Glee - this week's episode review

[shadowkat]

Glee 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 of nitwits 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.