Say Life is Giving You Signs: Why Gossip Girl Needs Dair

I started watching Gossip Girl when it premiered in 2007. It was fun and trashy, but had heart. The setting, of course, led to a heightened reality, but at the center of this world of excess were interesting, well thought out stories and interesting characters. Yes, they were all beautiful and wealthy, but they were also relatable, sympathetic, and in most cases, rootable.

As the series progressed, it started to lose some of this initial shine. The characters started becoming caricatures trapped in recycled story lines. The plots became more ridiculous (fake!cancer, I’m looking at you), and the narrative became less about the struggle of young people trying to find their own identity. It was now centered around shocking moments that disregarded previous characterization and events to force the narrative to fit the newest OMFG event. I became tired of the prioritization of plot over characters; season four started, and was more of the same: someone trying to destroy Serena, Chuck and Blair staying apart for convoluted reasons, and Lily having secrets, and I was ready to free up my Monday viewing schedule. The show wasn’t fun anymore, and I didn’t seem to be the only one feeling that; the actors’ lack of enthusiasm showed they were as bored as the viewers were. Then, something amazing happened.

The season four midseason finale, “The Townie”, had Dan Humphrey, writer and supposedly lower-class Brooklynite, and Blair Waldorf, queen B of the Upper East Side, taking a banter-filled, OC-style road trip to the show’s yearly “Save Serena” quota. Along with the well-written, clever dialogue and adorable outfits (I’m a sucker for a good coat), we also got some great character moments — Blair slapping Dan with some very truthful and sobering insight into his detrimental fixation on his relationship with Serena always stands as that to me. At the end of the episode, much to their disapproval, the intellectual duo discovered they were not only the only two left in the city, but they also had plans to go see Nenette. It was something the show hadn’t been in a long time: fun. Over the next few episodes, we saw a blooming not!friendship based on mutual interests being explored, a much-talked-about freeze-frame kiss, and ended the season learning about a book Dan had written, highlighting his new and ever-growing romantic feelings for Blair; the newest season has shown Dan’s feelings and Blair’s reliance on his friendship continuing to grow.

The writers struck story gold a second time, and hopefully, they can recognize the creative potential this storyline holds.

Organic Characterization

At some point, the characters became nothing more than beautiful, arguably well-dressed plot devices, and this is one of the reasons the Dan/Blair storyline stands out. In the midst of the heavily criticized Bass Industries/Thorpe drama, and Serena’s romance with her former teacher/stalker, we were shown a simple story of two “enemies” spending time together, resulting in preconceived notions and judgements being challenged. This is something that happened over the course of half a season, though since season one’s “Bad News Blair”, their initial opinions of each other had been challenged. On a show like Gossip Girl, where people make-up, break-up, and then reunite within two to three episode arcs, the idea of a slow build-up stands out. It felt true to the character’s base personalities and followed a logical narrative flow, an idea the writers had seemingly abandoned seasons before. It really made other sudden character personality changes- Louis’ turn to the darkside and Chuck’s insta-redemption feel hollow.

Character-Driven Stories

No other current story line has the potential to bring as much drama to the table than a possible Dan/Blair romance. Even before considering others, these two have a lot of baggage and internal struggles, expectations, insecurity, judgments to be addressed. These are the type of struggles that we used to see in season one: the war between wants and needs and the desire to understands one’s feelings. This burgeoning friendship/romance requires them to mature and grow, but does not mandate changing the pre-established, fundamental personalities. Moving outside of Dan and Blair themselves, this story line brings the obvious drama in the Serena/Blair, Blair/Chuck, Dan/Serena, and the recent Chuck/Dan relationships, but there are others to think about. How does Nate react to this? Rufus? Eleanor? Gossip Girl? It allows more perspective on various characters, but also leaves so much room for the drama-driven plots that we all know these writers love. As we have seen in seasons past, the best plots are the ones that are organic and stem from the basic character interactions and reactions, as opposed to contrived, convoluted messes (*cough* Rachel Carr *cough*).

Back to the Beginning

When Gossip Girl first started, in the days before OMG!threesomes, single white females, and evil uncles, one of the driving forces in the story was the collision between Brooklyn and the UES. We saw Jenny’s slow corruption as she attempted to fit in, Vanessa’s reintegration into and subsequent dislike of Dan’s new life, and of course, Dan and Serena trying to find common ground and discover what they wanted from each other and from themselves. As the show progressed, we started to lose this core struggle between varying ideologies: Rufus married the Humphreys into the van der Woodsens, Dan and Serena’s relationship came to a natural end, Jenny completed her transformation into an Upper East Side princess before being shipped off to Hudson, and Vanessa had a major falling out with Dan and moved to Barcelona. We lost the balance between Brooklyn and the UES. The Dan/Blair relationship has the potential to reignite these lost character motivations; these two characters are the ones who most-symbolize their individual worlds. Blair is the Queen B, the dictator of taste, she embraces the Upper East Side lifestyle far more than Serena; then you have Dan, who continues to live in the Brooklyn loft after the rest of his family moved on up to the East Side and has been the most hesitant Humphrey to accept the trappings of the so-called glamorous life. Their base views of themselves and each other mean we have seen them fighting this growing connection, every step of the way. It took them three inspirational speeches, four years, five schemes, six movie dates, and a kiss to admit they were friends, and since then, we’ve seen Dan’s feelings begrudgingly grow deeper “in spite of [him]self.”

In season one, the bond between Serena and Blair was most important; they had a dynamic that was intense and heartfelt. We saw Blair being Serena’s protector and worst enemy, and we saw Serena love Blair dearly, but be oblivious to her friend’s feelings and insecurities. While everything was heightened, there was something very real and touching about this, but over the last few years, this is another connection that has been reduced to a mere plot device. Every season, we see them have the same fight, and yet, we haven’t seen the true, base issues touched on since early season one. Dan/Blair has the potential to really let the writers explore those underlying tensions and problems — Blair eternally feeling overshadowed by Serena and Serena’s feelings of inadequacy and fears of abandonment. Dan wanting Blair over Serena means the blonde has to start dealing with her own insecurities regarding Blair, and Blair’s conviction that Dan somehow belongs to Serena, and will always love her, means Blair has address her own fears. The best love triangles are the one that cause characters to exam their own motivations and desires, and this storyline would not only influence each personal narrative, but also would force them to focus on the nature of their friendship.

TV to Talk About

One of the best aspects of the Dan/Blair storyline is that it has people talking. For the first time since season two, there is interest and buzz. Whether it’s Entertainment Weekly, E! Online, TVLine, or countless independent bloggers — everyone has an opinion about this story line. Even the actors seem to be enjoying themselves again. Both Penn Badgley and Leighton Meester have frequently mentioned how much fun the Dan/Blair scenes are, and showrunner Josh Safran seems hardly able to control himself when talking about this storyline. While there has been a largely positive response from various entertainment writers and casual fans, there is also a determined, large portion of the fan base that wants no part of it. The relevancy of any teen drama show is limited, so the recent resurgence of interest over this veteran show is impressive, but is not likely to last long if the writers continue to force circular stories upon the viewers. Whether you Dare to Dair or want to make Ban irrelevant, you are talking about Gossip Girl again, and that’s something writers both need and want.

The burgeoning maybe romance between Dan and Blair offers more creative potential than this show has had in many years. In the end, don’t we want a quality show above all else? I hope the writers give this story line a true chance; I hope they realize that they can “take a risk and maybe, maybe have everything.”