Warning! SPOILERS about Gossip Girl season 2 episodes 1 & 2 ahead.The Gossip Girl reboot season 2 started with Monet as a considerable threat to the Constance Billard school's balance, but despite everything she may try to achieve, she is no match for the original Gossip Girl infamous villain Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg). Although Monet de Haan's (Savannah Lee Smith) attempts to steal Julien Calloway's (Jordan Alexander) thunder and place were already introduced in Gossip Girl season 1, she only managed to garner her fellow students' attention in Gossip Girl season 2. Still, as much Monet may try to rule Constance Billard and St. Jude's schools and come up on top, she hasn't proved to be a Georgina Sparks-level threat.
Many villain-like figures appeared in the original Gossip Girl throughout its six seasons, but none caused as much damage as Georgina. While most villains aimed to further their agendas, Georgina brought chaos and lasting harm, something absent from the Gossip Girl reboot, which should be meaner not to be deemed a failure compared to the original Gossip Girl. While the rise of Monet de Haan as the student at the top of Constance Billard's hierarchy in the Gossip Girl reboot season 2, episode 2 might point to her disrupting things just like Georgina did, that isn't the case, and the reason can be found in Monet's motive.
Monet May Be Julien's Foe — But She's No Georgina
Monet's development as Julien's antagonist started in the Gossip Girl reboot season 1 when she and Luna wanted Julien to focus on her influencer career because it's beneficial to their future careers as Julien's social media managers. While Gossip Girl season 2 episodes 1 and 2 openly established Monet as Julien's foe and even someone who's winning at trying to take her down, she never showed Georgina's tendency to bask in chaos. Instead, Monet's goals involve dethroning queen bee Julien as the protagonist in the Gossip Girl reboot rather than attacking all of Julien's friends, proving that she isn't as dangerous as Georgina was in the original Gossip Girl.
Whenever Georgina appeared in Manhattan in Gossip Girl, chaos followed. Whether she helped the main group of protagonists or wanted to take them down, heads would have surely fallen if Georgina had been involved in any plot to bring someone down. Georgina also indiscriminately hurt anybody if it suited her, like when she convinced Dan that she was pregnant with his child in Gossip Girl season 3 or when she first appeared in season 1 and blackmailed Serena into keeping her party girl lifestyle. Monet might succeed in bringing Julien down in the Gossip Girl reboot, but she never proved to be able to bring chaos as Georgina did.
Monet Wants To Replace Julien & Not Disrupt Constance Billard's Order
Among the Gossip Girl reboot's characters, Monet was always depicted as the most likely to turn on Julien and her friends because of her opportunism. Indeed, Monet's success in making Constance Billard's students return to formal wear and fall in line might paint her as a villain, but her goals were always focused on amassing power and taking Julien's place. Contrarily, Georgina oozed power and didn't need to show it, using it all to bring other people down, while a big point Monet made was needing to be in the spotlight.
Monet started the debutante ball brawl of the Gossip Girl reboot season 2, episode 1 because she faulted Julien for overshadowing her when all she wanted was to be in the spotlight. This proves that while Monet might be a threat to Julien, her goals aren't as villainous as Georgina's. Unfortunately, a formidable foe able to bring anyone down like Georgina still hasn't appeared in the Gossip Girl reboot, not fixing the original's mistakes and also hindering its chances of replicating what made the original Gossip Girl great.
