Why was this episode so bad?
--Too much Jenny. Don't get me wrong, girl is LEAGUES more watchable than last season, and while I'm not crazy about her new look it totally makes sense -- "Blonder, shorter; I was bored" -- in a teenage I-really-think-this-new-look-represents-a-whole-new-me!-but-I'll-never-admit-it kind of way (after all, it isn't the first time we've seen a fifteen-year-old do this), but she just cannot carry an episode. Just like Shenae Grimes cannot carry a series.
--I actually kind of like the idea of Jenny getting in over her head with a creepy photoblogger and his underage girlfriend (ahem), but the plot isolates Jenny from all the other meaningful characters. Until, that is, Nate abruptly confesses his "feelings" for her and renders the budding sexual tension (if you can even call it that) between them useless in future episodes.
--Plus, Jenny's kissing is, as one of my co-viewers said, "uncomfortably aggressive."
--As glad as I am that Dan and Serena are broken up, and as boring as their relationship was while it lasted (for seemingly ever), everyone who has ever watched television knows that romances with "recurring guest stars" are fleeting, insignificant episode wasters. So while it's sweet that you and Serena bonded over your shared and totally made up for television caterpillar camp memories, Aaron "I graduated from RISD with that creepy Cobrasnake clone who's about to take nudie photos of minors" Artist Guy, I wish you'd get off the set. Because every second your adorable designer glasses hog the screen is a second we are not watching this:
"OW! MY HEAD... BAND!"
--Finally, even Chuck and Blair couldn't save this episode. The writers spent 40 minutes dragging us through a sticky mire of sexual frustration, only to establish that Chuck and Blair are stuck in a Catch-22. Not exactly a recipe for compelling drama.
"Chuck and Blair going to the movies? Chuck and Blair holding hands?" So true. Hopefully in the next ep. they can move past all this "three little words" nonsense and get back to loathing and manipulation. Sure, that last scene was kind of tender, but it made me uneasy to see those two being vulnerable, sort of like running into a professor on a Saturday, when they're like, feeding Cheerios to their kid or something. As a co-viewer put it, "I don't like that Blair's crying. You're stronger than that, B.!"
1 comment:
You know what else is uncomfortably aggressive? Two underage actresses dancing around in their bras. Eeek. Totally loved the Corey Kennedy reference, especially after they treated her like some kind of celebrity on 90210.
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