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Gossip Girl, The CW, Airs Monday 8/7c

Episode: “Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?” (Season 2, Episode 13)

Synopsis: Bart’s death sends Chuck into a downward spiral, whilst Lily attempts to plan her way out of grief. Serena’s love life becomes more complicated as she realizes that her feelings for Dan are not as dead as she thought. The Waldorf family goes through some spur of the moment changes, and Rufus learns a life-shattering secret from the past.

Review: What a strong episode. After several weeks of depressingly dull, mundane and empty peeks at the Upper East side, it’s refreshing to see a truly good one. Emotional, touching and with a definite impact on plot for the foreseeable future, plus light on Aaron sightings! What more could a Gossip Girl fan ask for?

The stand out aspect of the episode was, without a doubt, Chuck. While the flamboyant, charismatic and prankster is always entertaining to watch, the Chuck witnessed this week was different. Something inside has gotten very very broken within this young man, and it’s going to take more than wine, women and song to fix. Though he may proclaim that he blames Lily for the loss of his father, he also blames himself and we’ve seen before how well Chuck handles that sort of guilt. Had he stuck around and stayed with Blair, after her “completely unexpected” declaration, he might have coped better. However, with his vanishing act it’s unlikely that Chuck is destined to recover for quite some time to come.

Of course, finding out what was in Lily’s file was the real shocker of the episode, and was meant to be what was getting everyone to tune back in in January. What’s really bringing people back is, of course, the tension between Dan and Serena. While their idiocy this week was frustrating, it was also realistic enough. No one wants to admit that they need someone back. It also gives fresh hope to the loyal Dan-Serena supporters out there, not to mention the people that just plain hate Aaron. Which, let’s face it, is pretty much every Gossip Girl watcher out there. This was definitely a high note to break the season on. I know I’ll be asking Santa to make sure that they bring it back at the same level next year.

Up Next Week: No new episode over Christmas, but check out The CW on Monday January 5th to catch episode 14, “Rising to New Heights”.

Read More: Gossip Girl Recaps

Did you watch Gossip Girl this week? If so, feel free to discuss below.