The Debarted (7 Dec. 2009)

On the anniversary of Bart Bass' death, Chuck wrestles with the dilemma of following his conscience, or that of his father. Serena begins to suspect in Trip, when thank Nate, discovers that... See full summary »

Director:

Jason Ensler

Writers:

Cecily von Ziegesar (book), Josh Schwartz (developer),

Stars:

Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Blake Lively	...	Serena van der Woodsen
Leighton Meester	...	Blair Waldorf
Penn Badgley	...	Dan Humphrey
Chace Crawford	...	Nate Archibald
Taylor Momsen	...	Jenny Humphrey
Ed Westwick	...	Chuck Bass
Jessica Szohr	...	Vanessa Abrams
Kelly Rutherford	...	Lily van der Woodsen
Matthew Settle	...	Rufus Humphrey
Robert John Burke	...	Bart Bass
Holley Fain	...	Maureen van der Bilt
Laura Harring	...	Elizabeth Fisher
Connor Paolo	...	Eric van der Woodsen
Sherri Saum	...	Holland Kemble
Sarah Steele	...	Kira Abernathy

Storyline

On the anniversary of Bart Bass' death, Chuck wrestles with the dilemma of following his conscience, or that of his father. Serena begins to suspect in Trip, when thank Nate, discovers that has been joined by Maureen. Dan and Vanessa attempt to navigate their newly complicated friendship. Eric and Kira make work his plan to dethrone Jenny. Meanwhile, the relationship between Lily and Rufus deteriorates when he discovers the letter from Serena's father.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

College Hill Pictures Inc., 17th Street Productions, Alloy Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min 42 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There is also an episode of The Simpsons (The Simpsons: The DeBarted) called "The Debarted", which aired over 1 1/2 years before this episode. Both episodes' titles refers to a character's name and reference the movie The Departed.

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Quotes

Chuck Bass: My father always thought I was weak. And in the moment that mattered most I was. I couldn't be there when he, uh... I left right away. I've been pushing myself to prove him wrong, and pushing you away.
Blair Waldorf: I don't think you ran away because you couldn't handle death. I think it's because you couldn't handle feelings. You're not like that anymore. You're strong. You carry people. You carry me. You're becoming a man in a way that your father never was.

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Connections

References The Departed (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Suicide"
(uncredited)
Performed by The Raveonettes

User Reviews

Gossip Girl aspires to achieve a certain goal every time a new episode is aired.

Here we had a self depressing Chuck, a misguided Serena, a sibling rivalry and thorn marriages. Now Gossip Girl has taken the road where the end would justify the means and all the other pieces before it could simply fall out of place, so long as everything ends in accordance with the script.

That is why we have characters poking in and out of episodes without any sort of development or back story as to how they claimed even a second of screen time. We also have characters falling in and out of love like a misused hobby and then there are the marriages that come out corrupt and worn down to the ground.

Tripp is a very weak character, he claimed to love Serena and protested to overcome whatever trials that came their way, yet he still ran crying to his wife like a little baby. He has shown no real valor of a congressman, nor has he represented himself as the man he claimed to be. Which makes me wonder why anyone would waste time fighting over him? Surprisingly, I liked Maureen over all the melodrama. The letter, which Maureen used as blackmail, claimed that Lily and Serena's father spent some time in a hotel room. That could only mean that nothing 'under the sheets' happened and Lily was not the 'cheating whore' Maureen made her out to be. Solely because Lily was to ready to tell Rufus the truth and she didn't fear the worst for their marriage.

I felt the feud between Jenny and Eric was short lived and a cheap shot on Eric's part. Did it really take two people to plan the big comeback? Maybe the writers have something else stored for the siblings and their truce revealed to be a bluff, who knows. I just don't know how to feel about Jenny's drug-dealer mentality. I am certain if she asked Lily nicely she could have gotten the extra bags, but her problems seem to go beyond that, and without any direction in her life, she would continue going off course. It's even worse since her very own father couldn't pay attention for two minutes, to notice that his little girl is slipping.

I am actually tired of the whole Blair-Chuck lovie dovieness. I remember how the Bart death was dealt with and couldn't recall Lily's visit to the hospital, so the closure bit was expressed well for Chuck's sake. I did feel that the whole Bart death was spontaneous last season and Chuck handled the covering of his father in the hospital with maturity. The possibility of him seeing his father had something to do with his lightheaded and drunken states, which led to a sense of delusion. Gearing into the Christmas mood, the ghost mental was a somewhat pun for fun.

Dan and Olivia did not get their essential closure they needed to officially end as a couple, and even though Dan is admitting his feelings for Vanessa to himself, I couldn't officially root for them. Every character on this show is in and out of relationships, either with each other or someone completely impromptu. The only 'single' characters are probably the youngest of the cast and their relationships with others can be warped and manipulative as well, so there isn't one real couple worth rooting for.

Since we are all preparing for the Holidays, some our loved series have already taken their mid season break and I could use a break from Gossip Girl for a while, as an early Christmas present. Some of the plots have taken an interesting spin, like Nate's development (hitting Tripp was solid) and Chuck's 'mother'(?), but it's not enough. They are all slight impressions and small twists. The rest of the nonsense (ouch), like Tripp's whining, Serena's naivety, Rufus' spontaneous 'affair' with a spontaneous character and Jenny's rebellion, could really take a hike, because it really drowns out all the plausible elements each episode.

I am not really expecting much now, there were some points in the episode where I sort of, couldn't really care anymore, but just had to watch it for the sake of just letting you all know how I felt about it, but nothing changes.

Lexa Reviews

http://lexabuti.blogspot.com

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Three Stars

Grade C-

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