‘Gossip Girl’: Runaway train

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If last week’s Little J was a handful, then Jenny Humphrey on last night’s ‘Gossip Girl’ was a bushel of bad behavior. It’s almost as if her audaciousness increased exponentially with her eyeliner.

With her confidence peaking, Jenny decides to stage a guerrilla fashion show during a posh charity gala honoring Bart and Lily Bass. She figures a room filled with wealthy Manhattanites would be the perfect platform to showcase her new clothing line and more importantly, find a financial backer for it. Of course, in the real world, a stunt like that would have gotten shut down as soon as the music started, but who would dare stop such an ‘inspired’ show? Certainly not when tulle and a teenage production worthy of a JCPenney ad are involved.

Jenny’s public act of rebellion, however, is the least of her worries. The fashion show may actually make her famous, but boy, is she in the doghouse with her family and friends! You know things are bad when your own dad wants to turn you in to the cops. Because stories about teen angst always involve running away (or at least thoughts of running away -- I know you’ve had them!), Jenny pulls together her perfect homeless chic outfit and hits the streets of Brooklyn. Little J may be down and out now, but I have a feeling she’ll be redeemed very soon (perhaps by a backer named Lily Bass?).

And now on to Jenny’s relationship with Nate. I, for one, am not a fan of this coupling, but I admit they make more sense than Nate and Vanessa (J and N’s matching jagged bangs were the deciding factor). Should Vanessa stick around and fight or let it go? She might actually have a chance now that Jenny’s a homeless runaway -- Nate can’t possibly date a fellow transient!

Another couple that’s becoming harder to swallow is Serena and Aaron. Take away his artist’s scarf-and-stubble combo, and he seems short of personality. His answering machine greeting and his licorice ring gift were cute gestures, but somehow my heart didn’t melt accordingly. I don’t even believe he’d be the player Serena suspects him to be. (Then again, starving artists do get chicks. I take that back.) Aaron, embrace your intriguing, older-guy status and charm us!

Maybe Aaron should take notes from Blair, who can’t help but charm us on a consistent basis. The thought of her babysitting anyone is entertaining enough, but Blair keeping tabs on a girl who’s desperate to lose her virginity takes the hilarity one step further. In light of the recent findings that sexual content on TV influences teenagers’ behavior, a story surrounding a competition over losing one’s virginity couldn’t be more ill-timed. The show wrapped it up with a nice moral bow, but what if kids didn’t have manipulative guardian angels to stop them?

Time for your thoughts. Will Jenny be better off on her own? What’s to come for Nate and his love triangle? And what do you think of Aaron?

xoxo

-- Enid Portuguez