Good Morning Upper East Siders

[Spoiler Alert! Read at your own risk.]

Hello Upper East Siders, or really anyone born in the 90s and early 2000s,

Almost 10 years after its finale, a Gossip Girl reboot finally premiered on HBO Max this summer. Like most fans of the original, I was skeptical. What could possibly top Serena and Blair’s rivalry/friendship, Nate Archibald’s beautiful face or Chuck Bass’s bad/good guy act? I had already seen a few spoilers and opinions on social media, and the consensus seems to be that it is not as good as the original. But I was curious about these diverse, queer inclusive characters and decided to give it a shot.

My first thought was that viewers are partial to the original for nostalgic reasons. So, for research purposes, I decided to watch the first episode of the original Gossip Girl again and it still holds up! This was my first time rewatching the series and it drew me in the same way as the first time. With all the drama, suspense, backstabbing, romance, it is very hard to turn away from the series. I finished the episode trying to remember how on earth they became friends again! There were big shoes to fill as I loaded up the first episode of the reboot.

It opens with an almost montage type introduction to the new characters and their first day of school; post pandemic we later learn. The first thing that stands out to me is the diversity. Finally, black people do exist in New York City! You would not know from watching Friends and How I Met Your Mother. However, I cannot help but notice that everyone had to pass the paper bag test. The lack of dark skin women in tv shows has been an issue for so long and I cannot believe we are still talking about it in 202. I do think the reboot dropped the ball heavily here. As a show that is trying to represent current times, it sticks out like a sore thumb that there are no dark skin characters. I cannot help but wonder why tv shows and movies continue to overlook this. I must however add though, that compared to the original, this is obviously a step forward.

In addition, I would have liked to see some plus size upper east siders. Models and celebrities like Ashley Graham, Iskra Lawrence, Lizzo, Barbie Ferreira have shown us that plus size girls do not have to be the joke of the show. They can be sexy, glamorous, and beautiful like everyone else. If this reboot really wanted to make a statement, that would have been the way to go because let us be honest, having people of colour on the screen nowadays is bare minimum, especially since they are cast according to the paper bag test anyway. I will say that I did feel quite some joy when I realized the two protagonists would be these two beautiful black girls, but is it possible we could get a dark skin character, HBO? Maybe a plus size one too?

Speaking of diversity, I do not know about you, but I have seen very few shows with a lesbian, bisexual and a pansexual. I do not have much to say about these characters as they were not really fleshed out in this first episode, but I am excited to see how their characters play out - especially the love triangle with blank, blank, and blank (you know who I am talking about). I am very interested to see how their characters interact with the upper-class society.​

Contrary to popular belief, LGBTQ+ people are still very much marginalized. Racists and homophobes are not only in small rural towns, they are also in the big cities and among the upper class. I am curious to see if they will address this, especially for Monet, the rich black queen bee lesbian.

On one hand, I am not a fan of using trauma in entertainment (as I have seen in so many black movies and tv shows). Sometimes it is nice just to see people live their life without having to deal with their sexuality or the colour of the skin. However, art does imitate life, and some things cannot and should not be ignored.

I do also want to point out that because I watched the original a while ago, the rest of the series is a blur to me. However, I do not recall the characters being so rude. I remember the occasional quips from Chuck and Blair but flexing their privilege was not really the center point. It was about these high schoolers who happen to be very rich and had a lot of drama in their circle. It might just be me, but I found the reboot characters to be a lot more superficial and ruder than the original. The original characters just had a lot more depth, I think. I know I am only reviewing the first episode but when compared to the first episode of the original, it seems a lot more superficial. In the original Gossip Girl, from the beginning we see Nate’s difficult relationship with his dad, Chuck’s rapist tendencies, Eric’s suicide attempt, Blair and Serena’s toxic friendship and, Dan and Jenny trying to fit in as the ‘poor’ students’. They had a lot more interesting issues, and that is what made it a soap opera.

From the first episode of the reboot, what I gathered is that Julien is very famous and for some reason her friends act like her managers; Obie has some heavy ‘I am stupid rich’ guilt, and Audrey has a crush on someone who is not her boyfriend. There is not a lot of depth to the characters when compared to the original. Of course Zoya coming to town is supposed to add some more drama, but we have seen the long lost half-sister plot too many times. I actually would have liked it if they stayed friends and their plot focused on the rebuilding of their family. But I guess that is not going to keep viewers in their seats. The whole clash at the end of the episode is probably the main reason I will be watching episode two, and it made me quite curious as to what will happen next in their relationships.

My biggest red flag however, and one of the main reasons why I am not sure I will enjoy the series, is the fact they revealed who Gossip Girl is in the first episode. I appreciate the creativity and out of box thinking, but there are a lot of things wrong with this plot line. The most consistent plot line in the original gossip girl was that we did not know who she was! Gossip Girl was like God in the show. We eagerly waited for Kristen Bell’s voice over (very glad she is still the voice over in the reboot by the way) to see what she was going to reveal to everyone. The biggest build up ever was the last season when we finally found out who she was. Personally, I was a little disappointed with the reveal, but still, an amazing build up! Starting the show with the teachers creating the Gossip Girl Instagram account completely changes how we viewers see Gossip Girl. No longer is she the anonymous entity who stirs up drama in the upper east side, now she is a scared high school teacher who for some reason has nothing better to do than spy on her students and stir up drama. I really cannot wrap my head around the fact that the teachers are so intimidated and jobless that they want to meddle in their students' lives. ​

In addition, the original Gossip Girl did not have to go and create drama. Did she have a hand in the circle’s drama, definitely, but a lot of the drama in the original Gossip Girl was pretty organic. The Gossip Girl blog was just the icing on top. A lot of the time she was just retelling something that had already happened and stirring things up more. Also, I may be wrong, but I do not think she ever lied.

In the reboot however, the teachers' main goal is to create drama which involves breaking school confidentiality rules, lying, and even taking pictures of half-naked minors? Watching the teachers create drama for their students just so they can feel more superior is honestly not very appealing to me.

This does not mean I will not be watching the next episode though. The original Gossip Girl will always reign true but with every happy ending is just a new beginning. Because on the Upper East Side, the good time never lasts forever. Until next time... xoxo​