Here we go!
Adey | 1. The Chuck and Blair scene at the end was once again terribly written. But Ed and Leighton worked their magic AGAIN (these poor kids) and made it beautiful. Seriously I came across a gif of it on tumblr and laughed because it was soundless dialogue. Then I rewatched it in awe.
2. The usage of Gossip Girl in the episode. I thought it was weird to not have her around (even after years of complaining about Kristen Bell’s voice and the ridiculous things she has to say). And I thought the reveal at the end was well done.
Heather | Honestly, I didn’t hate it as much as everyone else seems to. Maybe it was the vodka, but I thought it was better than a couple of episodes this season, and definitely better than one or two last season. It was over-the-top enough that I the most ridiculous parts amusing, and I actually felt really bad for Blair. I wanted to hug her. While I find it hilarious that they are using source material like The End of the Affair for a trashy, teen drama, I actually liked the directing style of the episode. Something I really liked about season one was the differences in style and format, and then somewhere in season two, they lost that. Everything was very straight forward and generic. So, while this episode might have failed on a lot of levels, I like that they were mixing up the style a little. Obviously, I also enjoyed the DB elements of the show too — the hug, the Vera Wang scene, and then of course, him looking at her longingly when she was with Louis at the midnight kiss.
Michael | Heather: oh, my goodness, I completely agree with you. It was very weird… but I sort of liked that about it. It was quite mysterious and it definitely had its own identity. I feel like the last couple of seasons of the show, every single episode has felt the same. Especially this season, every episode has seemed cheap and plasticy, and this episode was executed almost too perfectly. Now, the writing and the actual story… well, whatever. But the point is that you’re going to remember this episode. I thought it had enough Chuck and Blair angst to make people’s hearts break (in a good way, everyone loves a good will they won’t they right? I mean this may be the stupidest way to halt it… but damn if Leighton Meester doesn’t make me want to hug her), I thought it had enough Dan and Blair niceness for those to be content, Nate was solving mysteries, people were scheming. Overall: weird but not terrible per sé. Also, I will be singing “boom she clack clack” forever.
Adey | I didn’t think it was that stupid (could be because it was washed out with all the other stupidity in this episode). Just because Chuck knows Dan has a thing for her so…the only thing about that I thought was stupid was their reluctance to just ask Blair. At least Serena finally did. But more so it wasn’t stupid because it was done in an event to just copy The End of the Affair where they misinterpret things between Julianne Moore and a guy. It’s more the decision to copy this movie that is stupid.
Elodie | Very stupid. Of course the first thing a woman wants to do after loosing her baby is have an affair, never mind looking for a shoulder to cry on. It’s all about the sex.
Heba | Louis believing Dan & Blair having an affair was expected, or at least not so stupid. I don’t blame the guy. But, Chuck? That was totally stupid. And it was a stupid move by the writers themselves (even though I loved that the episode was Dair-centric). They just did it to justify the possibility of Derena.
Heather | It was really, really silly. I guess I understand Louis acceptance of it, considering Blair has been running off to Dan or Chuck at every opportunity this season, but I think the worst part was their refusal to even ask her about it. She has just been through a huge traumatic event, and Louis’ grand idea is to try force out the truth by public humiliation? The whole thing was so contrived and plot-driven that I couldn’t even hate it. I just continued drinking and laughing. You know there is something wrong with the episode when Serena is the rational, sane one of the group.
Michael | It was ridiculous. Come on, you guys. I’m having trouble not putting down all my jokes about the situation because I want to save them all for my recaps. These, people! Oh and “Let me hire Dan to be the detective.” First off, if I was Dan I’d want money up front because we all know the Inside sales were pretty s—ty. Second, ask Lily, because apparently she has the PI connections.
Jen | A million stupid? Why is Louis marrying someone he knows loves someone else and would actually think she is sleeping around after what she had been through? I kind of get Chuck’s suspicion weirdly because he’s just trying to figure out why Blair would suddenly do a 180, so he’s coming up with some wild theories. Still, they were being absurd.
Elodie | Nate being the one to piece together the crash: loljk, he had to be told via TEXT MESSAGE and he didn’t remember telling them to go in his car? I remember them getting in the wrong car.
Heather | Grown-up Nate is adorable. I love that he needed someone else to tell him that he got in a different car that night. I can’t even be annoyed with this plot, because Nate reminds me of a child who has just figured out his ABC’s. It is both adorable and amusing.
Michael | Nate pieced it together? What I saw was a twist we all saw coming. Though I think it’s amazing that Gossip Girl pieced it together. She must be God herself to figure that out.
Jen | I love Detective Nate. I wish that he would wear business suits and be the boss of people forever and ever. While we’re wishing, I wish for more Serenate kitchen sex. Just throwing that out there.
Heather | I find this plot too hilarious to hate on. It is so ridiculous, and by itself, it would really just be silly. I think the worst part of this is how it is continuing to make Blair weak. I love Blair. I felt so sorry for her in this episode, but this pact along with the rest of this season’s crazy, is doing a complete assassination on her character. I mean, I can excuse her actions in this episode, and accept that she is suffering from some sort of PTSD, but in conjunction with the episodes leading up to this, and the annoying lack of her point of view this season, this newest plot just makes me roll my eyes.
Michael | Seriously, seriously: Chuck was “awake” before Blair ever started praying. The nurse had to walk from his room to the chapel in order to get to Blair on time for her to open the door when she finally vowed to marry Louis… so…
Jen | I know I have found GG storylines to be this ridiculous before, but it’s just hard to recall at the moment.
Heather | As I said above, she has had so little clear point of view this season. I mean we barely know what she actually thought of being pregnant or how that loss affected her. No one can really explain why she is still marrying Louis (or really, why Louis is still marrying her). We have no idea about her views on Dan, his feelings, and his book. Last season he called her intuitive, yet everyone, including “very observant” Rufus knows how he feels, but her, and it’s not like he is doing a good job keeping it a secret. Even in the scenes with Chuck, it’s hard to determine whether she is wanting to be with him, or if she just using that as an out from Louis. They are keeping everything so vague for plot reasons, and it’s resulting in Blair seeming weak, selfish, and crazy. While she might have been one or all those things in the past, we usually had glimpses of her also being strong, selfless, and rational. While the fanbases might be split over what parts of Blair they like the most, I think we are all in unison in saying, this is not our Blair.
Michael | I have no shame in saying this. I know she lost the baby and whatnot but Blair never looked as hot this season as she did in this episode. What what! Other than that, I don’t think it’s a secret that I sort of hate what they’ve turned Blair into this season. What happened to last year when she wanted to work on herself? What happened to taking on an internship? God, Blair, just… choose a guy and let’s get a storyline about her having to takedown some bitchy, blonde Columbia student in order to get a position at some fashion magazine, please?
Jen | Yes yes yes. Engaged!Blair is the absolute worst. Come on, they couldn’t have written something about school or just anything to tell us that Blair is still her own person, not just Louis’ fiance or Chuck’s soulmate or whatever? And what happened to her loving Louis? I hate to believe that Blair would really marry someone she wasn’t in love with. Just doesn’t seem true to her. Like Chuck said, she follows her heart.
Elodie | Some normality? This episode was a little to dark for my taste and I’m hoping they all get out of their funk soon. In real terms… OMG GEORGINA! So es’cited. Also some moreChuck/Blair angst and Dan/Blair friendship. Not so much looking forward to the ensuing ship wars after this episode.
Heather | I am actually interested in the conclusion of the Nate story. Despite the funniness of Super-Inspector Nateboy, I do want to see how that all plays out. Drunk Blair also looks like it is going to be fun. Then of course, I want to know how the recent spoilers regarding the Dan and Blair story will fit into the rest of the season.
Jen | I am looking forward to finding out how things work out with Gossip Girl and Serena blogging. I’m interested in finding out where Ivy/Charlie is and when her secret is really going to come out. I like Nate’s storyline. I’m looking forward to Louis leaving FOREVER which I hope happens very, very soon. I am actually looking forward to the 100th episode, hopefully there will be a little something for everyone in it and it will be fun and drama, not just drama.
Adey | This is the worst episode of *Gossip Girl* I have ever seen. Worse than the front half of season 5. Worse than the back half of season 4. Worse than Chuck/Jenny sex. Worse than pimping out for a hotel. Worse than watching Jenny cry and stomp her feet while Agnes burned her dresses instead of you know simply wrestling the dresses away from her. Just the worst. What makes it worse than these terrible plot lines? The writing. I am a believer in the fact that you can write a ridiculous plot line, yet sell it with good dialogue. The episode started with the weirdest conversation and scene ever. It was already bound to be weird because Louis was in it, but no it was raining and they were talking like a dream. Actually I thought it was a dream (and having read around I wasn’t the only one) and thought it was cool that they were dreaming of the movie *The End of the Affair, *while in an episode based on that very movie. And then I had a rude awakening when it was revealed to be an actual scene. Also the insulting fact that they think the audience will by this whole “GOD TOLD ME SO” excuse. ARE YOU SERIOUS. Why don’t you sky write the words ‘Roadblock check back at the season finale’. It would have actually gone over better with me. Me and my friend looked at each other when we realized it was not a joke and yelled, “WHAT. That’s something Serena would do.” By that we meant she is usually the one to get swept up in things and make questionable decisions while Blair yells at her. Now they are trying to sell me the opposite… And the baby. Oh the baby. The sole cliffhanger into this season was so useless and mishandled, they time lapsed to get out of addressing it fully. Worst of all there was no light and funny moments. I remember watching *Gossip Girl* initially because the dialogue was quick, witty and fun. And even when they did dramatic things the aftermath was always met with something funny to counteract it (NJBC 1×17 scene I’m looking at you. In fact if the show tried to execute this same storyline now with this writing they would be incapable. It’d be all angst about Georgina and more angsty conversations about stopping her). Also I didn’t like when Blair said “You have become a wonderful man” or whatever she said to him. What is wrong with having him be the snarky, bitchy, bad boy with a heart? Come to think of it, same for Blair. I mean that’s why they both became so popular. Not because they were to saints always doing the right thing and only talked in angst, which by the way is all they do nowadays. Where is the banter? Where has it gone? It feels like if they got together now it’d be really really boring considering they are “good people now”. There were only two things redeeming about this for me.
Elodie | I was not a huge fan, mostly because Lily and Rufus had lines, but also because that shit was DEPRESSING. Seriously, I watched the first nine minutes and decided I wasn’t emotionally ready on a Monday night to continue. No TV show should go to these weird places, it’s just uncomfortable. Just writing this is making me feel uncomfortable as I have mental flashbacks to the window scene. So I think a well deserved. F – for what the FUCK was that?
Heba | On a scale from 1 to 10, The episode should get a 10 for dark, twisty, and weird. But, in general, it was a 7. I loved the Dair hug, of course. And their pseudo friendship in the episode. And even that Chair scene when Blair told Chuck that she loved him gave me chills. And the only interesting thing about Nate’s storyline was the ending. Gossip Girl teaming up with him? Now that’s awesome.
Heather | I really don’t have the hate that most people do. This episode reminded me of the season three episode featuring Tripp and his wolves. I would give this a D- on plot, and C on the dialogue, and a B+ for directing. I think Leighton and strangely, Chace, were the best performances. Despite the material, Leighton really did a great job and I really did feel for Blair. Ed and Penn both did well, but you could tell they weren’t into the melodrama of the plot as much, though their scene regarding both being Serena’s brother was hilarious. Blake was just Blake. While Serena might have actually been really good, Blake just seemed bored, and, to be fair, who can blame her? Overall Grade: C+ (or if we are doing a number, 6.5)
Michael | Adey, tell us how you really feel! Ha! Look, we all knew that Blair was going to backtrack and choose to marry Louis in this episode… and it was pretty shitty the way they did that. No one remembered anything, either. Nate was supposed to want to takedown Gossip Girl, but I guess now that she’s helping him, they’re friends. Apparently, Diana never got to New York. Nate has a new assistant every week. I don’t know. If I dissect the plot, this was a pretty terrible episode. But I can say that about any Gossip Girl episode, to be honest. Also, I don’t know what to think about how they handled the miscarriage yet. A+ for direction; D for writing. Especially because Blair’s secret wasn’t all that bad that she couldn’t tell anyone. Ugh, I was hoping it was something really BIG especially with the tone of the episode, but it wasn’t. No offense to people who worship.
Jen | What I liked: The opening scene was cool. Dan was just really, really sweet the whole time and I liked that. I like Nate’s story line. Grown up Nate is so cute. 🙂 Leighton’s performance was actually very good given what she had to work with and my heart broke for her about her
baby. Blair just seemed really sad and traumatized so I will give her a bit of leeway for her crazy. I also liked the very clear “in case you missed it, this is who is in love with who” moment at the end. And Blair was looking very pretty.
What I didn’t like: I think what annoyed me so much about this episode wasn’t that it was depressing and wasn’t that it was ridiculous; it’s that it was both at once. I wanted to laugh off the God thing and just say “oh, Gossip Girl, you silly goose” but the subject matter with the miscarriage was so heavy. So I wanted to get into the angst of all that but I just couldn’t take it seriously because of the God storyline. So I just felt annoyed. And then I could literally not have given two shits about what was going on with Rufus and Lily, but that’s just me. I did like seeing the real Charlie though.
My grade: C-
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Damn.
Interesting thoughts. I agree with a lot of them, especially Adey's rant, hah.
This storyline makes zero sense and no one will ever convince me otherwise. It seems obvious they just want to separate Chuck and Blair, while still making it crystal clear how much they will always love each other, so they need some plot device that prevents either of them from taking the "blame" for their separation. Except Blair still gets the blame, IMO, because all the crying in the world doesn't make her decision any less totally batshit crazy.And Chuck absolutely broke my heart in that last scene, the way he choked up when he said "I can't" and the look on his face while he watched her walk away... But seriously, Ed and Leighton deserve so much better than the dialogue they get. I wonder sometimes how some of that shit makes it past dozens of rounds of edits without somebody being like "hold up, wait a minute.... NOBODY TALKS LIKE THIS."
Cool. Nice to several opinions on the ep. I agree that they tried to do something different to set the tone of this episode apart from the rest. I get that they were trying to show the sadness and desperation through a darker tone but what we got was just so over the top and unbelievable. That opening scene with Chuck and Louis was something out of an old black & white movie (something like Casablanca as Michael made fun of it in the photo recap). And just the idea of Chuck and Louis teaming up is just ridiculous! Then that church scene with the nurse emerging from the light and fanfare playing in the background was just laughable.
Definitely major kudos to Leighton for portraying all of Blair's heartbreak and making our hearts ache for her too. Despite her awesome acting, I can't get over how stupid this pact with God storyline is. Thank you, Michael, for pointing out Chuck was 'awake' before Blair even started praying!! She hadn't even seen him yet and she goes to pray?! Gossip Girl and religion simply doesn't mix. Every time religion has been mentioned on this show, it has been a joke and suddenly they want to take it seriously? What's worse is Dan and Serena playing into Blair's crazy! I can't believe Serena didn't slap some sense into Blair knowing that she's only marrying Louis because of some pact with God. Anyways, I agree with Adey that this is the *worst* Gossip Girl episode to date and we have suffered through a lot of craziness. Pact with God definitely takes the cake.
Before seeing the episode, I had originally guessed that Blair couldn't be with Chuck because the baby was really his. And it was actually her guilt of losing his baby and not allowing him to be there during the pregnancy that stops her from being with Chuck. To me, this makes much more sense as a reason to keep them apart.
The whole promise to God is very unfitting with Blair's character. I definitely agree with the opinions expressed here about how Blair seems so lost and her character is so undefined this season.