After struggling through a few rough patches, last night’s season finale actually went out with quite a bang — and by bang, I don’t mean gunshots (like last year). Sure, some moments were absolutely atrocious — especially towards the beginning — but by the end of the night, Gossip Girl landed on solid ground and reestablished itself as a sultry and salacious show worthy of anticipation.
“The Wrong Goodbye” tied up loose ends while also paving the way for new mysteries. While I think the first half of the episode was outlandish (and not in a good way), I do think it was necessary. At least now all the snore-inducing plotlines have been tied up as prettily as one of Blair’s long-forgotten bows. But are more snore-inducing plotlines on their way?
I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)
In a scene straight out of Batman, Chuck dramatically busts the door down in order to rescue Blair from Russell Thorpe’s grubby clutches — which just happen to be wrapped around a lighter, ready to set the room ablaze. It’s really Raina who does all the saving, however, when she offers her father an apology just long enough to snatch the lighter away from him … only to then confess that she’ll never speak to him again, but that he’ll have lots of time to dwell on his misdeeds in prison.
Now that the writers have stretched that storyline as far as it will go, Raina’s stint on Gossip Girl is over — not that anyone is exactly bawling, least of all Nate, who gently pats her on the back a few times as a goodbye.
Screenwriting an Apology
Blair thanks Chuck for saving her life the only way she knows how — by having sex with him in a room adjacent to a bar mitzvah! Meanwhile, loyal Louis is still waiting for her at the Constance Billard reunion, completely oblivious to the chaos that’s surrounding him. While Serena, Dan and Vanessa frantically search the school for Charlie — bumping into Georgina Sparks, the Junior Plastics, and Cecily von Ziegesar on the way — Charlie is climbing over a window, allegedly attempting suicide.
Luckily, Serena talks her off the ledge and then has some sort of epiphany in which she realizes all of the things fans have been saying about her — that she’s indecisive, self-absorbed, and reckless — so she apologizes to both Dan and Nate for stringing them along last summer and vows to be a better person. Gossip Girl, meet self-awareness. It is your friend.
If It Hadn’t Been for Love
When Blair and Chuck finally turn up at Constance, Louis gives them one glance and realizes what transpired. Something tells me, however, that he’s as desperate for a fairytale as Blair is, because he instantly erases it from his mind once Chuck tells him how happy he is to see them moving on together. I’ll be the first to admit, I haven’t exactly been Chuck’s number one cheerleader this season, but as he told Blair she’d be better off without him, I did see something in him that I’ve never seen before: nobility.
The fact that he acknowledges how quickly he gave up on their relationship proves that maybe, someday down the road, they can move past this. (However, I didn’t like the fact that everyone kept saying how mature Chuck was becoming. The writers really need to stop telling us what to feel and congratulating themselves for doing so.) Chuck’s face, a mixture of heartache and contentment, as Blair walked away with Louis, was utter perfection.
That’s It, I Quit, I’m Moving On
The theme for the summer — and the entire episode, as evidenced by the title — is saying goodbye. Blair and Chuck say goodbye, maybe for good. Vanessa and Dan say goodbye as well, after having a heated argument over his personal novel, which she discovered. Inside, as the book is called, is a satire about the Upper East Side and Dan’s yearning to fit into it. Nate and Chuck say goodbye to New York and decide to traverse the globe at random. Vanessa says goodbye to the show, as she’s moving to Barcelona — after anonymously having Dan’s book published.
Meanwhile, Charlie says hello to home … or should I say Ivy does? Since apparently Aunt Carol’s been paying ‘Charlie’ to pretend to be her daughter — all a complex ruse to gain access to her trust fund. And Serena says hello to employment when she bumps into a hunky screenwriter in Montecito (she also apparently becomes a screenwriter by simply spouting a few quotes). But worst of all, it seems like someone will be saying hello to a baby, since there happens to be a pregnancy test in the Waldorf’s waste bin — a test that reads ‘positive.’
Despite its many flaws, I rather enjoyed last night’s finale, and I’m certainly anticipating the show’s return in the fall. I may have started to lose faith in Gossip Girl for a second there — but I understood its downhill spiral. I know things change. Actors grow tired, writers grow bored and the novelty wears off. The clock strikes twelve. But hopefully things start picking back up, now that we have various promising storylines to look forward to — and a few not-so-promising ones. But hey, that’s what these sites are here for. To gossip about the gossip.
XOXO
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
