Gossip Girl: Victor, Victrola

ORIGINAL EPISODES, WEDNESDAYS @ 9PM ON THE CW

Let's start with our favorite Upper East Side couple, Dan and Serena. You can already see these two falling for each other and quick. They've had chemistry since the very beginning and now that they can finally express it what do they do? Yup, they try to find some alone time. Too bad this doesn't really work out well for them with constant interruptions from parents, life, and a best friend that happens to be both a girl and in love with Dan. Except we know that you can't keep teenagers down for too long and Serena and Dan finally have their magical night. Before we get to that we should talk about the biggest obstacle to their night, themselves.

We actually learned a lot about Serena in all of this. It turns out that although Serena has a checkered past with Nate and some other ways that we haven't been privy to yet, she's never had a real boyfriend. Personally, I was a bit surprised at this. Given their lifestyle and what we know about her past I would have thought there would be a couple boyfriends mixed in there somewhere. Anyway, Serena was entirely too aggressive in getting things to move forward with Dan and this probably has a lot to do with her former lifestyle and the limited knowledge she has about relationships. This ended up hampering their progress rather than pushing it forward. Dan also has his issues, mainly with his virginity and unrealistic expectations about what he needs to do to make Serena happy. It was absolutely hilarious that he felt it was necessary to research pornography in order to figure out a game plan and hone his skills. In the end, Dan may have thought all of this was necessary in order to be the guy Serena wanted and Serena may have thought she needed to be aggressive to get the guy she wanted but as it turns out, they just needed to be honest, slow down, and be themselves. When they did this they realized they weren't ready and would rather take the time to fall in love first. I think this was the right idea and I'm glad to see them growing much closer together and they didn't need sex to do it.

One person who knew how to make his girlfriend happy but couldn't give it to her was Nate. He knows all too well that if he committed absolutely to Blair, gave her the family ring, and slept with her that she would be happy and no one would every question him. The only problem was that he doesn't love her anymore. I doubt he truly loves Serena though; it would appear to be a temporary infatuation resulting from his desire to get away from Blair. At the same time he needs to figure all this out, he also needs to deal with his cocaine addict of a father. I have to give it to Nate though, his masterful attempt at getting his father the help he refuses by getting him arrested was brilliant. I never expected that from him but it was interesting to see what he can do when he puts his mind to something. Unfortunately for Nate his father was also embezzling money from his company and his legal troubles are only now beginning. With all this happening he finally admitted he didn't love Blair. The consequences of this decision may be catastrophic.

I'm a believer that things only happen for a reason and sometimes those reasons are hidden. The consequences, however, are never hidden; at least not for long. So what's the consequences of Nate's decision? For one, Blair has gone off the deep end and become the wild child Serena took the crown for earlier on. And her first act as queen was to strip in Chuck Bass's new burlesque club and then sleep with him in the limo on the way home. Apparently though this isn't the end. Next week it seems that Blair may continue her wild child ways. It also seems that Nate may have cost his father more than his freedom but also his biggest client, Blair's mother. Where the consequences end who knows, but I have to imagine we're going to be seeing the repercussions for a while to come.

As for the rest of the episode, I'm not sure where to begin. It was craziness in New York and we had bits and pieces of numerous other stories thrown at us. Foremost is the relationship between Rufus and Lilly. If we start there I think I can hit all the other side stories in one because their connections appears to be influencing most everything else. These two are totally in love with each other even if they could never admit it and even if Lilly could never see herself living in his lifestyle. The fact that she would go straight to him upon learning of Bart Bass's activities on the side means a lot and really shows that she's not over him. Speaking of Bart Bass, his son Chuck really screwed things up for him with Lilly. His immature attitudes clouded his perception and while he believed his father was also seeing a young woman on the side he was really meeting with her as a potential employee to help develop new investments. By the time Chuck figured this out he had already let slip to Lilly is original belief and she went straight into the arms of Rufus. I can see Lilly continuing to date Bart as she struggles with her desire to live the rich life while clearly wanting to be with Rufus instead. It could turn out that she chooses Rufus but Jenny may have a little wrench to throw in the story.

Apparently, Jenny believes it's finally time for her mother to come back home. Sadly, even if she does I don't think she'll be able to save her parents marriage. Their mother had an affair, the details of which are still hidden from us but if she truly comes back down to Brooklyn I have a feeling we're going to learn all the sordid details and it's going to wreak havoc on the family's life. It could even have effects on Dan and Serena's relationship. And let's not forget about Vanessa. She's not going anywhere at least for the time being and a personal problem of Dan's that she could understand and Serena never could may just be the opening she seizes to get back into Dan's life. We're already starting to see the tension develop between Serena and Vanessa. It won't be pretty when it erupts in Dan's face and if Vanessa doesn't chill out he may just be forced to choose. If that happens it's not looking good for Vanessa considering the bond developing between Serena and Dan.

I would mention the story about Chuck Bass and the burlesque club but to be honest it's not only boring but extremely generic. He wants to impress his father except deep down he'll always be a perverted, party-obsessed teenager. And now he's sleeping with his best friends very recent ex-girlfriend. He has a lot to fix in his life and unfortunately we have to watch it.

This was a great start to November Sweeps for Gossip Girl. I'd like to see the writers cut out a few of the side stories though as the episodes progress and give us time to digest the big ones. The episode was just slightly too over packed and split our focus a bit too much. I have no doubt things will be fine in the next few episodes and I can't wait to watch everything unfold. Until next week, enjoy the review!