GG Redux: Lufus

By special request, I'm offering thoughts and opinions on Monday's episode of Gossip Girl. This season has been a bit of an angsty, boozy, scheme-y whirlwind already, but Monday's episode (2.15 entitled "Gone With The Will") still managed to up the ante. In case you missed anything, you can read a recap here.

Here are my thoughts and musings on the latest goings-on of the UES.

Lufus van der Humphrey:

So, as is customary for any show that even occasionally ventures in to soapy territory (and even those that don't), a secret love child will be showing up sooner or later (see such shows as Brothers and Sisters, 90210, The O.C., Alias, and if you're willing to stretch the definition a bit, even Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Well, with Gossip Girl being soapier than most (saints be praised!), you had to know that some long lost relative would show up eventually. Well, enter Lily and Rufus' secret spawn, stage right. I'm still not sure how I feel about all of this, but I trust Josh Schwartz implicitly, so I'm willing to go with it.
If only Lily and Rufus (mainly Rufus) weren't so damned dull, I think I'd be much more invested... (Quite frankly, I think I'd rather be watching whatever they find so fascinating in the picture above. I'm guessing Chuck and Blair are to the left of frame...)

Anyway, so L and R go to Boston to find the kid L gave up for adoption. They said he was 19 I believe, so with Serena being almost 18, does that mean she had the lovechild (in Paris, as I recall), came back to the states, met up with Herr van der Woodsen, and immediately got pregnant with Serena? I would have thought Rufus Jr. would have to have been at least 21 by now, but I guess it's all possible. Anyway, moot point.

Although the whole love child storyline smacks of jumping the shark at times, for a show like this, it just means it's Monday. I really did enjoy the twist they put on it and I think that will open up a lot of fun avenues for the show to take in the future. So yeah, the family said that the love child (who will be called Lufus from here on out) was killed in a tragic jet ski accident (heh) the previous year. Lily and Rufus totally believe every word of this story because they don't watch their own show often enough. In actuality, it was the adoptive family's other son, Andrew, who was killed in the accident. I'm guessing Andrew and Lufus were roughly the same age, so I suppose that could work. I thought the newspaper article was a particularly nice touch on the part of the adoptive father in convincing L and R that their son was actually dead.

Why did the adoptive family do this, you ask? Well, the mother says that they already lost one son and they didn't want to lose another. A lot of forum posters were perplexed by this comment, not seeing where they could lose a son who was already an adult. I think it's more of an emotional issue for the parents than a legal issue. If L and R found their son, he might start to think of L and R as family (even if only to a small degree), and not the adoptive family alone. I can see where adoptive parents would feel like their territory was being encroached upon with the biological family stepping forward (particularly a biological mother who's insanely wealthy).

There was also some question on the forums as to why they couldn't just contact the kid directly, given that he's 19. Well, thanks to a lawyer on the forums, this quandary was clarified: The adoption agency or lawyer would still have to ask the parents and get permission before anyone contacted the child, unless the child was actively looking (e.g. he had signed up with an agency or contacted the people who placed the adoption and indicated that he was open to contacting his birth parents). It makes sense that the adoptive parents would need to be contacted first, especially if the child didn't know that he/she was adopted. So yeah, even if the person is 40, the biological parents would still have to ask the adoptive parents before they could proceed. In spite of this, it sounded like the adoptive parents themselves weren't too confident in maintaining the child's anonymity when they expressed concern that with all L's money and legal firepower, the child might be found anyway. Which is why they put together the elaborate ruse about which of their sons actually died.

It's a nice twist. It leaves the door open for the son to show up without anyone thinking he was really Lufus. I'm guessing he'll show up at the same college as some of the show's regulars. I'm also betting that he hooks up with Blair. Come on, how much fun would it be to see Blair face when she finds out that she's dating the spawn of Rufus Humphrey? Absolutely priceless.

I was apprehensive about the Lufus storyline from the first time I heard about, but I think it's going to be good. I must admit that I found Dan's and Serena's reactions to sharing a sibling a little underwhelming. For a couple that freaks out over who had first choice of canapes, I would have thought this would have been more of a dealbreaker. (Although if Serena's dress in the picture to the right wasn't a dealbreaker, nothing could be. I like to think Dan is begging her to go change into a gunny sack or a hefty bag or something, anything besides what only Serena van der Woodsen could consider a dress... it eases the pain. (Not that "antebellum brothel madam" isn't a good look, but still.))

"Are they talkin' about the bordello?"
"No! The burlesque house. So just keep your mouth shut."

I digress... Anyway... Fortunately D and S kind of bore me, so whatever is going on with them is beside the point. The point being Chuck and Blair, of course.

More on them later...