Happy early Halloween from Gossip Girl herself. Check out this recap of episode 5 for all the new drama and scandal. No promises that you will scream of fear, but maybe of shock from some juicy revelations. 

The Teachers

To kick things off, an extreme incident happens at another school. A kid is found with a gun in his backpack, and Gossip Girl, who has now become a city-wide spectacle, gets a hold of the information and posts it on the account.  

Ms. Kellar, who was not involved with posting, feels uneasy about Gossip Girl’s involvement. It comes to the point where she doesn’t feel right about the account and suggests the teachers take a break from posting. 

The two teachers disagree in full belief that the account helps people. It forces others to speak on important matters in person and become aware of their actions.

Who will win in this tumultuous debate? 

Obie

The boyfriend and ex-boyfriend are struggling to deal with the reality that his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend are now friends. The circles overlap and Zoya is with the “it”  crowd, a role Obie fervently used to praise her for not being in. 

He loves Zoya’s intelligence, conversation, and unwillingness to conform. But now, he sees it fading away along with their early relationship. 

Julien and Zoya

The white flag is still at full staff as Julien and Zoya seem to be committed to their sistership. As for the supporters, they are not as on board with the new relationship. They are convinced that Julien’s association with Zoya is just a publicity stunt to back up the speech she gave at the joint party extravaganza.

But you would be proud to know that it isn’t a publicity stunt and the two are happily getting along with one another. So much so, that they decide to go to ‘Hulaween,’ an all-elite Halloween party dressed in a dynamic sister duos couple costume.

Zoya’s agreement to this plan comes as a surprise to many, especially Obie, who thought she would go in costume with him. A miscommunication over Obie’s distaste for couples costuming ends with Zoya choosing Julien. 

Pippa and Bianca 

All rise to welcome Pippa and Bianca, a Julien copycat from another elite school. Preppy rich girls with an interest in social climbing and constantly in competition with the “it” crowd at Constance. 

Their rise to fame gets more attention after the gun incident, which occurs at their school. They are able to receive sympathy from many outsiders as they put on a sad, fake activism front for social media, convincing their followers to pity them.

Many, especially Julien and her minions, know that this is just a plot to gain them the sympathy vote for best couple costume at Hulaween.

Simon 

And now another new character to introduce, Simon. Zoya meets Simon on the bus and he shares with her that he attends the school where the gun incident occurred. They bond over their shared experience of being outsiders, as he is also on scholarship at his preppy school. The two seem to connect quite well. 

This highlights the fact that Zoya doesn’t feel so connected or similar to Obie. Woah… It’s a shock to me as well. 

Zoya and Simon continue to run into each other, and eventually, Simon asks for her number. They talk a bit every so often through the phone and Zoya begins to feel like her connection with Simon is better than her connection with Obie. 

She shares with Julien and Ms. Kellar feels that despite their shared interest in activism, Obie will never understand what life for Zoya and others in her circle is like because he has never been in that circle. 

Simon really seems to have caught hold of Zoya’s attention, forcing her to realize the issues within her own relationship. 

To make matters worse, Gossip Girl captures a picture of the two and posts it on the account, which makes for a very jealous Obie. 

Max and Rafa 

It became exactly what you thought it would be in the last episode. Max and Rafa did indeed hook up and they have continued since in secrecy.

It’s not very secret in an early clip that features the two engaged in sexual acts in a classroom with the door open… Yeah, good one guys, that’s the way to do it… SIKE. 

Max is completely under Rafa’s spell and immediately shuts off any known intruders to the relationship. For example, Aki who takes immediate notice in his friends' glances with Rafa figures out what is going on between the two. 

In an attempt to stop the situation, which he knows could ruin the lives of both Max and Rafa, he approaches Max and tells him to stop. But, we all know that Max does what Max wants to do, and it is not what Aki tells him. 

So, in an extra attempt, Aki follows Rafa to a bar, where he knows Max will probably be meeting him at. He goes in to approach Rafa, and the showdown doesn’t go well. Rafa threatens to frame and expose Aki with “obsessing over a teacher,” and “stalking him at a bar,” two things, which are not a part of Aki’s plan whatsoever. 

From there, Aki is struck into fear and backs down only to hope that his friend comes to his senses and discovers the monster within Rafa. 

Audrey

Audrey’s mother has returned to the plot… It's not like she was ever leaving, I mean she is the mother of one of the main characters…

Anyways! Audrey goes home to discover her mother out of her usual depression slump and up and cooking dinner, something she hasn’t seen since her father cheated. While surprised and happy to discover this, Audrey has to question the reasoning.

Her mother, Kiki, shares that they are moving “home,” to “Cornwall,” a place Audreys does not define as “home,” and makes sure to express to her mom. Kiki is without a job, in debt, and with no means to pay bills. She has to sell the apartment, and Audrey has to leave with her. 

Audrey refuses to leave and blames her mom for their situation. In frustration and screams, the two walk away angrily. 

To be honest, Audrey is acting pretty insensitive and selfish to Kiki's situation. Like… Maybe get a job and help your mom out? 

Ms. Kellar and Nick Lott

In another weird twist of events, these two share a phone call, amongst other things with one another. 

Mr. Lott calls Ms. Kellar to seek her help with Zoya’s studies. He is worried that she has become too occupied with going out, her boyfriend, and her “new” sister. Ms. Kellar agrees to tutor Zoya at their home. 

After the tutoring session, Nick asks Kate about her writing and asks to read a piece. In a very flirty manner, he gets her phone number and asks to see her on Halloween to help him pass out candy. 

This could be cute, but I’m not sure how I would feel to be the kid in school whose parent is dating my teacher.  

The minions (Luna and Monet)

These two are clearly quite frustrated with the new relationship between Zoya and Julien, but they decide to roll with the punches. 

The two help Julien and Zoya out to plan the couple's costume, with hopes to win them the crown and hopefully bring their publicist reputation back to the top. 

Monet, who needs it most, will stop at nothing. 

Hulaween for Julien and Zoya

Honestly, this episode was not the “Halloween” episode I expected. There were no screams, fear factors, or devils/angels, and for that, I am quite disappointed. But, I will allow it to be a Halloween episode just for using the term “Hulaween.” I’ll take what I can get. 

The “spooky” event has arrived. Okay, that’s another thing. I saw no frightening decorations or costumes at the event itself. Anyways, we will get into it and hopefully, the drama is spooky enough to make up for the lack of it. 

To start, Zoya and Julien go dressed up as Beyonce and Solange, only to come to the news that their costumes were leaked and everyone else has spontaneously chosen the same idea… That is, of course, Pippa and Bianca, who unironically came dressed as Serena and Blair, the OG Gossip Girl stars. 

Their costume steals the show, that is until Julien devises the genius plan to intrude on their couple's costume with a quick costume change and trick of their own. Julien and Zoya run up to join them in a picture dressed as… you guessed it… Dan Humphrey and Chuck Bass. 

Well thanks for keeping the OG’s alive, GG. 

In other news, Luna discovers who revealed Julien and Zoya’s costumes to the public. It was one of their own, Monet who has now decided to join forces with Pippa and Bianca. She feels as if Julien is on a social decline and can only succeed as a publicist with those on the climb (Pippa and Bianca… allegedly). 

Hulaween for Obie, Simon, and Zoya. 

Once Obie discovers the name of Simon, he does some digging into his background. He finds out that Simon is not who he says he is, and he is actually a researcher for New York Magazine, who is trying to uncover who the mysterious Gossip Girl is.

He thinks it’s Zoya, which is why he “related” to her and ended up at the same places she was at so much. 

Obie ambushes Zoya with this news by bringing, yet another Gossip Girl OG character, Nelly Yuki. The two approach Zoya and Simon only for Nelly Yuki to immediately recognize Simon as someone who works for her. 

She is appalled by Simon’s actions, as is Zoya, and dismisses him. That’s not all she does, though, she openly calls out Obie for digging up this dirt on Simon and bringing her along to uncover it. Good for you, Nelly Yuki! 

Zoya is disappointed in Obie, and this further goes towards her straying away from the relationship.

Hulaween for Max and Rafa

Finally. Let’s keep this one short and unsweet, just like Rafa!

Rafa’s truth is unveiled as a former student of Rafa approaches Max to inform him of the student's previous relationship with the teacher… And many others, including Max, after him.  

Aki also unveils that Rafa has been lying about his issues, which he has been using as a trap to keep Max by his side. Quite manipulative if you ask me. 

Finally, Max puts an end to their 'situationship' and hopefully, Rafa is out of the picture

I guess there was a scary costume in this episode, and it was Rafa dressed as Rafa. 

Hulaween for Audrey

Audrey attends the event in an effort to get her mind off of the things going on at home as well as inform her friends that she may be leaving. 

She never gets the chance to do so and gets drunk instead. 

Prior to the event, Audrey had invited some of Kiki’s friends from New York over to remind Kiki of why she loves New York. However, these friends of Kiki’s are some that she hasn’t seen since the incident with Audrey’s father and the fall of her business. 

Kiki is then forced to spend the evening revealing and relieving the pain she has gone through to her friends. This is not something she wanted to do, not then, not ever. She and Audrey get in another screaming match and Audrey takes off to Hulaween. 

In the middle of the festivities, Audrey gets a call from her mother. With the way they left things, this is a call she dreads to answer, but she does. On the other end, is a doctor informing her that her mother is in the hospital, and things aren’t looking good. 

Audrey drops the phone and with the rest of the group, speeds over to go check on her mom. After a few nerve-wracking hours in the waiting room, the doctor comes out and informs Audrey that her mom will be okay… but, it will be a long road to recovery. 

Audrey agrees to help her mother. 

Hula/Halloween for Ms. Kellar and Nick Lott

Yeah, so the two did just end up passing out candy together and nothing more. 

At the end of the night after an inspirational exchange between her and Nick over her writing, Ms. Kellar finally gets the itch that maybe she is doing something right by keeping Gossip Girl. 

She shuts down her previous concerns and joins the team again in creating and unveiling the truths that will (hopefully) bring change. 

Thank you Mr. Lott for single-handedly keeping Gossip Girl alive!

With that being said, we will be back for another juicy episode of Gossip Girl next week. 

XOXO.