# Glee 1/31: Michael **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374 "2012-02-01T01:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/1 "2012-02-01T01:36:47Z")
Since alphaboi is behind on episodes, I’ll start this one. Tonight’s episode is a Michael Jackson tribute. Featured songs: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” “Bad” “Scream” “Never Can Say Goodbye” “Human Nature” “Ben” “Smooth Criminal” “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” “Black or White” ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/2 "2012-02-01T02:13:48Z")
“We’re taking the high road, which I was surprised has nothing to do with marijuana.”. ~Puck ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/3 "2012-02-01T02:31:13Z")
Okay, there were plenty of WTF? moments in this episode, but the biggest one was the ending. Are we seriously supposed to accept that the New Directions kids did the right thing in refusing to give the Dalton headmaster the incriminating tape? That it’s fair and reasonable to say “Well, you did attack and seriously injure our friend, but it would be wrong for you to face any formal punishment. We’ll just have to win at Regionals, then justice will have been served”? Sure, it would be morally wrong (albeit dramatically satisfying) for the New Directions kids to beat Sebastian to death in the choir room, but I see no problem at all with handing the tape over to an appropriate authority figure. On the other hand, I did kind of enjoy that surreal scene where Kurt sang a song about a killer rat to his wounded boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/4 "2012-02-01T04:07:45Z")
A big reminder of everything that was wrong with S2 – single-artist episodes _don’t work_. And who the hell would buy the premise of these kids giving a shit about Michael Jackson? (Artie – “I remember the first time he moonwalked on the Motown show” … I do too, it was winter of 1983-84, or 28 years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/5 "2012-02-01T04:38:33Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > A big reminder of everything that was wrong with S2 – single-artist episodes _don’t work_. > > And who the hell would buy the premise of these kids giving a shit about Michael Jackson? Yeah, that would have seemed dated when I was in high school…and I graduated 13 years ago. This should have been one of those assignments that Mr. Schuster had to talk them into. It should have had about half the number of songs, too. As much as I like to see Mike Chang prominently featured “Scream” was totally unnecessary, and I’ve already forgotten a couple of the other numbers. Also, “What would Michael Jackson do?” is one of the worst inspirational phrases ever. I can’t believe no one suggested “Have excessive plastic surgery” or “Retreat into a childlike fantasy world.” > [@](#): > > (Artie – “I remember the first time he moonwalked on the Motown show” … I do too, it was winter of 1983-84, or 28 years ago.) In fairness, I think he did say it was a videotape that his mother showed him. Thinking about Blaine’s eye injury again, why on earth was he bedridden? I suffered a corneal abrasion myself in college (although not from being Slushied or otherwise attacked), and while it definitely wasn’t fun it didn’t impair my ability to _stand_. IIRC they said Blaine hadn’t had his surgery yet, so it wasn’t because he was still weak or doped up from that. Trying to be positive here, I thought the college letter subplot was pretty good, and I was pleased to see Santana siding with Blaine and Kurt because I’ve been hoping for months that we’d get some sort of alliance between McKinley’s two same-sex power couples. It was also kind of funny to hear Santana complain about how Kurt’s plots get more attention than her’s do. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/6 "2012-02-01T04:54:05Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Okay, there were plenty of WTF? moments in this episode, but the biggest one was the ending. > > Are we seriously supposed to accept that the New Directions kids did the right thing in refusing to give the Dalton headmaster the incriminating tape? That it’s fair and reasonable to say “Well, you did attack and seriously injure our friend, but it would be wrong for you to face any formal punishment. We’ll just have to win at Regionals, then justice will have been served”? Sure, it would be morally wrong (albeit dramatically satisfying) for the New Directions kids to beat Sebastian to death in the choir room, but I see no problem at all with handing the tape over to an appropriate authority figure. That was indeed lame and more-or-less incomprehensible. I guess Kurt figured there would be more drama this way; he does seem to enjoy his drama. > [@](#): > > On the other hand, I did kind of enjoy that surreal scene where Kurt sang a song about a killer rat to his wounded boyfriend. Kurt really does have a lovely castrato. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/7 "2012-02-01T05:00:27Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Sure, it would be morally wrong (albeit dramatically satisfying) for the New Directions kids to beat Sebastian to death in the choir room, but I see no problem at all with handing the tape over to an appropriate authority figure. Keeping in mind that it was a rather bizarre form of premeditated assault, and Shitbastian was bragging about his dad being a state’s attorney, there was a shitload of blackmail potential in that tape. Either rat him out to his dad, or if dad was going to pull a “Not _my_ son!”, to the media. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/8 "2012-02-01T05:17:26Z")
I guess no one told [Quinn](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14541872&postcount=34) that she is wasting her time if she is going there for drama. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/9 "2012-02-01T14:26:03Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > (Artie – “I remember the first time he moonwalked on the Motown show” … I do too, it was winter of 1983-84, or 28 years ago.) > [@Lamia](#): > > In fairness, I think he did say it was a videotape that his mother showed him. Oops. Yeah, I think you’re right. Still, not enough to explain his love, let alone anyone else’s, of MJ. One moment I did like – Trouty Mouth and Mercedes’s duet. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/10 "2012-02-01T14:55:42Z")
Two, waitaminute three questions: 1. How is it that the students in that school district feel that they can assault people with impunity? Isn’t there any adult supervision in Ohio schools? 2. How did the 2Cellos guys happen to be in Ohio, playing at an undistinguished high school? 3. (not really associated with Glee, but while I’m thinking about it) I never paid much attention to post-Jackson 5 MJ during his lifetime. Was it ever established whether Annie was, in fact, OK? ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/11 "2012-02-01T15:05:51Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Thinking about Blaine’s eye injury again, why on earth was he bedridden? I suffered a corneal abrasion myself in college (although not from being Slushied or otherwise attacked), and while it definitely wasn’t fun it didn’t impair my ability to _stand_. There are some eye injuries which (often related to bleeding) can cause increased eye pressure. Bedrest could be treatment for that. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/12 "2012-02-01T16:06:51Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \ > > 1. (not really associated with Glee, but while I’m thinking about it) I never paid much attention to post-Jackson 5 MJ during his lifetime. Was it ever established whether Annie was, in fact, OK? Well, there were bloodstains on the carpet, so perhaps not. That high-pitched twanging sound is my conscious suspension of disbelief being stretched to the limit with this show. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/13 "2012-02-01T16:12:21Z")
Made it through Bad. Having recently been burned by the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson show (for reasons not necessarily having to do with the quality of the show itself, but it was a horrible experience) I was intrigued to see how they handled it. I gave up on Glee by the end of last season and haven’t watch this season. Just couldn’t take it. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/14 "2012-02-01T17:09:04Z")
“Ben” was painful to watch. I’ve never been able to shake the “love song to a rat” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/15 "2012-02-01T17:51:13Z")
Okay, unless they move the show to Showtime or HBO and have graphic sex scenes I officially don’t care whether it’s renewed or not. It’s more than done. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/16 "2012-02-01T17:58:02Z")
Though it was nice to see Artie get another dance number. They should just let the Irish kid heal him with a song since that wouldn’t be any less believable than most of their plots. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/17 "2012-02-01T18:28:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > 1. (not really associated with Glee, but while I’m thinking about it) I never paid much attention to post-Jackson 5 MJ during his lifetime. Was it ever established whether Annie was, in fact, OK? > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Well, there were bloodstains on the carpet, so perhaps not. Too bad. I hate it when there’s a tragic ending in a song. The ending of _Erlkönig_ just pissed me right off, f’rinstance. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/18 "2012-02-02T02:53:28Z")
To my surprise, Todd VanDerWuff over at the AV Club, who is often harder on the show than I am, [gave this episode a B-](http://www.avclub.com/articles/michael,68495/). He thought that though the musical numbers were dull and the whole Sebastian plot was weird, the admission letter plot was good enough to pull it up to a decent grade. As for me, I’m thinking the ending of this episode was one of the worst things _Glee_ has ever done. And I mean that not just in terms of entertainment value, but morally. The writers were pretty heavyhanded about this episode having a moral, which was that the appropriate response to violently bullying is…nothing. Not that you shouldn’t retaliate with violence yourself, not that the world is often unfair and sometimes you just have to accept that justice won’t be done and get on with your life, but that it would be wrong to even _ask_ the appropriate school or legal or school authorities to punish flagrant violations of the rules and the law. Also, “Black or White” has nothing to do with this situation! We’ve seen no evidence that Sebastian is _racist_. He’s a violent sociopath, but he’s a member of a racially diverse show choir and has done nothing onscreen to indicate that he holds racist views. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > 1. How is it that the students in that school district feel that they can assault people with impunity? Isn’t there any adult supervision in Ohio schools? What’s particularly bizarre about this is that the assailant was from Dalton, a school that – as we were told repeatedly last season – has a zero tolerance policy regarding bullying. That’s why Kurt and presumably Blaine went there in the first place, to escape bullying at their old schools. Now, Sebastian clearly doesn’t care about the rules, but the New Directions kids should at least have expected that the Dalton headmaster would take this seriously even _without_ the tape. > [@](#): > > 1. How did the 2Cellos guys happen to be in Ohio, playing at an undistinguished high school? Maybe they’re exchange students? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/19 "2012-02-02T03:25:24Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > To my surprise, Todd VanDerWuff over at the AV Club, who is often harder on the show than I am, [gave this episode a B-](http://www.avclub.com/articles/michael,68495/). He thought that though the musical numbers were dull and the whole Sebastian plot was weird, the admission letter plot was good enough to pull it up to a decent grade. On the other hand, MTV’s Jim Cantielleo’s [Musical Gleecaps](http://t.co/Ne6nFJDy) are usually pretty upbeat, but he really didn’t like this episode. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374/20 "2012-02-02T04:02:04Z")
I enjoyed how many strands from the cellists’ bows were broken by the end of the song. They were really going at it. I laughed at how short a shot they gave Irish kid in the morphing scene. Sorry, dude. Maybe you’ll get a line next week. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glee-1-31-michael/611374.md?page=2)