During my commute, when I do all my deep thinking, I managed to fanwank Mr. Schuester’s “Teacher of the Year” award to my satisfaction. Just a couple of months ago Glee devoted an episode to showing that Will was actually a terrible Spanish teacher, and I don’t think his work with an extracurricular activity should make up for that when it comes to a teaching award. I was reflecting on the fact that this is now two weeks in a row when we’ve had a major character given an honor they did not deserve at all when it occurred to me that Will’s victory, like Rachel’s at prom, could have been the result of someone unfairly meddling with the process.
Although Sue pretended she thought she was going to win, she knew ahead of time that it was Will and seemed pretty excited about it. I wasn’t clear on exactly how the Teacher of the Year was selected, but I figure Sue used her influence to pressure Figgins or whoever else made the decision or else outright tampered with the ballots (if it was a secret vote) to ensure that Will would win. I had to strain a little more to come up with a motivation for her to do this, but 1) she has been nicer since she became pregnant, 2) this would be a way for her to do something nice for Will without having to deal with him actually knowing she’d done something nice, and 3) this is Glee, it doesn’t have to make MUCH sense.
While I’m pretty sure the writers meant for us to take Will’s victory at face value, I’m happier now that I’ve come up with an alternate explanation that I consider more plausible.
Thinking of Sue, she had a couple of really good almost-breaking-the-fourth-wall lines in “Nationals”. I liked when she pointed out that Will’s speech at the beginning was full of exposition, and when she remarked that she has been pregnant for an “indeterminate” amount of time.
There were no seniors any other year (unless that black kid who left after the first season was a senior, though I doubt it). Oh, and I guess Jesse was a senior when he was there for like a month…
Only problem I had with it was everyone had a wig or something to help look like the other character, except Mercedes did not have a blonde wig to portray Brittany. Also, too bad they didn’t have Bieste change with someone, but it was a short segment, so there wasn’t really room.
I really hope Wade does not join Nude Erections next year like they seemed to be foreshadowing. Put him in Dalton or something so he can come belt out a song now and again, but the character so far has been too one note to be a regular without getting tiresome unless they have some really good ideas for him. And I don’t have faith in the people making this show to have many marginally good ideas anymore, let alone really good ones.
Also I don’t like the Bieste storyline. I mean, I get it, I guess: the not-attractive girl who resorts to being a badass to get by. But I must have missed a lot. When did she marry the sweetest guy in the world and when did he turn into an asshole? To me that would take a whole season to develop, not just the 2-3 episodes I must have missed. I get that badasses can have a sensitive side. I am one. I cry for every puppy video I see. But Bieste cries in nearly every episode, at work. I don’t cry every day at work. Someone who head-butted Refrigerator Perry should not have to fear for her life so much that she has to sleep with a knife under her pillow. Not when her supposed enemy is that fluffball of a husband, who I think I could take, and I’m 5’2".
Sorry for the rant. My mother was hit once by her second husband. Once. She reacted thusly:
“Do. not. ever. do. that. again.”
They divorced soon after and she came back to hubby #1.
IIRC Will said the one black guy moved away during the summer. I don’t know why they didn’t just say he was a senior who’d graduated, though. Maybe they wanted to leave room to randomly bring him back if they wanted.
Well, many of the Glee characters are pretty one note, and Wade managed to be more interesting and entertaining in two episodes than Rory has been all year. (Really, I feel bad for Damian McGinty. If the writers weren’t going to give him anything to do, they just should have had Rory go back to Ireland after one semester.) But I don’t want to see Wade as a regular for another reason. I do not trust this show to have a regular character who is transgender without being insensitive and/or preachy (probably both in the same episodes). Heck, they’ve done a pretty lousy job dealing with Santana being a lesbian, and that should have been relatively easy.
If they retconned Wade to a femmey gay guy who wants to be a professional drag queen – which is kind of what it seemed like in “Nationals” – then that would be more in Glee’s wheelhouse. Such a character could still easily become tedious or offensive in the hands of the Glee writers, but “quirky teen wants to be a performer” describes most of the characters on the show and I think the writers have a better chance of managing a twist on that than doing a good job with either drama or humor relating to transgender issues.
Beiste’s husband started being abusive two weeks ago, in “Choke”. And yeah, this development really came out of nowhere. Cooter seemed nice enough before (although I wouldn’t call him the sweetest guy in the world), and while it’s certainly true that someone who seems perfectly nice to outsiders can be abusive at home this plot could have been set up a little more. Really the only hint that he wasn’t Mr. Right for Coach Beiste was when he briefly dated Sue, but I didn’t think he did anything majorly wrong even then – he and Coach Beiste weren’t in a long-term relationship, and he said he felt like he was being treated more as a friend than a boyfriend.
I thought that “Sectionals” from season one felt like a great series finale… they really had no idea they were going to be picked up.
I loved “Nationals” more than I’ve loved any episode of Glee for a long time. They could have gone a different direction, but the pure joy of their nationals win was not only well-done, but after three years, it was deserved.
I have no idea how the New York-Lima “split” the show is apparently going to do next season is going to work, but I’m pretty much on board with Glee for the long haul at this point. And even at its worst, it can still find ways of making me smile.