‘Gossip Girl’: How we met Chuck’s mother

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There was cause for great celebration on last night’s ‘Gossip Girl’: Chuck Bass met his mother! The mystery woman, Elizabeth Fisher, did indeed turn out to be the mom whom Chuck had spent his entire life believing was dead. Hooray! Their reunion, however, was not filled with hugs and rainbows. For one, Chuck initially wanted nothing to do with her. Hurt and confused as to what kept her from being in his life for so long, he assumed she was back for money. His solution? Throw a check in her face and tell her never to return. Although Blair was willing to respect Chuck’s wishes and bow out of the drama, Serena wasn’t going to let Elizabeth go without hearing the truth about her absence. Serena being Serena, the confrontation was entirely self-serving. She hoped that by hearing Elizabeth’s reasons for leaving, she would understand her father’s choice.

Elizabeth’s reason was honest yet still pretty brutal (now we know where Chuck truly inherited his aloofness). She was 19 when she had Chuck and was ready to give him up for adoption. Bart wanted to keep the baby, but since Elizabeth had no intention of marrying him, she suggested the story that she had died at childbirth. She left to start her own life yet still accepted annual payments from Bart to stay away. They’re not the ideal words you’d want to hear from your long-lost mom, but it was the truth and Chuck needed to hear it. The smile on his face as he sat down for their introductory ‘getting to know you’ conversation was priceless. The Great Wall of Chuck Bass slowly began to crumble.

The Humphrey-Van der Woodsen household was also on the verge of collapse. Lily and Rufus continued their blame game, which was exacerbated by the fact that Jenny was storing both a boy and a mini-pharmacy in her bedroom. Since getting caught with Damien didn’t sate Jenny’s appetite for self-destruction, she also petulantly decided to push Rufus’ buttons even harder by exposing the drugs. Her little experiment somewhat worked. We all know Rufus couldn’t hurt a fly, and all the anger he was able to muster could barely make a toddler’s knees shake. It’s his puppy-dog looks of disappointment that inevitably gouge Jenny’s heart when she acts up. I’m getting a little tired of her rebellious brat phase; she needs to lose the attitude along with the gnarly extensions. While one Humphrey was acting up, another was getting some action. Dan and Vanessa finally consummated their awkward dance of should-we-or-shouldn’t-we and officially became a couple. I’ve never been a fan of these two getting together (I think I made that pretty clear after the threesome episode), but I must admit that they do have chemistry. By acknowledging the pressure of falling into a fast-forward, ‘all-or-nothing’ relationship, we almost believe that they’d be extra conscientious about not going that route. But isn’t that what happens when you fall in love with your best friend? Isn’t that the point? This can’t possibly be the end of Dan’s dating foibles, could it? It was so much fun watching him play the field. Something tells me it won’t be as entertaining with someone he already knows so well.

It’s your turn, readers. What were your thoughts on the episode? Were you happy to see Chuck reunite with his mom? How do you feel about Dan and Vanessa getting together?

xoxo

-- Enid Portuguez