After a couple of weeks of pretty decent episodes, I’m not sure how I feel about this week’s episode of Glee. It was nice to see an episode where the music actually fit into the story with Rachel giving Kurt some pointers on how to handle a solo audition, and then the rest of the music were from the performances at Sectionals. What I wasn’t too keen on was just how unlikeable most of the characters were this week.
I know a lot of fans of the show are really over Rachel by this point and even in one moment where she almost redeems herself, this week brought her back to new lows as she freaked out about not getting a solo at Sectionals, then freaked out at Finn when she found out he did have sex with Santana — when they were broken up — and then tried to do the same with Puck just to hurt Finn. At least Puck had a conscience and told her he’d already been down that road with Finn and couldn’t do it again. Telling Finn about her little dalliance right after he said “I love you” may have sealed Finchel’s fate … at least until it’s convenient for them to get back together again.
Then there was Tina and Artie. At first, Artie was really kind and supportive to Brittany, giving her his ‘magic comb’ to help her get over her nerves for her dance routine with Mike at Sectionals. But Tina had to come along and suspect Mike and Brittany of cheating without ever even talking to Mike. She felt it more important to voice her suspicions to Artie, who tried to blow them off with reason, but even he began to suspect when Brittany kept avoiding him in school. When he confronted her about her adultery, which she thought meant being stupid like a dolt, she confessed that she had lost his magic comb. At least all was well in the end with those four.
And poor Will. Try as he might, Emma put Carl before him when he invited her to Sectionals as the club’s good luck charm and when they got back, she not only broke his heart but she ripped it out of his chest and stomped on it when she told Will that she and Carl went to Vegas and got hitched. She certainly seems to be in a better place with Carl, but that last shot of her in his arms showed that she has doubts about that relationship. Meanwhile, Kurt is learning that the safe haven of Dalton Academy also means conforming and Kurt is definitely not one to conform. And what seemed like some instant bonding earlier between Blaine and Kurt was missing this week as Blaine seemed to be keeping his distance (although I did like when he got a little teary during Kurt’s solo audition).
So, I don’t know about this week’s episode. I loved the performances and especially the choreography during New Directions’s second number. But all of the heartbreak left me a bit cold.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Dec 01, 2010 @ 10:30 EST5EDT
The most likely character on the show is Puck, what does that tell you about the characters?
This week’s episode made me go “Why am I watching this trash?”, the characters are horrible human beings and if half of them got hit by a bus I don’t think I would care one bit.
Rachael needs to grow up, same with Kurt, you aren’t the center of any universe but your own and you will die alone because of it.
*POST AUTHOR*
I really hate to agree with you this week, but if they don’t start being consistent with the characters and at least give us one person to identify with and root for, they run the risk of alienating viewers who won’t watch if they feel like there’s no one to care about. At least Mr. Schue finally blew up at Rachel and told her how selfish she is, but she never takes those comments to heart and acts on them. As for Kurt, maybe he’ll stick it out at Dalton and come out a less selfish individual while learning how to be part of a group. Rachel is beyond redemption at this point.
Well Next week Rachael will probably be fine, and then a bitch the week after that. I see Rachael and Kurt being way too similar, but they are completely random with how they act! Kurt one week will be tough, center of the universe, than the next week he’s crying, then the next week he’s a bitch, then the next week he is crying.
But Racheal… wow.. I never liked her, but it seems they went “Let’s make her a bigger bitch for season 2!”, it just doesn’t work! At this point I wish they would add a few new characters because next year most of the cast will be leaving anyways (or whenever they are graduating), and just start over with only a few left.
I’m just glad that the other characters besides Kurt had storylines even if they were completely lame.
I couldn’t stand the tie at the end either, ridiculous even for Glee. There are three teams and two of them tied?
I agree with Chuck — if Will hadn’t chewed out Rachel (and everyone at some point) I would have been more irritated. The characters have not been well-written which is disappointing, but I really liked the music in this episode, which hasn’t happened for a long time. Although I do admit to having Keith FF the Rachel ballad. It’s like I can’t stand her so much that I have lost sight of the fact that Lea Michelle really has an incredible voice. It just grates on me now, like the character. Ad yes, Oreo, the tie was super-lame. Um, just sing another song and you can break the tie????
*POST AUTHOR*
As much as I’m disliking Rachel, I still like Lea’s voice and I loved the inter-cutting between Rachel and Kurt during that song (although putting Rachel on a balcony was a little too cliché). And we all agree the tie was lame, but how else could they have gotten both the Warblers and New Directions into Regionals? I thought for sure The Hipsters would have gotten the sympathy vote! I did really like seeing Puck almost in tears during their performance.
Frankly, I’m not sure what real “reason” that the Warblers and New Directions being in the same Sectionals was … In fact, if they’d crafted any other reason for Kurt to visit the school weeks ago other than “scouting the competition” then ND could have just visited the “other” Sectionals to cheer on Kurt and be scouting at this point.
Then no frakking tie.
Though, truly, of all of the ridiculous things Glee has pulled in 1.5 seasons, this Tie is not exactly the most cliched move they’ve pulled.
But Glee last year used to be an over the top comedy, dramedy type show. This year it hasn’t been as funny, and almost seems to real world now with the Kurt Emo Hour.
And like you said, there was no reason at all for the tie, just say Kurt went to the all boys school because it’s an all boys school! then have them meet up at regionals.
*POST AUTHOR*
I don’t really know much about how these glee club things work, but I would assume they are divided into districts and if a school (or old folks home) is in the same district, then they have to compete in the same Sectional.
A tie is a lame plot contrivance, to be sure, but – and again I am not conversant in glee club rules – I would assume that the clubs prepare for their allotted numbers and don’t put any effort into a “sing-off” number. So it wouldn’t be fair to ask them to bust out another number unexpectedly. In real life, there should be an odd number of judges to prevent the possibility of a tie. For the story, having ND compete against the Warblers creates drama for Kurt, if he sticks it out at Dalton, by forcing him to compete against his old group … because you know it will come down to McKinley and Dalton at Regionals.
And Kurt didn’t go to Dalton just to go to Dalton. He went for his own safety.
I kinda feel like they are trying to give us too many characters now. And instead of focusing on just a couple of them at a time, they give just snippets of each, which is just not satisfying to watch.
For example, Quinn had a baby and gave it up for adoption – and all we get is that she now wants to take it slow with Sam and get back to being popular?! There could be so much more to explore in that. Mercedes pretty much has no storylines since the focus shifted to Kurt. And anything we find out about any of the other characters now is superficial crap.
Rachel is getting annoying BUT I think it could be interesting if they actually bother to get right into the reasons for her annoying-ness – again by elaborating the storylines. Obviously she has incredibly low self-esteem outside of Glee – that’s how I view her behaviour this week anyway – so I’m hoping they explore that more. I also think they need to plausibly change her character for us to continue watching her without vomiting…