XOXO - Gossip Girl

I’m going to come straight out of the closet and just say it. I love Gossip Girl.

And if anyone has a problem with that, I don’t care. I have outed myself as a Gossip Girl fan.

I love the bitchiness and the glamour of the spoilt rotten Manhattan elite. I love the decadence and the love triangles. And most of all, I love Gossip Girl who knows everything and is not afraid to spill the secrets.

The Setup

Episodes One kicks off with the return of the super-rich and beautiful Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) to Manhattan’s Upper East Side. We, like the rest of the cast, learn of her return from an internet blog, run by the all-knowing, all-seeing Gossip Girl.

Why’d she leave? Why’d she return? Send me all the deets. And who am I? That’s the secret I’ll never tell. The only one.—XOXO. Gossip Girl.

Serena, a once notorious party girl, has been on a self-imposed exile from Manhattan at a boarding school in New England. Her return surprises everyone, including her best friend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), with whom she has a somewhat competitive relationship.

Serena sleeping with her boyfriend, the super gorgeous Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), does little to help their relationship. Although secretly Blair lusts for the bad boy of the series, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). And to be honest, who wouldn’t, everyone likes a bad boy.

But of course a series about the Manhattan super-rich needs its own Cinderella. Enter Lonely Boy, Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley). Without wealth and coming from Brooklyn, he is a clear outsider, but becomes involved in the schemes of the Manhattan elite, as does his sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen).

Dan fancies Serena and he is not the only Humphrey to have the hots for the van der Woodsen women. It turns out that his father, Rufus (Matthew Settle) used to date Serena’s mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford). The pair briefly rekindle their romance, much to Serena and Dan’s horror, who by this point, are also dating.

As far as I’m concerned, Rufus is the dishiest man in the series and wipes the floor with the younger men.

Six Seasons of Scheming

Gossip Girl first appeared on our TV screen in September 2007 and its 121st and last episode screened in December 2012.

As much as I love Gossip Girl, I’m glad the producers realised it was time to end. One of the worst crimes in TV is to milk a TV series for too long and have it become boring and predictable. Or just downright ridiculous.

During its six seasons Gossip Girl provided us with plenty of scheming and even more bed hopping, but never to the point of tasteless.

For an outsider and a Lonely Boy, Dan did pretty well ending up in bed with not only Serena, but with Blair, his best friend Vanessa (Karen Szohr), onetime girlfriend Olivia (Hilary Duff) and the super-bitch Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg).

His love-interest Serena didn’t do badly either, bedding not only Nate, but his cousin Tripp, too. Nate on the other hand, slept with Vanessa who also slept with Chuck who pretty much slept with the entire city.

Need I go on? Let’s just say that I hope they were all using protection.

The Gossip

But as much as I love all the scheming and bed-hopping, the best thing about Gossip Girl was just that, the gossip.

Always on point and spilling all the secrets, Gossip Girl spares nobody. Everyone is fair game. Here are my five favourite Gossip Girl quotes.

I bet you’re wondering what Gossip Girl is doing up so early. Truth is, I never went to bed. Why waste precious time dreaming when waking life is so much better? (Season 1 - The Wild Brunch)

Spotted: Serena and Nate in a massive display of PDA. And that’s exactly what Dan Humphrey is. Pretty. Damn. Angry. (Season 2 - Summer, Kind of Wonderful)

We hear Little J gave Chuck and Blair a goodbye kiss. Of death. (Season 4 - Easy J)

Everything you ever wanted seems possible. Until you realise, the nightmare’s just beginning. (Season 4 - Shattered Bass)

And of course:

And who am I? That’s one secret I’ll never tell ... You know you love me. XOXO, Gossip Girl