Last night, Glee had a scene where The God Squad, the Christian characters of the Glee menagerie—Mercedes, Quinn, Sam, and some guy I assume is from The Glee Project, because he was introduced in a way that sort of assumed we knew and liked the performer and were damn well going to be invested in and charmed by him and his quirks—had an Official Discussion as it related to their position on gayness (“Is Gay Okay?” the whiteboard helpfully anvilled in the background of the scene).
The discussion was led by Mercedes, who regularly attends slumber parties with Kurt.
While I always assume that Glee is perpetually suffering from short-term memory loss when it comes to storylines, happenings, and character development, perhaps I do not give the show enough credit. Perhaps it intended, with this gesture, to show the hypocrisy of a group taking A Position, when the individuals within said group have pre-established friendships, benefit from the assistance of the gay community (Sam, who was homeless at some point or another, received clothes and support from Kurt), or are themselves such morally void, corrupted individuals that who gives a shit what they think (uh, Quinn, even though she actually made lucid points not growing out of a black void that began living in her soul). As for Adam Duritz Jr., who cares what he thinks as well, just on principle.
But I’m guessing that I’m right and it was just the writing team’s opportunity to breeze through dialogue writing by cutting-and-pasting previous David E. Kelley/Aaron Sorkin speechifying about what is and isn’t condemned in the Bible (MO-RAH-TORIUM! MO-RAH-TORIUM! We’ve ALL SEEN THE FWD: FWD: FWD: EMAIL ABOUT THIS; PLEASE STOP MAKING ME LISTEN TO TV CHARACTERS RECOUNT IT).
In better gay news, Dave Karofsky returned, and I guess he’s in love with Kurt, which occurred in offscreen moments/fanfics that happened after the two of them met up at Scandals (remember that whole night at Scandals, where Sebastian was that annoying pretentious high school kid we all knew who has refined tastes and maturity beyond his years and won’t let anyone forget it; wish that character has stuck around, and not the Snidely Whipgay that he is right now. Ha ha, also, Blaine perilously walked the Seems Like Date Rape Rope, remember that? Why don’t more people talk about how gross that was? I mean, that was pretty much as invasive as Karofsky’s hate-kiss, if we’re dealing with reality and not, like, Glee reality). As slapdash and oddball as the execution was, I’m not opposed at all to Kurt and Dave being friends/possibly more, if only because Chris Colfer and Max Adler are better overall scene partners. Even when things are fraught, neither is prone to go BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!!!, and it’s nice to pretend like Glee is capable of that occasionally. Also, they are cute together, and I love the whole beanpole/burly thing. And Darren Criss’s scene-gobbling, open-mouth mug-o-rama is dumb.
But the scene ended with one of Glee’s typical DUM-DUM-DUMMMMMMMMMMM vaudevillian organ trills: one of Karofsky’s 32-year-old fellow West Lima students was at the Sugar Shack, conveniently, to see Karofsky tearily storming out on his admission of love. Naturally. It was like one of those scenes in a soap where you have to suspend your disbelief that the regular residents on the canvas spend days upon days missing out on totally unsubtle cues; therefore, it stands that a day player we’ve never seen and will never see again was able to either read body language in a way only a 32-year-old teenager can, superhumanly overhead the quiet conversation Kurt and Dave had, and/or runs the costume shop where Dave rented his gorilla suit and followed him to his wholly-too-elaborate plan to win Kurt’s affections. Other theories welcome. Anyway: Dave is probably going to get his ass kicked, which will, unhappily, invest me even more in this whole stupid thing because there will be bedside visits and shit, and I’m a sucker for that garbage. Just like I was a sucker for the way Dave gently placed his hand on the table, palm up, and awaited a hand-holdening that would never come.
I love Brittany and Santana. Yay for their kissing; boo for how the show, in its typical fashion, thought that by breaking the fourth wall it was actually addressing anything.
I love Brittany and Santana. Yay for their kissing; boo for how the show, in its typical fashion, thought that by breaking the fourth wall it was actually addressing anything.
Over on Southland, the topic of gay bullying was addressed, but the message seemed more complicated and ambiguous (you know, not like Glee at all): John Cooper, who has been gay since the pilot episode on NBC—subtle enough that a lot of folks missed it, I guess, though I thought the scene last season where we was naked in bed with another naked dude was a telegraph in all caps, stop—and his partner, Jessica Tang, were called to a domestic disturbance, which involved parents reacting loudly and poorly to their son’s desire to return to school after he was unceremoniously outed (he sent nude photos to a boy he believed “liked him;” and if that isn’t frustrating, realistic teen behavior—you know, unlike some kind of gorilla-gram—then I don’t know what is). John has a quiet conversation with the teen, Mike, about the difference between not being ashamed and setting yourself up as a target for teenage idiots. Ultimately, Mike leaves for school…
…and he ends up on the roof of a building after being dragged into a school bathroom, forced into makeup and a dress, and having his ass kicked. John is quietly, firmly honest with Mike—he is gay too; it does get better; those guys are idiots—but Mike jumps anyway. After John Wellsian heroics, Mike is rescued by John’s quick thinking and the strong arms and backs of some of LAPD’s finest. Mike and John have a bedside chat—yes, John was being honest about being gay; and while John has many problems (said with such a terrific sad-sly smile), “being gay ain’t one of ‘em”—and one gets the feeling that maybe this is going to be a wonderful story of intervention and a life saved.
And Mike commits suicide a day later. Ugh.
The episode ends with Tang and Dewey and a boisterous group of cops celebrating John’s 20 years (officially—unofficially and correctly, John mentions early on, it’s actually 22) at a bar. There are stories and toasts and admissions of love (on Dewey’s part, God bless that fucking idiot). And after John gets his fill of revelry and heads out, Tang follows John to quietly let him know Mike died. John already knows and shares his pragmatic view on the situation: it’s a tragedy, yes, that another gay kid has taken his/her own life, but John feels he did his job, and any dwelling or second-guessing or overpersonalizing presents a roadblock to Doing The Job. Tang returns to the group, Dewey offers to buy a round, and John stands outside, listening to the glory, a hard-to-read non-expression on his face… and you have to wonder how many of the group toasting him and swapping stories really know all about John Cooper. Is the sacrifice he makes to Do The Job keeping his sexual orientation quiet? Is John heralded by one and all amongst his acquaintences because they believe he's "just like them?" It feels like you can hear his advice about not making yourself a target still in action 20+ years later. But maybe not. Maybe so. It all seemed very unresolved, which seems more honest to real life than you usually get out of an hour-long drama.
To 180, the show is barely concealing its delight in getting all the leads, particularly Hatosy, undressed. And I love it. I also love the continual development of the partnerships: Ben and Sammy and their good-natured tussling; John and Jessica and their whatever-it-is that makes me love them so (the beanpole/burly thing? the balance of charming, affectionate teasing and mutual respect?); and Lydia and Ruben (I can’t imagine any of her previous partners handling her preggo-nancy so deftly).
And to close: I appreciated that Sammy continues to harp on Why Marriage Is Blah Blah Blah Divorce Blah (ha ha ha Ben’s eye-rolling disinterest), yet never devolves into a total misogynist (his dry, lamed-out “Really?” to the Extra Cop’s stupid “Don’t trust anything that bleeds for seven days…” recitation was such a relief, as well as a beacon of hope for him getting laid yet).
