Perhaps Terry Richardson Should Have Directed The Rocky Horror Glee Show?
I really avoided spoilers or even comments for "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" and I came out really enjoying the episode. It appears I am in the minority which is amazing because I loved the episode without even knowing that everyone else hated it. Like, it didn’t even occur to me to be offended that Mercedes was playing Frank because I was having such a good time. I just thought “what non-traditional casting!” and she sang the shit out of it in a fun way. It wasn’t until later, when I read one person’s thoughtful reasons for hating the episode, that I realized that having a girl play Frank basically ruins the essence of Rocky Horror.
I get that. That makes total sense. The show had the opportunity to show even more diversity than they already do and they didn’t take it. I guess I just didn’t realize that people took Rocky Horror so seriously. Although, now that I think of it, I seem to recall a friend of mine--who had seen the Broadway revival before seeing the movie --finding Tim Curry’s performance too understated(!) and aloof. Yesterday I read two comments on Broadway.com’s Facebook page calling Raul’s “Time Warp” horrible, which is pretty much as blasphemous as it gets for me personally, so I guess everyone has his or her own idea about what Rocky Horror should be which is, in my view, a little bit strange when we’re talking about an entity that has come to define the phrase “so bad it’s good.”
Apparently this was "Glee"’s opportunity to take their celebration of all things different to the genderqueer place and they blew it. I do wonder if this show can ever please everyone. I mean, people went fucking nuts over that GQ spread (no pun intended) which was in one way warranted (the photographer is in real life a gross old pervert who belongs in prison) but mostly blown completely out of proportion because (a) the actors are all in their 20s, (b) there was no nudity, (c) GQ is a magazine for adult men (although admittedly the photo shoot is more Maxim than GQ), (d) I can count on one hand the number of scenes in which Chord Overstreet has worn more clothing than Lea Michele did in that photo shoot.
So maybe the show was not the celebration of freakdom many had hoped for, but it did keep the spirit of Rocky Horror alive in another way. It was utterly surreal and bizarro. Characters who usually take the lead were put on the back-burner (Kurt, the most skilled male vocalist in the cast, didn’t even get to sing the best parts of “Time Warp!”) and the least likable people on the show suddenly shined like a light over at the Frankenstein place.
Perhaps this is due to the ragtag aesthetic of Rocky Horror. When you think of it that way, it is not so surprising that Finn’s Midwestern looks, mediocre singing ability and near lack of charisma perfectly suited him to play Brad Majors. The role seemed to liberate the actor as much as it did the character. Now seems the perfect time to admit that Finn has been growing on me for weeks now, maybe even longer starting with the time he sang “Jessie’s Girl.” There is something oddly-dare I say it?-charming about Finn’s complete ineptitude coupled with his gung-ho attitude (did you guys catch his adorably dorky dancing in “Damn It, Janet?”). He’s like a big oafish puppy dog. Amazingly, I think I am the only one who has warmed to Finn. Seriously, no one likes that guy. No one. So I feel sort of sorry for him but also like, you guys, Finn is not the antichrist. He’s totally inoffensive in all ways. And I bet he’s a really good hugger. And he is pretty low maintenance. He’s a perfectly acceptable high school boyfriend. And Cory Monteith has absolutely NO career after this show is over. Seriously, in ten years we’ll all be like “remember that guy who was on that show with Lea Michele? Whatever happened to that guy? I bet he got really fat.” Then we’ll find out that he’s teaching remedial math at some sad school in flyover country where they don’t properly vet.
Another complaint I read was that this episode had too much Emma. The Emma/Shuester romance has, in my opinion, always been the worst part of “Glee.” Both characters are intolerably awful. I even preferred Schuester’s shrewish wife Terri to Emma, which should tell you how much I loathe her. And need I go into Mr. Schue?
Okay, I will. I don’t like Mr. Schuester because he strikes me as a pathetic, humorless narcissist. This show is riddled with egomaniacs of course, but what makes Shue the worst of the bunch is that he has no idea that he’s like this. Schuester genuinely believes he is a good teacher and a good man and that lack of self-awareness is what keeps him from being in any way entertaining.
This episode had Schue at his worst. In a jealous rage over all the ways in which John Stamos is superior to him (and they are many; we’ll get there*), Mr. S hatched the terrible/brilliant plan to have New Directions stage the wildly inappropriate musical Rocky Horror and then later hit his lowest point when he got the idea to play Rocky and seduce Emma by making her “sing” (yikes) “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” while pawing at his formidable bare chest.
It was, in my estimation, the worst thing Mr. Schuester has ever done. He used his students to do something so objectionable that he was actually forced to admit that Sue was right and he probably risked his job all to steal another man’s woman. And he basically whored himself to finish the job. Mr. Shuester knowingly (he could not possibly have thought he was in the right) behaved very, very badly. But what made it good television was that boring old Mr. Schuester was playing a traditionally female role. Using your body to get somebody to like you is a game invented by women. So we may not have had a guy in a bustier (and certainly the episode could have been improved if Stamos had played Frank) but we did have a man basically doing a striptease for a fully clothed (and clearly aroused) woman. And I will take every opportunity to make fun of Mr. Schuester, but Matthew Morrison (I totally just typed Borrison, which is amazing and forever would be my nick-name for him if I hadn’t just started liking him again) without a shirt on is DEADLY SERIOUS BUSINESS. Morrison’s shirtless torso is the male version of the little black dress. It goes with everything. A tie? Chippendale’s dancer delicious! Next episode I would like to see Matt Morrison’s shirtless torso paired with a grass skirt and a drink in a pineapple. Make it happen, Ryan Murphy. MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.
*The guest star du jour was John Stamos. Shit just does not stick to him. I’ve heard Stamos has done questionable things and yet I have never stopped loving him for one second. Not one. Not when he supposedly cheated on his wife. Not when he had a mullet. Not when he was getting terrible reviews in 95 Broadway musical revivals. Not when he had that legal trouble with the underage girl that wasn’t even true anyway way to be the good version of Rob Lowe, you AGED TO PERFECTION LEATHER ON LEATHER GENIUS. SING TO ME AGAIN, UNCLE JESSE.