The original Gossip Girl sold viewers a romantic fantasy β then proved the fantasy was always a lie. Read more here. Every time I think about Gossip Girl β the glossy, aspirational, slightly wicked teen soap that ruled The CW in β I ask myself: You mean the show where the romantic lead sold his girlfriend in exchange for a hotel? This plot line is emblazoned in my mind, in the spot where knowing how to multiply fractions is probably supposed to be. It is wild to imagine how this could possibly have happened!
When Gossip Girl first emerged in the s, it was supposed to be fun and scandalous. What was the exit strategy? Who thought it was a good idea? I was watching Gossip Girl in real time when the episode aired. I was 21, and I went over and over the plot in my head. I had been watching Gossip Girl the way I thought it was supposed to be watched β as a silly piece of froth β and in that spirit, I had come to believe that the lead couple was meant for each other.
It has the virtue of being honest. It is a very straightforward way of expressing the value system which underlies all of Gossip Girl , beneath all the high-fashion gloss and perfect hair β and that underlies plenty of other not-so-honest shows of its era, as well. The shippers called them Chair, and in , there were so many shippers that they went through the Tumblr tag for Chair and yelled at people posting pictures of actual furniture instead of GIFs of Chuck and Blair kissing.
The pair spent two seasons deliciously clashing, backstabbing, and plotting their way toward each other, before at last succumbing to their feelings at the end of season two after their high school graduation. But then: trouble. Once the gambit was revealed, Chuck was thrown into despair.
Jack offers Chuck a deal: He is willing to give back the hotel, he tells his nephew. All Chuck has to do is let Jack sleep with Blair. Notably, both Chuck and Jack are, within the canon of the show, attempted rapists.
