Kat with a K

Mysterious Gossip Girl Pictures Spark Questions

Gossip Girl season four filming is well underway, and these pictures started popping up yesterday. In case you can't be bothered to click but are still vaguely curious, the pictures show Dan and Vanessa standing around on a sidewalk. With a baby carriage. Holding a doll. Now . . . okay. There are so many questions here I'm not even sure where to start.

1. Okay, first of all, I'm going to go with the assumption that this is in fact a picture from filming, and so refer to the people involved by their characters names. Because if it's actually just Penn Badgley (and why can I never remember whether there's an e in his last name or where it is?) and Jessica Szohr standing around with a doll in a stroller, that brings up a whole host of other questions that I don't even want to get into.

2. The folks who posted it at TV Fanatic are asking why Vanessa's there, as Georgina is the one who's theoretically pregnant with Dan's baby, but that part doesn't seem that mysterious to me. Of course Vanessa is the type to fall all over herself being helpful and supportive and stuff while actually undermining Dan's self-confidence at every turn. I mean, that's basically the entire purpose of her character, right? That'll fit right in with this baby drama plotline.

3. My actual question: Why is Vanessa in New York at all??? Didn't they convince us to keep watching by promising tell us they were sending her off to Haiti for a while? Please don't tell me she's not actually gone. Next thing I know you're going to be telling me Little J isn't really gone either. Nooo.

4. Why does the stroller hold a doll and not a real baby? TV Fanatic assumes the doll is a stand-in because we didn't actually need to see the baby in this scene. But I'm wondering whether it's one of those fake practice baby dolls. Walking around with one of those to "learn" to be a father would totally be a Dan thing to do. And then he'll leave it with the prop guys and it will accidentally end up in a guillotine and - oh, wait, that was that other Dan, on Studio 60. Never mind.

5. OH GOD. This isn't a question, but rather a horrifying thought that just occurred to me - PLEASE NO ONE GIVE THIS POOR CHILD TO RUFUS AND LILY TO RAISE. They have messed up at least five children between them already. Stop the madness!

(6. Did you notice my clever pun in the post title? Did you? Hee.)