‘Gossip Girl's' Chuck is the boy you love to hate

Last season on “Gossip Girl,” teenage playboy Chuck Bass tried to force himself on 14-year-old Jenny, take advantage of bad-girl-gone-good Serena and succeeded in deflowering his best friend's girlfriend, the scheming socialite Blair.

When audiences first see him in Monday's premiere of Season 2, he'll be on a beach surrounded by a bevy of bikini-clad babes, who remove their tops just for him (and to, you know, avoid tan lines).

But something funny happened on the way to the Hamptons. Somehow this teenage cad won over “Gossip Girl” fans when no one was looking, despite his bad behavior when they first met him.

His romance with Blair will be the big draw when the show returns, according to executive producer Stephanie Savage. (A photo of Chuck offering up a dripping piece of cherry pie — and the texty tagline “ready4more” — covered the preview screeners sent to the press this month.) By the end of last season, it was difficult not to root for the caustic relationship between him and Blair, whom he earlier discarded and compared to one of his father's Arabian horses: “Rode hard and put away wet.”

How did this happen? Is this Luke and Laura 2.0? So wrong, yet so right?

“He hasn't victimized Blair. That sort of Stockholm syndrome isn't in operation here,” Savage said. “I think of Chuck and Blair as equals. It's much more Glenn Close and John Malkovich in 'Dangerous Liaisons.'”

Chuck, however, is more of a would-be Casanova than a seasoned predator. He's the charming devil at the center of all the intrigues, the go-to guy when something naughty needs to be said — “Who's the sasquatch? He looks like Matthew McConaughey between movies” was one Chuck observation. And he's the most self-aware of the Upper East Side high schoolers: “What we're entitled to is a trust fund, maybe a house in the Hamptons, a prescription drug problem, but happiness is not on the menu,” he told his best friend, Nate, during the series premiere.

“Chuck is the most fun character to write,” Savage said, trying to explain the groundswell of Chuck love. “He's entertaining and observationally smart, he's the friend who says all the things you want to say but can't, and he tempts you in ways, at that age, you want to be tempted.”

She also credits the appeal of Ed Westwick, the 21-year-old British actor who portrays Chuck. Savage, who fought to keep him on the show even when he had not yet been cleared to work in the U.S., said he embodies the perfect combination of “James Spader in 'Pretty in Pink' and the raffish quality of Robert Downey Jr.”

Still, it's hard to forget the way Chuck was introduced, forcibly being shoved off of Jenny in the pilot episode after she text-messages her older brother Dan for a rescue; it's a scene that would have spelled doom for such a character in any other teen drama.

“There will always be people who say, 'Chuck's done these bad things. How could you root for his happiness?' But we don't bring that moral framework to bear on our characters,” Savage said.

That much is true: In only one season, it was revealed that Serena had accidentally killed someone via drug use and that Dan's jealously had led him to cheat on Serena. They quickly forgave each other for those offenses. It didn't take long for Nate to get over Chuck swooping in on Blair, either.

Moral ambiguity propels the best of prime-time's soap operas, making you cheer for cheaters like Gabby and Carlos to reunite on “Desperate Housewives” and for things to work out for a politician and his mistress on “Dirty Sexy Money.” Should it make a difference that the most ardent “Gossip Girl” watchers are teen girls?

Westwick says it does. “You reserve judgment with these characters because they are young enough to change, and you're always aware of that. I think one of the reasons we like to watch these kinds of shows is because we know there's that possibility for change and we want to see it.”

Chuck, like the show's other teens, is a work in progress. “Not everyone got to be multidimensional in that first episode,” Savage said. “You didn't really even see his humanity until Episode 6.”

Then, Chuck was shown to be an only child, seeking approval from his father, a wealthy businessman and womanizer. He later developed a chummy relationship with the show's most altruistic (for now) character, Serena's gay, younger brother, Eric.

Audiences will soon meet his absent mother and find out where she's been all this time.

And, of course, there's the play for Blair, whom Chuck left stranded on a helipad last season. (Spoiler: He'll run into competition immediately.)

Westwick isn't sure the two necessarily belong together. “They're both kind of childish and selfish in their approach to the world. It'd be kind of like fire fighting fire for them,” he said. “In the same way, it's also like two peas in a pod. But I don't know. It would have to be like one of those up and down roller-coaster rock 'n' roll romances, though, wouldn't it?”

Sounds perfect.

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: Giovanni Rufino / AP

Comments

[milquetoast]

What's funny is how "The Hills" is thrown under the bus for scripted crap like this. Nothing real or accurate about it. Hills is infinately more real than this slop- a group that revel in themselves, all the while dressed like fragile poodles! The Hills is a troupe of young actors improvising from the generalities of their director. If this was a program done in New York, it would be applauded from the rooftops and considered the second coming! Since it's a 'vapid' L. A. production New York really has no answer for, it's lambasted! I don't watch "GG", but the time one of the girls had to get out of town on a season finale of The Hills, she drove herself. When a "GG" girl does likewise, she's at the helipad! Lame...

[~Lauren~]

milqetoast ur pretty funny! lol, u think The Hills has the money to do all the lavish things "GG" can? I don't! There's nothing interesting on The Hills because its a boring and lame show.....ugh seriously how old are u? 7? lmfao

[emilie]

Please, Chuck is the boy you love to love.
He's the best character of the show!!!

[milquetoast]

Lauren? (..not Conrad, obviously.) It clearly states that if you are under 13 years of age you may not participate on this board. What I said stands, you haven't been coherent with your statements, and I'm 46. Realize that 'GG', with its desperate ad campaigns- 'OMFG' "Every parent's worst nightmare"- is just another mild program, while The Hills is special in the development of televised culture.

[j]

The reason the hills is scorned for its scripted crap is that it's supposed to be a reality show-- which it's clearly not. Gossip Girl is a fictionous teen drama-- trying to accurately portray the lives of wealthy, old-money Upper East Siders. Some details are exagerated a little is because it's a tv show.
Oh and milquetoast- Gossip Girl is NOT scripted crap!

[milquetoast]

It is. It is scripted crap- for the reasons I stated above. When you look at it realistically, this IS real to people like Lauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge and others. Time is passing with a camera in front of them. THIS IS THEIR LIFE! Anddddd, they don't carry little doggies everywhere they go and they don't dress like poodles. Eat it!

[dani]

Haha wow you think the hills is a good show? Im not saying that gossip girl is great or anything but seriously the hills? could you name a worse show?

[omfg]

i find it slightly disturbing that someone would be comparing a scripted soapy drama like gossip girl to the overdrawn 15 minutes of fame of those embarrassing people on the hills/laguna beach. i'm almost embarrassed for those people "actors" (are they really? i thought they were just spoiled rich kids from orange county. oh wait, they ARE!) who, in my opinion, show the worst type of people in southern california. at least, with gossip girl, they're pretending and at the end of the day, they're not as vacuous and bubble headed as the people on the hills. btw, there's talent that goes into portraying the over-the-top characters on gossip girl. is there really any talent that goes into the "drama" of 20-somethings being upset with each other because someone hung out with someone they other person doesn't like? i'm afraid watching the hills would be hazardous to my health since i'd be rolling my eyes every 5 seconds at the "drama" that comes from these people who take themselves way too seriously. actors? i can't stop laughing at that one.

[milquetoast]

I can't stop laughing at how you signed on. Do you even know what OMFG means? This show has to use this to promote itself? Now that's sad. What else is sad is how the characters don't really turn that 'off'when the cameras turn off. Carrying around little doggies in real life now- and those are the guys! Lke I said before, improvisation. This show, "The Hills", done in New York, would be HAILED as the second coming! You would be saying, "Only real New York would be able to pull this off, the true spirit of improvisation. "The Hills" is still kicking GG's butt when ratings are calculated. What's sad is how Josh Schwartz dumped a show with everything going for it, just to develop crap like GG. Abandon "The O.C." and run away! Hope he's happy now, with B list drivel. At least he developed 'Chuck'!

[jaunted jones]

It may have been the setting to one of her nightmares about Serena replacing her in Mom's affections, but a trip to Henri Bendel to pick up a few things is always a dream--particularly when a private concierge is at your beck and call and a tray of treats from Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar (on the third floor) awaits your visit. (But she may have to stop shopping there now that "Gossip Girl" has caused a sales spike!)

[chicy]

milquetoast, get a life! Go to some "the Hills" site and post your crap out there. You're seriously wasting your time posting in an article about GG because people that come here are mostly fans of the show. What's wrong with carrying a dog? Have I slept for like a century that when I woke up suddenly having a pet is a mortal sin? You don't even know these people to judge them like that!!! Now, who's immature out here? You're judging people for the roles they portray on a show, are you in the right frame of mind? It's just a frigging show it's not like it's porn or something. Ratings-wise I can't deny that "the Hills" is up there but when you see the effects these shows have on culture and fashion then the Hills is lagging behind! The worldwide popularity can not be compared, GG is a hit while most people haven't even heard of the Hills. It has consistently sold on iTunes and its videos are most viewed everywhere!!

[Jane Shannon]

Chuck Bass - probably the unsexines male on television today. OMG, but I am sorry - I can't even watch the show with that strange looking face. Sorry, but he is not cute at all. Recast please!

[mar oliver]

good story....
but...
it's a bad influence to others who will read this...