1X01 Pilot
TOriginally aired: Wednesday September 19, 2007 on The CW
Writer: Cecily von Ziegesar, Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage
Director: Mark Piznarski
Show Stars: Kelly Rutherford (Lillian "Lily" van der Woodsen), Matthew Settle (Rufus Humphrey), Kristen Bell (Gossip Girl (Uncredited)), Blake Lively (Serena van der Woodsen), Chace Crawford (Nate Archibald), Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass), Leighton Meester (Blair Waldorf), Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey), Taylor Momsen (Jenny Humphrey)
Recurring Role: Zuzanna Szadkowski (Dorota (Uncredited)), Connor Paolo (Erik van der Woodsen), Sam Robards (Howie "The Captain" Archibald), Nan Zhang (Kati Farkas), Nicole Fiscella (Isabel Coates)
Guest Stars: Alex Emanuel (Rufus' Bandmate) , Florencia Lozano (Eleanor Waldorf) , Brian Vowell (Hotel Guest) , Woron-Simons (Party Dancer) , Takako Haywood (Art Theater Patron) , Melissa Rocco (Chorus Girl #2) , Robert Stoeckle (High Society Man) , Lindsey Broad (Girl Who Takes Photo) , Kimberely Herbert Gregory (Nurse) , W.A. Walters (Dive Bar Patron) , Andrew Stewart-Jones (Concierge) , Robert Spencer (II) (A Family Guest)
The privileged prep school teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side first learn that Serena van der Woodsen is back in town the way they learn all the important news in their lives; from the blog of the all-knowing albeit ultra-secretive Gossip Girl. No one knows Gossip Girl's identity, but everyone in this elite and vicious circle relies on her text messages for the latest scoop.
Everyone is surprised to learn that Serena has suddenly ended her self-imposed exile to boarding school and returned to Manhattan. The most astonished is definitely Blair, Serena's closest friend. As Gossip Girl says "Sure they're BFF's but we've always thought that Blair's boyfriend Nate has a thing for Serena." Ouch. Anyway, someone else is back in town and it turns out they're siblings, just come back from a weekend spent with their mother: Dan and Jenny Humphrey, whose middle-background keeps them on the fringes of the Upper East Side exclusive world. But, fresh news... freshman Jenny has been invited to Blair's party, better known as the 'Kiss on the Lips' party, as payment for addressing all the invitations.
While Blair is definitely eager to 'seal the deal' with Nate since they've been dating since kindergarten, the boy looks less enthusiastic. And, even Howie, Nate's father, insists that Blair is right - and rich - enough to be the perfect romantic choice for him and this pressure makes their relationship less than solid. Serena's return doesn't exactly help either, although Serena is quick to tell Nate that he is not the reason she returned, much to his dismay.
Actually, the real reason behind Serena's abrupt return is very different. Her younger brother, Eric, recently tried to take his own life. Fortunately, he was unsuccessful but the attempt landed him in a psychiatric institution... And judging by the smiley Eric, the hospital is definitely a warmer home than the magazine-perfect van der Woodsen estate. Amazingly, no one has gotten wind of this oh-so-delicious gossip... not even the highly informed 'Gossip Girl'. Status-conscious Lillian van der Woodsen chose to hide the shameful news of her son's illness, rather than admit her own maternal inadequacies. Serena confronts Lillian about it but her glacial mother points out: "So it's not like you've been gone doing God knows what with God knows who." Serena swears boarding school wasn't like that but her mother doesn't seem to get her point.
The 'Kiss on the Lips' party is approaching and Serena isn't happy to find out she is "kind of not invited." Yep, it turns out Blair enjoyed being the Queen Bee while Serena was gone and now that she is back Blair wants to make sure Serena understands that things have definitely changed. Serena doesn't seem happy about Blair's behaviour and tells her she wants to talk to her. Later the two girls have a heart-to-heart and manage to bridge the distance caused by Serena's self-imposed exile. Unfortunately their fledgling friendship collapses changes when a guilt-stricken Nate confesses to Blair what happened between him and Serena before she left. Sex, of course. Blair is less than thrilled but she ends up forgiving Nate... But Serena? Not so much.
Lillian buys her daughter a dress for the party, but Serena informs her she isn't planning to go there since she already has plans. With who? Well, with Dan, who conveniently happened to be nearby. When Lillian walks away, Dan starts to get going too but Serena tells him he can pick her up at eight. Dan is quite surprised, but Serena points out that a guy she doesn't know can't be worse than the ones she did know.
Lillian stops by Rufus' so-called gallery art. Rufus happens to be Dan and Jenny's father. It turns out there was something between Lillian and Rufus when they were young. Lillian informs him that her daughter is dating his son; she hopes Rufus is not using her daughter as an excuse to start something, now that his wife left him. Rufus suggests that maybe that's actually her own ploy. Lillian assures him this is just his own dream and orders him to stay away from her life.
It's Kiss on the Lips Party and Jenny can't believe she is actually there. Meanwhile, Dan and Serena are having a nice time. At the party, Chuck, Nate's friend, tries to take advantage of Jenny, who discreetly sends a text message to Dan, claiming she needs help.
Serena and Dan rush to the party. They find Jenny on the roof caught in the clutches of Chuck whose hands are, well, everywhere. Dan punches Chuck and Serena screams at him to never touch Jenny again. As they leave a humiliated Chuck screams a warning to Serena, letting threatening to let the whole school know what happened between her and Nate on that long ago night. Serena, Dan and Jenny take a cub and drive away, under Blair and Chuck's not-very-sympathetic eyes.
As Gossip Girl says "Spotted Serena making a heroic exit from B's party. Too bad for her there's school on Monday".
