* The Masters of the Universe Society? Oh, indeed. I don’t even care that it’s kind of a cheap shot at nerds, or that He-Man’s a reference that people in the Gossip Girl writers’ age group are a lot more likely to make than people in the Gossip Girl characters’ age group. “The madness and genius of Skeletor. That is correct–I said genius.” Indeed. Indeed.
* Just how many cast members did Hilary Duff coincidentally bump into during the course of this episode, anyway? Small island!
* Wow, they’ve gone to the “character with a secret identity” well twice so far this season. And they’ve done it before with the British aristocrat last season, and Georgina, and that dude who grifted with Poppy. I’m starting to wonder if aliases really are this common among the upper crust.
* Still, I’m appreciating how much better they’re doing at introducing new semi-permanent cast members into the mix. Haha, remember that artist last season? Carter, Georgina, Nate’s girlfriend, the Duffster, and even Brother Scott all put that clown to shame. I feel like you could go interesting places with any of them. I still don’t understand why they haven’t made Serena’s brother into a main-main character by now, though.
* Did anyone catch what motivated Jenny to start exercising her divine right of queens at the end? Was it just because she was pissed at Blair for stepping in? At any rate it seemed pretty obvious, as it should have been to Jenny, that publicly abdicating the throne would lead to a power vacuum someone would rush to fill. She should have set herself up as a benevolent dictator all along.
* I really enjoyed watching Nate trick Dan by encouraging him to ask Duff out, then laughing about it under his breath, simply because it was new. When was the last time Nate got to do something that wasn’t an on-again off-again romance or rebelling against his family? It was just a pleasure to get to see him do something different. Chase Crawford gets the short end of the stick because Nate is pretty much just the “Not Chuck or Dan” character. I’d love to see him fleshed out some more.
* Tyra Banks? As a character? ThaFUCK? Just when I had successfully weaned myself off of America’s Next Top Model! Okay, maybe I’m just a little upset at the dropped ball that was showing her and Serena after a sleepover night and not having them wake up in bed together. Okay, maybe a lot upset.
* “So, Jenny, we’re cool with the whole sexual-assault thing now?” “Totally, Chuck. These things happen!” Part of me is still pulling for a Comedian/Silk Spectre I-style post-sexcrime romance.
* As the Missus put it: “Jesus, Serena, why even bother wearing a skirt?” Seconded!
* Chuck, and Ed Westwick, just gets more and more magnificent with each passing episode. Chuck Bass is the Sol Tigh, the Omar Little, the Al Swearengen of Gossip Girl. Amy and I will hit the little rewind button on the TiVo remote and simply rewatch him turn his head or arch his eyebrow and just laugh and laugh with delight. And holy shit, Chuck’s speech to Blair at the end was amaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaazing. What a fucking stroke of genius for Chuck, like God, to take Blair’s despair as a sin against him! Dammit, Blair Waldorf–if you can make it with Chuck Bass, you can make it anywhere!
Missed the first twenty minutes last night (DVR still on the fritz), so I’m glad you filled in the big gaps.
Surprised at how much I like Hillary Duff.
Good lord next week’s episode looks insane.
Did you see the new EW? Ausiello says there’s a threesome coming on the November 9 Gossip Girl then gives a list of possible combos saying one is the real one; Chuck/Blair/Nate is the first one listed.