When we last left our beloved Upper East Siders, Blair was about to leave town after word got out that she's a dirty, dirty girl. Her former friends ostracized her after learning that she slept with Nate and Chuck in the same 24 hour time span. She was ousted as queen bee, and was about to board a plane to Europe to live with her dad and his lover. But her BFF Serena, encouraged her to stay and stand her ground.
When the new episode opened, Blair seemed a far cry from her fabulous, unflappable former self. She had spent all of spring break buried in "Club Bed" (a phrase coined by her surprisingly witty maid Dorota), scarfing down chocolates. "Lady Godiva," cooed Blair. "You're my only friend!"
But she had to get up and face the catty music. Accompanied by Serena and garbed in that Jackie-O-on-crack ensemble (seriously, what teenager wears a babushka?), she headed to school.
There, she had yogurt flung at her by queen bee successor Jenny. Blair was understandably flustered. But, as it turns out, Jenny is having trouble of her own. The poor Brooklynite has pawned half of her belongings so she can afford to hang out with her chic new "friends." Nate, of all people, realizes the strain this putting on her, and gently prods her to rethink her new social status. I usually find Nate boring, but this sweet, chivalrous gesture actually has me liking him.
Jenny, of course, ignores Nate's sensible advance, and devises a way to get out of paying for dinner with her new buds. She convinces them it would be WAAAAY more fun to invite Blair to dinner, then stand her up and just hang out at home. They agree. But stupid Jenny doesn't anticipate that this will just galvanize Blair to get revenge. During her solo meal, Blair devises a way to use Jenny's upcoming B-day party to ruin her. She talks Jenny's sweet, clueless dad into having an old-fashioned, little kiddish B-day party for J at her humble Brooklyn digs. He does so, and the girls not only do not approve, but they find out that Jenny stole a priceless Valentino dress from one of the girls (she originally traded for another dress at the pawn shop, then felt guilty and reswapped the dresses, planning to return the Val).
Jenny is a mess, Blair sweeps in and invites her ex friends to dinner. This time, they come. But Jenny has a plan up her sleeve, too. She talks poor sweet Nate into taking him out, so she can introduce him to one of the snotty girls, who has had a massive crush on him. J is forgiven and B is once again ousted. For now.
In the episode's far less interesting storyline, Serena starts receiving scandalous, mysterious packages in the mail. A box filled with porn and handcuffs, a case of champagne and, lastly, an envelope of cocaine. She assumes it's her soon-to-be stepbrother Chuck is the culprit, and throws a hissy. But it's not Chuck (however, Chuck did have a pretty great response when Serena's mom told her to take her "dirty package off the table.") Instead, the packages are from a mysterious "G," who is so fearsome, she even freaks Chuck out. Yikes.
Next week, we'll meet G (actually Georgina, an old friend of Serena's played by Michelle Trachtenberg). But I thought this episode was a pretty great return. It focused a lot on two of the show's strongest characters, Jenny and Blair. The thing that's interesting about them is that neither comes off as completely evil. They're both, in their own way, sympathetic. That makes it a little tough to know who to root for, which makes the conflict even juicier.
Chuck was a touch underused, but I did like him bonding with Serena's little brother Eric. Perhaps he has alterior motives, but I'm thinking that, after falling out with Nate and pushing Blair away, maybe he just digs being around someone who genuinely likes him.
Anyway, good return.