This week’s episode of Gossip Girl contains all the juicy tidbits we love and some we didn’t know we’d love. Chuck was, of course, scheming to get back with Blair. He offers his help to put her back in her Queen Bee seat but she rebuffs. It is, after all, fashion week and Blair has invites for all the girls to her mother’s show. Serena doesn’t get an invite but she’ll be backstage with Blair as per their long-standing tradition. So for all of thirty seconds the girls adore Blair again, until they see Serena looking lovely in Women’s Wear Daily with her new friend, socialite Poppy Lifton. Cue Blair’s bubbling temper tantrum.
Meanwhile, Jenny’s become the go-to girl at Eleanor’s studio. She’s hemming dresses for the show and coming up with genius ways to get more press for the show. Her first brilliant idea? Get Serena to invite Poppy and all of her “It” girl friends to sit front row at their show instead of attending Marc Jacobs’, which happens to be at the same time. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with the recently dethroned queen, who originally created the seating chart. But Eleanor’s happy and Jenny sees the light shining bright from her future. Then she sees that look in Blair’s eyes. Something tells me this won’t end well for the reformed Little J.
Blair had some payback planned, alright. And we know when Blair does payback, she goes straight for the heart. Where else would she go than to talk to Rufus and make sure that Jenny’s okay. Because, as she informed dear old Daddy Humphrey, Little J hasn’t been in school for 10 days. Guess he’s not too happy to hear his youngest child is choosing fashion over education because he marches straight to Eleanor’s and drags J out. I mean, what’s a dad to do? He sets up an apology appointment with the headmistress so Jenny can grovel her way back into the uber-posh school. Guess it doesn’t go that well since there’s a message on the machine from said headmistress for Rufus, sounding quite urgent. Too bad Jenny’s off to pursue her dream.
And as soon as she arrives at Eleanor’s show there’s drama. What? You didn’t think just tattling to Jenny’s daddy would suffice, did you? Blair started small by switching Serena’s seat to the back row but that was easily fixed and Serena was up front again. Since that little bit didn’t damage Jenny enough, or Serena for that matter, Blair turned a little more vicious. Turns out our Little J was in charge of getting the models ready for the runway. But they all seem to have vanished. I guess some one, perhaps a deceitful little brunette with a penchant for headbands, told them they could leave. Now who will walk down the runway in Eleanor’s fabulous new designs? Think…think harder. Now imagine you’re Jenny and when you look into the waiting audience you see a sea of beautiful socialites. I guess Jenny’s brilliant streak didn’t end at one.
All the ‘models’ are ready and J is smiling. That only means one thing: Blair’s final strike has to be big. She grabs Jenny’s dress for the after-party and gives it to Serena saying it’s the finale dress. The girls are gorgeous. The designs are gorgeous. And the finale dress? It’s absolutely perfect. Everyone says so, except for Eleanor, who didn’t design that finale dress. Blair is a sneaky one. If only she would use her powers for good. Wait, who are we kidding? We wouldn’t love her nearly as much if she did that.
Once Little J sees the dress on Serena, she finally confronts Blair. Only, when she does, she sees Blair staring at the end of the runway where Serena is basking in the glow of a thousand light bulbs. Showing her true character, J explains to Blair that she actually has to work for what she has which is exactly why Jenny wanted to Blair’s friend last year. She wanted to be Blair’s friend. Has anyone ever said that to Blair? Guess not because the next gesture is perhaps one of the nicest we’ve seen from this former queen. Just as Eleanor is about to fire Jenny for purposely sneaking her design on the runway, Blair steps in and saves Little J. Huh. I guess I do love her just as much if she uses her powers for good.
Too bad everyone doesn’t see that side of Blair. Serena hashes it out with her old BFF after those little socialite birds whisper that Blair doesn’t let Serena be herself. And Serena believes she’s been covering her own shining star in order not to tarnish the shine of Blair’s. And she’s sick of it. She has a right to be just as sparkly as she wants and it’s just too damn bad if Blair’s too insecure to handle it. Hmm. Just like I said, the Serena’s rising and she’s off to a good start posing for photogs before hopping into a limo with her new BFF and loudest bird, Poppy.
But before you think you’ve got all the gossip for this week, let’s not forget our favorite boys. Dan’s turned his sights to Yale since he burned his bridges at Brown. But don’t fret because he’s under the tutelage of a Pulitzer Prize winner. The first tip he gets: become more interesting and live dangerously. I guess people get sick of reading stories about a sheltered kid from Brooklyn who has girl troubles. So, per his mentor’s advice, Dan finds the least likeliest party companion (Chuck) and tags along with him for a night. Instead of a night to remember, though, he just gets a story about a sheltered kid from Brooklyn who hangs out with a deviant, loses his shoes, and sees his first hooker. Yeah, trust me, the story is just as boring as the actual happenings of the night. And that’s exactly what his mentor says. In fact, he says to write from the friend’s point of view, to find his humanity.
As difficult as it is to imagine Chuck has any humanity, Dan does indeed set out to find it. He shows up at the bar Chuck frequents just in time to hear Bart ignoring his only son once again. I guess there’s some damage that might actually cause Chuck’s behavior, if not excuse it. Dan believes this, too, because just as Chuck is about to get knocked out by the boyfriend of a woman he thought was a prostitute, he stands up and punches the guy. And they both end up in jail. On the bright side, there’s no where like jail to make a guy open up. Turns out Bart treats Chuck so badly because Chuck’s mom died during childbirth and both daddy and son blame Chuck. So now we know Chuck’s deep dark secret. And more than that, he actually shakes Dan’s hand when he’s released. I love Chuck.
Unfortunately, this new friendship won’t last. The guards mistakenly give Chuck Dan’s belongings and he sees the old story with notes all over it to find out Chuck’s secret. Guess Dan better watch his back. But we know Dan better than that and he tells his mentor that if he has to exploit people to be a great writer, maybe he isn’t meant to be a great writer. So sweet I might go into shock.
So the boys and girls are all in turmoil and who knows who to trust. I know I’m getting all dizzy just trying to think about it. But you know what? Dizzy makes for one great ride.
