S4:E14 “Last time I checked the intern packet, I don't think “pimp daddy” was included in the description of duties.” – Other intern
So Blair was back at W magazine and everything’s great except for the fact her supervisor, Epperly, was giving her crap for not being able to do 10 things in an hour. To Blair’s credit, she knew she was more capable than completing a checklist, so when Epperly found herself in a crisis to find a venue for Florence + The Machine to perform, Blair offered her assistance. Epperly shot her down by telling her to stick to making sure the post-it notes were dripping in her fuchsia-tights-under-shorts-in-winter saliva was dripping all over the office post-its instead. Suddenly, Blair realized that in addition to finding a venue for Epperly and proving her capabilities that way, she was going to solidify a great performance review by getting her supervisor laid. So Blair brought Epperly to Chuck’s apartment and convinced him to lend them The Palace for the magazine’s event. She also introduced Epperly to Nate, who dutifully whisked her upstairs to check out the view from the roof and virtually out of the episode entirely. While alone, Chuck and Blair realized they both needed each other’s help for the first time in a long while (or at least since “Love The Way You Lie” was a new song in the real world).
“I need to up my game. No pun intended.” – Chuck
In order to try and keep his father’s company from being driven into the ground by Mr. Thorpe, Chuck spent the previous three days having sex with Raina, Mr. Thorpe’s daughter, in hopes that her attachment to Chuck would make her convince her father not to ruin his father’s work. But his days in bed with Raina weren’t affecting her perpetual meeting attendance in amethyst at all. So when Chuck and Blair were alone together, he asked why his efforts to make Raina fall for him weren’t working, and Blair said that instead of sleeping with her all day he should spend some time trying to form a connection with her, by perhaps bonding over an activity that’s mutually enjoyed. Blair asked if Chuck would consider helping her in alleviating all of Epperly’s tension before her performance review was submitted, but Chuck said he was too zonked out from being with Raina. So obviously, who was next in line for the role? None other than Nate, whose dead relationship with his convict father has left him with no agenda of his own and two inches from starting an Upper East Side plant planting business.
“Contrary to what Rufus and Serena believe, he hasn’t changed. He beat up a friend of mine.” – Eric
To make up for the fact that Lily sent him to jail for three years, Rufus offered Mr. Donovan his apartment in Brooklyn as a place to stay instead of a halfway house. Mr. Donovan very gratefully took the offer, and moved in with Dan. Dan was quite unhappy about his new roommate, and he found company in Eric’s disapproval of the set-up as well. You see, Eric had suddenly and strangely befriended Damien, a dealer who went to boarding school with Serena and who happened to be one of the dishonest people who instrumented the trial against Mr. Donovan. Anyway, in last week’s episode, Mr. Donovan shoved Damien up against a wall and threatened that if he ever came around Serena again, Mr. Donovan would tell Damien’s father that he was dealing drugs again…and the fear that swept over Damien led us to assume that a person who worked at the Belgium Consulate would frown upon that exponentially more than a regular, gritty-pear-eating parent. So this episode, as a means of turning people against Mr. Donovan, Damien told Eric that Mr. Donovan jumped him in an alley one day and that Mr. Donovan was very much still a violent criminal, knowing full well that Eric would tell Dan and then Damien would have himself a little group to plot out a way to send Mr. Donovan to Ithaca. But even though Dan and Eric both believed Mr. Donovan was not to be trusted, Dan was not willing to team up with Eric and Damien to execute any plan at all.
“Call him. Parolee’s about to get violent at a private event.” – Damien
Serena invited Mr. Donovan as her date to the W party, and this made Dan jealous enough to partner up with Eric and Damien to cut Mr. Donovan out of the loop once and for all. The three developed a plan that would purposely highlight Mr. Donovan’s aggressive side, but when they tried to irritate him so he would overreact and get violent in front of everyone, Mr. Donovan did nothing. So finally, Eric punched Damien, who then went up to Serena and pointed to the raspberry contusion (that was obviously inflicted by someone who hadn’t even learned how to diagram a sentence yet) on his face and said that Mr. Donovan did it. While that was happening, Chuck was busy bonding with Raina over their mutually tragic stories of having parents so dedicated to their businesses and meant that the people who raised them the most were the hotel staff. But Mr. Thorpe interrupted their session after Chuck showed Raina where he carved his initials into the wall with a salad fork in the kitchen. Raina said that she didn’t think he should buy Bass Industries. Her father told her that because she missed some important meeting to be with Chuck, the rest of the board members who were on tap to purchase Bass Industries were scared of going through with it, and that she jeopardized the deal. Mr. Thorpe added that Chuck had called his offices and found out that the board meeting was that night, and that Chuck purposely kept Raina away from it. In other words, it was clear to Raina that he was more interested in his father’s business rather than the fact that she looks great in every color nightgown imaginable.
“What’s one more night in jail after three years?” – Mr. Donovan
When the police came to take Mr. Donovan to jail for hitting Damien, Eric admitted to Rufus that he was the one who actually hit Damien and not Mr. Donovan. So Dan called his parole officer and set the record straight and no charges were filed against him. As Mr. Donovan returned to Rufus’s apartment in Brooklyn the next morning, Serena was waiting for him. She said she knew he was innocent the whole time and even though she was about to risk her family to be with him, she was willing to do that. They made out to celebrate their new relationship without realizing how it’s going to die in less time than it takes for a chocolate croissant to cool. Back at The Empire, Raina went up to Chuck’s suite in his hotel and forgave him for manipulating her. She said that Blair called her and explained how Chuck was having a hard time dealing with the acquisition of his father’s company, but that he really did have feelings for her. And Epperly told Blair that she was quitting her job at W and that she wanted Blair to be her replacement. When Blair said that she couldn’t possibly assume any position at a magazine (as she was a full-time student), Epperly said that if James Franco could do it, then so could she. And with that, she handed Blair three blackberries – one of which was specifically for a particularly pesky individual – and took her exit. Blair was shocked, but not at all unenthused.