Gossip Girl Redux: Blair Says Goodbye to Her Princess Status—and Chuck—for Good?

Blair’s Just Being Blair, Y’all: Blair finally receives the documents to

finalize her divorce, but hesitates on saying goodbye to her princess status forever. After Nate spills to Dan that Chuck

paid Blair’s dowry, Dan continues the game of telephone, letting Blair in on Chuck’s secret. Blair confronts Chuck at the

event o’ the week (a lingerie party because why not?!) saying, “You thought you could buy me back, just like you sold me for

your hotel.” Chuck reasons that he never wanted her to find out about his involvement in her divorce. “I just wanted you to

be free,” he says. “Who you choose to love with that freedom is up to you.”  Cue Chuck dropping the mic and walking away.

Boom.

Dan apologizes for spilling the beans, but then needs to know why she didn’t sign the divorce papers. “This has

nothing to do with Chuck or the dowry. My whole life I wanted to be a princess…I know it’s silly, but I think it was just

one more loss I needed to mourn to move on,” Blair explains. Dan, being the awesome BF he is, decides to stage one last

princess moment for Blair: He takes her to her former court, the steps at the Met, dressed as a princess, or “a prom queen

doing  the walk of shame.” Too. Cute.

Mother Dearest: Chuck’s trying to decide whether or not it’s

worth the risk to track down Elizabeth after learning she helped save his life. After receiving some advice from his

therapist private investigator, Chuck decides to talk over the decision with the only person in his life who also got to know

Elizabeth back in season three: Blair. Unfortunately, Blair isn’t in an advice-giving mood, seeing Chuck’s visit as just

another one of his ruses to get back into her life. “We both know we’ve never been good as friends,” Blair

says.

Later, Chuck’s private investigator comes by to drop a bombshell no one everyone saw coming: Elizabeth didn’t

donate the blood, so she can’t be his mother! Which totally doesn’t lead us to…

Drama: In a storyline totally unrelated to Chuck’s motherly woes, Diana Payne is back and bitchier than

ever. You see, she’s intent on taking the Spectator back from our Nate and isn’t above using (or, you know, causing)

problems in his relationship with Lola to get the job done. Nate neglects to inform Lola of his personal relationship with

Diana, which she soon finds out about thanks to Google…and Nate’s suspicious behavior. Lola turns to cousin Serena for

help, but the new Gossip Girl uses the situation to her advantage, setting Lola up to be the new It girl so she can finally

be free of Gossip Girl’s invasive shackles. There are certain shades of limelight than can wreck a girl’s complexion. At

least that’s what Holly Golightly said.

Too bad Lola is pulling a double-cross! She’s working with her handsome BF

to get some dirty dish on Diana to ensure his job security and uses her Floridian BFF Aidan, who is—wait for it!—16, to do

so. Obviously, Serena feels so betrayed by this development. “I’m so sorry. I hope we could still be friends,” Lola

says to an unmoved Serena, who completely forgets the fact that she was using her cousin.

So what lesson did S learn

from all of this? She likes being the It girl…and Gossip Girl. See, you can have your cake and eat it, too…for now

anyway.

WHAT’S AHEAD

Mo’ Family, Mo’ Problems: We all know Bart Bass is

set to return at the end of this season, but is Chuck’s padre returning in flashback form or as a ghost? “I will not say.

You’ll have to wait and see,” Josh Safran teases. “But it’s a good story I think it will satisfy

everyone.” As for Diana’s role in the Bass family storyline, he says, “That story is far from over.”

Love

Triangle = Full Steam Ahead: While Dan and Blair ended the episode on a Chuck-free and happy note, don’t expect

things to stay perfect. As Safran recently told us, “Dan and Blair’s relationship is going to be challenged because the

specter of Chuck is always going to be hanging over it, whether or not he’s even involved in it or not. Because Blair is

always going to be aware that Dan knows how much she loved a man before him. And Dan is always going to be aware, even more

so, of how tied up they were with each other and how they constantly return to each other at some point, invariably every

year. That pressure might seep in and cause some trouble but whether that trouble is insurmountable people will have to wait

and see.”

Poison Ivy:Though Ivy didn’t actually appear in the hour, she caused major problems

between rock-solid couple Rufus and Lily, but don’t call her a villainess! “She’s a complicated character,” Safran

explains, adding that fans shouldn’t prepare to be saying their goodbyes to Ivy anytime soon. “We have every intention of

Kaylee being back next season.”

What did you think of tonight’s outing? Do you think Diana is Chuck’s real mother?

Are you warming up to Dan and Blair as a couple or are you hoping to see a Chuck-Blair reunion by season’s

end?