So here's the thing. I've been on the Glee band wagon since day one. I have a deep and abiding appreciation for musicals and All that Jazz. I was a member of the Drama Club in high school for Pete's sake, so if anyone knows what it's like to be derided at that age, c'est moi! And that's one of the main reasons why I fell so unabashedly in love with this show. Television dramedy conventions aside, I felt the writers really did a great job of tapping into what it felt like to be a creative teen in high school, living on the outskirts of popularity due to a talent that had nothing to do with throwing, kicking, or dribbling a ball. To bask in the unadulterated joy of being enveloped amongst your quirky peers in a room with (sometimes an equally quirky and dare I say downright creepy) adult facilitator, and talking about all the same things. Acceptance at the core. To look into the eyes of others and know that they get you. Oh how good it feels to be got at that age. Hell, at any age really.
And because it felt so authentic in its delivery and its experience, I reacted overwhelmingly with delight and (for sheer cheesy/corny affect) GLEE, at watching a fictionalized version of what I remembered about the best and oddest moments of my teenage years. To put it bluntly, they had me at first slushy. And I've been a faithful Gleek ever since.
I find myself at times, skimming the comment sections as they pertain to this show, just to see what the tweens are thinking. And for the past year and a half, they've been clearly upset with certain choices that have been made in the writer's room. I recall similar dissention in the ranks of the Ugly Betty viewership, but that at least could be blamed partially on the writer's strike. No such excuse this time around. Being an adult and further removed from the redundant and quite mundane activities of the American high school experience, I chalked most of that petulant discourse up to adolescent ignorance, and I kept it moving. Much of what was bothersome to them didn't seem to affect me really, as my main concern is and has always been, the plight of Mercedes. From jump I could see the romantic triangle situation--the Rachel, Quinn, Finn of it all. Then, since they couldn't make Rachel and Finn skip off into happily ever after in the first season, I knew they'd pair her up with someone else. Didn't know it'd be two someone elses (insert Puck and Jesse now). But as I knew it was coming as a way to create jealousy in Finn and get him to realize that Rachel's who he really desires, I wasn't that emotive about it. Color me indifferent. It was entertaining as it needed to be, but I really didn't care as much. Mainly because I'm not a Rachel fan. She reminds me too much of the crazy theater bitches I grew up with, and so she serves as the fictional stand in for my very real (and still salient) hostility. Guess it's true. We never outgrow high school.
Some say last season took a veer off course, and many (critics and friends alike) claim it was weak. I didn't feel that way. I still tuned in week after week. I still enjoyed how the songs chosen for the most part furthered the plot, and it was clear to me anyway, that they were chosen with the character's intention in mind. I enjoyed that even if i didn't particularly like the song. I watched the inevitable reconciliation of Rachel and Finn at season's end. I endured their quadrangle thing with other folks. And more so, I was really easily roped into the whole Kurt situation. I felt season two was finally paying attention to the forgotten members of New Directions. That they were finally trying to delve into other characters' stories, and I was ready for that. Mercedes continued to be stuck in the background, but hey, she's not gay or tormented. She's just the fat black chick. She can wait.
I felt a show like Glee had a responsibility to tackle a topic that was so prevalent in high schools across the country. They were on the cutting edge of the issue of teen suicide and teen homosexuality; and I felt they handled it with integrity and maturity. Very reminiscent of John Hughes, who never condescended to his teenage audience.
But just like with gangsta movies, there's a time to tell that story, and a time to move the fuck on! And what I'm saying to Ryan Murphy et al is precisely that. MOVE. THE FUCK. ON. It just feels like they're stuck in this rut of bullying and gay teens and more bullying, and more gay teens, and Rachel and Finn, and Puck and Quinn, and bullying and gay teens. And oh! Mercedes has a diva fit. And then we're back to bullying gay teens. And Rachel. And Finn. And Santana now and her lesbian gayness and bullying. Are these really the only stories left to tell? Out of all the characters bursting at the seams of the show? And since that singing reality show is gonna breed more nuts to the factory, is this all we, the viewers, are gonna be subjected to? I hate it when I can see the strings. When I know where we're going before we even get there. That's not a journey. It's the road trip from hell in the back seat of my grandfather's Buick listening to Glenn Miller all the way.
Let's see some real truth. I mean, TV truth, but still. I'm sick of watching these kids love all over top of each other. The unending support for one another is sickening. The kids I went to school with would shank each other with a sharpened toothbrush in order to get the lead in the school play. That could be cause I'm from Jersey, but still. There was always a fair amount of death at stake for a good role. And I don't see that here. Everything feels so sanitized. Like unless we decide to make an episode about kids being mean to each other and bang the hell outta that drum, then we have to make them all love each other. I don't know too many people who would continue to be kind to someone who constantly and viciously berated them. Again, this could be cause I don't know many kind hearted souls. But again, not the point.
I guess what I'm really saying is let's get some other stories goin here--get into some other characters. And let's give this dog some bite. Give him some teeth and watch him rip the tender flesh from the succulent bones of opportunity. Then again, I guess I have The Walking Dead for that.
Till next time, lovers!
No comments:
Post a Comment