Waldorf's 17th-Birthday Party Research Paper

So what was the best part of Blair Waldorf's 17th-birthday party? The fun Asian theme? No. The Guitar Hero smackdown between Serena and Vanessa? Not quite. Any scene between Blair and Chuck? Most definitely yes. As cute as Dan and Serena are, Blair and Chuck are my new favorite couple. And they're not even officially a couple... yet. Or possibly ever.

Now we know for certain what some of you suspected last week: Chuck likes Blair. As in, really likes her. To the point where he can't sleep, he can't stop thinking about her, and for the first time he feels this unfamiliar "fluttering" feeling in his stomach. It was surprising how vulnerable he let himself be in front of her. I loved Blair's reaction to that, when she was finally waking up
His new late-night walking buddy Jenny took it upon herself to help patch up her parents' crumbling marriage. After learning of her mother's affair last week, she brought her mom home, so we finally got to meet Alison Humphrey. Apparently, Alison made a lot of sacrifices for Rufus' music career early on in their relationship, and recently she discovered that she needed some "me" time. She probably didn't have a whole lot of time as a young adult to find herself, because from the looks of things, she and Rufus must have gotten married and starting having their kids at what, 18? (Seriously, Alison and Rufus look like they could be playing Dan and Jenny's older siblings instead of their parents, and the same could be said about Nate's mom.) But Alison and Rufus make a pretty couple, so I'll let that go. At first, Rufus seemed rather hurt and unforgiving (as was Dan), but by the end of the night our favorite art dealer/rocker was in a very forgiving mood. So what does this mean for the state of the Humphrey marriage? Will Alison be moving back with her family? I'm not sure. I feel like we still don't know much about Alison yet. She seems a little... flighty. But maybe she's sincere about getting this need to explore out of her system. I guess time will tell. But for the moment, Alison and Rufus seem pretty happy, as does
OK, I'm overstating things a bit. That opening scene with the three of them in the restaurant was the definition of awkward, and Vanessa was getting annoying again, especially when she invited herself to Blair's party. But just as Dan hoped, she and Serena did eventually bond. Yet there's something about Vanessa — she comes off as very mature, always offering some sage observation. And her only flaws are that she's annoying and overly pushy. But this usually works out for her in the end anyway (like at the party she tagged along to last night). Everyone around her appears to be so much more realistically flawed, and that makes her come off as a little too perfect and one-dimensional. Maybe this is because she's a newer character on the show, and, just like Alison, we still need to get to know her