The drama and scandal in this episode of Gossip Girl take an interesting turn of events as a potential ceasefire is in order. Keep reading for the full recap. You can find all the episodes on HBOMax. For a quick update on what happened in the last episode, check out our review.

Julien and Zoya. 

For both Julien and Zoya, today is a day that marks the 15-year anniversary of their mother, Marion’s death. This day just so happens to fall on Zoya’s 15th birthday. 

To put the pieces together, Marion died giving birth to Zoya due to her underlying condition of Lupus disease. Because of this, Zoya feels guilty about her mom's death and does not celebrate her birthday.

But, this doesn’t stop minions Luna and Monet, as well as Gossip Girl, from making it a day of post-worthy drama. 

When Julien decides to transition her platform to one of complete vulnerability and transparency, to the minions’ complete dismay, they decide to take matters into their own hands. Julien must get back to the top of the food chain, where the minions will stand proudly with her, and Zoya Lott must be destroyed. 

To put this plan into action, Luna Lu sends a tip to Gossip Girl, which she got from her makeover session in episode 3, where Zoya accidentally let a secret slip. The tip reveals that Zoya’s grandmother’s apartment, where she is living with just her father, is rent-controlled and the housing board does not know she is living there. 

Naturally, Zoya blames Julien for this. But Julien insists it wasn’t her (it wasn’t), and wishes Zoya a genuinely happy birthday, a gesture which Zoya rejects. Now, one sister is against the other, and Luna Lu uses the opportunity to do the same to the other. 

Julien becomes convinced by Luna who says that Zoya is out to get Julien and take everything she has. But, obviously, this is just a sneaky plot to bring back the “Julien” who cheated her way to the top with equally as conniving assistants, Luna and Monet. 

Luna Lu’s efforts prove successful. Now, it is sister vs sister and the duel is set to take place at their respective parties, which they have planned for the evening. 

Competing for the attention of their parties, the two make harsh social media moves against each other in order to take down one another. 

Miles Sparks.

We have a new character, 8th grade 10-year old Miles Sparks. For you OG Gossip Girl fans, the last name might look familiar, and if you have yet to guess… Yes, it is the offspring of the one and only, Georgina Sparks. 

A crowd favorite who loved to stir drama between the original clan of Blair Waldorf, Chuck Bass, Serena Van der Woodsen, and the others. 

It feels right to have this familiar name back into the Gossip Girl realm and just like his mother, he has plans to stir drama between the new elite team - specifically Zoya and Julien.

Miles approaches Zoya on the stairs of the Met, as she is furiously making a plan to get people to her party and ensure that Julien has no leverage over her. Zoya has no clue of this familiar name, but he insists he can help her and Google search his name to validate his notary. 

Zoya does, and with the help of Miles, she plans to go full frontal on Julien. 

First, it starts with a social media takedown. They expose Julien’s past and turn everyone against her, including celebrity singer, Princess Nokia, who was going to perform at Julien’s party. But with Miles and the social media attack, that no longer seems to be happening. 

Many on social media are against Julien. That is until Julien makes a statement on Instagram, where she charms people back to attending her party, by turning the event into a benefit for her mother. 

Zoya: 1, Julien: 2. 

Max Wolfe and Rafa.

Now for another scandal, where is Max and why is teacher Rafa so worried? 

Max has been out of school for a week and no one has been able to get ahold of him, not even Rafa, whom Max has an attraction towards. 

This seems like some sort of spiral due to the recent separation of his fathers in episode 3. 

Finally, Max stumbles into school on various substances which cause him to be disoriented as well as volatile towards others - especially, Rafa. 

Max, still on his mission to seduce Rafa, follows him into the school gym shower where he makes an advance that Rafa refuses. On the other hand, he is concerned for Max’s wellbeing and wants to help him in ways unrelated to what Max wants out of their relationship.  

Ms. Kellar and teachers. 

Not much going on here. I’ll sum it up quickly. The teachers are still running the Gossip Girl account and are on the search for all the drama they can get, especially with it being Zoya’s birthday. 

The news of the two parties is the perfect opportunity for Gossip Girl Instagrammable moments. However, Ms. Kellar must take the backseat in running the account, because of the opportunity she has to write in a magazine. 

The other two teachers run the account for the day and Ms. Kellar itches to get back to the gossip. 

In other teacher news, Rafa knows about the teacher gang running the account, and he has no opposition towards it. He plans to keep their secret, which makes sense because it seems like he too has secrets as well, that could get to Gossip Girl at any moment (cough cough his "situationship" with a student cough cough Max.) 

Audrey and Aki. 

These two are in a weird spot following the news of their mutual infidelity with a friend in their close circle (cough cough also Max.)

Awkwardly running into and also avoiding one another throughout the episode, they are unable to face the conversation that needs to happen - did they enjoy being with Max? Is Aki bisexual? Has Audrey been cheating throughout their entire relationship? 

Obie. 

Being the noble boyfriend he is, always trying to sweep Zoya off her feet, Obie orders food trucks outside of the school to welcome Zoya on the morning of her birthday. 

Zoya has to then reveal to him that she doesn’t like celebrating her birthday. He feels bad and shuts the food trucks down. Poor Obie… He tried! 

He offers a party, which initially Zoya refuses, then he suggests a dinner between the two of them and Zoya’s father. Plan accepted. That is until Zoya is blasted on Gossip Girl and also finds out that Julien is throwing a party. 

Poor Obie… He tried again! 

Zoya’s birthday does not go as Obie hoped as he watches his current girlfriend and ex-girlfriend battle it out against each other. Seeing Zoya in competition mode throws him off a bit and he is saddened to see the change in her. 

Nick Lott and Davis Calloway. 

The two dads come together in order to put a ceasefire between their two daughters on the anniversary of their late loves’ passing. 

In an unexpected sight, Davis ends up at the Lott apartment along with Julien. The two dad-daughter duos gather in the living room. 

Davis and Nick insist on an end to the drama and arguments and in order to do this, they have decided the only way to allow the parties to go through this evening is by making them conjoined. 

Yup, that’s right - Zoya and Julien will have one party together. This should be good. 

At the end of the talk, Julien overhears a conversation between Zoya and Nick, where Julien is then reminded of Zoya’s incriminating secret, which caused her to leave her previous school. 

The Party.

Time for all hell to break loose. 

Zoya, with the help of Miles Sparks and Julien, with the help of her loyal minions, are plotting against each other to expose/embarrass one another at the party. 

Julien decides to expose Zoya and reveal the video footage on the big screen. In a mildly less vicious attempt to embarrass Julien, Zoya uses the help of Miles Sparks, who fills Julien’s food with an alcosynth… I had to look it up too. According to Google, it’s a synthetic alcohol substitute… So in short, Julien is getting drunk through her food intake.

The two are hardly enjoying their parties because they are too busy trying to bring each other down. 

Even Obie notices and he is not pleased with Zoya or the event. 

It all comes down to THE moment, right before Princess Nokia is set to perform (Julien’s dad got her to rescind her cancellation.) Good move, Davis, I’m a huge fan! 

Julien gives a speech where she ruins Zoya’s reputation by revealing a video of her where she is vandalizing her old school and nearly setting the building on fire. However, the video also features bullying against Zoya. 

Zoya stands in shock and tears, and so does the rest of the audience. Julien, who did not know about the bullying part of the video, is filled with visible regret and remorse. She makes an apology to Zoya and the audience and admits that she is a bully. In a powerful message, she is able to gain Zoya’s acceptance of her apology. 

Finally, the white flag is waved between the two and the drama is over. For now, I guess. 

The fathers are pleased to see their daughters embrace and call a truce between them as well. 

As for Aki and Audrey, they reconcile as they finally confront their issues. In short, they did not enjoy being with Max; Aki is unsure of his sexuality, but he believes he might be bisexual; Audrey was not cheating on Aki throughout their relationship. Seems like all is back to normal in paradise!

That brings us to Max. He is still not okay and visibly distraught over the separation of his fathers. Rafa notices and tries his best to comfort Max. But by the end of the episode, his “comfort” goes a little too far… And we leave the two at what seems to be the beginning of a hook-up. Hmmm… A storm is brewing! 

And yay! Ms. Kellar finishes her story and is ready to reprise her role as writing for Gossip Girl in the next episode.

Well, that’s all for this week… Until next time, XOXO…

Gossip Girl.

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