Glee season four (open spoilers through most recent US broadcast)

Cafe Society
21

Yeah, and I assume Becky’s father still doesn’t know that she had access to his gun.

There’s an interview up on Huffington Post with actress Lauren Potter and her mother where they discuss this episode. Here’s what her mother had to say on the subject:

The problem with this is that Becky’s reason for bringing a gun to school doesn’t even make “stupid teenager” sense. She wasn’t trying to show off, and she wasn’t afraid that someone would harm her at school. She was worried about what she’d do after high school. That doesn’t explain bringing a gun to high school.

What I thought was particularly disappointing about this was that Becky’s early scene with Brittany was I think the first time all season where Becky wasn’t treated like a joke. She’s otherwise been a stereotypical mean girl cheerleader, which we’re apparently supposed to find funny because she also has Down syndrome.

Coach Beiste may not be a beauty, but she deserves a lot better than Will. She also deserves better than another storyline about how she’s a pathetic spinster who no man could love.

There aren’t 18 NYC characters. There’s Rachel, and the people who are occasionally allowed to speak to Rachel.

No, because that would have made too much sense. Finn 2.0 appeared at the appointed time to meet “Katie”, but no one showed up. We still don’t know who it is, which is unfortunate as this mystery is really not thrilling enough to hold my attention as a multi-episode arc. While we know it’s someone who was in the choir room during the lockdown, most of the characters were ruled out. As Noelq said, Unique was eliminated based on her ringtone. Rachel 2.0, Quinn 2.0, and Puck Jr. all denied involvement (Rachel 2.0 was also shown using her phone, not sure about the other two), Brittany and Tina weren’t in the room, and Artie was using his phone as a camera. So I guess the explanation is that Will is a perv just like the previous choir director.

Incidentally, the current issue of Out features an interview with Ryan Murphy that winds up explaining an awful lot about Glee:

I assume that this season Murphy’s instructions to the writers have included things like “One of the guys is a prostitute. Make it happen!” and “School shootings have been in the news again. Someone should bring a gun to McKinley. How about…Becky. Make it work, people!”

22

Their treatment of Sue’s decision to take the fall for Becky was just really bad. Sue even mentioned the fact that people don’t always get proper mental health care as a reason to have a gun close at hand, and then she proceeds to prevent a dangerous person from getting proper mental health care. Nice job, Sue.

Someone who really loved Becky would have realized that her bringing a gun to school (for NO reason) is a very very dangerous warning sign, and she really needs to get help before she hurts or kills herself or someone else.

Or, you know, you could just take the fall for her and pretend she’s just fine. Ugh. Absolutely unforgivable.

And then there was the tense lockdown scene in the choir room, which I thought was really well written, directed, and acted.

And then there was the rest of the episode, which was just kinda meandering and pointless.

This is a really hard episode to express an opinion on. If we had one of those “Loved it, Liked it, Meh, Disliked it, Hated it” polls up top, I wouldn’t even be able to vote.

Glee has had a lot of darkness in it from the very beginning. Will’s confrontation with Terri in season one when he finds out she’s been faking her pregnancy remains one of the darkest scenes in the series, not to mention Finn’s confrontation with Quinn, Quinn being kicked out of her house by her father, and the last place finish at Regionals. I think it’s actually a fair bit lighter now than it used to be. I’d characterize season one as a dark comedy, while later seasons have generally been much broader.

23

I don’t disagree, but I think it’s a shame that it was all for nothing. We didn’t really get any plot or character development out of this.

The AV Club review of this episode (it received an F) points out that even during the light early portion of the episode there are attempt to build suspense through camerawork and scenes of characters walking through the halls alone, running away from the group, etc., then we get the actual lockdown sequence where the kids are all terrified and sobbing, which all climaxes in…basically nothing. The gunshots were an accident, no one was trying to hurt anyone, and there wasn’t really any danger.

Maybe it’s just because I heard recently that Heather Morris (Brittany) is pregnant and thus might need to take a leave of absence from the show or at least take a break from dancing, but it seemed to me like some of the early part of the episode was foreshadowing that she’d be shot. The through-the-telescope shots of her looked awfully through-a-gun-barrel-esque, she was separated from the other characters during the lockdown scene, and she’d even stated that she expected to die soon. I didn’t think Brittany would really be killed, this is a show that has repeatedly played the “A character might die! But actually they don’t!” game, but I thought she’d be injured and have to spend some time in the hospital.

Seasons two and three still had some pretty dark points, like Burt’s heart attack, Kurt’s life being threatened by Karofsky, the death of Sue’s sister, Karofsky’s suicide attempt, and Quinn’s car accident. With the exception of the one actual death things eventually worked out okay for everyone, and I felt Quinn’s accident in particular was basically just a cheap excuse for a cliffhanger, but even then she was in a wheelchair for a few episodes.

This week’s episode struck me as just “OMG SOMETHING AWFUL HAPPENED!..Oh, wait, actually it’s fine.” If Sue is really gone for good then that will be the only consequence of the whole gun incident, and that’s totally unrelated to anything we saw during the lockdown scene. I didn’t need for anyone – even a random, nameless McKinley student – to be killed in this episode, but given how much time and weight was given to the lockdown sequence it should at least have brought about a major change in the characters/story. Instead it looks like everything is back to normal for the glee club kids already.

ETA: Loopus, I see on your blog that you mention the whole cheerleader Blaine revenge plot. I too am wondering why that nonsensical twist was introduced in the first place if Sue was going to be removed from McKinley before Blaine had even done anything to get back at her.

Thinking of Blaine, was he the only student in the choir room who didn’t do a “last words” video? When they showed Sam, Artie, and Unique at the end of the episode I was expecting that we’d see Blaine too, but no. This may be further support for Sampiro’s season two theory that Blaine is actually not human at all but some sort of harvest god and thus had no reason to fear death.

24

They did kinda try to have their cake and eat it to, giving us the brutal lockdown sequence while later revealing that there was never any great danger. That, unfortunately, has been a pretty standard MO for Glee for a while. It reminds me of their treatment of Rachel’s failure at her NYADA audition last season, giving us the heartbreaking honesty of her failure and then just giving her success. Or having the club fail at sectionals this season only to give them regionals later. The show has the guts to do crazy things as long as they can undo it a ways down the line.

At the same time, I don’t necessarily agree that there are no consequences to the shooting scare. The kids went through a genuinely terrifying situation, whether they were in any danger or not. They got a lot of perspective, especially Kitty, who was finally allowed to be unmistakably genuine, and Tina, who even mentioned that she doesn’t want to be remembered for bitching about never being the star. And, for the rest of their lives, the kids will be wondering where else a gun will show up where one is not supposed to be.

Picking up and dropping subplots apparently at random has been another unfortunate MO of the show, especially the past two seasons. Your quote from that Ryan Murphy article above certainly gives a clue as to why. I’d be surprised at this point if they even had anything specific in mind when they had Blaine join the Cheerios. It reminds me of when Santana got kicked out of the glee club at the beginning of season three, only to rejoin with a one-sentence explanation a few episodes later.

25

They might if this were real life, but I expect that none of them will ever express any lingering fear or anxiety over this incident on the show. I could be wrong – after “Choke” I assumed we wouldn’t return to the spousal abuse storyline, at least not during season three – but my suspicion is that if the shooting scare is even mentioned again it will be just to remind us why Sue is gone. Well, since Blaine didn’t get a video confessional then I guess maybe they’re holding that back so they can reveal later that he wanted to tell Kurt he loved him or something, but he’s already told Kurt he loved him at least once since they broke up so the shooting scare wasn’t really necessary for that purpose.

As for Quinn 2.0 and Tina, the former already turned nice at least two episodes ago (when she promised to help defend Unique) and if Tina really never complains about not being the star again then I guess she won’t have anything to say at all. I believe every line she’s had this season was about either wanting to be the star or her crush on Blaine, and since the latter has been resolved then taking away the former leaves her with nothing. She’s been on the show since day one, so I don’t expect the writers will suddenly give her more character development in the last four episodes of the season.

26

Tonight returns to NYC where Rachel prepares for a Funny Girl revival (probably while battling bulimia, alopecia, antisemitism, and diabetes) and the Lima kids prepare for Regionals with a “dreams” theme, which means we’ll probably see Artie out of his chair for a couple of minutes. (If Murphy himself wrote the episode then either Chord Overstreet or Finn 2.0 will probably have a naked in public dream, which will be the best reason to watch the episode but, regrettably, only PG.)

27

Alright, Becky needs to be locked away, and Blaine would have had Coach Sassy B. Stereotype on AC360 before he’d have let her make him refer to himself as Fruity Fonzie. And Lamia’s description of NYC as being about Rachel and the people allowed to speak to her has never been more evinced than this one, when Mercedes had a cameo just to be Rachel’s backup singer.

28

Yeah, it’s really a shame Sue took the fall for her rather than turning her in and letting her get whatever help she needed to deal with her rage issues. Instead she physically attacked what, two different students in the hallway?

I think he was nervous because her accusations of witchcraft struck a little too close to home.

I am willing to accept Coach Sassy’s supernatural explanation for the implausible chain of events that led to Sue being fired last week, because it makes at least as much sense as any other explanation. Oddly enough Blaine does not take this opportunity to remove himself from the Cheerios, even though he was only on the squad as part of a sinister plan to destroy Sue. Instead he begins questioning Becky about whether she knows more about Sue’s dismissal than she’s letting on. I can only assume he’s disappointed that he didn’t get proper credit for destroying Sue the first time and wants to prove her innocent, restore her to her former position, and take her down from the inside again.

Remember when people used to complain that Glee was turning into “The Kurt Show”? Now he shows up as a backup singer in Rachel’s fantasy sequence and then makes his only real appearance to bake her cookies.

I don’t feel I can fairly judge the Funny Girl audition storyline, because while in general this seems like the sort of storyline Glee should be doing now, the episode ruined it for me with that scene where Rachel calls Finn for advice. She still finds it charming and romantic that her ex is unstable, violent, and willing to beat senseless any man he perceives as a threat to his ownership of her. This episode portrayed blowing off class and partying too hard during his first weeks in college (he’s enrolled at Lima University for…the April term?) as the far more serious offense.

Oh, and it turns out I was wrong about the McKinley students’ trauma over the shooting incident never being mentioned again. It was not only mentioned, but played for wacky comic relief! Sam has developed Dissociative Identity Disorder, which manifests itself as a running gag that is totally unfunny. Not because it’s particularly offensive, it’s just boring and stupid. Sam’s psychological problems bother Rachel 2.0 because she’s totally over the events of last week and is focused on getting one of her original songs performed at Regionals because the writers aren’t even trying to pretend she’s not Rachel. She even wears a headband and a sweater with an owl on it.

Will initially rejects Rachel 2.0’s suggestion, perhaps remembering how they lost Nationals two years ago due to a combination of under-rehearsing and lousy original songs. The glee club members are understandably surprised to discover that Will actually expects them to be rehearsing for Regionals – they still have a good two or three weeks left! – but by the end of the episode he comes around and lets them go back to doing whatever the hell they want.

Maybe I’m being too hard on this episode, much of it seemed like pretty standard Glee stuff, but I feel it’s all been tainted by association with the last two episodes. I’ve certainly complained about dropped storylines in the past, but this time I think the writers would have been better off just pretending the school shooting incident and Finn beating a prostitute thing had never happened. Milking the former for “humor” and treating the latter as heroic is worse than sending them down the memory hole.

29

Not looking at spoilers

Okay, I now have the last 8 eps on my DVR. Watch or dump?

StG

30

The black character is not only sassy and loud but is a homophobe who believes retarded monster babies and gays are trying to voodoo her…
Did that Paisley & LL Cool J video heal nothing?

31

[QUOTE=Sampiro]

Did that Paisley & LL Cool J video heal nothing?
[/QUOTE]

Ermagerd, it just occurred what I hated so much about the Paisley-Cool J song: it was like something out of GLEE.

32

And I hope this doesn’t sound cruel: who enrolls a kid with Down Syndrome get into a calculus class?

33

I dumped “Glee” a few episodes ago, but I saw something that hinted that Lea might have a “Spring Awakening” song in a future episode. I’d kinda’ like to see that. So if it turns out to be true, let me know here.

34

GLEE Writers.

35

I didn’t know the regionals always had a “theme”, and if the theme is “dreams”, what does that new song have to do with dreams?

Also - in case anybody has never seen Funny Girl - the show was not about Streisand, it was about Fanny Brice. Yes, Streisand embodied the character and has forever been identified with Funny Girl, but why wouldn’t Rachel do something from/about/related to Fanny Brice?! There is still film footage and recordings from Fanny Brice, so with just a tad bit of research, Rachel could have shown she was up to playing the original character and not doing her impression of Barbara. It would have also given Glee a chance to actually bring back some music from a different era that would have shown a bit of creativity with a new spin on it. Oh well…it’s a Glee, Glee, Glee World and we are just pawns in the Lima Pep Club.

36

Rachel 2.0 is a good singer but her songwriting skills are … uhmmmmm … lackluster. I guess in a sense, though, it’s believable that a high school girl would write that junk!

37

“Glee” has been renewed for two more seasons by Fox.

38

::sigh::

I rewound the “Don’t Stop Believing” performance twice.

I got chills when they were all singing together, having fun, and flashing back to the original joy that Glee used to bring to me.

I miss that.

:frowning:

(And I think Brittany should propose a threesome between her, Sam and Evan, just to watch Sam explode.).

39

I’ll avoid spoilers in this one post just for you. :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t put any of the past eight episodes on a list of favorite Glee episodes, but some of them were reasonably entertaining while some were pretty bad. (As usual for Glee, some were both.) If your DVR can hold a few more episodes then we’ll be at the end of the season and could tell you if things work out in a satisfying manner or if there are a bunch of dumb cliffhangers or something.

If you want more info than that, I’d suggest taking a quick look at the AV Club’s Glee page. You can see a letter grade from their reviewer along with a brief description of each episode. If you’re really averse to spoilers cover the left side of your screen and just look at the letter grades, because the brief descriptions do give away plot points for a couple of episodes. If you’re not averse to spoilers then there are linked full reviews if you want them.

40

My thoughts exactly. Didn’t her first song rhyme “hear” with “here”? I found it totally plausible that a 15 year old who isn’t that bright came up with those lyrics.

Both Rachel 2.0’s songs were so forgettable that I’ve already largely forgotten them, but it also seemed like both were basically variations on “Loser Like Me”, the original song performed at Regionals two years ago.

I miss season 1-2 Glee. :frowning:

It was kind of amazing to see how much Kurt has physically grown up since the pilot episode. When the imaginary New Directions backup performers appeared, I wondered for a brief moment whether this was a special effect using footage from the pilot or whether it was all the actors now onstage at the same time. But as soon as there was a clear shot of Kurt it was obvious it must be the present-day actors, as Chris Colfer looked about 14 in the pilot but actually looks old enough to be in college now.* (In real life he’s old enough to have graduated from college, but of the guys who graduated HS on the show last year he’s certainly the only one who could pass for 19.) I find it kind of touching to see how he’s grown up during the course of the show. In contrast, Cory Monteith and Mark Salling have gone from looking like maybe about college age to obviously being 30 year olds, which isn’t their fault or anything but did make some of those college party scenes a bit creepy.

Elsewhere on the Internet I saw someone suggest that what Glee should have done for season four was just skip ahead a few years and catch up with the original characters soon after they graduated from college. It’s an interesting idea, and I rather wish that’s what had happened. The show seems largely uninterested in the college experience anyway, and storylines like Finn co-leading the McKinley glee club, Rachel having a shot at a starring role in a major Broadway production, and Kurt working at Vogue.com would all actually make more sense if they were 4-5 years older. And without that lengthy “Rachel’s dance teacher is mean to her” storyline, there would have been more time for everything else.

*Mercedes also has a completely different hairstyle now, but it took me a little longer to notice that.