She’s so over dramatic, it borders on campy, which is what made the original series work so well. ![]() It’s that she’s one of the best written teen lesbians this year - bar none. It’s not just that Monet de Haan is a mean girl lesbian teen (though praise be to Santana Lopez, we do love a mean girl lesbian teen). Whatever other faults in Gossip Girl’s second season, she is impossible to turn away from, and that’s made all the difference. Rewriting Blair Waldorf as a Black lesbian who knows what it means to be sidelined, and who refuses to go back into the shadow? Rewriting Serena and Blair as two Black (absurdly rich) teenagers, who have vastly different understandings of wealth, race, gender, sexuality, and what it means to maintain power? (Because do understand this, the Julien/Serena types always want power just as much as the Monet’s and Blair’s, they just don’t like to dirty their hands and actually do the work.) It’s gold.Īnd Savannah Smith is eating it up with every bored eyeball, perfectly placed sneer, and pop culture-flecked insult. That’s what has made Savannah Smith’s work as Monet de Haan the must watch performance of soapy dramatic perfection this year. Serena might have influence, but Blair? Blair has power. She earned it. For every jewel and gem on her crown that Serena takes for granted, Blair claws at with her bare hands. But a “Serena” cannot walk with the petals of daisies at her feet alone. Explaining away the pain of those that she hurts with the charm of a Disney Princess and a kilowatt smile to match. She’s much better suited as a Serena-type, self-centered in her immense privilege, walking through life as if it’s easy, because for her it is. Julien Calloway has never felt comfortable with the power that comes with her social influence as the head of those infamous MET steps. I wish I could tell you that I was clever in this analogy, but Monet outright says it herself in the Season Two two-part premiere, which aired earlier this month. Of course she wears Blair’s signature headband. There’s other problems as well, including a central focus on the teachers that unfortunately the second season hasn’t been able to shake, but so much can be forgiven as long as the central credo is adhered: For every Serena van der Woodson, there must be a Blair Waldorf. Her little sister, Zoya (Whitney Peak), was originally intended to be the antagonist, but there’s only so many times you can watch half-sisters fight (for those who watched the original series, this year Zoya’s been moved into more of a Jenny Humphrey position, and its for the better). The biggest problem with the reboot’s first season was that Julien Calloway, the resident Queen of Constance, was so obsessed with being nice that she only ever was boring. It reached a point that Vulture (a website that built so much of its early fame on the original series, much like Autostraddle built ours on The L Word) was forced to bluntly ask, “ WTF Happened?”īut in Season One’s finale, Monet de Haan returned back to the centerfold, with a promise to come for Julien’s crown. Season Two’s hierarchy of power immediately flipped in every juicy, delicious, detail that made the original Gossip Girl so great to begin with. ![]() Being straight is one thing, but the new Gossip Girl was boring, and that is so much worse. But overall, for all the anticipation of over-the-top luxurious queer drama… the show fell flat. And yes, Max did chase after dating his teacher - a trope I think we can all agree can be left in teen soaps past, even if swiveled on its gay head. Yes, bad boy heartthrob Max Wolfe (Thomas Dohtery, we’ll call him new Chuck Bass) was pansexual with gay dads, and he turns his best friend Aki’s (Evan Mock, the human embodiment of “no thoughts, just vibes”) world inside out, leading to an eventual teen throuple with Aki and his forever girlfriend Audrey. ![]() In fact, I think it’s safe to say that the first season of Gossip Girl’s franchise reboot did not live up to its own promise from creator Josh Safron that it would be very gay. In fact barely used her at all, she spent the first half of the season as one of two sidekick henchmen for resident “it girl” Julien Calloway - the other sidekick, Luna La, played by trans actress Zión Moreno, is equally underserved - and then in the second half of the season, she was largely nowhere to be found. I think it’s best, right at the top, to be honest about one thing: The first season of Gossip Girl did not use Monet de Haan (played by bisexual actress Savannah Smith), teen socialite, Black lesbian extraordinaire, soon to be Head-Bitch-in-Charge, well. ![]()
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