Glee: 3.05 "The First Time" (open spoiler)

Will Blaine and Kurt have sex? First appearance of a new recurring character; a gay Dalton Academy Warbler who set’s his site on Blaine. Also Finn meets a football recruiter and Coach Bieste get’s an admirer. And just in case you think there aren’t enough gay teens on Glee rumour has it that Dave Karofsky is returning.

I made a WAG some time back that Karofsky would next appear as a member of the Warblers, I wonder if that’s actually going to be what happens? We’ll find out soon enough…

Okay, I voted ‘loved it’ about 2 seconds after “America”.

But why all these kids have sex fully clothed? (Or was that my laptop lid blocking my TV screen again?)

Turns out no, Karofsky was at the gay bar. I did think that, by Glee standards, they showed a lot of restraint by not having him in drag.

I had also predicted (in my head) that Rachel and Finn would have sex but Kurt and Blaine wouldn’t. I figured Kurt would want to wait and Blaine would be all understanding about it. Turned out I was wrong and everybody got busy. I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or relieved that Kurt and Blaine wound up at Blaine’s house – I was expecting a bedroom farce sequence where both couples were trying to avoid each other in the same house.

Thinking of the house, it looked very different from the last time we saw the Hudson-Hummel residence. I guess Kurt’s been redecorating.

In general I thought this episode was pretty good but I’m not sure if it all came together – I’ll have to watch it again before I can form a solid opinion. I think it was a good idea to have the West Side Story rehearsals going on in the background with the music complementing the episode’s storylines, but I felt the execution of this idea wasn’t as strong as it could have been. I did really enjoy Santana as Anita though, she looked and sounded great.

It bothered me that no one pointed out how inappropriate it was for Artie to be pressuring his leads to have sex. I fully expected Coach Beiste to call him out on it since she’s the only remotely responsible adult left at McKinley, but no, she was just embarrassed because she’s a virgin herself. It was nice to see her finally get a date, although she could stand to take some self-confidence lessons from Lauren Zizes.

I figure we’ll see the new Warbler Sebastian again at Sectionals, but I hope we won’t see much of him unless they find a way to make him more interesting. I was actually expecting this character to be a lot more entertaining than he was. He didn’t seem like a plausible threat to the Kurt/Blaine relationship and he didn’t sing much, so his scenes seemed like a waste of time to me. The Kurt/Blaine storyline would have been almost exactly the same if Blaine and Kurt had decided on their own to go to a gay bar (maybe to cross it off Kurt’s bucket list?) and Blaine had wound up dancing with random guys.

ETA:

Well, it is network television. I was kind of thinking “So Kurt and Blaine decided not to have sex after all, but instead got in bed fully clothed and rubbed noses for a while”, but presumably this was just foreplay and penis ensued (for both couples) after the episode ended.

Ya watch too much HBO and you just expect naked people every 10 minutes. I forget to recalibrate for 8pm network shows.

Haven’t seen the episode yet, but I was wondering if they used the movie version of America (v. the Broadway: different lyrics and girls only) in the show the same as they did on the studio version.

No, boys and girls. Puck plays Bernardo.

… badly.

I really liked this episode, though it might be because the season has been so weak so far.

So… Rachel needs to lose her virginity so she can play a character who’s having a sexual awakening? Jesus, I hope she never plays Sally Bowles!

Or Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd. “Finn, we need to find some people who will never be missed, like tourists or homeless people or all the teachers from McKinley who aren’t Mr. Schue or a coach…”.

I liked this episode. Though I couldn’t help but shout, ‘‘Finn, when will you learn?!’’ at the television as Rachel shattered his heart for the umpteenth time. I can’t see how she has made him anything but miserable.

I don’t like Rachel for Maria. It sounded like she was straining to reach some of those notes. America made me cry a little though - it was really well done.

Artie pressuring the kids to have sex was weird, uncomfortable and out of character. It would have made much more sense if Rachel and Blaine had discussed it privately during a moment of insecurity and decided it needed to be done for the sake of their roles.

I thought they were going to cop-out on both couples having sex, so I was surprised in the end they actually did it.

Best line: ‘‘Right. Because you’re vegan. Which I remember because we know each other so well.’’ :smiley:

I thought the whole episode was sweet. I was a bit medium about the songs they selected (I know they’re from West Side Story - it’s just not my thing).

And now, because it’s been bugging me since last night and I’m obviously a pervert, what would the ‘first time’ for gay men entail? At the beginning of the episode Blaine said that they had kept things strictly above the waist, so there seems to be a lot of territory to explore there. What would gay men (or teenagers) consider 'Going all the way?" Bum sex? Oral? Mutual hand jobs? A combination? It depends? Likely a stupid question, but for a hetero couple there’s a pretty obvious line there and I’m just wonder if there’s a similar line for gay guys.

Easily the best episode of the season - perfect mix of music and plot, perfect mix of humor and drama. If they could keep this episodic formula, the show would reach its promise.

Just one of the “perfect” touches - the small town Gay bar. Finally they show what most non-hip, non-urban areas have to offer; a mix of average and bizarre characters who go to these local bars (especially the horrible drag queens, being this is “Drag Night”). They didn’t turn it into the usual unrealistic multimillion dollar Studio 54 disco pavilion that most shows try to re-create. They didn’t fill it chock full of gorgeous male models. For Kurt and Blaine, this was indeed a mini-paradise, but at least they showed how many (if not most) small town area Gay bars really look.

My guess is that many parents, and all religious groups, will hate the fact that these kids have sex in high school. It is amazing how memory fails when you get older and you stupidly think only two sluts have sex in high school, and all the other “good kids” wait until they are 30 to do the nasty. I think they did a good job of showing it is natural, but it doesn’t hurt to wait for the right person.

Again, easily the best episode of the season.

Enjoyed the episode overall (I can tell when an episode is good because I won’t be distracted by leafing through a magazine or playing a game on my phone!)

Hated the new kid who’s making a play for Blaine-- and can’t believe anyone would take him seriously. Plus I didn’t really like his voice, based on the small sample.

The amount of “controversy” surrounding this episode was absurd. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live your life searching out things to get offended by.

“Do I look like a Freshman?” No but since Blaine can easily pass for a 30 year old, what’s new?

I also thought Arnie urging the kids to have sex was weird. I did like the meeting of the celibacy club to have all these votes not to have sex (alien invasion!) but Tina’s saing her loss of virginity was a good thing. I generally think kids could wait a lot longing before having sex, but the reality is most of these kids are Seniors, and most Seniors have lost their virginity. Speaking of that, I thought Rachel slept with Jesse?

I thought the Coach Bieste subplot was sweet. She’s such a nice character.

StG

No kidding. Isn’t the guy who plays Will Schuester about the same age as most of the cast?

I liked the episode okay. Rachel sounds so much better when she isn’t doing that stupid squeaky thing at the start of each phrase.

At the beginnning of the episode, it’s less than a week away from opening night, and both Blaine and Rachel are using sheet music as they rehearse “Tonight.” Why? Rachel was the one who boasted about being “off book” when she played Juliet to Kurt’s Romeo just a short while back. Also, as my husband pointed out, “Tonight” is a song she’s probably known by heart since she was five! Blaine should know it, too. Artie should’ve been a lot more upset about them still using sheet music than about them not showing enough passion.

I like the ominous “A boy like that” interruption when Sebastian’s introduced.

This show has long gone from “guilty pleasure” to “circling shark” to “jumped…badly” to “just shut up and sing”, but I have to admit that their showtunes knocked it out of the park musically last night.

Did any American Horror Story watchers hear a slight echo between Bieste on GLEE and Addie on AHS in the “I don’t look like a pretty girl” lines?

At the gay bar: any love for the “extra cherries” line? And even a high schooler would know that any date who says he doesn’t mind if you dance with somebody else is lying.

I actually think this season is a lot better than last season. I can’t say why, exactly.