You know you love me. xoxo. Gossip Girl.

It’s your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite. It’s a convoluting and thrilling story about privileged upper-class adolescents in the Upper East Side.

It’s Gossip Girl.

The TV show “Gossip Girl” came out in 2007 when I was in high school. The story is my all-time favorite—it inspires my fashion senses, it changes my taste in men, and it plays a big part in how I take my outlook on life.

Surely you think I’m exaggerating. How can a teen drama be monumental? I’ll tell you—A good story does wonders.  

The storyline of Gossip Girl is NOT simple, but it is focused.

Look at this intertwined relationship web. Nevertheless, the story simply focuses on the complex relationships happening with the five main characters – Serena, Blair, Dan, Chuck, and Nate – in their school lives, love lives, business lives, illegal lives, and private lives. This is a time where I think “simple” is not the right word to describe Gossip Girl. Instead, the complexity and sparks in each episode construct its memorable storyline. If you don’t pay attention, you get lost. So I always watch carefully. I rewatch it when necessary.

Heroes are hidden villains and villains are secretly heroes.

From intimate relationships to business schemes and family drama, there is always someone you want to root for to win a fight. This “someone” changes frequently as the story unfolds, because heroes sometimes slips for personal gain like being lured for money, publishing rights, or fame. On the other hand, villains sometimes sacrifice themselves for their greater lovers. The constant back-and-forth rooting system engages me to pay close attention to what’s going on. But I know in the next few episodes, the person I’m rooting for will change again.

The lives of Manhattan’s elite is somewhat relatable.

As a teenager in an all-girl boarding school, I could relate to some aspects of Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf, a girl who has it all but wants more. She loves to be in charge and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. However, “deep down she’s a kind of girl who is deeply insecure, but like many other rich kids, she masks that with mean remarks and lots of judgement towards those who aren’t as well-off or fabulous as she is,” as Screen Rant defines. Other than extravagant purchases, parties, and luxurious penthouses, Blair’s selfishness, insecurity, and jealousy are all portrayed in the main storyline. When I watch Blair, I feel like somehow I see myself. I would put myself in her shoes and wonder what I would do in her situation.

Engaged with the expectation of unexpected surprises.

To keep the story moving, there is a plot twist or a surprise reveal in almost every episode. Just when you think, “How much more can you twist?” There comes another. In the episode The Sixteen Year Old Virgin, Chuck Bass, the son of a self-made billionaire who owns the New York Palace Hotel, was bonding with her long-lost biological mother Elizabeth. Things were going well until it was later revealed that Elizabeth was scheming against Chuck to get the hotel ownership under her name. Is Elizabeth Chuck’s real mother? I couldn’t care less at that point, because all I wanted to know was how Chuck planned to get the hotel back. It is interesting how the story shifts the audience’s thoughts from focusing on the biological mother to fighting back for the ownership of a hotel. In every episode, I expect these unexpected surprises, and they keep me hooked.

The story is inspiring in every way—from fashion to life struggles.

The story follows the main characters from their high school lives to their adult lives. Personal struggles, career choices, and relationship dilemmas happen. When Serena Van der Woodsen chose to take a gap year after high school to get job experiences, It prompted me to think if I should spend more time thinking about my career choices. When Blair Waldorf enrolled into college and took over her mother’s fashion line, it made me think if I could handle both school and a passion-turned-business at the same time. Many of the life decisions from the show have indirect influence on my outlook of life, making me who I am today and where I am standing now.

Gossip Girl is my teenage memory. Gossip Girl is my adulthood guilty pleasure. After 6 seasons and the last episode aired in 2012, it’s now confirmed that the sequel series will release in 2021. So, are you ready to get more stories into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite?

I know you love me. xoxo. Gossip Girl.