Of Masks and Minds

It was a masquerade ball all over again on Gossip Girl, with scheming aplenty and an absent Humphrey. Although, this time the fashion director was drunk and Blair and Serena decided that dirty duck feathers were the way to go. Blair got Chuck to kiss her and then got upset and Chuck kissed Blair to make her leave while both of them reveled in the moment too long for one of them to be wed so soon. The character of Crazy Charlie suffered the momentary distraction of Ivy‘s life following her and almost ran offstage but just as Serena Van Der Woodsen stole the love interest she remembered her lines and finished the scene.

We find ourselves midseason and wondering if Nate’s love affair will last, if Charlie’s cover will be blown, if Dan will ever recover from his breakdown, if Serena’s next victim is Charlie’s last, and if Miss Waldorf will really go through with the marriage. Only Gossip Girl will tell…

Mimi

YES, Brought To You By The Upper Crust

On the season premiere summer-to-fall transition episode of Gossip Girl, the word yes is as overworked as a runway show and 60% of the Upper East Side has moved to California. In the strangest twist, everyone’s new love interests have accents. Are we supposed to believe that Los Angeles and England are the same place or is one of the casting directors geographically challenged?

Blair wore some curtains and sent out wedding invitations for her syrupy new romance. Dopey Deroda took the fall for the pregnancy test and the teeming news will surely shriek like a tea kettle when she starts showing. Then again, this just might be the death of this show – Blair Spawn. We liked seeing Blair Waldorf torture girls in high school who were forced to sit lower on the steps. We don’t want to see her mommy and marry Prince Charming. Not when her alternatives are Chuck and Dan.

This episode featured the synth/techno explosion (and Electric Feel’s half-sibling) Houdini by Foster The People. Possibly three months too late, possibly right on time.

So, Dan Humphrey is silently pining for Blair’s love and attention and, oh yeah, the resurfacing of a couple con artists we don’t care about. Hmm. Sounds like Juliet all over again. Just other side plots to be brushed under the rug because Serena is wearing a giant necklace at the time.

But the one thing we have missed the most are of course Chuck Bass’ snippy one liners. Lecherous, cringe-worthy, but so fitting, here are a couple of the best:

(Regarding one of his sexual escapades) “If you hear anything crazy, it means I’m doing something right.”

“People like me don’t write books. We’re written about.”

And isn’t that the truth!

Mimi