Blair’s ghost of Eliza Doolittle is yet again stalking her in her dreams. Blair fears that she’ll never transform into My Fair Lady now that attending Yale is a distant childhood memory. I guess it’s hard when your dream is to be a bona fide social elitist but your reality is just that of a really, really rich commoner. We all must grow up and face our reality, right?
The good news for Blair is that she’s now back with Nate who is the grandson of the uber-wealthy William Vanderbilt. Nate’s cousin Trip is getting married to a woman that has connections to the Whitney Museum and Blair hopes to be invited to join the Jr. Committee of the Whitney. Blair’s so excited to hang with Nate at Trip’s wedding rehearsal and dinner that she turns down Eleanor and Cyrus’s request to attend the Passover Seder dinner they are hosting that evening. Yes, Eleanor and Cyrus have returned! Where the heck have they been? Looking for Aaron down in Argentina?
Eleanor’s concerned that Blair is seeking a socialite life rather than pursuing education. Cyrus tells Blair that he has a Vietnam War buddy who’s a bigwig at NYU and that he’ll call in a favor to get her an interview. Blair, in what is hopefully a dream come true foreshadowing statement, says that she’s not interested in reading Toni Morrison and experimenting with lesbianism thus she’s not interested in attending NYU. So here’s to praying that this statement actually will mean that she will be a lesbian, living in the Village pursuing a dual Africana and English major at NYU next season!
Serena’s back in town after her Mommy tantrum and hasty departure to Spain last week with Poppy and her boyfriend Gabriel. Serena’s vague with any details as she discusses her time in Spain with Chuck. Chuck lets her know that he saw Poppy in NYC this week and knows that Serena was romping alone with Gabriel. Busted.
Blair attends the wedding rehearsal because Nate’s the best man. She’s excited because she thinks Nate’s going to tell her about her acceptance on the Jr. committee to the Whitney. Instead the big news Nate wants to share is that he has been accepted to Columbia with no help from his family. Go Lions! Blair then disappointingly finds out that she wasn’t selected for the Whitney’s Jr. committee. Bummer.
But wait – Grandfather approaches Blair and makes an offer asking her to sell Nate on the idea of Yale rather than Columbia and in return he would get her the Whitney gig and get her a place as a bridesmaid in Trip’s wedding. Who could turn that down?
As for Dan, he wants to do his part with the Yale tuition thing and agrees to be hired by a catering company owned by the mother of Jenny’s new love interest, a guy named Wes. Come on, a high school kid that actually has to work to save money for college? Talk about an unrealistic story line. Oh wait.
Dan’s hired to be a cater-waiter for Eleanor and Cyrus’s Seder dinner. He tries to get out of it but Eleanor bribes him and his female co-worker with doubling their salary for the gig. (Dorota, has the weekend off. Boo no Dorota.) Dan doesn’t want Rufus to know that he’s working for tuition money because he doesn’t want Rufus to feel inadequate. Of course, Rufus doesn’t want Dan to know that he really is inadequate because he doesn’t have an economic plan to help Dan with the Yale tuition.
Rufus complains to Lily that no one is buying art from his gallery and she knows that will impact Dan. So, Lily some how invites herself to the Seder dinner once she learns that a prominent art collector will also be in attendance.
Lily confronts Serena about her running away to foreign lands and acting like “old Serena,” the one that gets into trouble, is passive-aggressive, drinks too much and has foggy memories of her dalliances. Lily expresses just how much she doesn’t want the return of “old Serena.” Well shut up Lily because some of us like the old Serena! Lily tells Serena she’s grounded which of course means that Serena leaves anyway heading over to Blair’s though Blair’s not home. She’s getting fitted for her bridesmaid’s dress.
Serena isn’t going to Blair’s to see Blair. She’s going to see Cyrus. I’m thinking she might apologize for dumping Cyrus’s son so hard that he’s never heard from again but no she’s seeking legal counsel because she thinks she married Gabriel in a drunken moment is Spain! Cater-waiter Dan overhears Serena’s dilemma and is horrified that they never made it to the junior prom yet she marries some guy having known him for a few days. It’s hard not to take that personally.
While Blair was being fitted for the bridesmaid dress, Nate and cousin Trip had lunch and now Nate is completely put off by his grandfather but he won’t tell Blair why. He and Blair attend the rehearsal dinner and Blair mentions Yale and Nate’s adamant about attending Columbia. Since he’s the best man, Nate raises his glass to make a toast to Trip and reveals that he has learned that it was his grandfather that ratted out his father. Ouch. Nate then cautions cousin Trip to watch his back. Poor Blair. Right when she thought her future looked bright Nate renounces his family. Grandfather still wants to hold Blair to the deal but she realizes that Nate really does need to follow his heart and is actually proud of Nate’s convictions.
Nate confronts his grandfather and wants complete honesty. Grandfather agrees and begins his new honest streak by telling Nate of the deal he had with Blair. Poor Nate must feel it’s his destiny to be sold out by those he loves. He tells Blair that he had hoped she had changed but apparently she hasn’t.
Back at the Seder, Rufus and Lily show up and Serena pretends that she’s a guest and Dan’s her date rather than tell Rufus that Dan is working. The dinner is a series of uncomfortable lies and omissions and cover-ups and it gets worse when tall gorgeous Gabriel drops by unexpectedly. Did I mention that he’s tall?
Serena tells Gabriel that she and Dan are still together which grosses Lily and Rufus out. Gabriel doesn’t buy it and Lily finally demands to know what the heck is going on. Dan being Dan confesses first that he’s a cater-waiter and not Serena’s current boyfriend. Gabriel, smelling the dysfunction in the air, bails out of dinner. The Seder was somewhat of a disaster but Rufus did sell a painting. He also wants to sell the gallery. Oh and Lily lets Serena know that she’s been accepted into Brown.
A distraught Blair rushes home and sees Serena in front of her building and falls into her arms. Serena was just about to kiss Gabriel now that Gabriel set her conscience free that they are not married.
Up in Blair’s room Serena and Blair are all snuggled together on Blair’s bed making me wonder if this is actually how straight girls console each other on a regular basis. If so they won’t stay straight for long. Anyway, Blair seems sincerely heartbroken that she has lost Nate’s trust.
Nate goes over to Chuck’s to do his lamenting. Unlike Serena and Blair, Chuck and Nate were not snuggled together on Chuck’s bed though it seems they would both be very comfortable doing so. Chuck tells Nate that Blair actually has changed and just needs some one who believes in her.
Eleanor interrupts Serena and Blair’s snuggle-fest by telling Blair that she needs to see someone downstairs. Blair, not knowing that Nate was now there comes downstairs to apologize to Cyrus for missing Seder and to ask if he could call his NYU friend. Nate then steps from the shadows and lets her know he does believe in her. Awe.
Chuck’s had a tough night himself. Jenny, who was hanging out with Wes over at Lily’s, called Chuck out on his sleazy ways and told him that just because his life sucks in the relationship department he needs to stop raining on other people’s relationship parades. This seemed to resonate with Chuck.
Finally, Serena gets home and calls Gabriel because now that she knows they aren’t married she’s actually charmed by the notion that he came back to NYC looking to be with her. Unfortunately, when Serena calls, Gabriel is in Poppy’s apartment looking sort of scheming and smarmy.
Is it weird that I like the Blair-Nate pairing? Does it have a future or is the Blair-Chuck connection simply too strong? Will all of this be a moot point when Blair experiments with lesbianism at NYU next year?
