S3E10 - "The Last Days of the Disco Stick" - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve (00:00):
I want the trip thing to end.

(00:02):
Uh, I always want Serena out of
relationships because they're always
terrible. It's another Eren. It's
another Gabriel.

Leif (00:12):
So Serena needs to be single and go to therapy.

Steve (00:15):
Yes. Yes. My God,
everyone on this show needs therapy but Serena.

Leif (00:28):
Hey, Upper east siders, and all you scandal loving listeners out
there, you just tuned into the non judging breakfast pod
where the coffee is strong, the waffles are
fresh, and the gossip is hotter than ever. My
name is Leaf, and I'm your seasoned Gossip Girl veteran.

Steve (00:42):
And I'm Steve, the newbie, the greenhorn,
the. I don't know, Leif. What are we calling me now? It's.
We're into season three.

Leif (00:51):
Well, I think at this point, the window for our threesome has passed because
we're no longer strangers.

Steve (00:55):
Guess that depends on the third then, doesn't it?

Leif (00:58):
True.

Steve (01:02):
So here's the deal, folks.
Leif has been watching Gossip Girl since it first aired, and
I'm tuning in for the very first time. And together,
we're your dynamic duo, bringing you all the
drama, romance, and sometimes questionable
fashion choices of this iconic
2007 series.

Leif (01:21):
That's right, bring your magnifying glasses, because each week
we're dissecting every juicy detail of the show
one episode at a time. We'll connect the dots,
uncover those sneaky little Easter eggs, and of course,
serve up some piping hot behind the scenes tea. And
expect some iconic moments from Phantom too. Because
what's a deep dive without a little drama?

Steve (01:40):
And since we are all about inclusivity here at the non
judging breakfast pod, there is always a seat for you at
the non judging breakfast table. So go ahead and
grab your mimosa, your cup of coffee, or
go ahead and get some of Chuck's special medicine, and let's get this
thing going.

Leif (01:57):
So I have binged season five of
you.

Steve (02:01):
Okay. All right.

Leif (02:02):
In a single day.

Steve (02:05):
Was it good? Did you do it for the pod or was
it good?

Leif (02:08):
Well, I mean, I was going to watch it no matter what and I wanted to avoid
spoilers. That's the biggest reason why I binged it that
way. Overall, I thought it was good.
I do have, of course, some issues with it, as you
might expect.

Steve (02:22):
Wait, Leaf taking issue with
it, got.

Leif (02:27):
A little too preachy? Uh, it took what
was like subtext for the entire series
and turned it into a giant marquee.

Steve (02:35):
Oh, yeah, that. And
here's the lesson I'm trying to teach you folks.

Leif (02:40):
And unfortunately, uh, the people they're going for,
they were trying to Hammer him. Didn't. Still
didn't get the lessons.

Steve (02:50):
They never do. Leaf. I've
spent a lot of years in education. They never do.

Leif (02:57):
So that happened. Um, I really hope Penn
gets some Emmy buzz for this
because his performance, aside from the story or
anything, was amazing. Yeah,
he knocked it out of the park.

Steve (03:11):
Yeah. Was you nominated before?
I feel like it has nominations.

Leif (03:18):
Possibly. I'm unsure. I don't really follow that stuff too
much.

Steve (03:21):
I don't either.

Leif (03:22):
Another thing. When I was taking notes, I realized
something we never really addressed. Uh, the max
background from Gossip Girl. It's the
season six DVD cover. There's
someone in the middle of that photo.

Steve (03:36):
Who? I don't know. Yeah. Oh, I do
know that I don't know someone who's on
that because I remember a long time
ago seeing that and being like, oh, yeah, there's
all of the. That's not Jenny.

Leif (03:51):
Wow. Jenny changed. Second
Jenny.

Steve (03:54):
Second Jenny.
One of the greatest moments to me,
one of the greatest little tiny TV
moments was when first
Becky made a cameo
as Becky on Roseanne again. Or she
came back. I guess she came back as Becky

(04:16):
for the last few seasons. And when she first
walked in, Roseanne said, where
have you been? And it just
landed perfectly.
No shade to Sarah Chalk, though I prefer Sarah
Chalk, personally, in everything she's done.
I love Sarah Chalk.

Leif (04:36):
We are here to talk about Gossip girl Today, Season
3, Episode 10, the Last
Days of the Disco Stick.

Steve (04:44):
Yes. Another season 10
or another episode 10. And as you
pointed out to me in season one, that that tends to be a
Dan Serena thing. That.
And we also established last year that that, uh, doesn't mean
Dan and Serena. It just means that Dan and
Serena have big episodes and they do.

(05:04):
And I thought Dan's
portion of the episode was better,
but I didn't. Not like a lot
of the stuff that happened with Serena, but
it was a really good Dan
Serena focal point, I felt.

Leif (05:23):
And the original air date was November 16,
2009, which was actually less than a
month after the release of the single Bad Romance.

Steve (05:32):
Oh, was it that? Was it that soon? So they really got
Gaga. Uh, yeah.

Leif (05:36):
At the height of. Yeah, her thing.

Steve (05:38):
Yeah. I fucking love that song.

Leif (05:41):
Like 2008, her first studio album came out the
Fame. But that Bad Romance wasn't originally on
there, but it was on the re release which was
labeled as the fame Munster.

Steve (05:51):
Oh, wow. Yeah.

Leif (05:53):
But, ah, the single for Bad Romance came out in
October of 2009, less than a month.

Steve (05:58):
What's funny is that I actually always thought
I Don't follow Gaga that closely. I
really like a lot of her songs, but I'm not like, a
fan. Um, I actually cover Bad Romance.
I cover Bad Romance
as a medley with Psycho
Killer. Because they're essentially the same

(06:19):
chords. It's the same song when it comes to chord
structure.

Leif (06:23):
The episode title was based on the movie the
Last Days of Disco.

Steve (06:28):
Yeah, I've never seen it. I've
heard of the movie.

Leif (06:33):
I watched it. It was nothing special.
Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Savini were
the stars.

Steve (06:41):
Isn't it about them kind of falling apart
as disco falls apart?

Leif (06:46):
Sort of. I mean, like, they're apparently friends. They're just kind
of casual friends anyways. But then they, like. Beginning of the movie, they
become roommates. And at the. At, uh, the end.
By the end, they kind of like fall out. Yeah. Yeah. And
yeah, but nothing too exciting.

Steve (07:00):
No groundbreaking cinema.

Leif (07:02):
There's a lot of people you would recognize in it. I guess the
male lead would probably be, uh. I
forget the actor's name, but he plays Digger in Gilmore
Girls.

Steve (07:11):
Okay. I wouldn't know that.

Leif (07:14):
Uh, he was Lorelei's
love interest for one season.

Steve (07:18):
Okay.

Leif (07:19):
And also Richard's partner.

Steve (07:22):
Oh.

Leif (07:23):
The episode was written by Laila
Gerstein. She last wrote season,
uh, three, episode five, Rufus Getting Married,
and also wrote season two, episode
22, Southern Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Steve (07:37):
Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Credits.

Leif (07:43):
Directed by Tony Warmby. Uh,
previously has done Victor
Victrola, episode seven in season one.
Also in season one, episode 12,
School Lies, which was the pool party episode.

Steve (07:56):
Right. That's the first time we saw Penelope.

Leif (07:59):
And Hazel, which also like the.
Especially the opening scene. I love the direction on that
opening scene. Opening in the pool
party.

Steve (08:08):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (08:09):
It's a really cool shot scene.

Steve (08:11):
Yeah.

Leif (08:12):
Uh, he also did Woman on the Verge,
Chuck in real life and in the realm of the Basses.

Steve (08:18):
Yeah. I feel like they're well directed episodes for
the most part. I feel like Woman on the Verge was
a shittier episode, but I also feel like
it was directed as well as he can do.
You can only work with what you got. I really
liked, like you said, School Eyes. I really like Victor
Victrola. I thought that was such a

(08:39):
great episode. Such a pinnacle episode, you
know?

Leif (08:43):
And well directed, too.

Steve (08:44):
Really well directed. Especially the
Chuck, the. The performance he got out of
Ed in. That was so good. Yeah. The.

Leif (08:52):
In media res at the beginning of the episode, too.

Steve (08:55):
Uh, yeah. Yeah.

Leif (08:56):
Why don't you go ahead and give us that Vulture recap?

Steve (08:59):
All right. Even someone without
Blair Waldorf's unerring nose for
sexual tension would have caught a whiff of the
mamillion scent in the air on Gossip Girl
last night. Pheromones
course through the characters bodies like so many high
grade drugs transported from Holland

(09:19):
by a disaffected diplomat's son.
The previous episode's menage, we
learned, has changed the chemistry of the
relationship between Dan, Vanessa and Olivia.
After Olivia suspects Dan and Vanessa's
feelings for each other go beyond friendship,
which Dan awkwardly confirms when, during

(09:39):
the gang's ridiculous performance
of Snow White, he briefly forgets he is
a man who just performed a white rap while dressed
as a hipster elf and plants a tender
yet masculine kiss on his best
lady friend. Meanwhile,
Jenny is attracted to trouble like a dog to
beggin strips, and Serena is

(10:02):
practically in heat over boyish, ruddy
cheeked Trip Vanderbilt. After
listening to several hours of her helpless
yowls, Nate is at, uh, last forced
to drug and almost physically restrain her from acting
on it. Alas, she breaks free
to the expected results. That one

(10:23):
probably needs to be spayed.

Leif (10:25):
Uh, that all happened.

Steve (10:27):
That all happened.
Masculine kiss.

Leif (10:34):
Act one begins, as usual, with a Gossip
Girl monologue, but I want to.

Steve (10:39):
Pause here because it's more than just a monologue and
I know we're going to get to it, but that shot,
the shot that she's talking over.
Sorry, go ahead.

Leif (10:52):
As a famed literary liar once told
Oprah, memory is subjective.
Memories can be embellished or denied. But as
James Frey knows all too well, the
truth always comes out
that Dan is having the best day of his
life. Walking down the street, high fiving strangers

(11:13):
and reminiscing about the threesome.

Steve (11:16):
It's so great. High fiving this
stranger. And just like on top of the world,
Dan and I just fucking loved
it. Like, none of the fallout has happened yet.
Everything has been normal for him so far. So for
him, he's just a dude that had a threesome.

Leif (11:32):
Yeah. He hasn't seen Vanessa at all. He's just been hanging out with his girlfriend. It seems
like she. She's fly with it.

Steve (11:36):
Yeah.
The directing again, the opening
shot, the square.
I forget what it's called when you have the tiles like that.
Which was also very. Yeah, sorry.
Yeah. It was so good.

Leif (11:55):
Mhm M. Serena is leaving
repeated voicemails for Blair saying what
she saw with Serena and Trip wasn't what
player thought it was great.

Steve (12:08):
Of course not, Serena. Of course it wasn't. Yeah, no,
no. What you saw when you saw me drooling over this
guy That I was talking really close
to. That's not what we were doing.

Leif (12:19):
Lingering touches meant nothing at all.

Steve (12:21):
Nothing at all.

Leif (12:23):
Blair ignores Serena's call as, uh, she and Chuck
stroll through the park. Blair and Chuck
both agree that Blair has a keen nose for sexual
tension. Blair lays out her plans to impress
the Tisch kids. Chuck, on the other hand,
will be showing a diplomat's son around New
York in an effort to build his European
clientele.

Steve (12:44):
I don't, I don't speak with liars and
Lewinsky's, which
Monica gets such a bad rap. I
always, for years, I felt really bad for
her. Because you're an intern working for the
president. Yeah. Like, there's a
serious power dynamic here and
America. Like, slut shamed her

(13:07):
for something that the most powerful man in the world
did. Like. Are you fucking
kidding me?

Leif (13:13):
Yeah. Ah, well, uh, uh, not surprising.

Steve (13:16):
No.

Leif (13:17):
But at least she got millions of dollars out of it.

Steve (13:19):
She did. She did. She's funny as shit
too. Like, I've seen her do more recent interviews,
like past five years, and
she's. She's really funny too.

Leif (13:32):
Dan tells Nate about the threesome, expecting a pat
on the back. However, Nate points out that the third person
should always be a stranger. Dan, though, is
insistent that he and Vanessa can still be friends.
Just then, Vanessa walks up and she and Dan
awkwardly greet each other before agreeing on a friends
date for tonight.

Steve (13:51):
Two girls, four boobs, one Dan Humphrey.

Leif (13:54):
How awesome is that?

Steve (13:55):
How awesome is that? Nate's
reaction. I've been to Europe. My best
friend is Chuck Bass.

Leif (14:03):
I know things.

Steve (14:04):
I know things. Everyone knows. The third is
supposed to be a stranger.
I loved this was also,
again, Nate got to be funny.
And when chance gets to be funny,
when Chase gets to be funny. That's my
favorite Nate stuff.

Leif (14:22):
Mhm.

Steve (14:23):
And I really thought that this was a. A great
Nate episode. And also
I had these two separate things, but the.
Yeah, we've had this tradition for years. Let's go
tonight. If you've had this tradition for years, wouldn't you
be scoping out tickets for, like,
wouldn't you have your tickets already?

Leif (14:44):
I guess he probably plays in New York quite a bit.

Steve (14:47):
Yeah.

Leif (14:48):
The oppression I got.

Steve (14:49):
And like, yeah, they pop down when they
want to.

Leif (14:52):
Whenever they go see Morrison, they go together.

Steve (14:54):
Yeah. Yeah. But still.

Leif (14:59):
It was definitely forced.

Steve (15:00):
It was.
Yeah. Uh, yeah. I felt like they could find a better
tradition. Banging a third.
Nope, that's not really a tradition yet.

Leif (15:10):
Blair finds the Tisch students at the NYU
cafe. Despite her best efforts to impress Them, the
theater kids clearly look down on Blair.

Steve (15:19):
The Tisch kids suck
so bad. The thing is, as
a high, uh, school and college theater
kid. Yeah. Yep. Like,
I can imagine just the way regular high school
theater kids are. I'm sure it's not
totally accurate, but the mental image of the Tisch

(15:39):
kids being regular theater kids out of 10
just warmed my heart. I loved the way
they portrayed them.

Leif (15:48):
I mentioned in an earlier episode how at a certain
point in the season, they start taking some shots at Harvey
Weinstein, and now his name is
never directly referenced. But I
gotta, like, they bet. You know who, like, she.
They like, they eventually. Willow Weinstein.

Steve (16:05):
Yeah. Yeah, they said. They said her last name.

Leif (16:07):
You know, who she. You know. Yeah, she's with.
So it's assumed that she's like a
daughter or a niece or something.

Steve (16:14):
Yeah, I totally assumed that she was a
relative of Harvey. Yeah.

Leif (16:20):
So she's going to be a recurring character.

Steve (16:22):
Oh, okay.

Leif (16:24):
Paul is as well.

Steve (16:26):
I kind of figured Paul at least was going to have a few episodes
because he and Vanessa were chumming up.

Leif (16:31):
At the end, Dan and Olivia are walking
together, talking about their respective futures. Dan
tells Olivia about the date with Vanessa. Olivia
hesitates for half a second before giving her consent to
the outing.

Steve (16:43):
I don't think Olivia is okay with it.

Leif (16:46):
No. Dan's
oblivious.

Steve (16:49):
Dan is oblivious.

Leif (16:51):
What could possibly go wrong? I mean, Dan's way.

Steve (16:53):
Yeah.

Leif (16:55):
At the penthouse, Lily and Jenny are trying to find
Jenny a date for a gala. Rufus has a spit take
when he hears one of the guys gave six
girls gonorrhea of the throat. Chuck
comes to drop something off for Lily with the
ambassador's son in tow. Lily
suggests that Jenny should show him around. And when Jenny

(17:15):
gets a look at those European cheekbones, she is
one eager beaver.

Steve (17:20):
That spit take, Rufus's spit take was
fantastic. It just
flowed so well, I thought that.

Leif (17:28):
I mean, even if you ever heard of gonorrhea throw. He's a
rock star. He's heard of gonorrhea.

Steve (17:32):
You know, gonorrhea is.

Leif (17:34):
He could put two and two together.

Steve (17:35):
Yeah, it's gonorrhea in the throat,
Rufus. My
first pass, I was like, lily
finding a date for Jenny for this thing seems
weird. And then when I really thought about it,
it's like, no, this makes perfect sense that
Lily is really kind of
mentoring Jenny as queen

(17:57):
now. Yeah, that. Oh, yeah, I understand there's a
gala. You need a date. I'll help you out. Like, of course. I
know everybody in the fucking city.

Leif (18:05):
Well, it's Also, uh, I think it's implied. It's like
a family outing, too. It's a gala the family's going to,
and she needs an appropriate date for a family outing.

Steve (18:14):
Yes. But, uh, I think it's a little bit of
both, though, because we've seen Lily really kind
of help Jenny be queen at times.
What can this diplomat's son do?

Leif (18:29):
Blair tracks down Olivia in the dorm hallway to ask for
advice on winning over superficial actors. Olivia
shows she can play the game when she immediately forms a plan to
keep Dan and Vanessa apart.

Steve (18:39):
Yep. Now we have Olivia's baby's first
scheme, right? Well, I guess not really. I guess she kind of
schemed earlier on when she acted like
an asshole. M. But this is, like, her first real
big scheme.

Leif (18:52):
At Trip's office, he and Serena flirt some
more. They get awfully close to kissing when they
are interrupted by Maureen. Maureen suggests
that Serena be the one to help Trip pack the home
office. Gossip Girl brings us to the first act
break with this advice.
Don't forget yourself, Congressman. Your marriage could

(19:14):
wind up in a million little pieces.

Steve (19:18):
Trip can't not be
creepy. He just. Serena
walks in, and he gives her this look of like
he's got those crazy eyes. Yeah, he does.
Also, Serena, you don't need. Just because Maureen
suggested this. You don't need to go to his house and help.

Leif (19:35):
Also, if this office stuff is
so sensitive, can't he just pack it himself?
It's one office. Seriously?

Steve (19:43):
Yeah.

Leif (19:43):
Be an adult.

Steve (19:44):
Yeah.

Leif (19:45):
And also, I know you've mentioned in the past you
watch with closed captions on. Have you noticed that
within the episodes consistent. But from episode to episode,
sometimes they do Trip with two P's and one, sometimes with one
piece.

Steve (19:58):
I did not notice that. I've only noticed the two P's.
So it's funny, because all my notes, I always write down
Trip with two P's because that's how I've noticed it.
And then I saw that you had it somewhere. Oh, no, it was the
Vulture report had it as one, and that's what made
me think of that. So I didn't. I
have noticed it with Lily. With having

(20:18):
one L or two in Lily. I
think now it's consistently one. Uh,
but I feel season one, it was
inconsistent in how they spelled her name, too.
I wonder if that's autocorrect.

Leif (20:31):
Uh, no, it's just different people doing the closed
captions.

Steve (20:35):
Yeah, I would actually assume that most
of the closed captions are AI at this. Well, I guess probably not
then, though.

Leif (20:42):
Act two. Nate is at the Empire on
the phone with his mother. Nate is telling her not to forgive
the grandfather. Their conversation is
interrupted by Serena, who has come by to talk
about her.

Steve (20:54):
And Tripp off Cam Ann.
And then, uh, I think
I'm about to get involved with a married man.
Hey, I've got advice. Don't.
You're the one getting involved
here. You don't have to be around this person. You
don't have to work for them. You can

(21:16):
work elsewhere, or just don't see them
for 24 hours and keep working for them here in New York
while they're nowhere near you. The I'm about
to do this thing is just so
fucking dumb. Everything that comes out. I
want to. I also want to clarify. I do not
blame the writing on this,

(21:36):
because it's so Serena. Oh, yeah, it's so fucking
Serena. Every dumb fucking thing that comes out of
her mouth for the remainder of this episode.
It's so Serena. It's written
perfectly, despite how fucking
dumb all of it is.

Leif (21:55):
100%. Vanessa and
Olivia are in the dorm room trying to pretend that things aren't
awkward since the threesome. Olivia hides how
threatened by Dan and Vanessa's history she is and
apologizes, saying that she had signed herself and Dan up for
Cabaret ages ago.

Steve (22:11):
She's avoiding you. That is true.

Leif (22:13):
Vanessa.

Steve (22:13):
Uh, she's like, are you avoiding me? No, of
course not. Yes, she is. She's
not okay with things.

Leif (22:20):
Well, I mean, they finally got smart and decided to hang out at the loft,
you know, instead of hanging out in the little dorm room all the time.

Steve (22:29):
His place he has to himself.

Leif (22:32):
Nate is rightfully pointing out that she can't have an affair
with Trip. Nate tells her that too many
people made sacrifices to get Tripp where he is now.
He leaves unsaid that he is one of those people.

Steve (22:45):
Is this where he also has the call from
Dan, um, that
he gets off the phone, or is that later?

Leif (22:52):
I think that's later.

Steve (22:54):
Okay. But still, I really liked. Again, this
is. Everything Serena is saying
is fucking dumb. I'm
really glad that she and Nate made up, though. It
was. It was really good. It's nice to see Nate
not being a dick, because Nate really was being a
dick for a bit. I understand why and

(23:14):
why he was led that way. Again, I don't
think Nate does anything because Nate wants to. I think
Nate just follows the shiny. And if the shiny is
Nate being a dick, he's going to be a dick.
And I really like seeing this Nate again.
And I really like them making up.

Leif (23:31):
Jenny is with the diplomat's son, who we learn is
named Damien Dalgard. Walking in the
park, Jenny is at first giddy with glee when the
Chapin mean girls see her with a hot older guy,
but is quickly mortified when Damian rents a toy
sailboat to play with.

Steve (23:48):
I think that one of those things that. Where
Jenny lacks coolness
because the whole thing is she always has to be cool. But the
number one rule of being cool is, whatever you're doing, you
fucking own it.

Leif (24:00):
You. Yeah.

Steve (24:01):
And so when you're sitting there like, oh, my God, this guy I'm with is playing
with a boat, it makes you look like
an idiot. And it makes you look like you're with someone who's an
idiot. But if you're like, yeah, we're fucking playing with boats,
if you're the queen, what you do is cool. So,
yeah, guess what we're doing now? We're playing with fucking boats. Now,
girls from other school, get your fucking boats.

Leif (24:21):
Also, I didn't see any other kids there.

Steve (24:24):
It was all adults playing with the boats. It was like
all grown men. All
single dads who have their
weekend without the kids.
Good. I like to go sell the boats when the kids aren't here because
they just get in the way and ruin the boats.
No, I'm controlling the boat now, son.

Leif (24:44):
We saw Rufus down there.
Rufus is in the background.

Steve (24:53):
Oh, just so relaxed.

Leif (24:57):
Dan and Olivia are meeting with the Tisch students at the
cafe. Dan is then shocked to find out that
Blair is part of the team. Dan is starting to
wonder why he had to cancel his plans with Vanessa to direct
a Snow White Lady Gaga musical starring Blair
Waldorf. Olivia attempts to smooth things over by
saying she already talked to Vanessa and that things are
fine.

Steve (25:18):
And this is happening, like, tonight. Right.
The. Is it tonight or tomorrow that
the theater thing is.

Leif (25:26):
I feel like they had one rehearsal.

Steve (25:27):
Yeah, I feel like they had one night.
But, like, Dan just wrote a musical in a day.

Leif (25:33):
Yes.

Steve (25:34):
And not only did. Okay, yeah,
I'll get to that.

Leif (25:38):
In the show's universe, it's also a good musical.

Steve (25:40):
Yeah, it's really good.

Leif (25:42):
And it impressed the Tish students.

Steve (25:45):
Yes. Yeah. Ah. That he wrote
overnight, but not even because he had to, like, because they rehearse
it that day, too. And Olivia is so bad at scheming.

Leif (25:54):
M.
Back at the park, Jenny is leaving a voicemail for Chuck,
complaining about the boring Belgian. However,
Damien returns with a different sailboat and points out that
the boats were just cover for a drug Deal.

Steve (26:08):
Ooh.

Leif (26:10):
So sexy.

Steve (26:11):
Yeah, he's a bad, bad boy.
Jenny with daddy issues.

Leif (26:17):
Yeah, they made sure to slip that
in.

Steve (26:20):
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Leif (26:23):
Dan calls Nate to ask advice on his
situation. Nate tells Dan that he needs to
convince Olivia that Vanessa and him are just friends.

Steve (26:32):
Nate being everybody's therapist in this episode
is so cute. I
loved this. I loved Nate and Dan and Nate,
like, giving him advice and coming in and saying
Serena, like, yeah, Dan's got girl trouble.
And the. Yeah.

Leif (26:51):
We immediately transition to Nate giving advice to Serena on
the Trip situation. Nate is definitely giving Dr.
Drew this episode. Ask Nate to point out a capital
of New York on a map, and he probably becomes Nate fused.
But ask him to navigate the treacherous waters of love
triangles and affairs with married people, and, you know,
it'll be smooth sailing.

Steve (27:10):
Yeah, I mean, he's. He's the Stephen Hawking
of illicit affairs.

Leif (27:16):
And with Nate's coaching,
Serena calls Trip to tell him that she won't be coming
over. Nate promises to keep Serena from making
a mistake until Trip leaves for Washington.

Steve (27:29):
He's such a fucking
creepy. I had a feeling you'd
be saying that. Aw,
Ma, I can't bang a teenager in my office,
uh, while I'm married before I know my
wife sucks.

Leif (27:45):
Trip's maid informs him that Anne Archbold
is at the house to see him off.

Steve (27:50):
Came Ann again.

Leif (27:51):
Couldn't afford her sagrade.

Steve (27:53):
Couldn't.

Leif (27:55):
Those damn unions. Dan goes
to Vanessa's dorm room to apologize about Morrissey
and asks her to help with the cabaret. Dan
innocently lets slip that Olivia only signed them up
for the cabaret this morning and not weeks ago, like she told
Vanessa.

Steve (28:11):
Now, Dan wrote this play in, like, an hour,
right? And Blair gets
the script, opens it, and says, wow,
this isn't bad.
She just osmosis read
the script.

Leif (28:28):
Yeah, that hasn't happened yet, but not even.

Steve (28:30):
Oh, I thought that was right there.

Leif (28:32):
This is where Dan goes to Vanessa's.

Steve (28:34):
Oh, you're right. I'm sorry.

Leif (28:36):
So you get.

Steve (28:37):
Yeah.

Leif (28:37):
He recruits Vanessa. Uh, and he lets slip the.

Steve (28:40):
Not.

Leif (28:40):
You know, he had no reason to hide it, but he. Let's let the
Olivia only sign him up.

Steve (28:44):
Yeah.

Leif (28:45):
This morning.

Steve (28:45):
Yeah. Ah, to him, it was not a, uh, it was not an
issue because he. Yeah.

Leif (28:51):
Now, at the cafe, Dan gives Olivia, Blair, and the
Minions their scripts while explaining their adapted roles.
He also introduces the new director, Vanessa.
Uh, neither Blair nor Olivia are happy about this
last bit.

Steve (29:04):
So again, Dan writes this in an
hour. Blair reads it in, like, one round,
like, six seconds.
And then, and now we have Dan
catching the scheme and
scheming back with Vanessa.
And that tension between Vanessa and Olivia

(29:24):
just immediately.

Leif (29:26):
Well, yeah, so that comes up. So we go
to commercial there and I come back from commercial for Act
3. Olivia, ever the actress,
immediately covers for her disappointment. She plays it off as thinking
herself stupid for not asking V herself.
The ladies take veiled shots at each other.
Blair whispers to Dan the equivalent of, get
your, uh, ladies under control, bro. Yeah,

(29:49):
the two of them taking her extremely misogynistic speech.
Psychos.

Steve (29:54):
Oh, man. Uh, yeah,
Blair. It's
2009, Blair.
We don't blame women being irritated on their
periods. It's men.

Leif (30:13):
Uh, yeah, but Blair, the way she, like, slid up
behind Dan made me laugh.

Steve (30:17):
Blair, again, I really
liked just the directing of this
entire episode. Blair's
role in this episode, going from
being the always scheming and the plot is
always about her trying to get her way. In so many
of these episodes that was sidelined,
like, that was a secondary thing to just bring

(30:40):
this plot in. And her little
popping up moments are just
perfect in this episode. I didn't realize
that that was two separate scenes.
Uh, it blended for me. I guess I looked down
to take a note or something.

Leif (30:56):
And Damien is asking
Jenny about her life. And it seems like Jenny is
already bored with being queen. Damian
offers to help her spice up her life by
coming to his drug pickup later.

Steve (31:10):
Refill my boat. Sounds sexual.
Especially how, uh, he says it. He's like, I'm gonna meet someone else later
who's gonna refill my boat.

Leif (31:19):
Nate and Serena are having a little friends date of their own
by the same pond as before. Nate, ever
the gentleman, wipes some gelato from Serena's upper
lip and stops Serena from answering Trip's call.

Steve (31:31):
I really like Serenate. I really
feel Serenade. I feel like
they're. I feel like they're going to happen eventually.
But I honestly feel like they'd be a really good
couple because they're both just
fucking Labradors. See, you could just tie them
together.

Leif (31:49):
I think they would be good couple for a bit. But
because of their nature of the fact that anytime
anyone flirts with them, they're going to flirt back eventually. One
of them would cheat, right?

Steve (31:59):
You need to handcuff them together at all times. And then
they were the perfect couple. Like, never let them leave
each other's side and they'll be in love with each
other forever. But you're right, the second one of them
is in the orbit of a handsome
person. They're going to immediately sploosh
and just go running after the new shiny.

Leif (32:21):
So they're at the same pond. Was Nate picking up some drugs while he
was there? Because
apparently this is a known spot. I, uh, mean, at least that's sort
of what I got from the later scene with Chuck. Cause he mentions,
like, when he found out they were at that pond, he knew something
was up. He searched their room. So apparently that's like a known
drug pickup spot. That's.

Steve (32:41):
That's a really good way. Now,
also, is that the same pond where he likes to take
Blair? Does he just really like to
double up on his. You know, he's just, uh, efficient
with his time.

Leif (32:53):
Yeah.

Steve (32:55):
I want to take you on a really sweet date. I just need to play with some
boats quick.

Leif (32:59):
At the rehearsal, things are starting to unravel as
Olivia and Vanessa's shots are becoming less
veiled. Everyone quickly figures out that they
had a threesome. Blair also points out that the third
person is always a stranger. And Gossip Girl has some
advice for Dan as well.
Uh, oh, playwright, better whip out your pen.

(33:21):
Looks like this cabaret just became a one man show.

Steve (33:26):
Vanessa was being an asshole. And
I feel like Vanessa is not fighting about
Dan as much as the fighting
about lying to me this morning and
lying about this thing that you put together.
That was just more my impression. But I still felt like Vanessa was
being an asshole and, like the boxing her out.

(33:46):
But then the other thing about this scene,
uh, I m. Don't think you said it yet. Did you
talk about the box out?

Leif (33:54):
Um, so that sort of happens here.
Um, yeah, the episode, definitely. I like how it
highlights the fact that people remember the same
event happening differently.

Steve (34:04):
Yes, yes. That Dan
earlier, in his imagination of it
with everything being just hot and everything
being the perfect threesome.
And then I really loved
the take of him, of her
shoving Olivia aside. Olivia

(34:25):
aside. It took me to Lizzie
McGuire, to the kind of cuts that
they would do on that show. And I almost felt like that
was an homage to Lizzie McGuire at
how slapstick and how quick that
cut was.

Leif (34:41):
Possibly. I've never seen that show, so I can't really say
the other thing. Is I on the scene? Uh, yet another
person knows that Vanessa is just in love with
Dan.

Steve (34:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (34:54):
And we move into Act 4.
As we return from the commercial, we get, uh, interposing scenes of
Blair separately blackmailing Olivia and Vanessa.
Episode director Tony Warmby uses some
clever screen cuts to get around the censors.

Steve (35:08):
Uh, in the previous scene, Dan says to Blair
that's fine. I'm going to go talk to her. Talk to them. And Blair
goes in which order? And his look
of just.

Leif (35:18):
Oh, shit, I don't know. Fuck. Exactly.

Steve (35:22):
Yeah. And Blair's like, exactly. Now I have
the. I have some women to bribe. And when you see
her in these fucking interrogation
chambers with the lights shining
on them and the cut between the two
scenes, uh, fucking Blair is
amazing.

Leif (35:40):
In this alternative chick. Abrams is literally
a star.
Nate and Serena are doing shots at the bar while
reminiscing about the shepherd winning and the events that
started it all. Nate steps away to take a call from
Trip, who just learned from Ann that Maureen was

(36:00):
responsible for the Hudson hero scheme.

Steve (36:04):
This was cute. Like Nate and Serena. And
it's so funny, their whole him
talking about the shepherd wedding, them talking about doing
first time being drunk together since then.
Then you get this Trip call and it's like
Nate gets this info and he's like, shit,
like he's spiraling. I've really got to

(36:26):
keep these two away from each other. This has just
gotten turned up a notch because the other. Because
Trip instantly is ready to just fucking pull the
ripcord on this marriage. It's like, man, she did
this thing. Wow. Now there's no way we could
ever be together again. Wow. She got me elected to
this office. I don't know if I can ever

(36:46):
look at her the same and I hear the
words you're saying, but it sounds like you're making
excuses to bang a teenager. It looks
sounds like you're trying to. Trying to end your
marriage because you want to bang a teenager just a little
bit.

Leif (37:02):
At a nightclub, Damian offers Jenny a chance to leave
or go to another table before the drug deal goes down.
However, Jenny declines the offer and
nervously agrees to stay.

Steve (37:13):
Jenny, you're not cut for this life.

Leif (37:15):
It's exciting. It's
exciting.

Steve (37:18):
Jenny, you're, uh. This is not.
This is dumb. Jenny, you're being dumb. And
again, like with the writing of this episode,
Jenny is being really dumb in a way that Jenny would
be dumb. Like it really captures the
flaws of these characters. In this
episode, it looks like the.

Leif (37:38):
Cabaret night has begun and we are seeing a glimpse of
Will Weinstein's play. Blair
assures Dan that Vanessa and Olivia will show up, which
they immediately do.

Steve (37:48):
The sexual Little Red Riding
Hood is again
so college theater. It is exactly what
college kids would do if they were trying to put on a grown
up version of a fairy tale show.
I loved it. I really loved how
it just took me back to Being

(38:08):
a college kid and being a super cringy
theater kid, this scene did.

Leif (38:13):
This is like kind of the one knock from the
directing. The fact Dan's like, wondering where
Olivia and Vanessa are, but, like, you can literally see
Vanessa walking in in the background as he's saying that.
Give a little pause. Give it a moment to breathe.

Steve (38:28):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (38:29):
But I guess they had to get that stupid Rufus joke in about
not knowing about gonorrhea.

Steve (38:34):
Yeah, they needed the extra second
for the gonorrhea joke. Otherwise Blair
could have taken, you know, a minute to read the
script.

Leif (38:46):
Dan is glad Olivia showed up. Olivia mentions
that Blair didn't give her a choice and also admits that
it wasn't so much Vanessa that she had been worried about.
She was more worried about how Dan looked at Vanessa and
kissed her during the threesome. And it sounds like
Gossip Girl agrees.
Hey, Prince Charming. Looks like it's time for you to

(39:08):
look in this enchanted mirror.

Steve (39:11):
Olivia, first of all, this is all your fault.
You started this threesome.

Leif (39:15):
Mhm.

Steve (39:16):
Olivia, you're the one who has a problem here.
Dan is telling you, I'm not into
Vanessa, I'm into you. Now
let's look back at the fact that,
yes, there's probably feelings there.
There's definitely history there. Do we know if they've
banged Vanessa and Dan
prior to this?

Leif (39:36):
No. Because he was a virgin and season one.

Steve (39:39):
You're right. With Serena, you're right. But we do know that
there was history. Olivia can't
accept when he says, no,
I'm with you. And no matter what you
saw with the. You kissed her like you never kissed me.
You don't know that. And you don't know what that means.
And so you're putting all of this

(39:59):
stuff on this relationship
and making it a problem instead of being like,
well, we banged his friend, let's move
on and just let them be friends. Because
Dan isn't going after Vanessa right
now. Dan's just going. Trying to have his friends
still.

Leif (40:17):
And also, this is like, probably my biggest
complaint about this episode. And, uh, it's probably
just because they didn't have Hillary Duff anymore after
this, so they had to get her out quick.
But, like, her whole big thing was
she was so, like, into the school, like,
you know, getting this time off from, you know, acting to go to

(40:37):
school.

Steve (40:38):
Yeah.

Leif (40:38):
And she immediately gives it up because she.

Steve (40:41):
Over a boy.

Leif (40:42):
Yeah.

Steve (40:43):
Yeah. You. You could also just break up.

Leif (40:45):
Yeah.

Steve (40:46):
And you could also. If you're worried about rooming with
Vanessa, I bet you've got the Clout to find a different
room, too.

Leif (40:52):
Or just renting that off.

Steve (40:54):
Or rent an apartment. Moving with Nate because, uh,
apparently you can really get quick to.
Even though he's.

Leif (41:01):
Well, Nate's living with Chuck.

Steve (41:02):
Chuck's with. Yeah, I forgot. It's funny because when
Serena went to Nate, it looked like
Nate's. It reminded me of the apartment that
Nate rented for him and Blair
last season.

Leif (41:14):
M. That's why I was thinking that Act
5 begins. The lady Gaga Snow White
cabaret show is here. And our earbuds
are treated to awkward white boy rap and cringe
Faux pop star singing.

Steve (41:29):
Yeah, Olivia sucked in this
play. Yes. Could you imagine being.

Leif (41:34):
Well, Dan sucked, too.

Steve (41:37):
Dan sucked, too. But Dan's not an actor. Right.
Dan's not trying to be an actor. He's a writer who
got put into the role of acting.

Leif (41:45):
And in fact, it's canon that his
acting is bad.

Steve (41:48):
Yes. It was really good
acting of Penn Badgley.
It's sort of like singing out of time or singing out a
key. It's hard to do
if you know how to do it well. M. So it was really
good acting of Penn Badgley to make Dan a terrible
actor. Olivia looked like a
lazy actor.

Leif (42:09):
Yeah.

Steve (42:10):
You know, like, she was upset and didn't want to put anything into
it. And I just kept thinking, like, imagine
being one of these theater kids, and it's like, wow, this movie
star is doing this play here,
and I'm better than that. I
could do that. I like that
they gave her a chance to sing, too. We know you like to sing,

(42:30):
Hillary. But they didn't even let her. Like, it was really bad.
Yeah, it was like, it was flat. Right. It
was in key, but it just had nothing behind it.

Leif (42:40):
At the club, Jenny is literally right in the
middle of a drug deal when she is saved by Chuck, of all
people. Jenny says Chuck is overreacting,
but, dude, he's Chuck Bass. And even Europeans must
know what that means. Chuck
escorts Jenny out of the club.

Steve (42:56):
I loved that. I'm Chuck Bass.
Even Europeans should know what that means.
I love how
I believe his first time saying that
was poison ivy when
they're interviewing him. Why should we let you go to this school?
I'm Chuck Bass, and I love how that

(43:17):
has grown to now be an international
phrase, that if you step foot in New York,
you understand what I'm Chuck Bass means.

Leif (43:27):
Dan gets to show off more of his beat poetry, and
then Vance, because Olivia is nowhere to be found.
Blair shows Vanessa out on stage, who says she is, uh, a post
Plastic surgery. Snow White.

Steve (43:38):
Yeah, that was funny.

Leif (43:40):
Speaking of second. Becky's.

Steve (43:41):
Yes.

Leif (43:46):
@ the bar, Nate and Serena are still drinking and Nate
admits that he tried to tell Serena that he loved her two
years ago at the masquerade ball. They are about to
kiss when they are interrupted by Trip.

Steve (43:58):
Serena, you loved me. It's
like instant, like snake.

Leif (44:03):
They just both can't help themselves.

Steve (44:05):
Yeah, yeah. It's like somebody loves me, dad.
And then when Trip comes in, he's like, oh, am
I interrupting something? Yes. You, uh, are.
Yes.
You are married. Congressman.
Why don't you go your own way and find an
age appropriate. Not intern to go back

(44:27):
get a.

Leif (44:28):
Hooker like every other politician.

Steve (44:29):
Yeah. Come on. Yeah.
Fucking yeah. Uh, how
indignant he was, how offended he
was that Nate was out with the teenager he
wants to bang.

Leif (44:43):
Yeah. In the final scene of Dan's
play, Vanessa is lying asleep on the couch and everyone
cheers for Dan to kiss her. He finally does
so and flashes back from the to the kiss from the
threesome gossip. Um, girl ends the act with
Snow White lives. But are Dan and Olivia
dead?

Steve (45:04):
I didn't love. I feel like they
accomplished what they were going for. I don't love that that's what they were
going for. I would have rather seen Dan
kiss Vanessa and be like, yeah, nothing,
you know, like no, I'm not. But to have it actually
linger and there's feelings there. And again, like you said,
Hillary's gone. This is the

(45:25):
pro. The next sort of phase sort of thing. I
didn't love. That's the direction that they went. I thought it was well
done for what they were going for. Yeah.
I also liked that this.
We had pariah Dan from
Constance or from
the other one, the Knox, St. Jude's from St. Jude's who
nobody knew. And then we have this popular

(45:48):
guy. And now Dan is further
establishing his NYU
kingdom as he is now
impressed the Tisch School of the Arts. Mhm.

Leif (45:59):
As has Blair.

Steve (46:00):
I like that Blair didn't need Gaga to
impress them and that she did it on her own
before bringing about Gaga.

Leif (46:09):
They move into the epilogue. Dan and Blair are
accepting congratulations from Paul, but Blair has
a surprise for everyone. The lights are turned
down and Blair takes a vote of Candle and tells everyone
to follow her. At the bar,
Serena is sitting between Trip and Nate.
Trip is telling them that he is looking at Maureen

(46:29):
and his marriage in a different light. He then asks
Serena to take a walk with him. Nate tries to hold
her back, telling her that if they go together now,
she's going to cross a line with the married man.
Serena's response. That line just got a little
blurry.

Steve (46:44):
Yeah. Again, Trip making excuses to bang a teenager.
Here's another piece of directing that
was just blink and you miss
it when Trip says, I don't want to be
alone. Nate has this look.
Nate, like, rolls his eyes in the
background. You barely see it. But it was

(47:04):
just like Nate's performance in this whole
scene is just perfect reactions to
everything going on.

Leif (47:11):
I'll, uh, roll my eyes right there with you, Nate.

Steve (47:14):
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because the line isn't
blurry, Serena. He's a predator. Another
predator. He's another predator
preying on you. How many predators has
she had so far? Gabriel,
Aaron.

Leif (47:30):
Everyone except for Dan and Nate.

Steve (47:31):
Everyone except for Dan and Nate. Jesus,
Serena, you have a type, and it's predatory.

Leif (47:38):
Blair leads everyone back into the theater and lets Paul
know that the song Poker Face is actually about
Cyrus Rose. And with this proclamation,
it's revealed that Lady Gaga herself is here
for a private concert.

Steve (47:51):
I fucking love that song. I loved her
coming in and doing a Lady Gaga cameo performance.
That was fantastic. I love that. Poker Face is
about Cyrus. Yeah,
they were old college buddies. Uh,
I loved that. I love this whole scene.

Leif (48:09):
A couple. Couple of notes on it. Uh, did you notice the
guy standing behind Paul with the
glasses?

Steve (48:15):
No.

Leif (48:16):
It looked like it could be, like, Woody Harrelson's illegitimate
son. Yeah. So
Lady Gaga was a big fan of Gossip Girl,
and she essentially allowed them to film her dress
rehearsal.

Steve (48:28):
Oh, that's cool.

Leif (48:29):
She had a concert the next night.

Steve (48:31):
Oh. And she was like, hey, so why don't you guys come by,
bring some of your people, and I'll let you film this and
I'll be on here. That's awesome.

Leif (48:39):
And as mentioned in the episode, she is alumnus of the
Tisch program at nyu.

Steve (48:43):
Yes. Yeah. And I was pretty sure
that was true. Right?

Leif (48:47):
Yeah.

Steve (48:48):
Yeah. She's one of those musicians that
I didn't really understand at first, and then I remember
hearing Bad Romance and being like, wow, this is, like,
really well put together. And
the way that she just kind of got
onto my radar back then was
she's not the type of music that I listened to.

(49:10):
But I, uh, was dating someone who
basically shit on Lady Gaga and was
saying about these pop stars, and
they can't play music and they can't write their own music, and they can't
play instruments. And I was like, started pulling out the
receipts. Here's Lady Gaga playing her
songs, playing acoustic versions of her song on
A piano. And then. Did you know her

(49:33):
name, Lady Gaga was named from
this song, Radio Gaga by
Talking Heads. And I think the lady maybe
came from Lady Antebellum. It was
Lady Something that inspired the
first part.

Leif (49:49):
Yeah. Uh, yeah. She's very much a modern
David Bowie.

Steve (49:53):
Yes. When that clicked for me,
when I made that comparison, it really
changed how I viewed her.
Although her latest song, she performed something on
something recently, and I was like, ooh, Lady Gaga.
Oh, no, that was Lizzo. Never mind.

Leif (50:11):
That's. Yeah, that's a big difference.

Steve (50:12):
That's a very big difference.
Lizzo was on Saturday Night Live, and we watched that
episode, and I was like, whoa, what happened to Lizzo?
I don't know why my brain made it Lady Gaga
for that second, but.

Leif (50:30):
Olivia shows up and apologizes to Dan for
bailing on the show, but she wanted him to kiss Vanessa
again so he would realize his feelings for her.
Olivia says she is going to take the witch movie and she'll be
back in the fall. Vanessa also walks up
and apologizes to Olivia, stating that her feelings for
Dan are completely platonic. But that Paul
guy wants the bone.

Steve (50:51):
Olivia overreacted
and left school because of a boy,
which. You're an idiot. Yeah, Vanessa was the
grownup. Vanessa came up and was like, look,
we were stupid. I'm, um. I'm sorry. I'm going
to go bone that guy.

Leif (51:07):
Chuck is returning Jenny to the penthouse while lecturing
her on the dangers of getting involved with Euro dealers.

Steve (51:14):
Ever since the first time I saw you, I knew this. You know,
that time I tried to sexually assault you on a roof?
I knew you had that gumption.
Maybe.
Maybe don't bring that up. Chuck,
you've been so good this. This whole season,
and so not, let's just say,
rapey this whole season.

(51:35):
Let's not reflect back to earlier
times.

Leif (51:40):
Serena and Trip are alone in his home office, and they
begin to snag each other.

Steve (51:45):
So gross. Just go. Right.
I'm just. Let's just go right to work and bone.
So fucking gross. I really do
hope this ruins his career as
a representative. I really hope this comes
out.

Leif (52:03):
You would, um, hope so.

Steve (52:04):
Uh, yeah, I. God damn it.

Leif (52:09):
Even if they were the same age and he wasn't married, it would still be
inappropriate.

Steve (52:13):
Yeah.

Leif (52:13):
Because he's their boss.

Steve (52:14):
Uh, yes.

Leif (52:15):
It's got three huge,
glaring red flag.

Steve (52:19):
Yes. Yeah. It's.

Leif (52:21):
Gossip Girl begins her closing monologue with.
Sometimes it's after the curtains close
that the real reckonings come. And we see
Jenny text Damien that she Wants to hang out again.
Damien gets the text and smiles.

Steve (52:36):
Really, Jenny? You want to be a drug dealer now? That's.
That's how you want to be queen? You want to deal drugs, Jenny?

Leif (52:41):
Well, she's over being queen now,
idiot.

Steve (52:45):
So you're going to deal E. Start with pot, Jenny.
Start small. Work with Chuck. He
can. Like. Let's not start. Let's not jump
right to international ecstasy chain.

Leif (52:57):
Yeah. She needs some excitement.

Steve (52:59):
She needs some excitement.

Leif (53:00):
No one's lit her stuff on fire in over
a year.

Steve (53:04):
Yeah.

Leif (53:06):
And then Gossip Girl continues, whether it's
about who we wish we were or who we wish we could
be. And Nate is sitting alone at the bar.

Steve (53:16):
Poor Nate. Yeah, you should have
gotten the lay there, Nate. You put in all the
work. Serena was right there for it.
And then cockblocked by your cousin.

Leif (53:27):
I mean, I wouldn't put it that.

Steve (53:28):
Way, but, yeah, I know
I was being sexist, and I
apologize.

Leif (53:36):
As we switch back to the private concert, we
see Dan looking longingly at Vanessa, and Gossip
Girl asks, or who we want. But
it's Gaga, not Gossip Girl, who closes the
episode.

Steve (53:49):
Yeah. And we also see V in the background flirting
with Paul again. And
good for V. Go get some.

Leif (53:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Good. And then
the full quote from, um, Gossip Girl is,
sometimes it's after the curtains close that the real reckonings
come. Whether it's about who we wish we were or who
we wish we could be or who we want.
That is our episode. What is coming next?

Steve (54:19):
Dan is going to realize his feelings for
Vanessa, and
there's going to be another Paul, Vanessa love
triangle thing that's going to end up with Dan and Vanessa
banging again or doing something for a little bit.
Dan and Blair both got in. I'm waiting for a Dan and
Blair thing because they're. Because I've said for
a while now that they have chemistry. And here they

(54:42):
had a lot of scene work together.
I think that that could build for a while. Vanessa's
not available. Go for Blair. But Blair and
Chuck are still kind of aces right now.

Leif (54:54):
But speaking of Chuck, what do you feel about
him rescuing Jenny?

Steve (54:59):
I liked the big brother Ness of it. I felt he
was being very big brotherly. I didn't
find it to be flirty.
I would hope it's not.

Leif (55:10):
But again, he referenced.

Steve (55:12):
He does reference that first night he met her.

Leif (55:14):
Yeah.

Steve (55:16):
But, uh, I felt like that was a.
I know you have this wild side.

Leif (55:21):
Yeah. I feel like the writers, though, are. You know, we mentioned
earlier in the season, Jenny was wearing the purple Outfits
and they had their little date to the movie premiere.
Yeah, the writers are definitely pointing to something.

Steve (55:33):
Yeah, I could see that. I can see that. And I
could see that being the thing that splits. I mean,
cheating with Jenny would be.
I mean, cheating with Jenny. Uh,
cheating with Serena is probably the only thing that would be worse.
And I don't think even Chuck would do that because
Chuck isn't Nate, who's going to go for the shiny.

(55:53):
But I do think that Jenny. That
I could see a Chuck Jenny thing
and, man, cheating with Jenny would
blow shit up.

Leif (56:04):
Uh, any other predictions?

Steve (56:07):
I'm hoping there's a Nate Serena. I'm hoping that Nate
gets in between this trip
Serena thing. I want the trip thing to end.
Uh, I always want Serena out of
relationships because they're always
terrible. It's another Eren. It's
another Gabriel.

Leif (56:27):
So Serena needs to be single and go to therapy.

Steve (56:30):
Yes. Yes. My God,
everyone on this show needs therapy but Serena.
And it really is, uh, again, it's the.
It's the daddy issues thing. It's all of these
older men that pay her any attention. She
is just going to throw
herself at them. And

(56:51):
again, very well written for the
character they've created, even though the character
is a fucking idiot.

Leif (56:59):
So let's get into some segments.
This week in Fandome, we jumped into the
Wayback Machine to visit the fan forums from
2009.
Hello there, Peabody.

Steve (57:12):
Here.

Leif (57:13):
And this is the wayback Machine for traveling through time.

Steve (57:16):
And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak,
Sherman. Hello.

Leif (57:20):
Goodbye. Most people really
like this episode.

Steve (57:24):
Yeah, yeah, I was on. I'm on board.
I really like this episode.

Leif (57:30):
And so fan forums, unlike the television without
pity poster episode threads like a
day, day and a half before the episode drops.
So there's a lot of like, like the first, like, page of
the thread is all, like, stuff before it actually came out. So
people were talking about, like, they talk about. They were
anticipating Lady Gaga. So that was known. They were
anticipating Kevin Sagers being on the

(57:53):
show. Who played Damien?

Steve (57:55):
Oh, is he someone. Has he been in other stuff?

Leif (57:58):
He's been in the. He's been an actor since he was six years old.

Steve (58:00):
Really? I don't recognize him.

Leif (58:02):
He was an air bud.

Steve (58:04):
I haven't seen air, but he's guest.

Leif (58:07):
On like every TV show ever.

Steve (58:08):
Wow. Yeah, I didn't recognize him.

Leif (58:11):
A lot of people are excited for Dan and Vanessa. Uh, a lot of people excited
for Nate and Serena. But now, against
the actual reactions, they love the
scandalous nature of Serena's storyline.

Steve (58:22):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (58:23):
It is exciting.

Steve (58:24):
It is an exciting scandal.

Leif (58:26):
Yeah. Not enough Chuck
facts.

Steve (58:29):
He was very minimal in this episode.
I think that they need to do that sometimes, though, because they
did it with Blair too. You know, she was more minimal. And
they have to do that because it does become the Chuck and
Blair show. Way too often.

Leif (58:45):
The play was cringe and not in a good way.

Steve (58:48):
Yeah. I mean, obviously I thought it was.

Leif (58:50):
Cringe in a good way.

Steve (58:51):
Yeah. I didn't mind it.

Leif (58:54):
They did not like it.

Steve (58:55):
Oh, okay. I thought it was fun.

Leif (58:57):
I thought it was written to be kind of campy and
cheesy.

Steve (59:00):
Yeah. I thought it fulfilled what it was going for.

Leif (59:03):
They love the Nate and Serena scenes.

Steve (59:06):
Yeah.

Leif (59:07):
And they liked how, uh, Dan and Vanessa panned out
and excited to see Dan pine.

Steve (59:13):
Okay.

Leif (59:14):
Beforehand, they were worried about it was going to be a
man centered triangle or, you know, the two girls are just
catty, which that did happen for a little bit, but now it's
going to be just. It looks like it's going to be Dan pining for Vanessa.

Steve (59:26):
And Dan has never really pined, has he? He's
always kind of gotten.

Leif (59:31):
Well, he's pining for Serena at the beginning of the series.

Steve (59:34):
Yeah. But like, for five minutes. Because then they. By the end of
the first episode, he's friends with her.

Leif (59:40):
Yeah. But as we know from you, people love to see
Penn Padgley pine.

Steve (59:47):
From me.

Leif (59:48):
And I had no memory of this being a thing, but
there were multiple Chuck and Jenny Shippers in the
thread.

Steve (59:55):
Wow.

Leif (59:56):
Which I find kind of gross. But, yeah, I find their
own.

Steve (59:59):
Yeah.

Leif (01:00:00):
Let's go ahead and get into episode
grade.
You went first last time, so I'm gonna go first this
time. I really liked all the individual
storylines. The one thing that kind of kept it from
being one of those top episodes is the storylines never
really pulled together at the end.

Steve (01:00:21):
No, they didn't.

Leif (01:00:21):
They're all separate. Also, I like the season one
callbacks, the fun directing with the quick
cuts and showing how people remember things
differently. And
the one thing I didn't really like was how they ended Olivia. It just
kind of seemed forced because she had to leave the show.
So I ended up giving it a B plus.

Steve (01:00:42):
I went A minus. I think that a
lot of what you said really
resonates. I think that one of the biggest pieces to
make it at A minus instead of an A is
that they didn't bring it together in the end like they so
often do so well. And
the trip and Serena stuff bothers me, but

(01:01:04):
on a different level. Not On a. Like, it's
fine. It's good tv. It's good storytelling,
even if it makes me cringe, you know? So,
yeah, I said a minus for this one,
which is the lowest grade we've given to an
episode. 10. They've both been solid A's
from both of us.

Leif (01:01:26):
Stockwatch going up. I
had Vanessa because she
looks like Dan is after her now. And she
also has Paul after her. And things are looking
up for Vanessa. Chuck, because he was a good
guy and yeah, he's building his business.
Blair because she finally impressed some people at

(01:01:46):
nyu. Paul because he got
to see his favorite artist Private
concert. And also I gave the grandfather
enough because he's now off the hook for that, uh,
Hudson hero scandal.

Steve (01:01:59):
Oh, that's a good point.

Leif (01:02:02):
Who do you got going up?

Steve (01:02:04):
A lot of the same. Vanessa, uh,
Blair and Chuck all going up
for basically the same reasons that you said.
I had Dan going up because even
though Dan loses out
on Olivia, I don't think that's going
to be bad for him in the long run. And Dan

(01:02:24):
did get this big bump with the Tish school,
these thinking applying to and has an in
with this crowd. So I actually, because of the success of
his play, gave him the bump. And then the final one that I
have going up was actually not the final, but
Damien. I had Damien going up
for getting the new friend

(01:02:44):
in Jenny, the new, uh, drug mule.
I'm also going to give grandfather the up on.
I'm going to buy on recommendation of
your. On your recommendation.

Leif (01:02:57):
So I had Dan as a neutral because he had
the professional success, but.

Steve (01:03:02):
The personal failure because
I don't.

Leif (01:03:08):
Because he didn't get Vanessa. He just
lost Olivia. Yeah, going down. I had
Olivia because, uh, she's
leaving school and lost her
boyfriend because of her own stupid
insistence on a threesome.

Steve (01:03:25):
Because of her fault.

Leif (01:03:26):
Yes. Serena going down because she's
going down.

Steve (01:03:32):
Trip.

Leif (01:03:32):
Cause.

Steve (01:03:33):
Yeah. Cause he's going down.

Leif (01:03:36):
Nate.

Steve (01:03:36):
Cause he's not.

Leif (01:03:39):
Even though he was great for most of the episode, uh, giving great advice,
at the end, he was left alone, so
he went down. Jenny going down
because she's doing some shady shit
now. And you gave Damien up. I gave him down
because I know the episode wanted us to think he's going up.
But I'm not going to give him up because he's now

(01:03:59):
in with a 16 year old girl.

Steve (01:04:01):
Fair. Fair. Who do you got?
Uh, again, pretty much the same.
Olivia, Serena, Tripp,
Nate, Jenny.

Leif (01:04:11):
Anyone else? That's it?

Steve (01:04:12):
No, that's it. Uh, Lillian, Rufus,
appropriately used for the day. Again,
I. But they stayed neutral for me
because they didn't do anything.

Leif (01:04:24):
So I'm moving over to best outfit.

Steve (01:04:27):
But here's the best outfits from the last
episode we see.

Leif (01:04:35):
I gave it to Blair's theater nerd get up.
The black beret with the black striped
belted jacket and the
comedy and drama neck band thing.

Steve (01:04:48):
It was perfect.

Leif (01:04:50):
The red heels, the ruby heels,
and she even broke her own rule and wore leggings
as pants.

Steve (01:04:57):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (01:05:00):
Who did you have?

Steve (01:05:01):
I gave it to Olivia's Snow White costume.

Leif (01:05:04):
The red dress?

Steve (01:05:05):
Yeah, the red dress. Gorgeous.
Uh, she looked like she was going to prom.

Leif (01:05:10):
Speaking of Reginald, I almost gave it to Lady Gaga.

Steve (01:05:13):
Uh. Oh, I. You know, I almost did
too. I think we should definitely mention the
shout out to Lady Gaga in there because I almost did as
well. But I. But she. I kind
of. The only reason I didn't was like,
I don't think that that was costume design
by Gossip Girl.

(01:05:33):
What's his name?

Leif (01:05:33):
Um, Eric Damon.

Steve (01:05:34):
Eric Damon. I don't think that was Eric Damon's doing. I think
that was Gossip or Gaga's people doing it.
And really, I know we've only mentioned it
like once before, but to me,
the outfit, I try to keep
Eric Damon in mind a little bit from all the
great work that he has done on this show.

(01:05:56):
And so I wanted it to go to somebody from the
show.

Leif (01:05:59):
So that is it for segments. You got anything to
plug this week?

Steve (01:06:04):
I am just in a
40k rabbit hole rate lately, so nothing
other than just nerd stuff
that I do.

Leif (01:06:13):
Yeah, I know.

Steve (01:06:14):
Uh, yeah, but if you want to find me on my
socials, it is Steve
Marshon. M M A R C H I O
N I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok.
I'm also on Bluesky Hed
Wizard. So go ahead and find
me. Follow me in any of the places you want to
do that.

Leif (01:06:34):
Well, for me, go. If you haven't already,
go watch the final season of you and then hop
on Blue sky or Threads and talk to
me about it. Uh, where you can find me
hotcapicola. H O T C A
P I C O L A so that's
on bluesky Instagram and threads and you can

(01:06:55):
follow the podcast Unjudging
breakfastpod on Instagram, threads
and TikTok. And you can also
find links to our discord, Patreon,
etc. On our website
nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com
and if you.

Steve (01:07:13):
Would like to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear what you have to
say. Please send us an email at
non judging breakfast
podmail.com we'd
love to hear your thoughts. We'd love to read what you have to say
here on our podcast and we'd
just love to be in touch while you're at it
and while you're listening. If you could go ahead and hit that

(01:07:35):
like button, hit the subscribe and leave us a comment
because that really helps with our visibility with Spotify and
Apple podcasts. And we would
love to to have you also spread
the word to your friends, let people know what you're
listening to and make us the water cooler talk
next week when you are all gathering at work.

Leif (01:07:56):
And next week we will be back to Talk about
Season 3, Episode 11,
the Treasure of Serena Madre.
The Max episode description reads
thanksgiving on the Upper east side means major drama.

Steve (01:08:13):
Oh, another Thanksgiving episode. Yep.
Excellent.

Leif (01:08:17):
Uh, Thanksgiving is the big holiday for Gossip Girl.

Steve (01:08:20):
Yeah, yeah, always is. So.
Which makes sense for a TV show because they're usually
on break at Christmas and that usually
happens like right around Thanksgiving,
so. Not that everyone doesn't do a Christmas episode.

Leif (01:08:35):
Well, uh, until next time, you know you love us.

Steve (01:08:38):
XOXO Every time you walk away
run away you take a piece of me you 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

(01:08:59):
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

(01:09:22):
of me with you there
um 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

(01:09:44):
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 meat with you there
every time you walk away or run away you take a

(01:10:06):
piece of me with you there
Every time you walk away or run away you take a
piece of me with you there.
Come back to me.
Smile and you'll make my life
complete

(01:10:29):
every time you walk away or run away you take a piece
Every time you walk away or run away? You take a
every time you walk away or run away? You take a

(01:10:51):
piece of me with with you there
every time you walk away or run away and take a piece
every time you walk away or run away? You take a

(01:11:14):
piece of me m you with you there.

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S3E10 - "The Last Days of the Disco Stick"

Episode Transcript

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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;}S3E10 - "The Last Days of the Disco Stick"