Definitely the latter (I’m a jazz singer, and that song is a jazz standard). I had no idea at first that she was crying because she was overcome with emotion – I thought she was having a heart attack or something. Quite bizarre.
I thought that Tina falling apart was weird too, actually uncomfortable to watch.
I thought she was laughing for a moment (in between crying). Maybe they’re setting up a plotline where Tina has a psychotic break and needs to “go away” for awhile. Or something even stupider like it’ll turn out she’s pregnant and it was hormonal.
Not at all. Here’s Melinda Doolittle singingit on American Idol a few seasons back- even Simon loved it.
I know absolutely nothing about show choirs. Is The Warblers typical- a single soloist on every song and then the rest singing harmony? You’d think that would hatch some powerful resentment.
I’ve wondered that myself…the other rival group from last season’s regionals (Vocal Adrenaline? I think?) did something similar…the one guy was singing, playing piano, and dancing like a madman, the rest were just kind of standing around.
I mean…I guess it makes sense from a technical standpoint (put your best foot forward and all that,) but I would think the judges might take points off (well only the only guy really sang, so how we do know if the rest are just “ok” or “great!”?)
And is it typical in competition to only sing one song? I would think 2 or 3 would make more sense.
I consistently like The Warblers performances more than the main cast (Nude Erections - is that purposeful?).
Tina’s break-down while singing “My Funny Valentine” made me laugh long and hard. It totally tickled my funny bone. Mind you, I could live quite happily without ever hearing that song again.
Yeah, I’ve been feeling like the writers have been WAY overestimating how much I care about Finn’s love life. (Although it’s possible the majority of Glee fans differ from me on this.) I’ve never found Finn all that interesting as a character, and I feel his love life was adequately explored during the first season. Considering that several of the supporting characters are still rather underdeveloped – how often does Tina get to do anything except be someone’s girlfriend? – it annoys me that they’ve decided to go back to The Many Loves of Finn Hudson.
Speaking of Tina…
I thought they were building up to Tina confessing that she was still in love with Artie and couldn’t stand to see him with Brittany, which I wouldn’t have liked but at least would have fit in with the rest of the episode. But in the final scene at Breadsticks she and Mike seemed pretty happy, so the “My Funny Valentine” scene was both icky and pointless.
That said, there were some things I liked about this episode. I had predicted weeks ago that Blaine would turn out to have an unrequited crush on some other guy so there was no surprise there, but it was entertaining enough to watch and it was nice to see Kurt handle the situation maturely. I also like Kurt and Rachel’s friendship, since (as Rachel pointed out some time back) they really do have a lot in common. The Santana subplot was also pretty entertaining, and IRL I think it’s true that people like her have often convinced themselves that they’re just being “honest” when they say horrible things about other people.
I also liked both the Queen number and Lauren’s reaction. During the song I was thinking “Queen does indeed rock, but I don’t think I’d be flattered to have this particular number directed at me.” Although I find the Lauren character rather unpleasant, she’s right about Puck not being quite the catch he thinks he is. While I don’t want to spend a lot of time with this character, I did find her (overly?) confident attitude a welcome contrast to the demeaning treatment of Coach Beiste in “Never Been Kissed” and Rachel’s “I’m not as pretty as Quinn!” bit in this episode.
The Finn/Quinn thing comes back to her doing not so much a despicable thing as a series of despicable things:
1- She has sex with Puck while dating Finn and while
2- Refusing to have sex with Finn
3- She lies to Finn and to Puck about who the baby daddy is, and then
4- She continues to lie to Finn after Puck has figured it out
5- She still won’t have sex with Finn
I’m sure pregnancy matured her and she’s a nicer and less self righteous person than she was before and all that, but c’mon. You don’t forgive that many lies and treacheries in a short period of time.
I don’t understand it from Quinn’s standpoint either: Sam is loads hotter and a nice guy (even if he does color his hair).
In other news, Mark Salling (Puck) and Chord Overstreet (Sam) have been offered $100,000 each to pose semi-nude (rear nudity only) for Playgirl. No word on whether either has accepted, though I’d be surprised if they did since they can make more than that from personal appearances or endorsements at this particular period.
They still make Playgirl? And they didn’t invite Matthew Morrison?
Well, Quinn is very pretty, and Finn’s both a horny teenage boy and not very bright. Still, it was made clear that he now has his pick of girls at school and he surely could have found one who’d treat him better than Quinn had.
Up until this episode the show had me buying the idea that Quinn’s pregnancy-related experiences had changed her a lot and that she was now a much kinder and more tolerant person.* She had behaved very badly in the past, but she was a frightened teenager without much of a support system. I even would have been willing to dismiss the kiss at the end of the Super Bowl episode as a moment of weakness. But come on, she starts fooling around on ANOTHER boyfriend? And Finn has no compunctions about pursuing Quinn and fooling around with her, even though he was supposedly devastated when Quinn and Rachel cheated on him?
I don’t like these characters and I don’t find them entertaining, so I’d prefer to see a lot less of them in the future.
Yeah, I think Sam deserves better than this, and (spoilering something from the teaser for next week, since I know some people get upset about such things) better than Santana, who is very unlikely to be faithful or even pleasant to him. Maybe he could start dating Mercedes, or join Mercedes/Rachel/Kurt’s single-and-not-looking club.
*Incidentally, whatever happened to her friendship with Mercedes? Mercedes and her family took Quinn in when she was pregnant and homeless, but since then it seems like they’ve barely even spoken.
Well there’s always the theory that Sam will realize he’s gay (or bi) right around the time Kurt’s coming back. It would be interesting to watch Kurt in a love triangle where he actually has a shot at the guy. You’re right about Mercedes, it is odd that Quinn & her seem to be back to their old, prepregnancy, relationship.
Maybe when Jonathan Groff returns as Jesse that will happen. I said here what a Newsweek writer got a LOT of flack for saying- he just seemed gayer than a Fire Island Liza Minnelli Lookalike Contest when he played Rachel’s sorta kinda boyfriend and that wasn’t even suspension of disbelief as I wasn’t even familiar with the actor until that role. I can see Jesse coming out as gay or bi.
It was posed here once before “How will Kurt’s dad and stepmom pay for Dalton after this semester?” since they’re using their savings for his tuition. It’s almost a no-brainer he’ll be coming back to McKinley at some point, which makes me wonder if Blaine will transfer to be with him.
Thirded (or whatever) on the “Thanks for taking me in when I was preggers- see ya!” Mercedes:Quinn relationship. As for her relationship status, there was one episode where Kurt set her up on a date with a black jock and she was a bit insulted until he assured her he didn’t just pick a random black guy. (A mandatory trope [I’m sure there’s a TV Trope that’s relevant] in the 1970s and even 1980s TV- if there was one black guy in town he was going to fall for the one black girl who just moved there.)
Levi Johnson gave them a bit of a shot in the arm. Morrison probably wouldn’t bend down to pick up $100,000 these days as he was a very successful and well paid stage actor before getting on GLEE where he probably makes millions, while Puck and Sam are still on the rise. (I wonder who gets paid more- Morrison or Jane Lynch; he’s first billed but she’s been in the business longer and is the show’s Fonzie in eclipsing the star.)
ETA: Googlefu later- per this siteMorrison earns $30k per ep to Jane Lynch’s $50k. I’m guessing that was first season and they’ve probably gotten a raise since the show became a runaway hit, plus Morrison earns music royalties from the show as well. (Lynch too but not nearly as many as she’s only sung a couple of times and they weren’t showstoppers.)
Bare ass Matthew Morrison bending down? Bunk, send provisions, see you in the spring.
I thought I heard Tina say something in the episode prior to her singing about getting highly emotional about Mike, so the breakdown didn’t shock me.
I believe it was, in fact, “I love you so much I could cry.”
That was a weird scene, but I thought the episode overall was really, really good. Glee is a fantastic show when it keeps its focus fairly tight and tries for some semblance of naturalism.
Maybe she has an Asian Psychosis*.
*For those not familiar, Mike Chang has a tendency to Asianize other generic words and phrases: Asian Kiss, Asian Couple’s Therapy, Asian First Date, etc.
Glee is nothing at all like actual show choirs. I’m a (recovering) show choir parent myself, and while Glee is loads of fun and my kids (both former show choir members and enthusiasts) love to watch, there is no basis in reality here.
A typical show choir show consists of maybe five or six numbers. There’s almost always a ballad in there, to give the dancin’ fools a chance to rest while showing off the pipes. Typically you’ll see a novelty number in the show, too, a humorous song played for humorous effect. The other numbers can have varying degrees of showmanship, props, sets, etc … all what the school’s fine arts budget (and cookie/plant/magazine sales, plus parent fees) can handle. But they’re most often high-energy numbers with plenty of dancing.
Here in the Midwest, the choir puts their show together in the fall and winter, prior to Christmas break. Competition season is January through March, generally. Here’s the big difference between reality and Glee-ality: The show doesn’t change. Much, anyway … and you’re certainly not throwing in new songs every week. You might switch the order around or change some soloists, but anything more than that is extremely rare.
So, I love Glee (especially Brittany and Sue) … but real-life show choir, it ain’t.
Although I had my complaints about this episode I do agree that the basic concept was good and that the show is generally at its best when it keeps the focus on the kids and at least quasi-realistic teen problems. I think someone said in the thread for the Super Bowl episode that the show does sometimes seem to have Sue’s problem of wanting to keep on topping itself with big production numbers and weird situations. While I’m certainly not watching this show for gritty realism and I enjoy a fair amount of the cartoonishness and colorful spectacle of it all, when the show goes too far in that direction it can be unpleasant and hollow.
That said, I wouldn’t necessarily call for the show to be more consistent because I think the inconsistency of Glee’s tone and quality is part of its weird charm.