Gossip Girl: Nastia and a sequined Chuck

Gossip Girl:
"It's a Wonderful Lie"

Two weeks between new episodes of Gossip Girl is rough. It was such a relief to have it back.

The big news of the episode for those of us for whom watching gymnastics is a way of life was that Nastia Liukin made a cameo. The big news for those of us for whom watching Gossip Girl is a way of life was that this episode was pretty fantastic.

Nastia's cameo: For a second there, it looked like she was about to land herself a Bass, but then Blair showed up to abruptly shove her aside. Only Blair Waldorf would have no qualms about pushing away a five-time Olympic medalist... As far as cameos go, at least Nastia's was decidedly less creepy than poor Shawn Johnson's appearance on The Secret Life of an American Teenager. And at least no one did cartwheels down the hallway after Nastia left.

Fantasticness: The Chuck and Blair scenes were awesome as usual. The Chuck, Blair, and Dorota scenes were crazy amazing. And I think I even enjoyed the Nate/Vanessa/Jenny/Mean Girls story line too.

Favorite quotes and observations:

• Chuck: "Who's in the lead to play the Man With No Future?"
• Serena: "Dan Humphrey, the scourge of high society, is going to the ball!"
• Jenny: "Otherwise I'll start thinking about my future, and then there'll be a Jenny Humphrey-sized hole through my wall."
• Vanessa's such a dirty liar.
• No way can Jenny make a whole dress in one day. She must be the fastest little sewer in the history of the land.
• Lexi: "You know, I feel inspired to shop at the Gap!"
• Eew, Nate and Vanessa are kissing now? Um, Nate really does get around at a pretty fast clip.
• Ha ha ha, Gossip Girl captioned the picture of Nate and Vanessa kissing with "Ew ew ew!" That's what I said!
• Bart really is going to die soon--he's making nice with everyone!
• Serena, I can see your boobs again.
• Not loving this dress Jenny's making at this point.
• Jenny (to Vanessa): "Are you really that desperate?" Yeppers, Jenny, she is. Are you really that surprised?
• Chuck is playing the piano!!!
• Blair: "If you like your date, I get your limo for a month."
  Chuck: "And if you like yours, I get Dorota!"
• Chuck (to Dorota): "I take my breakfast in bed."
• OMG, how amazing would a spin-off sitcom with Chuck and Dorota be?
• Geez, Lexi is annoying. She's even more annoying than Vanessa.
• Serena: "Can't she just vote?"
• Ahh, good, Bart's back to being an ass. Now we won't feel so bad when he bites the dust.
• No, Blair, no. Aaron is NOT hot. Not hot, Blair!!! And what happened to Blair's "wait until you're in love" philosophy that she was spouting just a few weeks ago?
• Blair: "Don't you know that Chuck doesn't like his fruit pre-picked!!!"
• Blair and Dorota picking Chuck a date was hysterical. Poor Dorota joined Facebook groups.
• Blair's party dress is fabulous.
• Eew, whose friends like having conversations with other people about their friends' sex lives? ("Aaron told me that tonight's the night with Serena...") Gross! Way too much information. (BTW, if the dude runs to tell his ex-girlfriend that his current girlfriend said she wants to sleep with him tonight, isn't that weird on several levels?)
• I feel like Lily should be getting a big "I told you so" regarding marrying Bart right now.
• Wow, soooooo much of Serena's boobs are on display, I don't think that anyone's even going to notice Vanessa's see-through dress.
• Serena seriously needs to learn to not dress like such a skank. It's become an embarrassment.
• I'm glad Little J still dresses like the Wicked Witch of the West occasionally.
• Vanessa likes Nate better than she liked Dan? Really? Him?
• OK, you can just see the outline of Vanessa's legs. It's not that bad. It would be one thing if she were wearing underpants with dolphins on them or something, but she's not. This is no where near the Nair-tini incident.
• Wow, when did Nate get so preachy? I'm sorry, in this scenario, Vanessa looks much worse than Jenny. I mean, the see-through dress was not that bad. And why's Nate so shocked--Jenny pulls crap like this all the time!
• Blair: "But she's me. Only less--I gave her that headband!"
• Ok, we're at least finally getting some kind of explanation of why Rufus let Lily go on her wedding day. Which is nice, because it made zero sense at the time. The explanation doesn't seem to make a ton of sense either though.
• Luckily for Vanessa, Nate is really fickle.
• I think Blair's wearing the necklace Chuck gave her for her birthday last year. I love that necklace. I hope Erikson Beamon's Target line includes something similar.
• How can you say no when a boy in a sequined tuxedo jacket asks you to dance?
• Oh no, is Chuck going to blame himself for Bart's accident since he told him to come to the party?
• "Bart's been in an accident." Well, that's the worst kept secret of the year.
• Next week's promo: Wow, grieving Chuck really does look like a sexy vampire. And what the hell is wrong with Lily? You don't slap your step-son right after his father just died, no matter what he says to you. Have some compassion, van der Woodsen.

(Is it just me or in the above photo of Chuck and Blair, do they not look like they're auditioning for roles in the sequel to The Other Boleyn Girl or some other Renaissance courtesan romance?)

Headband Monday: white band with the bow.

(photos: cwtv.com)