Archive for September, 2008
Download Gossip Girl : The Serena Also Rises for Free
Check out some pictures from GOSSIP GIRL‘s new episode, “The 
Serena Also Rises” airing this Monday, September 28, at 8pm on The CW.
Is 
Serena replacing Blair as Queen and major bitch? It sure seems so. What have you done Dan, you turned 
Serena into a monster (and we love it).
Oh how I love the drama of 
Gossip Girl. This episode, “The 
Serena Also Rises,” looks like it’s going to be a good one and I can’t wait.
Bring on bad 
Serena, I’m ready!
You can watch a promo and check out more photos from 
Gossip Girl “The 
Serena Also Rises” below.
Episode Synopsis: “The Serena Also Rises” – In the midst of Fashion Week, a furious Blair (Leighton Meester) learns that her mother, Eleanor (guest star Margaret Colin), at the suggestion of her protégé Jenny (Taylor Momsen), has given 
Serena (Blake Lively) and her new socialite friend, Poppy Lifton (guest star Tamara Feldman), front row seats to the Eleanor Waldorf show. Hurt once again by Serena’s popularity and her mother’s betrayal, Blair decides to sabotage the show. Meanwhile, Dan (Penn Badgley) starts hanging out with Chuck (Ed Westwick), but a walk on the dark side always has its risks and Dan learns that the hard way. Lily (Kelly Rutherford) learns a secret that her new husband, Bart (guest start Robert John Burke), has been keeping from her.
(Photos: GIOVANNI RUFINO/THE CW)
Download Gossip Girl : The Serena Also Rises for Free
Download Gossip Girl The Ex-Files
This week’s episode deals with the aftermath of the commoners trying to hang with the elite. Little J deals with the aftermath of her attempted power grab last year and has her bag dumped out in the middle of the hallway by Blair’s minions, who promise much more where that came from. Vanessa gets in bed with Blair and ends up screwing Nate, Rufus has to tell Lily that he can’t be her safety net anymore, and Dan gets to meet the “real” Serena.
Suffice it to say, these are not happy times on the Upper East Side.
“Serena and Dan broke up. Tragic—if not entirely unprecedented.”
It’s been a week since the blackout, and it’s the first day of school. Dan and Serena haven’t seen each other since their elevator breakup, so things are understandably awkward. They try to be all grown up about it and skip to the friends part, but a new girl gets in the way. A whiny, simpering new girl who I just want to smack a little bit. I don’t know what it is about her that I hate so much; I just think she has that kind of face that just looking at it makes you want smash it with a cream pie or something.
Anyway, she reads all of the same boring crap that Dan reads, so he immediately invites her to lunch, which apparently, even this is still ostensibly high school, means that it’s a one-on-one “sorry Serena, even though we’re ‘friends,’ you can’t sit with us” kind of lunch. Serena feel understandably hurt, embarrassed and jealous. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Blair sees this and goes on the offensive. She tries to befriend Amanda in order to bond her to the “girl code” and render her unable to date a friend’s ex.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to take and Amanda invites Dan to that magical club in which 17-year-olds can drink with impunity. Of course, this ends up on Gossip Girl, creating a whole bitchy cycle between Serena and Dan that leads to a date with all three of them (?) the next night.
“Serena’s not thinking straight. She’s making this about Dan; it was the new girl who defied you.”
So the date goes predictably well. Dan and Amanda laugh like assholes and Serena gets progressively drunker and hangs on a lacrosse player. Blair’s creepy silent minions are there, as is Chuck, who is dressed like The Joker. Not the rad, Heath Ledger Joker either. Hell, not even the slightly creepy Nicholson version. He’s more like the 1960s watered-down “Pow! “Bam!” version. Point is; it’s not a good look.
Chuck’s entire purpose during this episode appears to be slinking around corners and being evil, and it suits him. He’s at the club to check up on the Dan/Serena/Amanda threesome of sadness, and came equipped with some sort of, I think, bleach mixture that he convinced the silent minions to throw onto Amanda’s hair, burning chunks of it off. I want to feel bad for her, because come on; that’s pretty cold, but she makes these horrible squeaky noises when she’s pulling out fistfuls of her hair, that it just makes me giggle.
“Did I do something, or what happened?”
So meanwhile, back in Nate and Vanessa land, it’s pretty hilarious. Okay, not really. But the part where Nate acts all flabbergasted because Vanessa left the party is. Hmm, Nate, what could you have done? Maybe whore yourself out to a 40-year-old duchess for no real reason other than protecting your social status? Maybe that rubbed her the wrong way?
In any case, Vanessa and Nate aren’t getting along, which greatly pleases the duchess. It pleases her so much in fact, that she gives Vanessa $5,000 to show her appreciation. We all know from her dealings with Chuck last season that Vanessa is too proud (aka, stupid) to take bribes from rich people, so she of course tries to return the money. When she goes to Catharine’s apartment to do so, she conveniently walks in on her and Marcus getting ready to do it. So… I guess he’s not gay after all.
“Google ‘revenge’ and you get blairwaldorf.com.”
Vanessa, being pure of heart and spirit or whatever, doesn’t know what to do with this juicy bit of information (and the accompanying camera phone pictures), so she turns to Dan. Dan wisely tells her to talk to Blair, because she’s pretty much the empress of revenge.
Vanessa takes Dan’s advice, and shares the info with a surprisingly distraught Blair. I guess even though she seemed to be pretty much over Marcus when she had her tongue down Chuck’s throat last week, she actually does have some feelings for him. Of course, being Blair, rage is the feeling that wins out, so she sets a plan in motion.
Not knowing that she needs to just stay out of Blair’s way and let things take their natural course, Vanessa gets antsy when Blair doesn’t share her plan right away. She ends up taking matters into her own hands and tells Catharine’s husband everything. This turns out to be a really bad idea, as Blair negotiated a deal with Catharine and Marcus in which they leave town and pay off all of Nate’s father’s restitution in return for her silence. So as you can guess, when the silence goes out the window, so does the money, and everyone is back where they started—except for Nate, who at the very least is no longer a hooker.
“Bow down, or bow out.”
With Blair preoccupied by Marcus’ dalliances, she kind of misses the fact that Chuck has become the puppet master who has been playing everyone in order to get Serena to reoccupy her queen status. I’m pretty sure he goes through all of this effort, which includes hiring Amanda to pretend to have a crush on Dan, just to manipulate Serena back to the top and knock Blair down a peg, thus making him more attractive to her? I’m not exactly sure what the ultimate goal is, but the result is that we end this episode with Serena back on top and it looks like we’ll get to see the S that was only hinted at last season.
Evil Serena? That’s pretty freakin’ awesome.
The Monday, September 15 episode of “Gossip Girl” has provided a sneak peek into the next one. Entitled “The Ex-Factor”, the episode touches the issue on Lily drawn back to her ex-boyfriend Rufus once again.
When Serena notices that Dan has been cozying up to the new girl in school, Amanda (guest star Laura-Leigh), the ever-loyal Blair and her minions decide to befriend Amanda and sabotage her budding new romance with “lonely boy.” Vanessa discovers a scandalous secret about Catherine and enlists Blair’s scheming expertise to use the information to help Nate.
The September 22 episode will be directed by Jim McKay and the episode is written by Robby Hull.
Meanwhile, several on-set photos have been released via JustJared, showing a twist of plot where Nate kisses Jenny. No hint yet on which episode the shooting that was held in New York last weekend was for.
Preview of Episode 2.04:
Below is a photo gallery from next Monday’s episode, “The Ex-Files.” Looks like yet another terrific Gossip Girl episode from the looks of the pictures and previews. Follow the link for a brief synopsis, and click to enlarge the photos below!
(S02E03) “This party just went over to the dark side.” – Gossip Girl
Welcome to the dark side! Actually, when Gossip Girl is concerned, we should probably talk about the darker side. Let’s face it, most of the characters are already in the dark side zone. This week’s power outage, along with Catherine’s evil manipulations, only made said side much darker. Let’s review how much darker GG got this week, shall we?
“I can’t change who I am,” Dan admitted to Serena near the end of the episode. Fans of Serena and Dan as a couple must not have liked hearing those words coming from dad because it led to the two of them officially breaking up. As I hinted in my other reviews, the couple has a bumpy road ahead and will look more and more like Friends‘ Ross and Rachel, who were together, apart, friends, together, apart, together, friends, etc. This week’s episode finally (!) offered an opportunity for Dan and Serena to really think and talk about their relationship thanks to the Gossip Girl blog revealing that the couple was back together, the teens who told Dan and Serena why the other didn’t deserve them, and the power outage, which forced the two to have a heart to heart.
The Serena and Dan scenes this week felt a little flat for my taste. There was so much build up these past two weeks that I expected more from their break up scene, maybe not a big blow out, but something juicier than what we were offered. The way things ended between the two, I wouldn’t be surprised if they stay friends and hang out together as soon as next week.
Blair, who can’t stop talking about The Lord (dear writers, please make her stop), is ready to take her relationship with him to the next step but not the latter. Chuck is still not over Blair and actually can’t perform because he hasn’t gotten her out of his system and discovers that the only way he can solve his problem is to be with Blair at least once. As you know, I love the Blair and Chuck relationship or lack thereof, and Chuck is my favorite character. However, I have to side with Serena when she tells him “You are not using Blair as sexual Drano.” It was low of him to pretend to be Marcus in the bedroom in order to get his mojo back. Yes, Blair got out of this encounter what she needed too, but I’m sure Chuck could have won her back eventually… Then again, maybe it would have been too late for Chuck’s mojo…
I’m glad that, contrary to how most characters on GG react, Vanessa didn’t scream, throw things, and pull hair when telling Nate how disappointed in him she is. Vanessa is not my favorite character, but she is slowly growing on me because of the calmness and maturity she can show. You can see that Vanessa is also a great friend as not only does she not want Nate to suffer by having Catherine tell the police about his father’s whereabouts but Vanessa also tells him to stay with Catherine in a nice, even if untrue, way (“She truly loves you.”). You can bet that Vanessa will be there to support Nate as much as she can.
“Now, interns have opinions,” said Eleanor to Jenny. Little Miss J often puts her foot where her mouth is, but this time, she was right, that dress was not a pretty one. Luckily for her, Eleanor came around and worked with Jenny to improve the dress. I’m sure that this newfound bond will not sit well with Laurel. The latter loved to boss Jenny around and now that Miss J is friends with the big bad boss, Laurel will become second fiddle.
“The Dark Night” was an enjoyable episode filled with twists and turns and loads of backstabbing. The episode also moved forward most of the characters’ storylines, including Rufus’ who is now dating.
Where were you when the lights went out at Blair’s “back to school” soiree? It’s a question a lot of people will be asking, and something that everyone will be talking about the next day around the Evian dispenser.
Download Gossip Girl The Dark Night
I know where Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) was, for instance. She was stuck in the most uncomfortable position of her ex-career: trapped in a dark room with the newly returned Eleanor Waldorf (Florencia Lozano), who came back just in time to overhear little J giving fashion advice to one of the Waldorf models, which amounted to a critique of Eleanor’s design! Bold words from an intern to a world-famous designer — or at least they would have been if little J had said them to Eleanor’s face! Talk about your fashion faux pas!
Of course, most everybody else is at Chez Waldorf, where Blair (Leighton Meester) is throwing a cool party to take everyone’s minds off the August heat. But the heat outside is nothing compared to the sizzle in Blair’s loins. It seems her knight in shining armor, Lord Marcus (Patrick Heusinger), is a bit of a cold fish in the bedroom — which, of course, Blair can only guess at because she can’t even get him into the bedroom. Now how is it exactly that Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) gets wind of this, and how does he plan to turn this to his advantage? Wouldn’t you like to know! A lot can happen when it’s too dark to see what — or who — is right in front of your face.
Blair’s doing a little scheming of her own, though — a little something special for her ex, Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), whom she spots with a certain little miss Vanessa (Jessica Szohr). Now won’t that just rub Nate’s own Mrs. Robinson, Catherine (Mädchen Amick) in all the wrong places? I wonder what would happen if both Vanessa and Catherine showed up at Blair’s party at the same time?
And if you’re curious about where our lovebirds, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), have gotten off to… well, our two “can’t keep their clothes on” lovers had the misfortune to have just pressed the ‘up’ button before the power went down. The doors are closed, the box is stuck — could there be some “love in an elevator” in their future? Or will things get a little too close for comfort behind closed doors, especially after both of them have an encounter earlier that day with a herd of junior Gossip Girl fans?
It’s funny how many things are brought to light when the night goes dark. You know you love it.
(S02E02) “Marcus’ mommy is even sicker than you are.” – Blair to Chuck
We are once again in The Hamptons and things are still not peachy for our favorite troubled teens and their parents. Blair tries to please The Lord and learn more about him, Chuck continues his search for the piece of information that will have Blair come back to him and ditch Marcus, Serena and Dan think and get busy, and much more. But, as the quote I put at the beginning of this review points at, it’s Catherine who wins the crown for most memorable character of the episode. And, as someone who already watched next week’s episode, I can say that you ain’t seen nothing yet. She is on sick lady.
As I warned you last week and in my “What to expect in season two of Gossip Girl” post, Serena and Dan are going through a rough patch. This week, we’ve seen the start of it all when both of them agreed they have to think. Since their physical attraction towards one another is pretty strong, the couple has difficulties staying apart in order to really think about their relationship. It’s clear that there are unresolved issues between the two that could lead to a break up, especially if they down sit down and chit chat about things. Since they are two busy being with one another, that needed talk will happen at a later time.
On a side note, I know Serena was trying to seduce Dan on the bus ride, but strawberries dipped in chocolate on a bus? Really? Okay, maybe a wrapped sandwich from the bus terminal’s vending machine wouldn’t have been as seductive.
Every little girl’s dream is to become a princess. So it was to be expected that Blair would seize the opportunity even though she was ready to ditch Marcus after he served his purpose in last week’s episode and doesn’t really love him, at least, not yet. You have to give it to Blair, when she sets her sights on something, she is driven by the goal and does everything and anything to reach it… even if it means throwing a really boring party to impress her royal boyfriend. Of course, even the most boring of parties thrown on the show will get its share of jaw-dropping action, OMG moments, secrets and lies.
One of the good reveals of the episode was when we learned that Catherine is Marcus’ step-mother. This means that Blair’s ex-boyfriend Nate is dating Blair’s new boyfriend’s step-mother. This sentence may be confusing but it reflects really well the relationship web the four of them are caught in. Add to that web Chuck who now befriended Marcus, who is still in love with Blair, who is one of Nate’s friends, and who is willing to meet with The Duchess to help break Blair and Marcus up.
My favorite scenes this week were definitely those between Catherine and Blair. Both actresses delivered their bitchy lines perfectly. They are believable as evil queens, each in their own way, who want to protect their prize (aka Marcus) and status. Last week, Blair said that she wanted to distance herself from her traits that were reminiscent of Chuck’s behavior. It’s clearly not working. Case point: Blair using Catherine’s infidelities to her advantage. As I’ve said before Blair is ready to do anything and everything to reach her goal and you know what, even if some of Blair’s actions are not really appropriate, I’m entertained by every seconds of it.
Poor Nate. Because his father is hiding, the authorities see it as admitting guilt. Therefore, Nate and his mother may lose everything, especially now that grandpa stopped throwing money at them. It was a nice gesture from Chuck to sell the club in order to help out Nate and his mom. I get that Nate didn’t want to take Chuck’s money because he wanted to find the money on his own, etc., but is it really better to get money from Catherine? While Chuck would have probably asked Nate to give the money back whenever, Catherine will more than likely make him pay that loan not only in “nature” but also by bossing him around. You could see during the party that she was rather protective and possessive of Nate, so it is to be expected that she’ll get worse on both counts now that Nate owes her money. Let’s sum Nate’s situation with this: He sold his soul to the devil.
Good afternoon, Upper East Siders (or Upper East Side watchers). Fresh from our early viewing of “Never Been Marcused,” the Gossip Girl Insider staff has posted quotes and pictures from Monday’s all-new episode.
Follow the links for a full list of pictures and Gossip Girl quotes from the episode!
For now, below are a few to get you excited for Monday (it’s another good one, trust us). We’ll have our official episode recap up soon …
Marcus: No one’s ever good enough. I’ve dated a lot of top-flight girls and she always sends them running. She gets inside their heads, figures out their worst fears and then …
Chuck: … ruthlessly exploits that fear. Sounds rough.
Blair: [sees Nate and Catherine on the floor] Oh my effing God!
Serena: Well, if you can’t find common ground with a dictator, I don’t know who can.
Blair: Dan likes soccer, right? Or football, as Marcus calls it? Think it would be too weird if he came?
Serena: Not… necessarily …
Blair: Good, you’ll call him?
Serena: Does this mean you actually think Dan has a redeeming quality?
Blair: As long as knows his arse from his Arsenal, I think he’s aces.
Blair: [after being humiliated by Catherine] She made Waldorf rhyme with Spears! I may as well have gone commando and held my party at Nyla’s Burger Basket.
Serena: Fine. While you stand here and feel sorry for yourself and denigrate the fine people of Kentwood, I’m gonna go find Dan.
Gossip Girl: What’s this? Chuck’s date and Blair’s date are mother and son? And Nate and Blair are exes? And Nate and the mother are in a book club? Now there’s a novel plot twist.
Blair: This party’s a complete bust. My whole life’s a bust.
Chuck: I thought you might like to meet my friend.
Blair: Why, so she can warn me bout the effects of too much botox?
Catherine: Blair, is it? I’m Duchess Beaton.
Dan: [to Serena, about Blair/Marcus] So, she actually refers to him as The Lord?
Dan: I was just thinking about… this morning… on the bus …
Serena: Yeah, we didn’t exactly stick to the plan, did we?
Serena: [makes move on Dan] What do you say we … just forget thinking and… follow our hearts.
Dan: You sure that’s your heart you’re following?
Gossip Girl: Spotted, Chuck Bass putting his new BFF on speed dial. Is it the beginning of a beautiful bro-mance? Or the end of Blair’s bid to be British?
Blair: Your plan to ruin me totally backfired. Turns out Marcus’ mommy is even sicker than you are.
Chuck: You got along great?
Blair: I think she recognized herself in me. Or rather, I recognized something in her.
Chuck: I don’t follow.
Blair: All you need to know is, you lost. It was a solid effort.
Chuck: Tomorrow’s another day.
Blair: Good night, Chuck.
Catherine: [leaving voicemail] Nate, it’s Catherine. Last night… was not smart. In fact, it was very, very stupid. Which is why we’re going to have to be much more clever when we get back to the city. Call me when you get this.
Blair: Squash? I’ll squash YOU.
Chuck: It’s just a game, Blair.
Blair: Not to me, Basshole. I like him!
Chuck: So do I. And apparently he doesn’t have too many friends.
Blair: Just because Marcus is the perfect post-Bass palate cleanser doesn’t mean he isn’t a tasty dish of his own!
Gossip Girl: Summer Tip #2. There is no “we” in summer. Only u and me.
Serena: I just think that we should … think, before we get back together.
Dan: I thought this meant we were back together.
‘Gossip Girl’ star Leighton Meester’s mother was in prison when she was born.
The brunette beauty – who plays ‘Park Lane princess’ Blair Waldorf in the hit US TV show – was welcomed into the world while her mother was serving a federal prison sentence in Texas, according to America’s Star magazine.
Leighton’s mother, who gave birth to the actress in April 1986, was permitted to stay in a halfway house for the labour and birth.
She was then forced to return to prison to complete her sentence for her role in a major drug-running ring on the same day Leighton turned three months old.
Leighton was raised by a relative while her mother finished her sentence.
The 22-year-old actress’ father, grandfather and aunt have also reportedly spent time behind bars on charges of drug dealing.
Leighton shot to fame playing bad girl Blair on the TV show, which has been a worldwide hit, and loves starring as such a “conflicted” character.
She said recently: “The show needs to have conflict. If everyone was happy then it would suck. So we have a lot of conflict, believe me. And their conflict is very interesting, because it’s very internal. There are no real outward obstacles. It’s a lot of their own minds colliding with each other.”
So if you are a Gossip Girl addict, here are 10 tips on how to get prepared for the brand new season, which just premiered tonight, and become a Gossip Girl.
1. Pout your lips (unintentially, of course) whenever you speak.
2. Tell your cab driver/subway conductor/carpool parent where to pick you up and when. And make sure they know to provide a slew of hot girls, champagne, and scarves of various color schemes upon your arrival.
3. Casually climb through your neighbor’s window. Once inside, head towards the fridge and drink milk from the carton. Browse through the morning paper and when your neighbor finally wakes up, comment on his laziness. Ignore any puzzled looks; after all, you’ve been friends for years!
4. Dress your dad in head to toe hipster gear (think skinny jeans, thick framed glasses, stubble, Guitar, Converse, anything American Apparel) and then make fun of him for looking like a hipster.
5. Sleep with your boyfriend’s best friend. And then sleep with your best friend’s boyfriend. Just do it.
More after the jump…
6. When an explanation is needed, simply say, “I’m [insert name here].” That should be enough reason to get your way on anything.
7. Go to a midnight showing at the Angelika and feel really, really cool about it.
8. Hit on everyone and everything. And if that doesn’t land you the girl of your dreams, put all of your money towards your own private club opening. Who doesn’t want the guy casually sipping on Grey Goose?
9. Wear a headband. Or two. Or three.
10. Read this blog and gossip about it. (From your blackberry, obviously.)
