Gossip Girl Season Three – Episode 22 Recap & Review (Season Finale)

Television

Gossip Girl Season Three – Episode 22 Recap & Review (Season Finale)

By our guest blogger, Gita Gupte

Editor's Note:  Thanks to Gita for her terrific coverage of "Gossip Girl" this season.  We appreciate it--and her.

This year, "Gossip Girl" has been killing us all softly with its recycled plotlines, incestuous romantic relationships and changed characters. The whole year, I have been waiting for the show to end, so that it could put me out of my misery of having to repeat myself every week regarding its gradual demise. The end finally arrived with this week’s season finale episode. I was both elated and surprised by it – elated because I would finally be free of this horrid show and surprised because I actually enjoyed the episode. It took 21 weeks of nonsense to finally get the writers to give us something compelling, deep and worth our 60 minutes of free time.

So, here’s what ensued…

As suspected, Dan and Serena grazed the gray line between platonic friendship and romantic entanglement. We first see them asleep and spooning in Dan’s bed. A compromising position, for sure, and Jenny takes full advantage of it. Not even five minutes into the episode there is a "Gossip Girl" blast (photo courtesy of Jenny Humphrey) and everyone’s cell phones are ablaze with the sounds of controversy. With rumors abounding that Dan and Serena hit the hay together, Nate is none too happy. Serena then sets off on a mission to get to Nate before anyone else can. When she arrives, she is forgiven and we are pleased that Nate has some maturity. Minor detail that S omits from her story--she and Dan shared a kiss. Oops.

With Jenny officially hurting almost everyone in her life, Blair decides its time to give the little menace a warning. She hightails it to the BK to remind Jenny that she has hurt everyone that she loves and, consequently, no one in her little world loves her, not even her dad. Pretty rough, but pretty necessary. Little J has been stirring up trouble all year and she finally is realizing that karma is a bitch.

When Rufus arrives moments later to mandate that Jenny live out the rest of her high school years in Hudson with her mom, Jenny feels the pains of loneliness and runs off to Nate’s apartment for a dose of sympathy. However, Nate is nowhere to be found, but alas, Chuck is…

In the midst of all this gossip, Dorota goes into labor. This is a crucial moment in the plot because it happens circa 7 p.m. on the day that Blair is supposed to answer Chuck’s “Affair to Remember” ultimatum – if she still loves him, she should meet him on the roof of the Empire State Building at 7 p.m. or he will close his heart to her for good. Well, just like in the movies, Blair misses her cue and gets there moments after Chuck has left the building. Her heart is broken when she finds what should have been her bouquet of peonies in the trash. She grabs it and runs off to reclaim her love.

The only problem is that Jenny Humphrey has gotten to him first. Yes, it is said that misery loves company and these two lonely souls – Chuck and Jenny – decide to take an unexpected romp in the sack moments before Blair arrives on scene. The beauty of this plotline, be it totally unfortunate on all accounts, is that it is brilliantly thought-up. Jenny found a way to hurt Blair immediately after the Queen B was issuing her smug “Chuck loves me” soliloquy. But while Little J cashes in her V-card, Chuck realizes the monumental mess he has just made of his chances of getting back together with Blair.

Moments before he tries to propose to his love, Dan punches him in the face. The situation soon unveils what went down with him and Jenny. Blair is mortified and this is surely the end for the couple. She warns Little J to get out of Manhattan and never come back, because if she does, Blair will take her down. So we see Jenny skirt off to Hudson in the finally moments of the show.

In an attempt not to mope, Blair decides to spend the summer in Paris and brings Serena along for the ride. While these two are celebrating their newfound singlehood, Dan decides that Vanessa is not the one for him and that perhaps it has been Serena all along. But just when he finds out that Serena is off to Paris and contemplates a huge romantic gesture of buying a ticket to France to meet her, Georgina Sparks arrives on the scene and with her is her very pregnant belly – apparently Dan is a father?

But that is not the only twist in plot. We soon find out that Chuck is in Prague blowing off steam. When his drunken self gets cornered in an alley by thieves, he fights with them to not take Blair’s engagement ring. But instead of giving the ring back, they give Chuck a shot in the stomach and he is left bleeding in an alley.

This episode leaves us hanging, as all good season finales should – who will get together? Who will die? Who will return for the next season? We don’t know. Despite all the lackluster episodes this year, I still want to know the followinw – what happens to Chuck? Are Jenny and Vanessa gone for good? (I hope so). I thought this week’s review would end the same as all the other week’s with me dissatisfied and a little annoyed for losing 60 minutes of my life to such an unworthy cause. Instead, it was actually entertaining and I am compelled to tune in for the Season Premiere in September.

Grade: A