Rachel and Kurt have their NYADA auditions this week.
Tonight we also learned a Very Important Lesson about how violence against women isn’t funny, which is perhaps just a teensy bit hypocritical coming from a show that a few months back made a joke about how Brittany was raped at cheer camp but is too stupid to have realized what had really happened. She even had a line this week about alien abduction, just to remind us.
I really did not need to have an episode about how Coach Beiste was being abused, although I will give the show credit for not wrapping that storyline up neatly in a single episode. However, I do think it was problematic that Sue et al only talked to the New Directions girls about domestic violence. Could this not have been a bigger conversation that included the boys? When Puck’s dad showed up (for about 30 seconds) I thought it was going to be revealed that he’d been abusive towards Puck’s mother and/or Puck himself, which would have been cliched but would have tied the boys’ storyline back to the girls’ and brought the guys into the discussion.
I don’t know, there were parts of this episode that I thought were pretty good*, but domestic violence is an important enough issue that I think it needed to be addressed in a better way or else not addressed at all. The lack of any acknowledgement that domestic violence can occur in same-sex relationships seemed particularly glaring to me, as New Directions includes two same-sex couples, one of those couples made up 2/5 of the group that was getting the domestic violence lecture, and the person who made the offending joke in the first place is both a lesbian and the most violence-prone member of the club.
*For instance, there wasn’t much Will, and the Geography teacher behaved with unusual professionalism (for Glee) when she refused to be seduced by Puck and gave him the grade he’d earned. I also liked the maniacal gleam in Blaine’s eyes when he started talking about hair gel, and the fact that Tina actually got to sing and have lines.
Rachel choking during her audition was a genuine surprise for me. I’m eager to see how things will turn out for her, assuming the show doesn’t wuss out with a “You got in anyway!”
Ditto to the idea that domestic violence deserved better treatment. The message really should have been delivered to the whole group, rather than just the girls.
My favorite episode of the year. Rachel’s problems at the audition and Puck’s geography grade were unexpected, while Kurt’s audition song was better than I expected.
I’m happy they didn’t wrap up Coach Bieste’s situation right away, but I’m afraid to see what the cliff-hanger will be this year.
I sort of expected to see Whoopi sitting in the audience as Rachel sang that last song. And Irish kid was back this week. Or perhaps it was his reanimated corpse.
StG
I was surprised by that too – I was expecting that scene to turn out to be a nightmare or a nervous thought Rachel was having before she went on and did fine after all. But yeah, given how this show has been handling cliffhangers this season I would not be surprised if midway through next week’s episode it’s suddenly revealed that Rachel got into NYADA after all, or has some other equally good opportunity in New York.
I am wondering if Puck (and/or Brittany) will have to repeat their senior year and thus remain in New Directions next season. Rachel, Finn, and Kurt will all reportedly be back next season, but presumably won’t be in high school anymore. Although you never know – there have been at least two time machine references this season, so maybe Glee season four will wind up being a prequel.
That role probably could actually be played by a corpse.
Speaking of characters who come and go, Quinn was mysteriously absent again this week.
Quinn must be rehabbing again this week. Funny, she probably is the stereo-typical GLEE girl that would be a victim of spousal abuse.
“Black Sue” is becoming one of my favorite characters.
This past weekend, I saw a TV Guide Channel special on Married w/ Children (Where are they Now). Coach Beiste was featured in that show and so was Principal Figgins. I was wondering where I had seen Dot Marie Jones before. Denise Beiste? LOL
The episode title “Choke” was a spoiler that at least one of the Glee kids would fail mercilessly at their audition.
No wedding talk tonight.
European Geography is High School Subject?
Once the domestic violence plot was introduced, I seriously thought the title was going to turn out to mean that someone would be strangled. The title as a metaphor actually applies to Puck just as much as Rachel – he choked after the first two questions on his exam.
Rachel did briefly refer to Finn as her fiance, unless you meant no Will/Emma wedding talk.
It could be, but I think they said the test was European Geography. The class might be World Geography with this being their Europe unit.
I was talking about Will/Emma.
And IMO, Puck did not choke. He got the test result that he expected to get. I would have been disappointed if he did succeed as it would sent out a bad message. Goof off for four years and then one night of cramming and you can get your diploma.
Seriously, Glee? Seriously? You couldn’t leave ONE happy couple? AND you had to destroy the positive and happy message that Bieste could find love?
If next week wasn’t the finale, I’d be done with this show.
Yeah, while it is unfortunately realistic that a woman with self-esteem issues might wind up in an abusive relationship, I wanted Beiste to be happy. I had also liked that of the important, female faculty characters, the most unconventional looking one was the first to have a successful marriage.
Next week isn’t the finale. There are four episodes left. I expect you’ll be back, though. Glee actually has taught me something about the dynamics of unhealthy relationships – no matter how bad this show gets, I find it hard to end things with it.
Busy couple of days so I’ve been watching in increments, but…
From the title I had hoped it would be about Kurt and Blaine really taking their love to the next level, but apparently it was a reference to Rachael.
Speaking of Kurt and sex-stuff, I’ve mentioned before that the show has a strange love of booty shots for him. I find Chris Colfer ‘pretty’ for the reason Sue calls him Porcelain, but I don’t find him the least bit sexy and scenes where he’s in tight pants and gyrating I find icky because, though I know the actor is of age, he looks 13. (Plus, of all the booties you could shake- Mike Chang’s, Puck’s, Blaine’s, Sam’s… you choose Kurt’s? Really?)
I love that “Black Sue” uses a moment of talking about cruel jokes crossing a line to make several hateful comments about Sue’s baby being born abnormal due to Original Recipe Sue’s age, which of course it is (though it’s implied Black Sue doesn’t know this). Jane Lynch played it stone faced. I wonder if that was a character choice or just bad directing.
One of the worst episodes of the series, IMO.
We don’t spend enough time with Puck to really care that much what happens to him, and in any event he does deserve to fail. That whole subplot seemed to exist just for that lame punk version of The Rain In Spain.
The domestic abuse story was really, REALLY ham-handed. *Glee *has been able to do “message” episodes in the past without feeling like an after-school special. But more and more often they fail miserably, including this time.
Kurt and Rachel’s storylines were the only interesting things here, and they should have spent more time on them.
The swim coach IS pretty funny.
As Kurt is to some extent based on young Ryan Murphy, I’m inclined to believe that this is a sort of Mary Sue-ism on Murphy’s part. Of course his teen alter ego is sexy!
This episode was credited to writer Marti Noxon, whose only other script credit on Glee was “Extraordinary Merry Christmas”. So since she joined the Glee writing team this season, she’s managed to turn out two of the worst, probably THE two worst, episodes the show has ever done.
Noxon previously wrote for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show that I was not a fan of but that I know is popular among Dopers. So, Doper *BtVS *fans, was Noxon previously known for writing badly constructed stories that, while they had some good elements, were rendered horrible and offensive due to the simultaneously perfunctory and hamfisted manner in which they took on Important Social Issues? Because thus far that’s all she’s managed to do on Glee.
I’m inclined to agree with the AV Club critic (who gave this episode an F) that an episode in which Puck fails a test and Rachel chokes at her NYADA audition could have been pretty good. An episode where Rachel chokes at her NYADA audition and we learn that Coach Beiste’s husband is an abuser *might *have worked. But having an episode with all three of these storylines was a terrible, terrible idea.
I have elsewhere on the Web seen Glee fans saying we shouldn’t condemn this episode for devoting so little time to its most serious storyline, as they expect a future episode will deal with what happens next with Coach Beiste and her husband. I’m skeptical as to whether the writers will do any better in the future than they did this week though, and really I think it’s quite likely that they will forget all about Coach Beiste just as they forgot about Karofsky partway through “On My Way”. Four episodes later, we’ve heard nothing about how Karofsky has been doing. With now only four more episodes left until the end of the season, I think it’s extremely unlikely that the show can seriously address the Coach Beiste and Karofsky storylines in addition to everything that’s going on with the main characters. Although since teen Glee characters are always going to live with different people, maybe it will later be revealed that Coach Beiste has taken Karofsky in as a foster child or something and he’ll convince her to kick her husband to the curb.
Oh, wait, Marti Noxon writes for this show now? That explains a ton. She is legendarily awful. She wrote the absolute nadir of BtVS.
Also, I hadn’t really considered Kurt as a Ryan Murphy Mary-Sue, but it makes a lot of sense. He’s basically the immaculate patron saint of gayness on the show, with the cool, cute boyfriend whom everybody is obsessed with and is the best at everything.
Did anybody else notice the two rocker chicks fail their high-five behind Puck at the beginning?!
I feel like a pervert because I’m a 38-year-old woman and I could stare at that dreadlocked Christian boy (who is supposed to be in high school) all day.
Rachael Berry reminds me of Erica Kane (Susan Lucci.)
Rachel’s failure on stage to sing what was one of the best numbers of season one was one of the most powerful moments the show has ever done. Why they chose to mix it in with an awkward plot about domestic abuse and a badly-constructed plot about dropping out of high school, I’ll never know. There was some good stuff here, but most of it was really bad.
I thought the Kurt/Rachel storyline was pretty solid. I really felt for Rachel when she choked, as I honestly didn’t expect that. Though in what world is “Not the Boy Next Door” in any way risky?
The Puck storyline was meh. This show expects us to care for its 20-odd main characters even if they haven’t been mentioned in weeks. I’m not going to suddenly care about Puck if the show hasn’t given me reason to. It’s like Glee is insecure about its characters and keeps jumping back and forth between them in hopes that we’ll be entertained. The scene with Puck and his dad literally went nowhere and served no purpose. Though I did think it was realistic that he failed his test. Studying montages don’t solve everything.
The Bieste storyline had potential, but it was badly mishandled. Sue, of all people, has no right to lecture anyone about domestic violence jokes, since she has physically abused a number of people. But the show, for whatever reason, finds her past actions quirky; plus she’s a "softer and lighter’’ Sue now, so it’s ok, I guess. And apparently violence can’t happen in lesbian couples; way to generalize, guys.
This show is a mess, and not even a hot mess. Just show us what happens to Rachel and Kurt so I can be done with it.
Yep, I thought the last bit with Rachel almost redeemed the rest of the episode. Lea Michel killed it. She really deserves a better show.
So, predictions of how Rachel does get accepted to the school, so they can continue with plans for this spin-off series:
- She up and goes to NYC, stalks Whoopi until she gets another chance and then knocks it out of the park.
- Her two Gay Dads once had a three-way with the director of the school and blackmail him to allow their daughter in, plus they enlist the help of Kurt’s dad who makes it an Act of Congress to get her into the school.
- Whoopi has a heart attack and Rachel gets to audition again for the new director of the program who is - Mr. Shue!
- Kurt gets accepted and refuses to go unless Rachel gets in too so everyone just says “OK”.
- It was all just a dream and the real audition will be next week.