Glee - this week's episode review
May. 17th, 2011 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatGlee has got to be the most unevenly written show I've seen in a long time. One week it's horrible, the next it's brilliant, one week it makes me cringe, the next it makes me cry. What the heck? I'm guessing there's a few writers that need to be booted?
This week had a moving production number and wrapped up several annoying subplots that were not working. (Wait was last week the Prom episode? If so, it wasn't that bad. It had a few good moments - the one's that did not focus on Finn/Quinn/Rachel and Jesse. Also the Sue/Artie scene about Artie spiking the punch was actually sort of funny. The Rumor's episode was the stinker.)
Sue Sylvestrie - when she's not being played for pure satire, is actually an interesting, amusing, and moving character. Not to mention relatable. Her relationship with her sister Jean, portrayed by an actress with Down's Syndrom, is realistic and touching. Glee is somewhat uneven in how it portrays people - the in-crowd or pretty people seem to pure satire - Quinn, Rachel, Jesse, Finn - almost too over the top in their romantic love triangles. I think the problem may be the desire to do biting social satire at the same time as well dramedy. Satire is tough to pull off. The least satirical episodes are actually the better ones. Here the satire was reserved for the musical number competition in the center of the show - and focused on the pointlessness of talent competitions in a high school setting. The focus of it - the too self-assured for his own good, Jesse. Although to be honest? I keep hoping they'll replace Finn with Jess, the actor playing Jesse not only has better chemistry with Rachel, but he's a better singer and dancer, plus, well hot. While the actor playing Finn is fairly wooden, and well Jesse's comment regarding his abilities at the beginning of the episode are sort of difficult to disagree with - everyone in Glee sings better than Finn does, and the only one that doesn't - can dance. They won't.
That said? Finn was actually good in this episode for a change. But the star? Hands down was Sue Sylvestrie and the remarkable Jane Lynch.
I cried during the Willy Wonka Song, but that song always makes me cry in Willy Wonka - the Gene Wilder version (we won't speak of that horrid thing with Johnny Depp). "Come with me...to a world of imagination..." It's a perfect song for a woman who remained pure of heart her entire life.
Innocence of childhood. Untainted by the cynicism of disappointment. Sue Sylvestrie's speech reminded me of my own for my Granny, just two years ago. Breaking down in tears during it, uncertain if you can somehow stumble on. To lose someone you love so much that you feel tethered to them - and when they are gone, it's as if that tether has been severed forever...you pull on it and they are no longer there. But you have to find a way to let go and go on, because life does go on.
Kurt and Finn's looks of awkward caring and fearful uncertainity while attempting to comfort Sue...were moving as well, and well acted.
To spice things up - we have the somewhat cringe-worthy diva competition - for vocal soloist, with Jesse and Will Shuester doing the judging, Jesse is doing a riff on reality shows and in particular Simon Cowell. And manages to emphasize all the flaws in that approach. Shuester eventually chooses to ignore Jesse's advice and decides the Glee club works best when everyone sings and works together - then when they jockey for position or work against each other. The same could be said for the series - it works best when the focus is on the ensemble and the ensemble working together, then on heterosexual romances (which the writers seem to feel the need to constantly satirize and badly at that) or the Rachel/Kurt show - which gets old after a bit.
Broader focus, broader universal themes, less on sexual relationships and romance. It's not that I don't like those topics, I do, but I'm not sure these writers have a handle on them - since the episodes which focus on sex and/or romantic relationships tend to be sloppily written and cringeworthy, while the episodes that focus on other themes, such as working together as a team over being too competitive, anti-bullying, being yourself, or supporting people who are different from you - seem to work better. They have some interesting and underutilized characters on this series - such as Tina, Mercedes, Artie, Puck, and Puck's girlfriend (whose name I can never remember).
The performances during the diva competition are uneven and one can't help but agree with Jesse, except that Kurt's number (while clearly a female diva number) was as enjoyable and wonderful as Rachel's and with Kurt singing it - had a rather nice twist. Santana is better at duets than solos - her voice is far too pitchy and raspy. Mercedes is a bit lazy...but her voice is amazing.
The difficulty I see, and if I were Jesse, I'd have said so - they aren't breaking out of their comfort zones, which by the way is completely in character. Rachel is going to pick a Barbara Striesand song - she's most comfortable with Barbara. And Kurt will go for Gypsey or Patti Lupone or Bernadette Peters. (I prefer Bernadette to Patti...but that's just me.) Personally I think Rachel and Kurt should sing more duets - their duets are amazing. They are also by far and away the strongest singers in the cast (outside of Jesse and Will Shuester - who can't perform at Regionals so don't count and are the other two who have done brilliant duets with Rachel, along with Idina Menzel who played her Mom (and I rather miss) and Kristen Chenuworth. ). Puck and Mercedes are next in line - great voices. Quinn too could do a great duet with Rachel. But Finn?
I rather loved Kurt in these last two episodes and he's particularly strong in this one, even though the focus isn't on him for a change.
I felt they wrapped up a few storylines rather quickly - the whole Sue Sylvestrie plot to take down Glee and get Will Shuester out of Glee Club seemed to unravel yet work at the same time. He's taking off after Regionals to do April's show over the summer. Emma isn't sure he'll come back.
And he hasn't mentioned it to the kids yet. I get the feeling he plans on staying in NYC after they finish the competition. (By the way - they did film on location and there were Glee concerts held in NYC this spring.) The Quinn/Finn thing finally ended - it was beyond boring. And while I was somewhat sympathetic towards Quinn, not so much for Finn. Personally - I prefer Rachel with Jesse, because I think they fit each other better and he's hot. That man can move and sing.
But I'm supposed to want her with Finn. It's just hard to take them seriously, because the writers aren't taking them seriously. The only relationships the writers take seriously are Santana/Brittany and Kurt/Blane. Everyone else is more less played as satire. And that's a problem.
Adds to the overall uneven-ness of the series or makes it jarring at times.
So...I rather liked this episode, but mainly for the Jean Sylvestrie funeral at the beginning, the Sue scenes throughout, the Rachel and Kurt numbers, and the Willy Wonka group number. Everything else I sort of ignored. And damn, if you are going to have Jesse - let the boy sing and dance.
He's a guest-star who should sing and dance, Gwenyth Paltrow is not.
B+
As an aside - rewatched Silence in the Library and Forests of the Dead this week - the 2008 Doctor Who episodes. Still blow me away. Although the bits inside the data bank of the library - bug me a little, they are so mundane, and remind me a bit too much of the surbuban hell of the Angel episode Underneath - making me wonder if Whedon's hell is Moffat's heaven? Interesting. May be a cultural thing. US suburbs are tad different than British ones. Bigger country, more vacant space.
(If you don't get what I meant by that - go rent the Cohen Brothers flick A Serious Man.)
This week had a moving production number and wrapped up several annoying subplots that were not working. (Wait was last week the Prom episode? If so, it wasn't that bad. It had a few good moments - the one's that did not focus on Finn/Quinn/Rachel and Jesse. Also the Sue/Artie scene about Artie spiking the punch was actually sort of funny. The Rumor's episode was the stinker.)
Sue Sylvestrie - when she's not being played for pure satire, is actually an interesting, amusing, and moving character. Not to mention relatable. Her relationship with her sister Jean, portrayed by an actress with Down's Syndrom, is realistic and touching. Glee is somewhat uneven in how it portrays people - the in-crowd or pretty people seem to pure satire - Quinn, Rachel, Jesse, Finn - almost too over the top in their romantic love triangles. I think the problem may be the desire to do biting social satire at the same time as well dramedy. Satire is tough to pull off. The least satirical episodes are actually the better ones. Here the satire was reserved for the musical number competition in the center of the show - and focused on the pointlessness of talent competitions in a high school setting. The focus of it - the too self-assured for his own good, Jesse. Although to be honest? I keep hoping they'll replace Finn with Jess, the actor playing Jesse not only has better chemistry with Rachel, but he's a better singer and dancer, plus, well hot. While the actor playing Finn is fairly wooden, and well Jesse's comment regarding his abilities at the beginning of the episode are sort of difficult to disagree with - everyone in Glee sings better than Finn does, and the only one that doesn't - can dance. They won't.
That said? Finn was actually good in this episode for a change. But the star? Hands down was Sue Sylvestrie and the remarkable Jane Lynch.
I cried during the Willy Wonka Song, but that song always makes me cry in Willy Wonka - the Gene Wilder version (we won't speak of that horrid thing with Johnny Depp). "Come with me...to a world of imagination..." It's a perfect song for a woman who remained pure of heart her entire life.
Innocence of childhood. Untainted by the cynicism of disappointment. Sue Sylvestrie's speech reminded me of my own for my Granny, just two years ago. Breaking down in tears during it, uncertain if you can somehow stumble on. To lose someone you love so much that you feel tethered to them - and when they are gone, it's as if that tether has been severed forever...you pull on it and they are no longer there. But you have to find a way to let go and go on, because life does go on.
Kurt and Finn's looks of awkward caring and fearful uncertainity while attempting to comfort Sue...were moving as well, and well acted.
To spice things up - we have the somewhat cringe-worthy diva competition - for vocal soloist, with Jesse and Will Shuester doing the judging, Jesse is doing a riff on reality shows and in particular Simon Cowell. And manages to emphasize all the flaws in that approach. Shuester eventually chooses to ignore Jesse's advice and decides the Glee club works best when everyone sings and works together - then when they jockey for position or work against each other. The same could be said for the series - it works best when the focus is on the ensemble and the ensemble working together, then on heterosexual romances (which the writers seem to feel the need to constantly satirize and badly at that) or the Rachel/Kurt show - which gets old after a bit.
Broader focus, broader universal themes, less on sexual relationships and romance. It's not that I don't like those topics, I do, but I'm not sure these writers have a handle on them - since the episodes which focus on sex and/or romantic relationships tend to be sloppily written and cringeworthy, while the episodes that focus on other themes, such as working together as a team over being too competitive, anti-bullying, being yourself, or supporting people who are different from you - seem to work better. They have some interesting and underutilized characters on this series - such as Tina, Mercedes, Artie, Puck, and Puck's girlfriend (whose name I can never remember).
The performances during the diva competition are uneven and one can't help but agree with Jesse, except that Kurt's number (while clearly a female diva number) was as enjoyable and wonderful as Rachel's and with Kurt singing it - had a rather nice twist. Santana is better at duets than solos - her voice is far too pitchy and raspy. Mercedes is a bit lazy...but her voice is amazing.
The difficulty I see, and if I were Jesse, I'd have said so - they aren't breaking out of their comfort zones, which by the way is completely in character. Rachel is going to pick a Barbara Striesand song - she's most comfortable with Barbara. And Kurt will go for Gypsey or Patti Lupone or Bernadette Peters. (I prefer Bernadette to Patti...but that's just me.) Personally I think Rachel and Kurt should sing more duets - their duets are amazing. They are also by far and away the strongest singers in the cast (outside of Jesse and Will Shuester - who can't perform at Regionals so don't count and are the other two who have done brilliant duets with Rachel, along with Idina Menzel who played her Mom (and I rather miss) and Kristen Chenuworth. ). Puck and Mercedes are next in line - great voices. Quinn too could do a great duet with Rachel. But Finn?
I rather loved Kurt in these last two episodes and he's particularly strong in this one, even though the focus isn't on him for a change.
I felt they wrapped up a few storylines rather quickly - the whole Sue Sylvestrie plot to take down Glee and get Will Shuester out of Glee Club seemed to unravel yet work at the same time. He's taking off after Regionals to do April's show over the summer. Emma isn't sure he'll come back.
And he hasn't mentioned it to the kids yet. I get the feeling he plans on staying in NYC after they finish the competition. (By the way - they did film on location and there were Glee concerts held in NYC this spring.) The Quinn/Finn thing finally ended - it was beyond boring. And while I was somewhat sympathetic towards Quinn, not so much for Finn. Personally - I prefer Rachel with Jesse, because I think they fit each other better and he's hot. That man can move and sing.
But I'm supposed to want her with Finn. It's just hard to take them seriously, because the writers aren't taking them seriously. The only relationships the writers take seriously are Santana/Brittany and Kurt/Blane. Everyone else is more less played as satire. And that's a problem.
Adds to the overall uneven-ness of the series or makes it jarring at times.
So...I rather liked this episode, but mainly for the Jean Sylvestrie funeral at the beginning, the Sue scenes throughout, the Rachel and Kurt numbers, and the Willy Wonka group number. Everything else I sort of ignored. And damn, if you are going to have Jesse - let the boy sing and dance.
He's a guest-star who should sing and dance, Gwenyth Paltrow is not.
B+
As an aside - rewatched Silence in the Library and Forests of the Dead this week - the 2008 Doctor Who episodes. Still blow me away. Although the bits inside the data bank of the library - bug me a little, they are so mundane, and remind me a bit too much of the surbuban hell of the Angel episode Underneath - making me wonder if Whedon's hell is Moffat's heaven? Interesting. May be a cultural thing. US suburbs are tad different than British ones. Bigger country, more vacant space.
(If you don't get what I meant by that - go rent the Cohen Brothers flick A Serious Man.)
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-18 03:45 am (UTC)I'm actually more excited for next season now that they've closed off some of the past stories that they kept recycling (Sue constantly trying to bring down the Glee club)... now they'll need to come up with something completely new (hopefully).
no subject
Date: 2011-05-18 02:05 pm (UTC)That's why I love your meta - you are doing my thinking for me!
This ep made me realize that I LOVE JL with the big love. Great character, great actor.
Looking forward to your meta on The Good Wife!!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-19 12:04 pm (UTC)Bwah! That's brilliant. :D