Here there be Glee spoilers from 314!

ruebs:

Last night’s episode of Glee was incredibly intense. I pretty much ran through the spectrum of emotions, hating what was happening one minute, understanding it and dealing, and then loving other things the next.

Spoilers - Dave’s attempted suicide and recovery was one of those situations I thought happened too quickly on screen. We weren’t given the facts of what he was going through until after he was in the hospital. There was a lack of character building,[as per usual] and though I FULLY understand and appreciate the importance of showing the effects bullying can have on the LGBT community, I felt like cramming all of that into one winter finale was perhaps too intense. It was very black and white. I hope parents of teenagers and the many many many CHILDEREN who watch this show sat down and spoke to them about what went on. [the more you know]

All in all I was mostly very happy with the episode aside from the rediculousness of Mr. Schuester and his peanut butter/suicide attempt because he cheated on a test. [that was rediculous and made a mockery of the issue ot teen suicide by the way]. 

The title of this entry however is called ‘Glee: Forgiving’, and the main reason for writing it is to write about the inter-LGBT community bullying that happens so often. When Sebastian calls Dave a fatty [in more words of course] , I was like…”I have been in his exact shoes!”. It’s terrible. But what is EVEN MORE terrible is how quickly the Glee Gang forgave him. And the bastard basically just through money at the problem, in a non-profit kind of way, but that is exactly what politicians do to cover up something. Place a raise-money-for-the-needy charity blanket on it. Never mind whose life you helped fuck up.

That was basically what I was most upset about, skinny rich kid is an asshole and still gets to feel good about himself in the end. Side note, he’s a shitty singer. Double side note, I realize this is all fiction. Can you tell he reminds me of a few people I’ve met? Triple side note, Dave is my new Blaine.

Such an emotional rollercoaster for me as well, I’m sure everyone watching shared that feeling. Glee can go five episodes with nothing really happening and then BOOM! we get an episode like this where there are almost a season’s worth of character development reduced to one episode.

I think it worked for me, largely, but I’ll point out my biggest issues with it first.

Number one (and it’s a big one) is Kurt’s scene with Quinn where he totally dismisses her experience and pain. There’s no reason for that scene and it’s one of those moments I erase when I’m piecing together the parts of Glee I like for the “Glee Is Good” part of my brain.

Next we have Mr. Schuester and his strange and almost out of character experience as a student. Again, something that maybe started as a good idea somewhere in the writer’s room but when actually edited for the final show version read as Matthew Morrison’s contractual obligation to speak in every episode. It just didn’t ring true or seem honestly motivated.

Then there’s the general compression of events which I’m for and against. For characters like Sebastian, I believed the character growth but it happened so rapidly that if the cinematography had been different (the quick cuts to interaction with Dave) I wouldn’t have felt it at all.

What I loved about the episode was Dave’s story and journey (obviously). Again, the cinematography and storytelling were tight as anything. If they had chosen a sloppy moment to show part of that progression or cut to a needless moment the momentum would have been totally lost. As it was, I cried like it was my job last night and was deeply moved by what happened on the show.

Kurt’s guilt, Sebastian’s guilt, Dave’s pain…all of that felt so real to me.

I relate to Dave the most on the show. Not because I was a bully or was closeted for my high school years but because I also put all that internalized homophobia he has displayed on the show into a general rage. Often inwardly directed but also at any target that seemed appropriate at the time.

I get his motivations and loved the emotional pay off the writers created for the characters.

It was a big, emotional blur but I really loved it.

And then, of course, that ending…

SEVEN WEEKS!

Goodness, this show has the most ridiculous peaks and valleys! This was definitely the peakiest of peaks for me.