The Return of Gossip Girl: "The Rise of Elanor, Lilly's Antics, and a Multi Racial Upper East Side"

Tuesday January 25, 2011

Who else has has had that empty feeling the last several Monday nights? It's as if something has been missing, a void in the beginning of the work week, that only Chuck Bass, Serena, Blaire and the Upper East Side Crew could fill.  Well finally, yesterday, Monday nights returned to "normal" and it was back to "brain candy," as Barbara calls it.  Mindless, easy to watch TV.

In December, Gossip Girl ended with Lilly channeling the devil after Serena found out she put Ben, an innocent man in jail, only to dodge roomers that she had an affair with him.  All the while Lily was then inadvertently responsible for the downfall attempt of Serena-which ended with her in rehab- due to Juliette trying to get revenge on Serena because of Ben.  Lily is at the same time paying Juliette off for keeping quiet, and then goes behind Chuck's back to arrange the sale of Bass Industries- the Empire Hotel.

Monday's episode beings with the viewers thinking that Lily has turned pure evil.  She lies so easily when saying, "I don't want your father's legacy to die."  And then Eric finds out the Judge from Ben's case was put up in a hotel by Lily.  By the way at the end of the episode when Lily mentions to Rufus the sexual past the two share, are we to assume that she bribed the Judge with herself and not just her money.  It's almost as if the writers left it up to interpretation for us to believe whatever we want to believe.  By the end of the hour, the supposed buyer that was going to do the right thing with Bass Industries bales due to the families bickering.  Thorpe- a name that just sounds like a bad guy- is of course the one that reports the squabbles for his own best interest, so that he can do exactly what he tells Chuck at the beginning of the cocktail party in honor of Bass Industries Sale (weird within itself).  Did anyone else find it odd that it's season 4 before they introduce non white potential main characters onto the show.  No Blaire's minion doesn't count, and actually I'm not even sure what race she is anyways.  Now don't get me wrong, I have friends from all sorts of ethnicities, but the introduction of the Thorpe daughter father duo seemed a little forced as if the CW was told your show can't be all white rich kids.  They already added the token gay character, Eric, and now it was time to make the cast multi racial.

Who else loved that Elanor is an even bigger and better schemer then Blaire? When Blaire finally got into Indrid's hotel room or condo, the note on the mannequin from the mother proving victory was priceless!  I felt bad for Elanor that Blaire was so anti- Waldorf.  However the last scene they shared of the episode where Blaire's heart softens, and yes she does have a heart sometimes, was such a CW moment but I loved the cheesiness! As they pick out Blaire's future career as an editor for a top fashion magazine, it's almost as if they both think it will be as easy as buying a pair of Loubitons at Barneys.  However, if we've learned anything about Blaire in these four seasons, we know she gets what she wants, which is why the previews of her at W magazine the next episode with an internship are not at all surprising.  Dan being there too is a little more... What a moron for skipping that interview at the begininng of the episode, waiting for Serena! What a dumb move Lonely Boy! When will he learn that Serena only cares about herself and after all it's his step sister!  Don''t get me wrong, I do love Serena- but not to date!  Now what about Blaire and Dan? December's episode ended with some foreshadowing of a potential romance between the unlikely pair and then there's reference to the movie they went to over break and then they are off to see another movie.  Could the two have possibly hooked up?  Maybe the unlikely actually makes sense- they are both such intellects and maybe Dan needs a powerful woman like Blaire to take charge... and give him fashion advice.

A few other things I wanted to point out:
-Did anyone else hate Lily's silver moon suit looking dress? I thought it was fugly and unflattering.
-Does Nate's dad really think he's too cool for school? A middle aged out of shape guy that just got out of jail thinks he can pick up hot bodies running through Central Park?  Interesting at the end that he is toasting with Thorpe.  I smell trouble.
-Even though it was not directly Serena's fault that Ben went to jail, does she really have such magical man power that two minutes of out of jail, he went to go hang out with the girl that he was serving time for due to a crime he never commited.  Or could it be that for all those years he's thought about her and after wasting part of his young adulthood in a cell over a girl he didn't let himself have, that now is ready to have her in every room of the house?
-Did anyone miss Juliette?  What about Vanessa?  Jenny?


xoxo,
Gossip Girl