Gossip Girl "End of the Affair" Postmortem: Burning Questions Answered!

[WARNING: The following story contains major spoilers from the midseason premiere of Gossip Girl, "The End of the Affair." Read at your own risk.]

Monday's episode of Gossip Girlwas fittingly titled "The End of the Affair" — so if you're familiar with the Graham Greene novel or the Julianne Moore-Ralph Fiennes film adaptation, you might have guessed what was going to happen to Chuck and Blair post-car accident.

Faced with the possibility of losing Chuck, Blair made a deal with God: Save Chuck and she'll stay away. Immediately after, she's told he's emerged from his coma. "When we start a season, we talk about what works have inspired us as writers. This year, there was The Talented Mr. Ripley and The End of the Affair," Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Safran told TVGuide.com. "We knew were going to tell this story."

Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester: I want the Blair and Dan relationship to play out

Now, it's doubtful Blair will meet her maker (a la Affair), but Monday's episode has left us with several burning questions as to what's to befall our hapless Upper East Siders. Safran, as always, did his best to answer tease:

OK, Blair's found God — now what? "It's a surprising revelation, but it makes sense that she has faith," Safran says of Blair's, ahem, Hail Mary play for Chuck's life. He noted that of all the characters on Gossip Girl, she's the one who has been exposed to religion, via her mother's marriage to Cyrus if nothing else. And God won't just be making a cameo, either. "When her faith is tested, it takes her to a new place. She's gone through this terrible thing, losing this child, feeling in that moment she had to make a deal with God ... We felt this was a new place to go to for her, one that will take her somewhere we've never been with the character."

Reasoning aside, Blair's made her choice. Does that mean Chuck is doomed to fall back into his playboy ways? "All the growth he's made is definitely going to be tested," Safran says. "Will he slide back? He'll be struggling."

Michelle Trachtenberg returning to Gossip Girl

We've seen jealousy bring out a dark side to Louis. Should we expect it back anytime soon? If the royal wedding doesn't happen, it won't be because Louis has another freak-out session. The paranoid prince is gone. "He and Blair maybe lost their way, but he feels like they have it back," Safran says. "He's going into the wedding believing that. He's definitely not the jealous, suspicious Louis he was."

Who's out to get Nate? Here's one suspect you can rule out: Nate's former boss and lover Diana Payne. Safran says that while Elizabeth Hurley will be back in this second half of the season, "Diana played no part in causing the accident meant for Nate." So who could be after The Spectator's new editor-in-chief, and why? "Nate's got enemies, but he doesn't quite know who they are yet," Safran says. "The answer hits closer to home than Nate would like."

Gossip Girl has seemingly aligned herself with Nate — are we going to see her? Well ...Safran doesn't say no. "I can't answer if we'll ever see her, but she's a big part of the story now," he says. "Diana wanted to take her down, and now Serena is after her."

Gossip Girl Josh Safran: Blair has chosen her guy

Speaking of ... Serena's back to making googly eyes at Dan — is there hope for them to rekindle that relationship, even while he's pining for Blair? Safran says the series' 100th episode (revolving around Blair's wedding day and airing on Monday, Jan. 30) contains some answers. "Just as the writers looked back at what's happened over the last 99 episodes, we thought, maybe so should our characters. Serena will be going back and revisiting her history, and you know, you see things a little more clearly with hindsight being 20/20," Safran says. "Their story is about to return, but maybe in a new way because while Serena is looking back, Dan might be looking forward."

Dan mentioned that he's already following up Inside with a second book. Are we going to hear anymore about it? You better believe it. "His second book is going to be very integral to the second half of the season," Safran says. "If his first book ruffled a few feathers, this one will ruffle a lot more."

You mentioned The Talented Mr. Ripley is part of the framework for the season. Should we then assume we haven't seen the last of Ivy, who we last saw high-tailing it out of the hospital believing she had caused the car wreck? Ivy will be back — especially now that Lily and Rufus have unknowingly stumbled upon the real Charlie Rhodes. "That was the introduction of the real Charlie — and it's not the last you'll see of her," Safran says. "She's going to be surprised to find herself pulled into the drama."

What do you think will happen on Blair's big wedding day? Who should Dan be with? Leave your theories in the comments below and let's discuss!