When last we saw him, the fair Dan Humphrey -- inexplicable ladies' man and NYU sex god -- was curled up in bed with his two latest conquests: 1) his girlfriend, movie star Hilary Duff, who happens to be friends and roommates with Dan's best friend, Vanessa Abrams, which brings us to the second conquest: 2) Vanessa Abrams. Surely, no awkwardness will result from this supremely ill-thought out menage a trois! This is what Humphrey is clearly thinking when we meet again, in the current episode: The show opens with Dan strutting down the street, whistling, feeling sexy, and high five-ing anyone who comes his way. It is actually quite authentic of how (we imagine) a teenage guy in his circumstance would act! Of course, ten seconds in, Nate Archibald - the actual ladies' man on this show - steps in and shares with his sad friend the obvious rule of involving your girlfriend in a menage a trois: The third party
must be a stranger. Certainly it cannot be your sexy best friend of forever with whom you used to be in love and vice versa. CERTAINLY it cannot be your girlfriend's college roommate. Nate sets him straight (invoking the extremely convincing authority that: "I know things. I went to Europe. I'm best friends with Chuck Bass") and Dan, being Dan, ignores Nate and continues on his merry way. For like, one second, before (spoiler alert!!) inevitably losing both his best friend and his girlfriend. Who knew?! Good bye, Duff. See you next fall?
The rest of the show is sort of focused on Gossip Girl's return to her roots: We circle back to issues from the show's very first episode, including Jenny being from Brooklyn (the shame!); Chuck Bass and Jenny; Jenny in trouble; Serena and Nate; and Serena's wild, untamable bosom behavior. It's actually a pretty good one! But also, it reminded me how much better the show was in its first season. Perhaps this was the signal of a return to old form? Let's hope. After all, the show's Thanksgiving episodes are usually pretty solid -- and that's what's coming up next week. Stay tuned.
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