Guest Blogger: Alligator

As I mentioned in my first post, I do not have cable or TiVo, so I can only watch a handful of shows. This is fun, because it forces me to choose carefully -- it reminds me of picking classes in college. There are always shows I want to watch that I can't (this season it's Supernatural, which conflicts with The Office), but the advent of online television has helped me immensely.

Hence, the introduction of a guest blogger, who does have cable and who watches all sorts of shows that I, for various reasons, do not. She has been trying to convince me to watch Gossip Girl, but so far I have resisted.

Name: Alligator
Location: Seattle
Occupation: Artist
Current TV: Gossip Girl, Flight of the Conchords, The Hills
All-Time TV: The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Sex and the City, Antiques Roadshow, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Murder She Wrote
Movies: Annie Hall, Gone with the Wind, North By Northwest, To Kill a Mockingbird
Music: Joanna Newsom, Melanie, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones
Books: On Beauty, Air Guitar, The Americans
Websites: Fred Flare, The Sartorialist, NY Times, The Stranger

Which TV character would you like to have...
a friendship with: Larry David (does that count?)
a relationship with: Aidan (Sex in the City), Brett (Flight of the Conchords)
in your bed: Michael Vaughn (Alias)


(C) The CW
Gossip Girl - The Handmaiden's Tale
Dan's childhood friend Vanessa returns home and declares her feelings for him right as he and Serena are deciding where their relationship is going. Blair sends Nate on a scavenger hunt, but Nate is distracted by his feelings for Serena. Meanwhile, Lily asks Rufus to accompany her to a gathering in order to make Bart jealous.

I totally love Dan and Serena. Their relationship is very John Hughes circa 1986. This episode introduced a new character, Vanessa. She is Dan's childhood friend who was also the love of his life (pre-Serena). She's also apparently BFF with Dan's dad (Rufus) and sister (Jenny). Honestly I thought her character seemed a bit too snippy and quick with the comebacks. Since it seems like she'll be around for a while let's hope they give her character a bit more dimension.

This episode revolves around a masquerade ball (are these kids always throwing lavish parties?) and in spite of Jenny's new role as Blair's crony she still was not invited to the party, so she was super bummed -- but somehow GG newbie Vanessa was able to sneak her in. I guess this is not too much of a stretch considering in last week's episode we saw Blair, Jenny, and the girls out at a bar -- and Jenny is only 14. At the masquerade ball Jenny manages to trick smarmy Chuck into meeting her outside for a potential hook-up, only to lock him outside in his underwear. Jenny's character is reminiscent of Winona Ryder in Heathers. Love it!!

The best moment of the show was the surprising but not so random kiss between Dan's dad Rufus and Serena's mom Lily. Rufus was just trying to help Lily make her rich boyfriend jealous with the kiss, but I'm sure that we'll definitely see more Rufus and Lily love in the future. Oh, and Lily's boyfriend is Chuck's dad. Apparently there are only about ten people living in Manhattan.

We also found out that Nate's dad is a crazy coke fiend and is quickly losing all of his money on his dirty habit. Nate is as dry as burnt toast so this will surely perk up his storyline. He is also still in love with Serena but that is old news. It seems like we will get more of that info in the next episode. -- Alligator

Related:

* Gossip Girl goes off-book