Spoiler: GG took a turn for the worse

Here is the link to New York Magazine's rundown of last night's episode. And below are my own pluses and minuses as well as some other thoughts.

Positives

- Plus 2 for Serena being jealous of Miss Carr and Dan right from the beginning. At the start of the episode when she sees Rachel and Dan eating breakfast and Rachel mentions what a wonderful writer Dan is, Serena says, "Believe me, I know."
- The New York Magazine list had this as a negative because of the stereotype it implies, but I think it should be plus 3 for Nelly wanting to check the Dow when she finally gets her hands on a cell phone. At least her priorities are in the right place.
- Plus 1 for Jenny writing the GG post headline on her hand so that she could show it to Dan as evidence and since cell phones were taken away, this was the next best thing.
- Plus 2 for Dan following Blair into the women's bathroom.

Negatives

- Minus 5 for Rachel and Dan bonding because they are both "outsiders." They have already proven that they aren't real outsiders, only people who fit in and like to pretend they are outsiders.
- More specific about Nate and Chuck not being at school, minus 1 for Nate being in uniform but not at school.
- Minus 10 for Blair being so selfish during the episode. I understand that she hates Miss Carr, but when she starts the rumor about Dan and Rachel, why isn't Blair thinking about how this will potentially hurt her best friend? Serena was willing, later in the episode, to put Blair first and get the evidence needed to get Blair reinstated at Constance, but Blair only ever cares about how things affect her.
- Minus 10 for Constance's headmistress saying they were reinstating Rachel because a scandal would hurt the school. Seriously? You'd rather have a student/teacher affair happening? I think that is more of a scandal by itself.
- I also think we should minus hundreds because of the stupid Chuck storyline. Where is that going?

Thoughts

- Now that Rachel and Dan have had sex and we know that Rachel is in the process of being reinstated as a teacher, she can't come back, right? There is no turning back after having sex with a student. Writing it into the show that she would then once again be a teacher is an awful idea. She cannot accept her position back.
- I hate how Dan and Serena are constantly getting together and breaking up. They don't trust one another, as was made obvious in the episode last night, so I hope this break up lasts longer than usual. I want to see these two characters flourish on their own for a change.
- I want to see more of the Nate/Vanessa storyline. Right now they are always mentioned in the background, but never the center of attention. I hope their storyline is expanded in future episodes.
- I am over all of the "this is for Yale" references. In the books this was a problem too, but not nearly as bad as it has been in recent episodes. If they (Blair in particular) just continue to act as they did the previous three years that helped them get into Yale in the first place, then maybe there wouldn't be any problems? Or is that wishful thinking? I'm glad they got into college, but let's focus on the here and now instead of continually referencing something that isn't going to happen until next year.

So what did you think about the episode? I obviously had more negatives than positives, but maybe things in coming weeks will begin to look up. Feel free to leave comments and rate some other moments from last night's episode.