User:Liquidluck/Valley Girls (Gossip Girl)

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"Valley Girls" is the forty-second episode overall and the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of the The CW Television Network (CW) television series Gossip Girl, as well as the backdoor pilot episode of a potential Gossip Girl spin-off series called Valley Girls. Valley Girls was not greenlighted. The episode was directed by Mark Piznarski and written by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the first time the trio has worked together in these roles since the Gossip Girl pilot episode in September 2009. The episode was filled on location in New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California. It aired on the CW in the United States on May 11, 2009 and was viewed live by an audience of 2.1 million Americans.

"Valley Girls" provides insight on the mysterious past of Gossip Girl character Lily van der Woodsen (played by Kelly Rutherford as an adult and Brittany Snow as a teenager) through a series of flashbacks to her life as a teenager in the 1980s. In the past, Lily runs away from her wealthy parents to live in the San Fernando Valley with her sister Carol Rhodes (Krysten Ritter), the black sheep of the family. In the present, Lily's daughter Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) rebels against her mother's rule. The episode introduces the main cast of Valley Girls as guest actors.

Plot
In 1983, a teenage Lily Rhodes, having deliberately gotten expelled from a Montecito boarding school in Santa Barbara, uses a payphone in Malibu, California to arrange a meeting with her father Rick Rhodes (Andrew McCarthy), the wealthy owner of Rhodes Records. In present day New York City, an adult Lily (Kelly Rutherford) goes to a jail to drop charges on her daughter, Serena. Lily had had Serena arrested on false charges in order to prevent her from becoming entangled in an investment scandal.

In Brooklyn, Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) and Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) tell Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) that their father, Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), had returned home without proposing to Lily. Rufus enters and informs them of Serena's arrest and their investments' disappearance, bewildering the teens, especially Dan.

Serena and Lily argue at the jail about Serena's decision making capabilities. Cecelia "CeCe" Rhodes (Caroline Lagerfelt), Serena's one phone call, enters to pick Serena up, remarking to Lily, "Ironic, isn't it?". In 80's Malibu, Lily meets with Rick and CeCe (Cynthia Watros) and proposes moving in with her father instead of her mother, whom she detests, but Rick says he can not give her the supervision she needs. He reveals that he has told her boarding school has re-admitted her after Rick explained Lily's recent actions were a result of her sister's rebellion and Rick and CeCe's divorce. CeCe derides Lily's proposal and her ex-husband's lack of responsibility. She tells Lily to meet her at her home, but Lily drives in the opposite direction instead, hoping to find Carol, who had rejected her family's upscale life to move to the San Fernando Valley and become an actress.

In the present, Lily is angry with CeCe for telling Rufus about their lovechild. Meanwhile, Serena tells Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) she has chosen to remain in jail to prove her capability to Lily but encourages Blair to enjoy Prom with Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) in the way she had chronicled in a scrapbook as a preteen. Dorota Kishlovsky (Zuzanna Szadkowski) tells Blair her Prom dress has been ruined, but that a replacement has just arrived. Blair is joyous because the replacement looks exactly like the dress in her scrapbook. Elsewhere, Nate relates to Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) how each of his Prom plans, including the corsage, hotel room, and limo, have been ruined. He asks Chuck whether Chuck has purposefully sabotaged them in an effort to steal Blair, but Chuck responds negatively and tells Nate, "Blair is yours". At home, Lily and CeCe fight and Lily asks CeCe to leave Lily's home.

In 1983, Lily enters a diner which Carol waitresses, but is informed by Owen Campos (Shiloh Fernandez) that Carol has shirked her shift. Owen offers to take her to a concert which Carol will likely attend but advises her to change from her riding suit into one of the edgier outfits in Carol's work locker.

In present day, Dan persuades Serena to let him pay her bail, to wear a gown Jenny has made for her, and to attend Prom with Dan. When Lily learns Serena has left jail, her thoughts return to the 80's, where Owen and Lily enter the club. They encounter Shep, a friend of Owen's with a crush on Carol, and Carol, who is surprised to see Lily and affectionately embraces her. However, Shep and Carol have just learned that Shep's music video, in which Carol stars, is being held hostage by the video's director, Keith van der Woodsen (Matt Barr), and are therefore in a hurry to find Keith. Once in Carol's car en route to Keith's home, Carol explains that once the video airs on MTV she will gain recognition as an actress. When Lily asks why Carol doesn't simply use their father's company, Carol insists she doesn't want anyone to know of her background.

At Prom, Penelope Shafai (Amanda Setton), Hazel Williams (Dreama Walker), and Nelly Yuki (Yin Chang) entice Blair to participate in Prom King and Queen elections with a tiara. Chuck overhears the girls plotting to rig the election for the delight of watching Blair lose to Nelly. Meanwhile, after over 24 hours in jail, Serena makes up with Dan and gets dressed for Prom in the back of a cab. Lily visits Rufus' apartment to apologize. Rufus tells Lily he believes she is still figuring out who she is, is uncertain of where they stand as a couple, and does not let Lily kiss him.

Lily, Carol, Shep, and Owen arrive find Keith at a party at his home. Keith tells Carol he kept the video to force her to call him, and that he only gave her a low price because she slept with him. When Carol learned he had a girlfriend, she broke up with him and Keith rose the price. A fight breaks out, and Keith calls the cops on the trespassers. Shep and Carol manage to escape, but Lily and Owen are arrested. In 2009, Chuck derigs the Prom royalty contest, allowing Blair and Nate to win, though Blair believes he was attempting the opposite. Chuck confides to Serena and Dan that he had ruined of Nate's plans, including the dress, corsage, and hotel room, and replaced each with the correct item needed to recreate the scenes from Blair's Prom scrapbrook. He gives Serena the key to the penthouse at the Plaza Hotel, the final image.

Back in time, Lily uses her one phone call to call CeCe, and they fight about Lily's decision making capabilities. Carol overhears Lily defend her lifestyle and plead with her mother to allow her to grow up. Carol takes the phone from Lily, tells her mother that Lily would live with her for a while, and finally pays Lily's bail by selling her car and takes Lily back to the city. At Prom, Blair breaks up with Nate and explains to Serena that now that she has finished high school and attended Prom with Nate as she had dreamed as a preteen, he simply feels like a high school boyfriend. Serena hugs Blair and they reminisce on how they have grown up together through crazy times, like sisters. Present day Lily manages to catch CeCe before she leaves town. Lily apologizes to her, and invites her to stay. CeCe refuses to apologize in return, and tells Lily that she would have taken a hundred Dan Humphreys over the boy Lily met in the Valley- Owen. However, Lily embraces her mother anyway.

Narration
"For those who complain about the youth of today, if you think we're bad, you should've seen our parents." "Shoulder pads may come and go, but a BFF is forever. Because even when you're not sure where you're headed, it helps to know you're not going there alone. No one has all the answers and sometimes the best we can do is just apologize and let the past be the past. Other times, we need to look to the future and know that even when we think we've seen it all, life, can still surprise us and we can still surprise ourselves. XOXO, Gossip Girl."
 * Beginning
 * Ending

Production
"Valley Girls" was intended to be the pilot episode of Valley Girls, a television series which would chronicle the life of Lily Rhodes during her high school years while living with Carol. Although the project was not picked up for air during CW's fall schedule, CW president Dawn Ostroff has told reporters at an upfront on May 21, 2009, that the series is still in contention for midseason. CW first announced the production of a pilot episode in January 2009, when the series was still untitled. The episode aired in place of a regular Gossip Girl episode. Krysten Ritter was the first guest star to be officially cast on February 5, 2009. . Brittany Snow was reporedly the producers' top choice for Lily and offered her the role in early February without having her audition.

Flashbacks were set apart from present day scenes through a grainy, sepia tone.

Music
Music plays a large role in setting themes and moods of Gossip Girl episodes. Within "Valley Girls', songs are taken from both the Los Angeles punk scene and mainstream 80's hits to represent the two worlds surrounding character Lily Rhodes. Says producer, creator, and writer Stephanie Savage, "Jumping between these two worlds is important to the show. Lily is living with her sister in the Valley and kind of hanging out in the punk rock scene, but she and her sister come from a wealthy family and their parents are more aligned with a Pacific Palisades/Beverly Hills/Malibu, Less Than Zero world. So her struggle... is to try and figure out what kind of world she wants to be in." Noted music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas oversaw music selection for the episode. Almost every song featured in the episode was released prior to 1983, the year in which Lily's flashbacks take place. No Doubt makes a guest appearance during the episode as an 80's band called "Snowed Out", a play on words of "No Doubt". thumb|right|250px|Guest stars [[No Doubt performing as "Snowed Out".]]

Fountains of Wayne - Prom Theme The English Beat - Mirror In the Bathroom Missing Persons - Destination Unknown Huey Lewis and the News - I Want a New Drug Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself No Doubt - Stand and Deliver New Order - Blue Monday Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough Freur - Doot Doot
 * Featured music

Reception
"Valley Girls" was viewed live by an audience of 2.1 million in the United States.