Gossip Girl: The Secrets of the Van der Woodsens

Wow. Was anyone expecting last episode’s finale? Gossip Girl continues to prove that it has the chops to continually surprise and excite its viewers, although Serena’s secret actually has me a little worried. The reveal definitely elicited the correct response from my friends and I when we were watching the episode (we were freaking out), but how they’re going to handle the secret is something I really hope the show gets right. The subject just seems like it could easily miss the heightened reality awesomeness the show has going for it and veer into stupid and/or lame territory, but overall the show has been pretty great, so I’m keeping my hopes up.

Maybe I’m worried because the show seems to playing things a little too fast and loose lately. Georgina winning over Dan and Vanessa so quickly is definitely pushing the limits of my ability to suspend my disbelief; Georgina must be one hell of an actress. Also, the scene where Dan tries to tell Jenny that he saw Asher cheating bothered me. I understand that Jenny was in her uber-bitch mode, but when Asher flat-out lied during the conversation Dan really didn’t see the need to just talk over everyone else and lay things out for Jenny? Even worse than those two incidents was the fact that Asher and little E not only kissed in public, but right in front of the school where Dan could conveniently see them. If Asher was really in the closet and actively didn’t want people to think he was gay (seriously, he dated Jenny for that sole reason), it makes no sense for him to make out with a dude in front of the school. That whole incident just smelled of lazy writing, which is just too bad considering the level of quality the show usually exhibits.

The last thing that bothered me (which Jace over at Televisionary was also bothered by) was how quickly the Asher storyline was over. I feel like the storyline would have been far more effective if it was divided into two episodes, with the first one dealing with Jenny learning about Asher’s sexuality and ending with the two making their deal to use each other, and the second part being Asher’s outing and Jenny’s social destruction. Anyway, I’m a little disappointed the war between Blaire and Jenny is already over, although I have a feeling Jenny’s dalliances with popularity are far from over. She seemed pretty definite about swearing off social climbing after Monday’s episode, but what if at some point next season she accidentally finds herself in a situation where she starts to become popular again? Maybe she’ll start to date a guy who drags her back into that scene (maybe even Nate?), and once she gets a taste of that lifestyle again she might not be so quick to turn away from it.

But enough of the negative. I love that Nelly Yuki is now a part of Blaire’s clique. I also loved the scene where Blaire tries to get Dan to work with her to destroy Jenny and Asher. Their relationship of simultaneous mutual disgust and respect makes for amazing scenes, and Meester and Badgley have great chemistry in their scenes together. I found myself wanting Dan to ally with Blaire just so I could watch more scenes with the two of them, but of course Dan wouldn’t want to actively work to hurt his sister. And, just to talk even more about Blaire, I am so excited to see how Blaire and Georgina wage war with one another now that Serena crumpled under the pressure of attempting to withstand Georgina one-on-one. I guess it makes sense for Blaire’s war with Jenny to be over, because its going to take everything she’s got if she wants to take down Georgina.

Overall, despite the incidents I touched upon earlier, Monday’s episode was another great installment in the Gossip Girl series. This show is continuing to prove that it is a strong contender for the title of best new show of the season, as well as just generally being one of the best shows on TV right now.