And Finally, Some Appreciation for the Not-Changs
Note: This recap got into some discussion of racism, mental illness, and child abuse (if you've seen the episode, you know exactly who I'm talking about right now.) There's also some relatively minor speculation on the possibility (possibility, because I'm not willing to judge just yet, but I'm worried) that Mercedes' relationship is more harmful to her than helpful. Trigger warnings for all of these things apply; please be careful.
Warning: This is going to be half commentary on the episode, half commentary on the other commentary I've seen floating around the internet about this last episode.
So, if the A plot was Mike Chang (and even if it wasn't in reality, it was IN MY HEART, so moving on), then the B plot was the Maria-off between Rachel and Mercedes.
I'd like to remind everyone that we have, in fact, seen Mercedes act like this before -- she's made demands, she's been unreasonable, she's refused to compromise. And when she did that, it was because she was listening to Lauren Zizes' somewhat-shaky advice. And now we've got Shane, and honestly, it kind of feels like the same situation. The thing about Mercedes is that, the more I think about it, the more it seems like she'll do anything that anyone says, if they spend a small amount of time beforehand telling her how great she is. The Cheerios buttered her up to get her to think Kurt liked her, Santana got her as a duet partner by saying that they sound amazing together (admittedly, that's totally true), Lauren told her she was as good as Rachel Berry, and now Shane is telling her she's better. Which is never a bad thing for a boyfriend to do, it's just... I mean, at best, he's just clueless as to how the arts work (I don't know about any of y'all, but I never went into an audition thinking of the other actors as my archnemeses -- you compete for a day, maybe two, but then you're working together for a month at least, so why start hostile?) At worst... Man, I hate to say it, but every time I see a guy (fictional or otherwise) telling a girl not to be affectionate with someone she's been friends with for years? ALARMS. Big ones.
I mean, time will tell. But I'm not sure how much of what we're seeing is Mercedes and how much of it is Shane. And, you know, I know she's been Miss Independent when she's single and all, and it's hard to see how she'd turn into a pushover just because a man's in her life now, but... Fuck it. To quote the woman herself, "I've lived it." I'm learning, hopefully, and getting better, but I tend to lose a lot of myself when I'm trying to be with someone else. Some people do that. (Especially off the rebound, GOD.) I kind of think Mercedes is one of them. I just hope she doesn't lose too much.
(And I'm not speculating at all on the sickness thing, because I could go any one of a million ways with it, so I just won't go any way at all for right now. It is what it is.)
Meanwhile, Rachel's obviously still reeling from NYADA; I think she was psyched out from the moment that Mercedes took the stage. Everything after that seemed very desperate. I kind of flipped a little when she stormed into Beiste's office after the diva-off -- I mean, the girl once sent Sunshine to a freaking crackhouse; it would have been very plausible for her to try some sort of sabotage. So, honestly, it was kind of a relief that she was just running for Senior Class president. I'm not totally pleased about it; I think Kurt's anger was mostly valid (although to be fair, he kind of started off from the same place that she did -- wanting it because he wanted the extra-curricular credit for NYADA. He's just had longer to think about his platform and make it more meaningful). But, you know, Rachel could have done way worse. She's improving.
And yeah, I do think the Rachel Campaign is different from the Brittany Campaign, and I have no problem with Kurt treating them differently. Think back to the last episode -- Kurt asked Brittany straight off the bat why she wasn't running herself. He knew she really wanted it; she was just too insecure to go for it. And now she's found the faith in herself to put herself out there. He might not like it, but I think he can respect that. Say what you want to about Kurt, but he's not the kind of guy to have a problem with someone wanting something for themselves.
In fact, he'll probably give them flowers.
I love how both Kurt's "rivalries" (Kurt vs. Brittany/Kurt vs. Blaine) are such lovely examples of sportsmanship. Brittany went up to Kurt to inform him of her choice to run, she gave solid reasons as to why, and while he was obviously a little taken aback, they parted relatively respectfully. And I think that, hopefully, that will continue -- he's a little too nonchalant about her (or he was, anyway), and I think she could stand to take it easy when it comes to painting Kurt as the symbol of the patriarchy, but there's been no declarations of "archnemesis" status yet, no refusal to speak to one another. And as far as Blaine goes...
A little conflicted? Sure. Trying to figure out what the hell happened to characters like Action and Baby John and why they'd cast him as Officer Krupke? Most definitely. Archnemesis?
Yeah, no.
(Also, because I've seen some complaints about Kurt not getting lighter storylines this year -- This point last season, Kurt's dad was in a coma. I mean, I'm just saying. Light is a relative term when it comes to Kurt Hummel. If this is as bad as it gets for him, then he's golden.)
And in terms of relative light and relative darkness --
The ginger supremacist storyline. Wow. I mean, holy hell. I've seen people put the term "racist" in quotation marks when they're describing Emma's parents, and... Uh, no. They're freaking racists. They're couching it in cutesy terms (the same way that Emma's frantic response to the acute anxiety that their every word calls up in her is referred to as "a mean case of the cleanies," and holy shit that's where it comes from and woah. WOAH.), but "woolly hair?" The way they talked about Carl? The way they talked about "mixing," for God's sake? Tell me that a redhead of African descent would make it into Red Oaks. Go on, tell me that. I'll bet you all of Cory's twenty-dollar bills that you're wrong. Will was right. They're fucking racists.
And, you know, they're child abusers, too. So that's fun.
But fucking hell, Glee. What a way to slip in a serious depiction of seriously horrible people under the pretext of a joke. And I say this with nothing but absolute admiration. I thought that was brilliantly done. Horrifying, yes (and also horrifyingly plausible), but very, very well executed. Well done.
And I wasn't even mad at Will. Seriously, how could he have expected that? How the hell could anyone have expected that? And I do get that he shouldn't have just invited the parents over; I do get that. But they're living together, she's got the wedding magazines, and he hasn't met her parents? Not gonna lie, I'd be freaking out a little bit, too. And I'd probably leap to OH MY GOD IT'S ME SHE'S ASHAMED OF ME and not to OH MY GOD SHE'S ASHAMED OF HER PARENTS, because... sometimes, some people are insecure in the strangest ways. So I just can't be mad at Will. I just can't. I'm not thrilled about the situation, but I'm not mad at him.
Jesus, this explains so much about Emma. Holy cats. THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH.
On a much, much lighter note, one mystery yet remains: Why was Kurt the only guy wearing sequins in the Dreamgirls number?
And when is Cory going to guest star on Mad Men?
AND WHY DID MERCEDES GET KICKED OUT OF GLEE CLUB WHEN SHE NEVER WALKED OUT THAT DOOR? SERIOUSLY, SHE'S STILL IN THE ROOM.
In short -- I have a lot of thoughts. And feelings. And concerns, but the good kind -- the "I care about these characters" kind. Not the "I think this show is going down the magical poop-stealing water chairs" kind.
Warning: This is going to be half commentary on the episode, half commentary on the other commentary I've seen floating around the internet about this last episode.
So, if the A plot was Mike Chang (and even if it wasn't in reality, it was IN MY HEART, so moving on), then the B plot was the Maria-off between Rachel and Mercedes.
I'd like to remind everyone that we have, in fact, seen Mercedes act like this before -- she's made demands, she's been unreasonable, she's refused to compromise. And when she did that, it was because she was listening to Lauren Zizes' somewhat-shaky advice. And now we've got Shane, and honestly, it kind of feels like the same situation. The thing about Mercedes is that, the more I think about it, the more it seems like she'll do anything that anyone says, if they spend a small amount of time beforehand telling her how great she is. The Cheerios buttered her up to get her to think Kurt liked her, Santana got her as a duet partner by saying that they sound amazing together (admittedly, that's totally true), Lauren told her she was as good as Rachel Berry, and now Shane is telling her she's better. Which is never a bad thing for a boyfriend to do, it's just... I mean, at best, he's just clueless as to how the arts work (I don't know about any of y'all, but I never went into an audition thinking of the other actors as my archnemeses -- you compete for a day, maybe two, but then you're working together for a month at least, so why start hostile?) At worst... Man, I hate to say it, but every time I see a guy (fictional or otherwise) telling a girl not to be affectionate with someone she's been friends with for years? ALARMS. Big ones.
I mean, time will tell. But I'm not sure how much of what we're seeing is Mercedes and how much of it is Shane. And, you know, I know she's been Miss Independent when she's single and all, and it's hard to see how she'd turn into a pushover just because a man's in her life now, but... Fuck it. To quote the woman herself, "I've lived it." I'm learning, hopefully, and getting better, but I tend to lose a lot of myself when I'm trying to be with someone else. Some people do that. (Especially off the rebound, GOD.) I kind of think Mercedes is one of them. I just hope she doesn't lose too much.
(And I'm not speculating at all on the sickness thing, because I could go any one of a million ways with it, so I just won't go any way at all for right now. It is what it is.)
Meanwhile, Rachel's obviously still reeling from NYADA; I think she was psyched out from the moment that Mercedes took the stage. Everything after that seemed very desperate. I kind of flipped a little when she stormed into Beiste's office after the diva-off -- I mean, the girl once sent Sunshine to a freaking crackhouse; it would have been very plausible for her to try some sort of sabotage. So, honestly, it was kind of a relief that she was just running for Senior Class president. I'm not totally pleased about it; I think Kurt's anger was mostly valid (although to be fair, he kind of started off from the same place that she did -- wanting it because he wanted the extra-curricular credit for NYADA. He's just had longer to think about his platform and make it more meaningful). But, you know, Rachel could have done way worse. She's improving.
And yeah, I do think the Rachel Campaign is different from the Brittany Campaign, and I have no problem with Kurt treating them differently. Think back to the last episode -- Kurt asked Brittany straight off the bat why she wasn't running herself. He knew she really wanted it; she was just too insecure to go for it. And now she's found the faith in herself to put herself out there. He might not like it, but I think he can respect that. Say what you want to about Kurt, but he's not the kind of guy to have a problem with someone wanting something for themselves.
In fact, he'll probably give them flowers.
I love how both Kurt's "rivalries" (Kurt vs. Brittany/Kurt vs. Blaine) are such lovely examples of sportsmanship. Brittany went up to Kurt to inform him of her choice to run, she gave solid reasons as to why, and while he was obviously a little taken aback, they parted relatively respectfully. And I think that, hopefully, that will continue -- he's a little too nonchalant about her (or he was, anyway), and I think she could stand to take it easy when it comes to painting Kurt as the symbol of the patriarchy, but there's been no declarations of "archnemesis" status yet, no refusal to speak to one another. And as far as Blaine goes...
A little conflicted? Sure. Trying to figure out what the hell happened to characters like Action and Baby John and why they'd cast him as Officer Krupke? Most definitely. Archnemesis?
Yeah, no.
(Also, because I've seen some complaints about Kurt not getting lighter storylines this year -- This point last season, Kurt's dad was in a coma. I mean, I'm just saying. Light is a relative term when it comes to Kurt Hummel. If this is as bad as it gets for him, then he's golden.)
And in terms of relative light and relative darkness --
The ginger supremacist storyline. Wow. I mean, holy hell. I've seen people put the term "racist" in quotation marks when they're describing Emma's parents, and... Uh, no. They're freaking racists. They're couching it in cutesy terms (the same way that Emma's frantic response to the acute anxiety that their every word calls up in her is referred to as "a mean case of the cleanies," and holy shit that's where it comes from and woah. WOAH.), but "woolly hair?" The way they talked about Carl? The way they talked about "mixing," for God's sake? Tell me that a redhead of African descent would make it into Red Oaks. Go on, tell me that. I'll bet you all of Cory's twenty-dollar bills that you're wrong. Will was right. They're fucking racists.
And, you know, they're child abusers, too. So that's fun.
But fucking hell, Glee. What a way to slip in a serious depiction of seriously horrible people under the pretext of a joke. And I say this with nothing but absolute admiration. I thought that was brilliantly done. Horrifying, yes (and also horrifyingly plausible), but very, very well executed. Well done.
And I wasn't even mad at Will. Seriously, how could he have expected that? How the hell could anyone have expected that? And I do get that he shouldn't have just invited the parents over; I do get that. But they're living together, she's got the wedding magazines, and he hasn't met her parents? Not gonna lie, I'd be freaking out a little bit, too. And I'd probably leap to OH MY GOD IT'S ME SHE'S ASHAMED OF ME and not to OH MY GOD SHE'S ASHAMED OF HER PARENTS, because... sometimes, some people are insecure in the strangest ways. So I just can't be mad at Will. I just can't. I'm not thrilled about the situation, but I'm not mad at him.
Jesus, this explains so much about Emma. Holy cats. THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH.
On a much, much lighter note, one mystery yet remains: Why was Kurt the only guy wearing sequins in the Dreamgirls number?
And when is Cory going to guest star on Mad Men?
AND WHY DID MERCEDES GET KICKED OUT OF GLEE CLUB WHEN SHE NEVER WALKED OUT THAT DOOR? SERIOUSLY, SHE'S STILL IN THE ROOM.
In short -- I have a lot of thoughts. And feelings. And concerns, but the good kind -- the "I care about these characters" kind. Not the "I think this show is going down the magical poop-stealing water chairs" kind.