REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episodes 2.01 & 2.02
REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episodes 2.01 & 2.02
More than a year after the series debuted and almost exactly a year after the end of season 1, the “Gossip Girl” spinoff finally returned on Thursday with the highly anticipated premiere of season 2. Not only that, but HBO Max dropped the season’s second episode too.
Episode 2.01 is titled “Deb Brawl in a Blue Dress.” The official synopsis says: “After the tumultuous events of New Year’s Eve, the entire crew is ready for a fresh start. Audrey, Aki, and Max take a chance on their relationship, Julien starts over at Zoya and Nick’s place, and Obie spends all his time with new girlfriend, Grace. Meanwhile, Kate meets her professional match, and Monet makes a play for the Constance throne at the debutante ball — threatening already fragile bonds.” It was written by Ashley Wigfield and directed by Joshua Safran, the show’s creator and an executive producer on the original “Gossip Girl.”
Episode 2.02 is called “Guess Who’s Coming at Dinner.” The official description states: “Faced with a damaging article about Gossip Girl, Kate scrambles to stay relevant — but finds unexpected help in the school’s returning teacher, Mike. As Monet forces Julien to compete for a magazine spread, Zoya spends all her time with Shan and her family… much to Nick’s increasing annoyance. Meanwhile, Max’s parents host an important dinner, which crashes and burns with the arrival of some unexpected guests.” It was written by Sigrid Gilmer and was also directed by Safran.
As I did throughout season 1, each week I’ll be sharing my reactions to season 2, starting with today’s first two episodes below.
Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2.01, “Deb Brawl in a Blue Dress”
I loved the opening shots in and out of the car windows.
It’s weird to remember Zoya is only a freshman.
This Mike is CUTE!
Aki and Audrey’s reluctance with Max feels so redundant. It’s like this storyline keeps taking one step forward and two steps back.
The reference to a “Deadline alert” made me laugh. I get them all day long.
At approximately 32 minutes in, I looked to see how much longer the episode still had to go. It was dragging.
Max and Luna’s friendship is probably the best thing about this show.
I didn’t see Davis’ return coming.
Maybe the deb brawl would’ve been surprising if it wasn’t spoiled in the episode title.
Amanda Warren is a better actress than this show deserves. That monologue was Emmy-worthy.
Did it matter that Obie was MIA? Not really.
I hated the closing shot with the flames in Monet’s eyes. It looked like something you’d see on “One Upon a Time” or some other fantasy / supernatural show.
Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2.02, “Guess Who’s Coming at Dinner”
I kind of like Julien and Nick’s blossoming bond.
It’s nice that they’re carrying over The Spectator from the original show.
I do agree intermittent fasting is a rebranded eating disorder.
It’s wild that Pippa and Bianca are going to Constance now. I’m torn over whether it was too soon for that to happen; like could we have gotten more mileage out of keeping them out of the circle for a bit longer?
Monet is coming off as a mix of Blair and Georgina.
I wish Mike wasn’t a schemer too. I wanted him to be more earnest and genuine, a departure from the other teachers.
The green screen background when Roy was “driving” was embarrassingly bad. I wonder what went wrong that they couldn’t shoot it for real.
The intercut scenes of the characters all sharing their various plans was super confusing and hard to follow. The cuts were too fast and there were too many plots to keep it all straight and understand what was happening. That style is fine when cutting between, say, two conversations. But this was like five.
Audrey and Aki were acting like Max’s pimp. It was really gross.
I loved the
cameo! As I’ve previously shared, she’s a writer on the show this season and a longtime fan of the original series.As I’ve also previously shared, I’m a big fan of Harris’
newsletter, for which she put out a special edition today about her “GG” experience.
I did not care about the Roy / Gideon plot, even as a device for the Aki-Max-Audrey plot to come to a head.
I also did not care about the Mike plot.
I loved Audrey’s hair in the dinner scene. It was cute in her last scene of the episode too.
I would’ve liked it better if Nick liked Shan’s parents. Instead of his concerns being confirmed, I would’ve preferred him to be surprised that this rich Black family is pretty great and endearing.
I didn’t see coming the reveal that Monet actually set Julien up.
Monet: “I can’t be Blair without a Serena.”
It was a pretty big waste of Laura Benanti to use her so insignificantly and briefly in this episode.
I’ll be honest: I had a lot of mixed feelings going into today. The trailer last month reminded me so much of what I don’t like about the series. Yet I’ve been looking forward to having this weekly drama — a teen drama — to watch again.
The mostly positive reviews I shared in today’s special installment of “Teen Drama Links” are a bit surprising to me because these two episodes just felt like more of the same — the same lackluster quality as the first season and all the same problems with the characters and plots. But to be fair, those reviewers have (I believe) seen the first five episodes of season 2 and these are only the first two. Things can certainly improve from here.
For now, though, I think The Daily Beast review was spot-on. I mean, the author even wrote, “But like the tried and true lover of teen dramas that I am, I remain cautiously optimistic that something good may be right around the corner. It’s really all I have left.” Who is that if not me?
I think we’re all eagerly awaiting Georgina’s return, but despite the teasers and hype, it doesn’t seem she appears until the second half of the season. Will the episodes be a slog until then? Will the storylines continue to feel repetitive? Will the acting from certain cast members continue to be horrible?
We’ll find out together as I share my reactions to each week’s new episode, for better or worse.