Why Rachel and Will are actually meant to be
This is a ramble including spoilers for all Glee episodes. But it has a point… I think.
Let me start by saying I’m a shipper. General shipper. I need to ship, or I sink. So when Glee started I immediately started shipping Will and, of course, Emma. Still do. In some way, but I’ll come back to that. I didn’t like Finn at first. Then I made amends. Thought ok Finn and Rachel. It was OK. Along came “Ballads” (1x09) and Rachel had this crush on Will. I’m a sucker for teacher-student romance. And NO, I do not want to elaborate on THAT. While I loved “Endless Love” and “Don’t stand so close to me/Young Girl” Will and Rachel didn’t start for me then. The first half of the season ended with me as a Will/Emma shipper and nothing more.
Along came “Hell-O” and everything changed. I didn’t like the way Jonathan Groff sang “Hello”. Didn’t even care to have the song on my I-Pod. Problem was I didn’t like the song while I was watching them (fake) perform it. I had that same problem with Lea Michele at the beginning of the show. So without watching Jonathan Groff I started to like the song. And anything else he sang - with or without Lea Michele. But music is just one of the keys. The chemistry, no matter what people may think about the Jesse storyline, between Rachel and Jesse was just superb. I won’t talk about who they remind me of right now, because that would lead into a different direction. Much different, because this here is actually about Will and Rachel (yes, it truly is). Back to the point. With Jesse in the picture, the mere idea of Rachel/Finn repulsed me. I knew right away Jesse was up to no good. Everyone surprised by that must be dense (sorry!) because it was obvious from the beginning. So while the second half of the season carried on, I became a sort of St.Berry Shipper (Rachel/Jesse).
“Hell-O” also introduced us to Shelby Corcoran, the Vocal Adrenaline coach and Rachel’s mother. Idina Menzel and Lea Michele look so much alike that it’s a wonder they’re not actually related. And that’s the first piece in the big puzzle that I call Will and Rachel - the Secret Couple Plan. Will is in love with Emma if we believed him today in “Journey” where he actually said it. I’m not a fan of big ‘I love you’ scenes so that didn’t exactly leave me happy. Despite my being a Will/Emma shipper. To my own surprise, the whole scene left me rather cold. This only proves to me that I’ve become a true Will/Rachel shipper. I always feared I’d once ship an UC (unconventional couple) in some show. Now it’s finally happened. Annnnnnyway. So Will and Shelby made out in “Hell-O”. If you think about it, he was really quick about that. Emma? Who’s that? Granted, he stopped the make-out session, funnily leaving Shelby to believe he might be gay (there’s another ship looming but I’ll deny everything!). Ok, so Will cares about Emma. But not enough to not make out with Shelby in the first place. And what did I say earlier? Shelby and Rachel, mother and daughter. Rachel is pretty much the spitting image of her mother. Wonder who Will thought of when he decided he just needed to kiss Shelby. Still not the moment I started shipping Will and Rachel. Truth be told that whole mother/daughter thing and all that in connection to Will came to me later.
The next big moment for me, the one that actually made me a shipper is not really that much of a moment. It was in “Theatricality”. Shelby and Will talk in his office and he tells her how Rachel got all Shelby’s great qualities. First indicators, of course. But then he says she’s “special”. Yeah, that got me. It was all it took to convert me from a Will/Emma shipper (is it Wilma or Wemma, now?!) to a Will/Rachel one (Wichel? Seriously?). Still, I know this is an UC ship. Always will be, I get that. That doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons, moments, facts that just undermine the fact that they’re meant to be with each other. That thought came to me today, after the season finale.
The season finale felt sort of like a series finale. So much crying, so much love. Finn told Rachel that he loved her. I was completely unaffected by that. Rachel didn’t seem that thrilled either (Lea Michele can act and I trust her facial movements - at least when she’s not singing). I know she kissed him, and at the end she put her head on his shoulder. But every time they have a scene, not just in the finale, they lack something. They work so much better as friends. Much, much better. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of scenes between Rachel and Jesse, but I guess I simply have to get used to a Glee world without Jesse. But at least he and Rachel had chemistry. And since Will and Rachel will probably never happen, they could have been my ‘maybe’ couple. Ok, have to look for someone else for Rachel. Anyway, the scenes between Rachel and Finn were not romantic, but sort of awkward. So we’ll go on.
Will and Emma. Thanks to the Smurfs we did not have much Emma in the last episodes. I hadn’t realized how much I actually missed her. I really like Emma. They way she stood up to Figgins was just amazing. The way she’s changed since she’s discovered Will as a manwhore actually makes me want not to ship them at all anymore because seriously? Emma should be with someone else. Different than Rachel and Finn though at least these two have chemistry. And they are cute. I will have to settle for them at some point, but Rachel and Will are just so distracting.
What really got me in the episode is how Finn pretty much called Will his father. Ok, father figure, but that’s the same thing for me now. Which is, and now it gets rather complicated, another reason why I think in the long run it should be Rachel and Will. You still remember that essentially Rachel is Shelby and Will made out with Shelby (so part of Rachel). Finn is like Will (Terri was reminded of a young Will. And even Will himself said Finn was like him!) and who’s interested in Finn, who is essentially Will? RACHEL! This is also backed up by the fact that when Jesse transferred to McKinley’s they asked if he was Will’s son. So another guy Rachel’s interested in is a lot like Will, at least his physique. So in a way Will is attracted to Rachel, and Rachel herself is always drawn to Will, because he’s the grown up version of Finn (and looks like Jesse). Now tell me they are not meant to be together! Then of course the end of the episode. Everyone was happy Glee got another year. They all hugged someone. Who did Rachel hug? Will. And not just any hug, no. She was standing between his legs and he really, really hugged her back. That’s so not normal teacher-student behavior. I never hugged a teacher like that. Seriously, you just don’t. I know Will hugged Quinn once (and yeah, they are runner-up for my student-teacher obsession), but that was nothing compared to the hug he shared with Rachel.
So, if you go back and re-watch season 1 (it’s gonna be a long summer without Glee), you’ll see it, too. Maybe not in the same manic, meant-to-be-together-way that I see it, but there’s something there. Definitely. The way they argue with each other, the way Will listens to what Rachel has to say even if he’s sometimes annoyed with her. Check out the episodes, you’ll find it.
Favorite Will-Rachel moments:
# (1x01) Will telling Rachel she’s the best in Glee club and touching her shoulder
# (1x04) Will and Rachel at the ballet studio and Rachel slightly touching him with her foot by accident and of course the line that he’s her biggest and sometimes only fan
# (1x06) Rachel hugging Will
# (1x08) Rachel’s face when Will’s sitting next to her (ok, gotta admit here the best scene is when Will takes Quinn’s face in his hands; it’s really, really cute)
# (1x10) The whole episode pretty much! It’s interesting that the verses in “Don’t stand so close to me” are really fairly ambiguous. He never says he doesn’t want her, just that it’s not right and that she’s too young
# (1x13) The way Rachel looks after Will, when he can’t come with them to Sectionals - heartbreaking!
# (1x18) Will telling Rachel she’s lost her voice
# (1x20) Will and Shelby in his office and him saying Rachel’s special
# (1x21) Rachel’s look when Will tells the kids his divorce is finalized and Will asking Rachel into his office to console her (ok he almost loses his concentration when she’s rambling but still!)
# (1x22) The hug of course!