So I've been watching the new version of Gossip Girl on HBO Max and I've gotten through the first 6 episodes (the episodes before they took a short break). I watched the first two last fall, but couldn't get into it. But I heard good things about it and decided to give it another try. I'm not exactly regretting my decision, but the show is definitely not a great show.
I loved the original, even if it was completely wacky and severely problematic. It was a fun show to just immerse and lose yourself in for a brief period of time. Were the characters sometimes annoying? Oh, hell yeah. But they were also memorable and it was fun watching some of their convoluted plots play themselves out. I fell like the show lost its way in the last couple seasons and became too convoluted, but it was still fun to see.
The new version doesn't really have any of this. None of the main characters are super memorable. While I don't love drawing comparisons between characters from rebooted shows with characters from the original, here it is hard not to do, particularly since this show has taken great pains to tie itself to the original. So here are the comparisons that I see:
Julien is more or less a Serena lite with some Blairness thrown in. She's missing the drug habits and wants to rule/influence people (this is the Blairness part, Serena rarely actively wanted to rule unless she was pushing back against Blair), but she has a lot of Serena like qualities. I wish they had gone one way or the other. The show needs a Blair to really push things. And Monet doesn't count, because she's a supporting character, not a main character.
Obie is a mix of Dan and Nate. He has a lot of physical similarities to Dan (particularly when he is the t-shirt and hat at the Halloween party) and he seems to have some of Dan's morality and wanting to support the non-elite, but he also has definite elements of Nate in his niceness some of his other attitudes.
Zoya is a mix of Dan and Jenny. She is definitely the outsider and wants to fit in, but she is also much less likely to compromise her morals the way Jenny did.
Aki has Nateish elements. Like Obie, he is really kind and often the voice of reason.
Max is Chuck (well, mostly). He is also the best of the characters IMNSHO. He's not quite as amoral as Chuck, but he chases anyone who catches his eye. I am definitely enjoying him.
Audrey doesn't seem to have a counterpart in the original. There's a bit of Blair in her in terms of attitude, but she is missing Blair's sense of entitlement to rule everything, which is part of what made Blair so much fun to watch. The closest she came to this was when she kept haranguing the hospital staff. I don't enjoy the haranguing itself, but it was still fun to watch because of its Blairishness.
Not going to bother with the adults except to say that having the teachers be Gossip Girl is just creepy and a large part of the reason I am not sure how much I actually want to keep watching this (there's more on other reasons below). I loved not knowing who Gossip Girl was in the original and really wish they had kept it that way.
As for Luna and Monet, I have a few thoughts. First off, Monet is the closest thing we have to a Blair on the show (although she is more of a Georgina in some ways). But unlike Blair, she wants to be the power behind the throne rather than being on the throne herself. And Luna is a somewhat interesting character, but also not really memorable. Also, I wish they would actually say whether or not the character is trans. When I look up character descriptions, she is labelled as trans (and the actress is trans), but (unless I completely missed it), they have never said so on the show. If they want her to be trans, they really need to say something explicitly because it isn't even hinted at.
My other big issue with the show is the pacing. Every time I see an episode, if I pause at some point during the episode, I invariably feel like I have been watching it longer than I actually have been. Like I'll think I'm 30-45 minutes in, but only be like 15-20 minutes in. It really drags a lot. This is not a good sign. When the show feels a lot longer than it is, that is a sign that the show is just not well paced.
I'll probably finish the first season, but unless the last 6 episodes are a *DRASTIC* improvement, I don't think I'll be back for a 2nd season.
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