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Glee: Original Song

The Regionals competition provides the backdrop for Kurt and Blaine’s budding romance. Quinn’s cruelty allows Rachel to channel her pain into songwriting, and the rest of New Directions also try their hands at it.

My major gripe with this episode was the way Blaine and Kurt got together. After ‘Sexy’ had Blaine confusing Kurt’s sexy faces for a gas problem, I figured the two wouldn’t become more than friends until near to the end of the season. How wrong I was. The only thing Kurt did prior to singing Blackbird was to express jealousy for Blaine’s copious solos – really Not a recipe for love. But still, one funeral dirge for a bird, and one epically bad writing decision later and Blaine suddenly sees Kurt differently. Where’s the romance?! Where’s the slow, believable development of Blaine’s feelings as a result of Kurt growing as a person? Instead we get instant attraction after a long period of keeping the two apart, cheapening the memory of Blaine’s anxiety and desire to “not screw this up” in ‘Silly Love Songs’, and lessening my investment in the couple rather than increasing it – presumably the writers intended the opposite? Blaine and Kurt’s unification didn’t exactly add much to the tension or excitement of the rest of the episode either, so I am completely perplexed as to why it had to be achieved in such a rush. Oh well, it’s done now. Woo, go Klaine.

Less disappointing, but also slightly annoying was Quinn’s regression into Queen Bee-atch so that she could hurt Rachel so that she could find the pain to write a decent song in time for Regionals. How convenient! I just didn’t buy that Quinn would be that cruel, or that her dreams culminate with her and Finn being prom king and queen and sticking around their town forever. On the plus side, I did start to feel a little sorry for Rachel and was therefore suitably heart-warmed when she was unanimously awarded MVP by the rest of New Directions. The Regionals competition felt a bit lacklustre, with Sue and Aural Intensity posing almost no threat, Blaine and co. destined to lose, and the original songs being built up so much that they didn’t really live up to the hype. The large number of songs meant that the episode had little time for plot or emotion – Glee works better with fewer, longer performances in my opinion.

Loved

- World War Sue!
- The warblers are so overly dramatic: “Why don’t we just play it on kazoos?” and “This is a kangaroo court!”
- Brittany has somehow heard and fallen in love with My Headband. Of course she has!
- I’m glad they explained where Holly went, even if a meditation retreat is up there on most cliché excuses for a character’s absence from an episode

Didn’t Love

- The possible high of having the episode start with a musical number was spoilt by having Kurt being unenthusiastic about it.
- Sometimes Glee being self-referential works, sometimes not. Having Kurt take issue with the number of solos Blaine gets
- Why would all the Warblers be so quick to give up their chances for a solo at Regionals just because Blaine wanted to sing with Kurt? He already got to do that last week.
- Why was Brittany wearing that ugly floppy hat during Hell to the No? No no no!
- Pavarotti’s casket? Tacky!
- “We got each other out of all this” – what did Blaine and Kurt getting together have to do with Regionals? Nothing! What a stupid line.

Glee Against the Music:

Misery – Maroon 5 (Blaine and The Warblers):
This would have been a stronger opening number a few episodes earlier, before we had reached Blaine saturation (at least, before Kurt had). Still, the vocals were classic Warblers and it was fun enough. Grade B.

Only Child (Rachel):
I feel your pain Rachel. This managed to improve on My Headband while still being completely ludicrous. Bravo! B-

Blackbird (Kurt and The Warblers):
This is the first song that I thought The Warblers didn’t do justice. It seemed to be too fast, and more upbeat than the original, which didn’t fit with the funereal atmosphere at all! Blaine suddenly inexplicably staring longingly at Kurt didn’t help. Grade C.

Trouty Mouth (Santana):
Whilst Santana has an impressive ability to make a song about fish lips sultry, I was already bored of the joke. I’d much rather Santana write a song that expressed her true feelings for Brittany, that could have been the start of a much more enjoyable subplot for this episode. When will Artie and Sam find out anyway? Grade D

Big Ass Heart (Puck):
Some of the lyrics in this were pretty witty, and it was quite catchy too. Good effort Puck! C+

Hell to the No (Mercedes):
Mercedes definitely has some songwriting talent, I enjoyed this, even if I don’t want to hear the phrase ‘hell to the no’ again for quite some time. B-

Jesus Is My Friend (Aural Intensity):
I was reminded of Rehab and Mercy by Vocal Adrenaline back in early Season One, but this wasn’t as good, and it wasn’t that funny. D-

Candles – Hey Monday (Kurt, Blaine and The Dalton Academy Warblers):
Just like their blossoming romance, their first duet was a bit disappointing. For a start, it wasn’t a love song, and it wasn’t their most powerful performance. It was also rather un-Warblers, not feeling quintessentially a cappella like most of their songs do. C+

Raise Your Glass – Pink (Blaine and The Warblers):
This was more like it. Great vocals, energy and choreography, although slightly strange to sing about being ‘wrong in all the right ways’ and ‘dirty little freaks’ just after a gay duet. B+

Get It Right (Rachel):
This was a fairly average ballad, but it was a great performance, and of course the lyrics were very appropriate for Rachel to sing. I was slightly perturbed that Kurt somehow sussed that it was an original composition in the first 30 seconds. Does he know every song out there? Grade B.

Loser Like Me (Rachel, Finn and New Directions):
Cheesy, lacking depth and possibly annoying in the future, but still, I really enjoyed it. It was a great idea to incorporate the Glee ‘L’ into the song, and also clever with the slushie machine and cups filled with glitter. How very Glee. B+

Quotes for Gleeks:

Sue: “You took away my Cheerios. Consider this the opening salvo of World War Sue.”
Quinn: “Sometimes I worry about Finn, I mean how damaged does a guy have to be to be into someone as annoying as Rachel?”

Quinn: “Prom queens live, on average, five years longer than regular people. It’s probably because they smile a lot, and smiling has been proven to ward off diseases…”

Santana: “You blew me off to be with ‘Stubbles McCripplePants.’”
Blaine: “We should practice.”
Kurt: “I thought we were.”
Kurt: “Yeah, I just really, really wanted to win.”
Blaine: “You did win. So did I. We got each other out of all of this. That beats a lousy trophy, don't you think?”
Tammy Jean Albertson: “I Twittered that Obama’s a terrorist... I had to, it's a fact.”

Sister Mary Constance: “The convent is the one place I knew I could stay off the pole…”

Rod Remington: “Can I add a dash of Rod to this lady soup? My hairdresser is a gay, and for 15 years he’s been with his partner, also… a hairdresser. I see no reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to marry and raise a family of beautiful wigs.”

For me, this episode contained a lot of disappointments, and not nearly as many laughs as I’ve gotten accustomed to. While we got some good fuel for our mp3 players this week, that’s about all we got. Two out of four lockerfuls of dirt.

13 comments:

  1. Most of it was fun, but you're right -- it didn't quite ring true. Kurt and Blaine finally becoming a couple could have been great but their connection didn't have anywhere near the emotion of last week's scene with Santana and Brittany, and it should have. I wasn't that wild about any of the original songs, either. I liked Kurt's rendition of "Blackbird" the best, and hey -- it was a Beatles song in an episode about original songs. I also liked the dirt in the locker gag, and Brittany saying she didn't remember putting the dirt in there. :)

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  2. I don't know it might have been just me but I felt the fact that they didn't have a huge build up to Kurt and Blaine made it more poignant. They have had feelings for each other from the beginning if you think back to the flirty "Baby it's cold outside" all the way to the chemistry when Blaine sang "Teenage Dream". IT actually felt in character to me that Blaine would just look up one day and say "wow haven't I been a little blind" because lets face it he's adorable but slightly oblivious. I think they had the most realistic movement to becoming a couple in the show.

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  3. I agree that Kurt and Blaine's romance was a little rushed but I kind of bought Blaine's logic. Plus, they should get points for their sweet kiss(es)!

    I'm also glad that they re-addressed Santana and Brittany's feelings and didn't make it a single episode dilemma.

    As for Kurt knowing it's an original song after the first few lines, he and Rachel do share the same musical taste so he could probably figure that it was an original song quickly. I like that they sang original songs. It made their competition a little more heartfelt but it also made it obvious that they were going to win.

    My biggest beef with the episode is the Regionals crowd. It's more akin to a Rocky Horror Picture Show audience with all of the props. The candles, the foam fingers, the Jesus swaying hangs. WTF?

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  4. "“We got each other out of all this” – what did Blaine and Kurt getting together have to do with Regionals? Nothing! What a stupid line."

    What? He was referring to Kurt coming to the Warblers. It wasn't all a waste because they lost at Regionals.

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  5. Am I the only one who thought this was a pretty good episode? Yes the Blaine-Kurt relationship took a major shortcut and Quinn being mean again is annoying but overall I think there was a bit more beneath the surface here.

    Santana singing Trouty Mouth (she sung it so well, that if you don't listen you'd think it's some nice sultry song) seemed to me like she was rebuffing Sam - I don't think it was her being mean, I think it showed us that she's not into Sam anymore because of Britney, and is trying to push him away (hilariously).

    Quinn being mean was annoying but she came out human too. She didn't really seem to regard Rachel with contempt but on a more equal level, like she was denying that Rachel could threaten their relationship because she's so scared of it happening. And also - there was that one part where she mentioned not getting in her way of leaving Ohio while she and Finn stayed hinted at how she acknowledges that Rachel may be meant for something better.

    And the songs. Maybe it's cos I didn't like the previous episodes much but it wasn't too bad this time. I didn't expect much from the original songs so they didn't disappoint nor excite me. But 'Loser Like Me' was pretty Glee, and it was pretty good really. I still think the Warblers have better performances (though not as good this week) but I prefer episodes like this to the 'lessons' that Glee tries to squeeze into an episode with zero character development.

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  6. Ok, I just wanted to share what popped into my head the moment Blaine and Kurt started kissing: It's the new couple - BLURT!

    Just thought I'd see if that would catch on. ;) haha

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  7. Blaine and Kurt's relationship did feel a little fast (seeing as Blaine just got over Jeremiah), but I can live with it. I like them as a couple. I wasn't a fan of their duet, though. Their voices just don't always sound good together.

    The original songs weren't bad, but they weren't anything special. I couldn't even remember what they sounded like the next day.

    The audience at Regionals was annoyingly and unrealistically boisterous. The audience has always been polite at the choir concerts I've been to.

    I want Holly Holiday to come back and become a regular. I like Will/Holly way better than Will/Emma or (shudder) Will/Terri.

    I've been liking the Santana/Brittany subplot quite a bit.

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  8. I liked this one, the original songs were good enough and I'm actually glad that ND just won for a change.

    Kurt and Blaine rushing things wasnt as much an issue for me as Sue's assault on that woman. I like Sue but they need to rein her in a bit now.

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  9. Honestly, my favorite part of this was the judges. (My roommate came in during that part of the show, stopped, stared, and blurted "What the hell are you watching?!") The continues shtick of having the Glee Club's fate in the hands of barely caring, preposterously unqualified adults... and their over-the-top personalities... is a hoot!

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  10. I guess it's just me, but I thought that the Blaine/Kurt duet was awful. Kurt's voice is just incredibly wrong - either with that song or with Blaine's voice. Ugh.

    As a couple they're cute, but your comment about it being rushed rings true. Which is probably why I look more forward to the Britanny/Santana storyline - just seems more interesting.

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  11. I watch Glee for the pure, uncomplicated entertainment value (as opposed to say, Fringe, where I am enormously entertained, but have to really pay attention and use my brain too).
    I liked this episode a lot. It made me laugh, it made me smile. Perhaps I am easy to please.
    The first tries at the original songs had me laughing out loud. I liked that they used different genres of music. I liked hearing the others sing (that "Santana" has one great voice). The whole thing with Kurt's bird was so over the top it just made me laugh. Kurt and Blaine's sudden relationship didn't bother me too much - I am the mother of a child in high school and see first hand how fast crushes and "love" come and go...these are teenagers after all. Quinn - I just see her as not really knowing who she is or where she belongs. After what she went through last year, being popular, prom queen - it's what she knows, so that is what she is falling back on. Yes, it was a contrived way to get Rachel to "feel the pain" and write a good song, but it worked for me. I chalk up most of the inconsistencies and flip-flops of characters to the same thing...teenagers - really, when are teenagers ever consistent? Sue's song to pander to the judges was very funny. And I did like New Direction's original songs - primarily because of how they were delivered. And the judges - hilarious! And, I guess I am a sap, but I loved Rachel's award at the end and her heartfelt speech and the group hug. It just felt right. But I do agree that Blaine's line to Kurt about getting each other was stupid. They could have cut that entire scene.

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  12. Ooooh my first Glee comment! Aren't you proud of me Harry?

    Well I kinda really liked this episode. I agree there was a bit too much short singing and not enough plot and good long singing, but overall I think it was better than some of the other episodes.
    I thought Quinn's mean streak was quite believable. I mean, apart from the bit where she was nice to Mercedes when she tried to go on a diet, when was she ever nice? She's always put being popular before everything, or anyone, else, and her constant back-and-forth between wanting sam and wanting finn was not exactly considerate. Quinn's a bitch, no surprise here...

    As for Klaine (much prefer that version!), well it was a bit rushed but I was just too excited about it to care! I'll even overlook the very cheesy line at the end.
    But when Kurt joined the Warblers, didn't we get told that if the bird died something really bad happened? (with Kurt making the jokes about the cat and the mines...). And what's that about their doing lots of performances? Didn't we get told a few episodes ago they had never sung in public (except for competitions) before GAP? I'm a bit confused...

    I liked the original songs. I was expecting something like My Headband that in the story everyone was going to think awesome but that actually was going to make me cringe, but I thought they were actually quite good!

    And I actually shed a tear during Rachel's speech at the end (probably shouldn't admit it though...) In spite of everything, I like Rachel!

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  13. I'm just checking in here because... Yeah, I watched Glee. All of it. Over the last week. And, the performance of 'Loser Like Me' is probably my favorite of the whole show, along with 'My Life Would Suck Without You'. I thought it was an impressive, catchy tune.

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