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Spin-offs & Reboots I'm not a fan of (so far) Pt. 1- Gossip Girl 2021

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By Jay,when I writePublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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Gossip Girl- Gossip Girl's

(Picture from nymag.com)

Let's talk about my connection with the original, so that you don't think I dislike the new one for unfair reasons.

I actually never bothered to finish the original (but I got pretty far) for some reasons:

1. None of the characters were likeable- just rude rich kids with no redeemable qualities. Like no one was funny, or interesting in any type of way. They were cruel for no reason half the time. People liked it because they liked watching a world they were not apart of, and I truly get that. I watch things where I don't relate to anyone, but I disliked them and not their world in a way.

2. The ending was spoiled which doesn't usually bother me, especially not with shows I don't care for to begin with, but this one was so bad it could've never made sense to me

3. Maybe it's because I missed the time period for it? I don't know...but that doesn't make sense because I like other shows from around that time

4. Too many things that were excused like age gaps in relationships, that time Chuck almost sexually assualted two women in the pilot (he was just a cruel and disgusting guy in general), the way the only minority became the bad guy with bad hair, lack of diversity in general, the way everyone was whiny, and the horrible conclusion could've never made any sense no matter how much they explained etc.

But, they gave the show a fresh start with this new group. And...fumbled. I went into this show with fresh eyes since it had been years since seeing the original and not even caring about the og because this is its own show y'know? Let's get into what I found wrong with the show, then the show's good qualities. Follow meeeee

(Meredith corp-totalcelnews photo)

Bad:

1. The dating a teacher thing is gross to me. He said he was of age, but it is still gross and harmful. Also stalking is horrible. And they used that to justify the relationship. Like, oh, well he's the one who pursued him and he's rich, so it's not so bad. Like, no. It's weird. It makes these relationships seem okay if the character seems "mature," rich or old enough. Stalking and pushing someone to be with you in any type of way is bad. And a teacher saying yes to being with a student is bad. Simple.

2. The teachers being gossip girl...not only doesn't make sense, but is very very gross. Even one of the teachers pointed out how taking pictures of anyone, especially minors is disturbing and should get them locked up. I mean, c'mon. You have teachers (adults)...following and bullying students (kids). What? And the show coming forward with revealing who Gossip Girl is right off the bat...well...could've been alright actually, if it made sense. If only they were someone else, and had good enough reasons. Maybe season 2 will make it more interesting

"You ready to save the future" OH BROTHER THIS GUY STINKS

3. Not a good enough villain. They wouldn't let anyone be a villain, or at least not a good one. Every time I thought Julien would make for a good antagonist (not even a villain villain, just...the roadblock) they took it away. They wanted us to sympathize with the teachers, but that was impossible. They were just boring and kept saying they felt bad about what they were doing (well at least one teacher did even though she was the ring leader), so they weren't good enough villains. And Monet could've been a good villain but they said "no," as soon as she started.

4. The dialogue...man does it suck. Like. Wow. It's so bad. Clumsy and just...who would speak like that? Even in the TV world...who would speak like that? They were all boring in general. No one was sarcastic or funny or had anything that

5. To go with 3 and 4-The characters are so bland and they're all weak. Underdeveloped characters really bother me. I don't know any of them as people, or care enough about them because they didn't let us (minus Max actually). No one was funny, sarcastic, or smooth. I think Obie was meant to be unliable though. Just a fake woke guy. I actually kept forgetting about the third friend uhhhh *Googles* Luna. She was irrelevant till the last episode or so.

6. The acting. But, in their defense the dialogue and the plots are crappy...but like they're so unconvincing. No, you're not happy even though we should believe you're happy. Because you don't look happy. That's not what you're conveying with your facial expressions or how you even say your horrible lines. Someone (Youtube channel-ImuRgency)pointed out how they enunciated their words and...yeah why does everyone hit every letter and speak as if they're rehearsing their lines?

7. It was like a "woke off" without actually hitting any valid points or sticking with their points. Just all over the place. Imagine being in a college classroom with that one student who would just use words that they thought would give them bonus points and make them sound smart, but none of those words come together to make a cohesive sentence. Just a mess. Much like my own ramblings.

8. The relationship pairings fell flat. I couldn't care less who got together and broke up 2 seconds later because no one seemed good together. They were all weird and annoying. And the sexualization of teens as if that's what "empowerment" means

9. Pacing-Either wrapping things up too soon, or going on and on for no reason. Why did Obie even lead her on? Could've kept him cheating to himself and let that go on longer without leading her on

A Good and Bad thing: the polygamous/throuple/triad relationship (unsure on if it's closed or not) with Audrey, Aki and Max. I was going to type so much (well I did, then deleted it), but I don't wanna make this too long. 1. I love that shows are exploring poly relationships because they do exist and aren't bad. They should be shown. But, they should be shown well. And people should remember lines still exist within teen shows. If you don't wanna see it with a teen in a (hetero-(doesn't need to be)) monogamous relationship, then you don't wanna see it with a teen (queer-(doesn't need to be)) in a poly relationship. And you want the characters to be able to still stand on their own and not be reduced to this relationship.

Yay: Aki was able to come out to his girlfriend and she told him she was down for a poly relationship with the same person he liked (because it could've gone other ways which wouldn't have been necessarily bad)

Yay/Nay: Max was told he was wanted and believed it. He seemed to be searching for that, and liked them back. I actually just don't want Max in it. I'd prefer for him to be in therapy and focusing on himself. The relationship can wait. Sure, they realized he needed help and focused on his issues more, but it took too long. They were more focused on him being fun and attractive. And he needs to know how to be himself/love himself without drugs and sex.

Nay: maybe it's because Max was already so sexualized imo, but it just went up because of the scenes with them (now, I say this about all teen first times and sex scenes in general: shown too many times, shown as if they're pros on the first go- so no awkwardness, shown too long/showing too much and forgetting they're kids and even if they were adults, sometimes it's unnecessary)

Nay: none of them felt like characters outside of each other

Nay: it was boring, but hey...more conversations were had

I don't want their relationship to suffer the same way as Elite's poly relationships did. Just lies and bad people. But hey, mono relationships have lies and bad people. So, maybe I'm nitpicking for no reason. Rep matters.

Watch the video above and go to his thoughts on Max being in the relationship

(oops, this was long)

Good:

1. The costumes. Yup. They're pretty nice majority of the time. Not all the time. But, I'll give them this one. Maybe I just have a thing for the poloboy look/uniforms because I had to wear one as a teen and it brought back memories of attempting to look like an individual sometimes (though I'd like to see their uniform rulebook because they must've violated them lol). No, but really I just like how I can see their different styles while in their uniforms. That must be tough to do. Gotta make sure their personalities are shown while making them look similar to each other.

2. It looked pretty good half the time. Honestly. Lighting and whatnot. Yeah yeah yeah you get it. I liked the rooms and different locations.

3. More diversity

Anyway, they didn't use social media and the whole "Gossip Girl" thing to their advantage. There was so many boring filler parts, and no one felt like they were real people or even interesting enough to care about. Maybe it suffered because they tried to be relatable while the reason why people liked the og was because no one was in that rich kid circle. But hey, a show's season 2 is typically better than their season 1. So, they can only go up from here.

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About the Creator

Jay,when I write

Hello.

What?

23, Black, queer, yup

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