Gossip Girl is Back, Average as Usual

CW non-hit Gossip Girl made a rather triumphant post-strike return last night, and everything was different but also sort of the same! Different: Machiavellian Jenny has replaced Blair as Constance Billard's Queen Bee. Chuck has become kind of mellow. Serena and her maybe-gay brother Eric have moved into the Bass residence. The previously mute minorities in Blair's clique have even been given names and speaking roles! What has stayed the same: co-creator Josh Schwartz' steadfast resolution to producing episodes that are self-contained and which have neat, tidy endings, as opposed to letting the drama simmer and build over the course of the season in accordance with the natural order of the teen soap.