0:17

Welcome back, listeners to your

0:19

one and only source into all things gossip

0:21

Crow. You know you'll

0:23

love it. XO x Oh,

0:27

Hello everyone, and welcome back to

0:30

XO XO. I'm your host, Jessica's

0:32

Or. Today we'll be getting into season two

0:35

episode Valley Girls.

0:37

This is pretty special. We have

0:39

a flashback to Lily's life growing up

0:41

in l A, which actually was a backdrop

0:44

pilot for a Gossip Girl spinoff. That's

0:46

crazy, right, And of

0:49

course the Upper east Side has its own

0:51

drama, including prom night and one of

0:53

the sweetest Chuck and Blair moments in the show.

0:55

And for my guest, you know her, you

0:58

love her. I'm so excited to announce my

1:00

partner in crime, Susanna Shatkowsky,

1:02

is joining me again this week. Susanna always

1:04

brings the best stories and honestly,

1:07

I just love talking to her. Plus,

1:09

De Rhoda has some great moments in this

1:11

episode that Susannah can give her expertise

1:13

on. I'm so excited. So

1:16

without further ado, here's Bally Girls.

1:32

What's going on? Girl? Hey, what's

1:34

going Yeah? Every time we start talking, we

1:36

have a countdown and it sounds and to me, it's like

1:38

forgot to take off of the Space Shuttle. We're

1:41

going to space the girl. Um,

1:45

that's actually funny you say that. Last night we have

1:47

two friends in town and we're up in flag stuff

1:49

and like at night, the stars are

1:51

so beyond like there's

1:54

so many and that you see like shooting stars

1:56

and all the things. We were literally took

1:58

blankets and laid on the driveway.

2:02

Amazing and beautiful. So but you have to appreciate

2:05

that. It's like in New York you can't see the stars and not staying

2:07

out one star. I guess there

2:09

are some stars walking around, right,

2:13

But No, it's funny

2:15

because Flagstaff it's like the only thing I know about Flagstaff

2:18

is uh, the climate is uh, you

2:20

know, not what you would typically think of. No.

2:22

In Arizona, Sona. Yeah, and so because essentially

2:25

desert beautiful. Yeah, it's

2:27

so beautiful the tree and right now with fall,

2:29

it's like all the colors, all

2:32

the fall vibes, and that this is my favorite time

2:34

of the year. That's why I like living in l A.

2:36

Is hard for me because I'm like, I need fall. I

2:38

need that New York

2:40

fall. Today is

2:42

a good example. Today is that kind of fault

2:45

still sunny, but it has like the temps

2:47

are down where you can have like a little bit of a light

2:49

jacket. It's like brisk, yes,

2:52

and it has that feeling of people have

2:54

wood burning fireplaces. So this time

2:56

of the year when you're walking the dog, smell the

2:59

fireplace is and it's like crunchy

3:01

leaves and it's like crisp

3:03

air. Yeah, and is

3:06

yea does really well in spring and fall because

3:08

the small amount of foliage that we do have, it's

3:10

like all of a sudden you kind of start noticing

3:12

it because it's like beautiful colors. And yeah,

3:16

fall is definitely, let's romantic

3:18

New York time. This is magic time. It

3:23

really does feel magical. Brief

3:25

little window. So the countdown

3:27

comes on. We're going to gossip Girl World. We're

3:29

in a like in a spaceship. Yes,

3:32

yeah, here we are. It does

3:34

feel like that. And here we are talking about fall in New York.

3:36

Okay, So we're rewatching season

3:38

two, episode twenty four, Valley Girls, which

3:41

is based on the movie Valley Girl, three

3:44

rom com with Deborah Foreman and Nicholas

3:46

Cage. I don't know that movie. That's when I've

3:48

never heard of. I don't either and I like Nicholas

3:51

Cage. He like cracks me up in a way. Yeah, and so

3:53

this is that crazy episode where we have a flashback

3:55

to Lily's youth. This only

3:57

happens once some gossip roll and we like leave the sort

4:00

of universe of this show and go

4:03

into another. We leave the planet of Gossip Girl

4:05

and go go to the planet

4:07

of l A. I guess, yeah, yepree,

4:10

I think is what it said in the opening. And we see

4:13

like Malibu and it's Brittany Snow playing

4:15

the younger Lily driving on PCH

4:18

Pacific Coast Highway. I have a friend

4:20

that's from Malbo and she's like, people always say the pH

4:23

when you're not from there. She's like, when you're from there, you just say

4:25

pc H. That's a good hint. That's

4:27

like insider knowledge.

4:31

Yea Pacific Highway.

4:33

And Brittney Snow, who I'm a big fan of.

4:35

I think she's such a sweetheart in life

4:38

and then her as an actor, I think she's just she

4:40

has like always this undertone thing of

4:42

like this comedic thing that she

4:45

brings to a lot of her roles. I feel, all

4:47

in all, I'm a big fan of her. No, I agree.

4:49

She has a really magical charismatic quality.

4:51

And in this particular show, it's like, because

4:53

she is playing a young Lily and we know Lily so

4:55

well, it's like she really did an incredible

4:58

job of finding the sort of essence of that actor

5:00

and then playing the young version of her, Like

5:02

it was masterful. I thought, So I'm a

5:04

big Brittany fan now, especially after what

5:07

I thought. She was really really really

5:09

great, and I love Christian Ritter, and I

5:11

thought that was like a good match and their chemistry

5:13

was great. Yeah, oh that's a

5:15

good chemistry. And it's funny because like we

5:17

had that that pair in this

5:19

episode, we see the Brittany

5:21

and Britney Christian River chemistry

5:24

and then we see the Layton Blake chemistry

5:27

and those two sort of blonde brunettes,

5:29

you know, but

5:31

really really fun to watch those two different

5:33

friendships and the different kind of colors of them. But then also

5:36

they have essential like core that they

5:38

share almost totally very

5:40

true. And it's also funny because you would never put

5:43

those two sisters. So I also thought that was

5:45

kind of like interesting but cool, and I

5:47

loved how they plugged that right away, like the Shiloh

5:50

his character at the diner is like, I

5:52

don't see the resemblance. I'm like, okay, totally

5:55

different looking, different vibes. But I thought that that

5:57

was what was neat about it. Okay,

5:59

can we talk about this before we get into it. So,

6:01

yeah, this was a spinoff, and

6:03

it was essentially supposed to be the pilot

6:06

for a spinoff of Gossip Girl, which

6:08

was would have been Valley Valley Girls, right,

6:11

right. So it's like they conceived of the idea

6:13

that the Gossip Girl was at this point in

6:15

its second season well received, right, and

6:17

they were considering spin off ideas.

6:19

I mean, I'm assuming, and then they came

6:22

up with this plan that, you know what would be nice to

6:24

to explore the high school life of

6:26

Lily vander Woodson. So I guess that rather

6:28

than make a separate pilot, they kind of folded

6:31

it into the Gossip Girl story here.

6:33

So it's like we're getting a pilot within an episode,

6:35

right, So it's like unique Dommy

6:38

like yeah, and it's like I can't think of

6:40

another show where that's happened, but I'm sure

6:42

it has, but it's an interesting way

6:44

to do it, it is, and I think the

6:46

idea is like actually really cool when you think

6:49

about it. But I'm watching it, and

6:51

to me, when it was

6:53

done, I'm like, wait, I want to see what's going on with

6:55

Lily and Carroll. Even though we know where Lily ends

6:57

up, there's still like years that go on and

6:59

this in that relationship, And we get

7:01

teased on so many things in this episode because

7:04

like we know that you know, she had some kind

7:06

of you know, she really had a deep

7:08

relationship or connection with this guy that she meets

7:11

in this in l a and that somehow

7:13

her mom messes it up for her. We learned

7:16

that from the flash forward, and

7:18

but we need to see it go down. And it's like, yeah,

7:20

I got really hooked, And it was like, yeah, I really

7:22

wanted to see how those characters continue

7:25

to relate tweet and like

7:27

even dis ship and yeah, her

7:29

on the bus, like

7:32

how is she going to live in this world? Absolutely?

7:36

And I And here's my thing, I don't know what

7:38

ended up happening. If they just decided to just leave

7:40

at the flashback episode or whatever.

7:43

I'm not sure. I don't know the answers are, but it

7:45

didn't continue. But I think

7:47

that with Gossip Girl,

7:50

we're so dialed in right now with what's

7:52

going on with Blair and Nate and

7:54

Chuck and then Serena going to jail and

7:57

Georgina coming back and all

7:59

these things. I think when it pulled away

8:01

and we did go back to the flashbacks, you're

8:04

still like so caught up

8:06

on what's going on on the Upper east Side that I feel

8:08

like it was I feel like they would have just done

8:10

it on its own. It would have maybe had

8:13

a different outcome. Does that make sense, Yeah,

8:15

totally. And I think it's like it's like your attention is kind of

8:17

split. So it's like that the feeling that,

8:19

you know, I'm so invested in these characters in this story

8:21

and this these are like my buddies that I'm watching,

8:24

you know, it's like my gos girl that I know.

8:26

And then it's like, yeah, when you would get taken away

8:28

to the other story, it's like your brain almost has a reset,

8:31

and then as soon as you get engaged in the other

8:33

world, like when you start to really kind of get

8:35

the you know, you're in the vibe of it, then you

8:37

flashback again. So it is a harder way

8:40

to do it, and they did a great

8:42

job in the sense of beaut wanting us to

8:44

watch both, but it was to me, I'm like, if they would

8:46

have just maybe done it on its own. Then

8:49

all of a sudden, Derroota brings her her problemdress

8:51

and I can't get over the prom dress. I can't

8:53

get over how like sweet you are that you did that. I'm so

8:55

pumped for Blair. And then it cuts to the other

8:57

thing and I'm like still dandreaming about Blair's beautiful

9:00

prince dress. Yeah, and it's fun because

9:02

I feel like the juicy sort of flashback

9:05

to you know, kind of really getting into the

9:07

Lily's relationship their own mother, and like going

9:09

back in Lily's life is one thing, but

9:12

if it's a pilot for a standalone show,

9:14

it's like, I feel like you and I are both you

9:16

know, we're kind of in love with those characters

9:19

in that story. We wouldn't want to want to see it,

9:21

you know, as its own show too. But it's

9:23

like, uh so, I feel like this episode works

9:26

beautifully the way that it is, but it's

9:28

almost like I wish they had had then a second

9:30

kind of standalone pilot on its

9:32

own, so that we could really

9:34

invest in that other world and then see it take off because

9:36

it's such a cool kind of spinoff

9:38

because because there's so much to dig

9:41

into, right, you kind of have an idea

9:43

of where we end up with this character,

9:45

but it's a whole other world to explore, and so we have the

9:47

sensibilities of the same kind of creative team flashing

9:49

it out. So it's kind of fun and you look for the echoes,

9:52

but you can go into a whole other story and

9:54

invest in a whole other group of characters and it's never going to bump

9:57

up against the other one because you know, it's not

9:59

like the eighties, there of a to catch up to the you

10:01

know whatever year. So I think it

10:03

was so cool. So I wish I wish it had been

10:05

different, but you know, the world of who and what,

10:08

Yeah, you never know what TV and

10:11

or maybe someone else book the pilot

10:13

and couldn't do it, Like there's so many things that could have

10:15

went on. But yeah, more or less, we

10:18

both really enjoyed it. Yeah, I think it was

10:20

a fun It was a fun jaunt. Yeah, And it's

10:22

like when you're an actor and you're working on the show, it's almost

10:25

you can't even let yourself think about how many things

10:27

have to go into making it. You just got

10:29

to try to make it and make it keep going.

10:31

And you know, so the idea that the pilot

10:33

or an idea turns into a series is already

10:36

so you know, beyond comprehension,

10:39

beyond for sure, So who

10:41

knows. But but it was a really

10:43

fun thing to explore, and I think that we

10:45

certainly got a lot out of it in this episode

10:48

as far as like, to me, this stuff that we learned

10:50

about Lily is priceless.

10:52

And then also the sort of mother daughter

10:55

relationships that are set up, you know, with Clates

10:58

to Serena. I feel like it really gave

11:00

us a lot of a lot of insight and a lot of

11:03

For me, it was very relatable and so I think, you

11:05

know, that kind of layered storyline here really worked.

11:08

And there was so much, like you said, so much exciting

11:10

stuff happening in the sort of contemporary

11:13

story. But the prom, I mean the prom

11:15

that's a big deal. Oh god, we

11:17

need to get into all of this right now. Okay, So this

11:19

is here's where we left off, because now we we'll

11:22

dive in. But Chuck brought your Gina back to the

11:24

city to help him and Serena catch

11:26

a scammer, while Blair had to choose

11:28

between Chuck and Nate. Rufus prepared

11:30

to propose to Lily but realized he didn't

11:33

recognize her anymore, and

11:35

Serena's planned to expose Poppy ended with

11:37

her winding up in jail. Her

11:39

mother put in j which I'm still not over. Yeah,

11:43

was like put her in jail and then and then

11:45

her plan us to drop the charges eventually. But when

11:48

we left her, she was just hanging

11:50

out and everybody was hanging out in the waiting room.

11:53

Um So in this episode,

11:55

we have a flashback to the early eighties,

11:58

as we said, So it's some seven teen

12:00

year old Lily Rhodes that's who we're with,

12:02

and she gets kicked out of boarding school and runs

12:04

away to Santa Barbara, where she reconnected

12:07

her parents Rick and Cecy and goes to

12:09

find her rebellious sister Carol. And

12:11

back in the present day, Blair and Nate are going

12:13

to prompt together, but the evening doesn't turn

12:15

out exactly as planned, and meanwhile Serena

12:18

and Lily do not see eye to eye over Serena's

12:20

recent running with the law. So

12:24

a lot of things are happening, and incidentally,

12:27

Andrew McCarthy plays the dad, which

12:29

is amazing. Yeah,

12:31

because first of all, he's an icon of

12:34

that time. I mean he's like original, like Brett Pack

12:36

guy. So yeah,

12:39

and like the older viewers, I mean the older

12:42

but you know the viewers that we're not, you

12:44

know, teens and twenties of the show. Um,

12:47

that says something to them because he was in a ton of

12:49

back to the eighties. Yeah, and we're getting and he's

12:51

like, you know, that's sort of the generation that he was

12:54

like this cool kid in and then so that's cool.

12:56

And then also the fact is like I know he you

12:58

know, he worked on Gossip or so much as a director, directed

13:01

some episodes and I loved him as a director, So

13:03

I forgot that he was on it as an actor

13:05

in this episode, and it was kind of I didn't even know about, Like

13:08

yeah, I felt like a real like I was like, what is that him?

13:10

And so fun because then he would

13:12

have been on both sides of the same camera. Is

13:14

kind of cool because like, yeah, if

13:16

he got to new the crew and he's I liked him

13:18

as a director because he was like an actor's director. Obviously

13:22

he was real like confident

13:24

and easy and really knew how to speak, you know,

13:26

like he would give one quick line or one

13:28

quick note and you just got

13:30

it. But yes, when he popped on the screen. After

13:33

Lily gets out of the car and Malibu, she stops at

13:35

a pay phone because obviously there's not cell

13:37

phones then, which is also again so

13:40

like fun to watch because you can't just text,

13:42

you can't just go on, you know what I mean, Like she could pull

13:44

over, like put change into the pay phone,

13:46

like you know, probably look

13:48

up the number in her date book. Especially.

13:52

I was thinking about this too that like for us watching

13:54

it now, it's like the original

13:56

Gossip or like modern day I mean the one with Blair

13:58

and Serena in that world old

14:00

were for us as viewers now those

14:03

phones and the technology has already dated,

14:05

and then here you have, you know, another level

14:07

of different. So we're like, yeah, three

14:10

jumps away from this world

14:12

of connectivity that we have now. So it's fun

14:14

to see that. It is like my sister

14:16

who's twenty years old, doesn't

14:19

understand that, like there wasn't navigation at

14:21

one point. I mean, she understands it, but like she doesn't

14:23

know a world in that so she's like, well, what how did you

14:25

get to places? Or so like

14:28

you had to like literally right down and

14:30

be like, okay, I gotta take exit seven

14:33

B and take the second right. Sometimes

14:35

you wouldn't know the street names, so you literally had

14:37

to print out the actually from map quest.

14:40

They had that. Yeah, but but I mean in the

14:42

eighties, I don't in the actual

14:47

map and or an atlas or you

14:49

know roads that they would say very

14:53

stressful. Yeah,

14:58

we yeah, see a little bit of which

15:00

is fun, I think when I mean, it has to be so

15:02

fun as you're creating a show too, uh

15:04

evelve into all those details in the world build

15:07

you know, for the eighties, and I think they've definitely

15:09

had a fun time, for sure.

15:11

I'm sure they did. But you know what, I also think it's probably

15:13

a bit of a challenge nowadays.

15:17

You can't really have a scene in a

15:19

show or in a movie that's

15:21

you know, present day without

15:23

a cell phone. But that also it's

15:26

got to be challenging because of like conflicts that

15:28

you need in a script or in a story, or the

15:30

problems or the lessons that you're learning

15:32

in these storylines and things like that. Because it's

15:34

so easy to just send a text or call. So I feel

15:36

like it's got to be a bit of a challenge to like navigate

15:40

why you don't just pick up the phone when

15:42

you're in a you know, in a situation, you know what I mean,

15:44

Like like Serena and Jail, she couldn't just

15:46

pick up the phone or she wasn't getting dance text because she didn't

15:48

have it. That worked in that scene. But the

15:50

majority of the time, everyone has a phone in

15:53

their pocket in their hand. Oh yeah, it's

15:55

a very different different thing than movies in the

15:57

eighties and nineties because or any time

15:59

before, because you you you would literally have

16:02

to show up or I don't know, I

16:04

would think as a writer that would be right.

16:07

I mean I was. I was in graduate school, um

16:09

in the you know, mid mid

16:12

auts, I guess, and I went for three

16:14

months to Moscow to the Moscow

16:17

Art Theater. We studied there. It was like part of my grad

16:19

program in America. And when we went there,

16:21

we didn't have you know, even though we had cell phones

16:24

back then, and I mean they weren't as cool as they

16:26

were today. But when we went to the other

16:28

you know, overseas, we couldn't

16:30

use them at all because it was before you know, smartphones

16:33

and all that. So I remember for

16:36

three months living in a flashback world to like

16:38

the eighties and nineties where you actually had

16:40

to make plans show

16:42

up. If you didn't, people were concerned

16:44

or they felt, you know, stood up. But you couldn't even

16:47

be late. That was anything you couldn't say, like, hey, running ten

16:49

minutes late, because you know, you'd like hope that a person

16:51

is still sitting there, you know. So it

16:53

was it's such a different kind of accountability, like human

16:56

to human. I think that's one of the things

16:58

you know that's so different too. So yeah, I think

17:00

we flashed back in time. We have to. Even

17:03

relationships are different because of communicate

17:05

different. Yeah, I kind

17:08

of in a way wish it was a little bit still like that

17:10

in the sense of like, hey, I meet

17:12

you here, and I'm doing that no matter what it is, whether you

17:14

know what I mean, Like nothing that way though. Not even to

17:16

sit down and watch your show anymore, any show that you watch,

17:18

you can you can wait three weeks, you can

17:20

wait for the whole season at count and then watch it like you used

17:23

to have to sit down on a Monday night at seven o'clock and watch

17:25

Gossip Girl Fell on a Thursday

17:27

or whatever it was, you know what I mean. Also

17:29

nothing, I mean speaking of watching TV, like when

17:31

I'm watching these episodes, you know, because we're going

17:33

to talk about them, and you know, I'm really paying

17:35

attention. And it makes me realize that

17:38

I so rarely watch television without my phone

17:40

in my hand. So even shows I love, I

17:42

find myself just like scrolling and social

17:45

media and like, yeah, recently

17:47

I've taken up TikTok from

17:51

everything. I don't always it's so weird

17:53

because like I'm kind of a grandma

17:55

with stuff, and you know, so it's it's tick.

17:57

Talk thing is such a thing, and I haven't

18:00

dove into it, and I don't know that I will

18:02

or ken because I just I'm

18:04

like, it's just another thing, but so many

18:06

people love it. Just tell me what freaks

18:09

me out? I mean, for me, the thing wasn't I didn't really understand

18:11

how it worked, and so then I kind of I logged in and took

18:13

a look, and then I realized, you know,

18:15

you kind of just start the scroll and

18:18

because you don't have to follow people

18:20

or have friends, or you don't have to

18:22

make any choices before you start scrolling.

18:26

Um, it kind of just like feeds you. So then

18:28

it starts to learn about you, I guess because like whatever

18:30

you're paying more attention to, it starts sending you more

18:32

of that. So it's a real

18:35

I mean, it's kind of dangerous because like the first

18:37

time I looked at I was like, oh, I don't get it. By

18:39

the second time, I was like two hours later, I'm

18:41

like watching like hours

18:44

of like croc pot videos. But

18:47

it's like and also

18:49

the things things I like now, I mean it's sending

18:51

me all these you know, animal rescues

18:54

and and then you know, weird like

18:56

one pot recipes. I'm like, oh, this is

18:58

so I'm starting to get it. I'm like, oh, this is what TikTok,

19:01

this is who TikTok thinks I am, which is kind

19:03

of a funny. It's like a funny mirror to your own personality.

19:06

But I have yet to venture into actually making

19:08

any of my own content or videos, which is

19:11

slightly overwhelming. So I'm gonna try it. We're

19:13

gonna promising here and now to try

19:16

I'm gonna make Mike al TikTok video. I'll

19:19

let you know, and I want to know all the things. Let

19:21

me ask you this. So now

19:23

we're jumping back from the eighties, from the rewatch to

19:27

the Gossip Girl we were on what are we calling

19:29

it that the original? Is that what we don't

19:31

know? To the

19:33

one that's on now? Do they on

19:35

the new one talk about TikTok and Instagram

19:38

and snapchat like those things in the

19:40

dialogue because that is such

19:42

a part of today's world, or do they stay

19:44

away from that and just let Gossip

19:46

Girl be the platform that now they

19:48

definitely do. The Gospels is

19:50

an Instagram handle, but

19:52

they're in the whole new show, and

19:56

so you find out right away anything Gossip Girl is versus

19:58

the way that you know the original

20:01

series it was. But you know what, they probably

20:03

had to do that otherwise, are you just trying to recreate

20:05

the same show? And sometimes that is

20:08

not what you can do, I think, not what you

20:10

can do, not what people want to see, because you did it

20:12

and you know what I mean, right, No, they

20:14

definitely, like I feel like they did a brilliant job of

20:16

moving forward in time with us, you

20:18

know, as a society. Um, so all

20:20

of that social media, like exactly what you're saying, like it's

20:23

I think it's really the kind of uh tent

20:25

pole of the show, Like it's like a crux of it is this understanding

20:28

of how people communicate today. So it's really

20:30

integrated and so I think

20:32

similar to the original show, it's

20:34

like kind of cutting edge and time

20:36

appropriate and really realistic

20:39

in a way in terms of how people use

20:42

media. So even though Gossip or all the original

20:45

the one we're watching seems dated, it's

20:47

like they were very that use of social

20:49

media and media in general was really advanced

20:51

in that moment, right, So it's like the fact that people

20:54

were looking at a blog and texting

20:57

each other and snapping photos of each other, like

20:59

that was cutting edge stuff back in the day. Right,

21:02

amazing. Yeah, that's

21:04

a wild it is. It's interesting

21:07

because that, um yeah, the like

21:09

in Gossip Girl, the original

21:12

to Rode, I had a scene where she was on Facebook,

21:14

like doing some Facebook stocking. So like Facebook

21:17

was very you know, was

21:19

the thing. And you know, one of the other things,

21:21

as I've told you before, I have certain like TV

21:24

watching pet Peeves, which um comes

21:27

to bear in this episode, which I have I'll

21:29

get to in a second, but one of

21:31

them is when I watched

21:34

television today and people are texting on

21:36

phones and how

21:38

you know if it's like you're texting your boyfriend. But then

21:40

they show the phone and there's no previous text

21:42

messages like that, they didn't create

21:45

start and I'm like, yeah, nobody's And so it's

21:48

funny because I that's why biggest pet peeve.

21:50

But I watched like like technology on television

21:52

now, But they nail that in

21:54

the New Gossip Girl and then in this gossipel

21:57

it's not even applicable because the way those

21:59

phones were because the screen takes up the

22:01

whole screen. Yeah,

22:04

Like in this episode, we see Serena finally

22:07

at the end text silly and says, I'm sorry,

22:09

you know, I'm on my way home, and it's like text

22:11

takes up the whole screen. It's

22:14

so funny. It's like such big letters. But

22:17

yeah, okay,

22:30

so we have the flashback she meets her

22:32

dad. It's Andrew McCarthy, who we love, and

22:34

then c C, who I always

22:37

love when CEC comes on because just

22:40

even the tone of her voice and like she's

22:44

nucleus from which everything comes on

22:46

the Upper East Side, you know what I mean. Somehow

22:49

she's like the classic you know, yeah,

22:51

she's like wicked and wild,

22:54

but like she has this like

22:56

accent, but it's I don't know, I

22:58

just she's also cool

23:00

and like really, she's such a like a beautiful

23:03

woman. And it's funny because I

23:05

end this episode at one point that that's either

23:07

Jenny or Eric. I think he says

23:09

like, oh, Grandma moves fast or something, and

23:12

I was like, of course she does. Look at her, she's like a model,

23:14

and he's like, I mean, she doesn't look like a grannybody's

23:16

grandma, you know what I mean. And it's so

23:18

great because we're like, of course that's how Lily is gonna look

23:20

too, down the line, because it's like

23:23

beautiful, sophisticated, you

23:25

know, easy elegance that they have totally

23:28

And how about the woman who plays c

23:30

C and the flashbacks, like even

23:32

her tone of voice, I'm like, wow, she's like really,

23:35

yeah, she's fantastic. Yeah.

23:37

I feel like both she and Brittany Snow definitely

23:40

studied those characterizations and they

23:42

honored them, and you know, you can see those characters

23:45

in their work, which is so cool. And

23:47

it's like, so in the beginning of that, will you clarify

23:50

one thing for me? So we see, uh,

23:52

the young Lily at lunch with her dad.

23:55

So she's been kicked out of school and

23:57

she wants to live with her dad in l A. But

24:00

he because he has this whole new or not not new

24:03

life, but this life that she wants to be a

24:05

part of it. She wants to just she wants to

24:07

reconnect and yeah, come there, but he some

24:09

but he's too busy and he's like some kind of record executive

24:12

or big shot or something. Right, basically he's not, you

24:14

know, there for her in that moment. It's kind of disappointing.

24:16

But CC is there. So

24:19

do they all live in l A. Or is

24:21

she living in New York with Cecy? I don't know. That's

24:23

a part of it. Was confused. I don't know. That's why we need another episode.

24:26

Yeah, they live, they lived in Malibu

24:29

in West Hollywood. Did they live in the valley? Because

24:31

the feeling that her and her mom stayed on the East

24:34

coast and that the dad and the others

24:36

than the sister were on the West coast and then now they were

24:38

kind of all coming together. That's kind of what I thought was

24:40

going on, but then the details

24:43

got away from But I guess it doesn't matter. I mean fundamentally,

24:45

what matters is that it was like Lily, yeah

24:47

the question even back then though, she has

24:49

like an Upper east Side vibe, which you

24:51

know, and there's a scene in this episode where the where

24:54

the young younger CC says to her, I

24:57

want you to live on the Upper east Side and so it's like already

24:59

in definitely in the rational

25:02

life, right, so it makes

25:04

sense to go in her style because she's so I

25:07

feel like that was so interesting to me was the feeling

25:09

the vibe of l A. You know, yeah, they're

25:11

like surfboards and the sun and

25:13

like very yeah, and how

25:15

she did or did not stick out there, you know,

25:18

like her hair and her pearls

25:20

and you know she was So that was

25:22

a fun way to like explore that character,

25:24

I think by like contrasting her so much with

25:27

that kind of I guess that laid back

25:29

energy of l A and especially in the eighties totally

25:32

how about why And they're literally speaking

25:34

of that when they're in the car and

25:36

they're talking about how she she sold her

25:38

car to invest Carol sold her card to invest

25:40

in something, and she's like it's like a purse

25:43

that you wear around your waist. Oh, yes, she's

25:46

talking about a Fannie Pack. I love that. I feel

25:48

like there's a couple of moments in this episode where

25:50

you get that really And I think this episode was actually written

25:52

by Josh and Stephanie, so I

25:54

feel like you really get a lot of their very particular

25:57

wit here, you know, And like that is

25:59

one of those things, like inserting the fact that she's frivolously

26:01

invested in a Fannie Pack. It's so good. I

26:03

love that. I loved it. I was like, wait, I had

26:06

to rewind it. I'm like, wait, is that what she's like explaining

26:08

that she invested in a Fannie Pack? You're so right,

26:10

that's very like good. Yeah,

26:13

And it's just so funny because it's like for the people who

26:15

kind of catch that or for whom that's humorous,

26:17

it's like that's the kind of detail

26:20

that makes the show really palatable and juicy

26:22

and like something that people really and it's so subtle,

26:24

like they're just talking about it in the car, like okay,

26:27

so that that happens. And then we go to

26:30

Blair's where you bring her the

26:32

dress. What does de Rota say? I have some good

26:34

news and bad news. Yeah, she says, so

26:37

basically, it's like the address her dress was

26:39

ruined, I guess in the dry cleaner. And then

26:42

but Dorotea is holding it and it's like in the arment

26:44

bag and Blair wants to see it. She's

26:46

like, no, this is a body bag. It's

26:49

just like you know that she address,

26:51

so that it's like, you know, a

26:54

mutilated corpse, and she won't allow her to see it,

26:56

which was so funny. And you know, I

26:58

haven't seen in a few episode so that we've

27:00

we've been rewatching together Toroda

27:02

hasn't been physically present, and so having

27:05

um the scene when she pops on the screen, I was like,

27:07

oh, it's so exciting to see. And

27:10

it made me laugh because to me, like the move

27:12

like with the body bag and then there was like a couple of

27:14

eye rolls and so kind of seeing the

27:17

how almost over the top comedic

27:19

it was. But it still seemed

27:21

okay because I feel like somehow I buy it that

27:24

like they're that's almost silly together. Yeah,

27:28

so it didn't make me laugh and I was like, oh wow, it was

27:30

really like there was like a lot of broad moves in there.

27:32

And then also once Stoda shows

27:34

her, she has a prom dress from Paris and

27:38

that dress box, Oh my gosh, it was like mongous

27:42

um. And so it's like it

27:45

was how was how was late? And even walking in

27:47

that that felt just and she did it

27:49

so gracefully and it looked like it almost

27:51

looked like it was comfy, but it just seems

27:54

so thick and big, but it was so beautiful.

27:57

She looked insane that kind of box. Yeah,

27:59

just such a big box. And

28:02

Dorota sets it down and then they both look at it. It's

28:04

like they're both like throwing it and

28:06

Blair both have the biggest smiles. And it's so funny

28:08

because I was watching it. I remember I don't remember

28:10

doing the scene at all, but I remember that vibe

28:13

of like it was always so easy to have the sort

28:15

of excitement moments because

28:17

we just had so much fun, you know. And so it's like when

28:20

we opened when I opened the box, as Dorota

28:22

throat is like almost jumping up and down with joy over

28:24

this Parisian dress. And I remember

28:27

that that was always like really easy

28:29

to play, you know, like it was always just very

28:32

fun to lean into those those

28:34

happy for Blair moments. It was a very

28:36

typical kind of interaction for us,

28:38

but I don't remember specifically at all. So

28:40

it felt fun to watch it because it was like watching

28:43

another person almost well

28:46

right, yeah, so that was a fun scene to see. I

28:48

was excited for that, and then you showed

28:51

up in the scene. I don't know what the

28:53

conversation was about. I think about

28:56

Serena going to jail. Why to jail? Right

28:58

over? And so everybody's sitting around and Dan

29:00

and Jenny and Rufus is

29:02

there and I think, you know they're they're chatting, and

29:04

then but there you guys go eating

29:07

Chinese food out of the boxes with the chopsticks

29:12

had a plate. Because that stuck out to me from what you

29:14

said that Vanessa did have a plane. Oh good,

29:16

And in my mind, I'm like, maybe Dan already had it and he's

29:18

just going back for a second. Because I thought

29:20

of you when I saw that scene, I'm like, oh ship.

29:23

I was like, in the Upper east Side, that freest

29:25

side, they eat it on fine China and in Brooklyn

29:27

they're just like you know, so I feel like you can eat I'll

29:29

explain it. I think you can eat lomaine out of

29:32

the box, but everything else you have to mix it

29:34

with the rice, you know, like that's

29:37

actually making me want totally want

29:40

yeah, oh man. And yeah. And

29:42

also I was like, that's the where Dan

29:45

lives. It's not too far from where I lives.

29:47

I was like, I wonder where they would have ordered from. Oh

29:49

my god, Yeah, you're like looking it up. Yeah,

29:53

but so that was funny. But yeah, so we get

29:55

to see. That's another thing we explore

29:58

in this episode is that sort of after

30:00

a math because the last time we saw Rufus

30:03

and Lily, he was about to propose and then he changed

30:05

his mind doesn't But at

30:07

this point is do we know or feel

30:09

like like, are we

30:11

getting that he didn't do it because of her

30:14

putting Serena and jail? Because That's what I'm

30:16

getting, That's where I'm at. So it's

30:18

like kind of shocked by that, right that he

30:20

basically, um, yeah, that she

30:23

she I guess he kind of called her out as as

30:25

behaving, you know, like like her mother. So

30:28

I think that's it was like almost like that

30:30

comment that he made and breaking the you

30:33

know, not proposing, uh set

30:35

us up for this whole episode where we flash back

30:37

to her relationship with her mother and

30:39

you know, and then we see and then Cecy comes back,

30:42

like that's another thing. So, so Serena is in jail

30:44

and Lily finally

30:47

goes to bail her out or

30:49

to you know, get her out, and then turns

30:51

out that in fact,

30:53

Serena has called Cecy instead of Lily,

30:56

And now I feel like the whole episode becomes about this

30:59

generation mother daughter dynamic that

31:01

plays out for sure. Yeah, and

31:03

speaking of Serena says

31:06

something to Lily about

31:08

like, I don't want to be a mom like you, like I'd

31:10

rather give my kids up for adoption and

31:12

be a mom. It's something along those lines. And then she's like, oh wait,

31:14

you did that. I was like, yeah, yeah, I was like that

31:17

was like digging so deep and so gnarly

31:19

and so rough.

31:22

Yeah yeah. And I feel like here it's also

31:25

that the kind of generational echo

31:27

to the fact that like the same thing happens

31:29

between the mother daughter pairs in a in a

31:31

family like down the line, you know, So that

31:34

like the fact that we explore that here that you know,

31:36

Lily, she was Serena with

31:39

CC, and now now we's

31:41

see Serena with Lily

31:43

and then like Lily is now CC, and it's like this whole

31:46

thing where that yeah, and then CC Serena

31:49

out, our veils are out, like it's yeah,

31:51

and so I have web there is crazy. I also

31:53

think it's so nice how they because we

31:56

go on this path and explore

31:58

like Cecy's childhood. It's like what Gossip Girl

32:00

does so well is that the characters who are

32:02

like, you know, the parental figures and fleshing

32:05

out all of their emotional

32:07

life and their history and their story. It

32:10

allows us more insight about Serena, who

32:12

is you know, our kind of principal character. And

32:15

you know, so it's like these parents are multidimensional

32:18

and it makes the story deeper because I feel like a lot of shows,

32:20

like a high school show or something, the parents

32:22

are the you know, they become kind of a peripheral or

32:25

like just there to frame the

32:27

action. And here you have like, you

32:29

know, they're really part of the story and you care about them as much

32:31

as you care about Lareen Serena. It's like, I'm really

32:33

invested in Lily and her life,

32:36

and it makes the whole thing just like deeper and

32:38

and also more relatable, I think for a bigger audience.

32:40

You know, so it's like and I you

32:43

know I'm similar to you. It's like I saw things

32:45

that I related to from you know, my own

32:47

mom. But I was wondering because I was thinking

32:49

of you as I was watching, and I was like, I wonder, it's like

32:51

a new mom with like, you know, such a little little

32:53

one, like are you already like when

32:56

you watch stuff about mother daughter relationships

32:58

and is it hitting you a different spot

33:00

now? And yeah, like, oh my god, please

33:03

just always don't never if you mean

33:05

don't never say it that. Yeah, there's

33:08

so many And here's a thing that's

33:10

like there's a moment when Serena was saying

33:12

that to Lily and she's looking at her. She goes,

33:14

oh, just wait, trust me. Lily says

33:17

something along those lines, and I'm

33:19

thinking, like as a mom when Serena saying

33:21

that to her mom, as much as maybe Lily

33:24

has made some mistakes or I

33:26

really think she was always trying to

33:28

do the best she could do. And I do think most parents

33:31

do try to do the best, and sometimes they

33:34

make mistakes and sometimes it's you know, it's

33:36

not the outcome that they want, but

33:38

it's never their intention. It was never

33:40

to like hurt Serena or make

33:43

her feel you know,

33:45

nothing but love. So when she's saying that

33:47

to her, it was like, I was like gutted for Lily because

33:49

I'm like, she wasn't trying to do that to you. But also,

33:52

as a seventeen year old kid, you

33:55

don't know the life experiences, you don't

33:57

know what it's like to be a mom yet, so in your mind,

33:59

it's your like just lashing

34:01

out and telling her she's a horrible

34:03

person. But we know that Lily

34:05

really was, isn't you know? So, And

34:08

then Serena says, because

34:11

like at the end of the episode, she kind of she has that line

34:13

of somebody asked her about it and she says,

34:15

oh, my mom just did that to me because she loves me or whatever.

34:18

So she kind of resolves it so easily almost

34:20

in her head about the jail thing. But

34:22

she gets, you know, she gets that very thing that

34:24

we're learning in this episode, which is that like every

34:27

mom's just trying her best, right,

34:29

and it's also like the tough love like Lily's

34:31

trying. She in her mind, she's like maybe teaching

34:33

Serena and everyone else, even Nate when they're

34:36

waiting in the jail in this episode. In the beginning, He's

34:38

like, who does that? It's true, we're all

34:40

like, what the heck? In Lily's mind, she's

34:42

like trying to teach Serena that she can't

34:44

like that she needs to stay in R lane sometimes

34:47

so that I can kind of. I'm not saying

34:49

I agree with it. I still think it's nuts

34:51

that she did that, but really, you know, she's justifying

34:53

it in in a way to try to make Serena

34:56

grow. Oh yes, no, I think so. And I feel like we get

34:58

to see all of that here and it's like, sorree know, Lily

35:00

cec. That's whole family

35:03

dynamic is so so essential here in this episode.

35:06

And then it's like we have the other side of the coin, which

35:08

is the we also have a lot of action happening with

35:11

Blair and Nate and

35:13

so let's okay, can we just talk

35:15

about this, Yes, let's talk about that for a second.

35:18

Chuck basically is the reason is

35:20

behind the prom dress. Chuck is behind

35:22

making sure she becomes prom queen. And

35:25

when he's like standing there and Serena asked what he's

35:27

doing and they're watching Blair get crowned queen,

35:30

here's again where you're you're like, oh my god,

35:32

with season three coming, this must be like another

35:35

whole roller coaster ride that we're going on, and now

35:37

it's going to be the Blair and Chuck right. Yeah,

35:39

So it's like, essentially in this episode, Blair

35:42

is preparing for prom. She has

35:44

this fantastical idea of what proms should

35:46

be, like she has been dreaming, dreaming

35:49

of it since her since she was a little girl, and

35:52

all this and everything is just falling apart, like her

35:54

dress is messed up. Then Nate

35:56

has, you know, all of his plans. He has the limo

35:59

planned, he has the corsage, he

36:01

has the hotel. Everything falls apart, and so it's

36:03

like somebody's sabotaging her prom

36:06

night, right, So it's like we know somebody

36:08

is, and it's like Chuck kind of gets accused of it,

36:10

and then really it's the minions,

36:12

right, Like the mean girls are

36:15

trying to displace her and make so

36:17

that she doesn't become prom quet.

36:20

Right, Am I missing something? No? I think

36:22

that is that is correct? And I why are

36:24

all these girls coming out Blair again? Now? I thought I was

36:26

like the ringleader. Yeah I missed I missed

36:28

it. Yeah, I feel like something was to happen a

36:31

few episodes ago or something where they started to get

36:33

crafty on their own or something, but they did,

36:35

and I can't Yeah, I don't know, but it was I'm

36:37

starting to Penelope

36:41

even though that pink dress is super cute and

36:43

I like it, don't be like rude

36:46

to Blair. Yeah. No, It's funny because when

36:49

she finds out that she is Quean, she's like, well,

36:51

of course we are. I'm like, okay, Blair,

36:53

right, yeah. So it's like it's like we

36:56

get to the prom finally towards the end of the episode,

36:58

and then Blair mean, basically,

37:00

she discovers that Chuck is holding a bunch of like ballots

37:03

that say Nelly Yuki on them for prom Queen,

37:05

and so she accuses him of being

37:07

the saboteur of her whole right

37:10

and really mean to have And then in

37:12

the interim we find out that in fact, she did win prom

37:15

Queen, and it turns out that you know, Chuck,

37:18

Chuck overheard the minions scheming

37:21

and he got went into action and he

37:23

voted. He's like, I voted a hundred forty times or something

37:25

for Blair so that she would have the night of her dreams

37:28

and so like we find out that he's really the kind

37:31

of the hero and the savior of the prom night,

37:33

which is so sweet, and he never you know, it's all

37:35

in the background, That's what's so. I think what you're

37:37

saying is like when Serena asked him about it, he's

37:40

just doing things out of love for Blair. At this point

37:42

with he's like, I want her to have the perfect night,

37:44

and like that is so sweet without getting

37:46

any credit for it, and without you know, even

37:49

making himself known, which is like pretty authentic

37:51

and sweet. Yeah, it's really cool, so sweet

37:53

not getting credit. She's like going off on yelling

37:56

at him. But yeah, so I don't

37:58

really know why the minions were turning on her, but I did

38:00

love to see them. And so like Amanda Satin,

38:02

who plays Penelope, is like one of my best buddies.

38:05

And I love her because when we were

38:07

working on the show together we became friendly

38:09

and then she ended up doing a play with

38:11

me and we did a play together, so we've

38:14

seen a lot of time together. So I love

38:16

a man. I love her acting, and like, you know,

38:19

I haven't watched the show in so long, so it's like seeing

38:21

her in that Penelope role was

38:23

like I got such a kick out of it, and it was just such a

38:25

great moment because all all of them

38:27

in Dream and you know that, I mean the

38:30

whole crew. And what's so great about

38:32

those performances too, is that like they're so it's

38:34

like here they're scheming and they're like nasty

38:37

girls, but there's like a vulnerability

38:40

to it. Like when Amanda, when Penelope

38:42

announces that it's Blair, it's like her

38:44

face acts like yeah,

38:46

and you kind of kind of get the whole thing about high school,

38:48

right and the Yeah. It's like the

38:51

fact that in high school, like all these mean girls and stuff,

38:53

like they're really coming from place of insecurity. So it's

38:55

like, I feel like you get that here.

38:57

You know, this problem seemed very even

38:59

though so glamorous and above

39:02

and beyond, like it still seemed relatable

39:04

and like real to me in terms of those dynamics.

39:08

Yeah, because I just feel like in high school

39:10

everyone is still trying to find their place, Like I

39:12

don't. High school is so crazy

39:14

to me. I had some of my best years there and some things

39:16

that I was very hurt by. Some

39:19

things I learned a lot, but like the

39:21

mean stuff when people are mean, it like hits

39:24

me in a certain way because I did have like some bullying

39:26

in high school and it was very

39:28

hard to get over and very like later

39:31

on years after high school, the girls all

39:33

apologized. We ran into each other back at

39:35

a local bar, and oddly

39:37

enough, I was on Gossip Girl. They had all watched it and all

39:39

we're like, oh my gosh, and a friend was like

39:42

the fact that you're even like saying hi to them

39:44

or being and I'm like that was on them, like

39:46

they had something going on for them to be mean to me

39:48

or egg my dad's car put pictures

39:51

of me all over the high school like as embarrassing

39:53

and hurtful as it was, and at the time, I wanted

39:56

to change schools and stuff, but like like

39:58

what you said, it was their in securities at them in

40:00

the time, when my mom and my sisters and

40:03

family would be like, they're just they have been securities, you don't

40:05

It didn't. I didn't getting help

40:07

in the moment, Like I would never know, like

40:10

why would you be mean to someone that's like it's

40:12

such a hollow, a hollow

40:15

thing, because it's like that feeling of like

40:17

grout mentality and like belonging or

40:19

something. But then to do that by hurting someone else,

40:21

it's just that it's a unfortunately doing

40:25

that, right. Yeah, it's actually really sad for

40:27

for them. Yeah. Yeah. Like I was in high

40:29

school in Indiana and uh, Fort Wayne,

40:31

Indiana, which is like, you know, very midwestern, kind

40:34

of mid sized town, and my high

40:36

school. I was in high school in the nineties and I

40:40

years years later, a guy that

40:42

I was in school with wrote me an email or write

40:44

wrote me like a message on Facebook, and he said that

40:47

he, you know, later in life, he came out as gay

40:49

and that he wanted to thank me for being

40:52

nice to him in high school. And in high

40:54

school he was really really abused

40:57

and U you know, had a very difficult time. And it

40:59

was struck me so much because I was like, I don't

41:01

remember being that nice to him. I think I just wasn't

41:03

mean to him, you know, And it's like I could have been

41:05

such a better person in high school because with hindsight,

41:08

it's like to step in and be a hero for somebody who's

41:10

being hurt, you know. Just

41:12

the fact that I was one of the kids who wasn't mean to him

41:15

met something like his life you

41:18

know, and it's like that's like it's so sad to

41:20

look at it, but you want to take like young

41:22

people and just like yeah, that's why when I do

41:24

see the mean girls in these episodes, like like Penelope,

41:27

you better chill, yeah, and the

41:29

mean girls in this I mean, I feel like the Blair

41:31

is like the queen Bee of the mean right in a

41:33

way she is, but it's funny because

41:35

she she plays it in a way where you still roote

41:38

for her. That's that's what's crazy. But

41:52

that problem, I mean, it's that beautiful other opposite

41:55

side of gossip orl which is like because like part

41:57

of it is relatable and there's so much reality to it,

41:59

but then there's also the fantasy part, you know, and

42:02

like yeah, I mean my problem

42:04

was in like, you know, an auditorium, like like

42:07

a gymnasium's type auditorium,

42:09

and it was like balloons and stuff and here

42:11

that I mean just the amount of just a decor

42:14

alone. I was like, whoa, it's insane

42:16

and like like diamond Tiherra's

42:18

and it was insane.

42:21

What did your dress look like? You know? I went to a

42:23

couple you know problems. We

42:25

went junior prom and senior prom, and I had

42:27

some friends from other high school, so I

42:29

went a few times. But I always had a difficult

42:32

time picking out a dress because my mom, because

42:34

I was originally from Poland

42:36

and my mom was very Polish, so she was

42:38

like it was a really hard sell to get

42:40

her to buy me like a typical prom dress.

42:42

Like she just had a different fashion sense and

42:45

so she always wanted to have something different, And

42:47

I was always like, Mom, what the problem dress? Because

42:49

it was all Rick and I had the same kind of style, you

42:52

know. So I remember that there was like a

42:54

little bit of an uphill battle getting my

42:56

parents to like purchase the one that I

42:58

wanted. Um. But I

43:00

think one of the things about growing up in the Midwest

43:02

and and kind of a suburban setting,

43:05

at least in the nineties, was that we went

43:07

to the mall. We had like a couple of department stores

43:09

where you would go to the fancy dress section,

43:11

like the prom dress section, and so not

43:14

having the same dress as like twenty other girls

43:17

was like almost impossible. And then we didn't

43:19

have online shopping, so

43:22

you can only buy what you could go see, you

43:24

know. So you know, you live in

43:27

a sport way in Indiana. You're going to glen Brook Mall

43:30

and they're like, you know, and that's you're not You're

43:32

not buying stuffe And I think the options now.

43:34

I think you can live in you know, the most rural

43:37

part of Kansas and get you know anything.

43:40

You know, you can go online and and

43:42

really do some research and yeah,

43:45

how about you. Do you remember what your I

43:48

went with one of my best friends, do you know, and

43:51

we had the best time we had. We went to turn

43:53

I went, I asked him to turn About. That's what I

43:58

guess backward. Yeah,

44:02

we just had so much fun at Wanted. I can't remember

44:04

which was first. I guess it was turned About first. We

44:06

had so much fun, more like, let's do problem together.

44:08

But mine was just a simple black dress.

44:10

It was very black. I wore my hair straight for

44:12

the first time ever, I think in my life. So

44:15

I think that was kind of shocking to people when I got to the pictures

44:17

because my hair was super super curly.

44:20

Who are you paper like, shock? Yeah,

44:22

straight hair back. And I just wore a straight ponytail

44:24

and a black dress. And then I went to another problem in Chicago

44:27

and it was just a plain white dress. So

44:30

very simple. Not at all what

44:32

Vanessa would wear. I'll tell you that, but um,

44:34

maybe almost what something Serena would wear,

44:36

not like, yeah, I don't know, very

44:39

simple company. Yeah yeah,

44:41

listen to me breaking down my problem. Like almost made

44:43

a statement, but did I don't know. I

44:46

liked it. It was, um, we had we had a good time.

44:48

It was great. The music was good, the dinner

44:50

was good. It was it was awesome. It's amazing.

44:53

Yeah, it just reminded me we said music. It's

44:55

like, that's probably one of the biggest things in this episode

44:58

is one Stefani

45:00

is then it, which is so doubt yeah, and so

45:02

like when they that's in the flashback, So

45:05

basically it's like Serena gets out

45:07

of jail and they all go to prom Right and then that's

45:09

basically the and then you know we're dealing

45:11

and then Lily is dealing with the fallout of issues

45:13

with raising Serena basically and that

45:16

her relationship with groups. But then in the flashback

45:19

world, it's like the young

45:21

Lily, I just kind of despair your dad lost

45:24

in l I finds her sister and they go on this kind of adventure

45:27

and she kind of finds herself I guess by like

45:29

rebelling in the end against her mom and like the two

45:31

sisters kind of right off into the sunset together, right,

45:33

Like that's kind of essentially what happens, right,

45:36

And but in that process, like the kind of

45:38

peak moment is this evening

45:40

out where they go, you know, out in the town and

45:43

like out in eighties l l

45:46

A. Right, So they go to that club

45:49

and it's Seguen Stefani and No Doubt or

45:51

playing like as an eighties ban right

45:54

by the way. When the music came out, I'm like, wow, this is

45:56

like a great like whoever whatever band

45:58

this is, I'm like, they should have made it. She sounds

46:00

good. And then there was like a vibe and then get the close up

46:02

swings in and it's Gwen Stefani. I'm like, oh, that's

46:04

because it's I was like doubt and I was like,

46:07

is that really? And then I was like, of course it is. That's what kind

46:09

of show. It was. Always had the coolest people, So

46:11

yeah, it was awesome. And it's funny because like a

46:13

lot of times when there was a musical guest, like it had

46:16

to kind of blend into the episode.

46:18

So it's like you get a good moment

46:21

with Gwen Stefani, and then the

46:23

scene kind of moves forward, you know, which is fun because

46:25

you're like, this is just the world there is. It was

46:27

cool, yeah, and that's what I love about how they

46:29

do it. But they go to the concert and then they go to the house

46:31

party and they're trying to track down this guy who's

46:34

like wronged the Kristen Rider's character

46:36

Lily sister, and so

46:38

they end up in this like crazy house party,

46:40

and during that process, the young young

46:43

Lily has some drinks and basically starts

46:45

really falling for this guy, and they're this really

46:48

cute thing happens where when they

46:50

first meet, he kind of runt walks in on or

46:52

just trying on these outfits, and she says,

46:54

is this the part where you fall in love with me? And

46:58

then later when they're dancing together and

47:00

they're like looking at each other's eye and he says, is this the part

47:02

where you fall in love with me? It's such like a cute

47:04

fun line, and I feel like such

47:07

a moment from that from

47:10

that story and it was so cute, and

47:12

so I was like getting really into their little relationship

47:14

and you know where it could go. It was

47:16

like lovely pure. But how about when

47:18

Blaren Nate are dancing And that's like such a moment

47:21

too, and then it's like they're

47:23

breaking up, and you

47:25

know, I found that breakup right, So we're

47:28

saying goodbye to Nate here with Blair.

47:31

But haven't you had that in your life where you just feel

47:33

something slipping away like that? Like I mean maybe you

47:35

know romantically or but I don't

47:38

know if I'm going to be and flow dancing

47:40

like holding each other in our arms, and

47:42

then like two minutes later, I'm like, we're breaking

47:44

out. I don't know, but babe, that's why it was

47:46

such a moment because it's so the

47:49

irony of it and all this stuff, and and

47:51

then how he just accepted, like he's just realizes

47:54

it. It's like she never says it in words really, and she's

47:56

like, let's just not think about it for this

47:58

next moment and he's like okay, and

48:00

then it's just over and it's so it

48:02

just hit me because like I'm bad with like goodbyes

48:05

and transitions, like I've always yet really like

48:08

my heart strings get pulled by that sound. I was like,

48:10

oh, the end of it, the end

48:12

of something is always hard for me to take

48:15

um totally. But that

48:17

was quite a scene with the two of them, and then that scene

48:20

with them Blair and Serena on the steps, and it all

48:22

kind of wraps up with that. Let's

48:25

talk about this, you know how there's certain scenes

48:27

with the lighting on it, their makeup,

48:29

them sitting on the stairs. I was like, oh my god, we

48:32

know that they're both beautiful and pretty and they look good on the show

48:34

all the time. They look good in real life too, Like we

48:36

all know that there was something so special

48:39

about that moment. Both of their skins were glowing,

48:41

like they looked so beautiful, like

48:43

holy yeah. And you know how sometimes there's just

48:45

even when the dps like oh this lighting, this shot

48:48

like looks you know, sticking

48:50

out more than other ones. That was for sure one of

48:52

those moments for those two sitting on the stairs, and

48:55

I loved it. They're like saying that their sisters

48:57

for life and they survived so much together.

49:00

Yeah. And then and they also kind of wrap up high school

49:02

in that moment either, like like Serena says,

49:05

it's such a a stooped observation

49:07

she makes when she says, like, you know, Blair's

49:09

like, you know, he was my high school boyfriend. I was wanting

49:11

to go to prom, my high school boyfriend. And she's like, and

49:13

then you did it, and you realize he's your high

49:16

school boyfriend and not your life boyfriend

49:18

or your post high school but you know, so it's

49:20

like the fact that they just kind of sitting

49:22

on those steps. They're almost like letting high

49:25

school fall away. And it's like that transitional

49:27

moment where it's like, you know, moving to that next

49:30

phase of life. It's kind of insane, what is

49:32

too And I also feel like when you're like a

49:34

senior in high school, I feel like so many people are so ready

49:36

to be done with high school. And then I remember adults

49:39

would always say it goes so fast,

49:41

and then in ten years you're gonna wish you were back there, and that

49:44

is kind of true, because it goes so fast.

49:46

It's like so funny the next chapter in your

49:48

life. And a lot of times you're leaving

49:50

high school and thinking that, like, you know, the next

49:52

thing, and for me at least, and so

49:55

many things changed, right, I mean, like everything

49:57

I thought was it was going to happen in my twenties

49:59

was completely the opposite. I thought I was gonna have four

50:02

kids at like, you

50:04

know, because living in New York, shooting up, shooting

50:06

gossip in New York different. It was

50:08

not at all in my mind when I was seventeen

50:10

years old, you know what I mean. So it's

50:12

wild when they're sitting in what you saide those big

50:15

moments wrapping up that chapter, and

50:17

it also kind of reminds us to I guess that like

50:19

love relationships come and go, but like friendships

50:22

and family are kind of, you know, always there,

50:24

because it's like she says, I think Serena says something

50:27

about that, like you know, all the boys

50:29

and boyfriends, but like, you

50:31

know, we have each other or whatever. And then you kind of flashed

50:33

back to Lily and her sister

50:36

having their sister moment and kind of ending with

50:38

this feeling of like it's us against the world, you

50:40

know, and so that's kind of nice.

50:43

And then we have another yeah that

50:45

faced up with Lily and Cecy, which is like, like

50:47

I really related to that, which is that Willy

50:50

was like, I'm gonna ask her to stay. Lily

50:52

goes to Cec with an open heart, and then Cec does

50:54

that amazing thing that humans do, which

50:56

is the Lily is coming to her with an olive branch

50:58

and then she like pushes it away and you're like no, no,

51:01

no, and she has this super chice like

51:03

crap on looking and

51:05

you're like, just let it be nice for a minute.

51:07

And then she's like yeah, and then something

51:10

about the hug. Yeah, and then she keeps on poking and poking,

51:12

and then but then Lily does that amazing thing where

51:14

she like overrides

51:16

it. She like let's see C B C C, but like

51:19

forces her into that hug and then at

51:21

the very end like CC kind of let's

51:23

it in, you know, like let's go and and it's

51:25

such a lovely mother. There's like a little bit of a tug and more

51:28

there there and they both play it

51:30

and do it so well. Like yeah, like you said, like Lily

51:32

knows what's going on, but she's like I'm gonna like let

51:35

her feel like she got to me but she didn't, but she did.

51:37

But like there's like so many things

51:39

going on right and sometimes you just have to

51:41

force that for some of the saying it's okay, it's gonna

51:43

be okay, like you know, I love you,

51:46

let's hug it out. Like,

51:48

you know, begrudgingly and yeah,

51:51

so I feel like that was a nice kind of resolution.

51:53

Then we have the resolution with Lily and Serena too,

51:55

so it's like it's like things got wrapped up. But then again, it's

51:57

all new beginning, so it's like totally

52:00

now, it's like what's going to happen and

52:03

who's you know, what's gonna happen with Rufus and the Lily

52:05

and you know, it's like all this fresh start stuff,

52:07

which is like always a little scary. It

52:10

is because it's like the past is the past. Let the past

52:13

be the past. But it's also the past is so present

52:15

right now, so that's like all crazy. Oh

52:17

yeah, actually,

52:21

speaking of the gossip Girl quote like kind of

52:23

nails that. Oh yeah, do you want to do it? Um?

52:26

Sure, it's a long one. That's The

52:28

other fun fact that we haven't

52:30

mentioned yet about this alisode is that gossip

52:33

Girl is always narrating.

52:36

In the beginning of that she didn't, and she didn't

52:38

in this one, so it was an unusual

52:40

episode for gossip Girl herself. She

52:43

basically didn't gossip Girl didn't talk until

52:46

the closing quote, right, and so when

52:48

you heard her voice you're like, oh yeah, which doesn't happen,

52:50

right, So they were closing quote, she says,

52:53

shoulder pads may come and go, but a BFF

52:55

is forever because even when you're not

52:58

sure where you're headed, it helps to know are

53:00

not going there alone. No one has all

53:02

the answers, and sometimes the best we can do is

53:04

just apologize and let the past be the past.

53:07

Other times we need to look to the future and know

53:09

that even when we think we've seen it all, life

53:12

can still surprise us and we can still surprise

53:14

ourselves. Exo Gossip

53:17

Girl. Yes, and you know what, so that that quote

53:20

is like really on point. Yeah, that is

53:22

really you're right, that like totally

53:24

wraps up everything. We're just saying, yeah, wow,

53:26

yeah. Because also even what you said when she

53:28

says and life can still surprise

53:31

us and we can still surprise ourselves. It's

53:33

like what you almost that moment with Lily and her mom,

53:35

Like she knows exactly what

53:37

her mom is doing, but she kind of knows how to

53:39

handle it right, like it's a surprise even though

53:41

it's not. I don't know. This is one of my favorite

53:43

Gossip Girl quotes that I've that I've

53:46

heard or read since then, it's really not very

53:49

larchy at all. Yeah, no,

53:51

it's just being real and it's just and it

53:53

also has that feeling of wrapping up something

53:55

and opening the door for something new. Yeah,

53:57

and it's crazy, but like we're just

54:00

about to wrap season two, which

54:02

by the way, is crazy. But for

54:04

a show episode the

54:06

finale, for a high school show, to

54:09

graduate everyone and like have this transitional

54:11

moment after two seasons and then still

54:14

live on in glory for four more

54:16

seasons. It's kind of cool because they really let

54:18

these characters grow and change, right, and we said that before,

54:20

but totally, yeah, that's well. And then and

54:23

then I'll also I wanted to know. I

54:25

feel like we see Lily's sister

54:28

in the modern day. I

54:30

was going to ask that earlier. I think what happened? I have

54:32

a feeling like a picture who plays her?

54:34

I think? But mine might be wrong. But I

54:37

also want to know, like did this I

54:42

want to see that too, But I'm so ridiculous in my mind. I'm

54:44

like, did Kristen Rinnter ever come back

54:47

in season two? Three or four? And obviously

54:49

it would be yeah,

54:52

no, no, I think, but

54:55

it's like all a big you know soup

54:57

in my brain now, but we're

54:59

threshing, I'm gonna look it out. Yeah. Also, oh,

55:01

we forgot to mention the one thing too, which is that we've got

55:03

to meet vander Woodson. I guess

55:05

Serena and Eric's dad. We met

55:08

him at the pool party in this episode. Oh

55:10

yeah, and I can't remember what happened the big

55:12

moment too. Yeah, I can't remember

55:14

what happened. What his deal is like with them?

55:17

Now? Yeah? Like where is he now?

55:19

Yeah? I forget. I mean there's some spec story there,

55:21

but I can't. It's a bald one that plays her

55:24

dad, right, one of the baldwins. Yeah, I think so, but

55:26

as he played vander Woodson or does he play

55:28

Like do they find out they have a different dad? No, I don't

55:30

know. I don't remember. There's might be a more complications. Honestly,

55:34

That's why I'm glad we're doing it. But I love that bad

55:36

the answers, but I don't know. That's what's so cool about

55:38

a flashback is when they go, hey vander Woodson

55:40

and you're like, oh there is Yeah.

55:43

I love that. I get a kick out of it. I gotta

55:45

kick out of that whole thing, and I feel like, yeah,

55:47

we definitely appreciated

55:50

going into that, you know, eighties Lily

55:53

Rhodes want more, and

55:55

it's like, yeah, you never know.

55:57

Television is such that maybe someday,

56:00

well maybe why

56:03

not. I mean, you know, let's send it out

56:05

into the universe because we have We're

56:07

vibing with us for sure. So yeah,

56:10

and um, I have one little update from

56:12

what we talked about last time we were together. Uh

56:15

yeah, remember how we talked about there was a pop belly

56:17

pig on. There was here and makeup

56:19

trailer. I remember who it was, Kaylee

56:23

Differ who played Ivy. So

56:26

okay, how funny is this? We used to be roommates,

56:28

are you serious? Yes, before

56:30

she came on Gossip Girl. I remember when we found out

56:32

they were looking for Charlie and I think it was

56:34

pen in the makeup room. Was like, it's an actor named

56:37

Kaylee de Fer him like what I was

56:39

like, broke as a joke, couldn't afford rent

56:41

And she rented me her room for four hundred

56:43

dollars a week, I mean a month, and I would help

56:46

Walker dogs. And she was on a show on Fox

56:48

that came on after

56:50

Family Guy and that's how I ended

56:52

up meeting and becoming friends with Seth

56:55

McFarland because they knew each other because

56:57

they were both on Fox shows. It's just a super small world,

56:59

full circle. But yes, her and I were

57:02

roommates. But you And that's funny because

57:04

I never I don't think I ever knew

57:06

that that was her pig and wait

57:10

and so wait she played Ivy and Charlie though,

57:12

right, I don't know. I'll find out. Yeah, I'll have to

57:15

do research on that, but you know, hopefully

57:18

I'm I'm right. But either way, it's

57:20

no. I think you totally could be. I wouldn't

57:22

know. But that's

57:25

that's that's the magic of Gossip Girl.

57:28

It sure is girl. It's a weird little

57:30

animals running around the air and makeup room pigs,

57:35

dogs, cats. Yes,

57:37

this was so fun. I can't I'm like, I'm

57:40

excited and also like a little like nervous

57:42

because I'm like, what's what, who's coming on? Who's

57:44

leaving? But this was fun.

57:47

I can't wait for next week. We also

57:49

have a fun guest coming on with us to do

57:51

the rewatch of the finale. Yeah,

57:54

fun, that's very cool. See where all these

57:56

folks send up. Yeah

57:58

right, I'm like, uh,

58:01

good lord, I know a lot of shocking moments.

58:04

Well, thank you for chatting

58:07

to me on this beautiful full day. I

58:09

know I'm gonna literally put a sweater on and go outside

58:11

right now for for the walk me too. I'm gonna

58:14

I'm going out actually, you know what. I'm gonna

58:16

go out for Chinese food tonight. So I

58:18

love that, Susanna.

58:24

It is always such a treat having you on

58:26

the podcast. Thank you so much for joining

58:28

me, girl and listeners, thanks

58:30

for being here, and get ready because next week

58:32

is the finale week. I know, I know

58:34

it went way too fast, so make sure

58:36

to tune in for my last season to rewatch.

58:39

It's a good one. Catch you then. XO

58:46

XO is produced by Propagate Content and

58:48

Meat Jessica's Or Our show is executive

58:51

produced by Langley. Our producers are

58:53

Diego Tapia, Kristin Vermilia, Emily

58:55

car and Hannah Harris. Original

58:58

music by Moxie and Lu