Gossip Girl: The Complete Fourth Season

The fourth season of Gossip Girl starts to show a little age; while the fashions are as couture as ever and the scandals the right level of sleaze, the season takes some inexplicable turns. But no season is complete without its parade of troublemakers, so up first is Georgina (Michelle Trachtenberg), whose pregnancy announcement at the end of season three throws serious water on Dan's romantic possibilities with Serena (Blake Lively). Then there's Juliet (Katie Cassidy, daughter of '70s teen idol David), an impostor whose elaborate scheme to take down Serena is connected to her past and involves some serious loony-bin activity (Cassidy, who was the best thing on the short-lived Melrose Place reboot, makes a terrific foil--much less irksome than Georgina, who has by now overstayed her welcome). Finally, there's Russell Thorpe (Spin City's Michael Boatman), a ruthless businessman who angles to take over Bass Industries from Chuck (Ed Westwick). But none of these villains hold a candle to the internal evildoing within the Upper East Siders; Dan (Penn Badgley) plots against Chuck, Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) and Jenny (Taylor Momsen) plot against Serena, then turn against each other, mapping both of their exits off the series; Serena and Chuck plot against her mother, Lily (Kelly Rutherford), and finally Lily's sister Carol plots against her by employing her daughter Charlie (Kaylee DeFer). Incomprehensible love matches ensue (the show's creators seem intent on having Serena circle romantic possibilities with… pretty much everyone), but the friendship that naturally evolves between Dan and Blair becomes the season's most pleasant surprise. That Blair becomes the center of a complex romantic web between Chuck and an honest-to-goodness prince (Hugo Becker) steers the season back in the right direction; Meester and Westwick remain the emotional centers of the show and anchor it when it veers too far into Crazytown. --Ellen A. Kim