REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2.09 + Cancellation News

The penultimate episode of the “Gossip Girl” spinoff’s second season dropped on Thursday — hours before HBO Max announced it had canceled the series.

In fact, I was watching today’s episode and taking my notes when the news broke. While the specific timing caught me off-guard, I think we all saw this coming. Between the streamer’s recent plug-pulling streak and creator Joshua Safran’s tweets urging people to watch the show as its fate was up in the air, things weren’t looking good.

Safran’s Twitter thread about the cancellation says they are “currently looking for another home.” However, he also did an interview with Vanity Fair and acknowledged, “I don’t think we will end up anywhere.” (Beware: That article includes spoilers for the finale.) I know I would prefer everyone just cut their losses.

Back in December 2020, I shared my hope that the “Gossip Girl” spinoff wouldn’t be as poorly done as “90210.” However, I also expressed some skepticism and concerns, all of which turned out to be warranted. Now, given all the issues with the new “Gossip Girl,” I’m not disappointed the show isn’t continuing. I’m disappointed it happened in the first place.

When will producers learn to stop messing with legacies? The legacy of the iconic original “Gossip Girl” is now tarnished thanks to a two-season flop. I think it’s a shame.

But since the show must go on, at least for today and next week’s final episode, here’s my usual weekly reaction post…

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Episode 2.09 is called, “I Know What You Did Last Summit.” The official synopsis says, “When Greyson de Haan places a million-dollar bounty on Gossip Girl’s identity, Kate cuts a deal with Camille. After Max confesses his feelings to Audrey and Aki, the triad encounters complications. Julien weathers a quest to destroy Gossip Girl alone — until Nick is implicated.”

The episode was written Eric Eidelstein. It was directed by Safran.

Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2.09, “I Know What You Did Last Summit”

• First off, I have to note that I Know What You Did Last Summer was the inspiration for the episode’s title and that that movie was written by Kevin Williamson (creator, Dawson’s Creek).

• How long has Nick been working for the DeHaans that he can already afford to start his own firm?

• The accidental “I love you” / no response to “I love you” is a classic teen drama trope, but I guess this is a twist on it given that we’re dealing with a throuple and not a couple.

• Wow, I figured the attack on Obie was targeted… but not by Heidi. And I didn’t think we’d find out the culprit so soon.

• So I guess Julien is so desperate to take Gossip Girl down that she’s willing to further damage things with Audrey.

• The Camille-Kate texting scene was really well shot and edited.

• In contrast, all the camera spinning after the arrival at the summit made me dizzy.

• “This feud is such season 5 energy.” A reference to the original show?

• Julien wearing a wig while on a mission feels very Blair.

• Roger isn’t wrong that time will tell with the triad.

• Does everyone know Obie and Julien are back together? This hasn’t been addressed, right?

• Great line: “Everything works out for you when it’s about fucking, but when it’s about fucking feelings, everything goes to shit.”

• So Heidi did Obie dirty twice: first with the beatdown and then by pinning her own misdeeds on Helena, thereby getting Obie to wrongly take down his mom.

This episode had a very convoluted plot line: Greyson is threatening a $1 million bounty on Gossip Girl if she posts again, but Obie needs her to keep posting so she can take down his mom. Meanwhile, Julien wants Gossip Girl to keep posting so Gossip Girl herself is taken down via Greyson, and Kate wants to keep posting so she can expose the de Haans but doesn’t want her identity revealed. Camille is seemingly willing to sabotage her husband, provided she learns Gossip Girl’s identity, but Kate is obviously trying to hide her identity.

Still, Kate secures what she thinks she needs and drops a triple bomb: the De Haans’ union-busting tactics, Helena’s misdeeds, and Aki’s cheating. But various people — Max, Nick, etc. — are caught in the blast radius. Plus, Camille was actually in cahoots with her husband all along and now knows Gossip Girl is one of 100 people, making it easier for Kate to be exposed. Oh, and almost everyone is mad at Julien.

Even after writing all of that out, I’m barely following and comprehending it all. I feel like I need to read other sites’ recaps to see if I actually did understand what I watched. And my summation above doesn’t even include everything that transpired. If last week’s edition left me feeling like there was some momentum, today’s installment had my head spinning.

To be fair, there’s no doubt I was further thrown off by trying to digest the episode as the cancellation news broke. Now I feel even less incentivized to wade through this mish-mash in search of clarity.

But ever the TeenDramaWhore, you can bet every last penny I will be tuning in next week for the season 2 finale — what is more than likely also the series finale.

In the aforementioned Vanity Fair interview, Safran revealed a lot about what’s in store for episode 2.10 and what he changed via editing after learning of the series’ cancellation. I think, on some level, we’ll still be left wondering what might’ve happened if the show was continuing… and what might’ve been if it never happened at all.