Glee-Cap! Top Bitches: Season 2, Episode 4

Remember last week when I asked Where is Puck? he's in Juvenille Detention for driving a volvo into a convenience store. At least he's still in those diegetic American Express commercials. Sigh. I miss him.

"A Duet is when two voices become one, where the two voices push one another to be better."

I want to say that that happened in all the duets this week, I want to... but it's hard to tell if that really is what's going on here.

The Glee club was torn apart over competition for a dinner for two at Breadsticks this week, and Sam's deep dark secret was revealed... with the help of Kurt.

Brittney and Santana broke up this week, and Santana was proven to be a cold, unfeeling reptile about it.

This whole thing made me very sad... It makes me very confused to see how sympathetically Kurt's homosexuality is treated, and how very, very sad everything about Brittney and Santana's experimentation-or-maybe-more relationship is handled. In fact, everything abotu Brittney makes me very sad. While Santana and Brittney go off and do a duet, Brittney seduces Artie into a duet, and while they don't end up singing together, they make "beautiful music together". "Beautiful Music" that Artie ends up regretting and telling Brittney off about it.

While sex doesn't mean THAT much to Brittney, it's clear that it's a major part of her personality. That for Brittney at least, it's a way to get attention, to get people to like her... at least as long as they want that from her. And now that she doesn't have a partner in crime... she's totally alone. What is going to happen to her? SERIOUSLY??? Please Glee. Treat her a little bit seriously, or you will make me cry and that WILL make me hate you.

Everyone else in this episode is pretty much trying to be Alpha Glee Club Member. Rachel is trying to do what is best for the team by manipulating Quinn and Sam into doing the winning Duet. Kurt feels alone... and Finn is a bit of a psychopath. Is Rachel rubbing off on him? is this psychopathy what lies beneath his somewhat vacant victim status? Regardless, Finn tries to keep Kurt from partnering with Sam to keep him from being picked on so he'll stay in Glee and then gets upset when he and Quinn are actually connecting. Kurt knows about Sam's dark, or rather, light, secret... which I won't tell you, but I will say it's not that he speaks Na'vi.

 

Which Glee you get bonus points for +5

Lady Chart:

Santana: Evil Reptile +2 for actually having lines and for being jealous of Brittney and Artie for a moment.

Brittney: Is so sad. +4 for setting me up but there's +10 in it if they follow up on her.

Tina: Wants to do non-"Asian" things with her Asian Boyfriend. Like eating a salad         without chicken feet in it. +3 for actually having lines.

Rachel: Psychopath, but reaches out to Kurt legitimately at the end. +5 for growth.

Quinn: Beginning to recover from her broken heart while being her own, manipulative self. +5

Mercedes: Sang a song. no points

There weren't any other women in it this week, also, no Puck and no Stamos. At any rate. This week was not terrible, though I'm not going to call it good because it made me very worried for Brittney and not in the "they're making me worried through careful crafting" but in the "I really don't know if they care about what they're doing with her here or not" way and that is bad.

Tune in next week, I have yet to become whole-hog Gleek nor have I fallen into a slushee-filled despair. We shall see.

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Glee-Cap! Sacrilicious- Season 2, Episode 3

This week, Glee took on the not-at-all-controversial topic of spirituality. It did it of course in the most down to earth and respectful way possible.

... Finn is praying to a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Yes this episode, Grilled Cheesus, was delicious. Both in satire and in emotional impact.

When Glee focuses on Kurt, it does very, very well. As it did this week, also, this week Glee gets mad props for giving Sue and her sister a bit more airtime.

And thank goodness because if I'd been disappointed by another episode in a row I might have lost my faith in televised musicals.

 

Kurt's Dad had a heart attack and was in a Coma this week. The show did this beautifully, they also explored how Kurt's anger manifested in a desire to absolutely not listen to a bunch of other people exploring their various faiths when he himself did not believe in any of them.


Eventually, through the power of song, Mercedes is able to reach out to Kurt, her BFF, and as he gets over his initial shock of his father's heart attack, is able to enjoy life in a manner both entertaining and fabulous, by joining Mercedes at her church and feeling the love that community, regardless of his personal beliefs.

Also he wore that hat, and that is beautiful.

Ultimately, a very solid episode, well acted, well sung. Coped with very serious content in a way that was pointed but not blaming or as an indictment. Even the potentially sacrilegious Grilled Cheese Sandwich element was fairly sensitively handled and in the end... became sacrilicious.

Lady-Stats:

Ms. Pillsbury– Guidance Counselor ex Machina, reasonable and competent at her job +5

                                                        ok +10

Sue– Evil + Human, a heady mix of cartoonish and character diven +5

                                 and an additional +5 to Ms. Pillsbury to boot.

Tina– Solo in the final song, but not much else +1

Mercedes– Sings her feelings, Believably struggling with helping Kurt +3

Rachel– Sings a solo, but in many ways, this solo seemed like it was just an excuse to make her seem... imperious and overwhelmingly pushy. But yeah, she sings a song.... breaks even.

Quinn, Brittney, Santana, Even Finn's mom, one line a piece, no points

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Glee-Cap: Glee Live! with Evangelia

Glee does a lot for its fans, it's pretty smart about reaching out to them. There are young adult fan novels in the works coming out in August, various ways to watch the show online, an iPhone karaoke app and yes, even concerts. In May, the actors of Glee took the stage in four cities to the delight and endless squeeings of Gleeks everywhere.

I did not get to go to the show myself, but! luckily for me, my friend, fangirl extraordinaire, and 7-year-old of mystery, Evangelia, did get to go, and was kind enough to let me interview her about it. 

 

What was the live show like?

They sang songs and it was more like a concert than a show. Every 5 songs there would be a snippet on the big screen where Sue would mock Mr. Shue and the Glee Club.

She even had a group of evil cheerios (actually the cast members of Vocal Adrenalin –Evangelia’s Dad) where they passed out Barf Bags ‘cause Sue said the audience would need them.

What was your favorite part of the show?

When the characters walked down the rows singing because it gave everybody a opportunity to see them more.

How did it feel when Quinn touched your hand and thanked you for coming?

It was like…. So amazing, just when they walked down the rows and got close to everyone it was so cool. Quinn’s my favorite character.

What else happened at the Live show?

The actors came outside to meet people in line and sign autographs.

 

What was your favorite song?

Hello

Well Fangirls and Fanboys, that's it for this season's Glee-caps, while the show has its problems, it does seem like it's trying, and regardless, it's enjoyable and inspires this kind of fangirl excitement:

See you next season and if you miss me, and you know you will, check me out on Twitter: Caitlin_Burns

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Glee-Cap: Sincertity is the New Irony

 

"Who cares about what happens at the end when the getting there is so much fun?

So, Tuesday was the Season Finale of Glee– Journey– yes it was two days ago and yes I'm just now getting to this, but it took me so long because not only will I be Glee-capping the Season 1 Finale, I'm glee-capping with special guest Fangirl, Evangelia, who is 7 and a true Gleek.

             ME:                                                                                          Evangelia:

So Evangelia What Happened on the Finale?

They tried to go to regionals but they didn’t win. Sue actually voted for 

them to win but nobody would accept that ‘cause she’s one of the main villains.

Why is she a villain?

Because she never really got along with the teacher of the glee club. 

Why?

Because they would take away from her cheer squad and they

might become more popular than the cheerios.

So, the club had to prove itself at Regionals or be dissolved. Sue became a judge because "she's a celebrity", ensuring that the glee club would lose. To parallel the story of the teachers squabbling over the future of the club, Quinn and motherhood were a storyline, also, Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillsbury had a thing.

But the real core of the finale was confidence. The show was written more confidently than many of the other episodes this season and all the characters acted with more certainty and confidence towards their goals than at any other point in the first season. That proved to be a great thing for some characters, a questionable one for others.

So follow after the jump and hear more about Confident Women, Childbirth, and the insight of the extremely astute Evangelia .

"Being part of something special made me special" 
                            -Tina

The beginning of the episode, the Glee club is down because of Sue's evil machinations, but they buck up quickly because their trials and tribulations together have given them the strength to persevere and overcome obstacles to do what they love. 

But what do they love? It manifests in different ways, Finn tells Rachel he loves her and they are clearly getting back together. Finn has the confidence to do what he loves and be with who he loves despite the opinions of others.

Suddenly, Quinn's Mom pops up having left Quinn's philandering father (not because of his treatment of Quinn mind you) and wants Quinn back in her life, even offering to turn a room into a nursery for her baby. Quinn is so startled she promptly goes into labor. 

Evangelia, who is your favorite character?

Quinn Fabaray– because she was one of the top bad guys 

at the beginning but because she’s changed. 

Before she was really mean and on Sue’s side and now 

she’s nice and on Glee’s side.  She’s nice even though 

she was angry about not being in cheerleading anymore.

Labor, oh the childbirth scene. Having given labor, I can say mine didn't go that quickly, and of course Quinn looked much more quaffed than many delivering mothers. I forgive you Glee for you portrayal of childbirth because 1) that scene going for 16 hours would be lame, 2) even though no hospital would allow that many people in the delivery room it's the best Mercedes-Quinn we're going to get in this episode since it's only an hour and 3) Bohemian Rhapsody is a great song.

Pictured: Not Beth

But, the most telling sign of confidence is that, while Quinn clearly adores the baby, she has the confidence and self-possession to be startled by her mother's appearance and to stick to her guns later in the episode and put Beth up for adoption, she is confident in her decision. She is clear in her thinking, aware of her situation and making hard choices. 

So let's take it back to Evangelia:

Who do you think is the best singer?

Rachel- because she sings SO MUCH and practices so much.

She set herself a target and aimed for it the whole time.

She’s sort of like… she sometimes got so focused that she was mean to people.

Rachel confronts Ms. Cocoran who once again refuses to become the mom Rachel really wants. Ms. Cocoran does hear about Quinn's baby and by the end of the episode is adopting Beth. This has already caused a flurry of controversy online among fans, does Ms. Cocoran deserve Beth? 

For my two cents, yes, because she will give that baby a good home and will devote herself to that baby. The fact that she was not there for Rachel is tragic, but doesn't preclude her being a good mother in a different situation. Giving Ms. Cocoran the baby makes an important point, the idea that someone should be prevented from giving a child a stable, loving home if they want to is... missing the point of adoption. That is something Ms. Cocoran has the inclination and ability to do, even if she can't be emotionally available to the daughter she gave birth to and relinquished parenting of to a stable home years earlier. 

But I digress, the point is, even if Ms. Cocoran is an imperfect mother, she's an interesting and complex character and for a character who is decidedly secondary to the main storyline, that's some impressive stuff. Point to you, Glee.

On the heels of that point, Glee, let's talk about Ms. Pillsbury:

 

Pictured: Owl Face

Do you remember how she pretended to be in love with someone to marry them for security only to jilt them at the alter (which admittedly, the fiance saw coming) to hook up with Mr. Shue and destroy his marriage only to then decide that it was too soon and also that she was terrified of her sexuality?

Yeah, neither do I. She got into a screaming match with the principal and once again won Mr. Shue's love. That and he was jealous that she was seeing someone else.

I feel like just listing that storyline does my work for me. Let's try a little harder with her next season, shall we Glee? She disappeared for seriously, half-a-season, and now she's empowered, are you saying that, once empowered, women cease to be interesting???? like a said Glee, work harder.

 

Pictured: Love!...?...!

But for all my studied hatin' I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, even my husband, hiding in another room as only a man avoiding something his wife enjoys can noted that "that's a really nice version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I really felt like the story was pushing itself to fit as much as it could into a one-hour season finale and it did a good a job of tying those strings together as it possibly could, and even more important, it made me excited for the next season. 

So Evangelia, What do you hope that there’s more of in the second season?


I hope that there’s a stronger friendship with Mercedes and Quinn

Me too, they're great together, Anything else?


I hope there’s more Santana, she and her tricks are so cool, 

and Brittney ‘cause she is so funny.

This season of Glee is over, but tune in next week for another Glee-Cap with Evangelia 
this time about Glee Live! 
which Evangelia was lucky enough to see at Rockefeller Center

And if you miss me, and you know you will, check me out on Twitter: Caitlin_Burns

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Glee-Cap: Are you funking kidding me?

 "Tell me if this is too suggestive..."

 It's not, I'm pretty bored.

Ok, from here on in, Will Schuester, is going to be called Mary Sue, because let's be honest, that's what he is. Increasingly, every time he's onscreen I open up a big old bag of not giving a shit. If you're not familiar with the term Mary Sue: here educate yourself. 

A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

But the major take away on the concept is that the character is so beloved by the writer/producer/whatever that they are just painfully, annoyingly PRECIOUS.

"Even your breath stinks of mediocrity"...




Also, in a storyline that literally had no utility except to provide Puck with an opportunity to sing Loser. Which I fully support. Because that was fun. The boys, Finn and Puck slashed tires of the Vocal Adrenalin's Range Rovers, in order to "Defend the honor of New Directions" after their choir room was T.P.ed. Now, this charming turn of events does give some commentary on the misguided chivalry expected of young men in this modern era, and the escalation of school prankery into astronomically difficult levels.

"Their School Statue is a Great White Shark eating a seal pup, it weighs three tons."

Even more frustrating than Mary Sue's storyline- that can I say managed to totally neutralize Sue's character which is not funny, literally, not funny in humor or being okay- we saw the return of Mrs. Sue (like what I did there?)

Quinn! Pregnantly singing with a chorus of unwed pregnant teen mothers. I'm going to call this the weekly interlude in WTF? because yeah, last week it was Artie's Safety Dance, and seriously, WTF? I've been pregnant, bouncing around like that it SUCH a fantasy. ... and group hug and back to our regularly scheduled show.

But not quite! we'll be taking a strange reprise later on in the episode, Mercedes and Quinn are moving in together based on a series of scenes that feel a little like Tyra Banks crying 'cause she had to wear a fat suit. That would be, your realization that you've been horrible means that not only are you destroyed by your own crushed vanity, but the people you've been horrid to have to comfort you as well.

I like Quinn and Mercedes as a pair, they can learn from one another, they're less crass than TyTy, but lets also be fair, if the writers are phoning this in it can go all sorts of wrong and very quickly. I applaud Mercedes ability to love thy former enemy, but also, unless you're planning to do more exploration of this storyline, and please, do more exploration of this storyline, it will be angering.

Ok Glee, lets be serious for a moment about pacing, five 30 second conversations do not BFFs make.  Also, I'm confused here, how is moving out of Puck's house the answer to all Quinn's problems? Puck wanted to step up to the plate more, and by Quinn's own words, it's ok there except that Puck's mom won't let her eat bacon. Where did I miss the squalor? Where did I miss the deep shared connection? was that pregnant chick ballet and discussion of how hard it is to be called fat the thing that brought them together?  This seems wholly precipitous and if you screw this up for me I will hunt you down and punch you in your face, show.

You did so well for me with Lady Gaga last week, lets not forget how well you did with that and see that you bring it next week at Regionals!!!

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Glee-Cap: Lacy Demon Clothes

LADY GAGA!!! is there anything you can't do?  no. no there isn't.  For all my hating and fears, invoking Gaga (current avatar of creativity on the world celebrity stage) seriously sent some chills up my spine last night. Thanks to you, who I've written about before, the often fractured narrative of Glee managed to tell story that included something about everyone in the Glee club, and turn in some fantastically fun and poignant musical numbers.

ENSEMBLE CAST POWERS ACTIVATE!!!!!

Twilight Fever causes all sorts of kerfuffle this week as Tina is banned from wearing Goth clothes. Finn's Mom gets her longest set of lines yet as she and Kurt and Kurt's Dad all surprise Finn and move in together. And Quinn continues to point out to Puck that as long as he acts like the cock of the walk and makes a joke of their unborn child, she's not interested in his participation in the process... THEATRICALITY rears its head on Glee this week.


"My mom says she thinks Kristen Stewart looks like a bitch," and therefore Tina can't watch Twilight.

This, much like other things you might not expect from the whole endeavor is the name of the game with theatricality. Adornment, Spectacle and Theatricality are all fantastic tools in the arsenal of artistic expression, both describing, masking and clarifying visually everything that is hidden beneath.

More on that, and the Mystery of Rachel's Mother... after the jump.



"And Ladies, I don't want to hear about chafing just because you're wearing metal underwear, not my problem"





 "You see the world with the same fierce theatricality that I do, even the way we're sitting right now is so dramatic that I'm almost uncomfortable with it"

Ok Rachel, you win. I felt concerned that your story might be clumped into 2 episodes and I would feel cheated and you would be less a character for it. I was wrong, you are lumped into 2 episodes with your mother, but you two WORKED. Listen to the song readers, onscreen it was magic. They put so much into this interaction with one another it was beautiful.


What this episode really drove home is that it would be SO WEIRD to meet your mother/daughter at 16. It wouldn't necessarily be a loving huge joyous moment, it might feel wrong, and weird, and truly, unflinchingly real. Neither woman got what they expected, but they can appreciate one another from afar, and bring it.


Thank you, Glee, for not making it into a soap opera cliché... or at least doing something interesting with this.

"We're supposed to have some sort of slow motion run into one another's arms, 

this is all wrong."

On another front:


"I always feel like we're always doing whatever the girls want to do."

Really Finn, Really? I recognize that you're always doing what Kurt wants this week and that's caused a lot of friction, but let's table the "we're always doing what the girls want to do" discussion for another week. It's there next to the disappearing Mrs. Schuster who you may be banging next week.


"What is your problem, Finn?  It's just a moist towelette!!!?!"

"We're not Gaga for Gaga" 

"It's the same thing you do when you go to school in 

                   your football uniform, you're expressing yourself"

Maybe I love this episode because it speaks my language, got my degree in production design (costume specialty):



“I have great respect for Lady Gaga,” (Costumer, Lou Eyrich) told (InStyle). “This episode is a tribute to her genius. The costumes are not replicas; we wanted it look like the kids made them.‘”
 So that’s exactly what they did: “Rachel (Lea Michele) wears two outfits. The first inspired by Gaga’s Kermit the Frog dress: She goes through her stuffed animals at home and staples all of them to her dress. The second is like the dress Gaga wore with the big silver mirrored triangle.” Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) was hand-picked by creator Ryan Murphy to wear the famous bubble dress. “It was really heavy,” Eyrich reported, “and it made a lot of noise. We turned it into a vest so that it would be easier to take on and off, because there was no sitting down in it.” from InStyle

For me, seeing all these lovingly crafted details onscreen really made the whole of these characters stories pop out tonight. The same way, the explosive fights and big situations really served the emotional subtleties that were more grounded than they have been in earlier episodes.

Also, Check out Mike Chang, the mysteriously dialogue-less “Other Asian” on Glee, dialogless no more!

The actor Harry Shum Jr is interviewed over on Vulture and is adorable in the best possible way.

From Vulture: 


... Harry, we are beside ourselves with joy that you have a line this week!
Aw, thank you. And yeah, it’s happenin’! Usually we get the script like a week before and you just take a look at it, but then you look at it and say, “Hey, I get to talk today! Or … this week!” It’s happening slowly and surely a little more for me, so it’s very exciting to be a little more involved.

So why is this week the special week?
Um, I think it just felt right for the writers to involve me and Dijon [Talton].

Whoa, so he talks too?!
Yeah, I’m givin’ away stuff! It’ll be sort of boys versus girls as far as costuming and music go, this week. We’ll be in Kiss getups: the crazy costumes, the makeup, and the really, really, almost-too-tight pants. But it looked okay on us, so it’s cool. And the boots are nuts! They’re so heavy, I don’t know how they wore them all those years. We did a lot more dancing than Kiss would have.

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Glee-Cap: On Absent Mothers...

A lot happened in last night's Glee, Dream On,



There was Neil Patrick Harris as a School-Board, Budget-Cutting, Show-Choir-Anonymous Used-Hummer Salesman. He had some great monologues.

It had Artie (who is in the wheelchair)  got 2 songs, one of which is big dance number.

But the biggest deal in Dream On is the introduction of an actual honestly to goodness more than one episode story arc. Follow after the jump for a SPOILER including discussion of what happened.

I was so shocked I had to slushie myself to snap out of it.

It's shocking, almost more shocking and entertaining that Sue Sylvester and Bryan Ryan's educational-value-off and follow-up anger sex... almost.



The Choir director of Vocal Adrenaline got Jesse St. James to infiltrate the Glee club in order to get to Rachel. I know, GASP!, no one saw that coming at all.

But why would she do this? not because she's just evil and conniving. Shelby Cocoran, The vocal coach of Vocal Adrenaline, the glee club of Carmel High School in Carmel, Ohio, is actually Rachel's MOTHER.

 Super Gasp!

I have to say, this episode made me care a bit more about Rachel, in no small part because Shelby cares about her so much. After watching so much damaged female behavior about pregnancy in the first half of the season seeing a mother who is legitimately trying to reach out to their child is touching and highly affecting.

Also, the emotional resonance really hits in the duet of "the saddest song ever" from Les Miserables, I Dreamed a Dream:



I can't wait to see what happens when they have two female characters with an actually meaty story to work with.

While the subject of motherhood deserves much more page-space than I'm going to give it in this post and I must admit that like the mothers in Glee the subject has been absent at The Mystery of Girls Media because taking on the media's portrayal of motherhood is a daunting task.

Let's cover it in Glee though, I can at least talk about that tonight. There are three mothers who have spoken at all on Glee.

Quinn –yes I'm counting Quinn even though the baby hasn't been born, who is giving up everything else that was important to her.

Mr. Schuster's sister-in-law– who was constantly egging on her sister into bigger lies and horrid behavior.

and Finn's Mom– who until Kurt set up with his dad had selflessly supported Finn single-handedly for over a decade, fighting depression and apparently, not asking anything for herself. I do not count Mrs. Schuster's hysterical pregnancy.

Other mom's have been mentioned, mostly in conjunction with nagging or not letting Quinn eat bacon (Puck's Mom). Kurt's mom, who is dead, has felt pretty tangible in his conversations with his father.  But ultimately, this is the first time a mother has gotten real screen-time, and she has been absent from her child's life for 16 years.

A lot of stories feature absent mothers, or don't feature them, or.... whatever, the point is the mother is just not there. why is that? Is there a perception or anticipation that all the world's problems are solved if the mother is present? That puts a lot of stress on moms when they're just people like everyone else, and motherhood is hard. While I don't disagree that the mom's on the show are generally doing the right thing by their kids I do fear that because they're in the background, they might get forgotten and become caricatures rather than characters as has befallen so many maternal characters before them.

And I don't want them too disappear, you've set up some pins, Glee, knock them down.

To hear me rant about things that aren't Glee, follow me on Twitter: Caitlin_Burns and check in next week when Ra Ra Ruh hah haaaa! LADY GAGA! You can bet money on the fact I'll be talking about adornment, I know, you can't wait.

Later Gleeks.

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Glee-Cap: Rachel, it's not you, it's me, except that it's also you.

Hey there fangirls!

I've been doing Glee-Caps over at my blog The Mystery of Girls' Media and could not be more excited to be syndicating them here at All Things Fangirl. You may remember me from EruditeChick's interview here (and also here). My whole thing is talking about fans and girls and girl fans and what media teaches girls and women and also, being a devoted fangirl and supporting the things that make me jump up and down and squee with geeky delight.

Here's what you missed on the Glee-caps:

----Cue the Music----

Glee-is-a-show-on-Fox-where-a-bunch-of-high-school-kids-join-glee-club. They-spontaneously-burst-into-song-and-dance-numbers. It's-really-entertaining-and-even-when-it-makes-me-angry...

I-HAVE-to-watch-it, I-mean-HAVE-TO-total-fangirl-compulsion. 

So, even-though-the-guys-are-kinda-Mary-Sues-and-the-girls-ride-a-little-close-to-high-school-show-stereotypes-I-like-them-and-feel-like-its-worth-watching. 

But-sometimes-they-do-make-me-angry-or-concerned-so-I-use-the- 

AWESOME POWER OF THE INTERNET 

-to-yell-at-the-show, and-you-know-this-hugely-successful-TV-show-is-listening

-so-now-that-there-are-TWO BLOGS-where-I'm-taking-it-to-task, 

you-know-the-show-is-going-to-be-super-awesome-and-not-make-me-think-I'm-on-crazy-pills-while-I'm-watching-it. 

And that's what you missed last time on the Glee-Cap!

On this week's episode, Laryngitis...

 Rachel Berry, it's not you, it's me, except that it's also you.

For the record I think Lea Michelle is great, and also, I get that weird theatre kid thrill up my spine when she is singing. But, I seriously can barely stand the character of Rachel when she's not singing.
And to be fair, that's part of the point of her character:

"What if he says I'll never sing again?
What will become of me? Without my voice I'm just another spoiled annoying only child..."
"I'm sure he won't say you'll never sing again."

She's entirely and completely about her goals, becoming a famous singer is her unquestioned destiny and to get there she is willing to uncover any obstacle. She is talented, completely single-minded, and even uses MySpace– obsession if I've ever seen it, but yeah, in the first episode it said she updated with video weekly, WHERE ARE THE VIDEOS, FOX???? lame, but I digress. She has many positive traits, including knowing without a shadow of a doubt that she is annoying and single-minded.

"I am like Tinkerbell, Finn, I need applause to live."

This episode only served to highlight these aspects of her character. And, like Tracey Flick in Election, Rachel proves that despite horrible personality flaws, sincere commitment to one's goals can pay off if you have an innate talent for that goal. Also, what she learned in this episode, "that you can be more than one thing" that there's more to Rachel than being a singer.

True, she's also bossy. She's really unpleasant to people around her, all the time. Seriously. She orders people around, puts them down, is really a jerk. Kudos that you know you're a jerk, Rachel, but you're still a jerk.  And being a jerk is just, no way to go through life.


A big part of why I don't like you, Rachel, is because I'm out of high school, I've been out in the world a while, and I'm certain you would appeal to me if I were younger. You're aspirational and cool, and can belt a bit and clearly have a heart...


but yeah, you're also a jerk. Remember last week, when you used three guys to try and seem cool, two of which actually like you and now no one seems to remember that and the two guys still seem to be really into you? You lie, you are so self-absorbed you are usually the last person to realize a piece of juicy gossip, but how many times have you run into the glee club room to share that gossip as soon as you find it out? at least 5.


Generally, I think a character who lies, gossips, etc... is interesting, but is only really interesting when there are consequences for their actions. So far, Rachel's karmic calendar has a huge event coming up, like, Eyjafjallajökull level. Losing your voice and having the cute guy you like take you to the doctor and sing a song about you while your boyfriend is in San Diego does not cut it, Glee. 

Also this week:

Quinn rocked it, talking to Mercedes about Puck, let's talk about that because that was great. She was totally honest and if someone was keeping me from bacon, I too would not be able to handle conversations about "How Super-Mario Changed Civilization."

Also, I want to call you out, Glee, for framing Mercedes' story almost completely around a guy. At least you kinda gave Rachel some agency this week, but yeah, work on that. 


Honorable mention also has to go to Puck for being amazingly, hilariously desperate for attention throughout the episode. To the point of seriously borderline humor, a charming Sammy Davis Jr. homage, and to Mercedes for shutting him down because she's obviously above all that.

"I'm like a sex shark, if I stop moving, I die"

And so, because I ramble, I'm stopping here. Step it up with the consequences, Glee, you've set up the pins, now knock them down.

Catch up with the older Glee-Caps Here: F U For Making Me Tear Up, The Madonna Episode, Am I Taking Crazy Pills?

Tune in next week for NPH. OMG OMG OMG. Excellent.

And follow me on twitter, Caitlin_Burns 

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