Shattered Bass is the 21st episode of the fourth season and the 86th overall.
Good morning, sleepyheads. Looks like dream until your dreams come true wasn't such a good idea after all.
-Gossip Girl
Summary[]
Jack Bass returns to the Upper East Side plays double agent in an attempt to help Chuck, and along with Nate, the three discover the truth about Russell and Bart. Meanwhile, Blair tries to receive Princess Sophie's approval to marry Louis at a party thrown by Eleanor and Cyrus. Charlie, scheming to get Dan away from any other potential love interests, works to drive a wedge between him and Serena. Russell, wanting revenge, seeks to rattle Chuck by using the person he loves most: Blair.
Recap[]
The episode begins with Blair dreaming of herself and Louis in black and white riding around Manhattan on a Vespa. During the ride, Louis transforms into Chuck and suddenly the romantic ride turns into a fast, maddening journey. Blair suddenly wakes up, and tries to cover the small cut on her cheek from her confrontation with Chuck the night before.
At The Empire, Nate is packed and ready to leave when he sees the broken glass. Chuck comes into the room and invites Nate to come with him to the ribbon cutting of the new construction site in Brooklyn for his new hotel, to be titled Charles' Place. Still angry at Chuck for lying to Raina, Nate tells Chuck he's planning on staying with Raina for awhile and leaves. At the Waldorf's, Serena receives another call from Vanessa. She tells Serena that she didn't need her to make Charlie make her out to be crazy and jealous to Dan. Serena blows her off, and hangs up. At the loft, Charlie and Dan are hanging out eating candy and trying to guess the flavors with their eyes closed. They find out they share the same favorite book, Flowers In The Attic. He invites her to a black tie fundraiser at Constance/St. Jude's, and Charlie happily agrees to go. They make plans to meet at Blair's engagement party later that evening.
At The Waldorf's, Eleanor and Cyrus have returned from Paris to throw Blair and Louis an engagement party. While visiting, Eleanor shares that she's a judge for Vitamin Water's design competition to help launch a young designer's career. Serena comes downstairs, heading out to spend the day with Lily. Eleanor asks if she'll be back in time for the party, but Blair chimes in that she wants to stay engaged and hopes Serena won't make it. Offended, Serena leaves. Meanwhile, Jack arrives and meets with Raina. She explains to Jack that she recently found out her mother is dead and wants the revenge her father didn't get. Jack asks what he gets in return for helping, and Raina promises him the reins of Bass Industries. Nate then arrives, surprised to see the two together. Jack leaves, while telling Raine he would be in touch. At the VDW's, Rufus reminds Charlie about a prescription she needed to pick up, and that Carol explained that the last time she was happy she stopped taking the pills. Charlie replies that she never wants what happened last time to happen again and tells Rufus not to worry.
That afternoon, Blair and Louis spend time with Sophie, who is critical of everything in New York. Blair apologizes again about Chuck's behavior at the dinner (The Princesses and the Frog) and says that the rest of her family and friends are nothing like him. Sophie says she'll see for herself at the party. Blair invites the two to the Constance/St. Jude fundraiser before spotting Jack. Realizing she needs to warn Chuck, she quickly makes an excuse about needing to get her dress altered before racing off. After she's gone, Sophie informs Louis that she had Blair followed and the first place she went after her proposed was to see Chuck.
At the VDW's, Charlie is looking at old pics of Constance parties. Serena arrives, and says it's a shame they can't go because Lily can't. Charlie tells her that Dan invited her to go, but offers to cancel if Serena doesn't think it's a good idea. Serena insists she go, and Charlie explains that she has nothing to wear because she can't afford a dress. Serena asks why she hasn't gotten her trust fund yet due to her being over 18, but Charlie doesn't know and assumes it has to do with Carol and CeCe's issues. Serena calls the bank to find out. Meanwhile, Blair arrives to the location of Chuck's new hotel and warns him that she saw Jack so he can prepare for what he's planning. Chuck asks how he'll ever prepare for what she's planning, and tries to explain his feelings about the other night. Blair again warns him to be careful and leaves, unaware that Louis followed her and knows she was with Chuck. At the same time, Jack meets with Russell. He tells him that what Raina proposed was fine, but seems messy and juvenile. Russell agrees, and asks for ideas. Jack explains that Chuck's on edge due to losing Blair, and needs one push to send him off the deep end. He continues that when he does fall, he'll have him committed. Russell agrees to the plan, but also asks for access to Chuck's Empire suite, where there are momentos from his wife that he would love to have for himself, and will make sure Jack is compensated. Jack promises a key. Back at the VDW's, Charlie tells Serena that she has a loan from CeCe until her official checkbooks arrives and she was able to buy a Nina Ricci dress with the money. Carol calls, and Charlie tells Serena she'll show her the dress later and answers. She argues for a brief moment with her, and then tells her they'll talk later. When she hangs up, she dumps all her prescription pills in the trash.
At Blair's engagement party, Cyrus finds out Sophie is an avid ornithologist just like he is. Sophie then arrives, and Eleanor and Cyrus promptly greet her. Cyrus hugs her, and Blair shows up and apologizes for Cyrus, then asks where Louis is. Sophie replies that he said he'd meet her there. Meanwhile, Louis confronts Chuck at the construction site. He tells him to stop pursuing Blair, and Chuck asks how he's so sure Blair isn't pursuing him. Louis responds that she wouldn't after he embarrassed her so badly, and notices Chuck's hand. When Chuck doesn't answer what happened to it, Louis leaves. At the VDW's, Rufus encourages Serena to go to Blair's engagement party. Serena goes to her old room where Charlie is staying to get a dress from her closet. Anxious about the fundraiser that evening, she asks Serena questions about what to expect. Serena helps her out, and tells Charlie to be herself and that's what made her Cotillion with Dan so special, When Serena leaves, Charlie begins to mirror herself to Serena's look that night.
At the engagement party, Blair is worried that she can't reach Louis and that she hasn't been able to bond with Sophie due to Cyrus chatting her up. She goes over with Eleanor, and Sophie informs Blair that Cyrus convinced her that she is in fact a good person and since she makes Louis happy, she's decided to let them have their first formal appearance as a couple that evening. She tells Blair of her blackmailing ways, and Blair replies that it feels like their family already. Blair then notices Louis standing in the background and asks if he heard the good news, which he did. Cyrus then raises a toast to the couple and when it's over, Louis tells Blair they need to talk. At the construction site, Jack arrives and begins to taunt a drunk and stumbling Chuck, mentioning his mother and Blair leaving him. The two fight, and Nate jumps in. Jack brings out staff from an institution who escort Chuck out of the building. On Chuck's way out, Jack takes his key to The Empire and leaves it on the table for Russell, who was watching the whole scene play out from above.
Serena arrives at the engagement party, and tells Blair that no matter what, all she's ever wanted for her was true love and happiness. The two make up, and then receive a Gossip Girl blast about Chuck being taken to rehab. Blair admits she's worried about him, but Serena encourages her not to, and to go be a princess. Blair goes upstairs to talk to Louis, and Serena runs into Dan. He asks if she's okay with him going out with Charlie, and Serena replies that Charlie is going to her first black tie affair and Blair's engaged and everyone's moving on. Upstairs, Louis informs Blair that he knows she saw Chuck twice. She explains that the first time was because she wanted him to hear about their engagement from her, and the second because she had to warn him about Jack. Louis asks why she didn't tell him, and Blair answers that she didn't want him to think it was anything more due to their history. He says saw his hand and knows it wasn't the ring that cut her face and asks why she's protecting him. Blair replies that she doesn't want to embarrass him and that she understands if Louis wants to end their relationship. He says that he wants her but all of her, even the parts she's ashamed of. The two kiss, and Louis tells her that if she isn't ready to share all the parts of her life, she shouldn't come to the fundraiser and leaves. Downstairs, Charlie arrives in Serena's Cotillion dress with her hair and jewelry also the same. Serena quietly remarks on how it's her dress. At The Empire, Russell takes evidence against Bart from the suite and attempts to leave but is interrupted by Jack, Nate, and Chuck. The three explain that they were working together the whole time and were just playing follow the leader because they knew his true intentions with the evidence. Russell threatens to tell the press about Bart killing his wife and again attempts to leave, but is stopped by security and Chuck tells him to stay for the viewing of the tape. When they watch the security tape, they discover Bart wasn't the one who locked the doors and set the fire: it was Russell.
At the Waldorf's, Serena confronts Charlie over wearing her dress. Charlie says it's not her dress, that she got it at Nina Ricci. Dan takes Charlie's side, and Serena asks to see the label. Charlie replies that she cut it off because it was jabbing her and offers to show Serena the red mark. Dan stops her, and Serena demands Charlie take off the dress. Charlie says if she didn't want her to go with Dan, she could have just said so and gone without humiliating her. Serena insists that's not what she was trying to do, and Dan leaves with Charlie. Back at The Empire, Russell explains the whole thing. He tells how him and Bart were old business associates, and that he had proof Bart was planning a fire. When he found out Bart and Avery were sleeping together, it was a perfect setup. He continues that he really thought it was Bart in the building, and that despite her cheating, he still loved her. Chuck says that he read the letter to him ending her affair with Bart, but Russell says the letter was meant for him and that when Bart wanted to meet at the building, he decided he wouldn't be leaving. Chuck realizes that that's what Bart and Avery were fighting about on the tape and that she wanted to tell Russell in person that she loved Bart. Russell finishes that the agreement was that he would keep Bart's involvement in the premeditated fire a secret, would give him the insurance money and company, and go back to Chicago and Bart would say he was responsible for the fire. Frustrated at the amount of time this is taking, Jack begins to call the cops but is stopped by Russell, begging him not to. He offers Chuck Thorpe Enterprises and anything he wants to keep quiet. Chuck offers him the same deal Bart did: to leave New York and never come back. Russell thanks him, and says Raina can never find out because he doesn't know what he would do if she did. He leaves.
At the Waldorf's, Blair voices her concerns about her dark side to Cyrus. He tells her that the only way to know if Louis is the one is to let him in completely and that even everything is not enough when it comes to Waldorf women. Meanwhile, Nate is waiting for Raina at her hotel. She's angry because Jack called and said he wasn't interested in helping anymore. Nate says that's Jack for her, and Raina becomes annoyed at him. She begins to lay into Chuck and becomes increasingly agitated at Nate's defending Chuck, and as a last ditch effort, Nate tells her that her father killed her mother, not Bart. At the VDW's, Rufus is throwing something away when he notices Charlie's pills in the trash. He calls her as she and Dan pull up to the school, and she ignores the call and goes inside with Dan. At The Empire, Chuck thanks Jack for using his evil powers for good for once and the two end things on a good note. Chuck goes to try and win back Blair, and Jack encourages him to. At the same time, Raina calls Russell in tears and tells him he knows what he did. He assumes Chuck told her, and begs her not to cut him off, but she does anyway. Back at the VDW's, Vanessa arrives after being invited by Serena. She confesses that she knows now that she was telling the truth when she said Charlie turned Dan against her, because it just happened to her. Vanessa guesses maybe Blair is behind it, but Serena says that while it's Waldorf level scheming, Blair's in love with Louis and it's all Charlie. At that moment, Rufus comes downstairs and asks if either of them have seen Charlie, and holds up the empty pill bottle. At the fundraiser, Dan runs into Blair's old minions Kati and Is, and the two ignore him. Charlie asks if he ever did anything crazy in high school, and Dan replies that he was really more anti crazy. She offers to help him change that and leads him into Headmistress Queller's office. Once inside, she takes off her dress, revealing only her slip. The two begin to make out and before they start having sex, Charlie tells Dan to call her Serena. He immediately begins to back track, ending with telling Charlie to put her dress back on. As he's walking out, Charlie receives a text telling her that her trust fund is active. At the same time, Blair arrives and receives a call informing her that Chuck needs her and then runs into Charlie. She tells her to make sure Louis doesn't leave before she gets back and quickly runs out. At the VDW's, Rufus informs Vanessa and Serena that Charlie's doctor did not take her off the meds and this is the second time she stopped randomly. Elsewhere at the fundraiser, Chuck is going around the party looking for Blair, who has just arrived at the building of Chuck's new hotel looking for him. When she reaches the roof and finds no one, she calls out to a dark figure asking about Chuck and instead finds herself face to face with Russell.
Starring[]
Main Cast[]
- Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen
- Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf
- Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey
- Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald
- Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass
- Jessica Szohr as Vanessa Abrams
- Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey (Credit only, as she does not appear in the episode)
- Kelly Rutherford as Lily van der Woodsen
- Matthew Settle as Rufus Humphrey
Recurring/Guest Cast[]
- Kaylee DeFer as Charlie Rhodes/Ivy Dickens
- Desmond Harrington as Jack Bass
- Margaret Colin as Eleanor Waldorf
- Wallace Shawn as Cyrus Rose
- Amanda Setton as Penelope Shafai
- Nan Zhang as Kati Farkas
- Hugo Becker as Louis Grimaldi
- Michael Boatman as Russell Thorpe
- Tika Sumpter as Raina Thorpe
- Joanne Whalley as Sophie Grimaldi
- Nicole Fiscella as Isabel Coates
Soundtrack[]
- One In the World by Tapes 'N' Tapes
- Sensitive Kid by Cold War Kids
- Drinks On the House (As heard on New Amsterdam) by Daniel May
- Heart Is a Beating Drum by The Kills
- Youth Knows No Pain by Lykke Li
- State of I by Peanut Butter Lovesicle
- Drown by Les Bellas
Memorable Quotes[]
Nate: I'm going to stay with Raina for awhile.
Chuck: If you walk out, don't be here when I get back.
Nate: Don't worry, I'm already gone.
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Jack (to Nate about Raina): I should have known you'd still be dining on my nephew's leftovers.
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Blair (to Penelope): I invited you to attend not to speak.
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Chuck (to Louis): Your Highness, forgive me if I'm too busy to bow.
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Louis: What happened to your hand?
Chuck: It will heal with time. Unlike you, who's facing a lifetime doubting Blair.
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Chuck (to Jack): You can't be serious. After everything you've done, I'd have to be insane to not want to beat the crap out of you.
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Russell: What's going on?
Chuck: Divine intervention. If Satan was divine.
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Jack: Can we just call the cops yet? I'm hungry and all you seem to have are olives and hallucinogenic mushrooms.
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Blair: You may not be aware of this, but it's not all light and bright in here. There are some places devoid of even a hint of sparkle.
Cyrus: Louis will love those too, one would hope.
Blair: Chuck was the only one who ever did. He couldn't see the rest. Louis says he wants it all, but what kind of a princess schemes and plays sex games and dreams herself into old Hollywood movies?
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Dan: What's up, Kati, Is? Nice to see you girls back together again, still dressing alike.
Kati (to Is): Did you hear something?
Is: Nope, nothing.
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Charlie (to Dan:): You shouldn't leave high school without doing it on a desk.
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Chuck (to the young girls): Have you seen the real Blair?
Young blonde: Haven't you heard? You lost her to the prince.
Chuck: Not yet I haven't.
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Trivia[]
- The episode title is based off the movie Shattered Glass.
- As of July 2011, this is the least watched episode of the series, with 1.201 million viewers and a 0.6 rating in adults 18-49.
- Cyrus, played by Wallace Shawn, refers to Blair as a "Princess Bride-to-Be. A nod to the movie that he had played the character Vizzini in.
Cultural References[]
- Flowers In The Attic/ F. Scott Fitzgerald: Charlie mentions the book and author to Dan, citing FITA as her favorite book growing up.
- Vitamin Water: Eleanor is a judge for the drink company's design contest.
- Nina Ricci: Charlie buys a dress from the designer for the fundraiser.
- Pamela Dennis: Serena mentions that her Cotillion dress was made exclusively for her by the designer.
- Hallmark Hall of Fame: Jack references the TV show.
- OJ Simpson: Jack compares Bart to the murderer.
- The Princess Bride: When discussing Louis and Chuck, Cyrus refers to Blair as a "Princess Bride" returning to the St. Jude/Constance event.
