REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2.03
The second season of the “Gossip Girl” spinoff continued on Thursday with episode 2.03.
The third episode of the season is called, “Great Reputations.” The official synopsis states, “Despite starting a new reign of terror at Constance, Monet longs for Julien’s participation in their ‘rivalry,’ which results in a competition to befriend Grace. Hoping to make a good impression on Grace’s family, Obie bestows Julien with the impossible task of keeping all their friends in line. Later, Zoya confronts Nick.”
The episode was written by Pilar Golden and directed by Sophia Takal.
Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2.03, “Great Reputations”
Is it bad that I still don’t know which one is Pippa and which one is Bianca?
I LOL’ed at Davis arguing Julien should have the bigger bedroom. I guess he makes a fair point that he’s paying, so he calls the shots.
Didn’t the season premiere imply Monet already has a girlfriend? Wasn’t that the point of her debutante ball stunt?
I was wondering what Grace does for school a second before Julien brought it up.
Zoya being frustrated and mad has become off-putting and is getting old.
The Hilary Duff reference was a nice nod to the original series.
We don’t care about Kate. Now we’re supposed to care about her dad and her dad’s girlfriend?
Obie should know that enlisting Julien usually makes things worse, not better.
I thought Kate had locked Jordan out of the Gossip Girl account last season. So how is he posting for her?
Zoya telling her dad “I’m going to give you one more chance to tell me the truth” like she’s the parent — it had me rolling my eyes.
It was nice to see Monet get a taste of her own medicine with Tiff.
But as Tiff showed her true colors, it’s surprising Grace would be best friends with someone like that.
Mike seeing a new side of Kate and them bonding over her parental crisis felt obvious and cliche.
I don’t understand Julien’s decision to get high at the party. What made her suddenly not want to keep the peace anymore and no longer be a better person?
It was clever having Shan overhear Nick and Davis’ conversation without even being present. It was also clever, and also a bit cheesy, having her on a video call so we could see her reaction.
It wasn’t surprising Julien is the friend Grace’s mom wants Obie to stay away from. It furthers the triangle.
However, I was genuinely surprised to see Grace is cheating on Obie.
Perhaps between that, the kind of person her BFF Tiff is, and Grace’s own partying past, Grace is far from the angel she tries to portray herself as.
I can’t decide if I was surprised or not that Mike’s soft turn toward Kate has ulterior motives.
So who is he secretly working for? The MIA Georgina?
First off, I have to point out the inaccuracy in this part of the episode synopsis: “Despite starting a new reign of terror at Constance, Monet longs for Julien’s participation in their ‘rivalry,’ which results in a competition to befriend Grace.” As we saw, Monet was competing to befriend Grace to get introduced to Tiff, not because she wanted Julien to participate in their rivalry. Julien’s involvement was just a complication.
Anyway, I’ve read a lot of takes over the last week about Monet and Julien being the new Blair and Serena. I see it in some ways. Their talk three-quarters of the way through this episode reminded me of the way Blair and Serena would fight full bore and then end up deflated together. Of course, as the end of the episode hinted, Monet and Julien’s peace is going to be short-lived, just like Zoya and Julien’s was every episode last season. And the redundant back-and-forth is going to get tiring.
Zoya’s immaturity and misplaced belief that she always knows better makes sense given her age. I’m just over it it. Also, what was the point of making Grace Duah a series regular this season if Shan is still going to be nothing more than Zoya’s sidekick? We’re still waiting to see Luna be more than a sidekick, too.
Creator Joshua Safran said in his recent Deadline interview that the teachers are always the episode’s D plot and it sure feels like it. Which makes me wonder… what’s the point? Why even bother? I guess they served a purpose last season, even if it wasn’t a likeable one, but I’m not seeing the purpose this season — I guess aside from Mike trying to figure out who Gossip Girl is.
Not counting Max’s old group of friends, there were six new characters introduced in this episode alone, four of them women, and I had to write down their names to keep it straight in my head. That was just way too much at once.
Speaking of Max, I just realized I made no notes above about the episode’s Max-Audrey-Aki storyline. So that’s how much of an impression it had on me. And apparently it wasn’t significant enough to include in the synopsis, either, so.
Frankly, like last season, none of the storylines are holding my interest. Yet each episode ends with enough of an open question or two that I’m curious to see where things go from here, even if I don’t find it enjoyable. Keeping me tuned in… on that point, “Gossip Girl” is a rousing success.