Marcela's run-down on Duets
Glee was magical in the front 13 (F13) and most of that "magic" was lacking in the Back 9 (B9). Duets is the first episode that really felt organic and made me feel like I was watching Showmance or Vitamin D; I felt inexplicably happy!
Duets is definitely in my top 5 episodes and might even beat out Dream On. The pacing was great, the storylines were balanced and issues from last season were addressed. It was great. It was definitely a well-written episode. Though I did miss Puck a whole bunch, only because I dig his snarky attitude and whatnot and because I'm sure his reaction to Finn and Rachel's duet would have been EPIC and I would love to see Puck confront Sam on the whole Quinn thing.
Now... the elephant in the Artina/Tartie room: the loss of Artie's virginity. This, my dear, proves what we've been saying since before Season Two started, that Artina/Tartie are paralleling Fichel from the B9! HUZZAH! I say "huzzah" because that can only mean good things for our ship :) I will say that, while my love for Artie is endless (you know that the boy can do no wrong), I do wish that the writers made him responsible for his actions. As it stands, they make him blame the girls in his life for all of his shortcomings; first with Tina and stuttergate, now with Brittany and the loss of his virginity. He could have said no, she wasn't going to rape him. That's not to say she's blameless because, let's face it, Brittany did take advantage of Artie. I'm just saying I wish they hadn't made him out to be so self-righteous, since there's some backlash and you know how I feel about that. :/
In regards to Brittany, I do like that they're fleshing her out. We got to see how vulnerable and, well, lonely she is. And I really love her dynamic with Santana, though it reminds me a lot of Quick's dynamic: one of the people in the ship wants commitment (Quinn/Brittany), while the other succumbs to his/her animalistic needs (Puck "Sex Shark" and Santana "lizard"). And I'm not defending her because she did use Artie (unknowingly because I don't think she did it with the intent of hurting him nor did she realize that sex does mean something to some people), but it puts things in perspective, you know?
Tike were adorable and that's the second time I openly admit this. Hahaha! Jenna and Harry have great chemistry, but I like that they showed us that there's still something there between Tina and Artie. She misses him and he still loves/likes her. For Tina, she misses her friend and, from what we've seen on the show, Tina isn't too self-aware so if her feelings for Artie are still there, she may very well be oblivious to them and think she only misses his friendship, when really, she misses *him*. I say this because I'm convinced there was more to her fake stutter than the Missouri Compromise, which leads me to believe that she's not as self-aware as Rachel. Girl wants Artie, but it wasn't until she saw him with Brittany that she missed it.
Also, how cute is it that Artina/Tartie connect through music?! They used to practice their runs together! THEY'RESOCUTE!
As it regards Kurt's storyline, I really LOVE him! Soso much! I've been dying for some kind of interaction between him and Rachel that didn't involve him wanting to murder her/insult her and her being abrasive/bossy towards him. I've always loved that she and Kurt are kindred spirits and hearing them sing again? WOWZA! He is such a lovable character and I'm so happy that he's growing up and learning that you can't force people into doing things for you, though he wasn't forcing Sam.
I was happy that they had Finn tell his side of the story, but I do wish he hadn't been the cause behind Sam and Kurt not singing together because it's spurned some more Finn-hate and you know how I feel about that :( I get where he was coming from and it's clear that he was sure he was doing Sam a favour (and really, who can blame him for conforming to Lima's homophobic laws, considering that NONE of the teachers at WMHS do anything when the kids are bullied? I'm looking at YOU, WILL SCHUESTER!
I really liked the Sam and Kurt scenes. I really hope that they have more scenes together because the chemistry between Chord and Chris was INTENSE! And it's nice to see Kurt happy, which he was up until he saw Sam and Quinn's duet. Speaking of, I do think that the writers want us to assume that Sam is gay, given that Kurt thinks that he is and that Quinn has a suspicion about it, too. Not to mention, Sam's denial that he hadn't dyed his hair is kind of like a metaphor for denying his sexuality. What tipped me off was his scene with Quinn at Breadstix; he said he understood what it was like to have a huge secret and I doubt that he was speaking about his hair. *rolls eyes* Give us some credit, writers :P Though you never know with the Glee writers; they're predictable, but they throw a few curveballs our way every once in a while.
Anyway, this was much longer than I'd intended it to be, which is why I posted this on my LJ :)
Hope you liked it, Aliza :D