['Gossip Girl' - 'Riding in Town Cars with Boys']

'Gossip Girl' just can't get enough of those dramatic car crashes -- it's like 'Vampire Diaries' and their obsession with balls, or 'Gilmore Girls' and their weekly town-wide festivals of yore. And when it comes to ending a midseason finale with a bang, few things can beat the sound of twisted metal and one of our main characters in critical condition.

There were plenty of shocks, twists and longing looks in the final episode of 2011, so hit the jump for our top five OMG moments, and come speculate with us in the comments.

1. Limos Are Deadly
From Bart Bass' fatal crash to tonight's paparazzi induced collision, our Upper East Siders really need to find a safer way to travel. (And they shouldn't be allowed to drive, either, given Serena and Tripp's smash in season three.) Just when it seemed like Chuck and Blair were finally making progress and planning for a real, grown-up future with the Prince of Monaco's illegitimate lovechild, the show decided to go all Princess Diana on us.



It wasn't Blair who ended up knocking on heaven's door this week, but Chuck Bass, the show's resident punching bag, who was in dire straits as the episode closed. Sadly, my criticism with this storyline is the same as it was a couple of weeks ago -- we know that Chuck isn't about to die halfway through the season, just as we know that Blair isn't going to end up keeping Louis' baby, so there's no dramatic tension in this week's cliffhanger ending. It would be far more of a twist to discover that Blair didn't lose the baby because of the crash when the show returns from hiatus, but whether the writers would avoid such a convenient quick fix remains to be seen. I would love to see the show eschewing the easy way out in favor of actually tackling an unplanned pregnancy and the repercussions of having a baby at such a young age and in the public eye, since I think it could be an excellent source of growth for Blair, but unfortunately, I'm not sure that I trust the producers to follow through on it in a convincing fashion.

2. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
Just when we thought that Dan was going to pull another douche move and add to Blair's emotional dogpile with his own conflicted feelings, he unearthed a little of that Humphrey charm and took the opportunity to reunite Chuck and Blair instead. "She didn't need my confession, she needed my help," he wisely told Serena, staring longingly into the middle-distance as he thought about Blair, even as Serena started longingly at him. Forget love triangles, this show's emotional entanglements would look far more like a three-year-old's crayon scribbling if they were ever committed to paper.

This episode was full of characters trying to do the perceived "right thing," from Chuck chivalrously trying to steer Blair towards being with Louis because he thought it was the responsible thing to do, to Dan's altruistic actions and Nate's honesty policy at the Spectator. It's nice to see our 'Gossip' guys displaying a conscience, and even Chivy got in on the act ... sort of. It seemed as though she had finally managed to rid herself of Max for good, but her guilt over sending the paparazzi after Chuck and Blair prompted her to reveal that she was a fraud to Rufus. Too bad that Lily's reappearance distracted everyone before she could truly come clean. But will Rufus remember her words after the dust has settled?

3. A Very Short Reunion
Fans hoping for a passionate Chair reunion reminiscent of a certain piano scene were probably left feeling a little deprived by their relatively low-key make-up, but I felt that it perfectly encapsulated where the pair are in their lives now. They're no longer impulsive teenagers who can hump all over any flat surface -- they're truly in love, and have endured a lot of pain and disappointment to get to where they are now. I was impressed that Blair wanted to end things with Louis before embarking on anything new with Chuck, and that Chuck clearly loves Blair enough to want to raise another man's baby with her. I would say that I doubt the Prince of Monaco and his royal family would be equally as open-minded when it comes to who raises their heir, but since Blair is bound to miscarry, such concerns aren't really an issue (sigh).

4. Serena's New Mission
Though tensions have been running high between Serena and Dan ever since his book was published, it seemed that her trip down memory lane through the lens of Gossip Girl helped rekindle some of the old sparks she felt for Lonely Boy. She even reminisced with Rufus about how good they were together (this will never stop being creepy, given that they're still step-siblings). That desire prompted Serena to try and sabotage Dan's declaration of love to Blair -- for purely selfish reasons, despite how she tried to use Louis to make herself feel better. Thankfully, it seems as though she'll have a little distraction from pining over Dan, since she and Nate have decided to take down Gossip Girl once and for all. Will we finally discover who the mysterious blogger is, and why she's so obsessed with this particular group of spoiled rich kids?

5. Diana Returns
There's been plenty of speculation that Diana Payne could be Chuck's true birth mother, given the retro picture of her that Bart kept in his safe, and an urgent call from a man I'm assuming was Jack Bass certainly lends credence to the idea. If that's the case, you've got to feel sorry for Chuck -- he's had enough twisted family members and imposter-moms to last him a lifetime, so if it turns out that the real deal seduced his best friend, he's going to need a whole lot more therapy. Then again, Diana did tell Jack that she's not the one he should be thanking, and asked him if he would meet "us" there, so there's clearly more to this familial mystery than meets the eye.

'Gossip Girl' airs Mondays at 8PM ET on The CW. New episodes resume Jan. 16, 2012.

Do you think that Blair will lose the baby in the crash? Is Diana really Chuck's mother? Will anyone remember Charlie's half-confession after Chuck and Blair recover? What did you think of Dan's sacrifice? Share your thoughts below!

Follow Laura on Twitter: @LauinLA