Ok guys, we need to talk to the Glee writers. I’d got totally used to the Epic episode – boring – boring – Epic thing that they had going last year. And since The First Time was amazing, I didn’t even stay up to watch Mash Off. No point!
Sheesh. When I woke up, everyone who never bothers writing anything about the eps had written stuff.
And I’m sat at home with a head cold, trying to make sense of it all.
Mostly I have notes:
- Puck and Shelby. I’m buying what they’re selling, and I didn’t expect to.
- Blaine is in a class with the senior boys, but I took senior classes in grade 11, so that happens. Still, feels wrong?
- Kurt’s still wearing white.
- Mike and Blaine fencing with mic stands.
- Blaine pwning Finn is love.
- Hummelberry is my OTP.
- I wish people would warn me before they hug me. It’s incredibly commonsensical.
- Mercedes has stopped taking advice from Shane (just act like you’re superior and treat competitors like enemies) and is getting on with the business of being a leader. Brilliant. Happy Days. Maybe the talent scout can take Shane like, now.
- Was Burt wrong? Did Burt ask Schue to fight dirty? Was Will trying to take the good guy route? Remember this is the guy who planted weed in Finn’s locker to blackmail him into joining glee club. But the lesson in this ep is fighting dirty means you don’t really win. Ever. At all. It’s not long later Burt discovers what you have to be willing to do to a person to “fight fire with fire”. Burt’s not that guy, but the temptation to believe what Sue says is strong. Only Kurt is stronger, Burt isn’t.
- And Santana. Oh, Santana. You did have something coming. It’s shit, and the world gives you so many more consequences because of Who You Are, but you really did have it coming. I love Santana, but by the time Finn started outing her, I was ready to throw her out a window. The fact is, two 17 year old kids should be able to shout at each other in the school hallway without the kind of consequences that Santana is about to face, but the world sucks, and that’s not possible. Finn calling her a coward was ridiculous, of course, because Finn is the ridiculous ally, and always has been. He thinks he’s all about doing the right thing, but he has no idea and doesn’t pay attention, so he never will.
- It’s also bullshit to think that Finn doesn’t understand the consequences. He once lectured Kurt on the consequences of being so different in Ohio. He’s very aware of how people are targeted. Problem is that Finn is only decent when he’s actually with Rachel. Not just dating her, but in her presence. And that’s saying a lot, because Rachel is incredibly self-absorbed.
- Fact is though, if someone had put a mic to Finn’s face and said, “Come on, out Santana on state-wide television (or even the school intercom system)” he would have refused. He was trying to psych her out, not out her. And it sucks balls. All of it. But I don’t think the story allows us to neatly ascribe blame.
- Obesity: interesting subplot going on here — skinny kid Kurt is campaigning on a self-righteous obesity campaign and stick-legged Santana spends the entire episode telling Finn he’s fat. What the fuck, skinny kids? I want Lauren back right now to knock some manners into these brats.
Deconstructing Glee 
Yeah, there hasn’t really been a clunker of an episode yet, has there? Musically, last night could have been more exciting, but they once again covered a lot of story ground!
I’m glad they’re taking next week off: I have work to do!
I agree that Santana had something coming, but being outed? No way. Especially not by the guy who spent last year telling both Sam and Kurt that Sam would suffer horrible consequences if he sang a duet with another guy, because that guy should know better.
Gotta agree with Alice. Santana was vicious and awful, but that still doesn’t mean she deserved to be outed. I don’t even think she deserved to have her sexuality used as a weapon against her, which was what Finn did. He didn’t just insult her, he reduced her to her sexuality as though it’s her only trait, just like two years ago with Kurt where, instead of focusing on Kurt’s genuinely problematic behavior–manipulation and creepiness–he focused on Kurt’s “fagginess” and projected his own homophobic assumptions onto Kurt’s behavior. Rachel also said that Santana’s cruelty is based on her insecurity about herself (which is already a trite message), but she managed to do it without assuming that all of Santana’s issues are Lesbian Issues and that everything she does ties back to her being a lesbian. (Girl’s grandma called her Garbage Face til she was five–pretty sure her meanness isn’t just closeted sadness in disguise.) Even if no one had overheard, I still think he would have been out of line. The fact that he said it across a crowded hallway just exacerbates it.
I mean, remember when Ryan Murphy told Kings of Leon to fuck off and said that they don’t care about arts education because they wouldn’t give their music to Glee? He was being an arrogant shithead, so they had the moral high ground…right up to the point where they decided to lash back with homophobia instead of addressing his actual behavior, which had nothing to do with him being gay. When you ignore the fact that queer people are complete human beings with a multitude of traits, some asshole-ish, and instead pathologize their queerness, you’re not just being an asshole, you’re being a bigoted asshole.
And while Finn may not have intentionally outed her to the school, if someone stuck a microphone in his face and asked him if Santana was a lesbian, I get the feeling that he would say “yes” without feeling like he outed her, because as he kept repeating last night, “everybody knows” anyway. (Because I guess New Directions are “everybody”?) He also knew Rory was listening, and since Rory wasn’t there for “Landslide” or for Brittany telling the glee club that she and Santana have sex, he at the very least intentionally outed her to Rory.