:rolleyes: right back. Everyone at some point gets bullied, or is a bully, or both at various parts of life. It’s not unique to gays, just like cancer isn’t unique to breasts. I’m not gay, and I got bullied to the point of having to change schools. It happens. It’s life. Learn you’re not unique just because you’re different, and move on.
That said, I’m more sick of it coming up in other places, like celebrities taking it up as a cause célèbre. I don’t think this ep was quite as heavy handed as the previews made it look like it was going to be. Other than the old cliche about gay bashers all being secretly gay, I think they handled it fairly well.
Ep was still pretty crappy overall, though. The boys school song went way too long and took too much time away that could’ve been used for another song (or longer medleys of the songs they did) from the real cast. This show really has gone downhill from the first half season, I don’t know if they can turn it around at this point.
I’ve said exactly the same thing in other posts- it’s far from just a gay issue. That said, it’s not just a gay issue on GLEE either.
I agree the celebrity “it gets better” PSAs are becoming old and more like this year’s pink ribbon than sincere, but I like the general idea behind it. My favorite so far has been George Takeisince he added humor and a little righteous indignation to the mix.
A cliche with at least some basis in fact judging by the UGA “peter meter” study and the number of high profile homophobes who get caught with their hand in the rentboy.
Yup;at the same time Puck and the Puckerettes were heaving Kurt into the dumpster, (pilot, first ep after pilot) they were locking Artie into the portapottie. Picking on a wheelchair kid! Whatdahell? Four or five eps later, the same guys were carrying Artie en chair in and out of the auditorium, so hey, once an asshole, not always an asshole. Or, slightly less of an a-hole. Thing One and Thing Two (I got to find me the Gleek Wiki) though, they slammed Tina into the lockers too(the Gaga ep)-Kurt ripped them a new one for that, bless his heart.
Overall good ep. My one complaint- Will’s outrage that the kids were privately using Biest as a cool-down. It’s not OK to do that in your head?!? (Tho it does seem that it may start a Biest-fetish with both Sam & Tina. L) Of course, it is horribly rude to discuss it publically because of hurting her feelings.
I would not be surprised to see if Susan Boyle’s appearance includes her giving Biest beauty tips. Every one can fix up pretty good.
Are we going to see a deeper side of Brittany? Do we want her to have feelings & a soul?
At least we get hints there. Santana tho has never seemed anything but shallow & scheming.
The look on Kurt’s face when he realized there could be a place where everyone is treated the same- that said it all in one brief expression.
Puck’s confession to Artie about how scared he was in Juvie- awesome.
“They kept stealing my waffles.”
You know, while “bullying” isn’t just a gay issue, “bullying for being/perceived to be gay” is it’s own specific issue (that, yes, is different from being bullied for other things, which doesn’t mean it’s worse than other types of bullying, necessarily), it’s an issue that recent events have shown to demand attention, and I’m glad the show tackled it instead of glossing over the “gay” aspect of bullying. The Bieste subplot (which I liked quite a bit aside from the kiss, which was patronizing, weird, and gross) plays into this as well; she’s essentially being picked on because she doesn’t conform to conventional gender norms.
What’s more, this is the perfect show to do it. It isn’t like they imported some one-off character to do a Very Special Episode about. Kurt’s experiences with bullying and homophobia have been highlighted since the series began, and it’s entirely appropriate for the show to be dealing with that again. Surprisingly for Glee, I was impressed by how realistic things really played out. Kurt is head-over-heels for his Prep School Prince Charming in a way that, if anything, is subdued compared to what someone in his position would be acting like. And they resisted putting a bow on the character of the closeted jock. He’s still closeted, mean, and violent; we just know he’s gay and tormented now.
And to say that this episode won’t make any difference is, in my opinion, patently false. I would have killed to see something like this on TV when I was Kurt’s character’s age. One of the problems with gay bullying is that its victims feel alone, helpless, and trapped; showing them that they aren’t is the entire point of stuff like this.
Biest isn’t so much ugly as she’s unfeminine due to her size (the actress is 6’3- used to be taller before a spine operation) and wardrobe. Kurt should do a makeover on her; I’m guessing there are lots of short guys out there who have a Madame Maxime fantasy who’d do her up proud.
I enjoyed the episode a lot more than others this season. I think the reasons why I did were:
No random worshiping of some pop singer (Madonna, Spears, etc)
Will wasn’t weird. He’s my favorite singer but I hate when an episode revolves around him, especially as of late
Puck and Artie singing together.
I dislike Kurt but he wasn’t so annoying this episode.
That was kind of my thought too. Sure it hurt, but I honest to God don’t see how you could seriously get UPSET at anybody for it. What’s next, a lawsuit by Major League Baseball by all the guys that think about sports statistics?
I liked this episode a lot. I watched the clip of “Teenage Dream” several times beforehand. And I could still watch it a few more. And I’m not even a Katy Perry fan. I just never new that my life needed Darren Criss singing about my skin-tight jeans to me. I know it looked like he singing to Kurt, but in my heart, I know what’s up.
Was I the only one that sort of expected the bully to have a secret of his own? I was thinking it wouldn’t work, but it was handled well. The moment of him realizing what he had done and punching the lockers in frustration was a brief bit of making me sympathetic. But then he’s just as much of an asshole later. Because life isn’t about everyone suddenly realizing how much of an asshole they are and changing. And because people can be quite good at convincing themselves that they aren’t really gay, despite it being blindingly obvious.
I liked the Bieste storyline as well. She’s turning out to be an interesting character. I think that this sort of thing is one of the things that Glee does best. The whole idea is pretty much ridiculous, but as you’re laughing at the farce of it, they also sneak in a bit of an uplifting side with a positive message.
I hope the Artie/Brittany thing works out for them. It’s been nice seeing more of Brittany than just her hilarious non-sequiturs. And the look at Puck’s vulnerable side was nice.
Oh, also nice to see that the obligatory Chord Overstreet shirtless scene came in the first ten seconds.
When I saw the Bieste - Shue kiss, my first thought was “Uh-oh, she’s gonna fall in love with him…”, but I think Coach Bieste is a little smarter and more grounded than that. I really like how she’s developing into an interesting and complex character.
That said, I was waiting for her to call “bullshit” on Will while he was urging her to try online dating. The sad fact is that a woman of her age has to look like Demi Moore to have any sucess in online dating. This happened to two different friends of mine, both women over 35 and both more attractive than Coach Bieste. Both tried eHarmony for several months, and one (the younger) got one match. The other got none. It’s sad and wrong and it sucks - both of my friends are wonderful women - but single women of that age are like gay teens of Kurt’s - not considered worthy of love.
Does it make me a pathetic chicken hawk, I wonder, that I actually watched several minutes of an iCarly today just because he had a bit part on it (as a Japanese security guard)?
I think it would have been interesting if after Will kissed “the Bieste” she either
1- Jumped on and ravished him (“say my name beeyotch!”) or
2- Immediately filed suit against him for sexual harassment
While Bieste (Dot Jones- former world arm wrestling champion, incidentally) isn’t going to be on any Playboy covers in the near future I think she’s hotter than Sue. It’s not that Jane Lynch is ugly by any means but the character has “erection kill” all written all over her in great big Erection Kill colored markers. And I’m trying to think of any teachers I had in high school who carnal thoughts about wouldn’t have instantly turned me into Flacido Domingo.
Seriously, y’all, Kurt can’t go to Gay Hogwarts. He’s the kind of gay guy who wouldn’t be happy without his swarm of fag hags dancing about him - all his friends are girls. He’d be bored to tears with an actual boys school.
Am I the odd man out for finding the Biest/Schu kiss very sweet? Yeah, it’s a pity kiss - but it was done from real kindness, IMHO.
I really liked this episode - back to why I liked the show in the beginning, before the first break. The music was pretty dull, but I’d take that compromise.
OK, I finally got a chance to catch up on the last 2 eps. Am I the only one puzzled by the Tina/Bieste thing? Guys have a physical reason to need to “cool down” if they want to avoid embarrassing and sticky situations. Why on earth would a girl need to do the same? Aside from setting up a funny line from Mike, what was the point of that? Unless they’re trying to tell us something extremely TMI about Tina’s personal physical reaction to arousal…
