S2E21 - Seder Anything [w/Shari Weiss] - Non Judging Breakfast Pod

Episode Transcript
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Steve (00:00):
Foreign.

Leif (00:12):
Hey up residers and all you scandal loving listeners
out there, you've just tuned into the non judging
breakfast pod where the coffee is strong,
the waffles are fresh, and the gossip is hotter
than ever. My name is Leif and I'm your seasoned
Gossip Girl veteran.

Steve (00:28):
And I'm Steve, your newbie, your
greenhorn. You're. I don't know, leaf. What do we call
the season two newbie in Gossip Girl terms?

Leif (00:36):
I don't know, but it sounds like you're still wondering. The Bassian
desert while I found the Vanderbilt province land.

Steve (00:42):
Well, you just better keep grandfather happy
then.

Leif (00:45):
Sounds good.

Steve (00:46):
So here's the deal, folks. Leap has been, listen, watching
Gossip Girl since the very beginning. And I'm tuning in
for the first time. And together, we're your dynamic
duo, bringing you all the drama, romance, and
sometimes questionable fashion choices of this
iconic 2007 series.

Leif (01:03):
That's right. Each week we're taking a deep dive into the
show. One episode at a time. We'll analyze
all the obscure references, hidden parallels,
and of course, the couture catastrophes.
And along the way, we'll take a look at some behind the scenes
gossip and stories from fandom.

Steve (01:20):
And since we're all about inclusivity here at the non
judging breakfast pod, there is always room for you
at our non judging breakfast table. So. So please
grab a cup of coffee, a mimosa, or maybe some of,
Chuck's special medicine, and let's go ahead and get
started.

Leif (01:36):
Sounds good, Steve. And we got make
some more room at the breakfast table this morning because we got a
guest. We are here with Shari
Weiss from Teen Drama or.

Shari Weiss (01:47):
Hi.

Steve (01:47):
Yes, thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Leif (01:49):
thanks for joining us.

Steve (01:50):
Thank you so much for being here today.

Leif (01:53):
This episode will be released on
January 20.
Sherry, do you watch, Sex Lives of college Girls?

I haven't, but I need to. I know I need
to.

Leif (02:05):
So there's. There's a little thing this week, and, this is not really.
Spoiler. Yeah, the cat. There's
one, a male character named Kanan.

Okay.

Leif (02:14):
And in the episode, he does this little. They're in
the gym and he kind of lifts up his shirt, like show off his
abs. And this guy, he's in good shape. He's in much
better shape than me. And. But
everyone's talked about the episodes, like, what's going on?
They CGI his abs there,
or was it a prosthetic?

(02:34):
And you know, because also the episode, he was, a Halloween party
and he was playing a boxer so you had his shirt off completely and it
didn't have those, like, cartoonish abs.
And then a day later, like, the next day after
the episode came out, turns out the
US Is the only broadcast that had this on
it. It was not added for the

(02:56):
other Canadian broadcast or anywhere else in the world.

That's so strange.

Leif (03:00):
Yeah. So apparently, you gotta
have cartoonish, abs in the U.S.
i guess.

We have high standards.

Steve (03:10):
I never wanted a six pack because I always had a
keg.

Yeah.

Leif (03:18):
Yeah. Anyways, we are here
to talk about season two, episode
21 of Gossip Girl, titled
Seder. Anything. The original air date
was April 20, 2009.

Steve (03:32):
Yes. One of, one of my favorite
movies. I absolutely love
say Anything.

Leif (03:39):
Of course.

Steve (03:40):
John Cusack.

Leif (03:41):
Yep. 89. Cameron Crow film with John
Cusack. Ione Sky.

Steve (03:46):
Yeah.

Leif (03:46):
Even if you've ever seen it, most people probably know the
jukebox above the head.

Steve (03:51):
Yeah, exactly. I actually worked in the mall
where they met when I lived in Seattle. That's.

Wow.

Steve (03:57):
Yeah. I remember watching and being re watching
it in Seattle, and they drive by it, and I'm like, wait, I.
I work there.

Leif (04:07):
so this episode was written by Amanda
Lasher. This is her third. Third episode of the
season. Previously wrote Pret de Por J
and Gone with the Will.

Steve (04:17):
Yeah. Decent, right?

Leif (04:18):
Yeah. Good. Episodes and episodes directed
by John Stevens. This is his first time
in the director's chair, but you might recognize his name because
he wrote three episodes this season.

Steve (04:29):
Yeah.

If you watch the O.C. you'd also recognize his name
because he was a big writer and producer
over there as well.

Leif (04:36):
Yes.

Steve (04:37):
Oh, okay. So, so clearly a Josh
Schwartz team member for
sure. That was brought along.

Leif (04:44):
Yeah. This is his first time in the director's chair, though.

Steve (04:47):
Yeah.

Leif (04:48):
Steve, why don't you go ahead and read that Vulture recap?

Steve (04:51):
Sure thing. Because of
Passover, the theme of Gossip Girl was,
fittingly, redemption. As
Cyrus, the drama's spiritual center,
prepared a brisket for an evening seder, the
characters around him continued to simmer in the
oily stew pot that is the Upper
east side, trying like so many

(05:13):
aromatic vegetables to hang on
to their individual essence while
absorbing and being absorbed by
others. After much mishigos,
Blair was forgiven by Nate and later Cyrus
for acting like a, social climbing
psychopath. She is changing for the better.
Chuck confirmed, who redeemed himself for his first

(05:35):
season sin of trying to rape Jenny on the roof of the
kiss on the lips party by offering her
a heartfelt apology. Meanwhile,
Serena was forgiven by her mother, Lily,
for Running away to Barcelona,
causing a scene at Eleanor Seder and the
general sin of being an exotic
butterfly who merely wants to be free, but

(05:57):
sometimes makes mistakes. Oh, sweetie.
Lily tells her daughter during their heartfelt
conversation, which takes place in front of a glass
doored refrigerator packed with colorful
produce. I could never think of you as a bad
person. You got into Brown.

Leif (06:18):
Any thoughts?

It's fun. That was written by
Vulture. yeah, by Jessica Pressler.

Leif (06:25):
And I think it's a man
actually writes the. The recast for Gas.

Okay.

Leif (06:31):
yeah, I forgot his name though.

It was pretty spot on.

Leif (06:34):
Go ahead and get into the episode. We
begin act one with another Blair dream
sequence. She is a character in an Audrey Eprom
film. Once again, this time Eliza Doolittle from My
Fair Lady. Blair awakens to a Gossip Girl
monologue. When you lose hope in a
dream, sometimes all you have left with
is sleepless nights. while some call the doctor for a

(06:56):
refill, I find the best solution is
a full social calendar.

Steve (07:03):
Something really interesting about this dream though. Cuz
she's not just Eliza Doolittle, she's also
Mrs. Higgins. Yes, right. So
she is both the protagonist and
antagonist here, showing that she's the one
who's looking down on. On her.
You know, she is the one who is not
living up to her own standards.

Leif (07:26):
any thoughts on the dream?

I just thought it was another example of the, of the
classic Blair dream sequences where
they blend reality
and fiction in a way that is also a really
great cinematic homage. you know, a lot of people think
OSSA Girl is low culture, but would
a low culture piece of art be paying
tribute to the iconic films of Audrey

(07:50):
Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe and all these
other sequences that we see come to life?

Leif (07:55):
Oh, yeah, it's clear the writers are pretty
big cinema. and literature nerds.

Steve (08:01):
Yeah, very much.

Leif (08:03):
Blair is catching Cyrus up on the gossip as he is
preparing for Passover dinner. Cyrus offers to
help Blair with nyu, but Blair has given up on
college and has committed to the life of a
socialite. Eleanor is clear clearly not pleased
with this direction for her daughter.

Steve (08:18):
No, yeah, I, she's just not cool
with raising a socialite, which I.

Leif (08:24):
Real north women are not socialites.

Steve (08:25):
Yeah, I love that about Eleanor is you're
going to, you're going to get something
more than just being a socialite.
I, I've always respected Eleanor and
her drive and her ambition.

Yeah, makes sense. she's an anomaly in the cast of
characters.

Leif (08:44):
Serena is back from Spain. She is greeted by
a creepy Chuck, who claims to be over
Blair. Chuck calls out Serena claiming to be
in Spain with Poppy when Poppy has been back for
town. Back in town for a week.

Steve (08:58):
Yeah. Chuck being gross. Yeah.

Leif (09:00):
I saw, the one reference to Vanessa
in the episode.

Steve (09:04):
Oh, I didn't even catch that he referenced
her.

Leif (09:07):
He said I had a thing with the boho barista for a
minute.

Steve (09:11):
Wow. I didn't. I didn't
even take that as a
Vanessa thing. That's really funny. But also,
Chuck catches Serena in her lie
about being in Spain with Poppy.

Leif (09:24):
Indeed. Yeah. Chuck mentions the boho
baristas. That's the one Vanessa mentioned in the
episode. And he's saying, I realized I was 17 year
old Billionaire with stamina.

Yeah. Vomit inducing.

Leif (09:38):
Yeah. Blair and Nate are making out in
front of the church. They go in and discuss Nate getting
into Yale and Columbia. Blair gets more bad
news when Maureen comes up and tells her that she didn't get
into the Junior Whitney committee.
Not good for Blair right now.

Steve (09:57):
No, it
takes a while to start to matter.
Just told her she hasn't begun to
matter.

Leif (10:07):
And, ah, Nate being a little insensitive, talking about how he got
into both Yale and Columbia.

Steve (10:12):
But also for you, Nate.

Leif (10:18):
in Brooklyn, Dan notices some possible
sparks between Jenny and her lab partner, Wes.
Rufus can't make any money and he refuses to let
Dan get a job. However, Rufus leaves to go
shopping with Lily, and Jenny thinks she has a job
for Dan.

I thought the idea that came up of selling the loft was an
interesting one.

Leif (10:37):
Yeah. was that the last episode?

Steve (10:39):
That was the last episode. They're gonna sell the loft.

Leif (10:42):
This episode, he decides he's gonna sell the gallery.
Right which way to go? Rufus,
you need money, so sell your livelihood.

Steve (10:50):
Yeah, no, but, there
is a willingness there for Rufus to live off of
Willy. You know, he's like, lily wants to go buy a new
whatever, and I'm going to go shopping with Lily instead of
doing any of the responsible things I need to take care of. Like,
I'm not going to the gallery to work right now. I'm going to go shopping
with my girlfriend.

He's slowly getting introduced to the finer things in life, and
I think he's liking it more than he wants to admit.

Steve (11:13):
Hey, I think you are very.

Leif (11:15):
Just let her pay for college, God damn it.

Steve (11:17):
Thank you.

Leif (11:21):
Back at the church, the grandfather makes a deal
with Blair to help convince Nate to choose Yale over
Columbia.

Steve (11:30):
Bea knows the game.

Leif (11:34):
Yeah, but she should know that Nate doesn't like that kind
of thing.

She should, but it's not beneath
her to play a game. Right.

Leif (11:42):
So yeah, it's definitely in character.

Steve (11:45):
Especially a game that feels like an
easy wood, you know? Oh, I just need to
nudge him in the direction of Yale. Sure. He's already, you know,
fine. No problem.

Leif (11:55):
And also, like, previous to the scene, he
was kind of definitely like on the fence. He
wasn't leaning one way or the other.

Steve (12:03):
Yeah, he was definitely right down the middle. So it didn't seem like a
hard thing to push him one way or the other.

Well, except for the fact that he didn't want to go to Yale just because he felt
like he was only accepted because of his
grandfather. So I think maybe going
to Columbia, he felt that was more
of a genuine admission that he earned.

Steve (12:21):
Right.

This is the Yale admission.

Steve (12:23):
Yeah.

Leif (12:24):
Cyrus gets a call from Serena who says she needs a
lawyer. And we go to our first commercial break.

Steve (12:30):
Oh no. Who did she hand cocaine to?

Who did she almost kill or actually kill?

Leif (12:39):
Back from commercials. Rufus is carrying Lily's
shopping bags back to her apartment. Rufus is
still whining about not selling any art.

Steve (12:47):
Yeah.

Might actually have to be in your gallery and meet
with clients to sell art.

Steve (12:52):
Yeah, it helps.

Leif (12:55):
Serena comes into the living room and Lily asks Rufus to
excuse them. Lily is not happy about Serena's
trip to Spain. Lily grounds Serena.

I'm still amazed that ah, as like, as rich as these
people are and the lifestyle they live, that
she as this as a minor
child is able to just leave
and flee to another country. It
will come back at will and what have you. And
that's what ah, almost makes it hilarious, the idea of
Lily grounding her. Yeah,

(13:27):
she was grounded to obey that.

Leif (13:29):
Well, at least some of them are 18 at this
point.
We know Blair is definitely 18 and Dan is definitely 18
because he mentioned.

Steve (13:39):
That when he was banging a teacher.

Yes, I'd have get that in there for legal reasons.

Leif (13:44):
Yeah, just like the
SC when they. They magically changed Luke's age.

Yeah. With Julie. Exactly what I was thinking,
Leif.

Steve (13:54):
And the other thing we've talked often about how Lily
is a good parent to everyone but her own kids.

Children.

Steve (14:00):
Yeah. And here's a great example
of. As a parent, I know that one of the
hardest things to do is stop and
listen to what your kid is saying before
formulating your ideas. And
because you're already mad and you're already hot about it and it's
really, really hard to step out of that moment and
listen to their explanation and listen to what they have to

(14:23):
say. But it's an important part of
parenting to do that.

Leif (14:29):
Serena calls Blair. Blair comments
on how much better being with Nate is and
compares herself to the suffering of the Jewish people.
Serena susses out that Blair won't be at her
home all day, so she could presumably go
see Cyrus without Blair knowing.

Steve (14:45):
Robin took pause,
comparing her plight.

Such a hard life that she lives.

Leif (14:56):
Poor Blair.

She's been wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Leif (15:03):
Yeah. It looks like Dan got the
cater waiter job as he gets out of the catering van with his new
co worker and Dan goes into overshare mode
before realizing whose house they are at.
Eleanor walks up and mentions that Dan looks
familiar.

Steve (15:19):
I love this. It is the start of some very
classic farce writing,
like the. The. A lot of the Satyr
storyline. A lot of the Waldorf house
is run like a farce, and most of it
is done really well.

that was my observation as well, that it was a classic
Gossip Girl episode in that it centers
around an event that brings people together in
unexpected ways. And it's a, full farce all the
way.

Steve (15:48):
Yeah, yeah. Which, if I remember
correctly, My Fair Lady. Although
I don't think My Fair lady is classified as a farce.
I think Pigmalion is the original
play, so again, it ties into that
opening scene as well.

Right.

Leif (16:05):
Good point. Once inside,
Dan is trying to get out of the job, but Eleanor offers to
pay them double, which causes Dan's coworker Corrine
to pressure Dan as well.

Steve (16:15):
That was so funny.

Leif (16:16):
Understandable.

I mean, money's persuasive.

Leif (16:18):
Yeah.

Steve (16:19):
And Eleanor knows how to get shit
done. I need this done, Dan. I'm going to
give you more money. Just do it.

It's also funny that Eleanor even thought she needed a wait staff
for like, the five guests that she was having.

Steve (16:33):
Yeah.

Leif (16:34):
I like how much Dan actually knows about their. Like, she, like, oh,
derota can help. Yeah, like, wow,
Dan, you know a lot about Blair's house.

Steve (16:41):
Yeah.

Leif (16:43):
We shift back to Nate and Blair.
Nate, who earlier today was unsure about which college
to choose, is now firmly in the Columbia
camp. Blair fails to sway Nate back to
Yale.

It's interesting that she'd be willing to go along
with Nate going to yell because that would make a long distance
relationship for them. And you would think that she wouldn't want
that, that she would find it for the sake of their
relationship. She should want him to go to Columbia and just,
you know, be in the same city. But it shows how
misguided her motives are that she Cares more about
working with the junior community and getting

(17:18):
what she wants. And she's okay being, you know,
hours away from her boyfriend.

Steve (17:23):
I also feel like, tied into that. There's an
element of if he's at Yale,
she can kind of vicariously
fulfill her dream too.

Okay. Versus being jealous of him.

Steve (17:36):
Right.

Leif (17:38):
And the possibility of getting in next year to Yale.

Yeah. I thought you were gonna say when you said that
if he's at Yale, in a way, the
mice can play that, like, without having Nate in
town. She's actually liberated in some
ways to.

Steve (17:54):
That's probably to scheme and do
her.

And run into Chuck and, you
know.

Leif (18:01):
We get a little Gossip Girl blur between scenes
here. Obi, too bad
you weren't invited to Nate and Trip's lunch, because whatever
happened, it looks like you're the one paying.

Steve (18:13):
We've briefly touched on it last week, and now
it's really coming through that Trip is a shit
starter.

Leif (18:19):
Yeah.

It was not until rewatching this that I realized
why he's called Trip and it's called
he's Triple because he's, William Milling
the third.

Leif (18:30):
Yeah.

And I feel like I went through years not realizing
this. I just felt like he was genuinely
like his God given name was Trip
and not that it was triple. And that
triple in itself was a nickname.
This is my epiphany.

Leif (18:46):
It's a. It's actually a pretty common nickname
for those Rick. People name their
sons after each other three times in a row.

Yeah, I wouldn't know that.

Leif (18:57):
And we see Serena is telling Cyrus that she got married
in Spain. Somehow cater waiter Dan was hiding
behind the much smaller Cyrus and overhears what Serena
said.

How's she gonna hide beside Cyrus?

Leif (19:12):
It's like, how do you not see him there?

Steve (19:14):
Yeah,
yeah. You who hides behind Sean
Wallace or Wallace Shaw.

Tiny child.

Steve (19:23):
Yeah.

Leif (19:26):
Act two. Serena explains how she got drunk and
may or may not have married Poppy's boyfriend
Gabriel. Dan is understandably a little
salty about this.

Steve (19:37):
Dan is hilarious in this too.

Leif (19:40):
Yes, you're the wife of the land of Genery,
and I'm a cater waiter at Seder.

I just love any story that brings Dan and Serena
back together, and especially this one,
because as we'll get to later in the episode, they do have to
pretend that they're back. They're actually romantically back
together. And, you know, as a Dorina fan, for
the most part, I just. Just like when they're
back in each other's webs like this, and, you know, they

(20:06):
weren't For a bit because of. You know, we had
Aaron and we had Rachel Carr and what have you. So
there were interludes, and,

Leif (20:13):
And they got back together for, like, five minutes in
between those two relationships somehow.

Steve (20:19):
And the other thing that I keep coming back to is that
Dan really takes the we're friends
seriously, and he really tries to be a
friend to Serena a lot of the
time. He's done it in the past few.

Leif (20:32):
Episodes, which Lily points out at the end
there.

Steve (20:36):
Yeah.

Leif (20:37):
At the rehearsal dinner, Blair asks Nate what's going
on. Nate completely ignores the grandfather,
who becomes suspicious.

Steve (20:45):
Boom, boom, boom.

Leif (20:48):
Rufus and Lily arrive at Seder. Eleanor is happy to
see them and hints at Dan working in the party.

Steve (20:54):
I'm so happy you invited yourself.
Seemed like such a. She was actually
happy because she wanted the buffer but also wanted
to make sure that she pointed out to Lily.
Yeah, you invited yourself.
The other thing. I loved the did you know?
Well, you'll find out.

Leif (21:15):
Yeah.

Which is just part of the great farce set up.

Steve (21:19):
Yeah. M. Yeah, it really is. It just,
Everything has to be in a hurry. There's no time
to explain that your son is here waiting tables.
You'll find out. It was
really well done.

Leif (21:32):
Dan and Serena enter the party. Serena says
Blair invited her, and then she invited Dan. Rufus
notices Dan is dressed like a cater waiter, but doesn't
quite put two and two together.

You know, I actually don't think his. His outfit was
that. I'm a server here. Like, that much of
a giveaway. I feel like somebody could actually get.

Leif (21:50):
Away with wearing that, especially since Dan is known
for wearing vests.

And it's black and it's white, and it's just. I don't
know.

Leif (21:58):
It's a classic look.

Yeah.

Steve (22:00):
Yeah. And. And again, just the.
The farcical Eleanor
walks in. Oh, but Blair's not going to be here. All
of these excuses that are coming off
at, the top of their heads. It was. I loved
that. This was my. Actually my favorite of those
farcical seals.

Yeah.

Leif (22:21):
Jenny and Wes are at the Vander Woodsen apartment getting
ready to play Monopoly when Chuck
bursts in with his conquest for the night. Wes and
Jenny get a little awkward at Chuck's lurid
display.

Steve (22:33):
I like seeing Jenny with a nice boy.

Yeah.

Steve (22:39):
And Monopoly.

She deserves some innocence.

Steve (22:42):
Yeah. Yeah, she does.

Leif (22:45):
Back at the Waldorfs, Lily is talking up
Rufus to the art collector.

You know, even Lily has ulterior motives.

Steve (22:54):
You should. You should move your. Your. You
should move your gallery to the city. It's Funny to
me, because anyone who doesn't live in New York City,
the city is all of New York City.
Brooklyn is the city.

Leif (23:08):
Well, also the fact that he said Williamsburg is dead.
I mean. Yeah,
that didn't.

Not in 2024.

Steve (23:17):
Yeah. Yeah, it was.

Leif (23:20):
Funny artist.

Steve (23:21):
Yeah. I was gonna say that this was around the time that
Williamsburg really started picking up,
too.

Right. Like, not. I'm not saying this to
reference the Gossip Girl Max's version
of it, but, like, if there was a Gossip Girl
today, they wouldn't be beating on
Brooklyn, like, in the way that the original
series did. Yeah, there would be. There would need to be a different
way to show that the Humphreys were of lower
stature.

Steve (23:47):
Yeah.

From the wrong part of town.

Leif (23:49):
And, yeah, I've not watched the reboot, but I believe the
richest character is from Brooklyn.

ob. maybe. I don't remember. I mean, I did watch all of it, but
I've tried to block it from my memory.

Steve (23:59):
Yeah.

Leif (24:01):
I watched, like, the first 15 minutes. I was like, no, it's not for
me.

Yeah.

Leif (24:06):
Serena tries to apologize to Dan about
marrying Gabriel, but Eleanor repeatedly yells for Dan
to get the matzah.

Have a Seder without matzah.

Steve (24:17):
I mean.

Leif (24:19):
Yeah.

Steve (24:21):
And I love. I love the whole time
that I believe. This is also
where Rufus kind of looks at Dan like, why would you do that? And he
goes, I'm just gonna go with it. Now.
She keeps talking to him like a waiter, and Dan
keeps acting like he's. Or Rufus keeps acting like he's a
guest.

It's almost like.

Steve (24:40):
Loved it.

They're building a house of cards. Or, like, the opposite of
Jenga. Like, as each thing has happened, another
card or another block is added, and it's
like, at what point is this whole thing going to topple over?

Steve (24:52):
Yeah.

We eventually see that it all comes falling
down.

Steve (24:56):
Yeah.

Leif (24:57):
At the rehearsal, Blair is asking Trip
what's going on with Nate. Before Trip can reveal his
conversation with Nate, Nate clinks his glass for a
toast. Nate reveals that it was the grandfather
who dimed out the captain back in season one.

Steve (25:12):
More shit starting from. From Trip, though. Like, we see
that Tripp is a shit starter and he's not looking out
for Nate's best interest, because
what do.

Leif (25:21):
We think his motives are?

Steve (25:22):
Steve, My. I would assume
that he wants Nate out of
the family for his because he doesn't want
Nate to gain any kind of
position over him. That's my.
That's my working theory right now, is
that Nate now has this internship at the
Mayor's office coming up, and that Trip is

(25:45):
worried that Nate might try to get in his
way.

The timing is interesting because this is the backdrop of all this,
is Trip and Maureen getting married, and you would think that
Trip would want the focus solely on him, that
it's his day, it's his time, and yet he's stirring
with the pot in a way that takes attention away from
him and puts it on Nate and the
grandfather. So it's an interesting
tactic.

Leif (26:10):
Oh, B. Looks like you hitched your wagon to a
falling star.
Gabriel shows up the Seder looking for Serena,
and Gossip Girl takes us to the commercial break with this
zinger. Baruch atta a
Dios mios. This Passover is gonna
get its own Spanish inquisition.

Oh, my gosh. I hated that. I hated that
one.

Steve (26:33):
I hated God.
Gabriel, first of all, what the are you doing just
showing up at some. Not even the person you're
looking for. You're not even going to her
house. You're going to her friend's house to
a dinner they're having. Why
the would this person show up here?
It does align perfectly with any

(26:56):
farce, for sure. It is
very. yeah, as far as the writing scheme
of being a farce is concerned. Yes,
but in the realm of real life. What
the.

I was gonna say that I liked Army Hammer in the Social
Network, but rewatching this episode reminded me that I
think he just did a horrible acting job in this role
of Gabriel.

Steve (27:17):
Terrible.

Yeah, it's just a. Just terrible
acting, and it's
strange knowing where he is in
2024.

Leif (27:27):
And what I was going to say was that in
this show, everyone just shows up everywhere. So I always
take that place. No one ever calls. They just show
up.

Steve (27:36):
But Armie Hammer. I don't think they're serving what you like.

No.

Steve (27:43):
I don't think it's kosher.

No.

Leif (27:46):
He would flesh it out on the passover menu.

No, certainly not at
Elmer's.

Leif (27:55):
As, we move into Act 3, Dan
interrupts the Seder to tell Serena that she needs to come to the
foyer.

I like your pronunciation there.

Leif (28:04):
Thank you. That's three years of high school
French for you.

Steve (28:09):
Poor Cyrus. I really
feel so bad.

Leif (28:13):
He really soldiered on through, everything that was.

Steve (28:15):
He did.

Leif (28:18):
Gabriel is trying to talk to Serena, but Serena
interrupts to tell him that she is back together with Dan, who
just goes along for the ride. Eleanor comes to
the foyer, and, much to Serena's dismay,
invites Gabriel to dinner.

More the merrier. There's, you know, the Extra chair for
Elijah, plenty of seats to
go around.

Leif (28:38):
Speaking of which, do you want to explain that to our,
non Jewish audience?

Oh, I don't know that I sufficiently can, we leave
a chair open symbolically for Elijah to
invite him to our seder table. If you'd like to know
why, I suggest Googling, if you can. I'm gonna
sufficiently remember off the top of my
head.

Leif (28:58):
So the basic gist is
that he's there to confirm that the men
are circumcised.

Steve (29:05):
I'm kind of glad he never shows up.

Leif (29:10):
He also takes part in Bris's,

Would contribute further to the farce, though.
Yeah, that component didn't take
place.

Steve (29:22):
and Gabriel is super creepy
too. Like, the acting
just. And his mannerisms
and his dialogue is just so, like,
forceful and wooden
in.

A way that just. There's nothing that
endears you to him.

Steve (29:41):
Yeah.

Leif (29:42):
And.

Steve (29:43):
And why would you. I, understand again, for
the farce, it's funny that he stays,
but why would you as a person walk into
this place and be like, okay, sure, I want to
meet all of your family. Person that I
spent a couple days with who doesn't want me here.

I think they lack self awareness in a way and, like,
have a tunnel vision of like, this is my
end goal and so I'm going to stay here to achieve it.
Versus picking up on normal social cues that would tell
him, oh, this is not the right time and place for this.

Steve (30:15):
I should write.

Leif (30:17):
Yeah. Jumping to the end of the episode, is
it possible that the bad acting was intentional?
Like, was the show? The character is not a good.

Steve (30:26):
Yeah, there's. There's that possibility too.

But I like, I feel like in every episode
where we have Gabriel, like Army's acting is
adjust just this wooden
terribleness.

Steve (30:38):
Yeah, he was terrible when we first met him.
At the end of last episode for sure.

Leif (30:45):
At the rehearsal, the grandfather approaches Blair
and gives her a five minute deadline to fix things
with Nate.

Five minutes? A whole five minute?

Steve (30:53):
Yeah. You just grabbed a teenage
girl by the grandfather.
Unbelievable.

Even if someone happened to witness that moment,
who in that room was gonna stand up to the grandfather and be
like, manhandles her?

Steve (31:13):
Yeah, maybe Nate in this moment.

Had he seen it?

Steve (31:16):
Yes, had he seen it?

Leif (31:19):
Things at the Seder start to heat up as Serena
pulls Dan in to sit next to her. Rufus and
Lily are both appalled when they see Serena and Dan
holding hands. Cyrus attempts to soldier
on.
I like that Lily notices it. That
has to point it out to Rufus.

Steve (31:40):
How fucking rude you're at
someone else's party.
And this is where the, where it started actually.
Like I started to get annoyed by
it, but I did like the the hand
holding the. She. She's my boyfriend.
I thought that was funny.

And not only are you at Salatha's party, but like in that very
moment, someone is trying to conduct a religious
ceremony.

Steve (32:05):
Yes.

You basically interrupt the proceedings to confront
your kids on whether or not they're back together.

Steve (32:11):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (32:13):
Chuck is getting hot and heavy with his date when he realizes
he had already been with this woman previously. He gets
up to get a. I.

Was surprised that that was a turn off for him.

Steve (32:23):
Yeah.

That killed his mood and I don't.

Leif (32:26):
Know why, at ah, this point he's just
wants a new girl every, every night and he doesn't
want the emotional connection because he's
a 17 year old billionaire with stamina.

Steve (32:38):
Honestly, I bet that was a big part of it.
The I've already been here and that
is now becoming a relationship even though it's been a
year after.

Remember her?

Steve (32:49):
Yeah. but I'm saying that after, after being with
Vanessa for a brief period of time, but
definitely worse, I'm assuming more than once,
you know, And I think that then
going from that to being with someone he's already been with,
it's like, oh, no, no, no, I'm not doing that.

Leif (33:07):
Yes. To a normal person who it, it seems
weird, but, Chuck's twisted mind, it makes sense.

Steve (33:13):
That's kind of where I landed.

Leif (33:15):
Yeah. Out, in the living room, Chuck is
once again making Jenny and Wes feel awkward.
Jenny tells Wes to meet her at the elevator so they can take a
walk. Jenny hangs back and absolutely
eviscerates Chuck with her words. Oh, I love
that. I love it.

Steve (33:30):
It was so good. And I'm so glad
that they finally addressed the kiss on the lips
party, that they finally addressed the
assault in season one that we have just
been doing this glow up for a season and a half
of poor little Chuck. Lonely, poor little
Chuck, sad boy with his dad dying and all that.

(33:51):
But we finally have gotten
that addressed from episode one.

It was very satisfying.

Steve (33:59):
Yes.

Leif (33:59):
Yeah. We'll talk about where we get into the phantom section
at the end. But yeah, people were actually surprised
because like, people were considering the pilot episode to be like, not
even canon at this point.

Right.

Leif (34:09):
It was also mentioned that Chuck had a mom and like a couple other
things that, you know, it was not.

Steve (34:15):
That Chuck had a mom, but that Chuck had his
mom's pills. So
it doesn't say she's alive. It says that he still has her
pills, which. That's a little
shocking that they're not gone.

Have they not expired?

Steve (34:31):
Yeah, and it did. It made the kiss on the
lips party canon, which I really
appreciated that they did that and addressed it
finally.

Completely agree.

Leif (34:42):
At the rehearsal, Blair tells Nate that he
did the right thing and that they should leave.
Blair goes to get her coat and the grandfather steps in to
manipulate the situation to his advantage. And
Blair's downfall.

Steve (34:55):
We, we used to talk about Leighton Meester's
acting all the time
because it's always spectacular.
And I feel like we haven't really talked about it as much,
recently because we've just gotten so used to
it. And this scene,
her facial expressions,

(35:16):
her reactions to Nate and Grant
and everything around her happening, it was
so moving.

Leif (35:23):
Mm, And Gossip Girl comes
in with Watch out,
Bea. Seems like just when you got
it right, William Vanderbilt is going to do
you wrong.
And we go back to the satyr once again. Cyrus keeps
getting interrupted by Dan, Serena, Willy,

(35:44):
Rufus and Gabriel. The truth about
Dan's job gets out as well as the fact that he and
Serena are not back together.

Steve (35:52):
And this is where I was really like, what the
fuck? How are you this rude and
irreverent? You basically. It's
basically like you're having this conversation at, at
church, right? Like this is a religious
ceremony that you were in that you invited
yourself to. And now you're ruining
it because your kids holding hands with someone.

(36:15):
Shut the fuck up. There's time to talk after the
ceremony.

Or just politely excuse yourself. Hey, Dan,
Serena, can we talk to you in the other room?
Yeah, it can't wait. Of course it should wait.
But there was a way to have that conversation that was
not in the way that they did it. But this is that, this is that
house of cards.

Steve (36:33):
Yeah.

crumbling.

Leif (36:35):
And it just makes for good tv.

Steve (36:37):
And I loved, Yeah, it does. And I did love
Dan being. And it's
funny, I don't know if
I would have
recognized how
disrespectful that was if I
didn't marry a Jewish woman and go to a
Seder every year for the past 12 years

(36:59):
and really understand what, what
it is. So I could see
how to people that don't
really know what it is. How it doesn't seem
as rude or as
irreverent. It was the irreverence that really got
me. And I'm not a reverent
person, but having that

(37:20):
respect for somebody Running a religious
ceremony. That was what got me.

I'm, so glad you said this, Steve, because this is actually my issue with
how, Judaism is treated on Gossip
Girl, and why the line about, you
know, like, bothers
me so much, is that,
instead of being treated with reverence, Judaism
on the show is often used as a punchline. And, it's a way

(37:46):
to,
To me, it comes off as laughing at. Instead of laughing
with. To your point, if you knew
about how important a seder was,
you wouldn't make it, a farce like this. Which is not
to say that people don't have funny seders. There's
fun songs that we sing at Passover. There can be

(38:07):
silly moments. It's not like this, like,
stoic thing. but
the.

Steve (38:13):
It's a very jovial ceremony. It's supposed to be
a very happy ceremony. Yeah,
exactly. I always complain that I
don't get to lay down at my mother in law's house. It's in
the book. I should be allowed to lay down when I meet.

At least get a pillow for your back.
But just, you know, and it's.
Is why I wanted, to discuss this episode. and
just, of course, there's the great irony of
the. The token Jewish character being
played by Lala Shan, who's actually very
anti Israel and has been outspoken in the last couple

(38:47):
of years. And so there's. There's. There's
layers.

Steve (38:51):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (38:53):
Nate and Blair are leaving the rehearsal, and Nate
confronts Blair about her deal with the grandfather.
So. Yeah, Blair's busted.

Steve (39:02):
Yeah.

As always, you cannot make a deal on Gossip
Girl and expect that it will not be exposed at some
point.

Steve (39:10):
And. Yeah. And my initial reaction is, does
she now run back to Chuck,
who, had. First time seeing this episode.
That's. My initial thing is. Oh. Who she's
gonna run to. Her safety net.

Leif (39:25):
Lily and Serena hash out their differences.
Lily lets Serena know that she got accepted to
Brown. Karine comes in and tells them that
Gabriel just left.

Steve (39:34):
Yeah. Serena does not understand real life.

Leif (39:37):
No.

How could she? She's. She's not been exposed to it.

Steve (39:41):
Yeah. where is Brown?

Massachusetts. okay.

Steve (39:46):
I thought it was. Yeah, I thought it was. No.

Leif (39:48):
Isn't it Rhode Island?

I think you're right. Yeah.

Steve (39:51):
Yeah, I think.

Yes.

Leif (39:52):
And I only know that. I only know that because the OC
Right next to risd.

Right. I was thinking after Seth and Summer. You are so right,
Lee.

Steve (40:00):
Yep. Risd, of course. Which was also
mentioned on Gossip Girl, where
Aaron went to school.

Leif (40:07):
Yes.

Yes.

Steve (40:08):
Those are a long, long time ago.

Leif (40:11):
And the creepy Max guy.

Steve (40:12):
Yeah. Where Aaron went to college sometime in the
90s.

Leif (40:21):
Serena chases down Gabriel, who informs them
that it wasn't a real wedding and they
are. Aren't actually married. Just as they
are about to kiss, Blair pulls up in tears and needs
her best friend.

Okay, my two things here. How dumb
is Serena that, like, she actually thought that they were,
a, really married in a foreign country, and
B, what is she seeing in Gabriel
that is like, I want to
pursue this guy.

Leif (40:49):
He's like, totally hot.

Fair. Fair.

Leif (40:53):
Ah.

Steve (40:54):
I was also saying. I also was
thinking about how dumb Serena is
here.

Leif (41:00):
Yeah.

Steve (41:01):
And Serena's never been
a brain project. You know, she's
never been a, ah, genius. But
she's just so dumb here.

Leif (41:12):
Well, I heard her and Nate are the same thing.
They go for the shiny object that's in front of them.

Steve (41:18):
Yes. Yeah. very much.

Leif (41:19):
They're golden retrievers.

Right?

Steve (41:21):
Yeah.

Leif (41:23):
Cruelty, justice. Serena Vanderwoodsen is
falling in love. Blair Waldorf is falling
apart. We move into the
epilogue.

Steve (41:33):
I. I loved that. Once again,
Serena about to kiss this dude she's totally
into drops everything for Blair.

Best friends, man.

Steve (41:43):
Best friends. She. She'll always drop everything for
Blair. Blair can curse her out and then
call her 20 minutes later and she drops everything for
Blair. And I've always loved that about their friendship.

Leif (41:54):
Yeah. Chuck
is moping in his room when Nate shows up to share the pity
party. Chuck actually says something poignant
and insightful about Blair not needing to change.

Steve (42:06):
I was glad to see them together again. I was glad
to see Nate and Chuck being best friends.

And it's still awkward. They're not with the same
girl. There's no way for it to not be the elephant in the
room.

Steve (42:19):
Yeah, it's stupid for. It's stupid to
want her to be anything other than who she is. It was
also, I, did like.

Leif (42:26):
That line from Chuck.

Steve (42:27):
Yeah, that. That's. That is true for any
relationship ever, that if you
want them to be someone else, then you don't
want the person you're with.

You could say Nate. Like, you know what you're signing up for when you date
Blair Waldorf?

Steve (42:41):
Yeah. Yeah.

Leif (42:43):
Lily finds Dan doing dishes and thanks him for being
a good friend to Serena. Rufus enters and
announces he sold a painting to the art collector and
plans on selling the gallery.

I guess they just, like, looked at a picture on his phone and
like, like, sure, I'll buy that painting.

Steve (43:00):
Yeah.

Leif (43:02):
And, ah, Rich people.

Steve (43:04):
I guess I'll find. I'll find something else to do.
My suggestion, Release a new album.
I'd like some fresh Lincoln Hawk.

Okay. Like, he
could open, like, a waffle restaurant where? Oh, yeah, just make
waffles.

Steve (43:20):
Yeah.

Leif (43:22):
Blair and Serena are lying in Blair's
bed comforting each other. Blair is regretful
of a lot of things, including being rude to Cyrus
earlier. Eleanor comes in and announces that there's someone
here to see Blair.

Steve (43:35):
Yeah, just classic.

Leif (43:36):
Oh, yeah. I really like this scene.

Steve (43:37):
Yeah.

Leif (43:38):
The friendship. Yeah.

Steve (43:39):
I didn't really have much to say about it other
than, Yeah, yeah.

It's sweet the way that they're cuddling together.

Steve (43:47):
Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Leif (43:49):
At the Vander Woodson penthouse, Chuck comes out to the
living room to find that Nate has left. Jenny
comes back in. And Chuck apologized for last year and
says that if Jenny does move in, he won't
be here.

It was needed.

Steve (44:03):
Yeah. Once again.

Leif (44:06):
yeah. Tell her Taylor Momson really sold the scene.

Yeah, absolutely.

Steve (44:10):
Absolutely.

Leif (44:11):
Despite the horrible haircut.

Steve (44:16):
Again, the fact that they made it
canon and they addressed it and they
brought it full circle. It was about
time. It should have been done last season.
I'm glad they did it.

Leif (44:28):
But, you know, now we know it's going to get out and
everyone's going to find out because right now, only Dan, Serena are the only
ones to know. And maybe Blair.

Steve (44:37):
Yeah. Probably Nate. Maybe
the parents don't know. Yeah.

Well, Lily has this affection for
Charles that I feel like if she did find out about it, she
would find some way to blame Jenny and excuse
Chuck.

Leif (44:51):
Probably.

Steve (44:53):
yeah, that fair. I was
also flashing back to the Jenny did
get revenge on Chuck at one point at
the masquerade when
she tied him up without it or locked him
out without his clothes.

Leif (45:09):
Yeah. Blair comes downstairs
and apologized to Cyrus and asks him to help with
help to get her into nyu. Nate is
also there and it looks like he is going to give Blair another
chance.

Steve (45:21):
After all, Cyrus is Sweet to
Blair 100% of the time. Even when
Cyrus does a scheme against Blair, it's to make her
happy. I do love that
he loves Blair the
way that he does.

If you're gonna have a stepdad, you want Cyrus to
be your stepdad.

Steve (45:39):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Leif (45:41):
And also, once again, you get a shot of Eleanor,
smiling in the background, which is nice.
Serena leaves a flirty message for Gabriel and
somehow manages to avoid licking the phone.
However, we see the
message come through on, Gabriel's phone and he is with
Poppy. These two Are clearly up to

(46:03):
something.
Gotta lick something.

Oh God.

Steve (46:11):
Lucky M. That phone wasn't a strawberry.
I definitively.
I hate guest stars on this show.
M. There has. Has there
been a good
teen? I'm
not. Aside from Cyrus

(46:34):
and a couple of the other adults that will guest star.
All of the young ones suck. Michelle Trachtenberg
was terrible. Armie Hammer is
terrible. Aaron is terrible.
Rachel Carr. Every. Every
one of these storylines, the Rachel Carr
wasn't a terrible actor, but

(46:56):
it was just some really up storytelling.

Leif (47:00):
So we end the episode with a Gossip Girl sign
off
on Passover. We ask why is
it this night is different from any other night? But
who are we kidding? Tonight's no different from the
rest. These things always happen around here.
Shalom, Gossip Girl.

It's true. I mean, it's accurate. And then this
shalom is just another
to my point earlier.

Steve (47:27):
Yeah, yeah.

The way things are. Punchlines, but yeah.

Leif (47:31):
So, Steve, any predictions?

Steve (47:34):
I'm predicting Jenny and Chuck.
I'm. I got
a weird. The way that. And I
don't like it. It's the
way that she looked at Chuck after he
apologized and went away. And she gave
him the sad puppy look that

(47:54):
everyone has been giving Chuck since Bart died. But
Jenny. Everyone has been giving
Chuck the. Oh, you poor
thing. But Jenny. And then
she gave it to him when he walked away. And
that kind of made
something spin in the back of my head. Which
also leaves the only two people

(48:16):
uncommitted to another. If Jenny and
Chuck were to have something happen, the only two open
that are left that I keep dreading, that I
keep saying is going to happen is Dan and
Vanessa. So I'm just.
I'm watching out for that because I'm waiting for that
steamroller to roll over us like the Austin
Powers. That's to me what it is. Like the Austin Power

(48:38):
steamroller. I'm waiting for it to happen, knowing
it's going to.

Leif (48:43):
So now that you saw this final scene, does this
retroactively make Poppy's actions from last week make a
little more sense?

Steve (48:50):
That she's trying to get something. She's
scheming against Serena.
Yeah. So
yeah.

Leif (48:59):
She wasn't just being an.
Yeah. She was directly manipulating her.

Steve (49:05):
Yes.

Leif (49:05):
It seems like.

Steve (49:06):
Yes.

Leif (49:07):
Yeah.

Steve (49:08):
To what end? I already hate
it.

Leif (49:14):
Any thoughts of what. What they're trying to pull?

Yeah. What do you think the end goal is?

Steve (49:19):
I'm assuming some kind
of illegal,
maybe drug smuggling thing.
Something like getting her to go back and forth
to Spain and unwittingly do something.
You know, sneaking something in her luggage.

Leif (49:39):
Okay, well, that is
it for our episode. So let's go ahead and get into
some segments. We jump into the wayback
machine to visit the Television without pity forums from
2009. Hello there,
Peabody here. And this is the wayback machine
for traveling through time. And this is my boy,
Sherman. Speak, Sherman. Hello.

(50:02):
Good boy. this week, a,
vast majority, of the fans seem to be back on the Chuck
bandwagon after being off for a few weeks.

No. No. One apology does not make
me back on the Chuck bandwagon.

Steve (50:16):
No.

Leif (50:17):
What the. I forgot to ask you at the beginning episode. Who are
your favorite and least favorite characters?

Vanessa is probably least favorite.

Leif (50:29):
Popular.

Steve (50:29):
Joy started with Vanessa. I was like,
wait.

favorite?
I don't know that I have a favorite individual as much as
there's couples that I root for, such as
Dan and Serena and another Serena
pairing that happens.

Leif (50:51):
Fair enough. so the.

Steve (50:53):
My. My one big theory, Sherry, is
that they're all going to. So
I. Who
knows? Maybe. But. So whenever
there is these different pairings, it's like I.
I just. In my gut, I feel like they're all going to
bang each other.

That's an essential ingredient of a teen drama television
show. The partners dosied out with each other,
and it becomes this really incestuous web where everyone
is tangled with everyone. And I thought it was
interesting before when you said the one pairing we
haven't seen is Dan and Vanessa, because there's another pairing
that we haven't seen that you didn't mention.

Steve (51:33):
the ones that I've thought of before, there's
Nate and Serena, which we thought was
gonna happen at one point.

From the pilot.

Steve (51:40):
Yeah, yeah. Well, the pilot, but then also the end
of season one into season
two. Nate and Serena ran off
together at the end. the other
one that a couple weeks ago I brought up that
they had chemistry was Blair and Dan. That
when Blair and Dan were in the play together,

(52:00):
there was something there that I. That I picked up
on. And then I mentioned it to Leif, and Leif
was. Was seeing it too.

They match wits well.

Leif (52:10):
Yeah.

Steve (52:11):
Yeah.

Leif (52:12):
so most people like the episode overall. They
thought it was a good episode. So, I agree.

Steve (52:18):
Yeah, I agree.

Leif (52:19):
People are actually intrigued about the Serena storyline
for once.

Steve (52:25):
You, know, with the last half. Yeah, with the last
scene. I get it. Up until
then, the Serena storyline was the
weak storyline.

Leif (52:35):
Yeah.

Steve (52:36):
Serena can't carry a storyline on her own through an
episode. She needs Dan or
Blair to carry in a storyline.

Leif (52:45):
Multiple people Thought. Hoped it would be
Chuck waiting for Blair at the end of the episode and not Nate.

I didn't think it would be him.

Steve (52:55):
Yeah, no.

Leif (52:56):
I mean, we saw Nate leave, so it's like, why would you think it was
Chuck? Yeah, the
SMB scene was great, which we've talked about. Yeah.
yep. Surprising amount of Dan
Hate for how little a role he played in the episode.

I don't think he played a little role in the episode.

Leif (53:13):
I mean, he played a big role as far as the Kai,
but he didn't really have his own storyline at
all.

But he was also integral into the.

Steve (53:21):
Way Serena's storyline
unfolded and Eleanor's storyline. I felt like
he. I, He, He was a supporting character in
this. I think that he was one of those supporting
characters that had a lot on his shoulders, though.

Right. He was in scene after scene after scene,
and he had his own agency in terms of how he
got there. Like, he got there because of his own storyline
of needing a job to make money.

Leif (53:46):
Fair enough.

Steve (53:47):
Yeah. And personally, I thought Dan was
a. Was awesome in this episode.

Leif (53:53):
Funny, but he's. He's always funny.

Steve (53:55):
Yeah. And. And I also loved
that, you know, by the end, when the whole. When the
whole thing is
exposed, it's Dan who's like, no, I'm
not doing this.

Leif (54:06):
I'm not doing this anymore.

But he did.

Steve (54:08):
Why am I doing this?

He did take one for the team for a while, for his. For
his ex. And. Yeah, it shows you what
Serena means to him.

Steve (54:17):
I find that he does that a lot, that he gets wrapped up
into it, and then at some point is like, am I doing
it? Reminds me of Spike in the Buffy musical
when they're at. When they're all singing at the very end, and
Spike is like, why am I still doing this? And just walks
off. Why am
I doing this?

Leif (54:36):
The final point that I got from the forums was,
where's Anne? Like, we get. We're getting all these
Nate and his family storylines. Where is his mom?

Steve (54:46):
I didn't really think much of it because I would.
I'm feeling like maybe she's too embarrassed to come
around. Or then the other side of
it. Maybe she is there,
just not. We just never see her. Yeah. That
she doesn't have an important. Or maybe. Oh, even
better. This is the rehearsal. It's not the wedding

(55:06):
itself. Maybe she wasn't invited.

Leif (55:09):
But what about the previous episode with the, With the Archibalds
or the Vanderbilts?

Steve (55:14):
Trip went and got Nate and brought Nate.
Right. That wasn't she wasn't again,
wasn't invited. Maybe granddad
grandfather is still trying to send her a bit of a
message.

Leif (55:26):
Well, if. I mean, if I was ready the episode, I would like
to write in her reaction to the. Even if she's not there, I
would add a scene with Nate and her at their house
and her reaction to this whole situation.

Steve (55:37):
Sure.

But I'm guessing.

Leif (55:41):
Guessing the actress probably just wasn't available.

Or they want to pay another cast member.

Steve (55:46):
I actually thought it was even more a matter of
the writer just not thinking of it.

Just come on, Amanda Lasher, step it
up.

Leif (55:57):
So let's go ahead and move into some episode
grades.
Steve, why don't you go first?

Steve (56:07):
I gave this one a B. I thought
it was a good episode. Even the
stuff that I thought was clunky. And
I thought that as far as a. An episode of
Gossip Girl, it was good.
I
think, that the really

(56:28):
shining bad spot is Armie Hammer's acting,
which again with knowing that he's
putting on a ruse, maybe that has something to do with
it, but I didn't know that the whole episode
and it was terrible.

Leif (56:42):
So what was the grade?

Steve (56:43):
B plus.

Leif (56:44):
B plus. Okay. How about you, Sheri?

Steve (56:46):
What do you got?

I'm a B. and my reasons are,
is I,
think the Blair Nate grandfather
storyline is a little snooze worthy. It
feels a little low stakes. And that
until we get to the end of the Jenny Chuck
storyline, that also feels kind of
like a filler type thing. the

(57:10):
only, to me twisty,
exciting storyline was the Serena Dan
Sater one. so if there's
three storylines, I think one of them only really captured
my attention. And then also,
I think the best episodes are the ones where the
storylines converge, where

(57:31):
everyone ends up at the party and the
storylines intersect and everything explodes in a way that
has ramifications for each storyline.
And in this episode, the three storylines were very
disjointed, apart from Blair and Serena coming
together toward the end.

Leif (57:48):
So I like this episode a little better than
you guys. I gave it an A because I just
laughed a lot. And M. The
party was just a great scene, even if it was
somewhat offensive, but it just made for good
comedy, so I gave it an A.

Steve (58:06):
Fair.

Leif (58:08):
All right, let's go over to Stockwatch.
What do you got, Steve? Who's going up?

Steve (58:14):
Going up. I have Rufus going up. He made a
sale and he's making life decisions.
I had Jenny going up
for having a boyfriend and
for Telling off Chuck. I had Wes going
up for landing
Jenny and for being a sweet, sweet boy
playing Monopoly. I have Nate going up

(58:37):
because he's back in grandfather's good graces and
even embarrassed grandfather. And grandfather,
instead of being embarrassed, goes up
and makes amends. So Nate,
for sure. And, let's also throw grandfather
in. Even though he's a complete piece of shit, he's getting what he
wants.

Leif (58:55):
I mean, is he. I mean, Nate's not going to. Yeah.

Steve (58:58):
Was that definitive? Was that decided?

Leif (59:00):
What? At the. At the end, Nate says, looks like we'll be
in the city together.

Steve (59:05):
Oh, okay.

Leif (59:07):
All right.

He's still grandfather at the end of the day.

Steve (59:10):
Yeah. His stock, I don't know if it can legally go
down without it, causing
anyone else. I had Dorota for having
the weekend off. Good for her.

Leif (59:23):
All right, Sherry, who do you have going up?

So I have the same person going up and down.
So should I share now, or do.

Leif (59:30):
We, do all the ups first, then the
downs?

Okay, well, chronologically, this is not
going to make sense, but we're rolling with it. my
upperson is Jenny because
of the apology that she gets in
the end. The acknowledgement of how she was wronged in
this really grave way, was really
overdue. And, it was
an essential moment for her character,

(59:56):
in her coming of age story
and in the arc of the show.
So the fact that something from the pilot
that was extremely egregious was
finally. Finally addressed, as we said earlier,
made her stock up for me.

Leif (01:00:13):
Anyone else?

Shari Weiss (01:00:14):
Nope. She was my pick.

Leif (01:00:16):
Okay. For me, I have Blair
going up because she still has
Nate, and it looks like she's going to get into college after
all. Nate going up because
he was. He was his own man for
once, and he got what he wanted. And looks
like he's still going to have Blair. Cyrus

(01:00:36):
because he was just a soldier all episode, and
Eleanor because she's a good mom again. She's
definitely done a big 180 since the
pilot episode. I also had Lily going
up.

Steve (01:00:48):
She's a whole new person from the
pilot, literally.

Leif (01:00:54):
I also have Lily going up because, she had that
night scene with Serena at the end, and. And she
was trying to actually be. Be a parent for once. Yeah, she
did ground her daughter for, like, probably the first time
ever. And I had Jenny going up for the same reasons
you guys had, because she got a. Got her apology.
She got. She got her licks in. She. She gave

(01:01:14):
it to Chuck really good there, that first scene.
But that's all for ups. So who do you got going down?
Steve.

Steve (01:01:20):
And actually, I'm gonna add Cyrus and Eleanor to my
ups. I wasn't thinking of them, but I agree that
they definitely came out
on top. Especially we. I, I. You
know what the, the. The thing that was never
revealed at the end is I'm really
curious as to whether or not Eleanor made a good

(01:01:41):
impression on Cyrus's mother,
if she's made any headways, and Cyrus's mother hates
her. going down.
I have Serena forgetting Blade.
and I actually had Lily going down
because for a few of the bad mom, like,
the not listening thing early on and the whole,

(01:02:03):
like, oh, no, you're a good person. You got into the college.
You want to. Kind of really struck
me in a weird way.
But, that was my only downs. I had Blair.
I had Blair remain neutral because I felt like
she had the opportunity
of going up, but then she kind of went down. And then

(01:02:24):
kind of, I felt like she landed in the middle.

Leif (01:02:27):
Fair enough. Sheri, who do you got going
down?

So, as I said before, I have Jenny as
my pick for both. and it's because,
I guess you could say maybe they cancel each other out and she
ends up being neutral. But up until we
get that moment with her and Chuck at the end and they finally
have that long needed conversation,
her story in the episode just felt like,

(01:02:51):
what is the point of this? Like, we just watched her just
basically have this, like, very little
innocent date with Wes that felt very
pointless, and it felt like they just needed
something to help flesh out Chuck's storyline,
and she just felt very inconsequential to the
episode. So as I was watching it, it just felt

(01:03:11):
like there's nothing for Jenny
here. And then the very end is what saved it for
me.

Leif (01:03:17):
For me going down Serena, because she has.
She's getting played. And then I also had
Chuck going down because even though he does
apologize,
it doesn't redeem him. It's nice that he apologized,
but doesn't redeem him. And also, he's
clearly lonely
and just living up

(01:03:39):
not very fulfilling life right now. Mm.

Steve (01:03:43):
But here's the best outfits from the.
Last episode we see.

Leif (01:03:51):
Go over to best outfit. Steve, who do you got?

Steve (01:03:54):
Blair's. The one that she was wearing
at the end, the sort of
mesh, the black and sort of,
I guess, like, almost a
peachish color. And then it had, like, the
neck, the collar around the neck. So, yeah,
Blair's, like, party dress.

Leif (01:04:13):
I really liked Sherry. What
about you?

Mine is much more subtle. I really liked the tank
top that Jenny was wearing. I thought it had just
enough edge, but it was also age appropriate.
I thought it fit her really well and it was something that
I would like to wear myself.

Steve (01:04:31):
Nice.

Leif (01:04:32):
For me, it was a very brief appearance. But
Blair's dress from the dream, the black and
white single strap dress. and the single strap was like a bow.
And then she had the big hat.

Steve (01:04:43):
Yeah.

Not her outfit as the beggar.

Leif (01:04:46):
No, it's Mrs. Higgins, the upper crust
outfit. Well, that
is it for segments. Sheri, thank you for
joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Leif (01:04:57):
And is there anything you would like to plug at this time?

Well, you guys can find
me@teendramah.substack.com
or my original website was teendramahor.com
but the one that I update is the substack. And
there's a weekly newsletter that comes out on Tuesdays called
Teen Drama. Links at the top is usually
a random thought or some kind of mini essay. And
then the links portion is I provide,

(01:05:22):
a roundup of everything that's going on in the teen
drama world, over the last week as it relates
to these shows and their cast members.
so if you're interested in keeping up with the genre and you don't want to have
to do all the Googling yourself, I do it for you.
So you can get that in your inbox every Tuesday.

Leif (01:05:40):
And I would actually definitely suggest reading, this week's
episode because you did talk about Jewish culture and teen
dramas.

Yes, I did. Yes.

Leif (01:05:48):
And Steve, you got anything to plug this week?

Steve (01:05:51):
I'm just going to plug my tik tok and
Instagram at Steve Marshon
M a r C H I o n
And then you can also find me at the Weed
wizard on Blue sky.
And that is my socials. Other than that, I
don't really have anything coming up. And I've,
been watching the Penguin, which has been fun,

(01:06:13):
but, that's pretty much it for me.

Leif (01:06:17):
Well, for me, go ahead and going to recommend Sex Lives of
college girls again before it gets canceled because I
think this might be the last season.

Steve (01:06:24):
Robin loves that Robin was watching it.

Leif (01:06:27):
But if you want to follow me on social media, you can find me
on Instagram or on Blue sky at, Hot
Capicola. That's ah H o t C a
P I c o L A And
you can also follow the podcast on all
social medias at non judging Breakfast Pie.
That's on threads, Instagram, Facebook

(01:06:48):
and Also, if you want to check out our
Discord server or sign up for our Patreon, you can find
that on our website non judging breakfast
pod.com and if.

Steve (01:06:58):
You'D like to get in touch and send us an email, we'd love to
read your thoughts here on the podcast. Our email
address is Non Judging breakfast
pod@gmail.com
and as I said, we'd love to hear from you. Also, while
you're listening, please give us a follow
subscribe a like leave a comment that really
helps boost our visibility in Apple

(01:07:20):
podcasts. And
while you're at it, also tell a friend what you're
listening to. We'd really appreciate the word of mouth and let
folks know that there are couple of
middle aged guys dissecting Gossip
Girl so you don't have to
so.

Leif (01:07:38):
Next week we'll be back to Talk about Season 2
Episode 22 Southern
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The
Netflix episode description reads
Chuck and Nate are at a crossroads in their friendship,
a result of their mutual interest in Blair.

Steve (01:07:56):
Yep, saw this happening, saw this kind of
unfolding and I'm curious to see how
it goes.

Leif (01:08:03):
Well, until next time, you know you love
us.

Steve (01:08:07):
Xoxo Every time you walk
away, run away you take a piece of me
with you there Every
time you walk away or run away you take a piece of
me with you there
Every time you walk away or run away you take a
piece of me with you there

(01:08:28):
oh it seems I'm walking right to
your door
My heart's still resting looking for
something more
Are you ever gonna see everything you mean
to me I'm trying really hard to believe

(01:08:50):
Never feels right when I'm out here on
my own

(01:09:12):
I left last night and it feels like
way too long
Are you ever gonna see everything you mean
to me I'm trying really hard to believe
Every time you walk away, run away you take a

(01:09:35):
piece of m me with you there.
Come.
Back to me,
smile and you'll make my life
complete

(01:09:58):
every time you walk away or run away you take a

(01:10:20):
piece of me with you you there

(01:10:42):
piece of me with you there.

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S2E21 - Seder Anything [w/Shari Weiss]

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S2E21 - Seder Anything [w/Shari Weiss]