November 29, 2011

Episode Review: GLEE, "I Kissed a Girl"

While I didn't love the controversial "Mash Off," I was interested to see how the show runners were going to follow up on that episode, and for a few minutes there "I Kissed a Girl" reminded me why I watch this show to begin with. It was by no means flawless, it felt like all of the big moments were strung together with songs and the actual stories were wasted on idiotic ideas, but I laughed a lot and dug the music.

"I Kissed a Girl" started off by addressing something that happened during the episode before it (see, they can incoporate continuity when they want to) as Santana was called to Principal Figgins' office for slapping Finn. All signs were pointing towards her getting suspended, but Finn jumped in and made up a story that it was all a misunderstanding because she really gave him a stage slap. No harm, no foul.

When Santana asked him why he did what he did, Finn made up some excuse about wanting a fair fight at Sectionals, but he also expressed concern for her and asked that she and her group join New Directions for a special lesson. Finn's idea was to support Santana through song and to remind her that there are people in the world who will love her no matter who she loves, so we got number after number of songs performed by ladies. While she was not having it at first, her tough exterior finally gave way, and she gained the confidence to come out to her family.

Last time, the Santana/Finn scenes were the hardest to watch because of all of the insults and bad blood, but thankfully the opposite was true this time around. The care and love that Finn showed for Santana almost made up for all of the ugliness of last week, and Cory Montieth and Naya Rivera were amazing throughout. I just hope that this episode was the start of some serious character growth for both of them because we know that this show's track record isn't stellar when it comes to consistency of these people's motivations. It'll be hard to take things seriously if Santana is back to being a bitch to everyone after tonight's episode, but I've said that same thing about Sue and we all know how that turned out.

The only misstep that occurred during the Santana plot was the fact that it didn't feel like any headway was made. We all knew that she was going to come out eventually, and we really didn't learn anything new about anyone, so there wasn't enough drama or tension involved in my opinion, but the amount of sweet moments made up for the lack of angst. The resolution also felt a tad bit rushed, but I guess not dragging things out was the right call.

The rest of the episode continued to explore the plot lines that I haven't been a fan of, specifically the elections and the Quinn/Puck/Shelby nonsense. "I Kissed a Girl" reminded us all that high school elections are nothing more than popularity contests because Brittany was the clear favorite which caused panic in both Kurt and Rachel since their big New York adventure was at risk. In order to level the playing field, Kurt brought up stuffing the ballot boxes, but it was all talk. It's just too bad that Rachel took his idea seriously and carried out the plan, and her punishment was suspension and being banned from performing at Sectionals.

The other big election in Lima was also coming to a close as the race for Congress culminated at the exact same time and in the exact same place as the student council vote. Since Sue's opponent (not Burt, the other guy) questioned her sexuality, she figured that she had to change the perception people had of her by dating Cooter, who went along with it because he didn't know where he stood with Shannon and he actually liked Sue too. At first, seeing Cooter with Sue shook Beiste's confidence, but when it was all said and done she put her cards on the table and was prepared to fight for her man.

I've always been a fan of Rachel and Kurt's friendship, but I'm not quite sure I'm on board with this NYADA stuff because it's starting to feel like a cheap way to fabricate drama and to come up with an excuse to keep them in Ohio. He still doesn't have the extracurriculars, and she's been reprimanded for rigging an election and possibly costing her team a win at Sectionals. I doubt a major performing arts school would taken either one of them seriously at this point. Kent State, here they come!

For the first time in a long time I didn't cringe during the Sue story line, but that probably had more to do with Beiste than anything else. If you would've told me that she'd end up being one of my favorite characters after the Season 2 premiere, I would've laughed out loud, yet here I am rooting for her every step of the way.

Oh yeah, we cannot forget the abhorrently bad idea of Shelby and Puck hooking up while Quinn's out to steal a baby mostly because the writers will not let us, and they insist on ramming it down our throats. The less I say about this one the better, but I do have to give Puck kudos for calling out both Shelby and Quinn, and at least we know how the two glee clubs are going to be re-joined after Sectionals.

On the Music Front: I liked most of the music during tonight's episode with the stand-outs being Finn's stripped down version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and Beiste's take on "Joelean." The girl-power infused "I Kissed a Girl" was fun as was Puck's "I'm the Only One" (except for his wandering googly eyes and hair). Klaine's "Perfect" was also decent. Out of the bunch, "Constant Craving" kind of stuck out but I blame Shelby and Kurt for just jumping in on Santana's solo.

Other Odds and Ends:
  • Snicks!
  • Sugar's starting to grow on me.
  • Katy Perry and Pink should be added as producers for this show since the entire catalogs have been featured since day one.
  • Someone had to say something about Blaine's wardrobe.
  • I've missed Sue's journal. It's the only time when her rants feel natural.
  • As a Fintana shipper, it bummed me out that some of their best scenes together happened after she realized that she was in love with Brittany.
  • Rory's face during "I Kissed a Girl" was brilliant.
  • Now Quinn wants to get knocked up on purpose? What the what?
  • Rachel: "She's bribing the students with Pixie Stix. Buying votes is illegal."
    Figgins: "It's also delicious."
  • Kurt: "What's the point? I'm going to lose unless I pull a 'JFK'."
    Rachel: "You're going to shoot Brittany?"
  • "Look, I was in to you pretty hard a couple of years ago because you were hot like a pixie, and I thought you were pretty much cooler than every other girl in the school, but it turns out you're kinda nuts. You're higher maintenance than Berry, and pretty much the most selfish person I've ever met in my life, so thanks for the offer but I'd rather raw dog a beehive."
  • "Look, you were my first. That means something to me. You mean something to me. If something were to ever happen to you, and I didn't do everything that I could to try and stop it, I'd never be able to live with myself."
  • "And you're a freaking mess..."
Again, "I Kissed a Girl" had its share of issues. I would've preferred that the Santana plot had been fleshed out a little bit more and that we didn't waste so much time on pointless elections and love triangles, but I was still entertained by it all which is fine by me.

0 comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Updates Via E-Mail