Glee 5/15: Props and Nationals

[Lamia]

We'll have two episodes tonight covering New Directions' preparations for and competition at Nationals. This is a major difference from last year, where they didn't prepare for Nationals.

Incidentally, neither of these episodes is the season finale. There's one more coming up next week, when we'll see the seniors graduate.

ETA: Since they haven't aired yet I don't know if they were written this way or not, but for polling purposes I figure it's easiest to just treat this as a two-hour episode.

[Lamia]

Okay, I was prepared to be disappointed yet again by this show, but tonight's double episode was surprisingly good. There are still plenty of things to criticize, like the "Night of Neglect II: Tina's Revenge" plot in "Props"; the unfunny, repetitive, and rather offensive "he/she" jokes about Wade; the way seniors Kurt, Mike, and Sam (unless he's a junior) were reduced to background players in their final competition; and that queasy ending segment where it all turned into a totally undeserved wish fulfillment sequence for Will Schuester...but even with all that, this was IMHO a HUGE improvement over both many of the recent episodes and last year's awful Nationals episode.

Maybe it's just because I'm a big Who fan and they'd never done any of their songs before, but when I realized that a black, queer teenager was about to perform (a cover of the Elton John cover of) "Pinball Wizard" on national television, I forgave Glee a lot. I also think it's now clear that Alex Newell was the real winner of The Glee Project. I don't know if he's truly more talented than the other contestants, but he definitely wound up with the best role on Glee -- even if the writers still seem unclear as to whether he's transgender or just a femmey gay guy who likes doing drag.

I was also quite surprised to find that the Coach Beiste storyline was actually dealt with seriously, given a reasonable amount of screen time, and tied back to the Puck-fails-Geography plot from "Choke" in a way that retroactively made me less offended by that episode. I now want to see a spin-off where Coach Beiste, Puck, and Karosfsky all get together and, I dunno, run a summer camp for troubled youths or something. (Working title: The Beistey Boys.)

[randwill]

I thought these two episodes made for a great series finale, even though there is one more episode and, at least, one more season. All the plot threads seemed nicely tied up and there were no cringe-inducing scenes to speak of.

There was one kind of 'inside baseball' scene. The quick conversation between Johnathan Groff's character Jesse St. James and Cory Monteith's Finn. Lea Michele and Groff are well-known to be the closest of friends since their stint on Broadway in "Spring Awakening". They spent holidays together and, I read somewhere, that Lea's parents couldn't have hoped for a better prospective husband for their daughter than Jonathan Groff. (Ain't gonna' happen, not that there's anything wrong with that, if know what I mean.) Since Michele and Monteith are a serious item, that scene could be interpreted as Groff giving his blessing to the real-life couple with his "Good luck" and handshake. Anyway, that's how I "C" it.

[Fionn]

The confetti tribute at WMHS was surprisingly sweet. I'm curious to see if the writers will let the school's acclaim for the glee club stick this time or if they'll hit the reset button and put them at the bottom of the social heap again next year.

Working in higher ed, I got a particular thrill out of Whoopi Goldberg's character calling Rachel out on how her tactics were taking time away from other students. At this point, I'll be surprised if Rachel doesn't go to NYADA.

When Finn was presenting Will with his award, I thought "Have Will and Finn both forgotten that Will initially blackmailed Finn into joining?" Apparently so. The awards show and the celebration montage were both great and a fitting end to the journey these characters have taken. I'm eager to see how the writers handle the absence of so many familiar characters next year. I predict Will will become the focus for a while, and at least one person will be forced to tell him "I'm not Rachel Berry!"

[Sister Vigilante]

I don't see how being a senior is so important to getting the solo. How long has this show been on? Rachel and Finn get the solos EVERY YEAR.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Fionn

When Finn was presenting Will with his award, I thought "Have Will and Finn both forgotten that Will initially blackmailed Finn into joining?" Apparently so.

I was thinking that too -- actually I was thinking "So I guess Finn will never learn that Mr. Schuester framed him for marijuana possession in order to blackmail him" -- but it seems like this is something the show has wanted us to forget for a long time.

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

I don't see how being a senior is so important to getting the solo. How long has this show been on? Rachel and Finn get the solos EVERY YEAR.

Yeah, the whole Tina plot did bother me. While it's not unreasonable to say that if you want to be a star performer you might well have to work your way up from the chorus, this is different from how other characters' desire for solos has been treated in the past, Rachel and Finn never had to work their way up, and back at the beginning of the season there was a pretty strong message that just being a senior didn't mean Kurt was entitled to the lead in West Side Story. The role instead went to a junior who was better for the part. And while it's pretty clear that Rachel is in fact New Directions' strongest female soloist and that giving the big Celine Dion number to her was the smart move, these decisions don't seem to be entirely merit based either. Finn keeps getting chosen as Rachel's duet partner for competitions when there are many other guys in the group who I'd consider better performers. Artie and Blaine are juniors and I guess we were meant to understand that Kurt's refusal to wear a dress meant that he was doomed to never have a solo in competition with New Directions, but Mike, Puck, and Sam are all at least as good as Finn and all of them (except maybe Sam) are seniors.

While it was nice to have a Tina-centered plot for what I believe is the first time since season one, it really seemed like too little too late. This character has been so underused for so long I found it hard to care about what happened with her. It was like the writers only just realized that Tina will be New Directions' female lead by default next year, and that they'd better do something to set this up.

[JeffB]

"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" seems like a very odd choice -- teens singing about having sex, leading to a marriage filled with regret, done in an upbeat manner. Plus having Rachel and Finn as the leads without any evidence of irony.

I don't know anything about show choirs, but once again, Vocal Adrenaline seems to be a showcase for one signer with alot of background choreography.

Figgins had the best lines off the night, particularly, "Go softly into that good night."

[notfrommensa]

I kind of like Tina's "Bizarro" Glee Club was interesting. With everyone switching bodies. Although they jumped so quickly between head shots I was trying to figure who was playing who.

[amaguri]

As a former Chicago resident, I was highly amused by the Celozzi-Ettleson shout out at the beginning of the competition.

[Stauderhorse]

This felt more like a series finale than anything. I know there are a few juniors left in glee club but I don't see much point in watching next season. Then again, I may come crawling back to the show like I've done before.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Stauderhorse

This felt more like a series finale than anything. I know there are a few juniors left in glee club but I don't see much point in watching next season. Then again, I may come crawling back to the show like I've done before.

I haven't watched these episodes yet, but I think it's safe to predict the erosion of a lot of their fan base over the summer. The show has jumped the shark 6 times, fallen into the tank four of those, and just not fresh or fun anymore; as evidence, look at the decrease in how much attention an episode thread gets now compared to a year ago. And, because they're in primetime, they can't add nudity.

Will and Sue are the only realistic continuity and they've kind of boxed themselves into a boring corner with both- it's just played, and four months is a really long time to be separated from a relationship that's become routine already.

But, at least it's shown there's a market for musicals on TV.

[Noelq]

Originally Posted by Stauderhorse

This felt more like a series finale than anything. I know there are a few juniors left in glee club but I don't see much point in watching next season. Then again, I may come crawling back to the show like I've done before.

yep. Dammit.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

I kind of like Tina's "Bizarro" Glee Club was interesting. With everyone switching bodies. Although they jumped so quickly between head shots I was trying to figure who was playing who.

It was interesting to see who in the cast tried to do actually play their new character and who was basically just wearing a costume. I thought Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer did a good job as Will and Finn, and Darren Criss and Diana Agron made the most of their limited screen time as Puck and Sugar.

Originally Posted by amaguri

As a former Chicago resident, I was highly amused by the Celozzi-Ettleson shout out at the beginning of the competition.

I liked that Coach Beiste was eating a box of the Marshall Field's chocolates while they were waiting for the competition to begin.

Originally Posted by Stauderhorse

This felt more like a series finale than anything. I know there are a few juniors left in glee club but I don't see much point in watching next season. Then again, I may come crawling back to the show like I've done before.

This is almost word for word how I feel. There is no good reason for me to keep watching this show, and throughout the season I've thought "If it continues like this, I'm not watching next year", but I don't know that I can actually do it.

Originally Posted by Sampiro

I haven't watched these episodes yet, but I think it's safe to predict the erosion of a lot of their fan base over the summer. The show has jumped the shark 6 times, fallen into the tank four of those, and just not fresh or fun anymore; as evidence, look at the decrease in how much attention an episode thread gets now compared to a year ago.

It's interesting to look at the ratings per episode on Wikipedia; the show is now less popular than it was when it first started, when it wasn't clear it would even get a full season. Until just this month the least-watched episode of the series was "Hairography" with 6.17 million viewers back in early season one, and I'm thinking that may have been up against something that drew away a lot of viewers because for several weeks before and after Glee was attracting 1-2 million more viewers. The show was regularly getting around 11-13 million viewers for late season one/early season two, then started dropping after the season two spring break, but Glee always remained above 8.5 million viewers. But in season three only the first two episodes and the Michael Jackson tribute have cleared 8.5 million, and since "On My Way" viewership has been below 7 million -- and mostly barely above 6 million -- per episode.

Will and Sue are the only realistic continuity and they've kind of boxed themselves into a boring corner with both- it's just played, and four months is a really long time to be separated from a relationship that's become routine already.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the fourth season will be split between Ohio, where this year's juniors will be continuing along with a batch of new characters, and New York, where several of this year's graduating seniors (presumably Kurt, Rachel, and Finn) will be living. I'm thinking this may be what finally kills the show. I would have watched a NYC spin-off, but Glee already has too many characters and too many plotlines without trying to be two shows at once.

[Sampiro]

Assorted thoughts:

Mark Salling can act... who knew?

Is that the first time Sue has ever hugged anybody [other than her sister at least]?

A couple of weeks ago Quinn was wobbling and couldn't stand without assistance and now she can dance: did I miss an episode in which Jesus came to town?

Perez Hilton and Lindsay Lohan look like their auditioning for Skank Couple Number 2 in next season's Breaking Bad premiere.

There were only three choirs at Nationals?


And yes, I agree, warts and all, it was still by far the best couple of episodes in a long time.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

There were only three choirs at Nationals?

Same as last year!

I was a little confused about the whole elimination round thing, which was kind of a big deal last year, being totally dropped from this episode. Since there was still plenty of time left I was expecting to see New Directions perform in the final round. Then again, Jesse St. James did make a brief reference to there being "new rules" this year, so that's a better explanation than there is for many things on Glee.

[Jennyrosity]

Call me a soppy old drama queen (for 'tis what I am), but I loved both episodes. I though Tina's body swap dream was hilarious (particularly Finn and Puck as Klaine), and was tickled by Kurt's ineffectual "get her, get her" as she fell into the fountain.

Puck's moment with Bieste was beautifully done and very believable.

I think Alex (Wade) is extraordinarily talented - kid can act too - and I'm not ashamed (well, ok, I'm a little ashamed) to admit I cried when they finally won.

Not sure whether next season will work if they really are splitting it between New York and Ohio, but I will definitely watch to find out.

[Fionn]

Way back in the pilot episode, was Puck one of the guys throwing Kurt into a dumpster?

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Fionn

Way back in the pilot episode, was Puck one of the guys throwing Kurt into a dumpster?

Yes. But once he did set him down to let him take off his designer jacket first.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

Yes. But once he did set him down to let him take off his designer jacket first.

Well, that was due to Finn's influence. (It was these occasional attempts to get Puck to tone things down that sparked Kurt's season one crush on Finn.)

Puck was pretty bad in early season one; in the pilot alone he tossed Kurt in the dumpster, slushied Rachel, and trapped Artie in a Port-A-Pottie with the intention of having the whole football team take turns rolling it over. I think the best that can be said about Puck then was that his motivations seemed to be getting attention and asserting himself as one of the top dogs at McKinley rather than simply wanting to hurt other people.

[Corcaigh]

I enjoyed it, I sang along loudly (albeit completely off key) at every opportunity!

Originally Posted by Lamia

Yeah, the whole Tina plot did bother me.

I took it to be an homage, or joke, about characters who just disappear into the background as a show gets into it's stride...

Originally Posted by JeffB

Figgins had the best lines off the night, particularly, "Go softly into that good night."

Don't forget to watch the episode of Hoarders! LOL

Originally Posted by Jennyrosity

Not sure whether next season will work if they really are splitting it between New York and Ohio, but I will definitely watch to find out.

I'm half expecting to see some of them auditioning in Smash!

[Lamia]

During my commute, when I do all my deep thinking, I managed to fanwank Mr. Schuester's "Teacher of the Year" award to my satisfaction. Just a couple of months ago Glee devoted an episode to showing that Will was actually a terrible Spanish teacher, and I don't think his work with an extracurricular activity should make up for that when it comes to a teaching award. I was reflecting on the fact that this is now two weeks in a row when we've had a major character given an honor they did not deserve at all when it occurred to me that Will's victory, like Rachel's at prom, could have been the result of someone unfairly meddling with the process.

Although Sue pretended she thought she was going to win, she knew ahead of time that it was Will and seemed pretty excited about it. I wasn't clear on exactly how the Teacher of the Year was selected, but I figure Sue used her influence to pressure Figgins or whoever else made the decision or else outright tampered with the ballots (if it was a secret vote) to ensure that Will would win. I had to strain a little more to come up with a motivation for her to do this, but 1) she has been nicer since she became pregnant, 2) this would be a way for her to do something nice for Will without having to deal with him actually knowing she'd done something nice, and 3) this is Glee, it doesn't have to make MUCH sense.

While I'm pretty sure the writers meant for us to take Will's victory at face value, I'm happier now that I've come up with an alternate explanation that I consider more plausible.

Thinking of Sue, she had a couple of really good almost-breaking-the-fourth-wall lines in "Nationals". I liked when she pointed out that Will's speech at the beginning was full of exposition, and when she remarked that she has been pregnant for an "indeterminate" amount of time.

[TBG]

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

I don't see how being a senior is so important to getting the solo. How long has this show been on? Rachel and Finn get the solos EVERY YEAR.

There were no seniors any other year (unless that black kid who left after the first season was a senior, though I doubt it). Oh, and I guess Jesse was a senior when he was there for like a month...

Originally Posted by notfrommensa

I kind of like Tina's "Bizarro" Glee Club was interesting. With everyone switching bodies. Although they jumped so quickly between head shots I was trying to figure who was playing who.

Only problem I had with it was everyone had a wig or something to help look like the other character, except Mercedes did not have a blonde wig to portray Brittany. Also, too bad they didn't have Bieste change with someone, but it was a short segment, so there wasn't really room.


I really hope Wade does not join Nude Erections next year like they seemed to be foreshadowing. Put him in Dalton or something so he can come belt out a song now and again, but the character so far has been too one note to be a regular without getting tiresome unless they have some really good ideas for him. And I don't have faith in the people making this show to have many marginally good ideas anymore, let alone really good ones.

[Sister Vigilante]

Originally Posted by TBG

snippity

Nude Erections

I'm SO glad I wasn't the only one to notice this.

Also I don't like the Bieste storyline. I mean, I get it, I guess: the not-attractive girl who resorts to being a badass to get by. But I must have missed a lot. When did she marry the sweetest guy in the world and when did he turn into an asshole? To me that would take a whole season to develop, not just the 2-3 episodes I must have missed. I get that badasses can have a sensitive side. I am one. I cry for every puppy video I see. But Bieste cries in nearly every episode, at work. I don't cry every day at work. Someone who head-butted Refrigerator Perry should not have to fear for her life so much that she has to sleep with a knife under her pillow. Not when her supposed enemy is that fluffball of a husband, who I think I could take, and I'm 5'2".

Sorry for the rant. My mother was hit once by her second husband. Once. She reacted thusly:

"Do. not. ever. do. that. again."

They divorced soon after and she came back to hubby #1.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by TBG

There were no seniors any other year (unless that black kid who left after the first season was a senior, though I doubt it).

IIRC Will said the one black guy moved away during the summer. I don't know why they didn't just say he was a senior who'd graduated, though. Maybe they wanted to leave room to randomly bring him back if they wanted.

I really hope Wade does not join Nude Erections next year like they seemed to be foreshadowing. Put him in Dalton or something so he can come belt out a song now and again, but the character so far has been too one note to be a regular without getting tiresome unless they have some really good ideas for him. And I don't have faith in the people making this show to have many marginally good ideas anymore, let alone really good ones.

Well, many of the Glee characters are pretty one note, and Wade managed to be more interesting and entertaining in two episodes than Rory has been all year. (Really, I feel bad for Damian McGinty. If the writers weren't going to give him anything to do, they just should have had Rory go back to Ireland after one semester.) But I don't want to see Wade as a regular for another reason. I do not trust this show to have a regular character who is transgender without being insensitive and/or preachy (probably both in the same episodes). Heck, they've done a pretty lousy job dealing with Santana being a lesbian, and that should have been relatively easy.

If they retconned Wade to a femmey gay guy who wants to be a professional drag queen -- which is kind of what it seemed like in "Nationals" -- then that would be more in Glee's wheelhouse. Such a character could still easily become tedious or offensive in the hands of the Glee writers, but "quirky teen wants to be a performer" describes most of the characters on the show and I think the writers have a better chance of managing a twist on that than doing a good job with either drama or humor relating to transgender issues.

Originally Posted by Sister Vigilante

Also I don't like the Bieste storyline. I mean, I get it, I guess: the not-attractive girl who resorts to being a badass to get by. But I must have missed a lot. When did she marry the sweetest guy in the world and when did he turn into an asshole? To me that would take a whole season to develop, not just the 2-3 episodes I must have missed.

Beiste's husband started being abusive two weeks ago, in "Choke". And yeah, this development really came out of nowhere. Cooter seemed nice enough before (although I wouldn't call him the sweetest guy in the world), and while it's certainly true that someone who seems perfectly nice to outsiders can be abusive at home this plot could have been set up a little more. Really the only hint that he wasn't Mr. Right for Coach Beiste was when he briefly dated Sue, but I didn't think he did anything majorly wrong even then -- he and Coach Beiste weren't in a long-term relationship, and he said he felt like he was being treated more as a friend than a boyfriend.

[Soylent Juicy]

I think Perez Hilton looked better as a fat guy.

[Loopus]

Originally Posted by Stauderhorse

This felt more like a series finale than anything. I know there are a few juniors left in glee club but I don't see much point in watching next season. Then again, I may come crawling back to the show like I've done before.

I thought that "Sectionals" from season one felt like a great series finale... they really had no idea they were going to be picked up.

I loved "Nationals" more than I've loved any episode of Glee for a long time. They could have gone a different direction, but the pure joy of their nationals win was not only well-done, but after three years, it was deserved.

I have no idea how the New York-Lima "split" the show is apparently going to do next season is going to work, but I'm pretty much on board with Glee for the long haul at this point. And even at its worst, it can still find ways of making me smile.