Gossip Girl Recap: 100th Episode – "G.G."

This week marked the 100th episode of Gossip Girl, simply called, “G.G.” For me, this show is like an ex that you know is bad for you and there’s a reason you broke up, but suddenly he shows up with flowers and a nice smile and it seems like a good idea to give him one more chance. I had no intention of watching this episode and then I heard that the identity of the show’s title blogger would be revealed and I figured one little date wouldn’t hurt.

Even though I haven’t watched the show regularly since season three, I have caught episodes here and there and I knew the basics of what was going on plot wise. The episode centered on Blair’s fairy tale marriage to Prince Louis and she was all set to walk down the aisle despite the little fact that she was completely in love with Chuck. But she can’t be with Chuck because he almost died in a car accident and Blair made a deal with God promising that if he let Chuck live, she would walk away from him forever and keep her vow to marry the prince.

That has always been one of my many problems with Gossip Girl. The show struck chemistry gold with Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick from the first episode and ever since then, they’ve played a cat and mouse game with viewers. They’ll dangle Chuck and Blair in the previews, put them together for an episode or two and then find a reason to split them up. It’s season five and now God has to take the blame for the split. Okay, then.

But I’ll put aside my shipper bias for a second and focus on some of the show’s other problems. Serena has no direction. Blake Lively is arguably the biggest name this show has and her character is a joke. She’s showed zero growth in five years. Nate is pretty, but pointless. There have been a few episodes where they’ve given him a brain, but those are few and far between. Every character who originated from Brooklyn on the show is terrible. Dan is the most tolerable and that’s saying something because he usually bores me to tears.

This show had the potential to be a jaw-dropping, OMG-filled soap opera and aside from a standout first season and a few really great scattered episodes, it failed on every level. It became formulaic and predictable. Was anyone really surprised at the end of the episode when the camera panned out and it was Georgina penning the famous blog? I doubt it; I knew it would be her from the second I saw Michelle Trachtenberg’s name in the list of guest stars. Someone asked me if I thought the writers planned for it to be her all along or if it was a last minute decision. I’d bet money on the latter because there’s no way any thought was put it that reveal.

I will admit that I was surprised that Blair actually married Louis and then he told her that the marriage would be in name only and she’d have to play her part for the camera until he was ready to be done with her. That was cold and that was the perfect example of the soapy twist that each and every episode of this show could have been filled with if the writers had actually put some effort and creativity into it instead of just doing the same tired plot, week in and week out.

Even though the 100^th episode was disappointing, and frankly, boring, I’m glad I decided to watch it. Now I can say without a doubt that this breakup is going to be the one that will finally stick.