Thanks for your comments, everybody! I think next year, the structure will be a lot more...structure-y. And here is the end:
10. Seventeen Candles – Two characters unexpectedly bond, perhaps foreshadowing a connection that was made in the books and could be so much better on the show, what with the show’s writers actually trying (and succeeding) to write well. Blair’s breakdown is heartbreaking, a revelation shared to her is shocking, and the end is of the mold of Alias’s first season – you just gotta see what happens next.
09. Roman Holiday – Wow, Rufus & Lily have become so much more interesting since the show started. They actually have the most interesting plotline of the episode, what with a pretty big surprise happening on either end. Blair sharing both her megabitch skills and the fact that deep down, she’s human after all demonstrates how dynamic and complex she is. Serena and Dan are cute and more interesting than they usually are with that cuteness, especially with the calls to continuity.
08. Hi, Society! – After three episodes in a row of Blair being the (awesome) center of (awesome) attention, Serena gets the spotlight again, and she does not disappoint. Not only does she look more gorgeous than ever, her kickassness in staying true to herself and the problems that creates shows how Serena, while reformed, still is imperfect and imperfect in the eyes of society, keeping her intriguing. Also, Lily and Rufus are awesome here in their interactions with their children. And the tangled web woven, for once, not by Blair but around Blair, keeps the drama alive, and Blair being able to tear it apart so easily demonstrates, again, how great she is.
07. Cardigans – Ok, my love for them isn’t nearly as great as it was, but I still want a few more of them, and given that I’ve lowered my annual shopping budget to half a grand, that would swallow up a large chunk of my change relatively speaking, and that doesn’t really concern me.
06. Blair Waldorf Must Pie! – Mmm, this show’s version of Veronica Mars’s “The Wrath of Con,” or Buffy’s “Selfless” (Hey, I’m a much bigger Anya fan than an Angelus or Spike fan.): flashbacks to show who everyone used to be, and demonstrate the fact that while in some ways the characters are completely different, in other ways the people they were is still who they could be, given the right circumstances. Serena and Blair always being there for each other is never shown in as full display as here, and the fact that they both have had serious problems humanizes them in a well-emotionally-wrought way. Dan has almost no moments of assiness, and Nate starts to act like a human being. Perfection.
05. No Future for You – As good as a real Buffy episode, and that’s saying something.
04. The Bitch is Back – The best episode of the season, and third overall, for Veronica Mars. While I am still pissed off at the CW for canceling Veronica Mars (which is the only show besides Wonderfalls that I truly, truly believe should have gone for several more seasons to really fulfill all the potential they showed), Rob Thomas delivered a swan song that was perfect. Things come full circle, there is practically an orgy of continuity, the music is as spot-on as ever, actions have genuine and long-reaching consequences whose fallout would have been incredible to watch, and the show deftly balances all the genres it straddles. Sigh.
03. My December – Incredible, just incredible, CD.
02. Harry Potter 7 – One of the best books ever.
01. Sarah Michelle Gellar – What can I say? She’s my favorite celebrity ever, she portrayed my favorite character ever, and I think she’s the most beautiful human being on the planet.
