'Gossip Girl' Recap: "Gone Maybe Gone"

“Gossip Girl” returned tonight to begin its sixth and final season on The CW with a new episode, “Gone Maybe Gone.” Picking up where May’s season finale left off, Chuck and Blair were together in Monte Carlo, Dan and Georgina were in Italy working on his book, Nate was still in New York…doing something and Serena was alone on a train, suffering the effects of a drug overdose. As for the mystery blogger who watches their every move, she began with her usual tongue in cheek voiceover, saying, “I’ve got a feeling this fall could be my last season.”

Almost immediately, there is a time jump to the end of summer with Lily and Bart returning to New York to discover that Serena has been MIA all summer and not sitting around the apartment like they assumed she was. Lily sends out an SOS to her friends and Chuck and Blair rush back from their respective corners of the world to team up with Nate and find Serena. Meanwhile, Dan and Georgina are also on the hunt for Serena, but their reasons are a little more nefarious than those of the Non-Judging Breakfast Club members. They want to find Serena broken down and at rock bottom because Georgina thinks it will be the perfect ending for Dan’s book. Dan is so bitter from his breakup with Blair that he’s not really protesting (I guess he’s still mad about that whole sex tape thing too). Anyway, let’s break it down:

THE GOOD

1. Chuck and Blair having hot sex at the beginning of the episode: (That sound you hear is the Chair fangirls melting). Even though, Chuck and Blair are not technically together when they return to New York, they’ve made a promise to each other to be together once they’ve gotten all their stuff straightened out. Basically, they know that when they’re together nothing else matters, which is why they need to get their professional lives in order before the fully commit, which leads me to…
2. BLAIR HAS AN ENGAGEMENT RING!!!: (I’d say I apologize for the screaming, but I’m not even a little sorry). In a classic Chuck and Blair limo moment, the two have an honest talk about why they’re staying apart and what it’s going to mean for their future. Then, Chuck pulls out the necklace Blair has tucked into her shirt and they both look at the engagement ring hanging from it, a symbol of what’s to come (Cue the fangirl squee’ing).
3. Dan goes off on Blair: (I know what you’re thinking, how can I say this is a good thing when I’m a Chair fan. As a fangirl, I wanted to yell, “Sucks to be you, Humphrey!” at my TV…and I did, but objectively, it was a good moment). Dan gets a chance to get some of his aggression out as he explained that it really bothers him that he didn’t just lose Blair to Chuck, he lost her to the idea of Chuck. But then he goes in for the low blow and makes Blair get teary-eyed and all my objectivity went out the window. Sucks to be you, Humphrey.
4. Georgina Sparks: I love her. I love every mean, sarcastic thing that comes out of her mouth and having her work with Dan automatically makes Dan more interesting. She spent most of the episode coming up with all the worst case scenarios for Serena and when they finally found her, she made things that much worse, just by being herself. But my favorite moment was Georgina’s tirade on how gross babies are, followed by her sentiment that she loves being a mom or whatever. I really hope Georgina sticks around for the majority of the season.
5. Serena is trying to get her life together: Considering she was supposed to be the main character, Serena has always had the worst storylines on the show and most of the time, they were extremely repetitive. Now, it feels like Serena is really trying to grow up and move on from her old life. Once she told Steven the truth, he seemed pretty understanding and it feels like they have a solid relationship. I doubt it will last, but it’s nice to see something different for Serena where she’s actually acting mature.

THE BAD

1. Chuck vs. Bart: Round No One Can Count That High: Don’t get me wrong. I love Chuck Bass. I love Bart Bass. I’m glad he’s alive, but I hate that the show is determined to make these two characters enemies. I’m not saying Bart needs to suddenly rival Burt Hummel as TV’s best dad, but why do they always need to be at war? And why does Bart hate Blair so much? Every time he throws Blair in Chuck’s face, I pretty much want to punch him. I also don’t like that Bart is clearly hiding something from Lily. Why can’t they just work on being a family?
2. Nate is still just there: We know Nate is a good friend and he has sex with every girl who walks by, but aside from that, what do we know about him after five seasons? He’s running The Spectator on his own and he’s determined to find out Gossip Girl’s identity. But the first and only real clue that he had, he traded away to help find Serena. Sure, it was a noble gesture, but it doesn’t really help the end game nor does it make Nate the slightest bit interesting.
3. Blair and Serena as enemies: I get why Serena is mad at Blair, I do, but part of Serena’s maturity should be to forgive her friend. Even if they can’t get their BFF status back, they should at least be civil to one another. Blair genuinely felt bad for everything she’d said and Serena was cold to her and then of course, Blair retorted with, “Manhattan is mine!” Naturally, Serena brought Steven back to New York so I’m sure we’re in for another tiresome battle between the two.

THE WTF WAS THAT MOMENT:

Rufus and Ivy had sex and Dan saw them. Not only that, the audience had to see them. Why do you hate your audience, show? I believe we are all entitled to free brain bleach after that.

Until next, feel free to leave your comments below and tell us what your favorite and least favorite parts of the season premiere were.