Dear Tina,
So as we say goodbye to Glee for the summer, I have one criticism I need to share in hopes that Ryan Murphy has “favorited” Dear Tina on his web browser and he checks in on a weekly basis to see what ideas I may have to improve his hit show.
A consistent problem throughout the season was this resolution or summation of major plot lines without any exposition. Here are a handful of examples.
- Jesse St. James courts Rachel as a scheme hatched by his coach Shelby. Later, he reveals to Shelby that he is developing real feelings for her. Following episode, he has returned to Vocal Adrenaline and is smashing eggs over Rachel’s head.
- Mercedes makes fun of Quinn wanting to try her hand at a funk number. Quinn pulls it off accompanied by pregnant backup dancers and the glee club, minus Mercedes, hugs her. Next scene, Quinn is apologizing to Mercedes for how hard it must be to walk through the halls a minority and fat. Was that what she was so upset about?
- Burt kicks Finn out of his house, knowing this may end his relationship with Finn’s mom. Where is Finn living? Mr. Schuester’s office?
- Tina and Artie’s entire relationship.
- When did the members of glee club who are also Cheerios (Santana and Brittany) stop working as spies for Coach Sue? Never?
- Why was Rachel under the impression that she and Finn were dating when the show returned after the hiatus? Furthermore, once Finn broke up with her, what changed so drastically that made him fall deeply in love with her? Loved “Jessie’s Girl” but that came out of nowhere.
Actually almost all of those are from the second half of the season because my memory can’t retain details from last September, but I think I’ve made my point. The problem here is that while we can all enjoy a show choir adaptation of our favorite pop song from time to time, this experience is fleeting. What sustains a show and carries it through to the 100 episode milestone (or 238 episode milestone in the case of Friends) is using every episode as a tool to push the story forward. This dedication to plot should inherently develop the characters into more dynamic and complicated personalities as they face greater challenges and learn from their mistakes. How many times this season did Kurt not only cry but accompany his tears with the “you don’t accept me for who I am” speech to his dad? Like, a hundred. It’s not that this wasn’t an important or meaningful story for a series set in high school, but Burt’s response to his son was always that of a loving dad trying to do his best in uncharted territory. By the fourth or fifth time Kurt lashed out at his dad, it was Burt who became the sympathetic character—the one who wasn’t being heard. It stopped being meaningful and became redundant, until the moment Burt came to Kurt’s defense when Finn was ridiculing him. There we had a fantastic climax to a story that didn’t have an appropriate build.
The show also tends to backtrack. It’s as if they scheduled the episodes so that on odd weeks Rachel is learning how to be a team player and not put herself before the group and on the even weeks she is complaining to Mr. Schuester about having her solos taken away from her. It is hard to know if they’re trying to show us that this character is inherently selfish who occasionally shows the ability to restrain her neuroses or if they’re really trying to develop Rachel into a more generous person. Her maturity in the final episode in response to Finn’s revelations of love felt promising that next season we can enjoy this relationship in a way that doesn’t require us to laugh at it. The struggle for the creators and writers seems to be this idea that they are sacrificing laughs by giving these misfits more mainstream qualities. But I fear they are confusing mainstream for relatable. The fact of the matter is, some of the show’s strongest moments come when the characters are likable, not absurd.
And then of course we return back to the blatant skipping over of details for the sake of reaching a plot point in a timely manner. Show us the reasons why Finn realizes he loves Rachel. Give Jonathan Groff a solo that allows him to express the ways in which he feels like an outcast. Break Tina and Artie up because no one even notices that they’re dating. These scenes may seem like filler when all we really want are belted high notes, but they are what makes a series specific, and in the long run, memorable.
We love the song and dance but next season we need more oomph leading up to these numbers. And give Kurt a boyfriend so he has something else to cry about. Maybe Jonathan Groff? Twist!
30 Rock Quote of the Day:
Jenna: Do I have to wear the nose tonight?
Liz: Yes, you do.
Jenna: Ok. Well then I hope you get bird flu and die.
Dear Tina 