Glee

MelodyO · Nov 20, 2009

I watched the first three episodes of Glee back when they first aired and HATED them. Fast forward to this week, when my 14 year old daughter asked me to watch to watch one more episode with her online. We watched one, then two, then all the rest of them, loving each one more than the last. We're total Gleeks now! I haven't been this excited about a show since Buffy, and that's saying something.

My problem at the beginning was that I thought this was going to be a drama like Fame (which I adored back in the day), when in fact it's much more a screwball comedy. To fully appreciate Glee, you have to sit back and just let it happen to you. The music! The angst! The silly, silly adults! \0/ Kurt is our favourite character by a mile, but I think Finn has given us the biggest laughs of all. "Driving is fun!" *postal carrier hits windshield* was an instant classic, and his line this week (paraphrasing here), "I have to go; they might think I'm pooping." We howled.

Funnily enough, even though my daughter and I LOL like mad while watching, it's also given us many opportunities to talk about HS, fitting in, homosexuality, and teen pregnancy. Thanks, Glee.

Leah J. Utas · Nov 27, 2009

Help me, please. I messed up recording the other night and missed out on the last few minutes of Wednesday's ep. Disc was full at the 47 minute or so mark during "Imagine." What did I miss at the end?
Still shaking my head over the hysterical pregnancy plotline. I hope the end of it is quick and merciful.

RoseColoredSkies · Nov 27, 2009

Will axed the horrid hairography number and gave Sue the new set list. Quinn is giving her baby to Terri (again) after she found out Puck was sexting Santana while they were babysitting. Will bought this horrid looking minivan (so they would have a place to put the car seat for the baby). Kurt and Rachel are back on good terms and Sue went to the other schools to try and give the the set list info.

Leah J. Utas · Nov 27, 2009

Thanks for the recap, RoseColoredSkies.

Kitty Pryde · Nov 27, 2009

Am I the only one who found "Bootylicious" to be an extremely displeasing musical number? They could have done something less wretched.

I really like the "Imagine" scene--big kudos to the writers for not going the route of mockery or pity with the kids at the deaf school. The scenes with the "deaf in one ear" teacher were lousy though. His hearing is much worse than he thinks it is...um, ha ha?

Also, LOVED True Colors! Great song, great a capella version of it

katiemac · Nov 27, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
Am I the only one who found "Bootylicious" to be an extremely displeasing musical number? They could have done something less wretched.

I really like the "Imagine" scene--big kudos to the writers for not going the route of mockery or pity with the kids at the deaf school. The scenes with the "deaf in one ear" teacher were lousy though. His hearing is much worse than he thinks it is...um, ha ha?

Also, LOVED True Colors! Great song, great a capella version of it

I agree with everything you said. But that's why this show can be so weird ... it's, hey, let's break down stereotypes! But then let's also make jokes because lousy hearing is funny!

Other shows do that kind of social comedy much better ... as much as people can dislike Steve Carell on The Office, his character is always the expense of the joke for not understanding how to handle the situation, and not the other person.

But yeah, Bootylicious was bad. It's one of those other things ... Mostly black school, give them a black woman's song, right? I know the New Directions glee club has done a fairly wide range of music, but still. That pretty much screamed stereotype to me, too.

Sage · Nov 28, 2009

Ha, I missed Bootylicious because of company, couldn't hear half the ep (kinda ironic in retrospect), and missed various parts during the ep. Now that I've seen it all, yeah, I wasn't that impressed with Bootylicious, but at least the hairography makes sense now.

I think the point of the Bootylicious scene, though, was that the girls didn't go above and beyond. They didn't smash stereotypes, they didn't sing that well (it wasn't really a singer song), and they relied on the choreography.

Then we got to the school for the deaf, and while they didn't sing well either, they moved their audience, and the choreography was involved in that, so that showed a totally different side to it.

I don't think the jokes about the director's hearing were too bad, mostly because of the ridiculous way they treat almost all the adults on this show (although, when contrasted to the very real and serious portrayal of the girls' choir director, I suppose we could still claim that it was unfair). But I think they go out of their way to show different sides to the same "type" of character. The school for criminals, where the students steal wallets and rely on tricks with their choreography to razzle dazzle the audience, while their director is just trying to do the right thing. The school for deaf, where the director is over the top hard of hearing, but the students are able to move our MCs with their singing and signing and who recognize the craziness of hairography.

Sage · Nov 28, 2009

Also, iTunes has "Don't Make Me Over" in their download list for this ep, but it didn't make it into the episode. Seemed like Mercedes was going to sing it. I wonder why it got cut and if it was part of the Rachel storyline or something else for Mercedes.

katiemac · Dec 2, 2009

No more fake baby!!!

KTC · Dec 3, 2009

thank god!

what a great episode, by the way.

now if you'll excuse me...I'm off to buy a mattress.

Grrarrgh · Dec 3, 2009

Loved it! I was so happy to see the fake baby story come to an end. I can't wait for sectionals next week, but I'm going to be very sad to have to say goodbye until April.

Sage · Dec 3, 2009

I loved the drama of him finding out about the fake baby, even though the scene itself didn't seem particularly Glee-ish (as in not exactly fitting with the rest of the series, not that I expected it to be full of glee

)

I can't wait for the finale. I hope I don't miss it (there's a chance I'll be working out of town)

CheekyWench · Dec 3, 2009

anybody else think Will was kinda hot when he got angry? just me?

RoseColoredSkies · Dec 3, 2009

Personally, I always think Will looks hot so....

I get the feeling from next week's promo that the Finn/Quinn/Puck triangle may also come to an end. Was it me or did it look like Finn was punching someone (possibly Puck)?

willietheshakes · Dec 3, 2009

Sage said:
I loved the drama of him finding out about the fake baby, even though the scene itself didn't seem particularly Glee-ish (as in not exactly fitting with the rest of the series, not that I expected it to be full of glee )

My wife and I talked about this at length after the episode -- I think the scene worked because it WASN'T the tone we were expecting from the show, but it was true to the characters. Will has spent the whole season (his whole life?) capitulating and rolling over and not making waves -- he accepts what the world hands him, accepts 'compromises' where he can (ie, the quarter page ad/photo), and generally gets by. With the baby, he was pushed to his breaking point, and reacted...

I thought it was well done.

dragonjax · Dec 3, 2009

I thought the end of the fake-baby situation was BRILLIANT. Wonderfully written and acted.* It was close to perfect.

Wait -- after next week's fall finale...that's it until APRIL??? Seriously??? Say it ain't so!!!

*(And God, yes, Will of the Righteous Ire is incredibly sexy.)

CaroGirl · Dec 3, 2009

CheekyWench said:
anybody else think Will was kinda hot when he got angry? just me?

Yeah. Hot fer sure.

Grrarrgh · Dec 3, 2009

CheekyWench said:
anybody else think Will was kinda hot when he got angry? just me?

Definitely not just you. :e2heartbe

I loved the scene. When she first said that it was a baby bump used for trying on maternity clothes, I said (out loud to the dog) that if he bought that load of crap without even a question, I was going to have to reconsider the show. This story line has been really bothering me. But I thought his reaction was as true-to-life as you're going to get from a show like this. The look on his face when she said that she had planned to take Quinn's baby was genuinely heartbreaking.

Toothpaste · Dec 3, 2009

Enjoyed the episode (agree with the hot sentiment

), but am getting more and more frustrated with the overproduced sound for the musical numbers. It sounds so studio purified, in fact when I first started watching the show, I didn't realise the actors were singing their own stuff, it all sounded like they'd been dubbed. Especially the duet this time, where they actually used that computer thing to make her voice have that mechanical quality. Why is that necessary? Cleaning up the sound so much loses a lot of the heart in my mind, the rawness and emotion. It's a pity.

RoseColoredSkies · Dec 3, 2009

Did anyone else expect Will to confront Quinn about the baby situation? I did and was a little disappointed that he didn't.

willietheshakes · Dec 3, 2009

RoseColoredSkies said:
Did anyone else expect Will to confront Quinn about the baby situation? I did and was a little disappointed that he didn't.

So far...

Grrarrgh · Dec 3, 2009

Toothpaste said:
Enjoyed the episode (agree with the hot sentiment ), but am getting more and more frustrated with the overproduced sound for the musical numbers. It sounds so studio purified, in fact when I first started watching the show, I didn't realise the actors were singing their own stuff, it all sounded like they'd been dubbed. Especially the duet this time, where they actually used that computer thing to make her voice have that mechanical quality. Why is that necessary? Cleaning up the sound so much loses a lot of the heart in my mind, the rawness and emotion. It's a pity.

Yeah, that duet with Rachel and Finn was almost painful for me to watch. I found the sound of it completely jarring - I couldn't focus on anything except how bizarre it sounded.

Sage · Dec 3, 2009

It makes a nice download, but yeah, the overproduced songs on the show do make it hard to believe they're singing (I mean, they're obviously lip-syncing to the studio recording anyway). The earlier eps (especially the Push It ep and the Acafella ep) were horribly dubbed to those studio recordings, and if you watch and listen to "I Say a Little Prayer for You," I swear you hear more voices in the song than there were girls singing it, but they've gotten better at it over time.

But I do kinda forgive them for it, because I accept it as the comedy/musical aspect of the show. Similar to the part of musicals that lets people burst into well-choreographed songs and dances for no reason.

Kathleen42 · Dec 3, 2009

Toothpaste said:
Enjoyed the episode (agree with the hot sentiment ), but am getting more and more frustrated with the overproduced sound for the musical numbers. It sounds so studio purified, in fact when I first started watching the show, I didn't realise the actors were singing their own stuff, it all sounded like they'd been dubbed. Especially the duet this time, where they actually used that computer thing to make her voice have that mechanical quality. Why is that necessary? Cleaning up the sound so much loses a lot of the heart in my mind, the rawness and emotion. It's a pity.

Same here. Really noticed it last night and found it detracted a bit.

katiemac · Dec 3, 2009

Enjoyed the episode (agree with the hot sentiment ), but am getting more and more frustrated with the overproduced sound for the musical numbers. It sounds so studio purified, in fact when I first started watching the show, I didn't realise the actors were singing their own stuff, it all sounded like they'd been dubbed. Especially the duet this time, where they actually used that computer thing to make her voice have that mechanical quality. Why is that necessary? Cleaning up the sound so much loses a lot of the heart in my mind, the rawness and emotion. It's a pity.

This has always been a problem I have with the show. I understand they'd be lip-synching no matter what, but it doesn't have to sound so much like they are. The duet was especially problematic.

Did anyone else expect Will to confront Quinn about the baby situation? I did and was a little disappointed that he didn't.

I think it would be great if they talked about it, but I don't think he'd 'confront' her. The look on his face when Terry told him about Quinn, though, was pretty priceless.

Glee

Waiting for love on the web

Protecting Teddy with all my might.

It's a long and winding road

Protecting Teddy with all my might.

i luv you giant bear statue

Five by Five

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Five by Five

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Not so new, not so much a kid

Our Lady of Parentheticals

O.o

It's a long and winding road

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

I write stuff and break boards.

Living the dream

Not so new, not so much a kid

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

It's a long and winding road

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

Not so new, not so much a kid

Our Lady of Parentheticals

crushing on fictional characters

Five by Five