Gossip Girl: 2.11 The Magnificent Archibalds

Last week’s episode of Gossip Girl
introduced us to the man who aspires to one day be Blair’s embarrassing stepfather, Cyrus Rose. Cyrus may be responsible for bringing the giant bore known as Aaron into the world, but his sense of humor, romantic past and ability to outsmart the Machiavellian Miss Waldorf made him instantly lovable. We’ll see more of Cyrus in next week’s special Thanksgiving episode, the title of which is a spin on the Orson Welles film The Magnificent Ambersons. That movie is about a young man in a rich, screwed up family, which is something Nate can probably relate to.

To get fans ready for next week’s Gossip Girl, we have some photos and a promo for the episode.

The CW’s official episode description reads: “Thanksgiving in the Waldorf household finds Blair upset that her mom’s new boyfriend, Cyrus, has decided to ruin all her favorite traditions, but that’s nothing compared to what’s coming next. Lily (Kelly Rutherford) finds herself trying to broker a peace treaty between Rufus and Jenny, who is prepared to cut off all communication with her father if she doesn’t get her way. Serena (Blake Lively) isn’t quite ready to come clean with Aaron about her complicated past, but Dan (Penn Badgley) ends up accidentally revealing a few tidbits of his own. Blair and Chuck (Ed Westwick) come to their friend’s aid when Nate (Chace Crawford) is once again forced to confront his father’s abandonment. Finally, Eric discovers a secret that Bart has been keeping from Lily.”

It looks like Little J will be coming home for the holidays, but will she stay in Brooklyn? My colleague Debbie Chang thinks that Rufus is a terrible father, but I think he has every right to be angry at his daughter, who’s been living on the wild side for quite a while now.

Thanksgiving is one of the few things that could bring the entire Waldorf family together. The next photo shows that Blair’s dad will be meeting his ex-wife’s new live-in boyfriend. Will it lead to an awkward dinner that ends with B scarfing down pie, or will the gathering be a Norman Rockwell painting brought to life?

Aside from pie, nothing is more important than family on Thanksgiving. The promo for “The Magnificent Archibalds” reminds us of that fact, as Rufus (Matthew Settle) struggles to convince Jenny to come home, Blair (Leighton Meester) battles with Cyrus over traditions, and Nate’s dad sneaks back into town to convince him to flee the country.