(S02E13) “O Brother, Where Bart Thou?”

As a proud twenty-something I often find myself snubbing all things of the tween genre. Miley Cyrus? Overrated. Jonas Brothers? Please, they’re like glorified Hansens, they too shall pass. Gossip Girl? A little too over the top and far out of any self respecting youngster’s league if you ask me. I mean really, what’s with all that riff raff they’re putting on TV these days? (God I’m old.)

So when I asked my editor if I could review Gossip Girl this season, I  surprised even myself. I pretended that it was for the excellent fashion, that even I can’t ignore. Or perhaps it was all in the intrigue? Maybe it was even because one of the actress who plays Jenny Humphrey was once the star of one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Grinch. Sure, that weak reason was probably why.

In any case, I’ve since teetered between pretending to fit in as a viewer of the show, absolutely tearing the show up and now, tonight, finally cheering it on. So, why you may ask, the sudden turn about?

Apparently I’m a sucker for a feeling so deep it’s hard to believe it’s just “puppy love.” Or maybe it comes down to the way a quick turn from life to death can truly shake up a show and bring out a character’s true colors. I’m not quite sure, but what I do know is that at the end of tonight’s show when Rufus Humphrey walks up to Lillian van der Woodsen  and says, “just tell me, was it a girl or a boy,” I finally felt the shows humanity. In that one meaningful question I felt the damage of one person’s decisions hurting so many around them and finally found myself actually feeling bad for one of the characters instead of pure disgust or evil humor. These spoiled little brats grew fragile hearts right before my eyes. It sounds evil, I know, but at the same time I’m so glad the writers were able to help me reach this point. My only hope is that the sense of humanity they developed stay into coming episode and not fall apart in a NY train station.