REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 5

Aug 05, 2021

“Hope Sinks,” the fifth episode of the “Gossip Girl” spinoff, streamed on Thursday.

The official description states: “As Halloween approaches, Zoya (Whitney Peak) and Julien (Jordan Alexander) decide to team up. Meanwhile, an incident at a nearby school finds all eyes on Gossip Girl, leading Kate (Tavi Gevinson) to question her future. Aki (Evan Mock) intervenes in Max’s (Thomas Doherty) personal life, and Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind) panics over her own. Zoya’s new friend has Obie (Eli Brown) worried.”

The episode was written by Aaron Fullerton and directed by Pamela Romanowsky. Fullerton also wrote the final episode of “BH90210” and served as a supervising producer for the short-lived show. While the event series didn’t get a second season (thank goodness), I’m predicting we’ll hear about a “Gossip Girl” renewal fairly soon.

But first… here are my thoughts on episode 5.

Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 5, "Hope Sinks"

I could not believe Max was going down on Rafa at school with the door open! Maybe the risk was part of the allure, but they would’ve been so fucked (and not in a good way) if anyone saw them.

The camera revolving and panning around and around as the girls sat at the lunch table made me dizzy. One revolution, fine. But the around and around again was too much.

Is Evan’s acting maybe a smidge better than in the first four episodes? In some scenes, particularly the post-run with Obie, he was actually showing facial expressions. Given this is his first acting role, maybe he’s starting to settle in and will be a lot improved in the second half of the season.

It feels like yet another cliche storyline to have the parent whose business goes bankrupt and because they’re going broke, the family has to move and the teen doesn’t want to leave their school and their friends. Been there, done that.

But Laura Benanti is still the best, most believable actor on this show.
- I realized in this episode that her character’s actual first name is Katherine, which is another repeat name from the original series, which had Catherine.

I laughed out loud as soon as Bianca and Pippa walked in at the Halloween party because I recognized Serena’s wedding dress right away. Really funny touch to have them go as Serena and Blair.

I then laughed aloud again when Julien and Zoya transformed into Dan and Chuck. And Zoya saying, “I’m Chuck Bass.” That might be the first priceless moment of this series.

I was surprised to see Billy Porter as the party’s performer. That’s kind of a big get for the show. Really surprised that wasn’t talked up in advance.

I wonder how PopSugar feels about being dissed given how much they write about the show.

So Jordan’s not gay? I mean… I just assumed… which is wrong of me. But yeah.

So Rafa doesn’t want people to find out he’s hooking up with a student, yet arranges to meet said student in public at a bar and then meets up with the student at a media-filled party where their identities could easily be determined. That makes… no sense.

And then I laughed AGAIN when Nelly Yuki showed up! Wow, the connections to the original series sure were strong this episode! All of it was nice touches that actually felt right.

Simon’s comparisons between Zoya and Dan, and why that made him think she might be Gossip Girl, were fairly logical. But I did not see the twist about his identity coming. It was kind of a bummer, because I was liking their chemistry and Zoya and Obie’s cuteness has dissipated.

Monet turning on Julien and Luna… I really don’t have feelings on it, to be honest. I didn’t really see it coming, but it kind of just made me shrug.

I also didn’t expect the reveal that Rafa had gone after students before — or that his whatever with Max would end so soon. That was a lot of build-up for a fairly abrupt and quick conclusion, unless there’s more to untangle ahead.

So they are obviously going the route of Kate and Nick starting to date, which will make Kate conflicted over writing about Zoya on Gossip Girl. Ugh. On top of it, the teacher-parent romance is another cliche, and we have two bad actors carrying it out to boot.

It was nice seeing the group all there for Audrey and the hug was really sweet.

But what happened to Audrey’s mom? Was it a suicide attempt? The doctor saying she would have a long and hard recovery made it seem more physical than mental… but if they said what was wrong, I missed it.

The teachers have GOT. TO. GO. Each week, it becomes more and more clear that it was a HUGE miscalculation to make a significant chunk of the show about them and to cast poor actors in those badly characterized roles. Everyone else is growing on me (even Evan / Aki, as noted above), but the way the teachers’ scenes sound and look and feel… they’re just so out of place with everything else. I think there could’ve been a way to do it well, but this ain’t it.

As a result, it’s a mistake not to focus the show solely on the teens. And that is not me talking as a TeenDramaWhore. I do like adult dramas! But at least the teen portion of this show is watchable. The teacher portion is not.

So next week brings the midseason finale. Will there be a cliffhanger? Will the episode keep fans wanting more? Will the second half of the season be much improved and correct the missteps? Time will tell…

REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 5

Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 5, "Hope Sinks"

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