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I just want to live here and - and make art.
First off, sorry for skipping a week! That sounds immensely conceited - I'm sure none of you were just sitting around last Tuesday night/early Wednesday, moping about NO GLEE TALK ON
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ellydash's JOURNAL, MY GOD, HOW WILL I FILL MY LIFE WITH MEANING - but I still feel a little guilty for disappearing. Life's been immensely, wonderfully busy for the last month or so, and I didn't want to make a post and not have the time to reply to comments - plus, there wasn't much I was interested in talking about last week besides Puck Puckerman and Quinn "Really? That's - well, okay, I guess that's what they're going to do with her now" Fabray. (Which we can totally still talk about, if you guys want!)This week, though: lots for discussion. I don't know how much I actually liked this episode, but I want to talk about it, which is more important to me, tbh.
Finn broke my heart. I feel a little guilty for developing this sudden interest in S3 Finn, because he's bothered me on a consistent basis, and occasionally downright angered me, since "Theatricality." Having ~emotions about the problems of a straight, white cis-dude, especially when he's been such a shit so often, feels weird. (And before you say it, I don't have ~emotions about Will, other then general delight in his earnest, off-the-mark terribleness and rage over his more egregious offenses.)
That being said, I'm really interested in what's been going on with him this season. Finn's always been on the top of the high school food chain, and now he's seeing his future yawn out in front of him, and that future is unstructured, without any obvious opportunity - and pretty scary. He clearly doesn't know what he wants out of life, other than to be "special," somehow, like Rachel and Kurt and Blaine, but his skill set isn't their skill set. (That, to me, is where the upset over Blaine last week was coming from - Finn trying to cling as hard as he can to his leading man status, because he's completely terrified that for the rest of his life, he's going to be an extra.) I wasn't expecting the Finn/Rachel first time to be so blatantly within this context of reassurance, but it really was. It's like they're confusing the love they think they feel for each other with the need they both have to feel safe, for very different reasons.
Kurt and Blaine were really compelling for me, too, from a character standpoint, and they usually don't hold my interest much. The car fight scene felt realistic, very IC for both of them, and Chris Colfer acted the hell out of it (also, is it just me, or is Darren's acting getting better?). I like Kurt/Blaine so much more as a ship when there's some interesting conflict that challenges what they have, both outside - the WSS casting issues - and inside the relationship. They had a bunch of little moments tonight that worked really well. I especially loved Kurt's fingers running over his own hand after Blaine walks away in the hallway scene (see gif). Chris is so goddamned good at finding the small things in his performance, those tiny movements that make Kurt and Blaine's connection come across as something that doesn't end when the scene does. (As a side note, could their crotches have been any further apart when they were in bed? I'm imagining Standards and Practices marking the distance between them with a tape measurer.)
Finally, Shannon. Okay. I totally love Shannon Beiste - you guys know that - and I'm always down for her to have more screentime, even when that screentime makes her a little more problematic (see: her comments regarding Kurt and gender). And I'm thrilled that she's getting a love interest, because she deserves to have an awesome guy romance her, and it's just really cool seeing an unconventionally attractive woman in that context. However (and you knew that was coming) I'm really not thrilled with the fact that we're seeing, yet again, a plotline where Shannon feels unattractive and unappealing to the opposite sex, and a conventionally attractive man - or, in the case of one Will Schuester, a man we’re supposed to think is conventionally attractive - tells her how beautiful she is, end of plot. Isolated, it's not the worst, but in the context of Glee, where so many conflicts seem to distill down to "woman acts crazy or has insecurity; man steps in and resolves situation," it really doesn't sit well with me. At least this time she didn't get a pity kiss, I guess.
Other thoughts:
- Artie, stop it. Seriously, stop it. I had to turn down the volume during his sex talk with Shannon, I was so embarrassed for both of them. And what the hell was with the whole "you need to have sex in order to be sexy" thing? I realize there needed to be some sort of catalyst for the virginity storyline, but that was some lazy, stupid writing.
- "You can't do this with your brother!" Rachel, I can show you a whole lot of fic that begs to differ.
- I usually tune out the Dalton scenes, but that French teacher in the red skirt? WOW. Oh, wow.
- Really, really wish "A Boy Like That" hadn't been intercut with Blaine/Sebastian. I get what they were trying to do with it, and I appreciate the attempt to shake things up stylistically, but I really just wanted to watch Rachel and Santana have inappropriate chemistry, tbh.
- Cried with laughter at ND's "acting" in West Side Story, especially Puck and Rory. Ages ago, I read a fantastically terrible Glee/Titanic crossover (don't judge my life choices, okay) that had Puck uttering the line, "Ah, forget it, boyo. You're as like to have angels fly out your arse as get next to the likes of her." Tonight's line readings were almost as good.
- Curious to hear what you guys think of Karofsky's return. I've got some mixed feelings about it myself.
- Loved the shot of Mercedes in the audience supporting her friends.
- Kurt's possessive shimmy on the dance floor when he cut in between Sebastian and Blaine may have been my favorite moment of the entire episode.
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IA with you about Kurt and Blaine. The conflict was great and the story flowed although I do wish S&P would unclench a heck of a lot more. It's almost 1950s-esque. If they were older and lived together, they'd probably have separate beds a la I Love Lucy.
I like and don't like the Shannon story. I'm going to wait with that one until we see more of it.
A lot of the intercutting of the songs with the other scenes was interesting, but I didn't care for it in the end. I found it unnecessary and A Boy Like That was the worst offender in that sense.
I love that Puck remains a terrible actor, but those accents they all put on! My gosh, I was horrified, laughing, and offended all at once. Incredible. And it was so obvious that the Jets sang that one line of America only so they could get Mike in view of his mother for that supportive clap. It was pathetic. Yay, at Mercedes being there with Shane, though. She's a better person than all of them, I swear.
The French teacher was majorly hot and I enjoyed the choreography and arrangement of the scene(Billy Joel owns me), but the singing and production was awful! Total trainwreck.
Kurt was a badass with Sebastian and he uses that shimmy like it's a weapon. Sebastian better watch out or Kurt's going to add some jazz hands.
As for Karofsky: I still don't care for him as a character and Max is only a passable actor even when Chris is carrying the entire scene for him. I liked the scene as a resolution, but I don't think having him show up again is necessary.
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On the one hand, I completely, totally love that there was a storyline on network TV with two gay characters in a loving, committed relationship who talk openly about their decision to be sexually intimate. RIB+ get major, major snaps for that - as frustrating as the writing for this show can be, sometimes they intentionally do pretty great things. On the other hand - the way their hips were angled away from each other in that shot was super obvious and distracting, and a pretty clear sign of a double-standard (for which I'm much more likely to blame S&P than RIB). Small steps, I guess.
Those ACCENTS. Glee at its best/worst, tbh.
I'm still sorting out my Karofsky feelings, I think, which tend definitely to be on the negative side, but I agree that I'm glad Kurt had some resolution.
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I had that same thought, and I'm not even in to that pairing. :P
- Curious to hear what you guys think of Karofsky's return. I've got some mixed feelings about it myself.
I liked the scene, but I wanted more. How did Kurt know he had transferred? And they were so casual with each othe! Like . . . idk, old war buddies or something, to abuse an analogy. Kurt called him Yogi! What happened between them that we didn't get to see to make them comfortable and/or okay with each other? Also what happened to PFLAG?
Another thing: Karofsky was totally dressed up like Burt! Someone on tumblr actually found a screencap of Burt in a denim hat and shirt. o____o I feel like the writers are trying very, very hard to tell us Karofsky is maturing and changing and becoming a better person. I just wish they'd decided to show us instead. :|
/tl;dr
more from me
- Kurt being possessive
- Sebastian's brazenness
- Klaine's first real fight
- the fact a teen gay couple had SEX on prime time TV, on a conservative station at that
- Cory's acting, for once
- Santana/red dresses
- the Blaine/Sebastian "flirting" (more like Sebastian flirting and Blaine being squirrelly, lol)
- Mike's mom
A few things I didn't like:
- Artie implying that to have passion as an actor, you needed to have sex
- the Warblers' number :/
- the intercutting of "Boy Like That" and the Blaine/Sebastian scene. I found it distracting :/
- MIKE'S DAD >:(
Re: more from me
I think a lot of my discomfort with the Karofsky storyline comes from the way it's been handled, and, as you point out, all the gaps that haven't been addressed. Like, the kiss got so much of the narrative/fandom focus, because it was the Big Reveal and all, but what really affected me was that scene in the hallway with the wedding topper - which was clearly suggestive of potential sexual assault. (Kurt's expression of horror was so chilling.) And I felt that, having raised that, the show didn't adequately deal with it, you know? Sure, they had Karofsky apologize, but iirc it was a pretty generic apology, and it didn't acknowledge how incredibly disturbing it was that they had this character dance around the line between physical/emotional bullying and sexual assault, which imo really deserved to be specifically addressed.
I do like that Karofsky seems to be at peace with himself, and that Kurt seems to be in a good place as far as what Karofsky did to him, but you're right, it would've been nice to know more about how they were able to get there, because I'm guessing it wasn't easy for either of them. So interesting about the Burt costuming - I did notice he looked pretty Burt-esque.
Re: more from me
Yes! The cake topper scene disturbed me way more than the kiss or the death threat. I remember watching that scene, and being upset by it to the point of physical discomfort hours after the episode had ended. It was very disturbing and you're right, they never did address it. I doubt it'll come back up because Glee is kind of hit-or-miss with their continuity. :/ It would've been nice, though.
But, now watch, sometime in S4, Kurt, who's now a freshman at NYADA or Julliard, will get a package in the mail with a note from Karofsky saying that he found the cake topper while clearing out his closet (hurr hurr) and apologizing for taking it from him and scaring him so much, and he thought Kurt should have it back. /crawls into this headcanon and never leaves
I do like that Karofsky seems to be at peace with himself, and that Kurt seems to be in a good place as far as what Karofsky did to him, but you're right, it would've been nice to know more about how they were able to get there, because I'm guessing it wasn't easy for either of them.
I really do like Karofsky as a character. I think there's a lot there to explore with him but I doubt they'll ever really get into his background, though. I've resigned myself to nothing but three second glimpses of Karofsky until the end of S3. :P I'm kind of disappointed that, like, they had this chance to take that storyline and write the hell out of it and tell a really compelling, important story, but put it on the backburner. I know Glee is about the music and used to be mostly about the comedy, but I felt like if they'd taken the time to introduce this story thread, they should have also . . . woven a complete story out of it rather than letting it fray and fall apart, oh god this analogy sucks. /tl;dr
So interesting about the Burt costuming - I did notice he looked pretty Burt-esque.
I think what they did with his clothes was pretty clever, actually, if a bit obvious. It kind of felt like neon lights blinking over his head: "LOOK AT HIM! WE DRESSED HIM UP LIKE BURT, WHO IS AWESOME! THIS MEANS KAROFSKY IS NO LONGER A THREAT TO KURT!! UNLIKE SEBASTIAAAAAN!"
Unrelatedly, I need more Sebastian. I don't want to be That Fan™, but the looks that passed between Blaine and Sebastian gave me Feelings™.
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I feel you, bro. I feel you. S3 is mind-fucking me like whoa. Finn doesn't suck, except for that hiccup last week) and Finchel aren't sucking the life out of episodes in their emotionally unstable, abusive and (this is RIB's doing, I know) one-sided sexist ways. I mean, shit, I am Team Rachel/Anyone But Finn and I was even posting pro-Finchel sex posts during the liveblog last night (Faberry shippers, the brunt of the people I follow, were beyond obnoxious about this episode. ESPECIALLY when Finn made Rachel meat). Gotta respect Finn for not going through with it the first time when Rachel basically admitted that she wanted to have sex to better her career. Which, Rachel would. Or at least the real Rachel, the S1 Rachel not that OOC celibate Rachel. Maybe I need to watch it again, I know I need to, but that didn't seem like pity sex to me. Rachel had no idea what went on with the recruiter before she went over there. Her intentions were true, I believe. She had sex because she wanted to. With her boyfriend. Nothing to even be mad about, imho.
Same goes for Klaine. Coming out of last season, Klaine and Finchel were my two most hated ships. Still not going to ship them. But man, I'm not disliking them this season. RIB+6 aren't doing me any favors in me wanting Kurt to remain with Blaine whenever he is with Dave though. He is completely different, in the best way. Like the Kurt of old pre-Blaine. Blaine makes me not like Kurt, basically. I really, really like the car scene. It wasn't just poignant because it was two-guys, that would have been poignant if it was a hetero couple or a lesbian couple as well.
Yeah, the whole, "you need to have sex in order to be sexy," thing annoyed me. Especially within the context of the goddamn musical they were doing. MARIA IS A VIRGIN, ANYWAYS. Maria and Tony are innocent as lambs until the second act. Stupid that they had to go that route as well as inexplicably making it all about Artie.
Oh lord, yes, that teacher.
What merkintosh said, pathetic at how obvious that Jets cameo in America was. I was so, sooooo nervous about this number after seeing that pic in EW. Thinking they were going to change it up so much and have the Jets be apart of the number. TBH, while I think what/how they did America was amazing, without a doubt the best number in the episode...it could have been better. It should have been longer, seeing's how it really was the highlight of what we were going to see of the actual play. The choreography should have been like how it was in the film, hence a fuller number. I had a feeling they were going to pull this, just like they did with the Thriller number. It's West Side Story, it's already perfect, don't try to change it.
Second to America, the Kurtofsky scene was my favorite part of the episode. That in no way felt like shoe-horned in closure, that felt like a beginning. I mean jesus, the way they looked at each other and talked to each other. Kurt's confidence after the scene because of him. Ugh, I will go down with this ship. Max and Chris's chemistry together pales in comparison to Chris and Darren's. Who, yes, I agree has gotten better acting wise since last season.
At least they brought back A Boy Like That during Rachel's scene with the girls. When it seemed like that was it, during Blaine/Sebastian scene, I was peeved.
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I actually like Kurt and Blaine, tbh, although I'm way more interested in them when there's some conflict involved. And I do miss how fantastically snarky pre-Blaine Kurt was, but the changes to his character, the way he's softened, make sense to me. At least we've still got some signs that that Kurt's still there - that jowls line to Rachel last week was amazing.
Artie was just terrible. I've never been a big Artie fan, but boy, did I want him to gtfo after this episode.
I wrote a bunch about Karofsky above in response to
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The red dress was sexy and all, but. Anita. Doesn't. Wear. Red.
Why does Ryan insist on fixing stuff that isn't broken?!
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I wasn't expecting the Finn/Rachel first time to be so blatantly within this context of reassurance, but it really was. It's like they're confusing the love they think they feel for each other with the need they both have to feel safe, for very different reasons.
YES. Thank you for putting my feelings into words before I even knew I had these feelings. Sometimes I need help with these things.
YES again to everything you said about Klaine. The fight scene may have been my favorite because CC & DC acted the shit out of it. Haha, measuring crotch distance. Imagine having that job on set.
Artie creeped me out in this episode. My fiancée-in-Glee,
"You can't do this with your brother!"
My reaction, “You wanna bet?” :-D
I was really excited for Karofsky’s return, but I found it a bit underwhelming. He and Kurt have a pretty casual rapport, considering their history.
In conclusion: KURT’S SHIMMY.
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*My overwhelming thought when the episode was over was "UNF, NAYA RIVERA." I suspect this was not what was supposed to happen.
*Either Darren Criss has gotten better as an actor, or he actually has motivation now and something to play, but I thought he was really good this week. Especially the scene on stage.
*In a similar vein, I thought Jenna Ushkowitz's line readings were way better than they have been. Maybe she's better when she has words with actual meaning behind them, too!
*Sebastian is super-annoying. I prefer my smarm entertaining, like one Mr. Jesse St. James. Also, if that was him singing on "Uptown Girl"? DO NOT WANT.
*The intercutting of songs was a little weird, although I think it worked better with "I Have a Love." It seems like they're being more experimental with form this year, which would be fine, if there were any sort of solid basis for them to start from.
*Artie being the catalyst for the sex thing was weird, especially when I feel like that's the type of crazy Rachel could easily have come up with on her own and then fed to poor suggestible Blainers. Honestly, though, the thing the bugged me most about Artie this week was the out-of-nowhere speech about being a director at the end. Like, I maybe could have bought it if there was any build up at all to it, but in true Glee fashion, they skipped all the hard work and went straight to the payoff.
*I would be very interested in knowing how much the network interfered with this episode, and what it would have looked like without that.
*Also, does Glee always have a parental discretion warning at the beginning? It's possible it does and I only noticed this week because I was watching for it, but I'm not sure.
In conclusion . . . it was fine? I still find the show very interesting, but I'm becoming increasingly emotionally detached.
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"UNF, NAYA RIVERA" is always a good reaction to have after the show's over, imo, no matter what. And Darren and Jenna were totally better this week! Jenna's not usually that bad when she's not forced to cry (and by "not bad" I mean "doesn't take me entirely out of the scene by the terribleness of her acting"), and I thought Tina's comments about Mike were really sweet.
Yeah, Sebastian was a fizzle for me. I don't find the guy attractive and you're right, he's really not charming in a Jesse way at all, which he needs to be for that character to work.
Parental discretion advisories are definitely not a usual thing! I want to say they've had one or two before (maybe for RHGS?) but I'm not sure about that.
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My favorite moment: Blaine rhapsodizing about Roxy Music. And then dancing. I am superficial, I can't even.
I'd like to see more of Bieste's new BF. I like them together, and I can relate to her because I've always been the kind of person to never ever be able to tell when somebody is into me (that always goes right over my head... and not like it matters now, I have my husband and we bonded on a very geek level which is apparently what works for me). But yeah, I get the challenge that she faces there.
Karofsky - IDK. I would be happy if he doesn't appear again. I never liked his character, and this episode didn't really endear me to him like it was supposed to. On the one hand, yeah, I'm glad that he is more comfortable in his own skin, and baby steps are good... but on the other hand, he's still the same guy who bullied others and threatened them with violence. Yeah, people change, especially in and after high school, but still. I'd be happier if we didn't see him again.
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Blaine's dancing and rhapsodizing was adorable! I really do love that character when he's being disarmingly goofy.
Loved, loved, loved Beiste's total inability to get that Cooter was interested in her (I laughed so hard at "What're the flowers for? Are you going to a graveyard?"). And I want so much for her to have an awesome relationship with an awesome guy who treats her well. I'm really not looking forward to [spoiler]Cooter hooking up with Sue and Shannon having a "Jolene"-inspired crisis over it (as hilarious as the idea of Shannon singing "Your beauty is beyond compare/With flaming locks of auburn hair" about Sue Sylvester is). The whole thing's probably going to be severely unpleasant.[/spoiler]
Yeah, I think I'd be okay with not seeing Karofsky again, as much as I'd like a few things with his storyline to be resolved. I just don't think the writers are capable of dealing with that character in a compelling, non-problematic way.
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I would really love to see a friendship between these two blossom. I think it would be good for Kurt because I think it would make him feel more powerful about that situation, about his relationship towards Karofsky and the other bullies - talking to someone who has unfairly dominated you as an equal is a really powerful moment, I think. For that reason, it would be great for Karofsky, and he could learn things.
Although if I did get shippy in a non-Klaine way for this episode, it would be for Kurt/Sebastian bitching each other out, or maybe even an aftermath story about how ~Dave drives Blaine home and puts up with his drunken antics and consoles him about fighting with Kurt, and tells him not to do dumb things like that because it'll really mess up your life forever, and then Blaine is happy and maybe accidentally throws up on something.
There was a tragic lack of Brittany for me in this episode, but my little Klainer heart, oh. Plus I watched it with my roommate and we both agreed that Rachel and Blaine just should have gone ahead and done it if it was so important to them. I did yell at the screen a little bit when Rachel tried to tell us that a sexual awakening is about penetration, but I cooled off by thinking about how Kurt wore a floor length cheetah patterned cardigan.
Speaking of that scene - Kurt has this strange expression on his face when Blaine says "uuuh pshhh yeahhh, that's why they invented masturbation, duh" and I may or may not be writing about how Kurt never really does that and is totally thinking about doing it now and ugh I just loved that scene and everything about it. And this is where I like the Klaine storyline more than the Finchel storyline in this episode -- Kurt expressed an interest in sex before Artie's asshole replaced his mouth, and so did Blaine. Rachel didn't, and she didn't ask Finn about his feelings on the matter before going all "okay, ~take~ my virginity now!" And hasn't Rachel been over Finn's house before? Why would that necessarily mean for sex? There was a lot of head-shaking in this episode.
.. but there was also a lot of heart-clutching.
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an aftermath story about how ~Dave drives Blaine home and puts up with his drunken antics and consoles him about fighting with Kurt, and tells him not to do dumb things like that because it'll really mess up your life forever, and then Blaine is happy and maybe accidentally throws up on something.
I would read the hell out of this.
If I found Sebastian more attractive or charismatic, I'd be all over a bunch of Blaine/Kurt/Sebastian jealousy permutations (as it is, I suddenly really, really want to read Kurt/Blaine fic where Kurt gets really sexually aggressive and territorial after Blaine confesses he maybe might find Sebastian's interest ~flattering). But I do get the sense that we're not done with Blaine/Sebastian in canon, which is intriguing!
There was just so much potential for Rachel/Blaine in this episode, and if someone doesn't write virginity loss fic with those two I'll be very disappointed.
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/finishes spamming
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