One of the most popular and scandalous, series to ever air on the CW, Gossip Girl was full of relationship drama, high fashion, and backstabbing. The series turned Leighton Meester and Blake Lively into household names as they brought Blair and Serena to life.
For 120 episodes, fan watched while the rich kids of the Upper East Side tried to figure out who was exposing all of their secrets as the mysterious Gossip Girl. Those same fans, as well as critics, can rate the episodes on a scale of 1 (the worst) to 10 (the best) stars on the Internet Movie Database. The top rated episodes just might surprise you.
Valley Girls S2.E24 (8.1)
“Valley Girls” leads off the top ten with a solid 8.1 out of 10 stars. It has two major things in its favor: Brittany Snow and Krysten Ritter. The two played Lilly and Carol Rhoades, respectively, in flashbacks to the 1980s. An episode that acted as a pilot to a spin-off that never happened, it was a nice change of pace for the show.
In the hour, Chuck finally did something nice for Blair, Blair and Nate broke up, and Serena realized she had to make different decisions to avoid becoming just like her mother or grandmother. It was an episode about growing up.
Of course, it’s Gossip Girl, so the scheming and immaturity returned in Season 3.
The Townie S4.E11 (8.1)
“The Townie” is most memorable because it marked one of the first times fans saw Dan and Blair interacting without the influence of the Upper East Side — and they made for one interesting set of allies.
The two spent the episode trying to track down Juliet, giving the audience a glimpse at their great chemistry and banter. They were at their best when teamed up. The hour also gave fans the answer — finally — to just what Serena got up to at boarding school. Since Gossip Girl kicked off with Serena returning from boarding school in the pilot episode, a look at her wild child ways and why she turned things around was a long time coming.
Woman On The Verge S1.E17 (8.1)
The only episode from the first season to make it into IMDb’s top ten, “Woman On The Verge” showed the audience what a nearly rock-bottom Serena looked like.
Serena came face-to-face with her past in the form of Georgina. Georgina knew what happened to push Serena to decide to attend boarding school. She decided to blackmail Serena, and that led to Serena spiraling. Blair recruited Chuck and Nate, despite the tension between the three of them, to help her help Serena. While Serena came to terms with one aspect of her past, Dan got close to Georgina without knowing the truth.
The episode featured a lot of information, but it revealed it in a juicy way that kept the audience guessing.
Pret-A-Poor-J S2.E08 (8.2)
Season 2 began Jenny’s journey to figure out who she really was. This episode in particular saw her start to let loose a little bit.
After meeting a model named Agnes, played by CW staple Willa Holland, Jenny started to look at the world a little differently. Agnes was wild and rebellious, encouraging Jenny to let her work go and party once in a while. That led to Jenny quitting her job working for Eleanor Waldorf.
On the down side, it was also the beginning of a potential relationship between Jenny and Nate, which nobody really wanted.
Last Tango, Then Paris S3.E22 (8.3)
The Season 3 finale was all about consequences.
Dan and Serena hung out all night, putting them on the rocks with their respective partners. Chuck gave Blair an ultimatum, and when he thought she didn’t want to pursue a relationship with him, he sought comfort elsewhere. That comfort came in the form of Jenny, who felt dejected after realizing she didn’t want to be with Damien, but Nate only wanted to be her friend.
Now, it still doesn’t make sense for Blair to banish Jenny from the Upper East Side when Chuck was just as much at fault as Jenny, and that’s probably the one point in the episode that will always grate on viewers, but it did allow Taylor Momsen to take her leave from the series.
Double Identity S4.E02 (8.4)
Season 3 ended with most of the main characters going their separate ways and trying to turn over new leaves. “Double Identity” proved that in the world of Gossip Girl, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
Serena came back from Paris to find both Dan and Nate had moved on from her — and that Dan was raising Georgina’s baby. Blair left Paris as well, leaving her high-heeled shoe behind with a prince, just like Cinderella. Chuck spent most of the episode trying to convince himself, and everyone around him, that he was done with his old life, but Blair convinced him to return to New York.
It was very much an episode about coming home, though not everyone got the homecoming they wanted.
G.G. S5.E13 (8.4)
At 100 episodes, Gossip Girl decided to go big. The episode featured an opening musical number and a royal wedding.
The opening number saw Serena dreaming, with herself as Marilyn Monroe and Blair as Audrey Hepburn. The men in their lives circled them, but Serena lost Dan to Blair. It was most definitely a thinly-veiled metaphor for the rest of the episode.
While Blair had plenty of anxiety about marrying Louis, she was determined to go through with it — even after confessing to Chuck that she still loved him. Chuck just wanted her to be happy. Georgina, on the other hand, wanted revenge, and made sure the whole world knew how Blair really felt. When Blair discovered Louis only went through with the wedding to save face, she called Dan and asked him to help her escape. Dan got to be Blair’s hero instead of Serena’s.
O Brother, Where Bart Thou? S2.E13 (8.5)
When Gossip Girl did a funeral, the drama was just as big as when it did a wedding. The funeral in question was for Bart Bass.
While Lilly avoided grieving by planning the funeral, Chuck took a page out of Serena’s old playbook. He wallowed in alcohol, lashed out at his friends, and tried to use money to make his problems go away. In the end, he ran to Blair, just like Serena used to.
The bulk of the episode featured Gossip Girl’s usual relationship drama, but it also teased Lilly’s secret child.
The Goodbye Gossip Girl S2.E25 (8.6)
High school came to an end in the Season 2 finale. We still have to wonder why Serena chose to attach her graduation tassel to her hair instead of just wearing her cap, but it somehow seemed fitting for her.
In the episode, not everyone was conflicted about moving on. Blair and Dan were both ready to leave high school behind, but Serena was afraid she would become “irrelevant” after a Gossip Girl blast went out during graduation. She planned to unmask the person behind the blog once and for all.
Of course, we know she didn’t succeed in that, but her attempt to do it put a lot of characters' secrets out in the open. It also secured Jenny her spot as the new Queen B.
New York, I Love You XOXO S6.E10 (9.1)
The Gossip Girl series finale has the highest rating on IMDb. We’ll chalk this up to people glad to see some storylines end since so many fans actually hated the reveals of the hour.
This is the episode responsible for getting Chuck and Blair married so Blair wouldn’t have to testify against him. It’s also the episode that revealed Dan was Gossip Girl all along — and Jenny knew when she was banished by Blair. Serena didn’t even care that the person who made her life miserable was the person she loved.
It made no sense, and yet, it was a deliciously dramatic end to a scandalous series.