Although I thought that the big reveal on last night's Gossip Girl about Serena's dirty little secret was a tremendous letdown, I'm not going to let that interfere with my enjoyment of the episode. There were so many other amazing parts about the episode that I'm willing to overlook the lameness of Serena's secret and move on to her really great group of friends.

First, I suppose I should begin with my analysis of Serena's secret. It probably is realistic that she felt so guilty about her friend Peter's overdose and subsequent death that she had to go into hiding in a boarding school in New Hampshire. She was only 16 at the time, still reeling from having slept with her best friend's boyfriend, and clearly under the influence of more than one chemical substance. But honestly, I expect more scandal from Gossip Girl.

It probably wouldn't have made long-term sense for the show to have Serena actually commit murder, but all she did was offer the guy some of his own drugs that he was going to take anyway to distract him from man-handling her. I was hoping for her to have felled the dude with a swift and fatal blow to the head with a giant glass bottle of Ketel One or Grey Goose.

But what made the episode great was how all of the Upper East Siders rallied to support her. Blair (Leighton Meester), Nate (Chace Crawford) and Chuck (Ed Westwick) overcame their current distaste for each other in order to help their dear friend Serena out. The best part of the scene in Blair's penthouse was when they all took turns reminding her of the awful deeds they had committed in the past. All Chuck had to say was, "I'm Chuck Bass." The "non-judgmental Breakfast Club," as it were, will fiercely protect their own, and even get off on bringing down their enemies. Did anyone catch that smoldering glance Blair and Chuck shared when they jointly decided to go after Georgina (Michelle Trachtenberg)? Scheming to destroy someone is like foreplay to these two!

I understand that, because of the writers' strike, the dénouement of Serena's secret was rushed, but I am most definitely looking forward to a big blowout Gossip Girl season finale event next week. You can be certain that major s--- will hit the fan at Lily (Kelly Rutherford) and Bart Bass' wedding. From experience, I know that fancy dress parties on Josh Schwartz vehicles tend to end in fisticuffs. Let's hope that this one will involve Blair ripping the still-beating heart out of that perfectly evil Georgina Sparks.



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)