gossip girl (bookverse)
eeeee!
Through the last quarter of the book I was chanting "endgame Blair/Serena endgame Blair/Serena endgame Blair/Serena..." and when they cralwed into bed with Nate I briefly wondered if there would be for real endgame poly OT3, BUT THENthere is ACTUAL LEGIT 100% FOR REAL CANON ENDGAME KATI/ISABEL shooting Blair and Serena knowing looks re: always each other, and then they both ditch Nate to have adventures with each other. It is... queerbaity as fuck but that is as close to actual endgame Blair/Serena as I was expecting, and I am surprised and pleased by the canon Kati/Isabel.
The other things I was worried about also worked out -- we got Jenny back once her time at Waverly was over, and Dan and Vanessa ended... hopefully, unsurprisingly but satisfyingly, and honestly, as I think about it, the coolest and most surprising thing about the end of this book series is that it is 100% a kissing book, soapy and drama-ridden and all about interpersonal relationships... no one ends in a relationship. Once the break-ups started it was clear that was where it was headed, but it's still really surprisingly satisfying that everyone (except maybe Nate, geez) is their own person and is off to have adventures on their own. Dan/Vanessa is the closest to ending in an OTP, and they also (as ever) have the strongest plans re: their personal ambition.
And everyone (.... except maybe Nate, geez) grew up. Jenny isn't an adult yet, obvs., but she's less starstruck than she used to be and SHE is the one who breaks up with NATE, because she has changed a lot.
Dan... has stopped being such a goddamn flake, maybe? He is more solidly sure of who he is than he was in senior year.
I like that Vanessa is still as ambitious and motivated and independent as ever but also is able to evolve as a person and she has turned herself into less of a cliché. Like, she adopted the persona on purpose and cold-bloodedly in high school and it served her really well and she has no shame about that, but she also cares less about appearances than she did.
Serena's growth into a person who reads books for pleasure actually makes a lot of sense to me. She continues to be smart but not especially ambitious -- her graduating from Yale 2 years early is eye-rolly (taking a leave of absence from school to go globe-hopping would have worked just as well, but I guess the spectre of graduation and being forced to enter the real world was necessary in order for her to actually make a decision (maybe this is why Nate, a year behind in school, still hasn't. geez.)
Chuck's evolution into a human is just something for which I'll willingly suspend disbelief because he's more interesting this way.
And Nate... I guess Nate got his happy ending at the end of the regular series, sailing off into the sunset. And he has grown up a little -- fewer drugs, more motivation -- and it is okay for a person not to have figured out exactly who they are at age 21. Still, I roll my eyes at his incredible, breathtaking passivity.
BLAIR/SERENA ENDGAME. Serena digs her fingernails into Blair's back and meows at her (this is less shippy in context but STILL) and then they go off to have adventures together.
ten year reunion sequel pls? (Except I know that a canonical sequel would probably not have an explicitly femslash ending, alas.)
Also at DW: http://wisdomeagle.dreamwidth.org/1203137.html. Comment here, or join the conversation there, where there is/are
comment(s).
Through the last quarter of the book I was chanting "endgame Blair/Serena endgame Blair/Serena endgame Blair/Serena..." and when they cralwed into bed with Nate I briefly wondered if there would be for real endgame poly OT3, BUT THENthere is ACTUAL LEGIT 100% FOR REAL CANON ENDGAME KATI/ISABEL shooting Blair and Serena knowing looks re: always each other, and then they both ditch Nate to have adventures with each other. It is... queerbaity as fuck but that is as close to actual endgame Blair/Serena as I was expecting, and I am surprised and pleased by the canon Kati/Isabel.
The other things I was worried about also worked out -- we got Jenny back once her time at Waverly was over, and Dan and Vanessa ended... hopefully, unsurprisingly but satisfyingly, and honestly, as I think about it, the coolest and most surprising thing about the end of this book series is that it is 100% a kissing book, soapy and drama-ridden and all about interpersonal relationships... no one ends in a relationship. Once the break-ups started it was clear that was where it was headed, but it's still really surprisingly satisfying that everyone (except maybe Nate, geez) is their own person and is off to have adventures on their own. Dan/Vanessa is the closest to ending in an OTP, and they also (as ever) have the strongest plans re: their personal ambition.
And everyone (.... except maybe Nate, geez) grew up. Jenny isn't an adult yet, obvs., but she's less starstruck than she used to be and SHE is the one who breaks up with NATE, because she has changed a lot.
Dan... has stopped being such a goddamn flake, maybe? He is more solidly sure of who he is than he was in senior year.
I like that Vanessa is still as ambitious and motivated and independent as ever but also is able to evolve as a person and she has turned herself into less of a cliché. Like, she adopted the persona on purpose and cold-bloodedly in high school and it served her really well and she has no shame about that, but she also cares less about appearances than she did.
Serena's growth into a person who reads books for pleasure actually makes a lot of sense to me. She continues to be smart but not especially ambitious -- her graduating from Yale 2 years early is eye-rolly (taking a leave of absence from school to go globe-hopping would have worked just as well, but I guess the spectre of graduation and being forced to enter the real world was necessary in order for her to actually make a decision (maybe this is why Nate, a year behind in school, still hasn't. geez.)
Chuck's evolution into a human is just something for which I'll willingly suspend disbelief because he's more interesting this way.
And Nate... I guess Nate got his happy ending at the end of the regular series, sailing off into the sunset. And he has grown up a little -- fewer drugs, more motivation -- and it is okay for a person not to have figured out exactly who they are at age 21. Still, I roll my eyes at his incredible, breathtaking passivity.
BLAIR/SERENA ENDGAME. Serena digs her fingernails into Blair's back and meows at her (this is less shippy in context but STILL) and then they go off to have adventures together.
ten year reunion sequel pls? (Except I know that a canonical sequel would probably not have an explicitly femslash ending, alas.)
Also at DW: http://wisdomeagle.dreamwidth.org/1203137.html. Comment here, or join the conversation there, where there is/are
comment(s).