Glee: 2.19 "Rumours" (open spoilers)

[alphaboi867]

April Rhodes is back, Sue's spreading rumours via the school paper, the Glee kids come across "interesting" news about Sam, and is Kurt cheating on Blaine with an unamed blond? And that's what you don't want to miss on Glee.

• Dreams
• Go Your Own Way
• Don't Stop
• Never Going Back Again
• Songbird
• I Don't Want to Know

[Sampiro]

I won't vote until I see it, but if April is back then I'll at least LIKE it.

[Lamia]

I was looking forward to this episode mostly for the Rumours numbers -- I'm not a particular fan of Fleetwood Mac, but I vastly prefer them to most of Glee's previously featured artists -- but was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the episode was solid as well. Nothing jumped out at me as being one of the all-time great moments of the show, but everything worked pretty well. I'm giving it a rare "Loved It".

Since Sam has been mostly in the background since way back in the fall it was nice to see him get an actual storyline AND a solo. They even lampshaded the fact that this character hasn't been developed very well. The "Dad lost his job, then we lost the house" storyline was a little after-school special-y even for Glee, but it was (sadly) plausible and provided some justification for Sam's minimal role in recent episodes.

Despite being embroiled in a sex scandal Kurt didn't have much to say or do in this episode, but he had a big role last week and it was nice to see him integrated back into New Directions. I was very amused by how the entire glee club seems to be on Team Klaine, with the possibility that Kurt was cheating on Blaine attracting more shock than Sam's alleged bisexuality. Even Quinn, who as far as I can tell has barely spoken to Kurt in two years, insisted that Kurt would never cheat on Blaine.

I felt like we're still treading water on the Santana/Brittany romance, with Brittany's break-up with Artie making less immediate difference than I might have guessed. I was glad that both Santana and Artie got solos though, they've both got great voices but tend to be underused.

It was fun to see the return of April Rhodes, although the episode ended without that storyline really being resolved. It was also unclear to me why April's still in-progress show couldn't wait until after Nationals.

I also liked Tina defending the honor of Asian men, and Santana's semi-acknowledgment of their ever-present piano accompanist. I keep hoping that someday we'll get an episode, or at least a scene, from the perspective of the pianist and jazz band. I like to imagine they've got a "When will Rachel and Finn get back together?" pool going.

My only complaints at the moment are that the Sue's disguises and Brittany's talk show gags weren't as funny as they could have been and didn't really go anywhere either. This is also at least the second time David Bowie has been mentioned on the show, but there still hasn't ever been a David Bowie number!

PS: I got all verklempt during that "It Gets Better" Google Chrome ad.

[Annie]

Preview spoiler, fashion edition:

SPOILER:

Kurt kilt! Dammit, if that kid isn't John Barrowman's bastard son, I'll eat a sporran

Oh yeah, liked what they did with Sam, and the miniSams were unannoyingly cute. Pretty meh on the music though, apart from the acoustic guitar army with Artie.

[gregorio]

Pisces! Holy crap that was funny.

[Brynda]

Artie's army was great. I liked how the episode kept us guessing.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

So much good stuff in this episode. Good songs. Sue and her David Bowie outfit and then the quick change to Ann Coulter, so funny.

I find Rachel to be one of the most obnoxious characters on TV, but damn that girl can sing.

I LOVED Fondue for Two and that Brit thought the cat was smoking again.

[singular1]

Originally Posted by gregorio

Pisces! Holy crap that was funny.

I'm so ashamed. Please explain this.

I also liked Tina defending the honor of Asian men

I don't think it was his "honor" she was defending...

The photography of Artie's number (Artie's Army) was really beautiful. Well done.

It's really been a long time since I've listened to Rumours. I'll really enjoy these earworms all day.

[drastic_quench]

Originally Posted by singular1

I'm so ashamed. Please explain this.

Puckerman + Zizes

[Uncle Jocko]

Originally Posted by Sleeps With Butterflies

I LOVED Fondue for Two and that Brit thought the cat was smoking again.

Lard Tubbington! What a great name for a cat. Who ONLY eats human food, and cheese is okay because he's on Atkins.

I also enjoyed Brittany's hard-hitting questioning of Mr. Schu. "Coach Sylvester told me I'm not at liberty to say ... right after she finished writing these questions for me to ask you."

[randwill]

I also didn't get why there had to be a choice between taking the club to Nationals and helping April with her show. They were just developing a show. It's not like they had an opening date on Broadway, or even an opening date for Off-Broadway, or for previews, or for out-of-town try-outs, or for casting and rehearsals, or that anybody was even interested in producing the darn show in the first place.

But stressing over the story points in "Glee" is like stressing over the science in "Fringe".

[sachertorte]

I didn't care the episode so much, but I loved the Google commercial.

[purplehorseshoe]

Originally Posted by Lamia

... PS: I got all verklempt during that "It Gets Better" Google Chrome ad.

Me three. *sniff* I'd just read his article, talking about how his husband never goes on camera, and how fast the whole thing got rolling. ("One hundred videos. That was the goal, and it seemed ambitious ... Four weeks later, I got a call from the White House. They wanted me to know that the president's It Gets Better video had just been uploaded to YouTube.")

The after-school-special-y-ness is ree-hee-heeally starting to drag the show down. I've had "Go Your Own Way" stuck in my head all night and all morning. Mike Chang didn't get to dance much.

On the other hand, lotsa Brit and Santana, so there's that. And one more thumbs-up for Artie's segment. The inlay work on those guitars was gorgeous.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by randwill

But stressing over the story points in "Glee" is like stressing over the science in "Fringe".

I've been repeating the MST3K motto to myself because of the passing reference to Dalton Academy in this episode. It seems like the Dalton campus keeps creeping closer to Lima, first being some distance away, then convenient to a coffee shop called the Lima Bean (which could in theory be outside or on the outskirts of Lima), and now within the delivery zone of whichever pizza place Sam was working for.

Originally Posted by purplehorseshoe

The after-school-special-y-ness is ree-hee-heeally starting to drag the show down.

I was just relieved that my first, even more after-school special-y, suspicion wasn't true. When they first showed the motel I guessed that Sam had run away from home because his parents were abusing him.

[alphaboi867]

Originally Posted by Lamia

...It seems like the Dalton campus keeps creeping closer to Lima, first being some distance away, then convenient to a coffee shop called the Lima Bean (which could in theory be outside or on the outskirts of Lima), and now within the delivery zone of whichever pizza place Sam was working for.

I was just relieved that my first, even more after-school special-y, suspicion wasn't true. When they first showed the motel I guessed that Sam had run away from home because his parents were abusing him.

And the whole "delivering pizza late at night to Kurt" makes it sound like he was boarding at Dalton. And I suspected the whole "Sam is poor and living in a cheap motel" during the previews; nothing was surprising. I also find the suggestion that if a teenager has a partime job it must be because of poverty rather offensive. Even April Rhodes couldn't raise this episode from a meh.

[Feyrat]

Originally Posted by Lamia

Since Sam has been mostly in the background since way back in the fall it was nice to see him get an actual storyline AND a solo. They even lampshaded the fact that this character hasn't been developed very well. The "Dad lost his job, then we lost the house" storyline was a little after-school special-y even for Glee, but it was (sadly) plausible and provided some justification for Sam's minimal role in recent episodes.

To me, Sam's storyline is what bumped me from "like" to "love." It was much more daring than putting gay storylines out - actually making a visible member of the cast suffer from this cruddy economy and what is really happening to families right now. I know actual folks who're in that exact situation, in fact, my husband's company tried to move us several states away in order to keep his job - and everyone we know who went (in January) is now in the process of being fired, after moving halfway across the country and now dumped far from their normal support networks. Of course, my husband's still unemployed because he didn't move, but at least we're still close to family and friends.

[Sampiro]

I think Sam just borrowed some neighbor's kids to use as evidence for his cover story and hide the fact he's really using the motel room to shag April and Kurt.

Evidence: How would Kurt's clothes fit Sam?

Evidence 2: You get a pizza delivered, a former classmate delivers it, do you assume 1) he's got a part time job to earn money or 2) omg, his family is penniless and living in a motel!

Evidence 3: Who wouldn't shag Sam?

Evidence 4: His family's flat but he buys hair dye? C'mon.

[Feyrat]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

I think Sam just borrowed some neighbor's kids to use as evidence for his cover story and hide the fact he's really using the motel room to shag April and Kurt.

April? O.o

[River Hippie]

Is the guy who plays Puck a serious guitar player IRL? If not he faked some of that stuff ( The Chain) pretty well.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Feyrat

April? O.o

Sorry- Quinn. Got the names confused. Though like April she did get Pucked once (in the shower in her first appearance).

Originally Posted by River Hippie

Is the guy who plays Puck a serious guitar player IRL? If not he faked some of that stuff ( The Chain) pretty well.

He plays on his album. IIRC he's more "singer who acts" than "actor who sings" in his background and ambitions.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Annie

Preview spoiler, fashion edition:

SPOILER:

Kurt kilt! Dammit, if that kid isn't John Barrowman's bastard son, I'll eat a sporran

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that I thought Kurt looked adorable in the preview for next week.

While looking for the trailer on YouTube I found this pretty amusing fan video, a mock trailer for a Glee horror film in which two characters go on a killing spree to ensure that one wins prom queen and the other wins Regionals.

Originally Posted by alphaboi867

And the whole "delivering pizza late at night to Kurt" makes it sound like he was boarding at Dalton.

It's still a mystery to me whether Kurt actually was at some point boarding at Dalton -- in the Christmas episode it sure seemed like he was (why else would Mr. Schu visit him at Dalton instead of at home?), but in later episodes it seemed like he wasn't. Of course, the closer Dalton is to Lima the less sense it would make for Kurt to be boarding there instead of commuting. Maybe he started as a boarder and switched to being a day student as the campus mysteriously edged closer to Lima.

Anyway, it's plausible that when Sam delivered the pizza Kurt was visiting Blaine in his dorm room. Incidentally, I have no doubt there are hundreds, if not thousands, of smutty fanfictions currently in progress based on the concept of Sam delivering a pizza to Kurt and Blaine.

Originally Posted by Feyrat

To me, Sam's storyline is what bumped me from "like" to "love." It was much more daring than putting gay storylines out - actually making a visible member of the cast suffer from this cruddy economy and what is really happening to families right now.

Comparing this episode to last week's, I feel they also did a MUCH better job of coming up with a surprise revelation that is believable and meshes with what we already know of the character. The fact that Sam has little established backstory to contradict must have made this easier than with Quinn, but there was a hint early on that Sam's family had suffered some recent economic setbacks. We know he went to a private school before his family moved. We've also seen that Sam has some romantic ideas about personal honor, so it makes sense that he'd be doing his best to help his family without complaint. His sense of honor plus fear of social stigma would also provide him with strong motivation to avoid asking others for help.

I hope your husband will find a job soon, Feyrat.

[Sampiro]

Makes Quinn's act of insisting he pay for the date at Breadsticks all the more obnoxious though (as I said at the time- don't spring that on somebody who's not expecting to buy two meals).

Originally Posted by Lamia

Anyway, it's plausible that when Sam delivered the pizza Kurt was visiting Blaine in his dorm room. Incidentally, I have no doubt there are hundreds, if not thousands, of smutty fanfictions currently in progress based on the concept of Sam delivering a pizza to Kurt and Blaine.

I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it. Now it's impossible not to.

"You have a job delivering pizza... it's more than obvious you're hard up."

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it. Now it's impossible not to.

"You have a job delivering pizza... it's more than obvious you're hard up."

I was hearing a porno bass line in my mind as soon as Sam mentioned delivering pizza.

"I've got the extra-large sausage you wanted."

[drastic_quench]

Originally Posted by River Hippie

Is the guy who plays Puck a serious guitar player IRL? If not he faked some of that stuff ( The Chain) pretty well.

Yes, I believe he put out an album and played in a cover band pre Glee.

[Feyrat]

Originally Posted by Lamia

Anyway, it's plausible that when Sam delivered the pizza Kurt was visiting Blaine in his dorm room. Incidentally, I have no doubt there are hundreds, if not thousands, of smutty fanfictions currently in progress based on the concept of Sam delivering a pizza to Kurt and Blaine.

Now I feel like I need to go abuse Google... LOL

ETA: Thank you for the good wishes, Lamia!

[TBG]

Lord Tubbington spinoff. NOW.

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by TBG

Lord Tubbington spinoff. NOW.

No can do. Gay kisses are one thing, but nobody is going to sponsor a show with a lead character who smokes.

[TBG]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

No can do. Gay kisses are one thing, but nobody is going to sponsor a show with a lead character who smokes.

Pilot could be a story where he tries to quit, then realizes with his fur he has no place to stick a nicotine patch.

[Sampiro]

So do you think Artie only called Brittany stupid because he was mad or because he's always thought that but she's sweet-ish and puts out?

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

So do you think Artie only called Brittany stupid because he was mad or because he's always thought that but she's sweet-ish and puts out?

Both? I mean, he can't possibly have thought she was smart before, but it may be that he generally thinks of her as being naive/whimsical and only called her stupid because he was upset.

I can also imagine that Artie may have felt Brittany's lack of intelligence meant that things sort of evened out between them -- she has the body, he has the brains.

[Sir Prize]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

So do you think Artie only called Brittany stupid because he was mad or because he's always thought that but she's sweet-ish and puts out?

I thought that the writers need Brittany to be available for the Santana plot line but couldn't think of a way to separate her from Artie without him acting out of character.