Picking Apart the Season Finale: Dan and Serena
May 21, 2008 by Kelly
She’s the Golden Girl.
He’s the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the hard working honest boy.
Torn apart by their families and backgrounds.
How very “Romeo and Juliet” of them… Bound to be together, right?
Perhaps not.
The producers of Gossip Girl have put a question mark in the middle of Dan and Serena’s relationship and I, for one, am thrilled. No, don’t get me wrong: they were cute together. But they were also boring.
When you think of classic on screen romances, you tend to think of witty banter or hot chemistry. Serena and Dan started off with both and quickly petered into an old married couple (and yes, I’m married, no jokes please!).
And clearly, they were both not happy, really.
Take Serena. She refused to tell Dan what was happening because she feared the worst. Really? What’s the worst? Not being able to talk to him? Because that’s what already happened. If you can’t tell your boyfriend/significant other about what’s really going on in your life, what matters to you, what bothers you, what eats away at you, then it’s not a relationship that is going to last. I’m not saying that Serena had to “tell all” the first second that she saw Dan but it’s clearly indicative of their relationship that she could trust Chuck (Chuck!) with her secrets and not Dan. Chuck, whom she claims to loathe. And Dan whom she claims to love.
As for Dan? Serena was his dream girl, we were lead to believe. He waited and waited to have sex with her because he wanted it to be special - yet would have *almost* sex with a girl that he had only met a bit before and knew to be a liar. It doesn’t make sense.
Serena and Dan kind of found each other in the beginning, but I don’t think they ever really knew who the other was. There is a familiarity with Vanessa (for Dan) and Nate (for Serena) that is probably largely comforting.
Are they destined to get back together? I don’t know exactly. It’s a more compelling story line to keep them apart - I certainly hope the writers don’t push them back together in the first episode. I’d love to see them explore life outside of their relationship.
What do you think? Are Serena and Dan meant to be? Let me know what you think!
(Next post: Blair and Chuck)
(Image: Newscom)
to be honest, i’m really happy that they broke up. don’t get me wrong, cause I loved them as a couple but they did get boring after a while. I am really excited that there may be a possibility of a Serena and Nate getting together as a couple. I’m curious to see them as a couple rather that just having sex.
No i do not think Dan and Serena were meant to be. I think Serena and Nate were meant to be.
I dont understand how you think they arent supposed to be together! They are soooo cute together. I want them to be apart for a while and then they will realize they are in love with each other!!!
I don’t know if Dan a Serena are ment to be together. I dont mind Serena being with Nate I agree with Ashley that they would be cute together….but i DONT want to see Dan and Vanessa together at all!!!!! For some odd reason i don’t like her at all.
I agree with Alexa they should be apart for a little while but then maybe see each again just passing in the street or something and then realise they are meant to be with each other! that would be great!!!
I totally agree with Alexa and Ant Kent. They are so cute together! I miss the first episodes like when they went out on their first dates, that was really sweet. They just need some time apart but I bet they’ll get back together :]
I tottaly think Serena and Nate we meant to be. I hated how the writers made him so in love with serena like at the party and then in the next episode he was totally in love with blair. I also think it will be good for the show and the drama factor if nate and serena get together.
They WERE getting kind of boring, weren’t they? I think one big problem in their relationship is that Dan has this idealized version of Serena (as she put it herself, “Dan puts me on a pedestal”), and doesn’t really know of or comprehend the self-destructive “party-girl” she was before. To make matters worse, he is really judgmental and despises the “old Serena”, and it is because Serena knows this that she’s scared to tell him things. While she may like that he may ’see her as a good person’ and make her want to be like that, that kind of expectation can be a burden, which explains why she’d be more comfortable telling Chuck, who can accept her for who she is, her secrets and not Dan.
That’s just my two-cents on their relationship. Dan needs to realize that Serena is and can be a good person, regardless of her past and regardless of even any “bad-girl” behavior she may have in the present.
yes, D/S = boring couple. not so typical of the UES life
Whether they’re right or wrong for each other, Serena and Dan breaking up broke my heart a little bit.
Honestly.
It was quite bittersweet.
As much as you hate to see them
breakup, they were getting boring.
There is much pros as there are cons.
On one hand you have S wanting to become
a better girl because Dan makes her believe she
CAN but on the other hand their relationship
had NO SPARK. GG is all about the DRAMA!
Next high?
S and NATE.
Can’t wait!
Later days!
M.
i was actually sad that D & S broke up until i read this. i realised how boring they actually had become and now im definitely looking forward to Serenate. Dan and Vanessa? Meh. Boring. But Serena and Nate?
Like k.r said im looking forward to seeing them as a couple rather than just sex. i think theyll make an excellent couple. if you go on youtube and watch some of the gg season 1 deleted scenes you can see a clip of serena and nate taking on the first ep and serena tells nate to tell blair he’ll never see her again and he asks why would he ever tell blair that and serena says, “because im asking you to”. its such a bittersweet scene.
OMG!!!
I’m sitting here reading all of these responses and i’m thinking like whats going on people?
I mean Dan and Serena were like the highlight of the show, the best couple hands down! Most people tuned in to see them and wait and wonder what will happen in this new love affair. Serena and Nate, ummm doesn’t sound too good at all…noo
Why? Because Nate is boring, you saw him with Blair, there’s no excitement, he’s just rather dull. He seem like a lost puppy in search of himself. I think them having sex was the highlight of their friendship, but that’s it. They may both have money but that won’t make them a great couple.
Back to Dan and Serena, well I can see that being lied to over and over again could have forced him to question her, and maybe say we need some time apart, but to break up. I was on the edge of my seat like WTF! There are things you can tell your significant other, but there are also things you can’t. Everything does not have to be put on the table unless you want it there. Especially the fact she was involved in the death of someone, even though it wasn’t her fault. And plus they haven’t even been dating that long for that to be the case. I think Serena went about certain things the wrong way, but hey people make mistakes. I just hope they get together in season 2, because I can’t see either of them with anyone else.
i agree that dan and serena should end up together but not before they spend some time apart and work out their issues. nate/serena seem kind of boring to me, i mean they do have certain issues to deal with like the blair issue, but that was so yesterday’s news… i would rather watch the tension between dan and serena and eventually see them fixing their issues, i just think that that would be more interesting than nate and serena.
SERENA ET DAN WERE FAB.
my favourite characters. if your saying they should break up for good then no offence but you CRAZY.
they were the best bit. sooo sweet. i far prefure them to chuck and blaire. who arent really in love they just like the whole secresy bit of it. why cant you see that???? serena and dan were great together and they should get back together. they were oviously amazing together and they were soo sweet. i hope they do. or serena finally tells dan whats happening in her life. then they would be great. xoxo
I think the writers did this because they realized that that couple was getting too boring. At first I thought I did not like them together but then I realized the confliscts on their relationship are just getting started. They looked so good together when they were dancing. So I want them together.
If they are not meant to be together then so be it, but please NO VANESSA AND DAN AND DEFINITELY NO SERENA AND NATE.
S & D?
B & C!
V & N!
Serena and Dan are so amazing together! i love them! Maybe they need to explore outside of each other, but they are destiny together! DON’T try to break them up!!!
S and D had gone through a lot (even Rufus and Lily had to sacrifice for them) that I don’t want to see all those put to waste. If S and D will be breaking apart, I guess S deserves someone better than D… like N for example. N is soooo hot and is emotional and the typical romantic guy out there. Just perfect for S!
D and S never really found each other. I think that they found themselves in eachother.
S was the bad girl who smoke, drank and partied her heart out. D was the quiet romantic guy who daydreamed about S. That little taste of who she was before she came back really shows how much she’s gotten out of her relationship with D. She isn’t failing at school, she doesn’t drink or smoke, and she seems to be getting along pretty well with her family. Dan was good for her… But I think she was bad bor Dan.
He had almost an infatuation with her, that was finally satisfied when they got together. And a bit of her bad side rubbed off on him.
He really loved her (I think) but Georgina and her blackmailing ways drove Serena away from him.
Serena loved him more, and truly cared about him. She didn’t want to burden him with telling him that she KILLED SOMEONE!(And what was up with that? The guy overdosed on drugs… I was expecting something like a shootout or someone getting thrown off a high-rise!) He was already losing faith in her, and automatically jumped to bad conclusions.
I believe that no matter what S will be there for D. Especially if Little J needs help.
And D will be there for S too. Just not as soon.
I totally agree with you Rose on the killing part. I was also expecting something that obviously stated that Serena killed him. It was not her fault that he died!
I honestly don’t see why people like dan/Serena so much, they bore me to death… but w/e to each their own…
IMO Nate/Serena are meant to be… he knows her inside and out, knows everything she’s done, and is, and still loves her… he loves her even with all her flaws, no buts about it…
I do agree they were boring! But I really think Vanessa and Nate were a good couple! though nate’s acting very weird with sooo many girls he is going out with!!!
But S and D were beggining to tire me out!
i love them together but i am kinda glad they broke up so that they can really appreciate the other. and i do agree they got kinda boring after season 1. i think they need to find a way to make the serena/dan couple more interesting.