[S5E11] All About Christmas Eve
Shannon Corbeil is a writer, actor, and filmmaker in Los Angeles with recent appearances on SEAL Team and The Rookie. An Air Force veteran, her articles have been published in Business Insider, We Are The Mighty, and Military.com. She has written and produced hundreds of digital videos with millions of views. You can read more about her on her website or come play on Instagram and Twitter!
[S5E11] All About Christmas Eve
Festive moments: Ross decides to teach his son Ben (Cole Sprouse) about Hanukkah, and gets an armadillo costume to do it. (Major props for the Hanukkah representation! And, fun fact: In almost every other season you can actually see a menorah in Ross or Monica's home.)
Monica suggests that Rachel's resolution should be to gossip less about her friends and co-workers. Rachel manages not to gossip at all in the first two days after New Year's, but she soon finds out that Monica is secretly seeing Chandler from a phone message which is a sexual conversation between the two, leaving her frustrated as she can't gossip about it because of her resolution. She eventually learns that Joey knows, and both are relieved that they have someone they can talk to about it.
Word then spreads around the office, with Oscar's deskmate Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) sniggering about the revelation and Angela (Angela Kinsey) proceeding to make homophobic comments and pointedly using hand sanitizer after Oscar returns to his desk.
Michael then enlists Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to help him figure out who else in the office might be gay before the pair call Jim (John Krasinski) at his new office to enquire about buying a "gaydar" (a prank Halpert pulled on Dwight previously).
Actress Kat Ahn, who played one of the waitresses, Amy, has since spoken out about taking on a "racist role." In a video uploaded to TikTok, Ahn said: "I actually understand why BIPOC actors play racist roles. You know, sometimes you've gotta pay your rent; sometimes you enjoy the union; sometimes you just don't want your agent to drop you."
Despite Toby's (Paul Lieberstein) best efforts to remind everyone of the HR protocols and about crossing the line, Michael sees the rules as an affront to his sense of humor, calling it his "retirement from comedy."
During an HR training video that Michael and some of the warehouse workers are watching, Darryl (Craig Robinson) points to the woman featured in the clip and alleges he's slept with her, which prompts locker room "banter" and Michael to call her a hypocrite for appearing in a video about sexual harassment.
Very soon, however, he slips right back into routine, planting a kiss on her cheek. She tells him he needn't worry about her reporting him to HR, to which he replies: "The only thing I'm worried about? I'm getting a boner."
Through a series of emotional flashbacks, Blair reveals to Serena what really happened in the aftermath of her tragic car accident with Chuck. Meanwhile, Nate discovers information about the accident that suggests possible foul play. Lily is worried by Charlie's long absence and decides to hire a private detective to track her down.
The next day, Dan arrives at the Waldorf's and finds Serena in the dining room writing. She asks if he's coming to The Spectator's New Year's Eve party. Dan says that Nate has finally forgiven him for the Derek thing in Inside and he wouldn't miss a chance to support him. Serena asks him to help with the year end review list, and begins with the Biggest Transformation section. Dan suggests her, citing her becoming new blogger and all. Serena admits that with the disappearance with Gossip Girl, people are desperate for any form of gossip. Dan asks if Blair is there, and Serena says no, and that she wouldn't let her accompany her to Vera Wang for her dress fitting. Nate then arrives and apologizes to Dan about Inside not being on their best list. Dan says he's busy with a new book, and both Serena and Nate suggest he write something far off from selling out his friends. Serena and Nate then go off to meet the caterer for the party that evening and Dan goes on an errand. At the VDW's, Rufus gets a call from Jenny saying hi from London. Lily says it was nice having them home for Christmas, but a part of her wishes Charlie would have come too. Rufus says she made it clear the UES is not for her and that she was a wreck after the accident. Lily retorts that whenever she asks Carol, she always feels like she's not being let in on the whole truth.
At the Waldorf's, Serena comes home to find Louis waiting for Blair. She asks if he convinced her to come to the New Year's party that night but he says no, and that she has declined every invitation she's received since being home. Chuck then arrives and announces Blair is having an affair with Dan. Serena refutes it, saying Dan told her he hasn't seen Blair since she's been home. Chuck replies that he lied, just like he did when he said Blair only went to Vera's shop. Louis becomes annoyed that Chuck followed them yet thought his idea of a PI was not a good one. To pretend he didn't go, Chuck mentions that his driver took the pics he shows of Dan and Blair together. Louis agrees it explains her absences, but Serena says they need actual proof they're sleeping together before they confront her about it. Chuck suggests Gossip Girl probably has proof somewhere, but Serena says she isn't going to waste her time trying to find proof. She tells the two they're welcome to do so, but that Louis really needs to focus on getting Blair to come out and be with people who care about her. At the VDW's, Rufus answers the phone to find Andrew Tyler the PI on the other end, looking to talk to Lily. Andrew informs Rufus that his work is confidential and Rufus promises to tell Lily he called. At The Spectator, Nate is reviewing paparazzi pictures taken from the night of the accident. He mentions to his assistant that he isn't sure if they were close enough to run Chuck and Blair's car into the wall. She asks what the police said, and he answers that the front of the car was too damaged to inspect. He says he wants to talk to the driver himself and suggests they invite him to the party. Back at the VDW's, Lily is excited for New Year's karaoke. Rufus informs her that Andrew Tyler called about an assignment. Lily explains that she hired him to find Charlie and make sure she was okay. She calls him back and discovers that she never left New York after all. Outside, Dan and Blair leave the private residence. She's on the phone with Louis, again declining his offer to attend The Spectator party. When they hang up, Dan convinces her to go by saying she's going to have to eventually get out and he's sure she can fake being happy. Blair grudgingly agrees and accepts Louis' offer. Meanwhile at the Waldorf's, Chuck has found several photos in Serena's email of Dan and Blair together. Louis and Chuck debate how to handle confronting Blair and decide to do it at the party, where both Dan and Blair will be.
At the party, Nate suggests Dan write his resolution down and hang it on their tree of resolutions they have set up. Louis and Blair arrive, but Blair immediately heads to the restroom to freshen up. Elsewhere, Chuck shows Serena the proof of Dan and Blair sneaking around. Louis then approaches and says he saw Dan run the other way when Blair arrived. Serena insists that while the photos look bad, it's still not proof they're doing anything other than talking. Chuck says that her having an affair with Dan explains why Blair cut him off and isn't confiding in Serena. Frustrated, Serena heads off to ask Blair the truth. When she's gone, Louis tells Chuck that if Serena alerts Blair, she can make sure Dan never says what's going on. Chuck agrees and Louis has the idea that they won't be able to lie about it in front of everyone. He goes to Nate's office and adds a new slide, Most Secret Affair, to the slideshow. Nate's assistant enters and asks Louis what he's doing. He lies that Nate let him use his computer to deal with some business and leaves. In the restroom, Serena finds Blair applying powder. She asks Blair to tell her the truth about why she's been avoiding her.
Blair insists that she has to keep her promise because if anything ever happened to Chuck she would feel as if it's her fault. Serena says God doesn't want her to marry someone she doesn't love, and that Chuck and Louis think she's having an affair with Dan and they'll out it unless she comes clean. Blair refuses, saying she'll do anything to keep Chuck safe even if it means pretending she had an affair with Dan. In another room, Nate brings Dan, Louis, and Chuck together after finding out about the added slide. Dan sees it and says that while he wishes he could say what he's doing with Blair, he can't. Chuck suggests they run the slide anyway but Dan refuses. Chuck demands to know what they're doing and before he can answer, Serena bursts in and announces she's back together with Dan. She says Blair has helping them cover up because they wanted to be sure it would work before they told anyone. Dan agrees and plays along. Chuck leaves the room, and Nate tells Dan he needs serious remedial honest training. Louis goes off to find Blair. Serena tells Dan she knows about Blair's deal and the least thing she can do is help Blair live with her promise. They go off to get drinks.
At Juilliard, Rufus tracks down Lily. He explains that singing karaoke by himself got boring and so he called Andrew Tyler, who wouldn't reveal where Charlie was. So he hired him to track down Lily, which is when he finally admitted Charlie is enrolled at Juilliard. Lily says she just wants to know she's okay, and they decide to ask the security guard about her. Before they can, Lily spots a blonde girl and calls out to her. She turns around and Lily realizes she isn't Charlie. She apologizes and says she was looking for Charlotte Rhodes, but the girl says that's who she is but people call her Lola. Rufus explains they were looking for a different Charlotte Rhodes and Lily realizes there might have been two of them. They leave to go home. Back at the party, Louis finds Blair in the restroom. He apologizes for not trusting her, and that he thought she was having an affair with Dan but Serena told him Blair was just helping cover their relationship. Louis admits he feels she's further away than ever, and Blair confesses that her real secret is that she's converting to Catholicism so they can be married in the church. They leave to go celebrate with everyone else. Elsewhere at the party, Nate's assistant introduces him to Greg, the man who drove the car during the accident. Greg says he told the cops all he knows, which was that the photographers were very close to the car but the real problem was that his breaks felt like they had no pressure, but that he checked them before his shift started. Meanwhile, Dan apologizes to Chuck about not telling him about his relationship with Serena sooner. Chuck says that while their relationship explains the sneaking around, it doesn't explain why Blair cut him out of her life. Dan swears he doesn't know, but Chuck doesn't believe him. Blair thanks Serena for keeping her secret, and Serena replies that she's willing to make the sacrifice but she doesn't think Blair is making the right choice. Louis then shows up and encourages Serena to find Dan before midnight. The clock strikes midnight, and both Dan and Chuck longingly watch Blair and Louis kiss. 041b061a72