"The Ex Files" is the 22nd episode of the CW

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, ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series created and developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students on Manhattan's ...

''. It was also the fourth episode of the show's second season. The episode was written by Robby Hull and directed by

Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His intro ...

. It originally aired on Monday, September 22, 2008 on the CW.

Plot

Dan meets a new girl named Amanda on the first day back to school. Blair and her clique look for new "projects" and "victims" and decide to go after the new girl whilst ignoring Jenny. Serena is upset that Dan has rebounded so quickly and Blair makes it worse by interfering. Dan asks Amanda on a date at Serena's favorite restaurant and she decides to tag along. Dan and Amanda bond over literature leaving Serena as a third wheel. Eventually, Serena and Dan decide it's better for them to just keep their distance. Blair's clique bullies Amanda by putting

Nair The Nair (, ) also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom hi ...

in her hair and Dan blames Serena; she decides to start living up to her old reputation. Nate's mistress Catherine agreed to pay the Captain's restitution rather than blackmail him but Vanessa unwittingly thwarted Blair's plan. Chuck hired Amanda to pretend to like Dan in order to take down Blair as

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of Constance-Billard. Dan has become a social pariah because of how he treated "Queen" Serena.

Reception

The episode received generally favorable reviews from critics. Most of the critics praised

Blake Lively Blake Ellender Brown (born August 25, 1987), known professionally as Blake Lively, is an American actress. A daughter of actor Ernie Lively, she made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She had her breakthrou ...

's performances in this episode. Isabelle Carreau, from ''TV Squad'', continued to compare Serena and Dan's relationship to Rachel and Ross from ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' and also said that "

delivered it with the right amount of attitude and bitchiness" in her final lines in the episode. Jennifer Sankowski, from ''

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'', had said that she was surprised to see that Amanda was working for Chuck all time long, and that the reason why she loves the show is because of the many twists between the episodes. Michelle Graham, from ''

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'', had said that "overall, this episode really kick started the season, with Chuck’s manipulations felt right the way through, but his hand mostly unseen until the end". Nevertheless, Carlos Delgado of ''If Magazine'' gave the episode a negative rating of D+ and said that the show "is poised to take bad television to a whole new level".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ex Files Gossip Girl season 2 episodes 2008 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Jim McKay (director)