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Gossip Girl Review: Taking What's Yours

by at . Comments

Our Gossip Girl gang is growing up. Not necessarily maturing, but growing up.

Their transition into adulthood is a major theme of this sixth and final season, and tonight saw the five core characters - Dan, Serena, Nate, Blair and Chuck - establish what they want to achieve as individuals.

While last Monday's premiere brought the group back together again after the Season 5 finale scattered them, "High Infidelity" was an episode that set the stage for the remainder of the CW series.

For these aspiring publishers, writers, businessmen and women, the obstacles are formidable and the stakes higher than ever, both personally and professionally. Let's break it down by character:

D and G

Dan is finding it more challenging than expected to release his hard-hitting Inside sequel. Plenty of people would run it, but not in the way he feels would deliver the maximum, destructive impact.

With his sketchy literary agent in tow - Georgina is the highlight of Season 6 so far, whether she's watching him sleep or offering snarky commentary - the sometimes-bitter Muppet encountered resistance.

Save for one unlikely ally. Nate may be portrayed unflatteringly in Dan's book (unless he's Mr. Irrelevant a second time), but the head of the struggling Spectator sees this as a literary marriage of convenience.

He needs a major story to save the publication. Dan won't compromise by running his serialized UES expose unless it appears verbatim. Thus, Date came to a mutually beneficial agreement.

It seems a little too perfect at this point. What happens when the first chapter gets published and the Spectator faces the inevitable blowback? How far is Nate willing to go to keep it in business?

Moreover, if everyone easily linked the pseudonyms of Inside to the real-life Upper East Siders he dragged through the mud, what does Hard Luck Humphrey have to say that's SO shocking now?

He's determined to make a name for himself on his terms, in any case, which is essentially Nate's goal as well. Whether either achieves it, and how long this tenuous pact lasts, are open questions.

Serena and Nate both assumed their new significant others were cheating - with each other - but predictably, there was more to it. Steven being Sage's father was still unexpected, however.

A sibling or cousin, we could see, but father and daughter? Neither Nate or Serena saw that coming, and just as surprisingly, both relationships ended the episode intact following the reveal.

He's really okay with Nate dating his 17-year-old daughter? Hey, there are worse guys out there ... unless there are unrevealed ulterior motives involved with Serena and Nate's new loves.

Nate and Sage

Clearly Sage has no problem lying, and things seem a little too perfect now. Like Serena's bid to take Manhattan as a respectable and responsible adult, the jury is still out on these two.

Blair's road to fashion glory and stepping out of Eleanor's shadow hit a roadblock thanks to two blasts from the past: maligned former Constance classmate Nelly Yuki and faux-cialite Ponzi schemer Poppy Lifton.

Being Queen B only gets you so far once you get out of high school, the younger Waldorf learned, as the bridges she burned came back to haunt her. Not sure we buy Nelly as a WWD reporter, but whatever.

Having crashed and burned, B gave her staff a 10-day ultimatum, with the future of her company and future with the love of her life riding on Waldorf Designs' success hanging in the balance ... somehow.

The whole together-but-apart bit feels a bit overblown and forced with lines like this. Chair can't get married if Waldorf Designs isn't massively successful or Bass Industries isn't returned to Chuck's control?

Kind of a stretch, but they're wholly committed to this idea for the time being.

Like his possibly future wife, Chuck is determined to become his own person and just the scion of a famous businessperson. In his case, though, this entails declaring a full-on, above-board war on Bart.

He pressed his dad, his dad aggressively pressed back, and the younger Bass made his intentions clear. He also pressed Amira, only after which did he receive a clue. Who is the person in that photo?

Hopefully this plot line picks up steam in the coming weeks, along with the others. With only eight weeks left in Gossip Girl's run, there's not much more time to waste. Let's get to it, right?

A few stray observations on tonight's episode before turning it over to you:

  • MEGA SPOILER ALERT: This Gossip Girl finale photo surfaced today.
  • Barry Watson (Steven) is 38 and Sofia Black D'Elia (Sage) is 20.
  • "No one in high school reads Gossip Girl anymore." Or watches it?
  • Handsome Vacant would be a great Secret Service code name.
  • Who doesn't get turned on by D saying "raw" and "hard"?
  • Were Rufus and Ivy in bed this whole time?
  • Nate watches Millionaire Matchmaker?

So, that brings us up to date. Did all of this make you more excited for the conclusion? Or is the show just running out the clock at this point? Sound off with on all things "High Infidelity" below!


Editor Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 2.2 / 5.0 (601 Votes)


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I love reading how everyone thinks Dan is a douche. Put yourself in his shoes! He spent years being messed around by Serena who could never make up her mind, ditched quite unceremoniously by Blair who was meant to be his friend and generally is never truly considered one of them although they're all quick to need him time after time. And so he sent the blast to Gossip Girl at Blair's wedding - bid deal! Have you conveniently forgot that he was prepared to set Blair and Chuck back up together and even facilitated that and he was the only one that seemed to be genuinely concerned that Chuck was getting his brains beaten out early Season 5. And he gave Chuck Monkey. If anything sending the blast should have sent Blair running to Chuck after all it was her declaration of love for him that was on it! I am interested in Dan claiming his power - it's about flicking time!


oooooh! Please ... replace Sofia Black D'Elia!!!!
She can't even speak clearly in English!
She is pretty but she can't act!
Please find another girl to replace her!


I liked this episode- it was good. It could have been better but it ok. Sage is just awful and gross- as an actress and a character i don't even see the appeal as a girl. Nate is so above her- please! Blair's story was entertaining yes-seeing Nelly and Popi again-but again the shame? Playing dirty and blowing up in her face again? Give her a break already-either make her schemings successful or make her do the mature way. I loved Serena's way to adulthood-socialite. Dan's speech to Nate was great.I love his storyline along with Georgina of course! As for Chuck Vs Mean Daddy i am not too much invested,it feels contrieved. Nonetheless,i can;t wait for the continue. GG has only 8 episodes left!


(ahh, character limit). They were my low point last week because it's gross and boring, so I'm glad they weren't dragging this episode down. Though the first two episodes were underwhelming, I feel confident that there will be some improvement throughout the rest of the season (it might take a couple more episodes yet though). Season 6 had to pick up where season 5 left off and, since the last finale was full of big game-changing events, there's been a lot of stuff to sort out. Now that a general direction has been set (eps 1 and 2 were actually pretty good at exposition, hopefully the show will get a little more interesting. For instance, I don't really care about the Bart storyline yet, but I think I could if there's some sort of twist (not going to predict what that might be, else it wouldn't be a twist).


It wasn't a bad episode but it wasn't great either.


i didn't like the episode.Blair still have the same childish attitude and i am so sick of it
Serena and steven: i liked their dynamic and i am glad serena throw blair out of her party
Chuck and bart: i wonder what secret bart is hidding
Dan: he sucks,now he cares about jenny?.I don't give a crap about what he is doing anyway
And nate/sage: i don't know what to say about them.They are irrelevant.


A lot of the thoughts on this episode seem to be quite negative, so I'm going to try and keep this pretty positive. It wasn't a bad episode. It was enjoyable in a superficial way. I enjoyed Blair's storyline and loved having Nelly back (idgaf about Poppy, but whatever). I'm most excited to see where Dan and Nate's partnership goes because it could cause a lot of waves with Serena, Blair and Chuck. It's one thing for Dan to write a tell-all about them (he's hurt, so I guess that's understandable), but what's with Nate? Last week he was all "I'm gonna trade in the future of my paper to save Serena," and this week he decided he's going to publish something that he knows damn well could hurt her (as well as Chuck and Blair). It makes no sense with regards to Nate's characterisation (of all of them, he's supposed to be the one with integrity), but I'm still excited about it and how it will affect his relationship with all his friends. My favourite thing was the lack of Rufus and Ivy. They were my low point last week (because it's gross and boring) so I'm glad they weren't dragging the episode down this week. I'm still optimistic about the coming episodes. I'm not surprised that the first two were a little underwhelming. The writers had to pick up where season 5 finale left off, so there's a lot of stuff that needs sorting out. I think the first two episodes, if nothing else, were good for setting the show in a general direction for the rest of the series. It might take until episode 4 or 5, but I feel confident that there will be some improvement throughout the season.


Nate and Serena and Chuck and Blair are true love. Nate and Chuck would do anything for the girls. Chuck left his planning to help Blair. Nate gave up his story for Serena's location. Nate and Chuck are about acceptance... that's love. Dan didn't/doesn't love Blair; she was his ticket to the inside.If Dan really loved Serena or Blair... he wouldn't written a book. Jenny helped ruin Serena's life, did he forget that? Did Dan forget his misdeeds? Yes, he did! Or how about ruining Serena's chances at being stable. Didn't he mess with Serena and Nate?


I watched this ep like 3 times already and lately will be my 4th.. I like Blair's fashion story and Dan's story wasn't as good tonight maybe in later episodes. I'm starting to like Sage, but I wish she was in it more like she was but she didnt say much; and now the scenes are equally given like there is legit 5 different story lines tonight.. Ughhh what happen to Nate's story on finding who Gossip girl is? don't tell me that only happen for the first ep like :| hmmmm.............. I think the acting of Serena and Nate could be better; plus as much as I like Chuck's family past drama sometimes I find it so annoying because its bart ugh but besides that it was a good ep :D


It was a fun episode, agreed. But the acting was terrible! Especially that Sage girl. Dan's storyline is exceptional and so is Blair's. So the producers really need to focus more on those storylines rather than the whole Bart deal.