I have to say that I absolutely loved this episode, and there was actually very little that I didn’t like about it. One of the things that I liked the most about this episode is that it focused a lot on the aftermath of the kiss between Dan and Blair in the previous episode. I love the fact that Blair basically couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed after kissing Dan. I thought that was pretty funny, especially given all of Dorota’s attempts to get Blair out of bed.
At the same time, I think Blair was really shaken up by the kiss because on some level she realized that she has feelings for Dan, but she’s having a hard time facing the truth about her feelings. Blair wasn’t the only one who was shaken up and confused by the kiss though. Dan was confused too. When he confided in Eric about the kiss, he told him that it was weird, but he couldn’t decide if it was weird in a good way or weird in a bad way. I’m pretty sure that Dan and Blair both have feelings for each other, but they just don’t want to admit it.
Eventually, Blair finally got out of bed after Epperly called her, asking her to come help with a modern royalty photo book that everyone was a part of, which ended up being Chuck’s doing, because he was determined to prove to Blair that they could mold their plans for their lives together as a couple.
After Chuck discovered that Blair had a “life changing” kiss with a guy, he confronted Dan about Blair’s change in behavior, because he was hoping that he could help him figure out what was going on with Blair. I’m glad that Dan told Chuck that if Blair’s happy, then he should leave her alone and just let her be happy. I think that Dan is the only one who genuinely cares about Blair now. I think Chuck just wants to have her as his “possession”, and I also think Dan made an excellent point when he told Chuck that when he and Blair were together they were always wrapped up in take downs and schemes, but when she wasn’t with him she acted a lot more mature and a lot happier, which I think is very true.
After his conversation with Dan, Chuck realized that Dan was the guy that Blair had kissed and asked Epperly for another favor, which was basically a plan to humiliate Dan in front of Blair. He asked her to tell Dan that they wanted Dan to have his picture taken for an up and comer section. Dan was confused about it, but he did seem kind of excited about it until he realized that there wasn’t an up and comer section and Chuck just had Epperly do that to make him, as well as Blair, think that he wasn’t good enough for her. I’m so glad that Chuck’s plan backfired on him and that Blair stood up for Dan. I have to say that I didn’t feel one bit sorry for Chuck when he ended up getting his picture taken by himself after Blair rejected him. Chuck definitely doesn’t deserve Blair, and I’m saying that as former Chair shipper.
I really couldn’t be more over Chuck and Blair as a couple if I tried, so I was really glad when Prince Louis Grimaldi showed up at the end of the episode having just arrived in New York City holding the shoe that Blair gave him at the beginning of the season. He’s not my favorite of all the guys that Blair has had for a boyfriend throughout the course of the series, but Louis is definitely a 1,000X better for Blair than Chuck is, because he seemed to really care about her when they were dating at the beginning of the season.
Also, I can’t say this enough: I’m so sick of Chuck talking about wanting to preserve his father’s legacy and creating his own legacy in every single episode. I also wish Chuck would wear something other than expensive business suits in every episode. I think if someone were to make a drinking game when they watched an episode of Gossip Girl where they drink a shot a shot of tequila every time Chuck mentioned protecting his father’s legacy or creating his own legacy, they would have to be rushed to the hospital to be treated for alcohol poisoning before the episode was over.
While all of that was going on, Serena and her family were dealing with a lot of family drama with Lily having confessed to forging Serena’s signature on the affidavit that sent Ben to prison for several years, she’s facing jail time and was trying to take her mind off of it that by getting ready for having their family picture taken for the modern royalty book. Serena and Eric’s father, William, came to town for the picture and to be there for the family while they deal with Lily facing possible jail time, which led to a lot of tension between him and Rufus due to him basically giving Lily “fake cancer” in season three as a way to reconnect with Serena and Eric. That really was pretty messed up. I don’t blame Rufus for being kind of hostile towards William.
Lily’s mother, Celia, as well as Lily’s sister, Carol, and Carol’s daughter, Charlie, also came to town to be a part of the picture, but they soon learned that the people in charge of the modern royalty book didn’t want their family to be a part of the picture anymore due to all of Lily’s legal problems. Lily was devastated about not getting to be a part of the modern royalty book. William managed to get their family back in the book, but they only wanted William, Serena and Eric to be in the picture, which led Rufus to be even more upset. I don’t blame Rufus for being mad about that as well, and I’m glad that Rufus pointed out to William that he seemed to be doing that to try and make himself look like he was a good father who cared about his family to the public when in truth he’s basically been an absentee father to Serena and Eric. Rufus has definitely been more of a father to Serena and Eric than William has been ever since he married Lily, and even before then when they were simply all living together as a family.
I have to say that I really liked Lily’s sister, Carol. I love how laid back she was compared to the rest of the family who are very reserved. I thought that Sheila Kelley did a great job of playing Carol, and I really enjoyed the scenes between Lily and Carol.
In terms of why I liked Serena in this episode when I usually can’t stand her is that for once her storyline didn’t involve her love life, instead Serena’s storyline dealt with her family drama and spending time with her cousin, Charlie, or at least a girl she thinks is her cousin. I’ll talk more about that in my thoughts post for the season four finale, which is the episode where they reveal a twist about Charlie. Right off the bat, I have to say that I really liked Charlie. I think that Kaylee DeFer plays the role very well, and I find the character very intriguing.
I have to say that I thought the way Carol reacted when she saw that Serena had bought Charlie a bunch of clothes was absolutely ridiculous. I don’t see how Serena buying Charlie some expensive clothes would corrupt her like she told Lily and Serena. I also thought that it was pretty ridiculous when Carol made Charlie give her the necklace that was family heirloom, which Serena had just given her. What was that about? Shrugs.
Initially, Charlie acted like her mom was right to tell her to return all of the clothes and her the necklace, but things got really interesting with Carol after Serena overheard Celia telling Carol that since she’s financially supporting her and Charlie that she expected them to stay for the picture. I’m glad that Serena told Lily that Celia had been giving Carol money every month for her and Charlie. Personally, I loved Lily’s reaction to finding out about Carol’s hypocrisy, taking money from her mother when she had been so vocal about wanting to raise Charlie away from her family and the Upper East Side. In the end, I kind of felt sorry for Carol when she told Lily that while she had been very determined to live a life outside the Upper East Side, she felt like she had no choice to swallow her pride and ask her mom for money after she found out that she was pregnant with Charlie and was apparently living in her car at the time.
I was very intrigued when Carol told Lily and Rufus to watch Charlie closely for any unusual behavior after Charlie decided that she wanted to stay with Serena and her family for a while. I think she might be bipolar or have some other mental/chemical condition that requires medication to treat it based on what Carol said and what Charlie does in later episodes, but I’m not completely sure.
Back to Serena, I wish they would give her more storylines like the one she had in this episode, because, like Nate, I find her family drama a lot more interesting than all of the storylines that she usually has, which almost always deal with her love life in some way.
The only thing that I truly didn’t like about this episode was Nate’s storyline. It actually didn’t really feel like his storyline, because it was mostly Nate spending time with Raina Thorpe as she dealt with learning about all of the lies that his father had told her about her mother over the years. Since Raina is just a guest star character, I hated that the writers basically used Nate as a prop for Raina to have a storyline in this episode. Also, Vanessa seemed rather pointless in this episode too, because she was basically in the episode as one of the photographers for the modern royalty photo shoot. She might as well have been a random guest star. Everything with Nate, Raina and Vanessa just seemed extremely extraneous to me, but at least they didn’t focus on the Nate and Raina storyline very much at all.
In the end, Serena and her family decided to have their own family picture taken with the whole family in it, even though they weren’t going to be in the modern royalty photo shoot. Just as they were getting ready to take the picture, the phone started ringing with Lily’s lawyer calling to talk about her case, but she told them to ignore it so they could just enjoy the moment. I liked the scene, but it also reminded me of how weird their family dynamic is given the fact that Lily is Chuck’s legal guardian now that Bart is dead, but she’s married to Rufus, and Dan and Serena used to date, but they are stepsiblings now. Boy, their family sure is complicated.
All in all, I really did enjoy this episode for the most part. Chuck really did piss me off with what he did to try and humiliate Dan in front of Blair though, but I loved everything else that had to do with the aftermath of Dan and Blair’s kiss. Like I said, I also loved everything with Serena and her family drama. I really could have done without the Nate and Raina storyline, as well as Vanessa’s rather pointless screen time. That being said, I give this episode a rating of an A-.
No comments :
Post a Comment