S01.E07: Once Upon a Time in the Upper West

[Cranberry]

Quote

Zoya scrounges up guests for her annual Friendsgiving feast, Julien and Obie cover their tracks. Meanwhile, Kate and Jordan face an ultimatum from Rafa that threatens to bring Gossip Girl down once and for all.

Original air date: November 25, 2021

[Ms Blue Jay]

This show is so raunchy now.  LOL

[Aim123]

What did we just watch? That was somehow not entertaining.

[zenithwit]

So now the pedophile teacher has a stronger moral compass than the teachers that run GG?  Hilarious. 

[TeeVee329]

Thankful (question mark?) to be back for another helping of "Gossip Girl".

The show thought it was being more cleverly farcical than it was getting there, but I did enjoy when everyone was around the Thanksgiving table speaking over each other and spilling truths.  Particularly Davis' confession about the real dark root of his and Nick's beef, there's something very compelling about that backstory and these two men trying to be better and forging some semblance of family for their daughters, I wish we got to see more of it on-screen.

Speaking of their daughters, I guess I should be heartbroken for Zoya that she was betrayed this way by Julien, but my sympathy for her is really limited.  Are we supposed to forget she started dating her sister's longtime boyfriend the day after they broke up?  That was not a breach of the sister code?

And of course, none of the blame for the lying and cheating is put on Obie, who made everything worse every step of the way, and who is also really being a shitty friend to Aki.

Speaking of Aki, really enjoyed the throuple navigating things.  Max cheerfully advising Audrey and Aki on how to proceed was quite amusing, the snippets of them all Doing It were kinda hot, and my heart was surprisingly warmed by all their gleeful smiles when Audrey came back at the end and leaped into the boys' arms.

Rafa is the worst, obviously, but I did enjoy him so easily outmaneuvering Kate.  And I chuckled at Jordan's slight burn about the difference in age between Rafa and Max being the same as between her and Nick.  Basically I enjoy anytime anyone dunks on Kate because she sucks.

Lucy Punch was a lot as Max's birth mom, but in a way I enjoyed.  I liked Max's rapport with her, that they have a nice relationship even if she's not an active parent, that there's no contrived drama there.  Elizabeth Lail was also really funny fangirling out about her showing up at the dinner.

When Laura Benanti convinced Audrey to let her walk home alone, did anyone else think she was going to throw herself in front of a car or something?  Semi-relatedly, I loved how Kiki and Gideon greeted each other, a nice reminder that these people have all known each other for a really long time.

Appreciated the nod to Dan Humphrey usually taking Thanksgiving off.

Finally, a prediction.  I'm betting, given her dad's impending legal problems, that Julien ends up living with Zoya and Nick by season's end.

Edited November 26, 2021 by TeeVee329