['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.

['Gossip Girl' - 'All the Pretty Sources']

No-one throws a soiree like Serena van der Woodsen, but it wouldn't be an Upper East Side shindig without a healthy heaping of scandal. This week's 'Gossip Girl' once again brought all of our favorites together, but despite the verbal fireworks, it still felt like a spark was missing (perhaps because so much time was spent on Chivy and her snoozeworthy boy drama).

Still, some progress was made between Blair and Louis, and Queen B's dashing prince is turning out to be a right royal pain; when he was being sweet, he was simply dull, but now that he's trying to scheme, he's just plain irritating. Alas, we've been promised a royal wedding, so we sadly haven't seen the last of Louis yet, but it looks like we might get a break from Elizabeth Hurley's scenery chewing, after Diana's reluctant exit ...

Join us after the jump for our five favorite moments from this week's episode.

Watching this clip of Gossip Girl below and two things are perfectly clear: everyone is beautiful on this show and everybody loves each other for various reasons. It's hard to tell who is with who or who should be with who, but I guess it all makes sense if you're a fan. Right?

The season opener is tonight at 9 PM on The CW.

Serena, Blair Chuck and the gang look really good on paper! Maggie searches the Web so you don't have to ...

Sure the characters on 'Gossip Girl' seem a bit one-dimensional at times, but I never thought that actually seeing them flattened would make my day.

SOAPnet.com has managed to do just that with their weekly 'Gossip Girl' Finger Puppet Parody. While they might not be the same as watching the full episodes, it sure does make me realize the depth of the characters' issues.

What do you say: Am I the last one to know about these brilliant shorts? Are you loving them as much as I am? And what other show would you like to see dramatically recapped through puppetry?