Gossip Girl: The Ex-Files
By fred | September 23, 2008
(S02E04) You know how people always say never to judge a book by its cover ? Or never to judge a new series by its pilot ? Despite the first impression being often all that matters and what will permanently remain in our memory, it’s a common thing that what first appears to be isn’t always what is. And this couldn’t be more true when talking about this episode.
And I’m not just talking about what was actually happening in the Upper East Side, but also about the very way things went down. I think one might easily start watching this episode, only to get disappointed after some time. Thinking that things aren’t really happening, it’s always the same old story, it goes nowhere, and you want out. But you really have to stick with it till the end (and it’s not like the episode was any bad, really), because then the truth will be revealed (unless you already saw it coming of course, but even then the lack of surprise doesn’t make it any less enjoyable), and suddenly there will be a new light on the Upper East Side.
Suddenly, it’s very exciting again.
Because at first, I think I was this close to getting bored at times. I was happy to see Lilly finally back, but then it went nowhere : same old story, she shows up to see Rufus because she needs a friend, because her new husband from yesterday is all about business, and not so much about her. Yeah, okay, what else is new? It’s not like this is a surprise or she didn’t know the guy.
Meanwhile, B was her usual bitchy queen, and S was her old stupid self. Stupid, in that she wasn’t over D, she kept being affected by their past relationship for some reason. I never understood how she could not see how much of a jerk this guy was, because that after all they went through and after all he (should) know about her, that at the end of the day he - once again - made assumptions, jumped to conclusions and put all the blame on her, that he trashed her that way and throw everything in her face because she’s rich and he’s the poor little kid, was a bore really.
That’s all he’s been doing all along, I don’t think he ever really cared for her, about her, I don’t think he ever trusted and respected her. So to see S back on top and showing this ass what she can really do and how things could, and would, really go from now on, to see Dan Humphrey back to his pitiful and much deserved state of social pariah - I can’t tell you how fun for me that was.
And that wasn’t even the best part, because as mention, S is back on her throne, she took back her duties as Queen Bee from B. It seems that what no one could apparently do, what the infamous Georgina wasn’t able to pull out, one man could actually do it. And that man, ladies & gentleman, is of course the one and only Chuck Bass.
He planned the whole thing, from start to end, and he made it happen. Everyone was, one way or another, willingly or not, knowingly or not, only doing what C wanted them to do. They were all part of his evil plan, and no one saw it coming, not even Blair, too busy elsewhere. And so it goes, with a little luck Chuck get the old - and bad - Serena back to the Upper East Side.
But of course, that’s not what he cares about. His plan wasn’t to bring S back on top, but to see B fall down. Because for him, it’s all about Blair. He might even be planning on being there for her and helping her back up as his ultimate goal to win her over. Let’s just hope that it takes a while, and we get to see Queen S for a while, finally ride of that Dan-thing which dragged her down. Cause really, the on-again off-again was too much of a bore, but hey at least they embraced being the new Ross & Rachel, as Dan proved by using the famous line, “we were on a break!” (or “broken up”, which according to the jury is close enough).
For a long time it could feel that it was nothing but the same old stories all over again, and many characters’ actions were either so stupid or just hard to understand that you could get annoyed by it, but thank God for Chuck it all finally made sense and brought excitement back to the show.
Because on the side, Little’J deciding to simply not show up at school anymore and hoping no one would notice or something, was nothing interesting; and then there’s Vanessa. Listen, I like her, I really do, but on this one she screwed up big time and it’s all on her. Why on Earth would she first decide to trust and go to Blair for help, only to decide to take things into her own hands the next day ??
Come on! You know B, you know she’s a manipulative bitch, so at the very least give her credit for that and do as you’re told, wait and see how things go. If nothing’s happening after a few days, you can confront her, but going on her back that way, that was almost asking for it. I do hope however that V and N manages to sort things out, because they were probably the best couple around, except maybe for the destructive B & C of course.
In the end, a pretty solid episode, and as I said in introduction one that changes the rules and brought a brand new light on the show.
“From now on, everything goes through me.” - S.
I just can’t wait to see what this will be like! What do you think ? Will Queen S be even more bitchy and manipulative than Queen B ? Did S actually change during her “time out”, or will she go back to her old habits ? (After all, she didn’t stop the attacks on Little’J.) In a fight to the death, who’s stronger : B or S ? And what are S chances, really, if B is helped by C ?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Gossip Girl
