Warning! SPOILERS about the Gossip Girl reboot season 2 episodes 1 & 2 ahead.The Gossip Girl reboot protagonists, Julien and Zoya, have an interesting history as half-sisters coming from different worlds who want to finally get to know each other, but their rivalry cannot beat Blair and Serena’s. The Gossip Girl reboot season 1 functioned as an introduction for Zoya (Whitney Peak) to Julien’s (Jordan Alexander) world. While Julien was the only one of her friend group willing to welcome her into the fold because of her wish to know her at first, the others eventually warmed up to Zoya. Yet as soon as Zoya and Julien started spending time together, it became clear they had very different approaches to life.
Although Zoya found her place in Julien’s foreign world, their different attitudes already caused strife between Zoya and Julien in the Gossip Girl reboot season 1. That continued in its season 2 premiere with Zoya and Julien returning to their usual, unhelpful behaviors, chiefly because Zoya felt threatened by having to share her space with Julien. While all could not always go unreasonably well for the sisters, their dynamic is burdened by an absence of a clear-cut separation. This wasn’t the case for Serena and Blair in the original Gossip Girl, as they were just as ive of each other as they were cruel.
Why Blair & Serena's Gossip Girl Friendship & Rivalry Was So Good
Throughout Gossip Girl’s six seasons, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Serena’s (Blake Lively) friendship had its ups and downs, starting from season 1 when Serena’s surprise return to Manhattan shocked Blair and when the unearthing of Serena’s secret involving Nate subsequently put Blair on the warpath. Like the main Gossip Girl reboot characters, Blair and Serena’s different choices, plans, and opinions often put them on opposite sides. However, just as much as they said or did the cruelest things to each other, Blair and Serena were also keen to each other.
Just like Julien and Zoya, Blair and Serena were also jealous of each other, whether due to their romantic interests, their strong opinion of something the other did, or their propensity to take up all the attention in a space where only one could really shine. While Gossip Girl eventually set out to give Blair and Serena their own separate areas of influence, making their friendship all the better, the two fought as hard as they ed each other. Gossip Girl season 1’s final showdown to banish Georgina masterfully showed that Blair would have always ed Serena in her time of need, and the opposite was also true.
Zoya & Julien's Rivalry In Gossip Girl's Reboot Isn't Clear-Cut Enough
Besides the Gossip Girl reboot’s failure to be mean enough, making it impossible to replicate the things that made the original Gossip Girl stand out at the time, the unclear dynamic between Zoya and Julien also doesn’t clarify what the show wants to get from their rivalry. Although Julien and Zoya go through times when they are inseparable and others when they can’t stand each other, just like Blair and Serena did, it’s difficult to pinpoint what precisely bothers them, as it is what brings them together. Moreover, the Gossip Girl reboot doesn’t let time between those changes, causing friction between them in almost every episode.
The Gossip Girl reboot’s tendency to make Zoya and Julien forget their development and go back to their different stances makes their friendship much more unbalanced than Serena and Blair’s. At the same time, it also doesn’t commit the characters to their choices, proving the Gossip Girl reboot incapable of fixing the mistakes of the original, often making Zoya and Julien retrace their steps if they come too close to something that could mirror the earlier show’s problematic takes or remotely sow more permanent division. This makes the original Gossip Girl’s Serena and Blair the more successful rivalry, as their characters were better developed than the reboot’s Zoya and Julien.
