Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max
Kate Keller (Tavi Gevinson) has always been one of Gossip Girl’s more morally questionable characters. But the high school teacher-turned-Gossip Girl mastermind herself has finally reached full villain status. It took until this week’s episode, the penultimate of Season 2 of the HBO Max reboot—which found both Julien (Jordan Alexander) and Camille de Haan (Amanda Warren) waging war on Gossip Girl—to let her loose.
Things are falling apart for the members of Manhattan’s elite as we near the end of the season. Julien has alienated Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind) and Zoya (Whitney Peak) with her constant scheming; Monet (Savannah Lee Smith) has fallen from Queen Bee to persona non grata; Obie (Eli Brown) is still somehow the most boring character on television, despite conspiring to send his mother to jail; Grayson de Haan (Rick Worthy) puts out a bounty on Gossip Girl’s identity, putting an end to her posting; and the throuple’s bond is starting to break.
All this comes to a head at the annual Rhinebeck Summit, or, as Obie so eloquently puts it, “that whole bonding for billionaires thing.” It’s an event so exclusive, the de Haans can somehow add four more guests to their list at the last minute — including Kate, who sneaks her way in as Monet’s tutor, but is really there to connect with Camille; Nick Lott (Johnathan Fernandez), who is supposedly coming to deliver some very important documents; and Nick’s two plus-ones, his daughter Zoya and her half-sister Julien.