Well, well Upper East Siders, the time has come for the hell that is Santa Con. It’s one of those moments that you either look forward to or you dread. Personally, I don’t set foot outside during Santa Con. The idea of being stuck around a bunch of drunks, dressed up as Santa, using it as an excuse to let their inner idiot freak flag fly.
Yes, I hate Santa Con. I hate it with the passion of 1000 suns. But is it a good back drop for this episode of Gossip Girl. Trying to disappear in the middle of Santa Con and blend in – it’s the perfect place to hide. But the truth is, New York is the biggest little city in the world and hiding is something that really isn’t easy to do.
The last episode, left me both angry and frustrated. How they are handling this issue of women being possibly drugged and taken advantage of feels wrong. It doesn’t feel like they are respecting women’s stories. And yes, I know that shit plays out in the public eye.
Julian is in a position that none of us would want to be in. Do you believe in your father or do you believe the women that are accusing him of unspeakable crimes?
When he confronts her outside the lawyers office, Nick Lott tells Zoya that she needs to let Julian speak to her father. He’s there to accept responsibility for everything, to say that he didn’t know that all these women felt taken advantage of.
He tells Julian that he’s willing to participate in any investigation, that he will do whatever is needed. He tells his daughter everything that she needs to hear, including the “I can loose everything, but I can’t loose you” line. And yes, I say that’s a line.
Why? Because when Julian makes the stupid choice of going home with him, he digs through her bag to find the Blackberry. I don’t think for a second that he didn’t manipulate his daughter because he wanted that back. He knows that it makes him look guilty (which I believe that he is) and even though he tells Julian that it proves his innocence.
Julian is going to go crazy with the way that he’s manipulating her. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that Davis loves his daughter, but I also don’t think that he loves anyone more than he loves himself.
Luckily she realizes this and asks for Zoya’s help. In order for her to know what her father did, she knows that all these women are not going to come forward, but if she talks to them – if they know that they aren’t alone – maybe they will.
I have to say that I am surprised with how they are having Julian look into her father, but at the same point, I am just unsure of how this will ever play out for her. She’s the person with the most to loose, and revelation after revelation about her father has made it painful to see.
I just also don’t think that teenagers going all over the city looking to speak to women who have gone through such trauma is a responsible choice.
Julian tries to sneak out and Zoya meets her, but getting past the paps and news is a different story. Zoya called Obie – which definitely was a choice, but hey, some choices make for good television.
Look, I can be frustrated with Gossip Girl, but the reality is that television and movies are supposed to make you feel something. It can be anger, hate, love, etc… but if you are feeling something it is doing its job. As a viewer, you have to respect that.
Obie, Julian, and Zoya set out to meet the one woman who has responded to Julian and agrees to meet. The woman that they meet up with doesn’t want to talk. She doesn’t want to let it go. And if things can’t get even worse… they can. But the thing is that Gossip Girl has put a call out to send live videos of Julian. This has everyone looking for her.
See, the people who have taken over Gossip Girl are drunk on power. They have implied that Julian is complicate with her fathers actions and this is what makes me angry.
The internet is truly a vicious place, but the way that Gossip Girl comes for Julian is a whole new level of nasty. They make her like prey and the whole of NYC seems to be drunk on power. But what they are doing is traumatizing her more.
When are we going to have more of a conversation about these fucked up adults and their idea of power and what is acceptable. Cause what they are is assholes. They are messing with lives on a level of viciousness that we haven’t seen before. It’s not okay.
But also, implicating someone in the abuse of others. A teenager? Gossip Girl isn’t thinking about what it’s doing to anyone. Like how is this something that is okay?
It goes to talk about the society that we live in where people think that just because you are hiding behind a computer or some electronic, that it’s okay and you have free reign to say whatever you want.
You don’t.
The kids and their antics are at this point – whatever. What is despicable is the way that the adults in this show are. They are egomaniacs. They are narcissistic. They want to remain relevant, even when they aren’t. What they are is sad. Sad people with gross lives. And yes, I am saying that with confidence, because of what they have turned Gossip Girl into.
All of Julian’s friends are helping her hide by giving tips that Julian is in certain places, from her account. It enables Julian to meet up with Riley, the superstar that Lauren had lied for and brought the accusations against Davis for. Riley wanted to make sure that Julian will be okay.
Kate is there and she thinks that she’s helping Julian by live streaming from Gossip Girl (via Jordan’s phone) but what she ends up making it look like is that Julian is trying to silence survivors, when what she is really doing is trying to help Riley’s story have more of a leg to stand on. Because right now the optics are bad and Davis would be able to use this to his advantage.
Kate knows what she’s done and she is torn over it. She’s been trying to get them to back off of Julian. But now, she’s made it worse in the court of public opinion.
Max, meanwhile, is having issues of his own. His Dads are splitting up and he’s doing everything that he can do to get them back together. But its not working and they tell him that he needs to stop trying to manipulate the situation.
Max is not one that knows how to deal with emotion. He’s fallen for the his relationship with Audrey and Aki. He doesn’t know how to deal with that. But it’s nice to see Max have growth and that emotions are involved and that he’s having a want in his life to build relationships that last.
What is one of my favorite parts of this entire season is Max and his Pops going out on a job. Pops takes Max to the house he grew up at and tells him about how hard life was growing up. He tells him how it made him withdraw and how he sabotaged his life and now he’s gotta wait it out. He tells Max to always say how he feels, because it could be too late.
Unfortunately for him – as he’s thinking this all out – Aki and Audrey are experiencing life. Aki is going on his first date with a guy. Audrey goes on a date with a barista. And what they both learn is that they aren’t ready and they don’t want an open relationship.
So when Max shows up to Audrey’s to talk about everything with them, he finds them saying that they don’t want an open relationship. And you can see the pain in his face.
Here’s the thing, if Gossip Girl has taught me anything, it’s that people are going to grow and change. You are going to feel a million different emotions – mostly which revolve around some sort of anger – but you are going to accept them.
And you’re gonna keep watching, because no matter what you think, you’re gonna be searching for some sort of redemption for these characters.
Even when you feel like there will be none.
