I know a lot of people were upset with the episode, but it was really good! Believe me! People had high expectations for the prom storyline, so the fact that the writers shelved the present storyline for the pilot, it was really a slap in the face to a lot of people that were anticipating quality Bluck-time during the prom. I came into this episode expecting a pilot and I watched the episode with that in mind. I think for any of us to give the pilot a fair review, we need to examine the episode as a backdoor pilot – which is what we have been calling this episode for months. I suggest, if you haven’t already, re-watch this week’s episode, but fast-forward the present day stuff.
The casting for the show is really genius. Krysten Ritter is great as always. As Gia, Ritter played her as aloof and it worked. But here, we see a little more in Ritter’s range as she she plays Carol as a bitchy older sister and a bitchier eldest daughter. Her relationship with young Lily is very intriguing. They feel like sisters, much unlike Gossip Girl where we don’t get much of that sibling vibe. Dan judges Jenny on most things and Eric is never on screen to interact with Serena. With Valley Girls, we get that vibe up front. Carol’s character also lends itself to further exploration: Lily has obvious issues with Carol leaving the family and Carol is protective of Lily when it comes to CeCe. The whole character of Carol is very intriguing given that we haven’t seen her yet in the present.
The casting of Owen and Shep were also spot-on. There is chemistry with the four of them. The four teens seemed like a group of friends hanging out and having fun, which is something we don’t get to see often in Gossip Girl. The only time we see the core characters together is if there’s some event that tragically unites them (see: Georgina’s return – Ep 223, Bart’s funeral – Ep 213, Serena’s detox – Ep 117). This could be played off if it was a little camp or over-the-top, but most of the time the show takes itself too seriously which causes the “OMG THIS IS SO UNREALISTIC” reaction. There didn’t appear to be any trace of that seriousness in Valley Girls. Overall, all four teens played it well, in spite of the fact that people thought Owen looked a little messed in the face. Well, I thought Owen and Lily had cute rapport during the party scene with “The Safety Dance”! Plus, Ryan Hansen could have been even more ridiculous with that pompadour, but he pulled it off.
I breastfeed this kid even though he's too old!
What of Lily? Brittany Snow has been in things before, like
John Tucker Must Die and
Hairspray. I don’t recall anything spectacular, but after her portrayal young Lily on Monday, there appears to be some innocence that she brings to the character. In comparison to Kelly Rutherford, whose ex-husband claims that
her lifestyle causes her 2 1/2 year old to cry whilst she physically abuses her then husband with a laptop, Brittany Snow brings a sense of naievté to the character who otherwise seems “too experienced”. With old Lily, it’s a little hard to separate the frosty Lily from the allegedly insane Kelly Rutherford. It’s very cliché that Lily has turned into her mother, so it’s interesting to see that she wasn’t always like that and this exploration of her past may shed some light on the Lily we see today. For example, how does one go from cutesy teenager into hussy with arbitrary family rules? However, I am really hoping against hope that there will be no more past-present connections like there was in this episode.
The past-present mirroring storyline technique is done well on Heroes, but it was kind of obvious that there were some flubs in the general organization and writing of Ep 224. The connections barely made sense – we had scenes between Lily and Carol and then scenes with Blair and Nate. What? And since the episode paralleled Blair and Serena versus Lily and Carol, are we also to assume that No Doubt/Snowed Out was the prom in the past or was it the fight scene at Keith’s house party? As discussed on the podcast, the past-present scenes had very tenuous connections. This disconnect also implies that the pilot was written as a standalone entity, as the present day scenes had poorer flow than usual. For instance, if you were to watch all the present day scenes back to back, it would be 15 minutes of jail/prom madness.
On the whole though, aside from Lily, Valley Girls has no link to the present-day Gossip Girl. That could work out in two ways as I see it:
(1) There could be ridiculous stories to establish a link to the flagship series. Such as the paternity of Serena. But this would be ridiculous, right? Lily just got expelled from her boarding school for high school – which places her at about 18 years old? Lily is now 40-something, and Serena is 18, which means that Lily birthed Serena at the earliest, at 22. I don’t wanna see anything related to Keith and Lily having kids until she has at least left high school. This could also be applied to Carol’s character by bringing her back to the present day story due to something that happened in the 80s. But that’s (A) obvious and (B) contrived, so I hope the writers finesse the organization of that cross-over whenever TPTB plan to play that trump card.
(2) We may get integrated storylines. This is something that could actually be really good. If there was some way that the writers could pull a storyline from the past and make it have relevance in the present, that could end up paying off big. I mean it might be a little too much to hope for given the writing teams that we have seen during the season, but it sounds delicious. Just no Auntie Carol stuff in season 1. And current day Carol should be Joan Collins in GG whenever she does come back.
I more excited about the four teenagers and their relationships. Not to totally nerd out by referencing comics, but there’s a reason why the Fantastic Four has lasted 40+ years in the comics and has had numerous iterations for TV and movies. It’s a core group that deals with family and friends. There’s Susan (Invisible Woman) and Johnny (the Human Torch) who are siblings, Reed (Mr. Fantastic) and Susan who are lovers, and Ben (the Thing) and Reed who have been friends for the longest time. Enough overlap exists in the group to spark interesting stories that deal with the development of the relationships. That potential also exists for Valley Girls. Carol and Lily are sisters, Owen and Shep are friends, and two possible relationships exist: either Owen and Lily and/or Shep and Carol. There is a basis for character-based storytelling.
Gossip Girl NEVER gives us that, opting instead for fast paced storlines that are driven by endless event after event. The problem with that type of storytelling is that you lose focus of the character and their motivation, ultimately leading to the stories that meander and go nowhere. I mean we all have our favorite moments of Season 2 (see: steamy Bluck – Ep 203, funeral breakdown – Ep 213), but if you were to examine where the characters started in Season 2 versus where they are now: nothing has happened! Dan and Serena are still waffling between frienship and relationship, Blair and Chuck are still not together, Jenny is still in school, Vanessa is still underused and Nate… well Chace still never has to act. He doesn’t ever have to do anything – he’s more like a sexy prop that the actresses can hump on from time to time. The premise of the episode, Valley Girls, escapes this format. The four teens crashed a party to find a video tape and then got into a fight. Not a lot actually transpired plotwise, and instead, we see the first presentation of the Lily-Carol relationship. It was the focus of the pilot, and hopefully the focus of the spinoff.
Otherwise, the shows are very different and I see that as a plus. If you were to use the GG-approach of story telling, and fast-track a story set in the past, eventually you’ll catch up with the future or at least the 90s (which I am sure is boring). Where does the story go from there? Valley Girls needs to be burning the midnight oil in order to last. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have produced gold before. Look at Season 1 of Gossip Girl and the OC. Based on that track record and all of the potential of the pilot and cast, I think we can look forward to a solid series in Valley Girls. Or at the minimum, at least a good season one.
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Tagged as:
2.24 - Valley Girls,
Brittany Snow,
Carol,
Gossip Girl spinoff,
Kelly Rutherford,
Lily Rhodes,
Lily van der Woodsen,
Owen,
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Was Valley Girls Any Good?
by Angela on May 14, 2009
in Blog,Characters,Commentary,Features
I know a lot of people were upset with the episode, but it was really good! Believe me! People had high expectations for the prom storyline, so the fact that the writers shelved the present storyline for the pilot, it was really a slap in the face to a lot of people that were anticipating quality Bluck-time during the prom. I came into this episode expecting a pilot and I watched the episode with that in mind. I think for any of us to give the pilot a fair review, we need to examine the episode as a backdoor pilot – which is what we have been calling this episode for months. I suggest, if you haven’t already, re-watch this week’s episode, but fast-forward the present day stuff.
The casting of Owen and Shep were also spot-on. There is chemistry with the four of them. The four teens seemed like a group of friends hanging out and having fun, which is something we don’t get to see often in Gossip Girl. The only time we see the core characters together is if there’s some event that tragically unites them (see: Georgina’s return – Ep 223, Bart’s funeral – Ep 213, Serena’s detox – Ep 117). This could be played off if it was a little camp or over-the-top, but most of the time the show takes itself too seriously which causes the “OMG THIS IS SO UNREALISTIC” reaction. There didn’t appear to be any trace of that seriousness in Valley Girls. Overall, all four teens played it well, in spite of the fact that people thought Owen looked a little messed in the face. Well, I thought Owen and Lily had cute rapport during the party scene with “The Safety Dance”! Plus, Ryan Hansen could have been even more ridiculous with that pompadour, but he pulled it off.
I breastfeed this kid even though he's too old!
The past-present mirroring storyline technique is done well on Heroes, but it was kind of obvious that there were some flubs in the general organization and writing of Ep 224. The connections barely made sense – we had scenes between Lily and Carol and then scenes with Blair and Nate. What? And since the episode paralleled Blair and Serena versus Lily and Carol, are we also to assume that No Doubt/Snowed Out was the prom in the past or was it the fight scene at Keith’s house party? As discussed on the podcast, the past-present scenes had very tenuous connections. This disconnect also implies that the pilot was written as a standalone entity, as the present day scenes had poorer flow than usual. For instance, if you were to watch all the present day scenes back to back, it would be 15 minutes of jail/prom madness.
On the whole though, aside from Lily, Valley Girls has no link to the present-day Gossip Girl. That could work out in two ways as I see it:
(1) There could be ridiculous stories to establish a link to the flagship series. Such as the paternity of Serena. But this would be ridiculous, right? Lily just got expelled from her boarding school for high school – which places her at about 18 years old? Lily is now 40-something, and Serena is 18, which means that Lily birthed Serena at the earliest, at 22. I don’t wanna see anything related to Keith and Lily having kids until she has at least left high school. This could also be applied to Carol’s character by bringing her back to the present day story due to something that happened in the 80s. But that’s (A) obvious and (B) contrived, so I hope the writers finesse the organization of that cross-over whenever TPTB plan to play that trump card.
(2) We may get integrated storylines. This is something that could actually be really good. If there was some way that the writers could pull a storyline from the past and make it have relevance in the present, that could end up paying off big. I mean it might be a little too much to hope for given the writing teams that we have seen during the season, but it sounds delicious. Just no Auntie Carol stuff in season 1. And current day Carol should be Joan Collins in GG whenever she does come back.
I more excited about the four teenagers and their relationships. Not to totally nerd out by referencing comics, but there’s a reason why the Fantastic Four has lasted 40+ years in the comics and has had numerous iterations for TV and movies. It’s a core group that deals with family and friends. There’s Susan (Invisible Woman) and Johnny (the Human Torch) who are siblings, Reed (Mr. Fantastic) and Susan who are lovers, and Ben (the Thing) and Reed who have been friends for the longest time. Enough overlap exists in the group to spark interesting stories that deal with the development of the relationships. That potential also exists for Valley Girls. Carol and Lily are sisters, Owen and Shep are friends, and two possible relationships exist: either Owen and Lily and/or Shep and Carol. There is a basis for character-based storytelling.
Gossip Girl NEVER gives us that, opting instead for fast paced storlines that are driven by endless event after event. The problem with that type of storytelling is that you lose focus of the character and their motivation, ultimately leading to the stories that meander and go nowhere. I mean we all have our favorite moments of Season 2 (see: steamy Bluck – Ep 203, funeral breakdown – Ep 213), but if you were to examine where the characters started in Season 2 versus where they are now: nothing has happened! Dan and Serena are still waffling between frienship and relationship, Blair and Chuck are still not together, Jenny is still in school, Vanessa is still underused and Nate… well Chace still never has to act. He doesn’t ever have to do anything – he’s more like a sexy prop that the actresses can hump on from time to time. The premise of the episode, Valley Girls, escapes this format. The four teens crashed a party to find a video tape and then got into a fight. Not a lot actually transpired plotwise, and instead, we see the first presentation of the Lily-Carol relationship. It was the focus of the pilot, and hopefully the focus of the spinoff.
Similiar Posts:
Tagged as: 2.24 - Valley Girls, Brittany Snow, Carol, Gossip Girl spinoff, Kelly Rutherford, Lily Rhodes, Lily van der Woodsen, Owen, Shep