I have to say that this episode really annoyed me in a lot of ways, and I also thought it was a major snooze fest for the most part. The thing that pissed me off the most about this episode was definitely the way Serena acted in this episode, because she was jealous of Blair and her relationship with Louis. It was pretty low of her to send copies of embarrassing posts about Blair from the Gossip Girl to Louis’ mother to make her look bad when she knew that Blair was having a really hard time winning Louis’ mother over. Blair really was right all those times throughout the course of series where she has said that Serena can’t handle not being in the spotlight. I don’t think Serena has the right to be jealous of Blair in this situation. In the end, I’m glad Serena’s antics didn’t drive Louis away and he still proposed to Blair despite his mother’s disapproval. I’m also glad that Blair didn’t let Serena off the hook for her behavior. Sometimes I think the characters on the show act like Serena is supposed to be God’s gift to the world, which really annoys me whenever that happens.
Chuck also really pissed me off with how he tried to meddle in Raina’s efforts to find out what happened to her mother, and I hate that he tried to sabotage Blair’s relationship with Louis and that he ruined Louis’s party by showing up drunk and trying to propose to Blair. Chuck just flat-out annoyed me all through the episode by basically spending the whole episode drunk throwing a pity party over the fact that Blair is dating Louis. After all, he basically drove Blair away all on his own.
When I’ve talked about not being a Chair shipper anymore given what happens between at the end of the season, this is the episode that made me stopped shipping their relationship. The scene between them at the end of the episode where Chuck is telling Blair that she can’t marry Louis because she’s “his” and ends up punching his fist through a window, causing shards of glass is scratch Blair’s face is extremely disturbing. I still can’t believe the writers actually rationalized Chuck’s behavior in this episode by saying that Blair wasn’t afraid of him and said that they still consider Chuck to be the romantic lead of the show. Chuck’s treatment of Blair is very abusive, and it’s not even remotely healthy. I don’t think he genuinely loves Blair anymore, I think he simply wants to “own” and control her like she’s some kind of object. I’m so glad that Blair kicked Chuck to the curb and ran away from him and that Nate turned his back on Chuck and chose his relationship with Raina over Chuck, even though I’m not all that crazy about Raina as a character.
In terms of what I did like about this episode, Blair’s storyline with her trying to impress Louis’ mother by learning a bunch of historical details about France with Dorota’s help was definitely one of my favorite things about this episode. I thought the part where Dorota was using flashcards to help Blair learn everything she needed to know was hilarious. I loved all of the scenes between Blair and Dorota in this episode though.
The other thing that I liked about this episode was Dan’s storyline with him spending a lot of time with Charlie and realizing that she likes him and wants them to be more than friends after she kisses him on the cheek was definitely my favorite thing about this episode. I also love that he basically admitted that he does having feelings for Blair, but he’s trying to get over them, which is why he doesn’t want to date Charlie right now.
The more I see of the character Charlie, the more I like her, especially after this episode. Charlie is definitely a much more complex character than meets the eye. Vanessa finally served a purpose and kind of had a storyline in this episode. After she finds Charlie reading a self-help book about to go from being friends with someone to dating them, she gives her advice about how to win Dan over, because she tells Charlie that she’s received a scholarship to study abroad and will be leaving New York soon. Before she leaves she wants to know that Dan is with someone other than Serena or Blair.
Part of the advice that Vanessa gave Charlie to win Dan over was to keep things low-key for a party that she had offered to plan for Rufus who was meeting with some executives in the music industry who were interested in working with him. Instead, she did the exact opposite and planned an over-the-top extravagant party that would alienate the record executives. When Rufus saw the party that she had planned, he quickly improvised and made other plans for his meeting with the music executives. Charlie acted all upset saying that she had ruined Rufus’ party when Dan went to comfort her and acted like it had all been Vanessa’s idea to have a big, extravagant party, therefore turning Dan even more against Vanessa than he already is.
I thought that Kaylee DeFer did a really great job in the scene where Charlie told Vanessa that she had planned an over-the-top party and told Dan it was all her idea to do that because she had learned from reading Gossip Girl that Dan likes rescuing a damsel in distress. This episode really showed Kaylee’s range as an actress from acting really dorky with Dan when they were talking about his college classes that she had gone to with him, to pretending to be all upset about ruining Rufus’ party to acting slightly psychotic in the scene where she thanked Vanessa for helping her with Dan by giving her the chance to act like a damsel in distress with him. I’m so glad that the producers decided to make Kaylee DeFer a series regular for season five. Charlie is such a great character.
All in all, other than Blair’s storyline with Louis and his mother and Dan’s storyline with Charlie, I found this episode to be extremely frustrating. Serena annoyed the hell out of me with the way she interfered in Blair’s attempts to impress Louis’ mother. Her jealousy seemed rather out of the blue and was very confusing as to what had caused her suddenly to become jealous of Blair and her relationship with Louis. Perhaps it was because she was on some level upset about finding out about Dan and Blair’s friendship. I think the writers should have made Serena’s reason for suddenly becoming jealous of Blair a bit clearer. Although, I guess I should be thankful that her storyline in this episode didn’t revolve around her love life for the trillionth time. Nate’s storyline with Raina was rather boring for my taste. Also, I truly don’t feel one bit sympathetic for Chuck, so him sulking around drunk the whole episode simply because he’s depressed about Blair dating Louis was just annoying. The only saving graces of this episode really were Blair’s storyline and Dan’s storyline.
That being said, I give this episode a rating of a C.
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