Return to form?

So Sunday night's post-Super Bowl episode of Glee was miserable, and didn't bear discussing.  Luckily it was fairly standalone, plotwise, so this week's episode could swoop in without a viewing.  Quinn, Brittany, and Santana chose New Directions over Cheerios, and Quinn kissed Finn.

Our mohawked guitar-player Puck is now harboring a not-quite requited crush on Laura Zizes, the newest member of New Directions.  It makes sense that Puck would go for a tough girl, one who's a badass, being the school's wrestling champion, and one who turned him down after their blackmail-induced kiss didn't turn her on.  Puck, being an idiot, thinks that Laura should be thrilled to receive his advances since he is a dreamboat (but looks 35), and she is heavy-set.  She continues to turn him down, and Puck earnestly pursues her, not once hiding his affection for her, which I did find to be a sweet surprise.  He serenaded her with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," which was an obvious choice, and clearly offended Laura.  I think a rendition of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" would have swayed her *if* the show felt so desperately that he needed to pick a song about her weight.  She continues to keep him on the hook, admitting that she likes him, but wants him to prove that he's really genuinely interested in her.  In one episode, a minor character has been given a thoughtful plotline about body image when main cast member Mercedes has been weirdly subjected to starvation dieting one week and protesting the cafeteria's removal of tater tots another.  Well done, show?

Santana's jealousy plotline wasn't very interesting, though it seemed an obvious extension of her role on the show.  However, her conniving plan to infect Finn with mononucleosis in order to reveal that Quinn's cheating on Sam with him, was clever, and a perfectly devious way to stir up drama when Santana is feeling dissatisfied with her situation.  Also, the line "I've had mono so many times it turned into stereo" was good enough to forgive her awkward 'street slang' which cropped up once again.  Meanwhile, Tina and Mike are so in love that she breaks down crying during a really weird performance of "My Funny Valentine," and I guess this doesn't bother Artie at all because he's with Brittany.  I maintain that Brittany and Mike deserve each other and should just be funny sexy dance lovers, but whatever.  His slow-motion dancing to Artie's "P.Y.T." was so cute!  Team Mike Chang.

What does it say about Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer or his character Kurt that I completely forget that Kurt has transfered out of McKinley and is now singing with the Warblers at Blazer Prep?  His crush Blaine, played by Darren Criss who has more charisma than the rest of the male cast combined, wants to serenade his crush, some dude at the mall with crazy grunge hair and great bone structure.  It's awesome.  It's a weird ad for The Gap ("Shop at The Gap!  We fire our gay employees?") but the song is just great and Darren Criss is like a teddy bear that you want to make out with.  Kurt is surprisingly okay with the fact that Blaine isn't into him (given his creepy reactions when his straight brother Finn rebuffed him).  There's a great moment after Blaine says, "If [the grunge-hair dude and I] got married, I'd get a 50% discount [at the Gap]," and the camera pans to Kurt's "Really?" face, then quickly back.  Well done, show.

Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel decide that they're better off focusing on themselves instead of desperately needing boyfriends, which - THANK YOU, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE! - will help them become the stars they are destined to be.  From my heart to your face, readers: If you are not happy when you're single, you will not be happy when you're in a relationship; date yourself first!  Also, plus points for identifying Patti LuPone as Kurt's diva idol.  My friend Ashley who is a gay man in a woman's body would approve.  Rachel decides to sing Katy Perry's "Firework" as a sort of love song to herself, and an awkward reference to her love parallelogram with Quinn/Finn and whoever, and she blows it away.  I like the song more than a lot of people do, but Lea Michele performs it with all the teen angst and self-empowerment that she can muster.  Let's hope this show can start using Rachel's character better...if she is more comfortable with her reality, maybe she'll be less insufferable.

All in all, one of the best Glee episodes in a while.  Keep praying for the spinoff Brittany loves Mike Chang!

This show is pretty offensive (am I only just now realizing this? I can't even tell anymore.)

There was a super cute and sexy scene in last night's episode of Glee, where Santana and Brittany are having a kissing session at Brittany's house.  It's been referenced in past episodes that their friendship is sexual in nature, but it's clear they're not dating, and that they freely date other people (seemingly exclusively boys).  When Santana stopped the session abruptly, annoyed at Brittany for talking too much, she spat out that the only reason she was wasting her time with Brittany is because her preferred FWB Puck is not available.  This was the first of a couple of scenes which made me really sad for Brittany, and made me think about how differently the show treats queer women and queer men.  I might not agree totally with After Ellen's Lux Alptraum, who wrote that "Brittany and Santana are [her] queer icons," but they are definitely more than just straight girls who make out in order to please their male partners.

While of course this is not to say that this show has shown the utmost sensitivity when ever discussing gay culture or homophobia, it has taken a lot more effort to respect the struggles of gay teen boys through the character of Kurt.  Now, when Kurt announced that he would be singing a song from Victor Victoria, I audibly cheered, "Yes!"  Actor Chris Colfer has displayed some great range, and I knew he'd do a great job with the number "Le Jazz Hot."  That said, it was a little weird to show that as a gay boy, the character is some hijra blend of masculine and feminine.

Another element of this complicated situation is the new character Sam, who is found equally appealing by Kurt and Quinn (and Finn), and who everyone wants to play on their team.  Most importantly, though, this nerd speaks Na'vi and thought that he needed to impress everyone at his new school by dumping a bottle of Sun-In on his head instead of just showing off his abs, guitar and singing skills, and cute smile.  What a weirdo.

Back in Santana land, she and Mercedes belted out a duet of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep - Mountain High" that is so on fire that it made me sweat.  If only they didn't make Santana say every line with a sprinkle of ebonics for no reason.

Meanwhile, things are getting confusing for poor Brittany.  Since Santana won't duet with her, she asks Artie to be her partner because she knows he has a good voice.  He is surprised because she has never given him the time of day, and she admits that she used to think he was a robot.  She flirts with him, and he goes along with it, hoping to get over Tina, even though he's not really that interested in Brittany.  In a way, it was cute when Brittany lifted Artie out of his chair and laid him down on her bed, saying that their hook up would have been inevitable since he's on the football team now.  Artie seems nervously excited to lose his virginity, and Brittany never seems to have any ulterior motives or pity in mind.

So the next day, Artie slut-shames and dumps her, and it is completely uncalled for.  He gets mad at her for having sex with him because he wanted his first time to be important, and he doesn't believe that it was important for her.  Let me know if you picked up on any coercion or forcing in the previous scene, because I did not get the impression that he was anything but on board.  I don't know that it would have come off any differently if the genders had been reversed, either.  Brittany genuinely likes Artie, and hoped they could have a nice date together at Breadsticks (I forgot to mention that the glee club is competing for a free dinner there).  She wants to share spaghetti, Lady and the Tramp style.  This scene was really difficult for me.

Our other glee clubbers are just along for the ride.  Rachel pulls a Katherine Heigl and realizes that she is completely unlikeable, and she and Finn sing a couple of boring duets.  Mike Chang, who should spend more time shirtless and less time having a mullet, finally gets lines, and duets with Tina on "Sing!" from A Chorus Line.  This song is not fun but I guess they did their best with it.  I just don't understand how Tina is "introducing us to the amazing voice of Mike Chang" if he's been in the Glee Club for over a year.  Was he just the dance contingent, like Kurt is the Cheerios' singing element, and Artie is the football team's human battering ram?  What is this school?


Finally, there was at least one Olive Garden commercial aired during this episode, which made me laugh because of the show's parody with a place called "Breadsticks," but when we see Brittany alone at the restaurant pushing a meatball across her plate with her nose, it was way sadder to me than when Rachel wanted to find her birth mom or whatever.  LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE!  (I apologize for that.)  In two weeks the show will be taking on the Rocky Horror Show, which, as a former cast member, I am biased towards, but hopefully they let the episode stew in the play's campy awfulness.  If only I could shout callbacks at the television without freaking out my housemates.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...

Last night's long-awaited Joan Osborne themed episode was one of the better overall episodes of Glee in a long time.  (Just kidding about the Joan Osborne thing.)  If you're already on board for the cheesiness, the often awkward placement of musical numbers, and the forced theme, then this episode tackling the question of faith was a high point in quality given how tacked-together this show has been feeling lately.

When Kurt's dad suffers from a heart attack and is hospitalized with a coma, some members of New Directions feel it is their duty to pray for him, but Kurt feels uncomfortable about being asked to participate in this as he is an atheist.  While Schue is happy to let Kurt dictate his own terms, most of the glee clubbers, and guidance counselor Emma, feel that Kurt is being harmed by not having religion in his life.  Only Sue Sylvester is on board with Kurt's "God is just Santa Claus for adults" perspective, and wants everyone to back off.  Her conversation with Emma is a great portrayal of the condescension that I think a lot of people on both sides of the issue have encountered, and it was a refreshingly honest moment for this show.

The episode's musical numbers emerged more organically than they usually do, with the exception of Finn's "Losing My Religion" fantasy.  I got the impression that the whole reason they contrived the whole Grilled Cheesus storyline was to facilitate this number, and I hope they never work that hard ever again to give this kid a solo to shout at us.  Mercedes got two wonderful solos which showed a lot of her range, and Rachel's "Papa Can You Hear Me" was very pretty, if awkward.  Kurt's slowed-down "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was a wonderful way to show flashbacks of Kurt's childhood moments with his father, though I liked this arrangement better when T.V. Carpio sang it in Across the Universe.



It is refreshing to have a gay atheist character on television go through something relatable and be portrayed in a positive and honest light.  I was worried that in the end he would accept religion unnaturally and that alone would be shown to bring his dad out of the coma, but instead it seemed like everyone came to respect each other's beliefs just a little.  I also loved this exchange:
          Kurt: "You can't prove there isn't a magic teapot floating around on the dark side of the moon with a dwarf inside of it that reads romance novels and shoots lightning out of its boobs, but it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?"
          Brittany: "Is God an evil dwarf?"

On to the more superficial treasures of this episode, I am happy any time Mark Salling is shown crooning with his guitar, but I do miss Puck's mohawk so much.  Without it, Salling looks too much like the 28-year-old that he is (television actors looking too old to believably be in high school shockah).  When the glee clubbers complained that they are being criticized for being too sexy one week and too religious the next, Brittany's "Now I know what Miley feels like" made me laugh.  It was also great that Kurt gave a shout-out to the "great spaghetti monster in the sky."

Rachel is still being written as an impossible-to-like character, and I don't know why they're doing that.  Finn praying to Grilled Cheesus to get to 2nd base with her felt really out of place in this otherwise more weighty episode.  Then again, touching Rachel's sideboob over her clothes is probably the 2nd hottest thing Finn's ever done after ejaculating in the hot tub next to Quinn, and sharing a harem den with Kurt.  I don't think anything he ever did with Brittany and Santana really registered for him.

So what's next for Glee?  More silliness and stunts?  Or more earnest storytelling.  Let's hope for the latter.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Ridiculous and Lovable...Britney vs. Glee

Last night's Britney Spears -centric episode of Glee pulled the show's highest ratings to date.  It's no surprise; the show's target audience would have grown up with Britney as a major figure in their lives.  When her first hit single "...Baby One More Time" came out I was ten years old, in the sixth grade, and wore fuzzy little pom poms in my hair even though my tastes would have skewed more to "My Name Is," "The Dope Show," "Just a Girl," and "The Kids Aren't Alright" (what can I say, my tastes were at least diverse, if superficial).  Though I will not deny that none of this music held as special a place in my heart as *NSYNC's self-titled debut, obviously.

Moving on.  The Britney/Brittany episode was a perfect example of everything that's been wrong with the show since its first season's back nine.  Not even an attempt at an interesting storyline, a handful of increasingly-unimaginative music videos strung together awkwardly, and yet redeemed by an expertly delivered one-liner or musical performance.  Where the John Stamos dentistry extravaganza, Mr. Schuester is somehow less into Brit Brit than Christopher Cross, and OCD Emma is suddenly less uptight than Schue, fail utterly, Heather Morris and a few moments of Jane Lynch save the day.

Heather Morris is easily the best dancer on the show, and while I think a hell of a lot more could have been done with Britney's greatest hits being transposed to McKinley High, getting to see her blowing Spears' familiar dance moves was pretty amazing.  Britterline's cameo was a completely unnecessary piece of stuntcasting that cheapens the quality of this show that is too beloved and new to have to rely on gimmicks like that.

The Artie-centric performance of "Stronger" was a completely missed opportunity.  The original video used chair-dancing as a means of voodoo proxy, and that could have been a great way to portray Artie's insecurities falling away as he joins the football team.  New Directions' take on "Toxic" was lovely, musically, but the Fosse dancing with Mr. Schue joining in was creepy and not that sexy.  Lea Michele's final song was very pretty but made zero sense and just left me confused.  Not that I care, now that Rachel's been written into one of the least likable characters on television.  Except for the Jewish gossip blogger, who is being far overused.

I really do hope that the writers and producers wise up and try to bolster the storylines more as the season goes on, as this show's legacy will not be remembered by iTunes sales charts alone.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Glee, season 2 premiere

So, last year's insta-sensation Glee came back for its second season last night, and I have one thing to say about that: Mike Chang's abs. I might make them my desktop wallpaper, and then when IT comes to help me update QuickTime or whatever, they can judge me for having dude abs as my wallpaper. (Though they're just as cute as my current wallpaper, otters holding hands, if you ask me.)

Okay, I guess that's not the only thing I have to say. As usual, the plot line of the episode was a total yawner, and I didn't care one bit whether the glee club found new members or anything. Rachel is a completely unlikable character, and I am really looking forward to seeing her reaction when Finn leaves her for new blond quarterback / shower-singer Sam (who is basically Ronnie/Sunshine from Remember the Titans, right?). Honestly there was more sexual tension in the glances the two of them made at each other during the "Empire State of Mind" number than in any scene with Kurt last season.

I loved the addition of Coach Beiste (played by Dot Jones, who according to Wikipedia, is a champion arm wrestler) as another foil for Sue Sylvester, whose bullying went way over the top. I'll miss Tanaka, though. And whither Emma Pillsbury? Sue wasn't given much room to breathe in this episode, but any Jane Lynch is better than none.

I thought it was a pretty mediocre season premiere, both musically and story-wise. But the new additions were entertaining, and I am just excited that there seems to be more Brittany going on, because she is the greatest character on television right now (I can't tell if I'm serious about that or not). There were other plot points that were completely uninteresting, so whatever. For now:

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Everybody loves a winner...

Last night's episode of Glee was a pretty fractured one for a show which has been easy to follow up until this point. With lead girl Rachel foregoing Glee Club for the school's production of Cabaret, she was isolated from the rest of the cast, and Jane Lynch was hardly in the episode at all. Mr. Schuester's pregnancy dramz took a backseat to Quinn's, and all of the new tertiary characters confused the flow of the story.

But if all of the hubbub was due to the show's writers scotch-taping the episode back together after realizing they'd snagged Kristin Chenoweth as a guest star, then who the hell cares! Kristin Chenoweth! For the Broadway musical obsessed "gleeks" watching the show, I'm sure this was all anyone could care about. Kristin Chenoweth! With Idina Menzel-lookalike Lea Michele! Well, we didn't get to hear any Wicked (an NBCU property - with Glee plugging Fox-owned MySpace every five minutes, it's hard to forget about the bidness behind it all), but we got Cabaret, and country music, and Heart, and most importantly - Queen! Oh joy of joys!

When Kristin and Lea had their intercut duet of "Maybe This Time," I couldn't help but tear up. Listening to such powerfully talented women do what so few people can, and just sing with all their might, gets me every time. I was applauding uncontrollably by the end of the song, and laughed when Kurt wiped his eyes after her performance, because the show was lampooning my exact reaction. The ensemble's closing performance of "Somebody to Love" was absolutely wonderful also, and the music without a doubt took center stage in the episode.

Hopefully the storylines get back on track next week. For now I am going to listen to musicals on my iPod, and laugh thinking about Kurt, drunk at school, calling Jayma Mays' Emma "Bambi" because of her big big eyes.

This is not going to go well...

Very belated, I would like to share a few thoughts on this years "most anticipated new show," Fox's Wednesday night addition, Glee. I quite liked the pilot, when it aired at the beginning of the summer, but I wasn't really sucked in until the second episode which aired last week. Glee is created by Ryan Murphy, who brought us Popular and Nip/Tuck, and a lot more of his biting humor was present in the second episode than in its PG predecessor.

The adult roles on the show are Will Schuester, played handily by Matthew Morrison (whom I recognize only from an episode of Ghost Whisperer that I watched by accident) as a passionate and optimistic loser. He has a lot going for him, but many obstacles between him and happiness. One such obstacle is his neurotic wife Terri (played by the always-welcome Jessalyn Gilsig - another Nip/Tuck presence), whose financial woes, hysterical pregnancy, and controlling behavior make me wonder how she and Will ever got together in the first place. I think they were supposed to be high school sweethearts, which just makes it even more tragic.

In stark contrast to Terri, there is Will's coworker Emma, the school's obsessive compulsive guidance counselor. The adorable Jayma Mays (Heroes! Ugly Betty!) is wonderful in this tight-lipped but hilarious role of the girl who's hopelessly in love with a married man, but adult enough to know better.

Will's ultimate foe is Sue Sylvester, as played by Jane Lynch, whom I want to accompany me everywhere in my daily life, I am such a fan of hers. She is absolutely wicked to the core, and brings her negative energy to her job as the "Cheerios" cheerleading coach. As the school funds are balanced precariously between her team and the fledgling Glee Club, her one mission is to bring Will down, but I think he is hardy enough to hold his own against her. Sue also has about 90% of the show's best lines, and I heard Jane Lynch (who is a wonderful improviser) say in an interview that she never feels the need to improve on the script.

The kids are, frankly, less interesting. Our main girl is Rachel, who is awesome. She's played by Broadway star Lea Michele, who originated the role of Wendla in Spring Awakening, which I think is inspired casting. She's so much more talented than most of the primetime teen show actors, and her voice is incredible. Her character is such a hilarious exaggeration of an archetype that it's just like a giant wink to the audience the whole time. She's desperate to become famous, and in her mid-teens, feels she's almost too old for success (embarrassingly, I totally empathize). She'll be ruthless in her pursuit of fame, but is dealing with nerdiness, insecurity, and a desperate crush on Cory Monteith's Finn, the bumbling jock with a bitchy Cheerio girlfriend and a wonderful voice.

The other kids in the show are just cookie cutters, and I really think that this needs to be worked on. Mercedes, the plus-sized black diva; Artie, the paralyzed nerd; Tina, the stuttering Asian-American Hot Topic customer; Kurt, the effeminate gay kid; and Quinn, the Christian blonde Cheerio who is Finn's girlfriend. There is pretty much no depth to these supporting characters beyond their stereotypes, and if any one of them is going to get fleshed out, it is likely to be Quinn, which I think is a disservice to the rest of the diverse cast.

I am very excited to tune into the show's third episode tonight, which I think will feature more of Gilsig. Also, I would like to remind everyone of last week's best exchange (paraphrased):

Emma: Rachel, are you throwing up in there?
Rachel: No.
Emma: Then what's that next to you?
Rachel: The girl who was throwing up in here before me left that there.
Emma: Rachel...
Rachel: I tried throwing up, but I couldn't! It's like I have no gag reflex or something.
Emma: You may find that comes in handy later on.

I hate to laugh at bulimia jokes, but I do anyway.

Finally, if you are wondering about this post's cryptic title, I am worried about this show. It is unique, and hilariously well-written, and has a rabid fan base. And it's on Fox. If that network does to this show what it did to Arrested Development, Firefly, Futurama, and Family Guy (for a time), then I think many "Gleeks" will be very disappointed. It's currently on just before SYTYCD, but in a few weeks, that show will be switching to a 2-hour format, so where will that push Glee? Friday night at 10pm or something horrible, I'm sure. I am not optimistic about it's chances if it moves around without a solid lead-in.

Glee airs Wednesday nights on FOX at 8pm.