Episode 11

Gossip Girl S2E11 - The Magnificent Archibalds

Summary

In this episode of the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, hosts Leif and Steve are back to unpack Season 2, Episode 11 of Gossip Girl, "The Magnificent Archibalds." As Thanksgiving approaches, the drama intensifies on the Upper East Side. Nate faces a moral dilemma involving his father, while Blair struggles with the changes brought by her mother's new relationship. Meanwhile, Jenny's quest for independence leads to tension with her family, and Serena navigates the complexities of her relationship with Aaron. The hosts delve into themes of family loyalty, personal growth, and the consequences of secrets. They also explore the behind-the-scenes dynamics and cultural references that make this episode a standout.

Keywords

Gossip Girl, family loyalty, personal growth, secrets, drama, podcast, analysis

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

02:30 Thanksgiving Traditions and Feuds

05:45 Current Controversies: Blake Lively

10:00 Discussing "The Magnificent Archibalds"

15:20 Nate's Dilemma and Family Dynamics

22:00 Jenny's Independence and Rufus's Response

30:30 Blair's Struggles with Change

35:45 Serena's Relationship with Aaron

40:50 Eric and Lily's Family Secrets

45:00 Episode Highlights and Reflections

52:30 Stock Watch: Characters Rising and Falling

1:00:00 Best Outfits and Fashion Highlights

1:05:00 Predictions and Closing Remarks

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 


Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

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Transcript
Steve:

Robin and I have an ongoing feud because

Steve:

Robin likes candied walnuts on top

Steve:

of her sweet potatoes, and I grew up with

Steve:

marshmallows. And so this is an ongoing

Steve:

battle that I have a microphone and

Steve:

she doesn't.

Leif:

So I'm going to side with Robin on this one

Leif:

because I'm not a child, Steve.

Steve:

I have no defense to that.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

Hey, Upper east siders, and all you scandal loving listeners out

Leif:

there, you just tuned into the non judging breakfast

Leif:

pod where the coffee is strong, the

Leif:

waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than

Leif:

ever. My name is Leif, and I'm your seasoned Gossip

Leif:

Girl veteran.

Steve:

And I'm Steve, your newbie, your Greene horn,

Steve:

your. I don't know, Leif. What do you call the new kid on the block

Steve:

in Gossip Girl terms?

Leif:

I don't know. just remember, Serena doesn't share.

Steve:

Yeah, well, Blair needs to learn to.

Leif:

Sounds good.

Steve:

So here's the deal, folks. Leap has been watching

Steve:

Gossip Girl since it first aired, and I'm diving in for the

Steve:

first time. And together, we're your dynamic duo, bringing

Steve:

you all the drama, romance, and sometimes

Steve:

questionable fashion choices for this

Steve:

iconic 2007

Steve:

series.

Leif:

That's right. Each week we'll be taking a deep dive into the

Leif:

show one episode at a time. We're

Leif:

going to look at all the parallels, obscure references,

Leif:

and of course the couture catastrophes.

Leif:

Plus we'll also be talking about some behind the scenes

Leif:

action and some stories from fandom.

Steve:

And since we're all about inclusivity here at the non judging

Steve:

breakfast pod, there is always a seat

Steve:

for you at the non judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab

Steve:

your mimosa, a cup of coffee or some of

Steve:

Nate and Chuck special medicine if it's that kind of

Steve:

morning. And let's get started.

Leif:

So right now, when this people are listening to this episode,

Leif:

it will be deep in the heart of spooky season. October

Leif:

28th release date of this episode.

Steve:

Oh, wow. Yeah.

Leif:

So, happy early Halloween.

Steve:

Yeah. Ah, happy Halloween. Yeah,

Steve:

that's. That's nice. I actually, I think that just

Steve:

this past weekend I want

Steve:

to have a, like a little fire pit in my backyard. So I'll let

Steve:

you know if that's happening.

Leif:

Okay. And yeah, so

Leif:

at. While we're. It's in the news now, but hopefully

Leif:

we'll find out some more by the time this is released. But there

Leif:

a little bit of controversy going on with Blake Live this

Leif:

past week.

Steve:

So I saw that there was a little bit of controversy. I didn't

Steve:

see what it Was. I know that it has to do with this movie

Steve:

that she's promoting. it ends with us.

Steve:

side note, costume designer

Steve:

Eric Damon. Eric Damon? Yeah.

Leif:

The one person from Gossip Girl that was invited to her wedding even

Leif:

though they shot. They. They got married during

Leif:

season six filming.

Steve:

Oh, wow.

Leif:

And that was the only person from the show that went to the wedding

Leif:

that's telling.

Leif:

yes. And so

Leif:

anyways, the story is. So

Leif:

this movie, this is us. she's based on a book.

Steve:

This ends with us. This ends with us.

Leif:

Yes. And people kind

Leif:

of noticed all the cast,

Leif:

including Blake unfollowed the director,

Leif:

star of the movie, who was the original one who got

Leif:

bought the rights from the author. He's the one that

Leif:

optioned the rights.

Leif:

And people like, what's going on? And started

Leif:

out, there's rumors like maybe he

Leif:

made, you know, someone feel uncomfortable on set.

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

But then people are like, no,

Leif:

that might not be what happens.

Leif:

Maybe Blake and Ryan are using their

Leif:

pod because it's kind of known that

Leif:

she's promoting as almost like a romantic

Leif:

comedy. But this movie like has

Leif:

serious domestic violence stuff in it.

Steve:

so that's really strange because I understood the

Steve:

premise of the movie to be this. The

Steve:

generational acceptance of these

Steve:

things ends here.

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

So like it. I. And I.

Leif:

But she's like using it to promote her like all her

Leif:

other side products that she promotes or

Leif:

Betty Booze and. And like marketing as like

Leif:

kind of, you know, America sweetheart rom com type

Leif:

thing. And so

Leif:

apparently also Ryan Reynolds

Leif:

uncredited rewrote several

Leif:

scenes.

Steve:

Oh wow.

Leif:

And she's the one who got final cut because

Leif:

she got. Ryan Reynolds apparently befriended the

Leif:

author and got her the author on Blake's

Leif:

side. And so they use Blake's final cut, not the

Leif:

director who originally bought the rights to the

Leif:

project. So there's a lot of vaccine politics going on.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

So either one of two things, either this guy was

Leif:

inappropriate, which I think we should know about, or, you

Leif:

know, Blake and Ryan are just using it. Heavy

Leif:

politics.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And abusing their power.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

but. And then because that, all these other things are, you

Leif:

know, resurfacing about Blake and everyone's

Leif:

talking about, you know, her. Her wedding at a

Leif:

plantation and how she had like a blog

Leif:

about antebellum, stuff. And so her new

Leif:

nickname is kind of Antebellum Barbie.

Steve:

That's not a good look.

Leif:

No, no, definitely not a good look. And

Leif:

like some, some interviewer who

Leif:

didn't release the interview at the time with. With Blake and

Leif:

Parker Posey being like really rude to the

Leif:

interviewer for like no reason. And so

Leif:

she released that this past week.

Steve:

I've said over. And I always say that

Steve:

people don't get to the positions they're in without

Steve:

stepping on some necks along the way. And

Steve:

like, you know, I'm no

Steve:

longer shocked and I'm no longer ready

Steve:

to be like, well, fuck that person when I hear about

Steve:

a famous person that's

Steve:

fucking someone else over in one way or another.

Steve:

Because like, I feel like that's. The

Steve:

industry is just built especially.

Steve:

Especially when you take a 16, 17, 18

Steve:

year old kid and give

Steve:

them this kind of m.

Steve:

Influence and money

Steve:

when they're that young, you know, like, it really goes to the

Steve:

head.

Leif:

And well, Blake Lively had it from even before that

Leif:

because she's. She was a nepo baby all the way.

Leif:

Who were her, I mean, she just got rich

Leif:

parents that kind of put her in position to be where she

Leif:

is.

Steve:

So, I mean, similar to Taylor then, right? Wasn't that kind

Steve:

of,

Leif:

No, Taylor was just. She

Leif:

had not wealthy parents, but

Leif:

just kind of forced her into acting.

Steve:

Okay, okay.

Leif:

Blake's parents, like, literally, like she had a PR team

Leif:

at 10.

Steve:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And so like, but

Steve:

like, and that's, that's just exactly my point.

Steve:

That, that all she knows is how to get

Steve:

ahead. Yeah. In an industry that is

Steve:

cutthroat. Like, she's been raised to know how to do

Steve:

that. And like, I, can't

Steve:

just be like, wow, I'll never watch any of her

Steve:

stuff because of that. Because that's

Steve:

everything we watch. Is somebody doing that pretty much at

Steve:

this point, you know.

Leif:

Well, today we are here to talk about season

Leif:

two, episode 11, the Magnificent

Leif:

Archibalds. And this, originally aired a little bit before

Leif:

Thanksgiving on November 17, 2008.

Steve:

Yes. And this is also available for you to

Steve:

watch on Tubi. Jill, my mother in law, who I

Steve:

know listens to every episode, who has never seen the show

Steve:

Tubi. T U B I. You can download

Steve:

the app onto your new TV and you

Steve:

can listen to it. Love you.

Leif:

Yes, thanks for listening. You didn't know. in the U.S. if you're in the U.S.

Leif:

they recently dropped Gossip Girl on Tubi.

Steve:

Yeah. And. And Tubi isn't paying

Steve:

us to say this. They're allowed to. We'll

Steve:

gladly take your money, Tubi. Yes, but,

Steve:

but we're. We want people to watch the show. I

Steve:

mean, we want you to watch along with us. So download

Steve:

Tubi on whatever you download. Apps

Steve:

to and watch Gossip Girl with us, if you're not already.

Leif:

And I actually re. Recently posted on Threads, though, so if

Leif:

you people go ahead and go answer that, I ask

Leif:

the question, where do you watch either? Is it on Tubi or is

Leif:

it on Max?

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Or do you have the DVDs? Are you a super fan?

Steve:

Yeah, exactly.

Leif:

Let us know the title on this movie. this episode was

Leif:

based on the movie the Magnificent Ambersons.

Leif:

Orson Welles, written and directed, starring,

Leif:

Tim Holt, Joseph Cotton, and Dolores

Leif:

Costello.

Steve:

Never saw it. heard of it. And I mean, I feel

Steve:

like the Magnificent

Steve:

has also been used

Steve:

many other times as well. You know, like.

Leif:

But I think this. Thematically, this one, this sort of

Leif:

fits. I mean, at least I haven't seen it. But based on the

Leif:

short synopsis, which is a spoiled

Leif:

young heir to the decaying Amberson

Leif:

fortune comes between his widowed mother

Leif:

and the man she has always loved.

Leif:

Yeah. You know, kind of parallels with Nate.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

This episode was written by our buddy Josh

Leif:

Saffron, who is, like, definitely firmly

Leif:

in Scots in the writers room. And he will

Leif:

eventually become the showrunner. It's not quite official yet,

Leif:

but, I.

Steve:

Mean, I'll say this. If

Steve:

this was his audition piece for showrunner, he would

Steve:

get it.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Like. Like, oh, my God. On this

Steve:

episode.

Leif:

But yes, previously he's done, of course, Bad News

Leif:

Blairs, Seventeen Candles, High Society, and Women on

Leif:

the Verge was. That was probably his weakest episode.

Leif:

And then in the second season,

Leif:

he's already done two episodes. He

Leif:

did the stronger of the Hamptons episodes, which was the first episode of the

Leif:

season. Some are kind of wonderful.

Steve:

Oh, right.

Leif:

And then also he did the episode where they all went to Yale. New

Leif:

even.

Steve:

Yeah. Which was one of the better episodes. That was

Steve:

one of. That was kind of the season that finally. The episode that

Steve:

kind of finally got this going. Yeah,

Steve:

yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Directed John, De

Leif:

Sagn, which I'm probably butchering

Leif:

that name completely.

Steve:

It, says Jones here.

Leif:

Jean de Jones.

Leif:

Sign on. Sign

Leif:

right. Right in. Let us know, John.

Leif:

Or set us an audiogram.

Leif:

this is his first of three, Gossip Girl

Leif:

episodes. But he is a career TV director,

Leif:

including, like, two or three TV movies, but mainly did a lot

Leif:

of procedurals, including 50 plus

Leif:

episodes of Law and Order. S video.

Steve:

Yeah. And I mean, the. The writing did most of the

Steve:

work in this. Yeah, you know, the. The writing

Steve:

and certain actors did most of the work

Steve:

in this.

Leif:

The directing wasn't bad, but it didn't stand out at all.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. It was like there Wasn't much to do. I

Steve:

felt. I didn't feel like there was much to do for the director because

Steve:

it was so well

Steve:

written.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah. Just a lot of emotional scenes.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Leif:

I mean, I guess there was some good, like, close angles

Leif:

for the conversations.

Steve:

Yeah, Give him props there.

Leif:

So we've been. I've been going back and forth

Leif:

on recaps. I felt like the.

Leif:

The Wikipedia recaps were just kind of boring, and

Leif:

then the tells you without pity ones were a little too

Leif:

long. So I found a Vulture recap. It's

Leif:

like, it was just one paragraph, so we're gonna go with that.

Steve:

All right, let's try that.

Leif:

And so this is not my words, and I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna

Leif:

preface. I'm pretty sure the author is a gay man.

Leif:

There is a comment that I wouldn't have made myself, but

Leif:

more power to him. It's Thanksgiving already.

Leif:

We kind of leap forward in time, which is weird because we've

Leif:

become accustomed to Gossip Girls holidays coinciding

Leif:

with ours. But like many of the characters in this

Leif:

episode, we will try to set aside small,

Leif:

petty material grievances and instead focus on

Leif:

the many things there were, to be thankful for in this

Leif:

episode. Among them, Dorota's

Leif:

ringtone, a random reference to Phosphon

Leif:

Binder. I think it should be Fastbender, but it

Leif:

says binder. The annoying familiarity with

Leif:

Aaron Rose and the long, lovely moments of the camera

Leif:

spends lingering pornographically over Blair's

Leif:

dad's famous pie from last year, which she presents

Leif:

to her, and the gayest ever picnic casket,

Leif:

which harkens us back to last year's Barfs

Leif:

giving episode. And remind us, as we enter

Leif:

a holiday season, of the fact that the Gossip

Leif:

Girl has been on our lives for an entire year.

Leif:

And we will hope for many more years to

Leif:

come. Way to go, Vulture.

Steve:

Yeah. Wow.

Steve:

All right. Barf's giving really got me

Steve:

that.

Leif:

Yeah, that's also a little, e.

Leif:

Well, yeah. but yeah, Vulture is not

Leif:

known to hold back.

Steve:

Live your life, Vulture.

Leif:

And we go into Act 1. We

Leif:

get a bit of a Thanksgiving

Leif:

themed montage of New York City, and we

Leif:

get the monologue. For the rest of the

Leif:

country, Thanksgiving is where families come together

Leif:

to give thanks. But on the Upper east side, the

Leif:

holiday thankfully returns to its roots.

Leif:

Lying, manipulation, and

Leif:

betrayal. And from what we hear,

Leif:

just like the Indians, someone else is

Leif:

being pushed out of their home.

Steve:

You're a little cringey there, Gossip Girl.

Leif:

As they walk the halls of contents, Blair is

Leif:

complaining To Serena about Cyrus and his family,

Leif:

including Aaron invading her penthouse. Blair

Leif:

is still calling out Aaron for sucking.

Steve:

How are you going to introduce him to your mom? Udvr. Big

Steve:

love, right?

Leif:

Very timely.

Steve:

Yeah, it was. It was very timely.

Leif:

Rip Bill Paxton.

Steve:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Another

Steve:

great way for Blair to just start the

Steve:

episode right there.

Leif:

Yes. So Dan walks

Leif:

up to Blair and Serena looking for Jenner.

Leif:

Jenny. Blair walks away with a nice little zinger.

Leif:

Serena and Dan share a nice moment. I like that they have

Leif:

settled into an actual friend space. Hopefully they

Leif:

can keep them here for a while.

Steve:

Yeah. When he walks

Steve:

up and she's like, oh, she has better taste than

Steve:

I thought. I tried.

Leif:

As the conversation breaks up, Nate bumps

Leif:

into and then apologizes to Dan, who is

Leif:

still giving Nate the cold shoulder.

Steve:

Such a dick here. Like, Dan,

Steve:

get over yourself.

Leif:

Yeah, I guess they're just playing the trope of

Leif:

the older brother being protected.

Steve:

Yeah. And. Yeah.

Leif:

So. So. Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

So last century.

Steve:

Yeah, I. Exactly. And Dan in this whole

Steve:

episode, I just. Is just such

Steve:

a. Idiot.

Leif:

Really?

Steve:

I think so. I, Why

Steve:

do you talk to your girlfriend's ex? Like, why? You don't

Steve:

open your mouth that much. To you? I mean, what, to your

Steve:

girlfriend's boyfriend or your ex's? There we

Steve:

go. Nailed it.

Leif:

Chuck seeing Dan Disney tries to manipulate the

Leif:

situation into winning Nate back. However, just as Dan blew

Leif:

Nate off, Nate does the same to Chuck.

Steve:

Yeah, but Chuck was also an.

Leif:

Oh, yeah, he was. But I think he was doing that because he. He thought

Leif:

he could kind of manipulate the situation because he thought, like, oh,

Leif:

Nate's, you know, has. No. And now I can. I could be

Leif:

a dick. And now he's forcing.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, I. I gathered that too.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Typical, you know, abusive relationship.

Steve:

Yeah. Yep.

Leif:

Wait, from Chuck Bass, Jenny

Leif:

with Eric in toes. Meeting with a lawyer or someone along

Leif:

those lines. Learning for the process of Involved

Leif:

in becoming emancipated.

Steve:

Wait, you're gonna tell my parents that I'm no

Steve:

longer their daughter?

Leif:

Yeah, just. I can't believe she thought she could just do it without them

Leif:

knowing.

Steve:

Yeah. Like, how do you sneak emancipate

Steve:

yourself?

Leif:

Dan and Vanessa are discussing Vanessa's lonely

Leif:

Thanksgiving plan, so Dan invites her to the little loft

Leif:

for dinner. Vanessa agrees to come since Jenny is still

Leif:

MIA Speaking of which, Rufus storms in

Leif:

to announce that Agnes's mother hasn't seen Jenny in a

Leif:

week.

Steve:

Yep. And Dan says

Steve:

he's. She's been hanging out with Eric.

Steve:

Snitches. Right there.

Steve:

Again, caught.

Leif:

Busted. I mean, she's missing. I

Leif:

think it's it warrants telling.

Steve:

I, I mean, I, I just. My, my thing

Steve:

is that I never really felt Dan was. Oh,

Steve:

totally on Jenny's side because now Jenny's hiding from Dan

Steve:

too. You know, if, Dan didn't know where she was,

Steve:

but Dan now knows she's okay. I'm just saying that

Steve:

Dan.

Leif:

I, I have no issues with that.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I mean, I don't really. It just goes back to.

Leif:

And also he has no idea that she's hiding from.

Leif:

She just look. Looking for her.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

No issues there. Lily and Bart

Leif:

arrive home from their vacation and Lily receives a rude

Leif:

call from Rufus looking for Jenny. However, Lily

Leif:

sees Jenny's stuff and tells Rufus that she has to

Leif:

call him back.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I love Lily this whole

Steve:

episode, as always. And I, and I love

Steve:

the. I love the whole like, no, I haven't

Steve:

seen her.

Leif:

What do you think?

Steve:

She's staying here and like,

Steve:

I'll call you back. And. But also Rufus

Steve:

with the phone call in the first place, just being like

Steve:

angry and yelling at Lily, who answered her

Steve:

phone, who has no idea what's going on.

Leif:

Nate and his mother are walking into a friend's

Leif:

place where they are staying. Ann has a surprise for

Leif:

Nate. Daddy's home. with new

Leif:

facial hair.

Steve:

That. That beard in the first. And like

Steve:

that the pseudo arrow Flynn.

Steve:

Like.

Leif:

Oh, he's doing the. I think he thinks he's living in Cuba.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. It was so bad.

Leif:

just like Nate Archibald, Gossip Girl has

Leif:

family waiting for her today. So although I'd love to stay

Leif:

in chat, I'm signing off until Thanksgiving

Leif:

dinner. Just in time for pie.

Leif:

Coffee.

Steve:

Surveying the Dabbage just like last

Steve:

year. Yep.

Leif:

Oh, yeah.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

So, yeah. she takes off her Thanksgiving.

Steve:

Yeah, she takes off for Thanksgiving. I noticed that.

Leif:

We move into Act 2. It seems like

Leif:

Howie is back in New York to invite Ann and Nate

Leif:

to come back to Dominica with them.

Steve:

Yeah, putting more shit on Nate

Steve:

Parent. The worst fucking parents on the

Steve:

show are dumping more on their already

Steve:

fucking buried kid.

Leif:

Well, until we learn what his actual plan is, I think this is

Leif:

actually. I mean, if he really wanted to just bring them with him to live

Leif:

with them, I think that's a decent move.

Steve:

They're homeless here, but it's still putting on

Steve:

him the decision of now you can leave

Steve:

all of your friends and family,

Steve:

everyone that you know, and come live like a criminal with

Steve:

me in Dominica. I still don't think that's a

Steve:

good offer to your kid. You. Because now you're still

Steve:

making your Kid a criminal. If he complies, he

Steve:

can. He can't come back. The second he ever comes

Steve:

back to the United States, he's arrested. You know,

Steve:

like, it's still a lot to put on a

Steve:

kid.

Leif:

Yeah. Lily is meeting with Rufus, who

Leif:

reveals that Jenny has been staying with Eric in

Leif:

secret while Lily and Bart were away. Lily

Leif:

advises Rufus to let her talk to Jenny first.

Leif:

Rufus caves to Lily and offers some advice to

Leif:

Lily about how Jenny likes her sweet

Leif:

potatoes.

Steve:

The correct way. The absolute correct way,

Steve:

the only way.

Leif:

And is there someone cutting onions on this pier?

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Cause I teared up.

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, there were a few times the,

Steve:

first time through there. Yeah. With the

Steve:

marshmallows thing. I love how Lily handles Rufus.

Steve:

I love how she talks him down. I love how

Steve:

she. She. How she plays the grown up. When

Steve:

you have calmed down and you're ready,

Steve:

then I'll. I'll mediate this. But

Steve:

you have to calm down, too. She is with

Steve:

family. She's with my family. Robin and I have

Steve:

an ongoing feud because Robin likes

Steve:

candied walnuts on top of her sweet

Steve:

potatoes, and I grew up with

Steve:

marshmallows. And so this is an ongoing

Steve:

battle that I have a microphone and

Steve:

she doesn't.

Leif:

So I'm going to side with Robin on this one,

Leif:

because I'm not a child, Steve.

Steve:

I have no defense to that.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

Blair and Serena are talking on the phone,

Leif:

and we get Blair's advice to Serena. Remember,

Leif:

Serena doesn't share as well as Serena's vice to Blair.

Leif:

Remember, Blair should learn to.

Steve:

When Serena was like, oh, man, he said he was out

Steve:

with someone earlier, and I think, was he kissing this person?

Steve:

Like, Serena, this is what you signed up for?

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Like, you. You were the one who was like, this is what I want.

Steve:

I'm going to sign up to be in this relationship.

Steve:

So that's how they work. Yeah.

Leif:

But Blair is absolutely right. Serena doesn't share.

Steve:

No. Yeah. Blair's absolutely right,

Steve:

Serena. And. And I think that that really

Steve:

is the heart of where my

Steve:

sarcasm from that comment comes in is that

Steve:

Serena didn't go into this being excited about an

Steve:

open relationship. She went into a competition

Steve:

that she was trying to win. And, you know, we'll

Steve:

see how that works.

Leif:

Eric returns to the Vanderbass penthouse to find

Leif:

Bart home early. Eric sends a quick text to

Leif:

Jenny to avoid the penthouse, but he hears her phone buzz

Leif:

unattended on the counter. Eric mentions things

Leif:

not going so well with Jonathan. Aw.

Leif:

Bart responds to. Eric asks Jonathan about

Leif:

the captain of the swim team.

Steve:

Weird. Yeah, weird. Yeah.

Steve:

And ask him where they were on

Steve:

Friday night. Yeah. Yeah. Bart

Steve:

spilling some tea about

Steve:

Jonathan. But, like, how the hell did she know about.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Well, we find out pretty quick because Eric is excited that

Leif:

Chuck is also home and getting a shave from

Leif:

the maid for some reason.

Leif:

Because he's Chuck Bass.

Steve:

Yeah, because he's Chuck Bass and he can get a shave from

Steve:

a maid. I'm Chuck Bass.

Leif:

Chuck. It reveals the bar has a PI on retainer.

Leif:

Watching everyone even adjacently connected to their

Leif:

family.

Steve:

Yeah, my plans for the evening got hung up in

Steve:

customs.

Leif:

Was he just gonna get, like, baked,

Leif:

like, really, like, stunned or something?

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, my God.

Leif:

or was he getting another international hooker?

Steve:

Yeah, well, that was. My assumption was international

Steve:

hooker.

Leif:

Why would a hooker get held up in customs?

Steve:

I mean, what. What is she bringing with her for?

Steve:

Chuck? Why is he flying a block of hash?

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, Like a block of hash and

Steve:

some sex toys that are only illegal in,

Steve:

like, six countries.

Leif:

Serena is getting her home cooked meal from Aaron, who

Leif:

unpropped, and declares he is now a one woman

Leif:

man. Aaron also reveals that he is

Leif:

sober. This leads Serena to bend the truth about her

Leif:

own relationship with alcohol.

Steve:

Yeah, I mean, yeah, this didn't she.

Leif:

Learn from her last relationship.

Steve:

I, have that note somewhere in here,

Steve:

and it's not even on this scene because she just does this the whole

Steve:

time. Yeah, like, oh, you don't drink. Cool. I

Steve:

won't drink around you. Like, that was all he was. That

Steve:

was all he was actually asking for. He

Steve:

wasn't even saying, like, I can't be with someone who

Steve:

also drinks. He's like, you know,

Steve:

I can't be around it. You know?

Steve:

Like, she could very easily say, oh, you know what?

Leif:

Cool.

Steve:

I won't drink around you. Or I. I'll stop.

Leif:

I. I feel like Serena is

Leif:

what's sometimes called a chameleon.

Leif:

Yeah, they just kind of take on the person. She did the same

Leif:

thing kind of with Dan. Like, oh, she's now, you know,

Leif:

staying home and studying instead of going out partying.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

And now she. Now she's sober, all of a sudden.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Leif:

Lily confronts Eric about hiding Jenny

Leif:

and more or less orders Eric to bring Jenny back to

Leif:

their penthouse to talk with Lily. Is it weird that

Leif:

Lily being bossy kind of turned me on?

Steve:

No, I get it. I get it. I

Steve:

get it. And also, I think Eric is

Steve:

just awesome. I love

Steve:

Eric. Whenever he's on the show and whenever he's on

Steve:

screen, he Was so good in this.

Leif:

Blair is once again melting down on Thanksgiving because

Leif:

Cyrus is trampling on her traditions like a bull in a

Leif:

china shop. Eleanor has her own take charge moment where

Leif:

she tells Blair to get with the program because this is her

Leif:

new family.

Steve:

I don't have a lot of notes on the

Steve:

Blair storyline in this, because I really

Steve:

just. I enjoyed it. I was along for

Steve:

the ride for a lot of it. And other than just

Steve:

the very typical notes of

Steve:

Leighton's acting and Margaret's

Steve:

acting, which are just spectacular

Steve:

throughout, I don't have a lot of notes on it. It was

Steve:

just a fun watch, you know, I just really enjoyed

Steve:

the storyline. I really enjoyed how

Steve:

Blair. She got. You know, it really

Steve:

was like. Yeah.

Leif:

Blair runs off in distress when she meets Dorota

Leif:

on the stairs. Dorota spills the beans that Eleanor and

Leif:

Cyrus are announcing her engagement at Thanksgiving

Leif:

dinner.

Steve:

Who do you. Who do you work. Work for?

Steve:

Or Dorothea?

Leif:

why did she reveal it at all then? Unless she's going to tell. I

Leif:

mean, obviously she wanted to tell.

Steve:

Yeah, she. She wanted to, like, Blair

Steve:

had no idea. Yeah.

Leif:

Oh, I have a secret.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Of course Blair's gonna know what. Know what it is now.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. And because ultimately,

Steve:

Dorota is always on Blair's side.

Leif:

Yes. Jenny is having a chat with

Leif:

Lily, and it's nice to see Jenny get some actual

Leif:

parenting for once. However, as soon as

Leif:

Jenny goes off to bed, Lily takes the opportunity to snoop and

Leif:

finds the emancipation paperwork sticking out of Jenny's

Leif:

bag.

Steve:

I. I really love Lily's handling of

Steve:

Jenny and, like, it doesn't go anywhere, this conversation,

Steve:

but that's not unusual because especially

Steve:

that age, you.

Leif:

You don't want to listen.

Steve:

Yeah. You don't want to cave to what you're hearing,

Steve:

but you still absorb a lot of it, you know?

Steve:

And it was such a good. She's so

Steve:

motherly to other people's kids

Steve:

once again. and she's getting. You know, she

Steve:

definitely has become more motherly to her kids

Steve:

over the. Over her art. But this is a

Steve:

really beautiful, you know, motherly

Steve:

conversation here. Yeah, I love it.

Leif:

And we move into Act 3

Leif:

the next day, Dan and Rufus are doing some last

Leif:

minute Thanksgiving shopping, and Dan gives Rufus

Leif:

parenting advice. When they bump into Aaron, Dan gets

Leif:

a bit of verbal diarrhea and reveals way too much about

Leif:

Serena's, quote, problematic

Leif:

drinking. However, I think it's more problematic

Leif:

how territorial Aaron already is towards

Leif:

Serena.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Because he just told her, you can still keep seeing

Leif:

people.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

And then, like, he like gets

Leif:

right up in Dan's face.

Steve:

Yeah, well, and so this was my.

Leif:

Issue with Dan, but I think that's why Dan. Because Dan got

Leif:

nervous because this guy's like attacking him for no reason. So Dan goes

Leif:

into verbal diarrhea and just starts feeling stuff.

Steve:

See, I didn't really feel there was. I, I guess

Steve:

I, I. Because he was like. He called her

Steve:

complicated. Right. Dan calls Serena

Steve:

complicated. And like Dan's

Steve:

original. The. Where everything started out.

Steve:

Right. Hey, you. Yeah, she's not really a,

Steve:

cheese or fruit kind of person. She. You should get the

Steve:

French wine. And he's like, oh, you don't know her that

Steve:

well. And he's like, she doesn't drink. And she's. And

Steve:

oh yeah. Not problematically, but

Steve:

like at that moment. Stop talking.

Steve:

When you say oh yeah. Not problematically. You

Steve:

have not revealed anything that is

Steve:

outside of the scope of the

Steve:

conversation you already started. He. Dan had

Steve:

Dan pointing to the wines and suggesting taking wine to

Steve:

Serena is innocuous. That is what Dan would

Steve:

have taken. Because Dan knows Serena better.

Steve:

because he wasn't lied to about it. But then when Dan

Steve:

goes on to say like the problematic thing

Steve:

and when he brings up Georgina

Steve:

and he says, well, I'm sure you guys talked about it.

Steve:

She doesn't fucking communicate. The whole reason you guys,

Steve:

split is because you couldn't communicate. So why do you think she's

Steve:

now communicating with this asshole who's no Dan

Steve:

Humphrey? Yeah.

Leif:

I think in the whole reason why he did that is because he got

Leif:

put on the back foot because he was, he was nervous. That's just what Dan does

Leif:

when he's nervous. He starts just rambling.

Steve:

You're right. He does. Dan does

Steve:

that all the time. That is all very classic

Steve:

Dan. Just stop talking. But, but like

Steve:

that.

Leif:

But it's almost like voluntary reaction.

Steve:

Yeah. Classic Dan, needs to learn to shut

Steve:

the up. Like,

Steve:

like it. It's something that he's got. Because he's stuck his foot in

Steve:

his mouth many times doing that. And I'm not trying

Steve:

to take Aaron's side here because Aaron. Because I don't like

Steve:

him from. I don't, I don't like him since, you

Steve:

know, he was a 20 year old dating an 8 year old

Steve:

to begin with.

Leif:

Yes. Do the math, people. Do the math.

Steve:

Do the math.

Leif:

The writers didn't.

Steve:

They did not. Unless

Steve:

Cyrus has some secret other

Steve:

wife that we never.

Leif:

Well, I assume there's another wife in there, but still.

Steve:

But they didn't tell us. They just,

Steve:

they Told us about one wife, and then they're like, and that's

Steve:

my kid. They

Steve:

tell us about a wife from Vietnam.

Leif:

Well, I mean, he. He got married and. And went right

Leif:

off to the war and then divorced her as soon as he got back. And there's. He

Leif:

has multiple kids, so.

Steve:

Yeah. So were those kids all born before he left for

Steve:

Vietnam? Is my. Is my

Steve:

question. And, like,

Steve:

there's nieces and nephews in.

Steve:

At Thanksgiving, Blair gives Eleanor

Steve:

one last.

Leif:

Chance to reveal the engagement to her first, but Eleanor just

Leif:

plays dumb. Blair announces to Dorota that they're

Leif:

skipping out on Thanksgiving, which, point

Leif:

of fact, is no longer Blair's favorite holiday.

Steve:

Yeah. Yep.

Steve:

Not anymore.

Leif:

Nate is trying to return the Rufus Pixies

Leif:

box set, along with a thank you note at the gallery, when he

Leif:

runs into Vanessa. Nate tells Vanessa to take

Leif:

care of herself. Without Chuck, Dan, or even

Leif:

Vanessa in his life anymore. It looks like Nate might

Leif:

be leaving the country with Howie.

Steve:

Yeah. I mean, God, I

Steve:

felt for him here. and if you've watched this

Steve:

podcast at all, you know, I'm a huge Nate,

Steve:

Stan, and I have been since

Steve:

episode one. I feel

Steve:

so bad for him here because when he's like,

Steve:

Nate really didn't do anything,

Steve:

wrong to any of these people who have

Steve:

all just fucking turned their back on

Steve:

him. Like. Like, he was not in a

Steve:

relationship with Vanessa when he started seeing

Steve:

Jenny. He was not. You know, Dan

Steve:

has no right to be upset over

Steve:

him, being respectfully dating his sister at

Steve:

that point. Like, there's no reason other than a kiss to be

Steve:

upset. Like, and Chuck is just

Steve:

turning his back on him for Power Trip.

Steve:

He's done nothing real to these

Steve:

people. Like, the worst that he

Steve:

did was probably to Vanessa

Steve:

because he was being victimized

Steve:

by another pedophile.

Steve:

Like, I felt so bad for him.

Leif:

Yeah. Nate definitely gets the short end of the stick quite a

Leif:

bit.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And good, taste in Pixies.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Chuck casually sexually assaults Serena.

Leif:

Serena ignores this because she needs Chuck to keep his mouth

Leif:

shut in front of Aaron about the drinking. And Chuck does

Leif:

agree I missed it.

Steve:

The first watch the dress

Steve:

grab because.

Leif:

the show is playing it off as, like, sibling

Leif:

bickering, I think.

Steve:

Well, and.

Leif:

But in reality, it is sexual assault.

Steve:

Yeah. And they try to. And they've really painted

Steve:

Chuck as this. Oh, that's Chuck. Oh, boys

Steve:

will be boys. I also feel like this is an instance

Steve:

where you have a man writing, a man

Steve:

directing, and the thought of that actually being an

Steve:

assault, I bet never Crossed either of their minds.

Steve:

I bet they both thought it was flirty and cute, that it was Chuck

Steve:

being flirty.

Leif:

I don't think it was flirty. I think it was more like a

Leif:

sibling type thing.

Steve:

Yeah, but he's. Is he or is he not always

Steve:

talking about banging Serena in

Steve:

one way or another? Like he's always,

Steve:

he's always flirting with her a little bit. It's

Steve:

like the kid, it's like the kid in that 90s show who's like, I'm always

Steve:

farting a little bit. He's always flirting with

Steve:

her at least a little bit. I would. In my

Steve:

estimation. And if you haven't seen that 90s

Steve:

show, that line is pretty much the

Steve:

greatest part of the entire second

Steve:

season.

Leif:

Lisa Low makes an appearance.

Steve:

Lisa Loeb. I actually have a fit. I took a picture because,

Steve:

because she, because I watched it like shortly after

Steve:

we did our whole thing on Lisa.

Leif:

Loeb, Aaron arrives and Serena realizes Dan

Leif:

already let the cat out of the bag. She lies to Aaron

Leif:

and claims Dan is lying out of jealousy. This

Leif:

is exactly what Aaron wanted to hear. So he instantly believes

Leif:

it. Wizard's first rule.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, she's such a

Steve:

bad liar. She's And, and like

Steve:

she's a terrible liar. And.

Leif:

But yes, the wizard's first rule is people will believe a lie

Leif:

if they want it to be true or they're afraid it'll be true. And

Leif:

Aaron definitely wants this to be true.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, very much.

Leif:

Rufus gets a call from Lily that he needs to

Leif:

come to her place immediately. Dan mentions

Leif:

Vanessa is coming over, but Rufus says to cancel with her.

Steve:

Cold blooded.

Leif:

I know we like to shit off Vanessa, but this made me really

Leif:

happy because it really shows that Rufus couldn't give a

Leif:

fuck about Vanessa and whatever

Leif:

weirdness was going on for a few episodes, is now put to

Leif:

rest.

Steve:

Yeah, I actually felt a little

Steve:

bad for Vanessa for this one

Steve:

instance because like, her family isn't around.

Steve:

She has no fucking family either.

Steve:

This is her father figure and this is the person,

Steve:

the family that she's adopted. That is all that

Steve:

she is holding on to here and has made the comment of like,

Steve:

I could just go back with my family. And they're like, no, no,

Steve:

stay with us. and she's like. And now it's like,

Steve:

no, her.

Steve:

Jenny's in trouble. Vanessa. yes.

Leif:

Which is good because I, I was getting a little bit worried about Rufus there.

Steve:

Yeah, me, me too. Yeah.

Leif:

And yeah,

Leif:

Vanessa misses Dan's call because she, a well

Leif:

dressed man approaches her and asks About Nate

Leif:

Archibald.

Steve:

Yeah. Bum, bum, bum.

Leif:

Now, did you peg this guy's a cop?

Steve:

Right away, Instantly. Yeah. Ah. Oh, that's the FBI coming to

Steve:

talk about Nate Archibald.

Leif:

Chuck gives Eric the code for Bart safe. That looks

Leif:

like the end of every heist movie ever made. Eric looks

Leif:

past the gold bars in the Sapphire and goes for the family

Leif:

dossiers prepared by Bart's PI in the midst

Leif:

of this, Chuck gets a call from Vanessa warning him that Nate

Leif:

is in serious trouble. Chuck leaves Eric to keep

Leif:

digging to.

Steve:

Pick up V. I love Eric in

Steve:

this scene. like, I. There

Steve:

have been times earlier in this show where I kind of shit

Steve:

on his acting, and he has really

Steve:

warmed up to me. His acting is really warmed up to me.

Steve:

And his reaction when they open that and he says,

Steve:

like, oh, it's like the end of every ice scene in the movie. And

Steve:

he's, like, picking up this sat. But he's like, is that a gold bar? I

Steve:

didn't know they actually made those. Like, it was

Steve:

just, like, his excitement, and it was just so

Steve:

funny and just so cute and, like.

Leif:

Yeah, I think that he was definitely well

Leif:

casted as a little brother, because he nails that,

Leif:

like, enthusiastic younger brother.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, just

Steve:

always being the wise sage of, the

Steve:

show. He really is

Steve:

maybe my favorite character on some episodes. You know,

Steve:

he's. I love him in this.

Leif:

Yes. Definitely. Back from commercial. Blair and

Leif:

Dorota are walking down the street, ignoring Eleanor's

Leif:

call. It was unclear on whose phone that was. I think

Leif:

it was Dorota, though. Did you catch her ringtone for Eleanor?

Steve:

Yeah, I did not. But Robin

Steve:

instantly goes, is Dorota's ringtone

Steve:

I'm a slave for you by Britney

Steve:

Spears?

Leif:

And this was back in the day where you had specific ringtones from each

Leif:

person.

Steve:

Yeah. So her ringtone for

Steve:

Eleanor, we can assume is, I'm a

Steve:

slave for you, which is such a

Steve:

Easter egg. Yeah.

Leif:

At the Vanderbass Thanksgiving, Serena is

Leif:

introducing Aaron to Lily. Serena

Leif:

deflects the offer of a glass of wine. Lily

Leif:

is impressed with Aaron's knowledge of art. And Serena

Leif:

realizes those pretty little heels she likes to wear are tough on

Leif:

the feet without her typical one or three glasses of

Leif:

chardonnay.

Steve:

I love Bart's reaction because

Steve:

Bart. Bart, like, I think at this

Steve:

point, a quarter of Bart's dialogue in

Steve:

Gossip Girl is building to be. What's he doing

Steve:

here?

Leif:

It's not the scene yet. Oh, it's not?

Steve:

No. What is Bart reacting to in this scene?

Leif:

He's not in the scene at all.

Steve:

Oh, you're right. I jumped ahead.

Leif:

Jenny and Eric are looking through Eric's file, but

Leif:

Eric is too afraid to open Lily or Serena's as

Leif:

they are five times the size of his. Jenny asks

Leif:

Eric if he has seen her emancipation

Leif:

papers.

Steve:

Yeah. Oops. I do love them working together, you

Steve:

know, I love, I always love Jenny

Steve:

Eric interactions.

Leif:

Are they, are they actually brother and sister? He's got those Rufus

Leif:

roots.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

The look on Bart and Aaron's face is When Rufus and

Leif:

Dan arrive at the penthouse is priceless. However,

Leif:

Lily ushers them in and shows Rufus the emancipation

Leif:

papers. Dan, just along for the ride, says a

Leif:

casual hello to Mr. Basset Aaron, who reboots

Leif:

him.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, let's go.

Leif:

What did I do?

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Steve:

And this is where Bart where like, I think, I

Steve:

think by the end, by the however long,

Steve:

you know, we have Bart Bass that by the end of this

Steve:

show he is going to have a quarter of his

Steve:

dialogue will be, what's he doing here?

Leif:

I mean, he does keep showing up.

Steve:

He does keep showing up. Like unfair

Steve:

for Bart to keep asking because Rufus keeps

Steve:

showing up to shit that there is no reason for. He's

Steve:

becoming Bart's Vanessa.

Leif:

I assume Bart is aware that, Jenny is there. So I

Leif:

mean, you should sort of, kind of expect him to be.

Steve:

I agree.

Leif:

Like, you would just like pick her up or.

Steve:

I don't know. Yeah, yeah. But also I

Steve:

can understand him just every time we're doing

Steve:

anything as a family, this fucker shows up

Steve:

mad. Usually mad.

Leif:

Aaron and Dan go to Serena's room to get to the bottom of

Leif:

things for once. Dan is actually quick to pick up the social cues

Leif:

and takes the blow for Serena.

Steve:

Aaron is so like, there's one thing to believe

Steve:

what you want to believe, but there's another thing to just be

Steve:

fucking dumb. For Dan when he does the

Steve:

180, when he's like, oh, you know what? You're right,

Steve:

I did lie. You're right, Serena.

Steve:

My bad, man. You really shouldn't do

Steve:

that, Dan. It's like, thanks,

Steve:

Aaron. I won't anymore.

Leif:

But good on Dan.

Steve:

Yeah. This is where Dan did the right thing.

Steve:

But it was, But God, I, I.

Leif:

Feel like season Dan would, Season one, Dan wouldn't have picked up on

Leif:

that.

Steve:

Yeah. Or would have doubled. Would have picked up on

Steve:

it and doubled down, you know, would have been like, no, I'm

Steve:

not covering for, you know, I, I, I felt like when he

Steve:

saw the look on Serena's face.

Leif:

That the, like her, it, it Suddenly connected for

Leif:

him.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Because I mean like again, back to the

Leif:

beginning, the earlier scene, he was just, you know, saying what he

Leif:

thought was general knowledge and stuff's all over Gossip Girl and.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, that, yeah, I mean, that part's true. Yeah.

Leif:

So yeah, like, soon as he realized what was going on, he's

Leif:

oh. Yep. I was like, oh, I was lying.

Steve:

Yeah, got me.

Leif:

Well, shucks.

Steve:

Yeah, you shouldn't do that.

Leif:

Aaron leaves for the Waldorf party and we get another nice

Leif:

friendly conversation with Dan and Serena. However, the conversation

Leif:

is short lived as Eric bursts in with a bundle of

Leif:

files in an arm. And I like, I like the,

Leif:

you know, they're, they're being good friends here.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. I really loved the, the

Steve:

rest of that interaction and I loved Eric bursting in

Steve:

and being like, well, it's out of the bag. Yeah.

Leif:

Chuck and Vanessa have lured Nate into meeting with

Leif:

the well dressed man from earlier who is now

Leif:

revealed to be an FBI agent in pursuit of the

Leif:

captain. The agent reveals that the captain's

Leif:

planning on blackmailing Ann's family. Nate

Leif:

as a Sophie's choice of helping his father escape and

Leif:

probably never seeing him again or turning him into the.

Steve:

FBI or poor dumb fucking

Steve:

Nate putting this thing together like, like just watching him

Steve:

like it's like the meme with the woman with

Steve:

all the math equations in front of her face that

Steve:

he's like, wait a second, like trying

Steve:

to pieces together, but oh my God. once again,

Steve:

you, you know, just feel terrible for this poor kid.

Leif:

Yeah, this is where it definitely got really rough for me.

Steve:

Yeah, we're like, you know, I still think

Steve:

that asking your kid run away

Steve:

with me to the Bahamas, to

Steve:

Dominica, and leave everything behind and now

Steve:

be a fugitive with me is too much to ask of a

Steve:

kid. This is even worse.

Leif:

I, I, it's, it is too much. But I, I still

Leif:

am not overly bothered with that. If he was, if that was the honest

Leif:

thing because he's giving him the option like I, I have to leave.

Steve:

Do you, do, do you want.

Leif:

To be a family or do you want, I mean, we're just, yeah, never see

Leif:

me again.

Steve:

Yeah. But then the more you dig.

Leif:

But yeah, he definitely had ulterior motives.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And then Anna was definitely in on it too.

Steve:

Yeah. And yeah, gross.

Leif:

Rufus finally gets his head out of his ass and

Leif:

tries giving Jenny some simple understanding and

Leif:

love. However, it might be too late as Jenny

Leif:

takes the emancipation papers and leaves the

Leif:

penthouse.

Steve:

Yeah, Rufus, well done.

Leif:

Why couldn't be done this? Four episodes Ago.

Steve:

Yeah, this should, yeah, I mean, this.

Leif:

Should have been after this f. After the fashion show. This is

Leif:

what the true reaction should have been.

Steve:

Yeah. If it had been, you would not

Steve:

be here right now. Yeah, exactly. If you had been, your daughter right now

Steve:

would be signing big fucking contracts

Steve:

and be bringing in money that you could never bring in with your

Steve:

shitty music career. I also, her hair in this

Steve:

whole episode, I, ah, was like, is that a

Steve:

wig? Is that a wig? And I feel like in this scene it

Steve:

was longer. Like, I felt like

Steve:

Jenny's hair was, first of all a wig,

Steve:

and second of all inconsistent throughout the entire

Steve:

episode.

Leif:

So I believe this is when

Leif:

Taylor Bumpson decided to cut her hair

Leif:

herself.

Steve:

I think you had mentioned that when she first came in with crazy

Steve:

hair.

Leif:

Yeah, I forget exactly when it

Leif:

happened, but. And then the stylists in the

Leif:

show just kind of had to do what they, they could.

Steve:

Yeah. And like, so I felt like when she first came

Steve:

in with the new look that it looked like that.

Steve:

Like, but this episode, it was like

Steve:

that now looks like a wig. because it looked

Steve:

inconsistent. It didn't. It was just her

Steve:

hair. Let me just say this. Whether I, if I'm wrong,

Steve:

I'm wrong. That's fine. Her hair was a distraction

Steve:

to me in this episode.

Leif:

See, I felt it worked when she had the makeup on, but

Leif:

then when she was out at the end of the episode when she didn't have the makeup on, it

Leif:

didn't quite work for me.

Steve:

Yeah, that too.

Leif:

That like, yeah, it just, it looked punk rock when, when she had all the makeup

Leif:

on. Yeah, I, I liked it.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

But, yeah, when it was just like, clean, clear, clear.

Leif:

Jenny.

Steve:

It was, didn't, it was, yeah, it was off putting. Yeah.

Leif:

Lily, file folders in hand and flanked by

Leif:

her children, comes downstairs to confront Bart.

Leif:

Lily takes her family and leaves Bart

Leif:

looking morose. Smells like someone's shit in

Leif:

his cereal bong.

Steve:

My note here is that I do

Steve:

believe Bart Bass

Steve:

believes he's doing the right thing

Steve:

by monitoring his family. I

Steve:

believe that he thinks having a

Steve:

dossier on his kids.

Leif:

What do you what he said there? If you're gonna let your kids

Leif:

go out and do whatever they want, you should have someone watching

Leif:

their backs.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Sort of makes a little bit of sense.

Steve:

Yeah. I, I, there, there's,

Steve:

there's. I think I would be more confident, I'd be more

Steve:

comfortable if my kids knew that, there was someone there

Steve:

watching their back. I, I, I

Steve:

always feel that Bart is

Steve:

ruthless, but Bart really does what

Steve:

he thinks is right.

Steve:

To protect his family and

Steve:

his business. And, and with the exception of

Steve:

the murder, we all know that he covered up that, that

Steve:

he's which, that

Steve:

but like aside from that, like Bart

Steve:

monitoring and doing these background checks,

Steve:

like I, it's invasive, it's wrong.

Steve:

I don't feel that in his

Steve:

morality he's doing it maliciously.

Steve:

I believe he's doing what he thinks is the right thing to do.

Leif:

Yeah, I agree. Nate confronts the captain about his

Leif:

plan and gives his father a Sophie's choice of

Leif:

his own.

Steve:

yeah, because the dumbfounded

Steve:

look on the captain's face, like he

Steve:

looked, he, he looked like the, the boxer, the

Steve:

first boxer in Mike Tyson's punch out the. What's it

Steve:

Joe something Joe. That when you hit him he's

Steve:

like. That was the look.

Leif:

Gabby Joe.

Steve:

Yeah. Jabby Joe.

Leif:

yeah. Well that's because I think this is

Leif:

all Anne's plan. I think how he's too stupid to

Leif:

come up with this himself.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. yeah, because he,

Steve:

because if he was doing this plan, he would have screwed it up

Steve:

even worse because Anne has made it quite clear

Steve:

that Eric.

Leif:

And Lily are once again eating a Thanksgiving dinner

Leif:

consisting of diner fries. Serena having left on

Leif:

some mysterious errand, Eric reveals that he did

Leif:

look at Lily's file and has a go at her for not telling

Leif:

him she spent time in an institution. However, the

Leif:

jive is short lived and as always, Eric is

Leif:

wise and kind hearted soul.

Steve:

This really made me reflect because I never really put the two

Steve:

together. But as well

Steve:

documented, there is a very

Steve:

high suicide rate of the among the

Steve:

LGBTQ AI

Steve:

community.

Leif:

And unfortunately.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I, as I was watching this and

Steve:

it occurred to me for the first time that I

Steve:

wonder if that was something that

Steve:

played into Eric's original

Steve:

hospitalization. That, that if

Steve:

because, because clearly he was struggling with telling his

Steve:

mom there was a struggle there within him.

Steve:

And so that just kind of made me have a, another

Steve:

kind of sympathy for Eric there, you know?

Leif:

Yeah, I would definitely, I

Leif:

feel it definitely would have contributed to the isolation which I think

Leif:

is the main source of his depression.

Steve:

Yes, I, I completely agree.

Leif:

Definitely think that contribute at least a little bit.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I felt like that could have that

Steve:

just having reflected watching this scene, it made me

Steve:

think that that could like you said, could

Steve:

contribute to that loneliness.

Leif:

Serena arrives at the Waldorf penthouse looking for

Leif:

Aaron, but sends a quick text to Blair,

Leif:

who has still not returned home to a worried

Leif:

Eleanor. Serena hands her file over to

Leif:

Aaron and then gives Eleanor Blair's location

Leif:

before wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving

Leif:

and exit stage left.

Steve:

I understand. For the purposes of the

Steve:

scene, why not call her? But it just,

Steve:

like, could you call Blair? Yeah. Ah, I'll send her a

Steve:

text, lady. Like, cool your jets. I'm not

Steve:

calling her.

Leif:

It was very convenient timing. Like, just text all the way

Leif:

in and get the, answer on the way out.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

So it worked.

Steve:

It worked for the timing of the show. Like, I did

Steve:

that.

Leif:

and that's probably why it might have. It might have been a call of

Leif:

the script that suddenly could have been.

Steve:

Changed to attack to make it just

Steve:

float. Yeah, I mean, it did make the scene just flow.

Steve:

Boom, boom, boom.

Leif:

Yeah. A crying Jenny runs into

Leif:

Blair and Dorota. Blair gives Jenny some tough

Leif:

love and points out how much Rufus actually cares

Leif:

about Jenny. Eleanor shows up looking for

Leif:

Blair, who will only come home if Jenny agrees home.

Leif:

as well.

Leif:

Amazing scene, all three of them. Oh, my

Leif:

God.

Steve:

I. Yeah, my allergies kicked in.

Steve:

I, got really dusty on my face. Like, it

Steve:

was so good. Eleanor,

Steve:

when. With the hands. With the hands on

Steve:

Jenny's face. Oh, my God.

Steve:

Like, she was such a mom.

Leif:

She wraps the Shaw around her.

Steve:

Yeah. Blair and Jenny and their interaction, like, your dad will

Steve:

go anywhere. And I know because I've made him do

Steve:

it. Like, oh, my God, that scene

Steve:

just killed.

Leif:

It's great.

Steve:

Yeah. I mean, that. That. That belongs

Steve:

on a top 10 highlight reel of

Steve:

Gossip Girl scenes so far. It's

Steve:

amazing.

Leif:

Yeah. We shift back to the arch balls where

Leif:

Howie is finally doing the right thing. The FBI

Leif:

put the captain and cuffs in front of a sabbing Yan

Leif:

who is comforted by her son.

Steve:

I've got to give it to Howie in this. Like, that. That

Steve:

acting, the. The. The emotion, the.

Steve:

The way that he just. And also just for doing the

Steve:

right fucking thing. Finally.

Leif:

For.

Steve:

For him finally doing the right thing. And, right up

Steve:

to the opening the door and the spin

Steve:

with the hands behind and kind of, you know, just kind of

Steve:

falling into the. The, like, the cops there

Steve:

when he turns around and just kind of leans into

Steve:

them. I just thought he played this scene.

Steve:

I don't think he's ever done anything remarkable

Steve:

as an actor. He didn't really have much to work

Steve:

with until right now.

Leif:

I will say he plays a weasel very well. He

Leif:

does. It's a very believable weasel.

Steve:

Yeah. He's done his job this whole show.

Steve:

This was a moment where I saw him

Steve:

actually break into

Steve:

acting. It was just. It was

Steve:

so powerful. The whole goodbyes

Steve:

and Too. And was really good too. But. But

Steve:

Howie just really landed this

Steve:

scene. If there was also a scene in this that I would

Steve:

credit, the directing, it would be this one. The

Steve:

blocking, the timing of it. Like

Steve:

this scene was really paced well.

Leif:

And of course it goes to a commercial break.

Leif:

We come back, Chuck and Vanessa find Nate

Leif:

reinstated back into his house. Very fast

Leif:

work. Like in the middle of the

Leif:

night.

Steve:

You know that those. Well, I'm just. I just imagine that

Steve:

dickhead cop from that first episode being

Steve:

there like. Yep. Yeah.

Steve:

Was this easy all along.

Steve:

just have to sign this one thing and you can have everything

Steve:

back. Except electricity.

Leif:

Yes. And then we get Nate and Vanessa, share a

Leif:

moment and set it down with plans for a date.

Leif:

And then Vanessa pieces out. So Nate and Chuck and Sherry

Leif:

Broman.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. Is the nature. Ah.

Steve:

Finally happening. That's my m. I hope that

Steve:

Because she keeps getting worse like every time you think

Steve:

like Vanessa. Because like I've always said Nate

Steve:

makes Vanessa more bearable. And

Steve:

now by the. By the end of this one.

Leif:

Well, yeah, in first season she made her bearable

Leif:

because Vanessa in the first season was. Even though she was annoying,

Leif:

she's essentially a good person.

Steve:

Yeah, she. Yeah, she was. Yeah, she was a Debbie

Steve:

Downer. But.

Leif:

And she. She gave Nate gave her another reason to

Leif:

be part of the group besides just Dan.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

So that's why Nate made her. But now Vanessa is a shitty person,

Leif:

so fuck her.

Steve:

Yeah. Yes, exactly.

Leif:

Back at the Waldorf penthouse, it's revealed that Eleanor's

Leif:

surprise is that Harold is in town after all.

Leif:

Eleanor wanted to get Harold's approval of Cyrus before

Leif:

announcing the engagement. other Cutesy.

Steve:

My God. Blair's face. When. When she walks

Steve:

in before we have the reveal, when she

Steve:

walks in and we see her face. Oh my

Steve:

God. It's just. It. She just lights up and it was

Steve:

just such a cool. Again, just Leighton

Steve:

Meester being a fucking powerhouse. But just the way that

Steve:

that was shot was really good.

Steve:

yeah. And also kudos to Eleanor

Steve:

and Harold for their co parenting to

Steve:

be like before I could marry this person,

Steve:

I needed your father to meet them

Steve:

and know that this is going to be your stepdad.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Like that was beautiful to me. I

Steve:

wish.

Leif:

I mean because at the other day they are still friends and the reason

Leif:

they broke up was purely because of sexual

Leif:

incompatibility.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, they. They love

Steve:

each other and it's platonic

Steve:

now. and honestly platonic more for him.

Steve:

Like she. She was a year

Steve:

ago, she was struggling with Letting this

Steve:

go. She couldn't. She couldn't forgive him a year

Steve:

ago. And now here she is.

Leif:

She's found love again.

Steve:

Found. Found love again. And able to, I

Steve:

loved it. I love everything about that.

Leif:

And I love Cyrus's influence on Eleanor

Leif:

too.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I. Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah. I think he's doing quite

Steve:

a bit, but honestly, not enough.

Leif:

And then Dan and Rufus arrive

Leif:

home to find Jenny at the law and

Leif:

a display of dramatism on brand for a

Leif:

teenager. Jenny is waiting the dark emancipation

Leif:

papers in the ass so she could just tear him apart.

Steve:

Yep.

Leif:

That's so overdramatic.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like with the hands

Steve:

on it waiting for. Yeah. I

Steve:

mean, but. But it was also. Yeah, but honestly,

Steve:

if I was. That would have been me.

Leif:

If I was totally on ramp for a teenager.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely. Also my note here is. You're

Steve:

crying. Like at this

Steve:

point in the show. I was fucking done. Like father,

Steve:

daughter, stuff like that just is gonna get me

Steve:

and father. You know, it just. It's gonna get me every

Steve:

time.

Leif:

You used to a jerking off motion.

Steve:

No, I did a stab in the heart motion.

Steve:

Stabbing.

Steve:

It's. Let's

Steve:

clarify. If I'm stabbing,

Steve:

I'll twist.

Leif:

Aaron comes to Serena's room and hands the

Leif:

file folder back to her. Unright. It

Leif:

looks like Aaron and Serena are stronger than ever. We have

Leif:

to come up with a ship name for them. Irina

Leif:

Saron.

Steve:

Sauron. Sauron.

Steve:

Nailed it. And one licorice ring to bind

Steve:

them all.

Leif:

Yeah, I guess.

Leif:

Yeah, maybe Aaron's a series regular. Regular going

Leif:

forward.

Steve:

Oh, God damn it. God damn it. No.

Leif:

You know, we got. We have Cyrus. Does that mean we have to keep

Leif:

Aaron too?

Steve:

How many episodes have. Because. And because it's

Steve:

beyond his three episodes too. So now he's. I feel like he's

Steve:

locked in for six at a minimum.

Steve:

But come on, don't he. He doesn't need

Steve:

to join the cat. He doesn't need to. Everybody.

Leif:

Although it would be kind of funny if you and dad.

Steve:

How did this happen?

Leif:

It's like themselves.

Steve:

That's how it happened.

Leif:

Somehow he can masturbate with another person.

Leif:

Lily and Eric and unfortunately Vanessa all

Leif:

arrive at the Humphrey loft. Serena is invited, but not

Leif:

Bart. Jenny and Vanessa make up, at least for the

Leif:

moment.

Steve:

Yeah. I couldn't think of anywhere that felt more like

Steve:

home.

Leif:

Ouch. Bart.

Steve:

Yeah. She left her home.

Steve:

Because your house. Your. Because your

Steve:

Brooklyn loft felt more like home.

Leif:

And what's been a. That is her. That was her home, from

Leif:

before marrying Bart.

Steve:

Right? Yeah. Yeah, that's. What I meant. Like, she left. She left her

Steve:

actual home. Yeah. Where Bart is now

Steve:

living.

Leif:

Not looking good for Bart.

Steve:

Not looking good for Bart.

Leif:

Dan pushes a pile of Jenny's mail across the

Leif:

counter, but Jenny steps away to help Rufus,

Leif:

allowing Vanessa to sneak a peek at Jenny's mail.

Leif:

Vanessa finds a letter to Jenny from Nate.

Steve:

She's so fucking grimy. She was even grimy

Steve:

before. Like, her grime started before the

Steve:

finding and taking the letter. Right. The griminess

Steve:

started when. When Jenny said, oh, I don't think he

Steve:

even likes me. I haven't heard from him. Oh, yeah. You know,

Steve:

and she's like, m. And.

Leif:

And now she's willing to forgive Jenny because she has a date.

Steve:

Yeah, exactly. She's willing. Yeah. So

Steve:

grimy.

Leif:

As promised, Gossip Girl returns in time for dessert and

Leif:

delivers some parting remarks over a sequence of

Leif:

scenes. Vanessa is staring at the letter, and

Leif:

Gossip Girl begins. As the end

Leif:

of another holiday draws near, I'd like to take a

Leif:

moment to list all the things I'm thankful for.

Leif:

Chuck and Nate are cheersing in the back of Chuck's

Leif:

limo. Gossip Girl continues. I'm

Leif:

thankful that no matter how dark things might get,

Leif:

old friendships can still be rekindled.

Leif:

Serena and Aaron are chatting in bed. I'm

Leif:

thankful for new relationships that help us realize how

Leif:

far we've come from who we were.

Leif:

Blair and Harold are sharing pie amidst the

Leif:

Rose family and how close we get when we

Leif:

can really be ourselves. The Humphreys, plus Lily, Eric

Leif:

and vessel, sitting down to dinner. And I'm

Leif:

thankful no matter what they say, can

Leif:

go home again, whether it's your home or not.

Leif:

And then Bart Bass is parked outside the loft and calls his

Leif:

PI Andrew Tyler. Gossip Girl's narration

Leif:

stops as we hear Bart tell Andrew that, he changed

Leif:

his mind and wants to know who Lily

Leif:

was, why Lily was in the sanatorium.

Leif:

And Vanessa gets up from the table to, quote,

Leif:

unquote, call her folks. Gossip Girl

Leif:

continues. But the thing I'm most thankful

Leif:

for, even on the most giving of days, people

Leif:

can still do something unforgivable.

Leif:

Vanessa has stolen Jenny's letter, and now that she

Leif:

sees a bit, has a bit of privacy, opens and

Leif:

reads it. Signed, steeled, and delivered. I'm

Leif:

yours. XOXO

Leif:

Gossip Girl.

Steve:

Also, are we still saying sanatorium?

Leif:

Bart Bardis.

Steve:

Bart is.

Leif:

But yeah, but is

Leif:

it. Of, note that the Gossip Girl stopped

Leif:

when we shifted to Bart, the guy who seems to

Leif:

know everything about everyone.

Steve:

That is interesting. That is really

Steve:

interesting. The guy who knows everything about

Steve:

everyone. Yeah.

Leif:

And I did take a snapshot of the letter. At least

Leif:

I got the second page. And it says, but

Leif:

I can't hide the way I really feel about

Leif:

you. The emotions are too strong

Leif:

for me to just pretend they don't

Leif:

exist. I think about you all the time.

Leif:

I don't see. Can't really see that word. But

Leif:

that your brother knows

Leif:

about us. I have to. Something away

Leif:

from you. I'm guessing stay away from you.

Steve:

And then.

Leif:

Yeah, I want to.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Basically Steve say he loved her, but he couldn't because

Leif:

the dad.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

But maybe if she got it, they could have found some way to meet up and figure

Leif:

it out.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, she could have gone. Maybe she could have

Steve:

worked it out with Dan. You know, because I mean,

Steve:

as much as Dan was angry at Nate,

Steve:

I feel like Jenny could also talk reason.

Steve:

Yeah. And pointed out like, hey, you. You

Steve:

are protecting me by letting me date a really good

Steve:

guy.

Leif:

Of course.

Steve:

Dan's.

Leif:

The whole thing with like Dan, like right when he finds out

Leif:

that Nate is kissing his

Leif:

sister, he also finds out that he's a prostitute

Leif:

for someone.

Steve:

Well, he had. Well he remembered that, you know, he found

Steve:

that out first. Right. He.

Leif:

They found it out like right at the same time. Basically he got, he got.

Leif:

He saw the blast. Or like, he found out about Nate. Like, and

Leif:

ah, then, like that same day, that's when he got the blast showing

Leif:

Jenny he knew Nate was.

Steve:

A prostitute when he. Because Vanessa told

Steve:

him the whole story.

Leif:

Yeah, right before like that same day he found

Leif:

out. That was earlier that same episode.

Steve:

No, there's the, the episode where Vanessa where they're

Steve:

on the rooftop, right? When Nate

Steve:

goes off with Catherine and Dan turns

Steve:

to her and goes, nate a gigolo? Who would have thought

Steve:

Dan knew before Nate ever moved in

Steve:

about that.

Leif:

Well, I guess the writers forgot because he was definitely surprised when Vanessa

Leif:

told him again in the episode, where he found out about

Leif:

Jenny.

Steve:

I didn't really. I didn't realize that because.

Steve:

Yeah, because he definitely. She definitely told him

Steve:

when Nate and Vanessa first broke up because he

Steve:

referred to Nate as a gigolo on the roof.

Steve:

And to me his whole thing was,

Steve:

yeah, Nate's a good guy. He was just caught up in

Steve:

this situation. But the second he likes his sister,

Steve:

oh, well, that guy's a prostitute. You know, it's.

Steve:

It's sort of the It took me back to the. He's a good

Steve:

guy as long as he's not dating your sister. Which

Steve:

was Dan's opinion of Nate.

Steve:

Even though Nate really was a fucking victim

Steve:

of in that whole thing.

Leif:

Anyways, that is it for our episode.

Leif:

Any predictions?

Steve:

I'm, interested to see where the storyline

Steve:

goes with Jenny. I do

Steve:

predict. I felt like that scene with Dan and

Steve:

Serena was leading to Dan and

Steve:

Serena having more

Steve:

conversations. I feel like now that they're not

Steve:

dating, they're talking more, and I feel like

Steve:

that's leading somewhere. You know what I mean? Like,

Steve:

which. Which I think is good. I feel like that is.

Steve:

That is a good thing for them. Bart,

Steve:

I feel, is on shaky ground.

Steve:

And like, Lily going to Rufus is

Steve:

something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Why didn't you stay at the diner like last year?

Steve:

Yeah, stay at the diner or kick Bart out of your

Steve:

house. That's yours. Tell him you

Steve:

have a penthouse at a hotel that you can stay in. Go

Steve:

there. Charles can stay if he wants

Steve:

to.

Leif:

So let's go ahead and get into some segments.

Leif:

We hopped into the Wayback Machine to go to

Leif:

this week in Phantom. to visit the message boards from

Leif:

2008.

Steve:

Hello there, Peabody here.

Leif:

And this is the Wayback Machine for traveling through time.

Steve:

And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak

Steve:

German. Hello. Good boy.

Leif:

Not much going on this week. Basically,

Leif:

Vanessa deserves to find a new definition of pain and suffering

Leif:

as she is slowly digested over a thousand years.

Steve:

Yep, yep, yep.

Leif:

Thanksgiving episodes are the best. A real tear

Leif:

jerker. And Erin is a creepy douche. So

Leif:

those kind of the big three takeaways.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Why get jealous? You just told her that she can still

Leif:

see other people.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And then you're immediately getting jealous for no reason.

Steve:

Yeah, when someone she's not seeing.

Steve:

Yeah, I could understand that a little more if he

Steve:

was a teenager, but

Steve:

he's, like, nearing 30, if not past it.

Steve:

Be a little more grown up than that.

Leif:

Moving on to episode grades. I went first

Leif:

last time, so you're up first this week, Steve.

Steve:

I gave this episode an A. I

Steve:

loved it. there was. I. There was a moment that took

Steve:

it from an A plus to an A for me, and I can't even remember what

Steve:

it is off the top of my head. I thought this episode

Steve:

was well written, well acted,

Steve:

well directed. I. All of

Steve:

the storylines. Even though I don't like the

Steve:

Aaron storyline, it was well written and

Steve:

well done. I think Aaron is the reason that it went from A

Steve:

plus to an. To a solid A because of how dumb he

Steve:

was and how, like, oh, well, that whole

Steve:

scene. But ultimately, I gave this episode an

Steve:

A. It was fantastic. I'll go as far as to say

Steve:

this is. Might be my

Steve:

favorite episode so far. At least

Steve:

it's in the running. It's one of the, I think,

Steve:

top three episodes so far.

Leif:

Yeah, I'm right there with you. I gave it an A as well. The

Leif:

writing was terrific. The acting was phenomenal.

Leif:

Special shout outs to Margaret Leighton

Leif:

and Taylor.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I mean, that, that's.

Leif:

That seed at the end was the seat of the episode, obviously.

Leif:

And yeah, I won't say this is the best episode of the series, but I definitely

Leif:

think it's the best episode this season so far.

Steve:

Yeah, for sure. This season. And I'd

Steve:

say that it's in the running with, like, the Thanksgiving

Steve:

episode from last year. The. The thin

Steve:

line between Chuck and Nate.

Leif:

I mean, Poison Ivy is the one. We both keep a.

Steve:

Poison Ivy. Yeah, Poison Ivy.

Leif:

So I think that. I think that's still the high, high mark for the series.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Moving into stock watch, who you got going up,

Leif:

Steve?

Steve:

Nate. I have Nate going up

Steve:

for, you know, everything that happened with

Steve:

him. Getting his friends back, getting his dad to,

Steve:

to go in. I also gave the captain a stock up for

Steve:

the first time because he did the right thing in the end.

Steve:

Despite all. I'm forgiving all of the

Steve:

other shitty stuff that you were doing in the beginning of this

Steve:

episode because you finally, finally

Steve:

did the right thing in the end. So I'm giving you a stock up,

Steve:

Captain. I gave Chuck a stock up.

Steve:

I gave Rufus and Jenny for getting it

Steve:

together and coming together finally. I gave

Steve:

Lily for everything she did to help

Steve:

out in this episode. Eric, his stock went up

Steve:

because Eric is just fucking awesome.

Steve:

Eleanor's stock went up. Harold and

Steve:

Cyrus. And I think that

Steve:

is everyone I had going up, you might say.

Steve:

I felt like so many people went up, in this episode.

Leif:

This is definitely a big up. I had all

Leif:

those. But I also gave Serena up

Leif:

because, I mean, she's in the relationship

Leif:

she apparently wants to be in and she has good friend moments

Leif:

with Dan. So, and then also I gave Dan up because he,

Leif:

you know, he had a little verbal diary at the beginning, but again, he was

Leif:

just talking about things that he thought was common knowledge.

Leif:

And then as soon as he figured it out, he picked up

Leif:

on it and he took the bullet for Serena, so I gave

Leif:

him up as well. But all the same ones. Nate,

Leif:

Jenny, Rufus, Blair, Eleanor, Lily,

Leif:

Harold, Cyrus, Eric and Howie.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Who do you got going down?

Steve:

I sent Dan down for opening his mouth.

Steve:

I just. Because Dan with the herbal

Steve:

diarrhea created a situation that didn't need to

Steve:

be there, but I think it's good that he did. But Aaron, for

Steve:

being fucking dumb and for just

Steve:

existing. Vanessa, for being grimy and

Steve:

for having no friends and for having no one that actually loves her.

Leif:

Anyone else?

Steve:

no. That's it for going down for me. This might

Steve:

be also, one where you say someone that I'm like, oh,

Steve:

yeah.

Leif:

So I had Bart because

Leif:

damn, he just.

Steve:

Oh, please add Bart for me. I'm sorry.

Steve:

Yeah, I actually meant to add Bart because he lost

Steve:

everything.

Leif:

Yeah. He could have had it all.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Aaron because Problematic,

Leif:

creepy, territorial.

Leif:

And because she tried to organize this

Leif:

whole thing and it failed and she's just a

Leif:

whiny little baby now. And Vanessa for the

Leif:

same reason she had.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But here's

Steve:

the best outfits from the.

Steve:

Last episode we've seen.

Leif:

Who did you have for best outfits, best

Leif:

outfit?

Steve:

I had Chuck's black suit with that

Steve:

red tie. I thought Chuck looked really

Steve:

sharp. And so that was my best outfit today.

Leif:

For me, I like Jenny's red and black plaid

Leif:

shirt dress by Dolce and Gabbana.

Steve:

I'm glad you picked that because that was in my running

Steve:

for my favorite stuff. I really liked it

Steve:

too, but I went to Chuck,

Steve:

so.

Leif:

Well, anything you want to plug this week?

Steve:

This is coming out at the end of October,

Steve:

so I don't think that I have anything

Steve:

scheduled right now that isn't already done. I

Steve:

think that I already played my

Steve:

Lockhaven show. I've been watching

Steve:

the Expanse and I, I'm going to pseudo plug

Steve:

that. It's, has some really good

Steve:

story in it. It's also got some really bad

Steve:

writing. Like, like I, I go back and forth in

Steve:

certain parts of it because there's, there are a couple

Steve:

characters that are just why I watch the show

Steve:

at this point. and the other kind of plug that I wanted to

Steve:

give is I wanted to issue an apology to

Steve:

Taylor Mumpson because I have on the pretty

Steve:

reckless a lot and

Steve:

I've only ever listened to their singles. And

Steve:

this past week I was like, you know what? That's not

Steve:

fair. And I listened to their first

Steve:

three albums and they're

Steve:

really fucking good. I'll stand by.

Leif:

They're all talented musicians.

Steve:

Yeah, they're. They're all really talented. I, I

Steve:

struggled with the lyrics of their singles and I still

Steve:

stand by that. I, stop trying to make Pocket of

Steve:

Jive happen, whatever that means. But

Steve:

like, but you know, I don't, I still don't love

Steve:

the that some certain

Steve:

songs come out that I've heard they're singles,

Steve:

but damn, they can fucking write a song and they

Steve:

can, they can rock and they can play it. So

Steve:

my B. Yeah, and I, yeah.

Leif:

I follow her on social media so she just looks like she's having so

Leif:

much fun. So.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Glad she's having her best life.

Steve:

Yeah, she always. I do too. And she, like

Steve:

you said, she always looks like she's just living

Steve:

the rockstar life and fucking loving it. And

Steve:

I just, I really admire that.

Leif:

For me, I am, very late to this party. I've

Leif:

been binging. This is us.

Steve:

Oh, I see. I'd watched some of the first season

Steve:

and it was just like,

Steve:

really?

Leif:

It's got me like tearing up like every other episode.

Steve:

Exactly. It was like

Steve:

a show to make Robin cry every week. And it

Steve:

just got to a point like after a few episodes I'm like, this

Steve:

is just too much for me. I just found

Steve:

it way like too much.

Steve:

And yeah, yeah, not, not

Steve:

dissing the show. It just, it became

Steve:

a lot for me.

Leif:

So if you want to follow me, you can follow me on

Leif:

Instagram at hotcapicola, you

Leif:

can follow the podcast on threads

Leif:

on Instagram on

Leif:

TikTok at non judging breakfast pod.

Leif:

You can find us on Facebook by for searching by

Leif:

searching for non judging breakfast pod. And you

Leif:

can find links to our Discord server and subreddit

Leif:

on

Leif:

nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com

Leif:

and.

Steve:

If you'd like to get in touch with us, please feel free to send us

Steve:

an

Steve:

email@nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com

Steve:

we'd love to hear your thoughts, talk about what you have to

Steve:

say on air and share it with other

Steve:

people and read it out loud. Also

Steve:

please like follow and subscribe to our

Steve:

pages and leave a review for us that really helps us with

Steve:

our visibility, especially with the apple.

Steve:

And also tell a friend, let people know what you're

Steve:

listening to and get more folks to, talking

Steve:

about the non judging breakfast pod.

Leif:

Definitely. And we will be back next week to talk

Leif:

about season two, episode 12,

Leif:

it's a wonderful lie.

Leif:

Oh, the Max episode description

Leif:

reads lair and Chuck make a bet at the annual

Leif:

snowflake ball. Didn't we just do that storyline?

Steve:

Didn't we just do that storyline?

Leif:

Three episodes.

Steve:

I'm going to throw the over under on, how

Steve:

many Blair and Chuck make a bet

Steve:

episodes we've got.

Steve:

We're halfway through season two.

Steve:

About almost halfway through season two. So

Steve:

I'm going to say there's Going to be

Steve:

ten more by the time this

Steve:

series closes. Ten more. Blair

Steve:

and Chuck make a bet. Fair

Steve:

assumption we should mark that down

Steve:

somewhere. But that's going to be my. That's one

Steve:

of my predictions.

Leif:

Okay.

Steve:

At least 10. My over underline is we're at.

Leif:

We're at 2 now.

Steve:

Officially, we're at 2.

Leif:

Or does the, pilot or the first

Leif:

episode of the season. Is that cow too now?

Steve:

Eight.

Leif:

Three words. Eight letters. Say it and I'm yours. That count as a

Leif:

bet?

Steve:

That's more of a bribe. That's more of,

Steve:

like, extortion, I feel.

Steve:

Right. Like, do this or.

Leif:

Yeah, I guess. Well, we'll find out next time.

Leif:

Until then, you know you love us.

Steve:

XOXO Every time you

Steve:

walk away and run away you take a piece of me

Steve:

with you there every

Steve:

time you walk away or run away m you take a piece of

Steve:

me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

oh, it seems I'm walking right to

Steve:

your door.

Steve:

My.

Steve:

Heart'S still resting looking for something

Steve:

more

Steve:

are you ever gonna see everything you mean to

Steve:

me I'm trying really hard to believe

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

never feels right when I'm out here on

Steve:

my own

Steve:

I left last night and it feels like

Steve:

way too long

Steve:

are you ever gonna see everything you mean

Steve:

to me I'm trying really hard to believe

Steve:

every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there.

Steve:

Come back to me

Steve:

smile and you'll make my life

Steve:

complete

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

Every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there ah

Steve:

Every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away and run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there.

Steve:

Every time you walk away or run away, you take a

Steve:

piece of me with you there.

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Non Judging Breakfast Pod
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