The Troubletones are 3F: fierce, femme and phenomenal.

[ellydash]

Oh, Santana. Fuck. The last ten minutes of that episode were just heart-breaking. Also, so much for that brief period of feeling sympathetic towards Finn!

Something that's bothering me, besides the obvious: the writing this week made Santana even nastier than usual. Yes, she's always cruel, but she was particularly mean, and it was almost non-stop. And I felt like it came across as a passive way to downplay Finn's cruelty in outing her publicly. Not, necessarily, that the writing was actually implying Santana deserved to be outed, but that the show was covering for Finn to keep him from being an out-and-out (no pun intended) bad guy. Oh, sure, he did something really shitty, but he only did it because she provoked him so much!

And I don't buy for a second that Finn didn't understand that there was some risk involved in having that conversation out in the middle of the hallway, despite all that talk about "everyone knows" Santana's in love with Brittany. No, not everyone knows Santana's in love with Brittany; what's common knowledge, or at least somewhat common, is that Brittany and Santana have a sexual relationship, which is completely different. He fired that at her like a weapon, something designed to hurt her and make her stop attacking him, and whether or not he understood the full impact of what he was doing, Finn knew it was devastating. And the fact that he dared to take away from Santana what she absolutely deserves - the right to come out on her own terms, in a time and place that makes her feel safe - is fucking infuriating.

Glee is at its best, imo, when it uses music to heighten the impact of character-driven storylines (it's also at its best when it does absolutely ridiculous, embarrassing and hilarious shit like "Hot for Teacher," but that's another topic). "Rumor Has It/Someone Like You" is a pretty definitive example of what Glee can do when it hits on all targets, and is hands-down the best number they've done this season. Maybe top five overall, in my book. The Troubletones were flawless, the arrangement was wonderful, and Naya Rivera acted the shit out of that number. It was her body language that got to me, in particular; the way she moved, like she was trying to remember her choreography but couldn't quite focus. For some reason, that's what hit me the hardest.

I loved that Will and Sue actually dropped their petty bickering bullshit and acted like adults invested in taking care of one of their students. (Burt, too, but he's generally been good that way, so it didn't feel like something out of the ordinary for him.) And I especially loved that Sue didn't give a shit about the fact that the point of the commercial was to slander her, when everything in Sue's life is always, always about her. Actually, this might be the first time in the history of the show that Sue's shown real, heartfelt sympathy towards someone's pain when she doesn't identify with that pain herself (every time she's been nice to Kurt, he's been going through something that pings her own issues - religious belief, bullying, etc). Too bad I can't enjoy it fully or take it seriously because next week she'll be back to being a sociopath! I can't stand what they've done to Sue - it bothers me like crazy that this once-great character has become an unrecognizable, unfunny wreck of her former self - but that "I'm so sorry" was a sad little flag of interesting potential that, of course, will be quickly forgotten. (Serious question: is Ian Brennan even writing Sue anymore? The rhythm of her dialogue, quality aside, is completely different.)

There's so much to talk about, but I'm going to be brief(er) with the rest of it because I've already babbled on enough:

- The Puck/Shelby/Quinn storyline doesn't seem to be going anywhere interesting, and I say that as someone who was really into the idea of Puck/Shelby, and as someone wants to see another character take more than an observational interest in Quinn's massive, massive issues. Also, is Puck growing a mane?

- The return of Pedowill during HFT! He was just so excited they were singing that number, you guys. So excited. Actually, I kind of loved Will this week, that line about "they didn't leave glee club because of you" from Shelby aside. Earnest, dorky Will is my third favorite Will, after Drunk!Will and Pedowill. Yes, I've thought about it enough to have an order of Will preferences. Shut up.

- Blaine and Kurt supporting Rory in different ways made my heart happy. Two thumbs up for Blaine, in particular, for being such a stand-up dude and encouraging Rory to take the solo when Finn was being extra douchy.

- What was that line from Shelby about how there'd be a lot of people being jealous of Rachel, but she (Shelby) would be "the only one" cheering her on? Did I hear that right? If so, that was cold, unfair, and inaccurate. Also, interesting that Rachel didn't ask Will to write her the letter - although I'm guessing that Shelby's reputation far outweighs anything Will could bring to the table.

- Brittany singing "stop the violence" to Santana, and Santana's reluctant smile? That was really, really awesome, and kind of intimate, actually, in a sweet way.

- Mercedes was ON FIRE this week. She's so confident now - look at all the initiative she's taking, now that she feels like she's valued! ♥___♥

- Figgins's school assembly speeches will never not be one of my favorite things about this show.

- "You're skinny like all the crops failed on your family's farm."

Comments

[sceptick.livejournal.com]

I just -- I find myself not liking anyone involved with the Shelby/Puck/Quinn storyline. I'm mad at Shelby for returning in the first place. I'm mad at Quinn for having no boundaries. I'm mad at Puck for assisting Quinn and also having no boundaries. Basically I think Quinn needs to seek help and Puck and Shelby need to get a stern talking-to, tbh.

I just... I see people saying that Finn and Santana are equally bad because Santana was picking on Finn's insecurities about his weight. You know what, I understand about insecurities about your weight because I have lived with them my whole life. I get that. But there is such a huge fucking difference between attacking someone for their sexuality when you're privileged over them in every way as per society's standards and attacking someone's appearance when you're at the bottom of the ladder.

I'd just been hoping Finn had learned his lesson, you know? After the Theatricality thing. i am also somewhat creeped out by how my read of Finn's character while writing that Rachel/Tina fic is apparently seriously accurate. he gets freaked/stressed and he strikes out where it'll hurt the most while acting all righteous and oppressed and shit.

I have way too many wips to start anything else, but if I work hard this weekend I may be able to write something small, which would be awesome. I just need people calling Finn out like crazy rn. Also, you should write all the Troubletones fic, js.

I K R? I'm so proud of my bb, omg. It's amazing how this small change is affecting the way I write her, tho. I'm working on that Christmas Sam/Mercedes fic, and she's just a little different, you know? A little less insecure, a little more comfortable. I'm just so happy idek ;_________♥

[elva-barr.livejournal.com]

Not liking anyone involved is one of the reasons I like the Shelby/Quinn/Puck/Beth/Rachel storyline. I think I'm the only person on the planet who likes it, but the fact that everyone has all of these ~feelings and doesn't know exactly what to do with them and says things I think are dumb (Really Puck, you think Shelby isn't capable and very well-equipped to raise a child on her own? Really Shelby, your body doesn't matter anymore? Talk to Burt Hummel. Really, Quinn, everything?) but the person who comes out of that stoyline looking good -- and I think this is true for the average viewer, too -- is Beth. I mean, I get really angry about some of the things they say but I still don't see a ~~message arc~~ in the storyline, except maybe "getting prego as a teen is not a good idea" but even that is a weak message considering the positive one they're sending with Shelby&Rachel. I think I might get bored of it soon enough but at this point it's just wildly interesting to me, probably just because of my own ~issues with paternity and stuff.

[sceptick.livejournal.com]

It is interesting, yes, I just don't really trust RIB not to fuck it up royally. On the "not liking anyone involved" part, it's more the fact that I actually quite liked Puck and Quinn and now I spend a lot of time being irritated by both of them while watching. I just want to grab them both and be like "LOOK AT YOUR LIVES. LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES."

[ellydash.livejournal.com]

I just... I see people saying that Finn and Santana are equally bad because Santana was picking on Finn's insecurities about his weight. You know what, I understand about insecurities about your weight because I have lived with them my whole life. I get that. But there is such a huge fucking difference between attacking someone for their sexuality when you're privileged over them in every way as per society's standards and attacking someone's appearance when you're at the bottom of the ladder.

YES, this. What Santana was saying to Finn was hurtful and mean and sizeist and totally inexcusable. She should absolutely be called on that shit. There's more than enough room in fandom for a really good discussion about how Santana gets away with saying incredibly awful things, both on the show and in the fandom at large, and why that's seriously problematic. BUT. I don't think that's a discussion that should be directly in tandem with what Finn did to her. Because the two things are absolutely not equivocal, and I say that as someone who has also had years of her own struggles with weight and body image, although from a different perspective (anorexia - recovered now! \o/). It doesn't mean the weight stuff isn't emotionally damaging and harmful - it is, and there's no excuse for it. What Finn did, though - that was an action that directly endangered Santana's safety and well-being, and put those things directly out of her control.

(Icon because I need a little Mulderface to lift my mood after typing that out.)