Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of drug use and eating disorders.
Everyone has their own Thanksgiving holiday rituals: watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, playing a game of football, breaking a wishbone for good luck, and, of course, eating pumpkin pie. But for me, Thanksgiving would be incomplete without an annual rewatch of some of the greatest episodes ever aired in teen drama TV history – the Gossip Girl Thanksgiving episodes. Over the course of six seasons, Gossip Girl generously served up five themed episodes stuffed to the brim with unbelievable scandals, high fashion, and classic holiday festivities. Our favorite Upper East Siders seem to find themselves in juicy affairs and backstabbing betrayals each holiday season. With the holiday right around the corner, I’ll be ranking each of these episodes based not just on drama alone, but how well they live up to the holiday theme. This year, I’m giving thanks for the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite. Xoxo!
- Season 3, Episode 11: “The Treasure of Serena Madre”
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A big, happy Thanksgiving dinner with everyone in the cast seated at the table…what could go wrong? Arguably the most essential Thanksgiving episode of the series, “The Treasure of Serena Madre” is bursting with holiday antics and unforgettable scandalous moments. So, what’s on the menu this year? Serena is having an affair with a married congressman. Jenny finds out that Eric was the one who sabotaged her cotillion and he unfairly insults her sweet potatoes in front of everyone. Blair suspects her mother is pregnant and confronts her in the middle of dinner (surprise! It’s actually Dorota). Vanessa’s estranged mother joins the gang for the festivities and drags everyone down with her overly negative attitude. Rufus discovers that Lily has been lying to him about her mother, Cece, and her whereabouts over the previous summer. All of this unfolds at once at the dinner table, accompanied by the undeniably iconic song choice of “Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo. My jaw is on the ground every time I go back to this episode. The holiday vibes are on point, and the drama surely doesn’t disappoint.
- Season 1, Episode 9: “Blair Waldorf Must Pie!”
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If it weren’t for the episode that I’ve ranked first place, this one would’ve snagged that spot easily. “Blair Waldorf Must Pie!” (bonus points for that clever title) sets the tone perfectly for all Thanksgivings to come. Dan and Serena are in the early stages of their relationship, and he naively invites her to celebrate the holiday with his family…only to find out when they get there that their parents used to date way back in the day. Awkward. Back on the Upper East Side, Blair is spiraling over her father’s absence at the dinner table, which we later learn is because her parents are getting a divorce. We’re also faced with an emotional scene where Blair relapses in her recovery from bulimia. The episode is spliced with flashbacks of Thanksgiving one year prior, featuring a messy Serena drunkenly flailing the streets to Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” and having a water fight with Blair and Nate. The Thanksgiving vibes are high in this one, and the drama is pretty good too.
- Season 2, Episode 11: “The Magnificent Archibalds”
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This one is where things start to get juicy. Kristen Bell’s iconic voiceover sums it up best: “On the Upper East Side, the holiday thankfully returns to its roots: lying, manipulation, and betrayal.” Jenny is at the peak of her emo era (and her emancipation era), Blair is struggling to adapt to the new holiday traditions with her mother’s new beau, Serena is dating Cyrus’ son, and Nate’s father is on the run from the FBI for a whole bunch of things — fraud, embezzlement, and extortion, to name a few. Phew, that’s a lot to unpack in a 45-minute episode. The Thanksgiving vibes in this episode could have been a little stronger, but, nevertheless, it’s still quintessential Gossip Girl. My only grievance with this episode, though, is that the show tries a little too hard to make us care about the Serena and Aaron subplot. Sorry, but no one cares about Aaron.
- Season 6, Episode 8: “It’s Really Complicated”
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While Gossip Girl fans were sadly deprived of a Thanksgiving episode for season 5, we were eventually rewarded with a classic episode from the show’s final season. There are some happy reunions in this one, with Dan and Serena back together and Lily reuniting with Bart. But, in true Gossip Girl Thanksgiving fashion, there are some not-so-happy moments too. Chuck sends himself on a downward spiral as he uncovers his father’s crimes, leading him to break up with Blair. And amidst all of this, Dan is concocting an exposé on the entire group, which leads to one of the best moments of the episode: Nate punching him square in the face at the Thanksgiving dinner table. This one doesn’t rank very high on the drama scale compared to the others, but it does deserve some recognition for its self-acknowledgment. Dan himself says it best: “It’s our first Thanksgiving back together, and given our track record with Thanksgivings it might be kind of risky. Divorces have been filed, affairs revealed…”
- Season 4, Episode 10: “Gaslit”
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While “Gaslit” is one of the most heartbreaking and compelling episodes of the series, it sadly doesn’t fit the holiday vibes at all. Thanksgiving is completely lost within the plot of the episode, which primarily focuses on Serena’s tragic overdose after the conniving Juliet took her takedown scheme a little too far by drugging her at a party. Serena is subsequently sent to a rehab center after her hospitalization, as most of the cast is convinced she’s gone back to her former party girl ways. All except Dan, who uncovers the truth about the whole revenge debacle. Jenny and Vanessa create a malicious plan to humiliate Serena, including forging Serena’s withdrawal papers from Columbia. Not the most festive episode in the lineup, but it sure is a doozy.