Glee 3.06

[rm]

1. I don't think I realized all of that was happening this episode. God, I am so glad Santana is getting this plot, that it's not just about Brittany and that we're skewering American politicas in the process.

2. Foreshadowing about NYADA -- Kurt and Rachel aren't going together. I think Rachel's not going to get in, and/or Kurt will get in, but defer or not go. The certainty everyone has about Rachel getting in is the giveaway she won't.

3. Finn, YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE. His passive-aggressive shit with Blaine is AWFUL (and Blaine can go toe to toe with him on that while happening to be in the right). His thing with Santana -- I get it, I get that he wasn't thinking and was impatient, but NOT COOL. There were grounds for Kurt to out Karofsky and he didn't. There were NO grounds for Finn to do that.

4. Blaine and Kurt protecting Rory. Here, the gay boys being friendly and protective of the straight boy, all of them violating the guy rules that Finn laid out for Rory, and yet, geez, it's non-toxic, will you look at that?

5. Kurt's equestrian outfit. Bet Blaine was carrying his school bag in front of him all day.

6. Okay, that leather turban thing? WHAT THE FUCK? Can anyone parse that horror?

7. Did Kurt and Blaine swap outfit pieces (newsboy cap, waistcoast, and possibly shirt) halfway through the episode? Hahahahahahaha.

8. Rachel, doing right and making it all about herself.

9. My conviction Kurt will get into NYADA came when he took the mic off the stand and started walking around with it, no matter how awkward that speech was.

10. Klaine holding hands in the choir room.

11. Quinn, vicious and terrifying again. But will it go anywhere.

12. The campaign ads were hilarious!

13. Burt better win.

14. That Adele mashup was so fucking incredible. And I'm glad Santana slapped Finn.

15. Kurt's body language with Rachel during hug and after. Maybe this is just me, but he seemed less physically comfortable with her than usual. Kurt's weird about physicality in lots of ways, always has been. But head-canon tells me he can't stand to touch anyone but Blaine right now and that's not about desire, but desire remembered.

16. Blaine and those shorts. More with the random feminine positioning of him in relation to others.

17. This episode was more on the surface than many have been lately, and that's not bad. Digging for what makes sense or is interesting on this show, while always fun, can also be pretty exhausting and should be an OPTION for how we watch TV, not a requirement for any cogency.

18. Puck. Shelby. Yes, but whatever.

19. I think half this episode had to be inexplicable and probably not funny to anyone under 30 ("Hot for Teacher" and the Hall & Oats thing, which was, frankly, terrible).

20. FENCING WITH THE FUCKING MIC STANDS.

Comments

[therealycats.livejournal.com]

I felt like this episode was all over the place, but that the last 5 minutes or so were incredible, largely due to Naya. I had seen the Someone Like You/Rumour Has It mashup last week, but it was still incredible, and now that we have background on Santana's expressions in that scene I think that really strengthened it. Naya is amazing.

I'm glad Finn's outing of Santana came back to bite him in the ass, because when that scene played out, it seemed that they wanted us to be on Finn's side, because they always seem to want us to be on Finn's side. I do think Finn's reaction to Santana, while understandable that he would go for the jugular, speaks volumes about him as a character--the fact that he still goes straight to a person's sexuality to hurt them, when coupling that with his reaction to Kurt in season 1, just screams of his (possibly unrealized to himself) homophobia.

I cannot with this Puck/Shelby thing. I CANNOT with this Quinn thing. I cannot stand Quinn. She has exhibited no redeemable qualities this season, and this adoption/foster care/surrogacy wank that has been going on since the first episode continues to make me RAGE. I know we're supposed to see that Quinn is out of her damn mind, but it just makes me want to scratch ALL THE THINGS.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

I do think Finn's reaction to Santana, while understandable that he would go for the jugular, speaks volumes about him as a character--the fact that he still goes straight to a person's sexuality to hurt them, when coupling that with his reaction to Kurt in season 1, just screams of his (possibly unrealized to himself) homophobia.

Finn's in absolute denial about his own homophobia, because his only self-concept is as a Golden Boy, and yet he has this lurking awareness that he's anything but the perfect All-American specimen he's been held up as all these years (see his breakdown last ep). He's a skinful of unrecognised privilege standing up and walking around, and nothing yet has managed to make him see outside of his own narrow blinders (witness him blithely offering to take Karofsky to Dalton to apologise to Kurt without so much as a by-your-leave in 'Silly Love Songs').

A slap to the face from Santana is less than he deserves, given how he's been treating her like a prostitute ever since he decided he felt guilty about sleeping with her when he knew perfectly well she didn't care about him, and now has decided that her life and safety mean nothing compared to his hurt feelings.

[therealycats.livejournal.com]

I cannot STAND Finn. Never could. First of all, Cory's not that great a singer, so the idea of him as male lead in the pilot was laughable in and of itself. Then the way he toyed with Rachel's emotions in the first 13 episodes, knowing how she felt about him, the way he attacked Quinn and Puck for their infidelity while also cheating on Quinn with Rachel (depending on how you define cheating; in this case I'm defining it as entertaining the romantic notions of someone not your significant other while in an exclusive relationship), then a year later WAS COMPLICIT WITH QUINN IN CHEATING ON SAM, while still seeing himself as not being at fault and as a victim to what Rachel did with Puck--which was EXACTLY the same thing that he did with Rachel when he was with Quinn...his self righteousness and complete blindness to his own hypocrisy is just infuriating. And then of course the homophobia he exhibited with Kurt, who, yes, was pushing himself on Finn, but Finn never would have reacted to Rachel in the way he did to Kurt, the way he told Sam, someone who IS comfortable with his sexuality and doesn't seem to care what others think, not to duet with Kurt because ~everyone~ (who is everyone? no one cares about glee club, remember?) would know and think he was gay, the way he's reacted to Blaine this year, the way he reacted to Rory SIMPLY WANTING TO BE FRIENDS...I just cannot stand him. He's an asshole. That's all there is to it.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

He's a deconstructed Nice Guy/Golden Boy character. Deconstructed with the force of a halfbrick in a sock, sometimes. I loathe him; he makes my skin crawl. I'm just glad he's getting so very exposed for the creep he is. It's been a slow burn over the last two seasons, but he's had it coming all the way.

[rm.livejournal.com]

How ballistic is Burt gonna go on Finn over this?

Actually, scenario:

- Burt lashes out at Finn, brings up his prior bad history with Kurt.
- Finn, brings up Kurt's pursuit of him.
- Burt says something about Kurt having been non-threatening and a KID in said pursuit.
- Finn, trying to save his own ass, brings up that Kurt and Blaine are fucking.
- Kurt goes ballistic on EVERYONE.
- The entire Humdel house is grounded by Carole, who is appalled by the behavior of all her boys.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Never mind halfbrick inna sock; Finn's feet aren't going to touch the ground, and not just because of Santana but because this hurts Kurt too. And then there's what will happen when Burt turns Finn over to Kurt and Blaine (who I suspect will be trying to protect Santana in the hallways next ep the way they did Rory in this).

I want him locked in a punitive sentence of scrubbing floors, making coffee and photocopying pamhplets at the local Trevor Project office until he finally works out exactly what he did wrong. It may take several years, but that's okay.

'My parents don't even know yet.' That's the line that's got me raging, and I haven't even seen the episode yet. So much love for Burt being decent and supportive.

ETA: - Kurt replies to Finn's outing of him and Blaine by letting slip that he's had sex with Santana, Quinn and Rachel all three, too. Carole goes ballistic in light of baby drama.
-Blaine runs for the hills. Or brings out a fire extinguisher.

[mockingbirdq.livejournal.com]

God, someone needs to write this scenerio in a fic.
*gives you hopeful Bambi eyes*

[tikiera.livejournal.com]

the show has set it up for Rachel to stay in Lima, OH, either because she fails to get into NY school or because of Finn.

At this point, I am watching the show only for Blaine and Kurt.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

I completely forgot about the episode because marking, but now I want it so badly it hurts. Burt and Sue appear to have had a shared moment of awesome for Santana's sake, and that makes me so happy.

All the hugs in the world for Santana.

[calliecat.livejournal.com]

Klaine holding hands in the choir room? How did I miss that? Do you remember the scene? I was really hoping that they would start dancing together during the Will/Shelby mashup. Kurt seemed very checked out of that scene to me.

[sillygleekt.livejournal.com]

Duh. Of course you're posting this here which is so much more manageable. It felt kind of pointless to post my responses on tumblr because it's a non-blinky response to something that's not blinky.

2. Agreed.
3. SO MUCH. I was already completely done with him in the choir room scene. But then when he pulled what he did in the hallway with Santana? I honestly don’t know how the powers that be can redeem him from that? And I have always had a soft spot in my heard for Finn.
4. YES YES YES.
5. So many things here. Keeping mouth shut. Hee.
7. Yes, and to me I cannot interpret this in any other way than SEX. This was this episode’s nod to what happened last week (well, that and the jockey stuff but um… not touching that). They’ve never swapped clothes before.
12. So hilarious. I got insulted for Carole tho. :D
13. YES. God, REALLY REALLY REALLY.
14. Amazeballs. And some of the looks between Santana and Brittany? Amazeballs on top of amazeballs.
15. Agreed.
16. So much I love about those short shorts and I’m not even touching the gender stuff yet there when I say that. Beautiful Blaine choice.
20. Yet ANOTHER throwback to Blaine’s bedroom.
21. They are SO awesome. I missed some of the stuff you noted because of watching it on livestream, so I can’t wait for my download to finish. Eeeeee!

[melebeth]

Interestingly, in the Finn/Santana scene I was really relieved that he didn't say something much worse. Yes, he went for the sexuality button, but he didn't insult her for being gay - he insulted her for being a coward about it. Which turned out to be just as horrible for the character in the end, but.... There is a difference, and while I don't like him for outing her, the way he did it was much less awful than it might have been. Also? While I have enormous sympathy for Santana being outed when she isn't ready, and think the actress is amazing, it must be acknowledged that she was being cruel to him, actively cruel, when he was trying to be nice, and she basically challenged him to find a way to hurt her. Is it an excuse? No. Is outing someone worse than calling them fat, talentless, and stupid? Yes, but.... It's not quite as simple "as asshole cis gendered straight guy is cruel to the lesbian because she is gay." I don't particularly like Finn either, but I also don't give Santana a blanket pass for her years of cruelty to others just because she is gay and now suffering for it. It sucks, but as useless as Finn is, I think he's getting a bit too little credit here.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Santana's an asshole, and I don't think Finn was trying to hurt her with being gay and the sentiments weren't wrong, but canon tells us that he's just put her in physical danger in the world of WMHS and he can't even begin to fathom that.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

And then there's the fact that we apparently have Blaine modelling 'This is how you respond to someone being an areshole while retaining your dignity and the high moral ground' positively in the same episode...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Blaine's fucking smirk though. I mean, he's lovely, but he's so enjoying sticking it to Finn, gracious though he may be.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Hee. I am looking forward to seeing it.

[melebeth]

Oh I completely agree. I just thought it was worth explicitly bringing in some context in the face of earlier comments. (I can't believe I'm defending Finn in any way. He's so... UGH.)

[springbay.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad someone else remembered Santana's "years of cruelty". She has been awful to just about everyone and in small doses it played as funny in past episodes. I absolutely don't condone anyone being outed and I may be in the minority here but I didn't see what Finn did as being thought out and intentional on his part. Earlier in the episode when he and Rory tried to insult Santana she just laughed at them - and insulted them some more. In the second confrontation, she was so awful and cruel (I actually wondered when she was going to stop) I got the feeling he just lashed out with the first thing that came to mind.

[bluejeans07.livejournal.com]

Totally agree. I can't help but think Santana was also repeatedly poking at a wasp's nest with a stick. She was warned repeatedly to back off from not just Finn but from Mercedes, Shelby, even Brittany, and she didn't. The outing is terrible and Finn definitely is at fault for creating what will be a hard situation for Santana, but her own behavior is also to blame here.

[lostin-thestars.livejournal.com]

How is you make me want to watch Glee again

[lostin-thestars.livejournal.com]

And now I am.

Fencing with Microphones!

[maria dominguez (from livejournal.com)]

Totally flash-backed to your fencing centered fic from last week during the "Hot for Teacher" choreography! Given your expertise, do you think Darren has a fencing background? He seems to have a practiced stance and some authentic movement.

Re: Fencing with Microphones!

[rm.livejournal.com]

I do, but not a lot I don't think. Like he did it for a year somewhere in his past.

At first I thought it was just smart choreography, but the I thought they'd have Mike approximating fencing footwork better than he was. There's also the chance that DC has no experience with fencing whatsofuckingever and this one of those obsessive Glee details where someone wanted to make sure Blaine looked like he had this sort of clue.

But he's trying to do footwork right. He can't hold his center for shit because of the balance/weight/length of the mic stand, but yes, to me it looks like someone who knows at least some of the right things to do and feels a little freaked out and a little giddy by things that get in the way of that form/safety.

I can't tell you if it's a character moment or an actor moment, but someone who lives in that brain has a fraction of a clue, yes.

Re: Fencing with Microphones!

[cookiedough.livejournal.com]

Darren has at least studied stage fencing for traditional theatre as part of his degree. One of his friends used to make video blogs of their group/classes, and there was footage of them fencing. Not him specifically, but I know he was in the same class. /themoreyouknow

[goseaward.livejournal.com]

At first I was a little thrown off that there was nothing really about Kurt/Blaine or Rachel/Finn in this episode, and then I decided I liked it--that as much as we had to have a second episode about loss of virginity, the writers then didn't do an obsessive episode about what it all means for everybody. It didn't, like, define or ruin their lives, which I feel like it too often does on US TV.

#15--I like this head canon; #19--I'm under 30 and had an intellectual response to Hot for Teacher (oh hey, Puck is singing about Shelby, isn't there a song called Hot for Teacher?) and didn't know Hall and Oates at all.

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

At first, I was all eye-rolly with the Puck/Shelby thing, as it had been hinted at in previous eps.

Seeing it in its full-blown glory, however, I find it creepy and no small amount of misogynistic. I mean, let's play into every het teen male's fantasy of "Hot for Teacher." And of course, that teach is equally hot for him.

It's degrading to Shelby, who (aside from whatever wankdreams Puck may be having about her) comes across as a decent, if somewhat overwhelmed, new mother.

Also? I think Rachel just has utterly no insight into her self-centered motivations, so her apologies come across as "I'm just saying I'm sorry so you will like me again" and not any effort to understand where she has fucked up. I am more than a little put out with Kurt for forgiving her so easily.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

I think Rachel just has utterly no insight into her self-centered motivations, so her apologies come across as "I'm just saying I'm sorry so you will like me again" and not any effort to understand where she has fucked up

You and me both. She and Finn are exactly alike in that; it's all either of their apologies ever really mean.

I honestly think Kurt was more on the money with his 'borderline sociopathy' comment than he has any idea of, at least for TV-show values of sociopathy.

[musik19.livejournal.com]

swapping outfit pieces???? i don't remember this but i want to see. and i missed kurt/blaine hand holding too? where was my brain?

[cookiedough.livejournal.com]

Blaine being so delighted in, and enjoying Hot For Teacher makes me think about how needy he is and how stoked he must be to have been reached out to and included, by Puck and Mike etc. I want him to have friends. I want someone to write fic about what that acceptance meant to him.

[yamx]

3.) God, when Finn said that I literally gasped. Yes, Santana's an asshole, and has been for a long time, and is proud of it (Am I misremembering or is there an episode where she refers to herself as "the queen bitch"?), but you don't out people against their will. You just don't. And yes, what he said about her being a coward about it (which belies her "I am so tough and not scared of anyone!"-act) is true, and it'd be fine if he'd said the same thing in private, but in a crowded hallway???

Yes, Santana had been cruel to Finn seconds before, but Karofsky literally beat up Kurt repeatedly AND kissed him against his will and yet Kurt never even considered outing him.

In fact, now I'm wondering if that little, "I changed schools so I could have my senior year free of rumors!" - "Just so you know, I'd never have told anyone" exchange last ep was all in preparation for this ep.

[dizzieblonde.livejournal.com]

Can I just say Kurt's outfits, for the majority of this episode, were insane! That first one - I wondered where he'd left his pony, he was wearing an actual riding helmet (and was it Blaine's old polo helmet perhaps?)! He has to be wearing hats now, given his previous obsession with impeccably groomed hair, to cover up the fact the Blaine is messing it up before, during and after school with sneaked quickies. The changing into each other's clothes would back that up too.

But fuck yes for Blaine owning Finn, when Finn tried his douchebaggery out in the choir room. And Kurt's compassionate, almost maternal side coming out with the youngest kid in the room - we saw that quite a bit last season in the wake of Burt's heart attack (BTW, I thought Burt was on his way to a stroke this episode - this better not happen). All the anvils are clanging around for the NYADA thing to be a bust for one or both of them - yes I think Rachel, but with Kurt choosing to defer his acceptance for some reason. Shelby saying that she got beaten out for roles by NYADA graduates indicates that, even Shelby, with her years of Broadway experience, wasn't as good as these fabled NYADA students.

Naya was incredible in her storyline - of course Santana was a total bitch, who took the whole thing too far, but Finn's outing, and that video - oh god, my heart broke. Oh yeah, the fall-out in the Hudmel family when those two get home from school - not pretty, probably going the way you envisioned it, and yet I'm really hoping someone writes a good fic about it!

And this is where the campaign now becomes about the candidates' and their families/friends' sexualities. Kurt's name will inevitably get dragged into the debate, Sue is probably screwing Cooter to reassure the voters that she's straight and everything becomes about LGBTQ issues. I really don't have masses of faith that Glee can address this perfectly, but I hope they keep this rooted in some realism. It was a strange episode, lacking the cohesive stoytelling combined with visuals and music of last week, it got jittery and jumpy but I actually liked it for that - plus the dodgeball scene was so much fun. Last week can't be beaten, for me, but I love what the writers are doing this year. Execution wasn't perfect (Glee, please learn consistency) but it's set so many things up for an explosive couple of episodes to come.

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

So much for me to look for in the re-watch. I agree about them setting up Rachel to fail with NYADA, though, and I wish they were writing with more subtlety... but then this is Glee. What am I saying?

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Someone smarter than me really needs to write a full-length dissertation parsing out Klaine's clothing choices and the subtext therein. I'm finding all this outfit-switching/leather turban/Catholic schoolgirl snap-tie stuff fascinating.

I'm betting Rachel won't get into NYADA, Finn will be not-so-secretly psyched and they'll end up having a huge fight about it.

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

I personally think it was the head turban along with the shirt modeled on the Palestinian scarf was a reference to the recent Palestine recognition vote taking place in the UN. That's probably not the real case but I'm using it as my personal head canon because the idea is fascinating to me.

Wait, where was the catholic schoolgirl bit??? HOW'D I MISS THAT?

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's pretty good head cannon. It kind of reminded me of an s&m version of Sunset Boulevard.

Yeah! You know those little criss-cross ties that snap in the middle they make you wear in parochial school? I wore one for 8 years. :) I can't tell you exactly which scene, but it was in the music room and Kurt definitely had one on!

[rm.livejournal.com]

I also thought of Sunset Boulevard, which we know Kurt likes, but I definitely saw the Palestian pattern in the sweater thing.

I just can't figure out why Kurt's clothes got MORE OUTRAGEOUS THAN THEY EVER HAVE BEEN BEFORE, after they'd been toned down for the beginning of the season. What the hell.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Confronting Sue? You dress for battle.

I don't have any headcanon for the pony club getup, though.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Maybe losing his virginity gave him a confidence boost?

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

And then in the end he's wearing an outfit Chris Colfer wore in an interview (the white shirt with the blue sleeveless jacket), which confused me even more. It took me ages to remember where I'd seen that.

My personal favourite was the suit he wore during his speech, he looked so serene in it.

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

XD, I went back and checked and then realised what you were talking about. And yes, that particular fashion statement confused me too.

I have to say, the Palestinian idea came to me partly because Sue kept calling Kurt 'Yasser' which was extremely entertaining. I always love Sue/Kurt conversations.

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

I think that for all its faults this was perhaps the most interesting episode of the season. Naya broke my heart in two with the 'I haven't told my parents yet' line and with the later paranoia that Rachel and Finn are whispering about her. Everyone in the fandom has been going on about Chris winning an Emmy this year but honestly, I'd love to see Naya get one at this point. I loved her in the last season and I'm loving her even more here.

I agree with you on the Finn outing Santana disaster. If he did want to hurt her, and I can understand how bullying and constant ridicule can make you crazy, I've been through that, and I can totally understand the urge to twist the knife back, he could have told her she was lying to herself in private. I was feeling very disgusted with Santana and pretty much all the Troubletones after the Rory dodgeball incident but I still think Finn went way too far.

But, did anyone else feel their heart break at the slightly pitying tone Finn had when he says after the Adele mashup, everyone knows, and nobody cares? I felt awful for Santana then because then it's not only the coming out but also that everyone knows that she loves Brittany and maybe Brittany doesn't return her love in quite the same manner. That part really stuck with me after the episode, although I'm not sure the show meant to indicate that.

On a lighter note? Hot for Teacher was amazing. But the Hall & Oates was truly awful, I winced throughout.

But the Adele Mashup was astounding.

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

I just watched 5 and 6 back-to-back (5 came up on hulu which reminded me I'm behind), and damn. I can't decide whether I love or hate the writers, but I'm also thrilled that so many GLBT issues seem to be getting brought up in more normative ways than I'd ever expected on national TV. And that young people seem to like the show, so they may be learning something too.

Watching the end my heart went out to Santana (who is pretty much everything and everyone I hated in HS and college, down to being closeted and cruel), but that ad is just appalling. I'm somewhat surprised that Sue seemed upset about it though given her frequent cruelty, and I wish she'd actually do something about it that's not acting bat-shit crazy. Occasionally her character seems to get things right, so I'm hopeful.

Must start paying more attention to the damn outfits though; oddly enough I make clothes for people semi-regularly, but I never really think about the things they signify. I guess it's something that's just not on my radar.

[supergreak.livejournal.com]

My biggest reaction to the entire thing was, "Oh, Finn, you didn't."
My heart spent the entire episode breaking.
That Adele mashup is freaking awesome.

20. FENCING WITH THE FUCKING MIC STANDS. AMEN

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

Um, I don't really watch Glee, I caught the last (amazing) five minutes of this, and I'm about to say something astonishingly newbie...

This show doesn't treat female characters very well, does it?

Edit: I mean the stuff that happens to them-they are characterized very well. Also this town must be Peyton Place with all this shit going on. (Then again, all small towns are Peyton Place on TV.)

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Why is it that Santana is the only character in the whole show who can be a huge asshole and still make me love her?

Just wondering.

[silverkit.livejournal.com]

16. Blaine and those shorts. More with the random feminine positioning of him in relation to others.

I am ridiculously interested in the fact that his legs are shaved too. Because I do believe Darren Criss is a pretty hairy guy to begin with and this...is just not something I usually see.