagreeing with Rufus is enough to get you emancipated,
but, yeah.

Leif (01:15:00):
Pat, was emancipated, but he still, like, lived with his mom. His mom was still, like,
his manager. He just did that so he could work full time.
Yeah, I was gonna say there. There are circumstances of
emancipation in. In the entertainment industry that
are like, that. That it's like, to get them so they don't have to go
to school and they can work.
Yeah. Cause they're not. If they're minors, they can only work a certain amount
of hours or sag.

(01:15:22):
Yeah, which is probably why we don't see Jenny on
every episode.
Yeah. Blair and Serena are having a phone
conversation about casual dating. That's where you
mentioned before about.
Yeah.
she's. Yeah, like, you want to be a sixties hippie, but you're
still kind of conventional.
Yeah. I mean, this is a whole conversation
supporting the idea of them
being in an open relationship.

(01:15:45):
Even if it is just for now, it is still. You
are sharing him, Zachary.

Shannon (01:15:49):
Yeah, that's fair. I also, like. Even though I was
playing Devil's advocate earlier with you, I feel like, in support
of what you're saying, I also do believe in the idea
of when you're dating someone, you
shouldn't be thinking about who they will be in
the future. You should look at who they are right now. And
so if you're looking at who he is right now, like, he is

(01:16:09):
seeing other women and, like, that might not ever stop.
So, I mean, Serena's high school doesn't know about
her, but I feel, like. Don't
know no better, but I feel like I can change
him. Okay. Like, he's already shown
you time and.

Leif (01:16:24):
Time again, so I. Yeah, like, I agree.
So he is doing the open. I just think there's a
distinction between, like, Polly. I mean, I don't
think power is, like, necessarily an open relationship.
Best all the time.

Shannon (01:16:36):
No, I think it's usually, like, you.

Leif (01:16:38):
Know, who we need on the. On to talk about this
is Andre, who is polyamorous,
and is very involved in the, like,
Philadelphia polyamory, like, community, too.

Shannon (01:16:49):
Yeah.

Leif (01:16:50):
Some people don't bring us enough information on
polyamory.

Shannon (01:16:54):
Oh, my God. I'm, like, the most monogamous.
I don't even, like, want to think about it. That's
awesome. I don't judge it. I do not judge it. But, like, for me personally,
I'm like. I'm like, I'll get upset at an
imaginary man in my head.

Leif (01:17:12):
I'm so monogamous, I only date myself.

Shannon (01:17:14):
Yeah. Really?

Leif (01:17:15):
Yeah. I can see Shannon throwing her laptop out of a
window after a dating game.
She talked her after Dream
daddy's the.

Shannon (01:17:24):
Only time that dream daddy I get to be polyamorous, but,
like, it's like a Mormon polyamorous where it's like, it's just
me. Like, you don't get to be it,
but that's different.

Leif (01:17:36):
But that's dream dad.

Shannon (01:17:37):
That's dream dad.

Leif (01:17:43):
daddy.
Okay.

Shannon (01:17:45):
Sorry.

Leif (01:17:47):
Blair is surprised to find Cyrus at the
breakfast table and is even more surprised to find out that
he is moving in, effective
immediately.

Shannon (01:17:58):
Still laughing.
Oh, yeah. I, I mean, that is, like,
I don't know. That's a lot. That's a little quick,
Cyrus, but I also, like, follow your heart.

Leif (01:18:11):
Yeah.
I mean, why not? They're in their sixties or
whatever. Fifties.

Shannon (01:18:15):
There's no way. Well, he might be, but I don't think Eleanor
is at least fifties.

Leif (01:18:20):
I would think.
I think late 40.

Shannon (01:18:22):
Yeah.

Leif (01:18:23):
I think around my age. Right?
Like, I think she's older than you.
I think she is older than me. I don't know if
she's supposed to be old.
I think she just wanted. She had well
taken care of.
Yeah. Had kids when she was a little bit older, and.
Yeah. she just has all the best products.
Yeah. Yeah.
Stylists and.

(01:18:44):
But also, like, you know, I, this
kind of makes me think of my dad, who, like,
the, he told me one time he was dating someone, and
then, like, a week later, when we, he introduced us, he was like, we're
getting married. It's like, oh, hi,
my new stepmom. And then, like,
and then another time, he was like, oh, yeah, I'm sort of seeing this woman.

(01:19:05):
Then he called. Then I'm calling him. He's like, yeah, we
eloped over the weekend, and it's like, oh, you,
you know, the other woman died,
in between. Yeah, he's not married. He's not
polygamous. He's not marrying. But,
like, he, my, he and my mom split my, this is my
dad's fourth wife. He's, but his two of his wives

(01:19:25):
died.

Shannon (01:19:26):
Yeah. My grandfather, there was a similar thing. Like, yeah, had three
wives die, and then it like, yeah, more marriages.

Leif (01:19:32):
People just can't be alone.
Yeah.

Shannon (01:19:34):
Yeah, come on.
It's like, yeah. I mean, like, if. I don't know, if,
I don't know.

Leif (01:19:41):
If I can keep doing that. Like, could you keep, oh,

Shannon (01:19:44):
You're like, yeah, I can't handle that heartbreak.
It's like getting a new dog.

Leif (01:19:49):
I mean, I get that. Yeah. What
you're, I get what leap is saying. I was
saying to Robin, like, I don't know if I want something like this
again. Like, this is, like, our marriage is something
that is so special to me. I don't think I want that.

Shannon (01:20:04):
Zachary, I thought you were saying it in terms of, like, oh, you. Serial
monogamous. It's like, well, that's not really
fair.

Leif (01:20:13):
Aaron shows up for his day with Serena, who thought they
had broken up somehow. Aaron's speech
about non conformity works on Serena, who decides
to go out on a casual date with Aaron,
prove just how much of a free spirit she
is. Serena goes on a date wearing only a
jacket and her sleeping gown.

(01:20:33):
Some surprises hit you over the head like a squash
racket, and others sneak up when you
least are expecting it. And sometimes the
biggest surprises are the ones you spring on yourself.
Scampering about in a slip is one way to
shed old skin. But will embrace free
love be as easy as flinging off a pair of fendi
flat? Looks like someone's going barefoot

(01:20:56):
in the park.

Shannon (01:20:58):
Yeah, this one's too long. And, like,
the gossip girl quotes, in general, I think they're
ridiculous.

Leif (01:21:05):
Well, the end of the episode, one's always long.

Shannon (01:21:06):
Yeah. Yeah, this one. But I do. Actually, this might be the
only gossip girl quote that I I don't
really like it in reference to Serena and Aaron, but I do really
like the quote. Sometimes the biggest surprises are the ones
you spread on yourself. I think that's like. Yeah, I'm like.
Like that. I like it. And
isolated from

(01:21:26):
too much. Aaron.

Leif (01:21:28):
He's so creepy.
Yeah. Like, he's creepy in this scene. Like
the, going out in the slip. It's like, what is. What is
that?

Shannon (01:21:38):
Yeah, what is. What did it accomplish?

Leif (01:21:40):
What are you proving?
She just wants to prove how much of a free spirit she
is.
Yeah, I I kind of like the.

Shannon (01:21:45):
Way she says no, but, And then I was like, but.

Leif (01:21:47):
But why?

Shannon (01:21:48):
But why?

Leif (01:21:49):
It's cause she. It's. I mean, yeah, she
doesn't like to admit it, but she is just as concerned about
image as Lily is. But it's just. She wants a different image than
Lily has.
Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon (01:21:59):
She might be, like, even not really because it's not like she's
putting these other women down that he's dating, but she might be, like,
kind of, like, leaning towards, like, pick me
type, where it's like, I'm gonna, like, look at me. I'm
the free spirit. Like, I bet all those other bitches you date are.

Leif (01:22:14):
Yeah, I kind of felt.
I kind of felt bad, too. But it was also still, like,
like, why did. Why?
Like, there are a hundred things that she could have worn.

Shannon (01:22:24):
Yeah. I think the reason is, like, his. His
speech is like, oh, like, I know you grew up on the
upper east side, but, like, do you really want that life? Like, I want to do what I
want to do. And, like, and then she's like, like, oh, yeah, you're
right. I am that kind of person. Let me prove it now by going
out and muscle you.

Leif (01:22:40):
Yeah.
But Blake lively hasn't shown her a, photo
for skin. This.
It's in her contract.
But that is the female power.
I mean, she paid good money for them. Might as well show them

(01:23:01):
off so that with our
episode. Steve, any predictions?
Oh, my God. Like, this Aaron thing is
gonna eventually blow
up. It is not
sustainable.
They're not gonna get married
again.
and at the wedding, someone would come up and kiss Aaron and be
like, oh, hi. And he'd be like, oh, yeah, Serena, I'll catch up with you

(01:23:24):
later. And, like, walk off.
Oh, yeah. This is who we are now.

Shannon (01:23:30):
Oh, yeah. I have my second wedding then.

Leif (01:23:32):
Oh, I've got another wedding to go do.
I got another wedding at 03:00
weddings.

Shannon (01:23:38):
Weddings for our thing.

Leif (01:23:45):
so let's go ahead and get into some segments.
We hopped into the wayback machine to
go visit this week in fandom. hello there,
Peabody here. And this is the wayback machine
for traveling through time.
And this is my boy Sherman. Speak,
Shermandhe.

Shannon (01:24:02):
Hello.

Leif (01:24:03):
Goodbye.
The, tells you without pity. red was missing. It was a
lost the ether. So I went over to fan for him,
and they did not like the episodes. Not great
overall. It's kind of boring. Sad about no Nate.
Yeah. But we knew Nate was going to be here
because he's in the Hamptons. Yes. You know, because he's.
I'm kind of indifferent to it. I know. I know. You're a big Nate guy.

(01:24:24):
I love Nate.
I mean, I love Nate, but he does not add
anything to the story.
No, no, no.
So it makes sense he's not here.
Yeah. I just like good guy Nate when Nate is there and
be and I right now, I really feel bad.
Jenny could have used some rescuing this week, right?
Jenny could really. Jenny could really.

Shannon (01:24:42):
I'm glad I didn't. Come on. A Nate and Jenny.

Leif (01:24:45):
Oh, Allison, your feelings about Nate and Jenny, that was last
week.

Shannon (01:24:49):
Yeah, that was. Yeah. That would have been either. The. We like
the last eight and nine is when he's like.
Like, I just like, I get, like, I kind of like
somebody being, like, attracted to
her, pursuing this, like, art in the way that she is and, like,
doing the gorilla thing and, like, having, like, I do like that, like.
Like, piquing somebody's interest. It just shouldn't be Nate.

(01:25:09):
Like, wait, anyway, I mean,
the actor, whatever.

Leif (01:25:14):
The characters are only two years apart.
Yeah. It's a sophomore and a sophomore and a junior.

Shannon (01:25:19):
I just, like, don't. I don't know. I just.

Leif (01:25:20):
It's definitely weird because the actor's age difference, but
in the reality of the show there, I mean, I have no
problem.

Shannon (01:25:27):
Yeah, I get her being into him, but, like, I, Like,
just because he kind of, like, moves in or whatever and, like,
it's, like, there, but I just don't know.

Leif (01:25:36):
I understand it from Nate's perspective because
Nate sees pretty thing. Nate likes pretty
thing fair.
And they do have other history of friendship
and even, like, somewhat flirty like.
They had in the past.
Yeah. There was a season one thing where they gave a
hug and had, like, a very, like,
touching moment.
So, like, there is a. I mean, that was definitely.

Shannon (01:25:58):
Maybe I am, like, I'm just. I'm, like, going off the
vibe of, like, the actors. I might be just, like, going off.

Leif (01:26:03):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:26:04):
I don't like that.

Leif (01:26:05):
Oh, yeah. I mean, Chase Crawford
was. The reason why the story never really happened fully
is because Chase Crawford was uncomfortable with it.
M that's good. Yeah.
Good for him.
Good for him. Yes. Because.

Shannon (01:26:16):
Yeah.

Leif (01:26:17):
You know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ed Wesker clearly was not.

Shannon (01:26:21):
He does, like, look, he is good guy Nate to her, and I do think
she deserves a good guy. Uh-huh. I just
don't. I don't.

Leif (01:26:28):
And I liked her for Nate,
too, because, like, all the other women in his life
walk all over him.
Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon (01:26:36):
You've convinced me. I was wrong.

Leif (01:26:39):
No, I totally get it.

Shannon (01:26:40):
I actually take it back.

Leif (01:26:41):
The visual of it is definitely weird because the
age the actor. But from a storytelling
perspective, I love named Jenny.
Yeah. I really do. From a storytelling.
They were sad about Nate, but
mad about no chair.
Oh, yeah.
No Chuck and Blair interactions at all.

Shannon (01:27:03):
it's.

Leif (01:27:04):
Doesn't happen often.

Shannon (01:27:05):
Yeah. And, like, because I've, like,
now I feel like I'm getting the episodes a little bit out
of order, but, like, can you remind me of the last, like,
interaction that they had?

Leif (01:27:16):
So in episode seven,
Blair, like, the whole thing was with Dan and
Blair, and, like, Dan was, like, giving her advice,
and, like, she was gonna tell him that.

Shannon (01:27:26):
Okay.

Leif (01:27:27):
Love him.
Yeah.

Shannon (01:27:27):
Good. That's that's what I wanted to. That is, like, the moment,
for me, that episode. And, like, that scene when she
doesn't say it and, like, they blame Dan for it. Like, that's the
moment where, like, I stopped being, like, a chair shipper
because it's like. Like, this ain't love. Like, this isn't
how you express love to one another. Like, he's not
good. it's actually, Dan's done you a favor,
Blair, so, yeah, I get that the fandom was,

(01:27:50):
like, on them and probably for, like, they
will drag it out and whatever else, but, like, I. Yeah,
after that episode, I don't. I don't care, but I'm not mad. I'm m not mad. No
chair.

Leif (01:28:00):
And also, I mean, like, there were definitely
fans at this point in the forums
saying, yeah, this is getting boring.
Yeah, this is gonna be, you know, another, What do they
compare stuff which relates.
They.
Compared to the. On the sea. Oh, Seth and summer.

Shannon (01:28:16):
Yeah.

Leif (01:28:16):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:28:16):
We're just, you know, I mean, they actually said
it, Ella. I mean, you guys probably already talked about this, but
they said it out loud. He's like, yeah. Like, you know that lift, if
we get together, that's the end and not the beginning. And it's like that as
the writers being like, no, yeah,
yeah. Why didn't Jenny stop? Yeah. Okay.

Leif (01:28:38):
Yeah. So as we also talked about this, but
a lot of people were, why didn't Jenny try and stop Agnes for
burning dresses?

Shannon (01:28:45):
Yeah. How could the writers have fixed that, I wonder, since
we're fixing their writing today?

Leif (01:28:51):
Yeah, I mean, I think maybe, like, Agnes could have just
been waiting there with, like, the match over the background.

Shannon (01:28:57):
The amount of, like, physical struggle, even if, like, it
still goes.

Leif (01:29:00):
I mean, they might have tried to shoot that. It
just looked really bad because the actresses are not
physical actresses. They just aren't good at
that kind of thing. Yeah, but, yeah, like, I think the only way they could
have fixed it would be to just have, like, Agnes waiting with,
like, the match over the barrel as, ah, Jenny walks
in.

Shannon (01:29:18):
That's sinister.

Leif (01:29:19):
Yeah. Which would have been. Which, I mean, that would have been a
powerful scene. That would have been, you know, hey, and,
like, do all of her. Like, I did all of this shit and all that shit, and
then that's.

Shannon (01:29:29):
Not a mic drop. That's a match.

Leif (01:29:33):
So, yeah, so we normally go to
television without pity for us, where Dan is probably the most
hated character, but fan forum. Jenny is really
hated.

Shannon (01:29:42):
Really? I don't like fan forum.

Leif (01:29:47):
and, yeah, that becomes more
prevalent in fandom. which is so funny.
Cause I think Jenny. Like, Jenny's
attitude towards Rufus at the end was, like I said, it's
kind of diabolical. Like, I'm done. Move in if you
look, sign shit. But it's also. She
was backed into a corner, especially
in her perspective. Like, you know,

(01:30:09):
I need to get what I'm after and everyone.
but my dad is telling me I need to get this, so
I don't see where the hate comes from. Yeah.

Shannon (01:30:17):
And I think it's still accurate as, like, an angsty teen with, like,
parents. Like, yeah, like, teen, girls talk their parents like
that.

Leif (01:30:23):
Yeah. My theory is one
that she actually does act like a teenager, and people just don't like
teenagers.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then two, Jenny beats
Blair, and people don't like Blair
losing.
Yeah. It's fair.
I'm right there with preach.

(01:30:44):
But, yeah, that's always been my theory is, yeah, people just
don't like that she beats Blaire.
Yeah. And I think the other one is also true, the fact that she plays
a teenager so fucking perfectly
because, like, I love
teen. Like, I have three teenagers, and, like, I've worked
with teenagers throughout my entire career, and I
love the kids that I've worked with. But

(01:31:06):
I was about to say I love teenagers and wanted to come out, like,
love teenagers. Like, that's
not enough.
Oh, my catchphrase.
But my point being that, like, they can also
be really fucking angsty,

(01:31:27):
whiny and annoying.
And they.
And teenagers in general will often feel like the
whole world is happening to them and not
recognize that there's an entire other world that's going
on and that things just happen to fucking suck.

Shannon (01:31:41):
On the streets of New York City by yourself with a
suitcase at that age and, like, it's nighttime. Your
dad just, like, basically told you.

Leif (01:31:49):
Basically kicked one out for the second time.

Shannon (01:31:53):
Yeah.

Leif (01:31:54):
so I'm over here laughing to hear
dangerous catch.
I'm just picturing a scene where Cyrus just has.
He has a very large penis, and he's just,
like, part way in. This partner's like,
hold on.
Wait, wait.
Not enough.

Shannon (01:32:12):
He whips it out, and his partner's like, not
enough. Like, I
had bigger.

Leif (01:32:21):
Oh, man.
There seems to be a great amount of concern for the amount of cleavage
that Serena is showing.

Shannon (01:32:30):
What's the concern?

Leif (01:32:31):
Yeah, I guess they were saying, like, why. Why
are they forcing her to show cleavage?
Oh.

Shannon (01:32:36):
Like, as if, like, lively was nothing.

Leif (01:32:39):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:32:40):
Okay.

Leif (01:32:40):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:32:41):
Do we know an answer to that?

Leif (01:32:43):
I'm gonna say she was on board with it just based by her
personal style. Yeah, but I mean,
maybe she was against it. I mean, she was much younger then, I guess.

Shannon (01:32:52):
Like, you are still portraying a high school student, though.

Leif (01:32:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shannon (01:32:56):
I don't know. I show as much cleavage.

Leif (01:32:58):
You do? Yeah.

Shannon (01:32:58):
Don't want ladies.

Leif (01:33:00):
Yeah.
yeah.
So they were attacking Eric Daven say, like,
yeah.
Why?
Why?

Shannon (01:33:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how much you want. Not what your
boss wants.

Leif (01:33:08):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:33:08):
Power.

Leif (01:33:10):
Yeah.
Moving on to episode
grades.
Okay.

Shannon (01:33:22):
My grade. I have no fucking idea.

Leif (01:33:24):
Now I know my leaf goes first this week.
Yeah. Ah, I'm erasing my original grade
right off of that.
Can I ask what your original grade was
originally?
Was gonna be? A bit b.
Okay. Mine was originally a b plus.

Shannon (01:33:37):
Mine originally was a b.

Leif (01:33:38):
Okay. But no, it is not.
Like we said, the directing was not bad. It's not good.
So that's like a c directing.
The acting. Again, there were some good
moments.
There were good moments in the great.
Acting and some average moments. I'll give that a
b on the acting. The A

(01:33:58):
storyline, which I'm gonna say was the Jenny
storyline, I mostly like, other than
the few lazy bits about it. It. But the B
storyline with Blair was kind of boring. And then the
sea storyline is the one I would have liked to see more of the Blair
either Dan, Chuck and Bart stuff.
Yeah.
And that, like, because that was really, like, murder

(01:34:19):
and insurance fraud. that's exciting.
This one also had a d storyline too, because there
was the Serena Aaron storyline as well. Yeah.

Shannon (01:34:26):
Like that. So much time.

Leif (01:34:28):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:34:28):
Like, I feel like that was their.

Leif (01:34:30):
I guess. I guess that's probably the C storyline. And the Dan
storyline is, like, the deal storyline.

Shannon (01:34:35):
Or.

Leif (01:34:37):
Or I would actually flip the
Blair storyline to be the D
storyline.

Shannon (01:34:45):
Okay. Okay.

Leif (01:34:46):
Like, if I was writing it. But I think the way they rated it was
the piece. Like, that was the party of the week. Was her birthday
party.
Oh, yeah, you're right. That is the party of the week.

Shannon (01:34:55):
As we're talking about this, I feel like, we should, instead of referring
to characters by name, refer to them by letter, like the show. So, like, the
b storyline is the a storyline.

Leif (01:35:05):
Oh, yeah. So ultimately, I'm, gonna
land at a c.

Shannon (01:35:12):
The straight c. The whole letter.

Leif (01:35:15):
Yes.

Shannon (01:35:15):
Okay, hold on. I'm thinking. Okay. Am I next?

Leif (01:35:18):
Yes, you're.

Shannon (01:35:20):
Okay. So I like initially b. And
my thought process was, very similar to yours. Like, nothing
special about this episode. But it didn't feel like there was anything
bad. I think it's interesting the fandom is, like, simultaneously
calling it boring, which, like. Yeah, it was. But, like, them and then hating
Jenny because Jenny is the most interesting.

Leif (01:35:36):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:35:36):
She's driving the plot. Yeah. Like, the dance stuff is
interesting, but it's, like, so unbelievable that,
like, I'm not compelled by it, but, like, the Jenny stuff.
Like, I wanted to come on this episode because of, like,
her storyline and because I like. I really, really like her
character arc in this season, and it kind of comes to, like, a
hit in this episode. I hate Aaron. I hate him a
lot. He's in this episode a lot. So, like, I,

(01:35:59):
But now I, like, can I just give it, like, pass? Fail. Like,
it passed.
Like, I don't. I don't. I feel like I'm. How?

Leif (01:36:07):
Well, I mean, yeah.

Shannon (01:36:08):
it's like, I'll give it.

Leif (01:36:12):
I'm just gonna call that a c then.

Shannon (01:36:14):
It's a c. Well, and,
like, yeah, I wish I could. I wish I could
divide the episode into, like, the parts that I like about
it are solid. Like. Like, I think
Denny's story is, like, a line a other than Agnes.
Like, very sudden switch. And then I think
the acting is decent, other than, like, those lack of

(01:36:34):
a hustle to the dresses. And then if I could. But then the
rest of the writings. It's a c, I'm
convinced, right down the
middle.

Leif (01:36:43):
Yeah. I came into it at a b because my
initial knee jerk of watching it.
Yeah. Yeah, there. There's stuff that
happens.
That I really like. I really
like Bart's interaction with
Chuck at the end. And I'm a sucker for a good
ending. Like, if you can give me a good enough ending to
something, I'll forget how terrible the rest of it is. Phantom

(01:37:05):
menace. Like, that's why I saw it
so many times in the theater when it came out. It's like, the bending
battles are so cool. Anyway, anyway, but, like,
you know, I really liked how certain things tied up.
I love Wallace. Sean. Like, I,
He's a national treasure, and I loved him in
it. And so it brings me to kind of like, what leaf

(01:37:26):
was doing with.
With his, you know, he was coming up.
No. No idea. I was completely
blindsided, and it was fantastic. I
was so happy when to be blindsided by it. It
was like.

Shannon (01:37:38):
What was your reaction?

Leif (01:37:39):
React. I'm
not enough? No, I. I actually.
I actually turned to Robin, was like, And was
like, that's Wallace trauma. That's who Preston and Steve were just talking about. So
it's not even necessarily a great
reaction for him. And
actually, no, I'm wrong. The very first word

(01:37:59):
I said. Inconceivable.
The very first word I said when I saw fair.
Evil. So, I want to start with,
like, the writing. And the writing just wasn't
great here. Like, there were. She. She wrote some great
episodes, but the writing had all of these
weird flaws. Like, all of these. We
want this store. We want the story to do this.

(01:38:22):
How do we do it? I don't know. So you have this
covering up murder and blowing up
in front of the agent that's trying to sign you to a
huge fucking fashion deal, and
creepy dude that refuses to say that he dates
more than one person at a time until he absolutely
fucking has to. So you have all of these, like,

(01:38:42):
really weird things despite there being
cool outcomes. And then when you talk about
the directing, like, when I think of
the directing, I always think of the performances a director
gets out of someone. And when we talk about the
good acting in this episode, where do we get the good
acting? We get it from Leighton Meester. We get it from Margaret

(01:39:03):
Collins. We get it from Wallace Shawn. We get it
from Taylor Mumson. We get it from the four people from.
From those three. You know, the.
The three cast members. They are
always spectacular. They are always the
best actors on the show. So there were no
spectacular performances, except
maybe the. I think the best directed scene was

(01:39:25):
Bart and Chuck at the end.
That. That was a. That was a
beautiful performance. That was beautifully
directed. But I dropped a grade and a half. I
went to a c as well. Across the board.

Shannon (01:39:38):
It's like a c that I'm a hand holding club.
Yeah.

Leif (01:39:42):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:39:42):
It had so much potential, like, so much going on for it that I
do enjoy from this episode. Yeah, the writing really sucked it. Ah, yeah,
I agree.

Leif (01:39:49):
Cut out all the air and stuff and flesh out
the Dan and Chuck, so it's more believable.
Yep. Which it's also interesting because they usually only
do three storylines because we. We were talking about
this, a couple episodes ago, someone who had never seen
Gossip girl was on, and he was
like, I was amazed that they had these three
stories going all at the same time.

(01:40:11):
And every one of them came to a conclusion. Came to a
conclusion. And every one of them had a rising
action, a climax and an epilogue and a
Daniel and, like, and. And he's right. And then
I really realized, like, this is. That's the,
trademark of this show. They do that ever. All the time.
Josh Schwartz in general, I think he does that in all his.
Yeah. And it's great storytelling. Like, it is probably the

(01:40:34):
thing that makes this show
that engaging.
It's great. But it also leads the burnout.

Shannon (01:40:41):
Yeah, sure.

Leif (01:40:42):
And especially.
Well, especially sharing through stories too fast and,
ah, that's another trademark marker Josh Ford shows.
Oh, is it? Well, that, you know what? That makes a lot of
sense. But also, they kind of run through the,
like, because they're doing. They run through all these stories in, like, three
episodes because of the. The rule of three, you know?
And, oh, does that mean are they going to be

(01:41:03):
done with Aaron soon?
We can only hope.
Next episode is Aaron's fourth. So we got a.
We should be right, or is it three?

Shannon (01:41:13):
I don't know.

Leif (01:41:14):
Well, so we got. We got three episodes of him doing the same
thing. Now he can just do something else.

Shannon (01:41:21):
It is interesting that, like, this, ah, like, the critique
that maybe there's so much going on in this episode that it felt like there was,
like, nothing going on. yeah,
I'm trying to wrap my head around that.

Leif (01:41:31):
yeah, moving
into stock watch. So
going up, I had Dan because in
the context of the show, he did the right thing,
and he's super master
manipulator and got whatever he wanted all episode
long. So he went up, even though I hated him.
Aaron went up because, I mean,

(01:41:54):
he's getting all these good looking women, and they're falling
for his every line, so. Sure, why not?
Cyrus, because, he out schemed Blair, and he. He's in
a new relationship that he seems to be enjoying.
Eleanor, for the same reason. She's got a new bow and
seems to be really happy about it. So Eleanor goes up
and Chuck, because he got to have a nice

(01:42:14):
moment with his daddy.

Shannon (01:42:16):
Yep.

Leif (01:42:19):
Shannon, who you got going up?

Shannon (01:42:20):
I had almost identical to you and wrote down,
like, almost all the same reasons. Aaron,
reluctantly, relationship
with his father is improving. Cyrus, you
know, he won. He earned Blair's
approval. Mama. Blair got a good
guy. I did not have Dan going up

(01:42:40):
only because, like, even though he
did the, like, right thing by the show's standards and, like,
he probably does feel, like, good about
that, he had this opportunity,
like, with this publishing company. Like, he
had, like, an opportunity to do something big and that would have, like,
advanced his career in a certain way.

Leif (01:42:59):
Well, he did. He did get the recommendation letter for Yale that he's been
waiting, he's been trying to get for the past, like.

Shannon (01:43:03):
Four or five years. He still wrote it for him.

Leif (01:43:07):
He handed him a letter.
That was the first thing.
Yeah.

Shannon (01:43:10):
I feel like. I just feel like he sunk an
opportunity.

Leif (01:43:13):
Oh, yeah.

Shannon (01:43:14):
I have him. I don't have him going down. I just, like, have him straight.
But all the other ups that you had, I also had a.
Yeah.

Leif (01:43:20):
I think I also follow the same checklist. I had
Cyrus. Cyrus is the first one I wrote down because
Cyrus won, you know, Cyrus.
And then I had Eleanor for the same reason. Eleanor has a,
has a relationship, and she's happy. I had
Aaron reluctantly going up because
Aaron, you know, Aaron is fucking winning.
Got what he want.

(01:43:41):
Yeah. And then I had Chuck and Bart going
up because Chuck. Chuck reestablishing with
Bart. And then also Bart getting away with
literal fucking murder. And then I also had Blair going
up because of, You
know, I did feel like by the end with
Blair and her relationship with Cyrus, that,
like, you know, I felt like she went

(01:44:03):
up in the end by helping him out.
Yeah.
The only. The final scene kept me from having her go up because she was
clearly not happy about him moving in right away.
Yeah, I get that. But I.
That if her ups, I believe so, yes.
All right.
So for me, going down, Rufus,
a hundred times down. Jenny, I had her going
down because she. Her dreams are going up in flames.

(01:44:26):
Literally. Agnes, because she. Our dreams
are also going up in flames. And she's just crazy.
Serena, because she's having the wool pulling over
her eyes and is, you know, doing something she's
clearly uncomfortable with. And then also
the big loser of the episode, mister Smith's
assistant. And she was

(01:44:46):
vulnerable.

Shannon (01:44:48):
I love the random throw ins.

Leif (01:44:50):
And then also I had flair going down. Cause, like I said,
like, at the end of the episode, she lost. She lost
against Cyrus. Heads up. And then she
was not happy at the end.
That's fair.
And then also the minions. Cause they were just so desperate, the whole
ops.

Shannon (01:45:05):
The minions, too.
Even moms have boyfriends.

Leif (01:45:12):
Shannon, who do you have going down?

Shannon (01:45:14):
I actually had going down. That might be, like, my
writer brain, like, lizard brain working, but I
just feel like the information that should not
have let slip is out there now. and
that's just, like, it can't be good for him,
but I get that better relationship with
his son. But I don't know. I think he hates Chuck.

Leif (01:45:34):
That's why I had up neutral, because he
did escape his, manslaughter charges and
fraud.

Shannon (01:45:41):
Yeah, I'm giving him a down for, like, an ominous
foreboding. Like, there's a cloud hanging over him
now, Jenny, I put down, but with, like,
the caveat that it's gotta be rock
bottom, girl. Like, you can only go up from here, but, like, you're at rock
bottom. You're there.

Leif (01:45:57):
She was the highest high last episode.

Shannon (01:46:00):
Oh, yeah.

Leif (01:46:00):
And that.

Shannon (01:46:00):
It makes it. That makes the low feel that
much worse.

Leif (01:46:04):
Yeah.

Shannon (01:46:05):
I also had Agnes going on because, like, she lost her partnership.
Like, you had an amazing designer that wanted to
work with you, and it was, like, in your age and, like, your friend
circle, like, why you did that.
rufus, big old down. you're losing
your daughter. Rufus. Get it. Get it the
fuck together.

Leif (01:46:25):
Just. Just agree. Get her back in the ass. Else.
Shabbat.

Shannon (01:46:27):
Just agree.

Leif (01:46:29):
Anyone else?

Shannon (01:46:29):
All right, Blair and Serena, neutral. Blair, Serena,
Dan. I had neutral for this episode,
Steve.

Leif (01:46:36):
All right, so I had Serena going down for the same,
like, because you're still fucking following this guy
around when he's.
And you're clearly uncomfortable about it.
Yeah, you don't. Like, you're not happy about it, but you're just doing it to try to
prove.

Shannon (01:46:48):
Yeah, but she's been doing that for a while. So, like, is it a down
or is it just the same?

Leif (01:46:53):
I mean.
I mean, you could keep going down.
Keep going.

Shannon (01:46:56):
Ah.

Leif (01:46:58):
I had Agnes and. And Jenny. I mean,
for the same reasons I had Rufus for being a
fucking horrible dad. I also had Dan
going down for how you. What you were saying about,
like, the. The missed opportunity.
Like. Yeah, I know. Like, in the. More I know that he did the moral
lesson of the show, but he also kind of

(01:47:19):
shot himself in the foot and covered up a
fucking murder and is now a
felon for having. For knowing this
information and not doing anything.
I didn't mention from, this week in fans segment, the fans
definitely fully fought into that being the moral act. They're
like, thank God Dan finally did something right.

Shannon (01:47:39):
Wow, he really is, like, superhero
powers this episode. He, like, cast a
spell on everyone in the show and outside of
it.

Leif (01:47:49):
So I also had the minions going down as a
collective for the same reason.

Shannon (01:47:54):
Lovely. Both thought of.

Leif (01:47:55):
Yes, but I also have Alison
going down. You could have fucking been there for your kid too,
but you didn't want to start shit with Rufus.
no, honestly, that was the right thing. You don't want to get in the middle of
it.
You're right. But I still wanted. But because I had an opportunity to
take a shot at Allison. I took a shot at.

Shannon (01:48:14):
You're going to be an absent parent. I don't think you get a say.

Leif (01:48:17):
Yeah.
Anyone else?
No. No. That is my going down list.
moving on to the best outfits.
But here's the best outfits from the.

Steve (01:48:28):
Last episode we see.

Leif (01:48:32):
So I want to get some honor mentioned. It's not my winner,
but, Bart had some very nice. He had, like, three or four good suits
in this episode.
Yeah. Yeah.
But, although, yeah, it's going to go to, Blair's outfit
from the epilogue. The. It's an
Alice and Olivia trellis printed a belted
dress. I felt like very, poison
ivy coated.
Oh, okay. Yeah.

(01:48:53):
Like, sickly, venomous Greene color.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the black tights. The black.

Shannon (01:48:59):
She was dressed great, but, yeah, she.

Leif (01:49:01):
Also had a very nice Marc Jacobs dress. The, like, a
houndstooth. The dress. The pinkish one. The
magenta.

Shannon (01:49:08):
I liked that one.

Leif (01:49:11):
what is your favorite outfit?

Shannon (01:49:12):
so I felt like, there was a correct answer, and it wasn't the dress
you mentioned, but it was Blair, and it was her birthday outfit.
that was insane. It's not something I would ever wear
or could pull off, but, for the kind of
theme that they maybe had going, it looked like some people were kind of
gatsby dressed. I don't know what the theme was, but she
looked outstanding with the open back and

(01:49:32):
the deep b. And her hair was, like, really well
done as well. Did want to give a special shout out to. I
actually really liked Serena's shirt during her photo shoot, though. It's
like, it's like a sequin baseball tunic. Like,
it's, like, at the sleeves, like a baseball tee, but it just, like, looked
interesting. I've never seen a tunic like that. And I
like Jenny's, like, honk ass makeup. I like her

(01:49:53):
look. I know she's had it for a few episodes, but I'm, on this one,
so, yeah, I think Blair's
outfit was. It was just like.

Leif (01:50:01):
I did really like that. But as we've mentioned in the
past, I'm, just not a fan of white clothes.

Shannon (01:50:06):
Yeah, it's grayish. it's almost like a
brownish grayish look.

Leif (01:50:10):
That was whiter than a lot of clothes they were wearing at the white party.
Yeah.

Shannon (01:50:13):
I might be misremembering. I just remember the cut of it
and how she looked in it. I also thought she looked sexy as
hell in her bathrobe. That black
robe when she's talking to her mom in the mirror, I'm like, if you were
talking to Chuck right now,
riddle me that. I don't know.

(01:50:35):
That's. Yeah, that's mine.

Leif (01:50:37):
That's definitely white.

Shannon (01:50:39):
I don't agree. It's like a
cream. It's like a cream.

Leif (01:50:43):
It's a shimmery. It's silk.
That's why.
Yeah, I'll just say, oh, my, my. Oh, hell
yes. I also wrote down Blair's party
dress. So
I was. I'm right there with you. I love this. And. And.
But, I mean, there's white this. That's white
Janet. Like that. Okay.

(01:51:04):
But,
But, yeah, I loved that dress, too. And I
was like, just, I had.

Shannon (01:51:09):
Like, a couple of, like, the outfits this episode. Really good. And I had a couple
in mind, and then as soon as she walked out, I was like, well, there's the correct.

Leif (01:51:14):
Yeah, I really like the cut. I just didn't like the color.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fair. Yeah, yeah. Because
there, you're right. This was a great.

Shannon (01:51:21):
The cut was like, I wouldn't pulled that off.
Like, that cut is so impressive on her. I don't know.

Leif (01:51:28):
so, yes. Stevie already gave yours, so that is it for some
segments. Shannon, thank you once again for joining us.
Thank you.
Do you have anything you would like to plug?

Shannon (01:51:37):
Still is pouring away. No, I don't really.
I want to plug this show, so that doesn't really
work. Tell people about this show. That's my
plug.

Leif (01:51:47):
M maybe we'll have a patreon.

Shannon (01:51:48):
And, dad, thank you for listening to me talk about, like,
inappropriate thing. Love you.

Leif (01:51:56):
What were the things that you were saying?
I didn't realize Shannon's dad was going to be listening. Let's take
this opportunity.
Steve, you got anything to plug this week?
If you are in the Lockhaven area
around August 19, or 18th and

(01:52:17):
19th. Or 19th and 20th.
Yeah, that's going to be. Well, this is going to air on October
21.
Hey, this past weekend, I played a gig up in
Lockhaven.
So awesome.
Awesome.
Hope you were there.
Nothing from me this week. So we'll just mention
the socials. You can find me on

(01:52:39):
Instagram hot capicola.
You can find the podcast on
Instagram threads and
tick tock at nonjudging breakfast pod and on
Twitter x at NJB
pod. You can also find links to our discord
server and Reddit on our website non m judging
breakfast pod.com.

(01:53:00):
You can also find my socials. I am Steve Dot
Marshan on pretty much everything. M a r c
h I o n spelled. And
if you want to reach out and get in touch with the podcast, we'd
love to hear from you. You can send us an
email@nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com.
dot. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Discuss
them here on the show and let us know what you think.

(01:53:23):
Also, while you're listening, take a second to leave us
a comment like us, subscribe to
us. And, keep on telling your friends
that you're listening to this great pod that's, talking about
Gossip Girl.
And we will be back next week to continue to talk about
Gossip Girl for season two, episode eleven,
the Magnificent Archibald.

(01:53:45):
The max episode description
reads, it's Thanksgiving and everyone's
battling holiday episode.
Holiday episode.
Yeah, and Nate's back there. I like his.
Yeah.
Ah, he has the title of the episode.
Yeah.

Shannon (01:54:00):
You guys should prepare a Thanksgiving like what
you're eating. Yeah.

Leif (01:54:06):
but, yes, come back next time. You know you love
us.
Xoxo.

Steve (01:54:11):
Every time you walk away run away you take a
piece of m me with you there
every time you walk away or run away you take a
piece of me with you there
oh, it seems I'm walking right to

(01:54:33):
your door.

Leif (01:54:37):
My heart's.

Steve (01:54:38):
Still resting looking for something
more.

Leif (01:54:43):
Are.

Steve (01:54:44):
You ever gonna see everything you mean to me I'm
trying really hard to believe

(01:55:06):
never feels right when I'm out here on
my own.

Leif (01:55:15):
I.

Steve (01:55:16):
Left last night and it feels like way
too long
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

(01:55:38):
come back to me
smile and you'll make my life
complete

(01:56:01):
every time you walk away I run away you take a

(01:56:23):
every time you walk away run away you take a
every time you walk away and run away you take a
piece of meat with you there

(01:56:45):
piece of me with you there.

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S2E10 - Bonfire of the Vanity [w/Shannon Kelly]

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S2E10 - Bonfire of the Vanity [w/Shannon Kelly]