REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2

The second episode of the “Gossip Girl” spinoff, “She’s Having a Maybe,” streamed on Thursday.

The official description reads: “As Zoya (Whitney Peak) cautiously explores a new romantic interest, Max (Thomas Doherty) tears down boundaries in pursuing one of his own. At a black-tie affair, Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind) struggles with her mom, Kate (Tavi Gevinson) works overtime, and Julien (Jordan Alexander) vows to fix her mistakes once and for all.”

The episode was written by April Blair and helmed by Karena Evans, who also directed last week’s premiere. And I have to admit, despite my criticism of the first episode and my agreement with the harsh reviews the new series has garnered, I found myself looking forward to watching this second hour. How do I feel now? Well…

Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 2, "She’s Having a Maybe"

• Well, it’s official: I still can’t stand Tavi’s and Emily’s voices. Or Evan’s acting. Or Tavi’s. In fact, I think the only decent actor on this show just might be Laura Benanti.

• Speaking of Laura, she was introduced in this episode as Kiki. Was that name choice an intentional homage to “The O.C.” by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage? Or an unfortunate coincidence?

• Also unfortunate: Kiki’s storyline in this episode primarily being the tired teen drama trope of one of the characters having a parent who drinks too much and embarrasses them at a function. Also tired: One of the characters having a parent with money woes.

• I did think it was genuinely sweet when Audrey was hesitant to talk about her mom issues with Julien and Julien gave her the go-ahead anyway.

• I still hate the onscreen graphics. I hope they’ll go away in the same way “Sex and the City” ditched the direct-to-camera monologues they started with, but I doubt it.

• Rafa’s initial response to Max’s flirting was strong and good. But we know a hookup is inevitable and student-teacher affairs are another tired trope. Furthermore, it feels even harder to justify here than usual because it’s clearly about nothing more than physical attraction between them as opposed to there being a genuine emotional connection.

  • Also, with Max saying he’s “legal,” was that intended to mean he’s 18? But a junior?

  • I will say “the fuck of New York” was a good line, though.

• There was a cute vibe between Obie and Zoya throughout the whole episode. I really liked the school supplies sequence. It had the feel of an ‘80s rom-com. But putting them together so quickly is an interesting — and maybe bad? — choice. Usually there’s a lot more build-up and angst and longing. That way when it finally happens, it feels BIG. This felt… small.

• Kate definitely did not have time to write that lengthy Gossip Girl caption in the quick second it showed her typing. And her acknowledging how hard it is to mimic Gossip Girl’s voice is actually pointless because every voiceover that nails it perfectly just undermines that argument.

• Every scene with Kate and the teachers is just so CRINGE. The acting is horrid, as is the plot, though I did like Rana Roy’s acting on “Life Sentence.”

• I really liked the framing of the scene where Julien and Obie both saw Zoya in the courtyard and then Julien watched him go to her. It was somewhat echoed with the ending scene.

• It was also pretty savage of Obie to go directly to Zoya in front of Julien immediately after ending things with her (again).

• Aki didn’t hesitate at all about kissing Max — I didn’t expect him to make the first move. Nor did I expect a morning-after reveal of Max and Audrey hooking up. That provided shock value but none of the sex appeal of showing them actually getting it on.

  • I was about to also note that this episode was pretty tame in terms of sex scenes compared to the premiere, but then again, there was that whole bathhouse scene…

• Zoya being kicked out of her old school was a twist I didn’t see coming. Of course, we still don’t know the reason why or really anything about what her life was like in Buffalo. And since neither Gossip Girl or Julien dropped their bomb, it seems we’ll be waiting for that to explode down the line.

• If they pair Kate and Zoya’s dad, we’ll have another tired cliche. And watching both Tavi and Johnathan’s bad acting in two scenes together was already more than I can handle.

• Without specifics on what went down between Zoya’s dad and Julien’s dad all those years ago, it’s hard to actually care.

• Julien certainly showed maturity in the last few scenes with how she handled Zoya and Zoya - Obie. But we know this truce isn’t going to last.

  • And when it all goes to hell again… will it feel redundant?

Virtually all of the pre-premiere articles and interviews stressed how the stakes of this “Gossip Girl” are so much higher or different than the original because of the advent of social media. And yet they haven’t shown us anything that really bears that out. On the original show, Gossip Girl wrote blasts on a blog and people got alerts on their phones and camera phones captured the characters out and about. Well, now Gossip Girl writes blasts on Instagram and people get alerts on their phones and camera phones captured the characters out and about.

I am not seeing how the social media world is significantly different today than it was then — I mean, I know it is, but they’re not actually demonstrating that apart from Julien being an influencer. But Blair and Serena weren’t social media personalities and people in school and Manhattan were invested in their lives anyway. So, so far, the social media climate of today is not some big game changer for the show like it was made out to be in the lead-up to it.

Something else that was common in interviews with showrunner Joshua Safran before and after the premiere was that this iteration of “Gossip Girl” changes the game by revealing Gossip Girl’s identity essentially from the beginning. He’s made the argument that because viewers didn’t find out until the end of the original that Dan was Gossip Girl, we didn’t get to go along with Dan on his journey in that role. And in the spinoff, they’re taking people into the behind the scenes of Gossip Girl’s world and offering a perspective we never had before. Okay. Fine. Still don’t know that that was a smart choice, but fine. I get the argument. That doesn’t mean it had to be the freakin’ teachers, though. And I see this only becoming more problematic as the show goes on.

It’s also worth noting that the episodes are longer than what we were treated to with the original, mainly because there aren’t time constraints like there are with traditional television. But is that doing the show any good? Are they using those extra 10-15 minutes wisely? I can’t say that they are.

So… I think what I’m enjoying is having a new weekly show to watch more than I’m enjoying the show itself. Perhaps in time I’ll be genuinely invested, but I’m not there yet.

Reminder: TeenDramaWhore premium subscriptions include perks like exclusive content, fan interviews, trivia parties, and Zoom chats with the genre’s key players. Subscribe here!