S2E12 - A Wonderful Lie - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
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Leif (00:00):
Sounds like Aaron is literally too cool for school
dances. That is.

Steve (00:04):
Well, I mean, he probably has a restraining order keeping him
away from. Keeping him from M300
feet from within a school building.

Leif (00:21):
Hey, Upper east siders and all you scandal loving
listeners out there, you just tuned into the non judging
breakfast podcast 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.

Steve (00:35):
And I'm Steve, the newbie, the greenhorn,
the, I don't know, Leif. What do we call the season
two Gossip Girl newbie on?

Leif (00:43):
I think it comes out to. If you know a little something about a thing called
lining

Steve (00:50):
Well, put me in a dress for all to see
and let's go ahead and get started.

Leif (00:55):
Sounds good.

Steve (00:55):
So here's the deal, folks. Leif has been watching
Gossip Girl since it first came out in 2007.
And I'm diving in for the first time. And together we're
your dynamic duo, bringing you all the drama,
romance and sometimes questionable fashion
choices of this iconic TV series.

Leif (01:12):
That's right. Each week we're going to be taking a deep dive into the
show one episode at a time. We're going to be
analyzing all the hidden parallels, obscure
references, and of course the couture catastrophes.
And we're also going to take a look at some stories from fandom and
some behind scenes guys.

Steve (01:28):
And since we're all about inclusivity here at the non judging
breakfast pod, there is always a seat for you at the non
judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab your
mimosa, cup of coffee or some of Chuck,
special medicine and let's get this show going.

Leif (01:43):
Okay. Ah, before we get into the episode, we got a
little fan interaction here.

Steve (01:47):
Yes.

Leif (01:48):
Got our first five star review.
Very not first five stars. This is our first actual
review. We had a few other five stars but they didn't
leave actual review. Yeah, this one was from Monica,
lpm, who wrote I love this
duo. So fun to listen to their breakdown of
Gossip Girl. They have such a great
dynamic.

Steve (02:09):
Thank you very much, Monica.

Leif (02:10):
Yes, thank you, Monica.

Steve (02:11):
Yeah, we really appreciate it. And I'm curious
as to whether that's Monica, a former student of mine that
I haven't seen in 20 some
years, which is awesome. I guess
it would be, I guess it would be 18
years since.

Leif (02:26):
I write in and let us know.

Steve (02:29):
Yeah, talk to us.

Leif (02:30):
Also, NJ Flyd wrote about episode
202, specifically Gossip Girl outfits. You
guys chose the best here's. The worst. Chuck at
the cafe wearing a long sleeve button down
shirt tucked into shorts and flip flops. I
would have to punch him in the throat.

Steve (02:48):
I remember that. That's what he was talking
to Marcus.

Leif (02:52):
Yes, I know. That's what he's walking down the
street with Nate as well. Yeah. Yeah, for a while.

Steve (02:59):
That was awful.

Leif (03:02):
Also, some more cast news since we last
recorded. The photos came out from both Jessica Zors
and Ed Westwick's wedding.

Steve (03:10):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (03:11):
Not to each other.

Steve (03:11):
Not yet. To, to two other people. I know there were
some cast members in attendance for Jessica's.
Right.

Leif (03:18):
Yes. So Chase was at Jessica's, who she married
NHL, former NHL player Brad Richardson. And
Ed Westwick married Amy Jackson, who's
British, but acts in mostly Indian films.

Steve (03:29):
Okay. Okay.

Leif (03:31):
And Kelly, Rutherford was there.

Steve (03:33):
I was going to say, I thought I heard Kelly Rutherford was going to his
wedding.

Leif (03:36):
So she listened. Monica.

Steve (03:38):
Okay. Yeah, that.

Leif (03:40):
That tracks because. Yeah. Because her kids live
in France.

Steve (03:43):
Yeah. Yeah. Big fan.

Leif (03:45):
also, Jessica's wedding was Nina Dobra. Oh,
Vampire Diaries.

Steve (03:49):
Okay. Okay.

Leif (03:50):
They're best friends.

Steve (03:51):
Oh, I didn't. I. Yeah. I don't know. That's another one I need
to watch still. I voiced my hesitation on that
because I. I feel like I'm gonna watch it wanting
Buffy, and I know that it's not going to be. I
guess I need to watch.

Leif (04:03):
Say the writing isn't as good, but the production value
is way, way better.

Steve (04:07):
I mean, the bar
was not set high.
Especially. Especially, like, season one.
Buffy, like.

Leif (04:16):
And some of the acting is better.

Steve (04:18):
Yeah.

Leif (04:18):
Some, is the same.

Steve (04:19):
Yeah. I mean, but not all of them will measure up
to Michelle Trachtenberg,
who could.

Leif (04:26):
Well, I keep getting into fights with Gossip Girl fandom
because people that say she's a great actress.

Steve (04:32):
No, no. She did dawn pretty
well because that's what she does,
apparently.

Leif (04:38):
So we are here to talk about season two,
episode 12, A Wonderful Lie. Original
air date December 1, 2008 so, it was
right around that holiday season.

Steve (04:49):
Yeah.

Leif (04:50):
Of course, the title is based on It's a Wonderful Life.

Steve (04:53):
Yeah.

Leif (04:53):
Jimmy Stewart.

Steve (04:54):
Right. Which I only recently saw for
the first time because my Jewish wife made
me watch it. Watch this iconic
Christmas film.

Leif (05:03):
Hard to miss back when there's only, like, 12 channels.

Steve (05:07):
Yeah. Yeah. It was in black and white, and young
Steve had no time for that. And except
for my TV in my room, which was a black and
white TV because it was the old family tv.
Moved into the playroom, and then I got the
playroom So I inherited the
black and white tv. No idea which
destro I was watching on GI Joe each

(05:29):
week. The silver or, the gold head.

Leif (05:31):
We go back to the vulture recap. While it was
billed as the holiday event for high school seniors,
the Snowflake Ball did not feel as
festive, as lively, or as crucial
as the Gossip Girl big events of the past. The decor,
of course, was flawless, thanks to Lily. The sound, thanks
to Rufus. Sublime. Blair and Chuck
bantered, the mean girls cackled, and

(05:54):
everyone made a little dancing motions in their ice
violet gowns. But the guests didn't seem to be having
fun, and neither were we. Something was off. Everyone
was preoccupied. The characters, yes, but
also the cameraman, who at one point lost their
sense of purpose and drifted away, taking
meaningful shots of fuzzy Serena with a focus
Dan in the background. Fuzzy Dan with a focus Serena

(06:16):
in the background. And at one point honed in on a handful
of extras who, quite frankly, had no business
representing actual Manhattanites. Did anyone
else see that couple tongue kissing? It was worse than November
rain. But
some well drawn characters and funny dialogues
warmed up otherwise might have left us

(06:36):
cold. And anyway, next week, Bart
officially dies and Chuck does something of a
spiteful that causes Rufus to wear a
pullover. We can't wait.

Steve (06:50):
Yeah. And, yeah, I was. I wasn't
sure about the Bart thing. but I kind of
guessed. Yeah.

Leif (06:56):
I mean, even back in the day, the previews, like, showed
the funeral.

Steve (07:00):
Yeah. And I. Yeah. Ah. And I saw, like, after
I watched the first time, I
saw the Even.

Leif (07:08):
I told you not to look at it.

Steve (07:09):
No, no, I. Well, I mean, it was there. I didn't watch.
I didn't see it before I watched it was. I watched it. But
then to watch it that second time, I had to go in,
and it was. And when I went into HBO Max,
it was set up as that's the next episode with
that frame right there. So, like,
there was, like, no way of not. Yeah, yeah,

(07:30):
but I. But, I mean, going into it, the reason
I texted you and said, is this the Christmas one? Is because I was
being so hyper, careful not to
look, that I didn't want to skip ahead by accident.

Leif (07:42):
So this episode was written by
Robbie Hull. He's back for his second episode of
the season. His previous credit was for episode
four, the X Files, which is the episode I'm just
editing right now. That was the one where, Dan went on
a date with Amanda. It was Chuck's plant.

Steve (07:59):
Yeah. Okay.
Yes. With the hair. And.

Leif (08:04):
Yeah, it was an okay episode. But, yeah, she was. She was not the
great, greatest actress. It was a good episode, but, yeah, she
was a bad actor.

Steve (08:11):
She was. Yeah, she was. She was not good. But the rest of it. Because
that's the one where Serena shuns Dan.

Leif (08:16):
yeah.

Steve (08:17):
Yeah. Like, the choreography in that scene was so
cool.

Leif (08:20):
Patrick R. Norris is back directing. His
previous credits include Bad News, Blair, High
Society, then the episode after the one we just talked about, the
Seren Also Rises, which was the fashion show episode.

Steve (08:31):
Yeah. Were they.

Leif (08:32):
Well, that was the first fashion show episode of the season. There's
two so far.

Steve (08:37):
Yeah. Yeah. This.

Leif (08:39):
This was the big, official fashion week fashion show.

Steve (08:42):
Right. And that was actually the episode where I
felt like they found their feet
again. That, like, I felt like the. Well, I guess it was a little,
earlier. Those first two episodes were so
off the regular vibe of Gossip Girl,
and.

Leif (08:56):
I think it all came down to being in the Hamptons. That was a big part of
it.

Steve (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once they.

Leif (09:01):
But also settling it. Stephanie Savage wrote that one
episode is not great.

Steve (09:05):
Yeah, yeah. But once it settled into
New York. And yeah, the episode that
Stephanie Savage wrote wasn't great, but that was a ham. That was the first
one back in New York, right?

Leif (09:16):
Yes.

Steve (09:17):
The one that we just released. The one that Robin.

Leif (09:19):
Yeah. So it's like the one where they're coming back to, They start
out in the Hamptons, and they. And they, With the strawberries.

Steve (09:25):
Yeah.

Leif (09:26):
The infamous strawberry upset the strawberry. So
we move into Act 1. Winter in
New York. A Gossip Girl checklist to surviving the
cold. A cashmere stole for ice skating at
Walman Rink. Jacques Pere hot, chocolate for
window shopping. The holiday displays. The perfect date
to the senior snowflake charity ball.

(09:46):
In the school courtyard, Blair and Serena are
arguing about the snowflake ball. When Chuck
interrupts and sits down without permission.
Chuck shoots down a series of potential dates for
Blair.

Steve (09:58):
I thought this was cute. The Chuck and
Blair and Chuck just knowing Blair.
And Blair just knowing Chuck. And you see the whole plot
of their storyline unfolding right here.
Once again, I find that Gossip
Girl took a very
predictable, cliche plotline and
made it fun because there was nothing

(10:20):
groundbreaking about this the chair
storyline in this, but it was still
fun. I still liked seeing them interact in their
banter.

Leif (10:29):
Sarita gets up when she sees Dan. She chases him
down to the hall to show him the gift she got for Aaron. Based
on Dan's advice, however, it sounds like Aaron is
literally too cool for school dances.
That is.

Steve (10:42):
Well, I mean, he probably has A restraining order keeping him
away from. Keeping him from
300ft from within school
building. also, Robin is the one
that caught the Anna Wintour joke. The.
It's like Anna Karenina, but with Anna
Wintour. And so she is a designer.
Yeah.

Leif (11:02):
I feel like Dan admitting that
he's actually likes this society things
just signaling that, like, maybe they're going to get back
together.

Steve (11:10):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (11:12):
He's almost. He's kind of getting ready to be back together with her.

Steve (11:15):
And where he said the thing about, like, the
best memories that I have had have been
at these events. And like,
he edits the part out that the best memories that he's
had has been at these events with her. But
also, there's always drama at these events
that you're involved in. But.

Leif (11:34):
Okay, so
Jenny is doing penance. The Lost. When Vanessa shows
up, Jenny is still wondering why Nate blew
her off. Vanessa just plays dumb. Speak of the
devil, look who is calling on V's phone.
Fuck you, Vanessa.

Steve (11:50):
Yeah, my note is Vanessa sucks.
I'm gonna also say that I felt like
this was some of Jessica's best
work in this episode. I think that she really acted her
ass off. This is also her. Her biggest.

Leif (12:05):
No shade of Jessica.

Steve (12:06):
Yeah, no shade to her in this. But Vanessa
turns up the suckage here and
it's just like, yeah, what an asshole.

Leif (12:15):
So Vanessa, is crosses paths
with Penelope, who has shown up to the loft looking to commission
a custom Jenny hemp dress.

Steve (12:23):
Yeah.

Leif (12:24):
Good for Jenny.

Steve (12:24):
Yeah. And she plays it perfectly like,
you hate me. She's like, yeah, but. And she's like, well, okay.
Like, I'm expensive. You're gonna have to pay
me like that.

Leif (12:35):
So. You bet.

Steve (12:35):
You should. Yeah. Yeah. Ought to be.

Leif (12:40):
Rufus and Lily are reconnecting after last week.
Rufus volunteers his knowledge of sound systems to
help Lily with preparation for the ball.

Steve (12:48):
Yeah.

Leif (12:49):
didn't he already do this in season one?

Steve (12:51):
Yeah, yeah. well, he did this for the Ivy
party. Yeah, for the
Ivy. Yeah. But that was Rufus unplugged.
This is Rufus, LLC sound system.

Leif (13:03):
Well, this is. Yeah, this is. He's not actually performing this way. He's
just doing the sound.

Steve (13:06):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (13:07):
Lily has been avoiding Bart, who conveniently pulls
up into his limo. Rufus steps aside for them
to have the conversation.

Steve (13:15):
No heads up, Rufus. Like, not a, Oh,
Yo, Bart's here. He's like, oh, I'm
out. Deuces.
Hey, don't look now, but turn around.

Leif (13:28):
I mean, that whole thing, the conversation was basically upsetting. You have to Have a
conversation with him.

Steve (13:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then when he pulls up, he's like,
you know, sometimes. I don't know when,
I don't know when.

Leif (13:39):
I mean, what's she gonna do, like right away?

Steve (13:44):
I'm just saying, if I were Lily, I would have appreciated that. Oh, he's
here. Instead of turning
around.

Leif (13:54):
Sarita and Dan show up at the gallery where they
overhear Aaron's ex girlfriend Lexi snarking over the
art. And Serena.

Steve (14:02):
Lexi is first of all a little
much. Yeah, she's written terribly. Like,
she's just.

Leif (14:08):
I think she's, I think she's written exactly how she's supposed to be written.

Steve (14:11):
Okay, okay, that's fair.

Leif (14:13):
She's supposed to be a little much.

Steve (14:14):
Yeah, but yeah, she's a little
much.

Leif (14:17):
She's a lot for
one, one episode character. I thought she was actually kind of perfect.

Steve (14:23):
I. I just didn't really love this
storyline. I thought the whole we're
gonna bang storyline was
weird.

Leif (14:33):
Why couldn't she just vote?

Steve (14:35):
Why couldn't she just vote? I. That was
fantastic.

Leif (14:43):
Nate and Vanessa are making out in the open. When Nate asked
Vanessa to the Snowflake Ball, Vanessa is
hesitant because she's afraid Jenny will find out.
However, Nate is all about what's in front of him
right here, right now.
Some rando snaps a photo of them making out
and a little too late, Vanessa points out that they're a Gotham girl
country.

Steve (15:02):
Yeah, Vanessa sucks, you
know that you're being shitty like at this point, you
know, and because like she's even like, what if Jenny did
know? And he's like, well, I wouldn't really care. Okay,
then maybe now you tell him.

Leif (15:15):
Also, you're not going to like this, but fuck Nate for being
hypocritical as always. But because he's submuted, he
skates by. But he said, I don't want to
get between two friends.

Steve (15:25):
Oh, well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (15:27):
M. That's never happened before.

Steve (15:30):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (15:31):
I felt like the whole. How the whole series started.

Steve (15:37):
Well, I mean, maybe that's why he doesn't want to get between
two friends, you know, because he got between two friends.

Leif (15:42):
No, but he says I, I would never do that.

Steve (15:45):
Oh. Oh, yeah, that's what he said. True, true. He does.
He does. Again. I would never do that again.

Leif (15:53):
Back at the Loft, Penelope is still obsessed
with Nate as well is and is
trying to get Jenny to spill the tea. However,
Gossip Girl is first of them off the mark and gets a
blast with a And they both get a glass blast with a
photo of Nate and Razor snogging.

Steve (16:10):
Yeah. Penelope is so
thirsty, especially for Nate. But
she, has just been. The Minions have just been
thirsty.

Leif (16:19):
Yeah. All season.

Steve (16:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (16:22):
And again, I have to say, how big of bitches are
they? They can't get boyfriends at all.

Steve (16:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, although Hazel got
one in this episode specifically to
work low heights for her, so. They
can. But they have. But. But it's not the
people that they would be interested in because they're such
shitty people. The
AV guy working the spotlight is a
chore.

Leif (16:49):
Sorry, ladies. For those of you hoping to find Nate
Archibald under your tree, it looks like he's already picked
up his mistletoe mate
into Act 2. Back outside the school,
Lily and Bart are talking. Bart claims he
has already fired Andrew Tyler and will do anything
Willie wants to save the marriage. Big words,
Bart. If only I believed you. Yeah, well, he doesn't

(17:11):
either.

Steve (17:12):
Yeah.

Leif (17:12):
And.

Steve (17:13):
And so at, When he's saying all of this
instantly. And I know that this comes up later, but
my first watch, my thought was, what about the
sanatorium report that he asked for? You know,
he. Yeah, you know, the thing about the
sanatorium. m. Mr. Bass, nobody says
that anymore, but, you know, we knew that he asked
for that information. Although later, we do

(17:35):
see that he may have rescinded that.

Leif (17:38):
At the gallery, Aaron and Serena are discussing
Lexi. Meanwhile, Dan and Lexi are flirting in the
other room. Serena agrees to give Lexi a
chance, and Aaron takes her to the dance, to which
he reluctantly agrees. Gotta bribe your boyfriend to
take you on a date.

Steve (17:53):
Yeah, well, I mean, I. Again, he probably doesn't really
feel comfortable going back to high schools
anymore.

Leif (17:59):
Well, if you're gonna date high school girl, you gotta go high school
event.

Steve (18:02):
Yeah, I know. And, like, her, like, emotional
manipulation of. Of that situation, which, like.
I'm not blaming Serena. She's the child here.

Leif (18:10):
Yeah.

Steve (18:11):
I'm blaming the adult who is like, oh,
I'm too cool to go to your high school dance. It's like, because he's
not in high school, but, like.
Yeah, I also, I just
thought that Lexi was so obnoxious.
Is this where. Where she's, like, talking about the coffee
today? And it's like. Like, oh, yeah. Do you have

(18:32):
this rare coffee from, like,
Indonesia that no one else would have?

Leif (18:37):
Like, no, that's actually a really. That's a. That was, like, a thing.

Steve (18:40):
Oh, is it? Oh, I didn't.

Leif (18:41):
Especially around that time. Yeah.

Steve (18:43):
Okay. I didn't I was not aware it's.

Leif (18:44):
Really expensive, but it's okay. A high end coffee because
that, that.

Steve (18:48):
Because I, because like, I like coffee. Like, I, I. Okay. I did
not know that was an actual thing. I thought it was some kind of
bullshit, but still it's like some kind of
bullshit. Like, it is a. It
felt like, I'm gonna order something knowing you don't have it
so I can shame your little shop for not having it.
That's how that moment felt.

Leif (19:07):
yeah. It's definitely like a hipster thing.

Steve (19:08):
Yeah.

Leif (19:09):
And. Yeah, but that, that, that's why she's kind of perfect. They're,
they're all, you know, all of them are kind of perfect.

Steve (19:14):
Yeah, they, it's too perfect.

Leif (19:17):
Dan and Lexi walk in and Lexi announces they're all
going to hang out together. Have these people
never watched a sitcom? There's no way this can possibly
end well.

Steve (19:26):
Yeah, there's. Yeah. Yeah. What were you thinking?

Leif (19:29):
Vanessa shows up the loft like nothing's
wrong. While Jenny is fighting back tears and lays
into Vanessa for letting Jenny humiliate herself
all week. Vanessa announces that she's going
to accept Nate's invitation to the ball. She
walked away all high and mighty, but little Jay
was staring daggers into her back.

Steve (19:50):
Yeah, I thought both of them were great here. Yeah.
I felt like this was a really great interaction.

Leif (19:55):
Very well acted.

Steve (19:56):
Yeah. Very well acted scene there.

Leif (19:58):
I,

Steve (19:58):
You know, you really got both these.
And both of them have been done
shitty things. And what Jenny did wasn't that
shitty. Right. She kissed a guy without telling Vanessa
about it. It was shitty to do to your friend,
but like, it could have been a lot shittier.
Vanessa took the fucking letter and let both of
these.

Leif (20:18):
They like, Vanessa dated them, for like two weeks and they, they
haven't been talking for a month.

Steve (20:23):
well, yeah. And it was like she kissed her ex. Her like,
pseudo ex. Yeah. And without even knowing
there that like why they broke up or why they split.
Jenny really didn't do much here. And
meanwhile, Vanessa literally got between the
two of them and lied to both of them by taking
that letter.

Leif (20:40):
Yeah.

Steve (20:41):
What I did keep in the back of my head throughout all of this.
Well, I'll get to that later. It was just like I. They
both had these, like. It was a great
argument. It was great tension and great conflict
and really well acted by both the. Both the
actors.

Leif (20:55):
Chuck is waiting at Blair's piano as she arrives
home. They make another bet, this time to
see which one can choose a better date for the Other
they treat the rota like property of commiserate
value. With a limo.

Steve (21:09):
Yeah. Yeah, they bet. Dorota.

Leif (21:12):
Not a good look.

Steve (21:13):
Not a good look. I'm also
curious as to whether or not Ed was really playing the piano,
because I know that he does do music, so I wonder if
he can actually play the piano.

Leif (21:23):
It didn't look like his hands were moving.

Steve (21:26):
No, but you also only saw from here up,
which. Which on the light melody he's playing,
you may not see a whole lot.

Leif (21:34):
I doubt he was playing.

Steve (21:35):
I do, too.

Leif (21:37):
But in canon, Chuck apparently plays
piano.

Steve (21:40):
Yeah. Which I do love that. Which it's such a Chuck thing to
have in his back pocket. Do we ever see him do that
again?

Leif (21:47):
Not, that I'm aware of.
The piano is always there.
Blair's.

Steve (21:53):
Yeah. So it's been there the whole time, right? Yeah.
Yeah.

Leif (21:57):
And other things might happen on that piano.

Steve (21:59):
Oh, I can imagine. They're all gonna fuck on that piano.
Someone is. Or they all are. Maybe all at the same
time. I don't know. Bunch of blankets on the piano.

Leif (22:09):
Yeah. We shift back to the
tried and true TV trope of, the Double Date.
Lexi is brash, Dan is shy and naive,
Serena is snarky, and Aaron is his usual
slimy self.

Steve (22:22):
This whole thing is so such a
trope. Such a trope. But it's also the whole,
like, oh, yeah, she sleeps with guys on the first
date. Why are you telling your girlfriend
this? Like, why are you telling your girlfriend?

Leif (22:36):
Because he's manipulating her into sleeping with him.

Steve (22:39):
Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Leif (22:41):
I mean, there's that. What he's doing that.

Steve (22:43):
There is that. Which.

Leif (22:44):
And it worked.

Steve (22:45):
And.

Leif (22:45):
Or at least that seemed like it was going to work anyway.

Steve (22:47):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He is so
fucking disgusting. I didn't. I didn't fully
pick up on that, now that you mention it. It's like, oh, yeah. Like,
that's so.

Leif (22:56):
Because. What was her immediate reaction? No. Yeah. Oh, let's. Let's.
Let's finally do it tonight.

Steve (23:00):
Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't even
an immediate reaction because she, like, went home and, like, talked to
Blair and then so, like. Like, it is just planting
these seeds without any actual. It's
grooming. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Leif (23:15):
Not good.

Steve (23:16):
No.

Leif (23:17):
We get a quick scene of Bart shitting on Chuck.
So. More. More. Poor Chuck.

Steve (23:22):
Yeah. And, like, once again, great
to everyone but his kid. Like.

Leif (23:27):
Like, it's like, so obvious where they're trying to make us feel bad
for Chuck. It's like.

Steve (23:30):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. When? Whenever they
do. Yeah.

Leif (23:34):
And.

Steve (23:35):
And I do have to say here, Bart,
I get why Bart's upset.

Leif (23:39):
Yeah.

Steve (23:40):
Like it is Chuck's fault that all of this. Yeah.
Chuck fucked up big time. And up his marriage
and like.

Leif (23:46):
And well, I mean, by revealing the
truth.

Steve (23:50):
Yes, but to Bart,
Chuck has taken away the woman he
loves for the second
time.

Leif (23:59):
Yes.

Steve (24:00):
So like
there's a part of me that, there's a lot of me that feels for
Bart because I. As I've said
over and over, Bart does
these horrendous things.
I do believe that they come from a place
that he thinks is good.

Leif (24:20):
Yeah, I agree.

Steve (24:21):
So like I, I always feel for him.

Leif (24:23):
Except for with Chuck. He's like purposely tried to be mean to Chuck, but.

Steve (24:26):
Yeah, but when it comes to Chuck, he just drills. He just
fucking stomps him into the ground.

Leif (24:31):
I guess it's just a long history of Chuck being a fucking
shithead.

Steve (24:35):
Yeah. And I mean like, yeah, he does
up a lot. And you gotta also figure like how many
times does he had get Chuck out of. How much money
has it cost being Chuck Bass's dad?
How.

Leif (24:47):
How many libraries has he donated?

Steve (24:49):
Yeah, how. Yeah, exactly. How many libraries has he donated
and how many and, and like how many,
you know, things have he. Has he had to
sweep under rugs? like how many women has he had? How
many women's mothers has he had to pay
off?

Leif (25:04):
Jenny shows up to deliver the dress for Penelope.
The mean girls are plotting revenge on Vanessa and convince
Jenny to help.

Steve (25:11):
Oh, Little Jay. I mean, and it's such a
Jenny thing. Like Jenny is hot tempered
and vindictive. You and I have all often
said Jenny is one of our favorite characters. Jenny's your favorite
character? Jenny's in my top three.
But her biggest flaw is that she
is angry and vindictive. She will turn
and she will go. She will burn the

(25:34):
place down when she's mad and she's
mad.

Leif (25:37):
And yeah, I, will get more into when we get there, but I think
the whole thing was overblown myself. But yeah, we'll get to
that. Snowflake or
snowfake. Either way it's going to be a
ball. Blair and Serena are prepping for the
ball and discussing seeing your ex with someone
new. Serena informs Blair that she hasn't slept
with Aaron yet.

Steve (25:57):
Blair is fucking amazing in this. Your
lame outer burrow double date. And the
other one was, going.

Leif (26:05):
To take a ride on the lexicoaster.

Steve (26:07):
Yeah. Yeah. Guys really hate
being surprised by sex.
I thought she was fantastic. I loved
her in this scene. And I felt like Blair didn't get
to really shine a lot in this episode
because her plot was so tied to,

(26:28):
you know, it was the Chuck plot and that Chuck
plot, really.

Leif (26:31):
It was the C plot.

Steve (26:33):
Yeah. And. And it was. Yeah, it was very minimal
throughout the whole thing. I, was. I like
that she got this really fun. They. They're always. They
always have such fun.

Leif (26:42):
And. Yeah, they were actually talking about that on the forums, about how
the Chuck and Blair plot was minimum. And
they actually were speculating that because after
an early episode, they kind of
went in and, like, there was a bunch of
press about Chuck and Blair and, like, they. They got
really popular real fast, like season

(27:02):
two. But
then they. They kind of speculate.
They're kind of backing off. So, like, they don't just dominate the whole
show.

Steve (27:12):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (27:13):
That.

Steve (27:14):
That drags.

Leif (27:15):
Jenny shows up at the gallery waving the white flag
to Vanessa. Jenny offers is his dress as
an olive branch with a claim that she stayed up all night
making it for Vanessa. Ah.

Steve (27:27):
Vanessa, you just got a dress
and you're going to try it on. Are you trying it
on in a dark room? Like, where are you
trying on this dress that there is no lighting at
all? Because. Because Iz was in her
bedroom under a regular
light. That's all.

Leif (27:46):
It's only when there's backlighting because they bench that
at the end.

Steve (27:50):
Yeah. I, just don't see how you
don't notice at all.

Leif (27:54):
And again, I would wonder what this plot would look
like if they did it on Max.

Steve (27:59):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (28:00):
But, yeah, it didn't sell for me because you
didn't really see anything.

Steve (28:05):
Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't that
scandalous. Yeah. Like, it wasn't
especially like.

Leif (28:12):
Like today's standard. That's kind of trendy.

Steve (28:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What she was wearing would
be trendy today. Yeah. People would wear that to the
Oscars.

Leif (28:21):
Yeah. Blair and Dorota are trying
to find Chuck the perfect date. Blair
Slut Shames poor Kristen Curran. Dorota
Cl quickly realizes that the girl Blair is looking for is
just a copy of Blair. But Dorota knows there's only
one Blair Waldorf.

Steve (28:37):
Poor Dorota. She's just sitting there with
her laptop, poring over all of these
people doing the matchmaking for Blair
and worrying what.

Leif (28:47):
Else she might have to polish of Chucks.

Steve (28:49):
Yeah.

Leif (28:50):
Which is really fucking gross.

Steve (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (28:55):
So human trafficking, possibly sex
trafficking. Doretta.

Steve (28:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, Blair is like. Yeah, if you're
lucky, that's all. Like, Blair's the one
recognizing, like, yeah, this might be a
bet that I'm.

Leif (29:08):
Not only that Blair has really shown
us some growth as without prompting, he calls
Serena to check in with her regarding him bringing
Lexi to their school dance. Serena does what
she thinks is the mature thing to do, and Dan just
plays along.

Steve (29:23):
Good on Dan for doing this and,
And.

Leif (29:26):
And not right in front of Lexi, like, waiting a little while and, you
know, give her a call. This is cool with you?

Steve (29:31):
Yeah. Yeah. Just you and me talking. Good move.
Yeah. I feel like Dan was really grown
up most of this episode.

Leif (29:39):
This is a great episode for both the Humphreys. I thought Humphrey,
man.

Steve (29:42):
Yeah, you're right. it was good for both of them.

Leif (29:45):
In the next scene, we see Serena's insecurities play
out in real time as she lets Aaron know, she picked
up a two all night passes to pound
town, and he's so fucked.

Steve (29:56):
This is where it's so gross that he's like, oh, yeah,
okay. Yeah. And just like,
God, you fucking.

Leif (30:04):
Well played, sleazeball.

Steve (30:05):
Yeah, slow game worked for you.
Sleazeball.

Leif (30:09):
Yeah, I'm totally positive that he
reads. He has, the pickup artist on his,
nightstand.

Steve (30:15):
Yeah.
Only. Only. It's the only. It's the Barney from
how I met your mother version.

Leif (30:24):
Jenny is helping Vanessa get, dressed, and it looks
like they both want to confess, but neither is able to
get their words out before Nate calls Vanessa.

Steve (30:33):
Yeah, it's funny that.

Leif (30:35):
More good acting, like, Because you can see, like, they both kind of wanted
to say what they did, but neither could
really get it out.

Steve (30:43):
Yeah. And it's funny because had.
Had Vanessa actually gotten it
out, then what? Then Jenny would have been
like, the. And she
would have been all the more resolved to go through with
it. Jenny never learned, did Jenny? Yeah,
she did. Tell her. Yeah, she does.

Leif (31:01):
Nate told her.

Steve (31:02):
That's right. Yeah.

Leif (31:02):
Lily is calling Blair's office, and Bart's
secretary spills the beans about Bart meeting with Andrew
Tyler. We're secretary. this
episode, there's some really bad secretaries.
This. In the show.

Steve (31:14):
I mean, this. Yeah, I was gonna say this series, the
secretaries are not going to.

Leif (31:20):
Yeah, they just drop. Drop all the knowledge.

Steve (31:22):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (31:23):
Lily sleeps around and finds out more evidence against
Bart and decides to go to the ball on her own.

Steve (31:29):
Imagine if this is like, a White House drama and they're like, oh,
the president, he's in the war room right now discussing,
like, we go into Act.

Leif (31:37):
3, we get a needle drop. As the third act
begins with the ball in full swing. LP and the mean
girls are reviewing the plan to humiliate Vanessa.

Steve (31:46):
Yeah, this is where we learn that Hazel is now dating
the spotlight guy. For access to a
spotlight.

Leif (31:52):
I've noticed the show likes every couple episodes. They. They
do, they feature a band because there was like three
songs by this band. The Asteroid
Galaxy Tour.

Steve (32:02):
Okay.

Leif (32:03):
And this was one of them. The Sun Ain't Shining no More.
Blair and Chuck flirt as they introduce each
other to their respective doppelgangers. However,
Blair pulls Chuck aside and leaves their twins
to their own devices.

Steve (32:17):
Yeah, the teemu. Chuck and Blair come in
and.

Leif (32:22):
And also for that, that last scene, we had another stunt cast. The
other wasn't really as obvious as Time Play. It was,
Natasha Lucan, who's a multiple,
Olympic champion.

Steve (32:32):
Oh, no kidding. That was, that, was that Blair? Was that
the.

Leif (32:35):
She was like a student at the dance.

Steve (32:38):
Oh, that's crazy that
she's she's just. Yeah. yeah. Famous enough to
make it on the background.

Leif (32:45):
She could. She knew someone that could get her on.

Steve (32:47):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (32:49):
Elsewhere, Dan is with Lexi and Serena with Aaron as
they all twirl around on the dance floor. Let's see.
Lexi lets slip that Serena and Aaron are going to sleep
together for the first time. Dan tries to
play cool. It was also at this point
I started to wonder, how old is Lexi?

Steve (33:06):
Yeah, well, Lexi is. His is
Aaron's ex.

Leif (33:10):
Presumably it's around the same age.

Steve (33:13):
Yeah.

Leif (33:13):
Let us, let us not be called out for the double standard.

Steve (33:16):
No. Yeah. Like, is Lousy also a predator
here? Like she. Yeah, I actually meant to. I
actually did have that thought.

Leif (33:23):
Like, like forces her into, into a date at the
school dance where her plan is to this. This teenager.

Steve (33:29):
To fuck this teenager. And now
once again, through that same lens, why would she
tell Dan? But here it is. Like, there it is.

Leif (33:37):
Aren't they working together?

Steve (33:39):
Yeah, yeah. It's like, hey, I want to. Hey, I'm going to. I want to try
to hit this girl. Hit this, you know,
socialite. Do you mind hitting her boyfriend?

Leif (33:47):
make her jealous.

Steve (33:47):
Yeah, to make her jealous. Like, yeah, sure,
but only if it's the first date.
Yeah, but like, yeah. And that just makes
it all come because I was like, why would you
tell this guy? But, yeah, to let him know. Like, yeah, it's
safe. You've got the Greene light. Now you can also sleep with an
older person.

Leif (34:08):
Blair and Chuck bicker for a bit. But the, but the
bet is still on?

Steve (34:14):
yeah.

Leif (34:15):
Pretty nothing scene.

Steve (34:16):
Yeah.

Leif (34:17):
But yeah, spark, sparks, blind.

Steve (34:19):
Yeah, I mean Blair and Blair and Chuck are great
in every scene they do. Even. Even with
nothing. Even when nothing goes forward.

Leif (34:29):
The Rufus and Lily spot each other across the
room and are drawn to each other like a pair of opposed
magnets. Lily tells Rufus she is leaving bar
and she doesn't expect anything except maybe a
dance, which of course Rufus grants her.

Steve (34:43):
She was fucking
spectacular in this scene. I loved
Kelly Rutherford, the way her
facial expressions, the way she approaches
Rufus. I did have the note of. Was this
her shortest marriage, which I don't think it was. I
got the impression that there may have been one that was shorter.

Leif (35:03):
One of the Klaus's.

Steve (35:04):
One of the Klaus's I think was shorter.

Leif (35:06):
So normally I don't watch the closed caption thing, but I had it on for this
episode. I tried to catch the line from earlier that I couldn't hear what you.
They were saying. So they also like play the lyrics of the songs
and closed captions while in the middle of the talking
it pops up. I kissed you. I was like, wait, why did Lily kiss? And
that's music.

Steve (35:22):
Yeah, I noticed that too.

Leif (35:24):
And then of course when they danced. So this was the song was
a. It was called Breakdown by the band Dear
Heart. And when they were dancing the lyrics
were, well, I like you, you like
me. Seems that we fit so
perfectly. You make me feel worthy and
I've let you take care of me. Yeah,

(35:45):
very good needle drop there.

Steve (35:46):
And honestly when I was watching that and I.
Because I always watch the captions on, I watch everything with the
captions on and I noticed the lyrics
playing out the way that the scene
did and it was very sweet and it was
very. And ah, like I said, the look on her
face, how nervous she was to approach Rufus.
Her gestures, her eye contact

(36:09):
and then breaking it. Everything in that
scene and I just was like, I wanted. I was like,
I'll dance with you, Lily. Like okay.

Leif (36:18):
Dan and Serena catch each other watching Aaron and Alexi
dance with each other and decide to share a dance of
their own. Dan and Serena have a flippant conversation about them
both sleeping with their respective dates for the first time.
Serena walks off and Dan goes with Lexi to
grab drinks.

Steve (36:34):
I am going to miss her
so much when she's gone.
I loved her reaction.
I love, love, love that.

Leif (36:46):
Oh yeah. Because yeah, she reacts to her,
Lexi telling dad, yeah. And then Dad's
like, yeah, sex is beautiful. Especially when you haven't
had it for A while.

Steve (36:58):
Which.
That was so, like, it was so good.

Leif (37:02):
But it was such a teenage guy thing to say. Yeah.

Steve (37:04):
But it was also.

Leif (37:05):
I could totally see myself saying that. Yeah.

Steve (37:08):
100. But it was also, you know,
Awkward Dan rambling once this was
playing out. And, you know, because it
was that rambling awkward Dan that
we get sometimes. And it
was funny and you could tell that he was
joking. But also, it was very flippant.
Yeah, it was very flippant and

(37:31):
probably not good timing, but I think
that it really. But it also sets up
a great moment later.

Leif (37:38):
Vanessa tells Jenny that she is going to break up with
Nate. Vanessa walks off to do just
that. Jenny goes, to try to cover up
Vanessa, but too late. As the Negroes spring to
their trap to catch Vanessa in the spotlight,
Nate sees that Jenny was involved in the takedown. looks
disgusting.

Steve (37:56):
So I really liked
the scene leading up to this. In this scene, I thought Jessica
was really good. Yeah.

Leif (38:03):
Where she confessed. Confessing.

Steve (38:04):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. She. I really liked
her in this a lot. I
thought that the reveal,
like, you were. You were. You were alluding to this earlier. The reveal
did not really reveal much. And it's not like I'm sitting here saying,
like, oh, show me more. I'm just saying, like, for
it to be the scandal that they're portraying,

(38:26):
it.

Leif (38:26):
Didn'T seem people were laughing,
but maybe they could have had someone say, like, oh, look at her granny
panties.

Steve (38:33):
Yeah. Like there could have been anything to really make
it something embarrassing.

Leif (38:38):
You, look great, Jessica.

Steve (38:40):
Yeah.

Leif (38:40):
And all you can really see was her legs and a little bit of her panty line.

Steve (38:43):
Yeah. And she looked great. The other side of that
same. The. Despite the reveal. And of course, I
feel like a lot of that is CW in
08. You know, like, they
didn't have today's standards.

Leif (38:57):
Again, what would have been on Max would
like, you see, like, everything.

Steve (39:01):
Well, you probably would have seen at least her nipples. Like,
her underwear. Yeah. You would have seen a lot more. Yeah.
She probably wouldn't have had a bra on.

Leif (39:10):
Yeah.

Steve (39:10):
And you probably would have seen a lot more. Like, if it was
like, on Max or something like that probably would.

Leif (39:15):
Have shown from the back with a thong.

Steve (39:17):
Yeah. Yeah. Like, it probably would have been, like, really,
like, revealing the flip side of this.
I thought a lot of the
characters are our main
characters reactions were
really good. Nate's reaction
of seeing it unfold and then looking at.

Leif (39:36):
They definitely the writing and the acting sold it as being
humiliating.

Steve (39:40):
Yeah.

Leif (39:40):
Even though I didn't really get it personally.

Steve (39:42):
Yeah, that's.

Leif (39:43):
I'm gonna. I'm just gonna go with what the show is telling me.

Steve (39:46):
That's exactly where I landed with it. That, like,
okay, I'm going to accept that Jenny
is a good designer, Dan is a good writer, and
Vanessa is embarrassed right now. Yes.

Leif (39:57):
This is the most horrible prank ever.

Steve (39:59):
Yeah. This is a terrible thing that Jenny has just
done. But I did think the acting and
directing really and writing
saved a lot of it. Saved for the actual
review.

Leif (40:10):
Poor Vanessa. Even Cinderella was given
the courtesy of a stealth getaway. Then
again, what's a trio of ugly stepsisters compared
to Jenny Humphrey? Looks like it might turn out to be an
unhappily ever after for everyone.
Go into the epilogue, Nate
confronts Jenny about the scheme to mess with Vanessa,

(40:31):
who reveals the stolen letter and really lays into
Jenny.

Steve (40:35):
Nate not tolerating bullying like, I give him. I
give him that. I thought he was a little hard.

Leif (40:40):
Stole letter just seems so much worse to me.

Steve (40:42):
me too. I. I really thought that, too. I thought the
stolen letter was worse. I also kept in
the back of my head that Chase
wanted this. That Chase Crawford wasn't
comfortable. We had talked before about Chase Crawford wasn't
comfortable with the relationship with the
15 year or 14 year old. Yeah, 14

(41:02):
year old at this point. And I could see him
being like, we need to work this for that to
be the relationship and not the Jenny thing. So with
that in mind, I get it. But also, I
do think that stealing the letter is so much worse.
But it's also so Nate to be like,
oh, that's the one I want now.

Leif (41:23):
And this is probably giving Nate too much
credit. But also, Vanessa is just
easier because he doesn't have to deal with the Dan situation. Like,
he could still be friends with dad if he's dating Vanessa.

Steve (41:34):
Yeah. Yeah, there's that, too. Jenny
is more. Jenny was a, m. More complicated
relationship.

Leif (41:42):
Chuck and Blair find their dates making out with each
other. Blair is disgusted. Disgusted that even their
doppelgangers can work it out, but her and Chuck can't.

Steve (41:50):
My note here is obviously,
like, obviously, these two are going to end up
together.

Leif (41:56):
They left them alone.

Steve (41:57):
The second they left them alone, it's like, oh, yeah, they're gonna make
out.

Leif (42:02):
Yeah. This. This episode is filled with tropes.

Steve (42:05):
Yeah. I mean, Gossip Girl is a tropey show.
It throws them in. It often will try
to play with the tropes or flip the tropes.

Leif (42:14):
But I think, like, the weaker episodes are the ones
where they just rely on the tropes. Where they rely on it.

Steve (42:19):
Yeah.

Leif (42:20):
That's why the date episode from
season one.

Steve (42:23):
Yeah. That I liked and you hated.

Leif (42:28):
Lily is telling Rufus that she doesn't want to hurt Bart,
but that she has to end it. Rufus admits to regretting
letting her go. On the wedding day, Chuck spots Rufus and
Lily sitting together.

Steve (42:39):
When she's like, I've always tried to
do the right thing. The patience in
Rufus is behind his eyes. I'm
like, oh, really?

Leif (42:48):
You try not to laugh.

Steve (42:50):
Yeah. You've always tried to do the right thing.

Leif (42:52):
Is that, Is that the case?

Steve (42:54):
Yeah. Oh. When you left me for money, that was
the right.

Leif (42:57):
That was.

Steve (42:58):
That was the right thing, Right? Yeah.

Leif (43:00):
You could see why Lily's been married as many times.
Yeah.

Steve (43:03):
Yeah.

Leif (43:05):
Bart is riding in a limo with Andrew Tyler, who
has found out Lily's secret. Before we
can get the reveal, Chuck calls Bart and tells him about
Lillian. Rufus.

Steve (43:16):
Yeah. And this is where we realized that.
That, That he really
did fire the guy. So it was like, oh,
okay, he did. He did fire him. But this guy clearly
has something with that one.

Leif (43:31):
Chuck finds Lily and lets her know that Bart
is on his way. I like this
scene.

Steve (43:38):
I thought, Chuck was super mature here, and.
And I. I really liked. Chuck was not
malicious or vindictive. And Chuck really
seemed to have a. I get it. Like.
Yeah. Like, I. Because Chuck kind of
knows his role in this thing at this point, you know? So
I really felt like he was very mature here and

(43:58):
very accepting of the situation.
but. And he was right. You owe him a
conversation. You know, you always. You
know.

Leif (44:08):
But I just like the. I like the chemistry between,
Ed and.

Steve (44:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Between Charles
and Lillian and Lily.

Leif (44:17):
Lillian.

Steve (44:18):
Lillian and Charles.

Leif (44:19):
Lillian Rhodes, Vanderwitz and Bess.

Steve (44:23):
Imagine if she just tacked on that name each
time. The new name instead of getting rid of the
old one.

Leif (44:30):
Yeah. Nate catches up with
Vanessa and tells her he still wants to be with
her.

Steve (44:36):
So this is the. This is where we
freaked out, because Vanessa, apparently.
I. I'm pretty sure it was tears, but it looks like she has a
big snot running down her face, and
he moves in and kisses her. And Robin's like. She.
Eddie's like, you better not kiss her with that snot on her face.
And then he does, and the two of us were like.

(44:57):
That was the moment that we were both like,
ew.
Snot face.
You're so sweet for kissing her with that snot face, Nate.

Leif (45:05):
Yummy. Jenny watches as Nate and
Vanessa get into a cab together. Then
Penelope and her posse roll up and threaten
Jenny. But little J doesn't fuck around. And these
bitches are about to find out.

Steve (45:18):
I loved Jenny here.

Leif (45:19):
I loved her growth.

Steve (45:20):
I loved how she stood up for Vanessa.

Leif (45:23):
Yeah.

Steve (45:23):
And, for a second when she's like, your little friend, I thought she was going to be
like, she's not my fucking friend. Like, but she
didn't. She was like, she's more of a
person than you'll ever be. And it
sounds like Jenny might be
re. Enrolling in Constance. I,
guess, or at least wants to be
around them more.

Leif (45:44):
Maybe she can hang out with Aaron, wait for them to get out of school.
100ft away from the school.

Steve (45:50):
100Ft away from the school.
That's a really bad idea for Serena because you don't
want him then going for the 14 year old.
Hey, you like licorice?

Leif (46:05):
Are a little licorice, Rick?

Steve (46:10):
yeah. Oh, Aaron, are you still on this
show?

Leif (46:14):
Maybe he's here to stay. I mean, he is Cyrus's, I mean, I guess
he's like Blair's stepbrother now.

Steve (46:19):
Give me more Cyrus. No. Do you know
what? Not enough. Yeah, there's not
enough Siren.

Leif (46:25):
Too much Aaron. Not enough, sir.

Steve (46:27):
Too much Aaron. Not enough Siren.

Leif (46:29):
But I mean, he is gonna be player's stepfather, so
he might. Is he here to stay?

Steve (46:33):
Oh, God, I hope not. He can. There's. There's a whole
world. He can travel.

Leif (46:37):
He was a major character in the books.

Steve (46:40):
Oh, God.

Leif (46:40):
He was Player. Step further in the book. Yeah.

Steve (46:42):
was he 40 in the books? Was he in his mid-30s in the
books?

Leif (46:45):
I actually never got to the. Because he shows up in like the second
book, I think.

Steve (46:49):
Okay.

Leif (46:50):
and I only read the first one. It is pretty
bad.

Steve (46:53):
Yeah. How long are they,
period? It's kind of what I would
figure.

Leif (46:59):
Yeah. Chuck asked Blair to dance.
Blair, acts tough, but lets him out with a little smile
when Chuck isn't looking. Yeah, Leighton's
acting like just. Just the
slightest bit of a smile.

Steve (47:11):
Yeah, they're cute. They're. They were very
cute. and yeah, I really liked it.

Leif (47:17):
Lily gets a call from a restricted number and
a disturbed look on her face. We get
to reveal, obviously, a couple scenes later.

Steve (47:25):
But yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (47:28):
She gets the news in bars, in an accident, obviously.
Dan is trying to avoid being alone with
Lexi when Serena rushes up and to ask to speak with
Dan alone for a second. Serena apologizes
for before, but Dan lets Her know it's
unnecessary. However, they don't get a chance to rejoin
their dates because Lily rushes up looking for Chuck
to let him know that Bart has been in an accident.

Steve (47:51):
Yeah. I, ah, really liked the
chemistry with Dan and Serena. I thought they were very
sweet. Dan doesn't really want to bang Lexi
like he does.
Sex is meeting Dan. It always
has been. And so I
really liked that.

Leif (48:09):
And also I guess we get to reveal that even though he was hooking up with a bunch of
girls, he actually didn't sleep with anyone.

Steve (48:13):
Yeah. And we also get the reveal that
they only slept together once, which I got the impression it was more than
that. He said that was the best night
of my life. Unless he's just referring to the first time.

Leif (48:25):
Yeah, I don't think there's any confirmation either way
on that.

Steve (48:28):
Yeah, Yeah. I really liked how that played
out. and then I have a big wa.
And then, upon second watching, we realized
that Bart Bass cockblocked
everybody. He cockblocked
everybody on this show. Dan and
Serena. Nope. Because. Or Aaron and

(48:50):
Serena. Nope. Because of that. Dan was already
iffy. So now he's going to be there with
Rufus and them. He blocked Rufus
and Lily. He blocked Blair and.
And Chuck. He just blanket cock
block. okay. Vanessa and Nate are the
ones that he did not.

Leif (49:09):
But they're gonna just go off a bang.

Steve (49:11):
Yeah, they're just.

Leif (49:13):
But yeah, that is the episode. And yeah.
So,
it's pretty obvious, I guess at this point that Bart's
dead.

Steve (49:22):
Yeah.

Leif (49:22):
So tragedy can either
bring relationships closer or it can push him
apart.

Steve (49:29):
Yeah.

Leif (49:29):
Who's going to get closer and who's going to get pushed apart?

Steve (49:32):
I think it'll be weird for Dan and Serena
and Rufus and Lily to get closer at
the same time, but I feel like
it's lining that up.
Whereas it'll push Chuck
and Blair away.

Leif (49:49):
Right when they were. Seemed like they were finally gonna figure out their
shit.

Steve (49:52):
Yeah. Yeah, it seemed like that, it looks like that's gonna
get pushed away and Blair is going to want
to be there for Chuck and Chuck is not gonna want anyone to be
there for him. I can see Chuck becoming.
I don't see Chuck becoming inconsolable.
I see Chuck becoming for one. Chuck
just became a multi billionaire. Like

(50:12):
so, like I can see this. Yeah. The guy he's
always tried to impress and the last words he said to him was
that he was disappointment. I feel for Chuck already
on this. I think that Lillian
Rufus will
come together out of this because I feel Like
Lily's going to need someone there. I feel like it's going
to put a pin in there

(50:35):
romantic relationship. But I feel like
this is where Rufus is going to be there for Lily
because she has no one
else.

Leif (50:44):
What, about Erin and Serena.

Steve (50:46):
I hope this is done. I hope this is this. I hope this
is what kills it. I hope that this is what
makes Aaron be like, hey, we were supposed
to bang tonight. And she'll be like, my
stepdad just died. And that, that'll lead to a
breakup. That's more wishful thinking than anything
else. It's just as likely that she'll be like, I'm so sad. My stepdad

(51:06):
just died. Bang me.

Leif (51:08):
I mean, step that she clearly didn't.

Steve (51:10):
Care about that she didn't care much about the stepdad.
But that kind of thing is jarring anyway. Like
your mom is now going through some shit. Yeah, it
still fucks with your head.

Leif (51:21):
I was being flippant like Dan.
So let's go ahead and get into some segments. This week
in Fandom. We hooked it, hopped into the Wayback
Machine and went to the 2008 television,
without pity forums. Hello, there
Peabody here. And this is the Wayback Machine
for traveling through time. And this is my boy,

(51:42):
Sherman. Speak, Sherman.

Steve (51:44):
Hello.

Leif (51:45):
Good boy. They are very talkative.
One person has said, Josh Schwartz's balls are the best
raising.

Steve (51:53):
Yeah.

Leif (51:55):
Aaron and Serena need to be over.

Steve (51:57):
Yep.

Leif (51:57):
And everyone, was like disagreeing with Blair. Calling him
hot.

Steve (52:01):
Yeah, I, yeah, he. She did. Blair. I. I
actually didn't write it down so I didn't remember to talk about
it, but had a 180 almost with Aaron
this week. That she was much more like. Well, yeah,
like you are. You know what I mean? Like she wasn't.
She doesn't. She didn't like Aaron previously.

Leif (52:19):
Why they. The main thing that she didn't like was the whole
polyamorous thing because she knew that wouldn't work for Serena.
She. She knew it wouldn't work for her.

Steve (52:26):
I also think that Blair will never like anyone Serena's
with. True.

Leif (52:30):
And then they were confused on why. Why Vanessa
was so, embarrassed when nothing was really shown. So.
Yeah, we talked about that a lot as well.
Also confused at why Nate forgave V for but
not Jenny. They both felt bad for what they did.

Steve (52:44):
Yeah, yeah, he was a little harsh on Jenny
and like I said, I think that that was an,
a personal Chase Crawford
thing. More than a. More than
a writing thing.

Leif (52:57):
Fans are, over Rufus and Lily, they don't
hate Bart. Yeah, we've kind of been saying the same thing.
Bart's not that bad. Except for Chuck. With Chuck.

Steve (53:05):
yeah, Bart's terrible with Chuck. And Bart does terrible
things. But. But doesn't warlognize.
They're terrible. Bart loves
in the wrong way.

Leif (53:18):
No one cares about Dan. Serena.

Steve (53:21):
yeah, I care.

Leif (53:22):
I mean, clearly the signs are pointing to them getting back
together.

Steve (53:26):
Yeah.

Leif (53:27):
But, yeah, no one wants that.

Steve (53:29):
I want that more than
anything. I just don't want Aaron.
Fair Aaron and Vanessa.
Get them both in Brooklyn.

Leif (53:41):
Yeah, we'll still see about Brooklyn. Have a move to Queens or
something.

Steve (53:44):
Yeah.
yeah. Get offered something in Paris.

Leif (53:50):
No one really.

Steve (53:51):
Ah.

Leif (53:52):
they really like Jenny standing up to the mean girls. And at
the end of the episode, big episode for Jenny in general.

Steve (53:59):
Yeah, yeah, Jenny was great. Jenny's always
great. It also occurred to me that
Aaron. They may not survive next summer when Aaron
goes off to work at the summer camp again
and starts meeting some new
12 year old potentials.

Leif (54:17):
That's my hand cannon now.

Steve (54:18):
Is that he still works in that summer camp. It has licorice
rings. You'll be 18
one day. God, he's disgusting.

Leif (54:27):
Serena's only 17.
Didn't wait that long.

Steve (54:31):
Yep, yep, you'll be legal one day.
No, no, I know the. I can. I, know the loopholes and
the laws.

Leif (54:40):
As long as we're not in California.

Steve (54:41):
That'S a red flag. If they know how old the age of
consent is. If they bring it up in a
conversation, that's a red flag.

Leif (54:50):
Nate is boring at best, a hypocritical
douche at worst.

Steve (54:55):
I get it. I.
I feel like Nate is. Was the
golden retriever going for the shiny thing that was in front of
him. And I. I'm not mad at Nate. I'm
an eight. Stan. yes, he's hypocritical. But
they all are at one point or
another.

Leif (55:14):
And there's more talk of Ed slumming
it by being on Gossip Girl.
He's just such. Such a great actor.

Steve (55:21):
Really? Yeah. Yeah, he's such a great
actor. Yell.
Say something at normal volume and without me
knowing where you're from. Complete
a sentence at this vocal
range.

Leif (55:37):
I actually meant to bring this up at the top of the episode this
week on the Gossip Girl subreddit. there
actually was a big post about Ed Westwick and
how we shouldn't celebrate his wedding because, you
know.

Steve (55:49):
Yeah, I. I actually saw that.

Leif (55:51):
you didn't see that.

Steve (55:52):
Yeah, I saw I don't ever read anything
in the, in the
Reddit, in the Gossip Girl Reddit, but I'll
get notifications sometimes. And that one
popped up and it was that. Yeah, that like
Ed Westwick very well.

Leif (56:08):
I was accused by four women.

Steve (56:10):
Mm

Leif (56:11):
One was I think unequivocally proven as making it
up.

Steve (56:14):
Yeah.

Leif (56:15):
And then I think he possibly has alibis
for one or two others.

Steve (56:19):
It.

Leif (56:20):
I haven't looked into all the details so I. But
yeah, it's not. Definitely not a good
look.

Steve (56:26):
Yeah. And where.
Yeah, there's often the. Where there's smoke, there's
fire thing and you know,
it's. I, I don't know one way or
another, but I.

Leif (56:38):
It's not a good look.

Steve (56:39):
But it's not a good look. It's not a good look and
we will always recognize that here on the non
judging breakfast spot.

Leif (56:47):
So let's go ahead and get into some episode
grades.
I don't know, this isn't. It was well directed
and there was some good acting. Kelly
Taylor, Jessica, you know, they all
had some very good acting moments. but yeah, the writing
was kind of weak in this episode

(57:08):
relying a little too much on the tropes as I mentioned.
And so yeah, I gave it a B minus.

Steve (57:13):
That's fair. I actually went B
plus. I actually broke it down by story,
by storyline when I was thinking it through.
The Jenny, Nate, Vanessa
storyline. Although it didn't really work
out despite its flaws, I liked
the storyline. The B storyline
with Dan and Serena was

(57:35):
dumb and gross. Like that one I didn't
really care for. But the other two, like the chair thing
was predictable, but the Lily thing was awesome. Like I thought that
Lily and Rufus were fantastic in
this. I gave the episode a B plus
overall.

Leif (57:50):
Okay.

Steve (57:52):
I, yeah, I, I bumped it a little bit
because I think, I think mostly because
of the Lily stuff.

Leif (58:00):
Fair. Let's go ahead and
move it to stock watch. Going
up. I had Rufus because he was
understanding, he patient, everything he could have asked him to be in
this episode. He didn't interact with Jenny at all.

Steve (58:15):
Yep. Yeah.

Leif (58:16):
Blair and Chuck because I mean even though I think it's
gonna crash and burn in the next episode, they
seem to finally kind of get. Figure their shit out here.

Steve (58:25):
Yeah, yeah, they ended on, on a plus note.

Leif (58:27):
Yeah. And I gave Dan and Serena both stack up
because they were, you know, again, they were, they were good exes
again. And they, you know, they, they had that one flipping
conversation but then they immediately apologized. To each other.

Steve (58:39):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (58:40):
Who do you have going up?

Steve (58:41):
All of the same that you had. Rufus, Dan,
Serena, Chuck, Blair. I also had Nate and
Vanessa going up for them getting together. Vanessa
was humiliated, but she got Nate in the end, which Nate
was. Nate is quite a prize. All the minions
won. I also had Lily going up
for leaving Bart,

(59:01):
you know, and. And having. And being ready to go
back out on her own. And that is who I
had going up. Chuck and Blair. I was on
the fence for whether or not they actually went up, but I was like, it's
Christmas, though.
Everybody. Everybody on the brink goes
up.

Leif (59:19):
So for me, I. The one that was
on the fence for me was Vanessa, because like you said,
she got. She got me in the end, but
I just got to take the show, you know, based on my voting.
She would have been going up because the show gave
so much weight to that scene. I got to give her a
neutral.

Steve (59:37):
That's fair. I see the neutral going down.

Leif (59:40):
Jenny, because obviously she lost this
episode. We love her.

Steve (59:44):
She.

Leif (59:44):
She has some great scenes. Aaron, because he
continues to be a fucking predator.

Steve (59:50):
Yeah, I actually forgot.

Leif (59:52):
And I had, Lily going down because
she's just being a shitty wife, as usual.
I, you know, even though she's. The scenes are
great. She was being a
shitty wife.

Steve (01:00:04):
Yeah. I mean, she's putting.

Leif (01:00:06):
He's putting off the conversation and before
having the conversation with Bart immediately going back to
Rufus.

Steve (01:00:12):
Yeah, yeah, you gotta do.

Leif (01:00:14):
You gotta do the conversation bar first, then go to
Rufus.

Steve (01:00:18):
It's fair. It's fair. She was
angry. You're. You're. It's fair. I get
it.

Leif (01:00:24):
And I also gave Nate a down. Yeah. Because
you hypocritical about the whole. I
don't get in between friends. And
I get. He was hypocritical between forgiving
Vanessa and not Jenny, even though they both were clearly
felt bad for what they did.

Steve (01:00:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's
fair.

Leif (01:00:43):
Who do you have going down?

Steve (01:00:45):
Bart.

Leif (01:00:48):
I didn't even think of that, but yeah, that's definitely fair.

Steve (01:00:51):
I have Bart, I have Jenny. I'm going to add
Aaron.

Leif (01:00:54):
Personally, I don't like to kick a man while he's down.

Steve (01:00:57):
Six feet down.

Leif (01:00:59):
Who's after Bart?

Steve (01:01:01):
after Bart, I had Jenny. I'm gonna add
in Aaron. And then the other one I have is the
Minions.

Leif (01:01:07):
Ah.

Steve (01:01:07):
Each of them goes down for.

Leif (01:01:10):
Do you want to name them individually or just as a
group?

Steve (01:01:13):
Well, Penelope Hazeln is. Yeah, I'll give each of them, a
down.

Leif (01:01:17):
And yeah, let's go ahead and move into
best outfit.

Steve (01:01:21):
But here's the best outfits from the.
Last episode we see.

Leif (01:01:29):
For me it was Blair's red and black
Jabot dress. It was by Alice and Olivia
and she had the yellow horseshoe belt.

Steve (01:01:37):
She looked like Shazam. When I saw
that, I was like, why is Blair dressed like Shazam?
That was my first instinct. But it was, it popped.
It was it was a really cool outfit, but
that was. She looked like a superhero.

Leif (01:01:52):
Yeah.

Steve (01:01:52):
At the same time I had Chuck's tux,
the, the sequence tux.
I thought that was dope.

Leif (01:02:00):
Well, you got anything to plug this week?

Steve (01:02:02):
I don't other than my TikTok Instagram
and that stuff. Steve Marchan M M A
R C H I O N Feel free
to follow me and check that stuff
out. And yeah, I don't really have much else to
plug.

Leif (01:02:17):
I'm going to plug Rings of Power season two. I
know first season got a lot of shit and it definitely
has problems and season two still has problems
and it's basically fan fiction
but I'm enjoying it. If you want to follow
the follow the podcast, get us on all the
socials. We're on judging breakfast pod on

(01:02:38):
TikTok Instagram threads
and you can also find us on Facebook by searching for the non
judging breakfast pod. And
if you want to find us on Discord or Reddit you can go to our
website nonjudgingprefacepod.com and if you'd.

Steve (01:02:52):
Like to send us an email we'd love to hear your thoughts.
You can reach us at
nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com
we would also love it if while you're listening if you
stop for a second and give us a
review. Give us some a like a
review, subscribe, follow
and also leave comments that really helps with our

(01:03:14):
visibility on Apple, on Apple
music and more than anything tell a friend
that you're listening to the non judging breakfast pod. Get that friend
that you love talking Gossip Girl with and
get them listening too. Also don't
forget that you can now watch Gossip Girl
for free on Tubi.
So Jill, if you

(01:03:36):
download the app to be
to your Amazon smart tv.
I'm not trying to advertise for Amazon. I'm just trying to
speak directly to my mother in law here. You can watch
Gossip Girl and watch along with us and we will
be.

Leif (01:03:51):
Back next week to Talk about Season 2 episode
13 oh Brother where Bart.

Steve (01:03:57):
Thou
I only saw the oh brother. I didn't read the whole
thing. Oh, that's so good.

Leif (01:04:05):
Yeah. The Max episode description
reads, a sudden and tragic event
impacts the lives of everyone.

Steve (01:04:14):
Yeah, that. That title is
so good, too. Oh, brother, Where Art Thou?
that was based. Was that, the
Odyssey? The Odyssey, right. Yeah. I was trying to remember if it was the Iliad
or the Odyssey, but. Yeah, the odd. Yeah, with
the Cyclops. Yeah.

Leif (01:04:31):
And the sirens.

Steve (01:04:32):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (01:04:34):
Well, until next time. Know you love us.

Steve (01:04:36):
Xoxo,
Every time you walk away, run away, you take a
piece of me with you there?
Every time you walk away, run away, you take a
Every time you walk away, run away you take a

(01:04:56):
Oh, it seems I'm walking right to
your door
My heart's still resting looking for
something more?
Are you ever gonna see everything you mean to
me? I'm trying really hard to believe?
Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:05:19):
of me with you there.
Every time you walk away or run away, you take a piece
of me with you there.
Every time you walk away or run away you take a
piece of me with you there.
Never feels right when I'm out here on
my own

(01:05:41):
I 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?

(01:06:03):
piece of m. Me with you there.
Come back to me
smile and you'll make my life
complete?

(01:06:26):
piece of me with you there Ah.
Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:06:49):
of me with you there?

(01:07:11):

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S2E12 - A Wonderful Lie

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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;}S2E12 - A Wonderful Lie