The third person is always supposed to be a stranger.
The aftermath of GOSSIP GIRL’s much-buzzed-about threesome continued to pay unexpected dividends last night by quite frankly managing to do the unthinkable. After providing a surprisingly potent spark, not only do we find ourselves in the somewhat embarrassing position of pining for the return of Hilary Duff (Really, here’s hoping Olivia makes good on her promise to return in the fall), said ménage à trois managed to transform Dan and Vanessa — two of GOSSIP GIRL’s most notoriously uninteresting characters — into watchable ones. With bonus points for making the Parent’s Television Council look really stupid by cleverly ensuring that last night’s flashback laden episode was far more revealing, shocking and scandalous than the PTC targeted episode prior.

A little Chuck Bass goes a long way.
Leave it to Ed Westwick to make the most of what little he was given on last night’s episode. Seriously, what Chuck Bass lacked in screen time, he more than made up for with his pitch-perfect line delivery (”Dude, I’m Chuck Bass. Even Europeans must know what that means.”) to the foreign ambassador’s son played by special guest star Kevin Zegers.

Kevin Zegers.
And speaking of fellow Canadian Kevin Zegers, we couldn’t help but feel bad for the actor. After-all, when you go from being Hollywood’s Indie darling in Transamerica to the Upper East Side, you know what that means. Three words: Career Trajectory Alert!

There is such a thing as too much makeup.
Look, we’re the first to admit that cosmetics are not exactly our area of expertise. That said, we couldn’t help but wonder what exactly is going on in the GOSSIP GIRL makeup trailer? Is making Jenny as pale as the moonlight part of some bizarre subliminal CW campaign to improve ratings by tricking audiences into thinking that she’s a vampire. And along the same lines, we’re fairly confident that if Chace Crawford’s cheekbones get any more definied, he’ll be indistinguishable from THE VAMPIRE DIARIES star Ian Somerhalder.

Lady Gaga WTF?!
Again, while we’re not exactly in the CW’s target demo, somebody is going to have to explain to us the appeal of Lady Gaga. Honestly, what exactly was the deal with her performance that capped of a surprisingly solid episode.