This week’s Gossip Girl episode was entitled “The Grandfather, Part II”, but we really didn’t see too much of William Vanderbilt (guest star James Naughton), but his presence was heavily felt as it possessed his grandson, Nate. Plus, we got more Blair and Serena fighting and a redeeming storyline for Dan and Olivia that I actually liked!
The Politics of Ethics
It’s election day and Trip Vanderbilt’s (guest star Aaron Tveit) campaign is suffering in the polls, which is a scary notion on the day of the election. While Trip is feeling one way or another about the outcome, his family has their eyes set on a win, for their own personal reasons of course. While Trip’s wife Maureen tries to keep him optimistic, Granddad Vanderbilt lets Nate know that Serena’s revenge stunt was a huge blow to the campaign and that they need a miracle to pull up in the polls. Wink, wink…
Meanwhile, Vanessa is documenting Trip’s campaign by following his every move on the behest of Trip. Later at the docks, Nate and Trip discuss Granddad Vanderbilt’s unsavory morals to get what he wants and how Trip doesn’t want any dirty politics in his campaign, while Vanessa interviews a bystander. Then all of a sudden a guy “falls” into the pier and needs help, so Trip does the sensible thing and saves the guys life.
Pretty convenient, huh? Stay with me, though.
While Trip’s favor in the polls quadruple after the rescue, Granddad Vanderbilt couldn’t be more happier, but Nate smells something amiss and it’s not the fish crap in the pier. Meanwhile, Vanessa was the only person who got the whole rescue on tape and the top news station bought the footage from her. While she edits the footage for the evening news, Vanessa realizes she got the whole rescue all right. Including when the drownee covertly crawls into the pier without a hitch and just starts screaming like a banshee for help.
Vanessa calls Nate and lets him in on the hoax. After realizing that Vanessa is telling the truth, he asks her for the tapes, but she
had already promised them to the news station and she is not about to be involved in a scandal, period. She suggests that Nate warn Trip for the blow that’s about to be delivered to his campaign. He asks her to wait till after the polls close, but Vanessa has a deadline to meet the person in charge of the footage at the news station. As she leaves, Nate makes a call to that very person.
At the campaign party at Chuck’s new hotel, Vanessa is stopped by a woman who wonders why she gave the footage to another station. Vanessa says she gave it to the person she was supposed to, but the woman reveals that SHE is the actual news footage person. Vanessa looks to Nate who gives his best Chuck smug, but misses it by a long shot.
When Vanessa confronts Nate, he claims he had to do what he had to do and that Vanessa only wants to further her career. But Nate is no Chuck Bass, as Vanessa proves to him when she reveals that the jig is up and to watch the news, which airs the hoax at that precise moment. I mean Chuck would have covered all bases until he had a surefire home run, and Nate, buddy, you are NO CHUCK BASS, DAMMIT!!! Don’t ever insult the Bass-man like that again…
Trip immediately feels that Granddad Vanderbilt is the culprit behind the hoax and Nate agrees since Ganddad didn’t think that Trip could pull off the election on his own. When Granddad Vanderbilt declares innocence and sticks with it, Trip kicks him out of the party. Trip also declares that he will pull out the race, because his reputation is muddied by the dirt that’s been slung. Vanessa then comes in and apologizes to Nate for what happened, but voices her concern about Nate’s recent behavior. When Trip approaches the podium in the ballroom, Nate beats him to it and tells everyone how much of a hero Trip is before owning up to setting up the hoax.
Nate corrupted? HA! I would believe NBC caring about their viewers before believing Nate has a dark side and that’s saying a lot!
Trip tells Nate that he isn’t upset with him and all is well. Hell, Trip even won the election, which I think is a crock, but this is TV and we need happy endings right?
But while this is TV, this is also Gossip Girl where we will not leave the hour without scandal. Turns out that the person who really staged the hoax was actually Maureen! She reveals this to a shocked Granddad Vanderbilt, who always thought of Maureen as some docile wimp who just stood by as an ornament. Maureen tells Granddad that she finally got him out of her and Trip’s life and now Trip can be his own man with out having Granddad breathing down their backs. Plus, she makes it clear that there is nothing Granddad can do about it because his credibility is shot worse than anything that has ever came out of a VH1 Celebreality show.
Spin-off, anyone?
Blair vs. Serena Super Brawl ’09
Serena has her hands filled with K.C. threatening her job yet again if Serena doesn’t get Patrick into the Vanderbilt campaign party so that he could study for a political thriller role. Olivia tells Serena that Patrick has been wilding out when it comes to parts and that the agents have resorted to screening scripts sent to Patrick, so he won’t pick anything moronic.
After running an errand for K.C., Serena runs into Blair and Upper East Side Fight ’09 officially begins. Blair throws the first blow by telling Serena that she picked work over friends. Serena tries to make up, but Blair tells Serena that she is busy helping Chuck with Trip’s campaign event at the hotel and that she noticed that Serena wasn’t invited and “wonders” why. Serena counters that she will be there with Patrick and that Blair will be lonely, because Chuck will be too busy to tend to her. Blair then concocts trying to find a new best friend to attend the party with her.
When will this girl grow up? No, seriously. WHEN?!??!?
Blair finds that friend in a girl who has a bag that Blair is on waitlist for. The girl’s name is Bandise and she doesn’t hesitate to accept Blair’s offer to come to the party even if it sounded like a huge come on from Blair.
Serena goes to get Patrick, who is drunk off his ass and reading bad scripts that he found in the trash cans (a remake of Leaving Las Vegas with Miley Cyrus?! As if!)
When they get to the party, Serena has her hands full with Patrick, who is beyond drunk with a one-way ticket to Lindsay Lohan territory. Blair catches him peeing into a plant and tells Serena to take care of her charge before she has him kicked out. Blair also throws Brandise’s presence in Serena’s face as if the girl was a new Prada bag. Serena notices that something is up with Brandise since she immediately jumped to hang out with Blair last minute. But a drunken Patrick lets slip that Blair might’ve tried to have him thrown out the club, because he found out that Brandise is a high priced call girl.
Bingo! Ammunition for Team Serena!
After Serena confirms the truth about Brandise, she confronts Blair by saying that she had security to seek out Brandise for prostitution. The two get into it and Chuck comes in and stops the bickering. Blair throws one last blow to Serena, stating that the only whore in the room is Serena who is “dating” her client for her job. Serena promptly shoves Blair’s face into a cake.
Priceless.
Chuck demands that Serena apologize to Blair, who is only acting out because she is hurt and that Serena should have seen that from a mile away. But Serena has had it with Blair’s childlike antics and feels that she should grow up. Chuck then says that it’s in Serena’s best interest to apologize to Blair, before she will talk of their friendship in the past tense.
Chuck Bass, I am appalled. That is all.
Serena goes back to apologize, but Blair doesn’t want to hear it. She claims that Serena has changed (listing the fight with Nate, dating Carter Baizen, and getting a job as the culprits) and it has been pissing her off, so Blair calls off their friendship.
F*ck you, Blair Waldorf.
Blair finds Brandise and finds out that Brandise is in fact a call girl and used Blair to get more clients. Blair feels like the cheap suits her mother makes.
Meanwhile, Serena tries to help Patrick into the car, but he tries to come on too strong and says that he is her “client” and should do what he says. Serena sees through the thin veil and writes to K.C. that she quits onto Patrick’s handkerchief and sends Patrick to K.C.’s address, I presume. Serena spots Blair leaving the hotel, they don’t say nothing, but make eye contact that says that their road has come to an “end”.
Until sweeps that is.
Blair later tells Chuck that all she needs is him, which is a crock. And Serena? She has a night cap with Trip that can lead to more troubled waters down the future, especially how cozy the atmosphere was between the two of them.
Dan Humphrey, Bathroom Boy
Olivia made an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s show the night before, but Dan missed it and desperately wants to see it. Why he wants to enter the information age now when he has feigned ignorance of it for the past four episodes, I have no clue, but Olivia is desperate for Dan not to see the interview.
But it seems that everyone has seen the interview sans Dan and the only way he finds it is by watching it on Jenny’s computer. After seeing it, he abruptly leaves a Humphreys family game night that he and Olivia were taking part in. Olivia and Jenny realize that he saw the footage, which consisted of Olivia telling Jimmy Fallon about Dan and Olivia’s first date. Seems that during a dinner at a restaurant, Dan went to use the bathroom but came back with his shirt turned inside out. Jimmy Fallon immediately assumes that Dan is one of those people who have to get naked to use the bathroom and dubs Dan “Bathroom Boy”. Fallon also asks if Olivia was still with Dan and she says they’ve been together for exactly a month.
Olivia tries calling Dan, but doesn’t reach him until he finally picks up the phone and tells her his location. Dan had went back to the loft to prepare an anniversary dinner for their one month together, which Dan didn’t realize. So Olivia looks like the ‘dummy’ this week and Dan looks like a pretty cool ass dude. Kudos, Dan! In the end, Olivia made a reappearance on Jimmy Fallon where Fallon apologized for ragging on Dan by presenting Dan with a cake that said Happy Anniversary, which Dan and Olivia watch from TV.
Awww….
Final Thought
I totally disagreed with Chuck on Blair tonight. Blair is 19, not 9, and needs to realize that last year. All the things she listed that Serena did wrong were because Blair didn’t like them herself. Serena didn’t like Blair hooking up with Chuck, but dealt with it. Serena didn’t agree with a lot of things Blair did, but she dealt with it. Why? Because that’s what friends do, people! If this is where the show wants to take Blair’s character, they might want to reconsider it and fast, because no one can relate to someone who’s as delusional as Blair when it comes to reality.
See ya next week!
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