S3E11 - "The Treasure of Serena Madre" - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve (00:00):
They've established he's 26.

Leif (00:01):
I. Mhm. Also that they've known
each other forever.

Steve (00:05):
Yeah. Which means that once. Oh my God,
it's the camp counselor all over again.
Like oh my God.
Yeah. Because she's. They have established that. So
like she was like he was 16 and she was fucking
8 years old.

Leif (00:21):
Yeah.

Steve (00:22):
And you all you disgusting fucking
creeps.

Leif (00:26):
So bad.

Steve (00:27):
Oh, uh, yeah. It's Marius
and Cosette from Les Miserables, you
creep.

Leif (00:41):
Hey, up residers 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. M. My
name is Leif and I'm your seasoned Gossip Girl veteran.

Steve (00:55):
And I'm Steve, the newbie, the greenhorn,
the. I don't know, Leif. We're in season three. What am
I now?

Leif (01:02):
I don't know. But by the way, how do you find having a sibling,
someone whose sole purpose on earth is to compete for your parents
love and attention?

Steve (01:09):
Come on, Leaf. You know my dad doesn't love me.
So here's the deal folks. Leaf has been
watching Gossip Girl since it first aired and I'm tuning in
for the very first time. And together we are your
dynamic duo, uh, bringing you all the drama,
romance, and sometimes questionable fashion
choices of this iconic 2007 series.

Leif (01:31):
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 fandom too,
because what's a deep dive without a little drama?

Steve (01:50):
And since we're all about inclusivity here at the non
judging breakfast pod, there is always room for
you at the non judging breakfast table. So go
ahead and grab some cranberry sauce or maybe
some pumpkin pie and let's get into this thing.

Leif (02:06):
We are well into May here. Memorial Day is
right around the corner and
we're gonna be talking some Gossip Girl.

Steve (02:14):
Yeah. Is there some yak life planned?
Are you guys, uh.

Leif (02:18):
Uh, there is, but I am not going this year.

Steve (02:20):
Oh, all right. Yeah, fair enough.
I'm also super excited that I just finished a
second DND campaign with our game
group.

Leif (02:29):
So congratulations.

Steve (02:31):
Thank you. That was fun. 1 uh through 20
mod, so. Well, it was 1 through 17.
Yeah, it was an adventure path and I. It was 1
through 17, but I boosted them to 20 and made a better
ending than what they had in the book, Bazango.

Leif (02:47):
All right, now that that's out of the way, we are here to talk
about season three, episode 11,
the Treasure of Serena Madre.

Steve (02:55):
Yeah.

Leif (02:56):
Original air date November 30,
2009 Thanksgiving episode
yeah, so we talked about, uh, last week we
actually watched a little bit of the movie that it's based on.
I was not a fan. Did you like it at all?

Steve (03:10):
I couldn't get into it. I was. I
also came into it kind of late. I did.

Leif (03:16):
You only missed, like, five minutes.

Steve (03:17):
Oh, okay. Yeah. I didn't know how much I missed of it.
I did love, uh, the
choreography of the fight scene
in the very beginning. It's so
bad. And, you know, it's one of those.
At the time, watching it in the
theater for the first time, it was probably.

(03:38):
People were probably clutching their pearls.

Leif (03:41):
But of course, as we're. We are
talking about the Treas of Sierra Madre, the
1948 film directed by John Houston.
It's a classic adventure film. Two rough and tumble
wanderers, Dobbs, played by Humphrey Boger, and
Curtin, played by Tim Holt, meet up with a
veteran prospector named Howard, played by

(04:01):
Walter Huston. In Mexico.
They head to the Sierra Madre mountains to find gold,
although they discovered treasure. And they also find
plenty of trouble. Not only ruthless bandits
lurking in the dangerous Mexican wilderness, but from their
own insecurities and greed, which
threatened to bring conflict at any moment.

Steve (04:22):
Yeah. Is Bogart a good actor
or is he a famous
actor? I haven't seen a lot of his work,
but I didn't feel like what I saw last week was a
huge stretch.

Leif (04:36):
I mean, acting was just different then.

Steve (04:38):
It was. Well, because it was and still is
about star power.

Leif (04:43):
I mean, he was the star of Casablanca.

Steve (04:46):
Right, Right. Which is the only thing I
really know him from. I believe I've seen
something else that he was in the. Was he
Maltese Falcon? I may have seen.

Leif (04:57):
Yeah, I believe he is also in that.

Steve (04:59):
Yeah. But, yeah, I don't really know
him to be a phenomenal actor.
But you're right. Um, for one, we also
talked about watching this, that it was still in that
phase where they weren't used to having a camera,
that they did so much stage
combat and stage acting for

(05:19):
the camera.

Leif (05:20):
So it's not so much that
this is kind of still in the transitionary
period when they went from silent
films to actually having
dialogue.

Steve (05:32):
So you needed bigger acting.

Leif (05:34):
Well, no, not just.

Steve (05:35):
They.

Leif (05:35):
They just forgot how to act because now they can
just talk.

Steve (05:39):
Yeah.

Leif (05:40):
So like acting kind of like, took a step back,
they could just talk and it's still sell it
100 times better than they could have with us.

Steve (05:48):
You know, with just the. With just the caption that would show
up. And it's funny because you think about
the. You think about those actors who
probably lost their jobs because when they
actually spoke, they sounded
ridiculous.

Leif (06:05):
A lot of them were. Yeah, a lot of them were farts. They had probably, you
know, bad accents and stuff.

Steve (06:10):
Yeah, yeah. I'm just thinking right now the
Phillies new left fielder, Max Kepler, who all the
ladies are just swooning over.
But when you hear him talk, he's. He
sounds like a 15 year old.

Leif (06:25):
This episode was written by a combination
of Robert hall and Joshua
Safran. Uh, Robert Hall's last
episode was 303 the Lost Boy.
And Joshua Safran last wrote, uh,
301 Reversals of Fortune.

Steve (06:41):
Yeah. And both long time writers on
this show work both, uh,
and kudos on this episode.
I really liked the writing.

Leif (06:52):
Directed by Mark Pisnarski, who's busy this
season. This is his third episode of the season. He also
did Dan de Floret and The Grandfather Part
2 Just a Couple episodes ago. Yeah, why
don't you go ahead and give us that Vulture recap?

Steve (07:07):
Having just watched the ubiquitous holiday movie
Love actually on our own Thanksgiving,
your daily intel editors were under the
impression that Christmas was the holiday on which people
told the truth about how they really felt.
But trust that eager young minx Gossip
Girl to get a jump on things.

(07:27):
In last night's episode, feelings spilled forth
from our cast of characters, like stuffing falling
from a turkey, all soft and mushy
and quite possibly full of bacteria.
As usual, circumstances conspired to throw
everyone together. And while distracting
autotune played in the background, several
key mother daughter pairs uneasily

(07:49):
bonded. While Vanessa and her mother had a
real heart to heart, Blair and Eleanor and
Lily and Cece each came to waspy
understandings of each other. Meanwhile,
on the romantic front doorman Vanya
pursued the love of Dorota across
various digital platforms.
Dan's love for Vanessa manifested in the form

(08:11):
of a new facial expression, one that managed
to impart equal parts longing
and the sense that he had just sharted.
And both Nate and Trip Vanderbilt summoned all
the passion of the Manchurian Candidate
while declaring their feelings for Serena.

Leif (08:32):
Uh, yes, holidays
on the Upper east side.

Steve (08:36):
My first read through, I actually laughed out loud at the sharded
thing. Not because they're making
a poop joke. Specifically but the
accuracy of that poop joke,
that look on his face.

Leif (08:52):
Yeah, that was definitely the worst part of this episode.

Steve (08:55):
Yeah, Dan, look like you love Vanessa.
Pen, act like you love her.

Leif (09:00):
Do I have to?

Steve (09:02):
It's Vanessa.

Leif (09:03):
She's horrible.

Steve (09:05):
Are we sure this is where we're going with this?

Leif (09:10):
Go ahead and get into it. Act one begins,
as always, with a Gossip Girl monologue.
Thanksgiving began when the pilgrims and
Indians came together to share the bountiful
harvest on the Upper east side. That
tradition is upheld with a bountiful
harvest of, uh, secrets, lies, and scandals.

(09:33):
The Vanderhumps are strategizing their first
united Thanksgiving. Serena will be working
with Trip and thus be absent. And even Scott gets
a name drop.

Steve (09:43):
Yeah. Uh, I was really excited for a
Thanksgiving episode,
Eric, right off the bat with the.
We don't really have any traditions. Serena's not going to be
joining us. Oh, I stand corrected.

Leif (10:00):
Yeah.

Steve (10:00):
And also a, uh, CC you can unplug.
Yeah. Really great whips. Right
from the start of this episode.

Leif (10:12):
Jenny and Eric step aside to set up a
video chat with Cece, and Jenny finally learns about
Eric's breakup. However, Eric is still not
forthcoming with the reason. Jenny tries to play
matchmaker and text Jonathan waving the white
flag.

Steve (10:28):
Yeah, Jenny.

Leif (10:30):
Jenny was being nice this episode.

Steve (10:31):
Yeah, Jenny was being nice.

Leif (10:32):
She was trying to play. She was trying to make peace.

Steve (10:34):
Yeah. And it's funny because I feel like had, uh,
Eric come clean earlier, that
she would have gotten over it earlier, that she would have gotten
over it quicker. Jenny recognizes game.

Leif (10:46):
Well, even now, she said, just apologize, and we can be
friends, though.

Steve (10:49):
Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny recognizes game.

Leif (10:54):
Yeah. Trip informs Serena that
he asked Maureen for a divorce, and it definitely
wasn't because of Serena. Serena tells him that
they can't do anything until after the divorce, but then
invites him to.

Steve (11:06):
Out.

Leif (11:06):
Uh, to her hotel room for all Thanksgiving.

Steve (11:09):
Yeah. Yeah, that.

Leif (11:11):
Of course.

Steve (11:11):
That makes so much sense.

Leif (11:12):
We can't do anything, but let's just hang alone in a hotel all
day.

Steve (11:16):
All day. Just the two of us alone.

Leif (11:18):
Yeah.

Steve (11:19):
Cuz, you know, and in a hotel room. Yeah, we. We are
in a room at your office, and we are
doing everything we possibly can to not
bang right here.
And you. Uh, yeah. But instead, we'll just hang out of my house.

Leif (11:34):
Oh, Serena, bless your heart.

Steve (11:36):
I was thinking of this on the way over. How
more and more, I'm recognizing how
tragic of a character Serena is
more than any of the others. Like, she
really is a sad
character. And I. I never
really put together the older Men and

(11:58):
the daddy issues.

Leif (11:59):
Well, they're definitely shining a light on it this
season.

Steve (12:02):
Yes, very much.

Leif (12:04):
That has definitely been a central theme of this season for Serena.

Steve (12:06):
Yeah. And. And
it's funny because it seems like.

Leif (12:11):
It'S coming to a head.

Steve (12:12):
It does. Well, yes. Especially now getting the
letter and. Which we'll get to, of course.
But I just really. As I was saying, I
don't think I ever really put together her
constant attraction to these older men, to
these daddy issues that she
has, as well as her

(12:33):
mom, who never really. Who only
shows her any appreciation if she's doing what her mom
wants her to do. So she doesn't have any
validation to. For much of anything other than
the way she looks from anybody.

Leif (12:48):
Even Dan, even though they're the same age.
He's someone that's accepting of her,
wants to take care of her.

Steve (12:54):
Yeah.

Leif (12:55):
And give her and nurture her and.

Steve (12:56):
Yeah. Uh, yeah.

Leif (12:57):
It's the same. Yeah. It's all tied back into her dad.

Steve (13:00):
It really is. And I wouldn't just say her
dad. I mean, it's her parents. That. The
way Lily treats her as well. It's just.
I mean, we were talking about.

Leif (13:13):
Sorry. Got a little something there.

Steve (13:18):
But, yeah, we were talking about Casey
and being like the Dread Pirate Roberts firing
people. And it's the same thing with Lillian kicking
Serena out of the house. Good job,
Serena. I'll see you in the morning. I'll probably
kick you out in the morning. Serena does the smallest thing,
and it's like, well, you're out now. Oh, there's. You
didn't put the cereal away out of my house. When you

(13:40):
learn how to put cereal away properly, you can come back here.

Leif (13:43):
Well, so technically, she was already not living there. She was living
at a hotel. Now she's no longer even welcome.

Steve (13:48):
Yeah. Now she can't even go there. Uh, and also, it was
the first. And I know we aren't here yet, but the first episode that
I realized she doesn't have a room
anymore, that they gave up her room,
which that is just. I realized
that Jenny moved in and needed a place. But
to give her her room. That's

(14:08):
insane to me. Of course, part of
that is me as a dad. When Bailey moved in with us full
time, it was still like, that is you and Jake's room,
because that is always going to be Jake's room, too. And that is
always going to be your room,
no matter where you are, where you live.
And I feel like there's a time when they're adults that yeah, we could

(14:29):
turn those rooms into something else, but 18 and
just get the fuck out so Jenny can move in.

Leif (14:35):
Yes. Uh, a slight defense to
Lily in this situation, because we're going to rip on her pretty
hard later this whole episode.
In her defense in this. This case, she does.
It's established. Because she redecorates constantly.

Steve (14:50):
Yes, I do know that. But redecorating
is one thing. Removing her daughter's space
is. Even though she was expected to go to Brown.
Why wouldn't you still have a place for your kid to
be, even if they're at school? And I get.
Also they have the money that she can stay
anywhere. She's staying at Chuck's, right? At the hotel?

Leif (15:10):
Yes.

Steve (15:11):
Yeah. So, like, she can stay fucking anywhere.
It's just I really
recognized how tragic Serena's life
actually is. Despite being this probably
billionaire, she has a tragic life.

Leif (15:25):
Yeah. Chuck and Blair are leaving the Empire
and talking about. Not talking about Serena.
Blair is currently much more focused on the imminent
return of Eleanor.

Steve (15:35):
Yeah, I've got bigger adversaries to face.
I do love Eleanor's return.
Fantastic to see her.

Leif (15:42):
Shame she couldn't bring Cyrus.

Steve (15:44):
Yeah, I was bummed that she couldn't bring Cyrus. I was
also a little bummed that Harold didn't come
too, because of how much Blair loves
Thanksgiving. This was a crowded
episode and it was a mother daughter episode.
But I know how much that means to Blair.
Also wanted to. When Serena

(16:05):
came up and Blair's like, I didn't realize the Empire had
hourly rates. So
fucking rude.

Leif (16:12):
Yeah.

Steve (16:13):
I do love that Blair recognizes not being a good
friend too, but we'll get there.

Leif (16:18):
And yeah, she was rude there at the beginning of her thing, but what she was
saying about Tripp was definitely facts.

Steve (16:23):
Spot on. 100%.
Everything everyone says to her the next.

Leif (16:29):
You know, six months, she's, you know, he's going to find another
blind coincidence.

Steve (16:33):
Yeah. Yeah. And
that's generous.
What, are they going on hiatus? Because I feel like this is
three episode art.

Leif (16:45):
Chuck and Blair then bump into Serena on
sidewalk and who is looking for Nate. But Blair gives
Serena for messing around with Tripp and rightfully
calls him out for being a creeper.

Steve (16:56):
Yep, 100. Blair, you were
dead on about what you said about trip.

Leif (17:01):
Nate and Dan are chatting on the phone and Dan is
explaining the breakup and how everything went down. Nate
just says, dear, uh, Penthouse.

Steve (17:14):
I also, once again, we have Chase Crawford being
funny, telling jokes. If this isn't your
next. If this isn't your next article in the New Yorker.
I'm going to submit it to someone to another magazine.
Yeah, it was fantastic. I love
the camaraderie.

Leif (17:31):
Yeah.

Steve (17:31):
And I love that they're back to full swing friends.
Nate and Chuck are full swing best friends again. I really
love all that.

Leif (17:37):
Oh, we gotta get them all three together somehow.

Steve (17:39):
Yeah, I'm hoping for that, actually.

Leif (17:43):
As the boys hang up, Serena shows up at Nate's and
Vanessa shows up at the loft. Serena wants to take a walk,
and Vanessa is looking for a place to stay for
the weekend. Dan is immediately awkward, but
agrees to let her stay.

Steve (17:56):
Yeah, this is the first. What's with the face?
With the Penn Love face.

Leif (18:02):
Now, did your college have to. Did you have to,
like, submit special form to stay over Thanksgiving?

Steve (18:07):
Yeah. Um, not Thanksgiving. Christmas,
yes, but not Thanksgiving. Oh, no.
Yeah. We had to be out for Thanksgiving.
Yeah. In fact, Jake. Jake had to leave at a certain
time and wasn't allowed back in, I.

Leif (18:21):
Guess, since Hawaii was an island.

Steve (18:22):
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Leif (18:25):
Good percentage of the population.

Steve (18:28):
Yeah.

Leif (18:28):
Staying for break.

Steve (18:29):
Yeah. They wouldn't be flying out, flying home
like that. But yeah, my. My college, definitely.
And I and Jake also had to be
out. Yes, they do allow
special circumstances, but only if
you live in California or you have special.
Extraordinary.

Leif (18:46):
Is that because, like, the cafeteria is closed and there's no. They don't have any
way to cook food or something.

Steve (18:50):
They shut the whole. The whole building down pretty
much. So they don't heat the building. They don't.
Yeah, they. Or at least they cut everything down to the bare
minimum. And. And because the RAs can't be
expected to be there.

Leif (19:03):
That's. The dwarves. And Hawaii had
zero H vac. Really
never got below, like, 70 degrees.

Steve (19:12):
Yeah. But it would get hot, though.

Leif (19:14):
We all had fans.

Steve (19:15):
Yeah. I would figure they'd have AC at least, but
no, because, you know, because you have fans. You just open the
windows. Everything just.

Leif (19:22):
So, uh, the first month and a half of school, so, like,
August and September, it's. It was pretty hot in
Honolulu. It was like, high 80s.

Steve (19:30):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (19:32):
But then once it got down and then once you got past, like,
September, it was basically between
65 and 75, all.

Steve (19:39):
Oh, nice. That's beautiful.
That's beautiful. But yeah, I think a big part of it was
also that the RAs couldn't be there,
too. And so there was probably some
legal work that goes into that too.

Leif (19:54):
Rufus and Eric are video chatting with Cece. She
hides her surprise at Lily, saying she wasn't healthy enough to
travel and says she will be there in Person. Uh.
Oh, Lily, you got some splaining
tutu.

Steve (20:07):
The look on Eric's face. The look of,
oh my God, what have we done on Eric's
face was amazing.
Do we know where Cece lives?

Leif (20:18):
I think California.

Steve (20:21):
And she just flew in in time for
Thanksgiving.

Leif (20:25):
Probably has her own private jet.

Steve (20:27):
Yeah.

Leif (20:27):
Or yeah, really has a friend.

Steve (20:30):
Yeah. Yeah, Exactly. Excuse me,
Mr. Bezos, can I borrow your jet? Probably
more like Warren Buffett. Probably. Excuse me, Mr.
Buffett, can I borrow your jet?

Leif (20:42):
At the Waldorfs, Dorota is ignoring texts, calls, and
tweets from Vanya. For some reason. Blair finds
an envelope from Eleanor's estate attorney, but
Eleanor pushes her off to the kitchen for tea.

Steve (20:54):
Nice to see Eleanor finally getting Eleanor
back. I forgot how much I
enjoy Margaret Collins.
Margot.

Leif (21:03):
Margaret.

Steve (21:04):
Margaret Collins work.

Leif (21:06):
She's a big part of all the Thanksgiving, uh,
episodes.

Steve (21:10):
Yes. Yeah. And brings
just such a great presence
and has such a great relationship with
Blair on screen. So I just. I'm always excited
for her to be in stuff like this.

Leif (21:24):
And so the name of the estate attorney,
Lionel Trippy, was a shout out to the west
Wing. Uh, he was the White House.

Steve (21:33):
The White House counsel. Yes.
Yeah, I remember that now that you mention it.

Leif (21:39):
Nate and Serena are talking in the park. Serena
admits to one kiss, but that it was a mistake.
Serena gets a call from Trip, who cancels on
their plans because Maureen is suspicious.
Serena invites Nate to Thanksgiving at her mom's place.

Steve (21:54):
So again, right now I'm supposed to believe that
Serena, at the end of the last episode,
left with Trip, went to. I forget if it
was his office or her home, but
they went someplace private and started making out.
And they want me to believe that was it.
That it was that one kiss. Then she was like, okay, well,
goodbye. Even though I was just out with my friend and

(22:17):
I'm clearly out for the night.

Leif (22:19):
That's what they're saying.

Steve (22:20):
Mm. Mhm. I don't believe it.

Leif (22:22):
I don't think they had sex.

Steve (22:24):
No, but I'm. But I'm sure some hand stuff took place.

Leif (22:27):
Possibly. Lily and Maureen bump
into each other on the street wearing the same coat. Lily
lets slip that Serena's lie about working
with Trip in the soup kitchen. Lily invites
Maureen and Trip to Thanksgiving, so Serena is forced
to spend some family time. Gossip Girl
brings us to the first commercial with this singer.

(22:51):
Uh, uh. Oh, uh. Looks like someone's small
Thanksgiving might just have a big problem.
May the Lord make us truly thankful for what we
are about to receive.

Steve (23:02):
So this is our first Commercial break. This Lily
scene where she drops the tea without knowing she's
spilling tea. You know, she just lays it
on. You get these two coats. It's like, oh, great way
to talk to each other. Which is a great setup
for later. And
Lily just so innocently, hey, I

(23:23):
want to see my daughter on Thanksgiving. Can
you and Trip come to Thanksgiving so that you can make sure
Serena's there? And Maureen just
getting this and processing this
info. Also, just this for
up until this first commercial break. This was such
a packed act one.

Leif (23:43):
You know, I love seeds.

Steve (23:45):
Yeah. Really good. Really witty. Really,
really quick. And just the pacing. Boom,
boom, boom. It just doesn't. It
didn't stop. And I really liked how it
paste that first break.

Leif (23:58):
We're starting to get. Get an idea of the guest list.

Steve (24:01):
Yes. Yeah. And the fact that the guest
list is going to keep growing and
there's.

Leif (24:07):
Going to be some conflicts.

Steve (24:09):
Yes.

Leif (24:10):
Obvious conflicts. Act two
begins. Dan and Vanessa are making pie at
the loft. Vanessa is ranting about her mom
and then comforts Dan on his breakup.
Dan, with an assist from Olivia, has gaslit
himself to think that he is in love with Vanessa.
However, Dan is saved by the doorbell as Gabrielle
is back in town on Dan's invitation.

(24:32):
Looks like the Abrams are coming to Thanksgiving as well.

Steve (24:36):
So first of all, Dan, stop being gross.
Just stop. Just let it go, Dan. Let
it go. Let it go. Fall back in love with Serena or something.
Just let it go.

Leif (24:46):
Or the Amalia girl. She's. She seemed.

Steve (24:48):
Or Amalia. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

Leif (24:50):
Or down.

Steve (24:52):
Uh, I know who you're talking about.

Leif (24:54):
The writer girl.

Steve (24:55):
Yeah, go for her. Yeah, go for
anyone. Anyone else, please,
Anybody. Also, this was
when I was like, holy. They got
everyone. Wait, did she
walk in? I don't think.

Leif (25:11):
Yes. Who?

Steve (25:12):
Gabriella? Yeah, when
she walked in, and I was like, they got
everyone for this. I was so
excited. And because all the moms are there.
All the moms are there. All of them, including
Cece. It's such a packed
episode that also is all
throughout laying the groundwork that everyone's together

(25:35):
in the end, which is what we've always said is our A
episode.

Leif (25:38):
Yeah. Trip is stalking Serena
at her hotel. He informs her that he and his wife are
coming to the Thanksgiving tomorrow. Serena says
Trip can't come to a room, but then stops the elevator and
starts making out with him. Serena.

Steve (25:53):
Serena.

Leif (25:53):
Mixed signals.

Steve (25:55):
And.
And. And Trip, you are so
creepy. Like, yeah, I'm stalking you.
That's not funny. It's not funny.
Congressman elect. I don't even think he's
sworn in yet, Congressman elect. That's not
funny to say. You're stalking a teenager, and
they're all like, oh, at least we get to spend time together

(26:15):
with your wife and their families.
And then when he's like, just. Just one last time.
Why is it one last time? If you're gonna leave your wife, why
can't Serena go to Washington with you? I mean, if you. If
Serena's the one for you. If Serena's who you
want to be with, why is it one last time?
Why can't she go with you to Washington?

Leif (26:35):
Serena. He's finding worse partner.

Steve (26:38):
Yeah. Um.

Leif (26:38):
Somehow, I know.

Steve (26:39):
Somehow, um, she's gonna end up with Christian Bale
from American Psych.

Leif (26:46):
I think that Aaron kind of already was that with this murder room.

Steve (26:51):
Okay, fair.

Leif (26:53):
Uh, still think Serena's lucky she got out of that relationship
alive and with.

Steve (26:58):
All of her toes.

Leif (27:01):
Blair's trying to figure out what's in the big envelope.
Blair guilt trips her mom into staying for Thanksgiving.
Also, it's good to know Dorota will get in on the action, too, because
she's working the party for time and a half.
Blair threatens calling the INS On Dorota
to get her to hand over Eleanor's bag, which contains
a pregnancy test.

Steve (27:21):
Uh, Dorota, you are a
fucking champion. The way she's like, uh,
I'll be working there Thanksgiving because
Ms. Lily offered me time and a half
with the direct look and
Eleanor's eye roll that went along with it.
It was just such a great little bit.

(27:42):
And, of course, the first time through. Not
the first time watching and with the pregnancy
test, and it's like, that's a weird thing for
Dorota to pick up for Eleanor.

Leif (27:54):
Yeah. Well, yeah.

Steve (27:56):
I. I'm. I'm. Yeah. Not making assumptions,
but I think Eleanor.

Leif (28:01):
Is someone who would have a Dorota go pick that
up for her.

Steve (28:05):
No, no, I do think so. I just also
don't see. I do not believe
her to want any more kids.

Leif (28:13):
Well, as, uh, Blair points out, I think it's a little
too late.

Steve (28:17):
Yeah. And that, too. And. Yeah,
that she closed her shop a long time ago.

Leif (28:24):
I think she mentioned something about a miracle.
Chuck tells Nate that his security caught Serena making
out with Trip in the, uh, elevator. Both,
uh, Chuck and Nate seem concerned with saving Serena
from making a mistake, but only Nate seems determined to
actually do something about it.

Steve (28:45):
I like that Chuck did the. You know. Chuck finds
out, goes to Nate, lets Nate know.
I like the whole conversation, too. Like, Your
cousin's gonna be a piece of shit to her. And, like,
someone needs to get through to her. And Chuck's point, though,
whoever's gonna go to her has to bring a sledgehammer because this is
Serena. And the. The more you tell

(29:06):
her she shouldn't do something, the more guaranteed she is
going to do the thing she shouldn't do.

Leif (29:10):
Got some rocks in her heads.

Steve (29:12):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (29:14):
Concrete and Act
3. Let the festivities
begin. Lily is shocked and less than thrilled that
CeCe is there. Dan, Vanessa and Gabriella
also arrive. CeCe lets Lily know that
the serious discussion is needed between them and
also between Lily and Rufus.

Steve (29:33):
Yeah, cece instantly has shit to stir when
she comes in. Uh, as. As to
be expected. I mean, cece's entire
job is to stir on this show.
And again, she's
not wrong. Season one, she was an
asshole. Season two,

(29:54):
she was right, but did it the wrong
way. And at this point, I think that she's actually
right and handling it better. So far,
it's Lily's business, but she's gonna know it and she's gonna
hound Lily to do the right thing,
which I'm sure she'll do. Also,
it's his job, Mom. Doorman is not

(30:16):
derogatory.
It's a job title.

Leif (30:27):
Vanessa and Gabrielle just. Just go back to Vermont and stay there
forever.

Steve (30:31):
Yes.

Leif (30:32):
Blair, Eleanor and Chuck are walking up to the building. It
looks like Blair is going to do all the trophy.
Is she pregnant Tests.

Steve (30:40):
Yeah. Trying to force Eleanor to drink.
Here, Carrie, here's the champagne. Yeah.

Leif (30:47):
And Chuck, continuing his good episode, he
remembers his girlfriend's mom's favorite champagne.

Steve (30:52):
Yes. Yeah. This season, Chuck.
The glow up of Chuck. This season,
I have loved who
he's grown into.

Leif (31:04):
Mm. Mhm.

Steve (31:05):
So far.

Leif (31:05):
Yep, so far. Blair
arrives and gets an icy greeting from
Serena. Chuck threatens to kick Serena
out of the Empire if she catches her playing
grabass in his elevator again.

Steve (31:20):
Yeah. Maureen coming in and instantly
dropping hints that she knows
and not. Yeah, that's totally not
awkward. And then she walks off to see Nate and they. And
Trip stays to talk to Serena. You
idiot, you. You. Both of you
are so dumb to think that you could pull
this off.

Leif (31:41):
Maureen confronts Nate and flat out asks if
Serena and Trip are having an affair. And Nate admits they
are and that he has an idea. When the scene cuts, it
looks like he's going to show her the, uh,
elevator footage on his phone.

Steve (31:55):
Yeah, Nate given the goods to Maureen.
Can't blame him. I'm, um, kind of team
Nate on this whole Thing that.

Leif (32:04):
Yes. And now he has ulterior
motives. Clearly.

Steve (32:08):
He does. He does.
I can't blame him for his ulterior
motives because. And here's why. If
Serena was like, they broke up.
It was done. And she still went
to Nate and was like, but I'm not into you either.
I think Nate would be like, okay.

(32:29):
I think Nate would accept that. So
I think that Nate was doing it to protect
Serena and to save
Serena for two reasons. To save Serena, to save
Serena, and to save Serena so he can be
Serena's savior.

Leif (32:45):
Yeah. I just think it would have come off better for was Chuck and
Nate or even just Chuck.

Steve (32:50):
I agree. Which Chuck, you know,
clearly, when we see it, isn't too happy about it.

Leif (32:55):
Yeah. Jenny pulls Blair aside
to find out what Eric did at cotillion. Uh, Blair admits m
that Eric is the one who came up with a plan to take down
Jenny.

Steve (33:05):
The choreography in this scene, when you just see
Blair go walking by, and then
instantly Jenny and Blair come, um, back around the
corner. That you just know that Blair walked around the corner,
got grabbed by the wrist, and hauled right back.
It was so quick and so
perfect. Blair was completely out of the shot

(33:26):
for a millisecond before they both came
barging back in. I thought that was so great.
And then we had Blair spill more tea. So
much tea spilled in this
episode.

Leif (33:38):
And it all comes up in this next scene.
What you say drops. Dinner begins,
and secrets and verbal daggers are coming out
in rapid fire. Lily didn't come home
until several months after CeCe went into remission.
Vanessa is embarrassed by her mom biting into other people's
business. Jenny calls Eric out for

(33:59):
cotillion. Eric fires back at her bland
sweet potatoes. Blair continues to offer
Eleanor foods from the banned for pregnant women list.
Maureen is disgusted by Serena and Trip and
pulls out the footage and says that the affair is over
or she goes public. At the end of it,
Rufus is obliviously tells dad jokes,

(34:19):
and CeCe raises her glass while cackling.

Steve (34:23):
So, yeah, this was a lot. There's a lot that happened
here.

Leif (34:26):
Yes.

Steve (34:27):
It was so good.
First of all, Rufus being annoyed with CeCe
doing CeCe shit. You. You invited her,
Rufus. You brought her here. This was your
doing. You know that Cici's a shit stirrer. So when
she sits next to you and starts stirring shit, don't be too surprised.
But also, Gabriela, mind your fucking business and shut your

(34:48):
fucking mouth. Especially at, uh, Thanksgiving in front of all these
people. Like, yeah, you're friends with Rufus. Call him later.
And see if he's okay. But then
the writing here, the writing and the directing, the way
that the dialogue is just tossed
around. This scene where you have.
Have it go from the Rufus

(35:09):
Cece. Uh, well, I keep calling her
Zoe. Gabriella with their
little bit. And then it kicks over to Dan and Vanessa, who.
Vanessa chimes into that, but then has her own thing.
And then they talk, and then they throw it to Jenny and Eric, and
then they have their barbs and Eric has the.
Do you have nothing to say? Your sweet potatoes

(35:31):
are bland. So great.
And honestly. And then Maureen spilling the tea
and Lily standing over their shoulder to catch the whole
thing. Just perfect. But all
the while, I'm thinking, I want to hear the goddamn
joke.

Leif (35:46):
That's what I call play with
rock.
And, uh, it's Cece just raising your glass and just
cackling.

Steve (35:57):
Yeah. So good. So.
And everybody else at the table just being like,
what the fuck just happened?

Leif (36:06):
So I'm glad we'll get into this a little more later, but
I'm glad my memory. When we get into this week in fandom,
I'm glad my memory was not completely wrong in this,
that this has become a very
iconic Gossip Girl scene. But during the
original run, it was not really seen that way.

Steve (36:23):
Oh.

Leif (36:24):
But like, now in its second and third runs
on streaming, it has definitely become extremely
popular. The scenes, you know, every Thanksgiving,
I see it, my social media feeds popping up. And there was
even, like, a Gossip Girl Thanksgiving TikTok
challenge where, like, you, like, showed yourself getting up from the
table with, like, a caption.

Steve (36:44):
A storm off.

Leif (36:44):
Yeah. With the song
by Jason DiRullio. What you say?
So. And this is, you know, and I. So it's
definitely become an iconic scene in Gossip Girl.
Jason derues. Whatcha say? Samples
Imogen Heaps. Hide and seek.

Steve (37:05):
Okay.

Leif (37:06):
Which was used in
the most iconic scene from the, uh, oc.
It was on snl and.

Steve (37:13):
Oh, okay.

Leif (37:16):
So that's kind of a weird coincidence.

Steve (37:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe not.

Leif (37:20):
I mean.

Steve (37:21):
Yeah, you know, it could be.

Leif (37:22):
Yeah. It's not that, like, witnesses, but it's amazing
that he was able to do it twice.

Steve (37:26):
Yeah. Because the other. The other thing I wanted to bring up in
that scene, though, because you just mentioned it. The storm
offs. I think it was first Blair and
then Jenny and then.
And then Vanessa and Eleanor
chases Blair. Gabriella doesn't
chase Vanessa. I loved it. The
storm offs were so good.

Leif (37:48):
And. Yeah. So another act break without a Gossip
Girl blast. We go into Act 4,
and Serena has followed Lily to Another
room who is furious at her daughter. Lily
says Serena is no longer welcome in her home until she ends
things with Trip.

Steve (38:04):
You're the worst fucking mom. But only to your own
kid. Any other kid that you are that is in your
circle, you'd be like, oh, that's really tragic.
Oh, you, uh, take them in and have a
conversation and guide them like you do with Blair,
like you do with Jenny. But when it's your kid, you're like, get the fuck out of
my house. While you're dating a congressman.

(38:24):
Get out. A married congressman. But,
like, you're kicking her out, like, all the fucking
time.

Leif (38:31):
Yeah. I mean, it's not the same as kicking out a normal
person.

Steve (38:34):
I was just, you know, it's. Get out of my head
because I was just about to say it's. It's
even more of a privilege to be like,
you're not welcome in my house. I'll put you up at a
hotel. I don't want you
to be my problem.

Leif (38:50):
I want to see you right now.

Steve (38:51):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (38:53):
Lily's basically what you're saying. I don't want to see you right, uh, now.

Steve (38:55):
Yes. And Lily's whole form of parenting is
I don't want to deal with it. If you're doing something I don't like. I'm going
to put you somewhere that I don't have to look at you.
She, that's Eric starts off in an institution after
trying to commit suicide, and she
doesn't want anything to do with him there.

Leif (39:12):
It's no surprise why Serena's always got to go. She learned it
right from Lily.

Steve (39:15):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yep. Uh,
something's wrong. I better leave. Because if I'm in trouble, I better
leave.

Leif (39:21):
Yep. Jenny tries to make peace with
Eric, but Eric just tells Jenny to watch her back.

Steve (39:28):
Yeah, Eric.

Leif (39:29):
Eric is being a bit of a shit this episode.

Steve (39:30):
Yeah. Eric, I'm not loving it. And I'm not loving this side of
you. You are the grown up on this
show. You are the conscience of this show.
For you to not be able to
make peace. And I get maybe even like, you
want me to apologize? Let's talk.
But also, you did screw her over.

Leif (39:51):
And then didn't even have the balls to admit it.

Steve (39:53):
And. Yeah. And didn't have. Yeah. And didn't even admit it.
So I don't like this side of you,
Eric.

Leif (40:00):
And say, yeah, Jonathan dumped him because of what
he become and now he's just doubling down on that.

Steve (40:05):
Yeah, he's leaning in.

Leif (40:07):
Blair is trying to eat a Whole pie to herself
in the lobby when Eleanor walks in. Eleanor
is not the one who is pregnant. She is just moving to
Paris full time. Blair apologizes to her
mother for acting crazy, and Vanya walks up trying to
figure out what he did to upset Dorota.
Blair and Eleanor have a simultaneous light bulb
moment.

Steve (40:28):
Adorable. I. I like that
Eleanor is moving to Paris at. Makes it.
Gives It. Makes it feel better than when she's not
around all the time. I do hope that that
doesn't mean that she won't come back more. I'm hoping that we'll
see her pop in more because we've
had to wait, what, 11 episodes to see her this year.

(40:48):
I also did the Dorota thing
is sweet. It's cute.

Leif (40:52):
Yeah. Gabrielle is concerned for
Rufus on, uh, why Lily was dishonest with him.
Rufus seems fine to just stick his head in the sand.

Steve (41:02):
Yeah.
And let him. At, uh, Thanksgiving right now with all
these people around.

Leif (41:06):
Yeah. At first it's like, okay, Rufus, you just beat
oblivious as normal. But then you realize he's just playing it
cool.

Steve (41:12):
Yeah.

Leif (41:13):
And so why are you keeping his business private?

Steve (41:15):
Yeah. So, like, text him later. Gabriella, stop
being so fucking nosy. If you want to ask
someone a bunch of questions about their life, why don't you try
Vanessa? She'd love it.

Leif (41:26):
Yeah. Despite Dan trying to
broker peace, Vanessa and her mom continue to fight. And it looks
like Gabriella's headed for the door. Yeah.

Steve (41:34):
She's such an asshole.

Leif (41:35):
Yeah.

Steve (41:36):
Yeah. And like, as much as I usually
can't stand Vanessa, I was team Vanessa in this the whole
time. Like, your mom is a. Is an asshole. Like, I
get why you're such a butthole,
and it's because of your mom.

Leif (41:50):
Serena gives a heartfelt apology to Maureen in
front of Trip, Chuck, and Nate. Pretty sure Nate went from
six to midnight when he heard Serena was ending things with Trip.

Steve (42:00):
Yeah. And Serena stood there and said, I
promise never to see Trip again. And,
you know, I bet she holds that promise.
I bet that she holds up that promise and
never sees Trip again.

Leif (42:12):
Mhm.

Steve (42:13):
Mhm.

Leif (42:14):
Go into Act 5. Blair finds
Serena in her old room, now Jenny's room. Our
leading ladies make up yet again. Let's hope it
lasts for more than five minutes this time.

Steve (42:25):
It's a nice makeup scene. And it's nice
that Blair recognizes that she was an asshole.
Not that she was wrong, that she was
handling it wrong. She was right
in her sentiment, but she was handling it wrong.
I also really liked that this gave
them a reason to go to the safe? Yeah,

(42:46):
when Blair said when? Yeah,
when they said, oh yeah, my passport's in the safe,
instantly I was like, oh, they're gonna find
the letter. Lily put the letter in the safe.

Leif (42:58):
Mhm. Rufus does things the right way and
waits to talk to Lily in private about her dishonesty.
Lily is explaining why she didn't come home when she is interrupted
by Cece, who calls her out on this lie as
well.

Steve (43:11):
Yeah, Lily is sitting here and we all
know she's lying right to Rufus's fucking
face. And then
cece comes in and again,
Cece's right. You can't hold secrets like this.
You can't go on a secret trip to see your ex
husband, which is my. Which is the only thing that makes

(43:31):
sense to me that Lily left to go
see. What's his name? William,
um, William Vanderwoodsen. So
that's what I. Where I think she went. But she's
sitting here lying. And I don't know if it was an innocent thing, I don't know
if it was an affair thing, but whatever it was,
she's lying to Rufus and

(43:52):
cece coming in and basically saying,
you can't have lies this big. And, um,
this is very consistent to Cece's character.
Cece has always been like, you can't have huge fucking
secrets in your relationship. When she started rooting
for these two, she was like, you can't
have these big secrets in your relationship.

(44:13):
And she's trying to kind of push Lily into having
to tell it, but she's not blowing it up the way she did in
the past.

Leif (44:20):
Eleanor and Blair forced Dorota to take a plate of food
down to Vanya and tell him that she is
pregnant. Dorota is worried because they aren't
married.

Steve (44:30):
Cute.

Leif (44:31):
Start the next Polish and Russian war.

Steve (44:33):
Yeah, Tom
Colicchio probably already sent him a plate.
Rufus is a good cook, but he's not top chef.

Leif (44:44):
Dan comes home to find Gabriella on her way out the
door. Dan gives a big speech about how great
Vanessa is, and Gabriella calls him out for being in love with
Vanessa, who then shows up.
Dan goes to his room to give them some alone time.

Steve (44:59):
I found this to be really manipulative of
Gabriella. I think that there was some sincerity
in it that she's sitting here talking to Dan and
recognizes for the first time he's showing
these feelings. Right.
But Dan is telling her something
very important and really

(45:19):
telling her, this is how you need to
fix your relationship with your daughter.
And instead of internalizing that.
Which she does, because we do recognize that
later. But her instant thing is, oh, you love my
daughter.

Leif (45:34):
Jokes aside, I think Dan
does love Vanessa. I don't think he's in love with
her. But they saw each other naked.
Things can get confusing.

Steve (45:45):
Yes. I
believe that Dan loves Vanessa as well. I believe
that Dan is confusing his
love of the best friend
for the love of the naked friend.

Leif (45:58):
Yeah.

Steve (45:59):
And I do feel this is going to come to them dating
again. And I personally feel like
the best solution to that will be them discovering that they're
just friends. That's what I would like to see. How I
would like to see this play out or even for Dan to
make the move. And, um, Vanessa be like, brah, you had your
chance. Whatever. I do,

(46:19):
I do agree with you that Dan
does have something going on
right now and is turmoiled by
his feelings for Vanessa in this moment.
I also think Gabriella deflected
instead of internalizing that information.

Leif (46:36):
Yeah.

Steve (46:36):
And I found that to be because of the way
that Dan was mid sentence. When you see the
expression on her face change that
it's right. Then she's already set
to change the subject from reconciling with
her daughter to putting this other shit on Daniel.

Leif (46:54):
And I think she recognized that, evidenced by her.
The next scene with them.

Steve (46:59):
Yes. Yes. At the same time, it also
really shows the history of
Gabriella and the Humphries.

Leif (47:06):
Yes.

Steve (47:07):
We really saw a lot of that in this episode.

Leif (47:10):
Trip yells at Nate for giving the footage to
Maureen before leaving. Chuck kind of calls Nate
out for stealing the footage, but he's cool about it because he knows
Nate is still in love with Serena.

Steve (47:21):
Nate and Chuck being besties. I love it. I
love that Chuck is clearly irritated.

Leif (47:26):
Yeah. But he's being a bro.

Steve (47:28):
Yeah, he's being a bro. And he gets it. And
I really like that. And he's being a bro.
But he's also laying out the business just like he did with
Serena and the congressman.
You play grab ass in my hotel again and you're out.
You're not staying here. I'm not having that shit here.
I'm not going to be Scandal Hotel. I will

(47:48):
have a speakeasy in it. And I do want to have
these horny parties.

Leif (47:54):
I think it was more a concern that he just pissed off that
they stopped the elevator. Maybe.

Steve (47:59):
Well, that too. Well. And I think that the political
scandal might bother him a little bit.

Leif (48:04):
Maybe not.

Steve (48:05):
Because that would be good publicity.

Leif (48:07):
Yeah. They care about politics.

Steve (48:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Don't stop my
elevator.

Leif (48:14):
Well, I Mean if it pisses off other customers, you know, trying,
right?

Steve (48:17):
No, it's a legit. Especially just to like make
out with the guy.

Leif (48:21):
Yeah. You got a room?

Steve (48:22):
Yeah. You have? Yeah. You're on your way to it.

Leif (48:25):
Blair and Serena are getting Serena's passport out of
Bart's safe Trip shows up and declares that all he
cares about is Serena. Blair tells Serena to go
for it. But before Serena can leave, she finds
the now open letter from Dr. Daddy addressed
to Serena. She tells Blair she needs to
be alone to read it.

Steve (48:45):
Trip, you dumb fuck. You dumb,
dumb, dumb fuck. You're not even sworn
in yet. Your political career is about
to end and all you have to do
is work shit out with your wife. Or at least
try go to fucking therapy.
No one would shame a congressman for working

(49:06):
shit out with their wife. But you're gonna lose.
You haven't been sworn in yet and you're going to get
blown up in your second
scandal and you're gonna explain to the press I'm
leaving my wife because she cheated on the campaign. And now
no reason.

Leif (49:22):
And now this blonde coincidence.

Steve (49:24):
Blonde? Yeah. This blonde coincidence, this
teenage blonde coincidence is just hanging out with me
that is almost a decade younger than me.
They've established she's 26, I believe. Mhm.
Yeah.

Leif (49:35):
Also that they've known each other forever.

Steve (49:38):
Yeah. Which means that once. Oh my God,
it's the camp counselor all over again.
Like, oh my God.
Yeah. Because she's. They have established that. So
like she was like he was 16 and she was fucking
8 years old.

Leif (49:54):
Yeah.

Steve (49:54):
And you all, you disgusting fucking
creeps.

Leif (49:58):
So bad.

Steve (49:59):
Oh, uh, yeah. It's fucking Marius
and Cosette from Les Miserables, you
fucking creep.

Leif (50:07):
On her way out the door, Serena tells Lily that she
is leaving with Trip, who is divorcing Maureen.
Serena hands her the letter and says, you never
get to judge me again.

Steve (50:17):
Mhm. Mhm. Serena taking those
shots. Good, because your mom deserves it right now.
You're an idiot. You're doing stupid shit. Like
I said, I think last week Serena is being incredibly
stupid and 100% in character.
So.

Leif (50:32):
And justify it because Lily's also being
stupid. Shit. In character.

Steve (50:36):
Yes. Yeah. They are both being
fucking ridiculous and 100% in character.
And it is right. That letter is
addressed to Serena.

Leif (50:46):
Yeah.

Steve (50:47):
That wasn't Lily's letter to hold from her
18 year old daughter from her adult child.
So Lily across this episode is just bad
fucking momming and wife.

Leif (50:59):
Yeah. So based on her
reaction and the you can't judge me does
that mean somewhere in this letter that her
dad sent to her that she talks about
banging Lily.

Steve (51:12):
I had that thought, too. Hey, your mom came to see me
this summer. I totally threw one in her while
she was hanging out here. Would you like details?
It was a warm summer night. We were both
sweaty. It's like unfold.
It's like this six page letter.
Why did she keep reading it?

(51:34):
The writing was on par with Dan Humphrey.

Leif (51:38):
And we move into the epilogue.
Gabriella thanks Dan for getting her to sit down and
talk with Vanessa. Uh, she advises Dan that he should be
sure before he tells Vanessa's feelings because
their friendship wouldn't survive another
breakup.

Steve (51:54):
And the retcon is now
solidified.

Leif (51:58):
Yeah.

Steve (51:58):
That she poured her heart out to
him before she left.
Whereas the first time we see Vanessa,
Dan, uh, told her he loved her
and then she left.

Leif (52:11):
Yeah.

Steve (52:12):
So this. This retcon is now finally.
They've hinted at it here and there, and now Gabrielle
is like when she poured her heart out to you.

Leif (52:20):
Yeah. So, yeah, this is Gabrielle kind of backtracking on what
she said earlier.

Steve (52:25):
Well, she makes a good point, though. You love her.
And I could see, like, the. Oh, you love her. And that sinking in within
being like, m. Are you sure or are you
gonna hurt her again? You can't hurt her like that.

Leif (52:36):
Well, now she's actually decided she cares about her daughter.

Steve (52:39):
Yeah.

Leif (52:40):
After one conversation.

Steve (52:41):
Yes.
Dan's point in that first conversation of, like, if you just
spend half the attention that you do on these random
strangers on your daughter.

Leif (52:52):
Yeah. She. She would.

Steve (52:53):
She'd love it.

Leif (52:54):
Yeah. And you would realize that you guys are more alike than you
think.

Steve (52:57):
Yeah. You're both self righteous, pretentious,
and super, super annoying.
Good job, mom.

Leif (53:05):
Nate catches Serena on the sidewalk and declares that he
has been in love with her for three years and begs her
not to go his trip. Serena is clearly torn.

Steve (53:15):
I was thinking there was a timeline trouble here, but maybe
not, because Serena says that
the letter was from. Was a. Was
addressed weeks ago. Nate says
ever since last week. But I guess that letter had been
sitting there waiting for Lily to get home for
a while. That makes sense. When I first watched it, I
was like, she said weeks, and then he said week.

(53:37):
But now I remember that it was in Lily's pile
of mail waiting for her when she got m. Home.

Leif (53:43):
Vanessa, uh, and Dan hug goodbye, and she
says that she thinks Shan's new face is cute.
Gossip Girl begins her end of episode
monologue. Another Thanksgiving has come and
gone. And what am I most thankful for
the truth. Sometimes it's the truth you've been
trying not to face or the truth they will change

(54:03):
your life.

Steve (54:05):
Vanessa, uh, like, has that flirty. I like this
new face. Oh, no.
It's gonna happen. They're all gonna fuck.

Leif (54:14):
Dorota tells a jubilant Vanya about
her pregnancy.

Steve (54:19):
Sweet. And we don't even see it. It's just like a nice.

Leif (54:21):
Yeah, you see it from afar.

Steve (54:23):
Yeah.

Leif (54:23):
And he just lifts her up and jumps around.

Steve (54:26):
Super excited, so cute and very happy
for them. I really need. Do need to go and watch
the YouTube series. You've watched it?

Leif (54:34):
Uh, yes. You know,
10 years, almost 20 years ago, when it's on.

Steve (54:40):
Right, Right. Is it worth the watch?

Leif (54:43):
Probably not.

Steve (54:44):
Probably not. Got it.

Leif (54:46):
Jenny and Eric give each other icy stares
as they pass each other in the hallway. Eric
text an unknown number. Jenny knows
we have to strike.

Steve (54:57):
Not loving this look on you, Eric. Not loving
it. You are always a better than this and
above this. I'm not loving this for you,
Mr.

Leif (55:06):
Two Face, as Jenny called him.

Steve (55:08):
Yeah, he is always, always
had the moral high ground on this show every,
uh, until now. And it's
a shame. I hope you get. I hope we get him
back to normal. He's too important. He's the
soul of the. Of. Especially of the
Vander Woodsons. Uh, he's

(55:28):
this sage.

Leif (55:29):
Gossip Girl continues. Sometimes
it's the truth that's a long time coming or the
truth you prayed would never see the light of day.
We see Lily briefly reading the letter when
Rufus calls out to her. Lily hides the letter in a
jacket pocket on the coat rack. Rufus is looking
for the wedding album to show off his jam with Kim and

(55:50):
Thurston of the Sonic use of the
Sonic Youths.

Steve (55:58):
And look, why are you reading the note right out here in
the open, you dumbass?
Then hide it in your jacket pocket. Great.
That's not. That's gonna end well.

Leif (56:09):
Chuck is leaving with Blair and Eleanor when he spots
Nate moping. Chuck asked permission to ditch
Blair and her mom to go comfort Nate. Gossip Girl
continues with some truths may not be
heard the way we hope they would. Jeff being
a good friend again and, you know, a good boyfriend asking permission.

Steve (56:26):
Yeah, uh, Chuck was just great here,
and Blair being like, I do mind, but I know you
have to. And being the good
girlfriend, the absolutely, you can
go do what you need with your friend and go take
care of your friend. Robin actually said,
I think it was around this part that if Chuck and
Blair break up, she's not going to be okay. And I was

(56:49):
like, ooh, there's no way they can make
it through this entire series together. There's no
way.

Leif (56:56):
Serena is in back of the limo with Trip, but not
looking like someone happy to be running away in love.
Gossip Girl says, But they linger
long after they've been said. This
scene was very, very
reminiscent of. Of last season when
she left with Aaron.

Steve (57:15):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (57:17):
Same shot. Seeing the limo, uh, with her, you know, hands
held, or the. The guy's hand on top of her hand.

Steve (57:23):
Yeah.

Leif (57:24):
Possessively holding her.

Steve (57:25):
Yeah.

Leif (57:25):
And her just looking miserable.

Steve (57:27):
Yeah. Like. Like she's made a huge
mistake. Yeah, it is. This
is the second time we're seeing this same
behavior from her.

Leif (57:38):
Maureen comes back to the penthouse to get her coat.
On the elevator, she noticed the letter from the jacket
pocket. Gossip Girl brings us home with. But the
kind of truth I'm most thankful for. The one you
never see coming that falls right into your lap.
Xo xo Gossip Girl. And the
episode closes with the elevator doors closing on
a grinning Maureen.

Steve (58:01):
That last shot was
fucking amazing. The fourth wall break when
she's looking at the note, and she just looks up, and she
looks right at the camera and has that
grin as the elevator closes.
Masterful. Masterful. It
was so good.

Leif (58:19):
And this is the full quote from Gossip Girl.
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.

Steve (58:27):
And.

Leif (58:27):
Ah. What am I most thankful for? The truth.
Sometimes it's the truth you've been trying not to face
or the truth that will change your life. Sometimes
it's the truth that's a long time coming or
the truth you prayed you would never see the light of day.
Some truths may be heard the way we hoped they
would, but they linger long after they've been said.

(58:48):
But they. The kind of truth I'm most thankful for.
The one you never see coming that falls right into your
lap. Xo xo xo
Gossip Girl. Uh, that is our
episode. What's coming next. What does that
letter say?

Steve (59:03):
Yeah, I mean, the letter
clearly show states that Lily came to
visit him. It's got to have some
explanation as to why he's avoiding Serena.
Which my only guess is Lily went out there and
was like, don't fucking talk to
her. That's my one guess
that.

Leif (59:23):
Well, what was the timeline?

Steve (59:25):
Uh, the timeline? Well, Serena.

Leif (59:27):
Could they have been together while Serena went there?

Steve (59:31):
Oh, so. Well, that was.
She came back in October. She was
healthy from August. So September, October, she was
out there. Serena was looking for her
dad over the summer,
so it would have come back.

Leif (59:47):
And she came Back right at the beginning of September.

Steve (59:50):
Like right at the beginning of September. So there may have been
so, so it might have been like a. Why, ah, is our daughter
out here looking for me? And yeah,
whatever it is. It's just
Lily. Did Lily keep. It's bad enough that
Lily's keeping it from Rufus. And one of my big
predictions, I wonder if this could break them up. I
kind, I, I, I knew about the marriage. I had talked about

(01:00:13):
that that had been spoiled for me, but also was
kind of obviously, what marriage? Lillian. Lillian.
Rufus getting married was spoiled for me like
two or three episodes before we saw it.
That or it was what it was a Blake Lively
interview that she was like that. I was just
flipping through TikTok and Blake Lively said something about

(01:00:33):
how she was on a show dating
her where her boyfriend becomes her
stepbrother. And I was like, oh,
okay, well, that's gonna happen. It was. Yeah.
And so I did know that they would get married.
I really thought they'd have a happily ever after.
And every episode that they're doing stuff when I'm like, this is

(01:00:53):
a very appropriate reuse for Lily and Rufus that I
really wanted their drama to be done
to make this show now just about
the kids and the kids relationships with the
parents, but not the
parents with each other anymore. I wanted that drama
done. And now it seems like

(01:01:14):
it's back and it seems like
this could be a breakup thing, that this could force them
apart. So I'm really curious as to where that.
I'm really curious as to where that will go.

Leif (01:01:26):
Any other predictions?

Steve (01:01:28):
War between Eric and little Jenny.
Eric is plotting and I just. It means that
Jenny is going to retaliate. And Jenny
escalates. Yeah, Jenny.

Leif (01:01:40):
Yeah, she does Jenny. She burns that shit down.

Steve (01:01:42):
She does you. If you're bringing, if you're
bringing in a Nerf bat, she's bringing a
machete to the fight. And
she's always going to escalate
whatever it is until it, until it burns
down.

Leif (01:01:57):
She's always reaching for that can of gasoline.
Uh, let's get into some segments this
weekend. Fan of finally, the Telosa without Pity
forums are back.

Steve (01:02:11):
Oh, good.

Leif (01:02:13):
Hello there, Peabody here. And this
is the Wayback Machine for traveling through time. And this
is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman.

Steve (01:02:22):
Hello.

Leif (01:02:22):
Good boy. Uh, they. The
overall reaction to this episode was good, but definitely
not equal to the post series hype, as I kind of mentioned earlier.

Steve (01:02:32):
Right. Which it's interesting to
me because on my first watch of this
scene, I was blown away. I was
blown Away by that choreography of
it, by the directing, by the
writing, how everything was tossed around. Now,
this is a multi camera show, of course. Right.
So with

(01:02:55):
several takes of them throwing that around, but still,
it would be a tough scene to line
up to shoot to get that
smooth. Uh, just every level of
production of that scene was
exciting and just
so bam, bam, bam with the
dialogue. So I, I'm, um,

(01:03:16):
really surprised that it didn't hold up like that.
I really felt that was the best Thanksgiving scene we've
had in three Thanksgiving episodes.
This is probably my favorite of the three Thanksgiving ones. And the
other two are phenomenal episodes.

Leif (01:03:31):
Yeah. I think this is actually my least favorite one. Even though the scene
is iconic and it's hilarious, it
didn't hit those same emotional notes that the
first two ones had.

Steve (01:03:41):
I get that. I get that you're you. That
is, that is fair.

Leif (01:03:46):
And so we haven't. We haven't had television
without pity for a while here. But I got the sense
that they are definitely not liking this season as much as the fan
forum people.

Steve (01:03:56):
That's fair.

Leif (01:03:58):
They are definitely. They're definitely a tougher crowd.

Steve (01:04:01):
Yeah.

Leif (01:04:01):
Especially when it comes to, like, writing and stuff.
Um, not enough Blair or Chuck and not enough
Blair and Chuck.

Steve (01:04:08):
They really had just supporting roles in this
whole thing. They had the one scene together and they've
been doing this a lot. That there's. You see them in
the beginning and then they go their own way and then
sometimes meet up at the end.

Leif (01:04:22):
So. Yeah, as I talked about that, the Jason
DiRullio song is very iconic for that
with that scene. There was multiple people that mentioned that scene.
That song was horrible in
the thread. But yeah, that's about
it there. It was only, uh, a short thread this week, so
let's go ahead and get over to episode grades. It is your

(01:04:42):
turn to go first.

Steve (01:04:48):
I gave this an A. I originally gave it
an A plus. I'm knocking it down to an A
just because of that lack of
emotional content that it did have that the
other two did have. Where I think the
first one, I was borderline tears when Blair
looked at herself in the mirror

(01:05:08):
in the distorted refrigerator reflection.

Leif (01:05:12):
And then the second one with Blair, Jenny and
Eleanor out on the street.

Steve (01:05:16):
Yeah. Oh, I don't know why my brain made those
both the same episode, but that scene is
just. Oh, my God, that one did.

Leif (01:05:25):
It's one of the best scenes of the show.

Steve (01:05:26):
Yeah. Uh, amazing. They really
put everything into Thanksgiving, though.

Leif (01:05:31):
So you give it an A.

Steve (01:05:32):
Yes, I give this an A. I also wanted to mention,
as we often do, the fact that they all come
together at the end, that
this one not only did everything tie up, but you
had everybody. You had this
huge cast all
together in the same room, acting together, and that was

(01:05:54):
really fun.

Leif (01:05:56):
Yeah. Uh, so the writing, the
dialogue in this was great. The foreshadowing with the
jacket, great setup and payoff.
Directing was excellent. All the choreography.
There's two big things that knock it down a little bit for me.
One, as I said, it didn't hit that same
emotional bar that the first two Thanksgiving episodes.

(01:06:16):
And two, I just really, really hate the Dan and
Vanessa storyline. So, uh, that brought it
down to a B for me.

Steve (01:06:23):
Okay. I hate it, but I'm not.
But I'm not mad at it. You know what I mean? Like, I know it has
to happen.

Leif (01:06:30):
Does it, though? It just seems like Dan's forcing
himself into believing that he's in love with her.

Steve (01:06:35):
Yes, I agree with that. And again,
it's teenager. It's confusing when you see someone
naked thing. Do I love her now?

Leif (01:06:43):
No, you're just horny.

Steve (01:06:44):
Yes. Yeah. No, you just. You had
a threesome, brah. Like, it's going to. It's going to have some
residual effects on you. You can't go back from that.

Leif (01:06:56):
Moving to stock Watch, who do you got going
up?

Steve (01:07:00):
Cece. I had Cece going up. I have
Vanessa going up. I have Chuck and Blair going up.
Even though they kind of had nothing episodes, I feel like they had a.
I like them. I have Dorota and Vanya going
up. I have Eleanor going up.
Congratulations on the new abode. And I
have Dan going up for fixing
Vanessa and Gabriella.

Leif (01:07:22):
Fair enough. For me, I had Dorota
and Vanya. I had Chuck, but not Blair,
Dorota and Vanya because they're pregnant and happy. Chuck because he
was a good bro and a good boyfriend. Uh, Vanessa
and Gabrielle going up because they, you know, connected
and got their mother daughter thing going on. And
also Eleanor and Cyrus because, yeah, they got a new. Nice, uh, new

(01:07:42):
property in Paris.

Steve (01:07:43):
Yeah, I guess I should.

Leif (01:07:44):
Yeah, he was mentioned.

Steve (01:07:46):
He was mentioned. So, yeah, I'll give it to Cyrus, too.

Leif (01:07:49):
Who do you have going down?

Steve (01:07:51):
Lily, Serena, Nate,
Tripp, Maureen, even though I think
Maureen's about to get a big boost. But
for right now, Maureen stock went down, and I had
Gabriella going down. And it's because,
yes, they had that good makeup in the end,
but net gains in this

(01:08:11):
episode, I felt like she tanked for so much
of it. I really hated the deflection
when she talked to Dan that moment. I.
Yeah. Gabrielle went down for me.

Leif (01:08:22):
Yeah, she. She was awful. But there was zero consequences for
her for being awful.

Steve (01:08:27):
That's a bigger problem.

Leif (01:08:30):
For me. I had Jenny going down because she did
not get her friend back. Eric going down because he was being
shitty.

Steve (01:08:36):
Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Add Eric for me. I knew I was forgetting
someone. I wasn't giving it to Jenny because.
Oh yes. And Jenny because her sweet potatoes were bland.

Leif (01:08:47):
Nate because he got left at the altar.
Metaphorically. I had Dan going
down because he's gaslit himself into believing
he loves Vanessa. Lily because
she is horrible as a mother and as a partner.
Serena because she's doing dumb shit all day.
Tripp because he is a creepy creeper

(01:09:09):
creep. Maureen because she's still in love with the
guy that's leaving her for a child.

Steve (01:09:15):
Yeah. Yeah. You're in love. You're in love with
this person. You're still in love with this. Well,
and also I don't know if it's a love thing or if
it's a uh, power thing. Like she's. That's my
congressman husband that I got elected.
Thanks to me, he's going to be a
congressman. I know he doesn't want to talk about that,

(01:09:35):
but I did get him elected.

Leif (01:09:37):
Yeah. And also I had Blair going
down because she was just kind of an asshole most of this
episode.

Steve (01:09:44):
That's fair.

Leif (01:09:45):
And then. And she also flip flopped on, on the trip thing
too. At the end she's like, go for it. Yeah, that.

Steve (01:09:51):
I actually meant to talk about that because of how
Serena is the. I want to go for whatever the
shiny thing that tells me they love me is. Blair
is such an enabler because once she sees someone say
no, no, no, I really do like you. Blair's like, aw.
Every one of Serena's bad relationships
that she's judged her for, she has then come around and been like

(01:10:14):
aw. Like the Carter thing. And
Aaron, I believe she did it.

Leif (01:10:18):
Mhm. And then I also had a Rufus going dad because it looks
like he got cheated on.

Steve (01:10:24):
Yeah. Add Rufus for me. I was on the fence with
him. I felt so bad. He got the. He wanted
a big Thanksgiving. He got it and it sucked.
His joke didn't land. But
here's the best outfits from the last
episode we've seen.

Leif (01:10:44):
M. Well, who do you have for best outfit?

Steve (01:10:47):
I had Serena's
pantsuit sort of thing. The.

Leif (01:10:51):
The, the jumpsuit.

Steve (01:10:54):
Really? Yeah. Well, here's the thing. I
don't Often anymore. Pick a lot of
Serena's stuff because a lot of Serena's stuff is
all very. Just tits
out all over the place, which isn't a style that I
really as interested in.

Leif (01:11:09):
It's the same thing she was doing with that.

Steve (01:11:12):
Although I found that
big V line to not be so
much like, yes, all cleavage, but not just
like. She wasn't busting out of it. I didn't think.
And I thought it was a better.

Leif (01:11:24):
But it was not a pantsuit. It was like. It was a literal, like jump
jumpsuit.

Steve (01:11:28):
Was it?

Leif (01:11:28):
Yeah, it was just like.

Steve (01:11:29):
It was a jumper.

Leif (01:11:29):
Um, it was like a full body yoga pants.

Steve (01:11:32):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (01:11:32):
With a V neck.

Steve (01:11:33):
Yeah, I dug it.

Leif (01:11:35):
To me, that was one of the worst outfits of the episode.
I was actually going to mention that as being particularly bad. That's
funny because I like for family Thanksgiving too.

Steve (01:11:44):
I mean, Serena's always going to have something showing on
family Thanksgiving.

Leif (01:11:48):
For me, I had Blair's mustard
floral pattern dress, uh, star dress by.
And it was, uh, by Soraya and also
honorable mentioned sisterians embroidered collar coat.
I really like that coat she had on.

Steve (01:12:01):
Oh, yeah.

Leif (01:12:02):
With the gold, like beads on it.

Steve (01:12:05):
It's funny because I actually hated that dress on Blitz. I hated the
color of that dress for Blair. So
I think it's funny that we got. Because I was like. Because I remember paying
attention as I was paying attention. It's like, what's Blair
wearing? It's like, I don't like that. I don't like the
pattern and the color on it.

Leif (01:12:22):
So, yeah, I liked it with the lace tights, which
are actually very similar to the tights that Jenny was wearing.

Steve (01:12:28):
Oh, yeah, yeah.

Leif (01:12:30):
And she also had the big necklace to costume
jewelry. Yes, that is it for
segments. You have anything you want to plug this week?

Steve (01:12:39):
Uh, not particularly. I did watch
the studio on your recommendation. I'm caught
up on that. I think one of my favorite
episodes was the gala when
he's with all.

Leif (01:12:52):
These doctors, with the doctors,
with the.

Steve (01:12:56):
Child oncologists, and he's making the
argument that his job is just as stressful as
theirs. But then he starts making some
really good points like,
where's your funding coming from? Yeah, I'll
donate $2,000 for this golf trip. I don't want.
Because the arts fund your shit. They fund
your research.

Leif (01:13:17):
Yeah. And the other point that he made was, yes,
I'm not dealing with life and death day to day
directly, but I am responsible
for hundreds, if not thousands of people's
livelihood.

Steve (01:13:29):
Yes. Yeah. Uh, I really.
When he first started down that road, I was like, oh, uh,
dude, what are you. Are you seriously going to compare your job
to. To child
oncologists? But then as he started to
do it, it was like, all right. Like
he actually has a point. The whole thing of

(01:13:49):
how of all of the galas that are held here for
your stupid charity shit. It's the movies
on the fountain. It's the movies
that are here. Gigli
is on this fountain.

Leif (01:14:07):
Yes.

Steve (01:14:10):
It just was such a. I am a
person who doesn't like to think in terms of
this is a more important job than that or
this person deserves more because they do that and this person
deserves less because they don't. I don't often think
in those terms. And so when he
had that argument it was like, he is right.

(01:14:30):
He does have a high stress job where people's
lives literally are at stake. In a
different manner of speaking, people don't eat
if he fails at his job.

Leif (01:14:41):
Yeah, nothing for me to plug this
week but you can follow me on social media. I'm on
Blue sky and Instagram at Hot
Capicola. That's H o T
C a P I C o L A
and you can follow the podcast on Tick
Tock Threads Instagram at

(01:15:01):
Nonjudging Breakfast Pod. And if you'd like to check
out our Discord server, our subreddit or our uh,
patreon, you can find links on our website
nonjudging breakfastpod.com
youm can also.

Steve (01:15:15):
Find me on Instagram um, and TikTok
at Steve Marchon M A R
C H I O N and you can also find me on
Bluesky Headwizard.
And if you would like to get in touch with us, we would love to
hear what you have to say. Please send us an
email@nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com

(01:15:37):
we'd love to read your thoughts on air, hear what you have
to say and discuss it a bit. So
please keep in touch while you're listening. Also,
if you could go ahead and hit that like button, hit
the subscribe. Go ahead and leave a comment. It really
helps us with our visibility in Spotify and Apple
podcasts. And please tell a friend what

(01:15:57):
you're uh, listening to spread the word of the non judging
Breakfast Pod and make us your water cooler talk
indeed.

Leif (01:16:04):
And we will be back next week to Talk
about Season 3 Episode 12
the debarted.

Steve (01:16:13):
The Debarded.

Leif (01:16:15):
The episode description reads
chuck wrestles with a past issue.
A serious car accident rocks the Upper east
side Dan and Vanessa try to
navigate their complicated friendship.

Steve (01:16:31):
It's like it's sort of two truths and a lie
only it's one of these things is
much is not like.

Leif (01:16:39):
The other very low states.

Steve (01:16:40):
Yes,
Chuck is grappling with life changing information.

Leif (01:16:46):
Well actually it says these wrestles where they pass issue
so could just be a parking ticket.

Steve (01:16:53):
In the episode called the debarted.
Clearly yes.
He's just. He's got to treat that gonorrhea that he
picked up.

Leif (01:17:05):
Well, until next time. You know you love us.

Steve (01:17:07):
XOXO Every time you walk away
run away you take a piece of me with
you there Every time
you walk away or run away you take a piece of me
with you there Every
time you walk away or run away you take a piece of
me with you there

(01:17:28):
oh it seems I'm walking.
Right to your door
my heart still.
Resting looking for something more
are you ever gonna see everything you mean to me
I'm trying really hard to believe
every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:17:50):
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

(01:18:13):
I left last night and it feels like
way too long
are you ever gonna see everything you mean to
m 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 piece

(01:18:35):
piece of me with you there.
Come.
Back to me
smile and you'll make my life
complete

(01:18:58):
every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:19:20):
Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:19:43):
piece of me with you there.

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S3E11 - "The Treasure of Serena Madre"

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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;}S3E11 - "The Treasure of Serena Madre"