The classic teen drama Gossip Girl was always a pretty problematic piece of work. The ending was certainly questionable (or, if your glass is half empty, completely unquestionably bonkers and illogical) but there were some great moments littered throughout the show.

While the central plot saw the titular Gossip Girl tormenting everyone on the Upper East Side, there were always a fair few interesting things going on under the surface. A few of them were entertaining and gave us a great background to some already interesting characters. A few of them made no real sense and never came to a satisfying conclusion. Before the show gets rebooted, we’re taking a look at some subplots that went better than others (and vice versa).

NOT SO PERFECT: Rufus’ Weird Life

In the first few seasons, Rufus was a cool, funny and interesting character. As the show progressed, he was routinely side-lined, made to look like a moaning, depressed and unsuccessful dad who got up to very little. Despite a charming love story with Lily, he was eventually forced into a bizarre relationship with Ivy Dickens which quickly fizzled out. He then ends up with… Lisa Loeb.

Okay, so Rufus ending up with a famous musician is relatively fitting, but considering she’d only been on the show for about 30 seconds previously, it seems such a cheap dead-end for a character we’d followed for 7 years.

PERFECT: The Arson

Back in season 2, we found out that Bart Bass had set fire to one of his buildings to collect insurance money. Two seasons later, it was revealed that the sinister protagonist of season 4 and Bart’s ex-business partner Russel Thorpe actually set the fire himself, killing his own wife in the process.

It’s a great twist that no one saw coming and everything made sense. Things only got more exciting when Russell kidnapped Blair with the intention of letting her perish in a similar fire. In an intense showdown, Chuck and Nate are able to rescue Blair and have Thorpe arrested for his various crimes. The perfect storyline.

NOT SO PERFECT: Why On Earth Was Hilary Duff There?

In the middle of season 3, Hilary Duff shows up. Sure, her character is called Olivia, but she’s very obviously Hilary Duff. In fact, she’s playing a weird meta-character who is covering up her own fame. Anyway, she does a few things here and there that have very little impact on the storyline and quickly begins a relationship with Dan.

Then they have a threesome with Vanessa. Yeah. It’s all pretty inconsequential, though, because out of nowhere, Hilary Duff jets off to shoot another film. She never comes back. What was the point of all that?

PERFECT: The Flo Rida Manipulation

In one of the few moments in Gossip Girl that actually has an impact on the show for more than about three episodes, the under-used character of Nelly Yuki is completely changed by an oddly specific manipulation technique Blair comes up with. The technique in question directly involves Flo Rida. Nelly specifically says she never wants to listen to Flo Rida again, so obviously Blair begins playing Flo Rida in order to get Nelly to tell her about her break up.

As a result, Blair is able to get Nelly’s ex-boyfriend to tell Nelly he doesn’t want to get back with her, making Nelly an emotional mess unable to prepare for a test. For some reason, this makes Nelly one of Blair’s minions. It’s weirdly specific, sure, but it’s funny and wrapped up in a neat little bow.

NOT SO PERFECT: Prince Louis And Blair

I’m quite passionate about this one. To me, the introduction of Prince Louis is where Gossip Girl turned from a great light-entertainment show into a serious mess of poor dialogue, lackluster storylines and one of the most abominable acting performances in the history of the small screen.

For a while, this subplot wasn’t really a subplot, but as soon as Blair and Louis got married, he revealed he wasn’t in love with her anymore and disappeared, never to be seen again. What makes this worse, is that despite legally being the wife of a French Prince for 15 more episodes, Blair’s life is barely impacted at all. None of it makes an ounce of sense.

PERFECT: Vanya And Dorota

The most kind-hearted and delightful character in Gossip Girl developed from Blair’s maid into an important member of the family, encountering her own life dramas and helping out with Blair’s many schemes.

It was absolutely perfect to see Dorota get such a happy ending when she married Vanya and they had a child together. Despite this life of her own she eventually formed, Dorota remained in her role as maid until the show came to an end. Who knows how she and Vanya managed to look after that kid.

NOT SO PERFECT: Jenny’s Career As A Fashion Designer

Jenny’s character went from an annoying wannabe cool girl into a strangely successful fashion designer by the time she disappeared at the end of season 3. The reasoning was perfectly legit, with actress Taylor Momsen needing to leave the show to focus on her band The Pretty Reckless, but story-wise, it’s just not dealt with very well.

When she slept with Chuck, Blair banished Jenny from Manhattan. Considering Blair has no legal jurisdiction, it was a bit weird for her to obey this command anyway but it seemed to work in Jenny’s favor. The character returns briefly to explain the disappearance in season 4, but the entire conclusion to her storyline still remained shoddy.

PERFECT: The Acting Of Ivy Dickens (To An Extent)

For basically the whole time she was in the show, Ivy Dickens’ character seemed largely pointless. She was pretty annoying, and seemed to function as a replacement for characters who had previously departed. Then all of a sudden, she was given a huge twist no one saw coming.

She was an actress, not Charlie Rhodes at all. It was a great way to give a boring character a new lease of life, as well as a unique way to introduce a new character (the real Charlie Rhodes). While Ivy stayed around after this reveal, the storylines she is dealt after are distinctly less perfect, but we don’t need to talk about that.

NOT SO PERFECT: The Disappearance Of Vanessa

Vanessa was a major character from her introduction in the 6th episode of season 1, all the way to her departure at the end of season 4. No one in the audience particularly cared for her, so it wasn’t exactly distressing when she disappeared, but apparently it was of so little importance to the rest of the characters that she was almost never mentioned again.

After getting Dan’s book published, she moved to Barcelona without a single word more. Even if Dan had decided he didn’t care for Vanessa anymore, surely he’d question where she had permanently disappeared to? And even if Dan didn’t care, surely someone would say something?

PERFECT: Nate Getting His Dad Arrested

Having the nickname of ‘The Captain’ showed that Nate Archibald’s dad Howard always had a bit of a power complex. Nate, as ever, spent the entire show trying to keep everyone happy, but his father’s drug addiction goes a little too far even for him. At the end of season one, we find out that Howard is facing 20 years in prison, so he is fleeing the country.

At first, it seems like he’s going to effectively get away with his crimes, but Nate punches him square in the face. Seeing Nate finally unleash his very warranted anger for the first time is the most satisfying thing we could have thought of to conclude this story.