24. The Return of the Ring

Complete story — includes the ending

When Gossip Girl begins to upload excerpts from Blair's diary, her love life begins to unravel, causing her to choose between Dan and Chuck. Serena is banished from the Waldorf apartment for her part in the reveal of Blair's diary. She then retaliates by trying to seduce Dan with the help of Blair's minions. Nate asks Lola to move in with him, but she turns him down when she tells him that her acting group is going on tour. At the Shephard divorce party, Serena and Dan have sex, but when Dan learns she videotaped their encounter just to hurt Blair, he furiously leaves. Elsewhere, Lily chooses to annul her marriage to Rufus, since her marriage to Bart is still valid. Lola receives her share of the van der Woodsen estate from her biological father, William, and also learns that Lily intentionally sabotaged Carol's defense in court to keep her imprisoned as well as destroyed Ivy's case in order to keep Cece's wealth all for herself. Blair accepts an offer from her mother to take over her fashion company. Following a Bass Industries press conference, Blair chooses Chuck over Dan, but Chuck rebuffs her as he is preoccupied with his father's return as head of Bass Industries and he ousts Chuck to reclaim his former position as CEO. One week later, Lola hands over her inheritance share to Ivy, who in return promises to help her bring down their common enemy: Lily. Lola leaves town to go on tour with her acting troupe, while Ivy returns to Florida to plot her revenge against Lily. The disgraced Serena leaves town and reverts to her old self by taking drugs and sleeping with her dealer, while the alienated Dan leaves for Rome and prepares to write another tell-all book about the Upper East Side with the help of Georgina. Nate receives CCTV footage from Diana Payne of the real Gossip Girl (a hooded masked figure) stealing Serena's laptop on the night of Bart's return. While in Monte Carlo, Blair goes to a casino where Chuck and Jack are scheming to bring down Bart Bass and tells Chuck it is now her turn to fight for him. Title reference: The 2003 film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.