How the f*** did the Gossip Girl writers take us on such a roller coaster?

How did Jenny and Chuck go from an attempted SA in episode 1 to Jenny willingly swiping her V-card with Chuck in the finale of season 3?

How did the relationship between them evolve to this degree?

Season 3 is when the chaos really unfolded between Chuck and Jenny.

But it’s also the season where Chuck and Johnny intersected in the most meaningful way.

Chuck was at his lowest after losing the Empire Hotel, losing Blair Waldorf, and losing all sentiments of control.

Jenny was equally at her lowest, losing status at Constance, losing her identity as Queen Bee, and losing direction for her future. The truth of the matter is that they became emotionally unstable at the same time.

The writers of Gossip Girl deliberately placed them both in arcs where they fell from grace at the same time.

Chuck felt rejected in abandoned. Jenny felt invisible and unwanted. The inner children and them were screaming loudly how much they didn’t want to feel so broken and isolated.

Their emotional breakdowns were fully in sync, and because of that, as two completely unstable people, they gravitated towards each other.

So let’s decode arguably the most infamous scene in Gossip Girl history. Chuck was alone, rejected, inspiring. Jenny was alone, rejected, and spiraling. Both felt unlovable, unsafe, and unwanted.

The writers created a moment of mutual emotional collapse. It was the classic wrong place, wrong time, wrong mental state trope that created the perfect storm. Jenny was desperate for acceptance, approval, and more than anything else, she was desperate for comfort.

Chuck was desperate to numb his pain with escapism and distraction. Their connection in the bedroom was less about romance and more about desperation, self-sabotage, and self-destruction.

Blair was the one girl Chuck could always run to for validation, but when he thought she was done with him forever since she didn’t show up at the top of the Empire State building to say yes to his proposal, he turned to Jenny to fill the void, simply because she was conveniently present.

The Gossip Girl writers framed the moment as tragic, and far from romantic. And that’s obvious because afterward, they both regretted it immediately.

Their instant regret signaled that they both knew what they had done was morally very messy.

It wasn’t about love and they certainly didn’t feel like they were falling for each other. It was trauma bonding, emotional numbness, and plot escalation.

Check back for more analyses of Chuck and Jenny on LoveTravelBeauty.