Oh Upper East Siders, shit is so dramatic and that’s okay. That’s part of what life is – drama. Family drama, work drama, school drama… it’s all so much. We can say that we don’t like drama, but the truth is drama is what we all thrive on.
Especially when you live in the bubble that is New York. Every block is a different world, one with its own rules, its own truths, its own lies. But there is nothing like the lies and the house of deception inside the walls where you live. It can control you. It can overwhelm you. It can come crashing down like a house of cards, only it’s not as light as a house of cards.
Secrets have a way of rising to the top, destroying you and bringing you down as it makes its appearance.
And boy is there a scandal.
Sex is something that you have come to expect with Gossip Girl. We know that the characters on this show are more hormonal than most (and if that’s the way that all teenagers are, please don’t ever tell me, let me remain naive). But what I never would have expected from this show, even though they said that they were going to be relevant – was a storyline that fits the #MeToo narrative. Julian’s Dad, a public figure, is accused of taking advantage of women and drugging them to have sex with them.
What bothers me about this storyline – even though I know that we have a while to watch it all unfold – is that what we’re dealing with is the way that the characters deal with it. What bothers me is that something this traumatic was exposed on a site like Gossip Girl. It’s one thing to blow up the lives of teenagers and what they do wrong (which hey, isn’t something I am condoning either), but it’s another to blow up a victims spot. It actually physically made me ill and angry.
Look, one thing that Gossip Girl could have done was handle an issue like this responsibly and I don’t feel like it being exposed on an Instagram site, by teachers who are concerned with being put on the map and a follower account, is a good way of handling it.
Before you jump down my throat Upper East Siders, understand this, I understand that you need to separate yourself from the reality and the fiction. And yes, I understand that this is fiction. But when it comes to sexual assault – the accusation, the truth, the whole in between – it is my feeling that a television show needs to handle it with care. And though I know that things are not always handled with that care in real life, it doesn’t mean that you can’t want for things to be portrayed with more care.
Especially on a show that teenagers are watching.
But what is most atrocious is that who we are seeing in this show struggle with this situation are the adults. We’ve got a bunch of teachers who see no wrong in it – except Kate – who is struggling with the situation.
But she’s bowing down to a bunch of adults that are not seeing anything beyond their own want to be important. Though, I am not sure I am even understanding that, because still no one knows who they hell they are.
Kate is the only one of the teachers who seems to be having a crisis of conscious. She doesn’t want to do it, but caves to pressure to post about the secret of JC’s Dad getting in legal trouble.
JC of course doesn’t want to believe what is happening and runs out of school to go to him, with everyone looking on. She’s not sure of why this is happening, but he tells her that it’s all a lie and she wants to believe him. Who wouldn’t? This is her father and of course you want to believe the best in the man you come from.
Her friends are showing up for her. Zoya is pissed at her sister, for good reason, but her Dad convinces her that she needs to put that aside and be there for JC.
I will say this – Zoya and JC need each other right now, more than ever. They’ve found out a lot of lies that have come from their parents. Lies that can change everything for both of them. They are both so blinded by their stance that they are right, they are loosing focus. They aren’t seeing that what is right in front of them is the person that they need.
Each other.
Aki goes to his father and finds out from him that there is a lack of credibility to the story. So, he automatically tells JC. She needs to know, but also it’s part of the good in Aki, the good that we haven’t seen in awhile as he’s been torn.
His father is somewhat a monster, driven by his job and forgetting his son needs him. Then again, I will also say that his father is an asshole because he outed his son on national TV and that shit is unforgivable.
What makes Aki’s Dad horrible is his attitude and his plethora of excuses. He’s got a million ways to close himself off from the world, not noticing that what he does, affects his son. He thinks that what he is doing is to protect his son, but what he’s doing is truly just trying to break the good in him.
I am guessing that the purpose of this episode was to show that kids can have discourse with their parents. Aki with his Dad, JC with hers, and Obie with his Mom. She’s making him do an apology tour for his protest, which is against everything that he believes in. She’s dragged him on TV and then is dragging him to a dinner with Aki and his Dad, so he can apologize.
But what finally happens is that Obie and Aki grow a set and finally tell their parents no. It’s about time that they had a backbone. Their parents are not always correct. Hell, half the time their parents don’t even know what they are saying.
They are just speaking at their children and not with their children.
JC has grown courage too. She is at her Dads event and she grabs Zoya, after they have an argument at the event. Mr. Lott has dragged Zoya to apologize, after she gave Gossip Girl the information that Davis has a second apartment. They head to JC’s where they find his old blackberry.
The thing about phones, any tech that you own, anything that you put out there. Nothing ever disappears. It’s always there. You write anything down or put it down out on the internet you better be prepared to be able to stand by it for the rest of your life. And you better make sure that nothing can be taken out of context.
I have to admit that I want JC to find nothing, because if she finds nothing, than her father can still be her hero. And who would want to take that away from her? Who would want to take that away for anyone?
But what we find out is that the lady accusing Davis is covering for Riley. She’s not ready to come forward, but Davis needs to be held accountable for what he’s put women through. I am not understanding now why a woman would lie to hold someone accountable for an assault. I am hoping that Gossip Girl explains this, because right now, I just don’t get this lie.
What does break my heart this episode, is Julian finding out that there are many women which have been with her father and don’t remember the night. Seeing the pain in her eyes and the recycled excuses that we see her father present is a nightmare. She’s aware of what is going on in the world, the excuses men make, and the damage that he’s done.
But what it does is break her. How does she ever believe in the man again? Can she? No, probably not. Zoya says its time to go, she’s done with Davis and his excuses.
As they leave, JC breaks. And you can’t blame her. You can only feel for her and hope that somehow, people will continue to be there for her. People have a tendency to desert you when you need them the most.
And she definitely needs the crew.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Max’s ballerina girl is a bore and has to go.
- Max not being able to perform is more than I ever needed to know.
- Obie and Aki making up over pizza – it’s perfect
- Monet and Luna are back and though I think not to highly of them, I am happy they have returned. I have missed their bitchy attitude.
- Keller getting fired from Gossip Girl, and even Jordan turning on her was a hard pill to swallow. I hate all these teachers. I had liked Jordan, but he’s a nerd with his first taste of power and it’s just more than he can handle.
- Nick telling Zoya about the Greenwich apartment – I am wondering what they will do now that Davis isn’t an option at all
- I can’t get over that final scene. Julian – seeing her world come out from under her is heartbreaking.
Gossip Girl is streaming now on HBO Max.
