Who do you think the other character Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey) is pretending to talk to while rehearsing his lines on the Gossip Girl set?

Is he talking to Serena, Jenny or someone else?

7, Dan and Serena break up. At least, that’s what the spoilers are saying. And yes, yes, yes, I know that there are a bunch of you who hate me for saying it but it’s true. It needed to happen. The two of them started out with such great chemistry but towards the end were just oh-so-boring. Make a break-up will do them some good.

We’ve all known for awhile that Vanessa has never gotten over Dan… and in the event that we were in danger of forgetting, we had Blair to remind us.

They were the best friends that grew up together. It was only natural that they would fall for each other. Only, the attraction was rarely mutual at the same time - kind of a flaw in a relationship.

Vanessa breezed back into town at the beginning of the season with her sights on Dan. By this time, however, Dan was smitten with Serena and was growing quite accustomed to his new life/social standing. Vanessa remained on the outside.

But now that Dan has seen what really goes on inside those ivory towers, is he ready to go back to his old life? The writers would have us think so. But is a Dan and Vanessa romance really in the cards?

Um, no.

I predict a short-lived fling. Dan will grow to feel comfortable with Vanessa again but ultimately, she’s not what he wants. She is the token girl best friend. Her role is to pine and think about what could have been…

The producers have purposefully pitted Vanessa and Serena as polar opposites. Rich, poor. Blonde, brunette. Fashionable, bo-ho chic. Bad girl turned good, good girl.

It seems to fall on Dan to make a choice about what (or who) is most important to him. The thing is, the finale made it feel like Serena wasn’t important to him. The *almost* having sex with Georgina, a girl that he knew to be a liar? Serena believing that Dan was such a good person that he could never understand the worst in her? It doesn’t make for such a flattering portrait of their relationship.

And all the while, Vanessa is his best girl pal, waiting in the wings.

Hmm. Will he be thrown back together with Serena? Or will Serena find happiness with Nate?

In November, most of you thought that Serena deserved to date Dan. Has that changed?

(Image: Newscom)

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)

Argh! Don’t do it, Dan!

We all know that boys lie about how sexually active they are in high school. But girls? Apparently, Jenny feels the need to brag to the group to feel more important. How far does she say that she went? Check out the trailer:

Jeez, Jenny is so not the girl she used to be…

What does Dan know and when will Jenny find out? I have my guess, you?

Ooh, that Georgina is tricky! Check out the trailer for tonight’s episode:

(Psst - Spoilerish. Don’t read on if you don’t want any news about what’s happening…)

Michael Ausiello at TV Guide is reporting that a male character on Gossip Girl will be outed on the “re-premiere” episode on April 21.

Michael offers clues, including:

• The revelation significantly impacts the lives of at least three people.
• The aftershocks will be felt on both sides of the East River.
• Some viewers will be surprised by the twist, others not so much.
• In the Gossip Girl novels, Dan was known to be a bit of a switch hitter — which isn’t so much a clue as it is a fact. A misleading fact? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

We’ve discussed this before on Gossip Girl Report. I don’t think that the producers will out Dan as a gay character. He’s far too much of a heart throb and an established love interest for Serena.

Here are my thoughts:

1, Erik. This is my top contender. I think we’ll all find out that part of Erik’s insecurity stems from being able to come out to his family.
2, Nate. I don’t know that the producers would really do this but it would make for an interesting twist for Nate to admit that he couldn’t commit to Blair because of his sexual preference.
3, Chuck. No way. The producers would never make the “bad boy” a gay character.
4, Dan. Probably gay in the books. I stand by the idea that the producers won’t go that route - even Penn Badgley agrees.

What do you think?

As a follow-up to a reader’s question about Dan and his sexuality, I found this on www.afterelton.com:

While it’s a brief interview, it’s also the first time I saw a major media outlet ask if the TV version of Dan might follow the path of his literary inspiration. Badgley’s response:

“Yeah, I think he’s straight-up gay in the books. But I don’t think network TV really has the balls to make one of their [teenage] series regulars gay. Let’s say the show builds up to become a big hit, then I think they’d maybe explore it in year three or four. It would be an interesting thing to do. It could bring in a whole different demographic.”

This is pretty consistent with my response.