Don't stop believin'; hold on to that feeling
So, tell me: Is this, or is this not, the happiest and most carefree week of TV ever? Glee tonight--which is not new in the sense of just having started, but feels that way to me, having just caught up on "Showmance"--and Bones tomorrow! Wheeeee! (Also The Office, which I am sorry to say is getting shuttled off to Hululand this year, due to massive Thursday Tivo conflicts and to my own uncertainty about it in general.)
This show had me at "There is nothing ironic about show choir," you guys. There are things I already love about it, and there are things I hope will be different about it, but either way I am so happy to have it around.
What I love:
1. I love Rachel Berry. I loved her intro sequence in the pilot ("It's a metaphor, and metaphors are important!"), and I continue to love her weird mix of desire, awkwardness, earnestness, and self-assurance. I think she's the best-gotten character on the show; somebody on that staff knows this girl.
2. I am surprised at Will/Emma: issues of infidelity aside, it had absolutely not occurred to me that those two could put out the kind of crazy sexual tension we saw in the chalk-on-the-nose scene.
3. Perversely, I loved the honesty of Ken and Emma, and then Emma and Will, at the end. Depressing, but true, and I think Will/Emma needed a shot of reality from somebody that was not Will's heinous wife.
4. I like that they've given Emma a sort of limited, but very specific, vocabulary about her OCD tendencies. It's a minor detail, but it's spot-on, according to the various people I've known with OCD and also eating disorders (which often go hand in hand anyway).
5. Celibacy club! HA.
6. The principal swaying to "Push It": best shot of the entire episode?
7. I don't know whether I care about Coach Sylvester, per se--they'll have to give her something to do, eventually--but with Jane Lynch enjoying herself so much, it's practically the same thing.
8. Endless parade of goofy-yet-awesome pop songs reworked as showtunes! Obviously.
What I hope for the future:
1. I hope that they'll get Will's wife in hand soon. Having her be out-and-out awful isn't good writing: isn't sustainable and it isn't realistic and it doesn't reflect well on Will. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're working on it: lying about the baby in the way that she did (and for the reasons that [I think] she did) may well turn out to be a complex character arc for her, though it also may not.
2. I hope Cory Monteith took voice lessons this summer. I like him fine and I like his voice fine, but the myth of his fabulous, untapped talent doesn't hold up long-term as long as the rest of the club sings circles around him.
3. I hope that they have not gone to the trouble of casting minorities of all stripes, only to make them wallpaper for non-minorities of all stripes. (I have to believe this will begin to change soon. Right?)
4. I hope that Kurt trying out for kicker on the football team--as seen in the previews--is as awesome as it promises to be. I loved Kurt immediately, for no good reason other than his inherent awesomeness.
And now it is Wednesday, and new things will happen in Lima, Ohio! And there will be singing. And I will love it. Yay.
[We interrupt this message to say that I just ran into Secretary Clinton in the cafeteria. What up, Hillz? Nice pantsuit. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.]
And also, Boooooones! Which has been my inexplicable summer-rewatch nostalgia fandom, and for which I am very excited. Have you all seen the new promo, in which everybody dances, and there are skeletons, and it has nothing to with anything but is excellent anyway?
I think this promo speaks to exactly where I am with this show: I imagine that there will be stories and plot-like happenings this season, and that will be nice, but I am mostly happy to see my favorite characters--i.e. all of them--be dorky and funny and snarky together, and occasionally go undercover in some massively improbable but very entertaining way. (And then make out.) My needs are simple.
This show had me at "There is nothing ironic about show choir," you guys. There are things I already love about it, and there are things I hope will be different about it, but either way I am so happy to have it around.
What I love:
1. I love Rachel Berry. I loved her intro sequence in the pilot ("It's a metaphor, and metaphors are important!"), and I continue to love her weird mix of desire, awkwardness, earnestness, and self-assurance. I think she's the best-gotten character on the show; somebody on that staff knows this girl.
2. I am surprised at Will/Emma: issues of infidelity aside, it had absolutely not occurred to me that those two could put out the kind of crazy sexual tension we saw in the chalk-on-the-nose scene.
3. Perversely, I loved the honesty of Ken and Emma, and then Emma and Will, at the end. Depressing, but true, and I think Will/Emma needed a shot of reality from somebody that was not Will's heinous wife.
4. I like that they've given Emma a sort of limited, but very specific, vocabulary about her OCD tendencies. It's a minor detail, but it's spot-on, according to the various people I've known with OCD and also eating disorders (which often go hand in hand anyway).
5. Celibacy club! HA.
6. The principal swaying to "Push It": best shot of the entire episode?
7. I don't know whether I care about Coach Sylvester, per se--they'll have to give her something to do, eventually--but with Jane Lynch enjoying herself so much, it's practically the same thing.
8. Endless parade of goofy-yet-awesome pop songs reworked as showtunes! Obviously.
What I hope for the future:
1. I hope that they'll get Will's wife in hand soon. Having her be out-and-out awful isn't good writing: isn't sustainable and it isn't realistic and it doesn't reflect well on Will. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're working on it: lying about the baby in the way that she did (and for the reasons that [I think] she did) may well turn out to be a complex character arc for her, though it also may not.
2. I hope Cory Monteith took voice lessons this summer. I like him fine and I like his voice fine, but the myth of his fabulous, untapped talent doesn't hold up long-term as long as the rest of the club sings circles around him.
3. I hope that they have not gone to the trouble of casting minorities of all stripes, only to make them wallpaper for non-minorities of all stripes. (I have to believe this will begin to change soon. Right?)
4. I hope that Kurt trying out for kicker on the football team--as seen in the previews--is as awesome as it promises to be. I loved Kurt immediately, for no good reason other than his inherent awesomeness.
And now it is Wednesday, and new things will happen in Lima, Ohio! And there will be singing. And I will love it. Yay.
[We interrupt this message to say that I just ran into Secretary Clinton in the cafeteria. What up, Hillz? Nice pantsuit. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.]
And also, Boooooones! Which has been my inexplicable summer-rewatch nostalgia fandom, and for which I am very excited. Have you all seen the new promo, in which everybody dances, and there are skeletons, and it has nothing to with anything but is excellent anyway?
Click to viewI think this promo speaks to exactly where I am with this show: I imagine that there will be stories and plot-like happenings this season, and that will be nice, but I am mostly happy to see my favorite characters--i.e. all of them--be dorky and funny and snarky together, and occasionally go undercover in some massively improbable but very entertaining way. (And then make out.) My needs are simple.