* In this single episode alone, Serena got together with a guy, broke up with him, pretended to go out with another guy, “broke up” with him, got back together with the first guy, and got betrayed by him. In one episode! Similarly, Blair agreed to try to dupe Nate, decided against it, got snitched on, got dumped, and got back together with him. I don’t think Lost‘s entire five-season Jack-Kate-Juliet love triangle was this eventful.
* Speaking of Lost, the whole unnecessary-secret-keeping thing was taken to ridiculous new heights during that seder scene. I definitely felt Wallace Shawn’s frustration. Dan lied to his dad about working as a seder cater waiter (LOL), Lily lied to Rufus about why she brought him along, Serena lied to her mom about getting married, Serena lied to whatsisname about Dan being her boyfriend, Serena lied to Blair’s mom about why she was there…did I miss anything? And other than Serena not wanting to tell her mom about getting married, did any of it make sense? Less of that kind of ridiculousness, please.
* Wow, I did not expect them to address Chuck’s sexual assault on Jenny ever again. I really did believe it was akin to Batman shooting criminals to death in his early adventures, something that happened before the writers really had a handle on the character, which they’d chalk up to experience and simply move past. (Following that little righting-the-scales gag in season one where Jenny stranded Chuck on the roof in his underwear. Well, that takes care of that!) Bringing it up again is a very tricky thing. Obviously they still have to gloss over the severity of what occurred, and just how upset one would expect Jenny and her friends and family to rightfully still be, or the show wouldn’t work anymore. But nor can they make it some horrifying Rihanna/Chris Brown situation. What they seem to be doing is using it to help establish just how emotionally isolated Chuck is under his billionaire playboy exterior, which actually is kind of an interesting thing to do with a post-Blair Chuck, certainly more interesting than the My First Eyes Wide Shut storyline was. Now, is it just me, or did I detect some groundwork being laid for a Chuck/Jenny romance, though? Is that possible? Is Gossip Girl on some Comedian/Silk Spectre shit?
* I still feel like the show is pretty clumsy at introducing new viable non-Wallace Shawn characters. This clown Serena banged in Spain doesn’t seem to have much to offer personality-wise, and no, making him some kind of double-agent for Poppy, who is also underdeveloped, doesn’t help. Meanwhile Nate’s cousin still seems destined to disappear. I guess maybe they’ll try to do something with Jenny’s Monopoly buddy and his sister? I don’t understand why they don’t just make Eric a full-fledged cast member and build some more stories around him for crying out loud. (Admittedly I want to see some all-male make-outs on this show.)
* And hey, I didn’t realize until I wrote that last paragraph that Vanessa wasn’t even in this episode. She wasn’t missed!
* This was actually an oddly heartwarming episode of Gossip Girl, when you think about it. Serena made up with her mom. Serena made up with Gideon(?) (even if he’s a fink and a phony). Blair rejected Nate’s grandfather’s scheme. Nate seemed to have made up with his grandfather, at least a little. Blair made up with Nate. Nate made up with Chuck. (If only Nate made out with Chuck.) Blair and Serena snuggled. (See previous note.) Chuck apologized to Jenny. Rufus ended up in a pretty good place. Dorota is apparently in love (and royalty). Not even a bible-thumping Michelle Trachtenberg can take this moment away from us, friends.
I think Gideon = Gabriel, right? I like him better on Reaper.
And what’s up with Dorota? I totally missed that part.
I was surprised too when they brought up the attempted rape, but I like how it was handled. It demonstrated well where Chuck is at right now and showed off that he’s a much more complex character now than they intended him to be. I don’t see a Jenny/Chuck romance in the offing though.
Nate/Blair is terrible. At least when he was with Vanessa it lumped the boring characters together and made some sense because boring attracts boring. Blair is so dull when she’s pining for date. And Nate has only ever been interesting during his bromance with Dan.
Also, speaking from experience, I was amused at how bored everybody got at the seder before the drama broke out. They really are that tedious. Kudos, Wallace Shawn.
I’m just glad that we’ve moved along far enough in years that the go-to rape-couple example is no longer Luke Spencer and Laura Webber.