Since it takes place in New York, Gossip Girl couldn’t foego the requisite Fashion Week episode. And what a great way to admire all the pretty clothes the show has to offer. Major downside though — there is no Nate this week. Not even one brief glance at his pretty face. Sadness.
Summary:
Photo by Giovanni Rufino, courtesy of the CW.
It’s Fashion Week and Blair plans to win her friends’ attention back by seating them second row at her mom’s fashion show. BFD. Too bad that Serena’s new socialite bff Poppy Lifton has Serena all over the magazines and that’s much more interesting. Jenny, who’s secretly skipping school to help out full-time at Eleanor’s, comes up with the idea to get more PR for the show by putting Serena, Poppy and the socialite crew in the front row, unintentionally screwing over Blair. Baad idea.
Dan, still a social outcast, has apparently decided to screw his lifelong dream of going to Dartmouth and instead apply to Yale, since they “poached” Dartmouth’s English department. After being harshly criticized by an English prof/college advisor/ex-author for writing the same sugary sheltered-Brooklyn-boy stories, he decides to follow the guy’s advice and broaden his experiences by hanging out with Chuck Bass — culture shock.
Chuck takes him out for a night of drunken debauchery but the resulting story’s not enough for crazy-prof, so Dan heads back for more. He gets more than a little insight into why Chuck is the way he is and actually punches a guy to defend him, landing the two in jail. Things get sentimental when Chuck reveals that Bart hates him because his mom died in childbirth and he thinks he killed her. The opening-up stops however, when CB finds the draft of Dan’s story about him. And so ended what could have been an actual friendship.
Meanwhile, Lily is looking to buy a piece (of art) she had posed naked for in her youth. Bart buys it on the sly, but only to protect his family and not as a gift for his wife. Turns out, Bart has a “Lily’s Past Dossier” filled with all the stuff she’s done, including one secret that Lily does not want the kids to find out.
Blair goes on something of a rampage and tries to sabotage her mom’s show and Jenny, though she should really be targeting Serena. She busts Jenny for skipping school with Rufus and the Headmistress. Rufus is not amused but Jenny, reminiscent of last season, does whatever she feels like anyway. When Blair sends the models home, Jenny puts the socialites in the dresses and saves the show. Serena doesn’t want to model cause it’ll hurt Blair’s feelings, but Poppy convinces her that she needs to be herself and shine. Blair gives Serena the dress to end the show, but she gives her one of Jenny’s dresses on purpose. Luckily, things work out when people love the dress and the show is saved, Blair having realized her mistake and reconciled with Jenny.
So angry Rufus comes to take Jenny away, where she reveals she’s not going back to school and plans on pursuing her fashion dreams. Blair tries to apologize to Serena and explain how she was just hurt that she had abandoned her for Poppy, but Serena switches to bitch-mode and pretty much says she’s the shit and isn’t planning on hiding it anymore. And Blair can deal with that or deal with that.
Thoughts:
- Seriously, Dan applying to Yale now? As in Blair’s dream school? And next week’s preview showed Serena showing up at some Yale-related event. How much is Yale paying for all the publicity?
- Who names their kid Poppy? (No offense to any Poppys…Poppies?)
- There’s major Chuck character-development. His dad thinks he killed his mom. You can’t help but love the poor guy since he doesn’t get any love at home. Although the wounded, whisper voice got old after a while. Also, he wears ascots??
- Drunk Dan was interesting — “my feet are hot.” Can’t say I’ve ever felt that, but you go Dan. Also, he punches a lot more than you’d think the artsy, sensitive kid would. Brooklyn for the win!
- Why is Rufus always bringing Jenny down? Parents. Oh and Dan lands himself in jail and gets nothing. I sense blatant favoritism.
- I wish I had profs like Dan’s who would bust me out of jail.
- Serena is unnecessarily mean at the end. “I’m going to be who I am.” Um, a bitch? Way to be fake all first season then.
Quotes (three this week for extra fun):
- Chuck: “It’s not my fault your girlfriend dresses like a high-class call girl.”
- Prof: “Brooklyn kid sees a hooker for the first time. Loses his shoes. There’s so much saccharine in this, it’s giving me cancer.”
- Me: “It’s completely unrealistic that random socialites would be capable of modeling on a runway.” Friend 1: “…Yes, that’s what’s completely unrealistic about this situation.”
Next Week:
I should say two weeks from now, since we have to wait that long. Very college-focused episode. Blair’s excited to visit Yale, but oh look, Serena’s there too. To summarize: Ivy-League shenanigans.