SoulHonky

Upon looking over some more episodes, one thing that became glaringly obvious was that, while Blake Lively became the breakout star of the show, the show's Queen is B. Blair holds the show together and her storylines are usually the anchor.

- Episodes 1 - 4 focused on Blair and Serena's relationship.
- Episode 5 was pretty much a standalone aside from the introduction of Jenny onto the socialite scene.
- Episode 6 - 10 focused on the Blair, Chuck, Nate love triangle (with episode 9 being a bit of a break for Thanksgiving).
- Episode 11 was another Blair-centric standalone, this time focusing on Christmas (and her Dad and his lover).
- Episode 12 was pretty much a group standalone, School Ties.
- Episodes 13 - 16 focused on Blair & Jenny 

To me, the show started to come apart in Episode 15 because a second A-story was introduced and the show seemed to lose focus. The show's formula didn't really work with the Georgina stoy fighting for time alongside Jenny v. Blair. Because of this, moments that probably should have been stronger, such as Blair discovering that Eric is gay or Asher's character as a whole, were lost and treated almost as throwaways. Even worse, the two A-stories didn't mesh. Dan outs Asher to Gossip Girl/the Upper East side and it's no big deal but Georgina outing Eric to his own mother is somehow pure evil.

But the most problematic piece was that the battle was one-sided. Serena is an almost completely reactive character. She is almost never proactive in any situation (would Blair have let Jenny toss yogurt at her and not have, at least, tried to talk to her?) Even when Chuck was at his worst, Blair had some fight in her. Serena basically lets Georgina slap her around and then whines about not being able to whine to anyone about it. (And hell, she didn't even kill someone. She just didn't call because Georgina told her not to).

The season finale will hopefully tie up the loose ends of the Serena A-story and next season can start with the deflowered and single Blair looking to get her party on in the Hamptons. That way she could possibly be the devil on Serena's shoulder as opposed to Dan's Angel. And perhaps the writers could even let Blair be right a couple of times so that wet blanket Dan isn't always smugly judgemental.

There's hope yet for Gossip Girl but the Georgina/Murder folly is something that should be dealt with, pushed aside, and ignored in the future. Blake can be the star but Blair needs to drive the story.

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This episode was the first downright boring episode IMO however the way they solved many of the issues could set it up so the whole murder and Georgina plots could be long gone when next season starts. That being said, it still followed the somewhat ironclad Gossip Girl formula which I've decided to, in between Scrabulous turns, to take a look at. Right now, the basic formula breakdown is:

Act 1: Introduce Big Event, set-up possible tension that could unfold at said event.

Act 2: Prepare for Big Event. Tensions rise and the act ends with secret being revealed (ep. 2: Blair knows about Serena and Nate; ep. 3: Chuck sees Serena going into Ostroff center)

Act 3: Antgonists plot trouble while, elsewhere, the Protagonists try to reach their goal, the efforts meet at the Big Event!

Act 4: The Big Event! Chaos ensues and the act ends as things fall apart as the event comes to a close. (ep.3: Blair calls out Serena as a Ostroff patient; ep. 4: Blair blows up at Serena for being the model/Dan is judgemental about what Serena did)

Act 5: The fallout from the Big Event (usually, everyone's upset) but then the original secret (be it: Serena and Nate, Eric's suicide, Blair confronting her mom about the photo shoot) comes out and sends someone reeling. (In the early eps, it's usually Blair)

Act 6: There's usually a heart-to-heart or two as well as a little morsel for the future (in the first eps, it was hinting about Jenny's turn to a socialite), and it ends with a couple being put together, either in a tumultuous relationship (Nate & Blair in Ep. 1/Jenny & Blair in Ep. 5/Chuck & Blair Ep. 7) or a renewed friendship (Blair and Serena in Ep. 3 or Dan and Vanessa in Ep. 6). I've only looked at the first few episodes in depth but the later episodes often have the couple's secret reveled (Serena catching Blair and Chuck in bed in Ep. 8)

I'm not sure when or if I'll get to a more complete breakdown but I'm hoping to have something for the finale next Monday so all other Gossip Girl fans can spend the offseason constructing their own episodes of Gossip Girl. Granted, I'm not sure any fans actually read this but, at the very least, it's a good study for me in terms of breaking down story and seeing how network shows are constructed.  

Posted by SoulHonky at 01:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First Friday Night Lights decides to off a random person and now Gossip Girl has shot itself in the foot by throwing a ridiculous murder plot into an already over-the-top high school schedule. Friday Night Lights waited until the second season but apparently there's not enough to write about in the Upper East Side so Gossip Girl couldn't even make it a season without having one of their characters become a killer. I mean, I didn't expect much out of Josh Schwartz who couldn't maintain more than half a season of The O.C. but the murder angle is just kind of ridiculous. Now mind you, Beverly Hills 90210 went a little batty when Luke's dad came back and then got blown up by a car bomb but at least that happened in the third season and they quickly breezed through it and onto gems like hunting down Burt Reynolds. (No, really)

Is it really that hard to maintain a drama about relationships, especially in high school? And how about a little pacing here? They couldn't have found more stories for Jenny's boyfriend? She meets him one episode and he is gay in the next? They couldn't have maybe done some more with Eric dealing with his sexuality? Show him living a lie and struggling to fit in at school? There were no stories there? They had to go straight to the climax and then launch Serena on a self-destructive binge all the while Dan's character does nothing but judge the whole time? The show started with some interesting characters but they all devolved into one dimensional caricatures pretty quickly. Chuck Bass shows some depth and he's off on a bachelor party or in exile in his hotel room. It's almost like the writers don't know what to do when they are given someone with more than a basic personality.

It's too bad because Gossip Girl had the makings of an interesting show but now I doubt it even last much longer than season three, which is too bad because I'm sure Tiffany Amber-Thiessen could have swooped in as a MILF love interest for Rufus and/or Chuck. I hate to dismiss it completely; Gossip Girl could bounce back, but I doubt it.

No wonder they cast Michael from the Wire as the lead in the new version of 90210. The body count in the hoity-toity socialistas is about even with most of the corner boys.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)