‘Gossip Girl’ season 6 spoilers: First look at penultimate episode

We know that there are going to be a number of surprises in the series finale for “Gossip Girl” that will air on Monday, December 17; but what is coming up in the hour of television before that? Courtesy of a new press release from The CW, we now have a little bit of a better idea.

The December 10 episode carries with it a fitting title in “The Pretenders,” and it contains some news that is either exciting or disappointing to folks depending on how you look at it. The good news? It does feel as though we are nearing the end of the Bart saga. The bad news? For whatever reason, Sage is still around and causing trouble:

“After a run-in with an increasingly paranoid Bart (guest star Robert John Burke), Blair (Leighton Meester) grows alarmingly concerned for Chuck’s (Ed Westwick) safety. However, feeling confident that his father will never hurt him, Chuck makes a deal that could change his life. Wanting to make things better for Chuck, Blair devises a plan with the help of Serena (Blake Lively), Georgina (guest star Michelle Trachtenberg) and Sage (guest star Sofia Black-D’Elia) to try and get what they need out of Bart. Meanwhile, Nate’s (Chace Crawford) financial dilemma finally lands him in a place that he never thought he would be.”

Whatever happens during this hour is going to inevitable set the stage for an epic finale, which is entitled “New York, I Love You XOXO.” With a title like that, it’s hard to imagine the show having anything other than an ending that feels full-circle for most of the cast members. Nobody wants to see Nate, Serena, or anyone else end in devastation; in addition to that, nobody wants to see this show end with Chuck still under his father’s spell.