#im gonna be the sole member of the max x luna fan club!

[strideofpride]

Have u watched the 1st episode of the reboot? If yes, what are your thoughts on it?

Sorry for the wait anon!!! I wanted to answer this once I watched it and I had to work a full day. Anyway, under the cut, cause I surprisingly had a lot to say:

-From a production standpoint, wow, Safran was really not kidding. They got that HBO money for real!!! But tbh there was wayyyyy too many needle drops. Like not every scene needs background music you know?

-My favorite characters by far are Zoya and Obie. Obie's been getting a lot of hate in the GG tag all day, but I personally found him to be really genuine. He seemed like he actually cared about things, he wasn't just doing performative activism. He also wasn't creepy towards Zoya at all, didn't take a peak when she undressed (I love Dan but...he did not pass that test), never made a move on her while he was with Julien.

-I'm not really getting romantic vibes from them though (even though I know they're going there) and don't ship them...but I will say that they kinda were giving me platonic!dair vibes anyway? Like they clearly just get each other on a level no one else does, they have common interests, they were brought together by someone they both really care about (Julien/Serena), and, well, to be frank, Whitney Peak and Eli Brown are the best of the "teen" actors, just like Penn and Leighton were.

-And yeah, a lot of the acting wasn't amazing (the two male teachers and Evan Mock really made me cringe...and Jordan Alexander was wooden sometimes as well) but neither was the acting on the CW show so. If you're expecting award winning performances from Gossip Girl, you're definitely in the wrong place.

-Aki and Audrey are by far the least interesting to me. I feel no chemistry between them at all or between either of them and Max tbh. Now Max and Luna on the other hand...their two second interaction had more chemistry than the Max x Audrey x Aki triad the whole episode. (I thought going in I would ship Monet and Luna but I'm not getting those vibes at all).

-(Also I think it really says something that the white/white passing cast members were the ones getting most of the attention from the fandom, when it's really Zoya and Julien's show. GG fandom already returning to its old ways I see).

-Also like...I do not understand at all why Julien and Obie were ever together (or Audrey and Aki). And even when they tried to explain it, it was all telling, no showing. Like the OG did a really great job of showing us why Nate and Blair were still together, even though they weren't happy. The reboot didn't do that at all. (Sorry, I didn't want to compare them too much but I feel like that was worth pointing out)

-Also Julien and Zoya's whole secrecy plot makes no sense to me either, but Gossip Girl's gonna Gossip Girl.

-And finally, I have to say, I still find the idea of the teachers being Gossip Girl really interesting. Like I think if done right (but I mean, look at what show I'm talking about lmao), there's good commentary to be made about how adults police children and the over interest they take in minor's sex lives. Also the show still paints the teachers very sympathetically, so it doesn't feel like a huge classist issue like the OG became (but probably just give it time unfortunately). And I'm glad they clearly know a lot of what they're doing is wrong (like how that one teacher pointed out he probably should've been arrested for taking that picture of Obie and Zoya), but they can't help themselves/feel they have no other choice. Almost Jenny Humphrey descent into darkness vibes. I feel like it could be done really well??? But you know, I know I'm putting too much hope into Safran lol.

So yeah, that's what I thought!