Is new Gossip Girl "bad"? A debate with GG scholar Margie Truwit
Buckle up, folks
**A LOT OF SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU CARE ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING**
The Gossip Girl reboot that debuted earlier this year on HBO Max has been described as a “tired retread,” “an absolute mess,” and, in a particularly devastating rebuke, not “fun.”
I, for one, was having a great time watching the unhinged drama unfold among the brooding Gen Z-ers at Constance Billard, the Upper East Side prep school where in the original GG universe, Serena, Blair, Dan, et al. ran amok. All of the wildness of the reboot—the batshit storylines, the stilted performances, the arch dialogue—seemed part and parcel of any good-bad trash TV, but I was surprised to be in the minority to think so (admittedly, it’s been hard to continue defending this trainwreck as the season has worn on). I decided to bring in preeminent Gossip Girl scholar/friend of Bad Taste/funniest compiler of TikToks I know, Margie Truwit, to discuss in detail. Here is our lightly edited, only ever-so-slightly condensed Slack chat.
For the uninitiated, here’s the basic rundown of the characters and central dramas of new Gossip Girl.
It’s revealed in the pilot that the put-upon teachers of Constance Billard have revived Gossip Girl as an Instagram account to regain some control over the nightmarish, ultra-privileged students and their equally odious parents. The whole scheme is masterminded by failed novelist-turned-English teacher played by former millennial wunderkind Tavi Gevinson, a stroke of pure casting genius.
Zoya and Julien, the Serena/Blair of the show, are formerly estranged half-sisters. Their mom left Julien’s Grammy-winning music producer dad for Zoya’s staid (but still debonair) lawyer one, and died after giving birth to Zoya. Julien is a top-tier socialite and some sort of mega-influencer, but constantly fretting about her brand and status. Zoya is from Buffalo, which apparently makes her uncool, but also reads books and has thoughts about them, which makes her...I’m not sure, subversive?
Obie is the scion of a prominent New York family that has shady business dealings but he’s woke as hell and goes to protests and stuff. He starts the series as Julien’s boyfriend but...you probably already know where this is going, we are contractually obligated to have at least one love triangle, if the combatants are related, all the better.
Julien’s friends (?), Luna and Monet, do her styling and PR with all of the zealotry of paid image consultants, which seems odd, but more on that later.
Audrey and Aki have been dating for so long that the sex has gotten routine and boring, which, WHAT, they are 17 years old!!!! Their bedroom doldrums lead them both to their friend Max, an impish purveyor of sexual pandemonium, a proto-Chuck Bass. Max, meanwhile, wants to ravage his classics teacher, ugh.
Without further delay, our chat!
nfkhan96 8:01 PM
Ok, Margie, first I must know: what is your relationship with Gossip Girl 1.0? Did you watch while it was on/were you a devotee?
Margie Truwit 8:02 PM
Watched religiously when it was on, including memories of watching in Craven D [a dormitory at Duke University]
nfkhan96 8:03 PM
so you LIKED it
Margie Truwit 8:03 PM
oh hell yes
nfkhan96 8:03 PM
you were on board with the whole thing
Margie Truwit 8:03 PM
did you not like it?!?
nfkhan96 8:03 PM
i did not watch while it was on!!! i actually watched the first season last year in the middle of the lockdown and i was like…this is absolutely nuts
so i think that colors my experience of the reboot because they seem insane in similar ways to me, so i’m not sure what we were expecting from this??
Margie Truwit 8:04 PM
oh ya absolutely insane like these kids were 15 and going to the palace which is typically filled with tourists and 50 y/o men
nfkhan96 8:04 PM
yeah, serena cheated with her best friend’s boyfriend IN PUBLIC, at a bar, it looked like??
the handwaving in the pilot about chuck’s ATTEMPTED rape??
Margie Truwit 8:05 PM
oh yes so i remember that being weird because it was a very vivid experience for jenny in the books
which yes, i read
and it’s like a blip on the radar in the show
nfkhan96 8:05 PM
oh man this is very exciting, you’re more versed in this universe so i’m excited to hear your thoughts
so I’m sensing that I think new Gossip Girl is a fun chaotic mess, not unlike the original, but you sort of hate it? What bugs you THE MOST about it?
Margie Truwit 8:06 PM
What bugs me the most is the casting and the writing problems, like none of these people have any emotions (in a bad way, not a blair way) and it is SO heavy handed with the current age references
you don't need to mention olivia jade to know its 2020
nfkhan96 8:07 PM
hahaha i do admit that the references are really crazy
[some of the aforementioned references: “I’m in LA tonight with a session with ‘Billie,’” “repost some Sonia Renee Taylor instead of sending me birthday memes”]
Margie Truwit 8:07 PM
and like tbh none of these people actually seem rich/influential
the teacher plot is just like bonkers
nfkhan96 8:09 PM
okay those are fair points! i guess i think that serena, blair, nate, jenny, etc. also seemed weirdly robotic to me and the lines were equally ham-fisted, i think dan did a kind of good job but like…he also got published in the new yorker when he was a senior!
is realism really the point here??
Margie Truwit 8:09 PM
ok agree on the OG casting with the exception of blair
nate was like
catatonic
nfkhan96 8:09 PM
he heavily relied on his bangs for charisma
Margie Truwit 8:10 PM
worse than ryan of the oc
it was unrealistic but they did seem v privileged and lived a certain lifestyle, but had drams that was like, oh wow i feel that and i want to know what happens
new gg is like here's a tweet from when you were 12 and all of nyc is cancelling on ur bday which like
not that exciting!
nfkhan96 8:12 PM
It definitely sounds like a bunch of 30 year old television writers creating a fantasy where they imagine how privileged teens of today behave but they have no clue
but it kind of works for me too because i have no clue either what the teens of today are like!
do they really go to locanda verde BEFORE SCHOOL? is louis vuitton still cool???
Margie Truwit 8:13 PM
yes and the filters
like this is probably what the youth do
finstas and such
nfkhan96 8:13 PM
I do not understand the motivations of Luna and Monet specifically?
Margie Truwit 8:14 PM
NO IDEA omg
nfkhan96 8:14 PM
what is their skin in the game of fluffing Julien? but with that being said I do enjoy them the most
they are like a bitchy Greek chorus
Margie Truwit 8:14 PM
Right but that even feels kind of tired
Gretchen Wieners did the thing
nfkhan96 8:14 PM
damn
Margie Truwit 8:14 PM
like the last episode was the spring fling dance
nfkhan96 8:14 PM
why wouldn’t Monet and Luna have their own influencer empires? The only qualifications for being an influencer are being hot and rich, which check and check!
Margie Truwit 8:15 PM
right and when there is a power vacuum they could become the stars
The only ones i like are Aki and Audrey
nfkhan96 8:15 PM
oh interesting
Margie Truwit 8:16 PM
that plot is interesting and like oh yes this is an identity thing that is good to watch
nfkhan96 8:17 PM
see, I thought that adding sexual fluidity to your typical love triangle is still a play at scandalousness that’s a bit lazy
Margie Truwit 8:17 PM
oh absolutely lazy
nfkhan96 8:17 PM
it’s another thing where they seem to be straining to scream WE MADE THIS IN 2021 WE KNOW WHAT POLY IS
Margie Truwit 8:17 PM
the new chuck is trash
nfkhan96 8:17 PM
is that max?
Margie Truwit 8:17 PM
yes
the audrey mom piece i guess too i like
its dark but oh she has family things that don’t seem too contrived
nfkhan96 8:18 PM
she had to close her factories in laos made me laugh hahahaha
ok going back to the initial twist: the teachers running Gossip Girl! i thought that was pretty fun, especially because again, I am of teacher age now and I can picture being terrified of my students and wanting to exact revenge on them
it didn’t hit for you?
Margie Truwit 8:19 PM
did not hit
you would be fired immediately!
i agree on the revenge thing, i went to a high school where they released grades after hours on a friday so people couldn’t call and reach a person to complain
but like that's how they handled insane parents
nfkhan96 8:21 PM
lol it’s funny which realities you aren’t willing to bend and which ones you are!
Margie Truwit 8:21 PM
yes this is true
nfkhan96 8:21 PM
for everyone!
Margie Truwit 8:21 PM
it would have been more natural for julien's friends to restart gg
to knock down zoya or whatever they want to do
like are the teachers gonna have a plot line other than trying not to get caught?
nfkhan96 8:22 PM
it is interesting how stone-cold brutal they are
Margie Truwit 8:22 PM
oh yeah for sure
nfkhan96 8:22 PM
Tavi Gevenson chatting up Zoya and then calmly proceeding to destroy her life via posting
Margie Truwit 8:23 PM
I actually do think the tavi casting is hilariously good
nfkhan96 8:23 PM
yes me too!!!
Margie Truwit 8:23 PM
pick a millennial feministy icon
watch her burn hs girls to the ground
nfkhan96 8:23 PM
very clever to make the teen ingenue a teacher
what do you think about the central conflict between Zoya and Julien as the main drama?
is it as good/satisfying as Serena vs. Blair?
Margie Truwit 8:24 PM
it needs more oomph
the family drama is there, sure, and Julien getting Zoya into school on the DL was a decent twist
but playing a vid of her getting bullied and that's the big reveal so far?
nfkhan96 8:25 PM
they are also see sawing so quicklyyyy
they love or hate each other for 20 minutes max before it’s onto a new dynamic
Margie Truwit 8:26 PM
yes agree
nfkhan96 8:29 PM
for a lot of Gossip Girl, I am like “who are you based on? who is the protype you are supposed to be emulating?”
i thought that of Julien--is she an Olivia Jade?
Margie Truwit 8:29 PM
Yes!!
I agree
no idea who they are supposed to be but maybe that’s the point like i’m too old to know
nfkhan96 8:30 PM
i bet the youngs wouldn’t know either though
i thought Instagram was PASSE
Margie Truwit 8:30 PM
i asked my analyst at work for a sense check
nfkhan96 8:30 PM
and…?
Margie Truwit 8:30 PM
right no idea who they are supposed to be
If I might ask a question
what are your thoughts on the parents here
nfkhan96 8:31 PM
i guess the ones we’ve seen the most are the dads…i think Zoya’s dad is a grounded enough figure! Julien’s dad…well, I love that because he is a music producer, he has to be wearing a funny hat at all times.
Margie Truwit 8:31 PM
the casting destroys me here too
Julien's dad once played a serial killer on SVU who killed immigrants
nfkhan96 8:32 PM
Oh no
Margie Truwit 8:32 PM
no one's fault but my own really, but it is always in my head
I think they are just too hip
nfkhan96 8:32 PM
The drama with Max’s two dads was interesting
I thought that was an inventive way to stir up your basic family drama over an affair
Margie Truwit 8:33 PM
it was inventive and had actual feels
but again I think they are all too hip
Eleanor Waldorf and Lily Van Der Woodson were like
the rich women I see at my nail salon on the upper east side
nfkhan96 8:33 PM
hahaha what about Rufus though
Margie Truwit 8:34 PM
ok that is a gripe with old gg
nfkhan96 8:34 PM
i feel like they put him in a puka shell necklace to indicate that he was low-key poor
Margie Truwit 8:34 PM
if you can afford that loft
like you’re doing fine
but he was the lone hip one
helpful context that it’s still a prep school on the upper east side
nfkhan96 8:35 PM
the met steps!
okay so I think what we’re circling around is how much realism do we need in GG? It’s def a world that 99 percent of us will never know anything about so it’s even hard to fact check it, but you’re right I’m not sure the emotions are grounded enough to make it all fire smoothly
Margie Truwit 8:36 PM
this is a good question
i think i need some element of realism + escapism
like i can envision this is the outline of a real place but the high drama and lavish lifestyle hooks me
but maybe that's so because i associate this show with like rich upper east side peeps
based on my prior fandom
nfkhan96 8:39 PM
yeah i think it’s prob a v different experience going in with those priors!
to me, this kind of gives me Younger or Sex and the City vibes
or even RIVERDALE vibes because it’s so batty
the dialogue is almost camp? especially with Monet and Luna?
Margie Truwit 8:40 PM
toooootally camp!
it does feel like younger but i also quit that, but hilary and sutton are like very likeable
so it kept me longer than it otherwise would in that that show makes no gd sense and mariska hargitay's husband IRL should know sutton foster’s not 23
nfkhan96 8:41 PM
i forgot that was mr. hargitay!! but yeah just like that was a cartoon version of publishing, i think this is a cartoon world of privileged teens
okay 2 more things i want to get to before i let you go
what do we think of Obie as a romantic lead?
i think…kind of a dud!!!
Margie Truwit 8:42 PM
Total dud however
he does remind me of a lot of boys who think they are a lot cooler than they actually are
nfkhan96 8:43 PM
lololol
Margie Truwit 8:43 PM
totally average looking, pretends to be smart, dating the coolest girl at school?
nfkhan96 8:43 PM
i wish i knew who he was based off too?? who is the real woke king of new york?
is he supposed to be…Harry Styles?
kind of?
Margie Truwit 8:44 PM
hahahaha
i think there are a lot of rich boys in nyc prep schools who are like not me im not like my banker dad who just cares about money
nfkhan96 8:45 PM
lol the way that they denote worldliness/wokeness is also extremely funny
Margie Truwit 8:45 PM
YES
nfkhan96 8:45 PM
-has read toni morrison
-knows what a picket line is
-sees a jeremy o. harris play
Margie Truwit 8:45 PM
HAHAHAHHA
nfkhan96 8:45 PM
-and likes it
Margie Truwit 8:45 PM
but also those same boys grow up
and join old sae at duke [a fraternity at duke university]
only hang out with rich girls
its very realistic but boring i guess
nfkhan96 8:46 PM
oh man brief anecdote, this one SAE-type guy in one of my english classes once recited a big chunk of the love song of j. alfred prufrock in class and i’m realizing now
that is obie!!
Margie Truwit 8:46 PM
YES
exactly
takes doc studies classes
graduates to work at jpm
nfkhan96 8:47 PM
hahahah do you think that’s Obie’s path on the show?
he takes over the family business and becomes a union buster
Margie Truwit 8:47 PM
maybe not on show but in real life absolutely
he’s going to have to make a hard choice in show prob
of like do i do the rich thing or do i take an unpaid political internship with bill deblasio
nfkhan96 8:47 PM
oh wow that is his future
being bill deblasio
what do you think in general about the class/privilege anxiety providing some tension here? i feel like it could be good but is executed weirdly because some of these rich kids really relish being rich in a way that seems over the top
In real life, i think these kids would think they were middle class even though that’s insane
Margie Truwit 8:49 PM
totally agree
julien rich is probably the right rich
like oh im having a birthday lets call princess nokia (who is this????)
nfkhan96 8:50 PM
I think that was a good choice i think bc princess nokia is kind of underground cool!
it’s interesting that she was willing to do this cameo!!!
they must’ve paid her buckets of money
Margie Truwit 8:51 PM
agree great choice
like goes with theme of show of rich kids being slightly edgy
nfkhan96 8:51 PM
yeah exactly
ok last thing: Max and his freaking CLASSICS teacher
i thought they weren’t going to go there
and then…they did
Margie Truwit 8:51 PM
ok that guy is hot tho
nfkhan96 8:51 PM
LOL
it’s fine if the teacher is hot enough
Margie Truwit 8:52 PM
the teacher is a skeeze though
he’s too ick to be hot enough for me
nfkhan96 8:52 PM
yeah im bummed that they went for that because it is such a tired, boring storyline on every teen show
Margie Truwit 8:52 PM
like you just picked up a student with every pill known to the sackler family
it wasn’t like you were at a party and things got weird!
nfkhan96 8:53 PM
yeah and it is so unequivocally gross!! and not to get too preachy but we must stop making it seem sexy because it is not!
Margie Truwit 8:53 PM
100%
nfkhan96 8:54 PM
so I think I’m going to stick with GG 2.0 because I ENJOY this show while understanding that it is actually pretty bad. could anything be done to win back your affections??
Margie Truwit 8:54 PM
oh im 100% going to stick with the season and watch it
it is culture
so i will see if it can get better
i would like to see some more drama/cliffhangers
make me want to see what happens next like they did with blair and serena! i legit would be like omg cant wait til next week
nfkhan96 8:56 PM
lol ok ok really last thing but can we talk about Julien being absolutely ready to nuke Zoya with the video from Buffalo and pivoting within 2 minutes to giving a speech about being a bully?
and after being drugged???
Margie Truwit 8:57 PM
total spring fling vibes
nfkhan96 8:57 PM
i was PING PONGING
Margie Truwit 8:57 PM
cady getting up to pick up her crown being like its just plastic!!
nfkhan96 8:57 PM
maybe that was the inspiration
ok margie thank you so much!!!! this was so fun!!
Margie Truwit 8:57 PM
so much fun!!! thank you for having me on for such a slacktacular chat!