Episode 10

S3E10 - "The Last Days of the Disco Stick"

This week on the Non Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve are diving headfirst into the juicy drama of Gossip Girl Season 3, Episode 10, "The Last Days of the Disco Stick." The Upper East Side is buzzing with secrets, scandal, and enough romantic entanglements to make your head spin. Buckle up, because our favorite characters are tangled in a whirlwind of love triangles and unexpected alliances!

Join Leif and Steve as they break down the chaotic web of relationships, including Serena's not-so-great choices with the dashing but married Trip, and Dan's hilariously awkward attempts to juggle his feelings for both Olivia and Vanessa. As the stakes get higher, prepare for plenty of laughs and some seriously insightful commentary on the ridiculousness of teenage love and the wild ride of friendship.

Oh, and did we mention Lady Gaga makes a surprise cameo? Get ready for a cabaret performance that's equal parts cringeworthy and entertaining—this episode is bound to keep you on the edge of your seat! So grab your favorite breakfast treat, kick back, and get ready for another deliciously dramatic chat that will leave you craving even more Gossip Girl gossip!

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 

Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

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Transcript
Steve:

I want the trip thing to end.

Steve:

Uh, I always want Serena out of

Steve:

relationships because they're always

Steve:

terrible. It's another Eren. It's

Steve:

another Gabriel.

Leif:

So Serena needs to be single and go to therapy.

Steve:

Yes. Yes. My God,

Steve:

everyone on this show needs therapy but Serena.

Leif:

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

Leif:

there, you just tuned into the non judging breakfast pod

Leif:

where the coffee is strong, the waffles are

Leif:

fresh, and the gossip is hotter than ever. My

Leif:

name is Leaf, and I'm your seasoned Gossip Girl veteran.

Steve:

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

Steve:

the. I don't know, Leif. What are we calling me now? It's.

Steve:

We're into season three.

Leif:

Well, I think at this point, the window for our threesome has passed because

Leif:

we're no longer strangers.

Steve:

Guess that depends on the third then, doesn't it?

Leif:

True.

Steve:

So here's the deal, folks.

Steve:

Leif has been watching Gossip Girl since it first aired, and

Steve:

I'm tuning in for the very first time. And together,

Steve:

we're your dynamic duo, bringing you all the

Steve:

drama, romance, and sometimes questionable

Steve:

fashion choices of this iconic

Steve:

2007 series.

Leif:

That's right, bring your magnifying glasses, because each week

Leif:

we're dissecting every juicy detail of the show

Leif:

one episode at a time. We'll connect the dots,

Leif:

uncover those sneaky little Easter eggs, and of course,

Leif:

serve up some piping hot behind the scenes tea. And

Leif:

expect some iconic moments from Phantom too. Because

Leif:

what's a deep dive without a little drama?

Steve:

And since we are all about inclusivity here at the non

Steve:

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

Steve:

the non judging breakfast table. So go ahead and

Steve:

grab your mimosa, your cup of coffee, or

Steve:

go ahead and get some of Chuck's special medicine, and let's get this

Steve:

thing going.

Leif:

So I have binged season five of

Leif:

you.

Steve:

Okay. All right.

Leif:

In a single day.

Steve:

Was it good? Did you do it for the pod or was

Steve:

it good?

Leif:

Well, I mean, I was going to watch it no matter what and I wanted to avoid

Leif:

spoilers. That's the biggest reason why I binged it that

Leif:

way. Overall, I thought it was good.

Leif:

I do have, of course, some issues with it, as you

Leif:

might expect.

Steve:

Wait, Leaf taking issue with

Steve:

it, got.

Leif:

A little too preachy? Uh, it took what

Leif:

was like subtext for the entire series

Leif:

and turned it into a giant marquee.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, that. And

Steve:

here's the lesson I'm trying to teach you folks.

Leif:

And unfortunately, uh, the people they're going for,

Leif:

they were trying to Hammer him. Didn't. Still

Leif:

didn't get the lessons.

Steve:

They never do. Leaf. I've

Steve:

spent a lot of years in education. They never do.

Leif:

So that happened. Um, I really hope Penn

Leif:

gets some Emmy buzz for this

Leif:

because his performance, aside from the story or

Leif:

anything, was amazing. Yeah,

Leif:

he knocked it out of the park.

Steve:

Yeah. Was you nominated before?

Steve:

I feel like it has nominations.

Leif:

Possibly. I'm unsure. I don't really follow that stuff too

Leif:

much.

Steve:

I don't either.

Leif:

Another thing. When I was taking notes, I realized

Leif:

something we never really addressed. Uh, the max

Leif:

background from Gossip Girl. It's the

Leif:

season six DVD cover. There's

Leif:

someone in the middle of that photo.

Steve:

Who? I don't know. Yeah. Oh, I do

Steve:

know that I don't know someone who's on

Steve:

that because I remember a long time

Steve:

ago seeing that and being like, oh, yeah, there's

Steve:

all of the. That's not Jenny.

Leif:

Wow. Jenny changed. Second

Leif:

Jenny.

Steve:

Second Jenny.

Steve:

One of the greatest moments to me,

Steve:

one of the greatest little tiny TV

Steve:

moments was when first

Steve:

Becky made a cameo

Steve:

as Becky on Roseanne again. Or she

Steve:

came back. I guess she came back as Becky

Steve:

for the last few seasons. And when she first

Steve:

walked in, Roseanne said, where

Steve:

have you been? And it just

Steve:

landed perfectly.

Steve:

No shade to Sarah Chalk, though I prefer Sarah

Steve:

Chalk, personally, in everything she's done.

Steve:

I love Sarah Chalk.

Leif:

We are here to talk about Gossip girl Today, Season

Leif:

3, Episode 10, the Last

Leif:

Days of the Disco Stick.

Steve:

Yes. Another season 10

Steve:

or another episode 10. And as you

Steve:

pointed out to me in season one, that that tends to be a

Steve:

Dan Serena thing. That.

Steve:

And we also established last year that that, uh, doesn't mean

Steve:

Dan and Serena. It just means that Dan and

Steve:

Serena have big episodes and they do.

Steve:

And I thought Dan's

Steve:

portion of the episode was better,

Steve:

but I didn't. Not like a lot

Steve:

of the stuff that happened with Serena, but

Steve:

it was a really good Dan

Steve:

Serena focal point, I felt.

Leif:

And the original air date was November 16,

Leif:

2009, which was actually less than a

Leif:

month after the release of the single Bad Romance.

Steve:

Oh, was it that? Was it that soon? So they really got

Steve:

Gaga. Uh, yeah.

Leif:

At the height of. Yeah, her thing.

Steve:

Yeah. I fucking love that song.

Leif:

Like 2008, her first studio album came out the

Leif:

Fame. But that Bad Romance wasn't originally on

Leif:

there, but it was on the re release which was

Leif:

labeled as the fame Munster.

Steve:

Oh, wow. Yeah.

Leif:

But, ah, the single for Bad Romance came out in

Leif:

October of 2009, less than a month.

Steve:

What's funny is that I actually always thought

Steve:

I Don't follow Gaga that closely. I

Steve:

really like a lot of her songs, but I'm not like, a

Steve:

fan. Um, I actually cover Bad Romance.

Steve:

I cover Bad Romance

Steve:

as a medley with Psycho

Steve:

Killer. Because they're essentially the same

Steve:

chords. It's the same song when it comes to chord

Steve:

structure.

Leif:

The episode title was based on the movie the

Leif:

Last Days of Disco.

Steve:

Yeah, I've never seen it. I've

Steve:

heard of the movie.

Leif:

I watched it. It was nothing special.

Leif:

Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Savini were

Leif:

the stars.

Steve:

Isn't it about them kind of falling apart

Steve:

as disco falls apart?

Leif:

Sort of. I mean, like, they're apparently friends. They're just kind

Leif:

of casual friends anyways. But then they, like. Beginning of the movie, they

Leif:

become roommates. And at the. At, uh, the end.

Leif:

By the end, they kind of like fall out. Yeah. Yeah. And

Leif:

yeah, but nothing too exciting.

Steve:

No groundbreaking cinema.

Leif:

There's a lot of people you would recognize in it. I guess the

Leif:

male lead would probably be, uh. I

Leif:

forget the actor's name, but he plays Digger in Gilmore

Leif:

Girls.

Steve:

Okay. I wouldn't know that.

Leif:

Uh, he was Lorelei's

Leif:

love interest for one season.

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

And also Richard's partner.

Steve:

Oh.

Leif:

The episode was written by Laila

Leif:

Gerstein. She last wrote season,

Leif:

uh, three, episode five, Rufus Getting Married,

Leif:

and also wrote season two, episode

Leif:

22, Southern Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Steve:

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Steve:

Credits.

Leif:

Directed by Tony Warmby. Uh,

Leif:

previously has done Victor

Leif:

Victrola, episode seven in season one.

Leif:

Also in season one, episode 12,

Leif:

School Lies, which was the pool party episode.

Steve:

Right. That's the first time we saw Penelope.

Leif:

And Hazel, which also like the.

Leif:

Especially the opening scene. I love the direction on that

Leif:

opening scene. Opening in the pool

Leif:

party.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

It's a really cool shot scene.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Uh, he also did Woman on the Verge,

Leif:

Chuck in real life and in the realm of the Basses.

Steve:

Yeah. I feel like they're well directed episodes for

Steve:

the most part. I feel like Woman on the Verge was

Steve:

a shittier episode, but I also feel like

Steve:

it was directed as well as he can do.

Steve:

You can only work with what you got. I really

Steve:

liked, like you said, School Eyes. I really like Victor

Steve:

Victrola. I thought that was such a

Steve:

great episode. Such a pinnacle episode, you

Steve:

know?

Leif:

And well directed, too.

Steve:

Really well directed. Especially the

Steve:

Chuck, the. The performance he got out of

Steve:

Ed in. That was so good. Yeah. The.

Leif:

In media res at the beginning of the episode, too.

Steve:

Uh, yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

Why don't you go ahead and give us that Vulture recap?

Steve:

All right. Even someone without

Steve:

Blair Waldorf's unerring nose for

Steve:

sexual tension would have caught a whiff of the

Steve:

mamillion scent in the air on Gossip Girl

Steve:

last night. Pheromones

Steve:

course through the characters bodies like so many high

Steve:

grade drugs transported from Holland

Steve:

by a disaffected diplomat's son.

Steve:

The previous episode's menage, we

Steve:

learned, has changed the chemistry of the

Steve:

relationship between Dan, Vanessa and Olivia.

Steve:

After Olivia suspects Dan and Vanessa's

Steve:

feelings for each other go beyond friendship,

Steve:

which Dan awkwardly confirms when, during

Steve:

the gang's ridiculous performance

Steve:

of Snow White, he briefly forgets he is

Steve:

a man who just performed a white rap while dressed

Steve:

as a hipster elf and plants a tender

Steve:

yet masculine kiss on his best

Steve:

lady friend. Meanwhile,

Steve:

Jenny is attracted to trouble like a dog to

Steve:

beggin strips, and Serena is

Steve:

practically in heat over boyish, ruddy

Steve:

cheeked Trip Vanderbilt. After

Steve:

listening to several hours of her helpless

Steve:

yowls, Nate is at, uh, last forced

Steve:

to drug and almost physically restrain her from acting

Steve:

on it. Alas, she breaks free

Steve:

to the expected results. That one

Steve:

probably needs to be spayed.

Leif:

Uh, that all happened.

Steve:

That all happened.

Steve:

Masculine kiss.

Leif:

Act one begins, as usual, with a Gossip

Leif:

Girl monologue, but I want to.

Steve:

Pause here because it's more than just a monologue and

Steve:

I know we're going to get to it, but that shot,

Steve:

the shot that she's talking over.

Steve:

Sorry, go ahead.

Leif:

As a famed literary liar once told

Leif:

Oprah, memory is subjective.

Leif:

Memories can be embellished or denied. But as

Leif:

James Frey knows all too well, the

Leif:

truth always comes out

Leif:

that Dan is having the best day of his

Leif:

life. Walking down the street, high fiving strangers

Leif:

and reminiscing about the threesome.

Steve:

It's so great. High fiving this

Steve:

stranger. And just like on top of the world,

Steve:

Dan and I just fucking loved

Steve:

it. Like, none of the fallout has happened yet.

Steve:

Everything has been normal for him so far. So for

Steve:

him, he's just a dude that had a threesome.

Leif:

Yeah. He hasn't seen Vanessa at all. He's just been hanging out with his girlfriend. It seems

Leif:

like she. She's fly with it.

Steve:

Yeah.

Steve:

The directing again, the opening

Steve:

shot, the square.

Steve:

I forget what it's called when you have the tiles like that.

Steve:

Which was also very. Yeah, sorry.

Steve:

Yeah. It was so good.

Leif:

Mhm M. Serena is leaving

Leif:

repeated voicemails for Blair saying what

Leif:

she saw with Serena and Trip wasn't what

Leif:

player thought it was great.

Steve:

Of course not, Serena. Of course it wasn't. Yeah, no,

Steve:

no. What you saw when you saw me drooling over this

Steve:

guy That I was talking really close

Steve:

to. That's not what we were doing.

Leif:

Lingering touches meant nothing at all.

Steve:

Nothing at all.

Leif:

Blair ignores Serena's call as, uh, she and Chuck

Leif:

stroll through the park. Blair and Chuck

Leif:

both agree that Blair has a keen nose for sexual

Leif:

tension. Blair lays out her plans to impress

Leif:

the Tisch kids. Chuck, on the other hand,

Leif:

will be showing a diplomat's son around New

Leif:

York in an effort to build his European

Leif:

clientele.

Steve:

I don't, I don't speak with liars and

Steve:

Lewinsky's, which

Steve:

Monica gets such a bad rap. I

Steve:

always, for years, I felt really bad for

Steve:

her. Because you're an intern working for the

Steve:

president. Yeah. Like, there's a

Steve:

serious power dynamic here and

Steve:

America. Like, slut shamed her

Steve:

for something that the most powerful man in the world

Steve:

did. Like. Are you fucking

Steve:

kidding me?

Leif:

Yeah. Ah, well, uh, uh, not surprising.

Steve:

No.

Leif:

But at least she got millions of dollars out of it.

Steve:

She did. She did. She's funny as shit

Steve:

too. Like, I've seen her do more recent interviews,

Steve:

like past five years, and

Steve:

she's. She's really funny too.

Leif:

Dan tells Nate about the threesome, expecting a pat

Leif:

on the back. However, Nate points out that the third person

Leif:

should always be a stranger. Dan, though, is

Leif:

insistent that he and Vanessa can still be friends.

Leif:

Just then, Vanessa walks up and she and Dan

Leif:

awkwardly greet each other before agreeing on a friends

Leif:

date for tonight.

Steve:

Two girls, four boobs, one Dan Humphrey.

Leif:

How awesome is that?

Steve:

How awesome is that? Nate's

Steve:

reaction. I've been to Europe. My best

Steve:

friend is Chuck Bass.

Leif:

I know things.

Steve:

I know things. Everyone knows. The third is

Steve:

supposed to be a stranger.

Steve:

I loved this was also,

Steve:

again, Nate got to be funny.

Steve:

And when chance gets to be funny,

Steve:

when Chase gets to be funny. That's my

Steve:

favorite Nate stuff.

Leif:

Mhm.

Steve:

And I really thought that this was a. A great

Steve:

Nate episode. And also

Steve:

I had these two separate things, but the.

Steve:

Yeah, we've had this tradition for years. Let's go

Steve:

tonight. If you've had this tradition for years, wouldn't you

Steve:

be scoping out tickets for, like,

Steve:

wouldn't you have your tickets already?

Leif:

I guess he probably plays in New York quite a bit.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

The oppression I got.

Steve:

And like, yeah, they pop down when they

Steve:

want to.

Leif:

Whenever they go see Morrison, they go together.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. But still.

Leif:

It was definitely forced.

Steve:

It was.

Steve:

Yeah. Uh, yeah. I felt like they could find a better

Steve:

tradition. Banging a third.

Steve:

Nope, that's not really a tradition yet.

Leif:

Blair finds the Tisch students at the NYU

Leif:

cafe. Despite her best efforts to impress Them, the

Leif:

theater kids clearly look down on Blair.

Steve:

The Tisch kids suck

Steve:

so bad. The thing is, as

Steve:

a high, uh, school and college theater

Steve:

kid. Yeah. Yep. Like,

Steve:

I can imagine just the way regular high school

Steve:

theater kids are. I'm sure it's not

Steve:

totally accurate, but the mental image of the Tisch

Steve:

kids being regular theater kids out of 10

Steve:

just warmed my heart. I loved the way

Steve:

they portrayed them.

Leif:

I mentioned in an earlier episode how at a certain

Leif:

point in the season, they start taking some shots at Harvey

Leif:

Weinstein, and now his name is

Leif:

never directly referenced. But I

Leif:

gotta, like, they bet. You know who, like, she.

Leif:

They like, they eventually. Willow Weinstein.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, they said. They said her last name.

Leif:

You know, who she. You know. Yeah, she's with.

Leif:

So it's assumed that she's like a

Leif:

daughter or a niece or something.

Steve:

Yeah, I totally assumed that she was a

Steve:

relative of Harvey. Yeah.

Leif:

So she's going to be a recurring character.

Steve:

Oh, okay.

Leif:

Paul is as well.

Steve:

I kind of figured Paul at least was going to have a few episodes

Steve:

because he and Vanessa were chumming up.

Leif:

At the end, Dan and Olivia are walking

Leif:

together, talking about their respective futures. Dan

Leif:

tells Olivia about the date with Vanessa. Olivia

Leif:

hesitates for half a second before giving her consent to

Leif:

the outing.

Steve:

I don't think Olivia is okay with it.

Leif:

No. Dan's

Leif:

oblivious.

Steve:

Dan is oblivious.

Leif:

What could possibly go wrong? I mean, Dan's way.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

At the penthouse, Lily and Jenny are trying to find

Leif:

Jenny a date for a gala. Rufus has a spit take

Leif:

when he hears one of the guys gave six

Leif:

girls gonorrhea of the throat. Chuck

Leif:

comes to drop something off for Lily with the

Leif:

ambassador's son in tow. Lily

Leif:

suggests that Jenny should show him around. And when Jenny

Leif:

gets a look at those European cheekbones, she is

Leif:

one eager beaver.

Steve:

That spit take, Rufus's spit take was

Steve:

fantastic. It just

Steve:

flowed so well, I thought that.

Leif:

I mean, even if you ever heard of gonorrhea throw. He's a

Leif:

rock star. He's heard of gonorrhea.

Steve:

You know, gonorrhea is.

Leif:

He could put two and two together.

Steve:

Yeah, it's gonorrhea in the throat,

Steve:

Rufus. My

Steve:

first pass, I was like, lily

Steve:

finding a date for Jenny for this thing seems

Steve:

weird. And then when I really thought about it,

Steve:

it's like, no, this makes perfect sense that

Steve:

Lily is really kind of

Steve:

mentoring Jenny as queen

Steve:

now. Yeah, that. Oh, yeah, I understand there's a

Steve:

gala. You need a date. I'll help you out. Like, of course. I

Steve:

know everybody in the fucking city.

Leif:

Well, it's Also, uh, I think it's implied. It's like

Leif:

a family outing, too. It's a gala the family's going to,

Leif:

and she needs an appropriate date for a family outing.

Steve:

Yes. But, uh, I think it's a little bit of

Steve:

both, though, because we've seen Lily really kind

Steve:

of help Jenny be queen at times.

Steve:

What can this diplomat's son do?

Leif:

Blair tracks down Olivia in the dorm hallway to ask for

Leif:

advice on winning over superficial actors. Olivia

Leif:

shows she can play the game when she immediately forms a plan to

Leif:

keep Dan and Vanessa apart.

Steve:

Yep. Now we have Olivia's baby's first

Steve:

scheme, right? Well, I guess not really. I guess she kind of

Steve:

schemed earlier on when she acted like

Steve:

an asshole. M. But this is, like, her first real

Steve:

big scheme.

Leif:

At Trip's office, he and Serena flirt some

Leif:

more. They get awfully close to kissing when they

Leif:

are interrupted by Maureen. Maureen suggests

Leif:

that Serena be the one to help Trip pack the home

Leif:

office. Gossip Girl brings us to the first act

Leif:

break with this advice.

Leif:

Don't forget yourself, Congressman. Your marriage could

Leif:

wind up in a million little pieces.

Steve:

Trip can't not be

Steve:

creepy. He just. Serena

Steve:

walks in, and he gives her this look of like

Steve:

he's got those crazy eyes. Yeah, he does.

Steve:

Also, Serena, you don't need. Just because Maureen

Steve:

suggested this. You don't need to go to his house and help.

Leif:

Also, if this office stuff is

Leif:

so sensitive, can't he just pack it himself?

Leif:

It's one office. Seriously?

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Be an adult.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And also, I know you've mentioned in the past you

Leif:

watch with closed captions on. Have you noticed that

Leif:

within the episodes consistent. But from episode to episode,

Leif:

sometimes they do Trip with two P's and one, sometimes with one

Leif:

piece.

Steve:

I did not notice that. I've only noticed the two P's.

Steve:

So it's funny, because all my notes, I always write down

Steve:

Trip with two P's because that's how I've noticed it.

Steve:

And then I saw that you had it somewhere. Oh, no, it was the

Steve:

Vulture report had it as one, and that's what made

Steve:

me think of that. So I didn't. I

Steve:

have noticed it with Lily. With having

Steve:

one L or two in Lily. I

Steve:

think now it's consistently one. Uh,

Steve:

but I feel season one, it was

Steve:

inconsistent in how they spelled her name, too.

Steve:

I wonder if that's autocorrect.

Leif:

Uh, no, it's just different people doing the closed

Leif:

captions.

Steve:

Yeah, I would actually assume that most

Steve:

of the closed captions are AI at this. Well, I guess probably not

Steve:

then, though.

Leif:

Act two. Nate is at the Empire on

Leif:

the phone with his mother. Nate is telling her not to forgive

Leif:

the grandfather. Their conversation is

Leif:

interrupted by Serena, who has come by to talk

Leif:

about her.

Steve:

And Tripp off Cam Ann.

Steve:

And then, uh, I think

Steve:

I'm about to get involved with a married man.

Steve:

Hey, I've got advice. Don't.

Steve:

You're the one getting involved

Steve:

here. You don't have to be around this person. You

Steve:

don't have to work for them. You can

Steve:

work elsewhere, or just don't see them

Steve:

for 24 hours and keep working for them here in New York

Steve:

while they're nowhere near you. The I'm about

Steve:

to do this thing is just so

Steve:

fucking dumb. Everything that comes out. I

Steve:

want to. I also want to clarify. I do not

Steve:

blame the writing on this,

Steve:

because it's so Serena. Oh, yeah, it's so fucking

Steve:

Serena. Every dumb fucking thing that comes out of

Steve:

her mouth for the remainder of this episode.

Steve:

It's so Serena. It's written

Steve:

perfectly, despite how fucking

Steve:

dumb all of it is.

Leif:

100%. Vanessa and

Leif:

Olivia are in the dorm room trying to pretend that things aren't

Leif:

awkward since the threesome. Olivia hides how

Leif:

threatened by Dan and Vanessa's history she is and

Leif:

apologizes, saying that she had signed herself and Dan up for

Leif:

Cabaret ages ago.

Steve:

She's avoiding you. That is true.

Leif:

Vanessa.

Steve:

Uh, she's like, are you avoiding me? No, of

Steve:

course not. Yes, she is. She's

Steve:

not okay with things.

Leif:

Well, I mean, they finally got smart and decided to hang out at the loft,

Leif:

you know, instead of hanging out in the little dorm room all the time.

Steve:

His place he has to himself.

Leif:

Nate is rightfully pointing out that she can't have an affair

Leif:

with Trip. Nate tells her that too many

Leif:

people made sacrifices to get Tripp where he is now.

Leif:

He leaves unsaid that he is one of those people.

Steve:

Is this where he also has the call from

Steve:

Dan, um, that

Steve:

he gets off the phone, or is that later?

Leif:

I think that's later.

Steve:

Okay. But still, I really liked. Again, this

Steve:

is. Everything Serena is saying

Steve:

is fucking dumb. I'm

Steve:

really glad that she and Nate made up, though. It

Steve:

was. It was really good. It's nice to see Nate

Steve:

not being a dick, because Nate really was being a

Steve:

dick for a bit. I understand why and

Steve:

why he was led that way. Again, I don't

Steve:

think Nate does anything because Nate wants to. I think

Steve:

Nate just follows the shiny. And if the shiny is

Steve:

Nate being a dick, he's going to be a dick.

Steve:

And I really like seeing this Nate again.

Steve:

And I really like them making up.

Leif:

Jenny is with the diplomat's son, who we learn is

Leif:

named Damien Dalgard. Walking in the

Leif:

park, Jenny is at first giddy with glee when the

Leif:

Chapin mean girls see her with a hot older guy,

Leif:

but is quickly mortified when Damian rents a toy

Leif:

sailboat to play with.

Steve:

I think that one of those things that. Where

Steve:

Jenny lacks coolness

Steve:

because the whole thing is she always has to be cool. But the

Steve:

number one rule of being cool is, whatever you're doing, you

Steve:

fucking own it.

Leif:

You. Yeah.

Steve:

And so when you're sitting there like, oh, my God, this guy I'm with is playing

Steve:

with a boat, it makes you look like

Steve:

an idiot. And it makes you look like you're with someone who's an

Steve:

idiot. But if you're like, yeah, we're fucking playing with boats,

Steve:

if you're the queen, what you do is cool. So,

Steve:

yeah, guess what we're doing now? We're playing with fucking boats. Now,

Steve:

girls from other school, get your fucking boats.

Leif:

Also, I didn't see any other kids there.

Steve:

It was all adults playing with the boats. It was like

Steve:

all grown men. All

Steve:

single dads who have their

Steve:

weekend without the kids.

Steve:

Good. I like to go sell the boats when the kids aren't here because

Steve:

they just get in the way and ruin the boats.

Steve:

No, I'm controlling the boat now, son.

Leif:

We saw Rufus down there.

Leif:

Rufus is in the background.

Steve:

Oh, just so relaxed.

Leif:

Dan and Olivia are meeting with the Tisch students at the

Leif:

cafe. Dan is then shocked to find out that

Leif:

Blair is part of the team. Dan is starting to

Leif:

wonder why he had to cancel his plans with Vanessa to direct

Leif:

a Snow White Lady Gaga musical starring Blair

Leif:

Waldorf. Olivia attempts to smooth things over by

Leif:

saying she already talked to Vanessa and that things are

Leif:

fine.

Steve:

And this is happening, like, tonight. Right.

Steve:

The. Is it tonight or tomorrow that

Steve:

the theater thing is.

Leif:

I feel like they had one rehearsal.

Steve:

Yeah, I feel like they had one night.

Steve:

But, like, Dan just wrote a musical in a day.

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

And not only did. Okay, yeah,

Steve:

I'll get to that.

Leif:

In the show's universe, it's also a good musical.

Steve:

Yeah, it's really good.

Leif:

And it impressed the Tish students.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. Ah. That he wrote

Steve:

overnight, but not even because he had to, like, because they rehearse

Steve:

it that day, too. And Olivia is so bad at scheming.

Leif:

M.

Leif:

Back at the park, Jenny is leaving a voicemail for Chuck,

Leif:

complaining about the boring Belgian. However,

Leif:

Damien returns with a different sailboat and points out that

Leif:

the boats were just cover for a drug Deal.

Steve:

Ooh.

Leif:

So sexy.

Steve:

Yeah, he's a bad, bad boy.

Steve:

Jenny with daddy issues.

Leif:

Yeah, they made sure to slip that

Leif:

in.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Leif:

Dan calls Nate to ask advice on his

Leif:

situation. Nate tells Dan that he needs to

Leif:

convince Olivia that Vanessa and him are just friends.

Steve:

Nate being everybody's therapist in this episode

Steve:

is so cute. I

Steve:

loved this. I loved Nate and Dan and Nate,

Steve:

like, giving him advice and coming in and saying

Steve:

Serena, like, yeah, Dan's got girl trouble.

Steve:

And the. Yeah.

Leif:

We immediately transition to Nate giving advice to Serena on

Leif:

the Trip situation. Nate is definitely giving Dr.

Leif:

Drew this episode. Ask Nate to point out a capital

Leif:

of New York on a map, and he probably becomes Nate fused.

Leif:

But ask him to navigate the treacherous waters of love

Leif:

triangles and affairs with married people, and, you know,

Leif:

it'll be smooth sailing.

Steve:

Yeah, I mean, he's. He's the Stephen Hawking

Steve:

of illicit affairs.

Leif:

And with Nate's coaching,

Leif:

Serena calls Trip to tell him that she won't be coming

Leif:

over. Nate promises to keep Serena from making

Leif:

a mistake until Trip leaves for Washington.

Steve:

He's such a fucking

Steve:

creepy. I had a feeling you'd

Steve:

be saying that. Aw,

Steve:

Ma, I can't bang a teenager in my office,

Steve:

uh, while I'm married before I know my

Steve:

wife sucks.

Leif:

Trip's maid informs him that Anne Archbold

Leif:

is at the house to see him off.

Steve:

Came Ann again.

Leif:

Couldn't afford her sagrade.

Steve:

Couldn't.

Leif:

Those damn unions. Dan goes

Leif:

to Vanessa's dorm room to apologize about Morrissey

Leif:

and asks her to help with the cabaret. Dan

Leif:

innocently lets slip that Olivia only signed them up

Leif:

for the cabaret this morning and not weeks ago, like she told

Leif:

Vanessa.

Steve:

Now, Dan wrote this play in, like, an hour,

Steve:

right? And Blair gets

Steve:

the script, opens it, and says, wow,

Steve:

this isn't bad.

Steve:

She just osmosis read

Steve:

the script.

Leif:

Yeah, that hasn't happened yet, but not even.

Steve:

Oh, I thought that was right there.

Leif:

This is where Dan goes to Vanessa's.

Steve:

Oh, you're right. I'm sorry.

Leif:

So you get.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

He recruits Vanessa. Uh, and he lets slip the.

Steve:

Not.

Leif:

You know, he had no reason to hide it, but he. Let's let the

Leif:

Olivia only sign him up.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

This morning.

Steve:

Yeah. Ah, to him, it was not a, uh, it was not an

Steve:

issue because he. Yeah.

Leif:

Now, at the cafe, Dan gives Olivia, Blair, and the

Leif:

Minions their scripts while explaining their adapted roles.

Leif:

He also introduces the new director, Vanessa.

Leif:

Uh, neither Blair nor Olivia are happy about this

Leif:

last bit.

Steve:

So again, Dan writes this in an

Steve:

hour. Blair reads it in, like, one round,

Steve:

like, six seconds.

Steve:

And then, and now we have Dan

Steve:

catching the scheme and

Steve:

scheming back with Vanessa.

Steve:

And that tension between Vanessa and Olivia

Steve:

just immediately.

Leif:

Well, yeah, so that comes up. So we go

Leif:

to commercial there and I come back from commercial for Act

Leif:

3. Olivia, ever the actress,

Leif:

immediately covers for her disappointment. She plays it off as thinking

Leif:

herself stupid for not asking V herself.

Leif:

The ladies take veiled shots at each other.

Leif:

Blair whispers to Dan the equivalent of, get

Leif:

your, uh, ladies under control, bro. Yeah,

Leif:

the two of them taking her extremely misogynistic speech.

Leif:

Psychos.

Steve:

Oh, man. Uh, yeah,

Steve:

Blair. It's

Steve:

2009, Blair.

Steve:

We don't blame women being irritated on their

Steve:

periods. It's men.

Leif:

Uh, yeah, but Blair, the way she, like, slid up

Leif:

behind Dan made me laugh.

Steve:

Blair, again, I really

Steve:

liked just the directing of this

Steve:

entire episode. Blair's

Steve:

role in this episode, going from

Steve:

being the always scheming and the plot is

Steve:

always about her trying to get her way. In so many

Steve:

of these episodes that was sidelined,

Steve:

like, that was a secondary thing to just bring

Steve:

this plot in. And her little

Steve:

popping up moments are just

Steve:

perfect in this episode. I didn't realize

Steve:

that that was two separate scenes.

Steve:

Uh, it blended for me. I guess I looked down

Steve:

to take a note or something.

Leif:

And Damien is asking

Leif:

Jenny about her life. And it seems like Jenny is

Leif:

already bored with being queen. Damian

Leif:

offers to help her spice up her life by

Leif:

coming to his drug pickup later.

Steve:

Refill my boat. Sounds sexual.

Steve:

Especially how, uh, he says it. He's like, I'm gonna meet someone else later

Steve:

who's gonna refill my boat.

Leif:

Nate and Serena are having a little friends date of their own

Leif:

by the same pond as before. Nate, ever

Leif:

the gentleman, wipes some gelato from Serena's upper

Leif:

lip and stops Serena from answering Trip's call.

Steve:

I really like Serenate. I really

Steve:

feel Serenade. I feel like

Steve:

they're. I feel like they're going to happen eventually.

Steve:

But I honestly feel like they'd be a really good

Steve:

couple because they're both just

Steve:

fucking Labradors. See, you could just tie them

Steve:

together.

Leif:

I think they would be good couple for a bit. But

Leif:

because of their nature of the fact that anytime

Leif:

anyone flirts with them, they're going to flirt back eventually. One

Leif:

of them would cheat, right?

Steve:

You need to handcuff them together at all times. And then

Steve:

they were the perfect couple. Like, never let them leave

Steve:

each other's side and they'll be in love with each

Steve:

other forever. But you're right, the second one of them

Steve:

is in the orbit of a handsome

Steve:

person. They're going to immediately sploosh

Steve:

and just go running after the new shiny.

Leif:

So they're at the same pond. Was Nate picking up some drugs while he

Leif:

was there? Because

Leif:

apparently this is a known spot. I, uh, mean, at least that's sort

Leif:

of what I got from the later scene with Chuck. Cause he mentions,

Leif:

like, when he found out they were at that pond, he knew something

Leif:

was up. He searched their room. So apparently that's like a known

Leif:

drug pickup spot. That's.

Steve:

That's a really good way. Now,

Steve:

also, is that the same pond where he likes to take

Steve:

Blair? Does he just really like to

Steve:

double up on his. You know, he's just, uh, efficient

Steve:

with his time.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

I want to take you on a really sweet date. I just need to play with some

Steve:

boats quick.

Leif:

At the rehearsal, things are starting to unravel as

Leif:

Olivia and Vanessa's shots are becoming less

Leif:

veiled. Everyone quickly figures out that they

Leif:

had a threesome. Blair also points out that the third

Leif:

person is always a stranger. And Gossip Girl has some

Leif:

advice for Dan as well.

Leif:

Uh, oh, playwright, better whip out your pen.

Leif:

Looks like this cabaret just became a one man show.

Steve:

Vanessa was being an asshole. And

Steve:

I feel like Vanessa is not fighting about

Steve:

Dan as much as the fighting

Steve:

about lying to me this morning and

Steve:

lying about this thing that you put together.

Steve:

That was just more my impression. But I still felt like Vanessa was

Steve:

being an asshole and, like the boxing her out.

Steve:

But then the other thing about this scene,

Steve:

uh, I m. Don't think you said it yet. Did you

Steve:

talk about the box out?

Leif:

Um, so that sort of happens here.

Leif:

Um, yeah, the episode, definitely. I like how it

Leif:

highlights the fact that people remember the same

Leif:

event happening differently.

Steve:

Yes, yes. That Dan

Steve:

earlier, in his imagination of it

Steve:

with everything being just hot and everything

Steve:

being the perfect threesome.

Steve:

And then I really loved

Steve:

the take of him, of her

Steve:

shoving Olivia aside. Olivia

Steve:

aside. It took me to Lizzie

Steve:

McGuire, to the kind of cuts that

Steve:

they would do on that show. And I almost felt like that

Steve:

was an homage to Lizzie McGuire at

Steve:

how slapstick and how quick that

Steve:

cut was.

Leif:

Possibly. I've never seen that show, so I can't really say

Leif:

the other thing. Is I on the scene? Uh, yet another

Leif:

person knows that Vanessa is just in love with

Leif:

Dan.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

And we move into Act 4.

Leif:

As we return from the commercial, we get, uh, interposing scenes of

Leif:

Blair separately blackmailing Olivia and Vanessa.

Leif:

Episode director Tony Warmby uses some

Leif:

clever screen cuts to get around the censors.

Steve:

Uh, in the previous scene, Dan says to Blair

Steve:

that's fine. I'm going to go talk to her. Talk to them. And Blair

Steve:

goes in which order? And his look

Steve:

of just.

Leif:

Oh, shit, I don't know. Fuck. Exactly.

Steve:

Yeah. And Blair's like, exactly. Now I have

Steve:

the. I have some women to bribe. And when you see

Steve:

her in these fucking interrogation

Steve:

chambers with the lights shining

Steve:

on them and the cut between the two

Steve:

scenes, uh, fucking Blair is

Steve:

amazing.

Leif:

In this alternative chick. Abrams is literally

Leif:

a star.

Leif:

Nate and Serena are doing shots at the bar while

Leif:

reminiscing about the shepherd winning and the events that

Leif:

started it all. Nate steps away to take a call from

Leif:

Trip, who just learned from Ann that Maureen was

Leif:

responsible for the Hudson hero scheme.

Steve:

This was cute. Like Nate and Serena. And

Steve:

it's so funny, their whole him

Steve:

talking about the shepherd wedding, them talking about doing

Steve:

first time being drunk together since then.

Steve:

Then you get this Trip call and it's like

Steve:

Nate gets this info and he's like, shit,

Steve:

like he's spiraling. I've really got to

Steve:

keep these two away from each other. This has just

Steve:

gotten turned up a notch because the other. Because

Steve:

Trip instantly is ready to just fucking pull the

Steve:

ripcord on this marriage. It's like, man, she did

Steve:

this thing. Wow. Now there's no way we could

Steve:

ever be together again. Wow. She got me elected to

Steve:

this office. I don't know if I can ever

Steve:

look at her the same and I hear the

Steve:

words you're saying, but it sounds like you're making

Steve:

excuses to bang a teenager. It looks

Steve:

sounds like you're trying to. Trying to end your

Steve:

marriage because you want to bang a teenager just a little

Steve:

bit.

Leif:

At a nightclub, Damian offers Jenny a chance to leave

Leif:

or go to another table before the drug deal goes down.

Leif:

However, Jenny declines the offer and

Leif:

nervously agrees to stay.

Steve:

Jenny, you're not cut for this life.

Leif:

It's exciting. It's

Leif:

exciting.

Steve:

Jenny, you're, uh. This is not.

Steve:

This is dumb. Jenny, you're being dumb. And

Steve:

again, like with the writing of this episode,

Steve:

Jenny is being really dumb in a way that Jenny would

Steve:

be dumb. Like it really captures the

Steve:

flaws of these characters. In this

Steve:

episode, it looks like the.

Leif:

Cabaret night has begun and we are seeing a glimpse of

Leif:

Will Weinstein's play. Blair

Leif:

assures Dan that Vanessa and Olivia will show up, which

Leif:

they immediately do.

Steve:

The sexual Little Red Riding

Steve:

Hood is again

Steve:

so college theater. It is exactly what

Steve:

college kids would do if they were trying to put on a grown

Steve:

up version of a fairy tale show.

Steve:

I loved it. I really loved how

Steve:

it just took me back to Being

Steve:

a college kid and being a super cringy

Steve:

theater kid, this scene did.

Leif:

This is like kind of the one knock from the

Leif:

directing. The fact Dan's like, wondering where

Leif:

Olivia and Vanessa are, but, like, you can literally see

Leif:

Vanessa walking in in the background as he's saying that.

Leif:

Give a little pause. Give it a moment to breathe.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

But I guess they had to get that stupid Rufus joke in about

Leif:

not knowing about gonorrhea.

Steve:

Yeah, they needed the extra second

Steve:

for the gonorrhea joke. Otherwise Blair

Steve:

could have taken, you know, a minute to read the

Steve:

script.

Leif:

Dan is glad Olivia showed up. Olivia mentions

Leif:

that Blair didn't give her a choice and also admits that

Leif:

it wasn't so much Vanessa that she had been worried about.

Leif:

She was more worried about how Dan looked at Vanessa and

Leif:

kissed her during the threesome. And it sounds like

Leif:

Gossip Girl agrees.

Leif:

Hey, Prince Charming. Looks like it's time for you to

Leif:

look in this enchanted mirror.

Steve:

Olivia, first of all, this is all your fault.

Steve:

You started this threesome.

Leif:

Mhm.

Steve:

Olivia, you're the one who has a problem here.

Steve:

Dan is telling you, I'm not into

Steve:

Vanessa, I'm into you. Now

Steve:

let's look back at the fact that,

Steve:

yes, there's probably feelings there.

Steve:

There's definitely history there. Do we know if they've

Steve:

banged Vanessa and Dan

Steve:

prior to this?

Leif:

No. Because he was a virgin and season one.

Steve:

You're right. With Serena, you're right. But we do know that

Steve:

there was history. Olivia can't

Steve:

accept when he says, no,

Steve:

I'm with you. And no matter what you

Steve:

saw with the. You kissed her like you never kissed me.

Steve:

You don't know that. And you don't know what that means.

Steve:

And so you're putting all of this

Steve:

stuff on this relationship

Steve:

and making it a problem instead of being like,

Steve:

well, we banged his friend, let's move

Steve:

on and just let them be friends. Because

Steve:

Dan isn't going after Vanessa right

Steve:

now. Dan's just going. Trying to have his friends

Steve:

still.

Leif:

And also, this is like, probably my biggest

Leif:

complaint about this episode. And, uh, it's probably

Leif:

just because they didn't have Hillary Duff anymore after

Leif:

this, so they had to get her out quick.

Leif:

But, like, her whole big thing was

Leif:

she was so, like, into the school, like,

Leif:

you know, getting this time off from, you know, acting to go to

Leif:

school.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And she immediately gives it up because she.

Steve:

Over a boy.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah. You. You could also just break up.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And you could also. If you're worried about rooming with

Steve:

Vanessa, I bet you've got the Clout to find a different

Steve:

room, too.

Leif:

Or just renting that off.

Steve:

Or rent an apartment. Moving with Nate because, uh,

Steve:

apparently you can really get quick to.

Steve:

Even though he's.

Leif:

Well, Nate's living with Chuck.

Steve:

Chuck's with. Yeah, I forgot. It's funny because when

Steve:

Serena went to Nate, it looked like

Steve:

Nate's. It reminded me of the apartment that

Steve:

Nate rented for him and Blair

Steve:

last season.

Leif:

M. That's why I was thinking that Act

Leif:

5 begins. The lady Gaga Snow White

Leif:

cabaret show is here. And our earbuds

Leif:

are treated to awkward white boy rap and cringe

Leif:

Faux pop star singing.

Steve:

Yeah, Olivia sucked in this

Steve:

play. Yes. Could you imagine being.

Leif:

Well, Dan sucked, too.

Steve:

Dan sucked, too. But Dan's not an actor. Right.

Steve:

Dan's not trying to be an actor. He's a writer who

Steve:

got put into the role of acting.

Leif:

And in fact, it's canon that his

Leif:

acting is bad.

Steve:

Yes. It was really good

Steve:

acting of Penn Badgley.

Steve:

It's sort of like singing out of time or singing out a

Steve:

key. It's hard to do

Steve:

if you know how to do it well. M. So it was really

Steve:

good acting of Penn Badgley to make Dan a terrible

Steve:

actor. Olivia looked like a

Steve:

lazy actor.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

You know, like, she was upset and didn't want to put anything into

Steve:

it. And I just kept thinking, like, imagine

Steve:

being one of these theater kids, and it's like, wow, this movie

Steve:

star is doing this play here,

Steve:

and I'm better than that. I

Steve:

could do that. I like that

Steve:

they gave her a chance to sing, too. We know you like to sing,

Steve:

Hillary. But they didn't even let her. Like, it was really bad.

Steve:

Yeah, it was like, it was flat. Right. It

Steve:

was in key, but it just had nothing behind it.

Leif:

At the club, Jenny is literally right in the

Leif:

middle of a drug deal when she is saved by Chuck, of all

Leif:

people. Jenny says Chuck is overreacting,

Leif:

but, dude, he's Chuck Bass. And even Europeans must

Leif:

know what that means. Chuck

Leif:

escorts Jenny out of the club.

Steve:

I loved that. I'm Chuck Bass.

Steve:

Even Europeans should know what that means.

Steve:

I love how

Steve:

I believe his first time saying that

Steve:

was poison ivy when

Steve:

they're interviewing him. Why should we let you go to this school?

Steve:

I'm Chuck Bass, and I love how that

Steve:

has grown to now be an international

Steve:

phrase, that if you step foot in New York,

Steve:

you understand what I'm Chuck Bass means.

Leif:

Dan gets to show off more of his beat poetry, and

Leif:

then Vance, because Olivia is nowhere to be found.

Leif:

Blair shows Vanessa out on stage, who says she is, uh, a post

Leif:

Plastic surgery. Snow White.

Steve:

Yeah, that was funny.

Leif:

Speaking of second. Becky's.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

@ the bar, Nate and Serena are still drinking and Nate

Leif:

admits that he tried to tell Serena that he loved her two

Leif:

years ago at the masquerade ball. They are about to

Leif:

kiss when they are interrupted by Trip.

Steve:

Serena, you loved me. It's

Steve:

like instant, like snake.

Leif:

They just both can't help themselves.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah. It's like somebody loves me, dad.

Steve:

And then when Trip comes in, he's like, oh, am

Steve:

I interrupting something? Yes. You, uh, are.

Steve:

Yes.

Steve:

You are married. Congressman.

Steve:

Why don't you go your own way and find an

Steve:

age appropriate. Not intern to go back

Steve:

get a.

Leif:

Hooker like every other politician.

Steve:

Yeah. Come on. Yeah.

Steve:

Fucking yeah. Uh, how

Steve:

indignant he was, how offended he

Steve:

was that Nate was out with the teenager he

Steve:

wants to bang.

Leif:

Yeah. In the final scene of Dan's

Leif:

play, Vanessa is lying asleep on the couch and everyone

Leif:

cheers for Dan to kiss her. He finally does

Leif:

so and flashes back from the to the kiss from the

Leif:

threesome gossip. Um, girl ends the act with

Leif:

Snow White lives. But are Dan and Olivia

Leif:

dead?

Steve:

I didn't love. I feel like they

Steve:

accomplished what they were going for. I don't love that that's what they were

Steve:

going for. I would have rather seen Dan

Steve:

kiss Vanessa and be like, yeah, nothing,

Steve:

you know, like no, I'm not. But to have it actually

Steve:

linger and there's feelings there. And again, like you said,

Steve:

Hillary's gone. This is the

Steve:

pro. The next sort of phase sort of thing. I

Steve:

didn't love. That's the direction that they went. I thought it was well

Steve:

done for what they were going for. Yeah.

Steve:

I also liked that this.

Steve:

We had pariah Dan from

Steve:

Constance or from

Steve:

the other one, the Knox, St. Jude's from St. Jude's who

Steve:

nobody knew. And then we have this popular

Steve:

guy. And now Dan is further

Steve:

establishing his NYU

Steve:

kingdom as he is now

Steve:

impressed the Tisch School of the Arts. Mhm.

Leif:

As has Blair.

Steve:

I like that Blair didn't need Gaga to

Steve:

impress them and that she did it on her own

Steve:

before bringing about Gaga.

Leif:

They move into the epilogue. Dan and Blair are

Leif:

accepting congratulations from Paul, but Blair has

Leif:

a surprise for everyone. The lights are turned

Leif:

down and Blair takes a vote of Candle and tells everyone

Leif:

to follow her. At the bar,

Leif:

Serena is sitting between Trip and Nate.

Leif:

Trip is telling them that he is looking at Maureen

Leif:

and his marriage in a different light. He then asks

Leif:

Serena to take a walk with him. Nate tries to hold

Leif:

her back, telling her that if they go together now,

Leif:

she's going to cross a line with the married man.

Leif:

Serena's response. That line just got a little

Leif:

blurry.

Steve:

Yeah. Again, Trip making excuses to bang a teenager.

Steve:

Here's another piece of directing that

Steve:

was just blink and you miss

Steve:

it when Trip says, I don't want to be

Steve:

alone. Nate has this look.

Steve:

Nate, like, rolls his eyes in the

Steve:

background. You barely see it. But it was

Steve:

just like Nate's performance in this whole

Steve:

scene is just perfect reactions to

Steve:

everything going on.

Leif:

I'll, uh, roll my eyes right there with you, Nate.

Steve:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because the line isn't

Steve:

blurry, Serena. He's a predator. Another

Steve:

predator. He's another predator

Steve:

preying on you. How many predators has

Steve:

she had so far? Gabriel,

Steve:

Aaron.

Leif:

Everyone except for Dan and Nate.

Steve:

Everyone except for Dan and Nate. Jesus,

Steve:

Serena, you have a type, and it's predatory.

Leif:

Blair leads everyone back into the theater and lets Paul

Leif:

know that the song Poker Face is actually about

Leif:

Cyrus Rose. And with this proclamation,

Leif:

it's revealed that Lady Gaga herself is here

Leif:

for a private concert.

Steve:

I fucking love that song. I loved her

Steve:

coming in and doing a Lady Gaga cameo performance.

Steve:

That was fantastic. I love that. Poker Face is

Steve:

about Cyrus. Yeah,

Steve:

they were old college buddies. Uh,

Steve:

I loved that. I love this whole scene.

Leif:

A couple. Couple of notes on it. Uh, did you notice the

Leif:

guy standing behind Paul with the

Leif:

glasses?

Steve:

No.

Leif:

It looked like it could be, like, Woody Harrelson's illegitimate

Leif:

son. Yeah. So

Leif:

Lady Gaga was a big fan of Gossip Girl,

Leif:

and she essentially allowed them to film her dress

Leif:

rehearsal.

Steve:

Oh, that's cool.

Leif:

She had a concert the next night.

Steve:

Oh. And she was like, hey, so why don't you guys come by,

Steve:

bring some of your people, and I'll let you film this and

Steve:

I'll be on here. That's awesome.

Leif:

And as mentioned in the episode, she is alumnus of the

Leif:

Tisch program at nyu.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. And I was pretty sure

Steve:

that was true. Right?

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Yeah. She's one of those musicians that

Steve:

I didn't really understand at first, and then I remember

Steve:

hearing Bad Romance and being like, wow, this is, like,

Steve:

really well put together. And

Steve:

the way that she just kind of got

Steve:

onto my radar back then was

Steve:

she's not the type of music that I listened to.

Steve:

But I, uh, was dating someone who

Steve:

basically shit on Lady Gaga and was

Steve:

saying about these pop stars, and

Steve:

they can't play music and they can't write their own music, and they can't

Steve:

play instruments. And I was like, started pulling out the

Steve:

receipts. Here's Lady Gaga playing her

Steve:

songs, playing acoustic versions of her song on

Steve:

A piano. And then. Did you know her

Steve:

name, Lady Gaga was named from

Steve:

this song, Radio Gaga by

Steve:

Talking Heads. And I think the lady maybe

Steve:

came from Lady Antebellum. It was

Steve:

Lady Something that inspired the

Steve:

first part.

Leif:

Yeah. Uh, yeah. She's very much a modern

Leif:

David Bowie.

Steve:

Yes. When that clicked for me,

Steve:

when I made that comparison, it really

Steve:

changed how I viewed her.

Steve:

Although her latest song, she performed something on

Steve:

something recently, and I was like, ooh, Lady Gaga.

Steve:

Oh, no, that was Lizzo. Never mind.

Leif:

That's. Yeah, that's a big difference.

Steve:

That's a very big difference.

Steve:

Lizzo was on Saturday Night Live, and we watched that

Steve:

episode, and I was like, whoa, what happened to Lizzo?

Steve:

I don't know why my brain made it Lady Gaga

Steve:

for that second, but.

Leif:

Olivia shows up and apologizes to Dan for

Leif:

bailing on the show, but she wanted him to kiss Vanessa

Leif:

again so he would realize his feelings for her.

Leif:

Olivia says she is going to take the witch movie and she'll be

Leif:

back in the fall. Vanessa also walks up

Leif:

and apologizes to Olivia, stating that her feelings for

Leif:

Dan are completely platonic. But that Paul

Leif:

guy wants the bone.

Steve:

Olivia overreacted

Steve:

and left school because of a boy,

Steve:

which. You're an idiot. Yeah, Vanessa was the

Steve:

grownup. Vanessa came up and was like, look,

Steve:

we were stupid. I'm, um. I'm sorry. I'm going

Steve:

to go bone that guy.

Leif:

Chuck is returning Jenny to the penthouse while lecturing

Leif:

her on the dangers of getting involved with Euro dealers.

Steve:

Ever since the first time I saw you, I knew this. You know,

Steve:

that time I tried to sexually assault you on a roof?

Steve:

I knew you had that gumption.

Steve:

Maybe.

Steve:

Maybe don't bring that up. Chuck,

Steve:

you've been so good this. This whole season,

Steve:

and so not, let's just say,

Steve:

rapey this whole season.

Steve:

Let's not reflect back to earlier

Steve:

times.

Leif:

Serena and Trip are alone in his home office, and they

Leif:

begin to snag each other.

Steve:

So gross. Just go. Right.

Steve:

I'm just. Let's just go right to work and bone.

Steve:

So fucking gross. I really do

Steve:

hope this ruins his career as

Steve:

a representative. I really hope this comes

Steve:

out.

Leif:

You would, um, hope so.

Steve:

Uh, yeah, I. God damn it.

Leif:

Even if they were the same age and he wasn't married, it would still be

Leif:

inappropriate.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Because he's their boss.

Steve:

Uh, yes.

Leif:

It's got three huge,

Leif:

glaring red flag.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. It's.

Leif:

Gossip Girl begins her closing monologue with.

Leif:

Sometimes it's after the curtains close

Leif:

that the real reckonings come. And we see

Leif:

Jenny text Damien that she Wants to hang out again.

Leif:

Damien gets the text and smiles.

Steve:

Really, Jenny? You want to be a drug dealer now? That's.

Steve:

That's how you want to be queen? You want to deal drugs, Jenny?

Leif:

Well, she's over being queen now,

Leif:

idiot.

Steve:

So you're going to deal E. Start with pot, Jenny.

Steve:

Start small. Work with Chuck. He

Steve:

can. Like. Let's not start. Let's not jump

Steve:

right to international ecstasy chain.

Leif:

Yeah. She needs some excitement.

Steve:

She needs some excitement.

Leif:

No one's lit her stuff on fire in over

Leif:

a year.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And then Gossip Girl continues, whether it's

Leif:

about who we wish we were or who we wish we could

Leif:

be. And Nate is sitting alone at the bar.

Steve:

Poor Nate. Yeah, you should have

Steve:

gotten the lay there, Nate. You put in all the

Steve:

work. Serena was right there for it.

Steve:

And then cockblocked by your cousin.

Leif:

I mean, I wouldn't put it that.

Steve:

Way, but, yeah, I know

Steve:

I was being sexist, and I

Steve:

apologize.

Leif:

As we switch back to the private concert, we

Leif:

see Dan looking longingly at Vanessa, and Gossip

Leif:

Girl asks, or who we want. But

Leif:

it's Gaga, not Gossip Girl, who closes the

Leif:

episode.

Steve:

Yeah. And we also see V in the background flirting

Steve:

with Paul again. And

Steve:

good for V. Go get some.

Leif:

Yeah. Yeah. Good. And then

Leif:

the full quote from, um, Gossip Girl is,

Leif:

sometimes it's after the curtains close that the real reckonings

Leif:

come. Whether it's about who we wish we were or who

Leif:

we wish we could be or who we want.

Leif:

That is our episode. What is coming next?

Steve:

Dan is going to realize his feelings for

Steve:

Vanessa, and

Steve:

there's going to be another Paul, Vanessa love

Steve:

triangle thing that's going to end up with Dan and Vanessa

Steve:

banging again or doing something for a little bit.

Steve:

Dan and Blair both got in. I'm waiting for a Dan and

Steve:

Blair thing because they're. Because I've said for

Steve:

a while now that they have chemistry. And here they

Steve:

had a lot of scene work together.

Steve:

I think that that could build for a while. Vanessa's

Steve:

not available. Go for Blair. But Blair and

Steve:

Chuck are still kind of aces right now.

Leif:

But speaking of Chuck, what do you feel about

Leif:

him rescuing Jenny?

Steve:

I liked the big brother Ness of it. I felt he

Steve:

was being very big brotherly. I didn't

Steve:

find it to be flirty.

Steve:

I would hope it's not.

Leif:

But again, he referenced.

Steve:

He does reference that first night he met her.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

But, uh, I felt like that was a.

Steve:

I know you have this wild side.

Leif:

Yeah. I feel like the writers, though, are. You know, we mentioned

Leif:

earlier in the season, Jenny was wearing the purple Outfits

Leif:

and they had their little date to the movie premiere.

Leif:

Yeah, the writers are definitely pointing to something.

Steve:

Yeah, I could see that. I can see that. And I

Steve:

could see that being the thing that splits. I mean,

Steve:

cheating with Jenny would be.

Steve:

I mean, cheating with Jenny. Uh,

Steve:

cheating with Serena is probably the only thing that would be worse.

Steve:

And I don't think even Chuck would do that because

Steve:

Chuck isn't Nate, who's going to go for the shiny.

Steve:

But I do think that Jenny. That

Steve:

I could see a Chuck Jenny thing

Steve:

and, man, cheating with Jenny would

Steve:

blow shit up.

Leif:

Uh, any other predictions?

Steve:

I'm hoping there's a Nate Serena. I'm hoping that Nate

Steve:

gets in between this trip

Steve:

Serena thing. I want the trip thing to end.

Steve:

Uh, I always want Serena out of

Steve:

relationships because they're always

Steve:

terrible. It's another Eren. It's

Steve:

another Gabriel.

Leif:

So Serena needs to be single and go to therapy.

Steve:

Yes. Yes. My God,

Steve:

everyone on this show needs therapy but Serena.

Steve:

And it really is, uh, again, it's the.

Steve:

It's the daddy issues thing. It's all of these

Steve:

older men that pay her any attention. She

Steve:

is just going to throw

Steve:

herself at them. And

Steve:

again, very well written for the

Steve:

character they've created, even though the character

Steve:

is a fucking idiot.

Leif:

So let's get into some segments.

Leif:

This week in Fandome, we jumped into the

Leif:

Wayback Machine to visit the fan forums from

Leif:

2009.

Leif:

Hello there, Peabody.

Steve:

Here.

Leif:

And this is the wayback Machine for traveling through time.

Steve:

And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak,

Steve:

Sherman. Hello.

Leif:

Goodbye. Most people really

Leif:

like this episode.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, I was on. I'm on board.

Steve:

I really like this episode.

Leif:

And so fan forums, unlike the television without

Leif:

pity poster episode threads like a

Leif:

day, day and a half before the episode drops.

Leif:

So there's a lot of like, like the first, like, page of

Leif:

the thread is all, like, stuff before it actually came out. So

Leif:

people were talking about, like, they talk about. They were

Leif:

anticipating Lady Gaga. So that was known. They were

Leif:

anticipating Kevin Sagers being on the

Leif:

show. Who played Damien?

Steve:

Oh, is he someone. Has he been in other stuff?

Leif:

He's been in the. He's been an actor since he was six years old.

Steve:

Really? I don't recognize him.

Leif:

He was an air bud.

Steve:

I haven't seen air, but he's guest.

Leif:

On like every TV show ever.

Steve:

Wow. Yeah, I didn't recognize him.

Leif:

A lot of people are excited for Dan and Vanessa. Uh, a lot of people excited

Leif:

for Nate and Serena. But now, against

Leif:

the actual reactions, they love the

Leif:

scandalous nature of Serena's storyline.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah.

Leif:

It is exciting.

Steve:

It is an exciting scandal.

Leif:

Yeah. Not enough Chuck

Leif:

facts.

Steve:

He was very minimal in this episode.

Steve:

I think that they need to do that sometimes, though, because they

Steve:

did it with Blair too. You know, she was more minimal. And

Steve:

they have to do that because it does become the Chuck and

Steve:

Blair show. Way too often.

Leif:

The play was cringe and not in a good way.

Steve:

Yeah. I mean, obviously I thought it was.

Leif:

Cringe in a good way.

Steve:

Yeah. I didn't mind it.

Leif:

They did not like it.

Steve:

Oh, okay. I thought it was fun.

Leif:

I thought it was written to be kind of campy and

Leif:

cheesy.

Steve:

Yeah. I thought it fulfilled what it was going for.

Leif:

They love the Nate and Serena scenes.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And they liked how, uh, Dan and Vanessa panned out

Leif:

and excited to see Dan pine.

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

Beforehand, they were worried about it was going to be a

Leif:

man centered triangle or, you know, the two girls are just

Leif:

catty, which that did happen for a little bit, but now it's

Leif:

going to be just. It looks like it's going to be Dan pining for Vanessa.

Steve:

And Dan has never really pined, has he? He's

Steve:

always kind of gotten.

Leif:

Well, he's pining for Serena at the beginning of the series.

Steve:

Yeah. But like, for five minutes. Because then they. By the end of

Steve:

the first episode, he's friends with her.

Leif:

Yeah. But as we know from you, people love to see

Leif:

Penn Padgley pine.

Steve:

From me.

Leif:

And I had no memory of this being a thing, but

Leif:

there were multiple Chuck and Jenny Shippers in the

Leif:

thread.

Steve:

Wow.

Leif:

Which I find kind of gross. But, yeah, I find their

Leif:

own.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Let's go ahead and get into episode

Leif:

grade.

Leif:

You went first last time, so I'm gonna go first this

Leif:

time. I really liked all the individual

Leif:

storylines. The one thing that kind of kept it from

Leif:

being one of those top episodes is the storylines never

Leif:

really pulled together at the end.

Steve:

No, they didn't.

Leif:

They're all separate. Also, I like the season one

Leif:

callbacks, the fun directing with the quick

Leif:

cuts and showing how people remember things

Leif:

differently. And

Leif:

the one thing I didn't really like was how they ended Olivia. It just

Leif:

kind of seemed forced because she had to leave the show.

Leif:

So I ended up giving it a B plus.

Steve:

I went A minus. I think that a

Steve:

lot of what you said really

Steve:

resonates. I think that one of the biggest pieces to

Steve:

make it at A minus instead of an A is

Steve:

that they didn't bring it together in the end like they so

Steve:

often do so well. And

Steve:

the trip and Serena stuff bothers me, but

Steve:

on a different level. Not On a. Like, it's

Steve:

fine. It's good tv. It's good storytelling,

Steve:

even if it makes me cringe, you know? So,

Steve:

yeah, I said a minus for this one,

Steve:

which is the lowest grade we've given to an

Steve:

episode. 10. They've both been solid A's

Steve:

from both of us.

Leif:

Stockwatch going up. I

Leif:

had Vanessa because she

Leif:

looks like Dan is after her now. And she

Leif:

also has Paul after her. And things are looking

Leif:

up for Vanessa. Chuck, because he was a good

Leif:

guy and yeah, he's building his business.

Leif:

Blair because she finally impressed some people at

Leif:

nyu. Paul because he got

Leif:

to see his favorite artist Private

Leif:

concert. And also I gave the grandfather

Leif:

enough because he's now off the hook for that, uh,

Leif:

Hudson hero scandal.

Steve:

Oh, that's a good point.

Leif:

Who do you got going up?

Steve:

A lot of the same. Vanessa, uh,

Steve:

Blair and Chuck all going up

Steve:

for basically the same reasons that you said.

Steve:

I had Dan going up because even

Steve:

though Dan loses out

Steve:

on Olivia, I don't think that's going

Steve:

to be bad for him in the long run. And Dan

Steve:

did get this big bump with the Tish school,

Steve:

these thinking applying to and has an in

Steve:

with this crowd. So I actually, because of the success of

Steve:

his play, gave him the bump. And then the final one that I

Steve:

have going up was actually not the final, but

Steve:

Damien. I had Damien going up

Steve:

for getting the new friend

Steve:

in Jenny, the new, uh, drug mule.

Steve:

I'm also going to give grandfather the up on.

Steve:

I'm going to buy on recommendation of

Steve:

your. On your recommendation.

Leif:

So I had Dan as a neutral because he had

Leif:

the professional success, but.

Steve:

The personal failure because

Steve:

I don't.

Leif:

Because he didn't get Vanessa. He just

Leif:

lost Olivia. Yeah, going down. I had

Leif:

Olivia because, uh, she's

Leif:

leaving school and lost her

Leif:

boyfriend because of her own stupid

Leif:

insistence on a threesome.

Steve:

Because of her fault.

Leif:

Yes. Serena going down because she's

Leif:

going down.

Steve:

Trip.

Leif:

Cause.

Steve:

Yeah. Cause he's going down.

Leif:

Nate.

Steve:

Cause he's not.

Leif:

Even though he was great for most of the episode, uh, giving great advice,

Leif:

at the end, he was left alone, so

Leif:

he went down. Jenny going down

Leif:

because she's doing some shady shit

Leif:

now. And you gave Damien up. I gave him down

Leif:

because I know the episode wanted us to think he's going up.

Leif:

But I'm not going to give him up because he's now

Leif:

in with a 16 year old girl.

Steve:

Fair. Fair. Who do you got?

Steve:

Uh, again, pretty much the same.

Steve:

Olivia, Serena, Tripp,

Steve:

Nate, Jenny.

Leif:

Anyone else? That's it?

Steve:

No, that's it. Uh, Lillian, Rufus,

Steve:

appropriately used for the day. Again,

Steve:

I. But they stayed neutral for me

Steve:

because they didn't do anything.

Leif:

So I'm moving over to best outfit.

Steve:

But here's the best outfits from the last

Steve:

episode we see.

Leif:

I gave it to Blair's theater nerd get up.

Leif:

The black beret with the black striped

Leif:

belted jacket and the

Leif:

comedy and drama neck band thing.

Steve:

It was perfect.

Leif:

The red heels, the ruby heels,

Leif:

and she even broke her own rule and wore leggings

Leif:

as pants.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah.

Leif:

Who did you have?

Steve:

I gave it to Olivia's Snow White costume.

Leif:

The red dress?

Steve:

Yeah, the red dress. Gorgeous.

Steve:

Uh, she looked like she was going to prom.

Leif:

Speaking of Reginald, I almost gave it to Lady Gaga.

Steve:

Uh. Oh, I. You know, I almost did

Steve:

too. I think we should definitely mention the

Steve:

shout out to Lady Gaga in there because I almost did as

Steve:

well. But I. But she. I kind

Steve:

of. The only reason I didn't was like,

Steve:

I don't think that that was costume design

Steve:

by Gossip Girl.

Steve:

What's his name?

Leif:

Um, Eric Damon.

Steve:

Eric Damon. I don't think that was Eric Damon's doing. I think

Steve:

that was Gossip or Gaga's people doing it.

Steve:

And really, I know we've only mentioned it

Steve:

like once before, but to me,

Steve:

the outfit, I try to keep

Steve:

Eric Damon in mind a little bit from all the

Steve:

great work that he has done on this show.

Steve:

And so I wanted it to go to somebody from the

Steve:

show.

Leif:

So that is it for segments. You got anything to

Leif:

plug this week?

Steve:

I am just in a

Steve:

40k rabbit hole rate lately, so nothing

Steve:

other than just nerd stuff

Steve:

that I do.

Leif:

Yeah, I know.

Steve:

Uh, yeah, but if you want to find me on my

Steve:

socials, it is Steve

Steve:

Marshon. M M A R C H I O

Steve:

N I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok.

Steve:

I'm also on Bluesky Hed

Steve:

Wizard. So go ahead and find

Steve:

me. Follow me in any of the places you want to

Steve:

do that.

Leif:

Well, for me, go. If you haven't already,

Leif:

go watch the final season of you and then hop

Leif:

on Blue sky or Threads and talk to

Leif:

me about it. Uh, where you can find me

Leif:

hotcapicola. H O T C A

Leif:

P I C O L A so that's

Leif:

on bluesky Instagram and threads and you can

Leif:

follow the podcast Unjudging

Leif:

breakfastpod on Instagram, threads

Leif:

and TikTok. And you can also

Leif:

find links to our discord, Patreon,

Leif:

etc. On our website

Leif:

nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com

Leif:

and if you.

Steve:

Would like to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear what you have to

Steve:

say. Please send us an email at

Steve:

non judging breakfast

Steve:

podmail.com we'd

Steve:

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

Steve:

here on our podcast and we'd

Steve:

just love to be in touch while you're at it

Steve:

and while you're listening. If you could go ahead and hit that

Steve:

like button, hit the subscribe and leave us a comment

Steve:

because that really helps with our visibility with Spotify and

Steve:

Apple podcasts. And we would

Steve:

love to to have you also spread

Steve:

the word to your friends, let people know what you're

Steve:

listening to and make us the water cooler talk

Steve:

next week when you are all gathering at work.

Leif:

And next week we will be back to Talk about

Leif:

Season 3, Episode 11,

Leif:

the Treasure of Serena Madre.

Leif:

The Max episode description reads

Leif:

thanksgiving on the Upper east side means major drama.

Steve:

Oh, another Thanksgiving episode. Yep.

Steve:

Excellent.

Leif:

Uh, Thanksgiving is the big holiday for Gossip Girl.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, always is. So.

Steve:

Which makes sense for a TV show because they're usually

Steve:

on break at Christmas and that usually

Steve:

happens like right around Thanksgiving,

Steve:

so. Not that everyone doesn't do a Christmas episode.

Leif:

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

Steve:

XOXO Every time you walk away

Steve:

run away you take a piece of me you with

Steve:

you there Every time you

Steve:

walk away or run away you take a piece of me

Steve:

with you there Every

Steve:

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

Steve:

me with you there

Steve:

oh it seems I'm.

Steve:

Walking right to your door

Steve:

my heart's.

Steve:

Still resting looking for something more.

Steve:

Are.

Steve:

You ever gonna see everything you mean to me

Steve:

I'm trying really hard to.

Steve:

Believe.

Steve:

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

Steve:

of me with you there

Steve:

um Every time you walk away or run

Steve:

away you take a piece of me with you

Steve:

there Every time you walk

Steve:

away or run away you take a piece of me

Steve:

with you there never

Steve:

feels right when I'm out here on 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 meat 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 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 with you there

Steve:

every time you walk away or run away and 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 m you with you there.

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Non Judging Breakfast Pod
A Gossip Girl Podcast

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