Gossip Girl Review: Memoirs of an Invisible Dan

So after the last couple of seasons I’ve been reluctant to come back and review Gossip Girl for its fifth season. But we go way back, so you know, I thought I should at least give it a chance… So I watched the first episode and was pleasantly surprised, but I didn’t get my hopes up. And then the second episode was really good as well, and I started to get a little bit excited, and then the third episode was fabulous. So I was really thinking that maybe we might be able to make things work after all.

And then this, the fourth episode came along ‘Memoirs of an Invisible Dan’ and you know what, I am completely sold. This was possibly one of the best episodes ever of Gossip Girl. Not because it was full of humour, or schemes and plots and backstabbing galore. No I think this was the best episode because of the emotion behind it. With Dan being the newly announced author of 'Inside' the group is fraught with tensions as literary licence is taken to new levels and no-one seems happy with how they've been portrayed.

I think that Dan’s book is one of the best storylines from Gossip Girl, it gives us true character development and actual substance instead of flimsy things with plot holes miles wide.  Using it to satirize the show is pure genius, and it really took the whole thing to a level that we don’t normally get to see on Gossip Girl.

I loved the little clips of the book interspersed as different people read ‘Inside’ it gave us a clue of what Dan had actually written, and we got to see some of his artistic licence, as well as some of the reactions.
Tied for most heart breaking would have to be Chuck and Rufus.
On the upside we got to see Rufus have a decent scene – I for one wanted to hug him at the end. But it was tragic that Dan had even managed to alienate his father with his work. (Soundtrack Junkie moment – Embrace by Chase & Status & White Lies)

I’m really not fussed on Serena or Charlie/Ivy at the moment. Serena proved once again how completely self-absorbed she is, most notably with the comment to Dan about her crisis being more important than Blair’s. She had so much potential and when she was Dan, but it feels like since they broke up she’s just turned back into the same girl, and hasn’t learnt anything.

Speaking of not being fussed on storylines, is anyone paying much attention to Nate these days? I really couldn’t care less about his plot at the moment, he never seems to get anything decent, and unless this plot seriously pulls it out of the bag, this one doesn’t look any different.

Whilst there was less of a focus on Blair this episode, she is still proving to be pretty fabulous this series. The previous three episodes she has practically carried, and I can’t wait to see where her storyline goes – it’s Gossip Girl, it’s unlikely to be your traditional fairy tale.

I was curious about what they’d do with Chuck now they’ve finished the Chuck Blair storyline (for now) because he does tend to dip off the radar when he’s not scheming/smooching with Blair.

However we’ve been treated to another set of fabulous scenes with Ed Westwick, the likes of which we haven’t been treated to since Season 2. I found him not being able to feel a little bit ridiculous, but that did at least lead us to the unlikely friendship between him and Dan – one I am more than a little bit in love with. I thought Dan and Nate were the ultimate romance, but I’ve been proved wrong. “I could tickle you?” Followed by the buying of a pet dog. GENIUS.

I was moved to tears at the end of episode three when Blair came and told him about the pregnancy, and I wasn’t sure they could top that scene this week, but they so did. It wasn’t a particular scene so much as Chuck’s entire attitude, his realization that he doesn’t have love, he doesn’t really have friends now they’re all busy doing work, and that if he did hang himself in the closet, it would most likely be the staff that would find him.
Whilst I’m enjoying the new depths of character we’re finding, I do hope things begin to cheer up for him soon, otherwise he’s going to be forced to adopt a whole pound of puppies to keep him in cuddles.

So all in all it was a brilliant episode. It brought everyone together, whilst furthering a lot of individual storylines, and felt like a really pivotal episode. Dan is well and truly hoist by his own ambition and ego, and it’s going to be interesting viewing watching to see how he tries to rebuild those bridges.
In fact, how everyone rebuilds their bridges – there are a lot of lonely islands this week, not just on Dan’s side of the bridge.