Episode 14

Gossip Girl S2E14 - In the Realm of the Basses

Summary

In this episode of the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, hosts Leif and Steve dive into Season 2, Episode 14 of Gossip Girl, "In the Realm of the Basses." After a brief hiatus, the duo is back to explore the aftermath of the Upper East Side's holiday season. As Chuck spirals into self-destruction, Blair struggles with her feelings after confessing her love to him. Meanwhile, Rufus and Lily grapple with the revelation of their long-lost child, leading to tension and secrets that threaten to unravel relationships. The hosts unpack the complexities of family dynamics, the weight of secrets, and the ever-present drama that defines the lives of Manhattan's elite. With their signature humor and insight, Leif and Steve navigate the intricate web of emotions and power plays that make this episode a standout.

Keywords

Gossip Girl, Chuck Bass, secrets, family drama, podcast, analysis, Upper East Side

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

02:30 Catching Up: Hawaii and Bronchitis

05:00 Patreon Announcements

08:30 Discussing "In the Realm of the Basses"

15:45 Chuck's Downward Spiral

25:00 Rufus and Lily's Secret Child

35:30 Blair's Emotional Turmoil

42:00 Jenny and the Mean Girls

50:00 Episode Highlights and Reflections

58:30 Stock Watch: Characters Rising and Falling

1:05:00 Best Outfits and Fashion Highlights

1:10:00 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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#GossipGirl

Transcript
Steve:

Rufus is the one.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Who's now keeping a secret from Lily. Yeah,

Steve:

that Dan knows. What a fucking

Steve:

asshole.

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 waffles

Leif:

are fresh, the gossip is hotter than ever.

Leif:

My name is Leif and I'm your seasoned Gossip Girl veteran.

Steve:

And I'm Steve, the newbie, the greenhorn,

Steve:

the, I don't know, leaf. What do we call the Season 2

Steve:

newbie?

Leif:

Enough of this high school nonsense. I'm hosting a selection

Leif:

committee for the Colony club tonight, Steve.

Steve:

Well, then you can.

Steve:

Well then you can go ahead and

Steve:

cast, my submission for it and

Steve:

we'll get on with this podcast.

Leif:

Sounds good.

Steve:

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

Steve:

Leap has been watching Gossip Girl since it first came out.

Steve:

And I am diving in for the very first time.

Steve:

And together, we are your dynamic duo, bringing you all

Steve:

the drama, romance, and sometimes

Steve:

questionable fashion choices of this iconic

Steve:

2007 series.

Leif:

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

Leif:

one episode at a time. Analyze all the

Leif:

parallels, obscure references, and of course,

Leif:

couture catastrophes. Plus, we'll also be touching on

Leif:

all the behind the scenes gossip and some stories from

Leif:

fandom and M. Since we.

Steve:

Are all about inclusivity here at the non judging

Steve:

breakfast pod, there is always a seat for you at the

Steve:

non judging breakfast table. So go ahead and grab your

Steve:

mimosa, a cup of coffee or maybe some

Steve:

of Nate and Chuck's special medicine, and let's get into

Steve:

it.

Leif:

Sounds good. So we've had, a

Leif:

bit of a break. you went to Hawaii? I got

Leif:

sick with bronchitis for three weeks.

Leif:

And so we kind of caught up to our release schedule

Leif:

because this episode will be coming out a week from Monday on

Leif:

November 18th.

Steve:

We actually need to cut that out about Hawaii because it was a

Steve:

big secret trip in, case his family

Steve:

hears it. His family doesn't know about it.

Steve:

I went on vacation. We could say.

Steve:

Did you mind retaking that because, well.

Leif:

We didn't say where, who you went with.

Steve:

No, but, like, if anyone knows where I went to

Steve:

Hawaii, if they, if they hear it, they know why

Steve:

I went there. Like, he very

Steve:

specifically asked me not to. until he tells

Steve:

his family he doesn't want me to say anything.

Leif:

Your friends family listens to our podcast?

Steve:

Probably not. Yeah. But

Steve:

if they do, too bad.

Leif:

so we did get some requests for Patreon, so We did set

Leif:

one up, and you can support us for as little as $1 a

Leif:

month. There are several tiers available.

Leif:

you can, do some watch parties with us. We're going to watch some cast

Leif:

movies, and you can get shouted out on the

Leif:

podcast. So, check it

Leif:

out@patreon.com nonjudging

Leif:

breakfast pod. And we are here to talk

Leif:

about season two, episode 14, in the

Leif:

realm of the Passes. Original air

Leif:

date was January 5th, 2009. First

Leif:

episode of the New Year.

Steve:

Yeah, 2009. So what was going

Steve:

on around then?

Leif:

I, mean, we're in the heart of the Occupy Wall street in the

Leif:

recession.

Steve:

Oh, yeah. Yep.

Leif:

So I really don't know who

Leif:

the writers are writing to with these title references.

Leif:

This was based on the movie. I know,

Leif:

Kurita, also known as in the Realm of the

Leif:

Senses, but It was a

Leif:

1976 Japanese slash

Leif:

French erotic art film with

Leif:

unsimulated sex scenes in it. And they're expecting

Leif:

teenagers to go watch this.

Steve:

Yeah. I wonder if

Steve:

they expected

Steve:

the teenagers to know the

Steve:

titles that well, though keep in mind that back

Steve:

then, when you're watching it, the

Steve:

actual title episode is something that

Steve:

wasn't really made public unless you're

Steve:

looking online or if you're. It's not like on

Steve:

Max.

Leif:

This is the age of TV Guide channel,

Leif:

and it was right on there.

Steve:

Oh, would they. Would they post the episode?

Leif:

If anyone was a fan, like, you know, in fan, and was

Leif:

getting the episode a few weeks ahead of time, and

Leif:

TV Guide magazine would come out, like, three weeks ahead with the

Leif:

episode titles.

Steve:

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

It was definitely a thing.

Steve:

Okay. And then there's also the question of who

Steve:

is it do you think is titling it? Do you think that

Steve:

each, you know, whoever gets the writing credit, is that

Steve:

the person who's titling it?

Leif:

no, I think it was a group effort. And, like, I know,

Leif:

like, at least one episode was titled

Leif:

by an intern. Not an intern,

Leif:

Josh. Saffron's assistant.

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

And then obviously the strike

Leif:

episode, this Thin line between Chuck and Nate was

Leif:

titled by the crew because.

Steve:

Because they weren't allowed to. The writers were striking and

Steve:

couldn't name the episode, which. I actually love

Steve:

that. And it's actually one of the best

Steve:

titles in reference to

Steve:

the episode itself.

Leif:

Yeah. So this episode was written

Leif:

by John Stevens, who had

Leif:

previously written the Dark Knight and There

Leif:

Might Be Blood, both pretty good episodes.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Directed by Tony Warmby. directed

Leif:

Victor Victrola. So he comes back to the club,

Leif:

school. He must have liked shooting there.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

school Lies, Women on the Verge, and

Leif:

Chuck in real life.

Steve:

I remember during Victor Victrola, I

Steve:

actually asked if this was if it was going

Steve:

to be a regular place,

Steve:

and you had to think about it. You weren't quite

Steve:

sure. But I'm really glad now to see it

Steve:

still be a recurring place

Steve:

in the show. And I'm glad he bought it

Steve:

back. Like, I think that's really cool. But we'll get to

Steve:

that.

Leif:

The Vulture recap. After the

Leif:

long break, Gossip Girl kicks us off with a lot of nice

Leif:

exposition about what everyone did over their not

Leif:

so happy holidays. Chuck was in

Leif:

Thailand, sucking on a long red hookah.

Leif:

Serena banned coconuts in Argentina. Sons

Leif:

Aaron, whom she broke up with on the plane.

Leif:

Apparently, she was as revolted as we were by his

Leif:

stammering, I think I'm falling in love with you

Leif:

in the last episode. Dan, meanwhile,

Leif:

pied at home alone. Because the writers forgot that

Leif:

way back at the beginning of the season, they imbued him

Leif:

with magic pussy powers he could use to forget.

Leif:

Serena. Vanessa was with her parents. Man

Leif:

Bangs was mia And Cece, it seems,

Leif:

wisely fled the scene after revealing the

Leif:

big secret to Rufus, which was,

Leif:

yes, a baby, a live one.

Leif:

But it appears Rufus and Lilly didn't even have

Leif:

the most rudimentary of conversations about

Leif:

the fruit of their coupling. She even kept him

Leif:

waiting two weeks to hear the answer to his

Leif:

question. We even know, or think

Leif:

we know, what Blair and creepy Uncle Jack got up

Leif:

to, and it's definitely no good.

Leif:

Although he is kind of sexy in a willfully

Leif:

idiotic, soon to be fat, former jock cognitive

Leif:

way.

Steve:

Loved the casting of Uncle Jack.

Steve:

Absolutely loved the casting.

Leif:

Yeah, has been. I forget what his last name is.

Steve:

From Dexter. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Steve:

Like, I thought he was great. Scumbag,

Steve:

fantastic and just great.

Steve:

Like, it just felt like such

Steve:

an a split between Chuck and Bart,

Steve:

you know? Like, I really thought that that really

Steve:

explained so much of Chuck that he had this

Steve:

uncle that he also looks up to. So,

Steve:

anyway, we'll get to all that.

Leif:

We move into act one. Gossip Girl

Leif:

here, welcoming you to the new year when my hat knights who

Leif:

flew south for the sun returned to their Park Avenue

Leif:

purchase. Which means I have a lot of catching up to

Leif:

do. Word is Serena Vanderwoodson Ango to

Leif:

the new year in the plazas of Buenos Aires.

Leif:

Yes, that means Lonely boy was all alone when the clock

Leif:

stole 12. And what of little J?

Leif:

Rumor is she's trading runways for Always so

Leif:

Long High Fashion. Hello, high school. Blair

Leif:

Waldorf has been spotted making inroads to the Colony

Leif:

Club, with high school nearing its end

Leif:

as queen bee found a new social ladder

Leif:

to climb. So the only real question

Leif:

remaining. Where in the world is Chuck Pass and

Leif:

is he ever coming back?

Steve:

I thought that I liked the montage at the beginning of

Steve:

this. I liked the way

Steve:

that we went from character to

Steve:

character. We saw what everybody was up to.

Steve:

I like that we saw what.

Steve:

I like that. we

Steve:

got a glimpse of Chuck. We see that

Steve:

he's in this opium den

Steve:

somewhere in Thailand.

Steve:

So we know that Chuck freaked out, which

Steve:

we know we knew he was going to go away. I

Steve:

kind of expected not to see him for a couple episodes,

Steve:

so I was really glad that it was. We're going to get right

Steve:

back to the resolution of this, and we got.

Leif:

A little time jump.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, there's that time jump.

Leif:

Dan is cyber stalking Serena's trip to Buenos Aires

Leif:

and tells Sjeti to learn something as she

Leif:

leaves the law for her first day back to school.

Leif:

Then Jenny and Eric are walking together discussing Jenny's

Leif:

return to school, and Blair is looking to

Leif:

find a new secret society to join.

Steve:

Jesus Christ.

Leif:

Number two.

Steve:

This is her. This is her second one or the.

Leif:

Show'S second show's second one.

Steve:

Yeah, the show's second one. Because the skull and crossbow.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Is. Is this a real secret society? The Colony

Steve:

Club.

Leif:

you Google it. Okay, some live

Leif:

Googling.

Steve:

I'll do some live Googling.

Leif:

Eric mention his Uncle Jack is looking for the still

Leif:

missing Chuck. We get a shot of Chuck and what

Leif:

looks like an opium den. And then Dan

Leif:

is looking at Serena's vacation pics when Rufus walks

Leif:

in. Dan lies about what he was doing.

Leif:

Rufus is getting nostalgic and decides to walk

Leif:

Dan to school on the first day of his

Leif:

final semester.

Steve:

Yeah, Rufus is just

Steve:

a fucking asshole from

Steve:

the start. This is going to be a

Steve:

shit on Rufus episode. I'll warn you now,

Steve:

because Rufus is shit.

Leif:

Nothing new there.

Steve:

Nothing new there and just

Steve:

worse. Just, I have so

Steve:

much to say, but I will do it.

Leif:

Blair and Dorota are discussing the Colony Club

Leif:

and Chuck when Blair gets a text from

Leif:

Jack, causes her to belt for the

Leif:

elevator.

Steve:

I will say that when I googled the Colony

Steve:

Club, I got a website that says

Steve:

Colony Club and it said Colony Club New York. And

Steve:

when you go to it, oh, there is a page for guest

Steve:

information, but there is also just a member

Steve:

login and an address, and that is it.

Leif:

Secret society.

Steve:

Ah, secret society.

Steve:

Ah, secret society.

Steve:

Yep.

Leif:

Jenny and Eric arrive at school. Jenny is nervous

Leif:

about the mean girls, but Nelly surprisingly welcomes

Leif:

Jenny back. Jenny's relief is short

Leif:

lived as Penelope and Hazel, backed by Iz,

Leif:

give Nelly a hard time for daring to speak to

Leif:

Jenny.

Steve:

yeah, the whole Nelly thing.

Steve:

This whole Nelly thing.

Steve:

I, yeah, I, I, I, I'll save

Steve:

for a lot of what I have to say about it for later, but

Steve:

I, but dumb.

Leif:

We get our first glimpse of Jack as his limo pulls

Leif:

up in front of Blair and Dorota. Jack is forced to carry

Leif:

an inebriated Chuck out of the limo. Blair and

Leif:

Dorota look both distraught over Chuck, but

Leif:

Blair sends Dorota off to prep for her

Leif:

party.

Steve:

Instant tension between Blair

Steve:

and Jack.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah.

Steve:

that was really, that was really

Steve:

interesting to see that these

Steve:

characters clearly had history

Steve:

without ever really communicating that.

Steve:

It was really well done.

Steve:

It's one of the few writing

Steve:

pieces in this episode that I think stood

Steve:

out as good. And even then it's more directing

Steve:

than writing.

Leif:

Dan and Rufus arrive at school. Dan

Leif:

enters as Rufus takes a call from an adoption clinic.

Leif:

But it's another dead end.

Steve:

And this is when we first hear that

Steve:

it's adoption. Because last week you and I talked about.

Steve:

My first impression was, was abortion.

Steve:

Which yes, it doesn't make a lot of sense for her to go away

Steve:

for an extended period of time for that.

Steve:

Except in my mind for the fact that this is

Steve:

Lily Van Der Woodson or Lily, whoever she was at

Steve:

the time. I forget CC's last name,

Steve:

but who could just go away

Steve:

for a few months to recover from

Steve:

the trauma of having an

Steve:

abortion. So m, that's where my mind went the last

Steve:

time. But now here it's an adoption

Steve:

and Rufus is now going all over the place.

Steve:

Rufus is going to make sure that he abandons his children

Steve:

to find his child.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

Serena is waiting for Dan at school and tells him

Leif:

that she broke up with Aaron on the plane ride. But now

Leif:

the dust is settled and their parents aren't getting

Leif:

together. She's still down to get down.

Leif:

Serena asked Dan if if he's, if

Leif:

his. Serena asked Dan if his

Leif:

if he's still in. And his response is to lay

Leif:

a big old smoocharoo on the blonde

Leif:

bombshell.

Steve:

Good fucking bye,

Steve:

Aaron. Goodbye

Steve:

forever. Right?

Leif:

Ceremoniously forever.

Steve:

Right, right.

Steve:

But good fucking bye. Didn't even get

Steve:

an on screen exit.

Leif:

Which that she is. He, is Blair's stepbrother

Leif:

now.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. that tells

Steve:

me that breakup

Steve:

felt more like, oh shit, we're going to

Steve:

resume Shooting and the actor isn't available, so we have to

Steve:

cut him. Combined with message

Steve:

boards being like, get this fucking guy out of

Steve:

here. Can we just have Dan and Serena

Steve:

back?

Leif:

Spotted ass and Lonely boy kicking off

Leif:

the new year like it's last year. Who

Leif:

knows, Maybe third time's a charm.

Leif:

Let's not break out the bubbly just yet. We move

Leif:

into Act 2. Serena and Blair have

Leif:

a happy reunion in the hallway. Blair has

Leif:

shamefully admits to telling Chuck that she loved him, only to

Leif:

have him disappear for a month. It seems like

Leif:

Blair was going to reveal something else when

Leif:

Dan comes up and hugs Serena from behind. This

Leif:

causes player to write off to vomit.

Steve:

A postcard would have been fine.

Leif:

Lily shows up the gallery to talk to Rufus

Leif:

and finally reveals that their child was a son,

Leif:

but that she doesn't want Rufus to interrupt his

Leif:

life.

Steve:

So this is where I have m. A

Steve:

little more to say on the Rufus thing because he's

Steve:

just so fucking selfish that it

Steve:

is all about, I need this kid. I need

Steve:

to find him when. When Lily said

Steve:

he has the right to his own

Steve:

life.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

What if this kid doesn't know he's

Steve:

adopted? What if this kid doesn't

Steve:

know? What if this. What if you are

Steve:

completely upending this kid's life because

Steve:

Lilly specifically said, no, I

Steve:

won't have the right to it. Yeah,

Steve:

so. So Rufus is actively

Steve:

looking to possibly derail

Steve:

an entire family just so he can meet

Steve:

a kid who may not want to know any fucking thing

Steve:

about him, who may be sitting there like,

Steve:

wait, you're in that lame 90s band? Fuck

Steve:

off. We don't. So he's just

Steve:

upending people's fucking lives. And then he says the

Steve:

thing of Lily. I could have been a rock star, but I

Steve:

chose to be a dad. Being a dad is what I

Steve:

am. So don't take this from me. You have

Steve:

two fucking kids, are clearly troubled in

Steve:

other ways at home right

Steve:

now. So why don't you be a dad to

Steve:

them?

Leif:

Yeah, I mean, I. I get that he's upset that she did

Leif:

tell him.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

But it's. It's too. It's.

Steve:

Yeah, it was wrong. What Lily did was

Steve:

wrong. And later in the episode, the one

Steve:

moment of credit I will give to

Steve:

Rufus is when he's like, you've had 20

Steve:

years to process this. I need time

Steve:

too. That. Sure, Rufus,

Steve:

that's acceptable. Yeah. You are allowed to

Steve:

be angry and you're allowed to take time to be angry,

Steve:

but you're talking about meddling in people's

Steve:

lives. That you don't fucking know.

Steve:

And that's shitty.

Leif:

I agree. Jenny and Eric are watching the mean

Leif:

girls bully Nelly at the yogurt shop. Despite

Leif:

Eric begging her to stay uninvolved. Jenny can't

Leif:

help but stick up for Nelly and ends up dragging

Leif:

her out of the shop.

Steve:

I'm not Little Jay anymore. I feel like they

Steve:

still call her Little Jay, like throughout the episode. I don't think

Steve:

she shed the Little Jay the way

Steve:

she wanted to.

Leif:

Even though she is getting taller.

Steve:

She is, she, she's taller than most of them. And I

Steve:

can't always tell if she's she's actually tall. Right. It's

Steve:

not lit.

Leif:

She's not, she's not as tall as Blake Lily, but she has, she's, she's.

Steve:

Tall, but she's taller than Penelope and,

Steve:

and Blair. Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Well, Blair's tiny.

Steve:

Oh, is she? I, I, yeah, I don't, I guess I

Steve:

only see them in relationship to the show, so I don't

Steve:

really think of them outside of Wallace Shawn. I

Steve:

don't.

Leif:

Who, who, as you see, she's not that much taller than Wallace

Leif:

Shawn.

Steve:

True. Yeah, you're right.

Leif:

Like Ed Westwick's only about five, nine.

Steve:

Okay, that makes sense.

Leif:

That makes sense. She's probably like five, six, I would say.

Steve:

Yeah. The other like the

Steve:

Hazel clean my shoe thing where it

Steve:

was, where it just.

Steve:

First of all it skipped is.

Leif:

That's coming up.

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, I thought that was that scene.

Leif:

No, this is the yogurt. That's when, they're doing the

Leif:

judgment part when

Leif:

Blair's judging. This is the scene at the yogurt shop.

Steve:

Yeah. At the end of the yogurt shop, she turns to

Steve:

Hazel and says, hazel, clean my shoe.

Steve:

Because Nelly goes. Because she had take. Because Nelly was

Steve:

supposed to do it. And Jenny grabbed Nelly and left.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And she goes, hazel, clean my shoe.

Leif:

Chuck is lighting up a J at school. Blair

Leif:

tries to talk some sense into an apathetic Chuck to

Leif:

no avail. Headmistress Queller walks

Leif:

up and busts Chuck.

Steve:

Blair fishing for

Steve:

an I love you is.

Steve:

That's sad. It's so, it's so

Steve:

beneath you, Queen. It is

Steve:

so beneath you.

Steve:

Yeah, it feels thirsty.

Steve:

And she's not like she doesn't come across as

Steve:

thirsty, but thirsty for that. And

Steve:

how could you even expect it the first time

Steve:

Rufus.

Leif:

Comes back to the loft to find Dan and Serena

Leif:

kissing. Rufus gets all pissy and kicks

Leif:

Serena out. Dan follows right behind

Leif:

her.

Steve:

Yeah, like, what are you thinking?

Leif:

What? Yeah, it's like I would totally get why

Leif:

Dan's confused.

Steve:

Yeah, I'm just going to walk in and

Steve:

dump all my shit on

Steve:

you because I'm mad at her mom and,

Steve:

like, just fucking

Steve:

unloads all of his shit onto his

Steve:

kid and their relationship and it's just super

Steve:

shitty to this teenage girl who

Steve:

doesn't know fucking shit about what's going

Steve:

on.

Leif:

Remember from season one? Ruth's, like, told

Leif:

Dan to change his sheets, but he's, like, fine with them having sex

Leif:

in his house.

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Leif:

I was, like, implied, essentially.

Steve:

Yeah, he was. He was all in favor of Dan and

Steve:

Serena until he was mad at Lily.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Fucking yeah. What? What is this fucking

Steve:

Romeo and Juliet?

Leif:

Blair, Jack and Chuck meet with Headmistress

Leif:

Queller. There is definitely some kind of tension between

Leif:

Blair and Jack. Chuck promises not to do it again as

Leif:

he is pulling out another spliff.

Steve:

I loved the casting of Jack

Steve:

and. Yeah. Oh, so it was a split because he was like,

Steve:

oh, I was smoking hash because she. Because I got the

Steve:

impression it was a joint. But if he's smoking,

Steve:

like straight hash out of a joint, that would

Steve:

be. That. That's not going to give.

Leif:

I assume it's mixed with tobacco.

Steve:

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. I never do

Steve:

that, so that's never my instinct. I'll.

Steve:

I don't touch tobacco. The

Steve:

occasional cigar is

Steve:

it, but I'm not inhaling it.

Leif:

Pop quiz. What do you get when you

Leif:

cross Chuck Bass a billion dollars and

Leif:

bark? Cold in the ground. Free

Leif:

fall at the loft. Rufus

Leif:

continues to act like a petulant child

Leif:

towards his child. Jenny finds out about Dan and

Leif:

Serena, and as always, she is her number one

Leif:

fan.

Steve:

Yeah, she's smart, she's. She's

Steve:

funny, she's 10 times hotter than she is. And

Steve:

Dan's like, she's right.

Steve:

And Rufus is just all about being a

Steve:

dad, no matter how bad he is at it.

Leif:

Jenny is pleading Nelly's case to get out from under the mean

Leif:

girls. Blair sits in judgment. Blair is

Leif:

too distracted by her plans to join the colony club to care

Leif:

enough about high school drama, so she dismisses

Leif:

Nelly. However, it looks like the mean girls are

Leif:

prepared to act on their own.

Steve:

Tone down the crazy. P.

Steve:

She.

Steve:

Yeah, just, just the nutty

Steve:

escalation that she was prepared to

Steve:

go to. Yeah, tone down the

Steve:

crazy.

Leif:

Penelope makes me want to explore my subside.

Leif:

Dan and Serena decide they need to figure out what happened

Leif:

between Lily.

Steve:

I like this. I like that they're.

Steve:

That they're kind of now on the case on the

Steve:

case. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan hightails it, out of there. When Blair shows up to discuss

Leif:

the Chuck situation with Serena. Blair fights back to

Leif:

tears before calling Dorota to let her know that

Leif:

Blair needs to make a stop before the Colony Club

Leif:

park.

Steve:

Yeah, I don't really have much

Steve:

on that. Just sort of

Steve:

sets up stuff that's happening.

Leif:

Good acting by Lane, as usual.

Steve:

Yeah, throughout this there's so many. I.

Steve:

I actually kind of stopped writing that

Steve:

down every time because it's just sort of a given.

Steve:

There's a couple times that, like, there. There is one.

Steve:

And later in this episode that it was, just

Steve:

a goddamn kind of moment.

Leif:

The mirror scene.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

When the mean girls arrive for frozen yogurt, they

Leif:

find Jenny, Eric and Nelly at the their

Leif:

table, quote unquote. The tables

Leif:

all fill up and the mean girls have to leave with nowhere

Leif:

left to sit. In an ironic twist,

Leif:

Penelope calls her dad to complain about

Leif:

being bullied.

Steve:

She's the worst.

Leif:

And it's kind of genius though. as Eric points out, it is.

Steve:

And I can't stand her. But like,

Steve:

I've had that student in my

Steve:

class. Like, I've taught

Steve:

Penelope's. I as a

Steve:

teacher, I've taught a lot of versions of these. Never

Steve:

the rich versions of these kids.

Steve:

I've taught some rich kids, or at least

Steve:

relatively rich kids to the rest of their classmates.

Steve:

And I've taught kids exactly like

Steve:

Penelope that will just try to

Steve:

stomp on somebody and when they can't, they'll go

Steve:

and run and tell that

Steve:

they're the victim. drives me

Steve:

nuts.

Leif:

Blair finds Chuck at the recently repurchased

Leif:

Petrola. however, her efforts to pull him back fall

Leif:

on deaf ears. Bart's final words to his

Leif:

son continue to haunt Chuck.

Steve:

Blair's composure here. This was one of

Steve:

those scenes. Blair just walked in to

Steve:

find the man she loves in

Steve:

between two women that he is

Steve:

tongue deep in both their

Steve:

throats. And she

Steve:

is visibly upset and visibly

Steve:

hurt, but composes herself and makes

Steve:

it about helping Chuck and not about

Steve:

her own feelings. And it's just more

Steve:

of that brilliant

Steve:

Layton acting. And then on top of

Steve:

that, you watch Chuck spiral

Steve:

as and being a complete asshole, but you also

Steve:

really feel for him. There is that. There is

Steve:

that sympathy like of where that is coming

Steve:

from.

Leif:

Dan and Serena are back in the loft looking for evidence of

Leif:

what happened with Rufus and Lily. Serena gets an

Leif:

SOS from Blair and runs off to help. After

Leif:

Serena leaves, Dan finds the number for an

Leif:

adoption agency.

Steve:

I thought the detective work was adorable. I loved

Steve:

finding the ring and being like, oh, he proposed and my

Steve:

mom said no. And it's like, no, that's not it.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Another thing that I pulled away from this

Steve:

scene. We talk about Dan and Serena

Steve:

and will they make it? Obviously they haven't

Steve:

everybody yet. And my idea is that everyone

Steve:

fucks. But as

Steve:

far as them evolving their

Steve:

relationship, Dan

Steve:

here clearly is starting to accept that

Steve:

Serena will at times say, blair

Steve:

needs me. Gotta go. No more

Steve:

info. That's it. Peace

Steve:

out. That used to bother him a lot more.

Leif:

I think he figured that out from the first season. Remember the I

Leif:

love you episode? He kind of figured that out.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. I feel like there

Steve:

were times still in that. In that

Steve:

second run of the relationship. I

Steve:

think he still struggled with Serena

Steve:

and Blair's relationship at times. And I think

Steve:

that this is showing another. I'm just saying that this

Steve:

is showing him evolving

Steve:

in the acceptance of the parameters of

Steve:

their relationship that I. That I hadn't

Steve:

noticed before, anyway.

Leif:

Yeah, I feel like that that's been since the

Leif:

first season. Yeah, that's the I love you episode.

Steve:

That. That's fair. This is the first time that I

Steve:

really saw him just. Yeah, cool.

Steve:

Like, just when they're in the middle of

Steve:

something that. It

Steve:

really occurred to me

Steve:

that specifically.

Leif:

Happened in the I love you episode. And that's one of the reasons why he

Leif:

said he loved her. You have a friend that's crazy, but

Leif:

you got guilty of her no matter what.

Leif:

New year, same old story. The

Leif:

darkest secrets are always the

Leif:

ones that hit closest to home.

Leif:

As a response to the finding, there was an adoption

Leif:

agency.

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, that's right. He finds out that it's the adoption

Steve:

agency.

Leif:

Act three begins. Blair arrives home

Leif:

and rushes past Dorota to sit in front of her

Leif:

mirror, nearly breaking down,

Leif:

containing herself to a single

Leif:

tear.

Steve:

Bea is the kind of boss that

Steve:

knows that I've got to cry this

Steve:

out, I've got to cry it

Steve:

out, and I've got to get myself together

Steve:

before these ladies show up to do

Steve:

this colony club. And she says to

Steve:

Dota, I need 10 minutes.

Steve:

And the first thing she does is she sits

Steve:

down, she looks herself in the mirror, and she

Steve:

gives it all the time. She has to give

Steve:

it right now to cry and

Steve:

locks it down and gets to

Steve:

work. It is just so

Steve:

phenomenal in how she

Steve:

moves through that so quickly and

Steve:

how when she locks it down, she's clearly not done. She's

Steve:

clearly not over it. She just knows she has to move on,

Steve:

but she is just that kind of Boss.

Leif:

We see a frustrated Jenny coming out of

Leif:

Queller's office who has reprimanded Jenny for

Leif:

bullying. However, Nell reveals that she

Leif:

has a lot of secrets, which Jenny, of course,

Leif:

jumps all over.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

This is where Eric points out that it's very genius.

Leif:

Penelope.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan confronts Rufus about what he was looking for

Leif:

in Boston. But Rufus begs for just

Leif:

one more day. Oh, I need one more

Leif:

day.

Steve:

Yeah. You. You're going to keep pushing your kids away for

Steve:

a kid you never met. For a kid, once

Steve:

again, for a kid that may not want to have

Steve:

fucking anything to do with you.

Steve:

For a kid that's going to hear, wait, my real, my.

Steve:

My biological father

Steve:

was actually a rock star.

Steve:

And then he finds out that you're not

Steve:

really a rock star. Like, you're just a

Steve:

disappointment.

Leif:

Serena shows up at Blair's penthouse and learns about

Leif:

Chuck's spiral and insists that they help him.

Leif:

However, Blair's putting on a brave face and

Leif:

says it's not her problem anymore.

Leif:

Serena leaves with a disapproving look on her

Leif:

face.

Steve:

I loved this scene. It is

Steve:

so classic Blair and

Steve:

Serena. It is

Steve:

so the inner

Steve:

workings of the non judging Breakfast Club here

Steve:

where it is. We all need to help them out.

Steve:

And Blair. I tried. I

Steve:

tried. I can't do this. I've got something else I need

Steve:

to worry about right now. I need to take care of me

Steve:

first. And

Steve:

it just.

Steve:

I really thought that

Steve:

they brought that

Steve:

dynamic together, that classic

Steve:

Serena, Blair. Even when there's

Steve:

tension, there's love. I really like the

Steve:

way that they did that scene.

Leif:

Dan shows up at F and gets the

Leif:

truth from Chuck. Chuck mocks Dan with the

Leif:

fact that once Serena finds out, Serena

Leif:

is finished.

Steve:

I liked that Chuck was like, we're even

Steve:

now. You buried that story from my dad.

Steve:

So I'm going to give you this.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

I also really love the. If you're planning

Steve:

to inherit the family estate.

Leif:

You'Re not the first born Humphrey.

Steve:

You're not the first born Humphrey.

Leif:

Spotted in Petrola, lonely boy and Chuck

Leif:

Bass having a heart to heart. What for?

Leif:

Who do they have to talk about?

Leif:

Blair meets with the Colony Club, who proceeds to gossip

Leif:

about and belittle everyone Blair knows.

Leif:

They slut, shame Serena, mock

Leif:

Lily for marrying Bart Bass, and decree that

Leif:

it was a mercy that Bart was hit by that

Leif:

car. However, the final straw

Leif:

was insulting Chuck. This causes Blair to

Leif:

promptly get up, presumably to go to

Leif:

Vetrola.

Steve:

These awful women,

Steve:

this whole secret society which is what,

Steve:

six people? I guess that's like the selection

Steve:

committee but just

Steve:

come in and just lay down

Steve:

gossip and just be like, oh, was that Serena

Steve:

Vander Woodson? She's

Steve:

a little show.

Leif:

A little. But she here.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Making the boo motion.

Steve:

Yeah. and

Steve:

I would think that Cece would

Steve:

be in these. In the circle with

Steve:

these people, so.

Leif:

And Lily would be too.

Steve:

Yeah. And Lily probably would be too, so.

Leif:

Yeah. How weird.

Steve:

either that or this

Steve:

secret society isn't as

Steve:

influential as the people that

Steve:

she's already with.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

These are the, Mormon secret society.

Steve:

I also love Dorota's smirk

Steve:

at the end when

Steve:

she says. Yeah. When Blair gets up

Steve:

and she's like, dorota will get their coats or

Steve:

whatever. And Dorota just

Steve:

smiles at them.

Leif:

Chuck is barely able to stay conscious when

Leif:

Eric shows up to make a last ditch effort to

Leif:

reconnect with Chuck. However, Chuck,

Leif:

albeit, nicer than he was at the funeral, grabs a

Leif:

bottle and bids Eric a very

Leif:

final sounding good goodbye.

Steve:

I liked that he acknowledged his

Steve:

relationship with Eric. It was. Eric

Steve:

needed to hear that. And so I'm very

Steve:

glad that Eric survived the holidays

Steve:

to hear that from Chuck. I

Steve:

also feel like someone should follow

Steve:

Chuck.

Leif:

Yeah, I was. I was really surprised that Eric

Leif:

didn't really pick up on that because he's

Leif:

usually so insightful.

Steve:

Yeah. And honestly, I feel like that's really bad

Steve:

writing.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

I feel like that's the writers not tapping into the

Steve:

characters that, like, even if Eric didn't follow

Steve:

him, Eric should have. Then

Steve:

the next scene

Steve:

where Blair and Jack and

Steve:

Eric all get together, that should have been Eric

Steve:

seeking them out.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

That would have solved that huge hole in

Steve:

this. Yeah.

Leif:

Eric exits the club and meets up with Jenny

Leif:

and Nelly to confront the mean girls. Jenny

Leif:

lays the smackdown, causing the mean girls to humble

Leif:

themselves. But Jenny no longer wants

Leif:

Queen in her first love fortune.

Leif:

Nelly ditches Jenny when she finds out there's

Leif:

nothing to gain by following her.

Steve:

I loved this. As much as

Steve:

I hated this storyline,

Steve:

I loved the resolution with. So what are we

Steve:

doing about the party? What?

Steve:

Well, you're queen now. You got it.

Steve:

No. No, I don't want to be a part of this.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And all of the dumb shit that I didn't like

Steve:

about Nelly in this episode, it

Steve:

turned out that Nelly really was just playing

Steve:

4D chess.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And winning

Steve:

only to Sashi.

Leif:

Just didn't read, Jenny's motives correctly.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Rufus goes to Lily to warn her that Serena will likely

Leif:

soon know about their love child.

Leif:

Lily is scared that Serena and Eric will hate her,

Leif:

but Rufus can't Help but reassure her it'll

Leif:

be okay. And that even he doesn't hate her.

Leif:

He just needs more time.

Steve:

Rufus can't resist being shitty.

Steve:

Fair point on needing more time. I said that

Steve:

early in this episode. But every, whenever

Steve:

Rufus is mad, he takes

Steve:

every opportunity to be as shitty

Steve:

as possible. He takes every dig to make

Steve:

the other person feel as small and shitty

Steve:

as they. As he can. Whether it's Lily

Steve:

or his kids or anybody else

Steve:

that he argues with.

Leif:

Very self righteous. Very sanctimonious.

Steve:

Yeah. Even. Even when he's wrong about

Steve:

it. Like this. And there's. I feel like there's

Steve:

an element of

Leif:

Or anything to do with Jenny.

Steve:

Or anything to do with Jenny. I feel like there's

Steve:

an element of the

Steve:

writing here that almost wants us to feel like

Steve:

Rufus has been wronged and

Steve:

is in the right to want to find this

Steve:

kid. I feel like they, they want us to

Steve:

feel that way and I can't.

Leif:

But they, they clearly point. Have Lily point

Leif:

out why he's wrong. Yeah, that's true.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's very in

Leif:

character for Rufus to be self righteous.

Steve:

Yeah. I mean always.

Leif:

Dan finds Serena at Vitrola and ushers her out of

Leif:

the club, presumably to tell her about their

Leif:

shared half sibling.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Little awkward at Thanksgivings.

Steve:

Yeah. But you're not related.

Steve:

So like. And this is like mystery

Steve:

sibling out there somewhere.

Leif:

Like you know he's going to show up eventually.

Steve:

Oh yeah, of course, of course.

Leif:

And then what happens if Rufus and Lily do get together

Leif:

and they're step siblings with a shared sibling.

Steve:

They are. But even then it's like

Steve:

I see on paper why it's bad, but

Steve:

their coming together was

Steve:

100% legit and they

Steve:

were first. They beat Lily and

Steve:

Rufus to the second

Steve:

punch. yeah, I, I

Steve:

hope they can.

Leif:

Blair shows up and finds Jack partying with high

Leif:

schoolers.

Steve:

Is he partying with high schoolers?

Leif:

Eric tells Blair what Chuck said to him and

Leif:

Blair rushes for the stairs. Jack Cancers

Leif:

drink to Eric and follows after her.

Steve:

I didn't even put together the Jack

Steve:

partying with high schoolers at first.

Leif:

Doesn't Blair say something about it?

Steve:

But yeah, well, but.

Steve:

And ah.

Steve:

I mean when I first like saw him at the club, it

Steve:

didn't really occur to me. But then when she said it, it's like,

Steve:

yeah, why are you there? Like what?

Steve:

Fucking weirdo Creed.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

We don't know how old

Steve:

he is. We just know that he's Bart.

Steve:

I would assume much younger

Steve:

brother, but still

Steve:

inappropriately older, I'm

Steve:

going to say at least 30s, I would

Steve:

think. 30s. That was my

Steve:

impression.

Leif:

Like, I know we used to we ragged on Aaron's age a

Leif:

lot, but I think the show intended to be about

Leif:

21 to 22.

Steve:

I, I, I, I believe that,

Steve:

that you are correct that the show

Steve:

wanted him to be older,

Steve:

but made a miscalculation in the

Steve:

writing to explain

Steve:

Cyrus.

Leif:

Just had another wife they didn't mention,

Leif:

which maybe.

Steve:

But then that also kind of detracts from the whole

Steve:

other love story, you.

Leif:

Know, and all that aside, the woman in

Leif:

Vietnam died.

Steve:

Right. No, no, I, Yeah, I know. And all

Steve:

that aside, I do believe that you're right that the intention

Steve:

for Eric was not or for Aaron was not to

Steve:

be this 30 some year

Steve:

old person. Jack,

Steve:

I don't see how you avoid it.

Leif:

Yeah, he's definitely at least 30.

Steve:

Yeah, probably. Like, even if he's. I would assume

Steve:

Bart was mid-40s

Steve:

to maybe 50 at

Steve:

the most. I would, I would kind of assume, I

Steve:

assume the parents are about my age,

Steve:

despite Rufus looking

Steve:

10 years younger than me. But then again,

Steve:

people my age look 10 years younger than me.

Leif:

Well, I think Lily and Rufus are younger than the other

Leif:

parents.

Steve:

Yes, I, I think so too.

Leif:

Including Bart.

Steve:

Yeah. But I would still put bart at between

Steve:

45 and 50. I wouldn't really put

Steve:

Bart too much older over 50.

Steve:

because I wouldn't see him

Steve:

waiting that long to have kids. I

Steve:

would see him having the type of personality that

Steve:

wanted to have an empire and wanted

Steve:

to have.

Leif:

But if his wife was having trouble having kids, possibly.

Steve:

Yeah, that's true too.

Leif:

That's possible too, because presumably we,

Leif:

we've heard she died in childbirth.

Steve:

She may, yeah. Ah, she may have died in childbirth,

Steve:

which is the more likely. She died in

Steve:

childbirth. Yes.

Leif:

Chuck is doing a drunken tightrope

Leif:

walk on the edge of the roof and drops the bottle when he almost

Leif:

slips off. One thing about being on

Leif:

top of the world, it gives you a long, long way

Leif:

to fall back from commercial

Leif:

break. Blair arrives on the roof in time to literally talk

Leif:

Chuck off the ledge. Very emotional

Leif:

scene. And with no Vanessa in this episode,

Leif:

Jack is my number one most hated character right

Leif:

now. Yeah, don't surprise someone

Leif:

on the edge of a building.

Steve:

And I didn't put it together until the last

Steve:

scene, so I want to talk about that. I want to talk about that in

Steve:

a little bit because I didn't, I didn't

Steve:

catch that then. I didn't

Steve:

piece anything together there. But with

Steve:

Blair, this is also another one of Those

Steve:

scenes where I

Steve:

loved how she just poured everything out there. I

Steve:

loved her acting.

Steve:

I thought the writing was kind of

Steve:

lame. Some of the actual lines that

Steve:

she was giving seemed very

Steve:

worn. But I thought

Steve:

that her portrayal was just

Steve:

phenomenal.

Leif:

And then we move into the epilogue. Dan is

Leif:

about to tell Serena the secret when he gets a call from

Leif:

Rufus. Rufus is once again retconning

Leif:

morality by telling his son the right thing to do

Leif:

is to lie to his girlfriend.

Steve:

Yeah. Way too big a. Way

Steve:

too big of an ask. Yeah, this is way too big of an ask.

Leif:

Absolutely. You could take, you know, half an hour to talk

Leif:

to three before your trip.

Steve:

Yeah. You don't have to leave right fucking

Steve:

now. You could plan this trip. You could

Steve:

go in 24 hours and

Steve:

have the exact same result.

Steve:

No, no rush. It

Steve:

has been 20 years. There's no rush. You can all

Steve:

sit down right now, have the

Steve:

talk and then go.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

It was just so fucking selfish. Wait

Steve:

one day. Give your kid. You told your

Steve:

kid one day. So here's your one day.

Steve:

Go tell him. But no, you're going to go off on this trip

Steve:

to try to fucking find this kid. How long are

Steve:

you going to have to make them wait

Steve:

now? Because what if. What if you only find a lead

Steve:

that takes you somewhere else, you fucking

Steve:

asshole.

Leif:

Lair is helping, Jack put Chuck in a limo,

Leif:

who promises to keep an eye on Chuck. Jack

Leif:

also agrees to not tell Chuck about what

Leif:

happened with him and Blair on New Year's.

Leif:

Dun, dun, dun.

Steve:

I'm enjoying

Steve:

the character of Jack. It was this scene

Steve:

where I started piecing together where Blair said she

Steve:

doesn't trust him. I put together

Steve:

Don't Scare Someone on the ledge. Is he trying to

Steve:

get Chuck to fall?

Steve:

So he appears.

Leif:

He would be the next in line.

Steve:

Yeah, he would probably be the next in line for the. For the

Steve:

Empire. That's. Yep.

Steve:

And clearly he banged B.

Steve:

Yep, yep.

Leif:

Dan tells Serena that their parents are going

Leif:

away together. Serena says they will make it

Leif:

work. Dan doesn't look as sure.

Steve:

Yeah, fuck Rufus. The whole rest of

Steve:

this episode is just, fuck Rufus.

Leif:

Rufus and Lily, bags in hand,

Leif:

get into a cab, fuck

Leif:

them.

Steve:

And fuck Lily, too. Here. Usually I'm

Steve:

almost always on Team Lily. And

Steve:

Lily, this is also out of character for

Steve:

her. It's not out of character for her to just jump

Steve:

up and leave, but

Steve:

she. Since

Steve:

Serena has come back, right,

Steve:

since this, since the start of Gossip

Steve:

Girl, Lily has been making a

Steve:

better effort at trying to be a better

Steve:

parent to her kids. And I feel like, this

Steve:

scene.

Leif:

Not counting last episode where she was about to. About to ban

Leif:

Eric for the holidays.

Steve:

True. Or the time that she was gonna. That she

Steve:

was going to send Serena away

Steve:

for being sexually assaulted on a, On a

Steve:

tape, on a. On a thumb drive that she watched.

Steve:

I feel like she's, like I said, making an effort to

Steve:

be better. And I feel like this is also sort of

Steve:

a, What is she thinking running off before

Steve:

having this conversation with her kids.

Leif:

So just to defend her a little bit. We don't

Leif:

really know exactly what Lily knows,

Leif:

Reena knows, or what Dan knows.

Leif:

Rufus just said she's probably gonna find out soon.

Steve:

Yeah. yeah, yeah, that's true.

Leif:

She doesn't know that Dan's like having to keep the secret

Leif:

for.

Steve:

That's true. Yeah. which. Okay, so for

Steve:

just Rufus and Lily to just go away

Steve:

without Eric or Serena knowing there's a secret out

Steve:

there, that isn't a big deal. You're right. Rufus is

Steve:

the one.

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

Who's now keeping a secret from Lily.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

That Dan knows.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

What a fucking asshole.

Leif:

So the, the last three scenes get. Have a Gossip

Leif:

Girl narration over it and it

Leif:

goes, ah, me.

Leif:

The year scarcely turned and

Leif:

already secrets have begun. Where will it end

Leif:

this time? The new year isn't about what

Leif:

happened, it's about what's to come. But the

Leif:

past is always with us, just waiting to

Leif:

mess with the present. And when it does, I'll

Leif:

be watching

Leif:

XOXO Gossip

Leif:

Girl. And that is the episode

Leif:

what's Next.

Steve:

I feel like there's going to be another

Steve:

couple episodes of Chuck spiraling.

Steve:

Maybe not completely spiraling, but like

Steve:

Chuck resisting Blair's

Steve:

help. And it is going to also

Steve:

coincide with Jack really cozying

Steve:

up to Chuck. I see that happening

Steve:

and really trying to

Steve:

outplay Chuck.

Steve:

And I don't think Chuck's going to see it coming. I think Blair's going to

Steve:

be all over it. I think

Steve:

that Dan and Serena are going to

Steve:

really struggle. I really hope that. I really hope that we

Steve:

don't have episodes

Steve:

of Rufus and Lily looking for this kid, because that's really

Steve:

shitty for Dan. I'm hoping that this. Get

Steve:

that, that little bit of it gets resolved quick

Steve:

enough that Dan doesn't have to keep this secret so we can

Steve:

figure out if they can work this out. You

Steve:

know, I want to. I want to skip that and get

Steve:

to. I want to see if Dan and Serena can work this

Steve:

out. I also think that this leads

Steve:

to Rufus and Lily working it

Steve:

out. I. I think that Rufus and Lily get

Steve:

Together out of this. I don't see how that's

Steve:

really avoidable at this point.

Leif:

And when will Chuck find out about Jack and

Leif:

Blair?

Steve:

Oh, I think we've got a couple

Steve:

episodes. I think that there needs to definitely

Steve:

be. I'm going to. I'm going to say at

Steve:

least three episodes. when, ah, I say that

Steve:

this is episode one. So two more

Steve:

episodes and then I

Steve:

think he'll find out.

Steve:

It could be. It could be two episodes from

Steve:

now if they wrap that up

Steve:

then. But I think that it's going to go on

Steve:

a little bit longer than that. I think they need

Steve:

to really play it up and drag out that something

Steve:

happened.

Leif:

Okay, well, let's get into some segments.

Leif:

Yes, we jumped into the Wayback machine

Leif:

to visit the Television Without Pity forums from back in

Leif:

2009.

Steve:

Hello there, Peabody here.

Leif:

And this is the Wayback machine for traveling through time.

Steve:

And this is my boy, Sherman.

Leif:

Speak, Sherman. Hello. Good boy.

Leif:

This week in fandom. Nothing like a

Leif:

quasi incest to get the fan base back on board for a

Leif:

ship. And yes, I'm serious about

Leif:

that.

Steve:

Yeah. I mean this.

Leif:

People were pretty bored of dancery at this point, but

Leif:

this made it a little more interesting. Yeah, apparently.

Steve:

Yeah. I mean, how many

Steve:

TV shows have an incest storyline twice in

Steve:

one season?

Leif:

So Uncle Jack is

Leif:

hot.

Steve:

I mean. Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Good looking guy.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Eric and Jenny are back together.

Steve:

Yeah. I love. Yep.

Leif:

Love that most people are convinced

Leif:

Jack and Blair hooked up.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And then also poor Chuck. Poor

Leif:

Blair. CB are epic.

Steve:

Yeah. Yep. They'll.

Leif:

They'll.

Steve:

They'll find each other. I'm not worried about

Steve:

that. If there's no way we're

Steve:

going another three and a half

Steve:

seasons without them banging

Steve:

episode grades.

Leif:

You went first last time. So I'm up this week.

Leif:

So. Yeah. The writing was not that

Leif:

it was okay. I guess. The acting by

Leif:

Leighton was especially good, as usual. And

Leif:

even though I hated Rufus, Matt Settle actually did a good job,

Leif:

I think.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. That. Yeah.

Leif:

So I'm gonna give this episode a B. Yeah.

Steve:

Good actors can be terrible

Steve:

people. You know what I. Yeah, like terrible

Steve:

characters usually rely on really good

Steve:

acting.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

I, went kind of storyline by storyline with

Steve:

the chair. Storyline I felt was kind of.

Steve:

It was well acted but poorly written.

Steve:

I felt. I felt like the Rufus and

Steve:

Lily storyline was probably the. The

Steve:

best written despite Rufus

Steve:

being a complete asshole. I do think that that was probably the

Steve:

most coherent. The little

Steve:

J storyline I thought was dumb. Like

Steve:

if I were. If that were the episode, it would be a D.

Steve:

The the resolution. I liked the very end

Steve:

with the, okay, well, what about the party?

Steve:

I liked that. But I hated all of the

Steve:

stuff leading up to it. And then the Dan and

Steve:

Serena stuff, I just thought was more

Steve:

Dan and Serena stuff. So I overall gave

Steve:

this episode a B minus. I. I felt like

Steve:

the, the little J storyline kind of hurt it

Steve:

the most. I thought it was. I found this episode to

Steve:

be more towards poorly

Steve:

written, like average written

Steve:

than anything else.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Acting again, like the acting is what it always is.

Steve:

Spectacular from the people that you expect it from

Steve:

and there from the people that you expect

Steve:

that from. And

Steve:

directing. I kind of tie a lot of

Steve:

acting and directing together. Mm.

Steve:

So yeah, B minus.

Leif:

Moving over the stock watch.

Leif:

Not a lot of ups for me this week.

Leif:

Only Jenny and Eric. That's right.

Leif:

Only two ups.

Steve:

Huh? I gave Jack an up. Whatever he's

Steve:

up to. He seems to be up to something,

Steve:

but he seems to be, as of right now, on

Steve:

the upper side of it. On the upper side of

Steve:

it. I meant to. I forgot to give

Steve:

Eric and Jenny ups and I want to give both

Steve:

of them an up as well. I

Steve:

also had Lily going up.

Steve:

I kind of felt. I don't

Steve:

know why I had Lily going up. That's a really

Steve:

downer that I was.

Leif:

We talked about it.

Steve:

Yeah, I know. I'm, I'm. Yeah, I'm going to scratch

Steve:

that one. and I'm going to just stick with

Steve:

Jack, Eric and

Steve:

Jenny.

Leif:

All right. For my downs.

Leif:

Rufus, obviously,

Leif:

Chuck for. Continue to spiral.

Leif:

Blair for just.

Leif:

Yeah, she just didn't do well. add the minions.

Leif:

Get it, get it down.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I actually originally was going to give

Steve:

Blair an up, but ended up giving her a neutral.

Steve:

I didn't really feel like Blair went down in this

Steve:

episode. I. Because I felt like she stood

Steve:

her ground against the secret Society

Steve:

but then lost out on the secret Society.

Leif:

Yeah, she lost the secret Society.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Standing the ground was not. That was not what she wanted to do.

Leif:

Yeah, she wanted to be in. So, that was a loss

Leif:

for me. And she didn't get. And I love you again.

Steve:

That's fair. That's fair. I felt that she

Steve:

was treading water this whole

Steve:

episode and I felt like that was enough

Steve:

to keep her in my. In my. From. From

Steve:

me losing stock in her. I pretty much everything else

Steve:

you said Chuck dropped.

Steve:

Rufus fucking tanked. the

Steve:

Minions tanked. And I not only had the minions,

Steve:

but I also specifically had Nelly because

Steve:

Nelly flew too close to the sun and

Steve:

is only going to be down at the bottom of

Steve:

that again, only even

Steve:

worse. Yeah, she's going to be

Steve:

demoted, Minion. So

Steve:

I specifically gave Nelly a stock down.

Steve:

Aside from the Minions as a collective.

Leif:

Fair enough.

Steve:

But here's the best outfits from the.

Steve:

Last episode we see.

Leif:

Best outfit for me, I

Leif:

had Jack's suit for this meeting with

Leif:

Queller. The gray tick suit with the purple shirt,

Leif:

white collar and a purple tie.

Steve:

It was so slick. That was so

Steve:

fucking slick. I loved it. I'm giving mine

Steve:

to Blair's Colony Club dress. That,

Steve:

that sleek black dress with like the diamond

Steve:

collar was just

Steve:

super fucking cool. I really loved how

Steve:

she held that together.

Leif:

All right, that is it for segments. What are you

Leif:

plugging?

Steve:

first of all, we have not really had a

Steve:

chance to say this, but. Go Birds. Six and

Steve:

two. Sirianni, sucks,

Steve:

but I can't stand him. I don't know your

Steve:

opinions on Sirianni, but take the fucking

Steve:

points. Nick.

Leif:

if you're listening, my opinion is this is

Leif:

organizational. That's not even. Nick, it's organizational. They've been doing

Leif:

this since 2017. They did two Super Bowls with

Leif:

it.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

The way, the way Analyz works is to play it out

Leif:

over the long haul.

Steve:

Yeah, I, I feel like the one.

Leif:

I really disagreed about was the 12 point

Leif:

conversion when Fred Warner got hurt on the touchdown.

Leif:

because now you had your third string tackle in there.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

But other than that, I was fine with it. I, I also would, I also

Leif:

would have punted at the, the last field goal that he did attempt.

Steve:

See, I would have

Steve:

the. There was one field goal. There was like

Steve:

the 4th and 6th. to me,

Steve:

I feel like from the

Steve:

50 yard line to about

Steve:

the 35 yard line, when

Steve:

you're in enemy territory,

Steve:

that is the real strong. Go for it

Steve:

on 4th. That's where I'm not going to argue on it. When it's

Steve:

4th and 4th and 4 and you're

Steve:

at the 44 yard line,

Steve:

Elliot could probably make the field goal, but you're

Steve:

probably. But. But it's going to be a lot tougher.

Steve:

Like I get it more in that neck of the

Steve:

woods. Once you're past the 30,

Steve:

it's just like, just take the points.

Steve:

Like when it's that sure of a thing, that's when it really gets

Steve:

me. So you're too old school.

Leif:

Yeah, it's like the three pointers in the

Leif:

NBA. It's just you got to score more.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

You might miss some, but you're going to score more in the long Run.

Steve:

Yeah, I just, almost cost

Steve:

us a third game, though. It's a

Steve:

third. If we would have lost, it would have been the third one that we lost.

Steve:

Just.

Leif:

Well, no, the only one so far, the Atlanta game.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And, even that one was more on the fact that the defense

Leif:

let him go 90 yards and a

Leif:

minute and a half.

Steve:

Yeah. Anyway, go Birds.

Leif:

Yeah, go Birds.

Steve:

And the other thing that I've been plugging is that

Steve:

I was watching yellow, jackets

Steve:

finally. That show is fucking

Steve:

good. I just saw the, you know, the first two

Steve:

seasons are out of it and that's definitely worth the

Steve:

watch.

Leif:

Well, if you want to follow the podcast, you can follow us

Leif:

on most social medias at non judging breakfast

Leif:

pod. That's on threads on

Leif:

Instagram and on TikTok.

Leif:

You can also find us on Facebook by searching for

Leif:

non judging breakfast pod. And if you go to our

Leif:

website,

Leif:

nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com you can find

Leif:

links to our discord and also our

Leif:

subreddit.

Steve:

And if you would like to get in touch with the podcast, please

Steve:

feel free to send us an

Steve:

email@nonjudgingbreakfastpod

Steve:

Gmail.com. we'd love to

Steve:

hear your thoughts. We'd love to read what you have to say

Steve:

on the air, if it's appropriate.

Steve:

And we, while you're at it, while you're listening

Steve:

right now, if you could just go ahead and like comment,

Steve:

subscribe, follow, help boost our

Steve:

visibility so more people get to share

Steve:

in this. And aside from all of that,

Steve:

also go out there and tell a friend what you're listening

Steve:

to and share the non judging

Steve:

breakfast pod with people that you know, love Gossip Girl

Steve:

and love middle aged men. Talking about Gossip

Steve:

Girl.

Leif:

And we will be back next week to talk more. Gossip

Leif:

Girl season 2 episode 15

Leif:

Gone with the Will the Max

Leif:

episode description reads Art's will is

Leif:

read. And Dan learns his father's secret.

Leif:

I thought he learned his secret.

Steve:

He already learned his father's secret,

Steve:

but.

Leif:

It had a similar description on Netflix as well.

Steve:

That's so funny. Weird. Yeah.

Leif:

Anyways, you love us.

Steve:

Xoxo.

Steve:

Every time you walk away, 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

Steve:

oh, it seems I'm walking right to

Steve:

your door

Steve:

My heart's still resting looking for

Steve:

something 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, 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 to

Steve:

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

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:

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

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

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:

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

Steve:

there's.

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