When I read the synopsis of tonight’s Gossip Girl episode on the CW website, it went something like this (excuse my rough paraphrasing):
Chuck and Raina blah blah Thorpe Enterprises while trying to save Bass Industries blah blah. Serena and Ben blah blah blah and Dan blah blah blah. Blair takes on a challenge at W blah blah blah, and Nate and his father blah blah blah.
Um, isn’t this pretty much the exact episode as those that aired for the last two weeks? Except this time it’s Valentine’s Day, and everyone is so hyper-aware of this fact.
Honestly, I kept watching the TV intently, saying, “Come on! Gimme a quote! A little originality! A Gossip Girl blast! Anything!” But, weirdly enough, even though I was disappointed, the episode flew by. I’m sort of confused at how this happened — it was an hour of little substance, yet it was over before I knew it.
I know some of you might be asking why I review the show if I haven’t had an overwhelming amount of positive criticism for these past few weeks. Well, it’s kind of like that time in a relationship, maybe after a year and a half or so, where you are sort of bored, and nothing really exciting is happening, but because the relationship on a whole has been really good, you don’t want to break up. Yet.
Some Groundhog Day-esque occurences:
- Serena gets lied to by boy toy, then catches him in that lie, then gets ditched. Wow, this could be a record at how fast her new budding “relationship” goes south. Or … not, because they’ll make up just as fast.
- Lily hosts rich people at her home for rich-people brunch. Oh, and one of those rich guys is someone she used to sleep with.
- Serena “accidentally-on-purpose” messes with Blair in a pretend-protective way by telling Raina that Blair still has feelings for Chuck, which in turn wrecks Blair’s chances at “snagging Raina Thorpe” for the — come on already! — third W party in three weeks.
- Blair”[has] a Valentine’s Day vendetta to exact.” The fact that it’s on Serena? Even better. I’ve missed their feuds.
- Chuck wears a paisley tie.
- Dan is annoying, self-important, and for some reason, trusts Blair. And he is looking rather stuffy in his turtlenecks and wool coat. However: as is typical in this series, I go from loathing Humphrey to liking him in the same episode (see bottom for more details on this).
- Damien acts sketchy and tries to pull poor Eric into it.
- Serena goes shopping at a fancy designer store (this time it’s Ralph Lauren).
- Lily is the only one who calls Chuck “Charles,” which is a little creepy but also kinda cute.
Some standout moments:
- Blair pulls up what appears to be a Gossip Girl GPS on her work laptop, complete with oversized Chuck and Raina faces pointing her towards Serena’s apartment.
- Blair’s fist pump upon the prospect of attaining Raina for her “it-girl” profile was hilarious.
- Chuck looks HOT in this episode. And I never say that. Maybe it’s because all the other male characters look weird. Especially Nate, with those eyebrows.
- Blair and Dan have a true friend moment! Seeing the hurt on her face when Chuck pours his heart out to Raina is actually a little hearbreaking. And Dan is there to hold her hand. Yes, Blair, maybe seeing five movies with someone does mean you can pretend you don’t hate him. (Bonus: Alexi Murdoch’s “At Your Door,” which played during this scene, was worthy enough for me to look it up right away.)
- Blair watches Rosemary’s Baby and describes it as “the perfect anti-Valentine’s Day movie” to Dan while they speak on the phone. When he asks what part she’s up to, I so hoped they’d pay homage to that scene from When Harry Met Sally when Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal watch Casablanca over the phone together, and we see their screens side by side. And they did! So, if GG is using the iconic “men and women can’t be friends without sex getting in the way” movie as foreshadowing, then I’d say we’ll probably at least see a smooch by the finale. Is this something we want? Weigh in!
Next week, will we wake up to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” once again? Or will the Groundhog Day curse be over? Let’s hope it’s the latter.
Photo Credit: Giovanni Rufino / The CW Network
Some posts that may be related to this:
I think that Lily calls Chuck “Charles” is cute.
Not, you know, that I’m still watching.
Not even a little.
Not even at all.