It may be seven years since the last episode aired, but that doesn’t stop us from repeatedly binge-watching our way through all six seasons, again and again.
Photo: PA
If you’re also now on your tenth viewing of Gossip Girl, you might notice things each time around which you hadn’t before, and wonder how did I miss that?
But there are some things we can’t help noticing each time round - like how utterly ridiculous some of the storylines are. Whichever one just sprung into you mind, it will probably be on this list, because there are a few which we can all agree are simply bizarre.
Chuck and Victrola
The overall concept of Chuck investing in a bar wasn’t anything we wouldn’t expect.
Afterall, with a long history of using hard drugs and alcohol, and frequently flouncing about smoking hash like that’s completely legal, it’s not really a surprise he wanted to pursue a career around it. What was more bizarre was the fact that he was definitely 17 years old when all this went down.
Then again, anything kind of goes when you’re Chuck Bass.
Bart Bass comes back to life
Bart Bass’ (first) death was pretty shocking. But we could never have guessed that there was going to be a storyline involving him being alive the whole time. As if this wasn’t confusing and bizarre enough, his (actual) death was also pretty crazy.
Blair and Dan's relationship
There were some strange relationships throughout Gossip Girl, most of them being Serena and a random guy she found on the beach or something. But the one with the biggest question mark(s) over it was Blair and Dan. What were the writers thinking?
We cringed pretty much the whole way through the episodes when this was blossoming. Nothing felt right about Blair and Dan as a couple, or even friends for that matter.
The Duchess and the step-son
This was a really difficult storyline to keep up with from start to finish.
'The Duchess' Catherine Beaton, was sleeping with Nate but then ended up paying him to continue doing so, but she was also sleeping with her step-son (Marcus), who was pretending to be American when he was actually British to impress Blair who he was also sleeping with. And then the whole thing came out and it turned out that it was all a big scandal, ending with blackmail by Blair and the Duchess and Marcus banished.
Serena and Dan share a sibling
As if Serena and Dan’s on-then-off-then-on again relationship wasn’t complicated enough, what with their parents once having a relationship with each other back in the day, oh and then again whilst S and D were in a relationship, then got married and split up again (keeping up?), the writers really threw a curveball in with this one...
What was the most bizarre part was that it turned out somewhere along the line that they shared a long lost brother. But this wasn’t enough to freak them out and end the saga once and for all. Nope, it was pretty weird for a bit, but they soon forgot all about it and never mentioned it again, and in the end they got married.
Chuck’s Mum
This was just exhausting. If you successfully kept up with everything that went on here without having to rewatch it, then you deserve a medal.
From the first series we are led to believe that Chuck’s Mum died giving birth to him, and therefore Chuck carries a lot of guilt around for supposedly ‘killing his mother’.
But it turns out what we believed to be true, is of course way more complicated than first meets the eye. Diana Payne falesley claims she’s Chuck’s mother, the same Diana Payne that is sleeping with his best friend Nate, then it turns out she’s lying, a hotel theft is involved (a literal hotel), and an affair between Chuck’s mother and uncle. Then we go full circle and it turns out Elizabeth Fisher was Chuck’s mother all along.
Lily's cancer
Lies and deceit seem to be the main focal point of all the crazy storylines throughout Gossip Girl. And Lily’s cancer storyline is just as ridiculous.
It becomes clear that Lily is away a lot and is hiding something, and that reason - we later find out - is because she has cancer. But she’s been treated by her ex-husband, the same ex-husband that left her, Serena and Eric and was absent when they grew up. Anyway, he’s been treating Lily in a hotel room somewhere, because that's normal.
But then it turns out that Lily never even had cancer, it was all a ploy to get her to spend less time with Rufus so she would eventually fall back in love with Dr Van Der Woodsen and they could live happily ever after. Which somehow works...
Blair and Jack's rendezvous
This is one of those strange sub-plots that we quickly forget about, but is still makes us feel slightly uncomfortable.
Blair sleeps with Chuck’s uncle quite early on, and although it is mentioned several times throughout the rest of the show, it doesn’t seem to have the impact we’d have expected when it comes to her relationship with Chuck.
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