EVERYTHING with Kurt seems forced and preachy. I feel like every episode is about this character! I think they need to reconsider the title of the show if this keeps up.
Back 9 episodes last season he and another football player made appearances taunting Kurt that continued early into this season. Honestly, I had my theories about those two football players secretly being a couple but this episode it seemed to just be him.
Oh strummer-love...how could you NOT love Start Me Up/Livin on a Prayer.
Or perhaps its just me. As a child of the 80s growing up in Jersey, Livin on a Prayer was my EVERYTHING.
The Kurt storyline is spectacular...because Colfer is so friggin...I'll say it (and I rarely do about actors) brilliant. And that Darren Criss (yum) and the Chubby Football Player (extra large yum). We just need a black guy a we can get a high school production of BOYS IN THE BAND going.
lol Robbie, sorry I thought there was a lot of hairography going on in that song. The other football player I mentioned that I thought was a closet case is black, so there's your Boys In The Band spinoff right there.
I absolutely loved this week's episode! I think it's the best one this season so far. I usually hate the Kurt story lines. They are too overdone for me, especially with the message. I feel like this episode was good because it's not ALL about Kurt, which ends up happening in a lot of the episodes. He and Blaine are too adorable & fabulous together. I liked Teenage Dream a lot more than I thought. Seeing a number is much different when you're just listening to it. It makes the song better, IMO. I liked the Puck coming back thing & taking Artie under is wing, even though the opposite ended up happening. When Artie paid for dinner, I was grinning from ear to ear! I knew he wouldn't let that happen. Their duet makes me ridiculously happy because I am in LOVE with Kevin's voice. I hope their friendship continues & doesn't get lost in the many plots. Also, Finn & Artie? What happened to that? And I am hating the return of the mohawk. I never liked it because it was always too long & just weird for me. My friends and I actually screamed quite loudly during both kisses. I remember people speculating on Tumblr that Karofsky was gay, but I can't believed it happened. But it makes sense, like him suppressing his feelings & taking it out on Kurt. He teased/bothered Kurt quite a bit, most memorably during the Theatricality episode (Lady GaGa/Kiss). He & his friend threatened to beat Kurt up, but Finn, along with the rest of the club, ends up saving the day in GaGa costume. I think this is one of the rare episodes when I actually liked all the songs. The mashups were great, but the girls totally won. The boys' number was a little too aggressive for me. Bon Jovi is always a winner! I thought this week's episode was a good balance of the drama & comedy. Don't know if it will last with Gywenth Paltrow on next week. Too many guest stars if you ask me!
"Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, take the moment & making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." -Gilda Radner
What an awkward episode for kisses. I feel really bad for Kurt if that was his first kiss. I'd say Beast got the better end of that deal. Updated On: 11/10/10 at 12:11 AM
Glee is best when its singing and dancing. The writing and storyline have always been the weak link.
Last night's episode was the worst in all respects.
Kurt is always written as a victim. The audience is always forced into feeling "Oh the poor gay kid." The character is like Artie in that he always needs a crutch and someone to help him. There's no independence for the character. If he has one more crying scene, I'm going to find Ryan Murphy and throw up on him.
And Shu kissing the gym teacher has to be one of the worst tv moments ever. Doesn't this school have any policies concerning sexual harrassment on school grounds?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
OMG! That part with the olive oil and the sling? I did NOT see that coming!
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
"Kurt is always written as a victim. The audience is always forced into feeling "Oh the poor gay kid." The character is like Artie in that he always needs a crutch and someone to help him. There's no independence for the character. If he has one more crying scene, I'm going to find Ryan Murphy and throw up on him."
Because he is a victim, you idiot. I guess all these kids harrassed into suicide lately are all lost on you.
Noone is forcing you to feel "Oh the poor gay kid"...because clearly you dont.
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
No, the writers have set him up to be the victim. His being bullied because he's gay is no different than Artie getting thrown in the dumpster (Season 1) or the other Glee kids getting slurpees thrown in their faces. Yet we have to sit through all these melodramatic scenes about how Kurt can't cope and he's special. That gets old very quickly.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Kurt's journey as a gay teenager IS melodramatic. If you dont care for that kind of melodrama, then why the eff do you watch the show?
And for every crying scene there are moments of strength in Kurt when he stands up to his tormentor whether it's Sue or the football jocks, despite the fact that he will again likely be thrown into a locker the next day, and probably every day thereafter, is showing what particular hell it might be for a gay kid like him. The show is partly about victims overcoming being victims! If you dont like it, dont watch. If all you like is the numbers, they are on youtube the very next day. Save yourself some time.
Look, you made me write a run-on sentence! I hate that!
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
The show gets some points for trying to deal with a serious topic, but it does so in a very superficial manner, designed to allow Kurt to wallow in self-righteous victimhood. Victimhood? Is that even a word?
Anyway. In a discussion with his glee coach who is trying to reach out to Kurt, instead of describing the regular bullying he's been suffering at the hands of a specific student, Kurt makes some general comment about homophobia being tolerated and gets in some snark about the guy's lesson plans being boring before marching off in a huff over having been expected to sing with the boys instead of the girls. God forbid Kurt should actually REPORT the bullying, or demand that the authorities at his school actually do something, or even get his supportive Dad in on the problem, oh no -- he has to get his conveniently hunky pal Blaine to try to do a public intervention with the bully in a public stairwell, of all things, prompting another fight and another chance for little Kurt to get all weepy in that fluty little voice.
God I hate this show. I keep watching occasionally because, well, you just have to keep your pop-culture knowledge up, but I can't say I enjoy the show in any way whatsoever, except for that blondie cheerleader who gets in one great line every week.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
This deserves to be quoted here, from the AV CLUB article:
The problem with Glee is that it often pretends that noticing an issue exists is the same thing as tackling it dramatically, and Falchuk (the writer of this episode) is particularly susceptible to this. I liked his "Grilled Cheesus" quite a bit because it forced him out of his comfort zone. I didn't like "Never Been Kissed" because it pretends that showing a gay kid getting shoved into some lockers and then talking a bit about "courage" is the same thing as being bold in confronting the anti-gay bullying epidemic in the United States.
There are problems scattered throughout this storyline. The prep school Kurt visits isn't anything like a real place; it's a kind of Tolerance Narnia, where everybody behaves like kids never possibly would. Sure, it would be nice if the schools of our land specifically outlawed bullying someone for being gay (and that there are school board members who stand in the way of policies like this is absolutely horrifying), but that doesn't mean the school will immediately become Utopia, that the kids will gather in the hallways and sing earnestly about their skintight jeans, making everything all better. Furthermore, Blaine is less a character than some sort of gay genie, who always knows exactly what will work best in every situation. Kurt isn't torn between a life that's terrible at McKinley and the possibility of the grass being greener on the other side. He's torn between two stereotypes that don't function the way the world really works.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Thanks for posting the AV Club review! I sent that same excerpt Roscoe posted to my friend when the review went live last night because it is just so accurate.
Kurt could probably afford to go to that Tolerance Narnia Boys' School. Surely whoever pays for that hideous wardrobe of his (that hat he wore to church is a new low in menswear) could pick up the tab.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
I couldn't agree more with the AV Club review. Thanks for posting it!
They did the same with Mercedes in "Home." The show really is very superficial when they take on teen issues. Heck, some adult issues as well.
Justin from "Ugly Betty" had a decent storyline. IMO, one of the most thought provoking and organic gay teen storyline on television is Marshall's from "United States of Tara."
Those shows tackled very serious, very painful issues for courageous but vulnerable teens in a way that both the audience and the characters could analyze and even shed a tear or two without manipulative melodrama.
I am kinda hoping Fury is not just a one-episode revelation with just his closet-case issues in bits and pieces. Kurt may not have a support system at school but he totally does at home. It would be interesting to see somebody who has neither (and I am largely assuming that is why he is in the closet, though I do remember in my HS the circumstances of closet cases I knew to be in were pretty interesting).
BTW, early episodes of Glee, Kurt loved fashion but his outfits were definitely less outrageous and slightly more believable for a HS kid in Ohio to get. Still it seems like he has always been portrayed as a kid with deep pockets. Was his late mother an heiress or is Burt Hummel from money or cleaning up in his car repair service? Those outfits (and I remember Kurt having a Lincoln Navigator for a car) don't pay themselves.