Back in April, we bemoaned the fact that Gossip Girl, the CW show that people love to talk about but not necessarily watch, isn't as good as it should be given the annoying propensity of the show's writers to prematurely squelch drama in the bud rather than let it build up over the course of multiple episodes. While last week's cliffhanger episode was a step in the right direction—it was probably the most fully-formed, best-written show of the year—we couldn't help but feel majorly disappointed by how things played out last night.

The biggest misstep: Serena didn't actually kill anyone on camera. We guess we should have seen this a mile away, but it was still a complete cop out. Offering a guy a line of his own coke to avoid getting raped doesn't make you a murderer, Serena. It makes you a rational human being. Couldn't producers at least have had Serena accidentally kill him while fending off his overly aggressive sexual advances? Lame, lame, lame.

And then there's the larger problem of the hideous Michelle Trachtenberg. It's a good thing she only has a limited run on the show, because her Georgina Sparks is such a careening car wreck that it's almost uncomfortable to watch. We know you're supposed to suspend your disbelief when you watch a show like this, but honestly, Sparks' sociopathic tendencies and ill-conceived diabolical schemes render it impossible to root for her, much less believe that a real person could ever do or say even a fraction of the things she does or says. Did she really think she'd get away with calling herself "Sarah"? Or that blackmailing Serena with an incriminating tape—one she's in, mind you—would be the most effective way of becoming her friend again? More to the point, why is the allegedly intelligent, sensitive Dan totally unable to pick up on any of this? Not only does he believe the insane excuse that she changed her name to avoid a crazy ex-boyfriend, but he doesn't put two and two together even when he busts her with two coffees right outside the Palace Hotel. Get with it, Dan! As the episode progressed, the scenes between the two of them legitimately started to make us cringe.

On the plus side, everyone else came to play. Chuck Bass delivered the line of the season when he told Blair "Let's go get the bitch" in response to Blair's claim that she knew where Georgina was, thereby setting the stage for what we hope will be some hard-nosed vigilante justice in next week's season finale. (We told you he was becoming a "decently supportive stepbrother.") Lily finally coming to terms with the fact that she's still not over Rufus, with musical accompaniment by Lisa Loeb: cute, in a nostalgic sort of way. And some of the minor details—Blair telling Chuck that she lost Serena when she went upstairs to get her mom's Valium, for example—were spot on. But it kind of made us sad that the show took one step backward after taking one giant step forward last week. Fingers crossed that next week's season finale will provide redemption of sorts.

Clip from Serena's confession, including Ed Westwick's brilliantly delivered "I'm Chuck Bass," above.