Gone Maybe Gone
Written by series developers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and directed by Mark Piznarski, the episode originally aired on The CW on October 8, 2012.
In this episode, the group consisting of Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), and Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg), tries to find Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) who has not given any news during the summer.
Trachtenberg and Robert John Burke returned in guest star capacity, along with newcomers Andrea Gabriel, Barry Watson, Sofia Black-D'Elia, and Roby Schinasi.
In the fifth-season finale, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) decides she wants to have a relationship with Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) and she meets him in a casino of Monte Carlo.
Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) leaves New York City after being rejected by Blair and Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) and does drugs with a stranger in a train.
Dan decides to expose the real world of the Upper East Side in his new book and teams up with Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) while Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) tries to unmask Gossip Girl.
"Gone Maybe Gone" picks up right after those events; Blair and Chuck have sex in a room of the casino's hotel, Serena is seen unconscious in the train, Dan is in Italy with Georgina who tries to make him write, and Nate prints pictures of a video featuring the masked Gossip Girl.
[5] Michelle Trachtenberg[6] and Robert John Burke[6] reprised their guest star role as Georgina Sparks and Bart Bass whereas Andrea Gabriel,[7] Barry Watson,[8] Sofia Black-D'Elia,[6] and Roby Schinasi[9] made their first appearances as Amira, Steven, Sage, and Jean-Pierre, respectively.
[10] Executive producer Sara Goodman said that she did not want Rufus "to sit there moping" after Lily chose to annul her marriage to him to be with Bart in the season five finale.
[18] Steve Marsi of TV Fanatic, who appreciated the OMG-moments, the introduction of new mysteries, and the hilarious lines, praised Savage and Schwartz's writing as the episode "revived the entire series and raised expectations for Gossip Girl going out on top".
[16] TV columnist for The Huffington Post, Laura Prudom applauded Savage and Schwartz's script which "recaptured some of the sparkle that has been missing for the past few years".
