"We may not live together, but we're still a family...and we're always gonna be." |
iLove Gwen[4] is the 8th episode of Season 1 of iCarly (2021), and the 8th episode overall. It premiered on July 22, 2021.
Synopsis[]
"Carly and Millicent push Freddie and his ex-wife together after a series of misunderstandings lead them to believe the couple wants to reunite. Harper and Spencer get roped into doing tech work on Millicent's school play."
— Official Paramount+ Synopsis
Plot[]
Gwen, Millicent's mother and Freddie's ex-wife, returns home from a trip to see Millicent. Gwen and Carly act hostile to each other in the Shay Apartment, but once they are outside and away from Freddie, they hug. This reveals that they are actually close friends, only pretending to hate each other to protect Freddie's feelings.
After Millicent overhears a conversation between Freddie and Harper about him missing Gwen's specialty dish, Gwenchiladas, Millicent mistakenly believes that Freddie still has feelings for Gwen. She tells Carly, and together, they make a plan to get them back together. They re-create their first date, where they ate Ethiopian food. However, the two do not have feelings for each other and are comfortable being friends. Gwen even reveals that she has a new boyfriend named Ernie. At one point, Gwen holds Freddie's hand. Carly and Millicent, who are watching from afar, believe that the gesture is romantic and decide to bring them together through a grand soliloquy presented by Millicent in her school production of Romeo and Juliet.
During the play, while sitting in the audience with Freddie and Gwen, Carly discovers the truth. She steps on stage, in place of the child who was supposed to portray Romeo, to tell Millicent not to go ahead with the plan. Millicent is upset when she realizes that her parents are not getting back together.
After the play, Olive, who is the stage manager, informs Carly that the principal of Ridgeway would like to see her, as she ruined the play by going on stage.
Subplot[]
Millicent tricks Harper and Spencer into preparing costumes and the set for the school play. She knows how competitive they are, and tells them that they have a chance to receive a prize. Harper creates Shakespearean costumes, and Spencer builds a set made with toast. On the day of the play, they hand out flyers with a QR code which links to a survey to see whether the audience prefers the set or the costumes. Throughout the play, slices of toast fall off and Spencer is seen crawling around and re-attaching toast with peanut butter.
Guest Stars[]
Trivia[]
- On July 20, 2021, Miranda Cosgrove revealed on Instagram that one of Freddie's ex-wives would make an appearance in this episode.[5]
- The production code of this episode is 110, but it aired as the 8th episode.[1]
- Millicent's school puts on a play of Romeo and Juliet.
- iLove Gwen is the first episode of TV that Korama Danquah has ever written.[6]
- During the live tweeting session, writer Korama Danquah tweeted a number of behind the scenes trivia points.
- The VR space moment was Korama's first idea for the cold open. She then cycled through about seventeen other ideas, cried to her mom and remembered that Ali Schouten often says "First idea best idea!" in the writers' room.[7]
- The crop top worn by Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) and the cargo pants worn by Gwen (Carmela Zumbado) were designed by the costume designer, Bramli Knauf.[8]
- Gwen was almost going to be a geologist instead of marine biologist. If it had gone that way, Millicent would have had a rock collection made up of rocks that her mom brought back from work trips.[9]
- Writer Korama can't get enough of watching Nathan Kress play the love that Freddie has for Millicent. Nathan and Jaidyn also have a lot of fun goofing around together between takes.[10]
- Mrs. Decker, the drama teacher, is named after Korama's younger sister who is a big iCarly fan.[11]
- Jokes about Millicent's head are from Korama projecting her issues with her own big head. Korama made sure to tell Jaidyn that she has a lovely normal sized head.[12]
- Gwen was a filler name the writers were using in the writers' room. Once they came up with "Gwenchiladas", Korama said that they couldn't change it. Korama came up with the enchilada misunderstanding but one of the consulting producers, David Holden, was the one to say the magic word.[13]
- Writer Korama finds it fun to see Carly and Millicent team up because they're more similar than they are different.[14]
- "Michael B. Jordan? More like Michael B. Ugly" was an on-set alt pitch from Laci Mosley, who portrays Harper. The second the writers heard it, they ditched the written version.[15]
- Mary Scheer and Korama have the same pajamas. Korama found out when she wore pajamas to set for pajama day, and Mary Scheer said "I just tried those on!"[16]
- Writer Jay Mitch (who writes episode 11) wrote Millicent’s note to her parents. "Your little miracle" made the writers giggle every time.[17]
- Jerry Trainor and Laci Mosley ad-libbed their puzzle lines. Ali Schouten actually has a puzzle of them doing a puzzle.[18]
- Olive was written into this episode after seeing how great she was in iNeed Space. Every draft had more Olive than the last.[19]
- Korama loves Shakespeare and really wanted to play with the idea of a Shakespearean plot involving a misunderstanding with the backdrop of Millicent being in this scene from a very famous Shakespeare play that involves a "much higher stakes" misunderstanding.[20]
- Gwen's boyfriend, Ernie, was almost named Rod.[21]
- There are approximately two thousand pieces of toast in the Shakespeare set.[22]
- Ali Schouten came up with the idea of having Olive do an Ashlee Simpson hoe-down dance and Korama was immediately on board. It's an homage to one of Korama's favorite moments in pop culture history juxtaposed with Shakespeare gone awry. Malea Emma did the dance in one take.[23]
- Korama loves the sweet moment that Millicent gets to have with her family. She loves that in the end, even if Freddie and Gwen aren't together, Millicent gets what she ultimately wanted and already had - a loving family. Korama is still a Gweddie fan though.[24]
- Korama's headcanon is that now Mrs. Benson and Carly have regularly slumber parties.[25]
- Members of the writer's room for this episode includes Ali Schouten, Danny Fernandez, Jacques Mouledoux, Clay Lapari, Jim Armogida, Nasser Samara, Franchesca Ramsey, Kate Stayman-London, Jay Mitch, Esther Povitsky and Suzie V. Freeman.[26][27]
Allusions[]
- Harper calls Spencer Whitney, a reference to the late Whitney Houston.
Character Revelations[]
- Mrs. Benson has never been invited to a sleepover.
- Gwen is one of Freddie's ex-wives and the mother of Millicent.
- Freddie used to have a soul patch.
- Millicent's biological father is deceased.
- Carly and Gwen are actually close friends, but pretended to hate each other for Freddie.
- Mrs. Benson refers to Millicent as her granddaughter when she tells Freddie to be quiet indicating how close they are.
- Carly has been to Zanzibar with Gwen. There, she swam with turtles that ate out of her hand.
Goofs[]
Running Gags[]
- Mrs. Benson wanting a sleepover.
- Freddie talking about Gwen's Enchiladas.
- People taking advantage of Spencer and Harper's competitiveness to trick them into doing things.
- People making fun of Millicent's large head.
Series Continuity[]
- This is the second episode to start with "iLove" in it following the original's "iLove You", and the third is ILove Your Shoes from season 3.
- Marissa Benson appears for the second time in the iCarly revival, after iStart Over.
- Ridgeway Junior High School appears after being last seen in iGoodbye.
- Mrs. Benson seems to have gotten friendlier with Carly over the last 10 years, considering she was not fond of the original gang.
- Mrs. Benson's First Aid kit from iFence and iCarly Saves TV, from the original series, appears again.
- This is the fifth episode in the revival to not host a webcast.
- Gwen would return 2 years later in the season 3 episode ICreate a New Ecosystem, where Carly and Freddie are dating.
Quotes[]
Gwen: Isn't there a little thespian in here who misses her mommy? |
Related Cast Posts[]
- On July 23, 2021, Nathan tweeted "Hear ye, hear ye! Get thee to a teevee! This week we're going back to Ridgeway, kids. And lemme tell ya, we're bringing the draaaaaaaaammmaaaaaaa. Freddie's ex/Millicent's mom is back, and it's getting all Shakespearean up in hurr. Episode 108 is streaming now on @paramountplus!"
Reception[]
International Premieres[]
Platform | Premiere date | Title |
---|---|---|
Paramount+ Australia
|
TBA | iLove Gwen |
Paramount+ Canada
|
TBA | iLove Gwen |
Paramount+ France
|
December 1, 2022 | iLove Gwen |
Paramount+ Latin America
|
TBA | Quiero a Gwen (Spanish) Eu Amo Gwen (Portuguese) |
Paramount+ Nordic
|
TBA | iLove Gwen |
Paramount+ UK & Ireland
|
June 28, 2022[28] | iLove Gwen |
Gallery[]
See photos of iLove Gwen here.
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See videos of iLove Gwen here.
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