Episode 18

S3E18 - "The Unblairable Lightness of Being"

It’s a Dorota wedding and a Chuck and Blair breakup, and we’re recapping every gasp-worthy moment! This week on the Non-Judging Breakfast Pod, Leif and Steve dig into one of the most emotional (and actually well-written!) episodes in recent Gossip Girl history. Chuck pulls out all the stops to win Blair back by throwing Dorota and Vanya a traditional Eastern European wedding, but his romantic gesture can't undo the pain of betrayal. Meanwhile, Serena spirals into peak “pick me” behavior, lying to Nate and running off with Carter to chase down her dad, with Jenny ready to swoop in.

The hosts break down Serena’s narcissism, Dan and Blair’s emerging chemistry (!!!), Eleanor’s backhanded growth, and the sweet chaos of Eastern European wedding games. Plus: shoutouts to Cece’s scheming, Rufus’s tragic Bisquick waffles, and a killer wardrobe episode for Jenny and Dorota alike.

Don’t miss the fan reactions, stock watch, and what this episode might signal for Chuck/Blair and Dan/Blair moving forward. XOXO, you know you’ll love it.

------------

Produced by Leif Capicola and Steve Marchion. 

Edited and mixed by Leif Capicola.

The Gossip Girl Theme Performed By Steve Marchion.

http://nonjudgingbreakfastpod.com

Discord - http://njbpod.captivate.fm/discord

@NonJudgigBreakfastPod on Instagram, Threads, and Tiktok

@NJBPod on X (formerly Twitter)

Facebook - Non Judging Breakfast Pod ⁠Page ⁠and ⁠Group⁠.⁠

Non Judging Breakfast Pod is on YouTube - http://youtube.com/@nonjudgingbreakfastpodcast

Questions, comments Sponsorship requests, or business opportunities? Email us at nonjudgingbreakfastpod@gmail.com

#GossipGirl

Transcript
Leif:

This might have been Mattle'best acting, actually.

Leif:

Maybe Vre Wilson. Bas roots.

Leif:

He just sounded so pathetic.

Steve:

He did. He did. O that's

Steve:

so funny. And it's so true because

Steve:

he had no words and was just searching for.

Steve:

Right. Ready to go through the other four

Steve:

names that she's had.

Leif:

Hey Upper East Siders and all you scandal loving listeners out

Leif:

there, you just tuned to the non judging breakfast

Leif:

pod where the coffee is strong, the waffles

Leif:

are fresh, and the gossip is hotter than ever.

Leif:

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

Leif:

veteran.

Steve:

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

Steve:

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

Steve:

season three?

Leif:

I'm not sure, but there is no punishment for what you

Leif:

did last week.

Steve:

I said I was sorry.

Leif:

Not enough.

Steve:

Oh, welcome back, Cyrus. Oh,

Steve:

it was so good to see him.

Steve:

So here's the deal, folks. Leaf's been watching

Steve:

Gossip Girl since the beginning and I'm tuning in for

Steve:

the first time. And together we're your dynamic

Steve:

duo, bringing you all the drama, romance, and

Steve:

sometimes questionable fashion choices of this,

Steve:

iconic 2007 series.

Leif:

Bring your magnifying glasses because each week we're

Leif:

dissecting every juicy detail of the show one

Leif:

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

Leif:

uncover those sneaky little Easter eggs, and of

Leif:

course, serve up some piping hot behind the scenes

Leif:

tea. And expect some iconic Fantom moments too,

Leif:

because what's a deep dive without a little drama?

Steve:

And since we are all about inclusivity here on

Steve:

the non judging breakfast pod, there is always a seat

Steve:

for you at the non judging breakfast table. So

Steve:

go ahead and grab your coffee, you're mimosa,

Steve:

or whatever you can get from Chuck's dealer,

Steve:

and let's go ahead and dive into this.

Leif:

And it's a little bit emptty at the breakfast table this

Leif:

morning. Cause, we're alone for the first time in a little while.

Steve:

Yeah, it'guest month. I guess guest month was

Steve:

guessed 3/4 of a month.

Leif:

Yes, we do have some

Leif:

interesting guests possibly booked for the future, but,

Leif:

we'll keep that on the wraps for now.

Steve:

Yes, very exciting.

Leif:

Any other updates this week?

Steve:

Well, I will say I ran into my friend

Steve:

Emily. Minio Anio.

Steve:

Emily. Remind me how to say your last name. But I ran into

Steve:

my friend Emily and she was talking

Steve:

about how a friend of hers who I met at

Steve:

one of her shows is a big fan of the podcast.

Steve:

I couldn't hear your name over what Emily said.

Steve:

But I wanted to definitely give a shout out

Steve:

to, Emily and her friend.

Leif:

Unnamed friend.

Steve:

Unnamed friend.

Leif:

Thank you for listening.

Steve:

Yeah, leave us a comment, tell us your name, and,

Steve:

let's keep in touch. Thank you so much for listening,

Steve:

and we really appreciate it. And

Steve:

Emily, you should be listening too, since you're watching Gossip Girl

Steve:

and you can get our take on it.

Leif:

Definitely. Interaction is much appreciated.

Steve:

Yes. We love it.

Leif:

We are here to talk about season three, episode

Leif:

18, the unlarable,

Leif:

Lightness of Being. The original air date

Leif:

was April 12, 2010

Leif:

yeah, based on the

Leif:

Unbearable Likeness of Being, which was a book

Leif:

and a play in which

Leif:

takes place in the 1960s, Prague explores

Leif:

the artistic and intellectual life of Czech

Leif:

society from Prague Spring of 1968 to

Leif:

the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet

Leif:

Union and three other Warsaw pact

Leif:

countries.

Steve:

Never saw it.

Leif:

Sounds depressing.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah,

Steve:

it does sound like.

Leif:

Which kind of fits for the episode.

Steve:

Would be kind of unbearable to

Steve:

be in those

Steve:

circumstances.

Leif:

But I guess like the. It's like four couples or

Leif:

two couples and they kind of have some issues,

Leif:

I think is the main focus of the story.

Steve:

Yeaheah.

Leif:

Episode was written by

Leif:

Jean Lightenberg.

Leif:

Fresh blood in the writing room. This is our first of two

Leif:

episodes. Her only previous credit to

Leif:

this was Chasing Deoda, the web series.

Leif:

So I guessing. I'm guessing was she was a

Leif:

P.A.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. In the writers s

Steve:

roomah.

Leif:

Not much after either. she did two TV

Leif:

shows. I never heard of either of them. Chasing life in

Leif:

Royal Crush and then did several episodes

Leif:

for the show BH

Leif:

90210. Do you know what that one

Leif:

was?

Steve:

BH 90210.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

No.

Leif:

So that was a kind of

Leif:

mockumentary starring some of the cast

Leif:

from the original 90210 getting

Leif:

together to do a reboot.

Steve:

Oh, that's

Steve:

funny.

Leif:

Was.

Steve:

Did you see it? It was it. No. Okay.

Steve:

That sounds funny though. Like, if they're not taking. If

Steve:

it's like a joke, it still.

Leif:

Had their bad acting, so.

Steve:

Yeah. And it still had

Steve:

Shnand Doherty probably at that time.

Leif:

Right.

Steve:

I doubt she would have been involved.

Leif:

I think it was like the guy with the curly hair.

Leif:

###ich like the real rich guy Steve, maybe.

Leif:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And also

Leif:

I think Tory Spelling was of course.

Steve:

Yes.

Leif:

Yeah.

Leif:

This episode was directed by Janice

Leif:

Cook. This is her fifth and final

Leif:

episode of Gossip Girl. She also

Leif:

did 116 all about my

Leif:

brother two. hundred three the Dark Knight and

Leif:

216. You've got Yale also

Leif:

223. The wrath of Khan.

Steve:

What was Wrath of K again?

Leif:

That was the good one. That's like with the

Leif:

Georgina when she came back and schemed against

Leif:

Poppy.

Steve:

Right, right. That. Yes. Okay. Yeahus. These are all

Steve:

solid credits.

Leif:

I mean, all about My Brother was not great.

Steve:

all about My Brother was when Eric came out. That's

Steve:

the first Georgina one.

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, she was terrible.

Leif:

But this last couple episode, we've been

Leif:

seeing several people in their last

Leif:

episode. So, I think it's pretty clear the network is

Leif:

not really happy with the way season three is going.

Steve:

Yeah. And we'renna about to see some major

Steve:

turnover it feels. And I don't

Steve:

blame them because season three has

Steve:

taken a, hit a serious

Steve:

dip. And especially in like

Steve:

that the creative spark

Steve:

of the writing. They're now

Steve:

just. We used to talk about how they, they have

Steve:

all these great writing tools and now they're

Steve:

seriously just copying and pasting

Steve:

tropes. It's like they went to tvtropes.com

Steve:

and they're just hitting copy paste for half the plot

Steve:

lines and it everything is so predictable.

Steve:

And I'll even say this particular

Steve:

episode I thought was better

Steve:

than the previous episode.

Leif:

Yeah, I actually really like this episode.

Steve:

Yeah, I think this was one of the better ones

Steve:

in the past five or

Steve:

so that I too like this

Steve:

episode.

Leif:

Why don't you give us the roulttteryapt?

Steve:

Okay. In its beginning

Steve:

steps, love on Gossip Girl is fairly simple.

Steve:

It might start out bumpy, but for

Steve:

time afterward, couples coast along

Steve:

blissfully, their only concern being whose hair

Steve:

is shinier. Dan and Serena were like this at

Steve:

first, as were Nate and Vanessa. And even

Steve:

Chuck and Blair once they got over the three

Steve:

words eight letters business. And now we

Steve:

have the beaming, radiant Doda and

Steve:

Vanya. Of course, inevitably,

Steve:

beneath those perfectly tussled

Steve:

strands below the fallacies,

Steve:

trouble begins to brew. Emotion swirl,

Steve:

ideals take shape. And soon

Steve:

enough, someone makes a decision that ends up

Steve:

complicating polluting the

Steve:

relationship. Such as deciding to pimp out your

Steve:

girlfriend in order to save your hotel from your wicked

Steve:

uncle. Or deciding to leave a wedding with your

Steve:

ex boyfriend on a secret errand to Palm beach

Steve:

without mentioning to your current boyfriend who

Steve:

has already pissed at you for seeing your ex boyfriend

Steve:

for coffee and leaving him in the hands of a

Steve:

teenage temptress. Or deciding

Steve:

to leave your current husband in order to shack up with your

Steve:

first husband again for

Steve:

unexplained reasons even though you just finished a

Steve:

multi episode fight with your current husband over the same

Steve:

thing. Last week. These are but a

Steve:

few of the choices made by the cast of Gossip Girl

Steve:

this week that will alter the chemistry of their

Steve:

love. And yet, it must be said that none of these

Steve:

truly terrible decisions were made out of a lack of

Steve:

love. They were made because real love is not,

Steve:

as Blair thinks, pure. It is not, as

Steve:

deroda put it, good or bad.

Steve:

It's complicated and messy and sometimes

Steve:

fraught, especially if you drink lots of

Steve:

vodka. So Dooda and Vanya might want to

Steve:

watch out.

Steve:

Little novel we had today. Vulture

Steve:

Report.

Leif:

Follicles.

Steve:

Follicles. Would I say policies?

Leif:

Yes.

Steve:

Yeah. Follicles Below the follicles.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Let's get into Act 1 for

Leif:

the first time. We open with a Chuck dream. He

Leif:

imagines he isn'a noir film and Blair has

Leif:

been taken.

Steve:

Yeah. And you see the dream

Steve:

sequence. We' seen these Blair

Steve:

dream sequences. So of course I'm thinking it's a Blair dream.

Steve:

And then you see Chuck pop into the dream. It's like,

Steve:

whoa, it's a Chuck dream.

Leif:

So twist dum dum

Leif:

d d.

Steve:

And.

Leif:

We open with a Gossip Girl monologue.

Leif:

Up in Adam up residers. It's time

Leif:

to awake from our slumber and learn the hard

Leif:

truth that sub nightmares don't end. When

Leif:

we open our eyes, Chuck and Blair

Leif:

awake in separate beds. Chuck is searching his

Leif:

sweet for drink, and Nate and Serena walk in and let him know he won't

Leif:

find any alcohol and they are worried about him.

Leif:

But Chuck pulls out a hidden flask and lets them know

Leif:

that Blair won't speak to him. Serena sends Nate

Leif:

to handle Blair alone because she has breakfast with the

Leif:

Humphriesys.

Steve:

So I believe it is this scene

Steve:

where my full

Steve:

turn on my feelings for

Steve:

Serena came full circle.

Steve:

180. And I've just. And I'm

Steve:

just. I can't stand this person

Steve:

that I. I loved

Steve:

Serena in season one. I loved Serena

Steve:

and Dan. And I thought they

Steve:

were stupid for breaking up. I thought

Steve:

they were stupid for their drama

Steve:

in season two. But I really

Steve:

put it on both of them and not just Serena.

Steve:

And season three,

Steve:

everything Serena has done

Steve:

and everything that Serena does do is very

Steve:

much the same person that she has

Steve:

always been. It's just that now you see

Steve:

how arrogant and

Steve:

how m it girl and

Steve:

me girl and pick me she is

Steve:

at all times,

Steve:

that at every moment, she just thinks that

Steve:

she's out here saving all of her friends

Steve:

without any clue of how absolutely

Steve:

unbearable she is.

Leif:

Yeah. It's really been since the third

Leif:

dad and Ceta breakup.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. That was the Car one.

Steve:

Right.

Leif:

Y. Yeah. Like, right before he gets with this car.

Steve:

Yeah. And then she

Steve:

just becomes gradually more

Steve:

and more unbearable. And it's not that

Steve:

she becomes more of a narcissist.

Steve:

It's you see it more and

Steve:

more, and you don't have Dan

Steve:

balancing it. And it's so funny because, like,

Steve:

the characterization of Serena

Steve:

from Dan's point of view all along

Steve:

was, it's always all

Steve:

about you. And Blair's problem is it's

Steve:

always all about you. And Serena is always like,

Steve:

tee hee.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

And so when. When, in this scene

Steve:

where she. First of all,

Steve:

they've hidden the booze from Chuck. You're

Steve:

notnna find anything there.

Steve:

And then they lecture

Steve:

Chuck and do all of that, and Chuck leaves,

Steve:

and Serena turns to Nate and is

Steve:

like, do you think it worked? No.

Steve:

He just poured booze into the

Steve:

coffee that you watched. You just watched

Steve:

him not work.

Leif:

but that's just Chuck, though.

Steve:

Well, exactly. But my point just

Steve:

being that, like, Serena, you accomplished nothing.

Steve:

Like, you did nothing. And then.

Leif:

Well, she did accomplish what she wanted,

Leif:

which was to give him the push to make a gesture.

Steve:

She did accomplish that, I felt.

Steve:

And the other. And once again, making

Steve:

that push to do a gesture, Serena has to be the

Steve:

one in the center pushing him.

Steve:

But then she turns to Nate

Steve:

and is like, go hang out with your ex girlfriend

Steve:

so I can go have breakfast with my ex

Steve:

boyfriend's family.

Leif:

And thought, we don't know that yet.

Steve:

We don't. Oh, I thought that was right here.

Leif:

This is just her. She says she's going to see the

Leif:

humphriesys.

Steve:

Yes, that's what I'm saying. Her ex boy. that's the ex boyfriend I was talking

Steve:

about. Dan. I do get the

Steve:

nuance. I know that. I get it. But I was

Steve:

just trying to throw it out there.

Leif:

That's where I'm going to have practice with my family.

Steve:

Yeah, you're right.

Leif:

One of herfriend ex boyfriends happens to be there, but it's

Leif:

also her brother and her mom'or.

Leif:

Her mom's not there, but her brother. Her other brothers there.

Leif:

And Jenny's sort of her sister.

Steve:

Yeah. Her stepsister, her stepbrother are there, and

Steve:

stepdad are having.

Leif:

Yes, it's family breakfless.

Steve:

It is. Which is.

Steve:

But at the same time as she's saying

Steve:

that, it's like you're lying. And

Steve:

kudos to Blake on

Steve:

selling the lie

Steve:

in a way that it wouldn't sell it to

Steve:

Nate necessarily, but really

Steve:

good, like, bad eye contact

Steve:

and, all of the things Serena does when she

Steve:

lies. So I felt it was good, like within the

Steve:

character, good acting. But it was like,

Steve:

Serena, what the fuck are you doing with the best thing

Steve:

in your life? So where's the handcuffs? Where's the

Steve:

goddamn handcuffs? Take Nate with you to

Steve:

see Carter.

Leif:

She doesn't love Nate.

Steve:

She sure says it a lot. She sure says it

Steve:

a lot. She loves Serena.

Steve:

I don't think anyone is ever going to live up to

Steve:

Serena.

Leif:

Eleanor and Cyrus are back in town, but Dooda is

Leif:

panicked about her parents finding out about her getting knocked up

Leif:

before getting locked up. Nate arrives to talk

Leif:

to Blair.

Steve:

So nice to see Cyrus back. I love Cyrus.

Leif:

And we get a Howard Hughes reference here, which a

Leif:

lot of people in the fandom probably don't get.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Even though there is a lean on DiCaprio movie about

Leif:

him.

Steve:

Oh yeah? Yeaheah.

Leif:

The Aviator.

Steve:

Oh, I don't think I've seen that.

Leif:

Yeah, most people haven't. Unfortunately. It's a decent movie.

Leif:

but I actually learned about Howard Hughes from the Simpsons.

Leif:

Cause they parried it with Mr. Burns.

Steve:

Oh, right, right, right.

Steve:

Sheson did it.

Leif:

Yes.

Leif:

Nate goes to Blair's room to try to cheer her up, but

Leif:

is shocked when Blair reveals that what happened with

Leif:

Jack and the hotel,

Leif:

Nate being good.

Steve:

Guy Nate, very sweet, appropriate reaction

Steve:

to the information he was given. I wish

Steve:

he would have dropped the name of the pod in the

Steve:

conversation. I wish he would have said we're the non judging breakfast

Steve:

club again. I'm hoping someone

Steve:

says it again eventually. But he made the point

Steve:

like we are who we are. We don't judge each other. We know

Steve:

everything. I really liked

Steve:

it. It was a really nice sort of bestie scene

Steve:

without the besties with Serena being an

Steve:

asshole. Off being an asshole. I really like this scene.

Leif:

Yeah, he didn't judge Blair, but he did, judge

Leif:

Chuck and Serena later in the episode.

Steve:

Oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

Eleanor mocks Cyrus for trying to eavesdrop on

Leif:

De Rota. Chuck arrives with flowers in hand.

Leif:

Deoda needs to get married before her parents arrive, but

Leif:

refuses to do a quickie city hall marriage. It's

Leif:

revealed that Dooda is a divorce and her

Leif:

first, marriage happened at City Hall.

Steve:

There's quite a few things in this scene that I liked.

Steve:

Let's start with the fact that I love that we

Steve:

have a Doroda

Steve:

storyline. We've had Dooda

Steve:

in many storylines. I feel like this might

Steve:

be her first

Steve:

storyline other than, I guess the one

Steve:

where she was pregnant, where you found

Steve:

out she was Pregnant. But even then, you found out

Steve:

through y. It was more about Blair and Eleanor's

Steve:

storyline. So this is a, storyline

Steve:

about Deroda and her family and

Steve:

her background and needing to get married. So I really

Steve:

liked that she got a storyline.

Steve:

I. I don't think

Steve:

that's why we.

Leif:

Didn'T work out

Leif:

Elor about Harold Eleor.

Steve:

I. Oh, God, she steals every scene she's in.

Steve:

I love when Margaret Collins is on this

Steve:

show. I love that, Cyril,

Steve:

that Cyrus is here for it as well.

Steve:

It was funny when I first saw him in

Steve:

my brain, my brain said cecil. And I wrote

Steve:

down Cecil. And then later I saw him again, I was

Steve:

like, Cyrus. I was like, oh, did I say Cecil?

Steve:

And then iterpillar. And well, then

Steve:

I said to Robin, Cyrus, right?

Steve:

She goes, yeah. And I go, oh, I wrote down Cecil.

Steve:

She goes, no, that's the Cabbage Patch Kid. I go, no, that's

Steve:

Cedric.

Leif:

Cecil is the caterpillar.

Steve:

Cecil's the caterpillar. Cece's the grandma.

Steve:

So, yes, I loved all of

Steve:

the things in this.

Leif:

Blair Andate, come downstairs and enter the discussion.

Leif:

Chuck has offered to throw a traditional Russian Polish

Leif:

wedding for Doda and Vanya. He also lied

Leif:

and said he and Blair were back together. Thinking this is

Leif:

true, Deodta asks for Blair and Chuck to stand with

Leif:

her at her wedding. As the tradition involves having

Leif:

a happy couple escorting the bride and groom into the

Leif:

chapel. Blair momentarily hesitates, but

Leif:

Chuck steps in and accepts.

Steve:

I love that Chuck's scheme is, I'm gonna get

Steve:

these people married.

Steve:

I'm gonna win her back

Steve:

by. By giving to Rota a wedding.

Steve:

And not a bad plan, Chuck.

Leif:

Yeah, it's something the only Chuck can pull off.

Leif:

Yeah, he's got the money.

Steve:

He's got the money. and Blair's a

Steve:

sucker for weddings. This is our second

Steve:

this season. Or third.

Leif:

This is the second this

Leif:

season and fourth overall.

Leif:

Yeah. Cause we got Bart

Leif:

and Lily, Maureen, Tripp,

Leif:

Rufus and Lily, and now this one. D and

Leif:

Vanya.

Steve:

and Cyrus and Eleanor.

Leif:

5. So this is a myth.

Steve:

Yeah. And this is actually the third this season because of Trip

Steve:

I forgot about.

Leif:

So, Rufus, Lily, was that third s your second

Leif:

season? I think that was second season Trip with

Leif:

Maureen triping.

Steve:

Maureen was second season.

Leif:

I believe so.

Steve:

No, that was that. The wolves and

Steve:

all that. That was this.

Leif:

Yeah, that was in the wedding episode. That was.

Steve:

Oh, oh, right, right, right. Oh, was

Steve:

that.

Leif:

Cause they were already married when the campaign stuff was happening this

Leif:

season.

Steve:

What was the season premiere?

Leif:

That was in the Polo Match.

Steve:

Oh, right. I was thinking it was a wedding. Okay,

Steve:

yeah.

Leif:

Serena texts Nate that she is still at breakfast, but she

Leif:

is actually meeting with Carter. And we

Leif:

get a Gossip Girl blast.

Leif:

poor B. Just realized that Chuck will do anything

Leif:

to keep the flame alive. As for Serena,

Leif:

she's playing with fire.

Steve:

Welcome back, Carter. Welcome

Steve:

back.

Leif:

And now say goodbye, because

Leif:

this is the last time you'll ever see.

Steve:

Oh, so this is so. Yeah. So this

Steve:

is when. That means

Steve:

that right around now, Layton

Steve:

just broke up with him and he got

Steve:

fired because both things happen at the

Steve:

same time. Because then my, for those of you

Steve:

who don't know, my, My friend's late

Steve:

wife was one of those kind of

Steve:

always kind souls, and she saw a

Steve:

man crying in a coffee shop,

Steve:

and she went up and said, hey, are you algh? Can I buy you a

Steve:

coffee? And the man said, you

Steve:

know, I'm just really sad. My girlfriend just broke up with me and I

Steve:

lost my job. She said, oh, that's terrible, and talked to HM him

Steve:

for just a second. I think she bought him a coffee or something and

Steve:

was on her way. And then a few

Steve:

years later, she's watching Winter Soldier

Steve:

or not Winter Soldier. The Captain America. Was

Steve:

it the Captain America that he's

Steve:

in?

Leif:

He's in all of them.

Steve:

Is he in the first one? Okay, she's. She's

Steve:

watching that, and she's like, oh, that's the guy that

Steve:

I saw in the coffee shop. To her husband, who's a huge

Steve:

comic book fan, she's like, what

Steve:

theuck?

Leif:

And, we move into Act 2. Wedding prep is in

Leif:

full swing. Chuck is making himself overly

Leif:

helpful, but Blair sees right through the charade

Leif:

and calls him out on it. Chuck begs for forgiveness

Leif:

that Blair is unable to give.

Steve:

Bing it.

Steve:

You don't know. Bing it.

Leif:

Get them, Bill Gates dollars.

Steve:

And I love the line. Everything occurs to you,

Steve:

Chuck, because it's true.

Steve:

He knows it's calculated. He knows what he's

Steve:

doing.

Leif:

Serena shows up to help with the prep, which is good, because

Leif:

Nate needs help with the flowers. Serena immediately blows

Leif:

her breakfast cover story by greedily grabbing a

Leif:

croissant.

Steve:

She's so bad at lying. She was so bad

Steve:

at lying when she lied, and then she

Steve:

can't maintain a lie like, oh, I'm

Steve:

starving. Rufus

Steve:

makes waffles. Like,

Steve:

how can you be hungry? Those carbs, you know, just burn right through

Steve:

them between, you know, getting

Steve:

from one penthouse to the other.

Leif:

As we find out in the next scene, Dan just ate five

Leif:

pounds of bisquick.

Steve:

Yeah, well, and that was so that's my. Yeah,

Steve:

I have'at.

Leif:

The Vander Hump penthouse, we are

Leif:

getting a post breakfast cleanup with Dan, Rufus,

Leif:

Jenny and Eric. Dan has his application

Leif:

for tish submitted. Rufus is throwing an Eastern

Leif:

European game night for Deoda and Vanya tonight.

Leif:

Jenny is helping with Eleanor with dress prep and

Leif:

Eric is tagging along to stalk his new crush,

Leif:

Elliot. Rufus is sad that Lily's missing the

Leif:

festivities as she is still with Ceisce. Dan

Leif:

encourages him to call her to see if she can make it home

Leif:

early.

Steve:

So all this time we hear about Rufus waffles

Steve:

and he's using fucking Bisquick.

Steve:

He's using their box. They'from the

Steve:

fucking box. Are you kidding

Steve:

me? What? That is the most single dad

Steve:

shit. I'm gonna make you my famous waffles

Steve:

on this fucking box.

Leif:

So two weeks ago, Danielle and then you also kind

Leif:

of were chiming in, wondering about

Leif:

Rufus and Eleanor's friendship. And I kind of

Leif:

fought back on it a little bit. And this kind of

Leif:

reaffirms my point of view because now he's helping

Leif:

Eleanor out.

Steve:

I actually, it's funny because I was. Everything

Steve:

you just said, I was thinking about at the

Steve:

same time where. Where Danielle was like, how

Steve:

well do they know each other? And we kind of were talking

Steve:

a little bit, but

Steve:

not too well.

Leif:

I also thought of another previous scene we didn't even mention, the

Leif:

graduation from season two when they were. The two couples

Leif:

were kind of sitting together and they were talking and Cyrus

Leif:

like encourage and they get R and the LA to get married right

Leif:

away.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, yeah, True.

Leif:

Like, they're definitely friendly.

Steve:

Yeah. And then here tonight, where she

Steve:

reaches out to Rufus to plan this

Steve:

thing, which I would also

Steve:

think if he was not married to Lily,

Steve:

I don't think Eleanor would think to reach out to Rufus.

Steve:

No. Because they wouldn't really be in the same circle

Steve:

anymore.

Leif:

And he probably couldn't afford it.

Steve:

And he probably couldn't afford it.

Steve:

Sure. Ll also again and just like make him over and just

Steve:

like Monopoly and shit. Like fitting,

Steve:

fitting, fitting. You know, 50 people in the

Steve:

loft.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

Which did seem to get a little bit bigger when the Sonic

Steve:

Youths were playing in it.

Leif:

So Nate calls Chuck out for

Leif:

what he did to Blair. Chuck tries to gain sympathy

Leif:

by revealing Blair's part in the scheme. When that doesn't

Leif:

work, Chuck also drops the tidbit that Serena lied to

Leif:

him about breakfast and was actually with Carter this morning.

Steve:

So Chuck, first of all, Chuck

Steve:

victim blaming Blair.

Steve:

Did she tell you that she Went up there on her

Steve:

own volition that she didn't

Steve:

know that I tricked her into going up there

Steve:

to try to sleep with my uncle. Did she tell

Steve:

you that my scheming was

Steve:

so successful that she went up to

Steve:

sleep with him without telling

Steve:

me? Chuck, that. That

Steve:

doesn't help.

Leif:

I don't know how they're gonna redeem Chuck from this.

Leif:

It'snna be a long road.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. and I

Steve:

mean, how do they. I mean, how do they deem

Steve:

Chuck from nearly sexually assaulting two people in one

Steve:

episode when we first turned

Steve:

on the show?

Leif:

But, yeah. And here we

Leif:

are.

Steve:

And here we are.

Leif:

Blair finds Sarita hiding in her room. It turns

Leif:

out Serena urged Chuck to make a gesture of

Leif:

goodwill. Blair, unknowingly highlights Serena's

Leif:

dishonesty with Nate.

Steve:

Yeah. And this is also when

Steve:

Serena is sitting here, kind of revealing that

Steve:

she's the one who pushed Chuck

Steve:

to make this gesture. And it's once

Steve:

again, Serena, you're trying to save the day

Steve:

by getting them back together, by pushing him

Steve:

to make this grand gesture when

Steve:

pushing them together is the worst

Steve:

fucking thing you can do for your best friend right

Steve:

now. She doesn't need new bracelets

Steve:

from Barney's. She needs

Steve:

a best friend who's go going toa say, yeah, get as far away from

Steve:

the guy who tried to traffic you to his

Steve:

uncle as possible.

Leif:

O, Serena.

Steve:

Such an asshol. It's so funny because it

Steve:

really was this episode where the glass, you

Steve:

know. You know that episode of how I met your mother when the glass

Steve:

breaks every time they

Steve:

realize there's something that is super

Steve:

annoying about the other person.

Leif:

I vaguely remember that episode.

Steve:

It's Lily chews really loud. And

Steve:

some. They all have these little quirks, and now they all notice

Steve:

them for the first time. And this episode was

Steve:

just that glass breaking for Serena over and over

Steve:

for me. That. This. That it's been building to it. And

Steve:

then for her to be, And like you said,

Steve:

like, she's sitting here talking to Blair about,

Steve:

oh, you know, being honest, and you guys should be honest with each

Steve:

other and talk to each other. It's like, why are you running around behind your

Steve:

boyfriend's back with your ex boyfriend when

Steve:

all you have to do is say, hey, Nate, come with me

Steve:

to find my dad. Like, hey, you know what? I know we

Steve:

talked about how, like, I should let it go, but this

Steve:

is still something important to me. You mind going with,

Steve:

hey, Nate, could you get a private investigator for

Steve:

me? Because Nate would do that shit in a heartbeat.

Steve:

Why do you need Carter's private investigator? Where

Steve:

is private. Where is Carter getting a private

Steve:

investigator from his oil rig in Texas?

Steve:

That is better than what the Archibald family can

Steve:

afford.

Leif:

Yeah, all valid points.

Steve:

Fucking asshole.

Leif:

Nate and Carter meet on the street and square

Leif:

off. Carter gives Nate an envelope, to pass to

Leif:

Serena. As Carter leaves, Jenny and Eric

Leif:

walk up. Eric tries to help Serena cover up the

Leif:

breakfast lie, but Jenny doesn't let it lie.

Steve:

It. No.

Steve:

And I'll say this again later. I'm not mad at

Steve:

Jenny. I'm not mad at Jenny for telling the

Steve:

truth. Right. Like, yes, she's got

Steve:

ulterior motives. Yeah, but Jenny's a.

Leif:

This is fine.

Steve:

Yeah, she's a 16 year old girl who's

Steve:

into this guy. She's into the same

Steve:

guy that her, sisters into. She does some grimy

Steve:

shit. I'm not mad at it

Steve:

because I feel like it is a very honest

Steve:

kid stuff.

Leif:

This. This part is fine.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

She fuck up later.

Steve:

She gets grimier as the episode goes

Steve:

on.

Leif:

And she did not learn lesson from season two.

Steve:

No, of course not. Well, who has learned a

Steve:

lesson on this show? Nate.

Steve:

Nate kind of from sending his dad

Steve:

to prison. So, yeah, I'm.

Steve:

I didn't. I wasn't mad at Jenny for this.

Steve:

Carter plays Nate

Steve:

perfectly. And I'm also not

Steve:

mad at Carter. I don't think Carter really

Steve:

is doing anything wrong.

Leif:

he's just trying to see if he still has a chance.

Steve:

Yeah. And I don't fault people for

Steve:

that. There's somebody that I think has

Steve:

still burns a torch for Robin,

Steve:

that they dated a long,

Steve:

long time ago. And I think that he always kind of

Steve:

had the will end up together or will end up alone

Steve:

and miserable apart from each other,

Steve:

but together. And I know that

Steve:

there's nothing there, you know, and I know

Steve:

that he would never actually try to

Steve:

make any move or anything like that, but I know

Steve:

that. And I don't really believe any of that anymore. But

Steve:

I believe that when Robin and I started dating, this guy still liked

Steve:

her. If he could take any shot he wants

Steve:

to, Robin's gonna come to me and be like, hey, by the

Steve:

way, my ex is shooting a shot. And he never did.

Steve:

But like, you can say that to people.

Steve:

Like, hey, my ex is in town helping me with this thing,

Steve:

talk about it, and people will be okay with it. But again, I'm not

Steve:

mad at Carter for shooting a shot.

Steve:

Mad Serena, we. For not being honest about it. Yeah.

Leif:

When she was firm, he got a, limo m. And he left.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. Which has kind of always been

Steve:

Carter. Also, like, okay, I'm here for as long as

Steve:

I'm really wanted, but then if I'm not, like, I'm m goingna.

Leif:

Callus take that plat I get to Dubai.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, but I'll. Yeah, but like, I'm.

Steve:

I'm kind of living off of y''s cash at this point. Can I

Steve:

piss off Chuck enough to get me on a plane somewhere?

Leif:

Jenny goes up to the Waldorf'and delivers some silk

Leif:

to Eleanor and the letter to Serena. Jenny

Leif:

also reveals that Nate knows about Carter.

Steve:

Yeah, again.

Leif:

Once again, just being honest.

Steve:

Yeah. And giving the letter. And Nate gave

Steve:

her the letter to give to Serena, so.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And then Gossip Girl takes us to the break with

Leif:

surprise. S a special delivery

Leif:

courtesy of little J. I guess good things

Leif:

don't always come in small packages.

Leif:

M Act

Leif:

3 begins. The strains of Eastern European

Leif:

folk music play as Vanya explains the balloon

Leif:

game to the gathered guest. People start

Leif:

pairing up.

Steve:

Doroda looks fantastic.

Leif:

Yeah. Glowing, One might say.

Steve:

Yes. Yes.

Leif:

Jenny and Eric discuss. Eric's failing to see, Elliot

Leif:

again and Jenny concerns over Serena and

Leif:

Nate.

Steve:

I love Eric. I love how he's just kind of

Steve:

seeing through Jenny's

Steve:

shit here that he knows Jenny enough to be like,

Steve:

oh shit, like she's.

Steve:

Some wheels are spinning in her head and Eric can tell.

Leif:

And I love that Chuck ignores the

Leif:

advances of a Russian model type and instead goes to

Leif:

Blair, who agrees to dance, but no

Leif:

talking.

Steve:

Yeah. Women already throwing themselves at Chuck

Steve:

is a little bit of foreshadowing.

Steve:

Mmmm.

Leif:

Serena andate pair up and discuss Carter.

Leif:

Nate admits that he doesn't trust Serena. Their balloon

Leif:

is the first to break and Jenny looks on with interest

Leif:

and then separates from Eric.

Steve:

There's a certain level of irony to

Steve:

being, to asking someone to trust

Steve:

you for saying like, oh, this is all it is. We just

Steve:

had coffee, that's all.

Steve:

Why don't you trust me? And, why weren't

Steve:

you onest in the first place? And why are you asking someone to trust you

Steve:

when you're still lying, when that's not what

Steve:

it was? So you lie and then you're like, why don't

Steve:

you trust me? Why?

Leif:

Eleanor approaches Dan and recruits him to help with

Leif:

catering duties despite him not actually being a cater

Leif:

waiter anymore.

Steve:

Yeah, he's not the saator cater waiter, but

Steve:

he's. You know I'm not working this

Steve:

party, right? Yeah.

Steve:

And again, it's just, it's just Eleanor

Steve:

and the way that Eleanor in This scene says

Steve:

it with a smile. Says it with a, I know you're

Steve:

not, but I'm still asking you to do this. And

Steve:

Dan just being like, of course I'm gonna do it, because I'm Dan

Steve:

and I'm gonna be helpful. And I just.

Steve:

I loved that interaction. And it

Steve:

also did a lot to further what you were saying

Steve:

of pulling the Humphrey family and the

Steve:

Waldorf families together

Steve:

as closer than they were.

Steve:

And I feel like there's a big piece of that that is

Steve:

the. Their'upper East Siders now.

Steve:

And so, yeah, I did like that that got

Steve:

pulled in, that there was that familiarity now and that they

Steve:

were friendly.

Leif:

Cyrus shocks Eleanor by revealing that he,

Leif:

bought Dooda an apartment. Eleanor finds it

Leif:

inappropriate as Dooda is just a maid,

Leif:

but Cyrus says Deoda is family and practically

Leif:

raised Blair. This last comment does not

Leif:

approve Eleanor's mood.

Steve:

No, I. Again. And this is

Steve:

also. I was worried that this

Steve:

wasnna be a bump in the road for

Steve:

them, that that was going to

Steve:

be really divisive. But it

Steve:

just really speaks to

Steve:

Cyrus, his honesty,

Steve:

his, And just the way that

Steve:

he is. That emotional support

Steve:

for Eleanor, that he can

Steve:

say harsh things that are

Steve:

going that. I don't think that he meant it

Steve:

as a dig, that he thought it would be offensive. It just

Steve:

to him seems like that's justeah.

Steve:

Everybody knows that Dota practically raised

Steve:

Blair. Yeah.

Leif:

And that.

Steve:

And you're. You're one of the most powerful women in

Steve:

the fashion industry. Of course you needed help. Of

Steve:

course. You and your powerful, what,

Steve:

Attorney husband or something? I forget what attorneye attorney

Steve:

husband. Of course you guys are busy and needed help, but

Steve:

that means that someone else had to raise your kid.

Steve:

And all of that comes through in. In.

Steve:

In, Cyrus's delivery of. When he

Steve:

says that. But it would also be a

Steve:

knife to the heart of a

Steve:

parent to hear that. And

Steve:

so I just. And this is also the second

Steve:

time that Eleanor

Steve:

dismisses deoda as the help.

Leif:

Yeah.

Steve:

In the episode. So for Cyrus to really

Steve:

come back and be like she's family, and

Steve:

for Cyrus to be like she's my

Steve:

family. Right. You

Steve:

may. You may not think so, but Blair knows she's

Steve:

family, and I know she's family, so

Steve:

I bought her an apartment. Ah,

Steve:

amazing.

Leif:

Jenny goes to Nate and drips poisonous

Leif:

honey into his ear and then finds the envelope from

Leif:

Carter and reveals it contains a keycd,

Leif:

presumably for Carter's room.

Steve:

Increasingly grimy, to go into the

Steve:

purse to get the letter that was just kind of sitting

Steve:

there hanging out of the thing. But

Steve:

also why you got that key, Serena.

Steve:

Why, why? And also, though

Steve:

I've held an envelopes before, and

Steve:

I can tell if there's a hard piece of plastic in it.

Leif:

Yeah, you probably would'she probably knew what it was already. that's why she

Leif:

went for it.

Steve:

Yeah, but like, Nate also handled that already.

Leif:

Nate's not that perceptive.

Steve:

Touche.

Leif:

But Jenny definitely do a little.

Steve:

But Jenny definitely knew what it was. Yeah.

Leif:

Chuck continues trying to apologize to Blair.

Leif:

Blair is still having trouble expressing her feelings

Leif:

on what happened. And the purposely pops their

Leif:

balloon and storms off.

Steve:

Yeah, we're not having it.

Leif:

Ye. Dan and Blair sher a moment,

Leif:

and Dan tries to comfort Blair. However, Blair interprets

Leif:

it as no one but shuck could ever love her at what she

Leif:

has become.

Steve:

This scene was amazing. I loved

Steve:

it. I've talked over and over about their

Steve:

chemistry. This episode

Steve:

just took that huge step

Steve:

towards pushing them together.

Steve:

In starting with this scene,

Steve:

I, loved them in it. I loved Dan

Steve:

being compassionate towards somebody.

Steve:

Which it is funny because again, classic

Steve:

Dan, that he'll jab at you all

Steve:

day long, but if he sees distress in another

Steve:

human being, he'snna take that to heart. Might

Steve:

not handle it the right way, but he'll internalize

Steve:

and try be and try to be

Steve:

supportive. And I think that this is the point

Steve:

more than anything, that we see Blair

Steve:

and Dan almost becoming friends. Or

Steve:

at least the Dan at this point is kind of like,

Steve:

she's an asshole. She's my friend.

Steve:

Yeah. I think that we got the first

Steve:

hint of that with the no headbands in

Steve:

college. And then you get this

Steve:

bringing that around again. So I

Steve:

really loved this scene.

Leif:

I, think you had a little bit of it in season two as well.

Leif:

When Serena tried to force them to be friends,

Leif:

Dan was giving her the advice about telling Chuck that

Leif:

she loved him.

Steve:

Yeah. There. Yes. The other big one

Steve:

in season two was actually when they

Steve:

were at odds with each other in the play on

Steve:

stage, that

Steve:

I wanted them to just bang

Steve:

right there the way they

Steve:

were going at it.

Leif:

Rufus is still trying to reach Lily, but it turns out she

Leif:

may not be a Canyon Ranch after all.

Leif:

This might have been Matt Settle's best acting, actually.

Leif:

Maybe Andrew Wson bass roots.

Leif:

He just sounded so pathetic.

Steve:

He did. He did. O.

Steve:

That's so funny. And it's so true,

Steve:

because he had no words and was just

Steve:

searching for. Right. Ready to go through the

Steve:

other four names that she's

Steve:

had. And before giving up,

Steve:

poor Rufus.

Leif:

And Gossip Girl has another blast before we go to the

Leif:

act break.

Leif:

Looks like Lily is caught in a lie. Guess

Leif:

it's the truth that's getting massaged.

Leif:

And we move into Act 4.

Steve:

That was good. I don't often comment

Steve:

on the Gossip Girl things because a lot of times I think

Steve:

they're kind of throw away. That one was

Steve:

good.

Leif:

Chuck approaches Blair in her room and puts a

Leif:

new necklace around her neck. It appears Blair

Leif:

has resigned herself to being with Chuck.

Leif:

Even Chuck doesn't seem keen on being

Leif:

with a miserable blare.

Steve:

Yeah, I.

Leif:

It was like a changeain just being locked around her throat.

Steve:

Yeah. And there's something about

Steve:

her face that when she is just

Steve:

expressionless, that when. When it

Steve:

is. When it is that

Steve:

acquiescing look that she

Steve:

gets, that it's

Steve:

stunning. It's porcelain doll.

Steve:

Stunning just to look at.

Steve:

And it's funny because doing some of these, the

Steve:

edits that I was doing this past week.

Steve:

Watching leyon frame by

Steve:

frame as an actor is

Steve:

a joy because you.

Steve:

It's not just in how she delivers

Steve:

lines. It is when she's. It's when you're not even supposed

Steve:

to be looking at her. And she's

Steve:

capturing every moment of

Steve:

human interaction. It's spectacular

Steve:

work. And going back to this

Steve:

scene, just the framing of it. And when she

Steve:

acquiesces to her life with

Steve:

Chuck and the advice of Dan Humphrey,

Steve:

of all people, that,

Steve:

yeah, this is the only person I'm worthy

Steve:

of.

Leif:

Very sad.

Steve:

So sad. And for Chuck to be like,

Steve:

oh, I wanted to win, but, like,

Steve:

huc. This sucks.

Leif:

The next day, Eric and Dan are off to the

Leif:

wedding, but Eric is concerned that Rufus isn't

Leif:

going.

Steve:

Yeah, don't be Dan.

Leif:

Speaking of Rufus, he is still calling every number

Leif:

he is trying to find. Lily leaves a message

Leif:

for sc. Yeah, good luck

Leif:

at the wedding. Sarus is explaining

Leif:

yet another Eastern European wedding tradition.

Steve:

so I really want to know if these are

Steve:

researched or made up. Were they just counting on the Gossip

Steve:

Girl fans to not

Steve:

ever Google or, I'm sorry, not to ever

Steve:

Bing the traditions. Slavic

Steve:

traditions.

Leif:

They paid Microsoft to delete him from the

Leif:

database.

Leif:

In the lobby, Serena and Nate continue to argue about

Leif:

Carter. Serena says, he is just

Leif:

helping her find her dad and didn't want to admit she was still

Leif:

looking. Nate gives her a firm boundary that he

Leif:

doesn't want her to see Carter anymore. This, of course,

Leif:

ruffles Serena's feathers.

Steve:

Yeah, Serena, say it all up

Steve:

front. You're such a

Steve:

dramatic fucking

Steve:

narcissist. Yeah.

Leif:

As Vanya Describes what a good and

Leif:

healthy relationship is like. You see Blair's face

Leif:

begin to drop when Cyrus calls for

Leif:

the happy couple to escort the bride and groom.

Leif:

Chuck steps forward, but Blair begins to cry.

Leif:

She admits that her and Chuck are not a happy

Leif:

couple and runs off.

Steve:

Oh, I do wa want to mention that Vanya's

Steve:

things to dooda and

Steve:

you know, his whole speech was adorable and very

Steve:

sweet.

Leif:

And, that. That is what love should be like.

Steve:

Yes, exactly.

Leif:

Not not what Chuck and Blair have.

Steve:

Y not trafficking your partner

Steve:

to your creepy uncle.

Leif:

And gossip girl has this to say as we go to the act

Leif:

break,

Leif:

Poor Chuck looks like he's got a runaway

Leif:

bridesmaid on his hands.

Leif:

And we move into Act 5.

Leif:

Doroda goes after Blair and comforts her and says

Leif:

she doesn't need Blair to be a happy couple. She just wants

Leif:

Blair to be happy. Elanor overhears the

Leif:

conversation and his mood, but interrupts to

Leif:

remind them that the show must go on.

Steve:

I love that, of course doda is gonna follow

Steve:

her. And of course they're gonna have a heart to heart. And of course

Steve:

Eleanor is gonna hear it. And Eleanor needs to hear

Steve:

it. And Eleanor needs to be reminded

Steve:

of the role this person played in their

Steve:

life. And again, a little trophey,

Steve:

but executed well. And

Steve:

really, the whole thing was just

Steve:

a very heartfelt, really good

Steve:

moment.

Leif:

In, the lobby, Serena meets Carter, who claims he found her

Leif:

dad and booked them a flight to palm beach. There

Leif:

is no time to tell anyone where they are going, but Jenny sees

Leif:

Serena leaving with Carter. Everyone's

Leif:

just hiding around corners as usual.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah.

Leif:

As Jenny rejoins Eric for the ceremony, Elliot

Leif:

finally shows up with his girlfriend.

Steve:

Don't worry, Eric. It's a spectrum.

Steve:

No dude goes door to door from

Steve:

the bottom to the penthouse looking for

Steve:

you. That isn't into you.

Steve:

Unless. Well, actually, you know what? Robin and I

Steve:

had this conversation because I said the same thing and then followed it up

Steve:

with okay, if I smelled weed

Steve:

or if they were like, yeah, I'm a

Steve:

dm I, might go door to

Steve:

door. Hey, I played dungeons and dragons and I like

Steve:

to run a game. Yeah, I might go door to door from the bottom to the

Steve:

top looking for them.

Leif:

Or in this world, trying to run a ponzi

Leif:

scheme.

Steve:

I believe they're called poppy schemeses.

Leif:

As the ceremony begins, Eleanor apologizes

Leif:

to Cyrus and admits that deroda is family.

Leif:

She was just ashamed about being a bad mother before

Leif:

Cyrus showed up. Re acting this scene.

Steve:

O. yeah. Great. Yes. And

Steve:

she again, she needs that.

Steve:

And again, it's not, taking something away from

Steve:

you, but. Yeah.

Steve:

She's such a powerhouse, and I just absolutely loved

Steve:

it.

Leif:

Chuck finally discovers that Blair didn't

Leif:

actually sleep with Jack. However, Blair snuffs out the

Leif:

fires of Chuck's relief. She wants a pure

Leif:

and simple love and is ashamed of herself

Leif:

for what she would have done for Chuck. She

Leif:

says this is the

Leif:

end.

Steve:

Better be bored than ashamed of

Steve:

myself. Yeah. Who has

Steve:

Blair always said

Steve:

is boring? Which

Steve:

other character on the show has Blair

Steve:

specifically cited as being

Steve:

boring?

Leif:

I believe Chuck is referred to him as Humdrum

Leif:

Humphrey.

Steve:

Wow. That's right. I do remember her

Steve:

mentioning Dan as being boring. Hasn't

Steve:

she? I'm soing

Steve:

here for this. I'm gonna be so disappointed

Steve:

if they. If this. If they pull

Steve:

the rug out, because you know they'll do that. They. They've made these

Steve:

pairings before and then not had it

Steve:

happen. They did it with Dan and Vanessa

Steve:

previously and kind of like multiple times.

Steve:

Yeah, multiple times. So they pull it out from under me.

Steve:

Okay. I'm kind of prepared for that. But I'm

Steve:

currently just totally on board for this.

Steve:

I've been on board for it for over a season

Steve:

now.

Leif:

Nate is looking for Serena, and Jenny

Leif:

reluctantly tells him that Serena left with

Leif:

Carter.

Steve:

Yeah, I love the needle drop

Steve:

on. Serena left with Carter, and

Steve:

the music comes in and you see the

Steve:

limo. I thought that was really well executed.

Steve:

Again, I'm not mad at Jenny.

Steve:

Serena fucking left with Carter. What do you want

Steve:

Jenny to do? Cover for her? No.

Leif:

Serena is riding with Carter to the airport.

Leif:

Carter admits that he knew about her dad for a week and

Leif:

was using the time to get closer to her.

Leif:

Serena stops the car and kicks Carter to the

Leif:

curb. She'll be making this trip solo.

Steve:

Yeah, I'm not mad at him.

Steve:

I'm a little bummed that Carter is off

Steve:

the show because I did.

Steve:

I did like what he brought

Steve:

to the show. So I'm a little bummed that we're not go. Going to see

Steve:

any more of him.

Leif:

But he's shitty enough that he kind of

Leif:

deserves Serena.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. And they

Steve:

really do kind of deserve each other. That they're both

Steve:

just, That they're. They are sort of the

Steve:

like a Blair and Chuck equivalent to just

Steve:

being where. Because Nate doesn't

Steve:

have that narcissism that Serena

Steve:

does. They're both golden retrievers.

Steve:

And that's the thing is that Carter would

Steve:

eventually just turn into her handler more

Steve:

than anything else.

Leif:

And Gossip Girl has this to say about it.

Leif:

Goodbye, Basin. Hello, Palm Beach.

Leif:

With Carter out of the picture, it looks like Serena is s making

Leif:

room for daddy.

Leif:

And we move into the epilogue.

Leif:

Cyrus and Eleanor give Astic, Derota and Vanya

Leif:

the gift of the apartment. Deroda and Eleanor sharerry

Leif:

touching moment.

Steve:

Yeah, this was really sweet.

Steve:

And again for

Steve:

Eleanoro fully acknowledge and realize the

Steve:

the impact that this person

Steve:

had on on their

Steve:

life and the joy of giving them the

Steve:

apartment.

Leif:

I love that a boozing Rufus

Leif:

finally gets a return call from Cece. But it's just

Leif:

more frustrations for him as she refuses to defulge her

Leif:

daughter's secrets.

Steve:

I love that I fucking I like

Steve:

CCE so much more than I originally did

Steve:

because, you know, she loves this shit.

Leif:

she totally. You ped it out there.

Steve:

Yeah. You know that she's like, you know that,

Steve:

that she's just like blowing bubbles in her gin right

Steve:

now.

Leif:

She could easily just ignored the message.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely. Yep.

Steve:

But no, I'm going toa call him just to tell him

Steve:

and rub it.

Leif:

In'Going to tell him,

Leif:

rub it in that his wife is lying to him.

Steve:

Like, yeah, rupfus, she's lying to

Steve:

you. I'm not gonna tell you about what or why.

Steve:

You should talk to her about that.

Leif:

Back at the reception, Chuck is quickly

Leif:

embracing being single and flirting with the Russian woman from

Leif:

earlier. Blair is watching in disgust, but is once

Leif:

again comforted by Dan. After taking a shot

Leif:

at Vanessa. Blair accepts Dan invitation for a

Leif:

dance. Chuck begins to leave with the

Leif:

Russian. When Nate tries to stop him from making things

Leif:

worse. Chuck shrugs him off and says,

Leif:

I'm single now. This is who I am.

Steve:

Yeah, I mean, AI

Steve:

of course he's gonna. Of course. I mean, you can't be

Steve:

mad at Chuck for that. Be mad at

Steve:

Chuck for everything else. But Chuck's

Steve:

single and Chuck gonna be Chuck. Chuck

Steve:

be Chucking.

Leif:

Elliot approaches Eric to tell him his girlfriend

Leif:

left because he kept talking about Eric. Oh,

Leif:

did I mention he also likes boys?

Steve:

See Eric, it's a spectrum.

Leif:

Couple things there. This guy's kind of an asshole.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

He brings his girlfriend to event. to a guy

Leif:

he likes.

Steve:

Yes. That he wants to flirt with the

Steve:

guy.

Leif:

But I do like seeing some by representation

Leif:

Yesus that did. One thing that really

Leif:

kind of annoyed me about Buffy was the

Leif:

kind of erasure of Willow and Oz. Cause the network

Leif:

wouldn't allow her to be bisexual.

Steve:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Leif:

She had to be either straight or gay.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

And but to me it was clear that she loved

Leif:

Oz.

Steve:

Yes. Yeah. And,

Steve:

I totally agree.

Leif:

And I had no problem with Tara and Willow. I like them

Leif:

too, but it just kind of erases.

Steve:

Yeah, let's not get into Kennedy and Willow.

Leif:

Jenny intercepts a call, from Serena to Nate, and

Leif:

Jenny promises to pass on her love message to Nate.

Leif:

However, Jenny immediately walks over to Nate and asks him to dance.

Leif:

Feeling dismissed, by Serena. He gladly

Leif:

accepts.

Steve:

Yep.

Leif:

Jenny, you did not learn your lesson from season

Leif:

two. Nate does not like scheming.

Leif:

He's gonna find out. He's gonna find out, and you're

Leif:

gonna be left in the cold.

Leif:

yeah. And also, it is very much a

Leif:

parallel to Vanessa intercepting the letter from season

Leif:

two.

Steve:

Yes. Yes.

Steve:

And Jenny, you could have just not

Steve:

answered the phone. Because

Steve:

however he finds out, you could have just

Steve:

not answered the phone. You already had everything.

Steve:

You already had her leaving with Carter. You didn't

Steve:

need to do that. I'm also goingna

Steve:

say, though, at this point, I'm not mad at her

Steve:

still, like, because Serena is such an asshole

Steve:

that I'm just like, okay, Jenny's just

Steve:

shooting her shot.

Leif:

No, I disagree. I think she crossed the

Leif:

line. There's one thing, you know, be honest

Leif:

to get your way. But now she's being manipulative to get her

Leif:

way, which is. That's cross the line to me.

Steve:

Yeah. I'm not saying she's not crossing

Steve:

lines. I'm saying I'm not mad at her for crossing

Steve:

lines. Mostly because I think

Steve:

that Serena, at this point, after all that she's

Steve:

done in this episode. First of all,

Steve:

I also know that Nate isn't going to go for Jenny. I

Steve:

know that. That's just not that I feel like

Steve:

Nate at this point just looks at Jenny like a little sister.

Steve:

That he. That he values his friendship with

Steve:

Dan. That already got in the way. so

Steve:

I think that he's doesn't want a relationship with you.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Sorry, Jenny. I think he likes your brother more than you.

Leif:

He made a choice.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. And it's because of the immature,

Steve:

scheming shit. Yeah. This is why. Yeah. And

Steve:

so Jenny will get what's coming to her for

Steve:

this. But honestly, I hope that, at this

Steve:

point, I'm kind of like, Serena doesn't deserve Nate either.

Steve:

I want Nate. I want nothing but the best for Nate.

Leif:

But she's perfectly capable of screwing it up herself.

Steve:

Yes. Yes, fair.

Steve:

She does not need Jenny's help. Jenny just

Steve:

sit back and watch it blow up.

Leif:

Yeah, but she can't help us scheme.

Steve:

No. She's in the game.

Leif:

We get a montage and a Gossel girl

Leif:

monologue. As Nate and Jenny step out onto the dance

Leif:

floor, we see Eric and Elliott doing a

Leif:

kazachchu. And Dooda and Vanya are slow

Leif:

dancing, eyes closed, with huge smiles on their

Leif:

faces. Dan, Blair, Eleanor and

Leif:

Cyrus do shots.

Steve:

Yes, I took special notice of Dan and

Steve:

the Waldorfs again.

Leif:

And did you hear the monologue that went

Leif:

over their scene?

Steve:

Yes. I forget exactly what it was, but

Steve:

I remember taking note of it.

Leif:

We explore a world of love and be pleasantly

Leif:

surprised by the people already in our life.

Steve:

Yeah. Yeah. Or, yep, I remember that.

Leif:

And then Gossip Girl continues, and it looks like Serena has

Leif:

already arrived in Palm beach and knocks on a hotel room

Leif:

door. However, Serena is shocked

Leif:

when Lily is the one to answer the door.

Steve:

Of course. I mean, we were sitting there. she knocks in the door,

Steve:

and I turned to Robin. Lily's gonna answer.

Leif:

Yeahus. We already knew she had to go.

Steve:

We knew she was there. Yeah. Palm Beach,

Steve:

Florida, California. How is that a three

Steve:

hour BLE ride? It's a five hour plan.

Leif:

Maybe there was a Palm beach of Florida, too. yeah,

Leif:

Palm beach is Florida. Palm Springs is California.

Steve:

Oh, okay. But so how's that a three hour plane ride? That's a two hour plane

Steve:

ride from New York.

Leif:

That's about three hours, Palmach.

Steve:

I thought it was two. From here to Florida,

Steve:

it'about two hours.

Leif:

I thought at least two and a half, depending on where you go.

Leif:

Oh, there's more than one airport in

Leif:

Florida.

Steve:

I. I guess I've only flown to Orans. No, I flew

Steve:

to Tampa Bay not long ago.

Leif:

So this is the full Gossip Girl monologue at the

Leif:

end.

Leif:

while most people think it's our brain that controls our

Leif:

actions, it's often our heart that gets the biggest

Leif:

workout. It can make us do the craziest

Leif:

things, but it can also let us take a chance on

Leif:

new adventures. Because when we open our heart, we

Leif:

can explore a world of love and be pleasantly

Leif:

surprised by the people already in our life. But

Leif:

unfortunately, our hearts are very sensitive

Leif:

when they're broken. Everything around us is

Leif:

shattered. Total eclipse of the art exo.

Leif:

X.O. Gossip Girl.

Leif:

What's coming next?

Steve:

Well, I mean, I wish

Steve:

that they could have had the

Steve:

Dan and Vanessa blow up now because

Steve:

now we have to wait through that to happen.

Steve:

The whole Tish thing has to come to a head

Steve:

for them to move on to Dan and Blair and so

Steve:

that.

Leif:

Do you think this is gonna be a clean break for Chuck and Blair?

Leif:

O.

Steve:

well, I think Chuck's gonna be Trying to get her back.

Steve:

I think Chuck's gonna be scheming to get her back, and she'snna be

Steve:

resistant until she ends up with Dan

Steve:

unless she ends up with somebody else first. And they.

Steve:

Because they do that sometimes they start the push, but they have to

Steve:

work around it. And so

Steve:

this could just be more foreshadowing. I don't know.

Steve:

I'm just kind of looking at it as there on those two

Steve:

are on the horizon. I do think Chuck is

Steve:

gonna kind of hit a hit. I don't want to

Steve:

say rock bottom, but a bottom again and then

Steve:

many bottoms, probably.

Steve:

But I think that Chuck is going to kind of spiral but

Steve:

also try to scheme to get Blair back. I

Steve:

think Nate's gonna find out about Jenny

Steve:

meddling and be pissed about that. I

Steve:

think Serena and Nate might be done

Steve:

because Serena's, you know, kind of a

Steve:

butthole, But I think she's gonna try to get Nate back, but I think he's gonna

Steve:

be like, you're an asshole. I really don't know

Steve:

what's gonna happen with Lilyian Rufus. Godd damn it. Can't the drama be

Steve:

about the kids? I think that's it.

Leif:

Well, let's move into segments.

Leif:

This week in phantom, we jump into the wayback

Leif:

machine to visit the fan forums from

Leif:

2010. Hello there,

Leif:

Peabody here. And this is the wayback machine

Leif:

for're traveling through time. And this is my boy,

Leif:

Sherman.

Steve:

Speak chairman. Hello. Good boy.

Leif:

Overall, oppression mixed the

Leif:

feelings. Some people like this

Leif:

something.

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

But this is when the fan base

Leif:

really starts to turn on Jenny.

Steve:

Oh, boy.

Leif:

They were going after her hard.

Steve:

Robin, too, by the way. Robin's like, I hate her.

Steve:

I hate her right now.

Leif:

O. Yeah, she's definitely not being a girl's girl.

Steve:

No, no, no. Absolutely not.

Leif:

So, yeah.

Steve:

Yeah.

Leif:

Dan and Blair seemenes popped.

Steve:

Oh. all right.

Leif:

But yeah, the main discussion was the

Leif:

Nate and Serena stans fighting with the few Nate and Jenny

Leif:

sts.

Steve:

I. I would be a Nate and Jenny st if it

Steve:

wasn't for the fact that I know

Steve:

that Chase is uncomfortable with it.

Steve:

on the meta, I don't like it. On the.

Leif:

Let'S move into episode grades.

Leif:

It is my time to go first. I

Leif:

really like this episode. I thought the acting was

Leif:

tremendous all around. Even though Serena was horrible.

Leif:

Blake did a good job. Even Chase had some good

Leif:

moments, other than the face

Leif:

off with Carter. But

Leif:

it's kind of hard to be angry at your best friend in real life.

Steve:

Yah. Oh, are they best friends?

Leif:

O. They're not best Friends, but they're good friends.

Steve:

Oh, good. So it makes

Steve:

me so happy when I hear that stuff.

Leif:

But yeah, I thought the writing was good. I felt like this was a

Leif:

very big sea change type of episode where

Leif:

hopefully we're moving on from Chuck and Blair and finding

Leif:

some new things to talk about with the show. Nate

Leif:

and Serena also look like they might be going

Leif:

out. And of course we know there's probablyn to be

Leif:

problems with Dan and Vanessa with the Tish application that was

Leif:

mentioned once again. So I ended up giving this in

Leif:

an A. Yeah.

Steve:

I also really like this episode.

Steve:

I thought it was good to shake up

Steve:

Blair and Chuck finally. They had what,

Steve:

19 episode run for their relationship. I

Steve:

think it's the longest relationship we've seen other than

Steve:

Rufus and Lily's bullshit.

Steve:

So I. Yeah, I really

Steve:

thought a lot of this. I'm gon toa go with. I went with a B

Steve:

plus for this one.

Leif:

On to Stockwatch,

Leif:

going up. I had a lot this week.

Leif:

Dooda and Vanya, Eleanor and

Leif:

Cyrus. Dan for being a good

Leif:

helper and just being a good guy, not being

Leif:

dragged out by Vanessa.

Leif:

Jenny and Ericus. They, Actually, no, I'm

Leif:

gonna take Jenny off. I originally had her on there, but I'm going to

Leif:

take her off as'going up. But I am going to have Eric because he

Leif:

seems to have a new love interest. Blair, because

Leif:

she's. She's sad now, but

Leif:

I think she's kind of moving forward.

Leif:

And also Cecus, she got the style on

Leif:

Rufus and the Rushom Womanuse she

Leif:

got Chuck.

Steve:

Oh, yeah. So I had a

Steve:

lot of the same. I had Dooda,

Steve:

Banya, Eleanor and Cyrus. I

Steve:

had Dan. I did have little. Little

Steve:

Jay. I'm gonna keep Jenny on there because even

Steve:

though she was scheming and

Steve:

dirty, she is, she did achieve what

Steve:

she was after. So I'm gonna keep her

Steve:

up. I have Eric and

Steve:

I gave it to Elliot for. Even though

Steve:

he's kind of a piece of shit now that I think about it. But I'm

Steve:

still welcome to the show. You get a stock up for

Steve:

making Eric smile. I will also give

Steve:

it to the Russian

Steve:

woman and to Cece

Steve:

as well. I didn't have Cece down, but you're

Steve:

absolutely right. She got to. She got to style. She got to

Steve:

do her favorite thing in the world, tell Rufus that

Steve:

there's something he doesn't know and she's not going to tell him what it

Steve:

is. Actually,

Steve:

that's her second favorite thing. Her favorite thing is giving

Steve:

him information that's going to crush him.

Leif:

Going down. Chuckuse he's

Leif:

dumped Carter cause he's

Leif:

dumped Serenause she's

Leif:

the worst. Rufususe he's

Leif:

pathetic. Lilyuse she's cheating

Leif:

and Nateuse he's being manipulated all

Leif:

around.

Steve:

I think I have all of the same

Steve:

except Blair. So I have Chuck. I did have

Steve:

Blair going down. you made a good point.

Steve:

I did not quite see that upward turn

Steve:

yet. So I felt like she

Steve:

ended with that sad low note. She

Steve:

lost what she was after. As of right

Steve:

now, I have Nate

Steve:

going down. I have Serena going down because she sucks.

Steve:

Ruf is going down and Lily

Steve:

and Carter both going down.

Steve:

But here's the best outfits from the last

Steve:

episode we seen.

Leif:

So best outfit. A lot have to choose

Leif:

from this episode.

Steve:

Yes, this was the best fashion

Steve:

episode in a minute.

Leif:

But both of Jenny's dresses were serving.

Leif:

Deoda's party dress was great,

Leif:

with the black lace and the kind of gold,

Leif:

lining almost. but at the end of the

Leif:

I went with Serena's purple dress, because it's my favorite

Leif:

color with the black tights.

Steve:

my other shout out on this was Blair's

Steve:

red dress with that.

Leif:

I would have liked it without the ruffles. That would have won for me if it didn't

Leif:

have the ruffles.

Steve:

I kind of dug the ruffles. I like the way that they were, like,

Steve:

offset the way that it kind of.

Leif:

Is that your winner or just the shout out?

Steve:

Just the shout out. But because she doesn't

Steve:

get it very often and I thought she had two great

Steve:

outfits on this show. I'm gonna give it to

Steve:

Deodta for. I'm gonna say the wedding

Steve:

dress. But at the end of the day, I'm mostly. When I'm

Steve:

looking at things, I'm counting like the number of times they

Steve:

win. So I definitely wanted Doroda

Steve:

to get it. I thought she looked fabulous in both

Steve:

her wedding dress and

Steve:

the party dress.

Leif:

That is it for segment. Steve, do you have anything

Leif:

you want to plug this week?

Steve:

I'm going toa start by saying I started listening

Steve:

to still the podcast from our

Steve:

friend Danielle Joy. some good

Steve:

stuff and it's good to listen to from the perspective of a

Steve:

man. Not someone who's really

Steve:

in the industry or anything,

Steve:

but to just kind of be aware of

Steve:

what go. What people have gone through to bring

Steve:

me the entertainment that I'm watching. And it's very

Steve:

eye opening. So shout out to still the

Steve:

podcast. I'd also. Once again, we're having

Steve:

a casting call for the movie Best of

Steve:

this, if you're in southeast

Steve:

Pennsylvania and you want to dip your toe into

Steve:

acting, get in touch with us and I can send you the

Steve:

information for auditions. And

Steve:

I think that our crowdsourcing might be done by the

Steve:

time this comes out, but we are trying to raise money for it

Steve:

too. So check out Best of this and get in touch with

Steve:

us and we can give you more info.

Leif:

Nothing really for me to plug at the moment, but you can

Leif:

follow me on social media. I'm

Leif:

Hotapacola. That's H o T

Leif:

C A P I C O L A.

Leif:

You can find me on Instagram and Bluesky.

Leif:

You can follow the podcast on Instagram

Leif:

TikTok threads onJudging

Leif:

BreakfastPD. You can also find links to our

Leif:

discord, our subreddit, and our patreon

Leif:

on our website, non

Leif:

judgingbrefastpie.com

Leif:

and if you'd.

Steve:

Like to get in touch with us, we'd love to hear what you have to say

Steve:

and maybe even read it during one of our episodes.

Steve:

You can send us an email to, nonjudgingbr

Steve:

breakfastpodmail.com

Steve:

Also, while you're listening, if you could go ahead and hit the follow

Steve:

button and the like, subscribe.

Steve:

And also if you wouldn't mind leaving us a comment that

Steve:

really helps us with our visibility in Apple

Steve:

podcasts and on Spotify. And

Steve:

finally, if you're listening right now, go ahead and tell your friends

Steve:

what you're listening to and get them

Steve:

involved in the conversation and make us your water

Steve:

cooler talk.

Leif:

And, we will be back next week to talk about

Leif:

season three, episode 19,

Leif:

Dr. Estranged.

Steve:

Ah, love, that title

Steve:

is fucking great.

Steve:

And the HBO

Steve:

thumbnail is Serena talking to

Steve:

an older man.

Leif:

Did you recognize him?

Steve:

I did not. I. Because I try very hard not

Steve:

to look too hard at those

Steve:

things.

Leif:

Any guesses on the casting? It is someone semi

Leif:

famous.

Steve:

I'm. Is it Andrew McCarthy?

Leif:

No.

Steve:

Okay.

Leif:

That was Lily's dad.

Steve:

Oh, right, right, right, right.

Steve:

Okay. For Serena,

Steve:

it's not, the one glimpse I had. It's not

Steve:

the former president. Not a real

Steve:

present, but, I can't think of his name right now. Sheen. Mark

Steve:

Sheen. Right. No.

Leif:

anyways, the episode description is Dan finds

Leif:

out that he didn't get accepted into the Tishch writing

Leif:

program, and Vanessa admits she may

Leif:

have been somewhat responsible.

Speaker C:

O boy.

Leif:

Until next time. You know you love us.

Steve:

Xoxo.

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away, I run away. You take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there.

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away or run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with m you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away and run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there

Speaker C:

oh it seems im walking right to.

Steve:

Your door.

Speaker C:

My heart'still resting looking for.

Steve:

Something more.

Speaker C:

Are you ever gonna see everything you mean to

Speaker C:

me I'm trying really hard to believe

Speaker C:

every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

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

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away a runaw away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there

Speaker C:

Never feels right when I'm out here on my.

Steve:

Own.

Speaker C:

I left last night and it feels like

Speaker C:

way too long

Speaker C:

are you ever gonna see everything you mean to

Speaker C:

me I'm trying really hard to believe

Speaker C:

every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away or run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there

Speaker C:

come back to me

Speaker C:

smile and you'll make my

Speaker C:

life complete

Speaker C:

every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of meat with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away run away you take a piece

Speaker C:

of me with you there

Speaker C:

Every time you walk away and run away you take a

Speaker C:

piece of me with you there.

Steve:

Oh,

Steve:

we're still here.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Non Judging Breakfast Pod
Non Judging Breakfast Pod
A Gossip Girl Podcast

Listen for free