I will give them credit for trying to go down an old GG trope plot line, but it doesn't work. It would be equivalent to trying and have Dan and Serena go to war before establishing his place throughout the entire first season. The teachers are a drag on the show as well. The characters are a mess. You can't be this amazing cool accepting person who is living in 2021 and trying to play games out of 2010. Heck, you can't even use the same vocabulary because of how much has changed. Half of the characters are poorly written as they are trying to push a social message, but need drama for the show. Meanwhile the other half really work to undercut one of the main overarching themes of this show. This show is not about Gossip Girl. It was in the first episode, but now that plot line is all but abandoned. It's just all around poor writing.