Glee 3.05

[rm]

1. Jesus Christ, Darren Criss has eyelashes forever.

2. What an appropriately sad gay bar.

3. Too much packed into that episode, and there were connecting moments that I felt needed to be there and weren't.

4. I'm going to state something wildly unpopular: Blaine is attracted to Sebastian. He's tall and lean and he's sexually aggressive, and Blaine likes it. Blaine wants to be pursued and not in that polite ay that Kurt did when they were just friends. And he's never had this experience before, but it's one he's fantasized about. He's not an asshole, and he's not going to betray his boyfriend, but he is flustered and interested and trying not to look naive and boring in the face of Paris.

5. So Brittany's first time... that was awkward. We needed one more line or it needed not to be there, because the people I was watching with asked, "wait, did Brittany get raped?" Which, you know, is valid in that that's a way first times go too, but throwaway line is ambiguous in a bad way about a character we don't want to remove sexual agency from. (Clarification: I don't think a history of rape removes someone's sexual agency, I think fandom interpretation of drive-by unclear data about Brittany is just likely to be a bad mess around that particular topic).

6. All this stuff about what it means to be a man, and Kurt and Blaine largely exempted from it -- but that felt positive and opposed to marginalizing -- it was one type of pain they weren't in.

7. Holy fuck, Chris Colfer can act. Every moment was PERFECTION.

8. Rachel Berry, you are testing my sympathy. Also, she and Finn are so alone together. It just doesn't work. TOxic.

9. I bet a voice over from Artie wasn't how you were expecting it to open.

10. Okay, NO ONE has sex in this episode. What I assume we get is both couples thinking about the lead up to it (appropriate to the song) while performing in the school show the next night. I am fine with no one having actually had sex in the episode, but I want to put this out there as people try to divine what type of sex was had based on the cute little cuddly scenes at the end. Yeah, no. They hadn't had sex yet. Also, hey, more marriage symbolism, and er, I like it, because it's all spiritual marriage and not "let's run off to together." -- ETA: This may be wrong. Tumblr found condom wrappers in the shot, I was convinced they were unopened, but a friend is looking at the image in HD and swears they are, so this may need to be revised. (And, ridiculously, it matters that I figure it out if I want to write about gendered expectations, the heterosexual audience, and Blaine's issues, so here we are).

11. THANK GOD THEY CUT THAT SCENE WHERE FINN ASKS FOR SEX ADVICE FROM SCHUE, HOLY CRAP.

12. Naya Rivera, could you be more beautiful?

13. "Uptown Girl" - weird, creepy, menacing thanks to the fantasy French teacher and EVERYTHING I didn't know I wanted. Er, I have weird feelings about Dalton.

14. Finn's freak out -- narratively important, did it need to happen a second and a half before he and Rachel get it on? Because wow, uncomfortable.

15. Blaine Anderson, I don't even have words... just EVERYTHING. (P.S., I still think something is not right with that boy, I just don't know what the hell it is. I used to hate all the theories about his sketchy relationship with alcohol, because he's 16, but now I have to admit to entertaining them. I also think my sexual abuse theory still holds, but certainly isn't going to be a plot point -- the alcohol may be).

16. Interesting to see Kurt's feminine clothing finally show up again this season.

17. I love how Kurt is hesitant and then just steels himself and goes for it over and over. Been there, Kurt. I get you. You rock.

18. Bieste -- needs more time or less. Is she part of a gender/sexuality spectrum for the girls like the one were getting for the gay guys? Or is it just a muddled mess?

19. Kurt, you are adorable in your cop uniform. Ahaahahaah, the baton when you're watching Blaine at the end.

20. Hey, Mike Chang, apparently your dad is the fanon Mr. Anderson. Good on Glee for not dropping that plot.

21. Tina is awesomesauce. Too bad she had that DREADFUL infodump.

22. Quinn -- please do something with her.

23. WHERE ARE BLAINE'S PARENTS? DID THEY NOT EVEN COME TO THE PLAY? WHAT IS GOING ON?

24. I think Burt Hummel is going to win this election.

25. Roxy Music? Really?

Comments

[brilliant-snark.livejournal.com]

ALL THE THINGS. YES.

You just manage to put all the things I'm thinking into much more coherent statements than I ever could. I feel lame just going "Yes, I agree!", but, well, I do.

Last night, just...so many feelings. So many THINGS about Blaine and his place, his reactions, what goes on in his head. And yes, he was totally into Sebastian being into him...

I really hope they address Blaine's parents at some point, but I am very glad they aren't dropping the Mike Chang parental story.

[stultiloquentia.livejournal.com]

Hee, you give good recap.

7. Holy fuck, Chris Colfer can act.

Did you notice that his hand gesture right after Blaine's little speech about new experiences and adventures was the same one he used to illustrate his line way back in 2x15 -- "That's why I like Broadway musicals...because the touch of the fingertips is as sexy as it gets"? It might have been the coolest piece of physical continuity I've ever seen. Christopher fucking Colfer.

[supergreak.livejournal.com]

I agree- there was just WAY TOO MUCH INFO and I was left kind of shell shocked. Yeah, like, what just happened?

I, too, was assuming cutesy cuddles because the logical jump from "nothing south of the border" to "yay sex" is just way too much.

That was such an Ohioan gay bar. For reals.
Blaine and alcohol worries me, but Bear Cub Karofsky all relaxed and happy, telling Kurt to keep an eye on his boyfriend just about made my day. Seriously, I hope this isn't the last of him, because it's some character development that actually stuck. It isn't fair to put him on a bus now.
Speaking of character development...hello, there was this character named Quinn. Do something with her-there are cliffhangers after the last episode, and then...nothing. Ditto Puck. We haven't heard from Mercedes in three episodes, and Mike Chang gets one scene. One awesome, brilliant, painful scene, but still. Cut some Shane, because he really isn't important, and give these critical characters the plotlines.

I was mostly just relieved by this ep, because of the spoilers, I had imagined it going horrifically, terribly, sadly wrong in so, so many ways. And most of my worries were relieved. Nobody actually did it in the backseat of a car, Kurt was awesome in every phrase and facial expression the whole episode, I fell a little in love with Santana, and so many things that could have gone wrong, didn't. I still think the virgin plot is overdone, because this is the third season in a row, but...*shrugs*

I am kind of disappointed by the emphasis on have-to-lose-virginity in HS. Yes, I realize a lot of teenagers are like, yay sex. But Rachel's line about feeling stupid going to New York a virgin and some of the parts about graduating inexperienced and "being a man"...it was kind of skeezy. There shouldn't be any shame attached to virginity OR experience, and neither your masculinity nor your adulthood relies on the number of notches in your bedpost.
As it stands, if we assume Finchel and Klaine both got it on in this episode(in some form), the whole original gang's confirmed to have punched the V-card except Mercedes. Every last one. Seriously, guys, do you really think that sex with high schoolers is all that great?
I don't have any problem with showing realistic high school relationships, but realistically, lots of people graduate without one iota of sexual experience under their belts. And that's okay.
Glee has pretty much said the opposite up to this point. It doesn't help that their one Conservative Christian Chick was both psycho and granted bases in exchange for favors (well, so did Rachel...) but there are other reasons for waiting at least until college. Like, I don't know, doing it someplace other than your childhood bedroom. (I actually have Kurt and Finn talk about that in a fic of mine-reasons to wait and boundary setting and south-of-the-border hands...) And none of those have been represented- the "chaste" contingent says "all about the teasing, not about the pleasing", whereas someone really concerned about the chastity thing would avoid teasing at all costs, as it simply isn't fair. But I'm rambling...

Blaine's parents are AWOL and I bet at least one of the fanon predictions is going to be right. I'd bet real money that Burt Hummel wins the election, and I want to watch Kurt manipulate that baton all the time.
Basically, 305 totally overwhelmed me, and I'm going to have to watch it again to fully process my thoughts, 'cause, well, there was a lot, was there not?

[silverkit.livejournal.com]

He's not an asshole, and he's not going to betray his boyfriend, but he is flustered and interested and trying not to look naive and boring in the face of Paris.

What's weird is that back when it was just the clip in the coffee shop I was getting uncomfortable, but once I had the whole episode you're right. It was flustered, flattered interest.


21. Tina is awesomesauce. Too bad she had that DREADFUL infodump.

I sometimes wonder if Jenna Ushkowitz pissed someone off, and as a result has had no songs to her own since season one, and gets all these...not great lines.

25. Roxy Music? Really?
Please. I beg of you. Tell me why this is embarrassing? My roommate says it was pretty much the bubblegum pop of the 70s. Yes? I feel like I missed the boat on the joke.