Gossip Girl 4x06

There have been quite a few new faces on Gossip Girl – to avoid running around in circles who’s dating who. Chuck’s Parisian girlfriend, Eva, was a nice addition for as long as it lasted, but ultimately she had to go, because we want our Chuck mean and nasty, not tame and boring. I’m bothered, though, by this guy relentlessly pursuing Serena, Colin Forrester (Sam Page, who I also can’t appreciate as Joan’s husband Greg on Mad Men). And what do you know, he turns out to be her new Columbia professor. She has to chose between love and career. Her mother Lily is none too pleased, but uses some nice reverse psychology by encouraging to go for it. A beautiful girl like her, she reasons, can essentially marry whomever she wants, so why worry about studying. It helps – for now, at least. When Nate stops by to visit his father in penitentiary (imprisoned for fraud and embezzlement), guess who’s waiting in line to get in too? Yup, Juliet Flatchester! While he comes clean about his father, she lies flat to his face that she’s volunteering for the inmate literacy program. That same day his father is used as a punching bag. Things are going too far for Juliet. She is truly starting to fall for Nate, while he just about had it with her behavior.

Meanwhile, Blair is having nightmares about Chuck and a girl she can’t quite figure out who she is. It’s like Wait Until Dark. (Blair likes to dream she’s Audrey Hepburn.) When she visits the Vander Woodsens suddenly it’s déjà-vu. She opens the door – and Jenny’s back on the block! Now, remember that Blair swore to ruin Jenny if she ever set foot in Manhattan again after she slept with Chuck the day he was supposed to propose to Blair. Who wouldn’t be vengeful? Obviously Chuck is behind Jenny’s interview at Parsons – and just as naturally Blair is behind sabotaging her dresses spelling out W.H.O.R.E. on the models. Chuck arranges a second chance at some New York Observer party, where Jenny apologizes for the embarrassing situation to Tim Gunn (Project Runway). Then she tells Chuck and Blair, “goodbye, good riddance and good luck.” Confronted with their inevitable demise, Chuck offers Blair a truce, which she reluctantly accept – emotional as it makes her hoping they may get back together again. Rihanna sings “Love the Way You Lie” on the soundtrack. And then at the closing scene Colin pays Juliet a check for all her trouble... Oh, the drama!