Everybody Loves Our Ship, S5 edition
Blah, no one likes Dan and Blair together, give 'em viewers a Chuck/Blair scene or everyone will stop watching, can you please stop shoving this misbegotten relationship down our throats, etc.
5x01
"What I LOVED about this episode was everything having to do with Dan and Blair (...). For most of the prior seasons, Dan pretended to have a life but he was really just waiting for Serena to decide it was his week to get her attention. (EN: THAT'S A LIE, DAN WAS ALWAYS AWESOME.) Then BAM! the writers WISELY decided to play the Dan/Blair chemistry and he became part of the hottest non couple on TV. In Blair's time of need, the first person that she ran to (ok Dan was Blair's only friend in the city but still) was Dan. (...) Blair runs to Dan to have him whisk her to the Hamptons so she can break up with Louis over the phone. Really? And then Louis appears. I LOVE that Louis was killing Dan’s short story (at Dan's request) that was to appear in Vanity Fair because it was about Blair. Blair was furious that Dan didn't tell her what Louis was doing, but the whole reason Louis was doing that was because Dan loves Blair and that story would have confirmed it. This is a deliciously twisted triangle! I hope that there is lots more Dan and Blair throughout this season. My dream would be a last ditch confession of love to Blair from Dan right before she walks down the aisle only to have her leave Louis and run into Dan’s arms. That's never going to happen.
(...)
Blair pregnant is not the kind of conflict I want to see. The drama of the many men of Blair Waldorf is ENOUGH! We don’t need babies. She has Louis, the man she should marry, Chuck, the man she can’t stay away from, and Dan(in my opinion), the man she actually loves. Do we really need a pregnancy throw into that? And who’s the father? Chuck? Can we not go down this road? Instead, let's have Blair find Dan's novel and be the only one on the upper east side that supports him. Let's pretend the pregnancy was a really bad dream. Shall we?"
(WHAT A SAPPY PERSON. And cute, they think Blair loves Dan and wasn't forever in epic love with Chuck. I wish I could believe too.)
We Love Soaps
"[S]he takes a cab to Dan's loft (hurrah!) and admits she didn't know where else to go. She reveals that she's going to call off her engagement and will need to clear her head afterwards. Dan - who's still clearly fallen for her - agrees to take her to the Hamptons and grabs his keys in the blink of an eye.
Unfortunately, Louis arrives at that point and explains what's been going on - he's been helping Dan stop the extract about Blair being published. Dan confirms that Louis was protecting Blair, and she's now furious with him instead. She is incensed that he would let her walk away from Louis when he knew what was really going on. She asks what possible reason he could have, but Dan can't quite spit out: "I love you." Maybe later..."
digitalspy
"Blair flips out and flees for the hinterlands, i.e. Dan’s loft. She demands that he take her out of town, which he agrees to immediately, with an adorably lovelorn pout. If those two don’t make out soon we will be very upset. However! Louis was lurking behind the Frosted Glass Door For Lurking, and he pops out, prompting Dan to confess that it’s his fault Louis missed the party. Blair flounces out, never once considering that when someone acts like that much of a jerk on Gossip Girl, it’s almost always because they’re in love."
wetpaint
Dan is less than psyched to get wind that Vanity Fair plans to run his story anonymously, and he worries that it'll hurt Blair. He asks Louis to use his power to stop it, and when Louis is late picking Blair up for the gala, she wants to call off the engagement - and her knee-jerk reaction is to go to Dan and beg him to take her away after she breaks it off. It's by far my favorite moment of the episode - until Louis walks in. Dan admits that he wrote a story about Blair, and that Louis was only late because he was protecting her. Blair is angry at Dan for not saying anything to begin with, and she stalks off with her prince. It's a bummer, but didn't it seem like she overreacted just a bit, maybe because she was hoping for a different outcome?
buzzsugar
5x02
When the priest tells her there's no confession she consoles herself with yelling at a statue of the Virgin Mary instead. But soon someone even more fun to yell at comes along in the form of Dan Humphrey.
All episode everyone is crawling all over Blair in their concern for her fake bulimia, until she finally snaps at Dan that she's pregnant. This leads to a sweet scene at the end of the episode where Blair tells him she thinks the father is Louis (what show do you think you're ON Blair?) and Dan tell her she should find out for sure. (...) "What if I lose everything?" Blair asks sadly. "You'll still have me," Dan answers and hugs her close and smells her hair and writes a million stories in his mind about Claire Walden.
buddytv
"Dan spent the entire hour whining about his book and lusting after Blair … pretty much the exact same thing he did last week.
(...)
“AWWW” MOMENT: Blair goes to Brooklyn to talk to Dan, and he tells her that she’ll never lose him. Cheesy, but nice."
Baltimore Sun
"Dan comforts Blair since he is the only one who knows. "You'll still have me." So cute! Sadly, my prediction that Dan may be in running to be the baby daddy is squashed already. NOOOOOO."
ology
"As for Blair, she's in need of a chat so where else can she head but Brooklyn? She admits that she's going to keep the baby, because whoever the father was it was conceived in love. She also insists that Louis must be the father because she slept with him way more than Chuck (happily, Dan corrects her on this point). Blair's terrified about her dreams being taken away from her, but Dan advises her that she needs to find out the father for her baby if nothing else.
Blair tearfully asks: "What if I lose everything?" and Dan replies: "You'll still have me." And then he hugs her and kisses her on the head and I cry: "Blair! It's Dan you need! Dan should be with you!""
digitalspy
"Blair ends the ep in Dan’s loft and in his arms, as he comforts her over her unplanned pregnancy and its uncertain parenthood. Just make out with him, Blair! He likes raising Eurotrash babies that aren’t his."
wetpaint
Lol, also wetpaint made a video with THE WORST suggestions on how Dan could win Blair over in S5. Watch here for the lulz.
"The final scene between Blair and Dan made our hearts melt. Dan is always there for her and it just seems like these two should actually be together. We are beginning to root for team Dair."
phillyburbs
"Does Dan just bring out the best in people or what? Dan and Blair (or Dair) are back to being friends (...). These two have a very strong and special bond right now. Dan is Blair’s shoulder to lean on, her confidant. He keeps her grounded. They share a touching scene at the end where Dan tells her, “You’ll always have me.” It’s very cheesy, but cute."
screencrave
"Dair Is Here to Stay: We hate to get involved with the "shipper wars," but after that final scene, this is all we have to say: Ten points for Dair!
OK, that's not all we have to say. We were just being dramatic, but holy chills, Batman! While executive producer Josh Safran has said it's "not necessarily romantic" with Dan and Blair, we can't help but find it telling that the first person Blair told about her pregnancy (she is keeping the baby , which was conceived out of love) was Dan, and when she was distraught, Blair turned to Dan again. The final scene in the loft was written to perfection, with a scared Blair asking, "What if I lose everything?" Dan, with complete sincerity, simply answers, "You'll still have me." Blair leaning on Dan and Dan kissing the top of her head? Icing on the cake. Chills. Again. Hands down, it was the best scene in the episode. (...)
Also telling? Safran's "romantic" comment was later clarified by the G.G. writers on Twitter. "A wise person once said: not all romances have to be "romantic," they tweeted "They can be passionate, secret, dark, twisted, fun, fast…or dare we even say it, unrequited. But that doesn't make them any less real." We think it's safe to say the writers proved this sentiment true in tonight's episode. Whether it's with Louis or Chuck, Dan just wants Blair to be happy, which we think proves that his love for her is genuine.
E!Online
"Then Dan utters the best line to ever be said on Gossip Girl..."You'll still have me." They gaze and then she nestles up close to him. When I tell you that I squealed with delight, I'm being hyperbolic. I sat on the couch and squealed and clapped my hands. I have high expectations for my shows, but when I like something I am fully on board. And Blair and Dan is something that I am all about."
We Love Soaps
I'm kinda embarrassed for how bad most of these are (people who want Dan to be Blair's baby daddy are NOT my shipper allies, okay?), but I took what I could get, DON'T JUDGE ME.
Also, another article about how Dan and Blair are the greatest thing that could happen to Gossip Girl. Which doesn't say all that much tbh.
TV Guide: Gossip Girl's Best Non-Couple
"OK, we know we've said it before, but this bears repeating: Dan and Blair take Gossip Girl to a whole new level.
Even though they may not be couple-ish like they were last season, the writers have wisely salvaged the pairing by easing them into the kind of friendship the show needed. Honest, humorous and, of course, peppered with La Waldorf's haughty Upper East snide commentary about their class differences, the mismatched buds are the realest thing going in a world where Serena can land a job in Hollywood by simply having read a book and Elizabeth Hurley wants to do Nate in a stairwell."