Glee catch-up

[chuckro]

It seems like most of the comments I have to make have already been made by folks who are watching the show when it actually airs. Season 2 have been problematically overwhelmed with sub-plots but lacking in any real main plots. Someone made a comment that it seemed like the writers expected the show to be cancelled halfway through the first season, and when it wasn't, they had no idea how to handle that. It seems like a decent theory, given that most of this season has been a rollercoaster of "Oh, hey, let's do X!" If they hadn't established the show as having significant continuity in the first place--if it had started more sitcom-like--I don't think this would be as much of a problem.

I think, though, I'm much happier with the show when I remember my season 1 mantra, "These are the worst people ever." When you get through a full season and the characters have been humanized a bit and you have sympathy for them, you tend to forget that. But seriously, Will is a dick and a chump. Sue is an asshole who is out of her goddamn mind. We can go on and on with this about each of the kids, but honestly, the only ones who don't come off as horrible are the ones who never have the show's focus on them (Tina and Mike tend to get ignored and haven't done much that was terrible; Eyebrows McGayboy just needs more time to catch up). These people aren't role models, and every moral one can read from the show should be suspect.

This show does not reflect reality. They have an infinite budget for the band, sets, flashpots and costumes; but the shortbus is too expensive. The school has, at most, five employees plus the guy who sells slushies; and the get fired or quit and get rehired on a weekly basis. The town has exactly one restaurant and it's an Olive Garden knockoff. Seriously, Sue becomes "permanent" principal for two episodes because Figgins was sick. In what universe of academic politics?

TVTropes gives us the MST3K mantra: "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes / And other science facts / Then repeat to yourself 'It's just a show, / I should really just relax.'" It's improved my enjoyment of Glee immensely.

This also got me thinking about the difference between shows that are written to be watched all at once, vs. those intended to be watched in "real time". Consider Heroes versus Dawson's Creek. Each episode of Heroes leads directly into the next, often involving a cliffhanger. Watching five episodes in a room seems like a smooth, continuous experience. Dawson's Creek was written more to "simulate" a high school experience, so each episode takes place over a couple of days, and it's implied that a week or two takes place between each one. If characters are dating for three episodes, it's treated as if they were dating for about a month, and that things are happening "off camera" / "while we're away". Watching a show that's intended for DVD on a week-by-week basis can be painful because it doesn't seem to move enough. (I had this problem with the last season of Star Trek: DS9.) Watching a show intended for weekly breaks in large chunks can cause similar problems, because you get mood whiplash. Well, if you care about the characters, that is.

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I don't have too much of a problem with the characters being terrible, terrible people. Will's first autonomous act was to frame Finn for a drug violation. The existance of the glee club is founded on this completely despicable act.

I think I get bothered when the show itself gets its morals confused. The continued beatification of Kurt bothers me. Nearly every episode this season has made Kurt into a martyr, and/or features a long speech about how wonderful Kurt is. Kurt's a narcissistic, manipulative little twit. He's barely any better than Rachel. That's ok; I like him that way. But it seems that his status as gay trumps his actual actions; because he's a persecuted minority, his actual actions don't seem to matter much. It sells him short, and makes him less interesting. Let the gay kid be just as venal as the rest of the characters. This does the cause no favors.

Romances with Brittany are disturbing; she's got the mental capacity of a six-year-old, making consent extremely dubious. And the go-nowhere Tater Tot rebellion plotline seemed to be just an extended riff on how fat black girls are obsessed with stuffing unhealthy food in their faces. I wish they'd made Tina or Santana the one obsessed with fried potatoes instead of Mercedes.

The show doesn't quite have the courage of its convictions. Kurt didn't want to go to church, for good reason. He gave in, for no real reason. Mercedes didn't want to date a guy only because he was black, again for good reason. Again, after a brief stand, she folded for no good reason. They have the courage to bring up the issue, but not the guts to actually deal with them. They want the acclaim for bringing up stuff without actually doing the work.

So it doesn't so much bother me that Quinn's insulting Rachel and Puck spent a night in a Porto-Potty; it's internally consistent. But the showrunners need the guts to follow through.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

They want the acclaim for bringing up stuff without actually doing the work.

Definitely a fair shot. They're not particularly using it or subverting it, it's just...there. It's kinda like the problem of "Aw Yeah Green Lantern!" as the entire joke.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

They have the courage to bring up the issue, but not the guts to actually deal with them.

THIS TIMES A THOUSAND. I mean, having an episode about an atheist facing a crisis could have been an attempt to show that different people do things differently, while neither denigrating those of faith or those of pure reason. It ended up doing nothing but insulting both parties while simultaneously beatifying them--as in, yes, this objection to/insistence upon religion is stupid, but, look! It works! Apparently!