S3E12 - "The Debarted" - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leif (00:00):
It's nighttime, and Dan goes to the dorm to meet
Willa, uh, Weinstein.
And Willa then commits it.
And then Willa commits a bit of white sexual
assault by showing a video of herself naked to
Dan without first asking for consent.

Steve (00:23):
Genetic. The
apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
I saw where you were going, right?

Leif (00:46):
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 Leif, and I'm your seasoned Gossip
Girl veteran.

Steve (01:01):
And I'm Steve. The newbie, the
greenhorn, the. I don't know, Leif. What do
we call the season three version of me?

Leif (01:09):
Well, since apparently you love your new bag more than your old
friends, I guess you can carry it across the street.
Enjoy being BFFs with a hunk of leather.

Steve (01:18):
Oh, uh, come on, Leif. We know I don't have friends.

Leif (01:22):
Yeah, I guess we did establish that.
It's canon.

Steve (01:27):
It's canon in the
NJB POD universe.
So here's the deal, folks. Leaf has been watching since the very
beginning, and I'm tuning into Gossip Girl for the
very first time. And together, we're your
dynamic duo, bringing you all the drama,
romance, and sometimes questionable fashion

(01:47):
choices of this iconic, uh, 2007
series.

Leif (01:51):
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 (02:09):
And since we are all about inclusivity here at the non
judging breakfast pod, there is always room for you at our
non judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab a
mimosa, a cup of coffee, or your stash
out of Old man in the Sea. And let's go ahead and get started.

Leif (02:25):
Let's get started. And we are recording on Mother's
Day. So happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there.

Steve (02:31):
Yes, happy Mother's Day, Robin.

Leif (02:34):
Uh, hopefully you're a better mother than the mothers of Gossip Girl.

Steve (02:40):
Because so far the best mom of the season is just
not around. Is in Paris.

Leif (02:47):
Of course you guys will be listening to this episode on Memorial Day. So
happy Memorial Day as well.

Steve (02:51):
And happy Memorial Day. Yes. I hope you're enjoying your
weekend.

Leif (02:55):
Let's go ahead and get into it. We are here to talk
about season three, episode 12,
the debarted.

Steve (03:02):
The Departed, obviously taken from the
Departed. It
made me feel really old when I put that together.
I kind of ignored it at first. It was just
the debarted and didn't really think about the movie
itself. And then when I thought about where they
got that from, I realized how long ago that

(03:23):
movie was made. Because to me, that's still
like
Marty's newest film,
even though there's been how many since? But
that just feels so fresh because Taxi
Driver or not, Taxi Driver was that. He wasn't.
No. Uh, what was his.

Leif (03:45):
Goodfellas is the biggest one.

Steve (03:47):
Was his big early one with De Niro. Right? Yeah.

Leif (03:50):
Like the other Bart title they did.
Simpsons also did this one as well. So they did, uh,
oh, brother. Barthau and the Departed.

Steve (03:59):
The Debarted.

Leif (04:01):
Both and Simpsons both did it.

Steve (04:02):
Simpsons did it.

Leif (04:05):
But the original air date of this episode was
December 7, 2009. So we're getting
close to the end of the year. And the episode was
written by series co creator Stephanie Savage.
This is her first episode of season three. In
season two, she wrote Solo, Never Been Marcused,
and the aforementioned oh Brother of Bartha. Whereup,

(04:25):
Barthab. And also co wrote Valley
Girls.

Steve (04:29):
I think this may have been her best of
those.

Leif (04:33):
Really?

Steve (04:33):
Yeah.

Leif (04:34):
Uh, we're gonna disagree big time on this.

Steve (04:36):
Really.

Leif (04:37):
I think her only episode she's written good by herself was oh, brother,
where part that.

Steve (04:41):
I really like that one, too. That. That was the funeral,
right? Yeah, that one was really good. And
I felt, uh. I'll say this. I feel like she can.
That she knows Chuck. I feel like she.

Leif (04:53):
Like she likes Chuck.

Steve (04:54):
I feel like she likes Chuck. I feel like you're right about
that.

Leif (04:58):
Yeah. Episode was directed by Jason
Ensler. This is first and only episode of
Gossip Girl. He's been a TV director since
2003. Also worked on such
shows like Chuck, Heart of Dixie, also a
Josh Schwartz joint. He did an episode of Scrubs,
did some episodes of Psych. My name's Earl.

Steve (05:18):
Two broke girls, big TV
resume. Yeah.

Leif (05:21):
Yeah. Why don't you give us that
vulture recap?

Steve (05:25):
Sure thing. Here we go. In
ancient cultures, the wolves.
I thought I would get through the first line. In ancient
cultures, the wolf stands for many things.
Hostility, aggression, and ferocity, to be
sure. But also loyalty,
fidelity, family. The wolf may

(05:45):
hunt alone, but it always returns to
its pack and will do anything to protect
them. In the beginning of last night's episode of
Gossip Girl, the pack was scattered.
Serena was off On Long island,
acting like a teenage Riel hunter
with her married query, Trip
Vanderbilt, who seemed remarkably

(06:07):
unbusy for a newly elected congressman.
Back at nyu, Nate and Dan were together,
but alone, each tormented by thoughts of
the other's ex girlfriend. And the
anniversary of his father's death drove
the recently domesticated Chuck Bass,
the show's original lone wolf,

(06:28):
back to his old, wild, snarling self.
Thankfully, just as he was on the brink of
climbing atop the nearest homeless shelter and
unleashing a righteous howl, the pack
managed to call him back.

Leif (06:42):
Uh, the wolves.

Steve (06:43):
The wolves.

Leif (06:45):
Writing mistake number one. Why? Why?

Steve (06:47):
Yeah, okay. The wolves.

Leif (06:49):
Why wolves?

Steve (06:50):
The wolves were ridiculous. Maybe it wasn't
the writing that I liked as much as I
liked the episode, but. But the what
was with the wolves?

Leif (07:00):
Nassau county is right on the other side of Queens.
It's right next to Queens.

Steve (07:04):
Yeah. Yeah.
You know where the wolf packs are.
That's why it was so symbolic, because it's
so rare now.

Leif (07:16):
I didn't get the real hunter reference, and
I didn't look it up either. Do you remember that person?

Steve (07:22):
No, I. I just assumed.

Leif (07:24):
She slept with the politician.

Steve (07:25):
Yeah. Ah. Yeah, I assumed that it was. I honestly
assumed it was some New Yorker, some New York
socialite that slept with a politician.

Leif (07:33):
Listeners write it and let us know who Riel Hunter is.

Steve (07:36):
Yes, because we didn't look it up.

Leif (07:40):
We begin the episode in Act 1. An
SUV is driving down a rural road on
a wet night. We shift to an interior view of
the vehicle, and Trip and Serena are fighting over the
radio. A pack of wolves in the middle of the road
causes Tripp to swerve into the barrier.
Gossip Girl opens with.

(08:01):
They say there are no accidents.
Sometimes reality comes crashing into us.
Other times, it dawns on us
slowly, despite our best efforts to avoid it.

Steve (08:14):
Watch the road, creeper. Stop being
dramatic on a swervy road. Just watch
the road. Make sure there's no wolves in front of you.

Leif (08:24):
Deer, tree branch. Anything else?

Steve (08:26):
Anything else?
They clearly wanted it to be
this symbol.
Of what?

Leif (08:37):
When I first saw this, I thought the wolves were gonna attack him or
something.

Steve (08:41):
Right? Yeah, it seems set up
for something much worse. Or at least
surround the car.
No, they were just in the road. They're. They're. They're on their way.

Leif (08:53):
Now we get an in media
res and flashback to 12 hours earlier.
Blair tries to bring Chuck breakfast in bed, but Chuck
has other plans. He is already dressed and
heading to the lower east side to check out some property.

Steve (09:07):
Yeah, Chuck, who's got really spicy here and
now, because I saw the preview, I
knew why. He was spicy, right?
Uh, not a huge spoiler that it's the anniversary of his
dad's death, but he is just.
I like that they referred to him as domesticated in
the Vulture report because that's this really

(09:28):
grown up, the only real adult of
this group and then just becomes an
asshole again. And, um, you know, something's
really bugging him.

Leif (09:39):
Lily is going through the coat closet, clearly looking
for the letter that Maureen took last week. Rufus
is concerned because it sounds like Lily has been cleaning the closet quite
a bit. Lily asked Rufus to go to a co op
garden meeting in her place.

Steve (09:53):
Lily's reorganizing this closet over and
over again because she lost a fucking letter that she
knows she put in there. And man,
that passive aggressive.
Oh, I figured you'd say that when asking Rufus
to go to the thing. You fucking married a
retired rock star. You knew

(10:14):
this is what he did before you got married.

Leif (10:16):
Well, not really. He had a
job right before, right up until right before you're right
together.

Steve (10:23):
He had the gallery that was obviously.

Leif (10:26):
To pay for Yale.

Steve (10:27):
A ton of money.

Leif (10:28):
Yeah, but he had a job to go to.

Steve (10:30):
Yeah.

Leif (10:31):
Now he's just staying at home doing nothing.

Steve (10:33):
Yeah. Yeah. And combine that
with the fact that Jenny's at school all
day, so he's not really doing
anything. I didn't really think of it that way because I
really thought of it more just like, you know, he's a retired
rock star and like, he. Because even his job that he did
have, he just kind of popped in and out whenever he felt like

(10:53):
it. Uh, yeah. It was
a very convenient place for him to have.

Leif (11:00):
Yes.

Steve (11:00):
For scenes, Trip is holed up with.

Leif (11:03):
Serena and takes a call. Serena is in full
lovey dovey mode, but Trip seems distant. He
gets up and says he's going to town for supplies.

Steve (11:12):
This is a 2P episode for
Trip's name in the closed captioning
all the way until Nate's phone
later on in the episode.

Leif (11:21):
Uh, well, that's because that's his.1p is like,
that's how the writers have it.

Steve (11:26):
And what's funny is that I was
trying to look up something else of the episode on the
wiki, and the wiki said that it's always spelled with
two P's except for a in Nate's
phone. But it's not, because I have seen the closed
captioning now that you pointed that out to me.
Now I can't unsee it whenever it happens.

(11:47):
And Tripp you fucking idiot. Yeah, I meant to lead
with that, Jeff.

Leif (11:52):
What do you think he can't get any worse.

Steve (11:54):
Yeah, well. Oh my God.
Just. And it's like, just wait. Like this is just
starting to get bad.

Leif (12:02):
Blair notices the homeless man outside the building Chuck is
looking at buying and suggests that Chuck should be going to his
father's grave today. Instead of this, Chuck sends Blair
off in his limo.

Steve (12:12):
So this is where we get the. Oh, it's Chuck's
dad's anniversary. But it also.
It was this time of year last year. It was
maybe the same episode, right? Was it episode
1112 when he died?

Leif (12:25):
I thought it was 10, but maybe not. I don't know. I. I forget.

Steve (12:28):
It may have been, um, just the,
you know, it fits.

Leif (12:33):
Mhm.

Steve (12:34):
And you see Blair like
confronting him about it too.
And he's trying to buy this like, what
is it, a homeless shelter to turn into a
club or condos, I think.
Condos, sure. Yeah. And
his attitude of like, I have to
do this, I have to.

Leif (12:57):
Jay Z's Empire State of Mind
plays. Lily is sitting in the closet now
empty of coats. And Gossip Girl has this to say.
We make our own fortunes and then call them fate.
The song continues and we transition to Trip
calling someone and telling them they should meet.
Gossip Girl continues. And what better

(13:19):
excuse to choose a path than to insist it's
our destiny? But at the end of the day, we all have to
live with our choices. We transition to Chuck,
who has the ghost of Christmas Bart standing behind him
and patting him on the shoulder. Chug shrugs off
Ghost Daddy's hand and Gossip Girl finishes the act with

(13:39):
no matter who's looking over our shoulder.

Steve (13:42):
I actually had a bit to say about Chuck in
this episode and the
tragedy of Chuck here. Now
when I saw the preview and I saw Barton it,
I was originally like, no, um,
no. Is this some. Did he. They fake
his fucking death? Is it

(14:02):
like, like it was
back to the soap opera of
fucking Marcus in season two?
Like, oh, he's. He's still there
and faked his fucking death. And now like,
Jesus Christ.

Leif (14:18):
But now Chuck is having full on hallucinations.

Steve (14:21):
Yeah, Chuck is just hallucinating his dad.
The thing that really
struck me about this because, uh, it really
did make me feel for Chuck in this episode that
he has his dad on his shoulder
shitting on him all the time. His
dad poured himself into his work because
he lost his wife and didn't know how to be a

(14:43):
dad to this guy who looked to this
kid who looked like the Woman he just loved.
Right. That was what Bart had said.
And yet Chuck internalized all of
this disappointment to it being him being
weak. But no, Chuck, you were
a fuck up. You were getting drunk, you

(15:04):
were sexually assaulting women, you were
gallivanting around town, you were being a.
A reputational asshole.
And he was always disappointed from constantly
having to bail you out of all of your
bullshit. If Bart saw you
running the empire right now, he'd be

(15:26):
proud as fuck. I would think if he saw
you having a, um, meaningful adult
relationship with Blair, I think he'd be
happy for you.

Leif (15:35):
We even got that in season one finale.

Steve (15:38):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (15:39):
He's like, finally, you're stepping up and being a man.

Steve (15:42):
Yeah, exactly. And so
just knowing that this is Chuck
beating himself up, I
found really tragic in this episode. And it
really moved my heart for Chuck to
see because it felt realistic
because it is what kids do, Especially someone that

(16:02):
loses their dad, who was their. Who they kind of
hated, but was their idol. And to him, his
dad is still beating up on him because his
dad doesn't know that he changed.

Leif (16:13):
Yeah.

Steve (16:14):
So I just felt that was really tragic.

Leif (16:16):
Yeah. We could, though, without the fool on hallucinations, I
think.

Steve (16:20):
I don't know. Honestly, it didn't bother me.
I felt like it really showed what
was going on in Chuck's head,
I don't think.

Leif (16:30):
But I think they just took it too far. Like when he started, like, arguing with
Bart in the back of the limo and the driver's, like, staring at him,
okay, what the hell's going on?

Steve (16:37):
Yeah, the stop looking at me thing, that.
Okay, I'll give you the limo one.
I think more about sitting
on the couch. And this scene when he first shrugs him
off. Those are the. Yes, the limo
was silly.

Leif (16:53):
Yes, those could be played off as being subtle and just kind
of showing the audience what's going on in his head. But when they
started transitioning to him, um, having actual conversations
that other people could hear, that was weird.

Steve (17:05):
Yes. I will say that I've
kind of done that before. Right. That
I've been caught up in an
imaginary conversation in my head that I'm
having with somebody that I'm with. Like, my
dad is a great example. The shit that I've never said
to my dad that I would like to, but just
know he would be a brick wall. I know I've

(17:28):
had that and, like, said something out loud like
that I, uh. Not hallucinating my
dad, but I've pushed a button in my
own head. And so that's Why I didn't
come. Never in front of people, never in
the back of a limo. Although he was also
pretty fucking drunk because he was. He had

(17:48):
whiskey in hand all day long.

Leif (17:51):
Yeah, yeah, but that's just. That's kind of the norm
for Chuck.

Steve (17:55):
It is. And like, obviously it's all him projecting
his own insecurities and his own ill
fated relationship with his dad that never got the
resolution that he wanted.

Leif (18:07):
So we move on into Act 2. The
establishing shot of, uh, Central park is way too green to
be December. Jenny
is walking down the street and a very chatty Gossip Girl
says, spotted an it girl with an it
bag. It looks like the roadie to success is
paved with cruel intentions. The minions are
impressed by Jenny's new purse, which Jenny says didn't come

(18:29):
from Lily. When Sawyer shows up with the same
bag, Jenny says she can ditch the bag or
find new friends.

Steve (18:39):
Jenny just fucking, um, cold.
My mom brought it home for me. Okay, well, you can go walk across
the street like Jenny.
So shitty.

Leif (18:49):
Yeah. Uh, what were the thing about
Bart? I've actually been meaning to mention this for a couple weeks now.
Robert Bobby Burke has actually had a role on the
Last of Us. Are you watching that?

Steve (19:01):
I was waiting for a few more episodes to come out
to binge.

Leif (19:04):
Okay.

Steve (19:05):
Because I typically watch stuff like start stuff halfway
through. I watched the first episode, but
that was it.

Leif (19:11):
Okay. So, yeah, uh, he has
a role in like two or three episodes. Uh, it
was a pretty small part in the game that got expanded a
bit.

Steve (19:20):
Oh, cool. Yeah, it'll be good to see him. I
always thought he was good.

Leif (19:25):
Yeah, it's funny too, because he's always playing like, these asshole
characters, but apparently he's super nice in real life. He's like a
volunteer fireman. And I
listened to an interview about some Irish podcast, uh,
a while back a couple weeks ago. Tis yourself.
It was fun. Yeah. He's a Irish American first generation.

Steve (19:43):
Yeah. That. That scans. Yeah.

Leif (19:45):
Grew up in New York.

Steve (19:46):
Yeah. Awesome.

Leif (19:47):
Blue collar.

Steve (19:48):
Yeah. And I believe I've actually
heard that elsewhere that, like, you have this super.
The Bart Bass character type that he
plays, but he is just
super nice guy, apparently.

Leif (20:02):
Yeah, he had a decent run on, uh,
lawn or svu, I think maybe. And he was
kind of evil on that too. Uh.

Steve (20:09):
Oh, yeah, Yeah, I think.
But he was a cop, I think, right?

Leif (20:14):
Yeah, he's a corrupt cop.

Steve (20:16):
Okay.

Leif (20:17):
I never watched the show, but I've heard that's what it sound like.

Steve (20:19):
I feel like I've. I don't know If I was
watching, I watched religiously years ago
when it was new.

Leif (20:28):
And we see Sawyer walks off humiliated. But we find out
that it was all according to Eric and Kira's plan, which is
to convince Carmen and Jane that Jenny is the meanest queen ever.
So they turn against her.

Steve (20:38):
Yeah, Eric trying to crown a new queen and.
All right, Eric, I feel like you're in over
your head, but we'll see.

Leif (20:47):
So what does Kira get?

Steve (20:49):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (20:51):
Why is she even still involved?

Steve (20:53):
Yeah, why does she care
who's queen? No one likes you.

Leif (21:00):
If she's just trying to get revenge on Jenny.

Steve (21:02):
Yeah, well, and she was. Her whole thing was
in the beginning. Like, I want friends. I'm just trying to be friends with
you. So I guess she thinks if she helps this new
queen, then she can be one of her minions.
High aspirations for Hera. I
want to suck up to another friend. In high school.

Leif (21:22):
Dan and Nate are having a coffee date. Dan says
he missed his shot with Vanessa, who is now entangled with Paul.
But Nate gives him, uh, his bro. A pep talk.

Steve (21:31):
Single Nate is the best. Nate.
Single Nate is when Nate is funny. When
Nate is Dan's pal. When he's Chuck's friend.
When he does all. When he's goofy and he's
jokes. Single Nate is the best Nate.

Leif (21:46):
Nate just being a bro.

Steve (21:47):
Hey, Willa.
It was so good.

Leif (21:53):
The boys are interrupted by Vanessa and Willa, who
invite Dan for a weekend at her family's country house with a
hot tub. At first, Dan turns it down, but
Nate says to go. So he can either box out Paul with
Vanessa or get with the hot drama major.
Dan decides to go.

Steve (22:09):
Yeah. Nate's not wrong
in the. In the mentality and morality
of college. Right. This person is into
you, you're into that person. Go on this
trip, and something's bound to happen.

Leif (22:23):
Yeah. Either go head to head with Paul and get your girl or
get a palate cleanser.

Steve (22:27):
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Get your mind off of
this. And Will is cute.

Leif (22:32):
Yeah. A little forward.

Steve (22:36):
How so?
Here. Here's my art. Here's my
performance piece.

Leif (22:44):
Rufus shows up at the meeting and discovers he has become
a house husband.

Steve (22:49):
Yeah. Holland Campbell immediately flirting
with Rufus. And the second he
walks into this meeting. Oh, we knew you'd be here
eventually. Sploosh.
Can I escort you to the table?
I saved you a seat right under my face.

Leif (23:09):
Pretty obvious.

Steve (23:10):
Yeah, we knew you'd be here eventually.
Uh, yeah. And, like, laying all her business out,
like, yeah, your. Your wife's gonna cheat on you, too. By
the way, just like my husband.

Leif (23:19):
Just like my husband banging the yoga teacher.

Steve (23:21):
Yeah. Why are you with him? Like, why are
you part of this hoa if, uh, this
guy's such a piece of money? Yeah.
Facts. But also the look on Rufus
face and he's realizing he's a trophy husband.
He's like, I'm not some trophy husband. Oh,
sweetie.

Leif (23:39):
Bless your heart.
A lonely Serena is bored without cable
and calls Trip to find out when he's coming back. Trip says
he's meeting with the grandfather when we back tonight. Before hanging
up, we see Trip is actually meeting with Maureen who
wants to be the public wife to a congressman and ah, allow
Serena to be the mistress.

Steve (23:59):
He's such a disgusting fuck. Like, you
know that he's not with grandfather. When he starts saying that
turns, you know, it's Maureen. And then when she's there
and he's like, she's like, don't you care about your career? I
care more. I do care about my career, but I care
more about Serena and my
1930s driver outfit that I'm wearing.

(24:20):
Like, can we. What the are you wearing
with that fucking. The jacket
with the fucking looks like padded
leather armor.

Leif (24:30):
Well, if anyone's going to be wearing it, it's going to be a generational
wealthy person from Connecticut.

Steve (24:35):
Yes. I'm so m. Where were the
Knickerbockers to go with the hat though?
Where's your stick with a little hoop that you can
run down the street playing with it.

Leif (24:46):
Chuck is back at the Empire drinking scotch and
arguing morality versus profits with the ghost of his
father. Ghost daddy mocks Chuck for admitting he
loves Blair.

Steve (24:56):
And again, while it was all
the understanding of Chuck is beating
himself up because even what I.
What I really liked in this is that Bart
didn't always act like Bart. Especially this
scene. Bart acted more like
Chuck. Yeah. Than he did Bart. More
sardonic, more

(25:18):
sarcastic, more cutting in the way he does
things. Bart was always direct.

Leif (25:23):
Yeah.

Steve (25:23):
Bart didn't mock people. Why would Bart. Why
would Bart Bass mock someone? He would just buy you.

Leif (25:29):
He kind of mocked, uh, Rufus a little bit.
A little bit.

Steve (25:33):
A little bit.

Leif (25:33):
But when he was talking to Dan.

Steve (25:35):
Yeah. Yes, but
fair. But.

Leif (25:39):
But the guy was banging his wife.

Steve (25:40):
Yeah, he had. He had reason.

Leif (25:45):
Serena calls Nate and he lets her know where the secret statue is
located. Nate gets a funny look when she mentions
Trip is meeting with the grandfather. As
Serena hangs up, she is surprised to find
Maureen is at the cottage. Maureen lays out her
proposal of allowing Serena to remain as Trip's secret mistress.
Serena at first balks, but then Maureen reveals

(26:05):
that she has Serena's letter from Dr. Daddy.

Steve (26:08):
Yeah, I loved the whole Old man in the Sea thing
where Nate's like, I didn't read it either, but look at it.
Of course I didn't fucking read it. Books.
And yeah, I love that we can tell that he knows something's
up right away. But Maureen coming in
and laying out this. You can be a side piece

(26:29):
and.

Leif (26:29):
Get whatever it is you're getting out of this.

Steve (26:31):
Yeah. And it's funny. It's funny to
me.

Leif (26:35):
I think that's when Serena rises. She's like, oh, shit.

Steve (26:38):
Yeah, yeah. That she's really not
getting anything. Yeah. Uh, she's not really
involved in this relationship. This
is all Trip's whim. And when
Trip's whim is over, Serena's gone.
And, uh, like you said, I think this is where she first
recognizes that.

Leif (26:58):
We move into Act 3.
A drunk Chuck stood up Blair for lunch, but
Blair is very understanding. However, Chuck is a
dick and throws Blair out. Bart tells Chuck,
maybe there's hope for you yet.

Steve (27:12):
I really liked Blair here. Blair
can have such a temper and can take things
so personally. And her patience
in this episode. Uncharacteristic,
but also not out of
character.

Leif (27:27):
Yeah. Very similar to the funeral episode.

Steve (27:30):
Yes. Yeah. That. She just wanted to
be there for Chuck.

Leif (27:37):
Eric is trying to poison Carmen and Jane against
Jenny, but Queen J is two steps ahead and
shows up with two more of the limited edition bags for the
Minions. Eric is confused how Jenny. The price
of a smart car for those purses.

Steve (27:51):
And I turned to Robin and I said,
jenny's selling drugs.

Leif (27:58):
And I did actually look up, uh, in 2009,
Smart cars ran between about $12,021,000. 12,000 and
21,000
for a Smart car.

Steve (28:08):
Do we call them smart cars anymore? Do they still make cars that we
call smart cars?

Leif (28:12):
Well, that was like an actual brand.

Steve (28:13):
Oh, was it?

Leif (28:14):
Yeah.

Steve (28:15):
Remember them?

Leif (28:16):
Yeah, it's those little box cars. They're like little teeny
two seaters.

Steve (28:19):
Oh, is that what they were called?

Leif (28:21):
Yeah.

Steve (28:21):
Are they still. Are they gone? Are they still around?

Leif (28:24):
They might be still around in Europe, but definitely not. They did not
catch on here.

Steve (28:28):
Wonder why. And actually,
I really do to an extent wonder why. Because if you're
living in a city, those would be. If m.
You're a single person in the city, that's what you should be driving.

Leif (28:40):
Yes, yes. But like, there's zero cargo
room at all. So you can. Yeah, yeah.

Steve (28:45):
If you're living in a one bedroom apartment in the city. That's what you should be
driving.

Leif (28:49):
Yeah. Or at a European city where they have tiny
roads or.

Steve (28:52):
Yes, fair. Well, many of.

Leif (28:57):
The maniac roads are huge compared to cities in
Europe.

Steve (29:01):
Yeah, yeah. Yes. I've actually, I do know
that I have seen or especially some of
like the highways outside of the cities
where you have mountainous,
you know, areas with one lane roads.

Leif (29:16):
Yeah. Blair is having tea with Lily
who completely forgot that it was the anniversary of Bart's
death. Blair tells Lily that Chuck has never
been to see his mother's grave and doesn't even know where
it is. Lily promises to go see
Chuck.

Steve (29:31):
Lily recognizing that she's been
so caught up in her own shit that she forgot that it was
Bart's. The anniversary of her husband's
death.

Leif (29:41):
And to be fair, at the funeral she was already
hooking up with someone else.

Steve (29:45):
She was, yes. She had moved on fairly quickly.
Yes. Uh, and
yeah, she was gonna leave. They were on the
brink of breaking up when he died. It seemed
to.

Leif (29:57):
Yeah. Now, when you first watched
this, did the mention that Bart
never shared the location of the mother's grave? Did that throw up
any red flags for you?

Steve (30:08):
I thought in an earlier episode
Chuck had visited his mom. Had
discussed visiting his mom's
grave. I thought I did. That was the only thing. When
they said he's never seen. Been to his mom's grave. I
had a. Oh. Moment.

Leif (30:24):
Well, and it specifically said that Bart refused to tell him where
it was.

Steve (30:28):
Yes.

Leif (30:28):
So did that throw up any red flags?

Steve (30:31):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (30:32):
Oh, for the end of the episode.

Steve (30:33):
For the end of the episode. Yes. That was
like. That's a weird thing. Why wouldn't you ever.
Yes. I didn't quite formulate the. Is
she not dead? But I did get to the.
That's weird. Why would you never do that?
There's something else underlying here
and. Yeah.

Leif (30:52):
Rufus returns and finds out that it is the one
year anniversary of Bart's death and assumes that is why
Lily has been so upset. Lily just leans right
into it.

Steve (31:01):
Yep. That is
exactly why she's so evil.
She is. I, uh, I
love the character of
Lily Van Der Woodsen.
I really love.

Leif (31:17):
She's Humphrey now.

Steve (31:18):
Well, Lily Humphrey. Yes.

Leif (31:20):
As Jenny points out.

Steve (31:21):
Yes. I love her
character because she is.
She does good things and she is good
sometimes. And she has the potential
for good and this potential for
fucking evil. And. And
it just makes her very human to me

(31:41):
that a lot of TV characters, even really
dimensional characters don't always Feel so
human. And I really like that in one
episode, she can do something super sweet and
loving like go to try to support Chuck,
but also doesn't remember her
dead husband's anniversary and

(32:02):
is lying to her living husband about
bang. About visiting her first
husband.

Leif (32:10):
Serena calls Nate and is upset about what
Maureen said, but still claims to have faith in Trip.
Nate reveals that Trip lied about meeting with the
grandfather and that that faith erodes
just a little bit more. Gossip Girl says,
looks like the love's nest has become a hornet's
nest. We find out that Nate is on his way to

(32:32):
Nassau county, and Gossip Girl continues.
And here comes Nate to stir it up.

Steve (32:39):
Yeah, I like. I love how
Nate's like this. Like,
Tripp this shit.
Um, and that he's just fucking done with
it.

Leif (32:51):
We go into Act 4.
It's nighttime, and Dan goes to the door to meet
Willa, uh, Weinstein.
And Willow then commits it.
And then Willow commits a bit of white sexual
assault by showing a video of herself naked to Dan
without first asking for consent.

Steve (33:16):
Genetic. The
apple doesn't fall apart from the tree.
I saw where you were going. Right.

(33:36):
Yeah.

Leif (33:37):
So, uh, as the audience, of course, we don't actually see the video, but
judging by Dan's reaction and the sounds that were coming
out of it, it was probably pornographic in nature.

Steve (33:45):
Yeah. Well, Dan does say you're naked.

Leif (33:47):
Oh, yeah, we know she's naked. That could be somewhat arty.

Steve (33:50):
That could be. Yes.

Leif (33:51):
But by the sounds and his reactions, you're naked.

Steve (33:53):
And taking it from three dudes is a little less
artistic to some. Yes.

Leif (34:03):
Lily shows up at Chuck's suite to get him to come with
her to Bart's grave. Chuck is trying to blow
her off because continue to work would be the best way to honor his
father. Lily gets a call from Serena to let her know
that Maureen has the letter. Lily says she's going to tell
Rufus everything and that Serena should come home. Lily
is being a good mom for once. But Lily
asked Chuck to go to Bart's grave for both of them. Chuck

(34:26):
throws the flowers in the trash and says they should be yellow
roses. That was his mother's favorite.

Steve (34:31):
Yes. Lily coming in and being a better parent to
Chuck than to her own kids is not unusual.

Leif (34:37):
Well, she was a good m. Parent to Serena. Finally, in that moment, too.

Steve (34:40):
In that moment, she was. She just come home and she.
That's. That is her pattern with Serena. It is.
Something happens. Get the fuck out. I don't want to see you.
Go away. And then it's okay,
just come home and we'll work it out. And typically, because
something happens, because Serena's
decisions do lead her to a place where she just needs

(35:00):
her mom. Yeah,
she does kind of trap herself like
that.

Leif (35:07):
Serena is leaving the cottage as Trip finally
returns. Serena gives Trip a chance
to deny everything, but he doesn't. Serena agrees to
let Trip drive her home, but won't be talking to
him. We hear the same Ravenette song from the opening of the
episode as they get into Tripp's Range Rover.

Steve (35:24):
Don't get in that car, Serena. There's wolves out there.
There are wolves on the street. Don't get into that car.

Leif (35:33):
So I did not like the writing, but I did like the acting and the
directing in this episode. And, um, using that same
song again to show we're now here.
Ah, we're at that point.

Steve (35:43):
Yes. Yes. And, yeah,
Trip, just how spineless
he is. That. Yeah, I
just, uh. He just made me
cringe.

Leif (35:55):
Yeah. As we see. We see the wolves again and they
crash. We see the crash again. We also see Nate
is still riding into the city in a limo. Chuck, also in
a limo, ignores a call from Blair, who is returning to the
dorms. A day's Trip stumbles out of the
SUV and looks at an unconscious and bloody Serena
before calling Maureen.

Steve (36:14):
Maureen. The motherfucker calls
Maureen before 911.
This fucking guy who's. I care more about
Serena than my career. I'm ready to burn it
all down for Serena. Oh, fuck Maureen.
I may have just killed Serena. Can you get here quick
so we can move her fucking body to a

(36:34):
different seat? I know we're not there yet, but.
Fucking asshole.

Leif (36:39):
Yeah, not good. We go to Act
5, and Nate gets out of his limo when he sees police cars
and an ambulance. He sees Serena being wheeled
on a gurney. However, Tripp has apparently left the
scene of the accident.

Steve (36:52):
And one P in his name.

Leif (36:55):
Nate leaves a voicemail for Trip and tells him,
meet me at the hospital or I'm going to the cops.

Steve (37:01):
Yeah, good, uh, guy Nate. Yeah, good guy
Nate. And. And everything Nate here is.
I feel completely justified.

Leif (37:09):
Yeah, Nate had a great episode.

Steve (37:10):
Yes. And it's funny because, like, Nate has
those kind of. As Robin often used to
refer to me as Captain Save a Ho.
Nate has those sort of tendencies
of, like, here's the shiny thing, and I'm going to
fight everyone who I can to, like. Um, go.
And it didn't feel like that. We know that Nate

(37:31):
now is crushing on Serena, but it
felt like I'm going To save my friend
Serena. And it didn't feel like it was about his
feelings for her, but about what was
right. I didn't feel. I feel like. Let me put it
this way. I feel like Nate would have
done everything he did in this episode if
he wasn't currently crushing on Serena.

(37:53):
I think he would have done this even if he was with
Blair. For example.

Leif (37:58):
Probably. Lily comes home to find
Rufus cooking his famous Balinese. She
lets him know that she has to tell him something serious, but
is interrupted by a shocking call from a 516
area code.

Steve (38:11):
Yeah. And so she doesn't get to tell him because
of the call. Yep. I.
When you're talking about the directing, I feel like the
direction from here to the end,
especially this next. The gathering of
the crew montage. I just thought that
the cuts and the

(38:33):
pacing were just really
energetic and really engaging.

Leif (38:39):
Yeah, I agree. Dan and Willow are making
out pretty hard on her bed, but he's not really
feeling it and pulls away. Dan is saved from
further explanation when his cell phone rings, and he darts for the
door.

Steve (38:51):
Oh, Dan, he's a nice guy. He's not
just going to sleep with someone because someone is there to sleep with
him. And I can
appreciate that. I've done it. I've
been there, too.

Leif (39:04):
Willa, uh, is left with blue balls, and Dan goes to knock on
Blair's door to tell her that Serena has been in an accident
and they have to go to meet the family at the hospital.
Vanessa is standing in the hallway for some reason, so I guess she can
come too. I love
the day I ghost the Blair.

Steve (39:20):
Yeah, I actually did, too. I love that that was
his first stop. That it is.
We need to go. And that Vanessa really was
an afterthought. And Vanessa, when
he sees her, it is like, oh, yeah, you're kind of friends with
us. Let's go. Come with us. But also, Dan currently
thinks he's in love with her. So, like, come on, let me. Come with me to

(39:40):
the hospital.

Leif (39:41):
And presumably, Vanessa and Serena are friends,
supposedly. Even though they never had. They have never once hung out
alone.

Steve (39:47):
Right. And I'm also thinking more
of how if something really bad was
happening to Serena, if Serena died
in this car accident, who would be the first person
to be there for Dan?

Leif (40:00):
That'd be Vanessa.

Steve (40:01):
Vanessa. Yeah, no doubt. So Dan
probably wants her there for other reasons, too,
but it is sort of like, come on, let's go. Like,
Blair, you and I need to go do this.

Leif (40:12):
Uh, I don't know if you caught the sign on, uh, Blair's
door.

Steve (40:16):
Oh, the.
The.

Leif (40:17):
For inquiries, call Dorota.

Steve (40:19):
Call Dodo with the phone number.

Leif (40:24):
Chuck finally takes a call from Blair and finds out
Serena's been in an accident and redirects his
driver Arthur to Nassau. Ah, County
Ghost Daddy chastises Chuck for ditching the business
meeting for family.

Steve (40:36):
And, uh, yes, again, the.
The flip out of. Of Bart. There's.
I kind of get it. I thought it was silly. I kind of got
it. The bigger thing here
is Chuck silencing
that voice for his friends. To
who? Chuck recognizing he
doesn't need to be his dad, his friends,

(40:59):
his sister is more important in this
moment.

Leif (41:03):
Mhm.

Steve (41:03):
And that really got me on Chuck's side here.

Leif (41:07):
Trip finds Nate outside the hospital. We
find out that not only did Trip leave the scene of the accident,
he also moves Serena into the driver's seat.
Maureen comes up and tells Nate that she is prepared to give
Trip an alibi and that the grandfather will back her
up. When Trip asks Nate to help to see
Serena, Nate decks him.
Gossip Girl brings us to the end of the act with

(41:33):
Spotted. The Fall of a politician in the rise
of a Hero. Poor congressman. You've just
been vetoed.

Steve (41:41):
Two things here, uh, are three things here. First of
all, the fact that Maureen comes in and
calls grandfather William.
Like I'm on a first name fucking basis
with grandfather now. So
who's he gonna be listening to? So
damn Trip having the

(42:01):
fucking audacity to
ask to see her. Can I
see the person that I just almost killed and then put in the driver's
seat to blame the entire accident on?
Are you fucking insane?
And finally, when. When
Nate punches him, um, Robin had a
total Nate boner for the rest of the

(42:24):
episode that she was like, that was hot.

Leif (42:29):
I guess he doesn't. Just didn't want to get caught with
Serena because I don't understand. Other than that, like, why
would he even do this? Because. What, was he drinking or
something?

Steve (42:38):
There was no evidence of that. It was simply,
uh.

Leif (42:41):
He just didn't want to get caught with Serena.

Steve (42:43):
Yeah, he didn't want to get caught. Which if that
accident happened, it was him and him and his intern
that he was driving home again
with all of them lining their stories up.
It would be fine. Of course this is. That
wouldn't happen because this is Maureen's out, right?
Like, no, no. This is how we get rid of Serena.

(43:04):
And, um. Yeah. What a
fucking spineless shit.
He was the good one.

Leif (43:12):
We move into the epilogue.
Lily is comforting Serena, who is lying in A hospital
bed. However, Serena is upset that Lily didn't
tell Rufus yet.

Steve (43:22):
Blake Lively is particularly pretty in
this scene when she's not wearing makeup and
they get her. You know, there's the one side with the bash, but then when
you get the other side of her, she's just
very. You're just a very pretty
m angle of her that, like, you don't really see because you
usually see her glamified because

(43:43):
that's the character that she plays. So seeing
her like that, it was. Yeah, she just.
It was a very pretty angle.

Leif (43:52):
I noticed in this next scene here, she gives
Blair a little lip bite.
Uh, more romance between Blair and Serena. Theories
coming out. So as Lily leaves, Blair comes in and hugs her
best friend. Serena tells Blair she was right about Trip all
along.

Steve (44:07):
Yes. Which we all knew. Blair was right about
Trip. And last week, Serena
or last week, Blair. You fucked up
when you told Serena. Oh, I was wrong.
Go. No, you weren't. You were right. Yeah.
Tell, like, don't tell Serena. Go chasing after him.
Be like, oh, wow. Yeah, he really did say all those things. But he's still a

(44:28):
married man. He's still a creeper.

Leif (44:29):
Yeah. Chuck arrives at the hospital
and immediately starts having PTSD
flashbacks to a year ago when Bart died in the car
crash. Blair finds Chuck huddled on the ground.
Chuck is relieved to hear that everyone is here and going to
be okay. Chuck admits he was pushing Blair
away to prove his father wrong. Blair helps Chuck

(44:50):
get up.

Steve (44:51):
I cried. I cried at the, uh. I cried when
Blair. Both times. Both times I
watched when Blair came around the corner
to find Chuck and went to him
and said the whole. You're becoming the man in ways
your father never was. And when she
went to him, I just. It punched me in
the gut.

Leif (45:11):
Yes. It's kind of ironic that Blair was
saying that Chuck carried her and carried
everyone else when she was clearly carrying the
scene, because before she
showed up, I was actually laughing when Chuck was stumbling around.

Steve (45:27):
Well, while stumbling around the hospital
again and him running away from his
dad and all that stuff. It was. Again,
it was that moment when Blair comes
around the corner to find him that it was. That
got me. You're right about. The flashback
was oddly
choreographed, and I feel like, again, it was

(45:49):
trying to fit the energy of what
was going on.

Leif (45:55):
Jenny and Eric are alone in a waiting area. Eric is
frustrated with the vending machine and declines Jenny's offer
to share her coffee. However, after a moment, they
both apologize at the same time. There's nothing
like tragedy to bring People back together.

Steve (46:09):
It's nice to see Jenny and Eric make up.
I HM was worried that
that was going to go on too long.
I actually wouldn't have minded another episode or two of them
taking shots, but I was really worried it was
going to go on too long and

(46:29):
I'm hoping that it does.

Leif (46:31):
The problem was it was too one sided of a fight.

Steve (46:34):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (46:35):
It was just Eric getting beat up.

Steve (46:37):
Yeah, yeah. Eric has the resources but
Jenny has the brains. And Eric doesn't
have the soul to go after someone
like, oh, I'll buy this person a purse.
You gotta. That's not cutting anyone's throat,
Eric. And Eric isn't a throat cutter.

Leif (46:55):
Rufus is about to leave for the hospital when Maureen shows up at
the penthouse. She gives Rufus the
letter. Why?

Steve (47:02):
Like that's your whole leverage, isn't it? But I guess now that
Serena is all fucked up and out of the picture, it
doesn't matter and now you just want to blow shit up.
Uh uh. That one I was very
much why. Maybe
she has an end game with this. But I was
really baffled as to why she would go to

(47:22):
Rufus with it. Other than the TV
gods needing the turmoil.

Leif (47:28):
That's the biggest reason. Although it
could be that she was actually being honest at that moment.
That she knows what it's like to be cheated on and she just
didn't like. Rupert is a nice guy. She felt bad for
him. Could be possible.

Steve (47:41):
And with you saying that, I'll say this, I
don't have ill will towards Maureen.
Really. What she did to move Serena in the
car was shitty. But Maureen has
been on the receiving end of
bullshit. All she tried to do was help her husband
win an election in the wrong way.
Doing the worst, you know, doing something wrong.

(48:04):
But he was already ready to bang
Serena. Well, I guess it was the end of that episode
that he, that they first talked. Yeah.

Leif (48:13):
Because he was. If he had just found out that it was her or
dad. Did he?

Steve (48:16):
No, he didn't even know it was her yet.

Leif (48:18):
Yeah, that's what he didn't find out.

Steve (48:19):
It was her until the next episode when they were
already still flirting. Uh, like all of that was
already in motion before he knew it was even
Maureen. And all the Maureen stuff was just
an excuse to bang a teenager.
I don't care that she pulled the stunt to get her husband
elected. Like that shit happens. No, uh, one got
hurt. I don't really. Uh, I, I probably

(48:42):
wouldn't vote for the guy one. Well, I don't know. Who
knows what his Policies were. But it really
didn't bother me. The only thing that Marine has
done that I think is really shitty is
setting Serena up in the car. I
think most of the rest of what she's done is
borderline justifiable. Okay.
I found this letter. I didn't steal

(49:04):
this. This was in my fucking pocket. Your mom gave
me this letter, and I have it.

Leif (49:10):
The whole setup, she was proposing this. This episode was
pretty bad though, as well.

Steve (49:15):
In the morality
of right and wrong, human beings.
I get it. In the morality of
politics. I don't think she was
out of line to be like, I still
want my political shine, so here's
how we're going to do it. I saw it just
as political maneuvering only

(49:39):
sexually, essentially. And my point,
just being like, yes, Maureen is diabolical.
I don't think that the things that she has done have
been completely unjustified.
She was cheated on.
She was. Yeah, she was cheated on.

Leif (49:56):
She was definitely wrong. But that doesn't make her a good person.

Steve (49:59):
Uh, I'm not saying good person. I'm saying I'm not really holding as
much against her.

Leif (50:03):
Okay.

Steve (50:03):
Like, I don't think that she's.
I don't put her in the category of
Aaron. Right. Or as.

Leif (50:12):
I mean, technically, I think she's worse than Aaron.

Steve (50:15):
And it was a bad example.

Leif (50:16):
In a real life morality situation.

Steve (50:18):
Yeah, that was a bad. Aaron was a bad example.
I feel like. Like, I don't.

Leif (50:23):
I mean, just the moving Serena in the car seat makes
her one of the worst people.

Steve (50:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Again, I. I'll that that
alone doing that is the worst thing I think that
she's done. And the thing that she's done that was
uncalled for and unjustified being
mad enough to do it. I. I can get it, but
I. But that was wrong.

Leif (50:44):
Back at the hospital, Dan turns to Vanessa and gives
her his most earnest look and tells her he loves
her. Vanessa says she loves him too, but clearly in
a friendly way. Vanessa gives Dan a graceful out
and gets up to check on Serena.

Steve (50:58):
Shuts that shit down.
I fucking never liked
Vanessa more than her being like, I love you
too. Oh, Dan. Sometimes tragedy brings people
closer together. Deuces
like, nope, this isn't happening. Yeah,
I hope it stays that way. But I really,

(51:18):
really loved how she just
shut it down.

Leif (51:23):
Lily returns home with Jenny, uh, and Eric.
Rufus is nowhere to be found, but the letter is sitting on the end
table in the living room. Gossip Girl begins her end of
episode monologue. Sinatra sings New
York, New York Is a hell of a town, but on the Upper
east side, sometimes it just feels like hell.

Steve (51:40):
Yeah. So Rufus finds the letter. We haven't
seen the next thing that he does yet, though, right?

Leif (51:45):
No.

Steve (51:45):
Okay.
Yeah.

Leif (51:48):
That was just them coming home and finding out Rufus in there. Then we see
Rufus is meeting with the woman from the co op meeting, and
Gossip Girl continues. Even when we're sure
we've earned that happy ending, it doesn't always
come.

Steve (52:00):
So, yes, he's now with Holland Kemble.

Leif (52:02):
Again, and she is very happy to see
him.

Steve (52:06):
She is very happy to see him. And Rufus
finds this letter, and his
instinct is, I'm going to go find
that woman who was flirting with me earlier today and talk to her
about this. Instead of calling
Vanessa's mom, who's one of his best friends,
instead of going to anyone else that

(52:26):
he knows, he calls this person
that he met today that was flirting with him that
he knows is down to pound.
Because she kind of made it clear.

Leif (52:37):
Does he? Because I have a feeling Rufus just gets that a
lot.

Steve (52:41):
Yeah.

Leif (52:41):
Uh, and he. I think he went to. I'm going to give him the benefit of doubt. Say
he went to her for advice because she knows. She's
dealt with this before. She knows what it's like to have a cheating spouse.

Steve (52:51):
Yeah.

Leif (52:51):
And Rufus is just used to women being nice to him.

Steve (52:54):
Yeah. I mean, God damn it, Rufus,
I hate you so much.

Leif (53:00):
Yes. Yeah.

Steve (53:01):
Yeah.

Leif (53:03):
So, yeah, I would notice if a woman was being like that to me,
but, yeah, Rufus might just be used to it.

Steve (53:08):
Yeah, it just happens all the time.
It's like John Hammond, 30 Rock
when he's in the bubble.

Leif (53:18):
Dan is going home to the loft alone. And Gossip
Girl continues. Second thoughts
creep in. Dan's all alone.

Steve (53:26):
Um, Dan's all alone. As you should be right now.
Dan, go find Willa. Go find Willa
Weinstein.

Leif (53:32):
Stay away from her.

Steve (53:34):
Get that Weinstein money.

Leif (53:36):
Jenny is pretty dressed up for bed. And Gossip
Girl says secret missions sneak
out.

Steve (53:43):
Yep. Jenny's dealing drugs. I
know I will. We're about to see that, but
Serena.

Leif (53:49):
Rolls over and sees Nate sleeping in the chair in her
hospital room. She then smiles before going
back to sleep. Gossip Girl says, and
only sleeping beauty finds her prince.

Steve (54:00):
Yeah.

Leif (54:02):
Jenny meets Damien on the street. And we find out Jenny
has been dealing drugs with him to finance those
handbags. Gossip Girl says,
in this city, nothing is for certain. The
night can push you forward into a dark future or
plunge you into a mysterious past.

Steve (54:19):
So we. We see Jenny dealing drugs, and this
is when we see.

Leif (54:23):
Yeah. The music abruptly stops and we
see Chuck exiting his limo with a bouquet of
yellow roses. He finds a dark
haired woman at his father's grave. She immediately
recognizes Chuck and runs away. Chuck
finds one halfway locket with the letter E
engraved on the outside and a picture of his
father on the inside.

Steve (54:45):
And, uh, the woman left. Did you say
the woman left yellow roses on the grave, too?

Leif (54:50):
I did not mention it, but yeah, she did.

Steve (54:52):
Yeah. So the woman at the grave also leaves the
yellow roses, sees Chuck and runs away.

Leif (54:58):
And, uh, have we heard what his mom's name
is before?

Steve (55:02):
No.

Leif (55:02):
Oh, we haven't.

Steve (55:03):
I don't believe so. I believe that the only.
I believe that it's only ever been mentioned as
your mom, Chuck's mom, my mom. I
don't believe we've heard her name before.

Leif (55:14):
I. I feel like they must have.
Why show us the E. Yeah, I.

Steve (55:20):
I had that thought too. Like, should I know E.
Because the assumption is it's his mom. And my
other reaction was, oh, great, another Chuck
mystery. Because the last Chuck mystery was
so compelling. And I really hope this doesn't
become another one of, like, the noir
attempt that they did with that other.

Leif (55:40):
Talk about the Eyes Wide Shut plot line.

Steve (55:42):
The Eyes Wide Shut plot line.

Leif (55:43):
Yeah. Hopefully it's a little better.

Steve (55:45):
Hopefully.

Leif (55:46):
But it looks like Chuck is going to go off the deep end again.

Steve (55:49):
Yep, yep, yep.

Leif (55:51):
The full quote from Gossip Girl at the end of the episode is
Sinatra sings. New York, New York, it's a
hell of a town. But on the Upper east side,
sometimes it just feels like hell. Even when we're sure
we've earned that happy ending, it doesn't always
come. Second thoughts creep in.
Secret missions sneak out. And only Sleeping

(56:13):
Beauty finds her prince. In this city,
nothing is for certain. The night can push you forward into the
dark future or plunge you into a mysterious
past.
What are your predictions?

Steve (56:28):
Number one. Like you said, Chuck's gonna go off the deep end trying
to figure out who this mystery woman is.
I think that Chuck can get a little obsessive
sometimes, and I think that this might. He
might spiral a bit. I could see Chuck
spiraling a bit here, which could
mean an uncertain future for Chuck and
Blair. I don't think this Dan Vanessa thing is

(56:51):
over. Over. I think Vanessa put the kibosh on it. But
that's also very much how the Dan Serena
relationship kind of teetered for a
bit in a couple times. Like both when
they first got together and then in. In
a later time getting together that it was Oh, I think I
like her. Oh, I think I like him. And they

(57:11):
kind of teetered.

Leif (57:13):
So this was actually the mid season finale. This
episode aired on December 7th. The next episode
is until three months later. March.

Steve (57:20):
Really? So no Christmas episode.
Wow.

Leif (57:24):
Because they plenty of time for Serena to heal up.

Steve (57:27):
Yeah.

Leif (57:29):
She doesn't have to be in a hospital at all.

Steve (57:30):
You're right. Right. And doesn't have a shattered uh,
head too. How about that
scar goes away like
completely.

Leif (57:40):
I think that was probably the last time we see it.

Steve (57:43):
Probably like Scott.

Leif (57:49):
So we got Chuck going off the deep end. Uh,
what's. What's else for what?

Steve (57:53):
Oh, Lily and Rufus.

Leif (57:55):
I don't know.

Steve (57:56):
I. Do they break up? Do I?
Rufus has a loft to go back to. So I.
I definitely feel like there's going to be
a blow up with them.
I don't think Lily slept with baby
daddy. I think she went there for another
reason. For another thing that

(58:17):
because of how Lily was like, it's time I told
Rufus the truth and was doing it with
like ownership that it felt like, yeah, I'm
keeping a big secret. But it's not as
bad. The other side of it is, uh,
if she did bang her ex while she was engaged to another person
and she went to Rufus and said, well, I

(58:37):
banged you when I was engaged to Bart. You
can't be that mad. You should know this is just kind of what I
do.

Leif (58:44):
Yeah. But yeah, it is definitely easy to see why Lily has been
married five times now.

Steve (58:48):
Yes. Yeah. And okay, so
let's talk about this for just a second. When we
first meet Lily in season one, it is
Lily Van Der Woodsen, right? Mhm.
She is then Lily Van
der Woodsen Bass. And then she is Lily
Humphrey. So she got married twice

(59:08):
and didn't change her name and kept her.
Either that or was Serena and
Eric's dad the third
in the line. Which he's not because we know
Klaus came in between there and somebody
else.

Leif (59:23):
Yeah, that's pretty. Uh, that he was the first.
But we know the Klaus that she married was
only for like a month. So that can explain why she never changed her
name that time.

Steve (59:32):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. That it was
really quick. And were there two Klaus?

Leif (59:38):
Yeah, but one was just a boyfriend and lasted longer than the one that she
married.

Steve (59:41):
That's right. That's right.
God damn. I really do want a Lily spinoff. I
just want an entire show of.

Leif (59:50):
Lily banging her way across.

Steve (59:53):
Banging her way. Banging her way through the 80s and
90s and early 2000s,
uh, rated R
TV, Ma, Lilly, Lily
spinoff.

Leif (01:00:05):
What about, uh, Jenny? What's next for Jenny?

Steve (01:00:08):
Oh, Jenny's going to jail.
Jenny is not.
Jenny is smart. Jenny is cunning. Jenny is
not a drug dealer. And Jenny is going to find herself in a really
bad situation. You know, she was
had the whole, like, next time I want to go to the table alone,
I guarantee there's an upcoming

(01:00:29):
episode with I'm at the table alone, and
click, crank handcuffs right
there at the table. Jenny's getting arrested is my
big prediction. I feel like I. I
feel like Rufus has wanted her to arrested for so long that he's
finally going to get it.

Leif (01:00:46):
What about Serena and Nate? Are they going to get together?

Steve (01:00:49):
I hope so. Single Nate is the best
Nate. So I'm worried they'll get
together and it'll be boring because
Nate in relationships is boring.
Serena in relationships is dumb. So
I'm worried that it's going to be dumb and boring. But I
also feel like they deserve
each other in that way. Of

(01:01:12):
the two golden retrievers getting together
and having golden
retriever love, it's cute to me.
So I kind of want it to at least happen also
to. Because my initial
prediction, my overall number one prediction of they're all gonna
bang needs to be fulfilled, and

(01:01:32):
it's not being fulfilled yet, But I do
want to see that happen.

Leif (01:01:38):
Um, and, you know, Serena's got. And he got to do something
while Dan and Vanessa are together.

Steve (01:01:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of hope that
eventually comes back to Dan and Serena.
I kind of feel like that would be a good way to
close out season six. That I feel
like that'd be a good way to close out the show is those
two getting back together. But I don't really need it
right now.

Leif (01:02:02):
Well, let's go ahead and get into some segments.
This week in fandom, we jumped in the wayback machine to
travel to the fan forums from 2009.
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 (01:02:23):
Good boy. The overall reaction
from the fan forum, unlike me, they thought this was the best episode of the
season.

Steve (01:02:30):
I loved this episode. I
really did. You are right about
some of the writing problems. The wolves are
ridiculous. There are flaws.
But as far as an episode moving me
emotionally, yeah, it wins.

Leif (01:02:48):
They thought Ed was great.

Steve (01:02:50):
I mostly did. He didn't talk a lot.
He brooded the whole episode so he didn't have to hide his
accent. But also, the fandom loves Ed
anyway. Like, they Just. Yeah.

Leif (01:03:03):
Love Nate and Serena at the end.

Steve (01:03:05):
Yeah. Yep.

Leif (01:03:07):
Positive reactions to Dan and Vanessa.

Steve (01:03:10):
Positive as in positive to them being together or
positive in how that ended up?

Leif (01:03:15):
They're excited for them to get together.

Steve (01:03:17):
Gross.

Leif (01:03:19):
I agree. But I think Phantom
just wants them to be separated from the Upper east side.

Steve (01:03:25):
Yes. Also, there's a get it over with
aspect to it, too, that no relationship
lasts.

Leif (01:03:32):
Hopefully they. They break so bad, Vanessa just leaves
forever.

Steve (01:03:36):
Or they could kill her off. Oh, but then they don't
leave forever.

Leif (01:03:41):
I don't want Vanessa to die. She's a good person. She's just
annoying.

Steve (01:03:44):
Yeah. Fair. Fair.
Usually a good person. Unless she's
blackmailing Blair.

Leif (01:03:51):
Chuck and Blair are chef's kiss.

Steve (01:03:54):
Yeah.

Leif (01:03:55):
Happy that Jenny and Eric made up.

Steve (01:03:57):
Yep. I'm, um. There.

Leif (01:03:59):
There was mixed reactions on Jenny being a drug
dealer. Some people liked it, some people hated it. Thought it was
gross.

Steve (01:04:06):
I think it's gross, but I love it.
I think that it's exciting. Uh, what?

Leif (01:04:11):
It's exciting?

Steve (01:04:12):
Yeah, it's exciting. And it's
so in line for Jenny. It's so
something Jenny would do. I don't think it's a stretch
for her character. I think that Jenny believes
she's invincible. She sees the money.
She doesn't want to take Lily's money.
She wants her own.

Leif (01:04:30):
I don't think she really cares about the money so much as. That
excites.

Steve (01:04:33):
Uh, yeah.

Leif (01:04:34):
She's just bored with being queen. That's. She's. She's above
that.

Steve (01:04:38):
Yeah.

Leif (01:04:38):
She's not Blair. She. She's. She has a real
ambition.

Steve (01:04:41):
Yes.

Leif (01:04:42):
Unlike Blair, who just wants to be popular.

Steve (01:04:44):
Yes. Yeah. And. And wants to
be. Blair just wants to belong.

Leif (01:04:49):
Yes.

Steve (01:04:49):
And rule.

Leif (01:04:51):
Yes.

Steve (01:04:51):
Jenny wants to sell drugs. Have a little excitement.

Leif (01:04:55):
Well, that is it for this week in fandom. Uh, let's go
ahead and move over to episode grades.
It is my week to go first. So,
as I mentioned, not my favorite episode.
I thought the acting was, for the most part, pretty good, other than
Chuck stumbling around in the hospitals. A little

(01:05:16):
over the top for me. The directing was good. He had
junk.

Steve (01:05:19):
Act drunk. Ed act
drunk.

Leif (01:05:23):
He wasn't acting drunk, though. He was acting like he was, like,
hyperventilating.

Steve (01:05:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (01:05:29):
Just a little over the top. The directing was good.
Uh, we had, you know, good use of music in the episode. They
kind of did some different stuff with Gossip Girl. Kind of. They
did, like, the end of the episode, Gossip Girl thing a couple times
where she was, like, inners dispersed within a scene, like.

Steve (01:05:44):
Yes.

Leif (01:05:46):
But yeah, the writing. Not good. I just.
I don't like Sevyn's writing.

Steve (01:05:51):
She's. I mean, honestly, she's the worst
recurring writer.

Leif (01:05:56):
The whole hallucinating with Bart was just a little over the
top.

Steve (01:06:00):
Yeah.

Leif (01:06:00):
The ptsd, which is. I mean, I've
never lost a parrot, so I can't really say, but it just seems
a little over the top. And the wolves.
Ridiculous. So at the end of the day, I came
down with a C. Damn.

Steve (01:06:14):
Damn. Okay, so I did not
have all the problems you had with it. And
when an episode, um, moves me the way this
one did, I go to the top.
I gave this an A minus. I
agree with a lot of your criticisms. It didn't
distract from the episode to me. And I
think that's really the big difference is that your

(01:06:36):
criticisms are valid. The wolves.
Why? Why wolves? What is
your symbol? Stephanie? At the same
time, it wasn't enough to
lessen how I felt about the episode itself.
It got me engaged and emotional, so I liked it.

Leif (01:06:57):
Moving to Stockwatch. Going up.
Nate.

Steve (01:07:01):
Nate.

Leif (01:07:02):
He was awesome. This episode. Jenny and Eric because they made
up. Blair, because she was a great
girlfriend. Maureen, because she won.
And that's it.

Steve (01:07:12):
Yep. Yep. I had
the same. I had Chuck, but I'm going to take him
off because I don't think that he went up.
I just think that he. I don't think Chuck
went up. I just think that Chuck did the right thing.
But other than. So I really had all of.
Exactly what you said. Nate, Blair,
Maureen, Jenny, and Eric.

Leif (01:07:34):
Uh, for me, going down.

Steve (01:07:36):
Lily.

Leif (01:07:38):
Rufus, because he's just pathetic.

Steve (01:07:41):
Poor Rufus.

Leif (01:07:42):
Dan, because he got shut down and sexually assaulted.
Serena because, well, she got into a car accident,
almost died and lost her boyfriend and
tripped because he's just the absolute worst.

Steve (01:07:55):
Uh, I also had Lily and Rufus for the
same reasons. I also had Trip
and Serena for the same reasons. I also
had Kira because she's no
longer in the plotting circle.
All of her work is now out the window.
And who was the other one that you said?

Leif (01:08:16):
Dan.

Steve (01:08:17):
Yeah, I didn't have Dan go. No, I just. I had
Dan neutral.

Leif (01:08:22):
Yeah, I Chucked neutral. I actually almost had him going down
because he was kind of spiraling all up.

Steve (01:08:27):
Yeah, I'm keeping him at neutral.
Um, like you said, I almost had him going up,
but. Nah. But
here's the best outfits from the last
episode we seen.

Leif (01:08:43):
Best outfit for me. So, anyways,
it wasn't a very big fashion episode because
there was no party, for one thing.

Steve (01:08:51):
No party. And it was all Outerwear. Yeah, they were all outside
most of this.

Leif (01:08:55):
So I ended up going with Blair's houndstooth pussy
bow blouse from Alexander McQueen with, uh,
the Brooks Brothers fleece double breasted black skirt
and a white star style coat and
slingback white with black toe cap Levin
heels.

Steve (01:09:10):
So I actually also went with
Blair, but her Giovanni Rufino
coat that she was wearing, the big, uh, she
had like kind of a podcast poofy kind of coat with a big
black scarf on it as well.

Leif (01:09:24):
That's the same thing, isn't it?

Steve (01:09:25):
Oh, was it? Yeah, I thought it was. Okay, then we had to.
I. I must have seen the name wrong. Maybe mine is
a photo credit.

Leif (01:09:32):
But yeah, she. It was that scarf. It was a pussy bow
blouse.

Steve (01:09:35):
Oh, okay. Oh, I didn't. So I thought it was a scarf.
That's.

Leif (01:09:39):
And she had. She. There was a scene earlier without the jacket
as well.

Steve (01:09:42):
Oh, okay. It was. It was the coat that I
loved, though.

Leif (01:09:46):
There was also from the flashback, I
might have given this. This dress best dress
on the episode where Bart dies where
Serena was wearing. You don't really see it in this episode because she's wearing a
coat over it.

Steve (01:09:58):
Oh.

Leif (01:09:59):
But it was like a tulle dress underneath there.

Steve (01:10:01):
Yeah, I remember that.

Leif (01:10:03):
Jenny's jacket was kind of nice. I like that.

Steve (01:10:06):
Robin's comment. It was the first like five
minutes of the show and Robin was like, the
outerwear on this series is
next level.

Leif (01:10:17):
That was the WB and CW in general. Yeah, they
had a lot of great coats.

Steve (01:10:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (01:10:22):
Uh, that Drax back on Dawson's Creek.
I love the jackets they were wearing like the 1560s
in.

Steve (01:10:29):
Also, while we're talking about the outerwear and
complimenting it, trip, we're not talking to
you and your padded leather armor.

Leif (01:10:38):
That is it for segments. You
plug in anything this week.

Steve (01:10:42):
I am not plugging anything
this week other than my Instagram and
my TikTok. You can find me Steve
Marshon, M a R C H I O N.
Give me a follow and you can
follow me on bluesky the
Weed Wizard. Other than that, I don't really

(01:11:03):
have much going on at the moment.

Leif (01:11:06):
Not much for me either. Uh, check out that podcast I
mentioned earlier. Tis yourself. Nice Irish
woman doing, uh, interviews with celebrities.
And if you want to follow me on social media, you can find
me on Instagram and bluesky.
Hotcapicola. That's H o t
C a P I C o L A.

(01:11:27):
You can follow the podcast on
TikTok, Threads, Instagram, um, etc.
At NonJudgingPracticePod you can also
find links to our subreddit, our Patreon,
and also our Discord server on our website,
nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com.

Steve (01:11:45):
And if you'd like to get in touch with us, we'd love to hear
what you have to say and maybe even read your
thoughts on air. Please feel free to give us
an email at
nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com
and also if you could hit the like the
subscribe the follow button

(01:12:05):
and go ahead and leave a comment and let us know what you think
on this episode. Leaving comments really helps us
with our visibility in Spotify and Apple
podcasts. And finally,
let your friends know what you're listening to. Go ahead and tell
them to tune into the non judging breakfast pod and
make us your water cooler talk next Monday.

Leif (01:12:26):
Indeed. And we will be back next week
to talk about season three, episode
13, the Hurt
Locket.

Steve (01:12:35):
The Hurt Locket.

Leif (01:12:38):
The episode description reads, chuck tracks the
woman he saw at his father's grave.
Jenny agrees to help Damien, Nate and
Serena get friendly.

Steve (01:12:48):
All right, what class is Chuck? What?
What, uh, what DND class would Chuck
be if he's trying to go on this? Like,
does he have the ranger skills
necessary or the rogue skills
necessary to track this person down? He seems like an
NPC class. I don't know if he can do the tracking himself.

Leif (01:13:09):
M. NPC nobleman.

Steve (01:13:10):
NPC nobleman. Yeah.

Leif (01:13:12):
Either that or he's a vigilante.

Steve (01:13:14):
Oh, that. Oh, that. Yeah. Well, the Batman
voice definitely, definitely
leans into that. Right?

Leif (01:13:22):
Yeah.

Steve (01:13:22):
Like, Dan's a bard. Right? Just all written
word. Bard.

Leif (01:13:26):
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve (01:13:27):
I would put him as a bard. Nate would probably
be a fighter. Something that doesn't need to do too much
thinking and use Paladin. Paladin. Yeah.
Nate's a Paladin. Nate's a Paladin.
Yeah.

Leif (01:13:39):
Serena is a siren.
She's a monstrous humanoid.
That tracks.

Steve (01:13:51):
That tracks.

Leif (01:13:52):
Jenny is a halfling.

Steve (01:13:53):
Rogue. Yes. Yes.

Leif (01:13:56):
So, uh, Eric is an
aristocrat.

Steve (01:13:59):
Yeah, I was going to say he's also got to be an NPC
class. Roof, uh, is also
a bard, obviously.
Lily, uh, an NPC aristocrat.

Leif (01:14:12):
I would also think Lily might be a
necromancer.

Steve (01:14:15):
Oh, that's fair. Oh, yeah,
because she learned it from Cece. I mean, that makes
sense.

Leif (01:14:22):
Training to become a lich.

Steve (01:14:23):
Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Fair.
Yeah. It wasn't chemotherapy that she was going through. It was
actually the ritual to ascend to lichdom
that Cece had to do over the summer. That makes
a lot of sense.

Leif (01:14:36):
Blair.

Steve (01:14:37):
What would Blair be, then?

Leif (01:14:39):
Yeah, uh, she could be an anti
paladin. Possibly.

Steve (01:14:45):
She could be. She could. Yeah, she could be
an anti paladin. An assassin.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Although I don't really see
her as being so much sneaky as much as
subtle.

Leif (01:14:57):
Yeah, she might be a vigilante. Class as well.

Steve (01:15:00):
Yeah, I could. Yeah, that one makes sense.

Leif (01:15:02):
She does like disguises.

Steve (01:15:03):
Yes. Oh, yeah. Claire.

Leif (01:15:08):
Well, until next time. You know you love us.

Steve (01:15:10):
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

(01:15:31):
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

(01:15:53):
of me with you there
Every time you walk away I 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

(01:16:16):
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

(01:16:38):
piece of me with you there.
Come back to me.
Smile and you'll make my.
Life complete.

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

(01:17:21):
away or run away take a piece of me
with you there Every
time you walk away or run away and take a piece of
me with you there
Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:17:43):
of me you there
piece of me with you there.

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S3E12 - "The Debarted"

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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;}S3E12 - "The Debarted"