So apparently Bart Bass --- Chuck's dad and Lily's husband --- is dead. I say "apparently" because as far as I know, we never saw a body (although I missed the first few minutes of the episode, so I could be wrong). If a lifetime of viewing nighttime soaps and reading comic books has taught me anything, it's that if there's no body, there's no death. Don't be surprise of Herr Bass doesn't make a ruthless comeback in a season or two if ratings start to slip.

But for now we can consider him dead, and his shuffling off this mortal coil caused all manner of people to lose all manner of shit last night. Chuck was, of course, the worst, since he was striving to improve his relationship with his emotionally distant father, and now that he's gone, Chuck is essentially an orphan. Chuck dealt with the blow as well as you would expect: by drinking, probably drugging, and probably screwing around. Chuck spent most of last night's episode a complete and total mess, but Ed Westwick really acted the hell out of his scenes. It's amazing how much I've come to care for Chuck, and it speaks highly of this show that a character who was introduced as a stereotypical rapey douchebag has become the most human of any of the male characters.

Also in a shame spiral was Lily, who held herself responsible for Bart's death since he was on his way to see her when he got in the car accident. Her guilt was somewhat assuaged by the fact that Bart was coming to confront her about the dirt his PI had dug up about the real reason for her hospital stay years ago that was briefly mentioned in the Thanksgiving episode. Of course, having Rufus pledge to wait for her indefinitely this time helped her spirits, and when even her meddling mother couldn't crush her happiness (and BTW: thank god grandma's back to being a miserable crone instead of that sunny BS we saw in the season premiere), you had to know something awful was going to happen by episode's end. And sure enough, when she and Rufus reunited at Grand Central to go on their big holiday vacation together, he dropped the bombshell that Ma VanDerWoodsen felt compelled to tell him so that they could "start fresh" (uh huh): that Lily was pregnant by Rufus all those years ago, and that's why she was in the hospital.

It's interesting to point out that we don't know what happened in the hospital. Was she having an abortion? Or did she have the Rufus baby and give it up for adoption? I'm hoping for the latter, if only because it could make for a juicy new character a la "Dynasty"'s forgotten prodigal son, Adam. Plus, anything that screws up Dan and Serena's chance at happiness is alright by me.

On that note: D&S spent the episode doing their usual we-love-each-other-but-it-won't-work dance. And all I can say is: whatever. I hate these two so much when they're together, but I like them separately. (Well, I like Serena separately. Dan I'm ambivalent about at best.) Mind you, I'm no fan of Serena's current beau either, so I'm kind of at a loss. Why can't a smart, gorgeous girl like Serena get a decent boyfriend? If she keeps having to dive into the loser bin, what hope is there for the rest of us?

In the B plot, the death of Senor Bass prompted Cyrus to move up his wedding to Blair's mom to the NEXT DAY, which initially caused some drama, but ultimately worked out for everybody --- especially Jenny, who obtained some measure of redemption in Eleanor's eyes after she successfully banged out a suit for Eleanor to wear at the ceremony. And there was a particularly lovely scene with Blair and Cyrus in which she broke down about her whole Chuck thing (she finally said "I love you" but he blew her off in a drunken rage). But the tear-jerker of the night had to be Chuck coming into Blair's room, defeated, broken, and just silently finding solace in her arms. I know this is supposed to be a fluffy teen show, but that moment was downright poignant. Leighton Meester better get an Emmy nod this year or there will be no justice.