Chuck Bass is (kinda) back in our lives in Ed Westwick’s new Netflix show, “White Gold”
How does Netflix know exactly what we need, all the time? For example, do you have any idea how much you’ve missed Chuck Bass? Well, thanks to the TV gods, everyone’s problematic fave back. Well, sort of. Chuck Bass, er, Ed Westwick, has a new show called White Gold on Netflix, and while it is no Gossip Girl, it looks very, very binge-worthy. But be forewarned: If you were hoping for a slick, filthy rich redux of his Gossip Girl character, you might be a little disappointed. His character in this show is not a whole lot Chuck in most ways.
For starters, he has a job! Like, a real one, not just opening implausibly hip hotels in Manhattan. Instead, Westwick plays Vincent Swan, a window salesman in 1980s England in the show, which was originally on BBC Two. But he is sort of a pompous, dark jerk, so there are shades of Bass in there.
Ed Westwick is perfect for this part, actually.
Although he was born in London, in the show he has a perfect Essex accent, which might be the best part, especially since it really adds to the whole dark comedy vibe. In the first episode, the show opens with someone having keyed “wanker” into his car. He goes on to break the fourth wall and explains, in his beautifully dry way, all the different kinds of wankers.
There are sad, pathetic wankers, the annoying ones and then the kind that Westwick is playing in his show. His character explains:
"You have the show-offs, the posers, the ‘I’m better than you, f*ck everything and everyone twice’ type of wankers. I prefer the term ‘ambitious.' But, whatever the label, we’re the ones you better keep your eye on."
Yes, Netflix, we’re still watching.
Now, Gossip Girl fans shouldn’t be turned off by this whole window salesman premise. According to the show’s creator, Damon Beesley, the show is about “dodgy shenanigans, scams and petty rivalries — alongside free-flowing drugs, cash and sex.”
So *kind of* like Gossip Girl, right?
Speaking of everyone’s favorite teen soap opera, fans should absolutely queue White Gold up if they want their Chuck Bass fix, since there’s basically no hope of a reunion. (Even though we pray for one every time we hop into an Uber and pretend it’s our very own town car, whisking us off to a fundraising gala at the Met.) You can blame Westwick for not bringing back the good old days, too.
When asked about whether a Gossip Girl reunion or reboot was in the works in a radio interview, he totally shut it down, saying:
"Nah, that’s not gonna happen, I know there’s a bunch of them coming back —I hear they’re doing Will and Grace, they’ve done Gilmore Girls…But it’s such a strange thing to think about. It feels like we only just finished! And I haven’t done enough in between yet to feel like I could comfortably revisit it."
And then he really finished off our dreams by adding;
“And I did so much with that character — it’s played out, man. It’s done.”
Yeesh. Tell us how you really feel, Ed. So much for #ChuckAndBlair4Ever.
Anyway, if you want to catch a glimpse of that super dreamy villain once again, you’re going to have to watch White Gold, which is actually not a bad deal at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJsaHrrmFc8?feature=oembed
See? Totally worth it.
