Gossip Girl: Not how I remember high school

I guess my high school experience was different from our friends on the Upper East Side. No limo’s. No vacationing in the Hamptons (Though, there were concerts in Hampton, VA).  No picking up the tabs at swank bars (Getting served was hard enough). And most of all, no Gossip Girl spilling dish. As most of the gang finishes high school for good, I wonder what, if anything, my school had in common.

1. Mean Girls: We didn’t have them.  Don’t get me wrong, we had some mean girls, but nothing like Queen B and her court.  To be honest, I don’t really get the trouble that Blair went through to ensure that Jenny was installed Queen, but far be it from me to understand the psyche of teenage girls. Our queens thought they ruled the school much more than they actually did.
2. Intrigue: Well, everyone’s got their drama. Death by coke overdose? Nope. Parties on school grounds with drugs and alcohol? Well, see, I heard these stories about these kids. But I don’t know anything about it. Nope. Not at all.
3. Backstabbing: Have you ever seen two friends fight as much as Blair and Serena? Its a bit silly when you think about it. Fight, BFF, fight, BFF. We actually got along pretty decently. Except for when we fought. And then made up. And then outed each other’s younger brothers. and then made up again.
4. Sweetheart’s Parents Getting Hitched: OK, now we didn’t have that. But few relationships on this show have the chemistry that Rufus and Lily do. As high society as Lily Bass is, she seemed perfectly in place sitting on Rufus’ floor drinking and enjoying Chuck’s really good … er … nostalgia.
5. Friends indeed: My favorite stories that Gossip Girl tells are when the whole crew gets together for some well planned mischief. I had friends like that, that were there for me and backed me up.
6. Finally, obviously, Gossip Girl herself: Did we have a computerized social media with constant push blasts to make sure we were all updated as to the latest? No, we had the lunch room. As the Gossip Girl blast tells everyone at the end of the episode, its truly the gossipers that make the gossip. So, who needs technology? (Though, I’d be very afraid to look at Twitter feeds coming out of high schools these days).

Looks like my Wolverines had a lot more in common with our Upper East Side counterparts than I thought.  Now if I could only pull of the Chuck Bass look.

Gossip Girl continues to surprise me. Without sharing too much, I wouldn’t say that I really “fit the demo” but I’ve been hooked since episode one. The finale did a good job of setting up next season. We saw two fan favorite couples get together (and one that doesn’t seem to be a favorite do so anyways), the subtle introduction of a long lost sibling, and a interesting rooming situation in the NYU freshman dorms, one that may or may not be permanent.

Clacked by Ivey West
on May 19, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT