Shoot 'Em All Down with the Flash of Your Pearly Smile
Everybody loves a bad boy. It has something to do with danger and adrenaline, or being drawn to the dark side. Chuck Bass became instantly iconic as a bad boy of the new millennium. There is no question that Chuck is BAD. We were first introduced to him as being some sort of serial rapist. Yet Chuck had friends who accepted him even though Chuck’s character flaws run a lot deeper than a little hard partying. I mean, rape is the kind of crime one does not forgive. The show has tried to make us forget it and I’m still trying to figure out if that means that all people can find redemption or that Chuck deserves absolution since we don’t know for sure that he ever successfully raped anyone (only that he tried to rape Jenny and Serena in the same night).
I think at least part of the reason Chuck is forgiven for his crimes is because of his status. Wealth brings power, even in high school. And Chuck has so much power-or perhaps evokes so much fear-that no one would dare cross him.
Yes, I know, all the kids are rich, but no one seems as aware of the power of his/her wealth quite as much as Chuck does (with the possible exception of Blair, of course). We know this because he is a dandy. Ordinarily a kid who wears bowties would get the shit kicked out of him. With Chuck it makes him look more powerful and more threatening like an exotic bird. He is almost daring you to start a fight with him. This is what separates him from the bad boys of yore, blue collar muscle-bound types who will crack your skull. Chuck will pay someone to crack your skull because he wouldn’t dare get his suit dirty.
This new type of bad boy is not really so new. I have a feeling it started in the ‘80s when Wall Street types and preppies with popped collars started getting cast as villains. I think this could also be tied into the vampire thing because vampires don’t have to look big and scary; they can look feminine and pretty as long as they have those fangs in. But that is a different essay.
There is a new bad boy in town and on the surface, he’s even less threatening than any one we’ve seen before which is, of course, what makes him so delicious.
I’m talking about Jesse St. James, Jonathan Groff’s character on “Glee.” I think there is an argument to be made that Jesse St. James is the best new character on TV. First of all, there’s no one like him. Chuck was the closest comparison I could draw because he's such an unlikely bad boy. Jesse St. James has every reason to be taking a lot of slushies to the face. But unlike all the other kids on this show, he's not portrayed as an underdog or an outsider. He's the Goliath. Little Jonathan Groff. With his curly hair and his slim build. He's so cocky that I get the impression that he actually does rule his school. He's already a star, even more of a Sharpay Evans than Rachel is. But he switched schools, which is the first mystery of Jesse St. James.
The thing that really made me want to delve into this topic was a quote from Entertainment Weekly TV critic Ken Tucker from his recap of the Madonna episode: “Jesse is kinda stealing [Puck’s] bad boy mojo, although I'm not sure you can classify someone who uses the term 'melancholia' as a bad boy.”
Oh Ken, but you can. First of all, there’s something so…untrustworthy about Jesse. Maybe it’s Jonathan Groff, finally getting the sorts of roles that play off his sublime sense of mischief as an actor. Can you even imagine another actor in this part? Of course not. It’s pure Jonathan Groff, all bedroom eyes and knowing smirks and tender singing. You thought he was just a male ingénue? How wrong!
Jesse was set up as a foil to Finn and for that purpose he is excellent. While Finn is guileless, insecure, and oblivious, Jesse is shrewd, confident, and sensitive. Whether or not he is playing Rachel, Jesse is as in tune to her needs as she is. (Don’t you love how self-aware Rachel is? I think it is my favorite thing about her.)
Maybe it’s the name that makes me not trust Jesse St. James. It makes me think of that Sugar Ray song. You know the one: “Every morning there’s a halo hanging from the corner of my girlfriend’s four-post bed / I know it’s not mine but I’ll see if I can use it for the weekend or a one-night stand.” You take the “saint” out of Jesse St. James and what do you have? Jesse James. And I’m not just talking about that Nazi rat bastard who cheated on Sandra Bullock; I’m talking about one of the most notorious outlaws EVER.
Four episodes in, we still don’t know what Jesse’s agenda is but I’m pretty sure he has one. Although this show isn’t a mystery, new characters are automatically suspicious, especially when they come from the evil rival team, Vocal Adrenaline. At first glance, it seemed to be that he wanted to infiltrate New Directions to destroy them from the inside. One look in “Hell-O” (when he keeps his eyes open while kissing Rachel) made me think he was having an affair with Idina Menzel’s character.
There is also the pink elephant in the room: is Jesse gay? Newsweek published a really disgustingly homophobic article about how gay actors can’t play straight characters. I certainly do not think this is true. When I had only seen Jonathan Groff act and had never heard him speak offstage, I did not think he was gay. I have no problem believing Jonathan Groff in heterosexual roles. But Jesse seems to rank a litle higher on the Kinsey scale. Take his rhetoric. He throws around ten dollar words like the aforementioned “melancholia” and “fastidiously.” He’s constantly dropping references to Stephen Sondheim and Barbra Streisand. He’s camping.
Now this is a Ryan Murphy show and camping is de rigueur. It could be that Jesse is supposed to be just so outré that his heterosexuality is what makes him shocking as a character. There are plenty of reasons not to make him gay. It would be such a cliché for Rachel to fall for a gay guy (and even more embarrassing to find that her two dads would teach her nothing about gaydar), but I do think it could be sort of wonderful if Jesse turned out to be gay.
I refer you to this little article about gay teens on TV. It references the best gay teen character on TV right now, Marshall on “The United States of Tara.” Marshall is great because he’s not a stereotype and he butts heads with a mouthy queen who takes him to task for not being gay enough (whatever the fuck that means). (Gawker calls this plotline “intra-gay.”)
While I don’t really want to see a bitch fight between Kurt and Jesse (although he is intellectually superior to Finn, and therefore a more worthy opponent), it can never hurt to show the world that it takes all kinds to make a rainbow.
But Jesse has secrets. Or at least he better. I think “Glee” is at its best when Ryan Murphy succumbs to his deepest, strangest, soapiest inclinations. I find that the less like real people the characters are, the more I love them. Stop trying to humanize the cartoon characters. I want them cartoonishly awful. It is so easy for this show to sink into mawkishness. The biting wit is what keeps it afloat.
That’s why I hate the “good characters,” Will and Emma. I love Rachel because she would kill her grandmother for a lead in the school musical. I love Brittany because she’s dumber than a box of hair. I love Santana because she is the ultimate Mean Girl. And I love Sue because she’s a stone cold bitch. I think everyone can agree with me on that last one. The meaner Sue is, the funnier she is, the more I love her. Stop making her vulnerable! I hate that.
So yeah, I will probably hate it if we find out that Jesse’s just a good guy. I want dark secrets. I want to know where the bodies are buried. Otherwise you’ve just led us on with some red herrings. And you know why they call them red herrings? Because they STINK.
I think at least part of the reason Chuck is forgiven for his crimes is because of his status. Wealth brings power, even in high school. And Chuck has so much power-or perhaps evokes so much fear-that no one would dare cross him.
Yes, I know, all the kids are rich, but no one seems as aware of the power of his/her wealth quite as much as Chuck does (with the possible exception of Blair, of course). We know this because he is a dandy. Ordinarily a kid who wears bowties would get the shit kicked out of him. With Chuck it makes him look more powerful and more threatening like an exotic bird. He is almost daring you to start a fight with him. This is what separates him from the bad boys of yore, blue collar muscle-bound types who will crack your skull. Chuck will pay someone to crack your skull because he wouldn’t dare get his suit dirty.
This new type of bad boy is not really so new. I have a feeling it started in the ‘80s when Wall Street types and preppies with popped collars started getting cast as villains. I think this could also be tied into the vampire thing because vampires don’t have to look big and scary; they can look feminine and pretty as long as they have those fangs in. But that is a different essay.
There is a new bad boy in town and on the surface, he’s even less threatening than any one we’ve seen before which is, of course, what makes him so delicious.
I’m talking about Jesse St. James, Jonathan Groff’s character on “Glee.” I think there is an argument to be made that Jesse St. James is the best new character on TV. First of all, there’s no one like him. Chuck was the closest comparison I could draw because he's such an unlikely bad boy. Jesse St. James has every reason to be taking a lot of slushies to the face. But unlike all the other kids on this show, he's not portrayed as an underdog or an outsider. He's the Goliath. Little Jonathan Groff. With his curly hair and his slim build. He's so cocky that I get the impression that he actually does rule his school. He's already a star, even more of a Sharpay Evans than Rachel is. But he switched schools, which is the first mystery of Jesse St. James.
The thing that really made me want to delve into this topic was a quote from Entertainment Weekly TV critic Ken Tucker from his recap of the Madonna episode: “Jesse is kinda stealing [Puck’s] bad boy mojo, although I'm not sure you can classify someone who uses the term 'melancholia' as a bad boy.”
Oh Ken, but you can. First of all, there’s something so…untrustworthy about Jesse. Maybe it’s Jonathan Groff, finally getting the sorts of roles that play off his sublime sense of mischief as an actor. Can you even imagine another actor in this part? Of course not. It’s pure Jonathan Groff, all bedroom eyes and knowing smirks and tender singing. You thought he was just a male ingénue? How wrong!
Jesse was set up as a foil to Finn and for that purpose he is excellent. While Finn is guileless, insecure, and oblivious, Jesse is shrewd, confident, and sensitive. Whether or not he is playing Rachel, Jesse is as in tune to her needs as she is. (Don’t you love how self-aware Rachel is? I think it is my favorite thing about her.)
Maybe it’s the name that makes me not trust Jesse St. James. It makes me think of that Sugar Ray song. You know the one: “Every morning there’s a halo hanging from the corner of my girlfriend’s four-post bed / I know it’s not mine but I’ll see if I can use it for the weekend or a one-night stand.” You take the “saint” out of Jesse St. James and what do you have? Jesse James. And I’m not just talking about that Nazi rat bastard who cheated on Sandra Bullock; I’m talking about one of the most notorious outlaws EVER.
Four episodes in, we still don’t know what Jesse’s agenda is but I’m pretty sure he has one. Although this show isn’t a mystery, new characters are automatically suspicious, especially when they come from the evil rival team, Vocal Adrenaline. At first glance, it seemed to be that he wanted to infiltrate New Directions to destroy them from the inside. One look in “Hell-O” (when he keeps his eyes open while kissing Rachel) made me think he was having an affair with Idina Menzel’s character.
There is also the pink elephant in the room: is Jesse gay? Newsweek published a really disgustingly homophobic article about how gay actors can’t play straight characters. I certainly do not think this is true. When I had only seen Jonathan Groff act and had never heard him speak offstage, I did not think he was gay. I have no problem believing Jonathan Groff in heterosexual roles. But Jesse seems to rank a litle higher on the Kinsey scale. Take his rhetoric. He throws around ten dollar words like the aforementioned “melancholia” and “fastidiously.” He’s constantly dropping references to Stephen Sondheim and Barbra Streisand. He’s camping.
Now this is a Ryan Murphy show and camping is de rigueur. It could be that Jesse is supposed to be just so outré that his heterosexuality is what makes him shocking as a character. There are plenty of reasons not to make him gay. It would be such a cliché for Rachel to fall for a gay guy (and even more embarrassing to find that her two dads would teach her nothing about gaydar), but I do think it could be sort of wonderful if Jesse turned out to be gay.
I refer you to this little article about gay teens on TV. It references the best gay teen character on TV right now, Marshall on “The United States of Tara.” Marshall is great because he’s not a stereotype and he butts heads with a mouthy queen who takes him to task for not being gay enough (whatever the fuck that means). (Gawker calls this plotline “intra-gay.”)
While I don’t really want to see a bitch fight between Kurt and Jesse (although he is intellectually superior to Finn, and therefore a more worthy opponent), it can never hurt to show the world that it takes all kinds to make a rainbow.
But Jesse has secrets. Or at least he better. I think “Glee” is at its best when Ryan Murphy succumbs to his deepest, strangest, soapiest inclinations. I find that the less like real people the characters are, the more I love them. Stop trying to humanize the cartoon characters. I want them cartoonishly awful. It is so easy for this show to sink into mawkishness. The biting wit is what keeps it afloat.
That’s why I hate the “good characters,” Will and Emma. I love Rachel because she would kill her grandmother for a lead in the school musical. I love Brittany because she’s dumber than a box of hair. I love Santana because she is the ultimate Mean Girl. And I love Sue because she’s a stone cold bitch. I think everyone can agree with me on that last one. The meaner Sue is, the funnier she is, the more I love her. Stop making her vulnerable! I hate that.
So yeah, I will probably hate it if we find out that Jesse’s just a good guy. I want dark secrets. I want to know where the bodies are buried. Otherwise you’ve just led us on with some red herrings. And you know why they call them red herrings? Because they STINK.