I'll admit it: I was a staunch supporter of Chair since Season One. sejak early Season 3, such was my conviction that they belonged together, I wanted them to get married. But sejak 3x18, my Cinta for Chair received a crushing blow, and never recovered. In the midst of my spell of mourning for them, I realised Blair had never really had a relationship with a guy which had not been characterised sejak drama, betrayal and heartbreak. She'd never had a 'normal' relationship with someone when she was truly happy. I'd spent all this time believing she belonged with Chuck, but what did Blair Waldorf look like without him? What if she wasn't in Cinta with Chuck? Would she actually be...you know, happier? I decided that what Blair needed most was to be Chuck-free for a while. She needed to figure out who SHE was. No lebih angst, no lebih game-playing, no lebih betrayal, no lebih tears. I tried to imagine a relationship in which Blair could just be herself, and be happy, but it was hard at first. All I could see were imej of her and Chuck. As much as they may have loved each other, I knew they weren't right together. I suddenly realised that Blair needed a guy who was the OPPOSITE OF CHUCK. Somebody grounded, who was close to his family, who would challenge her if needed, and saw the 'real' her, but who would also support her and encourage her and understand her, and calm her down. What Blair needed was a guy like...
DAN HUMPHREY.

Chuck and Blair are cut from the same mold: they are both highly driven, 'Type A' personalities who, to some extent, have actually thrived on the huge amounts of angst their romance has telah diberi them. In their eyes, they can't ever be a 'normal' couple, because that would mean dull and ordinary, two things they cannot let themselves become. If they are continually fending off Jack bass from destroying Chuck's family legacy, atau going through some emotional crisis where they can't be together even though they want to be, then that makes them 'different' and 'special' from everyone else. The fact that Chair are constantly wading through a sea of pain, heart-ache and anguish has defined them and sort of made them who they are. The problem is, I'm not sure if their Cinta would have survived for almost 5 Seasons without those things.
Every time Chair have enjoyed a moment atau two of happiness, it is quickly snatched away from them again. This just gives them reasons to keep coming back for more. The only time when they resembled a somewhat solid couple was in Season 3, and that time was fleeting. I can't help wondering if Chair somehow depend on the torment they frequently receive to keep them together; if they need it in some way to keep their passion alive. If they weren't always being derailed from their attempts to be together, and were, in fact, just like any other couple who did 'ordinary' things like go to restaurants and have movie nights, then would they become discontent and feel that they HAD to stage an argument in public in order to keep the excitement alive and the relationship 'interesting'? It's significant that after Chuck finally tells Blair he loves her in 2x25, they feel it necessary to revert to playing games so soon, even though Blair isn't that happy about it. While I would never say that they don't Cinta each other, I think Chair are essentially trapped in a negative cycle of high drama and anguish that has become self-perpetuating, and ultimately, unfulfilling. The fact that it is unfulfilling of course, gives them fuel to keep chasing their dreams of being together forever, but once they really were together, I fear their romance wouldn't last. They need the 'fantasy' of how perfect their Cinta could be, and the Fantasi of how perfect their lives could be if they were together. But the truth is, the reality of their relationship has become increasingly destructive and painful, and has made both of them unhappy. The only reason why they keep endlessly circling back to each other no matter how much distress it causes them is because the Fantasi of what could be is lebih thrilling than reality. I don't doubt that Chuck and Blair will always be part of each other's lives, but should they really be endgame?

If Chair are endgame, I will be deeply disappointed but not really surprised. We're talking about almost 5 years here. However, do they DESERVE to be endgame just BECAUSE of those 5 years? I don't think so. Chair's relationship peaked at the end of Season 2, but afterwards, things were never really the same. The sparkle that had been theirs for much of the tunjuk wore off in Season 3; even lebih in 4, and as a couple, things felt a little bit...odd. Kind of...flat. I believe that the writers quickly figured out that Chair didn't work as a conventional couple, and that's the reason why they kept giving them obstacles to keep them apart. Because once they WERE together...well, that was when the writers' inspiration ran dry. The Fantasi of Chair does not live up to reality.

I've seen Chair on the brink of being together forever so many times, I am no longer able to feel anything when a catastrophic event collides with their plans to live happily ever after. In fact, I EXPECT disaster to strike right after they pledge to be together. Their relationship has become predictable and static; they are like a piece of Buah that has passed its best before tarikh and no longer tastes fresh atau good. In short, over the span of 5 seasons, Chair has been diminished to a shadow of their once great selves, and to end the tunjuk with them would be nothing lebih than a polite good-will gesture from the producers to reward the Chair peminat-peminat who stuck sejak them so tirelessly even when they should have walked away long ago.

I've read a lot of unkind komen-komen about Dair on-line from CB peminat-peminat who don't take them seriously as a threat atau who take it for granted that Chair will be reinstated as THE Couple before the tunjuk ends. Some of them even assume that Dair won't last long atau that they are simply there to prevent their beloved Chair from living happily ever after. But I don't accept that.
The producers have wanted Dair for a really long time. They kept putting it off because they didn't think it was the right time. Clearly, Dair are NOT merely something they've thrown together as a saat thought atau for lack of something better. They have solidly built and re-built Dair since Season 4, atau maybe even earlier than that. That's far longer than any other couple on GG; Chair, Derena, Serenate, and Danessa: not one of them have received such a lengthy and progressive build-up as Dair has. Would they really have spent so long on Dair at this stage in the tunjuk if they DIDN'T want them to be together in the end?? Because if they don't, then they're just wasting their time. There's no point to the relationship, all the epiosodes leading up to Blair's choice really mean nothing, and they would have been just as well to put Chair peminat-peminat out of their misery sejak staging yet another (short-lived) CB reunion.

It seems to me that if the writers wanted a CB endgame, then they wouldn't have created such a formidable opponent in the shape of Dair. I think the biggest clue about Dair might lie in 4x18. Blair has been 'hiding' from the world since she kissed Dan. She lounges in bed, feigning some mysterious illness, refusing to see anyone, including Chuck. Her reason? "Something happened recently that revealed my future and I've been hiding ever since because I don't want to deal with it."
Do I believe that Blair's moment of perspective - her Ciuman with Dan which she describes as "life-changing", revealed that her future lay with Chuck? No way. If that were true, she wouldn't have studiously avoided him. Blair WANTS to be with Chuck. If her Ciuman with Dan leads to a moment of revelation in which she discovers she actually belongs with Chuck, NOT Dan, then it's the green light she's been waiting for. If Blair honestly knew that her future was with Chuck, she wouldn't have hesitated to go to him right away instead of lying in katil like a heart-sick teenager. However, because she is still in denial about her feelings for Dan, she takes it as a sign that because she wishes the Ciuman was with Chuck instead, then that must mean she should be with him. What's the Blair Waldorf term? Ah yes. "Warped logic."

But Blair knows her hati, tengah-tengah - and her future - is not with Chuck. Sure, at that point, she chooses him because that's what she feels selamat, peti deposit keselamatan and comfortable with, but every time they make plans for their 'forever', fate intervenes and they end up paying the price. Chuck refuses to let go of Blair's engagement ring and gets shot at the end of Season 3. As they're speeding off to start their new life together, there's an accident, and Blair loses her baby in Season 5. Contrary to what they want to believe, Chair are just NOT meant to be together.

I concede that Chair will always be an important part of each other's lives, and will probably always Cinta each other to some degree. But that doesn't mean they'll be IN Cinta with each other. I know anda can give equally valid reasons for a Chair endgame as well, but I want Dair. OK, their story didn't start with sex in limos and grand romantic gestures, but Dair have something Chair don't have. Dair complement each other. Dan centres Blair. She can be herself with him. She doesn't need to be locked in a battle of wills to prove a point atau 'win' something. She doesn't need to justify her Cinta sejak giving him up. Their relationship isn't characterised sejak game-playing and endless, unfulfilled longing to make what they have 'passionate' and 'intense'. Blair can be her most vulnerable with Dan - even before they started hanging out he saw past her defences and realised there was much lebih to her than met the eye. She trusts him in a way she has never been able to trust Chuck, and that is why she is always going to him in times of trouble, because she knows he'll come through for her when she needs him most. She feels honoured sejak Dan because he loves and cares for her as she is - faults and all. Unlike the doomed Chair, who are constantly trying to hold onto the Fantasi of their love, Dair are the real deal. They both know how it feels to be heartbroken and to Cinta someone who is out of reach. They've both been let down and treated badly in the past sejak people they've cared deeply about and have put first in their lives. They bring out the best in each other. Dair are good for each other. Chair are not. Chair represent the tragic, unfulfilled, damgaged Cinta which looks fetching in puisi buku and mythology, but is a total mess in the real world. Dair don't need complications, games atau power struggles. They can just be together, and find happiness in one another and the simple things in life. In 3x18, Blair tells Chuck: "I want what Dorota and Vanya have: love. Pure and simple love."
In the same episode, Dorota tells Blair she hopes one hari she will have "a right love, a good love." Dair is that love. Maybe Chair had the potential to be that "right love" a long time ago, but they don't anymore. Chair are the past, not the future. The future is DAIR.