The 10 most shocking moments of Gossip Girl

In the golden age of TV revivals, it’s only fitting that hit young-adult drama series Gossip Girl – which aired from 2007-201. Just as the original show, the 2021 version, with the same name, revolves around a group of attractive, over-privileged and fashionable high school teens in Upper East Side New York, and there are plenty of shocking moments.

They throw wild and flashy parties, dress in designer outfits from head to toe, and they disregard authority. For those reasons, their spiteful teacher Kate Keller (Tavi Gevinson) and some of her colleagues start an Instagram page called Gossip Girl to terrorise “it-girl” Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander) and her minions.

Gossip Girl operates like a sensationalist blog and paparazzi mixed into one: The teachers stalk the “Calloway Cartel” and invade their privacy to an extent that they take pictures of them when they’re half naked and post them on the Instagram page. The followers, on the other hand, find satisfaction in seeing that Julien and her circle’s lives aren’t so perfect after all. Before they know it, the Calloway Cartel is losing their influence and the power is back in the teachers’ hands – or so they think…

Here are 10 shocking moments in Gossip Girl reboot.

Warning: spoilers ahead. Stream all episodes of Gossip Girl 2021 on Showmax before reading!

1. The big reveal

When the pilot episode opens, Julien’s supposed estranged half-sister Zoya (Whitney Peak) moves to The Big Apple after she’s awarded a scholarship at the Constance Billard. She ignores Julien when they walk past each other in the hallways because they can’t stand each other. But it’s all a façade. It turns out that Julien and Zoya have been in contact for 10 years.

And there’s more: Julien paid a staff member at the school to award Zoya the grant so that the sisters could secretly forge a bond because their fathers despise each other, and they want their daughters apart. What’s worse is that Gossip Girl airs Julien and Zoya’s dirty laundry on the socials for everyone to see.

2. Mission impossible

In the original series, the Gossip Girl blog was run by a student, and they set a nasty feud between besties and Queen Bees Serena (Blake Lively) and Blair (Leighton Meester). In keeping with the theme, the new Gossip Girl pits Julien against Zoya. The battle lines are drawn between the sisters in episode 2 when Julien discovers through Gossip Girl that Zoya is on a date with Julien’s ex-boyfriend Obie (Eli Brown). Consequently, Julien and her mean-girl friends Luna (Zión Moreno) and Monet (Savannah Lee Smith) conspire to get Obie back by destroying his romance with Zoya.

3. The love triangle

If there’s one thing about destructive student Max (Thomas Doherty), it’s that he’ll do and say whatever he wants, and he doesn’t care about the consequences. In episode 2, he flirts with his teacher Rafa (Jason Gotay) and thank goodness, he rejects Max’s romantic advances. With attempts to make Rafa jealous, Max kisses one of his best friends Aki (Evan Mock), who’s very much in a relationship. As if that’s not enough drama for one night, Max seduces Aki’s girlfriend, Audrey (Emily Alyn Lind), and they land in bed.

4. Max names and shames

An episode of Gossip Girl wouldn’t be complete if Max didn’t cause a scene. And episode 3 isn’t any different. First, he exposes his father Roy (John Benjamin Hickey) cheating at a party. Guilt-ridden and devastated that he might’ve ruined his parents’ marriage, Max wreaks more havoc when he walks up to Aki and Audrey, and he discloses their infidelities right there and then. Max tells the couple that he has been intimate with them both, leaving Aki and Audrey with their jaws dropped to the floor.

5. Reema takes the fall

Considering that Gossip Girl is gaining media traction and parents are concerned about the damage that it might create, the school and law officials go on a hunt to catch the culprit behind the page. So Kate and the teachers find a scapegoat. They plot against one of their own: Reema (Rana Roy) in episode 3. She admits to being behind Gossip Girl, and rather than throwing the other teachers under the bus, Reema is fired, and she leaves the school’s premises with her head hanging low.

6. The sister showdown

Zoya retaliates in episode 4. When she learns that Julien is organising a party, Zoya arranges one of her own. In a twist, Zoya and Julien’s fathers, Nick (Johnathan Fernandez) and Davis (Luke Kirby) respectively, merge the parties in efforts to bring their daughters together, but it doesn’t go as well as the men expect as Julien shows everyone a humiliating video of Zoya that was sent by Gossip Girl.

7. Rafa: the bad teacher

It isn’t long until Rafa falls for Max and the pair begin a sordid student-teacher affair in episode 4. But their tryst is short-lived as Max soon learns that he isn’t the first student to have slept with Rafa. Feeling used, Max dumps Rafa and to get back at Max, Rafa spreads a rumour on Gossip Girl that Max has a sexually transmitted infection. Later, Max settles the score with Rafa in the cruellest manner.

8. Davis is a sexual offender

The parents attract just as much drama as their kids in Gossip Girl, and Julien is distraught when several women come forward and accuse her dad, Davis, of sexual assault in episode 8. Julien sides with the women, and she eventually severs ties with Davis.

9. Gossip Girl leaks tips

In episode 11, there’s mass hysteria in the Upper East Side after the teachers expose the names of students who’ve sent them inside info since launching Gossip Girl. The teachers watch with glee as the students turn against each other.

10. Julien rises as Queen Bee of the Upper East Side

In the finale, Julien apologises to everyone she’s wronged, starting with Zoya. Having re-evaluated her recent unruly actions, Julien desires to start on a clean slate with Zoya. Before the episode ends, Julien sends Gossip Girl a direct message, and they strike a deal. This means that Julien will have control of Gossip Girl, setting the scene for Season 2…