The Treasure of Serena Madre



The Treasure of Serena Madre is the 11th episode of Season 3 of Gossip Girl.

Summary
It's Thanksgiving once again on the Upper East Side, a day of traditions for Blair and a day of secrets for the van der Woodsen family. Nothing goes the way it's supposed to for any of the families as they all gather at the van der Woodsens for a festive Thanksgiving meal.

When Chuck tells Nate about a security feed of Serena and Tripp kissing in the elevator, Nate decides to acquire the tape to end Tripp's affair with Serena. Meanwhile, Tripp's wife, Maureen, comes back to NYC to spend Thanksgiving with her husband and try to salvage their marriage. Maureen runs into Lily who invites Maureen and Tripp to her house for Thanksgiving, not realising that Maureen and Tripp are not living together. She casually mentions that Serena has been spending a lot of time with Tripp, making Maureen suspicious.

On Thanksgiving, Rufus surprises Lily by inviting CeCe. During Thanksgiving dinner, everyone is mortified when their secrets and past lies are revealed. Serena's affair gets put out in the open when Nate gives Maureen the security tape and Maureen shows it to Serena and Tripp; Jenny finds out what Eric did to her at Cotillion; Blair's suspicion about her mother Eleanor's pregnancy is revealed to be untrue. It turns out that Eleanor and her husband Cyrus are moving to Paris. Dorota is the one that is pregnant by Vanya. Also, Vanessa is unhappy with her mother's lack of support when she doesn't back her up.

Eleanor came into town to change her will because she and Cyrus are moving to Paris. They invite Blair to come along on a trip. Blair, being a good friend, invites Serena along to escape all the drama with Nate and Tripp. While getting her passport out of the safe, she finds a letter that reveals Lily's secret. Tripp decides to leave Maureen and persuades Serena not to go to Paris. Serena chooses to get in a cab with Tripp over leaving with Nate, who professes his love for her.

Back at the Humphrey house, Vanessa's mother Gabriela tells Dan that it's obvious that he has feelings for her. He steps aside and encourages Vanessa to bring Gabriela to meet someone she's been seeing at NYU. At the end of the episode, Maureen accidentally grabs Lily's coat and finds the secret letter in the pocket.

Main Characters

 * Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen
 * Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf
 * Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey
 * Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald
 * Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey
 * Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass
 * Jessica Szohr as Vanessa Abrams
 * Kelly Rutherford as Lily van der Woodsen
 * Matthew Settle as Rufus Humphrey