Gossip Girl Redux: Blair Says Goodbye to Her Princess Status—and Chuck—for Good?

Serena uses her platform as Gossip Girl to her advantage and Chuck's search for his mother takes an unexpected turn when Elizabeth Hurley returns

Pretty, pretty princess commoner. 

Gossip Girl's Blair is no longer the princess of Monaco, y'all. Yes, our Queen B was finally granted her freedom from the boringness that was her marriage to Prince Louis, but was she fully ready to go from a royal whirlwind romance to a normal, slightly hipster, relationship with Dan? And remember that time Blair told Chuck not to pay the dowry that allow her to divorce her evil hubby? Yeah, about that....

Plus, what does Diana's return mean for Nate and Lola's relationship and Chuck's search for answers about his mother? Find out...

Blair's Just Being Blair, Y'all: Blair finally receives the documents to finalize her divorce, but hesitates on saying goodbye to her princess status forever. After Nate spills to Dan that Chuck paid Blair's dowry, Dan continues the game of telephone, letting Blair in on Chuck's secret. Blair confronts Chuck at the event o' the week (a lingerie party because why not?!) saying, "You thought you could buy me back, just like you sold me for your hotel." Chuck reasons that he never wanted her to find out about his involvement in her divorce. "I just wanted you to be free," he says. "Who you choose to love with that freedom is up to you."  Cue Chuck dropping the mic and walking away. Boom.

Dan apologizes for spilling the beans, but then needs to know why she didn't sign the divorce papers. "This has nothing to do with Chuck or the dowry. My whole life I wanted to be a princess...I know it's silly, but I think it was just one more loss I needed to mourn to move on," Blair explains. Dan, being the awesome BF he is, decides to stage one last princess moment for Blair: He takes her to her former court, the steps at the Met, dressed as a princess, or "a prom queen doing  the walk of shame." Too. Cute.

Mother Dearest: Chuck's trying to decide whether or not it's worth the risk to track down Elizabeth after learning she helped save his life. After receiving some advice from his therapist private investigator, Chuck decides to talk over the decision with the only person in his life who also got to know Elizabeth back in season three: Blair. Unfortunately, Blair isn't in an advice-giving mood, seeing Chuck's visit as just another one of his ruses to get back into her life. "We both know we've never been good as friends," Blair says.

Later, Chuck's private investigator comes by to drop a bombshell no one everyone saw coming: Elizabeth didn't donate the blood, so she can't be his mother! Which totally doesn't lead us to...

Diana Brings the Drama: In a storyline totally unrelated to Chuck's motherly woes, Diana Payne is back and bitchier than ever. You see, she's intent on taking the Spectator back from our Nate and isn't above using (or, you know, causing) problems in his relationship with Lola to get the job done. Nate neglects to inform Lola of his personal relationship with Diana, which she soon finds out about thanks to Google...and Nate's suspicious behavior. Lola turns to cousin Serena for help, but the new Gossip Girl uses the situation to her advantage, setting Lola up to be the new It girl so she can finally be free of Gossip Girl's invasive shackles. There are certain shades of limelight than can wreck a girl's complexion. At least that's what Holly Golightly said. 

Too bad Lola is pulling a double-cross! She's working with her handsome BF to get some dirty dish on Diana to ensure his job security and uses her Floridian BFF Aidan, who is—wait for it!—16, to do so. Obviously, Serena feels so betrayed by this development. "I'm so sorry. I hope we could still be friends," Lola says to an unmoved Serena, who completely forgets the fact that she was using her cousin. 

So what lesson did S learn from all of this? She likes being the It girl...and Gossip Girl. See, you can have your cake and eat it, too...for now anyway. 

WHAT'S AHEAD

Mo' Family, Mo' Problems: We all know Bart Bass is set to return at the end of this season, but is Chuck's padre returning in flashback form or as a ghost? "I will not say. You'll have to wait and see," Josh Safran teases. "But it's a good story I think it will satisfy everyone." As for Diana's role in the Bass family storyline, he says, "That story is far from over."

Love Triangle = Full Steam Ahead: While Dan and Blair ended the episode on a Chuck-free and happy note, don't expect things to stay perfect. As Safran recently told us, "Dan and Blair's relationship is going to be challenged because the specter of Chuck is always going to be hanging over it, whether or not he's even involved in it or not. Because Blair is always going to be aware that Dan knows how much she loved a man before him. And Dan is always going to be aware, even more so, of how tied up they were with each other and how they constantly return to each other at some point, invariably every year. That pressure might seep in and cause some trouble but whether that trouble is insurmountable people will have to wait and see."

Poison Ivy:Though Ivy didn't actually appear in the hour, she caused major problems between rock-solid couple Rufus and Lily, but don't call her a villainess! "She's a complicated character," Safran explains, adding that fans shouldn't prepare to be saying their goodbyes to Ivy anytime soon. "We have every intention of Kaylee being back next season."