Chuck in Real Life

Welcome home Papa Bass! Bart finally made his long-awaited arrival back to his new family. Although he and Lilly did spend time together on his last layover (he revealed the “Lilly File” that had one little secret she doesn’t want anyone to know about), he announced at the breakfast table that his return would be for the long haul. With his homecoming, Bart comes bearing gifts for all his children (a suit for Serena, a watch for Eric and money for one of Chuck’s offshore accounts) and new set of guidelines for his family. A 1 a.m. curfew and family dinner every Friday night (reminds me of Friday night dinners at the Gilmore’s) are only a few of the rules in place for the Bart and Lilly’s children. We’ll have to see how long the children apply to their parents’ wishes.

To welcome home Bart, he and Lilly are throwing a dinner party for their friends. The kids can also invite their friends to the event. Keep this in mind.

Over in Brooklyn, Vanessa’s trying to enlist Dan to help her save a historic bar and apply it for landmark status. Dan’s busy with the soccer to team to help out at the moment. That’s right, lonely boy Dan Humphrey has been recruited by new friend Nate to sub in for an injured player. It looks like this friendship is progressing.

After their morning announcements, Serena and Eric ditched the limo ride to walk to school on the beautiful fall day in New York. Serena’s not sure about her mother’s new husband and the control she thinks Bart has over Lilly. Eric’s not convinced and is willing to give their mother a chance. Surprising for Eric since it was Lilly that locked him up in the nut house just two years ago.

Walking through the hallways, Dan and Nate run into Chuck. A quick exchange of unpleasantries before Nate blows off Chuck with Dan in tow. Blair swoops in to kick Chuck when he’s down. He tries to rebound by telling her that she’ll be crawling back to him one of these days. Blair informs him she’ll never sleep with him again. Don’t speak too soon Blair; you never know when you’ll need your partner in crime.

Speaking of crime, Vanessa’s looking for Blair’s services to help her save the historical bar and she has the ammunition to make Blair submit to her wishes. Vanessa still has those pictures of Blair’s ex, Lord Marcus, and his step-mother Duchess to blackmail Blair with. Blair’s posse may know that she broke up with the Lord but no one knows why except for Vanessa. It looks like Vanessa’s taking a page out of Blair’s book.

First night under the Bart Bass establishment and Serena’s choosing to live by the rules by staying in for the night. No surprise, Chuck takes this opportunity to outright defy his father and make a house visit to a female caller. He says the rules don’t apply to him and the family values set forth by Bart and Lilly are only a front for a Mid-West client Bart is shopping right now. Coming from a Mid-West town, I can honestly say we can be just as devious and sinful as the big city folk.

Serena takes Chuck’s advice and puts on a skimpy red dress to hit the town with. Heading to the elevator, she passes Bart who’s shocked to see her apparel and Serena tells him she’s looking to put on a show for the paparazzi. Bart can do nothing but stand there and let his step-daughter walk out the door.

The female caller for Chuck wasn’t looking for a good time but for her partner in crime. Blair invites Chuck over to acquire his services in helping her get rid of her Vanessa problem. She wants Chuck to seduce Vanessa in order for Blair to gain control back from her. The incentive for Chuck is to get back at Vanessa best friend, Dan, for stealing his best friend, Nate. Chuck accepts the offer and takes the flyer for the bar Vanessa’s trying to save. B and C are back in action and on the case.

The next morning, S and B get together for breakfast. Serena tells Blair about how she snuck out after Chuck told her he was leaving the house for the night. At the mention of Chuck’s name, a slight smile comes across the face of Blair and Serena picks up on it. Blair denies it and nothing more is said when Eric shows up with new boyfriend Jonathan. Excited for her little brother, Serena invites the two to join them and to tell her and Blair how they met. I really like the relationship between Serena and Eric. Serena looks after him as much as possible and really cares about him. Both Serena and Dan really look out for their younger siblings.

Speaking of Dan and Jenny, she tries to convince Dan that he’s never really had guy friends (and father Rufus doesn’t count) and his best friends have always been girls (Vanessa and Serena). Dan brushes her off and calls up Nate to play soccer in the park. After a stereotypical male conversation (what’s up bro?), Dan heads to Nate’s.

Finally, we see the historical site that Vanessa is trying to safe. Chuck pulls up in his limo acting like a knight on his high horse coming to save the day. Chuck sees buying the bar as a good business opportunity for Bass Industries. He promises to keep the bar vintage but before he and Vanessa can go over the details, another member trying to save the bar throws coffee in his face. Chuck departs but Vanessa realizes he may be her only hope to save the establishment.

Hearing about her daughter’s rendezvous last night, Lilly sits Serena down to talk about her relationship with Bart. Lilly wants to give her daughter structure and by her behavior, she should have put in place more structure before. Serena replies, “You mean the three husbands before?” Ouch.

When Dan arrives at Nate’s front door he sees a flyer for the seizure of the house. He looks to see locks on the doors but walks down to the stairs to another door to see that lock’s been broken. He enters the door and walks into the house. He flips the light switch to see the power’s off. He finds a mattress lying in the middle of the living room floor and Nate’s clothes scattered around. Young Mr. Archibald looks to be a squatter in his own home.

After facing rejection from Vanessa, Chuck returns to Blair to tell her the deals off. The revenge against Dan Humphrey is not enough for him to continue with Blair’s little scheme. She ups his incentive by offering to sleep with him if completes the deal and puts Vanessa to shame. Chuck, still longing for Blair after their split in the Hamptons, agrees to her terms. He obviously wants Blair back (seeing as he has no real friends right now) but are we seeing a Blair that also misses Chuck Bass?

Chuck goes back to Vanessa to say he’s spoken with his lawyer. All that’s needed is the Bass signature (not sure if that’s Chuck or Bart) and the bar manager’s signature. It may be hard for Vanessa to decline since she really wants to save this building.

A good thing these two made up last week because Serena needs Blair to lean on right now. She’s still not content with her family situation and doesn’t trust Bart’s family friendly system he’s put in place. Blair’s not exactly listening to every word as she’s trying on a new dress, a dress Chuck bought her before their planned trip to Europe. An outfit to tease Chuck perhaps?

Dan meets up with Nate in the park after his stop at the deserted house. Dan doesn’t mention he’s already been to Nate’s home but does question him on his living situation. Nate says his mom’s living in their Hamptons home and he decided to stay in the city. Nate avoids anymore of the question as he runs off to get the two boys a drink.

In the meantime, Chuck goes to the store to meet the manager. Apparently they both know a famous womanizer Joe Kennedy, a man Chuck admires (speaking of womanizer, I loved the music video of Britney Spears’ new song set to scenes of the infamous Chuck Bass). The manager gives Chuck a tour of the place and it appears that Chuck’s actually taking an interest in the place.

Back in the park, Dan calls Jenny and tells her about Nate’s situation. She tells him that Rufus is making his famous chili tonight and that Dan should invite Nate over. Is Humphrey making Nate charity case of the month?

Serena arrives home to see Eric’s boyfriend leaving. She asks if he’ll be attending and he says Eric did not invite him. Serena immediately assumes that Bart had a hand in this and told Eric he didn’t want Jonathan to be invited.

Chuck’s beginning to take a real interest in his new business opportunity. He also looks to be taking an interest in Vanessa and not in the deceiving way he was instructed by Blair to do. Chuck invites her to the Bass dinner part that evening and this could be a genuine invitation or the next step in his revengeful plan.

The dinner party doesn’t appear to be a small gathering of friends and family as a large group of press has gathered inside. Maybe Chuck was right and this is just a front for one of Bart’s business deals. Bart sees Serena enter in the suit he bought her and goes over to complement her. She thanks him but half-heartedly and grills him about not allowing Eric to bring Jonathan. He says she was misinformed and Eric chose not to invite Jonathan on his own.

Chuck’s going to buy the establishment and his courteousness towards Vanessa shows a change of heart from our bad boy. He escorts Vanessa around the party as Blair looks own wondering what her partner’s doing.

Dinner at the Humphrey household is a smaller gathering of Rufus, Jenny, Dan and guest Nate. Rufus asks Nate how he’s holding up after the tough year with his family. Nate tells him his mother’s still living in their Hamptons home (I wondering if that’s really where she is) and he didn’t want to miss any school by leaving the city. Dan tries to change the subject by talking about the soccer tricks Nate’s been teaching Dan. Nate returns to the original conversation so as to not show any signs of weakness for his real situation.

At the Bass dinner party, Bart confronts Chuck about his new business adventure. Bart’s not too fond of his son’s choices and doesn’t want to put his money into the bar. Vanessa spies the confrontation from behind a pillar and sees her and Chuck’s dreams fading quickly.

Cleaning up after their meal, Dan tells Nate he knows about his living situation. Nate immediately goes on the defensive and says he doesn’t want to be the next charity case. He excuses himself leaving Dan wondering if he did the right thing.

Vanessa finds Chuck to discuss what happened with his father. She starts to take pity on him. Chuck senses that but doesn’t exploit it. He does ask for her company. She looks hesitant at first but decides to stay with him.

Serena talks to Eric about Jonathan not being in attendance. Eric confirms Bart’s words that he did tell Eric he could invite Jonathan. Eric chose not to because he didn’t want to come out in front of all the press at the party. Before they can continue their conversation, a reporter interrupts the two and asks them about their favorite family memories. Serena lets loose and her emotions flow over. She tells the reporter about her mother’s many suitors and Lilly rushes over to try and stop her daughter. It’s too late as Serena goes on to talk about German Klaus with a “K” and Danish Claus with a “C”. She gives her Christmas story about a white Christmas with her mother’s coke head boyfriend. Lilly looks devastated but the damage has already been done and Serena walks out of the party.

Blair suddenly has a change of heart and tells Chuck she won’t go through with their deal. She may see Chuck’s relationship with Vanessa (if one exists) as a threat and will try to take down both of them.

Off in a corner away from the press, Lilly sits down with Eric to talk about Serena’s explosion. Although rude, Eric did agree with what Serena had to say and tells Lilly that Serena raised him more than she did. He informs his mother that Bart and she can’t just say they’re a family. They have to take the necessary steps to actually become a family. Eric has become a voice of reason for his mother and sister in this episode. Hopefully, we’ll get to see the story with his boyfriend play out over this season just to see more of Eric.

Dan comes to Rufus about how Nate blew him off. Dan wants to be Nate’s friend and in so doing help his friend out when he’s in trouble. Rufus tells him to not give up on Nate and get him the help he needs. I’m sure it’s hard to go from the billionaire kid to being a teenage squatter.

Vanessa picks up her jacket and purse from coat check but Blair’s already picked up the purse. She got a hold of Vanessa’s cell phone and deleted the blackmail photos. Blair tells her Chuck never really liked her and Vanessa replies that he never hit on her in the first place. Vanessa walks out but Chuck sees the conversation and comes over to confront Blair. He questions Blair’s intentions and she says that she held up her end of the deal meaning he can sleep with her. We know it’s what Chuck’s been after the whole season but now he doesn’t seem to be as eager.

Dan takes his father’s advice and heads to Nate’s. Waiting on the stoop isn’t Nate but Serena, the first time these two have come into contact since she alienated him from the entire student body.

Chuck blows off Blair for the moment and heads back to the bar. He pleads with manager that he wants to save the place but the manager doesn’t accept his offer. When Chuck walks out the door, Vanessa comes out of the shadows.

The Dan and Serena meeting came as a surprise but it was bound to happen sooner or later. The conversation doesn’t take place between the two exactly. Serena came to talk to Nate about her night but Dan tells her to talk to him like he was Nate, only fair after he used Dan’s name last week at Yale. She tells him about her speech to the reporters and confesses she’s not mad at Bart but at her mom. Serena then apologizes to Dan for all the terrible things she’s done to him over the past few weeks and Dan returns with his own apology. Bart pulls up in a limo to fetch Serena back home. It’s nice to see D and S speaking again and to make it more of a causal meeting then a planned event.

When Serena returns home, she sits down with Lilly. Lilly admits she did put the men in her life before her children. Bart and Eric join the two and Serena apologizes to both Lilly and Bart for her actions. The scene ends with a picture perfect family but no Chuck in attendance.

Dan also returns home but with Nate straggling in behind him. He’ll be taking a spot on the couch for the time being. I can only imagine how this we’ll lead to the kiss between him and Jenny that’s suppose to be happening soon.

Where was Chuck while his family was coming together? He went to Blair’s to claim what was his. The two began to kiss (with some strange film freezes) but Chuck suddenly stops. He wants Blair to say the three words, eight letters that he couldn’t say to her earlier in the year. She refuses and says their even but that’s not enough for Chuck. He turns the tables and says he’s done chasing her. Now it’s Blair’s turn.