no one is better for me than you.

Obviously, none of us know exactly what is going to happen in 5x24. But there are some specs floating around that are just too ridiculous to be left alone. Here goes…

5x24 is named after a book/movie in which the ring is a negative thing. Therefore the ring in 5x24 will be a bad omen.

Ok, so 1) Usually Gossip Girl episodes bear no relation to the film/book they are named after. The rare exceptions are when a text has an obvious link to the show anyway. For example 2x18 The Age of Dissonance was always going to reference The Age of Innocence because Cecily von Ziegesar’s basic idea (and Nate/Serena/Blair love triangle) came from that novel. The Return of the King is a book about hobbits and wizards and elves. Its plot has no link to the plot of our show. It is just a neat title for an episode in which a ring returns.

2) Y’all saw the Harry Winston launch in Shanghai, right? Why would Harry Winston want to connect their brand with Chuck and Blair if CB’s Harry Winston ring turned out to be “cursed”? There are a lot of things that are up for debate, but whether a massive luxury jewellery company wants positive PR is not really one of them.

Chuck will give the ring to Dan to propose to Blair with.

I really don’t understand why any other ship would want that ring. As a die-hard Chuck/Blair fan I would have hated to have seen Chuck propose to Blair with the Vanderbilt diamond. And Nate’s ring for Blair only appeared in one episode, unlike the Harry Winston diamond which was seen/referenced in 3x22, 4x02, 4x20, 5x06, 5x09 and now 5x24. As long as that ring* is around, Chuck/Blair is on the table.

*(With all it symbolises - Chuck showing how well he knew Blair by choosing a ring she completely adored; Chuck getting shot rather than lose all he had left of Blair; Chuck letting the ring go to show he was really letting Blair go.)

Plus if Dan ever did obtain a ring for Blair you know it would have to be from a jewellers next to the site where William Faulkner bought a sandwich or Paul Auster got his hair cut or whatever. No way is Captain Pretentious settling for some insanely gorgeous Harry Winston ring which offers him no (literary) name-dropping opportunities whatsoever!

The ring is coming back to give Chuck and Blair closure.

Huh? Every time the ring has come back, it has actually kept the Chuck/Blair story going. In 4x02 hearing the story of Chuck getting shot to protect the ring meant Blair stopped him from running away for good. 4x20 Chuck gets the ring out of the safe and (yes, in the worst way possible) makes it clear that he has already forgotten about so-dull-we-all-wanted-to-die Raina and wants to spend his life with Blair. Which leads pretty neatly to Blair choosing Chuck in 4x22. In 5x09 hearing that Chuck has let go of the ring seems to physically pain Blair, and obviously it pushes her to start examining her feelings for Chuck because in 5x10 she is reaching out to him again.

If closure was the aim - why bring the ring back at all? Why not just leave it on the Harry Winston steps? Chuck’s shown this year that he can back off and let Blair be happy when he thinks there’s no hope for them as a couple. If the ring - Chuck’s hope of Blair - is back, then Chuck has reason to feel that hope. And so do we.