Gossip Girl Review: "The Grandfather: Part II"

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Last night's Gossip Girl featured a political scandal and a battle royale between Blair and Serena that easily trumped Tripp's bid for Congress in intensity and bitterness.

Here's an episode guide to "The Grandfather: Part II" if you missed it. Now, here's a rundown of what worked, what didn't and why. Fortunately, most of it did work.

Blair and Serena are at each other's throats. Why? Who really even remembers with these two. All that matters is that their game of one-upmanship is on, b!tches!

B didn't want S at Tripp van der Bilt's election party (more on Tripp later), but she showed with fake boyfriend Patrick Roberts. Meanwhile, B had her own fake BFF.

Determined to make S jealous, B made a friend at NYU. A friend who it turned out was a call girl. S outed her to Chuck. B outed S fake-dating her movie star beau.

Things came to a head and ended with Blair's head in a cake. We loved Chuck's effort to mend fences, and the fact that it wasn't that easy. They remain on the outs.

Last night's primary story line was a good one. With the polls too close to call on Election Day, Nate's cousin thinks he needs a miracle to win a seat in U.S. Congress.

Then he gets it ... or does he?

The SVDW

Serena van der Woodsen lost a friend and her job last night.

As luck would have it, Tripp sees a guy drowning in the Hudson River and saves him. He's all over the news, just the boost this "hero" needs in the final hours of his election bid.

But Vanessa, who's making a documentary of Tripp's campaign, gets it on tape, and sees that the guy jumped in the river on purpose. Self-righteous V outs the plot to the news.

Tripp and Nate's grandfather denies involvement. Tripp is about to bow out of the race - he'd rather lose honorably than win dirty - when Nate steps in with our favorite scene.

Before Tripp can quit the race, Nate falls on his sword for him, admitting he set up the plot, but Tripp had nothing to do with it. In fact, Tripp really is that honorable hero on TV.

Tripp wins. He's going to Congress. And in a surprising twist, his wife, Maureen, orchestrated it. While slightly confusing, it was a compelling story line from start to finish.

Elsewhere, Dan and Olivia hit a hurdle as she told an embarrassing story about him on Late Night, then tried to prevent her boyfriend from seeing the clip online or anywhere.

We were a bit disappointed that the story wasn't really that embarrassing, but the resolution to this drawn-out story that seemed like filler turned out to be pretty cute.

Dan, being a romantic, was more concerned with the fact that she let slip it was their one-month anniversary than about anything she said about his bathroom habits.

He planned a surprise. They made up (even though there was no fight). Aww.

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.

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Gossip Girl Quotes

Even Blair Waldorf can not bend DNA to her will.

Dan

Hazel: Do you know what you're doing, Little J?
Jenny: I'm not Little J anymore.