...So there's holy music, and Georgina comes wandering in all creepy/angelic, and says hi to everybody. And the whole room goes absolutely silent and absolutely still, like a snake just crawled in, for a beat just long enough that the next thing -- everybody screaming at everybody else like their hair is on fire -- is maximally hilarious. This script makes very little sense, but it's fun, and the way it's directed makes it one of the most enjoyable episodes ever, but I've had trouble pinning down exactly why.

(The acting is really phenomenal, and it's paced really well, and the act breaks are super-exciting, and it has one of the most touching Blair/Chuck scenes ever, somehow getting water from that well once again... But it's so clearly a bridging episode, because it has to give us enough gas to not only set up the finale but also breeze past next week's half-and-half mix of Gossip Girl and Untitled Spinoff [that's what I'm hearing, 25 minutes of Totally '80s Lily and 20 minutes of our kids], and somehow keep Georgina boiling that whole time. It shouldn't feel as exciting as it is. And there's only like two songs instead of the five or so that we usually get, and not a lot of literary references, so I don't know. There's not like one thing you can pin it on, it's just really well done.)

"Uh, we need to get this crazy girl out of here," says Dan, hilariously since he's not really invited either, and Serena putting one giant foot down ("Chuck, what is she doing here?") and Nate sort of wringing his hands and nattering, and Blair being hilarious ("Are you trying to have me killed, Bass? Oh my God I am going to scream if somebody doesn't get her out of here right now") and Serena actually expositing -- while getting angrier than she usually gets, which she can do with Chuck -- "So is this how you found out about that night at Butter? You bring Georgina here?" The last one just exactly as loud and strong as you would think, given what G did last time, and how little S had to do with punishing her for it. Meanwhile, the phone's ringing, and G picks it up with a smile, beaming to be included: "Hey, does anybody know a Gabriel?"

Serena joins Gabriel downstairs at a Palace eatery, with Chuck lurking in the shadows, and tests lightly to see if he's there because A) he thinks he's been made, B) he is gripped by a clichéd fear of babies, or C) he truly absolutely wonderfully adores her. It goes from C to B really fast, and she doesn't wait for A. Her move from the tiny little hope that this is somehow a mistake, to the tiny little hope that he'll just somehow magically flip for It Girl her, to realizing sadly that her plan worked, and he's here because of the pregnancy thing, and still playing her to boot. "I thought we were being careful!" he gasps, and she looks down. "Well, I wasn't careful enough, it seems." She lets him twist for a second, and then looks him in the eye: "[Beat.] I'm not pregnant, just naïve. I can't believe I believed you." Gabriel shits.