Glee 5x08 - "Previously Unaired Christmas"
Two things before we start:
1) I almost always have real problems with Glee's holiday episodes, because they're usually put together to serve the album they want to put out and don't advance the season's plot enough/give us enough of the character stuff I like to dig into.
2) Pretty much the first thing I thought when I heard that Glee was going to stop being synced up with real time was that they'd have to figure out a way to do something different with the holiday episode, because of course they'd keep it in order to sell albums and to cater to the networks' clear preferences across the board for obligatory holiday stuff in every show. My preferred solution was a "Christmas in July" episode - although that would require it to be July instead of in this senior spring that not only feels endless to the seniors involved like every senior spring does but actually is endless - where everyone could be celebrating out of season and have fun with that.
Obviously Glee went a different direction.
I kind of don't want to talk about this episode very much. I do not want to go back to this time in canon. It makes me very sad, just like last year's holiday episode did. Also, there are a bunch of characters missing, and that makes me extra sad in particular because there's no Finn.
I appreciated very much the nods to continuity (Santana's money, the apartment being decorated and then not decorated in time for Burt to show up with the tree and Blaine...). I thought they wove it into past canon pretty well, actually, including filling in some gaps like Kitty becoming nice and Santana thinking about New York, and having Jane introduce the episode was cute.
Still. We somehow had next to no Blaine, so nothing of interest to report about him. We had a ton of Kurt, except Kurt flirting with and making out with the hot Santa totally overturns the whole excitement that was him realizing he could hit on a guy like Adam. It was still kind of adorable, especially if it means that we can write drunk!handsy!Kurt with abandon now. It's canon! And he kisses boys in his room and has his inhibitions lowered and likes it. Or liked it that once and maybe learned his lesson?
I'm sure there are gifsets forming already of Kurt being tied up and careful analysis of his roleplaying desires and underwear preferences. I just want to hide my face. So much secondhand embarrassment for the actors and characters. And the sad thing is that I will have to go back and watch that scene for character information, but I'm actually going to be very uncomfortable about it. There are so many consent issues I can't even deal with it. I got more and more uncomfortable the more he was drinking.
I can't believe they did that. OMG, show, you are the most ridiculous ever. (And your jokes sometimes don't hit me right. And I know they mean it as a joke, but it's just... especially when it's Kurt with his history... I can't talk about it; I'm going to get angry.)
But honestly, mostly I'm just sad, because this didn't give me much that I wanted and took me back to a place I didn't miss. And then made it WORSE.
And I don't know how we didn't get a Klaine duet. I had thought maybe they'd have them sing a song sort of together but in different places, duetting from afar, but no. I don't know how we had a Klaine duet last year but not this year. I don't understand why they didn't do a full-length album like they usually do and at least have one as one of the unfilmed tracks. I don't understand. They talked about how important it was last year within the episode. It has been a staple for the past three years, something actually precious to me as part of what the show gives the culture, a duet between two boys in love. I've always loved hearing their versions playing out in the mall or something and seeing how much they're part of our society's soundtrack now, and I feel like I'm missing something important.
So, yeah. That's what I missed on Glee.
Reminder: I am spoiler-free for what's coming ahead. Please don't spoil me.
As an FYI, if I write for this episode, it likely won't be as immediately as usual, since I'm heading out of town on Saturday.
1) I almost always have real problems with Glee's holiday episodes, because they're usually put together to serve the album they want to put out and don't advance the season's plot enough/give us enough of the character stuff I like to dig into.
2) Pretty much the first thing I thought when I heard that Glee was going to stop being synced up with real time was that they'd have to figure out a way to do something different with the holiday episode, because of course they'd keep it in order to sell albums and to cater to the networks' clear preferences across the board for obligatory holiday stuff in every show. My preferred solution was a "Christmas in July" episode - although that would require it to be July instead of in this senior spring that not only feels endless to the seniors involved like every senior spring does but actually is endless - where everyone could be celebrating out of season and have fun with that.
Obviously Glee went a different direction.
I kind of don't want to talk about this episode very much. I do not want to go back to this time in canon. It makes me very sad, just like last year's holiday episode did. Also, there are a bunch of characters missing, and that makes me extra sad in particular because there's no Finn.
I appreciated very much the nods to continuity (Santana's money, the apartment being decorated and then not decorated in time for Burt to show up with the tree and Blaine...). I thought they wove it into past canon pretty well, actually, including filling in some gaps like Kitty becoming nice and Santana thinking about New York, and having Jane introduce the episode was cute.
Still. We somehow had next to no Blaine, so nothing of interest to report about him. We had a ton of Kurt, except Kurt flirting with and making out with the hot Santa totally overturns the whole excitement that was him realizing he could hit on a guy like Adam. It was still kind of adorable, especially if it means that we can write drunk!handsy!Kurt with abandon now. It's canon! And he kisses boys in his room and has his inhibitions lowered and likes it. Or liked it that once and maybe learned his lesson?
I'm sure there are gifsets forming already of Kurt being tied up and careful analysis of his roleplaying desires and underwear preferences. I just want to hide my face. So much secondhand embarrassment for the actors and characters. And the sad thing is that I will have to go back and watch that scene for character information, but I'm actually going to be very uncomfortable about it. There are so many consent issues I can't even deal with it. I got more and more uncomfortable the more he was drinking.
I can't believe they did that. OMG, show, you are the most ridiculous ever. (And your jokes sometimes don't hit me right. And I know they mean it as a joke, but it's just... especially when it's Kurt with his history... I can't talk about it; I'm going to get angry.)
But honestly, mostly I'm just sad, because this didn't give me much that I wanted and took me back to a place I didn't miss. And then made it WORSE.
And I don't know how we didn't get a Klaine duet. I had thought maybe they'd have them sing a song sort of together but in different places, duetting from afar, but no. I don't know how we had a Klaine duet last year but not this year. I don't understand why they didn't do a full-length album like they usually do and at least have one as one of the unfilmed tracks. I don't understand. They talked about how important it was last year within the episode. It has been a staple for the past three years, something actually precious to me as part of what the show gives the culture, a duet between two boys in love. I've always loved hearing their versions playing out in the mall or something and seeing how much they're part of our society's soundtrack now, and I feel like I'm missing something important.
So, yeah. That's what I missed on Glee.
Reminder: I am spoiler-free for what's coming ahead. Please don't spoil me.
As an FYI, if I write for this episode, it likely won't be as immediately as usual, since I'm heading out of town on Saturday.