🌿 Gossip Girl Rewatch: Season 1, Episode 3 — "Poison Ivy" 🎓
College dreams, old rivalries, and one very awkward pants situation — this episode has it all. "Poison Ivy" drops the glitz just a little and lets us peek behind the curtain of privilege, where ambition and pressure go hand in hand.
🎬 Episode Summary
The gang attends the Ivy Week mixer, an elite college admissions event that’s more about status than actual academics. Blair’s obsessing over Yale (shocker), Serena is trying to avoid her past, and Dan — bless him — is just trying to exist in a world that constantly reminds him he doesn't belong.
Meanwhile, Nate and his father have a painfully tense moment that honestly made me uncomfortable. There’s something about watching a young man crumble under his father’s expectations that feels way too familiar.
And then there’s Chuck. Always lurking, always pushing boundaries. That scene with the pants? Still cringey. Still gross.
💭 Personal Reflection
This episode hit differently this time.
When I was younger, I think I focused too much on the drama and the outfits. But now? Now I can’t stop thinking about the pressure. These kids are barely seventeen and already expected to have their entire futures mapped out. Perfect college, perfect career, perfect image.
It reminded me of my own high school years — how everyone pretended to have it all figured out, when most of us were just scared. We wanted to make our parents proud, to be seen as "promising," but inside, it was all confusion and comparison.
Dan’s speech about authenticity made me emotional. It was awkward, sure, but real. And in a world of curated perfection, realness is revolutionary.
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Anyone else remember how college felt like a finish line... until you crossed it? Let’s talk about it.
xoxo,
you know who
The screenshots were taken by me from the chapter, the series available on Netflix.