Glee - this week's episode review
Apr. 26th, 2011 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatGlee was actually good tonight, just when I was beginning to wonder why I was bothering with it - it actually turns in a good episode. Considering it was the 90 minute special episode - this was a relief. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden - the real life story of a teenager with schizophrenia, which I read when I was in the 7th grade. (The fact I can remember it clearly and Kathleen in the film version - means something about it resonated. An excellent depiction of mental illness). Realized recently that I read a ton of books between the 4th grade and when I was 35. The equivalent of a book a week, maybe a day. And everything. Not all that discriminating. Haven't read as much in my late thirties and early 40s for some reason - I blame a combination of the internet and work. Do I a lot of reading on the net.
Will state that I saw the lady Gaga number Born This Way coming a mile a way - almost felt like they set up the entire episode just to do it - it was a theme around that song. [And yes, I still like the song, shocking, I know. But there it is. In some respects - I find Gaga more entertaining and interesting than Madonna (gasp!), who always felt a bit too calculated and into promoting sex kitten on steroids persona for my taste. Gaga seems to comment on Madonna's catering to the male gaze, with a full frontal up yours attitude. I like the brazeness and the honesty. That said, I haven't rushed out to buy her new album...because frankly it sounds a lot like the last one musically speaking. But I had the same opinion of Madonna - and I own one of her albums too. (Not one of the popular ones, I like Madonna's ballads better than her dance tunes - which always grated on my nerves.)] Setting up an episode's theme around a song doesn't always work, but it did here - since the theme is iconic to high school and the series as a whole. The main theme of the series is accepting who you are, loving who you are, and struggling to be who you are in a world that is constantly trying to tell you to be someone or something else - and nowhere is this more evident than high school. When Glee focuses on that theme - it is at its best, when it shies away from that theme it is at its worst. The last three episodes were examples of what happens when it ignores it's central theme.
There are other great numbers though - the mall-number - with the only stated word "Barbara Striesand" as the iconic figure who refused to change who she was to fit the world she lived in.
Fun dance number. And Tina's boyfriend (Tim??) who can really dance, doing that number with Finn (who really can't at all) was a treat. (Although I'm not sure Finn's that great of singer, Puck, Blaine and Kurt are consistently blowing him out of the water each week.) And my favorite - the Rachel/Quinn duet. I rather like the Rachel/Quinn relationship. Actually in Glee, as in Buffy, the friendships often work better for me than the romantic relationships - in part, because in high-school romantic relationships really have no where to go except angst-ville or doey-eyed loveydovey ville.
And yes, finally Kurt is back where he belongs, thanks to Santana - I kept wondering how long it was going to take Santana to figure out that the school bully was a closet homosexual acting out, much like Santana does. Takes one to know one. Could have done without Kurt's sappy show-tune though - it was too sentimental, on the verge of cringe-worthy sentimental. There's a fine line and Kurt's numbers often jump across it as do Rachel's. That was the weakest number. Sentimental songs work better when they are given to people like Quinn, Puck, or Santana - against type.
With Kurt and Rachel - it's almost cliche.
Finally - the story thread held together, people weren't acting out of character, most of the cast was utilized. Mercedes and Tina still got short shrift, and yes it felt a bit like the Rachel Berry/Kurt hour. But the new gal - the heavyset one and Puck are turning into quite the interesting team. An Santana is getting a bit more development.
Overall, the best episode I've seen since the season opener or Thriller episode. Rating? a B+ (not perfect, but getting better.)
Tomorrow must hunt for Sister Act tickets online for the Aunts upcoming visit on May 22nd. Yes, the Aunts are coming! The Aunts are coming! The Aunts in question are my father's three younger sisters. Dadster was the eldest of 11 kids (well 12 if you count the miscarriage), 7 brothers and 3 sisters. The three sisters are about 20 years younger than my father. They were between the ages of 8-14 when I was born. Yep, Dadster hailed from the stereotypical Irish Catholic family that didn't believe in birth control (because the Pope said it was a no-no - this was before Vatican II, when the new Pope had a more liberal take, only to revert back to form with the next group ofnitwits Popes to take office.) and where all the kids went to Catholic school. Although interestingly enough few are practicing Catholics and a good percentage seem to be either agnostic or atheists. Lots of angry atheists (ie. they are atheist's because they can't handle the idea of God existing in world with so much pain and misery in it and not doing anything about it. While I feel this odd need to make them watch Angel S4). We tend to not discuss religion in my family. Politics isn't an issue - we veer from extreemly liberal to moderately liberal, or in European terms, borderline conservative - moderate liberal. No one is quite sure where my brother falls. His politics never have made much sense.
Will state that I saw the lady Gaga number Born This Way coming a mile a way - almost felt like they set up the entire episode just to do it - it was a theme around that song. [And yes, I still like the song, shocking, I know. But there it is. In some respects - I find Gaga more entertaining and interesting than Madonna (gasp!), who always felt a bit too calculated and into promoting sex kitten on steroids persona for my taste. Gaga seems to comment on Madonna's catering to the male gaze, with a full frontal up yours attitude. I like the brazeness and the honesty. That said, I haven't rushed out to buy her new album...because frankly it sounds a lot like the last one musically speaking. But I had the same opinion of Madonna - and I own one of her albums too. (Not one of the popular ones, I like Madonna's ballads better than her dance tunes - which always grated on my nerves.)] Setting up an episode's theme around a song doesn't always work, but it did here - since the theme is iconic to high school and the series as a whole. The main theme of the series is accepting who you are, loving who you are, and struggling to be who you are in a world that is constantly trying to tell you to be someone or something else - and nowhere is this more evident than high school. When Glee focuses on that theme - it is at its best, when it shies away from that theme it is at its worst. The last three episodes were examples of what happens when it ignores it's central theme.
There are other great numbers though - the mall-number - with the only stated word "Barbara Striesand" as the iconic figure who refused to change who she was to fit the world she lived in.
Fun dance number. And Tina's boyfriend (Tim??) who can really dance, doing that number with Finn (who really can't at all) was a treat. (Although I'm not sure Finn's that great of singer, Puck, Blaine and Kurt are consistently blowing him out of the water each week.) And my favorite - the Rachel/Quinn duet. I rather like the Rachel/Quinn relationship. Actually in Glee, as in Buffy, the friendships often work better for me than the romantic relationships - in part, because in high-school romantic relationships really have no where to go except angst-ville or doey-eyed loveydovey ville.
And yes, finally Kurt is back where he belongs, thanks to Santana - I kept wondering how long it was going to take Santana to figure out that the school bully was a closet homosexual acting out, much like Santana does. Takes one to know one. Could have done without Kurt's sappy show-tune though - it was too sentimental, on the verge of cringe-worthy sentimental. There's a fine line and Kurt's numbers often jump across it as do Rachel's. That was the weakest number. Sentimental songs work better when they are given to people like Quinn, Puck, or Santana - against type.
With Kurt and Rachel - it's almost cliche.
Finally - the story thread held together, people weren't acting out of character, most of the cast was utilized. Mercedes and Tina still got short shrift, and yes it felt a bit like the Rachel Berry/Kurt hour. But the new gal - the heavyset one and Puck are turning into quite the interesting team. An Santana is getting a bit more development.
Overall, the best episode I've seen since the season opener or Thriller episode. Rating? a B+ (not perfect, but getting better.)
Tomorrow must hunt for Sister Act tickets online for the Aunts upcoming visit on May 22nd. Yes, the Aunts are coming! The Aunts are coming! The Aunts in question are my father's three younger sisters. Dadster was the eldest of 11 kids (well 12 if you count the miscarriage), 7 brothers and 3 sisters. The three sisters are about 20 years younger than my father. They were between the ages of 8-14 when I was born. Yep, Dadster hailed from the stereotypical Irish Catholic family that didn't believe in birth control (because the Pope said it was a no-no - this was before Vatican II, when the new Pope had a more liberal take, only to revert back to form with the next group of
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 03:36 am (UTC)It is funny that I was born of a lapsed Catholic (my Father, my Mother was a lapsed Presbyterian who became a Unitarian) and I was belatedly baptized as Catholic because I was impressed with Vatican !! - only to lapse my own self thanks to "the next group of nitwits Popes to take office"....
religion is complicated.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 04:30 pm (UTC)Didn't work out, unfortunately. Mother's Day Weekend is a tough one. Most of the musicals with discounted tickets only had them available until May 15. And my aunt is coming May 21.
So got a good bargain on orchestra seats for Mamma Mia (their second choice - they loved the movie as did I. And the musical is a lot of fun.)
religion is complicated
Yep.
My 7year old neice wants to go to church. So my brother, a devout agnostic who dislikes church - said she could do whatever she wanted when she turned 16. He had to go to church until he was 16/17. And he's not going now. If she wants to go with the neighbors - she can do that.
My mother - whose parents were devote agnostics or non-religious. Stated: "When I was your age, I wanted to go too,
but my parents didn't, so they drove me to Sunday School and went home."
My neice:" Wait, did you just say Sunday SCHOOL??"
Momster: Yes, you would go to sunday school.
Neice: no way I'm going to school. School is out! Forget it.
Kidbrother with a big grin: Thanks, Mom.
[Only in my family would we have a conversation go that way in regards to religion. LOL!)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 04:42 pm (UTC)Actually I went to Sunday school at the Unitarian church in Massachusetts where we made masks of Egyptian gods, heard stories of the Greek & Roman Gods, and made murals of Buddhist, Hindu, and finally Old Testament stories.... The Unitarian church in our area didn't really teach the New Testament until after the children were in Middle School, but by that time we'd moved to Colorado and I stopped attending Sunday School.
The Unitarian Church was a hoot.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 09:46 pm (UTC)The Old Testament I got in the 5th Grade. (Not that you missed much, not a fan of the Old Testament.)
I'd preferred the Unitarian, which probably explains why I've joined it. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-28 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 04:18 pm (UTC)The fact that it made me cringe - was more a personal subjective response to the song itself than anything else (ie. clearly just me, since embers_log above loved it.)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 04:19 pm (UTC)Had to fix the entire journal entry above as well due to a mess of formatting errors.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-28 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-28 02:01 am (UTC)This was definitely one of the best of the season to date.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-29 04:51 am (UTC)I actually felt like Tina got some good moments where as Mercedes was completely left out in the cold. Plus Brit and Artie had little to do. But still, they utilized a larger portion of the cast and the stories were en point.
Great episode.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-30 12:30 am (UTC)And agreed. I LOVE KURT. But that number drug - it could have been cut down. Not sure why it rubbed me the wrong way, everyone but you and I seems to have loved it. (shrugs).