The TV Chick

I have thought a lot about last night’s episode, that made me break down in tears on more than one occasion. I try not to read too many reviews before I start my own, but one in particular struck a chord with me. It was all about how one storyline from last night’s episode was done in a terrible way, despite some good acting. I want to respectfully disagree, and I will elaborate more on that later.

“Theatricality” focused on two major stories: Rachel and her new found mom, Shelby and Kurt, Finn and his dad. Overall, it was about being true to yourself, which I think is a common lesson taught at McKinley High. Tina was in trouble for dressing like a goth (partly because Figgins thinks vampires are real) and is struggling to find a new look. Vocal Adrenaline was pulling out all the stops and going Gaga. In response, Schue decides that the Glee club’s assignment is to go Gaga as well. This of course excites Kurt, the girls (and me) and results in a mind-blowing performance of “Bad Romance.” Gaga to the rescue for Tina! I am constantly amazed by how the covers of these songs completely trump the originals. I love Lady Gaga, don’t get me wrong, but this was amazing. All of the girls and Kurt walk around in crazy Gaga gear, and Kurt gets a lot of flack for it. The rest of the Glee club did too, though. Rachel’s crazy stuffed animal costume (because her dads couldn’t sew) was hilarious.

When part of the Glee club goes to spy on Vocal Adrenaline, Shelby sings “Funny Girl,” which leads Rachel to confronting her mom. It was certainly not the warmest of receptions, and Rachel shared a sweet metaphor about her dads bringing her water when she was upset, so she wasn’t sure if she was sad or thirsty. They have a nice talk but it wasn’t exactly Shelby begging Rachel to be her mom. This particular storyline hit home for me for reasons I don’t tend to share with a lot of people (more of a dad thing than a mom thing) In any case, there was no sugar coating here. You might expect in a show that is full of music and happiness that Rachel would go running into her mom’s arms and all would be great in the world again. But Shelby sees that she’s missed out on so much, including her chance to be a real mother.

In Kurt/Finn world, Finn is upset that he has to move in with Kurt and his dad. Kurt decides to redecorate the room to impress Finn. Their relationship is a complicated one, that’s for sure. Any unrequited love is complicated. I know I went through my fair share of crushes in high school, and none of them were over once the other one found out. Emotions don’t just automatically go away, no matter how hard you try. You change and grow and eventually get over it. Believe me, I think often of embarrassing crush moments, but I had them. Everyone does. I don’t think that Kurt having an innocent crush on Finn was an irrelevant storyline. If anything, it was realistic. People want things they can’t have, even if they try to manipulate things to have them.

When Finn comes home to his newly redecorated room, he goes off on Kurt. He calls some of the decorations the “f” word and yells at him a lot. Kurt’s dad (Burt) hears what’s going on and completely loses it. He puts Finn in his place, and confronts his ignorance. He says that he used to call things the “f” word before and he knows what it means. Finn meant it in that way, and he can’t have poison like that living under his roof. This was a powerhouse performance by Mike O’Malley and if anyone deserves a Guest Emmy nomination, it’s him. I think that it all made sense in context. Burt may not have known about the Finn crush but what Finn said was still awful. Kurt’s redecoration might have been in an effort to win Finn over, but as I said, we all do things in high school we regret.

Burt’s speech was touching, amazing and powerful. If only we could all have dad’s that would come to our defense like that. The world would be a much better place. Also, I’d like to note, that Kurt tried to stop him in the beginning too, coming to Finn’s defense. Finn was wrong in saying what he did, and he was put in his place. I’m sure he was confused too, though. He certainly redeems himself in the end.

Rachel goes to speak to her mom one more time, who is leaving (town?). Shelby talks to her about the difference between a mom and a mother and gives her a star glass and asks her when she gets thirsty to drink from that glass. Rachel asks her to sing together and she makes the surprising choice of “Poker Face.” However, their arrangement certainly worked. Who knew?! This was the other moment that brought me to tears. I obviously don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of Shelby. Perhaps she and Rachel will have some sort of relationship, but it’s not all that easy. The hug between them at the end made you see how desperate Rachel is for a mother, but it doesn’t mean this will just happen overnight. I would have liked to see more discussion like the one they had before Shelby left, but I thought it was great nonetheless.

Back to the Kurt/Finn story. Towards the end of the episode, Kurt is in his crazy Gaga outfit and the jocks are about to beat him up when Finn comes to his rescue in his own shower curtain dress/outfit. Seeing him in this outfit was quite interesting to say the least, but I think the message of the whole thing was that he was showing that he was legitimately sorry, and that everyone says things they don’t mean when they are angry. I thought the end scene that wasn’t a huge musical number was kind of saying “Hey, look everyone, we learned a lesson!” but I don’t think that detracted from what went on with Kurt and Burt. The show needs moments like this to keep it grounded. The lesson of togetherness and calling out ignorance is a good one in any context. That said, I’m sure Kurt’s antics will come out eventually and be addressed (I hope!) but I don’t think they were particularly shocking or will result in any sort of shocking consequences.

I realize I have gone this far and not mentioned a ton of the music. The Glee guys aren’t as crazy for Gaga and they sing Kiss’ “Shout It Out Loud” which I thought was creative but I wasn’t super thrilled with it. Then again, in any musical, are you crazy about every single song? Puck (and the guys) sing “Beth” to Quinn. Quinn and Puck previously had a discussion about Puck’s horrible baby name idea (Jack Daniels or Jackie Daniels). Puck tries to make it up to her, by suggesting this name and asking if he can be with her in the delivery room. I think Dianna Agron is such a wonderful actress, whose facial expressions say it all, which you could see in this musical number. While Puck is ridiculous with his choices, I think he genuinely means well.

My main thought about this entire episode was that ignorance should not be tolerated. Finn certainly redeems himself and I don’t think it was necessarily about him being the person who all the blame falls on for everything. It was about him needing to say he was sorry for taking it too far and using a word that really should never have been uttered. It was about Burt standing up for his son (even if he didn’t hear the first part of the conversation). It was about unrequited love that granted, will never happen, but isn’t easy to just let go of. Kurt may have set this whole thing up with his parents in the first place to get closer to Finn, but I don’t think that was Kurt thinking he could make Finn fall in love with him. Like Tina who dresses goth (and makes an amazing reference to Asian vampires!), Kurt likes to be overly expressive, but that’s part of being in high school and figuring out who you are. Hey, I used to wear over-sized NY Knicks tee shirts and weird shoulder-less bodysuits, but I got over it. Tastes change and subside as you grow older and learn your own style. Also, your decision making skills inevitably sharpen and get better with time. Mike O’Malley’s performance is worthy of so much praise, and I honestly think the storyline as a whole is too.

Ryan Murphy hasn’t just created a show about high school and Glee club and singing and cliques, he’s created a show where people learn from their mistakes (Finn), people are forced to face them (Shelby, Puck, Quinn) and people are forced to move on (Kurt, Finn, Rachel and Shelby). I love it for that. And I thought last night’s episode really exemplified the whole point of the show. No show is without flaws, but I can’t wait to see what’s next. I know there is Terri in the promos, which I am really looking forward to.

And just recently, Glee was renewed for season 3 which is amazing! So excited and it was so deserving.

Glee airs Tuesday nights at 9 pm on FOX.