REACTION: Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 6
The “Gossip Girl” midseason finale, “Parentsite,” streamed on Friday.
The official description states: “When Obie’s (Eli Brown) mother comes to town, Zoya (Whitney Peak) begins to question his nature — and nurture. Julien’s (Jordan Alexander) decision to take her brand to the next level leads her down a path of self-discovery. Kate’s (Tavi Gevinson) personal and professional lives collide at full force. Aki (Evan Mock) and Max (Thomas Doherty) come together to support Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind).”
The episode was written by Ashley Wigfield and, like the preceding installment, directed by Pamela Romanowsky. Notably, Wigfield was a production assistant on the original “Gossip Girl” and had an uncredited cameo in season 4’s “The Undergraduates.” She also worked on other Josh Schwartz - Stephanie Savage projects, such as “Looking for Alaska” and “Runaways.”
HBO Max is calling this the “Part One Finale,” but a specific date hasn’t been announced yet for “Part Two” besides the streamer today naming November as the month of the show’s return. What will I be noodling over in my head until then? Well, here’s what’s on my mind…
Gossip Girl Spinoff Episode 6, "Parentsite"
Do people really retake the PSATs like Julien plans to?
It’s good to know a week has passed since the last episode. Audrey’s mom is ill enough to still be in the hospital yet we still don’t know what’s really wrong with her. Their conversation toward the end of the episode made it sound like a suicide attempt, but her ailments don’t seem to match that.
Here’s what’s really dumb about Kate putting together those folders of notes for Jordan and Wendy: You’re creating a paper trail!!! I wonder if that will come back to burn her…
So it seems like Rafa has gone from not interested in his student’s come-ons to being a full-on predator. In six episodes. It’s extremely unappealing.
It is so weird to take it upon yourself to meet your mom’s boyfriend. Especially when you’ve only been dating about a month.
That said, only dating a month apparently didn’t stop someone from creating a “Zobie” fan account on Instagram. What a weird thing to show your boyfriend’s mom.
I did enjoy Julien seemingly genuinely trying to help Zoya. It felt genuine to me, at least. I also enjoyed seeing Julien’s dad questioning her future and her welcoming him into her world.
So Aki’s dad… did we know about him before? The way he was integrated into the episode, it felt like we were supposed to already know who he was — a media mogul, apparently modeled off of Rupert Murdoch.
Though, interestingly, they named him Roger… which made me think of Roger Ailes.
Also, I would never have expected Malcolm McDowell to do a show like “Gossip Girl.” That’s a significant casting they managed to keep under wraps.
Zoya and Obie have become really unlikeable as a couple but also individually. That’s sad, because I thought their vibe together was cute the first couple of episodes.
I was confused by Jordan exposing Kate and Zoya’s dad on Gossip Girl. I thought they wanted Kate on the inside… but now it’s a conflict of interest?
In just a couple of weeks, we’re supposed to believe Julien has undergone monumental growth and change and is now into protests… and Obie is now back into her. That’s… fast.
At the same time, why is Zoya surprised Julien still has feelings for Obie? It was Obie who wanted to break up, not her, and again, it’s only been a couple of weeks since they split.
Aki’s dad using him for the media like that and outing him… wow. But why did Aki not seem to care? Why didn’t he wonder how his dad found out? Why didn’t he speak to Obie about it after they shared those awkward looks? Aki coming out beyond Audrey and Max should’ve been a pretty big deal and it wasn’t.
It was pretty obvious that the Max-Audrey-Aki dinner was going to end in a threesome from the start of that sequence, plus the fact that it just seemed inevitable given their triangle storyline.
Notably, it was the opposite of the threesome on the original “Gossip Girl.” That was girl-guy-girl and this was guy-girl-guy.
A big question that’ll keep fans theorizing over the next few months: Why did Aki’s dad tell him to stay away from Julien?
Zoya’s comments are what convicenced Obie to go to the protest and take a bigger stand against his mother… but it’s Julien he wants to be with now?
When Zoya saw Julien and Obie at the protest together, why couldn’t she have just happily joined them? It certainly wasn’t, to me, something to make you just turn around and leave. There are some immature things that really remind you Zoya is 14.
Obie and Julien’s episode-ending kiss certainly wasn’t a surprise given all that happened earlier in the hour. But the romantic / sexual tension of the moment felt palpable… despite the utter weirdness of it taking place at a protest where people’s lives were clearly in danger.
In terms of the triangle, I feel shades of Blair-Nate-Serena, Nate-Serena-Dan, and Serena-Dan-Blair.
Where was Monet? Yes, she’s stopped working for Julien, but surely she still goes to their school and they would’ve crossed paths.
The ending, while not really a cliffhanger (apart from the Julien / Aki mystery), was probably good enough to keep people anxious for the second half of the season. Fans will want to see where the Julien-Obie-Zoya triangle goes next. But the plotting, or the pace of the plotting, is bothersome to me.
In six episodes, we’ve seen Julien and Obie break up, Obie and Zoya get together, and Obie and Julien start to reconcile. In six episodes, we’ve seen Max pursue Rafa, Rafa and Max hook up, Max end things, and Rafa and Max feuding. There is no build-up to earned moments, there is no room to let anything breathe, and no time to truly enjoy any one arc before it’s onto the next.
This is something Schwartz, creator of the original “Gossip Girl” and an executive producer on this one, was infamously guilty of with “The O.C.” — burning through plot too quickly. Perhaps the brisk pace here is justifiable with the episode count… there’s only 12 episodes in this season, compared to the 27 in the first season of “The O.C.” (The original “Gossip Girl” had only 18 due to the writers’ strike.)
Maybe with only 12 episodes, you have to move somewhat fast. But do you really? There are plenty of 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-episode seasons that take their time. Of course, some of those shows are accused of moving too slowly.
I’m not expecting the pace to really change in the back-half of this season, but I do hope Joshua Safran and company have been taking some of the constructive criticism to heart. I think there’s potential here and right now, the show isn’t living up to it. A sizable portion of the remaining episodes have already been filmed, so I’m not holding my breath. But I admit I’ll be somewhat eagerly waiting to see what happens in November.
Reminder: TeenDramaWhore premium subscriptions include perks like exclusive content, fan interviews, trivia parties, and Zoom chats with the genre’s key players. Subscribe here!