You smell like Craigslist.

[ellydash]

Okay, first things first: I have a lot of Sam, Quinn and Mercedes feelings that might be best resolved in their choosing to have a polyamorous relationship. I’m just saying.

First off, Sam. SAM. SAAAAAAAM. I feel like I can’t write his name without threatening some kind of devolution into hysterical typing where I just interchangeably henpeck the letters S, A and M in various orders while shrieking with joy. This dude is legitimately my favorite character, and he’s almost definitely going to get ruined somehow now that he’s back, but until then, I’m just going to put a lot of really happy words about him on the internet. Yeah, he wasn’t perfect tonight – that condescending speech to Quinn about her “rich white girl problems” really bothered me – but I’m so thrilled to see him that I can’t find it in me to spend much time kvetching or, you know, have perspective.

Instead, I’m just going to focus on how starry-eyed the Sam/Mercedes moments tonight made me. The grin threatening to burst on Mercedes’s face when she was walking away from Sam down the hallway; how proud Sam looked during the Troubletones performance; that embarrassed and thrilled reaction she had during ABC: all of it was magic. This is all so unfamiliar to me – getting to see one of your OTPs actually become/be canon. I feel like I should talk to some Kurt/Blaine shippers to figure out how to process it. It’s like eating a lot of really great gouda when you usually don’t have any extra money to buy really great gouda, and you’re overwhelmed by how full you are, but the gouda is just so awesome that you want to keep eating. MORE GOUDA, GLEE. BRING THAT SHIT ON.

Mercedes herself continues to be flawless. She’s grown into her own this season, and she’s done it on her own terms; I especially love that she refused to come back to ND without making sure first that things would be different. It feels weird saying I’m proud of her, because lol fictional character, but you know, I’m really proud of her.

And then, Quinn. I just, Quinn’s storyline leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. It feels all wrong to me, like they’ve just thrown her into the mud and let her wriggle there for episode after episode, without bothering to ask questions about why she’s this messed up. It seems like we’re supposed to think Quinn’s problems have to do with her lack of perspective, judging by the “fix” she got tonight – apparently it’s as simple as getting her to appreciate her youth and the time she has with her friends. But what we’re being shown is Quinn leaping from irrationality to irrationality with no contextual acknowledgement that if she’s this divorced from reality, there’s something majorly, majorly wrong with her, and she needs way more help than her friends can give. It’s frustrating as hell, and I can’t bring myself to care about it as much as I’d like to, because there’s no sense that anyone involved in writing her has any interest in making this psychologically realistic.

The way she reached out to Mercedes at the end, though? That was beautiful. I’ve missed seeing their friendship so much, and seeing them dance together made my heart happy.

Is it heartless to say I didn’t much care for the Papa Chang/Mike/Tina storyline? I feel like that’s probably a very unpopular opinion. I didn’t hate it, but it felt so familiar and overdone, and tbh I kind of understand where Mike’s dad was coming from. Not that Mike shouldn’t embrace his dreams, if that’s what makes him happy, but a solid backup plan is a really important thing when you’re going for a career in the arts (or, hell, the humanities in general), and a little gray area would’ve gone a long way here. It was nice to see Tina speak and do things, too, but would it be too much to ask for her to have her own plotline that doesn’t revolve around her boyfriend? Don’t answer that.

Other things:

- Fuck it, the Troubletones should’ve won. I’m totally biased, and ND was pretty solid, especially during ABC, but the Troubletones killed. The music tonight on the whole was actually way better than it’s been for a long time, and I loved hearing so many different voices in one episode (especially Tina! Yay, Tina!). “We Are Young” was one of those moments where the song paid off because it benefited from storylines and context, and it reminded me that when it comes down it, my real OTP for this show is everyone/everyone.

- Finn did things tonight that were worth talking about, I guess. Whatever, I'm sure they were offensive somehow even though I didn't really pay attention.

- Kurt and Rachel singing along with Harmony. ♥_____♥

- PUCK PUCKERMAN, WHAT IS YOUR HAIR AND IS THERE EVEN A CURE FOR IT ANYMORE THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE A NUCLEAR OPTION. Like, is that an actual life choice Mark Salling made? Did he lose a bet? Are the hairstylists on the show trying to confuse him? Is he hiding all those unsold copies of Pipe Dreams in that waxy wave? I swear, I missed entire stretches of dialogue because I was giggling too hard to hear anything.

- I lost it at Will’s creepy “Hey guys, I’m here now, yeah! Aren’t we awesome? Hey, remember when I was a major character on this show? Wasn’t that fun? That was cool, right?” laugh at the very end. Like, legitimately got teary from cracking up.

- RIP Troubletones. ;______;

Comments

[spacebetwixt.livejournal.com]

*Mike Chang: I'm pretty cool with this storyline, but I think it probably should have been wrapped up earlier in the season. West Side Story would have been a more natural place to end it, but I get why they wanted to have it resolved at the actual glee club competition. I'm actually hard-core on Tina's side with this, though. I've known a lot of folks who've gone into the performing arts (mostly on the instrumental side, but still), and . . . for you to get good enough to be able to do the thing you really want to do with your life, you don't have time for solid contingency plans. A friend of a friend double majored in music performance and chemistry to have something to fall back on, and he didn't graduate for six years. And honestly, very few of the people I know who went to school for something that's more "useful" have been able to get into those fields anyway. Everybody's plan B is "I'll figure something out if I have to," and I don't think that's a bad way to think as long as you know what you're getting into. It seems like Mike and Tina understand that. [/end rant]

I agree with this. I remember reading something in some teen magazine a few years ago with some guy who was either a rapper or a hip-hop artist (I feel bad because I can't remember who it was) and they asked him to give five pieces of advice to becoming a star. The thing that really stuck with me was when he said, "don't have a plan B." He saw it as a way of giving up and said that if you really want to do something, you should give it your all. It may not be the most sensible piece of advice, but I always liked it. Even back up plans have no guarantees, and if you're going to work hard to achieve something, I think you should put that effort towards something you love. Sure, you might never achieve your dreams, but I think if you're lucky enough to know what you want, you should go after it.