A "Gossip Girl" recap, in which Charlie Rhodes may prove to be the new Jenny Humphrey

When we last left our characters, Serena and Ben had reluctantly parted ways. Although last night's episode takes place a mere week later, Ben might as well be dead, because we hear nothing about him.

Chuck, meanwhile, had learned that his father was responsible for Raina's mother's death. Since Blair was too busy testing out her feelings for Lonely Boy to console him, our antihero seemed on the brink of another debaucherous breakdown. Now, he's apparently sobered up, gotten over Raina and (sigh) ready to get Blair back again. Raina, for her part, only shows up in a few short scenes, to underline the awkwardness of her jump from Chuck's bed to Nate's and wonder aloud about her mother's whereabouts. Why hasn't Chuck clued her in about what Russell was hiding? Your guess is as good as mine, but I won't be surprised if we never know for sure.

We've also spent the past several weeks wondering what will happen to Lily, who turned herself in for getting Ben locked up. At the end of that episode, Billy Baldwin -- er, Serena and Eric's dad, William Van der Woodsen -- showed up and intimated to poor, naive Rufus that the family was going to come together and scheme Lily out of serving time. But we don't hear much about that this week. The phone does ring at the end of the episode, just when news of Lily's sentencing is due -- but she decides to ignore it.

Instead of tackling Lily's impending date with an orange jumpsuit, the Humphrey-Van der Woodsen clan chooses to fixate on a new "Modern Royalty" book that art and design publisher Taschen is putting together, compiling portraits of society families. Grandma CeCe rallies the Rhodes women for a photo shoot -- including Lily's sister Carol, who lives on a houseboat and scorns all things Upper East Side. Although Carol thinks she's left her daughter, Charlie, at home, away from the toxic influence of Serena and Lily, the 18-year-old has secretly sneaked along to meet her cousin. (Side note: Am I the only one who found it unnerving that KayLee DeFer, the actress who plays Charlie, looks so much like Leighton Meester?)