Episode #4: The Ex-Files
The episode starts off on the first day of senior year.
Lily over ordered breakfast for Eric and Serena. Bart is nowhere to be found; he’s on business. Serena wants to know about her mom’s honeymoon and wants to stay home from school to catch up. Chuck tells Lily Dan and Serena broke up and the reason why she wants to stay home from school. Chuck also mentions it’s Serena’s year to rule the school. But Serena says she doesn’t want to rule; she says that is more Blair’s thing. Serena confesses to her mom she is worried about seeing Dan everyday at school. Lily tells her it will get a little easier every day.
Dan is also having the same conversation with his dad about Serena. He talks to his dad about Serena and how it will be after the breakup. Dan seems to think everything will be ok because it was an amicable breakup.
Jenny doesn’t want to go to school because it’s project day. Blair and her friends are going to be on the warpath. She was a project last year and it didn’t turn out well last year.
At school, Blair and her friends are picking their new projects. They seem to have files on all the girls and are really cutthroat. They cut a girl because she was wearing last season’s flats…and she got them on sale. She was a goner. They do recruit a blonde cute girl who brother goes to Dalton and is on the lacrosse team. Chuck gives Blair a file for a transfer student. You can tell he has something up his sleeve.
Serena sees Dan in the courtyard and toils with the idea of talking to him. But in the end she walks away and Dan never knows she was there.
Nate happens to run into Vanessa (I don’t understand how because they don’t live in the same neighborhood and Vanessa doesn’t exactly travel to the upper east side often.) Nate wants to talk to her but Vanessa isn’t having it. She’s sticking to the deal she made with Catherine. He is still confused about what happened at the party and really wants to talk about. Nate says something about them being friends and Vanessa responds saying they were never really friends when Nate asks if they can be friends.
Dan waits with Jenny in the girl’s hallway because he’s trying to spot Serena. Penelope and Isabel completely ignore her in the hallway. Jenny thinks it’s better to be ignored than to be tortured.
When leaving the girl’s hallway, Dan literally runs into the new girl when leaving the girls hall. Her name is Amanda.
Blair and Serena are talking about her breakup with Dan. Blair tells Serena, “Whoever dates first wins. And with your ex being Dan Humphrey, you win by default.” When they turn the corner, they see Dan and Amanda talking…border lining on flirting. Blair sees this and decides to make Amanda her new project. This way she can keep Amanda from dating Dan.
Vanessa is at the gallery / coffee shop when Catherine comes in. She says she knows Nate visited her this morning and is happy Vanessa stuck to their agreement. For payment, Catherine gives Vanessa $5,000. She leaves before Vanessa can return it.
Dan and Serena finally meet up post break up. Serena suggests the two of them have lunch but Dan has already made plans with the new girl. Serena seems a little taken aback by this. Chuck stands on the sidelines thrilled. Chuck snaps a pic of the two of them and sends it to GG. The scene switches to Blair and her posse checking Gossip Girl and they see the picture Chuck just sent in.
Lily goes to visit Rufus at the gallery. She just wanted to stop in to say hello and catch up. Rufus says he’s going to see Repo Man and Lily says she wants to go too. Rufus is surprised because Lily never liked Repo Man when they were together they go. But Lily wants to go.
Blair and the posse introduce themselves to Amanda in the hallway. They offer her a lunch date, but Amanda declines because she is eating with Dan. They tell her dating Dan is a bad idea and could be dangerous. Blair is playing her usual games and drops her field hockey stick on her foot. Serena walks in and asks what she is doing…Blair says they were going to lunch. “Lunch, you know the meal before dating?”
Vanessa goes to Catherine’s home to return the check. The Butler says Catherine is unavailable. But Vanessa hears Catherine is there and finds her making out with Marcus. She snaps the picture for evidence.
Dan is waiting for Amanda to show up for lunch, but instead Chuck is there to meet him. Chuck is there to tell him Amanda won’t be meeting him for lunch. Chuck explains that Amanda has made new friends. Dan doesn’t really understand, but Chuck tells him Amanda won’t be able to break the girl rule of dating a friend’s ex.
The girls are eating lunch someone else because the steps of The Met are under construction. Blair tells Amanda they are glad they are friends, and because they are friends she can’t date Dan because he is Serena’s ex. Serena doesn’t feel right about what is happening and asks Amanda to get some gelato, on Serena of course. Serena tells Blair what they are doing is wrong and leaves to apologize to Dan.
Vanessa meets with Dan to tell him what see saw between Catherine and Marcus. Dan suggests that she bring the evidence to Blair. Vanessa doesn’t want to because she doesn’t trust Blair. (He says something really clever here, but I’ll talk about that later.) He says she was really helpful with the stuff with Georgina. So Vanessa agrees to commission Blair’s help.
Dan finds Serena and Serena tries to apologize. Dan isn’t really trying to hear it because he said she is trying to rationalize and not accept responsibility her actions. He thought they were going to be more sad awkward instead of competitive awkward. He didn’t think she would turn to back up from her posse. She says that’s not what she is doing. Serena says if it were a competition she wouldn’t need Blair and her posse. Then she walks away cold.
Immediately Amanda shows up and asks Dan out.
Vanessa brings the picture to Blair and explains to Blair what Catherine said. She sends the picture to herself and says her and Dan shouldn’t say anything about it and if they do they will regret it. Blair says she will take care of it. Vanessa says she trusts her and Blair says she has no choice.
Everyone is at a hip restaurant. Amanda says it’s time to send a message after Dan is apprehensive. Isabel takes a picture with her phone and sends it to Gossip Girl.
Jenny wakes Dan up the next morning and asks what he thought he was doing with lil Miss Hannah Montana the night before. Jenny has seen the picture on Gossip Girl. Jenny says he is committing social suicide and it’s just plain mean. She says he needs to talk to Serena.
Serena wakes up with Chuck in her bed. Chuck has breakfast in bed and the news from Gossip Girl. Serena is less than thrilled with the info.
Vanessa is at the school looking for Blair because she won’t return any of her calls. Vanessa thinks she’s not doing anything to help the situation. She asks Jenny to find out where she is and Jenny is forced to ask Penelope. Penelope tells her Blair is out brunch.
Dan and Serena meet up again. She doesn’t like the message that Dan is sending. She says he’s trying to embarrass her in front of her friends. Dan is there to apologize though. Serena suggests that all three of them go out tonight to clear the air and to stop Gossip Girl from talking about them. Dan seems surprised by this, but Serena thinks they should do it save what’s left of their friendship.
Vanessa finds Blair having brunch with Marcus and thinks Blair is covering everything up with a romantic lunch. But she leaves to soon before Blair enacts her plan. Blair confronts Marcus about sleeping with Catherine. He lies to her and says he put a stop to it when he met Blair. Catherine shows up but doesn’t want to stay until she sees the picture Blair sent to her phone. She sits and Blair talks about her exit strategy. Meanwhile, Vanessa leaves to visit the Duke.
The Dan, Serena and Amanda cluster isn’t too comfortable for Serena. She’s out of place. Penelope and Isabel bring reinforcements for Serena; it’s the lacrosse team from Dalton. Serena brings her new date to the table. All the new guy talks about is sports. You can tell everyone at the table is annoyed by his lack of other interests, including Serena, but she still uses him to stick it to Dan. Serena is trying to make Dan jealous because this guy is the complete opposite of Dan.
Dan and Serena talk at the bar. Dan confronts her about the new guy and they trade insults. Serena tells him that it hurt that he asked another girl out on the first day of school. He says they were broken up, but she says it still hurt. She said just because they broke up doesn’t mean she can just turn her feeling off like that. Dan isn’t sure if he should comfort her or not. He doesn’t and suggests they just stay away from each other. Serena suggests that he leave because it’s all her friends there and it’s not his kind of place.
Chuck tells Dan he is about to see the real Serena, but he doesn’t want to stay to watch. He says he’s seen enough.
Blair and Nate meet up. She tells Nate that Marcus and Catherine are sleeping together and that they both agreed to leave town. Also she tells him Catherine agreed to pay off his dad’s restitution so he can return to his normal life. Everything is great for them for about 20 seconds until Blair receives a phone call from Catherine. Vanessa has messed everything up because the Duke knows everything now. Blair is mad because she told him to stay out of it.
Lily goes to visit Rufus again. Rufus is surprised. Lily confesses that Bart is doing business like what he did the whole trip. The kids are living their own lives and she’s just lonely. Rufus says he can’t be her friend because he doesn’t want to fall back into old patterns. He says she made her choice to be Mrs. Bass and she needs to do that for both of them. Lily meets Rufus’ new girlfriend, Claire, and then leaves. She gives Rufus his favorite bottle of wine on the way out.
Chuck goes to Penelope and Isabel and concocts a Nairtini to throw at the new girl. Penelope does the act. Dan tries to run after Amanda but she doesn’t want to stay behind. Serena tries to apologize to Dan. Dan says some mean things to Serena about how she takes no fault for anything. He says she was always afraid people wouldn’t see the real her but he says she doesn’t see herself. Serena is hurt. She turns to the girls and says everything needs to be cleared through her from now on. Serena becomes the new Queen.
Blair confronts Vanessa and the gallery. Vanessa calls Blair selfish because she was too afraid to mess up her perfect world. Blair tells her how she got Catherine to pay off the Captain’s restitution and how Nate was going to have his old life back. But all that is messed up now because Vanessa wouldn’t let her handle it. She says it is over for Nate, thanks to Vanessa.
Vanessa goes to apologize to Nate, but he is hurt because she confided in everyone else besides him. He said he didn’t care about the money, just about their relationship.
Penelope and Isabel find Jenny in the hallway and empty all of her stuff out of her purse. They basically say they are going to mess with Jenny with simple tactics for a long period of time. Jenny takes all of stuff out of locker and heads to Eleanor’s workroom.
Dan calls Amanda to see if she’s ok. He also says that he came down really hard on Serena and it really wasn’t her fault. The scene then cuts to Chuck and Amanda. Amanda is talking about how Chuck hired her to make Dan like her and to make Serena jealous. Amanda also says hair burning wasn’t part of the deal. Chuck hands her an envelope of cash while saying she is transferring to a boarding school in Vermont. Chuck says he did it to create a monster to dethrone the Queen of the school.
Blair shows up to school and all the girls are wearing scarves. The girls cut Blair off in mid-conversation when Serena shows up to ask her what they are doing that night. Serena says she tried to call Blair many times but she didn’t answer. Blair says she was sick. Serena then takes he scarf out of her hair and ties it around Blair. Blair looks confused, but she knows what is happening.
Chuck is standing by there to rub it in Blair’s face that Serena is back on top. He lets Blair know he was behind the whole thing.
Dan walks into the courtyard at school and everyone is starring at him. No one will talk to him and everyone starts to leave. This is the end of Dan Humphrey. Serena walks in the courtyard, obviously different and they share a long stare at each other and then she walks away.
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