TV Review: Gossip Girl 6×03 – “Dirty Rotten Scandals”

Gossip Girl Episode 6×03 – “Dirty Rotten Scandals”- Aired on 10/22/2012

After last week’s episode, I was starting to feel pretty positive about Gossip Girl’s final season. And after watching last night’s episode, “Dirty Rotten Scandals,” I still remain positive, although I didn’t enjoy the episode as much as I hoped I would. While I welcomed the familiarity last week, now, it just seems sort of boring.  And on top of that, the episode focused on two characters that I can’t stand: Ivy and Sage.

Serena and boyfriend, Steven (guest star Barry Watson) are trying to handle his difficult and bratty daughter, Sage (guest star Zoe Aggeliki). Sage is rude and vindictive toward Serena, who is trying to form a friendship with the girl in order to save her relationship with Steven. Sage overhears Serena talking on the phone with Blair, who is begging Serena to model for her fashion show. Serena declines being as she’s still mad with Blair, and realizes during the phone call that Sage has ditched her. Serena goes looking for her and meets up with Nate. Nate is pretty happy since he published the first chapter of Dan’s Upper East Side exposé on The Spectator, and it’s been a hit. Nate reassures Blair that Sage is “wise beyond her years” (Hold on. Let me LOL at that.), and that they’ll be able to get over this rift between them. (Sorry. I just can’t stop laughing at Nate. He is officially the comedic relief of this season.)

Serena returns to her search, as Nate finds out that Rufus wants to sue Dan for libel for the story he published. Dan calms Nate down, and heads to Brooklyn to confront the brain-washed Rufus. Rufus is totally out of his element when talking to Dan. He acts as if he can’t recognize who Dan is anymore, but it’s really Rufus who is unrecognizable. After Dan leaves, Rufus confronts Ivy about putting out a claim that he was going to sue his own son. Ivy badly acts out some stupid excuse, and of course, Rufus believes her.

All the while, Blair is freaking out about her first fashion show. Everything is going pretty badly that she faints from stress. That scene was very weird with its woozy camera movements. (Am I watching a bad 90s sitcom?) Dorota insists that Blair gets some rest; so Chuck saves the day! He takes a break from investigating Bart’s secrets, and comes to take over the planning, giving Blair the show that she always wanted. As Chuck leaves the rest to Blair, more problems occur, ending with Sage stripping on the runway as ongoing retaliation against Serena. Serena storms out, and Blair’s show is ruined. (Look out for an Alexa Chung cameo!) Serena and Blair being bested by Sage is a pretty low moment and might be the thing that brings their friendship back together.

The show ends on a couple interesting developments. For one, Chuck gets closer to finding out Bart’s secret. Apparently, Bart is protecting a lady named Alexandra, which could be 1. Another person to be called Chuck’s real mother or 2. Gossip Girl. I have my money on No. 2. You know in my two previous reviews I predicted that Bart Bass is Gossip Girl, or protecting the person who is GG. This is further proof that my prediction is correct. I think a totally strange, but clever twist would be that Bart is secretly a cross-dresser that goes by Alexandra, who spends time gossiping about Manhattan’s elite. I mean, if Nate believes that a bratty and annoying 17-year-old is wise beyond her years, then this could happen.

The other development qualifies as a favorite scene from this episode. Last week, we saw Nelly Yuki finally tell Dan what he needed to hear. Even though, it seemed like he wasn’t going to take her advice about following his own rules, surprisingly he did! After the success of the first chapter at The Spectator, Dan sells the next chapter to Vanity Fair for a higher price and more notoriety; in turn, he pisses off Nate and ruins that friendship. While I do think it seemed a little petty, it’s great to finally see Dan being assertive and going after what he wants. It’s at that moment we see Nelly Yuki again, who clearly is crushing on Dan. I’m glad to see Nelly again because as much as I love some of these characters, she’s the least bullshit-y of them all. It sort of reminds the audience how different Blair, Chuck, Nate, Serena are from us. In that regard, Nelly’s return is very refreshing for the show, in particular Dan’s story line. I’m looking forward to see how it progresses, if it does.

Overall, it was an okay, if boring, episode. I can’t stand Sage at all, which put a damper on it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like she’s going away anytime soon. Same could be said for Ivy and her disgusting relationship with Rufus. Every time Ivy talks, I want to stab myself in the eye. It almost seems like Matthew Settle (the actor playing Rufus) is contemplating the same. Despite those two icky characters, the wonderful Chair (Chuck/Blair) moments made me melt, and Dan going his own way is a highlight.  Both made this episode worth watching. It’s quite clear that Serena and Steven’s relationship won’t last. If it’s dependent on whether or not Sage walks a fashion show, obviously, there is something wrong. So why are they wasting our time with it? Finally, as Chuck’s investigation continues, it looks like we’re closer to discovering the real identity behind Gossip Girl. Let’s hope it’s good!

Gossip Girl airs Monday nights at 9/8c on The CW. Only 7 more episodes left!

Watch the preview for next week’s episode: