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" In an episode where there&amp;#039;s buzz surrounding Blair and Dan&amp;#039;s first public appearance, it was a bit disappointing that so much focus was given to Serena and Lola (Ella Rae Peck) - not because they took time away from the Upper East Side&amp;#039;s hottest new couple, but because continuing to watch Serena act horrible and selfish is getting really tiresome. I&amp;#039;m not sure why the writers are continuing on their quest to make the character as unlikeable as they can. In &amp;#039;Salon of the Dead&amp;#039;, Serena starts off determined not to encourage Lola&amp;#039;s rise to gossip stardom before acting two-faced and deliberately sabotaging Lola&amp;#039;s audition for Lars von Trier. This could all have been redeemed with a believable motive for Serena to be this way, but it simply boils down to the fact that she&amp;#039;s just envious.   There was plenty of truth said when Lola described Gossip Girl as &amp;quot;some pathetic blogger in a dark room tethered to a computer&amp;quot;. Serena, determined to keep control of Gossip Girl, contemplates striking a deal with Diana Payne (Elizabeth Hurley) but it falls to pieces when Lola inadvertently records Diana telling Serena about her secret at Blair and Dan&amp;#039;s party. Yes, it is finally revealed that Chuck&amp;#039;s mother is, in fact, Diana. The twist is not completely surprising (there has been a lot of chatter on the internet about this very theory) but wow - Ed Westwick is darn great as Chuck reacts to this revelation. Westwick owns the screen with what few scenes he had this week. I&amp;#039;m also happy that the quest for Chuck&amp;#039;s mother has been resolved, opening up some exciting possibilities to further develop Chuck&amp;#039;s character. And the drama created at the party was intense and suitably awkward. It was a lot of fun to watch and to see what would happen next. Really good stuff. The way the episode reached this point, though, was admittedly a little bit contrived. On two separate occasions, the story was advanced through someone eavesdropping on a conversation at the most convenient moment. That&amp;#039;s not to say this plot device is inherently bad, but I sort of wish they could have been more subtle about it. In the aftermath, Lola (surprisingly) chooses not to spill Serena&amp;#039;s secret before quitting the Upper East Side. I actually think she&amp;#039;s become more interesting in this episode as she&amp;#039;s hellbent on justifiably trying to take down Serena (because there has to be consequences for Serena&amp;#039;s recent actions). At the same time, her departing leaves behind an interesting moral - gossiping can really hurt and devastate people when it gets out of hand.   While all of that is going on, Blair and Dan have their own worries. Neither of them really want to live in each other&amp;#039;s world, and it does present an interesting and thought-provoking obstacle for them. But the writers are smart and develop an excellent resolution for the pair, which in my mind further strengthens their adorable relationship. I couldn&amp;#039;t help but smile seeing Blair and Dan in bed having a passionate art discussion by the end. It&amp;#039;s so heart-warming to see a genuine connection between these two, and they remain no doubt the best thing about Gossip Girl right now. It&amp;#039;s not all rosy for Lily and Rufus, though. When Lily finds out Rufus has been putting Ivy up in a hotel, a furious Lily cuts him off, which to me is wholly unreasonable. It will be intriguing to see how Rufus will respond next week. On a related note, I do miss seeing Ivy - I hope we&amp;#039;ll see her again really soon. Oh, and Diana being Chuck&amp;#039;s mother? Turns out, that&amp;#039;s not the biggest secret she has - a nice juicy tease to end another entertaining hour of Gossip Girl. The show is deep into its final batch of episodes for this season, and if it continues to deliver drama while also keeping Blair and Dan together, I will be one happy person come the season&amp;#039;s end. What did you think of this week&amp;#039;s Gossip Girl episode? Leave your comments below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/gossip-girl/review/a376994/gossip-girl-recap-chucks-mother-is-revealed-in-salon-of-the-dead/>