Glee: Or mostly an excuse to bitch about Season 3
So, recently I got sucked back into Glee. I started by watching the Season 2 episodes I hadn't ever gotten around to watching and then Season 3, and I have since gone back and watched Season 1 and all of Season 2. I'll be starting a rewatch of Season 3 here soon. The thing is, I stopped watching for a reason in the middle of Season 2. I got bored. I was tired of the pettiness of it all. When the only characters you genuinely like are the villain of the piece (Sue Sylvester) and the father of one of the kids (Burt Hummel) that's probably a pretty good sign that you should give a show up.
The rewatch made me like the show again. But it also made all of my issues with it come into pretty sharp focus. The rewatch of Season 1 reminded me of why I liked it in the first place. I liked this quirky group of kids. I liked that they were all pretty well flawed, but none of them were completely unlikable, even Rachel though it was touch and go for awhile there. I liked Sue's over-the-top villainy and Will's desire to reach these kids. I liked Emma's struggles, and how she genuinely seems to care even if she is a little inept. There honestly wasn't a whole lot about Season 1 that I didn't like. It also reminded me of some of the less desirable traits of some much loved characters. In particular, Will has a serious temper. He's got a vicious streak. Sure, Sue pushes, but some of the crap he pulls to get back at her is just mean. He crosses at least one line that she hasn't. The potential violence seems pretty close to the surface more than once, and maybe it's just that he is happier in later seasons, but I think it's probably more a symptom of the massive characterization issues this show has.
Season 2 was difficult to slog through, but had it's moments. It really got bogged down in the middle. I think there was just too much going on pretty much as soon as we introduced Dalton (which doesn't really give me a lot of hope for Season 4 which I have watched none of at this point). It all seemed to lose a little focus for me, but it wasn't awful.
Then came Season 3. There are things I like about Season 3. There are honestly things that I love beyond all reason in Season 3. Sue's storyline from first episode to last was pretty close to perfection. I love that Burt is elected to congress. Karofsky's storyline was good, and dealt with reasonably well. There were some truly brilliant, humanizing moments for Puck. I actually kind of enjoyed the engagement storyline for Finn and Rachel. Then there was the monumental pile of stupid and annoying that was the rest of the season. Most of my issues fall neatly into one of three categories: Adults are Morons and Schools have no Rules, Characterization? What's that?, and The Feminization of Kurt Hummel.
So, first, mostly because I might find this one the most annoying even if it's not the worst writing issue or the most offensive. The adults of McKinley High are pretty much universally morons, and I've also apparently got to believe that there are no academic eligibility requirements for extracurriculars in Ohio. The former most effects characters that might go to college. Characters who are apparently encouraged to apply to their dream schools and just forget about back-ups. What possible justification is there for someone like Kurt to only apply to one school. Sure he's got one dream school, but there are plenty of musical theatre programs, several in the city, that would be worth his time. The latter mostly effects Brittany and Puck who have apparently never had to worry about grades until just this year when it became a matter of whether or not they get to graduate. In Season 1, Will fails all the Cheerios in Spanish and there are consequences to that. Apparently, Brittany has never passed a single class and Puck's shot at graduation rests on a single solitary European History test. How did Brittany participate in Cheerios and Glee? How did Puck not get suspended from Football and Glee for poor academics? These are things that bother me, mostly because they're just dumb, but also because the justification I constantly hear from the writers and actors for there being less kissing between Blaine and Kurt than the straight couples is that it's realistic, that gay kids would be less comfortable with PDA. I don't dispute that, and honestly, I'm not bothered with the amount of Kurt/Blaine kissing we get. I feel like they're a monumental step forward for the treatment of teen gay relationships on television, but why is that the only realistic part of the high school experience. I get that this is like high school taken to extremes, but I think they just pushed the extremes a little too far this time.
So, item number two, characterization. This season sometimes felt like the season of the pod people. Puck was weirdly emotional, and not that it wasn't sometimes appropriate and really awesome, but sometimes it felt like he was just going to cry and/or hit something at the drop of a hat. Kurt and Rachel are suddenly the best of friends and are planning how New York is going to turn into the Rachel and her gay best friend show. It's not that I necessarily object to their relationship changing, but in season 2, Kurt still put up with Rachel because he kind of had to, and respected her talent, but he didn't seem to want to actually spend time with her. So what changed, at least give us some reason why they became the very best of friends over the summer. Santana was queen of the moodswings too, but at least there was some reason for that.
And number three, the feminization of Kurt. In all honesty, this has gone on from the very beginning, but it bothers me so much more in Season 3 than it ever did before. In Season 1, he was actually a lot more effeminate in terms of dress and even actions a lot of the time. He also interacted primarily with the girls, but that's because the girls were his friends. He had no real relationships with the guys, no place among them except for his brief stint on the football team. It felt natural that he spent more time with the girls. In season 2 he starts to come into his own, and at Dalton he gets his first real taste of hanging out with guys, but he also ends up in a pretty good place with Finn, and seems pretty comfortable with the rest of the Glee guys. He doesn't have any especially close friends in Glee, but he seems a part of the group.
Then season 3 rolls around and he's got this new best friend relationship with Rachel and he's back to really only relating to the girls. There's the occasional acknowledgment of the brotherly relationship with Finn and of course he has a boyfriend, but he has almost no interaction with the rest of the guys. He dresses like a boy, but other than that, he might as well be one of the girls. That's particularly highlighted by a couple of scenes that Puck has with the guys of glee, except Kurt isn't one of them. There's the supremely bizarre gift bag scene and the one where they're helping him with studying for the geography test. What's especially odd about these is that Blaine is there, so it's not just excluding the gay kid. It's including Blaine who is new and hasn't done much of anything to endear himself to the rest of them, and specifically excluding Kurt. Now the first scene happens in the locker room, and so I might give it a little slack just for that. I don't imagine Kurt has spent a whole lot of time there, since he quit the football team in season 1. Still seems off to me that Puck, who once called Kurt his boy, stole gifts for all the other guys but not Kurt, but I can deal. But the second instance is a study thing, and Kurt is good at study things. It seems incredibly bizarre that he wouldn't be helping Puck to pass his geography exam but Finn is. Let's face it, Finn isn't the brightest guy in the club. When you add Puck's little speech about how these guys helped to teach him what it means to be a man, even Blaine, it just becomes even more obnoxious. Because Blaine who is just as gay as Kurt, and who has known Puck for such a very short time, has helped him realize what it means to be a man, but Kurt hasn't at all. I'm annoyed and yeah, a little offended by the implications. I've got my issues with Kurt as a character, but by just about any measure, he is one of the strongest men on this show. I know it's Puck, but if he's recognizing Blaine as a male role model, I just don't understand how they justify leaving Kurt out. There are other things too, like Kurt being a part of Rachel's side of the wedding party instead of being a groomsman for his brother. They even refer to him as one of the bridesmaids once. If I accept the new besties relationship that he's apparently got with Rachel, it makes it at least make a little bit of sense, but when it's just one more thing in a long list of ways they turned Kurt into a girl who might have some boy parts instead of a young gay man, it bothers me.
And just one more fairly minor issue. There were a lot of good things about the domestic violence storyline in Season 3. I like that it was Coach Beiste who was the victim, because she's one of the women that would be least expected for. I also like that while she came clean and admitted what happened to her friends and the kids, she didn't actually walk away until later. What I don't like is that it was made a 100% girls issue. Girls are victims and men are abusers. I find it irresponsible at best, to perpetuate that message. Men can be victims of domestic violence. Even big strong straight guys with tiny girlfriends or wives. But when they're constantly told that domestic violence is a woman's problem, it makes them hide. It makes them unwilling to come forward, unwilling to walk away. It becomes something to be ashamed of, and hide away. Even if it had just been Schue going to the guys while Beiste and Sue and maybe Emma talked to the girls. Even if most of what he told them was a reminder that it was never okay to hit your partner, and that you needed to respect the women in your life, and someone, anyone, just added that it was never okay to be the one getting hit either. I just felt like it was a misstep of the kind that I'm generally much more concerned about than comparative screentime for different relationships.
So, those are my major issues with Season 3. It's actually bugged me so much that I'm seriously considering rewriting it. The ideas have come fast and furious and I've got a mostly outlined story that starts after the Season 2 finale and carries on to about 7 or 8 years post-graduation. There are a few big plot changes, but mostly I feel like I'm hitting the same topics and a lot of the very same storylines. It actually might push the Teen Wolf/Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover fic back to early next year and end up as my NaNoWriMo project, because I'm still trying to work out the changes that I want to incorporate from Season 2 and how the Season 2 action plays out in my universe vs. the canon universe for that one, and I've got this one pretty much ready to write.
The rewatch made me like the show again. But it also made all of my issues with it come into pretty sharp focus. The rewatch of Season 1 reminded me of why I liked it in the first place. I liked this quirky group of kids. I liked that they were all pretty well flawed, but none of them were completely unlikable, even Rachel though it was touch and go for awhile there. I liked Sue's over-the-top villainy and Will's desire to reach these kids. I liked Emma's struggles, and how she genuinely seems to care even if she is a little inept. There honestly wasn't a whole lot about Season 1 that I didn't like. It also reminded me of some of the less desirable traits of some much loved characters. In particular, Will has a serious temper. He's got a vicious streak. Sure, Sue pushes, but some of the crap he pulls to get back at her is just mean. He crosses at least one line that she hasn't. The potential violence seems pretty close to the surface more than once, and maybe it's just that he is happier in later seasons, but I think it's probably more a symptom of the massive characterization issues this show has.
Season 2 was difficult to slog through, but had it's moments. It really got bogged down in the middle. I think there was just too much going on pretty much as soon as we introduced Dalton (which doesn't really give me a lot of hope for Season 4 which I have watched none of at this point). It all seemed to lose a little focus for me, but it wasn't awful.
Then came Season 3. There are things I like about Season 3. There are honestly things that I love beyond all reason in Season 3. Sue's storyline from first episode to last was pretty close to perfection. I love that Burt is elected to congress. Karofsky's storyline was good, and dealt with reasonably well. There were some truly brilliant, humanizing moments for Puck. I actually kind of enjoyed the engagement storyline for Finn and Rachel. Then there was the monumental pile of stupid and annoying that was the rest of the season. Most of my issues fall neatly into one of three categories: Adults are Morons and Schools have no Rules, Characterization? What's that?, and The Feminization of Kurt Hummel.
So, first, mostly because I might find this one the most annoying even if it's not the worst writing issue or the most offensive. The adults of McKinley High are pretty much universally morons, and I've also apparently got to believe that there are no academic eligibility requirements for extracurriculars in Ohio. The former most effects characters that might go to college. Characters who are apparently encouraged to apply to their dream schools and just forget about back-ups. What possible justification is there for someone like Kurt to only apply to one school. Sure he's got one dream school, but there are plenty of musical theatre programs, several in the city, that would be worth his time. The latter mostly effects Brittany and Puck who have apparently never had to worry about grades until just this year when it became a matter of whether or not they get to graduate. In Season 1, Will fails all the Cheerios in Spanish and there are consequences to that. Apparently, Brittany has never passed a single class and Puck's shot at graduation rests on a single solitary European History test. How did Brittany participate in Cheerios and Glee? How did Puck not get suspended from Football and Glee for poor academics? These are things that bother me, mostly because they're just dumb, but also because the justification I constantly hear from the writers and actors for there being less kissing between Blaine and Kurt than the straight couples is that it's realistic, that gay kids would be less comfortable with PDA. I don't dispute that, and honestly, I'm not bothered with the amount of Kurt/Blaine kissing we get. I feel like they're a monumental step forward for the treatment of teen gay relationships on television, but why is that the only realistic part of the high school experience. I get that this is like high school taken to extremes, but I think they just pushed the extremes a little too far this time.
So, item number two, characterization. This season sometimes felt like the season of the pod people. Puck was weirdly emotional, and not that it wasn't sometimes appropriate and really awesome, but sometimes it felt like he was just going to cry and/or hit something at the drop of a hat. Kurt and Rachel are suddenly the best of friends and are planning how New York is going to turn into the Rachel and her gay best friend show. It's not that I necessarily object to their relationship changing, but in season 2, Kurt still put up with Rachel because he kind of had to, and respected her talent, but he didn't seem to want to actually spend time with her. So what changed, at least give us some reason why they became the very best of friends over the summer. Santana was queen of the moodswings too, but at least there was some reason for that.
And number three, the feminization of Kurt. In all honesty, this has gone on from the very beginning, but it bothers me so much more in Season 3 than it ever did before. In Season 1, he was actually a lot more effeminate in terms of dress and even actions a lot of the time. He also interacted primarily with the girls, but that's because the girls were his friends. He had no real relationships with the guys, no place among them except for his brief stint on the football team. It felt natural that he spent more time with the girls. In season 2 he starts to come into his own, and at Dalton he gets his first real taste of hanging out with guys, but he also ends up in a pretty good place with Finn, and seems pretty comfortable with the rest of the Glee guys. He doesn't have any especially close friends in Glee, but he seems a part of the group.
Then season 3 rolls around and he's got this new best friend relationship with Rachel and he's back to really only relating to the girls. There's the occasional acknowledgment of the brotherly relationship with Finn and of course he has a boyfriend, but he has almost no interaction with the rest of the guys. He dresses like a boy, but other than that, he might as well be one of the girls. That's particularly highlighted by a couple of scenes that Puck has with the guys of glee, except Kurt isn't one of them. There's the supremely bizarre gift bag scene and the one where they're helping him with studying for the geography test. What's especially odd about these is that Blaine is there, so it's not just excluding the gay kid. It's including Blaine who is new and hasn't done much of anything to endear himself to the rest of them, and specifically excluding Kurt. Now the first scene happens in the locker room, and so I might give it a little slack just for that. I don't imagine Kurt has spent a whole lot of time there, since he quit the football team in season 1. Still seems off to me that Puck, who once called Kurt his boy, stole gifts for all the other guys but not Kurt, but I can deal. But the second instance is a study thing, and Kurt is good at study things. It seems incredibly bizarre that he wouldn't be helping Puck to pass his geography exam but Finn is. Let's face it, Finn isn't the brightest guy in the club. When you add Puck's little speech about how these guys helped to teach him what it means to be a man, even Blaine, it just becomes even more obnoxious. Because Blaine who is just as gay as Kurt, and who has known Puck for such a very short time, has helped him realize what it means to be a man, but Kurt hasn't at all. I'm annoyed and yeah, a little offended by the implications. I've got my issues with Kurt as a character, but by just about any measure, he is one of the strongest men on this show. I know it's Puck, but if he's recognizing Blaine as a male role model, I just don't understand how they justify leaving Kurt out. There are other things too, like Kurt being a part of Rachel's side of the wedding party instead of being a groomsman for his brother. They even refer to him as one of the bridesmaids once. If I accept the new besties relationship that he's apparently got with Rachel, it makes it at least make a little bit of sense, but when it's just one more thing in a long list of ways they turned Kurt into a girl who might have some boy parts instead of a young gay man, it bothers me.
And just one more fairly minor issue. There were a lot of good things about the domestic violence storyline in Season 3. I like that it was Coach Beiste who was the victim, because she's one of the women that would be least expected for. I also like that while she came clean and admitted what happened to her friends and the kids, she didn't actually walk away until later. What I don't like is that it was made a 100% girls issue. Girls are victims and men are abusers. I find it irresponsible at best, to perpetuate that message. Men can be victims of domestic violence. Even big strong straight guys with tiny girlfriends or wives. But when they're constantly told that domestic violence is a woman's problem, it makes them hide. It makes them unwilling to come forward, unwilling to walk away. It becomes something to be ashamed of, and hide away. Even if it had just been Schue going to the guys while Beiste and Sue and maybe Emma talked to the girls. Even if most of what he told them was a reminder that it was never okay to hit your partner, and that you needed to respect the women in your life, and someone, anyone, just added that it was never okay to be the one getting hit either. I just felt like it was a misstep of the kind that I'm generally much more concerned about than comparative screentime for different relationships.
So, those are my major issues with Season 3. It's actually bugged me so much that I'm seriously considering rewriting it. The ideas have come fast and furious and I've got a mostly outlined story that starts after the Season 2 finale and carries on to about 7 or 8 years post-graduation. There are a few big plot changes, but mostly I feel like I'm hitting the same topics and a lot of the very same storylines. It actually might push the Teen Wolf/Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover fic back to early next year and end up as my NaNoWriMo project, because I'm still trying to work out the changes that I want to incorporate from Season 2 and how the Season 2 action plays out in my universe vs. the canon universe for that one, and I've got this one pretty much ready to write.