Gossip Girl: Bonfire of the Vanity (Episode 128)

Last week ended with Jenny running away after her guerilla-style fashion show. She has been staying with new pal, Agnes, since then. Rufus just met with Agnes' mother and he tells Dan that he's ok with it. We know better. Dan, meanwhile, is making good on his talk with Rufus from last week that he's going to try things Jenny's way, which is being ruthless and doing whatever it takes to get to the top. He tells Rufus he's considering having his story on the Bass family published. The story must be pretty good because Dan just got word back that he'll be getting a reference letter for Yale. Things seem to be looking up for Dan already.

Blair has her posse over to start plotting her 18th birthday celebrations. The talk soon turns to Serena who is being swept off her feet by artsy Aaron. She gushes to the girls that he's been sending her text messages to go to different locations and each one is more amazing than the last. Gag me. She gets another text from him as she's telling them about him and he wants her to meet him in Times Square. She goes to the spot where he tells her to and then finds herself on the jumbotron for all of Times Square to see. She is excited and even more in love with him now. He sneaks up behind her and then they kiss, while still on the jumbotron of course. He then asks her to pose for him, she agrees to.

Jenny and Agnes are evidently business partners now, although I use the word "partners" loosely. They goto a meeting with a potential business manager and everything seems to be going well until talk turns to the name of the company, which turns into a argument between the two. Agnes has one idea but Jenny still feels it should be called "J. Humprey." Their professionalism, or lack thereof, gets them kicked out of the meeting and they blame each other.

After the posse leaves Blair meets the new man in her mom's life. Eleanor is smitten with this new guy named, Cyrus, and Blair expects him to be a real hunk. She's a bit surprised, to put it kindly, when it turns out Cyrus is short and balding. She is deadset on splitting these two up because she can't stand the thought of her mother dating this loser.

Chuck tries to make nice with his dad by getting him season tickets to hockey games. Bart being the idiotic jerk that he is tells Chuck that he should know better, he doesn't have time for this. Chuck tries to maintain his cool but it's clear that he's upset he doesn't have a relationship with his dad.

Dan meets with his adviser and a Senior Editor from New York Magazine about his story on Chuck Bass and family. The Sr. Editor tells him that they want to do an exposé on the entire Bass family, including Bass Industries. Dan says Chuck would know right away that it was him. His adviser and the Sr. Editor tell him that this could be his big break. Dan isn't sure what to do, on one hand there is the old Dan who is ethics and then there is the new Dan that wants to be like Jenny and have instant gratification. Will he choose old Dan or new Dan?

The next day at school Blair is mad because Serena has been spending so much time with artsy Aaron. Serena seems totally oblivious because she once again blows off Blair to go pose for Aaron. Blair tries telling her that she's just the flavor of the week and that after she's done being his muse he'll toss her aside for the next pretty thing. Serena ignores her and runs off to pose for Aaron.

Dan meets with Bart Bass to supposedly see about shadowing Bart. He says he'd like to shadow Bart every day for a week but Bart doesn't like that idea. After Dan guilts him into it by giving him his Brooklyn sob story, Bart finally agrees to two days. Just as Dan is getting ready to leave Chuck stops by Bart's office. Chuck is mad because Bart just told him he was too busy to spend time with him but now suddenly he has enough time for Dan.

Jenny meets with Agnes after she blew off another one of their meetings. Jenny lectures her about how much she's given up to do this clothing line. Agnes says she understands but she definitely does not. Agnes is the pampered model type that doesn't have a clue what it's like to actually work but dares to whine because she has to pose for pictures. Agnes is hungover from clubbing the night before and when she has to run to the bathroom Jenny takes the chance to use Agnes' cell to call back the business manager they met with the day before. He agrees to meet with her again, without Agnes. Later, Jenny meets with the business manager and he wants to represent her, only her - no Agnes. The only catch is that with Jenny only being 15 years old she'll need a parent to sign off on the deal. Jenny turns to her mom first who tells her no right away.

Serena poses for Aaron, he has to give her some tips on how to pose at first but eventually the shots turn out fantastic. The session only lasts so long before she and Aaron start making out.

After Dan's meeting with Bart he heads to New York Magazine headquarters to meet with the Senior Editor about the exposé. Chuck follows him there and curious as to why Dan would be there he calls a friend and finds out Dan has a meeting with an editor. Chuck connects the dots and realizes that Dan is upto something.

The following day, Aaron shows Serena the art creation he has come up with incorporating her shots. It's pretty much just clear tarps hanging on the walls and then her shots are being projected onto them, nothing special. She likes it though and again they kiss. But, the happiness doesn't end long because Aaron's next muse, Danielle, arrives and he quickly moves onto her leaving Serena in the cold. Looks like Blair may have been right on this one.

After a lot of research Daniel finds a source with dirt on Bart Bass. The source tells him that in the 80's Bart Bass burnt down one of his own properties to collect the insurance money. This could be very bad for Bass Industries and the entire Bass (and Van Der Woodsen) family, Serena included. Dan is going to have to think long and hard whether to use this juicy bit of info. He turns to Rufus for advice and of course his advice is that Dan not use the information.

Blair meets with Cyrus for dinner, without her mom knowing. She peppers Cyrus with questions about his life trying to dig up dirt to use against him so she can break him and her mom up. What actually happens though is Cyrus tells her his life story and she actually starts to like him. His life story happens to involve a touching story about falling in love with a woman in Vietnam, whom he left his wife for. At the time this all sounds loving, but later when Eleanor confronts Blair about secretly meeting with Cyrus Blair turns the story all around and tells Eleanor about it, though she makes sure to leave out the touching aspects of the story and instead just makes it all sounds horrible.

Serena is feeling stupid for falling for Aaron again but she's hoping that maybe she's wrong and he is still the sweet guy she thought he was. She calls him hoping they can hang out but he tells her that he's busy, he's hanging out with Danielle. Ouch! She heads to Blair's party and spends her time there pouting to anyone and everyone who will listen that Aaron broke her heart, again. It turns out that somehow Cyrus knows Aaron and vouches for him telling Serena that he's a good guy and that the places he took her he never takes anyone. Oh, and we're supposed to believe new guy Cyrus, sure. Serena takes the tidbit and runs with it though hoping Cyrus is right. She heads over to Aaron's loft to hang out but when she gets there he is still hanging out with Danielle and is not happy to see Serena at all. In fact, he actually lectures her on how they aren't exclusive and pretty much sends her away. Serena can do way better than this douche bag!

Agnes gets a call from the assistant to the business manager that Jenny is trying to work a deal with, the assistant is looking for Jenny but Agnes agrees to pass on a message. She finds out that Jenny met with the guy behind her back. Agnes and Jenny get in a big fight, Agnes grabs Jenny's dresses and throws them in a dumpster and then lights them on fire. Jenny is screaming and crying the whole time but doing nothing to try to stop her. The dresses go up in flames, as does Jenny's career most likely.

Back to Blair's party, Eleanor confronts Cyrus about the story that Blair told her. She gets mad and storms away. Just after she storms out Cyndi Lauper shows up, who Eleanor and Cyrus were supposed to go see prior to Blair deciding to throw a birthday party. Cyrus must be a crazy wealthy person because he bought out Cyndi's show and instead had her come to Blair's party to perform for Eleanor. Blair runs into Cyndi and is shocked, she realizes that Cyrus must truly care for her mom. Later, Blair apologizes to Cyrus, but then realizes that Cyrus is just as manipulative as her because he mapped out how the whole night would go down. He knew that Blair would tell Eleanor about his past, she would get mad, but then Cyndi Lauper would show up and she'd realize how much Cyrus cares for her and the only person left out would be Blair. Cyrus admits to the whole thing and he tells Blair that he just had to play along with her game. Blair starts to like Cyrus even more because he's just like her.

Dan confronts Bart about the insurance scam information and Bart admits to it but before he can say much Chuck comes in and tells Bart that Dan is upto something. Bart asks Dan how much money it'll take to keep him quiet. Dan says it's not about the money and goes to leave, but before he does Chuck tells him that this could ruin the family. Dan says he can't ignore it and leaves. Before he leaves the building Dan gives the doorman the story he wrote about Chuck Bass to give to Bart Bass. Bart Bass gets the story and realizes that Chuck has been feeling like Bart blames him for his mom's death. Bart goes to Chuck and tells him and says that he does not blame him for her death, it just reminds him of it every day when he looks at Chuck. He says he misses her so much, but he does want to get to know his son before it's too late. Well, it looks like Dan is doing good so far, but will he run the exposé and ruin the Bass family?

Jenny goes home, but not to live, instead she goes home to ask Rufus to sign the papers so that she can do the deal with the business manager. Rufus refuses to sign the papers because he says then he would be saying it's ok for her to act the way she has and he doesn't agree with anything she's doing. She says if he doesn't sign the papers then basically everything she's been doing has been for nothing. He still refuses to sign the papers, and Jenny leaves. She sits outside the building crying.

The next morning, Blair gets a shocker. She's still not totally comfortable with Cyrus but she better get comfortable with him real quick because Eleanor and Cyrus tell her that he'll be moving in. Jenny meets with the business manager and informs him that her parents won't sign the papers and she asks if there is anything else she can do. He tells her there is one last step but it's pretty extreme. She would have to file suit against her parents to legally divorce herself from them. And, believe it or not, she actually seems to want to do this. What the hell happened to sweet, innocent Jenny from last season? Dan tells Rufus that he needs to get Jenny to move back no matter whether he has to accept what she's doing or not, he says things will never get better until Jenny is living with them again.

In the final scene, Aaron shows up at Serena's apologizing. Serena says he was right though. She tries to be more like him, more carefree, and she does this by going off to the park with him wearing on a slip with a jacket over it. Whew... don't rebel too much S!

Next week is the Thanksgiving episode. We'll find out what Nate has been upto and maybe things will get settled with Jenny, either that or she's going to spiral even more out of control. I sure hope she starts to get a grip on reality, as much as I'm enjoying her rebelious storyline I don't want to see her spiral too far out of control. And, I really hope Dan doesn't do the expose on Bass Industries. If he does he can count himself out of the inner circle forever.