It’s no secret that some of the cast,Blake Lively (Serena)in particular, have their eyes on bigger things than Gossip Girl. We assumed that’s why Kaylee DeFer (Ivy) has joined the cast — to pick up the inevitable slack. But now we wonder if she’s not so much a down-the-line contingency plan as an all-out Serena 2.0. Are the producers planning to make this the Ivy Show sooner rather than later — at Serena’s expense?

Think about it. Blake Lively has only had one thing approaching a plotline this year, and it was in the first episode. And it was about herjob. We haven’t seen her bang an inappropriate older man once, and it’s already Episode Three!

S seems to have lost control of her usual stable of love interests as well. For the first time, both Nate and Dan seem 100% over her — Nate’s focused on Elizabeth Hurley (and who wouldn’t be?), and Dan seems to have transferred his upwardly-mobile crush to Blair.

Of course, S could be trading intimacies with much of Upper Park Ave for all we know, since we barely see her. She only pops up to say vague, supportive things to Blair and to do that weird friendly bullying thing to Ivy. Which, by the way, is entirely from Ivy’s point of view. Serena used to be the POV character on the show — now Gossip Girl’s Serena scenes could be titled Attack of the Giant Blonde Class Anxiety Monster.

So is Serena sidelined for good? Or is it too early to tell? Maybe the producers are sitting on a juicy story about Serena sleeping with David O. Russell or something. If not, we’re not sure our hearts will be broken. S has had a great run, and since Blake’s obviously itching to move on, maybe having her show up for five minutes an episode to yell at Ivy for not acting rich enough is the way to gently ease her out.