How Fans Really Feel About That Big Twist In HBO Max's Gossip Girl Pilot
Contains spoilers for "Gossip Girl" (2021) Season 1, Episode 1 — "Just Another Girl on the MTA"
HBO Max's reboot of "Gossip Girl" premiered on July 8, introducing audiences to a new generation of rich high schoolers whose lives are publicly scrutinized by an anonymous poster using the pseudonym after which the series is titled. In the original "Gossip Girl," that character was a blogger, but in the HBO reboot, Gossip Girl shares their thoughts and findings to social media platforms. Kristen Bell serves as the link between the OG series and the reboot, serving as the narrator of both by reading Gossip Girl's posts for the audience in voiceover.
In the original series, most characters (and all viewers) didn't know Gossip Girl's true identity until the series finale — and when the big reveal happened, it proved controversial due to the fact that it outwardly contradicted a number of plot points that came prior. In short, while the series wrapped up neatly in plenty of other ways, it mostly just confused fans with its big reveal.
In its debut episode, the "Gossip Girl" reboot addressed the controversy of the original series' finale in a sense by disclosing the identity of Gossip Girl outright — to viewers, at least, as its central cast of teens remain in the dark. As it turns out, the new Gossip Girl isn't a higher schooler and isn't even one individual: It's the teachers at Constance Billard school, which the central group of teens attend, just as many of their predecessors did in the show's original run.
The new "Gossip Girl" took a big swing revealing the identity of its anonymous poster so early on. Accordingly, viewers' opinions about the twist have been largely divided.
The Gossip Girl reboot plot twist has fans split
In a thread on the "Gossip Girl" subreddit about a number of positive qualifies of the reboot pilot, user u/CautiousAspiring replied that they think ownership of the Gossip Girl account will likely transfer to a student. They described the teachers-as-Gossip-Girl situation as most likely unsustainable and "really cringe." User u/Shinxthecat echoed this sentiment in a discussion thread about the pilot, stating that "the way the teachers were introduced to the idea was just cheesy in a bad way."
Reddit user u/UnhingedWarrantyClot started another thread and wrote, "I think the new identity of gossip girl is a bad idea ... the teacher[s] being gossip girl is kinda gross." A number of fans' responses describe the teacher situation as either their least favorite aspect or the only unenjoyable aspect of the "Gossip Girl" pilot.
By contrast, in a thread titled "The Gossip Girl Twist," user u/elyamsworld characterizes the plot twist as both "kind of genius" and a realistic depiction of how people in their 30s can easily become fascinated with the lives of younger influencers.
Though the original poster described their enjoyment of the teacher reveal as "an unpopular opinion," plenty of commenters agreed in the replies section. User u/mattysmwift expressed that they're "glad it's going in completely new directions" and "excited to see where it leads." Redditor u/amymxrches agreed and added, "The teachers were very funny like I'm looking forward to how the storyline develops."
Those interested in watching the "Gossip Girl" reboot can stream it on HBO Max, or watch the first episode on the CW, the network on which the original series aired.