Glee 3.08 thoughts

[rm]

That was an extraordinarily strange episode:



1. Blaine backstory!

2. No, seriously, that "I'm not for sale" moment was weird, especially when there's no reason to be even think he knows about Sam's career. Yet again, I'm back at "Blaine has some sort of sexual abuse/trauma in his past."

3. Wow, stripper trope got a lot in, in half a second, and it was smart until it was FAIL and I'm going to have to untangle all the weird around Sam's "innocence" and Quinn's "white girl problems" and more discussion of what it means to be a man or an adult or... what?

4. In fact, the amount of content in this episode about sex, predatoriness around sexuality and consent was weirdly high: Sam, Blaine's reaction to "selling onenself", the Puck/Shelby mess, Tickles the Clown, Sebastian's increasingly awful behavior.

5. When we first met Sebastian in 3.05, I still feel Blaine felt a spark. Now he is seriously over it. So where is this going to go, because he's clearly not going away? Stalker maybe?

6. In what universe is Sam the missing star power from New Directions? Although he was pretty great this episode.

7. "Red Solo Cup" may be the weirdest thing to ever happen on Glee.

8. I know the "fight club" thing was a joke, but I'm picturing Wes and Thad scuffling over the gavel now.

9. Blaine and the boxing.

10. Blaine and the desperate need for approval.

11. Kurt at the end and how he gravitates to Sugar and Artie. Like his ongoing friendship with Brittany, and his fascination with what's outside the window, Kurt's internal sense of his otherness I think comes from something not related to his sexuality.

12. GERBER BABY.

13. The Troubletones were AWESOME.

14. I'm not a huge Michael Jackson fan, so I'm a bit luke warm on ND in this one.

15. DEAR SWEET LORD, "We Are Young" rocks.

16. Cried over Mike, Tina and his dad.

17. CHRISTMAS EPISODE LOOKS CRACKTACULARLY BRILLIANT AND I THINK WILL PLAY WITH AWESOME TROPES ABOUT KURT/BLAINE, PERFORMATIVITY AND HETEROSEXUALITY AND IT'S GOING TO ROCK MY TINY LITTLE WORLD.

18. Possibly the weirdest overall episode of Glee EVER.

19. I am deeply resistant not just to the idea of high school as our glory days, but to the idea of glory days at all, like there's a moment where our lives can never be as good as they once were. Even if this is arguably true, it's not a space I ever wish to live in. But I suppose for a bunch of kids in Lima is makes sense.

20. Quinn remains the greatest waste on this show. She could be the most interesting character, but both her pain and her decency are constantly, CONSTANTLY glossed over in ways that make me so goddamn aggravated I just don't know what to do.

21. I still think Kurt is going to get into NYADA.

22. Shawl collars/Blaine = OTP

Comments

[orangegirl2010.livejournal.com]

I feel so... confused. I really enjoyed basically all the musical numbers this time around but I definitely felt like this episode was on speed or something.

Glee seems to have this intense need to draw stories out foooorever (aka Mike and his dad) and then decide they are done with them and resolve them at WARP SPEED.

As far as 2, I feel like the impression was supposed to be that everyone knew about Sam. Specifically the "that's what you have to tell yourself to sleep at night" bit. And when did Sam and Blaine become okay? Because if I were Sam, we would not be okay. But even if Blaine knows about Sam, that outburst was WAY intense.

6. Sam is the missing star power in the universe of Glee random plot holes. Rather than coming up with a return for Sam that is driven by the narrative, the way you'd hope, Glee just goes. "Oh we have to get Sam back in here now but since we are trying to fit A SEASON OF PLOT into this episode we'll just drop him in by claiming something inconsistent and moving on quickly in hopes the viewers don't notice." Although even for them, this one was thin. And, on a tangent, Chord Overstreet looks like he filled out. But maybe I'm just remembering him smaller.

7. I seriously wish I could have been there for the meeting when Red Solo Cup was selected. Because this show has generated so many moments of WTF over the years. And yet, this one was the WTF-yiest.

8. There had better be a great deal of Wes/Thad gavel fight club fanfic. Otherwise I will be deeply disappointed.

9. Speaking of fanfic. I'm pretty sure the boxing scene is when cannon Blaine merged with fanfic Blaine. But I can't really explain it.

18. Yes.
21. Also yes.

After watching all three performances, I felt like ND had to win. Not just from a plot standpoint but because the other two groups were basically soloists (or duets) with backup dancers. I felt that ND used their group dynamic to full effect. I Will Survive/Survivor was amazing, but I think ND was stronger as a group. (To be fair, I am a fan "ABC" and "Man in the Mirror" and a few other MJ songs, although I wouldn't call myself an MJ fan).

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

the other two groups were basically soloists (or duets) with backup dancers

Which is exactly the pattern that New Directions has had for every single competition until this one. If they go back to it for Regionals and win, I will be very cranky.

[orangegirl2010.livejournal.com]

To be fair, ND has had solo numbers in other competitions but they've also had group numbers. Although theoretically the other groups could have here since I'm guessing we weren't supposed to have seen their whole performance? You Can't Always Get What You Want, Somebody to Love, Any Way You Want It, Don't Stop Believin', Loser Like Me, and Light Up the World were all much more group numbers than either of the other groups' numbers last night.

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

Well, not really. Even their group numbers are very rarely actual group numbers; they're more often duets with promiment backup. Plus, there's been a very common structure to their competition setlists to date: a solo ('Last Name', 'Don't Rain on My Parade', 'Valerie', 'Get It Right') and/or a duet ('You Can't Always Get What You Want', 'Somebody To Love', 'Faithfully', 'Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'/Any Way You Want It','Time of My Life', 'Pretending'), some with more or less prominent backing singers. There have only been three competition numbers which can truly be called group numbers ('Don't Stop Believing' redux, which followed a mashup that was mostly a duet with backing singers, 'Loser Like Me' which followed a solo with backup singers, and 'Light Up The World' which followed a duet with backing vocals). And only a restricted range of singers have been shown on-screen performing a few lines in each. You might get Artie, Puck and Mercedes; you don't get Mike, Lauren, Kurt or more than a line or two of Quinn or Tina.

On top of that, the majority of times, their soloists have also been the same for each number in a set*. Invitationals S1: April Rhodes, Rachel (subbing for April) and Finn. Sectionals S1: Rachel, Rachel and Finn, and as we know they did 'Somebody To Love' as well we have to add a third Rachel and Finn to that list too. Maybe count Mercedes' glory notes as a third soloist if I'm generous. Regionals S1: Rachel, Rachel and Finn. Sectionals S2: Quinn and Sam, Santana - a rare variation, but Will thought it would get him into Emma's undies, so whatever. Regionals S2: Rachel, Rachel and Finn on the most prominent verses with others joining in. Nationals S2: Rachel and Finn; group number with Rachel and Finn again on the highlight points.

A truly equitable sharing of roles across all three numbers in a New Directions competition set has never really been shown before 3.08, only gestured to.


*That's the situation the Troubletones were stuck having to replicate this time out, because unlike New Directions they actually didn't have more than two really strong vocalists.