(no subject)

[rm]

http://lettersfromtitan.com/2012/01/18/glee-marriage-public-status-and-private-lives/

In which I try to make sense of the hot mess that was Glee last night.

I've long said that RTD is brilliant at creating arcs but weak on execution.

I'm starting to think that RIB are total geniuses at themes and through-lines but completely weak on structure which results in over-writing/filming, and then small shit getting cut that doesn't matter to that episode, but TOTALLY matters like three episodes later.

I like somewhat weak canons in that they give me puzzles and spaces to play. Figuring out this one was actively fucking irritating though.

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

The best written canons have the least fan fiction.

[yendi]

I sometimes think every episode starts with the story they want to resolve touchingly, and then they just work on writing each character horrible and out-of-previous-character until they get there.

(BTW, you've seen the casting news about Rachel's dads, right?)

[springbay.livejournal.com]

What's the news?!

[calanthe-b.livejournal.com]

I found this one hung together thematically quite well, and given my dislike of 'Summer Nights' I was really happy with the way they used it to introduce/foreground the idea of toxic heteronormative gender-role performance around 'romance' (ie the public performance of relationships), but it had pacing issues all over the place, and at least two of the songs dropped the pace to a crawl.

Also loved Kurt and Santana functioning to reject the 'Summer Nights' construction of romance right there within the song - him by singing Rizzo's line, her by physically kicking Rachel and Mercedes out of their roles. Santana kind of took up the puncturing/critiquing role I was mentally expecting Kurt to fill, which was nice.

Really, really happy with the Christopher Hudson backstory, too. Both as the daughter and granddaughter of service members (including veterans) and because of how much sense it makes of how Carole has raised Finn, why he's turned out the way he has, and why she has never seemed to tell him anything until the last moment before she could possibly avoid it.