I first watched Gossip Girl when I was 13 years old- I was hooked. It was, very intentionally, the television zeitgeist, based on a series of books. From its iconic soundtrack, whose songs are inseparable from Gossip Girl scenes to guest stars like Lady Gaga.

The show became a smash-hit, well-known for its wardrobe, New York setting, and the portrayal of elite society. Gossip Girl, ran six seasons, was given a day celebrating its 100th episode (Gossip Girl Day), and continues, more than a decade after its finale, to show its mark on culture.

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The main characters are Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, Chuck Bass, Nate Archibald, and Dan Humphrey. The show begins with each of the characters navigating high-society and private school, getting themselves into drama filled love triangles, parties, and scandals. All of it being aired to the world by an anonymous blogger, Gossip Girl, who follows them all the way into their college years. Other characters like Serena's mom, Lily, and Dan's father and sister, Rufus and Jenny also had compelling storylines.

This show masquerades as a raunchy image of New York's elite teenagers, but upon closer examination is actually a bungle of barely redeemable characters, toxic relationships, and plot-holes, but that in itself is what makes the show so compelling.

The pilot episode sets the tone for the whole show- it's fun and dramatic, but above all scandalous. It establishes the character types that follow each protagonist for the entire show.

Dan Humphrey

Dan Humphrey is the pining, outsider, who from episode one is never really an outsider. He dates IT girl, Serena van der Woodsen, becomes quick friends with Nate Archibald, eventually builds a relationship with Chuck Bass, and becomes the stepson of Lily van der Woodsen. He starts the series humble, but is soon revealed to be very pretentious.

While spoiler the reveal that he is Gossip Girl does not make much sense, his character shows almost no remorse for the strain his blogging caused on almost every one of his friends' relationships, including his own with them. When I first watched the reveal, I was very confused- it didn't click in my brain and this feeling continues. It remains the show's biggest plot hole.

Dan's relationships are also complicated. His 'endgame' with Serena is more on-and-off than I thought initially. They get together pretty soon into season one, and equally as fast had a number of problems.

While in the beginning it was mostly sweet, after their first breakup, Dan is hyper-critical of most, if not all, of Serena's relationships. For example, Dan is very judgmental of Serena's relationship with her former teacher, but forgets he had a relationship with his teacher while in high school. Not only that, but Dan cheated on his childhood best friend with Serena, which seems to be quickly glossed over, and somehow the writers make the storyline reflect poorer on Serena then Dan. One of the recurring problems in Dan and Serena's relationship, is that of their parents' romantic past and present. Dan's father, Rufus, and Serena's mother Lily, date, get married, and in the end divorce over the course of the show. Dan and Serena split up for a while once their parents get together, and once again after finding out they share a sibling. Enter the Serena and Dan cheating storyline, they both seem to forget about this problem, especially the fact that THEY SHARE a half-sibling. The show does its best to erase the existence of this storyline in order to push the Dan and Serena happy-ending narrative. Them ending up together actually left a queasy feeling in my stomach.

Dan, as a person, has little to no respect for anyone in his inner-circle, who are the very people he claims to hate- the high society of New York. This is reflected in his book, where he basically cuts out his supposed best friend, Nate Archibald, painting him as less-than a person.

He has some redeeming qualities, such that he at least admitted to being Gossip Girl, but he is also incredibly easy to hate. Looking back on everything he did, his whole arc seems pretty comedic. He stays longing, wether that be romantically over Serena or Blair, but also longing for a life he thinks he can never have, which adds some sort of relatability to him. His conclusion is not really being with the 'love of his life', Serena, but finally solidifying his place as a rich upper-east sider.

Dan makes the show more grounded in the beginning, especially as he starts from the outside looking in. However, as the show progresses her looses a lot of his relatability, which makes a lot of the scenes he is in less watchable. At the same time, Dan's descent into just another upper-east sider is one of the more interesting character arcs of the show. His storyline reflects how intoxicating the kind of lifestyle created in the show is.

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Serena van der Woodsen

Serena is everyone's favorite character to hate. The writers waste no time in making her entirely unlikeable, and at a larger glance she has little to no character development. This is funny because the first few episodes of the show establish her as someone who is trying their best to change, which is commendable, except for the fact that she makes the same mistakes in season 1 as she does in season 5.

It is revealed in season one that a reason for the strain in Blair and Serena's friendship is the fact that Blair's boyfriend Nate cheats and falls in love with Serena. Though Serena is apologetic, and makes up with Blair, she does THE EXACT SAME THING in season 5, except instead of with Nate, with Dan.

Pretty much every single one of Serena's relationships are toxic, wether they be her friendships, romantic attachments, or the one she has with her parents. Serena and Blair are constantly on shaky terms, even when they're not outright arguing. They literally attack each other in public.

However, they still represent an iconic best friends duo because against all odds, they love each other. If this doesn't scream toxic, I'm not sure what does. The show does know this though, they never confuse Blair and Serena's friendship as something pure, and throughout the show their connection continues to be founded in jealousy of one another. While it doesn't push great representation of friendship, it does make viewers question what will happen between them in the next episode, and make their moments together even sweeter.

Every single one, without fail, of Serena's romantic relationships are terrible. Gabriel, robbed her family, though she ended up getting revenge along with her friends, making it an iconic moment of the series. Tripp left her after a car-crash, leading to a hospitalization, but she ended up with Nate at the end of the episode, another iconic moment in the series. The list goes on, as well as the unforgettable scenes that it created in the series.

Serena and her mom have a messed-up relationship, despite wanting the best for one another, they express it in perhaps the worst way you possibly can.

Even though Serena is very hated, she is also the heart of the show. She is the instigator of most of the remembered parts of the series. Her constant want to improve herself is fun to watch, as well as the situations she ends up in trying to do so.

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Nate Archibald

Nate is maybe the most redeemable character, but he is still pretty terrible. When I first watched the show, I excused a lot of his behavior: cheating on Blair, basically cheating on Vanessa, continuing to pursue Serena WHILE being with Blair etc. However, as I watched with a more critical lens I finally saw past his perfect hair to his character.

He even dates an underage girl, although he doesn't know at first, their relationship continues for a few more episodes. Considering that Nate is known to be the most noble and honest amongst the main characters, it goes to show the ruthless personalities of his peers.

Nate, however, made a good love interest. He was one of the only characters to really think about his place in society, and the effect his wealth and opportunities had on others. Nate serving as the 'moral compass' for the show, though an interesting choice, proved to work. He was compelling enough for me not to skip over his parts, but not horrible enough to make me hate him, a rare occurrence for characters in the show.

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Blair Waldorf

Blair, a fan favorite, has her fair-share of faults. While she finds herself in the center of numerous scandals, and tries her best to ruin people's lives, she is one of the only characters to display measurable character growth. Blair's most notable pairing with Chuck is an integral part of the show, but it also is one of the most toxic relationships on TV.

In season one, Blair and Chuck get together in one of the most memorable scenes in the show, but until season three drag out a will-they wont-they plagued with manipulative games. When they finally do get together, Chuck exhibits possessive behavior, and diminishes her value to that of a commodity. While Blair and Chuck are broken up, she dates Dan. When I first watched the show I was in full support of Blair and Chuck, now I find Blair and Dan's relationship a lot more healthy. Still, it is clear that Blair was with Dan to avoid her feelings for Chuck, hurting all three of them in the process.

Blair's relationship with her mom, Eleanor, transformed in an almost wholesome way. In the first season Eleanor is introduced as the uninvolved, overly critical mother, but her relationship with Blair evolves overtime. By season 3, I found myself smiling at their scenes together, which is rare for a parent-child relationship in Gossip Girl.

Outside of her relationships, Blair presides over the school in a stereotypical mean-girl way. Except there is a twist, she is absolutely ruthless, and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. This same kind of relentlessness continues throughout the series, but she redirects her actions away from hurting people close to her to helping her friends.

Chuck Bass

Chuck was one of my favorite characters when I was younger, and I'm a little ashamed of that now. The writers try their best to portray Chuck as the completely rehabilitated person, but like Dan he doesn't meet many consequences for his actions. Of course, the pilot sets up numerous plot holes, so in my opinion it can mostly be ignored in relation to the storyline.

However, he does attempt to assault both Serena and Jenny in the episode. Chuck is continuously violent throughout the show, and treats the people that he 'loves' poorly. His relationship with Blair is glorified and enforces unhealthy tendencies.

Chuck has a strained relationship with his father, and spends a portion of the show coping with both of his parents' deaths. Unfortunately, the writers minimize his struggle when they bring his father back into the show, as well as reveal his mother to be alive. The storyline with Chuck's mother is a huge plot hole; it is never confirmed who his mom is, and never gives a conclusion to that part of his story.

How the writers convinced me to forgive Chuck is astonishing. By the end of the series, I was actually rooting for him. This reveals how Gossip Girl, despite the characters being such terrible people, made viewers care.

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The show overall is exactly what it set out to be- entertaining. Although, it pushes unhealthy relationships towards viewers. Gossip Girl is very problematic, but that is exactly what it set out to be. The show was made to spark conversations about toxicity, entitlement, and to be completely crazy.