Episode 2

S3E02 - "The Freshmen"

This week on the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve are back at it, diving headfirst into the juicy, high-stakes drama of Gossip Girl Season 3, Episode 2, aptly titled "The Freshman." As college life looms larger than a final exam, our beloved Upper East Siders are juggling new challenges like flaming torches in a circus act—it's all about keeping your balance! Blair, our queen bee, is on a mission to reclaim her social throne at NYU. But just when she thinks she’s got it all figured out, Georgina Sparks swoops in like a tornado, stirring up chaos and leaving a trail of drama in her wake. Meanwhile, Serena is having a bit of an identity crisis over her decision to skip Brown, which leads to some seriously tense moments with Chuck and Rufus. Who knew college could be this complicated? As friendships are tested and new alliances are formed faster than you can say "XOXO," this episode is a rollercoaster of emotions—think thrill rides, but with more eye-rolling and witty comebacks. Join Leif and Steve as they break down the ups and downs of this episode, packed with laughter, insights, and their signature take on the ever-twisting plotlines that keep us all coming back for more. So grab your favorite breakfast treat, settle in, and prepare for a lively discussion that’ll leave you hungry for more Gossip Girl gossip. You won’t want to miss it!

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
Leif:

But, Chuck was also doing his toddler pose here.

Leif:

Yes, Toddler Chuck with his

Leif:

head leaning back and his pelvis forward.

Steve:

Yeah, his big boy. He's a big boy stance.

Leif:

His head is too big for his body.

Steve:

And you notice it more with the haircut. The

Steve:

haircut looks so much better,

Steve:

but you notice the big boy stance. So.

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 M. Steve, the newbie, the greenhorn,

Steve:

the. I don't know, Leif. What are we calling me now in

Steve:

season three?

Leif:

I'm not sure. Just make sure you're never seen on a club on

Leif:

Saturday night. It's strictly bridge and tunnel on weekends.

Steve:

Absolutely. And I will not be wearing that headband in

Steve:

college.

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

Steve:

the first time together, we're a dynamic

Steve:

duo bringing you all the drama, romance, and

Steve:

sometimes questionable fashion choices of this

Steve:

iconic 2007 series.

Leif:

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

Leif:

the show one episode at a time. We analyze the

Leif:

hidden parallels and all the obscure references.

Leif:

Plus we'll also be touching on the behind the scenes gossip and

Leif:

some stories from fandom.

Steve:

And since we're all about inclusivity here at the

Steve:

non judging breakfast spot, there is always room for

Steve:

you at our non judging breakfast table. So go ahead

Steve:

and grab a cup of coffee, a mimosa, or

Steve:

go ahead and call Jesse up and see if he can bring

Steve:

you some of Chuck's medicine. And let's get into

Steve:

this.

Leif:

So this episode is going to be a little bit different than the

Leif:

norm due entirely to my fault.

Leif:

the recording that we originally did for this

Leif:

episode was lost to the ether.

Leif:

so we are recording this now

Leif:

after Steve's already seen through episode

Leif:

five.

Steve:

Of the series, which

Steve:

it's kind of neat. And I'm glad that we're kind of

Steve:

addressing this right up front because there are

Steve:

some things in this episode

Steve:

that watching. I kind of want to

Steve:

bring up the looking back in at

Steve:

least one very boring

Steve:

scene. And also

Steve:

with that disclaimer, some of these discussions

Steve:

we've had. And so we

Steve:

are trying to make this as authentic as

Steve:

possible.

Leif:

Originally, when we talked about this episode, we also talked about

Leif:

announced that Leighton meester is going to be on the second

Leif:

season of Nobody Wants this. he's going to.

Leif:

She's going to be playing Abby, who's a.

Leif:

Joanne's high school nemesis or middle school nemesis

Leif:

rather. She's a very Blair coded,

Leif:

character. She's going to be a m. Instagram mommy

Leif:

influencer.

Steve:

Yes, yes, I did hear about that

Steve:

and I'm looking forward to seeing that.

Leif:

And at this point we had just watched the first

Leif:

episode of Good Cop Bad Copy.

Leif:

Leighton plays a character named Lou. She

Leif:

is the golden child who stayed at home in a

Leif:

small Washington town of around, less than

Leif:

10,000. And her brother is estranged but coming

Leif:

back to town to become a detective. And

Leif:

he might be on the spectrum, I'm not

Leif:

sure. But he's definitely odd.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah.

Leif:

Socially awkward.

Steve:

and it's a fun show.

Steve:

I enjoy it. I really like

Steve:

what we see out of

Steve:

Leighton. I think that she is

Steve:

really again, demonstrating her chops

Steve:

that she can make you forget

Steve:

that she's not these other

Steve:

people that she's portrayed.

Leif:

And then you got the father is the chief

Leif:

of police and then his girlfriend is a Russian woman

Leif:

who learned everything about American

Leif:

culture from 80s sitcoms.

Steve:

Yes.

Steve:

like I said, it's a fun show and

Steve:

it pokes a lot of fun at the

Steve:

nepotism of small town.

Steve:

Of small town politics.

Steve:

But it really also kind of has

Steve:

an endearing look at small town

Steve:

wife. So I've, I haven't

Steve:

watched the most recent, so.

Leif:

And it kind of works well that we're going back

Leif:

to record this episode because we actually got a

Leif:

question about season. The season

Leif:

premiere and it is from NJ

Leif:

Flyd. Question for Steve. Oh,

Leif:

would Serena have looked sexier if she was

Leif:

eating a strawberry while riding the polo pun.

Leif:

Well.

Steve:

Or licking a wine glass? For

Steve:

sure.

Steve:

Was there any saliva on the horse when

Steve:

she got off?

Leif:

That's only illegal in Oregon. Steve.

Steve:

I think, we should also address at this

Steve:

point, but because I don't think

Steve:

anything is aired about it. Michelle

Steve:

Trachtenberg and losing Michelle

Steve:

Trachtenberg. Now that we are doing an episode

Steve:

featuring her and we'll probably. I think there's another episode where

Steve:

we'll talk about this. Where it was

Steve:

raw and initially happened. But we

Steve:

do want to acknowledge now

Steve:

that the loss and the

Steve:

tragedy of losing someone.

Leif:

So we definitely do talk about that more in our upcoming

Leif:

episodes.

Steve:

Yes. But I didn't want that to be a, sort of a blank

Steve:

here this far after.

Leif:

So we are here to Talk about Season

Leif:

3, Episode 2, the Freshman

Leif:

Original Air Date September

Leif:

21, 2009

Leif:

Episode Title is based on

Leif:

the Fresh Man 1990

Leif:

film by Andrew Bergman. starring

Leif:

Matthew Broderick and Marlon Brando,

Leif:

in which an NYC film student. Or. Sorry,

Leif:

yeah, it doesn't specifically mention nyu. It's just a

Leif:

New York City college film student

Leif:

gets a job working for a mobster.

Steve:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I

Steve:

saw this and I don't really remember much of it.

Steve:

I do remember

Steve:

Broderick being in that movie,

Steve:

so I don't know if I've seen it though, but I think I

Steve:

have.

Leif:

And then Andrew Bergman is best known for

Leif:

Blazing Saddles, Fletch and

Leif:

Striptease.

Steve:

Who was he in Blazing Saddles?

Leif:

writing.

Steve:

Writer. Oh, writer. Oh, okay.

Leif:

He had almost a 20 year gap between

Leif:

projects from 2003 to

Leif:

2022, and he came back to do the Paul's

Leif:

of Fury, the Legend of Frank

Leif:

animated movie.

Steve:

Yeah, it sound. Sounds like it.

Leif:

This episode was written by Amanda

Leif:

Lasher. She did three episodes

Leif:

in season two, and she remains in

Leif:

the writer's room at least through season five.

Leif:

Previous credits in season three were Predator J

Leif:

or Sorry. In season two, Predapoor J, Gone

Leif:

with the Will and Satyr. Anything,

Leif:

which are all.

Steve:

Which I recall all being solid

Steve:

episodes. I feel like all

Steve:

of those episodes had moments

Steve:

of greatness and moments of

Steve:

what's happening. I'm thinking

Steve:

especially if Seder anything with

Steve:

where they turned it into the Farce, which was a lot of

Steve:

fun. But there was also the

Steve:

Gabriel stuff that was like, what's he doing

Steve:

here?

Leif:

And directed by the king of teen

Leif:

dramas, Nora Buckley and

Leif:

Shady's Back, Back Again.

Steve:

Yes. And you see some of

Steve:

those

Steve:

just knowing how to get performances out of

Steve:

these teenagers or people being

Steve:

teenagers. He's so good at it.

Steve:

He's so good at it.

Leif:

Taylor. Mom's still a teenager.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Why don't you give us that vulture recap?

Steve:

All right. Georgina Sparks has arrived

Steve:

at nyu and like the maenad

Steve:

from True Blood, she has cast a

Steve:

wicked spell over the city. Everywhere

Steve:

formerly sane people's pupils are going black

Steve:

as they fall under her spell. And it's

Steve:

only a matter of time before they're committing

Steve:

unspeakable inhuman acts against one

Steve:

another. Vanessa is the first to

Steve:

go. Just a few

Steve:

vulnerable words from Georgina and she forgets

Steve:

that just last year girlfriend did the

Steve:

exact same thing and fake befriended

Steve:

her in order, it turned out to

Steve:

wreak havoc on another hapless human.

Steve:

By the time G breaks out the heavy handed

Steve:

compliments about Vanessa's documentary

Steve:

About the community garden in her neighborhood.

Steve:

V's ready to carve someone's heart out for her

Steve:

and doesn't even notice when Georgina shuts Blair

Steve:

out of her own dorm room. It takes

Steve:

Dan slightly longer to come around, but soon

Steve:

enough, lonely boy gives in and

Steve:

utterly forgets that Georgina actually

Steve:

pretended to be a different person under a

Steve:

fake name in order to sex him out of his

Steve:

relationship with his former girlfriend,

Steve:

now sister Sarina. And

Steve:

Carter basin is wrong. Sarina's not

Steve:

just acting out because her daddy doesn't love her.

Steve:

Even though she doesn't have direct contact with

Steve:

Georgina, she's still affected, which is

Steve:

probably why she becomes possessed and

Steve:

lashes out cruelly when Chuck and Rufus

Steve:

calls her out on her dicky marble

Steve:

mouth behavior. Meanwhile, Blair,

Steve:

the only bee big enough to stop the tidal wave of

Steve:

destruction Georgina is planning, has lost her

Steve:

powers. We trust that next episode

Steve:

she'll realize they aren't in your headband,

Steve:

Ms. Blair. They're inside you.

Leif:

Have you hear some weird noises out there, folks? It's

Leif:

pretty windy here today, so that's what you heard. so

Leif:

I never got into the show true blood, but I think that

Leif:

word from the beginning is

Leif:

mayanad.

Leif:

M. That it's. I think it's two. It's like three syllables.

Leif:

Is it man? Man.

Steve:

Oh, weird. Because I actually did like the pronunciation thing

Steve:

on Google last week because I wasn't sure how to pronounce it

Steve:

either, because I. I was only into true

Steve:

blood for, like, most of the. Maybe I got into the

Steve:

second season.

Leif:

Yeah, I only got a couple episodes in, but I just

Leif:

going because I believe it's a Greek word. It is

Leif:

said mayonnaise

Leif:

maenad. Okay, I think you're correct.

Steve:

It is a Greek word. It comes from Greek mythology. And

Steve:

now, it's funny,

Steve:

had we had this conversation when we

Steve:

first recorded it, I would have been a little bit more on top of it

Steve:

because I had just looked it up

Steve:

right beforehand. But I'm not guaranteeing

Steve:

I had the pronunciation correct by any means.

Leif:

Act one begins. Gospel girl

Leif:

narrates. Every

Leif:

fall, confident high school seniors transform

Leif:

into nervous college freshmen. They leave

Leif:

their parents homes for the hallowed halls of higher

Leif:

education. And like any new venture

Leif:

starting, college holds the promise of

Leif:

limitless opportunity. The opportunity to

Leif:

conquer a new territory or to try

Leif:

to be a little less lonely. But just because the

Leif:

opportunity presents itself, doesn't mean everybody

Leif:

is ready to take it.

Leif:

Yes, Blair is preparing for the

Leif:

first day of college with Dorota's assistance.

Steve:

Yeah, and, this is all happening during

Steve:

Gossip Girl talking.

Steve:

And I really dig the outfit that Blair puts

Steve:

on with the red. The red and

Steve:

white that she's wearing.

Leif:

Dan is also ready getting ready for school.

Leif:

Alone at the loft. He is eating a single waffle out of

Leif:

the toaster. Ugh.

Steve:

let's go. Let's go back really quickly to that, because this

Steve:

just occurred to me about the Blair scene. Do you

Steve:

think that was written for Eleanor? Because all of the

Steve:

mirror scenes typically have

Steve:

Eleanor, not Dorota. That's, like,

Steve:

a very mother daughter

Steve:

scene relationship thing they've built.

Leif:

I think Dorota gets some of those too. And definitely a lot of,

Leif:

like, prep scenes that Dorota gets.

Steve:

Sure. Okay. It just occurred to me. But

Steve:

it also indicates the motherly nature.

Leif:

Dorota is like a second mother to Blair.

Steve:

Definitely. It's the symbol. It's the motherly symbolism

Steve:

there. And, yeah, he's eating Eggos.

Leif:

Yeah. Lego my Eggo.

Leif:

Serena is still packing for Brown and gets a

Leif:

congratulatory text from Lily.

Steve:

Seems that she's completely, happy about

Steve:

what's happening in her life right now.

Leif:

Chuck is seeing Blair off for the first day of

Leif:

orientation and compares living in the dorms to a

Leif:

seedy porno. We find out that Blair is only staying

Leif:

in the dorms in an attempt, to become queen of

Leif:

nyu.

Steve:

Oh, Blair, this is

Steve:

the only. Those things only

Steve:

belong in the back of a video store.

Steve:

Chunky, disgusting,

Steve:

pervert. And this is also the first scene

Steve:

of dialogue. The other stuff was all. It was all

Steve:

under the narration. I love

Steve:

this interaction with Chuck and Blair. It's very

Steve:

sweet. It's very Chuck and Blair.

Steve:

But also, I'm watching this

Steve:

just thinking, blair, let it go already. You

Steve:

graduated from high school. Stop trying to make

Steve:

NYU constance.

Leif:

Yeah, I mean, there's. There's hierarchies

Leif:

everywhere in the real world too, so.

Steve:

And Blair's gonna blare.

Leif:

Yeah. Dan and Serena are having a

Leif:

phone conversation. They encourage each other, but Serena

Leif:

expresses her doubts regarding Brown by not expressing

Leif:

them. Yeah, she just goes silent.

Steve:

She goes silent. Dan is so excited,

Steve:

just like you must be for Brown,

Steve:

and.

Leif:

Yeah, that. About that.

Steve:

Yeah. And, you know,

Steve:

Serena's so good at masking

Steve:

things like that.

Leif:

A cute coed named Katie overhears Dan's

Leif:

name and introduces herself as a fan of Dan.

Leif:

She then invites Dan to her writers group.

Steve:

Yeah, it's not weird.

Steve:

I. She does hear him say his

Steve:

own name out loud because Dan does

Steve:

sometimes talk about himself in the third person.

Steve:

But, you remembered that. That.

Steve:

Although I guess if you're really following it.

Leif:

Well, she, I mean, she wanted to. She. She submitted too, so she

Leif:

was like. She was definitely. You're.

Steve:

You're following it. You would be in on it.

Leif:

Yeah, she was pissed off about not winning, so.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

That's why she.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Remembered it.

Steve:

And obviously it's one of

Steve:

those things where she's pissed off she didn't win, but knows why she

Steve:

didn't win. In the world where Dan

Steve:

is a.

Leif:

Phenomenal writer, just

Leif:

ignore the intern in the prop department

Leif:

who writes all his stories.

Steve:

Yes. The thing is

Steve:

that writing is. Writing in

Steve:

the world, in the Gossip Girl universe is

Steve:

really bad.

Leif:

Dan is a genius writer and

Leif:

Jenny is an awesome, fashion

Leif:

designer.

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

Just.

Leif:

Just. It's kayfabe.

Steve:

Accept it.

Leif:

It's kayfabe.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Back at the penthouse, Rufus is seeing Serena off and says

Leif:

how proud he is of her. Yeah, she'd have

Leif:

been Lily, but yes,

Leif:

kids, you know, Callie Rutherford had

Leif:

a baby.

Steve:

And it does

Steve:

really establish

Steve:

a relationship between Rufus and

Steve:

Serena by the end of this episode.

Steve:

Establishes a fatherly

Steve:

relationship with her. Right

Steve:

now he's an extension of

Steve:

Lily, like you said.

Leif:

At NYU orientation, things are still

Leif:

prickly between Dan and Vanessa. Blair

Leif:

pulls up in a limo and has to tell Dan and Vanessa

Leif:

that she doesn't know them here. And Scott's

Leif:

also in the scene, and.

Steve:

Scott is in this scene

Steve:

and Vanessa just being an

Steve:

asshole out of the gate. Oh, well, you haven't called

Steve:

me. You haven't called him and you were the

Steve:

asshole.

Leif:

Yeah, fucking, Vanessa.

Steve:

Fucking Vanessa.

Leif:

Serena shows up at, Chuck's hotel room and

Leif:

declares that she needs a place to stay because she isn't

Leif:

going to brown. Chuck is annoyed when he sees the

Leif:

huge cart of luggage following Serena.

Steve:

Yeah, Serena, Chuck owns a

Steve:

hotel. There are rooms that

Steve:

you could have. Why are you going

Steve:

to Chuck's penthouse? Why can't you go

Steve:

to. Why can't you be like Chuck? Give me any other

Steve:

room in. In this whole goddamn

Steve:

hotel. Give her the presidential suite. Give

Steve:

her the honeymoon suite for a couple of nights.

Steve:

Give her any other luxurious room in

Steve:

this hotel.

Leif:

But, Chuck was also doing his toddler pose here.

Leif:

Yes, Toddler Chuck with his

Leif:

head leaning back and his pelvis forward.

Steve:

Yeah, his big boy. He's a big boy.

Leif:

His head is too big for his body.

Steve:

And you notice it more with the haircut. The

Steve:

haircut looks so much better, but

Steve:

you notice the big boy stance so much more.

Leif:

Blaire has found some new recruits and is giving

Leif:

them tips about living in the city. And she also

Leif:

has gift bags prepared. Just when Blair is

Leif:

whispering to Dorota that this will be easier than she

Leif:

thought, in walks her new roommate,

Leif:

Georgina.

Steve:

Blair trying to bribe these girls

Steve:

is so sad

Steve:

that it's. I'm gonna gather all these girls to be

Steve:

my new friends, the ones that I'm handpicking, and I'm

Steve:

gonna hand them bags. M. And

Steve:

Blair is so eager to be accepted by

Steve:

people that are like her. Go

Steve:

find a fucking sorority of rich

Steve:

girls. They're out there.

Leif:

Do they have sororities at nyu?

Steve:

I honestly, off the top of my head, I don't know if they have

Steve:

Greek life.

Leif:

Not every school does.

Steve:

I know. Not every school does. I.

Steve:

I can all, I can say with pretty good

Steve:

confidence that there are. I know there

Steve:

are New York schools with fraternities.

Steve:

New York state schools. I cannot

Steve:

tell you off the top of my head about

Steve:

nyu specifically, according to

Steve:

Google.

Leif:

AI. Yes, they do.

Steve:

Okay. I thought so because it's such

Steve:

a big school. I was trying to think if my fraternity

Steve:

is there, and I don't think we are. Whereas we

Steve:

are at Drexel, and I think

Steve:

we're still at UPenn. We used to be at Temple,

Steve:

so we've been in big schools, but I don't think we've been at

Steve:

nyu.

Leif:

And of course, we get, the payoff from the season finale of

Leif:

Georgina being Blair's roommate.

Steve:

Yes. Yes. And

Steve:

instantly. Oh, are we there? We're not

Steve:

there. The conversation between them yet. This is just

Steve:

the big hugging surprise.

Leif:

Yes. And Gossip Girl goes to

Leif:

commercial break with rah rah

Leif:

sis boom bah. Georgina's pulled a coup

Leif:

d'etat. welcome to College B. This is gonna be

Leif:

a blast. Act two

Leif:

begins, and Blair is flipping out.

Leif:

Georgina is the excited and surprised friend.

Leif:

We also learn that Vanessa's dorm is just down the hall.

Leif:

Blair calls Dorota and tells her to start planning a

Leif:

party.

Steve:

There are a couple of things here. First of all,

Steve:

we all know that Georgina set

Steve:

this up. So when she comes in, instantly denying it,

Steve:

it's like, okay, here's a scheme

Steve:

for sure, which we knew she was going to do, but

Steve:

she plays it so well. Like, she plays

Steve:

it so cool. Blair has that line

Steve:

where when no Jesus

Steve:

and I redefined our relationship. What? He dumped you when he

Steve:

realized you were Satan?

Steve:

And Georgina is just

Steve:

Teflon with all of her

Steve:

barbs. And anytime she'll make a

Steve:

direct thing or accusation. And

Steve:

it's not just Blair. It's anytime someone

Steve:

says something to Georgina that

Steve:

is not in line with what

Steve:

Georgina is presenting, it's just

Steve:

gone. She just ignores it. It washes

Steve:

off. And if there's ever a reaction to

Steve:

it, you're gone. You don't see it in her

Steve:

face. So it's a really

Steve:

cool character trait that I realized

Steve:

today.

Leif:

Serena is explaining to Chuck about not being ready

Leif:

for college. Chuck compares, going to college to

Leif:

adopting a baby or a poodle. Just an

Leif:

accessory. Chuck, reveals his new business plan

Leif:

to create a speakeasy.

Steve:

Why are you confiding in Serena? I get

Steve:

it. She's there, you're excited, but you're giving

Steve:

her the pitch that you don't want anyone to

Steve:

know.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

It seems, seems risky here, Chuck.

Leif:

Or if you're gonna do it, at least tell her. No one's supposed

Leif:

to know this yet.

Steve:

Yes. Make sure when you're telling someone a secret, they know

Steve:

it's a secret.

Leif:

Yeah. Dan and Vanessa

Leif:

run into each other at the bookstore and decide that it's stupid to

Leif:

fight fate and quickly apologize and make up.

Leif:

As they start to do the best friend thing and download all their

Leif:

personal news since they last spoke. Georgina

Leif:

walks in, g apologizes for the past and asks for

Leif:

a fresh start. Vanessa seems much more willing to

Leif:

grant that than Dan at this point.

Steve:

I, start this scene with what does Dan

Steve:

have to apologize for?

Steve:

Vanessa showed up to his

Steve:

to a place where she wasn't supposed to be

Steve:

and attacked him for

Steve:

doing the stuff that he was doing with

Steve:

his family and then ran

Steve:

off. And Dan's like, all right, well fuck her

Steve:

then.

Leif:

But he lied about going on the subway.

Steve:

Oh, sorry. I

Steve:

retract everything I

Steve:

just said the other. I

Steve:

love. I love

Steve:

Dan's reaction to Georgina.

Leif:

Yeah, the physical reaction.

Steve:

Physical reaction. The

Steve:

whoa, crazy lady over

Steve:

there.

Leif:

And he had the same kind of reaction in the season two

Leif:

finale.

Steve:

yes, exactly. Like whenever she shows

Steve:

up, he just has that.

Leif:

Too. Is going to change pretty quickly though.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

Nate and Brie have been enjoying their secret relationship since

Leif:

last we saw them. They plan a 24 hour

Leif:

fuckfest to determine whether they would get sick of each

Leif:

other in an actual relationship.

Steve:

So this is when I had to have one of those

Steve:

real moments and come to the conclusion that

Steve:

I never wanted to admit that

Steve:

Nate is boring. This

Steve:

scene is boring, this

Steve:

relationship is boring.

Steve:

And Nate, I'm

Steve:

starting to realize. I love

Steve:

Nate. I'm a Stan. Nate

Steve:

is boring.

Leif:

Yeah, he's pretty milquetoast.

Steve:

Yeah. When he's

Steve:

written with the right. When he's written with

Steve:

the non judging Breakfast Club, he

Steve:

Has great moments and he has great

Steve:

interaction.

Leif:

He's a great bro.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

But that's about it.

Steve:

Yeah. But when they try to put him into

Steve:

romantic situations and, a big

Steve:

part of it is these are people who are always

Steve:

scheming and digging and stabbing

Steve:

each other in the back, which really isn't Nate's

Steve:

character. So it doesn't kind of go with

Steve:

the excitement of the

Steve:

rest of the show. So I understand

Steve:

why he's more boring.

Steve:

But I'm so sad to realize that Nate's

Steve:

boring.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Chuck is having

Leif:

his business meeting with a stuffy old white guy.

Leif:

Chuck is being less than honest about his true plans. When

Leif:

Serena comes in the door talking on the phone in

Leif:

Italian. Chuck has to take a call,

Leif:

and Serena lets the cat out of the bag vis a

Leif:

vis the club in the bank vault.

Steve:

What an asshole. Why are you walking

Steve:

into someone else's meeting and

Steve:

opening your mouth when you were told,

Steve:

please don't be here,

Steve:

Please don't come home

Steve:

tonight or for a

Steve:

while because I have a meeting I

Steve:

don't want you

Steve:

here for?

Leif:

Well, you see, Serena's a narcissist.

Steve:

Oh.

Leif:

So, yeah, okay.

Steve:

Yeah. That seems.

Steve:

It's so funny to me. And this episode

Steve:

really does a good job of

Steve:

breaking away from the Serena that they tried

Steve:

to present for so long. The beginning of

Steve:

this series was the bad

Steve:

girl gone good and how good

Steve:

she's always trying to be.

Steve:

And not that she's really becoming a bad girl,

Steve:

but we're seeing that she's a lot

Steve:

less dynamic of a

Steve:

person and that she is much

Steve:

more just one dimensional.

Steve:

That if it's not for Serena's

Steve:

sake, or if it's not for to Serena's

Steve:

liking, then fuck everybody else.

Steve:

And we really see that in this episode where she's like

Steve:

fuck chalk because he made me

Steve:

sad.

Leif:

And we get a mouth watering montage of

Leif:

sushi prep for Blair's party, but only one

Leif:

person showed up. It turns out everyone else in the

Leif:

dorm is watching a movie down the hall.

Steve:

That food looks so good, though.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

that sushi, I could.

Leif:

He's off the toro, Steve.

Steve:

As soon as you walk out, I'd shove four

Steve:

more down my gullet.

Leif:

I would have done the same.

Steve:

I actually, Robin and I, for the first time, you know, we

Steve:

both like a lot of food. And Robin's been a

Steve:

foodie. I'm the. Robin's the reason I'm a

Steve:

foodie. But we actually had oysters for the first

Steve:

time the other day. We had never had them before. Just,

Steve:

you know, raw oysters at a place

Steve:

in Philly. I can't remember the name of it. It's

Steve:

on 6th and Walnut. It's a super old

Steve:

place from the. Been around for over

Steve:

100 years, and I can't remember the name of it. It was

Steve:

really good. Really enjoyed it.

Leif:

If you like. If you like them poorhouse.

Leif:

in Montgomeryville, once a week, it's like, Wednesday,

Leif:

maybe night, they have $1 oysters.

Steve:

Oh, wow. are they good?

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Okay, good. So I'd hate to show up and get $1,

Steve:

be like, hey, we're going out for $1 oysters and

Steve:

coming home.

Leif:

I'm surprised that you haven't had oysters with Gabe yet.

Steve:

Yeah, and I've had, like, mussels before,

Steve:

but I've never had. Yeah, it was the first time having

Steve:

oysters. At least that I remember. Maybe I have.

Leif:

He usually asks about his New Year's Eve party.

Steve:

Huh? You know, I don't think I've been to one of his

Steve:

New Year's Eve parties.

Leif:

You weren't the one two years ago.

Steve:

No, no, no. Was I?

Leif:

I thought you and Robin were there.

Steve:

We were at a birthday party.

Steve:

We were there for. No, we were definitely not there for New Year's

Steve:

because we were at home two years ago. We were at Shields. This

Steve:

year.

Leif:

Chuck is getting up on his tippy toes in order to berate

Leif:

Serena about ruining his meeting. Serena storms

Leif:

out of the room.

Leif:

I mean, Blake is a statuesque woman.

Steve:

I'm a big boy, and I'm

Steve:

gonna need you to leave,

Steve:

you train wreck.

Leif:

Blair finds the rest of the people from her dorm are in

Leif:

Vanessa's room applauding her documentary and eating

Leif:

pizza. Georgina drops the mask a bit

Leif:

as she literally closes the door in Blair's

Leif:

face.

Steve:

Burn. Yeah, Georgina

Steve:

is. Georgina knows how to make people feel

Steve:

good about themselves. It's one of

Steve:

those. Her interpersonal skills.

Leif:

I almost cried. The gang

Leif:

member. What did he play, his first whatever or something

Leif:

or.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And, Gossip Girl narrates as we go to commercial.

Leif:

Spotted Blair. Water from

Leif:

VIP to vd. poor Blair. How are

Leif:

you gonna cure this one? Damn.

Leif:

Yeah, that's a girl going hard.

Steve:

Yeah. Disrespectful.

Leif:

Act three begins. Serena is

Leif:

now crashing in Jenny's old room. Looks

Leif:

like Dan made her toaster waffles for breakfast. As

Leif:

he's leaving for campus, Dan reminds Serena they don't have any

Leif:

servants in Brooklyn. He also tells Serena that she should

Leif:

go see Rufus for some fatherly advice.

Steve:

I love Dan making waffles for

Steve:

Serena. I also had the thought earlier of what if

Steve:

Rufus's waffles really have just been eggos

Steve:

this whole time? That like, dude,

Steve:

my dad makes the best waffles. And you get there and

Steve:

they're toaster, toaster waffles.

Steve:

and it's funny because he,

Steve:

Dan has a history of getting great fatherly

Steve:

advice from Rufus, so it makes sense that

Steve:

he would make that recommendation.

Leif:

And Rufus does come around by the end of the episode.

Steve:

by the end of the episode, I actually really like

Steve:

what is. I like what is established

Steve:

by the end of the episode. Yes.

Leif:

Blair confronts Georgina about the party G is

Leif:

throwing. Blair confronts Georgina about the party G is

Leif:

throwing. Blair is in full crazy mode at this

Leif:

point. Gee's plan is clearly working.

Steve:

Yeah, it's funny that

Steve:

Georgina's plan is just a well

Steve:

oiled machine and she doesn't even have to

Steve:

do anything.

Leif:

You're just the weird girl who threw the fish party.

Steve:

Yeah, like Georgina

Steve:

is hardly trying

Steve:

and just winning this whole thing.

Leif:

And it's because Georgina is a

Leif:

chameleon. She can exist anywhere.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

She can take on a role.

Steve:

Yes. And. And Blair can't.

Leif:

Yeah, Blair is Blair.

Steve:

Yeah. And Blair is not in her element

Steve:

and she is floundering.

Steve:

Fish girl. Fish party.

Steve:

Floundering.

Steve:

I'll be here all day, folks.

Leif:

Tip your waiters.

Leif:

Serena is at the penthouse to follow up on Dan's

Leif:

advice. However, it looks like Chuck beat her to the punch

Leif:

and spilled the beans to Rufus. Serena tries to talk

Leif:

to Rufus, but as Serena points out, Rufus is

Leif:

afraid to let Lily find out about Serena not going to

Leif:

Brown.

Steve:

Yeah, you're more afraid of my mom than I

Steve:

am. Is true.

Steve:

And Rufus instantly

Steve:

recognizes it. Yeah, he instantly

Steve:

realizes I was more.

Leif:

Worried about myself than you.

Steve:

Yeah, I'm more worried about making your mom

Steve:

mad than I am worried about you. And

Steve:

he recognized it. You see it in his

Steve:

face. And in this instant,

Steve:

my first watch through it's. Well, of course Rufus is not

Steve:

a good girl, dad. Rufus is

Steve:

supportive of Dan and not of

Steve:

Jenny. And that was my

Steve:

instant take of this. And

Steve:

Serena just Serena

Steve:

calling him on it. Call my

Steve:

mom. You tell her. Yeah.

Steve:

Power move.

Steve:

And really also established with

Steve:

Rufus, There is a way that you and

Steve:

I can communicate and it is not through

Steve:

threats.

Leif:

I guess the problem with the parenting

Leif:

Jenny for Rufus is that Jenny

Leif:

gets emotional and then Rufus just doesn't know what to do.

Leif:

Yeah, Serena kept her cool and went right back

Leif:

at him with facts.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. And because Serena really

Steve:

isn't one to Blow up. Yeah, she

Steve:

crashes. She'll crash and burn, but she won't

Steve:

blow up.

Leif:

Yeah. Serena calls Carter

Leif:

and invites him to dinner.

Steve:

At this point in our previous

Steve:

recording of this episode, I asked, is

Steve:

Carter Basin going to be full

Steve:

cast at this point? And we discussed

Steve:

that. No, he is not. He's still doing

Steve:

gig work.

Leif:

Well, you could tell just by the credits. If you watch the credits

Leif:

for the episode, it'll let you know whose main cast. And he's not.

Steve:

Tell that to Amber Benson from Buffy.

Leif:

Well, she was credited as main cast for that one

Leif:

episode.

Steve:

She sure was. I actually asked her about that

Steve:

at a comic con that I said, what was it

Steve:

like to finally have your name in the credits? And

Steve:

then.

Leif:

And some impressive call quality considering she

Leif:

was in an elevator.

Steve:

Yes, those cell phones. The

Steve:

2009 cell phone plans of the

Steve:

rich.

Leif:

Because, it's a nice building. They have a cell phone tower in the

Leif:

elevator.

Leif:

Dan is impressing people out of the new writers group when

Leif:

Blair comes in and invites Dan to be her date to

Leif:

Georgina's party. What?

Steve:

I do love a, Blair Lonely boy team

Steve:

up. Not so lonely boy team up.

Leif:

and, ah, they are definitely getting a lot more interactions this season so far,

Leif:

which is good.

Steve:

Yeah. I love it. And I do like

Steve:

that they have been kind of forced

Steve:

together, especially where Serena's taken out

Steve:

of this location,

Steve:

and we have Dan, Vanessa,

Steve:

Blair in the location. And I

Steve:

know that we will. We. I forget if it started here

Steve:

or when we discuss Vanessa

Steve:

making sense to be there. Yeah. And it really

Steve:

ups the quality of character that she.

Leif:

Why wasn't she a student at Constance?

Steve:

Why wasn't she just a student at

Steve:

Constance?

Leif:

And Gossip Girl is just as surprised as we

Leif:

are. Forget the four

Leif:

Horsemen, the real evidence our world is coming to an

Leif:

end. Blair Waldorf needing Dan

Leif:

Humphrey to rescue her from social

Leif:

extinction.

Leif:

Act four begins. Dan and Blair are climbing

Leif:

the stairs to G's rooftop party. Dan

Leif:

admonishes Blair that headbands are totally high school

Leif:

and it's time to grow up. Blair does thank

Leif:

Dan for being here.

Steve:

Dan saying, I'd like to think that

Steve:

if I needed this, someone

Steve:

would do it for me. Though, let's be honest. We both

Steve:

know it wouldn't be you. And, yeah,

Steve:

I love the. By the way, no

Steve:

headbands in college. And just, tosses

Steve:

what's probably. What, like a $500

Steve:

headband.

Leif:

Louis Vuitton?

Steve:

Like some kid is gonna go cash that in and buy

Steve:

books for a semester?

Leif:

Booze, you mean?

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

At the party, Dan

Leif:

Reintroduces Blair to Katie.

Leif:

Katie compliments Blair's necklace, but

Leif:

Blair fails to return the compliment.

Steve:

Such an asshole.

Leif:

I love your.

Steve:

Oh, Dan's a

Steve:

writer.

Leif:

And then Dan says, don't talk about high school.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And she immediately talks about Dan in high school.

Steve:

Yes. Very first thing.

Leif:

Dan apologizes to Georgina.

Leif:

Georgina accepts and tells Dan that Blair is just using

Leif:

him. As they part, I think Georgina really wanted to put

Leif:

her hand on Dan's chest, which is bursting out of his shirt.

Leif:

But she settles for the shoulder pat.

Steve:

Yeah, we, This was when

Steve:

I first really noticed the glow

Steve:

up this summer glow up of Penn Badgley

Steve:

when he walked in. He looks kind of cut.

Leif:

He looks tan.

Steve:

Tan. His hair looks good.

Steve:

And he just walks into this party with

Steve:

that kind of confidence and swagger where

Steve:

it's like, wow. There was the hotification

Steve:

of Dan Humphrey over

Steve:

this summer.

Leif:

Yeah. And real world reasons. He

Leif:

definitely, ah. He did ah, easy A over the summer.

Leif:

And he bulked up a bit in that because he had

Leif:

his shirtless, ah. Scene at the. Several shirtless scenes, one at

Leif:

the pool and then one, when he was at

Leif:

the end of the big dance number in blue body

Leif:

paint and a cape.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

Woodchuck Todd,

Leif:

Nate and Brie are, continuing their experiment. Bree

Leif:

learns that Nate has a sentimental streak.

Steve:

Sentimental, boring. Nate, snooze,

Steve:

snate.

Leif:

Serena and Carter are having drinks at a bar when they see

Leif:

Chuck enter. Serena uses Carter to ruin another

Leif:

business meeting for Chuck.

Steve:

Yeah, Serena was such an

Steve:

asshole. This was just

Steve:

completely, completely out of line.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

To go in and like, this dude is trying to like,

Steve:

make business deals

Steve:

to make his company money and

Steve:

you're blowing that shit up.

Steve:

like that's. You're taking money out of your

Steve:

mom's pocket. Chuck's

Steve:

business at this point, your mom makes money

Steve:

if Chuck makes money. So you're not only fucking

Steve:

Chuck, you're fucking the

Steve:

entire board.

Leif:

Not necessarily. This seems to be something Chuck's doing.

Steve:

On his own all the same.

Steve:

What an asshole.

Leif:

But that's tracks for Serena. It really

Leif:

is. At the beginning of season two, we had the

Leif:

second Dan and Serena breakup and she just goes

Leif:

cold. She just turns into the ice

Leif:

queen.

Steve:

She'll go to war. Yeah, she'll go to war.

Steve:

And to drag Carter into it as

Steve:

well. And like Carter, you're a

Steve:

dick for going along with this. Even though he

Steve:

didn't realize it until it was.

Leif:

I, have to be fair. Him and Chuck are always fucking with

Leif:

each other anyways.

Steve:

Yes. Yes. But I'm glad he Got

Steve:

pissed.

Leif:

Yeah. Blair is awkwardly

Leif:

trying to avoid being drawn into Star Trek vs

Leif:

Battlestar Galactica debate, which he is saved by

Leif:

the bell. She gets a text from an unlabeled

Leif:

number announcing we're here.

Steve:

It's so. That's so funny. It is so

Steve:

funny that she's standing there hearing it

Steve:

and they're having this debate

Steve:

and then they. They. I really want to know your

Steve:

opinion. No,

Steve:

my. My. My. My brother in

Steve:

Nerdery. You do not want to know her

Steve:

opinion.

Leif:

Dan is catching up with his stalker half

Leif:

brother. Vanessa and Katie join them and it

Leif:

cheers Katie. then begins inadvertently

Leif:

poking holes in Scott's cover story. However, before

Leif:

Dan and Vanessa can question it, they are interrupted.

Steve:

Scott completely shows his crazy here.

Steve:

100%. His reaction

Steve:

is just so fucking weird.

Steve:

Why would you tell her to take that professor? I really liked him.

Steve:

What other professors did you take? I don't want to talk about

Steve:

this.

Leif:

Hey, psycho. Yeah,

Leif:

Not a good look.

Steve:

No. It's almost as if

Steve:

he didn't actually go to NYU this

Steve:

summer. But I don't. I. That's. That would be crazy.

Leif:

And then they are interrupted by Blair taking over

Leif:

the DJ stand to make an

Leif:

announcement. This might have been Blair's most well

Leif:

executed plan ever. She invites the people from Georgina's

Leif:

Jesus camp to, make it look like Georgina was trying to recruit

Leif:

everyone to a cult.

Steve:

Yeah, Blair gives her whole speech

Steve:

about Georgina being this

Steve:

upright Christian person.

Steve:

Really lays into that aspect of it. And

Steve:

then the cult comes in

Steve:

and Blair yells, it's a conversion party.

Steve:

I mean, it's weird

Steve:

Blair's speech,

Steve:

but.

Leif:

Yeah, so I've actually been to things like this

Leif:

at college where, like, it was supposed to be like a, fun get

Leif:

together party.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

And then they hit you with the. Have you heard the Good lord?

Steve:

Yes, I. 100%. Yeah, you're

Steve:

right. I have been to those.

Steve:

I have seen that. I've gone to some.

Steve:

I've even gone to some kind of knowing and then

Steve:

being like, oh, wait, but this guy is telling me

Steve:

it's not like that. And yes,

Steve:

I've definitely fallen for Jesus traps

Steve:

before.

Leif:

And Gossip Girl has this to say as we go to

Leif:

commercial. Seems that Blair

Leif:

Waldorf has finally found Jesus and invited him to crash

Leif:

Georgina's party.

Leif:

Act 5 begins at the bar.

Leif:

Carter is telling Serena that he told her how

Leif:

he feels, but is done being used by

Leif:

her.

Steve:

Fair. You were completely fucking

Steve:

used just because you're the person that would

Steve:

piss Chuck off more than anyone

Steve:

else.

Leif:

At the party, Blair is inviting select Guests

Leif:

to take the limo she has waiting downstairs to her party at

Leif:

the Monkey Bar. Dan has fighted for his loyalty.

Leif:

Vanessa is not.

Steve:

Your name's on the list. Yours is not.

Steve:

What really occurred to me when I saw that. Did she get the

Steve:

name of all of these people to put on a

Steve:

list at Monkey Bar?

Leif:

Sure.

Steve:

Dorota did. Okay,

Steve:

facts fair. Doroda's

Steve:

counterintelligence for sure. Give me

Steve:

the name of every person in that dorm. And then

Steve:

submitting that name with Vanessa's crossed

Steve:

off, that's the list.

Leif:

Katie, however, wants to know what Dan's going

Leif:

to do, and with some encouragement from Vanessa,

Leif:

takes the crown of NYU Right out from under

Leif:

Blair. Dan and Georgina go to grab a

Leif:

beer together. We once again hear Good

Leif:

Girls Gone bad as Blair is seen

Leif:

slinking out of the party alone.

Steve:

So, Dan, super cool thing that you did

Steve:

to save Georgina's party and

Steve:

super cool thing to get up there and

Steve:

stick up for Georgina and call Blair out on

Steve:

her bullshit and everything that she did.

Steve:

Who wants to stay here and drink with

Steve:

me?

Steve:

Someone's feeling their new identity a bit

Steve:

much here. And it's

Steve:

the earlier in that one party scene where Dan's is

Steve:

walking through, and you do hear someone go, hey, Dan. And he,

Steve:

like, kind of nods. So they are establishing

Steve:

this guy is already well liked

Steve:

and popular amongst all these people.

Steve:

It's just so cringe to me to be like, but who

Steve:

wants to stay and hang out with me?

Leif:

And the theme song of the party, as I mentioned, is Good Girls

Leif:

gone bad, which is Cobra. Starship featuring Leighton

Leif:

Meester.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah.

Leif:

And we once again go to commercial with a Gossip Girl

Leif:

narration. oh,

Leif:

B, it looks like your new flock was led astray.

Leif:

And by Dan Humphrey, no less. I guess they

Leif:

know a false prophet when they see one.

Leif:

We go into the epilogue

Leif:

at the loft. Serena and Rufus have a

Leif:

much more productive discussion. Serena is an

Leif:

idiot, but at least Rufus doesn't blow up at her. And he

Leif:

says he wants to help her.

Steve:

Here. Rufus comes in and starts being a better

Steve:

dad.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And starts actually

Steve:

listening. And starts to

Steve:

actually listen as

Steve:

Rufus and not as Mr.

Steve:

Bass. And he

Steve:

really takes in what she

Steve:

says and makes it personal to

Steve:

himself and realizes that he's

Steve:

done something similar. So I

Steve:

really did like how he came around here

Steve:

and said, we'll figure this out.

Leif:

Nate overhears Brie on the phone with her mother trying to

Leif:

defend the relationship. Even though Brie's

Leif:

mother hangs up on her, she and Nate decide to continue the

Leif:

relationship in Hopes that her family will eventually come

Leif:

around. So

Leif:

boring.

Steve:

Part of me wonders now if she was

Steve:

actually talking to her mom or just saying

Steve:

all of those things and then hanging up when Nate walked

Steve:

in. Yeah, I don't want to get into it.

Leif:

if you remember, in the first episode, I pointed out the

Leif:

one thing we learned about Brie's personal life

Leif:

was the story she told.

Steve:

Which one was that?

Leif:

About her cousin being left at the altar.

Steve:

Yes. Oh, yeah.

Steve:

Yep.

Leif:

Blair and Serena are, on the Met steps reminiscing

Leif:

about high school.

Steve:

I love bestie scenes. I love that they

Steve:

brought them together and made sure

Steve:

Blair and Serena, who are now kind

Steve:

of living different lives, came together

Steve:

and still were besties and.

Steve:

And gave a nice sort of recap of the

Steve:

episode. Sort of.

Leif:

Scott is meeting with Vanessa, and he's prepared

Leif:

formal reviews for each professor to present

Leif:

to her. However, I think the show is trying to tell us that

Leif:

Scott's fake feelings for Vanessa might be coming

Leif:

true.

Steve:

No, no, no, no. I totally went here. For real,

Steve:

though. For real. I totally went here. Look, I made.

Steve:

I totally didn't just pull all of this off the Internet.

Steve:

It's also. It occurred to me while

Steve:

we were discussing a previous Scott scene,

Steve:

this is the second time

Steve:

someone used Vanessa to get to

Steve:

Dan to get to someone else.

Steve:

Georgina came in, used Vanessa as

Steve:

a. Another person, as

Steve:

Sarah, to get to Dan to get to

Steve:

Serena, and now Scott

Steve:

comes in using Vanessa to get to

Steve:

Dan to get to Rufus.

Steve:

She's a Martin.

Leif:

Scott's just.

Leif:

He's definitely a Humphrey because he's a horrible liar.

Steve:

He's a. Yeah.

Leif:

Serena finds Carter and apologizes to him.

Leif:

They make out in the middle of the sidewalk. Looks like these

Leif:

guys are going strong.

Steve:

Yep.

Leif:

A defeated Blair climbs into bed with a still

Leif:

sleeping Chuck. It's good that even though these two

Leif:

are failing out, in the world, they still have each

Leif:

other to come home to.

Steve:

It was sweet. It was really

Steve:

sweet to see those two who had such a shit

Steve:

day come back and get into bed

Steve:

and. Yeah, it was. I liked it.

Leif:

A hungover Dan wakes up to a call

Leif:

from Vanessa. He declines the invite to hang out with

Leif:

Scott and her. The camera pans out, and we see

Leif:

Georgina awake with her head in Dan's lap. The two

Leif:

sherry kiss.

Steve:

Oh, Dan.

Leif:

And then Gospel ends the episode with,

Leif:

apparently higher education doesn't make

Leif:

for smarter decisions. So take out your

Leif:

notebooks and sharpen your pencils, kids.

Leif:

Gossip Girl is going to college, and this

Leif:

class has a lot to learn

Leif:

and no xoxo. Gossip Girl.

Steve:

No, there was no XOXO at the end of this one.

Leif:

normally we do predictions here, but obviously you've seen

Leif:

the next few episodes.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Anything from this episode kind of connects. That

Leif:

makes more sense now.

Steve:

like I said, for one, the Brie conversation with

Steve:

her mom, that was a bulb

Steve:

going off. Although at the same

Steve:

time, she has not at this point

Steve:

seen Carter.

Steve:

So that's where that kind of plays out.

Steve:

There was something else. There was another watching

Steve:

back moment that

Steve:

was sort of an oh. And now it's

Steve:

sort of oh. One of the other big things

Steve:

is the Blair and Chuck

Steve:

relationship and how

Steve:

that is, I guess, still

Steve:

going and still

Steve:

pretty strong.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah. And it's just kind of there.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. It's just these two are together having.

Leif:

Some separate stories and.

Steve:

Yeah. And. Yeah. And they'll cross

Steve:

paths, but they don't always

Steve:

interact. Yeah, it's. Yeah,

Steve:

those are probably the big things.

Leif:

That is it for our episode.

Leif:

Let's get into some segments. This

Leif:

week in fandom, we jump in the Wayback Machine to

Leif:

visit the Television without pity forums from

Leif:

2009. Hello there,

Leif:

Peabody here. And this is the Wayback

Leif:

Machine. We're traveling through time. And this is my

Leif:

boy, Sherman.

Steve:

Speak, Sherman. Hello.

Leif:

Good boy. Overall, they

Leif:

like the episode. Good episode.

Steve:

Mm, Yeah, I agree. Solid.

Leif:

The Chuck and Blair scene at the end was very cute.

Leif:

We agreed Nate is boring and

Leif:

completely irrelevant to the plot.

Leif:

Nate, they wished

Leif:

Georgina was a regular.

Steve:

Yeah, Right. Now I'm on board with that.

Steve:

I hated her in season one.

Steve:

I think that she has been

Steve:

phenomenal since she came back, and

Steve:

I think that she really does

Steve:

add a

Steve:

spark. Although at the same time,

Steve:

now that I'm saying all of that, that's all the more

Steve:

reason to use her sparingly.

Leif:

Yeah. Because she's just. She's chaos.

Steve:

She is chaos.

Leif:

Vanessa still sucks. Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Scott is creepy. Yes.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

Dan's popularity continues to grow despite stupid

Leif:

decision to hook up with Georgina.

Steve:

Georgina right now is popular. So

Steve:

it's a stupid decision, but it,

Leif:

Well, I mean, they're pointing out that obviously

Leif:

she's crazy.

Steve:

Yes. But she's playing it so

Steve:

well.

Leif:

And she's hot.

Steve:

She. And she is hot.

Leif:

Serena and Carter are still treading up.

Steve:

Yeah. Okay.

Leif:

But Serena as an individual is an idiot.

Steve:

Yeah. 100%.

Leif:

That is it for television without pity. we can

Leif:

Fandom. So let's go ahead and get some episode

Leif:

grades.

Leif:

You went first last time, so I am going to go first

Leif:

now. Overall, this was a good

Leif:

Episode writing, came together

Leif:

well. I love the Dan and Blair stuff.

Leif:

I love the schemes coming off. And then Dan,

Leif:

at the end, interrupted it and became king of

Leif:

nyu. So I'm going to give this a B plus.

Steve:

I am, pretty much in line with you. I gave it a

Steve:

B. a solid B. I thought

Steve:

it was really well directed. I

Steve:

thought that it had. That most of the writing was

Steve:

good. The Nate stuff. I think that the whole

Steve:

letter grade down instead of going to a B plus

Steve:

comes from my disappointment and realizing how boring

Steve:

Nate is. That really affected me

Steve:

because ultimately, the Nate scenes were really

Steve:

the weak point in this.

Leif:

luckily they were short.

Steve:

Yeah, luckily they were short.

Leif:

Go get into some stock watch

Leif:

going up for me. I had Dan. Obviously,

Leif:

he is now the king of nyu. Georgina,

Leif:

because she is running circles around Blair.

Leif:

Even though Nate and Blair were boring,

Leif:

they're boring. They still are happy and in

Leif:

a new relationship. And then

Leif:

also Rufus, because he came around at the end.

Steve:

I have a lot of the same. I have

Steve:

Dan and Georgina

Steve:

because Georgina right now is also the queen of

Steve:

NYU in the social

Steve:

hierarchy of the show of Gossip Girls.

Steve:

The hierarchy. The king and queen right now are

Steve:

Dan and Georgina.

Steve:

So that's why I have them going.

Steve:

Them both going up. I actually

Steve:

had Carter, going up because he

Steve:

landed Serena. I

Steve:

originally did not. I originally had Rufus

Steve:

going in the middle. I decided to give him the

Steve:

up because that's a change.

Steve:

Yeah, I thought that one was a change.

Steve:

But the third watch

Steve:

gave me a lot more perspective

Steve:

on Rufus, and I gave him the up.

Steve:

And I have Vanessa going

Steve:

up as well. And mostly

Steve:

I have Vanessa going up because she made sense

Steve:

to be there. And it was. I felt

Steve:

that that was a nice change for her. She's a

Steve:

tool. She's getting played, but she's also

Steve:

happy right now, and she doesn't know she's.

Leif:

Getting played going down. I

Leif:

had Serena because she's flailing.

Leif:

Blair because she's flailing.

Leif:

Chuck because his business deals are falling through.

Leif:

and Vanessa because she's getting played.

Steve:

I had Blair and Serena as

Steve:

well for the exact same thing that they are just

Steve:

drowning and what they're trying to

Steve:

do. I had also Chuck going down because

Steve:

he lost this whole business thing that he was trying to put

Steve:

together because Serena is such an asshole.

Steve:

And, I also had Scott going down because

Steve:

Scott is creepy and

Steve:

clearly did not go to NYU and

Steve:

is weird.

Leif:

Fair enough. I just didn't

Leif:

care enough to put him either up or down.

Steve:

But here's the best outfits from the last

Steve:

episode we've seen.

Leif:

Moving over to best outfits

Leif:

for me, I had Blair's purple silk mini

Leif:

dress by Victoria Beckham with the yellow Louis

Leif:

Vuitton punts.

Steve:

I had Chuck's business out.

Steve:

His business, suit that he wore.

Leif:

He changed that one up.

Steve:

Oh, did I?

Leif:

You originally had Blair's party outfit.

Steve:

I also have Blair's party outfit without the headband,

Steve:

so I did write down both. So

Steve:

which one do you want to officially go with? I'm going to officially go with Blair's party

Steve:

outfit without the headband because I realized that

Steve:

the reason that it sounded like I changed is because I changed it

Steve:

last time before this. And

Steve:

so I was reading instead of.

Leif:

Thinking, well,

Leif:

that is it for segments.

Leif:

What are you plugging?

Steve:

Well, for one, you can check out my

Steve:

Instagram or TikTok. Steve

Steve:

Marshon M A R C H I

Steve:

O N. You can also find,

Steve:

me on Blue sky at the Weed Wizard, Although I

Steve:

often forget that I'm on Blue Sky.

Steve:

And other than that, I've been

Steve:

watching, the new Daredevil.

Steve:

I don't know if you've seen any of that, but Daredevil

Steve:

has always been my favorite

Steve:

Marvel character since I can't stand

Steve:

him.

Leif:

He's so boring to me.

Steve:

That's really funny. I've always

Steve:

loved Daredevil ever since

Steve:

they did a, Daredevil Hulk crossover

Steve:

in TV movie,

Steve:

with what's his name? Bigsby.

Steve:

Bigsby. Who played. Who used. Who played the

Steve:

original David Banner? Bruce. Dave. Yeah,

Steve:

it was David Banner in the TV show

Steve:

Lou Ferrigna. That was the Hulk.

Steve:

I'm, trying to think of the guy that played Bruce

Steve:

Banner, but they called him David Banner. Oh,

Steve:

well, but they did a, crossover,

Steve:

and I loved Daredevil ever since. So I actually went

Steve:

back, rewatched Punisher, the

Steve:

season two of Punisher, and now I started watching

Steve:

Daredevil because. Love him.

Leif:

Nothing to plug for me this week. but if you want to follow

Leif:

me on social media, you can find me on,

Leif:

Instagram and on. On Blue Sky. I'm at

Leif:

hotcapicola. That's H O T

Leif:

C A P I C O L

Leif:

A. And if you want to follow the podcast, we

Leif:

are on Instagram threads and

Leif:

TikTok. Ah, nonjudging

Leif:

BreakfastPod. You can also find links to our

Leif:

subreddit, our Discord server, and Patreon

Leif:

on our website,

Leif:

nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com

Leif:

and, if you'd.

Steve:

Like to get in touch with us, we would love to hear what you have to

Steve:

say and as we demonstrated today, we

Steve:

will happily read your questions here

Steve:

on the non judging breakfast pod. please

Steve:

send us an

Steve:

email@nonjudgingbreakfastpodmail.com

Steve:

and we'd love to hear what you have to say. Also, while you're

Steve:

listening, if you could give us a like a

Steve:

follow subscribe and please leave a

Steve:

comment. Those things really help with our visibility on

Steve:

Apple podcasts. And while you're at it,

Steve:

please tell a friend what you're listening to and get

Steve:

other folks to listen as well. And make us

Steve:

your water cooler talk at the end of the week.

Steve:

The start of the week I guess.

Leif:

and we will be back next week to Talk about Season

Leif:

3 Episode 3 the Lost

Leif:

Boy the Max episode description

Leif:

reads Serena thinks Carter is up to

Leif:

old habits.

Steve:

And I rightfully predicted the

Steve:

last time you read that that Serena was going to get

Steve:

a lot of bad information, make a lot of

Steve:

accusations, and turn out to be an asshole

Steve:

at the end of the episode. Although they really

Steve:

played him really well. Yeah, but she was still an

Steve:

answer.

Leif:

Well, until next time. You know you love us.

Steve:

XOXO Every time you walk

Steve:

away, run away you take a piece of me

Steve:

with you there Every

Steve:

time you walk away, run away you take a piece of

Steve:

me with you there

Steve:

Every time you walk away 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 still resting looking for

Steve:

something more

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 or run away you take a

Steve:

piece of me with

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 m

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

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 you there.

Steve:

Come back to me.

Steve:

Smile and you'll make my life

Steve:

complete

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 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 run away 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 meat with you 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
A Gossip Girl Podcast

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