It-Girl Happened One Night - Recap

Valentine's Day is around the corner, and Sabrina is whining because
Blair is so busy. Sabrina figures she's just trying to take her mind off
V-Day. Blair tells her that she's sitting out V-Day this year, as is
Chuck with his fake relationship with Raina Thorpe. Blair asks after
Ben, and Serena says they're sitting out the love holiday as well. It's
too much pressure in a relationship that's barely begun.

Serena suggests she and Blair celebrate together. Blair will pencil it
in, schedule permitting.

Raina and her father chat about Bass Industries. This meeting is just a
meeting, not an olive branch. Lily is hosting.

Ben is having trouble landing a job due to the 'felony' box he's forced
to check. He and Dan chat. Dan wants to submit his article to W, but he
doesn't know who replaced Epperly. Ben suggests that rather than trying
to track the person down online, he should just report to W and see who
it is.

W is going to follow some bright young thing, a different "It Girl"
every month. The woman running the meeting wants their first girl to be
Serena. Blair chooses to redirect the woman to Raina Thorpe. Sounds
excellent. If Blair can come through, the woman will recommend to
Stefano that Blair's trial period be over.

Blair calls Serena to ask how well she knows Raina, or if she knows
where Raina is. Serena doesn't know, but Blair does. Raina is at Lily's.
Lily and Serena are still at war, but Blair wants Serena to go talk to
her, she could even do the profile herself.

Lily, Rufus and Russell chat for a bit. Raina and Chuck approach, and he
asks Russell for a chance to prove himself. He gives Chuck 36 hours. As
he leaves, Raina tells Chuck he nailed it. Lily is happy to see Serena
arrive, but Serena makes it clear that she has nothing to say to Lily,
she's just here to see Raina.

Serena speaks to Chuck and quickly surmises that he actually does have
feelings for Raina. He has something amazing planned for tomorrow night.

Serena calls Ben and fills him in on the crazed shoppers. She's happy
they're sidestepping Valentine's. He's working, but he lies about what
he'll be doing. He says he's going to be doing tutoring, but he's
actually going to be one of the waitstaff, catering.

Nate and his father arrive to chat with Chuck. Cap tells him that
Russell is lying to him. Chuck doesn't buy it, so Cap fills him in on
how he made sure he had nothing to do with the Bass Industries takeover.
However he was accidentally cc'd a memo he wasn't meant to see, and it
said that Thorpe intends to sell Bass Industries, piece by piece. Chuck
says their intel is stale, Russell gave him 36 hours. Cap says one of
the meetings was just confirmed an hour ago. Not only that, but he did
some digging. Bass Industries is more profitable kept whole. So why is
Thorpe so determined to slice it up? Chuck notes that nobody becomes a
billionaire making money-losing decisions. Nate notes that it's probably
personal.

Serena and Raina chat. She wants to find an amazing dress and totally
take Chuck's breath away. She finds one, and Serena loves it. She finds
a perfect dress for herself as well, and Raina invites her to join them.
She says no, new relationship, etc. Raina knows how it is. But having
said that, why is she doing this thing for W? Because Blair asked her.
Serena figures that Raina needs to know that Blair still has feelings
for Chuck. If she follows them around on V-Day, she'll be hurt. And if
she finds out Serena told Raina, Serena will be hurt. Raina hopes that
her best friend would do the same for her.

Dan arrives to hand over a file to Epperly. Where's her replacement?
Blair announces that he's looking at her. They squabble a bit, and he
winds up giving her the article. She promptly gives it back, telling him
she doesn't have time to read "faux-ticles" by wanna-be writers. She's
interrupted by a call from Raina, who's canceling on the article. She
never should have agreed to do a social piece right now, all things
considered. Dan tells Blair this probably means she has time to read his
article right now.

Chuck checks in with Raina. He wants to know why her dad is holding a
grudge against his dad. She doesn't know anything, she was at Penn at
the time. But she does think that her dad is too much of a gentleman to
hold a grudge. She asks if Lily said something, and Chuck is clueless.
She fills him in. Lily and Russell used to date. She left him for
Chuck's dad.

Eric and Dan meet to chat. He hasn't heard anything from Damien. He also
hasn't heard from Jonathan. Dan advises him to make a big gesture. Eric
can't, he has to to meals on wheels. He turns the tables, asking Dan who
he's going to spend Valentine's with. Dan says Blair, hastily followed
by "It's not what you think."

Blair gets home, saddened by the loss of the Raina article. She wants to
know who bought Serena a gift, and Serena says it was Lily, she was
happy Serena stopped by. She swoops up the box and walks away, leaving
an envelope behind. Of course Blair can't help herself, so she picks it
up. It's from Raina, thanking her for the advice, and the dress. Blair
starts dialing.

Chuck meets Thorpe and tells him about his concerns with regard to Lily.
He thinks Thorpe is going for revenge over the loss. Thorpe points out
that Lily adopted Chuck after his father died. She's the only family he
has. Chuck dials out and has the board notified that Lily failed to
disclose a significant conflict-of-interest with Thorpe Enterprises,
which needs to be handled immediately.

Thorpe tells him he did good, and he sees no reason that Chuck and his
legacy won't be well-served when this sale goes through. Chuck thanks
him as they shake hands.

Blair is going back to work, and Serena is sad, because they won't be
spending time together. She tells Blair that Ben will be tutoring, and
Blair questions her if she's sure that's what he said. She advises
Serena to go to the party instead of stay home alone.

Rufus arrives home bearing roses, and Lily tells him their dinner will
have to wait, as there has been an emergency meeting called of the Bass
board. She is being accused of an ethics violation and conflict of
interest. He thinks this was Russell's doing, but Lily sets him
straight. She doesn't know what Chuck is up to, but he went about it all
wrong.

Blair makes a call, claiming to represent Chuck. He wants to make sure
Ben Donovan works his event tonight, and nowhere else. They'll handle it.

The party is off to a great start. Russell and Raina arrive, and he
tells Chuck that at $2500 a head, and filled to capacity, this place is
a gold mine. Chuck says he knows how to tap a vein. He kisses Raina and
tells her she's his inspiration.

Blair arrives and immediately sets eyes on Ben, then Dan. Did she read
his article? No. So she shouldn't judge. Maybe he's grown as an artist,
maybe she's grown as a person. Blair doesn't want to hear it. She grabs
her crew and starts rolling, with Serena as her subject. Serena
reluctantly agrees to be interviewed.

Lily arrives, and Russell falls into step with her. She wants to speak
to Charles, but he's off with Raina.

Cap tells Nate that he's there to hand Russell his resignation.

Chuck tells Raina he's bringing Venice to her, and shows her a
tastefully appointed suite.

Dan sees Chuck and Raina kissing, and then closing the doors behind them.

Lily asks Dan if he's seen Chuck, and he looks at the suite doors.

Blair burns Serena in her interview by first insisting she say who her
Valentine is, and then saying it herself and pointing out that Ben is
behind the bar. She goes on to say that Serena shouldn't be embarrassed.
It's okay to date below the line. The cameras continue rolling as Ben
and Serena talk. Blair says "You go Serena! Give that convict a chance
to explain himself." She feeds lines to the camera. Ben is humiliated,
and Serena leaves.

Lily barges in and tells off Chuck. He should have come to her, not had
her kicked off the board. Chuck counters. How does she know her feelings
aren't clouding her judgment? She's a socialite, not a businesswoman. He
politely insults her, and Lily ignores it, saying that she's done
nothing but try to salvage the company for him. She stepped in so Jack
wouldn't take it away, and every day since then she has fought for
Chuck's future. If they had stuck together, Chuck would have won. He
thinks he did anyway, but she tells him no, he lost, and she's not
talking about his battle with Thorpe. He says the adoption was as much a
business decision as this was, and Raina rebukes him, then leaves. He
tells Lily she almost cost him his company, she better not have cost him
Raina. Lily retorts that whatever is cost him, that's on him.

Russell is happy to see that Chuck got rid of Lily. Chuck assures him
he's a man of his word. Too bad words are overrated. Now that Lily is
gone, it's just Chuck and Thorpe. Chuck thinks Raina doesn't know what
kind of a man her father really is, but Thorpe knows family means as
much to his daughter as it obviously doesn't mean to Chuck.

Serena confronts Blair. She's under the misapprehension that Serena did
this just because she can't bear to be alone on Valentine's Day. Serena
tells her that's not what happened, but Blair's too busy running her
mouth to listen. Serena doesn't believe it's a fake relationship, and
Blair goes to get him so Chuck can tell her himself. Dan sees her go,
and follows.

Russell fires Howard (Cap). He was en route to quit anyway, but why is
he fired? For leaking a private document. He wanted him to do it, too;
but that's beside the point. He can't have someone around that he
doesn't trust.

Blair arrives and sees the Venice room he built for Raina. Dan walks in
behind her, followed shortly by Chuck and Raina. Dan and Blair take
cover and eavesdrop. He tells Raina why he can't put family first. Maybe
her father isn't as perfect as she thinks. He tells her about Lily, but
she doesn't believe it. She won't give him a second chance. Raina says
she's seen all she needs to see. Dan realizes that Blair is hurt by the
knowledge that Chuck actually does have feelings for Raina. He takes her
hand, and Blair doesn't pull away.

At home, Serena is approached by a repentant Blair (bearing chocolates).
She apologizes to Serena. She was right about Chuck and Raina. Serena
apologizes, too. She should have talked to Blair, instead of doing an
end run to Raina. They're interrupted by a text from Ben, asking her to
meet him. She heads out.

Blair calls Dan and gets all snippy with him. She submitted his article
to Vanity Fair. She gives him a very grudging "it was good". Short, and
well-observed. She is now going to watch the perfect anti-Valentine's
Day movie, Rosemary's Baby. He'll join her. Forgive him if he's
memorized the entire dialog. He pulls the disc from his shelf and
prepares to join her in a cyber viewing.

Chuck, Nate and Cap drink a toast. Cap talks about finding a new job,
somewhere between manual labor and high finance. Nate wishes he'd been
wrong about Thorpe. Chuck wishes he had a company he could put Cap in.
Cap realizes he still has game. When Russell told him to turn over his
key card, he turned over A key card. The one to the gym at Empire. He
gives the actual key card to Chuck, along with all the passwords he
could need. Passwords are changed weekly on Thursday's, so that should
give him a good 48 hours. He wishes Chuck luck and gives Nate a hug
before leaving.

Serena arrives at the bar and they both apologize. They share the last
ten minutes of Valentine's Day, and a kiss.

Dan and Blair banter their way through the movie, in their separate beds.

Eric wraps up his evening handing out food. A woman working with him
says a cute guy was looking for him, he's waiting around the corner.
It's Damien. He threatens Eric with reporting Lily for perjury. Eric is
going to have to do whatever he says.



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