Today, Sept 19th, marks the 10th year since Gossip Girl aired it’s Pilot episode. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was starting my first year of college. I was excited for this new show based off the book series even though I didn’t read them. I knew about them & my friend was an avid reader of the series.

Ultimately, I was in it for the teen drama and the eye candy. The OC ended a few months before and here was a new show revolving around teenagers in New York, coming from the same creator Josh Schwartz. Also, correct me if I’m wrong, it was one of the first series that helped with the launch on The CW.

It became one of my favorite shows of all time. Before Glee and Pretty Little Liars, I had Gossip Girl. I fell in love with the drama, the cast, the fashion, the set locations, the web of lies, and of course, the “ships”.

I started watching the Pilot episode again a few weeks ago to kick off some GG binge watching and for some reason it gave me so many feels seeing them all practically  babies. It was also proof that I’m old.

Anyways, to commemorate this momentous event, here’s a recap of the Gossip Girl “Pilot”.

“Hey upper east siders. Gossip Girl here and I have the biggest news ever…” the narrator starts. Kristen Bell as the voice of Gossip Girl will always go down as one of the most iconic roles in television. But the star of this first scene isn’t Gossip Girl, it’s Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively). The queen bee has returned to the Upper East Side after a year at boarding school. She’s spotted at the Grand Central Terminal and it’s definitely a spot for a Gossip Girl fan to visit. It’s where it all started!

We’re then graced by the presence of the Humphreys, with Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle) picking up his son and daughter after their vacation with their estranged mother.

But back to Serena. Melanie91, one of Gossip Girl’s trusty sources, isn’t the only that spotted the teenage socialite. Mr. Daniel Humphrey (Penn Badgley), aka lonely boy, spotted the blonde haired beauty and couldn’t take his eyes off her. The Derena ship has started to sail…

What exactly did Serena leave behind? We’re introduced to Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Serena’s so called BFF. While Serena was away, Blair got to play the lead role. With news going around that Serena was back, Blair rushed to her boyfriend Nathaniel “Nate” Archibald (Chace Crawford) to make sure he was not distracted by the news considering the rumors surrounding the BFF and BF’s past hook up. What does that mean for Blair? It means it’s time to give up her virginity to the boy she loves even though he cheated.

But to Blair’s dismay, Serena crashes the party just in time to end that charade. Nate’s happy to see Serena and even resident bad boy, Charles “Chuck” Bass (Ed Westwick) is happy, happy to see more drame enfold. Blair’s happy too. Fake happy. She didn’t even know her BFF was coming home.

After leaving the Waldorf party very abruptly, Serena visits the person she’s really back for, her younger brother, Eric (Connor Paolo). While Serena was away, Eric attempted to take his own life, an event their mother, Lily Van Der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) hid from the public eye.

Amidst the personal drama, these teens still have to attend private school. Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen) is seen working on invitations for the Blair’s annual “Kiss On the Lips” party. It’s her way into the cool crowd.

Nate and his puppy dog eyes thought it was a good idea to visit Serena before heading off to school. As soon as Serena said, “I didn’t come back for you,” it looks like Nate’s world came crashing down on him. I almost forgot how in love he was with Serena.

Nate, Chuck, and Dan are on their way to school. Dan lingers behind as Chuck is  completely misogynistic talking about Serena. As the bus stops, Chuck thinks Dan is following them and Dan points out the uniform indicating he’s in their class, a line you need to pay attention to as it’s repeated again later in the episode.

We’re then taken to the iconic steps of the MET. This is where the popular girls hang out. Blair and her little minions are admiring Jenny’s hand crafted invitations before Serena interrupts. Blair bluntly tells her she’s not invited & it’s weird to think they’re supposed BFFs. Just like Gossip Girl mentions, S & B are going through a power struggle.

Jenny texts Dan for an emergency, a fashion emergency. But Dan finds himself in a pickle when Serena and her brother end up at the same store! It’s quite adorable knowing how he admires Serena from afar. Jenny ends up giving Serena an invite to the party and gets the fashion advice she wanted.

Cut to Chuck and Nate. Nate expresses his concern with sleeping with Blair. In true Chuck fashion, fashion drops jokes and tells him to go for it. At this point, Chuck is the worst.

Serena and Blair finally have time to catch up. Blair finally says what she wants and expresses the lack of trust she has for the other girl. But when Serena pours her heart out wanting things to go back to the way they were and half explains why she left, Blair seems to give in. And all is well between S & B at the Palace.

At the Humphrey residence, Jenny teases Dan about his crush on Serena. She hints at where Serena is and Dan is very quick to leave his sister all alone. Too bad Chuck gets to Serena first and tries to make a move. He thinks that recalling her rendez vous with Nate would convince her to sleep with him. Boy, was he wrong. After Serena runs out, she mauls over lonely boy leaving her phone behind. It’s a Motorola Sidekick!

While Blair is focused on having sex with Nate, Nate thinks it’s finally the right time to tell his girlfriend of his infidelity involving her BFF. He wants space and is starting to think on his own. Mr. Archibald is having none of it, especially since he wants to close a business deal with Blair’s mother. To make his father proud, Nate later apologizes to Blair and fixes the problem. That’s what you get when you have a rich family, I guess.

Dan returns to the Palace to return Serena’s sidekick. He describes himself as Prince Charming to the concierge and when Serena recognizes him, he gets nervous. Turns out he is Serena’s Prince Charming, saving her from her mother and going to the “Kiss on the Lips” party. In an interesting turn of events, Lily doesn’t question why her daughter is hanging with some hoodlum watching Lincoln Hawk, Rufus Humphrey’s band.

But it turns out that Lily knows exactly who Lincoln Hawk is. She visits Rufus and thinks it’s a ploy to get Lily back. I didn’t notice before, but Rufus Humphrey is super sexy. I guess I didn’t notice dads at the time. I was only 18 at the time.

While Dan introduces Serena to his father on their “date”,  Jenny’s at the “Kiss on the Lips” party getting wooed by Chuck. Unbeknownst to Chuck, Jenny sends an SOS to her older brother. Serena tags along and Blair is not happy to see her. She glares at Serena from afar, before Serena runs upstairs with lonely boy. They are able to save Jenny from Chuck and the three leave the party hand in hand. This is the start of their love story. But while a new relationship is starting, a war has begun between S. and B. & C. . Also, Chuck is the absolute worst.

And so begins the drama that is Gossip Girl. I will continue to watch GG and maybe next week another recap will come.

You know you love me.

xoxo,

Adele

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