S4E17 - "Empire of the Son" - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leif (00:01):
I think we all know Nate is like Pete Rose when it
comes to getting laid.

Steve (00:09):
I think. I think Nate asks for consent, but.

Leif (00:12):
He dives in head first.

Steve (00:13):
But he dives in head first. But yes, I agree with
that part.

Leif (00:29):
Hey, Upper East Siders, and all you scandalous
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, um, your
seasoned Gossip Girl veteran.

Steve (00:45):
And I'm Steve, the newbie, the greenhorn, the
rookie, the. What are we saying now that I'm in
season 4? Leif, shut it down. What?

Leif (00:54):
This. Olvis, shut it down.

Steve (01:00):
So here's the deal, folks. Leaf has been watching
Gossip Girl since it first aired, and I'm diving
in for the first time. And together, we're your
dynamic duo, bringing you all the drama, romance,
and sometimes questionable fashion choices of this
iconic 2007 series.

Leif (01:17):
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 phantom moments too,
because what's a deep dive without a little drama?

Steve (01:39):
And since we are all about inclusivity here on the
non judging breakfast pod, there is always a seat
for you at the non judging breakfast table. So go
ahead and grab a mimosa or a cup of coffee or go
ahead and roll up whatever Nate has this week. And
let's get into this, uh, before.

Leif (01:57):
We get to the episode, I hear you had a milestone
on the way up here.

Steve (02:01):
Yes, my. My car reached 100,000 miles right when I
parked right here in front of the. Right here in
front of your place.

Leif (02:13):
Any particular, uh, memories over those 100,000
miles that stand out?

Steve (02:18):
What's really funny is I. I, uh, remember when I
first got the car and I went up to my annual
homecoming retreat up in Lockhaven with all my
friends and all my fraternity brothers. And five,
uh, after being there for about 20 minutes, I
needed to get something from my car. And when I

(02:40):
went out and I couldn't get the new key fob that
went with the car to work. And I kept trying and
figured out that this isn't my car. And I realized
that I knew how I was going to get arrested that
weekend. It was going to be trying to get into
many other people's cars because that was me
sober. And I knew that There is a long weekend

(03:01):
ahead of me of trying to remember which car was
mine, but. Yeah. But other than that, watching
both Jake and Emily drive in it at one point or
another was also a super cool thing. Like,
watching your kid drive is really cool and
extraordinarily nerve wracking. But more cool than

(03:22):
nerve wracking.

Leif (03:24):
It made me think of that, uh, How I Met yout
Mother episode where they have. They show, like,
all the flashback to all the memories they had
with the car. Yeah, yeah.

Steve (03:32):
With the, uh.

Leif (03:34):
I. Uh-huh.

Steve (03:35):
Would walk 5,100 miles. Yeah. The. The Proclaimers
song. Who's stuck in the cassette player?

Leif (03:44):
Well, now that we've bored everyone, we are
actually here to talk about Gossip girl.

Steve (03:48):
Yes.

Leif (03:50):
Season four, episode 17, Empire of the Sun.

Steve (03:55):
Yes.

Leif (03:55):
Original air date was February 28, 2011 and so the
spelling of the episode is sun, as in father and
son. But it's based on a movie called Empire of
the sun within the Rising Sun.

Steve (04:10):
Yes, yes.

Leif (04:11):
S U N. Yes. Uh, which is described as a young
English boy struggles to survive under Japanese
occupation of China during World War II. Directed
by Steven Spielberg and starring Christian Bale,
John Malkovich, and Miranda Richardson. Damn.

Steve (04:29):
I did not realize that Christian Bale was in that,
because I think I saw that movie. What is it,
like, 80.

Leif (04:36):
87.

Steve (04:36):
87, I think.

Leif (04:37):
So he would have been like, a kid.

Steve (04:39):
Yeah, I think I saw that movie in the theater.
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, he was. Yeah. I mean, the
movie was like, there is this young emperor kid,
but there's this. An American kid or maybe a
British kid who was. Who befriended him. I think
it may have been a British kid. Again. Like, I saw
this in the theater, so I was nine.

Leif (04:59):
Yeah.

Steve (05:00):
But. Yeah, And I believe this came out around the
time of. What's the Eddie Murphy movie?

Leif (05:10):
Beverly Hills Cop.

Steve (05:11):
No, no, no.

Leif (05:11):
48 hours.

Steve (05:12):
No, the one where he. Where he goes on a trip on,
like, a mystical Asian adventure. Uh, I got the
knife.

Leif (05:23):
Yeah. I should talk about that. The Golden Child.

Steve (05:25):
Golden Child, Yeah. So these two movies kind of
also hold similar places in my brain, and I don't
know which ones are which, because I was. Again, I
was nine and a much more racist.

Leif (05:42):
I haven't seen Empire of the Slime, but I feel
like it's a very different movie.

Steve (05:45):
Very. Oh, my God. It's a completely different
movie. It's just that because I saw these two
movies that were. It's like one was almost a
parody of the other. Uh, but it wasn't, you know,
it was just Very similar themes. So it's like. Oh,
is that the. No, no, that's not the Eddie Murphy
one.

Leif (06:04):
So this episode of Gossip Girl is written by
Robert hall, who's done quite a few episodes
already. Season 2, he did X Files, It's a
Wonderful Lie, the Grandfather, and in season
three, the Lost Boy, the Treasure of Serena Madre
with Joshua Saffron, uh, the lady vanished and Dr.

(06:28):
Estranged love. And then so far this season he did
Goodbye Columbia and Gaslit Once Again with Joshua
Safran. So his two best episodes were co written.

Steve (06:38):
Yeah.

Leif (06:39):
And then a mix of decent to not, uh, so decent
episodes.

Steve (06:43):
Yeah, and he's had some really bad ones too. Which
one with Gaslit just happened.

Leif (06:47):
Yes, the one, uh, that's the one where.

Steve (06:50):
Oh, that's like the last good one of season four.
That's the one where Jenny leaves. Right. Like
that's the one where everything comes out.

Leif (07:00):
Yes, everything comes out. Yeah. Serena's in the
Ostros Center. She just woke up.

Steve (07:06):
Yeah. Yes, yes. Being drugged. Yeah, yeah.

Leif (07:09):
The great scene with Dan and Lily at the loft.

Steve (07:12):
Mhm. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you had the
convergence at the end where they all confront
Juliet. Is that that one too? No, uh, or that was
the two or three episodes.

Leif (07:23):
Yeah, that was you at the opera, you mean? Yeah,
that was, uh, like episode eight, maybe.

Steve (07:29):
Oh, okay.

Leif (07:30):
This episode was directed by David Warren. It's
his first of three episodes. Uh, but his longtime
tv, uh, director worked on Ugly Betty, Weeds,
Desperate Housewives, the 90210 reboot, Carrie
Diaries, iZombie, Grayson, Frankie. Pretty wide,
solid.

Steve (07:50):
Some solid credits there too.

Leif (07:52):
Why don't you give us that vulture recap?

Steve (07:54):
Okay. Uh, fathers have played a dark and terrible
role in many works of art. They can be scheming,
indifferent, cruel, or merely hapless. And Gossip
Girl is no exception. In last night's episode,
Raina finds out that her father, despite his
cuckold family man, main and midwestern love of

(08:16):
hot dogs, actually is as scheming and conniving as
any given billionaire businessman. For instance,
Chuck Bass. Meanwhile, on a father son coffee date
that stretches into lunch, Dan can't tell Rufus,
who is like his best friend, about his friendship
with Blair. It is because he's scared he might

(08:36):
have feelings for Blair or because his father is
wearing the rolled jeans of the creative
judgmental. Maybe a little of both. It appears
later in the episode when Rufus makes a snotty
remark about how crazy it would be if the secret
relationship Dan was going on about was with

(08:56):
Blair. Obviously, Rufus Raised him with more sense
and morals than to involve himself with a rich,
scheming bee like that. Dan Humphrey pays for his
glibness later when Billy Baldwin swashbuckles
into town all tasseled helicopter hair and long
legs and not looking at all sorry about his

(09:18):
earlier attempt to break up Rufus and Lily's
marriage to assert himself as man of the house now
that Lily has sent herself to prison. But as
usual, it is Chuck who suffers the worst paternal
insult. This time, Bart Bass has betrayed him from
beyond the grave, which we are to understand from

(09:39):
his copious scotch drinking at the end of the
episode is the most frustrating kind of betrayal.
Most likely because you can't tell. You can't yell
you never loved me at someone who is dead. Well,
you can, but usually by the time you get in the
car and drive out to the grave site and you have
A, already calmed down about it, and B, realize

(10:01):
the gesture is super derivative. Why Chuck chose
to take the very weird and improbable information
given to him from a boozed up Russell Thorpe, his
father's sworn rival, instead of, you know, at
least nexiting on it or something is confusing.
Nexus. Nexusing. Um, is that a reference to

(10:24):
something that I'm missing?

Leif (10:25):
I, I'm not sure. It's capital.

Steve (10:27):
It's the capital N. Yeah. Weird.

Leif (10:30):
Guessing it is, but yeah, I don't know.

Steve (10:34):
My phone made it through the Vulture recap, which
is really good.

Leif (10:37):
Nice.

Steve (10:37):
And now I don't need it.

Leif (10:38):
And it was a long one, but it was a pretty good
one, though.

Steve (10:41):
Yeah. Yeah, it was.

Leif (10:44):
We open Act 1 in media res. A somber Lily and
Rufus are walking up a grand staircase to meet
some lawyers at the top.

Steve (10:53):
And right here it's like, oh, wow, Lily's turning
herself in. Like, that's cool. But then flashback.

Leif (11:02):
I've never been to court in New York City, but I'm
guessing that is some kind of recognizable
courthouse.

Steve (11:09):
I would assume so.

Leif (11:10):
I, I, that's a very nice architecture.

Steve (11:12):
I would, I would even go as far as to say it's
probably one of those buildings that is so cool
looking. And it's probably all offices at this
point. No actual courtrooms, because you see that
in Phillies. I'm like, all the courthouses in
Philly are just buildings that are very, uh,

(11:34):
they're not as big and beautiful. But City hall,
that no longer has any courtrooms. That's where
you would want to shoot any court. That's where I
think they shot the court scenes for like
Philadelphia and stuff like that.

Leif (11:47):
And Then we go to 12 hours earlier and with a
Gossip Girl narration. They say Rome wasn't built
in a day, and yet, what a difference a day makes.
We see a much happier Rufus and Lily having
breakfast on the tv. We see Chuck ringing the bell

(12:08):
at the New York Stock Exchange. Nate and Raina are
making googly eyes at each other. Serena dismisses
a missed call notification from Vanessa before
walking into Blair's room, who is also watching
Chuck at the stock exchange. A little quick, uh,
montage at the open the episode.

Steve (12:24):
Yeah, yeah, I thought that was also kind of funny
with Chuck, like young bass. Young Mr. Bass
ringing the bell.

Leif (12:33):
Yeah. We move downstairs and the besties are
having breakfast being served by a skeptical
Dorota. Blair is acting very Zen despite having a
pretty bad week last episode. Serena is concerned
that Ben stopped communicating right after they
had sex for the first time. After Sarina leaves,
Dorota confronts Blair about being too content.

(12:54):
Blair, trying to save face, orders Dorota to go
pick up her cocktail dress for Chuck's party
tonight. Once Dorota leaves, Blair texts someone.
The coast is clear. Come over.

Steve (13:05):
Ben is the shittiest fucking person on the planet.
Like the fact that he doesn't have any response to
her and I. We know why, but it's also like, you
can't drop her a text. Yeah. Can't be like, yo, I
can't talk. My mom's here. So Serena being a
little upset here makes sense. Uh, but I also. I
love Blair's Zen here. Mhm. And this. We didn't

(13:29):
get to Dorota confronting her yet, Right?

Leif (13:32):
Ah, well, she confronts her about being too
content.

Steve (13:35):
Yes. Yeah. It's so good when she's like,
something's wrong. You haven't yelled at me. Yeah.
And she's like, well, here's something I'll yell
at you about. You haven't picked up my dress from
Chuck's party yet. And it was. And Dorota just
having that look of like, I'm on to you, like, so
just her suspicion was so good. I really loved the

(13:59):
foils of Rufus and Dorota in this episode.

Leif (14:02):
Uh, Chuck enters Russell's office looking for
Reina. Chuck, ever the multitasker, decides to do
a little gloating, but Russell brushes it off and
hints at having one last card up his sleeve.

Steve (14:17):
Something that I've kind of picked up from Robin
is she tells me all the time that in Jewish
custom, you don't celebrate something before it
happens. And when Chuck is like, yeah, I'm going
to close this big Deal tomorrow. So I'm going to
have a huge party tonight. It's like, bruh, uh,
like, close the deal first. Close the deal, then

(14:37):
have a big party.

Leif (14:38):
Yeah. Reyna asked Nate if he told Chuck about them
yet. Nate says he hasn't. Serena gives him the
option of backing out or diving in head first. I
think we all know Nate is like Pete Rose when it
comes to getting laid.

Steve (14:57):
I think. I think Nate asks for consent, but.

Leif (15:00):
He dives in head first.

Steve (15:01):
But he dives in head first. But, yes, I agree with
that part. Uh, oh, yeah. I like them together, so
I thought it was nice.

Leif (15:14):
They're fine.

Steve (15:14):
Yeah. I mean, Nate is always going to just be
boring when he's in a relationship, but, like,
it's cute.

Leif (15:21):
Dan has arrived at Blair's to go to the Joseph
boys exhibit. Blair is still planning, uh,
entrance and exit strategies to present a layer of
plausible deniability. When Dorota calls out
looking for Blair, and she ushers Dan out of the
bathroom into Serena's room. Dorota enters and is
wondering who Blair was talking to. Blair deflects

(15:44):
the question and says she will come to the
cleaners with Dorota. As Blair walks out to get
her coat, Dorota spots Dan's New York magazine. He
left a moment earlier.

Steve (15:55):
This scene was perfection. Like, I loved every bit
of it. I loved the banter between the two of them,
having an exit strategy and an excuse for why they
would have run into each other at the same place.
The plausible deniability. And then kicking him
into Serena's room. And Dorota coming in and just
Doroda being totally sus is so great.

Leif (16:17):
And what are you speaking to?

Steve (16:19):
Yeah, maybe it's your sixth sense hearing voices.
Yeah, it was perfection.

Leif (16:28):
Daniel Humphrey.

Steve (16:30):
Yes, the full government name, too. Daniel
Humphrey. Which. And even I, uh, I can't wait. I
love. I love Dorota.

Leif (16:40):
In this whole episode, Serena goes to the loft to
find out why Ben has been dodging her. However,
Ben doesn't invite her in because his mom is
visiting and he hasn't told her about him and
Serena. Gossip Girl begins quipping as the scene
shifts to Lily getting her dry cleaning back along
with an orange jumpsuit.

Steve (16:59):
No, here. Why don't we just have lunch at my place
on nice, neutral ground where I can, like, let's
go to my penthouse apartment.

Leif (17:08):
Uh, that's actually after the commercial.

Steve (17:10):
Oh, is it after the commercial?

Leif (17:12):
This is where he's like, oh, this is Serena. She's
friends with my roommate Dan.

Steve (17:17):
Yeah. Yeah. There was Another part here.

Leif (17:20):
That's so fucked up, man.

Steve (17:22):
Yeah. Yeah. And there was something else in that
scene, and I wish I could remember it, but I'll
try to find it for the postscript. There was
something else that, like, really hit me in their
conversation, where it's like, serena, what the
fuck?

Leif (17:39):
Then we see Lily getting the jumpsuit.

Steve (17:42):
Yeah. From. From Russell. Which, like, Russell,
like, good move. Yeah, Good, good move.

Leif (17:51):
And this is kind of what Gossip Girl said in
between those two scenes. Sorry, S. Looks like
your sweetheart's mom is still a little sour. But
when it comes to life's bitter pills, the hardest
to swallow is a taste of your own medicine. Holy

(18:12):
mixed metaphors, Batman. We move into Act 2. Ben,
still out in the hall with Serena, explains why he
didn't tell Serena his mom was here. Serena
suggests lunch. Just the three of them.

Steve (18:28):
Yeah. So this is. You know, let's just go back to
a nice, neutral place and have lunch. The three of
you can go to any place in the city, and you
choose to take her to your home to impress
somebody who hates you. And largely why she hates
you is because your family used your monumental
wealth to put her kid in jail. And so just the

(18:52):
detachment of Serena to be like, let's just go.
Let me just go get lunch at my place. By the way,
while I'm ordering, I'm not going to ask you if
you have any food allergies, so don't. Then don't
tell me if there's anything you can't eat now that
I'm placing an order for food. And also. Yeah,
like, order there. Why are you. A lot of this

(19:14):
episode I really liked. There's so much I like.
The stuff that I didn't like was the. Why, like,
why would you do that dumb shit? And this is one
of those things.

Leif (19:25):
But I don't think that's necessarily bad writing
for Serena.

Steve (19:29):
Uh, yeah, I don't think it's out of Serena's
character. I mean, it's a very Serena thing to do.
Oh, I'll just show you how great I am by taking
you to my house. That's not really my house.
That's not your house, Serena.

Leif (19:43):
That's Blair's house.

Steve (19:43):
Yeah, that's Blair's house.

Leif (19:45):
I guess that's why it's somewhat neutral. Yeah,
it's not even really her ass. She just has a room
there because.

Steve (19:52):
She'S technically actually homeless.

Leif (19:55):
Well, she's not. I mean, she has a room there.

Steve (19:57):
She's. She. I mean, she has a room there, but she
doesn't really have, like, but she, like, lives
with Blair.

Leif (20:02):
Yeah.

Steve (20:03):
So, like, it's not like if at any given moment,
Blair could just kick her out.

Leif (20:11):
Although, like we said recently, she has enough
money in her trust fund that she can.

Steve (20:15):
Yeah. Just buy anything. Yeah, go.

Leif (20:19):
Like, Eric was about to write a hundred thousand
dollar check like it was nothing.

Steve (20:22):
Right? Yeah, Eric. Yeah, Eric was just. And her
and their mom was like, no, I'll do that. Like,
she was saying, like, oh, no, I'll buy lunch this
week for 100 grand. That he was just like, on. On
the day his. He can get into it, you know, he can
get to his trust.

Leif (20:41):
And Lily thought that was a reasonable amount for,
like, some, uh, amount of drugs.

Steve (20:45):
Yeah. Yeah. How much can one banana cost?

Leif (20:52):
Lily and Chuck are discussing the jumpsuit and
decide Russell must be behind it. However, if he
had actual proof, he would have moved already.
Chuck suggests Lily take a closer look at Ben
while he investigates some other leads. Yeah, that
was a little bit of a loose plot, Right. Because
what other leads did he investigate?

Steve (21:11):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (21:12):
Not that we needed more Chuck, but.

Steve (21:14):
No, but. But, like, it was just sort of.

Leif (21:16):
Uh, I want to go home and smoke some weed.

Steve (21:19):
Right. Yeah, you.

Leif (21:20):
You go do some work.

Steve (21:22):
Well, and also, actually, you know, the other
leads that I. I bet what he was. I wonder if we're
supposed to be thinking that he does. Isn't going
to look at other leads, but he wants to go
confront Nate about the Raina thing. Gonna follow
a lead to Nate's.

Leif (21:37):
So, I mean, by your reasoning, Nate is also
homeless.

Steve (21:40):
Yes.

Leif (21:41):
Because he's living with Chuck.

Steve (21:42):
Yes. Although Nate does own an apartment somewhere
between Columbia and nyu.

Leif (21:50):
Did he buy that or did he rent that?

Steve (21:51):
Oh, I don't know. I don't know. Well, and the
other side of that is also that. Well, yeah, I
mean, by that logic, although I feel like Nate is
a little bit more autonomous, but, uh, but, like,
yeah, if Chuck was mad right now, he could just be
like, get out. Yeah, but again, like, any one of
them could stay at any place in the entire city
that they want to. Oh, I'm just gonna rent out the

(22:14):
roof of the plaza.

Leif (22:16):
Dan invites Rufus to coffee to ask vague advice
about his situationship with Blair. When he
doesn't like what Rufus has to say, he decides to
blow Blair off to make the coffee a lunch.

Steve (22:28):
It's so great. Like, what? No, I don't have
feelings for her. I don't even need to go see her.
Look, let's go have lunch right now. Like, it was
Absolutely. Great.

Leif (22:38):
Yeah.

Steve (22:39):
As we know, the Blair's doing the same thing right
now to going to the cleaners because. Yeah. So
good.

Leif (22:47):
Dorota and Blair are also walking together. After
Blair deflects a series of probing questions,
Dorota comes right out and shows her Dan's
magazine and accuses her of having an affair with
lonely Boy. When Dorota demands they tell Serena,
Blair also decides to blow off the quasi date with
Dan.

Steve (23:06):
Yeah. I loved that Dorota called him Lonely boy.
You and lonely boy are having an affair? It was.
Which. The only time that that's really come up is
on Gossip Girl, so you just know that Dorota is,
like, catching up on Gossip Girl or Gossip Girl.

Leif (23:29):
Wow.

Steve (23:29):
She. They're always quiet. They. You know, people
always say too much in front of people that are.
That, you know, that they see as.

Leif (23:39):
That's true. That is true. Serena has invited Ben
and his mother over to the Waldorf apartment for
lunch, but things are going awkwardly. Serena
excuses herself when she gets an urgent text from
Lily. Lily wants. Serena asked Ben if he told
anyone about the affidavit.

Steve (23:57):
Yeah.

Leif (23:58):
Yeah. This is where you get the lactose
intolerant.

Steve (24:00):
Yeah. Yes. And.

Leif (24:01):
And I guess we're having salads.

Steve (24:03):
Yeah. You didn't think. If someone's like, hey,
I'm gonna get lunch.

Leif (24:09):
What do you like?

Steve (24:10):
What do you like? And also, though, okay, if
you're ordering nothing with dairy, please. Both
ends of this is a very simple conversation that.
Oh, my God.

Leif (24:23):
I mean, it is like a trope to get pizza when
you're in New York City. I guess.

Steve (24:28):
Mhm.

Leif (24:28):
But yeah, I mean, it would. Would have been smart
to ask first.

Steve (24:31):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (24:32):
But again, a total Serena thing to do.

Steve (24:34):
It is a very Serena thing to do. Everybody likes
what I like. Also, I think that might be the first
time we've seen the meat pizza on the show and
they didn't even eat it. And also, Serena, you're
not lactose intolerant. You and Ben aren't. Go
ahead and eat the pizza. And why do you have two
pizzas for three people?

Leif (24:56):
Because they have one slice of each and then throw
the rest out.

Steve (24:59):
Yes. Yes. There's one pepperoni, one mushroom.

Leif (25:02):
Uh, I see how these people prepare meals. Yes.

Steve (25:06):
Would you care for a water? No.

Leif (25:09):
Right into the trash. Lily is shocked and annoyed
when Vanessa shows up at the penthouse, but her
ears perk up when Vanessa reveals she has to tell
Serena something about Ben.

Steve (25:22):
Yes, Lily, we're all annoyed when Vanessa shows
up. Um.

Leif (25:28):
She'S not even A character anymore.

Steve (25:30):
Yeah, yeah. She's just a plot device.

Leif (25:34):
Ben admits to his mother that he and Serena are
dating, but she already knows she is against it
because as long as he is with Serena, there is no
hope of getting his name cleared. She excuses
herself to grab her purse before leaving. The
camera pulls out, and it's revealed that Serena
was eavesdropping on the conversation.

Steve (25:55):
Not mad at mom here. She's not really wrong. Like,
you don't have a chance. Like, the person that you
want to be to deserve this other person you can't
be because you have to destroy her family to do
it. And when he's like, no, I'm not going to do
all that. I won't do that, and she's like, oh,
well, I think I left my purse upstairs in the

(26:15):
bedroom. Yep. Why were you. Why did you take them
on a tour upstairs to your room? Serene. Why did
you take his mom to your room?

Leif (26:24):
But I guess the whole thing, you know, leaving
people's coats on the bed or something. But when
it's only three of them.

Steve (26:33):
Well, and.

Leif (26:33):
And I'm sure the Walters have a coat rack.

Steve (26:35):
Well. But she does give her a tour of the entire
place because she says, oh, I'm so. I'm exhausted
from all the walking after seeing the entire, uh,
house. So she does make a dig about it being too
big of a place.

Leif (26:51):
Blair and Dorota shopping trip is still ongoing,
but when Blair spots Dan, she pushes Dorota to go
grab them a table for l. Dan and Blair realize
they both stood each other up when Dan tells Blair
that Rufus will be coming out of the restaurant
behind him any minute. The two part ways.

Steve (27:07):
Dan was stone cold in this whole scene. And it was
amazing the way he's like, yeah, I'm standing you
up. No, I'm standing you up. Yeah. Uh, but. And
she goes to explain. He goes, well, I'm just gonna
say that, uh, my dad is about to come out here,
and I don't see an exit strategy for you. We're

(27:29):
not done here. Yes, we are. But also on top of
that, their looks at each other, the fleeting
look, the looks on their faces when they're both
contemplating the gravity of that moment. I really
liked, uh, the acting in this, especially Blair
and Dan just really conveying so much in their

(27:52):
face. I should also make mention Blair's makeup in
this. The. That they have it very toned down to
make her almost look like she's not wearing
makeup, which, again, it's like she's not out
flirting. She's not out impressing people. She's
not out trying to look pretty. She's not trying to

(28:14):
impress this guy because she doesn't like him,
because she's just hanging out with him. So I
think that it was cool, cool, cool that they made
that note and how they toned down her makeup, too.

Leif (28:25):
We get another Gossip Girl narration before going
to the break. Why would a friendship based on
fight suddenly end in flight? They say we only run
from the things that truly scare us.

Steve (28:42):
Right on, Gossip Girl. Right on. Uh, I'll give her
that one.

Leif (28:46):
That was a good one.

Steve (28:47):
Yeah.

Leif (28:48):
We move into Act 3 at the Empire. Chuck confronts
Nate and Reina about them being together. And Nate
admits that he likes Reina, and Reina likes him.

Steve (28:58):
He's just talking to Nate first, right? Yeah,
yeah. But it's funny because, like, it's such a
good scene for these two because they've been here
before with Blair, where Nate almost strangled him
on the back of a car. And now you have. It's like,
bro, I talked you up. I did everything you wanted

(29:19):
me to do. Nothing has happened. I like her, so.

Leif (29:25):
And she likes me.

Steve (29:27):
Uh, and she likes me. And that's where we're at.
And, you know, Chuck being like, there's a knife
in my back. And he's like, hey, like, I'm not
trying to do this to you. This is just how. Where
we are. And then Chuck's like, okay, well, let me
just, you know, get one thing out of this. Which
then I'm like, oh, God, is he gonna manipulate
Nate? Is he gonna have Nate manipulate Reina as

(29:49):
they're starting to date? But even then, he
doesn't. He just wants to talk to her at the loft.

Leif (29:54):
Blair tells Dan that the reason she stood him up
is because Dorota assumed them sneaking around
meant they were having an affair. They come up
with a plan to send a tip to Gossip Girl that a
big secret's going to come out at Chuck's party
tonight. So they reveal their friendship. It will
be underwhelming and quickly forgotten. It's a

(30:15):
piece of plaid.

Steve (30:16):
It really is. Like, oh, wait, that's the big news.
They're friends. Like, it's actually a really.
It's a decent plan for these two. Uh, and, yeah,
it's, like, light scheming now.

Leif (30:33):
It's pretty. Caught him for big news to come out
these parties. They weren't really thinking about
that. But, yeah, it was a good idea.

Steve (30:41):
But for it to be something so minuscule, you know,
the hype being like, well, if Something always
comes out. You're right. But at the same time,
like, oh, and that's not even worth hyping.

Leif (30:52):
Chuck meets with Reina and asks her to stop her
father from revealing Lily's dirty laundry. Yeah.

Steve (30:59):
Happened.

Leif (31:01):
Lily brings Vanessa to the Waldorf apartment to
tell Serena what she overheard from Ben last week.
Serena is doubtful, but when Vanessa leaves, Lily
tells Serena that she should believe her. Serena
reveals that she kept the affidavit, and when she
and Lily go to check its hiding place, they find
it missing.

Steve (31:18):
Yeah. Smooth. You took it out of the safe.

Leif (31:22):
Yeah.

Steve (31:23):
And put it in your dresser drawer and then told
the guy who is most affected by it where it is.
You dumb asshole.

Leif (31:33):
Pretty much.

Steve (31:34):
Also, Vanessa, you also left out the bit about Ben
threatening to murder Damian. Yeah, yeah. He beat
up Nate's dad. Oh. And he threatened to kill a guy
if he did anything.

Leif (31:49):
No one cares about Damien.

Steve (31:50):
No. Oh, do you think he could have gotten it done?
Like Lily's like, oh, does he know people? Maybe I
should keep Ben around. Maybe I need Ben in my. In
my blackmail. In my blackmail account file.

Leif (32:06):
And, uh, this is what Gossip Girl has to say about
it. Looks like the jury on Ben might be out after
all. We move into Act 4. Chuck enters the party of
the week to a sea of congratulations and photo
ops. After a quick speech, Chuck goes to Lily to

(32:28):
explain the plan to expose Thorpe to Reina.

Steve (32:32):
Yeah. As far as Chuck plans go, it lines up and it
works so good. Good job. This was one of those,
like, they needed so much of this. They needed
big, heavy weight that they didn't have. It was

(32:53):
all of these big, dramatic things. It's like, uh,
it felt weak.

Leif (32:59):
It appears Reyes most defining characteristic at
this point is she has firm boundaries. Once you
cross that boundary, she's done.

Steve (33:07):
Yeah. Yeah. At least the third or fourth time you
cross it, she is done. And she also has always
maintained this family. Family, family thing.

Leif (33:19):
Mhm. Apparently she's Vin Diesel from Fast and the
Furious.

Steve (33:26):
Family.

Leif (33:27):
Serena tells Lily that she hasn't heard from Ben,
but still thinks that she can stop him from if he
shows up tonight. Serena apologizes to Lily, but
Lily admits that everything is ultimately her. Her
responsibility.

Steve (33:40):
Yeah.

Leif (33:41):
This is the kind of the start of Lily finally
taking responsibility.

Steve (33:44):
Yeah, Lily, I, uh, mean, Lily had a good episode
in Moral Standards. In Moral Standards in
parenting. Yeah. Her shit with the DA later too,
like, was super good. And like, Kelly Rutherford
had a good episode too. But yeah, this. Her taking
ownership. And you know, she also did last week.

(34:06):
Was it last week with the trust fund, where, you
know, when she paid off Damien instead, uh, like,
she did start showing that, like, accountability,
but here she starts to actually be like, wow, I'm
going to actually need to face up to this.

Leif (34:24):
Blair asks Serena if she saw the Gossip Girl blast
about a big secret coming out. Serena says she
has, and it tells Blair she thinks it's about the
affidavit. Dan comes up and sees Blair profusely
apologizing and assumes she told Serena about
Blair and Dan hanging out. Before Dan can put his
foot in his mouth, Blair shushes him, which is.

Steve (34:44):
So good because Dan always does that shit. Dan
always fucks up like that. So for Blair to just
cut him off, which, again, also shows the
chemistry with these two that they've hung out
enough that they know when to cut each other off.
She knows Dan well enough to know that he's going
to come up and say something smug and stupid and

(35:07):
out the whole thing.

Leif (35:09):
I feel like they balance each other out because
Dan is too honest and Blair is too schemy.

Steve (35:14):
Yes, yes.

Leif (35:15):
They meet in the middle.

Steve (35:16):
Exactly. Exactly. And it's why their schemes
always work, I think, because, like, it has to be
something that Dan will be willing to go along
with.

Leif (35:28):
Serena confronts Ben about the affidavit, which
she denies having taken. He does, however, admit
to having Howie beat up and then finally show
Serena some of that anger we've been seeing
lurking under the surface.

Steve (35:41):
Although when he gets angry, when she's like, oh,
I understand, he's like, you don't? Uh, I'm not
mad at him for that. He has really done a lot to
prove to Serena that she can trust him. And
Serena's not going to. And of course, Serena's not
going to, because look at Serena's entire life

(36:03):
friendship, like, all of her upbringing. She has
never been able to trust anybody, um, for more
than 10 minutes at a time. And that's maybe Blair
here and there. But, like, she also can. The one
thing she can trust about Blair is that the second
Blair needs to, she's going to do something to
Serena if she. If it'll help her, you know? So,

(36:24):
yeah, Serena, of course, isn't gonna trust him.
He's a convicted felon after all.

Leif (36:30):
Yeah. Mrs. Sharp approaches Lily, and Lily quickly
figures out that she is the one who stole the
affidavit and has teamed up with Russell.

Steve (36:41):
I love the. Wow. You people just think money can
do anything. So I'm gonna sell this thing off to
the highest bitter and get my son. And I do Hope
that she may cut a deal with Russell before just
handing that over. Like I'm hoping that she walked
out of there with a Benz at least.

Leif (36:58):
Or did, uh, she just go for revenge?

Steve (37:01):
Yeah. Yeah. Is it just get my son out scot free
and we're good. Which noble. But come on, lady.

Leif (37:10):
Dan once again goes to Rufus for advice. But
before he can ask, Rufus gets all judgmental
because he saw Dan talking to Blair. Lily
interrupts and asks for a moment alone to talk to
Rufus, not Blair Waldorf.

Steve (37:26):
That would be crazy. Come on.

Leif (37:32):
Raina enters the suite and is surprised to find
Nate. Before she can explain what's going on, she
pulls him into another room. Just as Russell,
Chuck and Lily head off the elevator. Russell
quickly gets to the point, revealing he has the
affidavit and threatens to reveal it if Chuck
doesn't sign over Bass Industries. Reyna bursts in

(37:52):
and rebukes her father. After Reyna storms off
with Nate, Lily tells Russell and Chuck that she
has already called the DA and plans to turn
herself in once Lily leaves. Russell hints there
is more to his hatred of Bart than just the love
triangle with Lily, which this one.

Steve (38:12):
Reina. This is where it was like, how dare you
blackmail them? But like, uh, again, like you
said, Reina has always shown that, like, she does
have boundaries and she does operate within a
code.

Leif (38:25):
Yeah, everything's got to be on the up and up.

Steve (38:27):
Yes.

Leif (38:28):
She does not like the scheming.

Steve (38:29):
Yeah. And she hated it from Chuck. And then to see
it turned around. Hated it when her dad did it. So
I thought it was a little underwhelming. I. I felt
like a lot of the stuff was underwhelming with
overreactions to it. Mhm. Oh, I have this
affidavit that proves that you did something
wrong. I mean, I get it. He is blackmailing her,

(38:52):
so I get why that's bad. But I also feel like he.
They could have done something with more gravity,
I felt, but I don't know.

Leif (38:59):
And this is what Gossip Girl has to say about it.
Careful, Chuck. When it comes to Bart Bass seek
and who knows what you may find. We move into Act
5. Nate catches up with Reina on the street
outside the hotel. Nate encourages her to look

(39:20):
past his faults and realize that her father still
loves her. They kiss before going somewhere to
watch the game highlights.

Steve (39:28):
Nate is. Nate should be a therapist. I keep saying
it. He's right. I know that there was that moment
when I stopped idolizing my dad, but there's a
time before that. And then there's that moment.
But then when you look back and you see all of

(39:50):
these points where it's like, oh, wow, my dad's
just like another human being who fucks up a lot
and you have to take the good and the bad and you
know how I feel about my dad. Like, I don't even
talk to him because I have difficulty really
having that relationship. It doesn't mean I don't
love him. But, like, that disillusionment, it's

(40:14):
heavy.

Leif (40:14):
Yeah. When.

Steve (40:15):
When you have that. That notion of, like, this guy
that I remember my best friend at a bar in
California when we were hammered was like, your
dad's an asshole. And I was like 23 years old, and
I was like, what? My dad. What are you talking
about? My dad's amazing. And then like a little

(40:35):
while later being like, oh, he's kind of an
asshole. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he does drink gin at 10am
and say it's nude somewhere.

Leif (40:45):
Hang out with Cece.

Steve (40:48):
They would get along masterfully. Although, m. My
dad never had the bank account CC would. Would
require.

Leif (40:56):
Yeah.

Steve (40:57):
And he retired, making decent money as an
architect and lived in, like. He built a home for
like 3 or 400,000 and then was estimated for like
1.6. I don't know how much he actually sold it
for, but it was like this beautiful house on the
Admiral Sound in North Carolina. So nice.

Leif (41:17):
Serena finds Ben, and the two mutually apologize
for their respective wrongs. And then they break
up.

Steve (41:24):
Sweet. I was good with this one with, uh. But,
like, here's a big difference, though. He dumped
Serena. Serena usually does the dumping. Serena
usually gets what she wants, then realizes it's
not what she wants and breaks up with them. M. She
did it with Colin. She did it with Nate. She did

(41:45):
it with Aaron. She did it. She did not do it with
Gabriel, but Gabriel was scamming her. But most of
the time, Serena is the one who's like, no, no,
this isn't what I actually want. Sorry. Goodbye.
And now here it's Ben who's doing it, which I can
only imagine Serena is just there is that part of
Serena who moves on quick. But I can only imagine

(42:08):
her now being like, oh, now I'm so sad that Ben's
gone, which will annoy me. But now also, of
course, she's going to try to make a move back at
Dan and. Well, we'll get to. We'll get to all of
this at the end of the episode.

Leif (42:23):
In predictions, Russell reveals that Bart killed
Reina's mother in the arson incident. We Learned
about all the way back in season two. The security
guard died while going back in to save her.

Steve (42:36):
Da, da, da. Uh, yeah.

Leif (42:38):
Is this the real truth now?

Steve (42:39):
Yeah. Uh, I mean, who knows? Who knows?

Leif (42:43):
Or this another fake out?

Steve (42:44):
Because. Because Raina was all like, you know, my
mom left when I was a kid. And then he's sitting
here like, nobody knows. Not even Reina knows what
happened to her mom. Why? Why doesn't she know?
Why wouldn't you say, oh, yeah, this guy killed
your mom, and I did nothing about it. You know,

(43:04):
why? Like, why didn't you do something about it,
Russell?

Leif (43:08):
I let him bully me out of New York.

Steve (43:10):
Yeah. I let him kill my wife and bully me out of
New York. Russell, like, you kind of suck here.
And all of this. It's like, I'm going to dismantle
his empire. No, you're going to dismantle his
kid's empire. And his kid didn't do shit to you.
And the kid will be the first person to tell you
that his dad's kind of a piece of shit, but he

(43:30):
loves him. Kind of like how your kid feels about
you right now.

Leif (43:35):
Dan and Blair are at the bar and realize they will
need to be there for Serena, Eric, and Lily and
mutually agree to a friend breakup.

Steve (43:44):
Yeah, because, you know, it's not a good time to
be friends right now with everything. They're
going to need their friends, and they. Dan and
Blair. Or Dan Coma Blair, if it's in a list. But
why would you ever do that? Because they have
absolutely nothing in common.

Leif (44:00):
So did you believe this?

Steve (44:02):
Absolutely not. Not for a goddamn second. No.

Leif (44:08):
A devastated Chuck stumbles down the stairs and
tells Serena to shut the party down.

Steve (44:14):
All of this.

Leif (44:19):
Oh, Chuck. So dramatic.

Steve (44:21):
So dramatic. So dramatic. Dramatic was Batman.
It's the empire of the Sun. Christian Bale. Where
is she? Shut it down.

Leif (44:35):
Uh, it goes to the final commercial without a
Gossip Girl blast, but we come back for the
epilogue. Lily and Ben are meeting with the DA who
lets bed know that Lily insisted that his record
be expunged.

Steve (44:52):
She had one demand.

Leif (44:53):
Really?

Steve (44:54):
She's making demands. She's making demands when
she's the one that's. Oh, she's making the demand
for you guys to do the right thing that would
happen anyway in the first place because she's
coming into admitting that everything was wrong.
So noble, Lily. So noble. But also in this. This

(45:14):
is where the. The DA Is like. She's like, do you
have kids? And my kids stopped smiling at me a
long time ago. And my Daughter told me she's proud
of me and, like, the way Kelly Rutherford just
delivered that whole thing, uh, it hit me. It hit
me in the feels, and I thought it was wonderful.

(45:37):
Yeah.

Leif (45:37):
I feel like she's probably channeling some real
life emotions there, because I think this is
during the period where she's kind of separated
from her kids.

Steve (45:44):
Yeah.

Leif (45:46):
Outside the office in an empty courthouse, Dr.
Daddy returns and lets Rufus know that Cece called
him in because it's time to circle the wagons.

Steve (45:56):
I will say I did see his name in the opening. Uh,
in the opening. So when it was walking through,
and I was like, did you see that? And Robin was
like, no. What? And I'm like, don't worry about
it. So I knew he was popping up at some point,
but, you know, he pops up at the end, which means
he's here for a bit, at least an episode or two.

(46:18):
Um, we're getting Cece back, so we should
definitely, uh, reach back out to Caroline
Lagerfeldt.

Leif (46:27):
Nate and Reina are playfully arguing while walking
back to the Empire and find Russell waiting for
Reyna outside. Nate goes inside so Rena can speak
with her father alone. Russell apologizes to tell
her that he's returning to Chicago and hopes that
someday she might forgive him.

Steve (46:47):
I like this. I like that. He's like, okay, I lost.
I'm going back to Chicago. I'm good here. And now
she's like, no, I think I kind of like it here. I
kind of belong here. It's like, sure, you have a
trust fund and you can do whatever you want. I
guess our multi million dollar company doesn't
really. Multi billion dollar company doesn't
really need you involved that much. She's like

(47:08):
this high up person in this company, and now she's
like, oh, but I'm just gonna stay here now. Yep.
Uh, so. But I do like.

Leif (47:17):
I mean, the company was moving to New York, right?
Yeah, that company's very, uh, mobile. Yeah.

Steve (47:28):
Uh, but I liked their conversation at the end and
their little patch up and her staying here and her
staying in New York because I really liked her
addition to the cast, which I don't usually like
additions to the cast, so I've really liked her.

Leif (47:47):
Chuck asks Serena if she. She has seen Blair.
Serena says she left a while ago. It probably went
home. Chuck is so angry, he can barely pour the
shots he is pounding down. He says Blair is the
only one that can understand what he's going
through and stumbles off to go find her.

Steve (48:04):
No, you don't get it. He killed two people. So you
didn't know he killed somebody. Yeah. Like you're
worried that he lied to you, which you're just
taking Russell's word for it too. Like you're
just.

Leif (48:18):
Although, uh, the first one was framed as an
accident at least like he killed someone. But like
I feel like Chuck would be the type of like. Yeah,
it was an accident though.

Steve (48:25):
Yeah.

Leif (48:26):
Yeah. This one is applied is kind of on purpose.
Yeah, yeah.

Steve (48:30):
Which. Which also it's like, no, the security
guard was going in there to save her. It wasn't an
accident. It's like what did he have her tied up
in the boiler room? Like, was it an intentional.

Leif (48:44):
Very elaborate way to kill someone.

Steve (48:45):
Yes.

Leif (48:46):
Even Barbass.

Steve (48:47):
Yeah. Although Heather's. Have you ever, uh, you
know the movie Heather's.

Leif (48:52):
And that movie is incredibly over the top.

Steve (48:58):
But it is how his dad killed people.

Leif (49:02):
Blair walks into the foyer to find Blair waiting.
Or uh, find Dan waiting for her. Dan is worried
that there is another reason why they had they'd
been sneaking around. Rufus's earlier advice has
clearly gotten to inside his head. As they
continue to banter, Dan inches closer to Blair and
eventually puts his hand on her shoulder. He

(49:24):
suggests just one kiss to make sure there isn't
something more between them. Blair agrees, but Dan
hesitates before Blair pulls him in for a freeze
frame kiss.

Steve (49:37):
Loved it. I got the When Harry Met Sally here too.
Because this is. Because this is again taken right
from When Harry Met Sally. The whole like, we
won't know. We need to know. And we won't know
unless we do.

Leif (49:53):
Yeah.

Steve (49:54):
So I'm hoping that next episode we end up in Cat's
deli.

Leif (49:59):
And Gossip Girl ends the episode with this. The
question of whether we can fight fate will always
remain a mystery. But the bigger question is what
happens when we stop fighting it. Xo. Xo. Um.
Gossip Girl.

Steve (50:20):
Yeah. Yep. Loved that end. Love that scene. Love
the homage.

Leif (50:26):
And goodbye Ben.

Steve (50:28):
And goodbye Ben forever. Yes. I was hoping you
were gonna say that.

Leif (50:36):
Uh, I was.

Steve (50:42):
Goodbye.
See it again now.

Leif (50:47):
Yes. Uh, but this was like sweeps week. So this
episode aired on February 28th. The next episode
that come six weeks later is April 18th. Wow. And
very painful. And this is kind of when I caught up
to the show and really jumped. It's the fandom. So

(51:08):
I expect to see my name pop up in some of these
episodes. Right. Soon.

Steve (51:14):
This random comment here on Reddit says.

Leif (51:21):
Uh, pre Reddit, but yeah, okay, but.

Steve (51:25):
Really, I thought Reddit was 09. Uh, or even
earlier than that. I Think it was. It had to have
been 0809 because I think I was still married when
it first started.

Leif (51:38):
But yeah, I'm mainly on the television pity or fan
forums.

Steve (51:43):
Okay. Okay.

Leif (51:45):
So what are your predictions?

Steve (51:47):
Okay, my predictions. Okay, I'm going to. I've got
a wild one here. And it has to do with you saying.
And I don't even want to look at your face when I
say it just because I don't want you to give
anything because this is probably my most wild
thing. I don't think Bart Bass is dead. I don't
think Bart Bass is dead. And I think that we're
going to get some kind of beyond the grave pop up.

(52:10):
Now one thing that the, uh, where this thought
originated from may have absolutely nothing to do
with anything because I cannot remember when you
started saying and then we never saw them again.
But I don't remember you saying that when Bart
died. Of course then Bart did come back again for
uh, uh, you know, the.

Leif (52:31):
Yeah, because I usually say when the actor's never
going to appear again.

Steve (52:35):
Right, right.

Leif (52:36):
Which the actor has been back.

Steve (52:38):
That actor did come back again. So. So yes, there,
there is always the flashback. We. There is
something going to happen. Cathartic about the
Bart Chuck thing. So there's this thing tugging at
my head of like, where could they take this to
really fuck with Chuck for his dad to fake his

(53:00):
death like his mom did? I just think that I. First
of all, we are on a recycled hash after hash of
Chuck storylines. So bringing back another dead
parent, uh, there's just a few things that are
just tugging at my head about it. So I don't know
if I'm accurate. Again, like I said, this is
probably my most off the rails prediction that

(53:23):
I've had. But just some little things have just
tugged at me with this Russell Chuck through line.
Now my other big prediction is Chuck and Serena
are about to walk in on Dan and Blair. The Chuck
is going to find going right now looking for Blair

(53:45):
and Blair is with Dan and Serena is with Chuck. So
it does make sense for there to be a big mess
there and whether or not they get caught or
whether or not they sneak around for real. I think
that we're going to see them in a situationship
for a little bit and we'll just see how well they

(54:08):
hide it or if it's out in the, out in the open.
But I'm really curious as to how that plays out.
Are they gonna send Lily to jail? I don't know. I
don't Feel like they can do that for a long period
of time. I also feel like this is the kind of.
That someone like Lily has, uh, you know, timed

(54:31):
serve, you know, like time served. And like,
nobody really is gonna question.

Leif (54:36):
How did she serve though, right?

Steve (54:38):
No one's gonna question that. No one's asking
that. You know, I mean, she'll show her house
arrest, you know. Oh, that would be fantastic.
House arrest. She has to have parties at her house
all the time.

Leif (54:50):
So I gotta give you two spoilers for. From a
casting perspective for next episode one. We're
finally gonna get to meet the mysterious blonde
that's from the Season 6 cover and is on the HBO
wallpaper there.

Steve (55:03):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif (55:04):
She finally appears. And also we get to finally
meet adult Carol.

Steve (55:10):
Oh, the aunt. Oh. Cause we're circling the wagons.
That seems like a wagon that might get circled,
so. Oh, that's really cool because I've been.
Cause I was really. I really loved Ritter. Uh,
Kirsten Ritter's performance earlier, I would.

Leif (55:29):
Just say remember that feeling. Although you might
recognize the actress who plays Carol. She was on
Lost. I forget the character's name. She was like
one of the others.

Steve (55:42):
Oh, okay.

Leif (55:43):
Any other predictions?

Steve (55:45):
Um, oh, uh, all kinds of drama with Rufus and
William and Cece, so I'm curious how that plays
out too. I, uh, did have another prediction. What
was it? My, my. I think I had a Ben based
prediction, but I was like, uh, but it was sort

(56:06):
of, uh, if he's not gone, something's going to
happen. But I kind of also had a feeling Ben was
gone after this one. The. The. The. After the
breakup. I do believe the other person that you
never said that about was Aaron Rose. So I do have
this stinking sneaking feeling that Aaron Rose is
showing up.

Leif (56:26):
At technically Blair's stepbrother.

Steve (56:29):
Yeah. Well, yeah.

Leif (56:30):
I mean, he was a fairly major character in the
books. Although he was completely different in the
books.

Steve (56:36):
Well, and you know, he is Blair's stepbrother,
which also makes him fair game for Blair in Gossip
Girl. Morality.

Leif (56:44):
I think they did date in the books.

Steve (56:46):
Oh, did they? Excellent. I was thinking about
reading at least the first book.

Leif (56:58):
That was weird. Ghost in my kitchen.

Steve (57:02):
Sounds like it. Doing dishes.

Leif (57:05):
Well, thank you.

Steve (57:09):
Uh, anything that happens in our house, especially
ghosts, are always what we go to if it is
something that we know one of us did. But don't
want to blame the other person because there's
only two of us. So if my shit got moved like m.
And I know I didn't move it. Uh, but it's like,
okay, ghosts. All right, I'm not, I'm not going to
blame Robin. I'm going to blame the ghosts for the

(57:32):
goddamn cleaning people.

Leif (57:34):
On that note, let's get into segments this week in
fan. We jumped in the Wayback Machine and travel
to the Television without pity forums from 2011.
Hello there, Peabody. Here. And this is the
Wayback Machine for traveling through time.

Steve (57:51):
And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman.
Hello.

Leif (57:55):
Good boy. Overall impression. They love the
episode.

Steve (58:00):
Yeah, I like this episode. I thought it was a huge
step up from that run of just real shit episodes.

Leif (58:07):
The last episode's good too.

Steve (58:08):
Uh, right, yeah, that's what I'm saying. These
last two I liked.

Leif (58:12):
Again, there is perfection other than being blue
balled by the freeze frame.

Steve (58:17):
Yes. Yeah, word. That was how I felt. I was
actually expecting the walk in the Chuck Serena.
Like I was expecting the kiss to happen a little
longer and then for them to stop. And as they pull
away, there's the other two standing there like,
what the fuck is this?

Leif (58:35):
So some of our younger listeners might not get
this reference because it was very of that time.
Vanessa was compared to the Microsoft paperclip
annoying even when it's giving useful info.

Steve (58:48):
That, that is so fucking spot on. So spot on. God
damn it, Vanessa. You are clippy. You are clippy.

Leif (59:04):
Go away, Chuck. No one cares about you.

Steve (59:08):
Yeah. Can someone send Chuck to a back alley in
Prague? Only with someone who knows how to finish
the job.

Leif (59:18):
They're disappointed about the long hiatus.

Steve (59:20):
Yeah.

Leif (59:22):
And as usual, a lot of love for the Chuck and Lily
scenes.

Steve (59:26):
Yeah, yeah, they're great. I love Chuck and Lily.

Leif (59:30):
That is it for this week in fandom.

Steve (59:33):
I almost, I almost think Chuck and Lily have the
most healthy relationship of anyone on the show
because they know at any given point the other
will sell them the fuck out and not think twice
about it and then come back the next day and be
like.

Leif (59:47):
My B. I think Dan and Rufus have a fairly healthy
relationship.

Steve (59:52):
Uh, yes. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I think that. But
theirs is built on trust and trust can be broken.
Lily and Chuck have no trust.

Leif (01:00:06):
Let's get into episode grades. I went first last
week, so you get to go first this week.

Steve (01:00:12):
I really enjoyed it. I felt like there were a few,
just a few weak points in plot devices that they
used. I'm going to go a B plus for the overall.

Leif (01:00:27):
Yeah. So, uh, for me, I, I also liked it. The
writing was solid, the directing was good, acting
was good from pretty much everyone. Mhm. I think
maybe Raina Was a little bit weak with the
overreaction.

Steve (01:00:40):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (01:00:41):
I started out as a B, but then I remember Ben was
gone, so I bumped into a beat. In stockwatch. Who
do you got going up?

Steve (01:00:58):
Well, I'm going to give it to Ben because he's got
his record expunged and he's free of these
psychotic people, so. And now he can go be
inappropriate elsewhere. Good. Uh, riddance.
You're disgusting. Get out of here. I am also. And
this one hurts. M going to give it to Vanessa for

(01:01:20):
doing the right thing, coming in and helping out
and giving some. I'm going to give it to Clippy.

Leif (01:01:28):
Some useful information. Yeah.

Steve (01:01:29):
For the useful information. Uh, Dare. Dan and
Blair are both going up. Obviously, I'm going to
give Nate and Raina both an up. Uh, Raina was. I
was on the fence because of, like, losing the
relationship with the dad. But I think that she's
in a step. She's in a really good place for her
with staying behind and being with Nate. So I'm

(01:01:50):
going to give both of them. And, um, I'm going to
give it to Rufus for good dadding. You know, he
was. He was a solid dad for Dan in this episode.
Oh, and De Rota. De Rota goes up for. For sure,
100%. Oh, and Chuck. Chuck. I know that Chuck is
all gloomy at the end and shit, but Chuck just got

(01:02:12):
fucking Bass Industries, so I'm gonna give it to
him for his literal stock leap. No matter how mad
he is about it. Get over it. Your dad killed
someone else. Like, yes, this person. And the only
reason that this one matters is cause you kind of
know their name. Like when it was just security
guard accident. You're cool, but it's so. Yeah,

(01:02:37):
don't. So I. I'm gonna give it to Chuck. Even
though he's spiraling, but he doesn't get it very
often. He goes down a lot for me.

Leif (01:02:47):
I have similar list, but not exactly the same. I
had Dan and Blair because they had a very cute
episode and got to make out.

Steve (01:02:54):
Yes.

Leif (01:02:55):
Rufus and Dorota for being good, uh, foils for
them.

Steve (01:02:59):
Yes.

Leif (01:03:00):
I had Lily going up for finally coming clean and
take responsibility.

Steve (01:03:04):
On the fence with Lily because I ended up giving.
I'm, um. Spoiler alert. I was going to give her
down, but I was so on the fence because, yeah, she
did the right thing, which is going to jail.

Leif (01:03:14):
Is she, though?

Steve (01:03:15):
Is she, though? Well, but for now, the question
mark.

Leif (01:03:18):
But in her mind, that's worth it because her kids
smiled at her.

Steve (01:03:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (01:03:23):
And lucky I did have Ben going up because he got
his name cleared.

Steve (01:03:28):
Yeah.

Leif (01:03:28):
Even though he's still a creep.

Steve (01:03:30):
He's a creep.

Leif (01:03:32):
Um, well, guess that's not uncommon in the real
world.

Steve (01:03:36):
Yep. Yep.

Leif (01:03:38):
Uh, and also Vanessa, because, yeah, like you
said, she didn't do anything particularly
offensive and she was somewhat useful.

Steve (01:03:44):
Yeah. Yes.

Leif (01:03:45):
But, yeah, I did not have Reyna going up. And
Nate, I had as neutral because. And I'm thinking
about just changing neutral to going, Nate, Who do
you have going down?

Steve (01:04:03):
So I am sending Lily down for going to. For. For
the. Because I feel like her literal stock would
be plummeting right now. Um, I'm. Oh, you know who
else I'm giving it up to? I'm sorry, but William,
for showing up and catching Rufus off guard. But

(01:04:23):
I'm going to give. So, yeah, I'm giving Lily the
down. I'm giving Russell the down. I'm giving
Ben's mom the down for not actually like, yeah,
she kind of got what she wanted. But fuck you,
you're kind of an asshole and lactose intolerant.

Leif (01:04:40):
Mrs. M. Sharp.

Steve (01:04:42):
Mrs. M. Sharp. I am going to. He was mentioned, so
I'm going to let Howie go down because he was
mentioned for getting his ass kicked. So I'm gonna
go ahead and send Howie down. I think that's it
for me.

Leif (01:04:59):
Uh, for me. I had Russell going down because he
obviously lost the episode. Yeah, I had Reyna
going down because I thought losing her dad was a
bigger deal than starting. Just starting a
relationship with Nate.

Steve (01:05:13):
See, I, I kind of felt like she didn't lose her
dad in the end, that she reconciled and became her
own person. It became independent from him. So
that. But I see what you're saying.

Leif (01:05:25):
And I also had chuckling down because. Yeah, he's
spiraling. Yes.

Steve (01:05:29):
Hard. I, I kind of. I. I kind of figured you
would. And I kind of figure that that's one of
those one up, one down things because. Yeah.

Leif (01:05:40):
And I didn't have this originally, but speaking of
one off, one down. I'm gonna put William going
down because he was just a smug asshole and he
still hasn't suffered the consequences for his
shitty actions last year.

Steve (01:05:50):
Yeah. Yeah. No, he has not. Consequences don't
often happen to these people. Like real ones.

Leif (01:05:58):
That's why I didn't give Lily down.

Steve (01:06:00):
Yeah.

Leif (01:06:00):
So I gave Lily up.

Steve (01:06:02):
Yeah. But here's the best outfits from the last
episode we see.

Leif (01:06:12):
Who did you have for best outfit?

Steve (01:06:15):
I was torn on this. I'm gonna give it to Blair.
Her that flower print dress. And it was even. It
was more the accessories, the necklace, the way
that it looked against the dress and with her
makeup the way it was. I, I was really on the
fence because I thought Lily's dress was also

(01:06:37):
pretty dope.

Leif (01:06:39):
I also have the same dress. Um, it was a Dior
dress. And she's wearing. Did you notice the
little silver balls on her shoes?

Steve (01:06:47):
No, I didn't.

Leif (01:06:49):
There's little silver like puffy balls on the tips
of her shoes.

Steve (01:06:52):
Oh, adorable. Yeah, I didn't even notice they're
black pumps.

Leif (01:06:58):
That is it for segments. Do you have anything you
would like to plug this week?

Steve (01:07:03):
Well, first of all, you should check out First
Farm to Fable, one of the most recent episodes. I
was a guest on there. We had Mike, uh, Ross on
here last year or two years ago. Yes, for season
two. And so I was on his show. Uh, we recorded it

(01:07:23):
the other day so it should come out in another
week or two, I think.

Leif (01:07:26):
And what episode was that?

Steve (01:07:28):
It was Upgrade Season 9, Episode 18. Although it
can if you're watching Smallville along with this
thing. It hulu, it's episode 18. Some streaming
platforms, it's different because they had two
episodes. Some of them have a two part episode

(01:07:51):
listed as one episode. Uh, yeah. So. And it was
fun. It was very much like, like Mike coming on
our show. I haven't watched Smallville, at least
not that far. And so was the big difference was
that I had seen the first three, four, four, uh,

(01:08:12):
and a half seasons of Smallville. So I had a
background and I could answer some of the things.
And it was also really interesting to watch
another WB show that. That was kind of a
predecessor to Gossip Girl that is also doing the.

Leif (01:08:33):
Well, it's now running at that point. It's running
simultaneous with Gossip Girl on.

Steve (01:08:37):
The c. On the cw.

Leif (01:08:38):
Right.

Steve (01:08:39):
Yeah. So. Because, uh, at that point I thought I
brought that up to Mike but he wasn't sure when it
switched. But yeah, so it was on the cw. So it
followed that same trope of I didn't need to watch
the last three episodes because they caught me up
in the dial. I watched the previously on. But the
dialogue in so many places. It's like, oh, well,

(01:09:02):
you've been out of the job from uh, uh, Spectre.
Is it? Who does she work for?

Leif (01:09:07):
The Daily Planet?

Steve (01:09:08):
No, no, no. The Tess worked for the adversary who
was working with Zod. Uh, she was worse.

Leif (01:09:17):
She's the CEO of LexCorp.

Steve (01:09:20):
But you. But there was something about Spectre.
There's Some kind of government agency that she
was, uh, fired. Checkmate. She was fired from
Checkmate Spec. That's right. Spectre is, uh,
James Bond, but she was fired from Checkmate. And
there were these weapon stashes all over the place
and Brian Austin Greene's appearance, like,

(01:09:40):
everything. I was just caught up everywhere I
needed to be. Uh, so it was like, yeah, that was
easy. It was fun. And I had a lot of fun talking
to Mike about the episode. So. Oh, and you can
find me on TikTok and Instagram Steve Marshon M M
A R C H I O N and go ahead and give me a follow
and see what I'm doing there.

Leif (01:10:02):
Yeah, for me, I am going to plug season two of
Fallout. Um, I've seen the first episode and by
the time you've gotten this episode, you're
listening to this, it'll probably be two or three
episodes out by then. Yeah, really good show. Fun.

Steve (01:10:16):
Season one was spectacular. So I'm really, I don't
know if I'm gonna watch it now. I tend to wait
until things are done so I can binge it.

Leif (01:10:26):
See, I love. I've come back around to liking week
to week because then you can talk about the
episodes with people.

Steve (01:10:33):
I get that.

Leif (01:10:35):
And then think about what's coming next and
analyze it.

Steve (01:10:38):
Yeah, my big problem. And I guess I also don't
have a lot of folks that I am talking to about
that about shows other than Robin.

Leif (01:10:47):
That's what Reddit's for.

Steve (01:10:48):
But, but yeah, I, I understand that. I just, I
struggle with it because I just want to sit down
and watch.

Leif (01:10:58):
Uh, I mean, if it's there, I will.

Steve (01:11:00):
Yeah.

Leif (01:11:00):
But I kind of prefer week to week.

Steve (01:11:04):
Yeah, well, and, and this has been really
interesting for me doing this podcast and doing a
week to week podcast and watching this like I
would have had to when it came out, only with
things like not waiting six weeks.

Leif (01:11:19):
This gap was painful. Yeah, it was painful.

Steve (01:11:23):
Yeah.

Leif (01:11:24):
But yeah. So check out Fola. Uh, if you want to
follow me on social media, you can find me on
Instagram and bluesky Hot Capricorn. That's H O T
C A P I C O L A And if you want to follow the
podcast, you can find us on TikTok, Instagram and
Threads. Ah, non judging breakfastpod. And if you

(01:11:45):
want to find links to our Patreon, our Discord
server and our subreddit, they are all on our
website. Non judging breakfastpod.com and if you
would.

Steve (01:11:57):
Like to send us an email, we would love to hear
what you have to say and even read it here on the
show. Our email address is non judging
breakfastpodmail.com so go ahead, send us your
thoughts. We'll let you know what we think about
your thoughts. Also, while you're listening, if

(01:12:18):
you could go ahead and hit that like and the
subscribe or follow button and also leave a
comment if you're listening on Spotify and Apple
podcasts. That really helps our boost our
visibility. So give us your thoughts on the
episode right there in the comments section and
we'll get back to you. And while you're at it, go

(01:12:39):
ahead and let your friends know what you're
listening to. Tell your work friends or your home
friends and make us the water cooler talk this
week.

Leif (01:12:46):
Uh, next week we will be back to talk about season
four, episode 18, the dare episode. Typically
traditionally this episode.

Steve (01:12:55):
Yes.

Leif (01:12:56):
Oh, yeah.

Steve (01:12:57):
Cause that was also the play.

Leif (01:12:59):
Yep. And also when they had their first scheme in
season one.

Steve (01:13:03):
Oh, right. Cause that was a short season.

Leif (01:13:05):
And in season three, it was the Dorota's wedding
where they had, like, several, like, very like,
touching scenes at the wedding.

Steve (01:13:12):
Yeah, yeah.

Leif (01:13:14):
And the episode description. So the episode is
titled the kids stay in the picture. And the
episode description reads, as Lily awaits the
consequences of her decision, William
Vanderwoodsen, CeCe and Lily's sister Carol come
into town to support her. Blair has an epiphany
about her future and grapples with the knowledge

(01:13:35):
of whom she is destined to be with.

Steve (01:13:38):
Uh oh. Uh, oh. I mean, Blair, when you and Chuck
said that you're gonna come back together one day,
you knew that there was gonna be other people
along the way. So here's your other people. He's
had other people along the way. You have other
people, too.

Leif (01:13:56):
Until next time. You know you love us.

Steve (01:13:58):
Xoxo.
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 m me with you
there Every time you walk away or run away you
take a piece of m me with you there oh, it seems

(01:14:20):
I'm walking right to your door.
My heart's still resting looking for something
more.
Are you ever gonna see everything you mean to me?
I'm trying really hard to believe.
Every.
Time you walk away or run away you take a piece of

(01:14:41):
me with you there Every time you walk away or run
away you take a piece of me with you there Every
time you walk away or run away you take a piece of
me with you there Never feels right when I'm out
here on my own I left last night and it feels like

(01:15:06):
way too long are you ever gonna see ever?
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 meat with you there Every time
you walk away or run away you take a piece of me

(01:15:27):
with you there Every time you walk away or run
away you take a piece of me with you there.
Come.
Back to me smile and you'll make my life complete

(01:15:49):
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
take a piece of me with you there Every time you

(01:16:09):
walk away or run away take a piece of me with 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

(01:16:30):
take a piece of me me with you there uh. Every
time you walk away or run away you take a piece of
me with you there.

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S4E17 - "Empire of the Son"

☕ Episode Overview

🔮 Predictions & Speculation

📝 Episode Grade

🥓 Final Thoughts

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;}S4E17 - "Empire of the Son"