Gossip Girl: Three’s a crowd if Vanessa’s a part of it.

CC provides a double dose of Gossip for you this week.

GOSSIP GIRL: 3.08 “The Grandfather: Part II”
GOSSIP GIRL: 3.09 “They Shoot Humphreys, Don’t They?”

Two weeks ago, Trip Vanderbilt was elected to Congress.  His wife cooked up some scheme to manipulate the public, forcing Trip to blame his grandfather and Nate to take the fall.  Serena and Blair got into a fight, which led Serena in the arms of Trip. No, they didn’t sleep together, but they’re probably going to.  Vanessa was annoying, and Dan/Olivia are still dating.  And that was pretty much it, though.  None of it really matters because, on Monday, THERE WAS A THREESOME.

Yeah, it really wasn’t that exciting.  For all of the news stories, hype, and moral outcry, the Vanessa/Dan/Olivia ménage a trios was sort of a snoozefest.  Basically, Olivia was told that she’d have to go off and film a vampire movie, thus ending her college experience.  But four years’ worth of educational experience can be crammed into an evening, right?  Dan and Vanessa use a newspaper to distill college.  There’s a 15 item list, and one of them is “Have a threesome!”  Honestly, I would’ve way more interested in a Chuck/Nate/<insert anyone but Vanessa here> threesome, frankly.  That at least would’ve been unexpected.

There were two problems with this threesome. The first is, it wasn’t so much a threesome as three kisses (one featuring Lizzie Maguire) and a shot of three people sleeping afterwards.  For all of the build-up, you’d think that there would be something unexpected or at least more salacious (not that I really want to see Hillary Duff in a three way, but I digress). Anyway, it was really tame, kind of like when Marisa and Alex kissed on “The O.C.”

The second problem with the threesome is that the characters involved are really lame.  I suppose that would make them least likely to be involved in one, but it really seemed more like a ratings ploy than a plot device.  What will be interesting (maybe) is the fallout, now that Olivia’s not leaving and Vanessa was too stupid to sleep with her best friend and her roommate/best friend’s girlfriend.  What did everyone else think about the threesome?  Too built-up?  Worth waiting for? Are you surprised who was involved?

Frankly, I was really hoping that the threesome was going to happen on Chuck and Nate’s lost weekend.  We already know that Chuck swings both ways, and he’s way more underhanded than stupid Vanessa.  Maybe it would derail Trip’s political future!  But no, even the lost weekend was more like a couple of dudes drinking some absinthe in a hotel room in Blair’s lingerie.

Speaking of Blair, she and Serena made up while trapped in an elevator.  I rolled my eyes.  How many times has anyone been stuck in an elevator for longer than 15 minutes?  I really just don’t think that elevator malfunctions happen this long over the course city.  Anyway, the only thing that saved this from being a monstrous cliché is that Chuck stopped the elevator and forced them to talk.

Eric and Jenny are not talking anymore, especially since Eric tried to dethrone Jenny at the Cotillion.   I thought this whole plotline was the best part of the episode.  It reminded me of the Gossip Girl of yore.  Evil, conniving, high school politics.  More importantly, it was an exploration of the economic insecurities that have plagued Jenny and Dan.  When Gossip Girl premiered, it was a smart examination of class and power in Manhattan.  Your school, last name, and address held a certain cache that determined power and popularity.  Now that our characters are in college, the playing field is level, but I really like it when we can see those themes unfold.  Maybe we can spend more time with Jenny at Constance and less time in Dan Humphrey’s bedroom.