"Gossip Girl": I Know I Should Love You

If you’re a fan of “Gossip Girl,” you know that her signature signoff is “You know you love me. XOXO, Gossip Girl.”

But for me, it’s been more like “You know you should love me…”

After all, “Gossip” is from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the dynamic duo behind my beloved “The O.C.” But for some reason, I just haven’t been able to get behind “Gossip.”

Maybe it’s because it’s too much like my beloved “The O.C.” I mean, think about it. We have a guy from the wrong side of the tracks who falls for the socialite with issues and a fondness for alcohol. There’s the female best friend from the wrong side of the tracks that’s always there for our guy when he needs her. There’s the gorgeous misunderstanding mother with an interesting past of her own. And there’s the rich man who sets his sights on the gorgeous mother while ruling his own family with an iron fist.

Couldn’t Josh and Stephanie have come up with something else?

On second thought, maybe it’s okay that they stick with rerun stories since their one attempt at something original--Jenny’s war with Blair--didn’t make any sense. I mean, think about it. Why would a bunch of rich junior girls from the East Side follow after a freshman from Brooklyn? It just didn’t compute and it wasn’t really worth watching.

What was worth watching was Chuck evolve into an actual human being. You may remember that I was totally disgusted by him after the premiere and honestly, I found him hard to watch for most of the season. But then a few weeks ago, Chuck started to change. He started becoming an actual friend to Serena and an older brother to Eric. And last night, the evolution was complete as Chuck admitted he was in love with Blair and found a romantic way to get her back. I actually clapped when they kissed because they’re the only couple on the show I care about.

Don’t get me wrong. Dan and Serena are all right and everything, but I just can’t handle a Ryan-Marissa redux considering all the horrible turns that pairing took before they mercifully killed Marissa…

So you can imagine I was not happy about how the episode turned out. But in all honesty, I should have known better. I’ve been down this road with Josh Schwartz before..

Warning: If you have not seen Monday’s episode of “Gossip Girl,” stop reading now…

In one brief moment, all of the good will “Gossip” had built up in me, completely disappeared as after hearing his dad tell him how a relationship with Blair would end his partying ways and make him respectable, Chuck turned his back on Blair and set his sights on another girl.

And suddenly, flashbacks of that horrible night when Schwartz destroyed “The O.C.” rushed into my head…

So, Serena is going to end up with Nate, Dan is going to end up with Vanessa and I am going to end up watching something else Mondays at 8 next year.

I just can’t go through this again…

XOXO