Episode 3, Part 2: Love Games or Cutthroat Competition?

Let the games begin because neither one of us is going down without a fight…

Chuck and Blair have been unknowingly set up by Georgina. Georgina gives an invitation to Blair inviting her to join a secret society. However, in order to join she has to get a certain picture from the Sotheby’s auction. Chuck, on the other hand, is trying to get a business deal to go through. The secretary (a friend of Georgina’s) tells him that in order to seal the deal he should impress her boss with a picture from her boss’s past. The picture is the exact same one that Blair is trying to obtain. Chuck and Blair both think that they desperately need the picture in order to reach their own goals. Instead of backing down, both of them face of in cutthroat competition in order to get the picture. I can honestly say that if I was in the same place as either Blair or Chuck that I would be the same way. I would want to get the picture to satisfy my own desires (which is basically the definition of selfishness). However, if someone I loved needed the picture I definitely think I would give up the picture for them. I would think that would be a small sacrifice to make for a loved one. In the end this is what happens with Blair and Chuck. They realize that they are more important to each other than any business deal or any secret society.

Sneak peak: In the next episode there is supposed to be a guest appearance by Hilary Duff. She is supposedly Vanessa’s roommate so she will be in multiple Gossip Girl episodes.

Episode 3, Part 1: Keep The Faith

One thing we all have to do is have a little faith and trust one another…

One of the issues on Monday’s episode of Gossip Girl was the lack of trust between the characters on the show. The first example of this occurred between Serena and Carter. Carter and Serena are talking on the sidewalk when a girl comes up and says she knew Carter from some party. However, Carter says that he has never seen the girl before. Then, Serena catches Carter in an argument with a hotel concierge because Carter refused to pay a room service bill that he swore was not his. Serena doesn’t believe Carter when either of these incidents occurred.. Trusting someone when they have a history or certain reputation is hard to do because you are never sure if they have truly changed their ways. Serena finds it hard to trust Carter because of his past and I don’t blame her. It is hard to give someone the benefit of the doubt because you don’t want to end up getting hurt. I feel like Serena didn’t want to trust Carter because she likes him and wanted to brace herself in case Carter hadn’t changed. Sometimes, even if you really don’t want to, you have to take a leap of faith and trust a person wholeheartedly. A girl who I thought was my friend said some really mean things about me my sophomore year, but junior year she kept trying to talk to me and be nice to me. I gave her a chance and hoped she had changed. Now she and I are at college together and we are close friends.

Vanessa and her boyfriend, Scott, are having troubles of their own. Vanessa finds out that Scott has been lying to her and is not even enrolled at NYU. Scott tells Vanessa that he has been hanging around Rufus, Dan and Jenny’s father, because he is actually Rufus and Lily’s son that they gave up for adoption years ago. Scott has been trying to tell him the truth but is too afraid. Scott tells Vanessa not to tell anyone though. So what does Vanessa do? She meets Dan right away and tells him Scott isn’t who he says he is and that he’s not enrolled at NYU. This really surprised me! This is a very personal matter to Scott and Vanessa doesn’t seem to care enough to keep her mouth shut! Scott trusted her and instead she just made things more complicated for him. I personally know someone who was adopted and they have been trying to find their birth mother, but she doesn’t seem to want to be found. This can be hard on a person who is adopted because they always wonder why their birth parents gave them up .

Episode 2, Part 2: There's Nothing Like a Good Friend

Friendships and relationships are made in this episode, even if they do seem unlikely or surprising...

Dan and Vanessa haven’t been speaking to each other but now that they are going to the same college they seem to realize that that is immature. Dan makes up with Vanessa and then does something totally unexpected - he defends Georgina when Blair tries to ruin her party. I admire Dan for sticking up for Georgina because he risked his popularity for her. But since he did the right thing it just made him more popular with the other students because they realized what Blair was trying to do. Sometimes it’s hard to stand up for what is right. There was a girl in my U. S. history class in high school who everyone ignored and made fun of. I got to know her and realized that she was a nice person and just needed someone to talk to. It’s always better to include others and stand up for them than be worried about others think of you for doing it. I like that Gossip Girl showed this because there is so much rivalry and back- stabbing that has occurred in the show that it’s good to see someone not worried about their social status.

Nate and Bree are spending more time together but Bree is keeping it a secret from her family. Bree tells Nate that they will get sick of each other if they are together all the time, but instead the opposite happens. I think that spending a lot of time with a person is a true test to know if you like them or not. I’ve spent time with people I have thought were my friends, only to realize how annoying they were! On the other hand, I have hung out with people that I grew really close to and they became my best friends. When you are around someone enough you see their good and bad sides, but when you meet people for the first time it is hard to tell what they are really like since everyone tries to make a good impression.

Episode 2, Part 1: Queen Bees and Wannabees

It’s the start of freshman year and...

Blair still wants to be the Queen Bee (who would have thought?) She is excited about being on top in college, just like she was in high school, until she arrives at college and realizes her roommate is Georgina. Georgina is out to socially sabotage Blair. In my opinion, this is ridiculous. As a college freshman myself, I know that when you go into college you cannot have unrealistic expectations and that it takes some time to adjust. It should definitely not be your goal to try to rule over everyone (Blair), or to try to ruin someone else’s life (Georgina).

Meanwhile, Serena is having doubts about going to Brown. She decides not to go to Brown, but to stay with Chuck and keep her secret from her family. It is never good to keep secrets from your parents, especially one this huge. If you are having doubts about something, then the best thing to do is talk to someone who cares about you to figure it out. Serena just let things become a mess before she could tell her family she just wanted to take a year off.

A common trend I noticed in this episode of Gossip Girl is the issue of characters on the show using one another to try to reach their own goals. Blair uses Dan to try and fit in when going to Georgina’s party. Serena uses Chuck to hide from her parents, and then uses Carter to get back at Chuck when he told Rufus about her decision not to go to Brown. The interesting thing about these incidents is that the characters own selfishness led them to hurt themselves and those around them. None of the characters who used other people got what they wanted. They just made the situations a lot more complicated. Instead of being open about the college experience the characters on Gossip Girl saw it as an opportunity to get back at others. This just made them miss out on all the fun and opportunities of college so far.

Epsiode 1: Talk About Scandalous

Well it’s the start of a new season of Gossip Girl and the lives of those on the Upper East side during the summer were as interesting as ever…

Nate Archibald meets a girl on a plane trip during the summer who he learns is Bree Buckley, The Buckleys are Nate’s family’s, the van der Bilts, biggest political rival. Nate takes Bree to the van der Bilt family polo event, essentially using her to break ties with the van der Bilt family and show his grandfather that he is his own man. I can’t tell if Nate is into Bree or if he is using her to further outrage his family.

Chuck Bass and Blair say they are playing “love games,” but for Blair it is really no longer a game. Blair seems to be tired of Chuck chasing other girls (I don’t blame her) and tells Chuck the “game” is over. Is it just me, or is the way Chuck talks extremely annoying? He furrows his eyebrows and moves his mouth funny. It gives me the feeling that he looks down on whoever he is talking to.

Dan and his friend Vanessa are having a few issues of their own. Vanessa is annoyed when Dan takes out a designer wallet which is filled with one hundred dollar bills. Then she goes to the polo match and sees him in an expensive suit. She thinks Dan isn’t being himself, even though he can’t help who his Dad was engaged to. I think Vanessa jumped to conclusions. She should have realized that Dan’s family was going through a lot and she needed to give Dan a chance to explain all that has been going on.

Serena is the biggest mystery of all in this episode. The paparazzi won’t leave her alone when she comes back from Europe. Dan finds pictures of Serena partying with a guy in Europe. Rufus is worried that Serena has “gone off the deep end” again. Serena tells everyone she is fine. But then…. Carter Baizen shows up and Serena tells Dan she is being stalked by him. The actor Sebastian Stan, who plays Carter Baizen, is actually Leighton Meester’s (Blair) off- screen boyfriend. Dan and Blair serve Carter a restraining order at the polo match. Blair runs away on a polo pony, Carter follows her, and they make out under the trees. What is going on? Obviously stuff happened between Serena and Carter over the summer that no one knows about yet. It turns out that Blair is just trying to get public attention to get noticied by her father who basically didn’t want to see her over the summer. I think that Blair needs to be careful. She is acting risky to attract the attention of someone who doesn’t really care about her. Blair needs to get over her father!

Next week the friends are off to college. Many shows go down in ratings after the cast graduates because it can be harder to follow the lives of the cast in college. People tend to like high school shows better. But I think Gossip Girl will be just as entertaining when the cast is in college. It will probably be even more interesting.