Since this is my first excursion with the wealthy, petty and selfish cast of Gossip Girl, I had a lot to learn and a number of characters to familiarize myself with. For those who, like me, are new to the scene of "Manhattan's elite," here's a quick primer based on Season 3's cliffhangers.
Blair Waldorf AKA "B" (Leighton Meester) unwittingly stands Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) up at the Empire State Building, where he planned to propose with a huge diamond. When Blair doesn't show, he jumps into bed with the very blonde and very available Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), breaking Blair's heart. To keep it together, Blair grabs best friend Serena van der Woodsen AKA "S" (Blake Lively) and the pair hop the first plane to Paris. While there, Blair meets Louis Grimaldi (Hugo Becker), the soon-to-be prince of Monaco, and the pair fall in love. In the meantime, Chuck heads off to Europe himself, gets shot and robbed in the process, is rescued by a lovely local girl named Eva (Clemence Poesy) and decides to reinvent himself and shed the trappings of the Bass empire. Chuck can't stay away from his million dollar life for too long, however, and is eventually back in NY with he and Blair at war.
Meanwhile, Serena leaves Dan Humphrey AKA "Lonely Boy" (Penn Badgley, Easy A) hanging on the promise that she may come back to him after her summer in Paris, but he has a surprise on his hands when Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) reappears with another one of her schemes and baby Milo in tow, claiming Dan is the father. This throws a kink in the works between the blossoming relationship of Dan and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr), but Georgina isn't around long.
Blair and Serena start classes at Columbia, but a girl named Juliet Sharp (Katie Cassidy) seems hell-bent on ruining Serena's life. It soon gets revealed that Juliet's big brother, Ben Donovan (David Call), was a teacher at Serena's boarding school and he ended up in jail following the revelation that he and S had an affair - all completely untrue, though. Who was behind this? None other than Serena's mom, Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford). Expect family explosions as it all shakes out.
Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) sees his father released from prison, but his parents are getting a divorce. Having been rejected (sort of) by Serena, Nate finds himself falling for Raina Thorpe (Tika Sumpter), the daughter of the man trying to buy Bass Enterprises out from under Chuck Bass, Nate's best friend. Awkward! Of course, since Chuck was also after Raina to try and make her love him in the hopes she'd save his company, things couldn't get any more awkward. Although fate seems determined for Chuck and Blair to be together, Chuck finally steps aside for Blair when her prince returns for her hand in marriage. As the last scene of the season finale shows a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trashcan that B and S share, will anybody live happily ever after?
Gossip Girl: The Complete Fourth Season is typical Gossip Girl fare - high drama, high fashion and high class? Well, not really, but loads and loads of money. I can say one thing about the show - the clothes are simply amazing. Gossip Girl is clearly known for its fashion and locations and this season doesn't disappoint. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg as far as storylines go, but I wanted to leave some reveals for you to discover all on your own. If you are a fan of the show, you have already seen all of these episodes. However, there are some special features that, although they aren't really worth a purchase, are fun to watch. There are a handful of deleted scenes, a featurette on S and B's summer in Paris, a gag reel, and finally, a featurette on the process behind putting together an episode. I will admit that it took me a little while to get into the show, but I did enjoy watching. It's one of those guilty pleasures, like The Hills, but more over the top and taking place on the East Coast. Watch it all to prepare yourself for Season 5's schemes, surprises and takedowns.
