['Gossip Girl' - 'Jewel of Denial']

Welcome back, scandal seekers -- the Upper East Side is soaked with secrets this week, which, I hope you'll agree, is a welcome relief after last week's snoozeworthy installment. There was hardly a stilted European accent in sight, and it was refreshing to see the show get the Carol/Charlie dilemma out of the way up-front instead of dragging it out for months of near-misses and dropped calls.

This week, the gasps kept on coming, which harkens back to the 'Gossip Girl' of old: Blair's in denial, Dan's dancing with destiny, and Nate is slowly developing some semblance of a storyline -- I'm clutching my pearls as we speak!

With that in mind, join us after the jump for the five biggest OMG moments of the episode -- I bet you can guess what took the top spot ...

1. Blair's Baby Daddy (Or Is He?)
Oh, B -- for a second there you almost had us fooled, facing Chuck with a stiff upper lip and an uncharacteristic maturity as you dropped two baby bombshells on our favorite Basstard in as many minutes; we should've guessed it was all a lie. Certainly, Louis is the sensible choice for fatherhood but, as Dan pointed out, even Blair Waldorf can't bend DNA to her will. And since that unopened letter is still tucked away in her dresser, it's only a matter of time before someone discovers the contents, and knowing 'Gossip Girl,' the truth will turn out to be far more destructive than the lie.

2. Chuck's Crying Game
Last week, we saw Bass Jr. (soon to become Bass Sr.?) hit rock bottom in his quest to feel something -- paying a couple of meatheads to tenderize him since nothing else was making an impact. But despite protestations that he was over Blair, it only took the suggestion of a baby-that-wasn't to reduce our stoic billionaire to a tearful mess, cuddling his new pet Monkey (a shout-out to the books wherein he owned an actual monkey, no doubt?) and finally letting his feelings out. But if Blair was wrong about the paternity, how much worse is he going to feel when he discovers her duplicity? We think a baby Bass could be just what the doctor ordered to get our favorite bad boy back on track.

3. Nate's Dangerous Liaison
While Chuck and Dan seem content to continue their burgeoning bromance without him, young Nathaniel appears to have found himself ensnared in Diana Payne's honey trap, and the cultured cougar is already proving to be a very bad influence. She seems to be taking all her journalistic tips from the 'News of the World,' leapfrogging right over phone-hacking and skipping straight to stealing them instead. She's certainly adept at digging up gossip, but we know a certain mystery blogger who might not take too kindly to anyone encroaching on her territory. Still, we can't exactly blame her for wanting to rip her intern's clothes off at every opportunity -- who needs a newsroom when you can have a naked Nate on tap?

4. Dan's Authorial Intent
Considering how curmudgeonly Noah Shapiro is, he certainly did Dan a favor by pretending to steal credit for his manuscript -- righteous indignation is apparently much more compelling than the prospect of a New York Times bestseller or a stack of cash, at least to someone as high and mighty as Dan. So Lonely Boy has finally admitted to writing the book, but it's obvious that the contents are fairly controversial, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of trying to block it from being published. His scribblings on Blair threaten to be the most explosive, but will they blow up in his face, or on Blair and Louis? I'm just wondering what he wrote about Serena, given their on-again-off-again rollercoaster romance.

5. Ivy's Identity Crisis
Or is it Charlie? Just when she's out, they pull her back in! It's amazing what a trust fund can make people do (or walk away from) -- I was impressed that the writers brought Carol back so quickly, allowing her and Ivy to blackmail each other into a stalemate, but perhaps Nate's snooping on her phone will derail things again (though since Kaylee DeFer is a series regular this season, I wouldn't expect her to disappear into the sunset any time soon). Serena's certainly stoked to have a new shopping buddy (let's face it, buying maternity wear at Bergdorf's probably isn't her idea of a good time) but how long can "Charlie" really pull a 'Ringer' on her not-family? It hasn't been working out so well for Sarah Michelle Gellar ...

'Gossip Girl' airs Mondays, 8PM ET on The CW.

Do you think Chuck is Blair's true baby-daddy? Are you enjoying the Chuck-Dan bromance? How long do you think Ivy can keep up her charade? Share your predictions and reactions below!

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