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I guess I should do a Glee post, hm? Glee has a spotty record. Sometimes it fails as hard it can fail, and sometimes it has moments of win. Sometimes it does both in an ep. Most of the time it has catchy music. This one didn’t make me angry at least. I thought it was so-so, with some good moments.
Last time on Glee: We hate women! You do too! Oooh, lookit Will’s mean wife who deserved to be cheated on! KILLER OF DREAMS! Sympathize with poor Will! BTW, Jessie left the Glee club!
He did? I only remember Shelby telling him that he could come ba-
Hush, you.
This week on Glee:
Jesse: “I CAN HAZ PLOT AND MOTIVAAAATION!” *dances*
(On a side note, this character has been causing me to perpetually mistype a coworker’s name. :( )
I have sympathy for Rachel in this situation, but I’m so bewildered by this plot that I don’t really know what to do. I guess it’s the end of the season, so they have to make sure Rachel and Finn can kiss again, since Jesse proved himself to be more of a douchebag, and spending time showing us why Rachel and Finn are the new Ross and Rachel who we should be rooting for is too boring. So they throw this guy in, fudge around for a plot with him, muddling it with a more important plot about her mother, then make him a villain for no real reason. Is he a jerk? Did he really love her? Was this part of Shelby’s plan (doubtful) or did his fellow Glee clubbers make him promise? Does he have a personality or is he the Santana of Vocal Adrenaline; he feels what the plot demands and you’re not supposed to care or think about it? Will he be back (inexplicably since he’s a senior) next year?
*head explodes* The only positive that I can see is the parallel that I shouldn't be making between Jesse and Will and Rachel and Sue- Jesse and Will are utter tools even if they 'feel bad' about treating Rachel and Sue badly, but so desperate not to be alone (which is caused by their wanting things too much, self-involvment, and cavalier attitude toward everyone else's feelings), they go for it anyway and get hurt by the rejection.
(Btw, I miss Naya’s voice this week, even if I did get Dianna. Plot for her next season, pls?)
“Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, itching contagious talent!”- Gay Shark of the episode. Congrats, Sue. Actually, Sue had a gay shark tank going on this episode. Feel free to make a list of the ones I didn't catch, and I'll make a poll.
Puck and Finn make eyes at each other. Brought together by delinquency. Fanservice for the Fuck fans. (Yeah, I said it.) And they later went on to FUCK in Jesse’s RAAAANGE Rover (/Rent) after cutting the tires, for Rachel’s honor. (There was also some Puckleberry hints in this ep with his rage on her behalf, in addition to the Puckedes.)
Rachel: *iz teenager* I’m broken hearted!!! This team is all about me! ME ME ME-
Schue’s voiceover downs out her hurting with even more intense narcissism* because he’s such a good teacher (although surprising not a teenager). Thus, Rachel is ignored for the bulk of the episode until Vocal Adrenaline, Glee club of EVOL, eggs her. EVOL.
Thus Schue puts into effect the same douchetastic evil plot to break Sue’s heart that Jesse did to Rachel, even though it was wrong then but right when Schue does it. Schue is becoming... wait for it...
A black hole! Metaphor! (Okay I had to. My friend was so ??? at that speech in Dream On.) I’m not sure how it didn’t occur to him that it would hurt the students in the Cheerios if he made sure they couldn’t go to Nationals. But I guess that’s covered in the footnote.
Okay, let’s get to what I actually care about: QUEERCEDES!
It started with a squee. The squee Quinn does every time Mercedes sings because Mercedes is awesome and delights her. Then it grew into sympathy for another human being (gosh, Quinn, don’t let that get around) because of the struggle Mercedes was experiencing with her weight, one that Quinn experienced obviously via an eating disorder, which turned into a moment of two girls talking about caring for and accepting themselves. Then it turned into them sitting next to each other, to Quinn offering up her man as long as Mercedes doesn’t get hurt... Then...
The SPAT. Shue, who knows all about appropriating black culture, proposes a Week O’Funk, and Quinn says, “I’m tired of not having lines. I have angst like everyone else! Ima sing about it!”
Mercedes: White people singing funk is sad. Haven’t you seen Schue do old school hip hop? Like that.
Quinn: *takes it personally and snarks at Mercedes for “racism”*
Glee Club: *offended by seeing pregnant girls, except for Finn, who looks slightly aroused*
I would have been upset if that had been it. If Quinn hadn’t apologized and Mercedes hadn’t looked unhappy during Quinn’s song. Quinn’s song is so overtly fledgling feminist. (We have so much RAAAGE when we realize that discrimination happens!) So problematic. But she IS the only one who really pulled off the anger and hurt that Schue was talking about.**
People can trash her for being upset about her life but Quinn has experienced what I liked to call a crack in the veneer. She’s lost everything of her old life, she’s been kicked out of her home, and through this temporary situation, she’s experiencing an entirely new perspective on the world. She’s realizing that the WORLD ISN’T FAIR. Fuck yes, it’s a man’s world (whether they agree with the system or not). Fuck no, it isn’t over yet. History doesn’t work like a one way conveyor belt, ever moving toward the inevitable golden age of the Federation. People push for rights. Other people, even the oppressed, push back. Ideology is so entrenched and difficult to undo (re: Finn’s struggle last week), and educating has to happen over and over. So a new generation pushes, and then people push back. And on and on.
But once you have that crack, well, you start noticing a lot of other things about the world that you were never aware of before. Things you are supposed to take for granted about how the world works.
Without this perspective, Quinn wouldn’t be able to sit in front of Mercedes and realize that yeah, she’s having it hard now, and the problems of gender are really an issue (I texted my friend in the middle of the show to tell her that Quinn is going to be a Gender Studies professor when she grows up. Her parents will be sofurious proud.), but the intensity of what she’s feeling right now has an end point and then she won’t be so obviously treated like shit for a difference she can’t hide (but then it’s a different story). You don’t take other facets of identity off, and Quinn shouldn’t have snapped at Mercedes, so she apologizes, and she and Mercedes TALK about that.
(Has the show passed the Bechdel Test before this? I can’t remember with all the drama. Did the eating disorder talk count? Maybe Sue and Emma? That blouse is INSANE. I mostly remember the girls talking about/fighting about guys and relationships. For a show that has as many female characters as it does... it doesn’t pass it often. Let’s just say that.)
Anyway, two girls talkin’. ‘Bout racism. And about how Quinn is coping with basically school-wide slut-shaming and being targeted as a fatty and pariah, after being booted from her home. And the SPAT, turns into the INVITE, and Mercedes takes Quinn into her home, so she can recover from the rawness of her hurt. And that kind of empathy and friendship from Mercedes for someone who never spared a thought for these kinds of things before all of this?
Beautiful. That’s my reading and I’m stickin’ to it. I admit it. I squealed. I don’t care if it ever is a canon femslash pairing. It’s a delightful female friendship that isn’t forced on tv. Glee amazes me when it gets things right.
♥ ♥ ♥
Oh, and then in the final song, Mercedes and Quinn dance together. :D
The only thing that would be better would be further development of Kurt and Finn’s brotherly relationship, but this episode was moved so GaGa could be in sweeps (probably why they rushed the bazinga out of the Rachel mom plot). So maybe more next season. One can hope that next season, they'll also make an effort to spend some time on Rachel's plots instead of jerking everything around in a head-scratching way, and it would be great if they developed one platonic friendship for her, because having her primarily interact with her love interests is dull.
Crossing my fingers going into the finale.
*Let me point out Puck’s narcissism that causes him to say in his voiceover that Finn’s mad at him ‘for some reason’ (like giving his girlfriend beer and impregnating her), so it doesn’t seem like I’m piling all on Rachel. Narcissist role call! Rachel! Finn! Puck! Will! Sue! Jesse! Shelby!
Am I missing anyone?
We’re not sure about Mike, Matt, Santana, or Brittney, since they don’t have a plot, but you should point out that Jesse is a Broadway sociopath.
Ahh, right.
**Rachel might have genuinely had an excuse to try the funk. Instead, Mercedes tries to help out her man Puck and Finn, who is just ever so hopeless, bless him. You know they did that on purpose :)
Last time on Glee: We hate women! You do too! Oooh, lookit Will’s mean wife who deserved to be cheated on! KILLER OF DREAMS! Sympathize with poor Will! BTW, Jessie left the Glee club!
He did? I only remember Shelby telling him that he could come ba-
Hush, you.
This week on Glee:
Jesse: “I CAN HAZ PLOT AND MOTIVAAAATION!” *dances*
(On a side note, this character has been causing me to perpetually mistype a coworker’s name. :( )
I have sympathy for Rachel in this situation, but I’m so bewildered by this plot that I don’t really know what to do. I guess it’s the end of the season, so they have to make sure Rachel and Finn can kiss again, since Jesse proved himself to be more of a douchebag, and spending time showing us why Rachel and Finn are the new Ross and Rachel who we should be rooting for is too boring. So they throw this guy in, fudge around for a plot with him, muddling it with a more important plot about her mother, then make him a villain for no real reason. Is he a jerk? Did he really love her? Was this part of Shelby’s plan (doubtful) or did his fellow Glee clubbers make him promise? Does he have a personality or is he the Santana of Vocal Adrenaline; he feels what the plot demands and you’re not supposed to care or think about it? Will he be back (inexplicably since he’s a senior) next year?
*head explodes* The only positive that I can see is the parallel that I shouldn't be making between Jesse and Will and Rachel and Sue- Jesse and Will are utter tools even if they 'feel bad' about treating Rachel and Sue badly, but so desperate not to be alone (which is caused by their wanting things too much, self-involvment, and cavalier attitude toward everyone else's feelings), they go for it anyway and get hurt by the rejection.
(Btw, I miss Naya’s voice this week, even if I did get Dianna. Plot for her next season, pls?)
“Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, itching contagious talent!”- Gay Shark of the episode. Congrats, Sue. Actually, Sue had a gay shark tank going on this episode. Feel free to make a list of the ones I didn't catch, and I'll make a poll.
Puck and Finn make eyes at each other. Brought together by delinquency. Fanservice for the Fuck fans. (Yeah, I said it.) And they later went on to FUCK in Jesse’s RAAAANGE Rover (/Rent) after cutting the tires, for Rachel’s honor. (There was also some Puckleberry hints in this ep with his rage on her behalf, in addition to the Puckedes.)
Rachel: *iz teenager* I’m broken hearted!!! This team is all about me! ME ME ME-
Schue’s voiceover downs out her hurting with even more intense narcissism* because he’s such a good teacher (although surprising not a teenager). Thus, Rachel is ignored for the bulk of the episode until Vocal Adrenaline, Glee club of EVOL, eggs her. EVOL.
Thus Schue puts into effect the same douchetastic evil plot to break Sue’s heart that Jesse did to Rachel, even though it was wrong then but right when Schue does it. Schue is becoming... wait for it...
A black hole! Metaphor! (Okay I had to. My friend was so ??? at that speech in Dream On.) I’m not sure how it didn’t occur to him that it would hurt the students in the Cheerios if he made sure they couldn’t go to Nationals. But I guess that’s covered in the footnote.
Okay, let’s get to what I actually care about: QUEERCEDES!
It started with a squee. The squee Quinn does every time Mercedes sings because Mercedes is awesome and delights her. Then it grew into sympathy for another human being (gosh, Quinn, don’t let that get around) because of the struggle Mercedes was experiencing with her weight, one that Quinn experienced obviously via an eating disorder, which turned into a moment of two girls talking about caring for and accepting themselves. Then it turned into them sitting next to each other, to Quinn offering up her man as long as Mercedes doesn’t get hurt... Then...
The SPAT. Shue, who knows all about appropriating black culture, proposes a Week O’Funk, and Quinn says, “I’m tired of not having lines. I have angst like everyone else! Ima sing about it!”
Mercedes: White people singing funk is sad. Haven’t you seen Schue do old school hip hop? Like that.
Quinn: *takes it personally and snarks at Mercedes for “racism”*
Glee Club: *offended by seeing pregnant girls, except for Finn, who looks slightly aroused*
I would have been upset if that had been it. If Quinn hadn’t apologized and Mercedes hadn’t looked unhappy during Quinn’s song. Quinn’s song is so overtly fledgling feminist. (We have so much RAAAGE when we realize that discrimination happens!) So problematic. But she IS the only one who really pulled off the anger and hurt that Schue was talking about.**
People can trash her for being upset about her life but Quinn has experienced what I liked to call a crack in the veneer. She’s lost everything of her old life, she’s been kicked out of her home, and through this temporary situation, she’s experiencing an entirely new perspective on the world. She’s realizing that the WORLD ISN’T FAIR. Fuck yes, it’s a man’s world (whether they agree with the system or not). Fuck no, it isn’t over yet. History doesn’t work like a one way conveyor belt, ever moving toward the inevitable golden age of the Federation. People push for rights. Other people, even the oppressed, push back. Ideology is so entrenched and difficult to undo (re: Finn’s struggle last week), and educating has to happen over and over. So a new generation pushes, and then people push back. And on and on.
But once you have that crack, well, you start noticing a lot of other things about the world that you were never aware of before. Things you are supposed to take for granted about how the world works.
Without this perspective, Quinn wouldn’t be able to sit in front of Mercedes and realize that yeah, she’s having it hard now, and the problems of gender are really an issue (I texted my friend in the middle of the show to tell her that Quinn is going to be a Gender Studies professor when she grows up. Her parents will be so
(Has the show passed the Bechdel Test before this? I can’t remember with all the drama. Did the eating disorder talk count? Maybe Sue and Emma? That blouse is INSANE. I mostly remember the girls talking about/fighting about guys and relationships. For a show that has as many female characters as it does... it doesn’t pass it often. Let’s just say that.)
Anyway, two girls talkin’. ‘Bout racism. And about how Quinn is coping with basically school-wide slut-shaming and being targeted as a fatty and pariah, after being booted from her home. And the SPAT, turns into the INVITE, and Mercedes takes Quinn into her home, so she can recover from the rawness of her hurt. And that kind of empathy and friendship from Mercedes for someone who never spared a thought for these kinds of things before all of this?
Beautiful. That’s my reading and I’m stickin’ to it. I admit it. I squealed. I don’t care if it ever is a canon femslash pairing. It’s a delightful female friendship that isn’t forced on tv. Glee amazes me when it gets things right.
♥ ♥ ♥
Oh, and then in the final song, Mercedes and Quinn dance together. :D
The only thing that would be better would be further development of Kurt and Finn’s brotherly relationship, but this episode was moved so GaGa could be in sweeps (probably why they rushed the bazinga out of the Rachel mom plot). So maybe more next season. One can hope that next season, they'll also make an effort to spend some time on Rachel's plots instead of jerking everything around in a head-scratching way, and it would be great if they developed one platonic friendship for her, because having her primarily interact with her love interests is dull.
Crossing my fingers going into the finale.
*Let me point out Puck’s narcissism that causes him to say in his voiceover that Finn’s mad at him ‘for some reason’ (like giving his girlfriend beer and impregnating her), so it doesn’t seem like I’m piling all on Rachel. Narcissist role call! Rachel! Finn! Puck! Will! Sue! Jesse! Shelby!
Am I missing anyone?
We’re not sure about Mike, Matt, Santana, or Brittney, since they don’t have a plot, but you should point out that Jesse is a Broadway sociopath.
Ahh, right.
**Rachel might have genuinely had an excuse to try the funk. Instead, Mercedes tries to help out her man Puck and Finn, who is just ever so hopeless, bless him. You know they did that on purpose :)
