I tuned in for the first few episodes of the series, hoping to find in it a new guilty pleasure. I was instantly enamored of Ed Westwick, the actor who plays Chuck Bass, but found him to be sadly wasted in a badly written and pretty unwatchable show.
The action really only came to life when he was onscreen, which wasn't often enough. The worst part was that you could see that there was a ton of potential for Ed to shine in the role, but they were only letting the merest hint of it end up onscreen.
Whereas once upon a time I'd sit through pretty much anything if it had a guy I liked in it, I seem to have developed some standards over the past few years, or at least just a very low tolerance for bad teen dramas.
Still, when I heard that the show (which is based upon a series of young adult books in which some of the leading male characters are gay or bisexual, including Chuck himself) was writing in a gay character in the form of Serena's younger brother Eric, I tuned in for his coming out episode, hoping to find that time had improved things.
It really hadn't and I wasn't overly impressed with the gay storyline, so I tuned out once again, certain that it would be for good this time.
Then came news of the impending kiss between Ed Westwick's Chuck and another male character, and I knew that even though I'd hate myself for it in the morning, I had to watch.
Which brings us, finally, to last Monday's show. It started off on a good note, I thought, with a black and white homage to All About Eve, complete with Ed Westwick in a tuxedo looking unbelievably, breathtakingly hot. My first thought was: 'God, why don't I watch this show every week?!'
This feeling lasted while Blair and Chuck were onscreen, but faded instantly when the focus shifted to Serena and Nate (though Chace Crawford is still so very, very pretty) as they talked about an election and storylines that I didn't really care about it.
It didn't get any better and I soon started fast forwarding everything that didn't involved Chuck, which turned out to be pretty much the whole first half of the show, other than the opening scenes. Apparently they're still wasting Ed Westwick's talents in a shocking fashion!
The fun truly started when, for plot reasons that don't really even need to be gone into, Chuck set out to seduce another man at Blair's request. Watching Ed Westwick go into seductive mode would be enough to make me go weak in the knees even if he'd been working his charms on a woman, so you can imagine the effect it had on me to see him turning on the charm with a guy!
I loved the way that his potential lover, played by the incredibly lucky Neal Beldsoe, was running his fingers through Chuck's hair as they talked (picture borrowed from Superherofan):
Some guys really do have all the luck. I would seriously have paid them to be the one doing that! I have to wonder, again, if this was the role that Van Hansis tried out for on the show? If so, It's probably better for me that he didn't get the part, because I think my brain would have just shut down completely due to the sheer hotness of watching Van run his fingers through Ed's hair and then kiss him!
When Chuck's target moved in for a kiss, our Mr. Bass stopped him, saying that he 'wasn't that kind of girl'. After a bit more of the demure act (which doesn't suit Chuck in the least), Bledsoe's character got his kiss:
Sadly, it was very short, not exactly the sort of thing that sets the screen on fire. Still, the seduction scene leading up to it was nice, and I think the whole fingers in the hair thing was downright hot.
Blair then stormed in to confront the guy and break it up, which Chuck had expected her to do before he was kissed! Apparently, she'd secretly promised the guy a kiss from Chuck in exchange for letting her give a toast at a college event, but I don't really know the details since Chuck wasn't in those scenes.
After Chuck's well kissed new friend had made his exit, Blair made up an excuse for being late and apologized to Chuck:
Blair: Are you upset because you kissed a guy?
Chuck: I'm upset because I kissed somebody that wasn't you. You really think I've never kissed a guy before?
Chuck: I'm upset because I kissed somebody that wasn't you. You really think I've never kissed a guy before?
That, I think, was the most interesting part of the whole episode! I don't know if they'll ever go anywhere with that, story wise, but it was still a nice touch and Ed delivered the line perfectly.
There wasn't much else for Ed to do in this episode, though, which was a shame. Honestly, I'd love to watch a show that featured Chuck Bass as the lead character, with some Blair thrown in for good measure and the rest of the cast written out.
At any rate, I'll be tuning out again, probably for good. Of course, if there's any further hint of some Chuck-on-Guy action, well, you know my motto: Look for me wherever Ed Westwick is making on with another man onscreen, I'll be there.
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