Gossip Girl: 1-4 “Bad News Blair” Review

After seeing ad after ad about Gossip Girl, my daughter and I decided to give it a try. It is based on a book series about a group of privileged teenagers’ lives as they attend an elite private school in New York City.

Anyway I thought it'd be fun to do a review of the latest episode on my blog.

The episode starts as Blair steps out of a cab all dressed up. She sees Serena in a restaurant having a great time. She tries to enter the restaurant only to be told that she’s not on the list. She argues that she is on the list and this is her dream… She wakes up and heads downstairs.

She finds her mom, Eleanor, and Serena talking and laughing. How odd is it that her mom doesn’t wake her up when her friend shows up? No wonder Blair’s subconscious is acting up. Her mom tells her that Bengals is interested in carrying her line of clothes. Eleanor continues to gush over Serena but tells Blair to watch what she eats. Blair points out that she’s lost two pounds. Her mother praises her. What is wrong with this picture? Blair certainly does not need to lose any weight.

Chuck and Nate are getting ready for the Lost Weekend. I guess it’s a weekend of debauchery before they start school. Chuck hides his expensive objects (his Babe Ruth signed baseball and his watch) in a drawer and hides the key before the party. Carter Basil crashes the party. It appears Carter was a senior when Chuck and Nate were in eighth grade. He traded his trust fund for a fanny pack. Chuck is definitely unimpressed with Carter while Nate is lapping up everything Carter says.

Blair and Serena are walking down the street when two guys ogle them. Blair remarks that she’d forgotten how random guys react to Serena (ahh! Lana!). Serena tries to downplay the guys’ obvious interest in her. Blair admits she believes her mom likes Serena better than her. Serena disagrees but concedes that Blair’s mom has a hard time expressing her feelings toward her daughter. Blair comes across as very insecure and maybe a bit jealous of Serena. On the other hand, Serena appears to be trying too hard to please Blair. So far, I don’t see how this is a healthy friendship.

Blair leaves momentarily and Serena spots Dan across the street. They chit-chat and Serena tries to set up a date with him. Blair returns; she makes a snarky remark at Dan and leaves (ahh! Lois!). Dan doesn’t understand why Serena is with the girl who told the entire school and important faculty members that Serena had a drug problem. Serena cheerily explains that they are working at being friends again. Serena is coming across as being all kinds of fake.

Back at the Lost Weekend, Carter is extolling the virtues of going without material things. Chuck points out that Carter invented Lost Weekend and says that as much as he loves the speech about material things from a guy with that much product in his hair, this party is for excess not talking. Hmm, it is strange that a guy who foregoes material stuff uses hair products. Nate opts to stay to talk to Carter. Chuck leaves with a girl on each arm. Carter tells Nate that he should come to a high stakes card game. Nate looks interested.

Blair and Serena go to see Eleanor’s new fashion line. Eleanor is bemoaning the fact that they don’t have a model to represent the line. She wants to find a model worthy of the clothes. After more discussion, she offers the photo shoot to her daughter. Serena enthusiastically accepts for Blair. Serena is obviously trying to prove that Eleanor loves Blair more. She is definitely trying to hard. Gossip girl notes that the spotlight is finally on B. and S helped her get it - miracles can happen.

Back at Blair’s house, Blair, Serena and two of Blair’s friends discuss the photo-shoot. The girls get in front of a mirror for pointless posing. Serena tries to show the others how it’s done. If this scene is supposed to show off Serena’s superior modeling ability, it falls flat.

Dan calls bringing an end to the posing (thank goodness!) and Blair grabs the phone. She tries to get Dan to hang up but he listens patiently through her insults. Serena grabs the phone and apologizes. Why is Serena trying so hard to be friends with Blair when Blair doesn’t even respect her (Serena) friends? On the other hand, Serena did sleep with Nate. Anyway, Dan and Serena agree to a date.

Cut to Rufus’ art gallery. He shows a painting to a buyer – a very pretty buyer who looks like Joan Collins. She says she needs to talk to her client. He responds that he’ll keep the gallery open as long as she requires.

Chuck, Nate, and a bunch of guys stumble out of a limo dressed in the nicest athletic wear – ready to play a game of basket ball. Carter shows up but Chuck makes it clear he’s not welcome. Carter leaves. The animosity between Chuck and Carter is strange. I wonder what happened, if anything, to make Chuck dislike Carter so much. On the other hand, Chuck is shallow enough that Carter’s rejection of his rich lifestyle is enough to turn him against Carter.

At the photo-shoot Blair is posing for the camera. The photographer complains that the shoot is not working with this model; he wants her to loosen up. If wild and carefree is the look he’s going for why put Blair in a conservative dress, black gloves with her hair pulled tight in a 1950’s do? Serena overhears the photographer and attempts to get Blair to loosen up. This scene is even more ridiculous than the posing in front of the mirror scene.

Serena looks at the time and says she’s going to meet Dan. Blair does the disappointed, hurt face and guilts Serena into staying. Serena calls Dan, who’s standing in line for movie tickets, to break the date.

At the gallery, the buyer tells Rufus to draw up an invoice; her client wants to buy the painting. Sexual innuendo abounds as the buyer asks if this is his first time – sale that is. He says that it’s the artist’s first sale. The buyer asks Rufus out for a drink – he declines admitting that the artist is his wife although he and his wife are not living together. Joan-Collins-look-alike gives him her card in case he changes his mind.

At a nightclub, the Lost Weekend continues as the boys stumble out of another limo ready to party. Nate has a sour face. He and Chuck argue about Carter. Chuck asserts that Carter is not Nate’s friend and he can’t be trusted. Nate argues that Carter may have may be right - the money, drugs, and privileges are keeping them numb they don’t notice the real world. Chuck counters that the people in real world want to be them. He asks Nate what he really wants. Nate doesn’t know; he only knows that partying isn’t it. Chuck tells him to discover what it is before he throws everything away trying to find it.

Up until this point, I was on Nate’s side. He sees that partying, drugs, excesses are not how he wants to live his life. It’s quite admirable to want to walk away from all that money. Unfortunately, he loses me when he calls Carter and asks to be let into the card game.

Dan arrives home. He tells his dad that he’s not sure that Serena is worth it. She is best friends with Blair Waldorf – a 95 pound doe eyed, label whoring package of girly evil. That’s a surprisingly accurate description. Dan is not sure what that says about Serena that she friends with a girl like that. Rufus tells Dan that he dated a girl like Serena. Girls like her are challenging, complicated, enigmatic and they’re worth it (I’m not so sure Serena is worth it though). The only way to figure it out is to jump with both feet. He is quick to point out that when he jumped in with both feet, he swam for awhile but ultimately drowned. Dan is justifiably confused.

Serena calls Dan and they agree to meet at the photo-shoot. This really doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons. First is that Dan is not interested in photo-shoots. Second, Blair will be there and he and Blair don’t get along. Third, and most important, who has dates at photo-shoots? She hands up before he has a chance to decline. Dan looks unconvinced.

The photographer and Eleanor’s right hand woman meet with Eleanor to tell her that her model (Blair) is too rigid. They convince her that Serena is the right model for the line.

The following morning, Eleanor tells Blair that she’s not needed for the photo-shoot. They decided to go with a different model. Blair looks relieved.

At the gallery, Darla, Serena’s mom, storms into the gallery asking what is he doing selling her a painting. They snip at each other. It turns out that Rufus’ wife, the painting’s artist, despises Darla. When Rufus denies this, Darla counters that maybe he should ask his wife unless he is still giving her her space. It is unclear what came between Rufus and his wife.

Back at his apartment, Chuck discovers that someone has stolen his Babe Ruth baseball. He texts Nate who is still playing cards with Carter and a bunch of shady looking guys. How cool is Nate's cell phone! I wonder what make it is.

Blair arrives at the photo-shoot to find Serena posing for the photographer. Serena’s hair and makeup are awful. Her dress isn’t too bad. Blair turns to leave and Serena follows her. It turns out that Serena was told that both she and Blair were wanted at the photo-shoot. How pathetic that Eleanor resorted to lying to Serena to get her to model her line.

Blair is understandably furious. She accuses Serena of always hogging the spotlight; of taking Nate and her mom away from her. Dan arrives in time to hear Blair’s rant. Serena marches up to Eleanor and announces that she quits. Eleanor tries to convince her to stay by claiming that Serena has always loved the spotlight. Serena leaves.

Dan questions why Serena was modeling when she was supposed to be on the sidelines, supporting her friend, and giving him her undivided attention. Serena explains that she was tricked into modeling. She tells Dan to leave.

As he’s leaving, Dan comes across Blair in the hallway. Blair snarks that normally she wouldn’t get that close to Dan without a tetanus shot. Dan takes the insult and sits down beside Blair. He tells Blair about his mom leaving for the summer; that she’s still not back although the summer’s over. He says every time he sees her he wants to tell her either come back or leave for good but he can’t get the nerve to do that. Why is Dan being a weenie and just taking Blair’s crap? And if the moral of his story was talk to Serena, why didn’t he come out and say that instead?

Cut to Nate still playing cards and losing. That’s one heck of a long card game. Carter asks the shady-looking guys if they’ll take a marker. Nate is not sure he wants to do that. Carter encourages him to take the risk. The shady guys ask if he’s good for it. Carter responds that he’s (Nate) an Archibald. Nate bets $10K. He loses. Nate nervously says that it’ll take him some time to get the money. Carter responds that Nate just has to snap his fingers. Nate realizes that’s Carter has set him up.

Chuck arrives just as the goons are threatening Nate for the money. He takes Carter aside and tells him to pay the goons off with the money from the watch and baseball he stole from Chuck. In exchange Chuck won’t press charges against him. Carter agrees and Chuck and Nate are allowed to leave. Color me surprised; Chuck stood up for Nate. He is a good friend. The scene, however, raises a couple of interesting questions. How did Carter know where Chuck kept his valuables? And how did he know where Chuck hid the key?

Back at the apartment, Nate is trying to move funds around so his father, the captain, doesn’t realize it’s missing. Chuck says that Nate doesn’t have to pay him back. It was worth it just to see the last of Carter. Nate insists on paying Chuck back but is shocked to find a zero balance in his trust. It appears that the account was drained by his father. Hmm, maybe Nate’s father wants to teach Nate a lesson? After all, Nate has said he didn’t want the rich life.

Blair confronts her mom about deceiving her and Serena. Eleanor claims she was going to explain things that night. She hopes her daughter will forgive her in time but if she lost the deal with Bengals because of Blair, she’d (Eleanor) would never forgive herself. Blair responds that she hopes Eleanor never does. Ha – take that, Eleanor.

Back at the photo-shoot, Dan apologizes for judging Serena. Serena suggests that Dan ask her out again. Dan says that he’ll stick to just showing up. Blair teases that Dan needs to change his shoes and his hair if he wants to be with Serena. When did Blair become buddies with Dan? The girls apologize to each other.

In a fun scene, Blair and Serena steal Eleanor’s fashions and stage their own photo-shoot in matching dresses.