Critic Reviews
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The high schoolers are sexy and naughty and have the streak of delicious nastiness that fell away towards the later series of the original. But in pitting them against the teachers as well each other adds a cringeworthy (dare I say, cheugy) dynamic that upsets the very fabric of the series.
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The new Gossip Girl stumbles, but hot drama is hot drama. To quote one anonymous blogger, you know you love it, though a clumsy homage straining for relevance isn’t likely to court a new generation of devotees.
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If the new Gossip Girl can loosen its grip enough to let its Upper East Siders become the actual bullies they not-so-secretly are, there’s a chance it may capture something great once again. If not, Gossip Girl may need to sign off, for good.
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So far the new model feels less insubstantial — casually diverting, full of shiny, pretty people — but short on chemistry where we are meant most to find it.
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While Gossip Girl has savviness galore when it comes to the complexities of clout-chasing, when it comes to making its characters feel like real and interesting people, it has no idea what it’s doing. Which wouldn’t be so bad if Gossip Girl didn’t have aspirations to make you care about its characters and to develop some sort of heart.
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This take is riskier, raunchier and more profane — but just as smart and entertaining. It’s also more ethnically diverse and socially aware, although the latter evolution sometimes seems heavy-handed. The show’s biggest misstep is its whiplash plot twists. ... There’s a tendency toward the unbelievable, too.
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The new Gossip Girl is vastly more sensitive about everything, in a way that feels at once wholly sincere and brutally boring. ... It's tempting to call this reboot a fustercluck, but there could be something here — if Safran and Co. are willing to go back to the basics of bitchiness.
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“Gossip Girl” ends up as a series built on absence; there’s no Serena and Dan, so no central romance; there’s no Serena vs. Blair, which means no central conflict; Gossip Girl is there to evoke a reaction, but these kids are refusing to play along. Without any interior drama from the characters or exterior commentary about their place in society, “Gossip Girl” 2.0 feels as glossy, buttoned up, and boring as its influencer’s Instagram page.
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The original series was nowhere near being the most profound television of its time, but at least it was entertaining. The Gossip Girl reboot’s uninteresting storylines, paper-thin characters, and lack of purpose cannot even claim that praise.
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It all seems very much the same as it did by the end of the first series: Tired and repetitive.
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It’s so concerned about empathy it’s a little dull. ... Having money gives these high schoolers a rarefied, strange, challenging life, and on the show it’s the people who don’t have it, who want it, who have their face pressed up to the glass, who get warped. But the show can’t extend this insight as far as it should go.
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HBO Max’s reboot of Gossip Girl is half bland rehash of the soapy beats from the original series and half perplexing but semi-ambitious premise-overhaul that the series isn’t prepared to fully engage in. More than anything, this new Gossip Girl just feels behind the curve, a meek attempt to keep pace with shows like HBO Max’s Generation or Netflix’s Elite.
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The show’s most appealing, fascinating, outright fun elements are the parts where it so clearly owns itself, enjoys itself, preens with one hand at the same time as it flips a casual bird with the other. ... It is fundamentally hollow at the core, frivolous and frothy, studded with sequins and infidelities and students who lust for their teachers (but gay!). It seems uneasy with that emptiness, but it lacks the desire or capability to backfill everything with earnestness or do-goodery, and some later scenes in the series where it attempts to suddenly find sincerity are among the worst, most cringeworthy parts of the four episodes provided to critics.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 20
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Mixed: 1 out of 20
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Negative: 9 out of 20
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Jul 8, 2021
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Nov 25, 2021This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.
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Jul 28, 2021This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.