S3E22 - "Last Tango, Then Paris" - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
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Leif (00:01):
Hello. Here at the non judging breakfast pod, we'd like
to keep things light. However, sometimes the
show and therefore our recaps touch on some serious
topics. This episode contains
discussion about sexual assault. We
avoid getting into any graphic detail. However,
we understand that this is a sensitive topic for many
people. Additionally, if

(00:24):
you or a loved one has been a victim of sexual violence
or may be a victim of sexual violence, the
national Sexual assault hotline can be a valuable
resource. They offer 24. 7 live
chat and other information. Just visit
www.rann.org.
that's Rainith twons.org.

(00:45):
they also have a phone the hotline at
1-800-656-4673.
Now we're gonna need a montage.

(01:09):
hey Upper EastSiders 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 season Gossip Girl
veteran.

Steve (01:24):
And I'm Steve the rookie, the newbie,
the greenhorn, the. What are we saying now,
Leif? We're wrapping up season three.

Leif (01:33):
labels are for the religious, the superstitious, and the lower
class. I don't believe in them and neither should you.

Steve (01:39):
Well, you can tell that to my Louboutins in my coach
bag. So here's the deal, folks. Leaf has been
watching Gossip Girls since it first aired and I'm diving
in for the first time. And together, we are your
dynamic duo, bringing you all the drama,
romance, and sometimes questionable fashion
choices of this iconic
2007 series.

Leif (02:00):
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 out behind the scenes
tea. And expect some iconic fandom moments
too, because what's a deep dive without a little
drama?

Steve (02:21):
And since we are 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
a mimosa cup of coffee or some
a chuck special medicine and let's get into this.

Leif (02:36):
Well, let's get into this. But before we get into the episode, we
got some, more tips coming in.

Steve (02:45):
What is it now?

Leif (02:47):
Mal once again commented on
Spotify and said wow. Thanks for reading
my comment. I've been a Gossip Girl fan Since I was
12 and I have always thought that Jetney is definitely
the one character who most deserves to get the fuck out of
this toxic environment that is the Upper east
side.

Steve (03:06):
No doubt.

Leif (03:08):
And thank you again for WR again.

Steve (03:10):
Yes, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
And also, man, we're gonna get into
how the writers did Jenny dirty,
but Jenny never had a shot. And we're gonna get into
that today.

Leif (03:22):
And we also got an email from
friend of the pod, Jadeen. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but
here are a couple highlights.
I do hate how progressively worse Jenny, Nate,
Serena stuff got. Especially
19 when Chua involved. The whole
plot was unsettling to watch because it furthers

(03:43):
the Jenny character assassination and
also heavily damaged her relationship with
both Nate and Serena. And then,
she also goes on to say the way people say
Jenny ruined chair by sleeping with Chuck is
incorrect. When Chuck and Blair weren't even
together. And it was Chuck's choice to fuck the first person

(04:03):
he saw when he thought he lost Blaire forever.
When he could have literally waited 10 minutes or
Blair could have called saying that she's got toa be late. But no,
we have to be this overdramatic.

Steve (04:14):
Yeah, yeah. And
again, we're gonna talk about that and I
wanna talk about it when we get to it.

Leif (04:22):
And then she also wrote so Blair
telling Jenny no one loves her in defense for
Serena, Nate's crumbling relationship she
deems as mythic, just as really
gross and misogynistic. Blair's internal
misogyny on the show is incredibly overlooked and
de'ey iconic putting other women in their
place. Meanwhile, characters like Jenny Orvesssa do

(04:44):
it. They are pies and are not girls
girls. And it's a double standard when everyone on the
show is awful and writing is mostly
misogynistic.

Steve (04:54):
No lies.

Leif (04:55):
And she is also excited to hear Steve's reaction to the
Georgina pregnancy.

Steve (05:00):
Yeah, we'll get to that. We'll get to that for
sure.
I'll try'you. know what? I'll actually,
I have my reaction, so I'll make sure that
that's posted next week. At some
point you can have my literal reaction to this.

Leif (05:17):
And then more casting spoilers on
Dexter resurrection. They brought out some, big
name talent for the fourth episode.
Oh u with Thurman. Oh,
who actually was in the first episode, but
she gets a little more explained this episode.
Peter Dinklage.

Steve (05:36):
No kidding.

Leif (05:37):
Kristen Ritter.

Steve (05:38):
Christian Ritter. Oh, I love Christristian Ritter.

Leif (05:40):
Neil Patrick Harris.

Steve (05:42):
Okay, okay.

Leif (05:43):
And David, Dastmachian.
Like he's in a bunch of stuff he would recognize. He'like he's an opp.
Openheimer. Yeah, he's been a bunch of stuff.

Steve (05:52):
It's one of those people that I would recognize where I. All of them.
Yeah. Although I do
really quickly want to throw out a quick
rip to Ozzy
Osbourne. I'm a huge metal
fan. I'm a huge Sabbath, and
I love Ozzy.

Leif (06:09):
And Backco metal is actually good.

Steve (06:11):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he. It's.
He created it, you know, and granted,
like, so much of it happened by accident.
And my big thing with Ozzy. Ozzy was a
phenomenal performer and he had
a unique voice for the
time, which those two things

(06:32):
made this, Along with the
Tony Ayami needing to tune down,
to be able to play with his.
With his prosthetic fingertips, then you have this
incredible basis and they get together and
record this iconic music. They
really revolutionized music and created a.
Launched a branch of music.

(06:55):
Not alone and not in a vacuum. Of course, you
also had Deep Purple happening and you also
had Led Zeppelin happening. But Black
Sabbath was something else. And I'll never
say that Ozzy was the best singer. He was
really good at what he did. He wasn't a great
singer. He was an iconic singer with an

(07:15):
iconic voice. Dio was a better singer.
Dio was a better vocalist,
but he wasn't the
energy and the embodiment
of that. That darkness that we all have
inside and not all of us know how to get it
out. And Ozzy helped us do that.
So, so long, Ozzy.

(07:37):
And thank you for, all the music
indeed. Yeah. And fuck off all'call him.

Leif (07:44):
I wasn't even gonna even menion him.

Steve (07:49):
O Malcolm Jamal Warner, though.

Leif (07:51):
Yeah, that's sad.

Steve (07:52):
Yeah. Sad about Theo.

Leif (07:55):
Yeah, it looked like he was kind of turning his life around, but I guess it did
not soon enough, unfortunately.

Steve (08:01):
Yeah, that. That was a real shame.

Leif (08:04):
But on to Gossip girl. season three,
episode 22 Last
Tango Then Paris original
air date was May.

Steve (08:13):
17, 2010 huge missed opportunity. A
blare to remember.

Leif (08:18):
You said that last week already. And I still
say this is better.

Steve (08:22):
Yeah, okay, I did say that last. I thought
I said it to Robin.

Leif (08:27):
He said it here.

Steve (08:28):
Tip. okay.

Leif (08:28):
And yeah, but I still think this was better
and also more revealing of where the
writers were going with this, despite fandoms.
Please.

Steve (08:38):
That. No, you know, you're right. That it really
does. It really does
summarize the last five minutes of this
episode or last ten minutes of this episode.

Leif (08:50):
It is based, of course, on last tangle in Paris.
1972 film with Marlon Brando
and Maria Schneider.
A young Parisian woman meets a middle
aged American businessman who demands their
clandestine relationship be based only on
sex. The film's raw
portrayal of rape and emotional

(09:13):
turmo led to international
controversy and through various levels of government
censorship in different jurisdictions.

Steve (09:21):
That's really interesting too.

Leif (09:23):
And yeah, I don't know how much you
know about the making of it. There was actually
a documentary or not documentary, like a biopic
of Maria, Schneider that came out
fairly recently. But she said this
about around the time of the release of
that, biopic. She

(09:44):
remembered what happened on the day of filming that scene in which her
character was raped by Brando using butter as a
lubricant. That scene wasn't in the original
script. The truth is, it was Marlolin who came up with
the idea. They only told me about it before we
had to film the scene. And I was so angry. I
felt humiliated. And to be honest, I felt

(10:04):
a little raped both by Marlon and
Bertollicci, who'the director. After the
scene, Marlon didn't console me or
apologize. She said, Marlolin said to me,
maria, don't worry, it's just a movie. But during
the scene, even though what Marlon was doing
wasn't real, I was crying real tears.

Steve (10:23):
God damn. Yeah.

Leif (10:27):
And I think that was very intentional, the writers to use that
title.

Steve (10:31):
Yeah.

Leif (10:32):
Despite fandom, even to this day,
arguing about the consent of Jenny,
which. Yeah, if it's
not enthusiastic, it's not consent.

Steve (10:42):
Yeah. And yeah, it's.
Yeah, it is a real
troubling scenario.
Like, it really is
messy. yeah.
And we'll talk about it.

Leif (10:59):
Episode was written by Josh Saffron and
Stephanie Savage.
Saffron's highlights include Bad News Blair,
High Society, New Haven Can Wait,
the Magnificent Archibalds, and the Treasure of
Serena Madre. So both season two and season
three. Thanksgiving episodes.

Steve (11:18):
Yeah. And finales. Right?

Leif (11:20):
No, he did not do any finales. Oh, I thought this is his first
finale. But Savage
also, her highlights were, the Wild
Brunch. Oh, brother. where Bart
Thou and the Debarded.
Directed by J. Miller Tobin,
who previously did Poison Ivy,
the Blair Bitch Project, Summer Kind of

(11:42):
Wonderful, the Grandfather and the
Reversal of Fortune.

Steve (11:46):
Yeah. Some solid directing credits for sure.

Leif (11:49):
Yeah, definitely.

Steve (11:50):
Yeah, definitely some solid directing
credits for. For those
episodes.

Leif (11:56):
And I thought very good in this episode too.

Steve (11:58):
Yes. I don't know how much it's
scripted or from direction
itself, the way that
this episode cuts
sometimes and weaves
the storytelling together and weaves
scenes together was
different from a lot of the typical pacing

(12:21):
of Gossip Girl.

Leif (12:22):
Yeah.

Steve (12:23):
And really made the
episode more special in how it
was delivered because both.

Leif (12:29):
At the beginning when they get everyone gets the blast, and then also, near
the end where, like, Blair'going to the Empire State Building.

Steve (12:35):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (12:36):
There's like two little montages in the episode.

Steve (12:39):
Yes.

Leif (12:40):
One other thing to note. I don't know if you noticed that
every song in the episode was a cover song.

Steve (12:46):
I didn't put that together
because I did notice some of the COVID songs. Like
I. The one thought that. I thought
the one was terrible. I thought Under Pressure was
terrible. That if you're gonna cover Under Pressure,
you better. You better fucking now.
If you'renn cover. If you're going to
cover Freddie Mercury,

(13:09):
you have to be able to do Freddie
Mercury or at least do
something really special. And I haven't
heard that whole song and it cut out before
certain parts of it, but I was not impressed.

Leif (13:23):
I thought it was a good song choice, though. And they were
clearly going for a covers motif, so,
they had to do something.

Steve (13:30):
It was a great song choice. All the song
choice was really good. But yeah,
I didn't realize they were all covers. Especially the one with
Jenny in the end where Robin was like,
where did they even find this song? And now to know that it's
a.

Leif (13:45):
Cover of a song even when she's
crying.

Steve (13:49):
No. Well, no. Before they get into bed,
the I for you saw that skinny little girl
like you're. It's basically about losing
virginity.

Leif (14:01):
Why don't you give us that vulture recap?

Steve (14:06):
Most episodes of Gossip Girl carry strains
of the DNA of great works of
literature. The young adult novels of
Cecily von Ze Zeer
on which it was based, which will
one day assume their rightful place in the canon,
for one. And Pierre
Cordolis de la,

(14:31):
epistolary novel Le Liaison
Drousness for another. And
last Night'season finale was clearly influenced
by the Russians. And we're not just
saying that because of the, prostes
that appeared in the third act to
fondle Nate's soft, young chest
hair, dark, sophisticated,

(14:53):
ambitious. We imagine Last Tango,
then Paris might one day be taught
alongside Tolstoy's War and
Peace. So painstaking was the
period detail, so epic was the scope.
Indeed, in this episode, the entire cycle of, life
was represented in all of its
joy and suffering. We had

(15:15):
the sweaty, grunting birth of
Anastasia. Jenny
experiencing the terror, pain and regret
of being deflowered by a man she does not
love. Blair, cruelly resolving never to
have her heart broken again. Dan,
hopeless and in shock as he realizes that he
may have fathered a half demon, half

(15:37):
emo child, may now be trapped forever with
a woman he does not like. And the, still
faintly smirking resignation of Chuck
Bass, lying on the cobblestone streets of
a ridiculously smoky soundstage,
Prague, alone and breathing what may
be, but are probably not his
final breaths. Because that last thing

(15:59):
just wouldn't be realistic. A, fact we're
sure the Czech tourism board will point
out as soon as they are alerted to this attack
on their fair country.

Leif (16:10):
That's definitely one of the better ones.

Steve (16:12):
Yeah.

Leif (16:13):
Yeah's pretty funny.

Steve (16:14):
Yes. Sorry for fucking up the
French. If you're
listening, Les lisison
Deus. Deus.

Leif (16:25):
Act one begins with a Gossip Girl
monologue.
You rep put, you sow. What goes around comes
around. No matter how far you run,
you can never truly escape. Everything catches up to
you in the end, and when it does, it usually kicks
your ass.

(16:45):
We get a quick shot of Georgina being spotted
at Grand Central Terminal before shifting to Lillian. Rufus
eating breakfast. Rufus is lost in thought,
worrying about Jenny. Lily just shrugs it off
as typical teenage rebellion. Lily doesn't want
to separate Jenny and Eric, but Eric walks in and
says to send her crazy ass away.

Steve (17:05):
That shot of Georgina, at first
I thought it was Jenny, because I
didn't. You see her with long blonde
hair from behind. So I was like, oh, is that
Jenny? And then you see her look down and it's o.
Georgina's back. Also,
Eric just.

Leif (17:25):
He starts the dog pile at the beginning of the
episode.

Steve (17:28):
Yes.

Leif (17:30):
Very first scene.

Steve (17:31):
Yeah, go ahead. After. But
also, again, I feel Eric is the
only one who really
recognized the full weight of what
Jenny did to his mom. I feel like
everyone is like, oh, you lied.

Speaker C (17:46):
Oh, you sold drugs.

Steve (17:47):
And Eric's like, you could have killed my mom.
Like you were gonna let her keep being
poisoned by this man.

Leif (17:54):
Well, in the morality of the show, they were all fine with
William just leaving.

Steve (17:58):
Right. Right, they were.

Leif (18:00):
Except for Nate.

Steve (18:01):
Except for Nate, which when later on
when Serena's like, that wasn't your decision. Was it
yours, Serena? Was it your
decision?

Leif (18:11):
But also, EDNT said, Eric is the first one to start the dog pile,
but he's also the first one at the end of the episode to
recognize that she's really hurting.

Steve (18:19):
Yes. Eric is a great brother,
and he's mad at her right now with
every right to be mad. And also, he
doesn't say, I hate her. He Says, no,
she's out of control. And after what she
did, if you need to send her away, I get it.

Leif (18:36):
You know, before she hurts anyone else.

Steve (18:38):
Before she hurts anyone else.

Leif (18:41):
Nate wakes up to find Jenny sitting in her his
bed. Nate reaffirms that they are just
friends. Chuck walks in with a drink tray and
teases the pair for falling asleep together again.
Jenny leaves to get dressed, and Chuck warns Nate to
be careful about rocking the boat on his already
shaky relationship with Serena.

Steve (19:00):
And we see, instantly, Once again, Nate isn't
having it with Jenny. It was. We were led to
believe that maybe something would.
But Nate fell asleep listening to
her talk. And then you have Chuck
coming in and once again verifying
nothing happened and setting up
the rest of his day and everything. Yeah.

Leif (19:23):
A very pregnant Doroda is struggling to carry a
drink tray of her own at the Waldorf's apartment.
Deoda subtly encouraged Claire to reconcile
with Chuck. Blair pulls Drod aside and tells her
that she isn't going anywhere near the Emperor State Building
and that she has a day with Cameron to prepare for her.

Steve (19:41):
Eleanor threatens
Dooda by saying, I'm gonna get you
help. Doesn't seem like
a threat.
De Roive, you don't have that baby soon, I'm gonna get
you some help.

Leif (19:58):
I mean, she already bought him a house.

Steve (19:59):
right. Exactly. Although I feel like. I feel
like coming from Eleanor, that's more of a threat of your
replaceable. Yeah, no
maternity leave. E rota.

Leif (20:11):
Yeah. Pop it out and get back to work.

Steve (20:13):
Yeah. Yup. We'll strap a
bassinet to the vacuum cleaner and you
can just keep on working.

Leif (20:23):
Georgina shows up at the Empire looking for help.
Seems Georgina has the Russians after her.
However, Chuck is unsympathetic and escorts Ger
Gina out of the suite.

Steve (20:34):
And it's great when she walks in and she's standing
there and you actually, for a second
see behind Chuck, you see
the painting over the bed
of Georgina. And so that was
a really cool pairing there. And
for Chuck, there's not really been

(20:54):
anything between Chuck and
Georgina that we have seen.

Leif (21:00):
he was definitely part of the
lore.

Steve (21:03):
no, I mean, in
the show, all of
the beef that Georgina has started has been
with Blair. With Serena, it has been with the
girls. She's never openly
on the show, beefed with Chuck, but Chuck
just being like, nah, I'm not getting

(21:24):
involved with this shit. Get out.
Chuck just not wanting to have anything to do
with it.

Leif (21:30):
Well, Georgina stole his virginity.

Steve (21:33):
Oh, that's right, that's
right. They did tell us that.

Leif (21:37):
Yeah, that's what I was referring to.

Steve (21:39):
Yes, you're right.

Leif (21:41):
Jenny returns to the loft to find first Serena's
hat and then sees Serena herself in bed
with Dan. Little Jay snaps a quick photo
and sends it off to Gossip Girl.

Steve (21:53):
Jenny, I know you want Nate. I know you don't
want Serena in the way. And I know you're beefing with
Serena. It's your brother now.
Now you just fucked with Dan. Now you just fucked with
Vanessa. Not that you wouldn't
eventually tell Vanessa, I would think,
because they are kind of close. But
to fuck over Dan like that, to

(22:15):
not even talk to Dan and is just fuck him over.
I don't feel like Dan deserved that. No.

Leif (22:21):
Oh, well, I mean, he kinda.

Steve (22:22):
Did, but from her, I don't
believe he deserved that from Jenny.

Leif (22:26):
Yeah, true.

Steve (22:28):
He deserved to be outed.

Leif (22:30):
Classic teenager. Not acting and not thinking.

Steve (22:32):
Yep, very much. Jenny's never out
of teenager character
again. She's the best acted on the show and
the most teenager like on the show.

Leif (22:45):
Dan wakes up to a call from Nate, which he
ignores. Serena also wakes up and they
both state regret for what happened last night,
which is, in the words of the killers, only a
kiss. They both agree to keep things on the
DL since nothing really happened.
However, as they say their re goodbyes, they nearly kiss
again.

Steve (23:05):
Yeah, the gravity. The gravity kiss.
I was unsure if it was Nate calling
Dan or Dan checking Serenas.

Leif (23:13):
Yeah, I was unsure to. She grabs it off of her
side, but then he puts it back on his side. Yeah,
that was kind of.

Steve (23:19):
But ignores the call too.

Leif (23:21):
So.

Steve (23:21):
Yeah, I wasn't sure where it ah. Whose it
was.

Leif (23:24):
Whose phone was. Yeah, I woned that as well.

Steve (23:27):
Yeah.

Leif (23:28):
Yeah.
So this is the first montage here. A
disappointed Blair gets a Gossip Girlow blast that
reads spotted a family reunion
only Faulkner would approve of. We
see Nate and Chuck also getting the blast, which
continues. I used to think S and Lonely Boy
were the most boring couple on the Upper east side, but

(23:49):
what makes them actually great together is when they're
supposed to be with other people. Dan
also gets the blast and sees Jenny's coffee cup on the
table and puts two and two together. Serena
gets in a cat to head for home, but immediately changes
her destination to the Empire when she reads the.

Steve (24:05):
Blast and quick to the cab,
Dan. It's funny cause Dan ends up
going to Brooklyn or going to the
Upper east side to look for Jenny. And then they're there and
Rufus is like. She's most likely Going toa show up at home.
Oh, I was just there. But anyway, yeah,

(24:26):
Dan sees this. We have everybody catching the
blast. And a very classic everyone catching
the blast scene. We don't see that a lot this
season. Gossip Girl has sort
of taken a step back this season.
She's been used definitely a few times, especially
the Jenny thing last week. But here
we're seeing a big blast that actually

(24:49):
has major consequences.

Leif (24:50):
And then Gossip Girl's final lineie before we go to the
break is.

Steve (24:57):
Good.

Leif (24:57):
Luck talking your way out of this one.
S And we go to
act two. Serena calls
Blair. Blair mocks and derides Serena for
backsliding into old habits. Serena also
tells Blair Jenny is likely the one who sent the photo to Gossip
Girl. Seems like Blair is going to use a Jenny Humphrey
takedown to distract her from Chuck's

(25:18):
ultimatum. She tells Cameron that their
date is moving off the island
when he's.

Steve (25:26):
He looks so annoyed too. Like, do you mind if
we take a little detour? How little?
Like, are we doing this
again? Am I going on one of your schemes
again?

Leif (25:39):
It was interesting the first time, but yeah, yeah,
I'm over it.

Steve (25:42):
Yes. I think I've got rugby
practice.

Leif (25:47):
Dad is entering the penthouse and takes a call from
Serena. And they reaffirm their plan to tell everyone that
nothing happened. As they hang up, Rufus
comes downstairs and askes Serena is wearing his Lincoln
all T shirt. Dan, channeling his
inner Rufus, says, Jenny is out of control and she has
to be stopped.

Steve (26:06):
That was so funny that Rufus has
seen the Gossip Girl
blast and comes down like, is that my Lincoln
Hawk shirt Serena'wearing it's
perfect. Yeah. And
Dan would just be like, fuck.

Leif (26:22):
You'Re reallying Gossip Girl now,
dad.

Steve (26:28):
Yeah, I loved that.

Leif (26:30):
And yeah. But again, Dan jumping
on the Chenny hate train.

Steve (26:35):
And now Dan jumps on the Jenny ha train.
Although indirect retaliation.
It's one of those things where Dan all along is like, give her
a chance. Give her a chance. Oh, she's fucking with me now.
Get her out of here.

Leif (26:49):
But I think it goes back to what Nate said at the end of the episode
where Dan knows he's in the wrong here.

Steve (26:54):
Yep. Yeah.

Leif (26:57):
Serena shows up the Empire looking for Nate, but meets
Chuck instead. Chuck says he doesn't want an
explanation, but instead gives her some brotherly advice.
Just to be honest and upfront with Nate.

Steve (27:08):
Chuck just stopping her.
And whatever line you have
prepared, just, do you want
this or not? That's go at
it from that angleuse that's what
matters. Stop with this.
Oh, I can explain. You don't tell me I'm
Chuck fucking Bass. You don't tell me

(27:29):
what you did. I don't care.
Especially if all you did was kiss.

Leif (27:37):
Well, just that. Nate also exits the elevator,
and instead of immediately following Chuck's advice, Serena
goes on the defenseensive. Attack Nate for calling the cops
on Dr. Daddy. She then tells Nate that she loves
him. It looks like Nate is buying a story that nothing
happened with Dan.

Steve (27:53):
That's where it the line that really annoyed me
when that Nate also doesn't
push back, which I understand him not pushing back, but
when she's like, it wasn't your decision to make about calling the
cops. It's not your decision whether or
not the guy that tried to kill your mom to move in and try to get
closer to her should be. That

(28:14):
man should not be a medical doctor anymore.
Serena. At least the man should be
disbarred, not arrested. Okay? If
Lily doesn't want to press charges, that's
her decision. That man should be
disbarred. Minimum.

Leif (28:30):
Yeah, I
also took Collin.

Steve (28:34):
Sorry.

Leif (28:35):
So I looked up the Empire Hotel,
and there are 11 floors.
I'm assuming Chuck s suite is on the top floor.

Steve (28:43):
Yes. Yeah.

Leif (28:44):
There was 24 seconds from the ding from
Serena getting off the elevator to the ding for Nate getting off the
elevator.

Steve (28:53):
So in 12 seconds,
it went back down. Got. And then
12 seconds right back up. Like Nate was,
like, leaning on the door so he could just
fall in and it would take him up in the next 12
seconds.
U. maybe there's two elevators

(29:15):
to the penthouse.

Leif (29:16):
Maybe
Blair shows up to the loft and gives Jenny a
verbal smackdown. As Blair leaves,
Rufus walks in with his disappointed dad
face.

Steve (29:31):
He's such a disappointed dad face
in.
In this whole episode. at the end, I thought he was some of
his better acting, but there's a lot of this that it.
Matt looked disappointed.

Leif (29:44):
And just like you, Blair just can't resist taking a shot at
Vanessa.

Steve (29:48):
No. No. In
fact, I feel Vanessa is mentioned enough in this
episode that. That she gets to show up later
in this episode too. I feel
like she's losing out on some stuff here
for sure. Yeah.

Leif (30:06):
Dan is looking at the ultrasound pictures with
Deroda in the street when Blair exits the building and
gives Dan a physical and verbal smackdown.
Dan pulls Blair away from Tooda and Cameron and
gives a rambling speech about following the signs that
life gives you. As Dan continues to babble,
the Empire State Building comes into focus right

(30:27):
at Blair's eye line.

Steve (30:29):
The way this scene was shot was just
perfect with the blurred background that if you're
not. I wasn't paying attention the first time. I was just watching the
scene. So the second watch through, seeing that it
was sitting there the whole time
in the background waiting for you to
notice it. Yeah, I thought that was so

(30:49):
cool. I really thought that this
was. But also, like, what are you doing with. What are you
doing with Cam now that you're like, oh, man, these
signs. I'm gonna have to go to the Empire State
Building now. And, like, Cameron's still, like,
there at this point. You're just gonna abandon him in
Brooklyn because, well, did.

Leif (31:10):
We're not there yet. Chuck is on top of
the Empire State Building with a bouquet of,
peonies. And Gossip Girl says,
spotted atop the Empire State Building,
that is a boy billionaire, flowers in
hand. Oh, Chuck, if you could only see to
Brooklyn, you might turn that frown upside

(31:32):
down.

Steve (31:34):
That was another one of those cuts
between scenes that were unusual
for the typical pacing of Gossip Girl.

Leif (31:42):
Yeah. Cause then we see Blair says
goodbye to Can. But before she can head to her
deadline, de rta's water breaks. And
Blair and Dan put her in a town car headed to the
hospital.

Steve (31:55):
Something else that I. All of this brings together
is yet another pairing of Dan and Blair as
well, that we have them paired up together.
And we have Dan saying to
Blair, you can't ignore the signs.

Leif (32:09):
Yeah.

Steve (32:10):
And now we're seeing these signs
again. So I, am, And I have
more thoughts by the end of the episode.

Leif (32:18):
And you get the first little hint of Dan being kind
of baby crazy where he's looking at the pictures with
Deoda.

Steve (32:24):
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yeah.

Leif (32:28):
so Gospiel takes us to the break with.
Then again, maybe you should guard your heart.
Dooda's water might not be the only thing
breaking tonight.
Act three begins at the
loft. Rufus explains to Jenny
that he has already spoken with Allison. Jenny

(32:50):
is going to spend the summer in Hudson and then finish high
school there in the fall. Jenny
says the city is all she has, and without
it, she'll have nothing. Rufus
ignores his daughter's plea and puts his foot
down. It says it's already done.

Steve (33:07):
I feel for everybody
in this because Jenny has
been spiraling
recently, and
getting her away from all of this
mess probably wouldn't be a bad idea, especially
for the summer. And graduating

(33:28):
from a school somewhere else might be good for you,
Jenny. A fresh start might be good. I
can't imagine how hard that is for Rufus.
I know when my daughter chose to Go back to living
up with her mom. It was
heartbreaking. So to have to make that decision for
her, that's heartbreaking. And I

(33:48):
feel for her, but I.

Leif (33:50):
Mean, he should have seen here
that Jenny needed more than just to be sent away.

Steve (33:56):
Yeah, she needs help. Like, some real help.
And they're not doing anything to help
her.

Leif (34:03):
Vanya rushes into dooda's hospital room, A
much more reserved Eleanor and Cyrus also
enter. Cyrus offers his expertise as
a lamaz coach. Doroda tells Blair that she
has plenty of help now and that Blair should go
meet Chuck at the empire state building.

Steve (34:21):
No, the
chunk Ruth
baby.
Okay, Deotta.
Yeah. There's a lot of people in this, there's a lot of people
here. Your boss just showed up for you to have
your baby. Your boss and her
husband just showed up for you to have your baby.

Leif (34:44):
I mean, we've already established that they're basically
family.

Steve (34:47):
We have. And I always. I will
never see.

Leif (34:50):
Yeah, I won't complain about Eleanor o Cyrus, but
wired Nate and Serena. And yes, I
guess Dan soord asked excuse because he was with them when it
happened.

Steve (34:59):
Right.

Leif (35:00):
But yeah, everybody is coming to
even.

Steve (35:04):
Like later Lily show up.

Leif (35:07):
I mean, I guess, like, bringing their friends food is I guess a kind
of friendly kind of gesture, but.

Steve (35:12):
Yeah, and I could. Yeah. But Rufus
has hardly interacted with dooda.
Definitely not friendly.

Leif (35:20):
Well, he did throw them their free wedding
party. Their traditional russian
polish game night.

Steve (35:27):
Yes. Which all polish Russian
weddings I'm sure have. Yes,
the game night.

Leif (35:36):
Also, I think, the new york city tourism board has
slipped Josh Schwartz. It's a little something something.
All the mentions and shots of the empire state building this
episode.

Steve (35:45):
Oh, yeah, for sure.

Leif (35:48):
On her way out of the hospital, Blair rushes
past and arriving Serena. Serena finds
Dan, and he wants to come clean about the kiss.
Serena, of course, wants to continue to lie, but too late,
because Nate walks up from behind them to overhear the
conversation.

Steve (36:03):
Perfect. And you know it's
happening. You know, when they're sitting here talking about it, they
like, you're gonna turn around and Nate's going to be
there. and he
needed to hear it, and Dan wanted him
to. And Dan doesn't want to hide this stuff. And
Dan isn't saying, I want to be with you. He's saying,

(36:23):
we can't be dishonest. Which is very Dan.

Leif (36:26):
Yeah.

Steve (36:27):
And the no, I need to have this secret and hold on to
it longer is very Serena.

Leif (36:33):
Blair isn't able to just blow past
geino though. Georgina Followed Cyrus and
Eleanor from the apartment and once again begs for
help. Just like Chuck, Blair doesn't
have time for her. But even if she did, dot,
dot, dot.

Steve (36:48):
Even if she did, yes, I
do love the peppering of Georgina throughout this
episode. And everyone basically telling her to fuck
off. Because why wouldn't they?
Although there is the. My biggest thing is that why would she
go to Chuck and Blair
first?
Other than the fact that they are probably the ones that have the

(37:11):
most resources,
aside from Serena, but, well.

Leif (37:17):
Yeah, I guess they was that Calper get away from these
mysterious Russians, right?

Steve (37:23):
Sure.

Leif (37:24):
Serena and Nate are arguing about the nature of a kiss,
and Dan tries to stay out of it because, like Nate
points out, Dan knows he fucked up.
Nate also threatens to tell Vanessa
and Nate.

Steve (37:37):
Nate's whole thing of like, first of all,
Dan being like, I can speak for myself.
And when Serena's like, well, you're being
awfully quiet. And it's likeuse he knows
I'm right and he is Nate.
Nate is not wrong here. And it's not something that can't be
worked out or talked through, but he's not

(37:58):
wrong.

Leif (37:58):
Yeah, stop lying, Serena.

Steve (38:00):
Yeah, stop lying and stop lying to yourself,
Serena. It meant something, Serena. Because
you always want everyone to be in love with
you as much as you are
now.

Leif (38:13):
We're gonna need a montage
first. Dota is in the final stage of labor.
Blair gets out of her town car and runs into the Empire State
Building. Nate uses his cutting edge
Windows phone to send pictures of Dan and Serena to
Vanessa. We shift back to the birth of
Tooda's daughter. Then on to Blair at the

(38:34):
top of the Empire State Building. She finds the
bouquet alone in the trash.

Steve (38:40):
At this point, there are a lot of
people looking at Dooda's
lady bits in this
sceneus. There's a lot of people in that room
watching this happen. And at this point, also, I will
say Cyrus and Eleanor.
Inappropriate. Maybe you shouldn't be there
for the delivery of the baby.

Leif (39:02):
I mean, Cyrus is around, like, delivered random
clients babies.

Steve (39:05):
He said apparently not enough.

Leif (39:08):
Not, not enough, not enough.
So this cover of the Bob Dylan song Don't
Think Twice. It's all right. it was done by a band
called the Eastern Conference Champions.
So I saw the name, I had to look him up. And it turns
out, according to the wiki, they're from
Philadelphia, but their first EP

(39:31):
was called the Southampton Collection.

Steve (39:34):
Interesting. Yeah.
So I wonder if
East Eastern, Conference. Eastern Conference
Champions.

Leif (39:43):
They were formed in 2005.

Steve (39:45):
I was gonna Say, which is funny. Which is the year we
were not eastern,
conference champions. 05
was the year that we
tanked after the Super Bowl.
Right.04 went to the Super Bowl.

Leif (40:02):
But if they formed early in 05,
I mean, the Super bowl itself took place in 2005.

Steve (40:08):
Yeah. So if they formed before
February of 05.

Leif (40:15):
before. Before, like.

Steve (40:16):
Oh, I guess they.

Leif (40:17):
Before, like bas before, like November.

Steve (40:19):
Yeah.

Leif (40:20):
Late. Because they were actually good at the beginning of the season.

Steve (40:22):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (40:23):
They fell apart even though they had issues. That's Ray cap.

Steve (40:26):
Yeah. Yeah, they. Well, that was the to
season that t was.

Leif (40:33):
But also I don't even think it was about the Eagles
because you don't really say eastern. That's more of either
basketball or hockey.

Steve (40:40):
Yeah.

Leif (40:41):
So I'm not.

Steve (40:43):
Yeah.

Leif (40:44):
Forget what those teamens were doing those years.

Steve (40:46):
And it definitely was not the Phillies that year,
Philly. It was like two years o.

Leif (40:51):
They're not Eastern Conference either. They're.
Yeah, they're the NL East.

Steve (40:57):
N East. Yeah.

Leif (40:58):
But, you don't really hear Eastern Conference.

Steve (41:00):
No, no, no, you don't.

Leif (41:01):
It's definitely a basketball or hockey.

Steve (41:03):
Yeah, like more college even. Yeah.

Leif (41:07):
Jenny enters the Empire suite
and finds Chuck alone in the dark. Chuck
invites Jenny to stay, but only if she does what he
does. They find common ground in the
emptiness. And as the scene ends, they
lean in and kiss.

Steve (41:25):
Yeah.

Leif (41:30):
Yeah, they've been hinting at it,

Steve (41:31):
They'Ve been hinting at this. And Chuck has
'definitely shown that he's
attracted to Jenny many times.
And they've definitely hinted at this pairing
a few times. And they have
grown closer to
each other with things like

(41:51):
him and Jenny finding out with the drugs and
those sorts of things. And now you have these two
people who are at their lowest.
Really. I don't. Has Chuck been lower than
this? That he thinks
Blair is gone and that it's
done and Jenny

(42:12):
here and you know, yeah, you
can hang out here, but you're going to do it. But if you're going
toa hang with me, you do what I do. Like, I don't play video
games. I drink. So here's a drink.
And the kiss,
it wasn't a one sided thing here, you know it

(42:34):
was. And she wasn't drunk
at that point. I don't know how much she drank in the
next between scenes, but
at this point she wasn't drunk. No.

Leif (42:46):
You know, she was depressed.

Steve (42:47):
Yeah, she was depressed and
Chuck was there.

Leif (42:54):
And so, there is a certain
psychology. Obviously not all people who are
sexually Assaulted. But there is
enough that it's a pattern that psychologists
recognize of people going back to their
abusers to, quote, unquote, regain the
power.

Steve (43:11):
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Leif (43:17):
And we move into Act 4.
The scene has shifted from to Cheuckk's
bed. Chuck gives Jenny the option
to leave, but Jenny says she doesn't want to be
alone. And Jenny blows out the candle.

Steve (43:32):
and Chuck says he doesn't want to be alone either,
that they're doing this because they don't
want to be alone.
And yeah,
this is. It's really messy
because Chuck doesn't hear no
in this. Jenny

(43:53):
is trying to, It's almost like she's
trying to find that rock bottom
and is looking for this one person to maybe be
the one to be like, no, that's the bridge too
far. And he's not gonna do that. But that's not the
person who'snna do that. You know, he's gonna
hear you say yes

(44:13):
and he's gonna act on it. Which
is an upgrade from their
first encounter when he
didn't hear yes and tried to act on
it. But here he's
hearing it and
feeling like he is
going through the same thing

(44:35):
she is.

Leif (44:36):
Well, I want to clarif. She doesn't actually say yes. She just
doesn't say no.

Steve (44:42):
Yeah. and all she says
is, I don't want to be alone. And
it is that recognition to her that
if she doesn't want to be alone, this
is what it has to be.

Leif (44:56):
Which to me falls under coercion.

Steve (44:58):
Yes. Yeah. yes.
Yeah. It's really fucking
sad. It's really sad. Yeah.

Leif (45:08):
Georgina eavesdrops on a conversation between
Serena and Dan looking at all the newborns.

Steve (45:16):
Yeah. They kind of take these little shots at each other, these
very playful, cute shots.
He's gonna grow up to be so smart that he's
an outsider. And you know, this one's going
to grow up to be really, really nice. But, you know, she's
got these daddy issues that are really going to make her
impossible to trust anybody.

Leif (45:35):
Yeah, thatinitely a cute little
scene.

Steve (45:38):
Yeah. And it's funnyuse like, she says
the thing about Dan and he laughs. He says the thing about
her and she's just kind of like, u, like her
face is not one of laughing. But then she's like, can we take a
walk? But you could see that, like what Dan
said. Dan can hurt Serena
better than maybe, anyone but

(45:58):
Blair. But Dan knows
her. And I think it comes from Dan
putting her on Such a pedestal for
the year or years
before episode one. And
then having all of the
glass break over and over again
to discover who this person really is.

(46:21):
That every one of those things is more
impactful to Dan.

Leif (46:26):
I think that's part of it. But also
I think it also you mentioned Blair
and I think it says more about Blair and Dan's people.
Cause they just. They cut to the bone when they
la out. They just cut to the bone?

Steve (46:40):
Yes. Yeah, they do.
They stab deep. They go for
the kill every. And it's funny. Dan, I feel goes
for the maim. Blair goes for the kill. I think that's
the only difference. That like in hunting, you know how
dogs don't have the whole. That many
dogs don't have the whole hunting prowess

(47:01):
to do the entire thing. It's like Dan doesn't have the kill
function. He has the shake and rattle you function, but not
the kill.

Leif (47:08):
Deoda asked Eleanor and Cyrus to be that their
daughters godparents.

Steve (47:14):
Of course, Robin's reaction is
Jews don't do godparents. And mine
was Cyrus. Would you like to be this baby's father in
Christ?
However, it is very sweet. And
again making them more family.

Leif (47:34):
And make sure that kid gets a lot of presents.
Tuition fade.

Steve (47:39):
Yeah, Yeah. A trust.

Leif (47:43):
Dan and Serena are now on a bench talking about the difference
between dating a stranger and dating someone you've known your whole
life. They almost kiss, but are saved by
the bell when Dan's phone goes off.

Steve (47:55):
Did we already see Nate send
the.

Leif (47:59):
Yeah, that was part of the montage.

Steve (48:00):
Oh, that's right. Okay.

Leif (48:02):
Was this cutting edge windows phone?

Steve (48:03):
Yes, yes, I had that phone.
Actually. I didn't have it set up like
that though. I didn't have it all cool like that.
I did want to say I'm not mad at
Nate. I know it's shitty. It's shitty, but I'm not
mad at him. It's public knowledge. It
is out there. Like you're gonna see it
too. But Dan had the same

(48:26):
reaction. Dan saw
that Vanessa realized that she had seen
it and was not blaming Nate.
You know, how could he do that? How could he not?
So I really loved how Dan handled
himself this whole episode.

Leif (48:45):
Chuck and Jenny are cringing from the
afterglow when the elevator dings.

Steve (48:51):
It was just uncomfortable.

Leif (48:55):
Chuck goes out of the bedroom and Blair has
shown up at the suite with a bouquet in
hand. Blair declares her love for Chuck and
the two kiss. Over Blair's shoulder, Chuck
sees Jenny'silhouette through the glass wall.
Jenny quickly Extinguishes the candle before Blair can
turn around and see her there. As Chuck lures

(49:16):
Blair away to the bar, we see Jenny
stripping the bloody sheets from Chuck's bed.
When Chuck returns to his room to get his
ipod, Jenny is already gone.
Yeah, that was rough.

Steve (49:30):
Yeah. Oh my God, that was so rough.
This whole bit and Chuck just
being thrilled to see Blair and
then having the. Oh fuck, you know,
keeping her back to it and the silhouette of Jenny
and then Jenny having the
realization of like, I need to get out of

(49:50):
here. And Jenny could have blown
their whole thing up. Right then and there.
Now she does later, but she could have done
it right then and there and chose
to protect Chuck. There's that
alternate way things could have
gone that Chuck could actually have
been there for her in so

(50:13):
much better of a way.
And everything here is just the
bed that he made for being Chuck. It's
just, you feel so bad for
Jenny.

Leif (50:29):
We move into Act 5.
Eric finds a sobbing Jenny sitting in the
chapel. Eric softens his stance,
but Jenny is in a misery spiral. Jenny
reveals that she slept with Chuck, but not with
Damian.

Steve (50:45):
Eric, who is like send her away but
is never going to sit there and see
his sister crying and not
go to her. And Eric of course, just always
being quintessential Eric of
being there to help. My only thing
that I didn't like in this scene

(51:05):
was when Jenny is like, don't
touch me to Eric and she.
I forget what she says immediately after. But then Eric gets
up to leave to go get Dan. That
on my first watch, his. The
acting in that the acting of
Eric was portrayed to me as okay, well

(51:26):
then fuck off and not
wow, this is out of my league. I got toa go find Dan.
So my first watch, it was like Eric just was like
okay. I didn't
really. I didn't get the. I found it
more the second time through to
recognize Eric was just more of a.
This is out of my league. I need Dan. I need

(51:48):
to call in the real Rutther.

Leif (51:50):
Eric findies Dan and tells him he needs to talk to
Jenny.

Steve (51:54):
And Dan starts off with his quips and
Eric shuts that shit down. He's like, no, no,
no. Is't. This isn't your little
sister, the brat. This is. Your sister needs you right now.
And I can't tell you anything that
she's gonna tell you, but she needs
you. That's all you're getting from me.
Go. Which is also.

(52:16):
It's so mature of Eric.
I could tell you all of her business because I'm really
concerned about her, but it isn't mine to tell. So
all I'm gonna tell you talk to her. Yeah.
The number of times on this show that people could have said
this isn't my business to tell
and which is what I love about Eric.

Leif (52:38):
Serena and Nate, ah, are talking. And while Nate is ready to
forgive Serena, Serena wants to take a break.
Nate isn't willing to wait for her to figure things out. And
Serena admits that's fair but that she does love
him.

Steve (52:51):
So going to Jaiden's email and
the writing from a
patriarchal view,
the reaction that Nate has
when Serena says I want to
have this space, I forgive you
and you break up with me,

(53:11):
it's not, it's not
transactional. You can, if you forgive
somebody and you should forgive them whatever
they're going to do next. But that
entitlement that, that I
feel, I
recognize that reaction in a
younger version of me that I had

(53:33):
it in my heart to forgive you for the shitty thing
you're doing. So you're
not going to still do
whatever I want from you
to. That's not how
forgiveness actually works. And
I felt like that was a really
one of those moments of

(53:56):
entitlement. And especially I
see that through Jadeden's perspective of
the. When she's talking about the
patriarchy having the backbone
of this show. I think that was another example of
this.

Leif (54:11):
I would agree with the title. I don't think that's necessarily
patriot because I've seen that exact situation
reversed in other TV shows and media.

Steve (54:19):
Yeah, I've seen that too. I've seen it
too.

Leif (54:23):
It's definitely a little bit of entitlement. But yeah, I don't
really think it's defcessitely a male female thing.

Steve (54:28):
I guess I kind of often as much of a Nate Stan
as I am, I do view him
as very much a
traditional
patriarchy. he's literally
like in this giant
patriarchal family. Yeah. So I do
see him embodying that a lot.

(54:49):
Whether he intends to or not or whether the
writers intended. I don't believe the writers intended
it. I believe the writers are writing what
they're looking at and that's
what they see.

Leif (55:02):
Outside the hospital, Chuck is about to propose to
Blair when Dan shows up and drops Chuck with
a punch. A shocked Blair wants to know
what is going on. Dan points to Chuck and
demands that he tell her. Blair sees a
teary Jenny behind Dan and the connections are
made. Blair banishes Jenny from
Manhattan and Dan Again blames

(55:25):
Chuck. A clueless Rufus walks up with
Lily, and Jenny runs to Rufus, and he and
Lily usher her away. Dan offers
to walk Serena.

Steve (55:35):
just this whole chain of events. You're too young to
get married. First of all, Chuck, that part. You're
too young to get married. Stop. Stop it.
Stop.

Leif (55:46):
did you catch that earlier in the episode, one of
the things that Blair says she does love is Harry
Winston.

Steve (55:52):
No.

Leif (55:53):
And it was definitely a Harry Winston ring.

Steve (55:55):
Oh, yeah. I didn't. I didn't put that together.
This whole chain of events
with Dan punching Chuck,
and man, of all people, that
you could sleep with
Blair right now. If Blair would have
walked in and Chuck was in there with a

(56:16):
prostitute, I think she would have been like,
okay, get rid of her. We'll figure this
out. If Chuck was in there with
almost any human being
except Jenny Humphrey,
Blair probably would have been like, you thought I didn't love you.
Okay, I get itus. She has that

(56:36):
in her. Yeah. Very much like Lily has that in her.
To be able to be like, okay, let's just
compartmentalize these things. We've seen Blair do
that.

Leif (56:46):
Yeah. Everyone kind of leaves it. Like, Dan, like. Like,
Serena shows up. She's like, what the fuck's going on? Dad's like,
I'll walk you on. And let that be alone.

Steve (56:54):
Rupus comes in with, who wants
tacos?

Leif (56:58):
Bagel chips.

Steve (56:59):
Yeah, bagel chips.
They'll bring bagel chips to the hospital for a
baby.

Leif (57:07):
But also, before we go into the next scene,
in the pilot episode, Dan punches
Truck. And then in the next episode, he has
a black eye under his right
eye. And he says to Chuck
that one black eye looks lonely.

Steve (57:24):
Yeah.

Leif (57:25):
This time he punches him on the left side of his face.

Steve (57:28):
Oh, that's really funny.

Leif (57:29):
Caus you could tell by the way he spins away that he punched on the left
side.

Steve (57:33):
Yeah. So is this his third
time punching Chuck, or does he just shove him
in?

Leif (57:39):
I think a second. I think it's only a second time in
theuse.

Steve (57:43):
In the brunch, he doesn't punch him.
Yeah.

Leif (57:47):
But then here's where we get Chuck trying to make excuses
for what he did. Blair is over it. And once again, m breaks
up with Chuck.

Steve (57:54):
Yeah. And like I was saying, if it was anyone
else in the world,
except maybe Georgina,
think, even Georgina. I think Blair would have been like.

Leif (58:05):
Well, I think the only other other one would be Serena.

Steve (58:07):
Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, I think that would be
the only other one that would really bother her.
But Jenny Humphrey, man, Like
the nemesis.
You did the. Yeah. Best friend and the nemesis are
probably the two unforgivable people.

Leif (58:26):
Yeah. Like Jadeen said, it was a lot of
internal misogyny from Blair.

Steve (58:31):
Y.

Leif (58:31):
To blame Jenny more than Chuck.

Steve (58:33):
Yes. Yeah. And to, kick her out
and threaten her.
It's almost like they really needed to
make Jenny's going
away a bigger deal,
give her more reason to stay
out of Manhattan following
this. And Blair really is

(58:55):
internalized misogyny to the core. Starting
with. With the eating disorder that
is really sent brought down
by her mom, who works in a very
misogynistic industry.

Leif (59:09):
Yeah.

Steve (59:10):
Who has made this reputation of being
a dominant force in a male
driven industry. So you,
see, that kind of boiled down into Blair quite a
bit, so. Absolutely Jadeden.

Leif (59:25):
And we move into the epilogue.
We get the traditional season finale Flash
forward one week later. Jenny is
magically happy again and ready to leave the city for
Hudson. Rufus, Lily, Dan, and Eric
say their goodbyes, and they all share a group hug.

Steve (59:43):
I want to shout out Matthew
Settles'acting for the first time
that I felt like he really
portrayed a man losing his
daughter, a man conflicted by it.
It was the first time that I really felt.
There were other times that I felt like he did a good job, and there are

(01:00:04):
other times that I felt like I really identified with
Rufus, But I liked him
here.

Leif (01:00:11):
It's almost like he knew he wasn'tn to see Taylor bumps so much
anymore.

Steve (01:00:14):
Y. Yeah. It was almost as if
it had felt very real in this
moment. And I also
loved that Eric was like, I'll Skype you every day. Well,
they said to each other, I'll.

Leif (01:00:27):
Skype you every day.

Steve (01:00:27):
And they had their little banter, and Eric's like, you know, I love
you forever. It was. I thought it was a
very nice send
off for Jenny, considering what she
has been through this episode
and the last several.

Leif (01:00:44):
Blair is packing for a summer in Paris, and she
invites Serena to come with her. At first,
Serena is hesitant, but Blair convinces her how great
it would be.

Steve (01:00:54):
Another finale of running off to Europe.
That seems to be how Gossip Girl seasons
end is with Serena in
Europe, to wonder. And Blair, has
she gone to Europe?

Leif (01:01:07):
She did the first season.

Steve (01:01:09):
She and Chuck didn't do a
trip at the end of the. Oh, I'm thinking of Nate.
I'm thinking of Nate and Serena.
Oh, also with Jenny.
Jenny walked down the thing to catch her train at the end of
that, Right?

Leif (01:01:24):
Yeah.

Steve (01:01:25):
And we never see that actor again.
Just checking.

Leif (01:01:32):
we see her again in A couple seconds here.

Steve (01:01:35):
Oh.

Leif (01:01:37):
So Blair and Serena packing. Then Dan and Aate are
on the phone and the two apologize to each other.
They just can't fight their chemistry. Dan
is talking about trying to get Vanessa to forgive him.
However, when Dan finds out Nate is spending his summer with
Chuck's little black book rather than with Serena, he
gets other ideas.

Steve (01:01:56):
I'm glad Dan has decided not to work
it out with Vanessa. Good on that.
But dude, does he open the
laptop here or no, no, that hasn't happened yet. Never mind.
But dude, I'm just gonna end there.

Leif (01:02:11):
Dan calls Serena talk, but is disappointed to find out she
is going to Paris for the summer. They hang
up and Dan goes back to his laptop and closes the
email to Vanessa and starts booking flights on
Air France. He is interrupted by a knock on the
door. Georgina comes in and reveals she is
pregnant with Dan's baby. And Under Pressure

(01:02:31):
plays as Gossipel girl begins her closing remarks.

Steve (01:02:35):
First of all, Dan, it's a little Joe
Goldberg of you to be booking
a flight. The second after Sena's like, oh,
I'm going to Paris.
Just felt a little Joe Goldberg there.
We did finish the first season of you, by the way.
And the other thing, the Georgina being
pregnant thing, it's like, oh godd damn

(01:02:57):
it. Oh, godamn it. Gossume
girl, what are you doing?

Leif (01:03:04):
We get a shot of Jenny on a train.
Very reminiscent of the first scene in the pilot with
Serena.

Steve (01:03:11):
That's where we see Jenny on I forgot that
we saw her on the train leaving out. But again, like you
said, very much like Serena
on the train coming into the city. Now
we have Taylor Mumpseson
exiting, and I'm
assuming we never see that actor again, but maybe they'll do a
cameo.

Leif (01:03:32):
Blair and Serena are toasting in the back of a town
car on their way to the airport.

Steve (01:03:37):
I'm happy for them. They need this trip, Dan. Say
the fuck home. Let these girls go. Have a good summer.

Leif (01:03:42):
Well, looks like he's got some other stuff to take care of.

Steve (01:03:44):
Yeah. Yes. Although right now, if I'm
Dan and Georgina just showed up, I'd be like,
gotta go. I'm going to Paris.

Leif (01:03:55):
Nate is following threesome protocol by having
not one, but two strangers. Or maybe Nate
is the stranger.

Steve (01:04:04):
It's always gotta be a stranger. There's always,
a. The third has to be a stranger.

Leif (01:04:10):
Chuck is stumbling around Prague's red light
district in an alley, and he is grabbed by two
men. Chuck is willing to give up everything
except the ring box. When Chuck struggles.
One of the muggers shoots him in the gut. The thieves
run away, and Chuck is left on the ground
bloody and motionless.

Steve (01:04:31):
All right, Ed act dying.
it was so bad.

Leif (01:04:38):
They, I mean, they've been teasing, Chuck death for a while
too.

Steve (01:04:42):
Yeah. Yeah. I
cannot imagine they'd
kill off Chuck. I just can't imagine
it. I feel like he's here to
the end. And honestly, I feel like I would have
known that by now. I feel like I was
like, spoiled on Jenny leaving.
I knew that Jenny was going toa make an early exit. I've known

(01:05:05):
that for. Since season one.
Outside of that. And there was another.
Oh, you know what? I think Bart's death was
spoiled for me. I knew he was going to die. I didn't
know when. so I thought it was way
later in the series, but that was
the other one that it was. When Bart died,

(01:05:26):
it was, wow. So,
like, the two characters that have left permanently,
I knew. So I can't imagine them.
I can't imagine him being dead for half the series.

Leif (01:05:39):
Gossip Girl ends the episode with the monologue
and all. In an instant, everything changes.
We leave the past behind and speed towards the
unknown. Our future. We've set
out for far off places and try to find
ourselves or try to lose ourselves.
Exploring pleasures closer to home. The

(01:06:01):
problems start when we freeuse to let change happen and
cling to old habits. But we hold ono the
past too tight. The future may never
come. Till death do us part.
Xo xo Gossip Girl.
That is our episode and season.

Steve (01:06:19):
That's our season. Yeah.

Leif (01:06:20):
What is coming next?

Steve (01:06:22):
Either she's not pregnant or it's not
Dan's. One of those two
things. She has a scheme. Regrina has a scheme. She
always has a scheme. There's something up Gerina's sleep.
I don't think Chuck is dead.
I think that we will see Chuck
in Prague getting healthy or something. I don't

(01:06:43):
know. Serena and Blair are going toa
come back. One of them is goingna come back with a new
bow and they're going to hate each other.
I feel like we're going to start off the season. Those
two cannot go on a trip and be happy the entire
summer. No way. They're in a fight when we get
back and I'm curious about
what's going to be going on with Nate. I feel like

(01:07:05):
we're going toa have another stupid, boring, dumb
Nate love story or love
storyline coming up because now Nate is
pretty single, so I feel like there's
gonna Be another boring Nate. Maybe Nate
Vanessa relationship or some stupid shit like that.

Leif (01:07:22):
Well, let's get into some segments
this week in fandom. that tellv you without pity.
Forums are back. So we jumped into the Wayback
Machine. Hello there, Peabody
here. And this is the Wayback Machine. We're traveling
through time. And this is my boy,
Sherman.

Steve (01:07:40):
Speak chairman. Hello. Good boy.

Leif (01:07:44):
They hated this episode. They said Gossip
Girls officially jumped the shark.

Steve (01:07:49):
Well, I mean, by definition, they
did, but they twice
in one episode with the same shark that they jumped
a baby. Bringing on a baby is jumping the
shark. So having both Georgina and Deoda's
babies's kind of jumping it twice in one
episode.

Leif (01:08:07):
Plus having a character shot as well.

Steve (01:08:10):
Oh, they had a character shot. Was Ted McGinty
in this? Was Ted McGinty in this
episode? Somewhere?

Leif (01:08:18):
Lots of angs that were Chuck getting shot, but they don't
think he's actually dead.

Steve (01:08:23):
No, of course not. Was Ted McGinty in an
earlier episode? Did he make a cameo
before? Okay, do you know who I'm talking about?
No. He is on the list of things that are
jumping the shark. He is Jefferson Darcy
from Married with Children.

Leif (01:08:39):
Okay.
Why did so many people show up for Deratis birth?

Steve (01:08:46):
Yes. Yes.

Leif (01:08:49):
I don't think anyone liked the Jenny Chuck hookup, but
the reasons for disl likiking it were varied.

Steve (01:08:55):
Yes. And I'm gonna go as far as
to say that in the
concept in morality and world of
Gossip Girl, that it made
sense, that I thought
it was gross, and that
I think a lot of the pairings are
gross. I feel like in the

(01:09:17):
morality of Gossip Girl and in
the realm of Gossip Girl, it
did make sense.
By the laws of everyone's gonna bang. It made
sense.

Leif (01:09:29):
there's a lot of random slesh.

Steve (01:09:31):
Shaming of Georgina, which
that is pretty ridiculous too.

Leif (01:09:37):
Praise for Blair shaming Jenny.

Steve (01:09:40):
Yeah, they always do that. The forums
love Blair and they love taking her
side, especially against Jenny.
And again, in the context of.
Of the Gossip Girl universe, I feel like they
want you to
be team Blair here. I feel like

(01:10:00):
the Gossip Girl writers really wanted
you to back Blair
in hating both of them in going after both of
them.

Leif (01:10:11):
But then why name the episode that
the last reference to the last hang of
Paris.

Steve (01:10:18):
Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Leif (01:10:20):
I have to believe that meant something. At least
someone recognized. Yeah, yeah,
probably not Stephanie Savage.
There were people aware that the pretty relekless were
curly doing the warp tour and kind of recognized this
as an opportunity to get Taylor
less screen time.

Steve (01:10:40):
Oh, so Pretty Reckless
had already. Had they dropped an album yet at
this point?

Leif (01:10:46):
I believe so, yeah.

Steve (01:10:48):
Oh, see, I didn't realize. I thought that she
left, then started a band
and then it took off.

Leif (01:10:57):
She was like working on her music career the whole
time, essentially. And like
recording in her free time.
O I she le felman and go to the
studio. Cause this is when they
started actually going on tour.

Steve (01:11:12):
Cause that first Pretty Reckless album, you
hear a lot of her. Her
feelings about being
shoehorned into. Into something
she doesn't want to be doing. When she just
really wants to tell everyone to fuck off and go do what
she wants to do. That's a big theme of.
In the songs of that first album. So

(01:11:35):
I actually thought it was. Oh, I'm done
with that now. So it's. That's really interesting.
I'd like to see what year that their
albums were actually released.

Leif (01:11:45):
after we're done recapping. Go girl. You should go back
and listen to her interview on Pod
Crush. But there are spoilers who can'ten to it now.
But she does talk about how she discovered
her love of recording Phil being the
Grinch. Cause she had to go out to the studio to record a song for
that movie.

Steve (01:12:03):
Oh, that makes so much sense.
Yeah. Cindy Lu.

Leif (01:12:08):
Who Dan and Serena. Felt more
natural than Nate and Serena.

Steve (01:12:12):
Yes. Although I feel like
that's because they're who we knew in the
beginning. I feel like it's because we knew
they were the couple in the beginning. Because I
think that Dan. I think that Nate and Serena make more
sense as a couple. As I've said all along,
handcuff them together and they'd be perfect.
But no one wants to handcuff them together so they end

(01:12:35):
up doing this stupid shit.

Leif (01:12:37):
Fans wanted more of Chuck's perspective.

Steve (01:12:40):
On what?

Leif (01:12:41):
On, Just like what he was thinking, I guess.

Steve (01:12:43):
Yeah. But I mean, I don't know what
more there is to
tell Chuck in this
episode with what goes down with
Jenny. I don't believe Chuck
is in a place to reflect on what he
did wrong. I think Chuck is
always a manipulative person

(01:13:06):
and that Chuck is always
trying to get one over on whoever
he's up against. And so I believe
that Chuck's perspective was. I think that
Chuck was drunk and lonely
and wanted to sleep with, And
saw an opportunity to sleep with Jenny and

(01:13:27):
told her that she could sleep with him or she could
go somewhere else. And if she wanted to be with
someone, that's the price of being
with some, not Being alone right now. I
don't know what more perspective you're
missing.

Leif (01:13:42):
And the final note that I took was that people were
actually calling out Ed's weak acting, specifically the
mugging scene, and trying to hide Jenny from Blair.

Steve (01:13:51):
He was terrible. He was really bad in this episode.

Leif (01:13:54):
But they don't normally call him out.

Steve (01:13:57):
No, they don't. His accent. His.
His wrangling of the
accent when he was trying to hide
Jenny was just he. Because his voice
goes out of the Batman range and into
regular speaking, and you just hear him,
like, wrestling with those vocal cords.

Leif (01:14:17):
Well, that is it for this week in fandom.
moving over to episode grades.
So my internal character biases
didn't really like where the characters went. This
episode, however, they did get there in
a way that was well written, it was well directed,

(01:14:37):
the music choices were on point,
and acting was very good for the most part. So
I ended up giving it an.

Steve (01:14:44):
A. Yeah, I
gave this one an A. I felt like this
was a solid season
finale. I felt like it really
brought a lot together. It brought, And,
you know, when it brought the gang together in moments,
it was in unconventional ways for it.

(01:15:05):
It was really good storytelling. So I also gave
this. I gave it an A.

Leif (01:15:13):
Moving to Stockwatch. Going up,
I had Serena Blair.
I mean, Serena going up. Cause we know she was
lying. I like that she's taking time for herself
and she's gonna work on herself and
gets to go to Paris with Blair. So I gave her an
up. I had Deroded and Vanya going up because

(01:15:33):
they had a kid. And Eleanor and Cyrus go
up because they have a God kid.

Steve (01:15:38):
I have a much smaller list than you. Well, not
much smaller. I have Doodta and
Vanya as well for having a kid.
And I also had Eleanor and Cyrus
for being godparents and having this great
relationship with them. But that was the only ones I had going
up.

Leif (01:15:57):
And, then, because I don't really know
what Georgina's motivation is currently, I had her
neutral. So I don't know if she's going up or down, but even
she was. It feels like she should be going one way or there because she
was in. In the episode quite a bit. But I don't
know where head's at, so I can't really say. But
going down. I have Chuckuse.

(01:16:17):
Yeah. Yeah, he hit rock bottom and
got shot and might be dead. Yeah,
Jenny. Cause she hit rock bottom.

Steve (01:16:25):
Yeah.

Leif (01:16:25):
And she's leaving Manhattan. I also had
Cameron. Cause he got dumped in the middle of a date.
Yeah, I have Nate going down. Cause he
also got dumped. Vanessa going
down. Cause she's also kind of getting dubbed
even though she's not aware of it.

Steve (01:16:41):
Yep. Well, and she was like pseudo cheated
on and got this, She got this blast while
she was in. Ha.

Leif (01:16:50):
And then I also had Dan going down. Cause
yeah, he was a shitty boyfriend. And then,
yeah, he was not good to Jenny early in the episode.
And also
like just immediately jumped on the Serena band.
Yeah, he like, he's about to try and
make things up with Vanessa, but then he's like, oh, Serena's
single or let's do it.

Steve (01:17:12):
Yeah, I literally
had. Other than the four that I said,
Lily stayed neutral. Everyone else went down for
me. So Rufus went
down for sending his daughter
off. I feel like even if it's the right thing to do,
that's super hard and super sad. And so Rufus

(01:17:32):
goes down, Blair loses out
on Blair, spends the whole episode
saying how she'll never do anything for Chuck, and then ends up
letting him break her heart
again. So Blair goes down, Serena's an
asshole. Serena goes down. Vanessa's an
asshole. Vanessa goes down. She.

(01:17:52):
She's getting. She's getting pseudo dumped
after being pseudo cheated on. First Serena
and all of that. Dan goes down
because he's chasing after Serena and now this
Georgina shit is popping up. I actually gave Georgina
going down because Georgina got all
pregnant and now we don't know what's going on with it. But
she's up to something and I don't trust her. So I sent

(01:18:15):
her down. Cameron Stock goes down because Cameron
got dumped in the middle of a date. As you said,
Eric Stock goes down. Cause he was on the shitty
bandwagon, with Jenny as well.
No, you know what? Switch that Eric will go up. Eric
actually did come through for Jenny in the
end. Did I forget anyone? Chuck's

(01:18:36):
shot. Nate got dumped.

Leif (01:18:39):
Did you say Jenny?

Steve (01:18:40):
O. Well, Jenny, Jenny,
Jenny. Everything that happened to Jenny in this
episode. Jenny's dog went down.
And I
think that is everyone that was in
the episode.
But here's the best outfits from M. The last
episode we seen.

Leif (01:19:05):
Moving to best outfits
for me, I had Blair's date outfit. The purple
flower print dress with, the black tights, the
yellow Louis Vuitton pumps, and the green
overcoat. And the dress was by Saraya
Yavvanaa.

Steve (01:19:21):
And actually that this week was
my pick as well. I thought she looked
fantastic and I loved how it
was an outfit not for Chuck. I
thought she looked really good in it. So yes, I was with you on.

Leif (01:19:34):
That even though it was purple?

Steve (01:19:36):
Yeah. Yeah, I guess. Wow.
She fucking knew from the start. She left that
day. She knew.

Leif (01:19:44):
Well, that is it for segments. What are you
plugging for right now?

Steve (01:19:49):
I think it is still just my instagram and
TikTok. Steve Maran
M a r C H I o n Give me a
follow and also please check out my
Spotify. You can find me the same way, hear some
of my music and check out my songs and I am
available to play if you are looking for someone
to set up and play some music

(01:20:12):
at your next event.

Leif (01:20:15):
If you wantna follow me you can find me on
Instagram or blueky
Hotapricola that's H o t
c a P I C o L
a You can follow the podcast on
Instagram threads and TikTok
nonjudging breakfastpod and you can find
links to our discord and our subreddit and our

(01:20:37):
patreon on our website
nonjudgingbrefastpod.com.

Steve (01:20:44):
And if you would like to get in touch with us, we would love to
hear what you have to say and read your email right
here on the show. You can send us a
message@nonjudgingbr
breakfastpodmail.com
and you can also, while you're listening, give
us the subscribe a follow, hit that
like button and please leave a comment on the

(01:21:06):
episode that really helps our visibility in
Apple, Apple podcasts and on
Spotify. And while you're at it, go ahead
and let your friends know what you're listening to. Fill
them in on the Nonj judging breakfast pod and get them
listening so we can be your water cooler Talk.

Leif (01:21:22):
Next week and we will be
back September 1st to talk about Season
4 Episode 1 Belle
de Joour. The episode description
reads, after having spent her
Parisian summer alone and in Serena's
shadow, BL Blair hopes to change things up when
she meets a handsome young man who may be

(01:21:45):
a real prince.

Steve (01:21:47):
O
boy have we done this already.
And I fucking called it that she was
not gonna be able to be okay with
Serena in Europe. A year I
love. I love it so much I can't
wait.

Leif (01:22:04):
Well, until next time. You know you love us.

Steve (01:22:08):
Xoxo Every time you walk away
I.

Speaker C (01:22:11):
Run away you take a piece 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 and run away you take a piece of m me
with you there oh
it seems I'm walking right to your

(01:22:31):
door.

Steve (01:22:34):
My heart's still resting looking for
something more.

Speaker C (01:22:41):
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
of me with you there
every time you walk away I run away you take a piece
Every time you walk away or run away you take a

(01:23:03):
piece of me with you there
never feels right when I'm out here on my.

Steve (01:23:10):
Own.

Speaker C (01:23:13):
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
Every time you walk away run away you take a piece

(01:23:35):
Every time you walk away run away you take a
piece of me with you there.

Steve (01:23:47):
Come.

Speaker C (01:23:48):
Back to me
smile and you'll make my life
complete
every time you walk away run away you take a piece
Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

(01:24:11):
piece of me with you there

(01:24:33):
piece of meat with you there
of me with you there Every
time you walk away run away you take a piece of
me with you there.

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S3E22 - "Last Tango, Then Paris"

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S3E22 - "Last Tango, Then Paris"