The Ex-Files Recap, Episode 2.4

Photo credit: The CW ©2008 The CW Network. All Rights Reserved.
It’s the first day of the senior year for our favorite Upper East Siders and word is out that Constance may become the house of van der Woodsen instead of Waldorf this year.

And you won’t believe what The Dutchess Catherine (played by Madchen Amick) is doing in this episode!

Both Serena (Blake Lively) and Dan (Penn Badgley) are feeling the pain of their breakup, with neither too excited about the first day of school.

Serena’s mom Lily (Kelly Rutherford) is back from her honeymoon in Beijing with Bart Bass (Robert John Burke), but Bart is still there on business. Serena tries to get all of the romantic details over breakfast, but it sounds like Lily would rather talk about first day of school.

Kinda weird, but now that Serena and Chuck are stepbrother and stepsister, Chuck is at breakfast table with Serena and brother Eric (Connor Paolo). Chuck spills the beans and tells Lily that Serena and Dan broke up.

Of course, this is news to Lily who didn’t even know they got back together, due to the honeymoon. When Lily asks if she is okay (with the demise of her relationship with Dan), Serena says no, but she will be. It’s just going to be hard to see him every day.

At the Humphrey’s household, Jenny (Taylor Momsen) and Dan discuss why they are dreading the first day of school with their dad, Rufus (Matthew Settle). Before Jenny gets to the table, Dan mentions he saw a woman leaving the house early (Claire, the woman Rufus started dating in the last episode). Jenny is dreading being categorized by Blair (Leighton Meester) and her followers as a total loser because she knows they are still mad at her. Dan is just glad that in guy world he doesn’t have to deal with that drama (or so he thinks).

Pick up at school where Blair and her friends are, sure enough, going through an application process to pick who is cool enough to be one of Blair’s “projects.” Not many are getting through, especially if they made the mistake of wearing last season’s shoes or made some other fashion faux pas.

Serena spots Dan just as she gets to school and hides around the corner, not ready yet to see him.

Chuck and Blair see each other but Blair quickly tells him that thanks to his performance, she and the Lord (Marcus, played by Patrick Heusinger) are better than ever. Remember in the last episode when Marcus caught Chuck and Blair getting it on hot and heavy, that she wanted him to show her how he felt.

Nate (Chace Crawford) catches Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) on the street and wants to know what he did wrong, why she doesn’t want to have a relationship with him. Vanessa is vague, not wanting to tell him about the deal she made with Catherine. When he says he still wants to be friends at least, Vanessa says they were never friends, shooting him down.

Dan and Jenny share a moment at school and Jenny tells her that school will not be easy for Serena either. When Blair’s friends walk by giving Jenny the cold shoulder, Jenny realizes she will be invisible this year.

Walking to class, Dan runs smack into new transfer girl Amanda (guest star Laura-Leigh) who has long dark hair and soulful eyes. They realize they share the same interests in reading and it looks like a light comes on for Dan.

Blair had just told Serena it was all about “who ever dates first wins.” And surprise, surprise, that’s when they see Dan and Amanda sharing a special moment, throwing out the Waldorf Rule of Order. They never expected Dan to find someone first.

After checking her “application,” Blair tells Serena that the new girl Amanda is basically “Dan with boobs.”

Over in stalkerville, Catherine has been checking up on her boy-toy Nate and saw him conversing with Vanessa. She stops by Vanessa’s place to drop off a check so that she will stay out of their lives. Vanessa tries to give the check back to her but Catherine disappears.

Dan and Serena finally share a moment and admit that it’s awkward being around the other and that they were both nervous about seeing the other at school. Serena suggests they fast forward past the awkward stage and just “be friends.” Dan agrees, but then has to back out when Serena invites him to hang out at lunch. It seems Dan has already made lunch plans with Amanda. And this is, of course, when Amanda comes up to the two, not realizing their history (or does she?). Serena has an uncomfortable moment as she tries to welcome her to school.

Chuck grabs a photo of Dan and Amanda together sending it to Gossip Girl, obviously informing the whole planet that Dan seems to be over Serena.

Blair is furious when she sees the Gossip Girl pic of Dan and Amanda and tells her posse to get the new girl’s schedule.

Meanwhile, Lily drops by Rufus’ gallery to say hello. It seems Mrs. Bass is a little lonely (surprise, surprise!) with Bart out of town. She offers to go with Rufus to see “Repo Man” as “friends.”

At school, Blair introduces herself to Amanda and informs her that she will be eating lunch with the girls, not Dan Humphrey, telling her that girlfriends look out for each other. And just to get her point across, she drops a hockey stick on Amanda’s foot. Ouch! And then Queen Bee asks one of the girls in her posse to pick up the stick.

OMG! You won’t believe this! Vanessa stops by to return the check to The Duchess but can’t get past the doorman. When he leaves her alone for a few minutes, Vanessa can hear Catherine giggling in the next room … as if she’s having a little bit too much fun with her boy toy. Vanessa takes a peek into the room, expecting Nate probably, but is shocked to see Lord Marcus (Blair’s current man and Catherine’s stepson) whispering sweet nothings into Catherine’s ear and both ready to tear off each other’s clothes!

So Catherine is not only doing Nate but she’s doing her own stepson!! This woman needs help! Vanessa uses her phone to take a picture for proof.

Disappointed that Amanda was ripped away for lunch by Blair, Dan visits Vanessa, only to learn about the picture she took of Catherine and Marcus. She wants to use the photo to get Nate off the hook with Catherine, who is forcing him to continue to have sex with her in exchange for helping his family financially. Dan encourages Vanessa to talk to Blair, as Blair was able to handle the Georgina fiasco and as Marcus’ boyfriend, she will want revenge herself.

At lunch, Blair tells Amanda that the girls don’t date each other’s ex-boyfriends. Amanda tells Blair she didn’t know. When Serena realizes that Blair forced Amanda to stay away from Dan, she tries to get a moment alone with Dan to apologize.

Dan tells Serena she is responsible for the way Blair and her friends are treating Amanda. Dan tells Serena he thought them seeing each other at school was going to be “sad awkward” not “competitive awkward.” Offended, Serena tells Dan if it was a competition she wouldn’t need Blair and her posse to win.

When Amanda finally does see Dan they agree to get together for dinner. Amanda doesn’t want Blair and the girls to think they can control her.

When Vanessa shows Blair the photo of Marcus and Catherine together, it really tears Blair apart. Blair demands to know who has seen the photo. Vanessa tells her just Dan. Blair says to leave it to her and she will free Nate from Catherine’s clutches and fix everything. Blair still downs Vanessa, telling her that she was her only choice on fixing the situation.

Dan and Amanda are seen out on the town and Gossip Girl hears this as a declaration of war between Dan and Serena. Sound the trumpets….

When Dan wakes up the next day, Jenny hits him over the head with a pillow, not believing he’s hanging out with “Hannah Montana” and that the news is all over Gossip Girl. She calls it social suicide with the girl mafia ready to squash him. She encourages Dan to at least apologize to Serena before it’s too late.

Serena wakes up to… Chuck. As stepbrother I guess he feels comfortable enough to come wake up his “sis,” but Serena reminds him that there are “boundaries.” He shows her the picture of Amanda and Dan together from Gossip Girl. Can you see his puppet strings from here?

At school, Serena and Dan bicker over the whole dating issue. Serena suggest the three of them meet for a “date” at 8 p.m.

Vanessa is worried that Blair is not going to confront Catherine as she won’t return her phone calls, so she asks Jenny if she can find out where she is. Jenny tries to talk to Blair’s posse where they warn her they are plotting their revenge against her, bidding their time. She does find out that Blair has taken the day off and is with Marcus.

Vanessa catches a peek of Blair and Marcus holding hands in a restaurant, so she assumes that Blair is going to let the whole thing go and makes plans to handle the situation herself.

Seconds after Vanessa walks off, Catherine comes up realizing she’s been set up by Blair, whom confronts both Catherine and Marcus with proof of their illicit affair. She won’t show anyone the picture in return for Marcus and Catherine leaving town and paying off Nate’s debt.

At the club, Serena, Dan and Amanda are uncomfortable as the differences between Dan and Serena are apparent. When Serena goes to the bar to get a drink, Blair’s posse is there with a few lacrosse jocks to pick from to make Dan jealous. She brings one muscular idiot back to the table to bore them about game details. When Amanda goes to the bathroom, Serena walks off followed by Dan. Confronting her, they have it out over their relationship ending. Serena says she loves Dan and can’t just turn it off and it hurts to see him with another girl. She turns away, upset. Dan suggests they stay away from each other for a while, almost touching her shoulder to comfort her, but then backing off. This puts Serena into attack mode, telling him she thinks he and Amanda should leave. When he asks if she is demanding they leave, she says “consider it a suggestion.”

Just as he thinks about leaving, Chuck tells him to stick around because he’s about to see the real Serena.

While Blair is telling Nate about Catherine’s affair with Marcus, Vanessa goes to Catherine’s husband and shows him the picture.

When Catherine’s secrets are revealed, she calls Blair and tells her the deal is off as her husband now knows thanks to Vanessa. Nate will have to find another way to have his debt paid. Blair tells Catherine she told Vanessa to stay out of it, and then tells Nate the bad news.

At the club, Chuck convinces Blair’s posse to reenact an old ninth grade gag, putting a blue concoction together that basically ends up ripping out Amanda’s long hair. She runs away from the bar in distress.

Lily stops by to see Rufus again, but this time he’s not so happy to see her, questioning her motives. She chose Bart and she will have to live with her decision. Lily says she feels alone and just wants his friendship. Rufus tells her he tried but they will fall back into old patterns. When Claire walks in, Lily realizes, I guess, that Rufus has moved on. She leaves him with a bottle of his favorite wine.

A very ticked off Blair tells Vanessa that she screwed up by not letting her handle the Catherine situation, as she had it under control. She lets her know that she had Nate’s problem fixed until she interfered. I don’t see these two becoming friends ever!

At school, Dan tells Serena she needs to take responsibility for what her friends do (discussing Amanda’s hair incident). Serena tries her best to apologize, but Dan doesn’t want to listen. He tells her that at least the posse own up to what they are and that it’s time for Serena to own up to what she is.

Serena takes the advice to heart I guess as she confronts the girls and tells them that for now on, everything goes through her first (not Blair). It looks like Queen Bee S is back.

Vanessa tries to talk to Nate about what happened, but now Nate is playing cold. He says she should have came to him about the photo instead of Blair, but it’s not about the money. He turns her words around on her, telling her they were never friends, “remember?”

The bitchy posse girls try to push Jenny around, making fun of her handbag, throwing it and the contents on the floor. Jenny is great though, standing up for herself asking if that’s all they can come up with. The girls admit their technique isn’t great, but effective.

Dan comes up, feeling sorry for what Jenny has to deal with. He confesses that he was pretty harsh on Serena for what her friends did to Amanda’s hair.

And here comes surprise No. 2 via Chuck Bass: It turns out the puppet master was behind everything. He hands Amanda a check thanking her for going out with Dan and creating a monster (Serena) to dethrone a queen bee (Blair). Amanda’s only regret is that part of her hair was burned. She’s heading to another school so it looks like Dan won’t be seeing her again.

Blair comes out in the school courtyard to find Serena standing in Queen Bee position with her posse. Blair tells Serena what happened between Catherine and Marcus, and Serena gives her a scarf to comfort her, pretty much pushing her over the proverbial cliff, as Serena is now in control.

Chuck can’t wait to rib Blair about it. “Look who’s back on top?” He even knows exactly how it happened. Well, of course he does.

Dan walks into the courtyard looking for Serena but she’s not to be found. Gossip Girl thinks Lonely Boy will either have to bow down or bow out to Queen Bee Serena.

But the real story is Chuck doing whatever it takes to take away Blair’s power. Last time he tried seducing her, but that didn’t work because she preferred Marcus with his position in society. It will be interesting to see how Chuck is going to use Blair’s dethroning to his advantage.

Even though they are a train wreck, I want Chuck and Blair together. I guess we will see what happens next Monday.

What did you think about the Catherine-Marcus twist? I didn’t see that coming.

Gossip Girl airs at 7 p.m. CST on The CW.

Photo credits: The CW ©2008 The CW Network. All Rights Reserved.