Moot Point

Okay, I’m not even a little embarrassed about liking Gossip Girl anymore after the hour of wonder that was last night’s show. There’s still all the amazing catty campiness (“And to think, I almost asked you to wear a matching dress tonight”) but it was actually really fantastic asterisk-free gripping drama all the way tonight. (I am behind-the-folding this because I talk about the big! revelation! and it’s really not the kind of thing I want to spoil for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet!)

One of the things I like the best is that a show like Gossip Girl doesn’t particularly require anyone to be a good actor. Some of them are — Leighton Meester stands out especially and Taylor Momsen has really grown on me as a performer — but some of them are totally affectless — Chace Crawford is the obvious example, but even Blake Lively’s range is really limited — and it really doesn’t make a difference in this kind of drama, because all these characters are kind of just supposed to be bad actors anyway.

But this week was one of my favourite episodes of television this year! It was so good! Here are the things I love:

-The importance of the “Gossip Girl” premise to tonight’s episode: Kristen Bell’s sassy Gossip Girl narration is always great, but I loved that so many of the characters actually interacted with the website last night, with Jenny and Blair trying to smear each other with the faux tips. And even Dan. As a corollary I love how the show contrasted Blair and Georgina here. Georgina carelessly outs Eric even though it doesn’t do her any good at all, but Blair plans to hold back Eric’s secret because she actually does care about Serena’s family.
-The van der Woodsens: I loved the way that the family dealt with the gay Eric story, and Lily’s remorse at her first reaction. The show’s gone a long way to make the parents human and flawed as parents without being evil or whatever.
-The Jenny story: I mentioned before that Taylor Momsen had grown on me as an actress, and she was really brilliant tonight. Her practiced bitchiness to Eric when he tries to warn her off Asher is so ugly, because she’s so desperate. Her desperation is so palpable.
-Layers of cultural reference: Obviously the Tinsley Mortimer and Page Six jokes are gold, but check it: this episode is called “All About My Brother,” a reference to Almodóvar’s All About My Mother, which is itself a reference to All About Eve, which is where the “Eve Harrington” reference in this week’s episode comes from. Postmodernism: it’s all a rich tapestry. (And I think next week’s episode is called “Women on the Verge”!)
-Georgina Sparks torturing Serena: I love how evil Georgie is, because she’s set it up so Serena will be ruined either way. It sort of almost hurts to watch, because Michelle Trachtenberg is so fun in her evilness, but at the same time Blake Lively is so good at making Serena slowly closing in on herself real (I know I just said her range was limited, but I still think she is great at Serena). Also, I didn’t notice it, but I did feel like it contributed to the whole thing:

Anybody else notice that as the episode wore on, Serena was wearing more and more makeup? In the scene where she “comforted” Eric after he got outed, she looked like she was wearing a Burger King king mask. Plus 1, because when you’re cracking, you can at least rely on your liquid foundation not to.

-The big “I killed someone” revelation, making it clear why Serena was so desperate to be as far away from Georgina as possible! Those high angle shots from atop the Waldorf mansion staircase that bookend the revelation scene! So perfect.