IMHO "Gossip Girl": "The Mighty Archibalds", or The First Temptation of Eric van der Woodsen

In its short run, I've learned to be patient with Gossip Girl. I spent a good part of the first few episodes complaining that Nate Archibald was just a boring lump of pretty until the writers figured him out. And ever since he came out last season, I've been a little frustrated that there hasn't been much to GG's gay teen Eric van der Woodsen. But my patience finally paid off in this week's episode, "The Mighty Archibalds".

Find out more about Eric's latest developments and why I'm giving this episode the up arrow after the break.

It turns out that a Gossip Girl Thanksgiving is as chaotic as you would expect with tantrums, walkouts and revelations. For Eric, that meant a harsh lesson about his new stepdad, Bart Bass, from the guy who grew under Bart's repressive thumb, Chuck.

Bart, you see, compulsively hires private investigators to dig into everybody in his life, even his new wife and her children. Eric realizes this when Bart warns Eric that his boyfriend may be dating another guy and Chuck uses the opportunity to introduce Eric to Bart's man-sized safe of secrets, where Eric finds a file devoted to every detail of his life, along with a file devoted to each member of the family.

Eric and his distrusting stepfather Bart

It also turns out that Eric is the friend to whom Jenny Humphrey has turned now that she's homeless. He's been sneaking her into the Bass home and spending time at her side as she considers emancipation papers and she returns the favor of support when Eric struggles to deal with the discovery of Bart's files.

What I love about Gossip Girl is the battling worldviews at work. There are the cynics like Chuck and Blair who see the world as a place waiting to take advantage of you unless you strike first, the hopelessly hopeful like Dan and Vanessa who think doing the right thing will save the day in the end and the ones just trying to survive the crossfire. Watching Eric's perplexed reactions to Bart's dossiers, it's starting to look like Eric follows in Dan's incurably sincere ways.

The Waldorf/Rose family Thanksgiving

We learn that Eric did take a look at his mother's file and learned that she had also spent time in a mental institute when she was young, just like Eric at the beginning of Gossip Girl. Unlike some kids, Eric doesn't scream, "Why couldn't you show me some empathy when I needed it?" but is all calm of voice and understanding looks. In between his sister's partying days and his mother's "Kids, meet your new father" days, I'm starting to see Eric as that kid who starts acting like an adult because no one else in his family will.

Eric was not the only gay on Gossip Girl, Blair's gay dad also made an appearance, though he only showed up to be Blair's Thanksgiving surprise, an appearance so short there wasn't time, apparently, indicate if his partner had accompanied him or not. 

A good part of my enjoyment of Gossip Girl is playing armchair psychologist with the characters and I'm finally feeling like I got an idea of what's going on in Eric's head. A small part of me is worried that his personality is one that fits a "barely there" character, but I'm mostly looking forward to seeing where Eric goes next.

What did you think?