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

[crown-of-weeds.livejournal.com]

This episode still has me bouncing.

Random responses...

-Dalton fight club!

-What is up with Sam? Everything about him was.....fail!white savior. I know they ran with the Avatar storyline last season....are they twisting it now, as they twist everything?

-Except ND won.

-I was all prepared to rage about the Trouble Tones losing, but I think the resolution with the girls in the end might have worked, actually.

-Tina and her approach to her boyfriends really, really bothers me.

-I already have 83 pages of notes in google docs for that kurt-and-his-brain fic that I'm not writing. This episode? Did not help.


Things I need to think about/read about:

-Glee and its what is a man obsession
-Sam, Shelby, Quinn, Puck, Brittany, and dubious consent
-Is Glee capable of ending storylines it has built up to slowly in a vaguely expected or emotionally weighty way?
-None of those are phrased quite how I want them to be.

I was actually really happy with Quinn! We'll see.

[silverkit.livejournal.com]

18. Possibly the weirdest overall episode of Glee EVER.

I can't help but feel like this episode escaped from season two. It just..it's crazy felt more like season 2 crazy.


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."
I wasn't sure if this was Blaine just speaking from his gut or if this was another Finn let someone's secret slip again.

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?

Agreed. Back when he first showed up Blaine liked the attention. Now that pause after "Haven't seen you online" felt like it was filled by Blaine responding with "That's because I blocked you/unfriended you from every possible social networking site I too am also on. You are starting to creep me out."

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

12. SO MUCH LOVE.

[melebeth]

I can't get past my feeling that the New Directions were the weakest group in the competition. If they needed to win, for plot purposes, then they should have made the other groups less talented. Color me unimpressed, although I thought Tina sounded great on ABC.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I'm just grateful they didn't actually sing "Jack and Diane". I hate that song.

[sillygleekt.livejournal.com]

8) There is some crackstastic fic to be had from that one line alone. The crossover fic no one ever thought to do before. Hahaha.

9) YES. Unf. There was a fic that pushplaytobegin did (I think!) in which Blaine was jumping rope (I totally associate jumping rope with boxing) and Kurt watched and it was hot. So yeah. I bet Blaine's got a bag at his house either in the basement or in the garage. Because that's a totally manly thing that his dad would definitely support.

10) God, how quickly he acquiesced to Finn! Oh, Blaine.

15) YES. GOD IT WAS BRILLIANT.

17) Totally agreed. I can't wait!!!

[sizequeen.livejournal.com]

Hell, yeah. Did you see that crazy editing that was designed to minimize their sloppiness? The problem is that they hired professional dancers to dance in the other groups while the ND people are enthusiastic amateurs. They should hire an actual high school choir to do these performances. The HS choirs might also be better than ND, but they wouldn't be ridiculously better.

[prettypinkdyke.livejournal.com]

a) I need to stop watching Glee on really dim TVs with no color contrast because I clearly miss things. Not that I won't be watching it, like, three more times this week though...
b) Would love to see what you manage to make on (3) if you take the issue on because, yeah, that was all over the place.
c) Sam was the best ever in this episode. I don't even think I realized how much I missed him, but man do I need more of him in this show.
d) YES to (9), (10), and (11). And also so confused where the Sebastian storyline is headed now.
e) Re: Klaine/performativity/etc (17) OH GOD I HOPE SO.

Also, I actually loved this episode more than most of this season (but, again, terrible TV, will need to watch again) and I'm not sure why. But I feel like they did something right tonight in a way they totally didn't last week.

[bluejeans07.livejournal.com]

13. HOLY CRAP YES.

14. I'm fairly uninterested in MJ as well, but I loved the enthusiasm in the performance and what I liked most was that everyone sang and everyone got a moment. With the Gerber Baby band and the Troubletones, the spotlight was clearly on one or two people, but I liked that ND work together as a team.

Related WAY too much to #16. The first time my dad 'got it' was when he walked into Nickelodeon Animation Halloween party during my internship and realized that there were places of work for people like me. As much of a stereotype that storyline was, I can't protest too much about it because it really happened to me.

18. Yeah, I don't know if I like this episode or not. I really liked the musical numbers but not sure how I feel about the writing.

20. Very yes. Diana Agron is an amazing actress but too often they just have her play serene to CA-RAZY.

22. YES. Love shawl collars on men!

[monkeyforlove.livejournal.com]

7. "Red Solo Cup" was really weird, but I weirdly loved it. Especially Kurt sitting - he must have been thinking "but glass is . . . what people should put drinks in."

11. Your observation about Kurt being back on the periphery is really interesting - I don't have much to say right now, because your insights always blow mine out of the water. But I think Kurt's tendency to gravitate outside the group is why I identify with him more than any other character on Glee; it's what I do as well - I was always looking out the window (well, still am).

5./9./10. As for Sebastian, I'm wondering if somehow Blaine's anger issues are going to come to some kind of head with him. I'm wondering what Blaine would have done if he'd overheard his conversation with Kurt, for example. How would have reacted to Sebastian insulting Kurt that way? Also thinking back to how Blaine reacted to Karofsky's insults and aggressive behavior with his own. I agree too about Blaine's need for approval, but I rewatched that boxing scene and while he agrees to work with Finn (and they seem to be making nice at Sectionals) - first he drops his fist, then there's something in his eyes and his smile at the end that makes me think this isn't over quite yet. Even if he has a crazy need for approval, Finn's treatment has obviously settled deep (at least to me).

8. So want to see "Fight Club II: Battle for the Gavel"!
14. What I loved most about the ND numbers was how I could see influences from all the dancers (Mike, Blaine, Sam), even the return of "sexy"!Kurt . . I found the choreography really visually interesting, and it wasn't the first time I'm sad that Kevin McHale can't dance with the rest of them.
16. Me too.

What the hell was Kurt wearing in that last song? Leather shorts?

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

6. In what universe is Sam the missing star power from New Directions?

The one in which Finn still needs his mini-mes around to shore up his status and sense of self. Sam was always Finn 2.0. If he can't be the star power himself, he needs his other self there to do it for him so he can still feel like the one in the lead.

Blaine's too far outside the paradigm, and too threatening, for Finn to accept him in that role. I'd say Kurt needs to kick his stepbrother's arse until sense gets into his head, but it's been apparent for two and a third seasons now that Finn doesn't pay a damn' bit of attention to anythning Kurt says; he's just a thing to be placated until he becomes untroubling.

[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.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I... really don't like clowns. How much camera time does the clown get? I'd hate to have to skip an episode, but...

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

Not much, but he tells an inappropriate joke that bombs. And he's not in makeup, but he wears the clown nose. He's creepy, but not shown enough to really be a huge problem. (I'm not fond of clowns, but don't have a full-blown phobia about them either.)

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

I have just started watching Glee in its third season, largely due to my Twitter feed live-blogging the shit out of it. :) I've only seen about three episodes, but they're interesting and I need to catch up. There's a hell of a lot of backstory, most of which I am only semi-familiar with thanks to fandom osmosis.

I need to see more of Blaine to really make an opinion regarding his issues around sex. But I wouldn't be surprise if your theory was correct.

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

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."

Actually, from the facial expressions and the dialogue in that scene, it seemed like Blaine knew. I mean when Sam says "this is the advantage (hip thrust)" and Blaine responds with "of course you think that, you have to think that in order to sleep at night."...that's a pretty good indication that he's been told about the stripper history. I was actually incredibly pissed at Blaine for that statement and didn't enjoy most of the episode because of it. It seemed like the kind of douchey thing Finn would say. I wish they'd stop wrecking Blaine. He's usually this amazingly sensitive/kind guy and then they do something like this and I'm just like...WHAAAAAT. What happened to the guy who got angry with Kurt for denying the existence of bisexuality or talked about the Warblers needing sexyifying? I actually understood where he was going with the whole 'it's cheap' dialogue, I didn't agree but I understood. But what he said to Sam really angered me. Ah writers, leave my Blainers alone.

Although maybe I misread the whole scene (I would prefer that honestly.) But I don't think I did.

Kurt continues to be awesome. Telling the girl in the Unitards (????) that she was great? He knows how to be classy. *cuddles him*

I think we might have Quinn back at last. I hope they don't screw her up again, she's one of my absolute favourites.

[supergreak.livejournal.com]

18. AMEN
19. If I ever believed that high school was the best days of my life, I never would have made it through high school. It's a really depressing concept to kids for whom high school sucks.

21. And I think Rachel won't. But really, what senior in high school pins all their dreams on one school? It's not NYADA or Lima Bean, kids. There's MSM, Mannes, NYU...

The troubletones kicked ass, and if they'd gotten three songs like ND did, they might've won. Also, we need more girl-on-girl dancing. Was that a tango? I don't dance, but it was awesome.

I'm not a big Jackson fan either, but I liked this. Kudos to Kurt finally getting a solo spot, even three lines, in competition. I felt, overall, the solos were split a lot more evenly than ND has ever been in competiton. It's traditionally Finchel duet, followed by a Finchel-lead group number, maybe with Quinn and Artie and Puck getting single lines.
But here, all the original members got at least a few lines, and the main leads weren't dominated by two or three members. It was like...like Schuester was actually educating! Like they learned something from last year!

Speaking of Blaine and approval, I found it interesting that he was one of the Five for Man in the Mirror.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

For one soul-stopping second I feared Sam was actually going to launch into "Jack and Diane". It's a good thing he didn't, because I would have had to set my tv on fire.

Blaine's "not for sale" moment really did seem like it came out of nowhere. It doesn't jibe with anything I've seen of Blaine so far, especially not after that episode in season 2 in which he encourages Kurt and the other Warblers to dance more provocatively. It's inconsistent. I want to believe the writers have a plan for Blaine, but more than that, I just really, really hope they don't ruin him for me.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Also, is it just me or did Tina look absolutely gorgeous in this episode? I can't get over it.

[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.

[orangegirl2010.livejournal.com]

I agree with your reading of the Blaine scene. It seemed pretty clear to me that the stripper thing was supposed to be common knowledge but the scene was not very consistent with other things we've seen from Blaine.

[orangegirl2010.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that NYADA was supposed to be NYU and for some reason they couldn't just say NYU so they were using a fake school instead (although why they'd mention Ohio State and not NYU, I don't know). But yes, there are a lot of schools in New York. And I've even heard rumors that sometimes people get there degrees outside of New York and then go on to work on Broadway. I know that Kurt and Rachel both want to go to school in NYC but I'm sure they'll survive elsewhere.

[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.

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not alone, I was worried I was overreacting. The scene really upset me, it's the first time in a long time that I have exactly exclaimed aloud during a tv show. Most probably because it's Blaine and that kind of vitriol is not part of his personality.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, from the moment the Unitards started up, I was actually convinced both the Trouble Tones and the New Directions were going to lose. I mean, holy crap.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Blaine and approval, I found it interesting that he was one of the Five for Man in the Mirror.

Hell yes. I'm glad someone finally said this. Although I thought they butchered that song - and maybe that's the snob in me talking - I think it was the most musically symbolic moment in the whole episode.

[uniquegrl7.livejournal.com]

Haha I'm pretty sure for Red Solo Cup, Ryan Murphy googled "songs containing the words foreclosure and party" in order to welcome Sam back. And whenever Quinn comes onto the screen, I say aloud, "That bitch is cray-cray." My exact words, because she has become the Terri Schuester of the students, and the fact that Rachel somehow made Quinn all better? I highly doubt that because just because Rachel stopped Quinn from making a horrible decision does not mean that she doesn't have so many deeply-rooted issues that she needs to see Rachel's therapist. Kurt is going to get into NYADA because the writers are too in love with Kurt to not get him into NYADA, although I still think he should go for fashion as well. And I, too, cannot wait for the Christmas episode.

[rackmount.livejournal.com]

By the by, you should watch the Community Glee parody/Christmas ep, which is now viewable on Hulu. It's ... it's really something.