Finn did not deserve that. I don’t have a problem with Kurt’s dad reaction to what he thought was going on (& he does have a point; Finn would never say nigger like that). Finn certainly isn’t homophobic; he’s never shown to be anything less that completely accepting of Kurt. He’s also been away of Kurt’s crush on him the whole time and has tried very hard to aviod hurting Kurt’s feeling or embaressing him over it. Kurt on the otherhand seems to be getting more and delusional the further they drag this out.
Even leaving aside the whole gay crush thing taking the $300 they were both given to redecorate their room right out of Finn’s hand and making the whole room look like what he though Finn would want with even consulting Finn was a major dick move.
Finn’s actually the only one in that newly blended family who isn’t completely clueless. It doesn’t look like either parent really thought about all the normal issues involved with moving in together that single parents. Finn has a point about the privacy thing. It doesn’t he’d be all that bothered by sharing a room with Kurt if it wasn’t for the crush.
Things are going to get very ackward (that’s an understatement) if/when the 'rents find out about this. It wasn’t even on their radar. Even parents with straight teenage children of the opposite-sex move in together without thinking the implications all the way through.
I saw that what Kurt wants to happen with some friends of mine when I was a teenager. She was my next-door neighbor since childhood; her stepbrother didn’t even live there fulltime (hence he didn’t have an actual room). They got closer and closer and despite being step siblings started fooling around with eachother. Onetime during a sleepover we even kinda ended up having a threesome. Never did find out if their parents found out or how they reacted if they did.
I liked a lot of the episode, and did like Kurt’s dad protecting him, even if Finn didn’t totally deserve it. If I were Kurt’s father I would have maybe been less harsh and pointed out that gay isn’t something you can catch.
But I really, really hated the last duet with Rachel and her mother. Could they not find any other song to do? The lyrics were so off.
Finally, was Finn’s last costume supposed to be a Bowie thing or just totally random?
I’ll agree that Finn didn’t deserve it, but I understand Kurt’s dad being that protective. It was a great rant, though, and probably did make Finn think differently about the casual homophobia of his teammates.
I don’t know what was up with that last song. I’m pretty damn far from an expert on such things, but I do know that if I can tell you’re autotuning Idina Menzel, something went very wrong somewhere. It seems like it had the potential to be a good version of the song, and Lea Michele sounded great, as far as I could tell. Maybe it got rushed, and they had to go with something subpar. I did like that the piano player apparently just waits around in case anyone feels the need to break out in song.
I’m pretty used to the musical performances straining believability, but this episode seemed to avoid any of them having outright fantasy elements, while at the same time trying to pass off the Kiss performance with pyrotechnics and everything as just something the guys whipped up. For always complaining about budget woes, they seem to have some odd priorities.
Mike and Matt finally get some lines, and they’re hidden behind a centimetre of KISS makeup :mad:
Not that Finn didn’t deserve a kick in the pants over dropping the other F-bomb, but jeeze Burt, you think just maybe you’re projecting some of your own adolescent-era homophobia onto Finn? (I may revise and amend this once I rewatch the episode). Also, Kurt, c’mon. Finn’s yanked from the home he’s known all his life and moved into a basement with a guy who has a crush on him, and you decorate the place like it’s a Turkish hotel lobby? You did *not *do that for Finn, buster
Make two only children share a room, see what happens!
I commented to my husband that parents wouldn’t put a 17 year old boy and girl together in one room like that, so expecting a gay boy and a straight boy to just ignore sexuality is a little unrealistic, too. What kind of house do Burt and Kurt live in that they have only one bedroom upstairs, anyway?
I liked the episode overall, though. The show really doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it is kind of fearless. I liked the way Rachel kind of addressed the accompanying players - “Paul’s always kind of just hanging around.” I would have preferred Finn singing “Beth,” though - his voice is grittier, which I would have preferred. That’s not an easy song to sing, either.
On the other hand, the gaga outfits were awesome (although boy do I not even remotely actually care about her), and the bit with the principle believing in vampires and how that was used at the end was brilliant.
I agree wholeheartedly. You could tell that they had arranged a certain amount of exposure and publicity for Lady Gaga in return for the use of her music, and so they clearly had to use at least two of her songs. However, that was an incredibly jarring way to fit it in, and could have been done so much better, instead of an intimate, stripped down mother-daughter version of a song including lyrics such as “I’m bluffing with my muffin” and “when it’s love if it’s not rough it isn’t fun” being lovingly sung to one another.
I liked that Rachel and her mom sang together, I did not like the song they sang.
In general, it wasn’t a bad episode. Some highs and some lows. I liked Burt standing up for Kurt; I don’t like that Kurt didn’t stand up for Finn. He realized his dad was taking it the wrong way. He tried to say something, but he should have tried harder…
Kurt’s stalkerish behavior toward Finn is so convincingly creepy. I’m gay myself (yeah, shocker…shut up) and I recognize waaaay too much of my teenage high school behavior (only MUCH more subtle/coy/closeted/“coincidental”) in the crush arc. And I REALLY don’t enjoy realizing just how creepy (if subtly (I hope, anyway)) I was because of it. That particular storyline really does hit a little to close to the bullseye for me…
That’s the thing, though. Kurt knew his Dad was overreacting, but he also knew there was truth in what his Dad was saying. I think a part of him needed to hear that, to have that experience of someone unequivocally on his side. I don’t think he’s self-aware enough to understand why his behavior is making Finn uncomfortable–to him it’s just another way in which he’s not allowed to be himself. It’s not fair to Finn, but it is understandable from Kurt’s perspective why he didn’t intervene further. It’s even understandable from Burt’s perspective why he overreacted–he’s going too hard on Finn due to his own guilt. It’s rather tragic, but it all makes sense.
I thought this was a great episode. The irony of ‘‘Pokerface’’ at the end was hilarious, but my husband didn’t like it. I felt the final scene was a little too After School Special, especially with Will coming in at the end to summarize the lesson. I would have liked to see them draw out the Kurt/Finn tension more rather than try to resolve it so quickly.
I think the Kurt-Finn-Burt scenes are consistently the best in terms of acting and nuance. Any scenes featuring those three actors I pretty much regard as the pinnacle of the show.
It’s been said before, but who would ever have guessed while channel surfing past the godawful Yes Dear (a show I have actually used as a gauge of successful mediocrity) that Mike O’Malley had such chops as an actor? And perhaps from being gay myself (yes, I am finally coming out- I’m also southern) I’m a bit sensitive to the word, but Finn’s use of “faggy” and claim it wasn’t meant against Kurt is the same as if he’d said “niggery” and then claimed it wasn’t racist to Mercedes, though agreed they should never have been put in that situation of sharing a room to begin with- let Finn stay at his own house until an addition is complete.
And another “Whuck?” about a house belonging to an obviously well off father that has 1 BR and a basement. And Kurt did a helluva lotta redecorating for $300.
Being neither a KISS or a Lady Gaga fan I couldn’t care less about any of the songs this time. I loved the sound of Lea Michele and Idina Menzel’s voices on I Dreamed a Dream but wasn’t at all familiar with the song they sang though from the lyrics I think the Dead Kennedy’s Holiday in Cambodia or Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Catfish Boogie would have been about as appropriate for the occasion. I wonder what Lady Gaga thought- she announced she was thrilled they were using her songs and planned to watch it.
That’s what I mean about fearless - doing that song (“Poker Face”), that way, in that context. It might not always work, but I give the show full props for even attempting it.
I was actually thinking about the discussions we’ve had on the Dope about using “fag” and “gay” innocuously while watching that scene - I believe that Finn didn’t mean that he hates Kurt because he’s gay or is actively homophobic, but like Burt said, if you’re using a term in a derogatory way, that would indicate that you think the thing the term means is a negative thing. Except, you know, he said it in a way that makes sense.
Actually, the first thing that popped into my mind was that time that gonzomax posted something about “faggy dogs” and we had that huge and utterly pointless, in the end (thanks to brick-wall-talking), Pit thread about him (which, I admit, I started).
I would have preferred Finn singing “Beth,” though - his voice is grittier, which I would have preferred. That’s not an easy song to sing, either.
