Empire Of The Son - Recap

Dan finds Serena and Ben drinking morning coffee after a night of
Scrabble. He passes on her coffee offer, since he has a meeting in
midtown. He'll grab some coffee up there. She kisses Ben then announces
she needs to head out as well. She and Lily have a truce in place so
they can plan Eric's 18th birthday party. She invites Ben, but he wants
nothing to do with Lily. He's not going to eat her food or drink her
wine or anything. He'll hang out with Serena when she's done.

Eric has the flu, and Lily is babying him. Warm tea and flat ginger ale
are on the menu. The celebration will have to wait. She has to take a
meeting, but when she gets home she will call everyone and cancel the
party. Rufus greets her. She's apprehensive about the meeting, but he
tells her to stay strong and she'll do great.

Serena is worried about how hard Blair is pushing herself in honor of
her two year plan. Serena asks if this might not be about Chuck and
Raina. They're already broken up, so no. She's not. Blair reads Gossip
Girl and sees that Raina is the center of attention.

Chuck fills Nate in on what happened with Russell manipulating him. He
wants Nate to bump into Raina when she meets his mother for Girls, Inc.

Blair calls her posse, who appear to be lost. They were supposed to be
at W, but they appear to be at Waldorf. She can't be everywhere, so she
wants them to take some spare work off her back. She wraps things up
with them, and calls in her interns. They're gone, they've all put in
for transfers. Blair's managerial style leaves something to be desired.
One claims she has PTSD and threatened a lawsuit. The young lady who has
filled her in wishes her luck. The last assistant who lost her interns
lost her job as well. Dan arrives and Blair tells her not to worry. Her
new intern has just arrived.

Lily meets with Chuck for a brief moment. She only came to tell him to
stop calling her. The humiliation of what he put her through on
Valentine's Day cannot be topped. He tries to blame Russell for setting
him up, but Lily doesn't want to hear it. Chuck can't believe she's
acting like this, when Thorpe is trying to destroy their company. She
corrects him. It's Chuck's company. He had Lily fired. She's done trying
to defend the Bass legacy. Russell will make a marvelous owner.

Chuck asks what it is with this guy. Does Lily still have feelings for
him? She says she's a married woman. Chuck points out that that didn't
stop her from cheating on his father, he's sure she'd do the same to
Rufus. Lily slaps him, hard. She says good bye and leaves. Russell saw
the whole thing.

Serena and Ben meet up again. She no longer has a party to plan, so she
wants to spend some time with Ben. She'll go wish him a Happy Birthday,
and then she'll be all Ben's. She recommends her room at the Waldorf for
some quiet time. Ben points out she won't have far to go to see Eric,
since he's right behind him. Serena asks why he's on the loose, and Eric
says he's not sick.

Chuck gets in a limo and says the slap was a nice touch. Lily admits
that it was surprisingly satisfying. He apologizes again, he feels like
a fool for believing Russell over her.

Eric fills Serena and Ben in. He knows they were just trying to help,
but Nate and Dan actually made things worse when they went and saw
Damien's father. Damien has a big coke shipment coming in today, from
Europe. Because his dad is watching his every move now, Damien is making
Eric be his drug mule. He has to do it to protect Lily. This is all his
fault. He thought Damien was his friend, and now he's being blackmailed.
Great birthday, right? Ben says he can't do this. Serena tells Eric to
tell Lily he's feeling better, and not to cancel his party. She and Ben
will take care of this. Eric hugs and thanks her.

Serena tells Ben she's going to go get the drugs. Ben tells her to leave
it be. At the worst, Damien will tell on Lily, and she'll have to pay
for what she did. Serena doesn't want to hear it. They take a rain check
on their afternoon.

Blair tells Dan this job offer will not last forever. He doesn't care,
he never showed up to be signed into a life of indentured servitude.
Blair multitasks as she talks to him. Dan says he will help her out, if
she admits she needs him. She says no, so he has a seat.

Nate runs into Raina. She doesn't know where her driver went, so she
figures she'll catch a cab. He tells her she should go on foot through
the park. He'll be her escort.

Lily prepares the party. Chuck fills her in on how things are going.
Lily points out that Russell's assets aren't liquid enough to acquire
Bass Industries on his own, so he must have a backer. If they can find
him and fill him in, maybe he'll withdraw his support. Chuck notes that
there's too much more going on here than meets the eye, and it's
personal. He truly believes that Thorpe's feelings for Lily play a major
part in the takeover. Her phone rings, and it's Thorpe. He wants to meet
her for a drink.

Blair is still in way over her head, and not willing to admit she needs
Dan's help. He asks when she slept last, and she sidesteps answering. He
figures she's about to crack. Serena and Eric arrive needing her help,
and Dan says she can't. Blair says she can.

Raina and Nate chat their way through the park. They bond a bit, she
tells him her mom walked out before she could walk. He wants to teach
her to skate. She can be a few minutes late for her meeting.

Blair finally admits she needs Dan's help. It's not easy to say, so he
insists she say it again. And clearly, this time. There's a culinary
emergency, and they need Blair. She heads out, aiming Dan at the post-it
stickers on her computer. He grabs them and heads out the door.

Nate apologizes for the spilled cider as Raina slips into a robe. She
doesn't mind. She got to continue her day's adventure of things she's
never done. It's 2:00 in the afternoon, and she's not busy. What do
people do when they've nothing to do? Nate says he'd be studying. Or
maybe video gaming. She pulls a joint out of her pocket. Or maybe that?
It does make him a better soldier. He tells her Chuck can get really
good weed. She says "To a day of firsts" as Nate lights the joint.

Russell toasts Lily. "To old friends, and new beginnings." She says
nothing would make her happier. He claims he never meant for her to
become collateral damage in this acquisition. She understands. While
they chat, Chuck goes in Thorpe's office with Cap's key card. They
reminisce, and he takes her hand. Chuck starts going through Thorpe's
computer. She agrees to one more glass of wine. She asks if she was
important to him, or just amusing. She claims her marriage is just a
show. Once his bid goes through, she'll be free. Thorpe thinks maybe
husband #6 will be the charm. Chuck sends Lily a text to say he's done.
She excuses herself and thanks him for a lovely afternoon.

Blair discovers that the purple sticky note to buy the tulips is missing.

Ben calls Dan and tells him Vanessa is there. She relays that she's
there to apologize, and will wait til he gets back. Dan doesn't want to
hear it, he'll see her when he's ready to see her, and that's not now.
He's delivering like 100 tulips. Ben recognizes what's up. Eric and
Serena find Dan with the tulips. They're the wrong ones. Dan hears Eric
say something about what's going to happen to mom when Damien finds out
they don't have his coke.

At Eric's birthday party, Dan confronts Blair. He could have been
arrested. Fortunately, he picked up purple tulips because Blair wrote
what she saw, not what she meant. Eric shows up with bad news. Damien
pre-sold the coke so now he feels Eric owes him $100k. Serena points out
that his trust fund is somewhere in that pile of presents, so they
should get to unwrapping.

Chuck fills Serena and Rufus in on Thorpe's backer, Bradley Kitt of
Atlanta. Bass would be a huge move for him. Chuck invited Kitt tonight
so that he can hopefully talk him out of backing Thorpe.

Nate and Raina dance to a video game and she wins. They share ice cream,
and he promises not to tell her dad she's wanted to start her own
company when she was five. Chuck calls Nate and tells him change of
plans. Keep Raina there until he calls back. After the call, Nate tells
Raina that Chuck loves ice cream. Raina says she knows what he's been
trying to do all day.

Lily finds Serena and Eric opening the gifts. Blair is on hold with the
flower mart. Eric got her mother's present, which means Blair's mother
got Eric's. Serena gets called downstairs and when she goes, Damien
approaches Eric. Ben is angry at Serena for protecting Lily. She chooses
her family over him.

Blair introduces herself to Mrs. Herald, freeing Lily to greet Russell.
She didn't invite him and is stunned to see him there. He figures a boy
only turns 18 once. He'll keep a low profile. He comes bearing a gift.
Rufus is not amused. He knows what happened between them, and it looks
like it's ongoing. Russell realizes he needs to leave, and that's
exactly what they had planned. As they leave, Mrs. Herald points out to
Blair that not only is she wearing two different shoes, but she really
wants to find Chuck Bass so she can have an introduction to Raina
Thorpe. Dan overhears.

Brad Kitt arrives and promptly encounters Russell, who decides he's staying.

Damien tells Eric not to leave off any zeros. Eric is naive enough to
believe this is the end of it. He holds the check out, and Lily
intercepts. She asks Eric what this is about. Damien leaves them to chat
while he grabs a cocktail.

Russell and Chuck have it out in front of Kitt. Thorpe insults Chuck and
tries to walk Kitt away, but he won't budge. He wants to hear Chuck out.
The only thing he hates more than being lied to is being cheated.
Russell tells him he's making a mistake, and walks out.

Dan finds Vanessa at the party. She's supposed to be apologizing, but
she turns things around.

Eric is honest with Lily. She appreciates them trying to protect her,
but she can't let anyone else pay for what she did.

Dan approaches Blair to tell her she was right about why he was hanging
out at W. One of her minions let her know that Dan put up an essay on
the W blog.

Lily wrote a check for Damien. He's looking at it as he walks down the
street. Ben approaches and tells Damien he'll have him killed if he
extorts from Serena's family again. He gives Ben the check and walks
away. Vanessa sees it all.

Kitt tells Chuck he'll be in touch, either way.

Nate tells Chuck Raina figured out what he's up to, and she's gone. Only
she's not. She leaves after the call ends.

Chuck joins Rufus, Lily, Serena and Eric over cake. Ben comes in and
gives Lily back her check. He says he made it clear that he wouldn't
cooperate. Serena thanks him, and invites him for cake.

Dan answers the door. It's Blair. She says his essay didn't save her
job. She got fired/quit. He apologizes, and she says at least he got his
name on the blog. She thought that if she moved her career fast enough,
she could return to Chuck before he got with somebody else. Dan lets her
know that Raina broke up with him. She knows, but she feels so far
apart. She did so much damage today. And she's in Brooklyn, talking
about it to Dan Humphrey. She's invited to join him for pizza. She accepts.

Damien approaches Russell. If he has $100k and is able to keep a secret,
Damien has some information for him.

Ben and Serena make love. Her phone has a call coming in from Vanessa.

Dan and Blair watch a movie (and fall asleep) together on the couch.


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