Glee Season 4 Re-watch - 4x22 - All or Nothing

[liz_in_progress]

Much as I might like to pretend otherwise, Season 4 did not end with "Wonder-ful." So, here we go. "All or Nothing."

Fair warning: I did not like this episode. And apparently, I felt very strongly about how much I disliked it, because this might be my longest recap, yet. Go me.

Comments

[liz_in_progress]

GOD YES, all of this. I agree that the show is treating Kurt like a thing to be obtained. I don't actually think that BLAINE believes that. I really do think he adores Kurt, that he's closer to Kurt right now than the show is letting us see, that he wants to EARN Kurt's love and trust. I think he's going overboard in the way he's choosing to do it, and I think he's somewhat blinded by his determination, but I think he (more than anyone except maybe Burt) understands Kurt's value and worth.

But the show is doing Kurt a huge disservice by seemingly removing his feelings and his choice from the equation. I don't necessarily mind having an imbalance between Kurt and Blaine, I don't think it's inherently wrong that we're more clued-in to Blaine's emotional state than Kurt's. I don't NEED everything to be precisely tit-for-tat. But god, give us a little more than this.

I mean, you'd be hard-pressed to argue that Kurt and Blaine's relationship (whatever it was) wasn't a major arc/through-line over the course of the entire season. And yay, I support that. But that the balance of that story was about 95% Blaine was too much. Kurt is not a nameless, theoretical "other" to Blaine's leading man. He's KURT. He's one of the most interesting and fully-fleshed characters in the show, and you KNOW he's got the emotional range to tell us all kinds of things with the most subtle of facial expressions. GIVE HIM SOMETHING TO DO. Give him A LOT to do.

Argh.

[flaming_muse]

Yeah, I don't think BLAINE is in the wrong here - I mean, jumping the gun, maybe, but he's trying to do the right thing and be supportive of Kurt and earn his trust back - but the show is writing it wrong.

I wouldn't mind Kurt being quite so cut off from us, I think, if we had more of the rest of his inner life. I mean... what happened with Adam (that Blaine knows but we don't)? We could have had so much growth and independence from him in New York, and it's not even something we can read between the lines, because there aren't enough LINES to read between. I'm sure that's what the show wants us to think is happening, but he's one half of one of their big probably endgame pairs (now the only endgame pair left), one of their biggest stars, and Kurt ought to have had more to do. He should have had more storylines. UGH.

Pardon me while I gnash my teeth over here for a while.