Deceit and deception are nothing new on Gossip Girl, and if the first episode of the season is supposed to be any indication of what’s to come, you can be sure there will be plenty of it. With lies, cover-ups, and plenty of people living in denial, “Summer, Kind of Wonderful” gives us an idea of what everyone was up to this summer. Most importantly, it looks like Serena, Nate, Chuck, Dan, Jenny, and Blair have all had a lackluster summer just waiting for something to happen or someone to come along.
Serena, Nate, and Chuck are summering in the Hamptons, but Serena and Nate’s rumored summer romance is just a cover. Instead, Nate is involved with an older woman who happens to be married and Serena seems to be spending her time alone or with the occasional date. Chuck enters the season with a couple topless girls on the beach, but his mind quickly turns to Blair when word spreads about her return.
Not one to let her true feelings be known, Blair returns in the arms of another man– James. In reality, James is just a guy she met and is not at all into, but he serves the purpose of helping her make Chuck jealous.
All attention is quickly turned to the White Party, a super exclusive, end of the summer event. Blair invites James to go with her, Chuck only decides to go after he suspects that James is not actually who he says he is and Jenny gets busy trying to find a way in. After spending an entire summer interning at Eleanor Waldorf’s studio, Jenny gets now in the eyes of her boss and her designs and hope of going to the White Party are turned down. Instead, she phones Eric, apologizes for how she treated him and he invites her along.
With some encouragement from Serena’s mom, Dan goes to the White Party with the hope of reconciling things with Serena. Instead, he walks in to see Serena and Nate engaged in a serious public display of affection, which was only started to get Nate’s secret mistress who is at the party with her husband jealous after she told him the relationship was over. After confronting Serena, two girls that Dan was seeing at the same time during his summer internship meet each other, put two and two together and then confront Dan.
Jenny impresses her boss with Eric’s help and connections, and her dress is a hit. But, the real story unfolds as James realizes that Blair was just using him to make Chuck jealous. Blair comes clean and feeling guilty, James reveals a little secret of his own– he is really a British lord! Chuck seems to find out the news, compliments of his PI at about the same time and makes a move to get Blair’s attention one last time before she leaves.
In the end, Blair leaves with James and Serena and Dan head out together, but if anything is to come from it remains to be seen.
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