Glee Season 3 Re-watch - 3x17 - Dance With Somebody
Rut roh! Yours truly just realized she has 10 days to get through the six remaining episodes of Season 3, before going on vacay with the family and being cut off from society Netflix and LiveJournal and Tumblr.
(And don’t even get me started on the realization that, when Season 5 FINALLY resumes on the 25th, I will be at my in-laws’ house with no DVR. I might have to *gasp* wait until the next morning to watch it on Hulu on my iPad. OH THE HUMANITY.)
Marching on, it’s Whitney Houston week! Another single-artist tribute that seems a lot more relevant to the 30- and 40-year-old writers than it would to high school students who weren’t even born until several years after “I Will Always Love You” went quadruple-platinum (and should we even discuss the fact that this 35-year-old right here sang “The Greatest Love of All” in an elementary school assembly nearly three decades ago?). Anyways.
I’ll stop bitching, because this episode opens on one of my all-time favorite vocal arrangements on Glee: an unaccompanied quartet of Mercedes, Santana, Kurt, and Rachel singing “How Will I Know.” They sound amazing as they work their melancholy way from Kurt’s Whitney shrine in his locker, to the library, to a magical costume change in the auditorium where the girls are in gorgeous evening dresses and Kurt is stunning in a metallic steel-gray suit.
Schue witnessed this somber procession and talks to Emma about it, wondering why on earth a bunch of 18-year-olds are taking the death of Whitney Houston so hard (possibly the only time Will ever serves as the voice of the people). Emma explains that Whitney’s passing is just a conveniently-timed tragic loss for these kids to fixate on, because what they’re really freaking out about is growing up and graduating and leaving behind friends and family as they get ready to take a big, scary leap into adulthood. Ugh, god, yes, punch me in the heart. I remember that feeling so clearly.
So, naturally, Schue makes it the week’s assignment. Not only can they pay homage to Whitney, but they can work through some of their underlying feelings about graduating and leaving. Most of the seniors remain in denial and look at Will like he has three heads, but a quick shot of Blaine looks like he might burst into tears. For all of that we joke about how oblivious Blaine can be, he is completely, painfully clued into the heart of this week’s lesson.
Kurt, for the moment, is not. He’s just thrilled to pick a Whitney song, and finds Blaine at his locker to ramble about which song is the most perfect, and hey, maybe he could do one of them for his NYADA audition! As soon as that acronym is mentioned, Blaine drops the vaguely-attentive smile-and-nod and looks away, not that Kurt makes the connection. Instead, Blaine declines an invite to tag along to the sheet music store, and Kurt is clearly put out that Blaine isn’t sharing his enthusiasm.
Flipping through songbooks at Between the Sheets, Kurt’s thoughts are interrupted by an exceedingly enthusiastic compliment to his hippo-head brooch. Fast-talking, high-energy, most-definitely-gay Chandler Kiehl introduces himself as a fellow musical theater nerd, with his own New York college audition coming up soon. Kurt is caught up in Chandler’s whirlwind shouting about Whitney songs and auditions, and really, who can resist when someone else is just as excited about the BIG HUGE thing in your life as you are? Especially when Blaine has clearly been avoiding the topic whenever he can. Surprising no one at all except Kurt, Chandler ties up the interaction with a little extra flirting and asking for Kurt’s number. Rut roh.
The first performance post-assignment is from Brittany, singing the titular “Dance with Somebody,” pulling everyone up in the choir room to dance with her, including an attempt to include Quinn, still in her wheelchair. The song switches to the auditorium, with both Santana and Brittany in replicas of Whitney’s dress from the song’s original music video. I frequently get annoyed when Glee goes so shot-for-shot literal like this, but it’s never a true hardship to watch Heather Morris get a chance to really dance. At any rate, the song ends and Brittany tells us that, while she loves dancing with Santana the most, she thinks they’re all awesome dancers. Even Quinn, who still dances in Brittany’s dreams. (She also flies and breathes fire.) Quinn can barely manage a polite smile at the attempted compliment.
Teen Jesus noticed Quinn looking kind of bummed out, and checks in with her about physical therapy, which she doesn’t feel is making much progress. He offers to come with her to keep her company and maybe make it suck less, and if this isn’t one of the most random sort-of pairings, I don’t know what is.
Will shows up in Emma’s office with a surprise: he’s booked some fancy-schmancy wedding planner for them. She’s excited by the idea, but doesn’t get it. That’s when Will announces that he’d like to move the wedding up, from December (8 months away) to May (next month). I think it’s impressive that Emma doesn’t have a heart attack right then and there. For the moment, she rolls with it.
Back in the halls, Rachel huffs dramatically next to Kurt’s locker about how she can’t sing “The Star Spangled Banner” like Whitney did (duh) when Kurt’s phone buzzes with a text. Rachel assumes it’s something cute from Blaine, but Kurt informs her otherwise. He tries to downplay it at first, but quickly ends up sharing the incredibly cheesy and flirty lines Chandler has been texting him for two days.
Kurt confides that the last month has been pretty off in Klaine-land. No unscheduled makeout sessions, no flirty compliments from Blaine. They’re like an old married couple, and while they obviously love each other, what’s the harm in someone else making him feel good if it’s all “innocent?” Rachel, in a moment of wisdom, asks “would you show Blaine those text messages?”
“Of course not!” Kurt laughs.
“Well then I guess it’s not that innocent.”
Basically.
And then Joe and Quinn somewhat inexplicably sing “Saving All My Love For You.” A song about adultery with a slow-mo montage of sexual tension at physical therapy? I don’t even know, man. The only thing I like about this number is Mercedes’s and Rachel’s “ooh la la, what’s going on here?” faces.
No time to dwell on that, because after the commercial break we go straight into another performance in the choir room: Rachel and Santana singing “So Emotional.” They sound great together and Santana can move her hips in ways I can only dream of, but the real intrigue is happening in the risers. Kurt is ignoring the song to laugh and blush at the near-constant string of flirty puns from Chandler lighting up his phone, and Sam sitting next to him is clearly reading over his shoulder (we have not yet made it to the glory days of Blam, so we don’t see Sam sticking up for his best bro Blaine at this point). Blaine’s seat is on the other side of Kurt, but several feet removed, and he’s pretty much just sitting there looking like his heart is being ripped out of his chest at the degree to which Kurt is ignoring him in favor of something else (even if he doesn’t yet know for sure what it is).
Afterwards, all the girls are primping in the bathroom when they start a little good-natured teasing of Quinn over what’s going on with Joe. Quinn is not in the mood, though. She says she and Joe are just friends, because they had a moment in PT the other day when he almost kissed her but didn’t, and she takes that as meaning he’s grossed out by her wheelchair, and why would anyone want her? Ah yes, Quinn Fabray, Pity Party of One.
At the Schuester-Pillsbury household, Emma is excitedly chatting with the wedding planner, when Will comes in and starts making his list of demands known: he needs a stage so he can rap (the eyeroll from the planner is priceless) and so the Glee kids can perform (naturally). When the planner says there are no available venues with a stage for NEXT MONTH and maybe they should consider moving it to September, Will FLIPS HIS SHIT and says they’ll figure it out themselves. Stupid wedding planner (that you hired) gets rudely kicked out. Charming.
Joe finds Sam lifting weights in the locker room and wants to ask him about Quinn. Joe asks, when Sam was dating her, how did he handle his “...feelings?” Sam, bless him, says “here’s the thing about me. I can be super helpful, but when you ask me stuff, you have to be real specific.” Ah yes, feelings in your pants. Got it.
They have a Christian bro-talk about temptation and premarital sex. Homeschooled Teen Jesus is freaking out a bit about his impure thoughts, but Sam already made his choices and had sex a year ago. He gives the somewhat questionable advice that Joe needs to choose if he wants to get closer to God, or closer to her. Because, you know, there’s no way they could be in any kind of romantic relationship if they don’t have sex. God, I wish I wasn’t even wasting any words on this nonsensical pairing. The last thing Quinn Fabray needs is another temporary male love interest.
Oh, my heart. Kurt’s bedroom. I’ve watched this scene many times, but it’s been a while and now it’s hitting me all over again. Blaine is sitting on the bed, holding Kurt’s phone and looking like he might cry, as Kurt bounces into the room with a cheese plate so they can watch some bad reality TV together. Blaine just turns to Kurt with a face like a kicked puppy and asks brokenly, “who’s Chandler?”
I’m having a hard time not simply transcribing this whole scene, because even though it hurts, it is so good. Blaine is so hurt by Kurt’s emotional cheating, but Kurt is not exactly wrong when he says Blaine was doing the same thing with Sebastian earlier in the year. Kurt reacts defensively to the (accurate) accusation of cheating, but his own hurt and insecurity revealed in the “alpha gay” comment come from a very honest place. And even if Kurt’s behavior is the one most in question at the moment, and even as Blaine pleads for Kurt to just talk to him instead of stewing about the things that upset him, neither one of them is completely right or wrong in this moment.
(As an aside, I highly recommend reading flaming_muse’s “What It’s Like Being Your Boyfriend,” which is a really excellent peek inside Blaine’s head as he thinks about that statement, both what it means for Kurt and what the flipside is for himself. It’s particularly true for Season 3 Blaine, before the relative growth and independence of Season 4, but I still think it speaks to the core of who he is and how he views Kurt.)
And I can’t even fault the “he said the thing” transition into “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.” I usually hate it when Glee does that kind of hit-you-over-the-head song intro (see also: 4x02 and Unique’s “he’s a… WOMANIZER”), but Blaine’s face when Kurt tries to excuse it with “it’s okay” is too genuinely appalled for me to crap on it too much. God, the two of them can kick me in the heart just with the facial expressions they use.
Oooh, angry!Blaine has a song for anyone who’s ever been cheated on, and Kurt is nothing short of indignant as the entire room gives him a collective “WTF did you DO?” look. They’re also staring at Blaine like they’ve never seen him before, and in a way, I suppose they haven’t. I mean really, who would ever have expected dapperest Blaine Warbler to publicly air his grievances (like the rest of them do)?
What annoyed me when I first saw this performance was, once again, the too-literal lifting of sets and costumes from the original video. But in truth, I actually love the Blaine of it all. I love his attitude, I love the black, and there’s something absolutely magical about the light in those gorgeous eyes (reminds me of “This Is the New Year”). I think what pushed me over into annoyance was when the (non-costumed) New Directions were in the video/dream parts of the song singing backup, which just visually didn’t work for me at all. Anyways, what I’m saying is that I like this a whole lot more than I used to.
The song finishes, an embarrassed, angry, and heartbroken Blaine storms out of the room, and Santana accurately sums it up with “oh, snap.” Kurt, who looked at the beginning of the song like he thought this whole thing was just ridiculous, seems to be letting go of the defensiveness and realizing just how much he hurt the man he loves.
A short scene in the hallway gives us the beginning of actual Pezberry friendship! Rachel is the one to say that they wasted three years hating each other (well, mostly Santana hating Rachel) when they could have been singing together and generally being awesome. Santana even admits to not hating her and they get a quick hug. Sweet. Funny thing about the enormous transition of graduation - sometimes it makes you realize how small and petty the things were that kept you up at night.
At home in his room, Kurt is color-coding all of his belongings with post-it notes: move, save, trash, storage. (I notice that his big mirror got the green long-term storage sticker, but I’m pretty sure that’s the very one that made the trip to the loft in Bushwick.) Burt comes in and can’t believe some of the stuff Kurt wants to throw out, but more to the point, can’t believe this is actually happening. He hasn’t been rushing home for Friday night dinners, because he doesn’t want to believe Friday night dinners are soon going to be a thing of the past.
While I’ve spent much of this episode remembering what it was like to be a senior in high school, on the precipice of something big and unknown, in this moment I’m back to being a parent and identifying with Burt. “Everybody warned me that, when you were eight and you were bugging the crap out of me, that one day I’d be begging for you to wake me up at 4AM with a nightmare. [...] The older you get, you just see that none of it lasts. Yes, you and I will always love each other, and you and I will always be there for each other. But, you know, as soon as you walk out our door towards New York? Everything’s gonna change. And it’s not going to change back. Not to the way it is now.”
You know, there’s a long list of things that I love about Burt Hummel. But what I’m thinking about right now is the way the show often uses him to spell out to the audience (or to Kurt, or whomever) what’s really been going on. It’s not the same way Sue does, in her sarcastic, voice-of-the-people, fourth-wall-breaking way. It’s more Burt Hummel, Voice of Reason, cutting through the crap. Look at “I Am Unicorn,” look at his talk with Blaine in “Wonder-ful” and his talk with Kurt in “Love, Love, Love.” And that’s what he’s doing right now. It’s not just that Burt is having a hard time dealing with the fact that Kurt is going to leave. It’s giving Kurt a window into what Blaine is doing, too.
I only wish there had been a little pause, or a quick nod to that understanding, before we transitioned right into “I Have Nothing,” because my first reaction was that he was somehow singing about his dad. He isn’t, of course, he’s singing directly to Blaine. There’s no extra staging, no throwbacks to the music video. Just Kurt and a microphone in front of the choir room. Blaine is sitting in the back row, arms crossed, still closed off, still upset. But Kurt’s apology is laid bare in front of him, and he can’t help but be moved. By the end, his eyes are red and he claps along with the rest of the room.
We spend a moment in the locker room with the bros, where Puck has gift bags of filched items for each of them as his way of saying he’s going to miss all of them. It’s mostly shot glasses, and Blaine’s says “drink ‘til she’s cute,” and that’s all you need to know about this scene.
And then we find Kurt and Blaine in Miss Pillsbury’s office for a little relationship counseling. Kurt might still be acting kind of haughty, and maybe Emma isn’t the one I’d automatically go to for advice on my love live, but points for making a concerted effort to try to deal with what’s going on between the two of you.
I make jokes, but I LOVE this scene. Pink-puffy-heart love it. Emma suggests that brutal honesty is the cornerstone of any good relationship (um...?), so Blaine kicks it off with a few complaints. There’s the texting with Chandler, even if he may have done something similar with Sebastian a few months back. There’s the issue of Kurt snapping his fingers at waitstaff, and slipping bronzer into Blaine’s moisturizer (“it looks weird if a person just has tan hands” will NEVER fail to make me laugh).
But we quickly get to the heart of the issue. Blaine feels like, these days, every conversation between the two of them turns to New York. And every time Kurt talks about all of the exciting things that lie ahead, all Blaine can hear is how excited Kurt is to leave while he has to stay. Oh, this conversation was heartbreakingly sweet at the time, but knowing what actually transpired in Season 4, it skews much more towards the heartbreaking. (Though, knowing the start of Season 5, the sweet sticks around.) Blaine is terrified of being left behind and forgotten, and that’s why he’s been pulling away lately. Kurt promises daily Skype calls and frequent visits and they profess their love to one another, but I’m left with a bit of dread in my stomach. Regardless, Blaine is fantastic in this scene. So vulnerable, so afraid of what next year will bring. Oh, Blaine.
One more time at the Schuester-Pillsbury household, where Will is pouring champagne for Emma in celebration of the fact that he’s found the perfect venue for their wedding next month. A campground! Won’t that be DELIGHTFUL for your OCD bride? Emma seems pretty sure he’s lost his mind and gently suggests, once again, that maybe they just should move the wedding back to the Fall or something. She’s sure the graduated Glee kids will come back, but Will shoots back, “what if they don’t?”
On the one hand, the initial reaction is “oh, Will’s having a hard time with the kids about to graduate, too! Isn’t that sweet!” Except seriously? No. You’re a TEACHER. You have kids who graduate EVERY YEAR. That’s how this whole thing works. I’ll even grant that this is a special group to you, but still. Ugh. Sorry. I know the whole “inappropriately involved in his students’ lives” is just how Will Schuester operates and I should get over it a little bit, but it annoys me every single time.
And then Teen Jesus and Quinn have a moment at physical therapy that might involve an accidental brush-up with a boner. What-the-fuck-ever.
Back at school, Blaine is looking happier and more at ease than he has all episode (also, looking super hot in relatively casual clothing), sending Kurt texts from across the hall and complimenting his outfit. He even tries convincing Kurt to skip out on a non-mandatory Glee rehearsal for some special unscheduled sexytimes, and I don’t even know how Kurt is able to resist that face (or that offer). But in his defense, Kurt is finally letting himself feel sentimental about his final weeks of high school winding down, and wants them to go together and spend some time with these friends who will be scattering to the winds before they know it.
I absolutely adore “My Love is Your Love.” Why haven’t Mercedes and Artie been singing together more often? The whole thing is so perfectly casual, with everyone coming into the auditorium from different places, no choreography, just playful singing and hugs for no audience (save for Schuester creeping from the wings, as always). As they sing, we see the quartet from the opening of the episode at Kurt’s locker, dismantling the Whitney shrine, and we close on Kurt smiling into his locker full of memories.
I liked this episode a lot when it first aired, but I might like it even more on re-watch. As many people have said, it’s not that Glee nails the details of what actually happens in high school, but it frequently does a spectacular job of reminding us exactly what it feels like. This is one of the episodes in which that feeling is absolutely palpable. I am transported to those last few months of my senior year, making memories, feeling wistful and nostalgic, and knowing that something huge is about to happen, which is both exciting and terrifying.
And of course, as a Klaine-lover to my very core, this is a great episode for them. We thought it was a hard episode at the time, which is of course laughable when you’ve lived through the Dark Times of Season 4, but conflict means meaty screen time. And as much as I want my boys to live happily ever after, I have to say that the two actors are FANTASTIC when they’re playing upset or angry, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that. (Provided it all gets neatly resolved and they still live happily ever after, of course. Maybe with some make-up sex? Oops. Sorry.)
Anyways, big thumbs-up in my book for “Dance With Somebody.”
Back soon, I hope, with “Choke,” and I will try not to go on for too long about Kurt’s gold pants.
(And don’t even get me started on the realization that, when Season 5 FINALLY resumes on the 25th, I will be at my in-laws’ house with no DVR. I might have to *gasp* wait until the next morning to watch it on Hulu on my iPad. OH THE HUMANITY.)
Marching on, it’s Whitney Houston week! Another single-artist tribute that seems a lot more relevant to the 30- and 40-year-old writers than it would to high school students who weren’t even born until several years after “I Will Always Love You” went quadruple-platinum (and should we even discuss the fact that this 35-year-old right here sang “The Greatest Love of All” in an elementary school assembly nearly three decades ago?). Anyways.
I’ll stop bitching, because this episode opens on one of my all-time favorite vocal arrangements on Glee: an unaccompanied quartet of Mercedes, Santana, Kurt, and Rachel singing “How Will I Know.” They sound amazing as they work their melancholy way from Kurt’s Whitney shrine in his locker, to the library, to a magical costume change in the auditorium where the girls are in gorgeous evening dresses and Kurt is stunning in a metallic steel-gray suit.
Schue witnessed this somber procession and talks to Emma about it, wondering why on earth a bunch of 18-year-olds are taking the death of Whitney Houston so hard (possibly the only time Will ever serves as the voice of the people). Emma explains that Whitney’s passing is just a conveniently-timed tragic loss for these kids to fixate on, because what they’re really freaking out about is growing up and graduating and leaving behind friends and family as they get ready to take a big, scary leap into adulthood. Ugh, god, yes, punch me in the heart. I remember that feeling so clearly.
So, naturally, Schue makes it the week’s assignment. Not only can they pay homage to Whitney, but they can work through some of their underlying feelings about graduating and leaving. Most of the seniors remain in denial and look at Will like he has three heads, but a quick shot of Blaine looks like he might burst into tears. For all of that we joke about how oblivious Blaine can be, he is completely, painfully clued into the heart of this week’s lesson.
Kurt, for the moment, is not. He’s just thrilled to pick a Whitney song, and finds Blaine at his locker to ramble about which song is the most perfect, and hey, maybe he could do one of them for his NYADA audition! As soon as that acronym is mentioned, Blaine drops the vaguely-attentive smile-and-nod and looks away, not that Kurt makes the connection. Instead, Blaine declines an invite to tag along to the sheet music store, and Kurt is clearly put out that Blaine isn’t sharing his enthusiasm.
Flipping through songbooks at Between the Sheets, Kurt’s thoughts are interrupted by an exceedingly enthusiastic compliment to his hippo-head brooch. Fast-talking, high-energy, most-definitely-gay Chandler Kiehl introduces himself as a fellow musical theater nerd, with his own New York college audition coming up soon. Kurt is caught up in Chandler’s whirlwind shouting about Whitney songs and auditions, and really, who can resist when someone else is just as excited about the BIG HUGE thing in your life as you are? Especially when Blaine has clearly been avoiding the topic whenever he can. Surprising no one at all except Kurt, Chandler ties up the interaction with a little extra flirting and asking for Kurt’s number. Rut roh.
The first performance post-assignment is from Brittany, singing the titular “Dance with Somebody,” pulling everyone up in the choir room to dance with her, including an attempt to include Quinn, still in her wheelchair. The song switches to the auditorium, with both Santana and Brittany in replicas of Whitney’s dress from the song’s original music video. I frequently get annoyed when Glee goes so shot-for-shot literal like this, but it’s never a true hardship to watch Heather Morris get a chance to really dance. At any rate, the song ends and Brittany tells us that, while she loves dancing with Santana the most, she thinks they’re all awesome dancers. Even Quinn, who still dances in Brittany’s dreams. (She also flies and breathes fire.) Quinn can barely manage a polite smile at the attempted compliment.
Teen Jesus noticed Quinn looking kind of bummed out, and checks in with her about physical therapy, which she doesn’t feel is making much progress. He offers to come with her to keep her company and maybe make it suck less, and if this isn’t one of the most random sort-of pairings, I don’t know what is.
Will shows up in Emma’s office with a surprise: he’s booked some fancy-schmancy wedding planner for them. She’s excited by the idea, but doesn’t get it. That’s when Will announces that he’d like to move the wedding up, from December (8 months away) to May (next month). I think it’s impressive that Emma doesn’t have a heart attack right then and there. For the moment, she rolls with it.
Back in the halls, Rachel huffs dramatically next to Kurt’s locker about how she can’t sing “The Star Spangled Banner” like Whitney did (duh) when Kurt’s phone buzzes with a text. Rachel assumes it’s something cute from Blaine, but Kurt informs her otherwise. He tries to downplay it at first, but quickly ends up sharing the incredibly cheesy and flirty lines Chandler has been texting him for two days.
Kurt confides that the last month has been pretty off in Klaine-land. No unscheduled makeout sessions, no flirty compliments from Blaine. They’re like an old married couple, and while they obviously love each other, what’s the harm in someone else making him feel good if it’s all “innocent?” Rachel, in a moment of wisdom, asks “would you show Blaine those text messages?”
“Of course not!” Kurt laughs.
“Well then I guess it’s not that innocent.”
Basically.
And then Joe and Quinn somewhat inexplicably sing “Saving All My Love For You.” A song about adultery with a slow-mo montage of sexual tension at physical therapy? I don’t even know, man. The only thing I like about this number is Mercedes’s and Rachel’s “ooh la la, what’s going on here?” faces.
No time to dwell on that, because after the commercial break we go straight into another performance in the choir room: Rachel and Santana singing “So Emotional.” They sound great together and Santana can move her hips in ways I can only dream of, but the real intrigue is happening in the risers. Kurt is ignoring the song to laugh and blush at the near-constant string of flirty puns from Chandler lighting up his phone, and Sam sitting next to him is clearly reading over his shoulder (we have not yet made it to the glory days of Blam, so we don’t see Sam sticking up for his best bro Blaine at this point). Blaine’s seat is on the other side of Kurt, but several feet removed, and he’s pretty much just sitting there looking like his heart is being ripped out of his chest at the degree to which Kurt is ignoring him in favor of something else (even if he doesn’t yet know for sure what it is).
Afterwards, all the girls are primping in the bathroom when they start a little good-natured teasing of Quinn over what’s going on with Joe. Quinn is not in the mood, though. She says she and Joe are just friends, because they had a moment in PT the other day when he almost kissed her but didn’t, and she takes that as meaning he’s grossed out by her wheelchair, and why would anyone want her? Ah yes, Quinn Fabray, Pity Party of One.
At the Schuester-Pillsbury household, Emma is excitedly chatting with the wedding planner, when Will comes in and starts making his list of demands known: he needs a stage so he can rap (the eyeroll from the planner is priceless) and so the Glee kids can perform (naturally). When the planner says there are no available venues with a stage for NEXT MONTH and maybe they should consider moving it to September, Will FLIPS HIS SHIT and says they’ll figure it out themselves. Stupid wedding planner (that you hired) gets rudely kicked out. Charming.
Joe finds Sam lifting weights in the locker room and wants to ask him about Quinn. Joe asks, when Sam was dating her, how did he handle his “...feelings?” Sam, bless him, says “here’s the thing about me. I can be super helpful, but when you ask me stuff, you have to be real specific.” Ah yes, feelings in your pants. Got it.
They have a Christian bro-talk about temptation and premarital sex. Homeschooled Teen Jesus is freaking out a bit about his impure thoughts, but Sam already made his choices and had sex a year ago. He gives the somewhat questionable advice that Joe needs to choose if he wants to get closer to God, or closer to her. Because, you know, there’s no way they could be in any kind of romantic relationship if they don’t have sex. God, I wish I wasn’t even wasting any words on this nonsensical pairing. The last thing Quinn Fabray needs is another temporary male love interest.
Oh, my heart. Kurt’s bedroom. I’ve watched this scene many times, but it’s been a while and now it’s hitting me all over again. Blaine is sitting on the bed, holding Kurt’s phone and looking like he might cry, as Kurt bounces into the room with a cheese plate so they can watch some bad reality TV together. Blaine just turns to Kurt with a face like a kicked puppy and asks brokenly, “who’s Chandler?”
I’m having a hard time not simply transcribing this whole scene, because even though it hurts, it is so good. Blaine is so hurt by Kurt’s emotional cheating, but Kurt is not exactly wrong when he says Blaine was doing the same thing with Sebastian earlier in the year. Kurt reacts defensively to the (accurate) accusation of cheating, but his own hurt and insecurity revealed in the “alpha gay” comment come from a very honest place. And even if Kurt’s behavior is the one most in question at the moment, and even as Blaine pleads for Kurt to just talk to him instead of stewing about the things that upset him, neither one of them is completely right or wrong in this moment.
(As an aside, I highly recommend reading flaming_muse’s “What It’s Like Being Your Boyfriend,” which is a really excellent peek inside Blaine’s head as he thinks about that statement, both what it means for Kurt and what the flipside is for himself. It’s particularly true for Season 3 Blaine, before the relative growth and independence of Season 4, but I still think it speaks to the core of who he is and how he views Kurt.)
And I can’t even fault the “he said the thing” transition into “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.” I usually hate it when Glee does that kind of hit-you-over-the-head song intro (see also: 4x02 and Unique’s “he’s a… WOMANIZER”), but Blaine’s face when Kurt tries to excuse it with “it’s okay” is too genuinely appalled for me to crap on it too much. God, the two of them can kick me in the heart just with the facial expressions they use.
Oooh, angry!Blaine has a song for anyone who’s ever been cheated on, and Kurt is nothing short of indignant as the entire room gives him a collective “WTF did you DO?” look. They’re also staring at Blaine like they’ve never seen him before, and in a way, I suppose they haven’t. I mean really, who would ever have expected dapperest Blaine Warbler to publicly air his grievances (like the rest of them do)?
What annoyed me when I first saw this performance was, once again, the too-literal lifting of sets and costumes from the original video. But in truth, I actually love the Blaine of it all. I love his attitude, I love the black, and there’s something absolutely magical about the light in those gorgeous eyes (reminds me of “This Is the New Year”). I think what pushed me over into annoyance was when the (non-costumed) New Directions were in the video/dream parts of the song singing backup, which just visually didn’t work for me at all. Anyways, what I’m saying is that I like this a whole lot more than I used to.
The song finishes, an embarrassed, angry, and heartbroken Blaine storms out of the room, and Santana accurately sums it up with “oh, snap.” Kurt, who looked at the beginning of the song like he thought this whole thing was just ridiculous, seems to be letting go of the defensiveness and realizing just how much he hurt the man he loves.
A short scene in the hallway gives us the beginning of actual Pezberry friendship! Rachel is the one to say that they wasted three years hating each other (well, mostly Santana hating Rachel) when they could have been singing together and generally being awesome. Santana even admits to not hating her and they get a quick hug. Sweet. Funny thing about the enormous transition of graduation - sometimes it makes you realize how small and petty the things were that kept you up at night.
At home in his room, Kurt is color-coding all of his belongings with post-it notes: move, save, trash, storage. (I notice that his big mirror got the green long-term storage sticker, but I’m pretty sure that’s the very one that made the trip to the loft in Bushwick.) Burt comes in and can’t believe some of the stuff Kurt wants to throw out, but more to the point, can’t believe this is actually happening. He hasn’t been rushing home for Friday night dinners, because he doesn’t want to believe Friday night dinners are soon going to be a thing of the past.
While I’ve spent much of this episode remembering what it was like to be a senior in high school, on the precipice of something big and unknown, in this moment I’m back to being a parent and identifying with Burt. “Everybody warned me that, when you were eight and you were bugging the crap out of me, that one day I’d be begging for you to wake me up at 4AM with a nightmare. [...] The older you get, you just see that none of it lasts. Yes, you and I will always love each other, and you and I will always be there for each other. But, you know, as soon as you walk out our door towards New York? Everything’s gonna change. And it’s not going to change back. Not to the way it is now.”
You know, there’s a long list of things that I love about Burt Hummel. But what I’m thinking about right now is the way the show often uses him to spell out to the audience (or to Kurt, or whomever) what’s really been going on. It’s not the same way Sue does, in her sarcastic, voice-of-the-people, fourth-wall-breaking way. It’s more Burt Hummel, Voice of Reason, cutting through the crap. Look at “I Am Unicorn,” look at his talk with Blaine in “Wonder-ful” and his talk with Kurt in “Love, Love, Love.” And that’s what he’s doing right now. It’s not just that Burt is having a hard time dealing with the fact that Kurt is going to leave. It’s giving Kurt a window into what Blaine is doing, too.
I only wish there had been a little pause, or a quick nod to that understanding, before we transitioned right into “I Have Nothing,” because my first reaction was that he was somehow singing about his dad. He isn’t, of course, he’s singing directly to Blaine. There’s no extra staging, no throwbacks to the music video. Just Kurt and a microphone in front of the choir room. Blaine is sitting in the back row, arms crossed, still closed off, still upset. But Kurt’s apology is laid bare in front of him, and he can’t help but be moved. By the end, his eyes are red and he claps along with the rest of the room.
We spend a moment in the locker room with the bros, where Puck has gift bags of filched items for each of them as his way of saying he’s going to miss all of them. It’s mostly shot glasses, and Blaine’s says “drink ‘til she’s cute,” and that’s all you need to know about this scene.
And then we find Kurt and Blaine in Miss Pillsbury’s office for a little relationship counseling. Kurt might still be acting kind of haughty, and maybe Emma isn’t the one I’d automatically go to for advice on my love live, but points for making a concerted effort to try to deal with what’s going on between the two of you.
I make jokes, but I LOVE this scene. Pink-puffy-heart love it. Emma suggests that brutal honesty is the cornerstone of any good relationship (um...?), so Blaine kicks it off with a few complaints. There’s the texting with Chandler, even if he may have done something similar with Sebastian a few months back. There’s the issue of Kurt snapping his fingers at waitstaff, and slipping bronzer into Blaine’s moisturizer (“it looks weird if a person just has tan hands” will NEVER fail to make me laugh).
But we quickly get to the heart of the issue. Blaine feels like, these days, every conversation between the two of them turns to New York. And every time Kurt talks about all of the exciting things that lie ahead, all Blaine can hear is how excited Kurt is to leave while he has to stay. Oh, this conversation was heartbreakingly sweet at the time, but knowing what actually transpired in Season 4, it skews much more towards the heartbreaking. (Though, knowing the start of Season 5, the sweet sticks around.) Blaine is terrified of being left behind and forgotten, and that’s why he’s been pulling away lately. Kurt promises daily Skype calls and frequent visits and they profess their love to one another, but I’m left with a bit of dread in my stomach. Regardless, Blaine is fantastic in this scene. So vulnerable, so afraid of what next year will bring. Oh, Blaine.
One more time at the Schuester-Pillsbury household, where Will is pouring champagne for Emma in celebration of the fact that he’s found the perfect venue for their wedding next month. A campground! Won’t that be DELIGHTFUL for your OCD bride? Emma seems pretty sure he’s lost his mind and gently suggests, once again, that maybe they just should move the wedding back to the Fall or something. She’s sure the graduated Glee kids will come back, but Will shoots back, “what if they don’t?”
On the one hand, the initial reaction is “oh, Will’s having a hard time with the kids about to graduate, too! Isn’t that sweet!” Except seriously? No. You’re a TEACHER. You have kids who graduate EVERY YEAR. That’s how this whole thing works. I’ll even grant that this is a special group to you, but still. Ugh. Sorry. I know the whole “inappropriately involved in his students’ lives” is just how Will Schuester operates and I should get over it a little bit, but it annoys me every single time.
And then Teen Jesus and Quinn have a moment at physical therapy that might involve an accidental brush-up with a boner. What-the-fuck-ever.
Back at school, Blaine is looking happier and more at ease than he has all episode (also, looking super hot in relatively casual clothing), sending Kurt texts from across the hall and complimenting his outfit. He even tries convincing Kurt to skip out on a non-mandatory Glee rehearsal for some special unscheduled sexytimes, and I don’t even know how Kurt is able to resist that face (or that offer). But in his defense, Kurt is finally letting himself feel sentimental about his final weeks of high school winding down, and wants them to go together and spend some time with these friends who will be scattering to the winds before they know it.
I absolutely adore “My Love is Your Love.” Why haven’t Mercedes and Artie been singing together more often? The whole thing is so perfectly casual, with everyone coming into the auditorium from different places, no choreography, just playful singing and hugs for no audience (save for Schuester creeping from the wings, as always). As they sing, we see the quartet from the opening of the episode at Kurt’s locker, dismantling the Whitney shrine, and we close on Kurt smiling into his locker full of memories.
I liked this episode a lot when it first aired, but I might like it even more on re-watch. As many people have said, it’s not that Glee nails the details of what actually happens in high school, but it frequently does a spectacular job of reminding us exactly what it feels like. This is one of the episodes in which that feeling is absolutely palpable. I am transported to those last few months of my senior year, making memories, feeling wistful and nostalgic, and knowing that something huge is about to happen, which is both exciting and terrifying.
And of course, as a Klaine-lover to my very core, this is a great episode for them. We thought it was a hard episode at the time, which is of course laughable when you’ve lived through the Dark Times of Season 4, but conflict means meaty screen time. And as much as I want my boys to live happily ever after, I have to say that the two actors are FANTASTIC when they’re playing upset or angry, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that. (Provided it all gets neatly resolved and they still live happily ever after, of course. Maybe with some make-up sex? Oops. Sorry.)
Anyways, big thumbs-up in my book for “Dance With Somebody.”
Back soon, I hope, with “Choke,” and I will try not to go on for too long about Kurt’s gold pants.