TV Verdict

All hail queen Serena! Well, most hail, anyway.

This week on Gossip Girl, the trendiest place to be seen was somewhere within Fashion Week, which is to New York socialites what tilapia is to my cats. It was in this taffeta-absent environment that Jenny realized she was actually good at something, Blair discovered she’s a brat, and Serena figured out Blair was holding her back and tells her as much. Ouch. Meanwhile, Chuck confided in Dan who took some drugs and got drunk. There was more that happened, of course, but that’s without giving away any spoilers. If you want to stop now and stay pure until you see the episode yourself, that’s fine, you won’t hurt my feelings. But please, do watch. This episode is exactly what to expect when you’re watching this show. Yes, you feel dirty, but it’s a good kind of dirt.

If you’re an avid watcher of the GG, you’re probably itching for the details. Okay, I relent. Blair, already feeling Serena’s influence heightening over their friends at school, assumes that the BFFs will be watching Eleanor Waldorf’s fashion show from backstage, as it’s some tradition. However, with Serena’s new socialite friend, Popi (yes, it’s ridiculous, but quite appropriate considering), Jenny gets a brilliant idea to invite Serena and her new friend, who automatically comes with a gaggle of girls, to sit in the front row during the show. Blair is furious, especially at Jenny, and does some heinous things for revenge. Apparently, Jenny wasn’t as much going to school as she was working on fashion; she’d missed two weeks of school, and Blair dropped that bomb on Jenny’s father tout de suite.

After dismissing all the models 10 minutes before they’re to walk the runway, Blair leads Jenny into brilliant idea number two, getting the socalites to be the models. But Blair’s got one more trick; she gives Serena, now the last model to walk, the after-party dress Jenny designed and Serena just assumes it was Eleanor’s design. So, although Eleanor is furious at Jenny, initially thinking she switched the final dresses on purpose, Eleanor takes her bow; everyone loves her line, especially the last dress, which makes Jenny pretty happy. And, considering she had just told her father that she wasn’t going to go to school anymore, it was probably one of the last happy feelings she’ll have for at least the next episode.

Jenny and Blair have a moment though and agree that Serena just glides through life, whereas (this comes from Jenny) “both of us had to work for what we have.” Um, I’m not really sure how that applies to Blair, so I disagree.

Lastly, there’s Dan, who has no involvement with Fashion Week, but tries to get out of his comfort zone and write a compelling story by spending a couple of nights hanging around with Chuck Bass. After Dan punches a guy for Chuck, they land in jail and Dan hears an interesting story; Chuck thinks his father has hated him his whole life because Chuck’s mother died giving birth to him.

Oh, and one last thing, Lily’s (Serena’s mom) husband Bart (Chuck’s dad), is back from business. And apparently, the senior Bass had hired a detective to look into Lily’s past. He comes up with something quite secretive. It’s a piece of paper! Well, that’s all we know for now. More on that next week, I assume.