(S03E06) "What are friends for?" - Vanessa to Dan Thanks to Gossip Girl, Firefly's Gina Torres is back on TV! It was about time that this fantastic actress returned to the small screen. Torres plays Vanessa's mother, Gabriela, and is set to appear in a few episodes. This new character finally allowed the viewers to know more about Vanessa, who's been a background character/sidekick for the past seasons.
As it was posted here before, I wasn't able to watch the episode live but allowed you to post your comments in a temp post. Here we go with my review, which includes some of the comments you left.
This wasn't my favorite episode of Gossip Girl so far this season. jIMBO, in comments, said "I'm so sleepy." The episode didn't put me to sleep but I must agree that the events weren't as engaging as usual. This was one of the episodes that contained the most lies and deceptions, yet, I wasn't as entertained as usual.
As I've mentioned in my introduction paragraph, I was really looking forward to the arrival of Gina Torres. I expected Gabriela to be different than the other characters and be more Earth-ish. However, I ended up finding all her scenes rather awkward.
I was really bummed when Gabriela decided to not show up at the café to have a one-on-one with her daughter. Vanessa was shaken up by the events and what her mother said. I don't think the talk at the café would have made Vanessa quit NYU, but I'm sure her mother would have been able to bring Vanessa back down to earth and clearly see that she has changed and maybe not for the best.
I didn't enjoy watching Vanessa self-destruct and follow Blair's lead to get what she wanted. Vanessa hit rock bottom and, being the strong character that she is, I'm pretty certain she'll bounce back in a few weeks and after apologizing over and over again to the friends she hurt.
As for Blair, I was not in the least surprised by her evil actions. I don't even think she'll learn from this debacle as she will find a way to get Chuck back in no time. I'm happy though that Vanessa exposed Blair as it will make it harder for Blair to become NYU's Queen Bee.
I agree with commenter Ryan that seeing Mr. Ellis in Chuck's apartment at the end would have made for a killer twist even if we would have learned next week that he was just there to hear Chuck apologize for Blair's actions. I also agree with Ryan about Hilary Duff. I too find her character refreshing. She brings a nice balance to the cast and I'm starting to like Dan again (I was getting tired of Dan and Serena's relationship games).
The Nate we used to love in the first season is definitely gone. That Nate would have never gone as low as the Nate we have now went. Nate was clearly blinded by his desire to get revenge for Bree using him as he did something really unlike himself: agree to do evil deeds his grandfather demanded.
Nate should have known better than to use Serena. Since he dated her and has been friends with her for years, I would have expected Nate to know that if Serena learned about him using her, that she would seek revenge.
The one thing that I liked about the episode: Carter decided to take responsibility for his actions and go work for the Buckleys until he repaid them.
What did you think of the episode? Do you agree with my review that it wasn't the best episode this season? What do you expect will come next?
Gossip Girl' Photos
Ed Westwick films on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan on March 31, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 31, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 31, 2009 Photo by James Devaney/WireImage.com To license this image (57097114), contact WireImage.com
James Devaney/WireImage.com
Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan on March 31, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 31, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 31, 2009 Photo by James Devaney/WireImage.com To license this image (57097089), contact WireImage.com
James Devaney/WireImage.com
Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan on March 31, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 31, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 31, 2009 Photo by James Devaney/WireImage.com To license this image (57097084), contact WireImage.com
James Devaney/WireImage.com
Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan on March 31, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 31, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 31, 2009 Photo by James Devaney/WireImage.com To license this image (57097072), contact WireImage.com
James Devaney/WireImage.com
Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan on March 31, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 31, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 31, 2009 Photo by James Devaney/WireImage.com To license this image (57097060), contact WireImage.com
James Devaney/WireImage.com
Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan on March 31, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 31, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 31, 2009 Photo by James Devaney/WireImage.com To license this image (57097097), contact WireImage.com
James Devaney/WireImage.com
NEW YORK - MARCH 26: (ITALY OUT, NY DAILY NEWS OUT, NY NEWSDAY OUT) Actress Kelly Rutherford work son the set of "Gossip Girl" on March 26, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Caroline Lagerfelt
Getty Images
NEW YORK - MARCH 26: (ITALY OUT, NY DAILY NEWS OUT, NY NEWSDAY OUT) Actresses Kelly Rutherford and Caroline Lagerfelt (L) work on the set of "Gossip Girl" on March 26, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Caroline Lagerfelt;Kelly Rutherford
Getty Images
Actresses Blake Lively (L) and Leighton Meester film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan March 18, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 18, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 18, 2009 Photo by Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage.com To license this image (57000618), contact WireImage.com
Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage.com
Actresses Leighton Meester (L) and Blake Lively film on location for "Gossip Girl" on the streets of Manhattan March 18, 2009 in New York City. On Location for "Gossip Girl" - March 18, 2009 Streets of Manhattan New York, NY United States March 18, 2009 Photo by Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage.com To license this image (57000622), contact WireImage.com
Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage.com
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-20-2009 @ 5:53AM
jIMBO said...
i'm sooo sleeeepy.
Reply
10-20-2009 @ 9:48AM
Ryan said...
Gina Torres has also made an appearance in FlashForward this season and not in a one-off role so we should see her again as well in that show. But either way, it was great to see her!
In any case what is there to say about this episode? While I still think Nate is yet again being underused as the writers have no clue how to integrate him back into the group, but there is some intrigue there as he is slowly but surely morphing into a Vanderbilt.
The Blair/Chuck thing was par for the course and I'm sure they'll make up. They always do. I would've preferred a surprise twist in the end of seeing Mr. Ellis in Chuck's apartment. And if the show didn't want to gay up Chuck (haha) it could just me a misdirection for the audience where we think Chuck has gone gay but in reality he was just meeting with him to apologize for Blair and yadda yadda yadda. Instead we see him stare out a window. Exciting.
Shoot me. I like Hillary Duff. Damn this show for doing that. She's just so refreshing relative to the main cast.
It was hard to watch Vanessa in the episode because it was so obvious how Blair manipulated her. I mean you would think she would know her roommate and her best friend a little bit more than Blair. Both Dan and Olivia would've totally understood and Olivia would've gladly let Vanessa given the speech. Oh well.
Reply
10-20-2009 @ 10:00AM
Ryan said...
Of course I meant to say that Nate was becoming more of an Archibald. Rich names always sound similarly pretentious don't they?
10-21-2009 @ 3:42PM
Sarah said...
Hilary Duff has a way of making you like her against your better judgment... even though she has subpar singing and acting skills, i've been a Hil Duff fan since Cadet Kelly.
10-20-2009 @ 12:14PM
almb23 said...
I cant wait to hear your review of the show, especially with what happened with Chuck, where do you think that is going? I was also wondering if you have seen the online series Under the Arch? I just saw the trailer for the fall season... http://www.youtube.com/UndertheArchTV It is taped in NYC by real NYU students. Do you think this has the potential to be like a real life Gossip Girl? being a reality TV fan, I think its something I could get into. I'm waiting for the launch of their site... http://underthearch.tv
Reply
10-22-2009 @ 5:33AM
marie said...
Bravo ryan. you said it.
why didn't the writers think of that??
Reply