'Gossip Girl': Personal Growth

GIRL TALK Blair and Serena might speak their minds to each other, but what we really want is for Blair to persuade Serena to walk away from Aaron

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Gossip Girl has had a lot of fun guest stars in its one-and-a-half-year run, but Wallace Shawn has gotta be my all-time fave. As my grandma used to tell me, usually after I had been teased for my short stature, "Good things come in small packages." Mr. Shawn certainly is evidence of that. His double hug of Blair was geeeenius, as was Blair's initial impression of Cyrus: "That must be his driver!" The incredibly talented Shawn also added a nice sheen of class to GG. But the entire plotline served Blair best ("I was expecting Cary Grant and I got Danny DeVito"). Leighton Meester is really developing a fine comic timing. Her reaction shots are high-larious. But poor Dorota — my favorite character was treated like crap. Still, I have to appreciate all of the airtime given to her.

But let's get to the main event: Blair's birthday outfit. That might be one of my favorite GG ensembles of all time. Stunning. Completely inappropriate for any other 18-year-old's birthday party, but we don't watch GG for reality. And how cool was it that Cyrus got Cyndi Lauper to show up at Blair's b-day. My favorite line of the night, in fact, was Blair talking about her and her mother's love of Cyndi: "Our first DVD was Vibes." I totally forgot about Vibes! In case you haven't been fortunate enough to watch this piece of 1988 cheese, TV Watchers, Vibes is a completely bizarre action comedy starring Lauper and Jeff Goldblum. I definitely watched it at least 50 times on HBO as a child. And yet I couldn't really tell what the plot was. Anyways, thanks to whichever GG writer penned that line. It unlocked a forgotten film memory.

But back to the episode, I don't really understand why Eleanor was so upset about Cyrus cheating on his first wife. And why is she just taking Blair's word for it? Um hello, your daughter likes to manipulate! But everything ended up happily with Blair and Cyrus making up. ("I wanted a Harry Winston choker for my birthday. Instead I got a conscience.") It was a little shocking that Eleanor and Cyrus decided to move in together! Is Eleanor secretly Britney Spears? She seems to have modeled her rapid dating life after the pop star. I wouldn't be surprised if next week they had elope in Vegas. I'm still not sure how to feel about Cyrus being Aaron's father. It sort of feels like a random twist that's neither shocking nor important, but perhaps it will end up leading to something.

NEXT: Serena needs a self-esteem boost