u/Intelligent-Gap7879

i feel like yall forget that serena’s bad behavior—partying, substance abuse, impulsive relationship choices—is entirely overt and done right in front of the public eye. when she hurts people, it usually stems from sheer thoughtlessness, trauma, and a messy pursuit of validation, rather than a planned desire to sabotage someone.

not to mention whenever she retaliates against someone, she doesn’t wait to do it. she goes straight for the low blows. unlike blair, who plans quietly, serena is reactive, not calculated.

to be fair this is something i’ve always wondered. owning up to your ruthlessness doesn’t make you any better of a person, but it does make you less hypocritical to deal with

what do yall think?

atp idc about all the ads n shit that everyone else is complaining about, i just want the old chat models to return 💔

listen i know a majority of this fanbase doesn’t like because of her victim mentality, lack of accountability, along with her sleeping with nate and dan, i get all of that. as a serena stan, all of that frustrates me as well.

however outside of that, i feel like serena could NEVER win with blair no matter what she did. she was trapped in a “damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t” dynamic with her.

blair constantly demanded serena to step down from everything so she could shine. if serena unintentionally attracted attention, blair would take it as an attack and accuse her of hogging the spotlight.

if serena held back or stepped back to let blair shine, blair would still spiral out of paranoia and accuse serena of being condescending or patronizing.

if serena takes a major opportunity that she either earned or was handed to her, blair would label her as entitled or lazy.

if she rejected it, blair would treat it as a slap in the face.

if serena stayed passive, blair viewed her as a passive aggressive threat. if serena stood up for herself, blair used it as proof that serena was some manipulative bully.

it genuinely didn’t matter whether or not serena was in the wrong because blair would view her as a villain regardless 😭

serena most definitely committed the ultimate betrayal with nate, along with dan later on, but outside those two major holes, the vast majority of their ongoing conflicts came from blair’s deep-seated insecurities, drama-starting, self sabotage, and lack of communication. people say serena was a passive aggressive pick me who stole everything blair had, when in reality this is far from the truth.

in season 1 when eleanor chose to model serena because of her natural charisma, serena immediately stepped down to try and support blair. however, this quickly backfired as eleanor ended up manipulating serena into thinking blair was running late, which is what caused the fallout between the two. instead of blair communicating how she felt pushed out, she claimed serena was hogging the spotlight and unnecessarily lashed out at her, ruining what could’ve been a shared success.

in season 2 blair worked tirelessly to peruse a spot at yale. while serena childishly stopped to her level after being antagonized, she only got a spot due to her nepotism and charisma, and blair immediately assumed serena had malicious intentions. instead of talking to her, she went on a warpath, revealed serena’s biggest secret to the dean, which not only led to her getting her invitation jacked, but a physical altercation between the two.

in season 4 when serena transferred to columbia university, blair viewed the university as a fresh start and tried to get serena banned from attending behind closed doors. once again, this is her operating underneath an assumption that serena was only there to outshine her and ruin her college experience. instead of just telling serena that she was afraid of living in her shadow again, she went straight for the low blow and pushed serena into a fountain for no reason. that right there is a prime example of her treating serena like a threat when serena was simply trying to get an education just like everyone else.

in season 2, eleanor used serena’s it girl status to gain publicity for the fashion show, which of course triggered blair. while she did have a right to feel rejected, she didn’t confront her mother. instead, she took her anger out on both serena AND jenny by sabotaging the fashion show, ruining the seating charts, sending the original models home, and sending serena down the runway in a horrific dress. she then acted aggrieved that serena was angry with her, despite the fact that she was the one who nearly ruined TWO careers.

in the season 2 premiere around the time where georgina returned, serena was desperate to keep the secret of her mistakenly believing she killed pete fairman. now, instead of blair noticing serena visibly unraveling and asking her what was wrong, she got mad that serena was distant and decided to retaliate by taking the microphone at the high stakes ivy league mixer—and publicly announced that serena was a drug addict who had checked into a clinic. this was definitely one of the shittiest things she had done because she didn’t even bother asking for context, she just weaponized her best friend’s past out of spite.

because serena had a history of playing the victim, blair frequently misread her intentions. rather than actually communicating her boundaries or telling serena when she felt left behind, she always chose to create even more problems. and the worse part is that serena was genuinely blind to her own privilege, which caused blair’s resentment to simmer until it exploded.

so while yes, serena was partly a problem, she wasn’t THE problem. she actually tried to support and help blair whenever she could, but blair would always push her out or assume the worst.

one thing i’ve noticed is how people will take blair’s side throughout everything, even when she was in the wrong. most of her fans fiercely defend her due to the fact that serena slept with both hate and dan, which is completely fine. those are boundaries that no friend should EVER cross, and serena should definitely be held responsible for that. but after that, blair crossed so many lines and did things that went way beyond serena’s thoughtlessness. they’re both equally awful, but this is just me pointing out blair’s behavior.

first of all, a lot of people say serena plays the victim while stealing everything away from blair, however this is actually false. the truth is, blair is the queen of playing the victim.

all blair did was plan careful, calculated schemes to undermine serena (even though it wasn’t her fault she was naturally charming) and used her queen bee status and manipulative nature to swipe away everything serena earned. she was a textbook fake friend - constantly using her queen bee status and manipulative nature to sabotage everything serena had and then playing the victim card (acting like serena is the one who takes everything way from her). she swiped away serena’s PR career, the yale opportunity, the fashion show, columbia, etc all while maintaining her “good girl” facade and expecting immediate forgiveness.

not only that, but she bullied serena relentlessly. i’m not talking about like playful jabs or occasional slip ups. i’m talking about her PURPOSELY going below the belt. she lied about serena being a patient at rehab, leaked one of her biggest secret’s to the dean, exposed her affair in season 4, called her a prostitute, the list goes on. and most of these things listed were because she felt the need to knock serena down a peg, not because she actually did anything to deserve retaliation.

she also just treated serena like competition, always expected her to be a passive minion and treated any sign of serena standing up for herself or stepping outside of her comfort zone as a malicious act of aggression. serena rarely ever tried hurting blair intentionally. most of the time she had her own drama going on, was focused on relationships, or actively trying to get her life together.

both characters did things to harm one another, but blair stans need to stop acting like serena was always the big bad wolf. blair was just as bad, if not worse, and the sooner y’all accept that, the faster people will stop fighting over who’s more terrible.

am i the only one who liked these two as a couple in the earlier seasons? i’m on a rewatch so idk everything that happened but so far, it seems like they actually loved each other for who they were rather than the idea of each other

i’m on a rewatch rn and she was genuinely the sweetest in those seasons. she always looked out for everyone, was always there for nate and dan, and her and serena were actually cool with one another 🥹

i’m currently on s3, i don’t remember everything that happened that season but i hope she doesn’t become insufferable by the end

season 3 episode 2 : first of all, i understand her wanting to defer her admission to take a gap year along with searching for her father at the end of season 2. however, what i DON’T understand is why she intentionally sabotaged chuck’s meeting with carter. the first time was an accident, but the second time was deliberate. and as much as i despise chuck, he had a right to tell rufus about brown. if he hadn’t god knows what serena would’ve done.

she even had the nerve to make herself the victim when he was rightfully angry about it :/

just wanted to say that haha