Glee (original) (raw)

Glee [Feb. 14th, 2015|07:02 pm]silk_knickers
Previous Entry Flag Next Entry[**Tags**|tv: glee]Let's start with the end, because the end, my god.Unique's performance of "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray was flawless. Flawless. And wonderfully staged as well. It was obvious that Will was entrapping Vocal Adrenaline somehow (the reaction shot when the stage lights came on - hilarious!) but I didn't really know where it was going to go. When Unique came out and started singing it took me a few minutes to place the song -- I have the Hairspray movie soundtrack, and I knew that it was something that Queen Latifah had sung, but for some reason I was thinking Chicago at first, but that's neither here nor there. Then the stage lights coming up all the way to reveal the choir -- stunning! For a second I thought, "oh, how touching, they got the whole school in to support their coach" and then I realized "omg, that entire stage is filled with transmen and transwomen." And what was really powerful about it for me was that it was just regular people, all ages and colors and races... and not some Hollywood ideal of the Beautiful Woman Who Has a Startling Secret that we normally get if we get a trans* storyline at all.(Incidentally, I stopped watching this week's Backstrom about six minutes in and won't be tuning in again. The show has no redeeming value, and there's a million procedurals.)So, I mean, I know that Will going off to coach for Vocal Adrenaline in the first place had never made sooooo much sense, but I'm glad it finally paid off in spades.The Kurt/Blaine storyline advanced, speaking of Obstacles That Never Made Sense. I kind of love that Karofsky was like "dude, I'm a catch, I'll be fine, just go." He had every reason to have been hurt, and the actor did a good job of conveying that he kind of was, but he knew it was coming anyway. (Blaine running through a hall is kind of overdone at this point, no?)Meanwhile, I love how self-aware this season is. I sporfled when Will asked Rachel and Kurt if any of the kids had problems and they said they didn't know, they never really talk to them. Even Mercedes was like, "wait, which one?" when she got paired up for the duet.The music was pretty strong this week, except the Kurt/Blaine duet was kind of lame... I don't know that song, but listening a second time is it like One Direction or something? It sounds very boyband-y and generic. Rachel and Sam on Time After Time were great; I think that song has to be one of the most-frequently-covered songs ever, and I think I've yet to hear a cover of it that I dislike... Cyndi Lauper deserves all the awards ever for that one. I confess I winced (and felt sympathy for VA) when Will started rapping, but at least Unique rescued it.I don't even know who Sue Sylvester is at this point, which I think is the point, whatever, it's funny and my heart is warmed.Emma is not chained up in a basement somewhere!
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The Kurt/Blaine duet is Somebody Loves You by Betty Who! It's actually a really great song but I agree, it wasn't their best. LOVED the breakup with Karofsky although I was kind of distracted by their great apartment. I really wish we'd seen more of that relationship, now that it's over.I also wish the trans storyline had been given more time - I understand that their time is limited but man, I wish we could've seen more of Shannon's journey to becoming Sheldon. Overall I think Dot Marie Jones has done a great job with it so far. I was surprised at the vandalism of the car on network tv but that surprise was soooo overshadowed by Sue's nickname of "Newly Boobless".I didn't notice the chorus at the end but I'll have to go back and watch - this episode was surprisingly strong and I really enjoyed it! Edited at 2015-02-16 04:21 am (UTC) Everything this season is suuuuper rushed-feeling. If they had all this plot in them, why didn't they use some of it in the last two seasons?OH MY GOD I KNOW. I get that this season is shorter but like...last season had actual weeks long breaks where they could have absolutely done a fast-forward to get a jump-start on season 6 and it would've made SENSE. We really didn't need to have ANOTHER storyline where all the drama centered around Sectionals/Regionals/Nationals, and yet that's exactly what happened, once again.I think Cory's death really threw them for a loop in terms of plot and once they got their bearings again, it was just too late to recover. I LIKE this season overall but man, it's hard to ignore how fast they're pushing things along. I'm not sure if you've seen this week's episode yet - while I really really loved it as a standalone, it would've packed WAY more of an emotional punch if the entire build-up had been over a longer period of time rather than the last two or three eps. Way way way too rushed. I think you're probably right about Cory's death throwing all their planning out the window. Ryan Murphy has said that he pretty much knew how the show was going to end, and that the death changed that endgame. I think they also made a big miscalculation in trying to keep the Lima plot going by introducing the New New Directions while having everyone else graduate and mostly all go to NYC. It might've made more sense if the Old New Directions had been spread out over the full four years of high school, so that they could be graduated and recycled a few at a time instead of all at once. Or I would've rather had them all move on to the Lima Community College glee club instead of going off to NYC and turning everything into this weird fragmented mess. Or they could've just embraced their hyperreality and keep the kids nebulously in high school forever without trying to tie them in to some specific academic calendar year. I mean, it's not like the kids ever went to any other classes anyway. Just wait until this week's episode... prepare for the tears. And Sue? I think I've come to the conclusion that Sue is actually the embodiment of the entirety of life. She a little bit of everything - the good, the bad, every agenda, kindness, cruelty, etc. all rolled into one, and despite the fact that you never know what you're going to get every time you run into her, it's somehow vaguely, oddly, nonsensically consistent. :P I just watched it. I... have some problems with Kurt and Blaine getting married so off-the-cuff. But whatever! I thought the vows were nice. I had emotions. The whole episode was total fanservice, but I'm on board with that.