Well, if there’s anything I like more than getting punched in the face by a gorilla, it’s a good old-fashioned Darren Criss power-hour injected with a generous dose of Public Service Announcements regarding The Dangers of Texting While Doing Anything Else Besides Sitting Alone In a Cold Dark Room.
Luckily, this week, Glee delivered all that and a bag of discontinued Tortilla Ranch Fritos from The Dollar Tree!
Does anybody else think Glee‘s been picking songs first, plots second? See — by maintaining an ever-growing oft-shifting stable of loosely-defined ambient second-tier characters, Glee’s set itself up to be able to tell pretty much any story it wants to in order to make that week’s Current Crappy Pop Song work. The fact that most Glee kids offer ambiguous information (at best) about their family structure (unless it was a defining element of Season One) means one can invent siblings, parents, grandparents or long-lost cousins out of the deep blue nothing and plop them on screen willy-nilly to juice up iTunes sales and participate in duets that couldn’t happen between two main characters — which is why it’s even worse when they do this and it fails. Much like “fetch,” sometimes you just can’t make “Somebody That I Used To Know” happen.
Love, A.
Anyhow, as much as I hate men, I’m alternately baffled and intrigued and adorkabled-out regarding the Blaine/Kurt union, and if we as a Nation truly required a Darren Criss Solo Episode, I would’ve la-la-la-loved to see the lovebirds in action doing something revelatory, maybe even something that makes sense (aka not Operation Rocksalt)! But nah. NAH! Let’s find out what’s going on with Blaine and THIS GUY instead:
Let’s begin!
We open in the Semi-Hallowed Hallways of McKinley High, where Rachel’s wondering if she and her human rucksack boyfriend would’ve unwisely tied the Knot howevermany days/weeks/storylines ago had Quinn not gotten T-Boned en route to the Injustice of the Peace.
finn, can't you see i'm busy trying to remember my locker combination
Finn suggests marrying on the pitcher’s mound at Wrigley Field after Nationals in Chicago, which seems a bit snug and about one-tenth as awesome as marrying on Oprah’s back porch, but before we can hash out the ins/outs of a ceremony at the Field Museum, Rachel interrupts that she just can’t stop thinking about Quinn.
like, do you think she's into toys, or more vanilla?
Is this a blatant attempt to hypnotize Faberry Shippers into not noticing how bad this episode sucks? Or a genuine moment of character development for these two ladies that will actually be followed up on in future episodes/seasons? I’d like to think it’s the latter, but am concerned it could be the former.
Regardless — Quinn shows up right then/there, wearing a white bustier and a wheelchair.
no really, try touching my inner thighs. just try it. see how i'm touching my knee right now? can't even feel it. c'mon. your turn.
Artie, pleased as punch to have a buddy on his ozone level (I feel the same way about making other tall female friends), saddles her side, wheel-to-wheel, while Quinn announces that this is the absolute best day of her life ever! Quinn loves being temporarily diffabled! It’s even better than being pregnant, but not quite as fun as being goth.
Let’s sing about it — IRONICALLY! How about “I’m Still Standing,” which is Still Standing In My Head?
yeah fuck me like a banana!
Following the rousing number, Quinn takes center stage:
Quinn: “Here’s a message for your board, Mr. Shue — don’t text and drive, ever. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life… besides sleeping with Puck.”
Quinn then says she’s got some air to clear regarding ambiguous rumors which, if her next line conforms to any kind of logical procession of language, all concern her vagina. “My plumbing still works, which is awesome,” she strangely ensures the class, then explains her spine something something and she’ll be able to walk again like super-super-soon for real.
you've seen downton abbey, right? this is gonna be like that.
This week’s Adults’ Storylines Do The Darndest Things runaround involves Sue’s fetus. Figgins has promoted Roz to co-coach of the Cheerios, citing Sue’s inability to properly coach while With Child, or something, and Sue makes Figgins pretty-promise that he’ll return Sue’s solo-coaching-spot to Sue if Sue makes the Glee Club win nationals and the $10,000 prize that goes along with it. You know, school financing is JUST FASCINATING!!! Year after year after episode after episode, I’m on the edge of my seat, taffy firmly in-mouth, breath baited with anticipation to hear more about budget cuts!!
and no you cannot fist my earring
There’s also some razamatazz involving the gender of Sue’s baby and the fact that it will be diffabled in some way, like her sister and Becky, or something, which I’m certain has been contrived specifically to make it impossible for me to make fun of Sue’s fetus without being an asshole.
isn't this the same doctor's office where rachel didn't get a nose job
(Sidenote: I talk about money problems all day but I watch television to escape all that and ideally to bask in the glow of lesbians making out and charismatic teenagers singing/dancing. Glee‘s persistent reliance on financially-focussed storylines increases the already-ominous dark cloud of financial doom that hangs over one’s head in April and I really wish they’d stop! It’s a good topic for a few episodes, but a lame running gag.)
Thus we smear over to Booty Camp, which’s been on hiatus since the last time it was used to advance subplot.
this isn't cheetahs, roller boy!
Kurt was mercifully released from whatever Vegas stripshow required him to dress like Mango Goes To T-Ball Camp and, like the other helpless children, isn’t pleasing Sue with his disinterest in becoming bootylicious.
shirts vs. shirts vs. mesh vs. skins
Sue calls Finn “granny panties,” which’s epically accurate.
Sue: “Hey Mercedes, who ya texting?”
Mercedes: “I’m not texting anyone… I’m.. donating to the Obama campaign?”
[Sue hurls the phone into the auditorium, shattering $400 of pure phone goodness into a million little pieces]
Mercedes: “AH! My drawing!”
Ha!
Back in the Semi-Hallowed Hallways of McKinley High, Kurt’s verklempt re: the magical invention and subsequent arrival of Blaine’s Beautiful Idiot Brother, who Blaine’s never spoken about to Kurt, ever, ’cause Glee couples never talk about anything, ever, besides Finn + Rachel who talk about everything, constantly. Communication and emotional support don’t lend themselves to gratuitous solo power ballads, so.
Guess who's wearing four shirts today and therefore wins our daily "who can wear the most shirts?" contest??! ME!
Turns out Blaine’s Beautiful Idiot Brother, Cooper, stars in a popular credit report commercial which, unlike actual credit report commercials, has seduced the groins and nipples of the entire heartland.
nobody knows i'm wearing depends!
Kurt: “Blaine, your brother’s the best-looking man in North America.”
Blaine’s Beautiful Idiot Brother turns everybody into a helpless softened-butter-pillar of sexual desire, even Sue Sylvester. And thus, Blaine’s Beautiful Idiot Brother drive-by seduces passersby while explaining the reason for his visit to Blaine — he’s prepping for Round Two of the Free Credit Rating Campaign which’ll be extra-dark. What better place to connect with people who need free credit ratings than in The Heartland?
I plan to spend the morning at Odd Lots, the afternoon at Wal-Mart, and the evening at Gold Star Chili
As Casanova Cooper fades into the ether, Blaine dejectedly states, “Yeah, that’s why I never really talk about my brother,” while Kurt gazes ahead as a pornographic movie starring Blaine’s Beautiful Idiot Brother and Ricky Martin rolls through his brain. Poor sad Blaine.
Brittany & Santana, fingers erotically locked, stroll through the library for a loud meeting about Senior Skip Day.
and when i hold your hand with three fingers, that's code for me wanting three fingers later
My money’s on Cedar Pont, America’s Roller Coast, which’s located a mere two hours from Lima, Ohio! Or, perhaps Kings Island, also a mere two hours from Lima, Ohio?
i really love cedar point you guys
Kurt proposes a Gershwin/Soundehim Scavenger Hunt (“sounds like torture”-Santana), Mike Chang desires a Footloose marathon, Mercedes suggests a non-alcoholic pub crawl and dearest Brit-Brit…
Brittany: “It’s springtime. I would like to see something give birth.”
like my storyline, for example
Meanwhile, Rachel’s suffering intense emotional turmoil, preventing her from discussing baby otters or Into the Woods-themed scavenger hunts:
Rachel: “Quinn I’m so sorry. It was my wedding you were going to and me that you were texting and now we’re all sitting here talking about the day that’s supposed to be the most amazing and unforgettable days of our high school lives and we’re — we’re completely ignoring the fact that she’s sitting in that chair! It’s not right and it shouldn’t be like this.”
i never should've switched to direct tv
1. Hyperbole police called, Berry, and you’ve gotta pick one! Which is the most amazing and unforgettable day of our high school life?
A. Prom
B. Your Wedding
C. The Senior Musical
D. Regionals.
2. You’re all sitting in chairs, you fucking weirdo!
Anyhow, Quinn’s the epitome of epic togetherness and Godly compassion, reassuring Rachel that —
Quinn: “Maybe not, but this is the way it is, my accident, which is not your fault by the way, does not define me or ruin our senior year. I meant what I said in the choir room, I’m not gonna dwell on this and neither should any of you.”
“C’mere,” says Quinn in her “big sister knows best” voice, embracing Rachel for several gif-ready moments of tender semi-erotic tenderness.
at $59.99 a ticket and a 5-hour drive to the closest six-flags, we could def bang out a serious senior skip day for more than we'll win at nationals!
So, Six Flags it is!
The kids bail and Puck tells Finn he’s gonna move to LA after graduation and start a pool-cleaning business, ’cause there are 800,000 pools in California and Steve Jobs wasn’t taken seriously in high school but then he became rich and is now dead, just like Abraham Lincoln, and Finn should start thinking about himself for once instead of blindly following Rachel to New York where she’ll almost certainly fall in love with a Julliard violinist and kick his lumbering potato-body out of bed forever and ever. Or whatever.
our motto could be "just 'cause we're shallow, doesn't mean your pool has to be"
Raise your hand if you don’t give a shit. Okay now put your hand down and scroll to the next scene of this recap.
Back to Glee Club, where Sue scrawls LAZY IDIOTS on the whiteboard — surely the finest scrawling that has ever been scrawled — and introduces Casanova Cooper to hypnotize everybody and announce his Acting Master Class.
and then i showed them my bleached asshole and we were ready to rock
Glee Club cajoles Blaine and Blaine’s Beautiful Idiot Brother into a musical number —
Blaine: “Oh no no no no no. Please don’t make me do that.”
Kurt: “Oh no, Blaine, you have to. You’re both so handsome and good.”
— and thus we break into a Duran-Duran mashup which showcases their teeth, belting ability, and overall lust for life, and the children clap and sing like bunnies having orgasms on a hill in Sweden.
MARCO! POLO!
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well im just one person wholoved the episode, and matt bomer is so good, he should be in often.
This episode was so boring. I don’t even have anything to say about it except, holy sheisse, according to the preview at the end of the show, we might have a Jenny and Niki 2.0 situation involving Brittana and a sex tape. Or it could just turn out to be a massive joke/misleading quote.
Riese, I almost tweeted you on Tuesday night just to express my condolences for having to watch this episode.
I forgive Glee for a lot of stuff. I try to remember it’s a musical/comedy, absurd comedy for the most part, and I don’t ask for much in the way of real life circumstances.
The music usually saves even the crappiest episodes for me but this one….not so much. I’ve never liked Duran Duran, even when they were a thing and there’s not a single song in the whole show that I want to hear again.
Sometimes Glee seems to get an idea (senior skip day! Ricky Martin!) and then just tries any old way to get it in an episode. Matt Bomer is handsome but I didn’t find Cooper to be funny or even amusing. Just irritating.
This show was an underwhelming return after a 7 week hiatus. I don’t care about Blaine’s brother and their sibling rivalry yet it was given more emotional weight than a founding character’s paralysis. Don’t even get me started on the way they glossed over the aftermath of Quinn’s getting broadsided by a truck.
” don’t care about Blaine’s brother and their sibling rivalry yet it was given more emotional weight than a founding character’s paralysis.”
this!
2nd that. I really don’t get how in the last closing seconds of the last episode, you have a truck violently slamming into Quinn’s car, and she’s back after the hiatus with not a bruise or scratch on her body, announcing that the first thing you can be thankful for is that her lady bits are working. I mean, god forbid after such a horrific car wreck that anyone be worried about anything other than whether or not she’s still able to be impregnated (again)…
and fuck dammit Glee, I just got that sanity reducing Gotye song out of my head after a MONTH and you’ve gone and crammed it back in my skull just so you can remain current with the charts! fuck you!
I’m always in a stylistic dilemma over ‘focused’ versus ‘focussed’. (Despite spell-check saying otherwise, I’m pretty sure the latter is a real word) ‘Focussed’ makes my eyes/brain/everything hurt, but it’s much more interesting to look at. Is anyone else having internal battles about this controversy?
#boringgleeisboring
i actually worked for two years as a copywriter for an australian human resources company which involved writing job ads for them, which is a genre of writing that includes the word “focussed” a lot. so that’s when i picked up the habit… and in the ensuing years, there are some words I still spell the australian/british way because i just like them better that way.
Somehow I missed a big chuck of this episode. I think it’s because whenever someone started to sing I muted it to try and write an essay and goddamit, that was MORE FUN.
Now I might re-watch selective parts just to see Santana and Brittany at a theme park.
I don’t think you mean “chuck”. I think you mean “bryce”.
:D
Is your icon the Brain bug from Starship Troopers?
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON!
Okay, I haven’t watched the episode yet. Is it possible that Kurt lectured Blaine on how his problems are nothing compared to Quinn’s in a wheelchair? No?
Because, you know, it’s only fair, after his speachifying to Quinn about Karofsky. Wait, there’s something else that makes a difference there, what is it again…
I’m actually looking forward to SNG, despite the sex tape jokes. (I’m hoping the generally reduced amount of dialog means minimal opportunity for offence.)
I’m looking forward to SNG too because:
1) Disco music! Sure, it’s complete fluff and doesn’t have any meaning other than “dance your ass off!” but sometimes that’s enough. Also, disco music has shiny, shiny mirrored balls and lots of flashing lights in bright colors. It’s mesmerizing in the most basic of ways.
2) The core of the TroubleTones doing “Disco Inferno”. Dancing cheerleaders and Mercedes killing the vocals? Yes please.
3) Brittany is dancing in more than just one performance. Maybe she’ll even get some dialog.
4) There will be more Santana. Santana dancing with Brittany and possibly talking to her.
5) Clothes from the 70’s to laugh at. Unless I see something that I actually wore, then I’ll just be embarrassed.
I’m assuming the sex tape is just another Brittanyism for something more innocuous.
Some things may happen that will hinder my enjoyment of the episode. Mr. Schue may perform. Finn will sing “More than a woman” to Rachel.
I don’t doubt (or maybe I just really hope) that it’s a typical Brittany misspeak joke.
The problem I have with the sex tape joke is that it involves hot queer teenage girls in cheerleader uniforms. So yeah, there’s no way Glee could resist at least making a joke about it, right? Because everyone knows that hot queer teenage girls in cheerleader uniforms = porn.
And (forgive me for repeating myself from another post), we know that’s true just by watching how our hot teen sex fiends pranced into the choir room in IKAG, all for the pleasure of the boys. Who looked like they were watching pole dancers, seriously. (Still facepalming when I think about those camera shots. Among other things.)
This is Glee’s problem in general, when it comes to girls and to race. They think it’s fine to make racist jokes because of course Glee knows better, they’re way too hip to be racist! Except the jokes lack context and any real commentary. They’re just racist jokes. It doesn’t matter that they’re said by the scene’s antagonist when there’s nothing that acknowledges how damaging those slurs can be.
With the girls it’s more insidious, but it’s just as bad. The joke may end up being about kittens, but I’m not comfortable with it because of the porn factor, esp. when Santana’s coming out was handled so disrespectfully to begin with. And the promo showing the football players trailing Santana, who clearly looks uncomfortable… ugh.
This show… so frustrating for the opportunities lost, and the injustices perpetuated.
Cedar Point! I have forgiven this show for a lot of ridiculous things (fake baby swap, never calling the cops about anything), but choosing Six Flags over Cedar Point is just too much.
I went to high school in the Midwest (Illinois), and we did senior skip day at Six Flags–near St. Louis, I think? I’d never even heard of Cedar Point, though I also hate amusement parks, so maybe I’m not a good judge.
yes there is a six flags in st.louis, it’s true! all the kids who went to high school in ann arbor, michigan (where i grew up, but by the time i was a senior i was at boarding school where skipping wasn’t quite so easy) went to cedar point BECAUSE OF THE RAPTOR
RAPTOR RULES THE SKY
We went to King’s Island in Cincinnati due to proximity to Indianapolis for skip day purposes, but I can attest that the Raptor does indeed rule. Cedar Point requires an over-night visit for us, sadly.
Or I guess happily, as an adult, because I can now afford hotels and don’t have to lie to my mom if I wanna spend the night in some other city. :)
And speaking of that – Ryan Murphy is *from* Indianapolis, and is vaguely my age, so why they hell did they not go to King’s Island or Cedar Point. He should effing know that. And why the hell couldn’t they just go with no-name genera theme park instead of making everyone in the midwest fail to suspend their disbelief?
According to the end credits, the episode was sponsored by Six Flags, so I guess it was product placement.
I mostly think it’s funny that Six Flags was totally ok with the episode promoting the idea that it is a terrible place for people in wheel chairs to visit.
Yeah, but is product placement worth causing a decent portion go your viewing audience to scoff openly on twitter? Pretty much everyone I twitter-watch TV with was mocking that.
YES I was just watching that last night (in Cincinnati) and my friends and I were like wtf.. Why not King’s Island? Or Cedar Point, I guesss.
Lame unrealistic corporate sponsorship.
“while drinking homosexual virgin-cocktails”
Those are the only kind I drink….laaaadies
Ah just when I was wondering if my life would ever again be truly complete, this recap came along. I am impressed by their ability to make every single moment of a whole show suck so much.
Also omg Quinn in a wheelchair I want to kill this storyline with fire.
I remember going for a run the morning after the first episode of Glee aired, and the newly-downloaded cover of “Don’t Stop Believing” shuffled on. 4 times in a row. I remember thinking, dang…this show could sure be SOMETHING. And it managed, all at once, to be so much more and so much less than I could have expected.
There’s this show I actually want to watch underneath the heaping piles of AWFUL, a show about queerness and family and getting through adolescence and how musicals can communicate all of that in a very unique way. And I don’t know if that show ever really existed in Glee, but I think I see it every once in awhile. And somehow, that makes watching every week worse.
ANYWAY. Thank you Riese and Grace for ENDURING.
Thoughts on this episode:
blah blah blah Matt Bomer was a good choice for Blaine’s brother, they look like they could actually be related blah blah blah why are they wearing their cheerleading uniforms to six flags on senior skip day? blah blah blah am I the only person not on the “somebody that I used to know” bandwagon? blah blah blah wait, disco, what??
How is nobody talking about that photo where Rachel clearly has her hand in her skirt while lezzing out over Quinn? Sometimes the captions write themselves, people.
You must not be on Tumblr then.
My eyes were glued to her disappearing hand.
The Flowers-In-The-Attic reference is spot-on! That duet was really unsettling.
I also feel the need to mention that I grew up in Ohio and my senior skip day was at Cedar Point but I would’ve rather gone to a skate park with Quinn.
I would go back and endure another five years of high school if I could go to a skate park with Quinn. Just saying.
no you wouldn’t. highschool is hell
How You Know You Need More Fictional Queer Ladies on Your TV:
At the beginning of I’m Still Standing, there’s two cheerleaders running down the hallway. After they run into Quinn, they join hands and run off again.
I ship them. I ship them like FedEx.
I’m laughing so hard because I knew it was you from the FedEx line.
<3
=|
I’m not sure what happened to my comment…
<3
Compulsive shipping is genetic on my mother's side
For someone who was recently in a bad accident that left her paralyzed, Quinn looked surprisingly good like somehow her back was the only thing injured but there were no other cuts, scrapes, broken bones, etc.
I’m just going to imagine that Cooper was really Neil Caffrey working undercover with the FBI to stop some art smuggling ring located in Lima Ohio.
YES I WAS IMAGINING THAT ABOUT COOPER THE WHOLE TIME. IT MADE IT ABOUT A MILLION TIMES MORE INTERESTING. :D
1)Episodes like this one are the reason I have to watch glee on the DL.
2)My daughter loves Somebody That I Used to Know and my son hates it and I think it sounds like The Police which confuses me.
3)Less Blaine and more Santana and/or Brittany. Someone make that happen.
It was driving me crazy trying to figure out what Somebody That I Used To Know was reminding me of, and you’re right it totally sounds like The Police
My annoyance that they didn’t go to Cedar Point eclipsed my annoyance of the rest of the episode, which is really saying something, but I am from Sandusky and have really strong feelings re: Cedar Point. So.
My mom’s side of the family is from Cleveland. We begged to go to Cedar Point every time we went to visit them. True story: I cried on the Iron Dragon. Like hyperventilating, cannot breathe sobbing. That is when I learned I do not like roller coasters.
After watching this episode, I have to agree: “Because of You” would have been much, much better and way more appropriate. “Fighter” doesn’t really fit here. They should probably start consulting you about these things.
I just…
FINN’S/CORY’S FACE ON THE ROLLERCOASTER PIC! HE LOOKS SO CONFUSED!
Also,he’s looking like he always does and is using 1 of his 3 facial expressions.
“Guess who’s wearing her friday panties?!” was inexplicably hilarious.
And also kinda creepy!
I adore Darren Criss and “Fighter” is one of my favorite songs from my memories of high school. Glee ruined both for me with this episode.
I would just like to point out that the Six Flags in Louisville is only FOUR hours away from Lima.
/nitpicky
Good recap, shitty episode, in my opinion.
no, that six flags closed in 2010. if it still exists, it’s owned by somebody else.
Really?! Aw man, I went there like 10 years ago, I guess… In retrospect it wasn’t all that exciting–one of the shittier theme parks I’ve been to, which explains why it’s closed…
this is what I get for being a snot. :P
this is what i get for being a dork
I say Whatever to this episode. This whole show. I only came back for the Troubletones. That Adele mash-up was sex.
I watched the preview for the next episode because it did look cute. No wonder you guys were calling it SNG because when Jane Lynch said the title out loud… just ew. What? gleever? I want to take a meat gleever to the face.
And glee has been doing that whole pick songs and then force a plot since forever.
Hmmm. My comment got lost and is now part of this thread. Sorry.
T-T. “THIS COMMENT DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE!”
I *might* watch the SNG episode, but I think as far as musical TV shows go I’m gonna have to stick to SMASH.
Smash must be a bit embarrassing for the Glee writers, because, “see, this is how grown ups write television.”
I’m just really baffled by the glossing over of Quinn’s accident. like clearly they wanted to send a message about texting while driving, but other than showing the accident, they have made this story as nontraumatic as possible. I think that with the exception of the Rachel/Finn relationship, the writers just don’t have the patience to stick with any storyline for more than one episode. Like remember the other major event that took place in the last episode, Karofsky attempting suicide? I’m sure we’ll never hear about that again either.
Waaaiiiitttt. You’re baffled by Glee glossing over [fill in the blank]?
I’m baffled by why I continue to watch this show. And then I see a clip of Brittana/HeYa dancing or holding hands, and I hang my head… I am their bitch.
My eyes were rolling so hard. I became disabled my senior year of high school, and I didn’t make reassuring speeches to my classes about how I was going to be ok and my plumbing still worked. Nope, I wandered around in a haze and walked out of my classes crying. Either Quinn is made of iron or she is entirely not based in reality.
I really liked this episode because it put to rest some questions and anxieties I had been dealing with since the previous episode ended. For example, when the car crash happened I immediately thought “Noooo! Quinn’s plumbing! What about her remarkable plumbing!!?” and now I know it still works, and having that knowledge has made me a better person.
Honest information: I don’t even know if I enjoyed this episode. I thought I’d watched it, but as soon as I began reading this funny recap I realized it’s also a very, very informative recap for me, because I don’t remember most of what supposedly happened. Did I watch the episode? Did the episode watch me? Can I even know for sure? Who am I? What is being? Glee is show. I don’t know anything. IGNORANCE IS STRENGHT.
Repeat:
“and when i hold your hand with three fingers, that’s code for me wanting three fingers later”
i can’t even.
yes, please.
“Well, if there’s anything I like more than getting punched in the face by a gorilla, it’s a good old-fashioned Darren Criss power-hour injected with a generous dose of Public Service Announcements regarding The Dangers of Texting While Doing Anything Else Besides Sitting Alone In a Cold Dark Room.”
Yes. You had me at this.
Riese, I knew only your recap could express how much I utterly hated this episode. And THANK YOU for continuing to do them. Totally made my day.
I was told to comment on twitter, so I am ;)
Okay. I thought the theme park thing was stupid, where artie and quin went. It was actually quite an insulting an ablist thing to show them do…. That’s how I felt. Can’t explain why.
Also, you made me lol. Thanks for all the lolz.
This episode made me chuckle on more than one occasion which hadn’t happened since season 2 was on, but I wish they had developed Quinn’s aftermath instead of trying to make me laugh :(
I feel like they just never get it right. Also is anybody else tired of the PSA’s as much as I am? Because DON’T FRET, there’s a domestic violence themed episode coming. *shoots self*
Sorry to be “that girl” but is there a reason that the word “disabled” is spelt as “diffabled” TWICE in the recap? It just seems like once could be a typo but twice is a joke at the expense of people with disabilities…
Diffabled: a blend of the expression “differently abled.” Snappy, yes, but not an ill-natured joke
(Source: my limited internet-acquaintance with the Riese and the helpful validation of the always serious
urbandictionary.com
).
thank you wepa
um, i was told by somebody with a disability that “diffabled” is the word we’re supposed to use now instead of “disabled”… that it’s more politically correct… is that not true?
here i found a good explanation of it on the internet
http://diff-abled.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-diff-abled.html
“Many friends of mine are against using certain words to define children and adults who are disabled. In fact, “disabled” is now becoming a word of the past. We try to encourage all of our children to be their very best, so why is it any different with a disability? Why use words meaning “not” or “un-“? That is why I love the newest term for my son. The word “differently-abled” describes him to a tee… he is not “disabled,” but he is definitely “differently-abled.” Next time you see a person that is “differently-abled,” just watch to see what their abilities really are.”
“(I feel the same way about making other tall female friends)”
I mostly didn’t like that.
I know it’s never easy to cover all the bases and keep everyone comfortable/happy, but the preferred terminology in the UK (by activists & organisations) is disabled & non-disabled, those terms being reflective of the social model of disability. In the US, I believe activists prefer first person language, so will say persons with disabilities, but still use the social model as the starting point. By describing people as differently abled, you’re putting the emphasis back on what they can & can’t do, (‘seeing the abilities’), rather than society’s responsibility to become an environment inclusive of everyone- ie people are currently *disabled* by society.
Also, talking about able and abilities often puts the emphasis on physical impairments and excludes the experiences of mental health service users/survivors.
I recognise that you’re poking fun at Glee’s attempts to poke fun at themselves ‘we’re so pc, we can use offensive language because everyone knows we don’t mean it’… But every time I hear paternalistic, patronising terminology like handicapable or differently abled, I want to throw my Glee CD & DVD collection through the TV screen.
Honestly I don’t expect them to get it right anymore, they’ve never portrayed disability or impairment appropriately, but I’m so tired of having to defend the joy I experience through the singing & dancing to activist friends from various backgrounds who think I’m betraying their & my own causes for a bit of primetime entertainment.
Whoops, I didn’t mean to go on so much! Would love to hear what others think about this.
Well said, I’ll second that. I’m an American in London, with a learning disability. I was turned around about this by the (amazing) director of the disability and well-being office where I’m located. I’m all for trying to take the negative out and putting the positive in, but not at the sake of accuracy.
We have been dis-abled–It’s the favoured word because, for so many, the ability has been denied. We are *all* differently abled, and to many of us, the root of the issue is the problem we have with difference. As it is with sexuality, gender, race, etc.
A friend recently asked me why I continue to watch the show if I think it’s so bad. I said because it’s important, because we know they have the ability to do it right, because they’re doing some very important things wrong and contributing to precisely the social problems (misogyny, racism, ableism) that they’re smugly patting themselves on the back for. And they get more publicity for their mythology by GLAAD.
Agreed! I don’t like the terms handicapable or differently abled.
Also, when Quinn was talking about her plumbing was I the only one who thought bowel and bladder rather than vagina? Because the nerves that control the bowel and bladder are the lowest on the spine, and you can lose bowel and bladder function if your spine is injured. My daughter can walk, but her bowels and bladder don’t function. Though I wouldn’t expect glee to be able to handle a subject like catheterization gracefully, so it’s probably for the best that they don’t go there.
“Agreed! I don’t like the terms handicapable or differently abled.”
I HATE these terms. Other disabled people may of course use them for themselves but when they get presented as the acceptable thing for everyone to use I kind of want to throw up a little.
Look, I’m disabled. Things would be easier if I could see and do math and think straight and all. It’s a DISability and no happy sunshine terminology will change that. In fact some of the disability stuff I hear from disability groups pisses me right off (“blindness is just a physical inconvenience.”) because it takes away from the fact that being disabled can often suck and make life harder and gets you stigmatized etc etc. I often also feel like these terms exist to make able people feel better instead of existing to protect the people they were supposedly created to protect.
The short version is I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with saying disabled. That’s what it is. A disability.
/feels /rant
thanks tiger, consider me schooled, i won’t make the same mistake next time!
Aww I wasn’t trying to school you, my friend. :)
Hope you found my opinion helpful, anyway!
i did! :-)
I’m disabled, and I’d prefer to call it disabled. Others can call it what they want, but for me, having seizures isn’t a different ability, it’s disability and it fucking sucks. I’ve accepted it. I’m living with it and dealing with it, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to call it anything but what it is: something about my life I really don’t like.
yeah. i didn’t much like your commentary regarding diffabled folk. it seemed a bit crass and over run with privilege.
I just…..really hate Finn Hudson. I seriously am only watching this to see A) Brittana. Those gay sharks are just really worth it all….I guess. B) Sue’s snarky insults. It’s interesting to see how much they try to get away with with Sue’s lines. C) Quinn Fabray becoming a lesbian. I still have hope for that. “I’m not that into that”…come on now.
I was done entirely with Finn Hudson as a “good guy” in season two. He’s a douche. A douche that semi-kinda cares about other people, outs somebody in the hallway and doesn’t think it’s a big deal, says the two most important people in his life mean nothing, then has the audacity to get angry at his girlfriend/fiance for wanting to follow the dream she’s had for 18 years as opposed to the dream he’s had for 2 days.
Fucking set him on fire and be done with it.
I dunno, I really don’t like Finn but also Rachel is a total asshole and is being so so manipulative and fucked-up in expecting Finn to drop everything for her. Obviously I’m not saying he’s right to ask her to change her plans, but I mean, she’s a tool, too. They just need to break up already.
yeah, but she’s talented and interesting and an entertaining character whereas finn is, well, as riese always says, a useless sack of potatoes.
I was pretty into all the Darren Criss action, honestly, but TWO LINES FOR SANTANA and like, what, none? for Brittany is not ok! I’m also becoming increasingly frustrated with the utter lack of character development in this show– characters are who they need to be for an episode, and there’s very little continuity or depth.
Okay, the only reason why I enjoyed this episode was because of RACHEL BARBRA BERRY. Not even for my baby girl Quinn because, fuck, I cringed at the “Walking While Texting” bullshit and that was not Quinn and Artie on the wheelchair ramp; that was Dianna and Kevin.
But yes, Rachel. Rachel was the only one to express the proper emotions following Quinn’s accident. And then Quinn said “c’mere” and Rachel cried and Finn watched them clutch hands lovingly in despair and I may have died a little (okay maybe a lot).
This show has done such an awful fucking job of dealing with Quinn properly that the only way I reconcile this crappy episode is that 7 weeks of developed angsty-hospital headcanon was not ruined.
#ihateblaineandeverythingtangentiallyrelatedtohim
I had the exact same thought about it being Dianna and Kevin on the wheelchair ramp. Glad someone else noticed this.
And then Tumblr exploded with Achele-ness because Dianna was laughing the same way as Lea (AK AK AK AK).
I wouldn’t be able to watch this show without my Faberrachele goggles fused to my face.
I don’t know if I’m ready to make it official but at least unofficially I have stopped watching this show but I’ll definitely still read the recaps and appreciate them/the work you put into them.
I have a lot of feelings towards this show and the BLAINE BLAINE BLAINE attitude it seems to have adopted. I wonder if he’s loved because he’s more masculine than Kurt and even on a show that proclaims its outsider status, the most mainstream of its characters are still front and centre.
Anyhoo, I have plenty more feelings but no need to share them. It’s just disappointing that a show that I thought would be fun and silly and camp turned into (was always?) such a poorly written vehicle for Ryan Murphy to live out his fantasies.
matt bomer looks a lot like matt boner. that’s all.
I’m so happy there are Glee recaps again! YAY. Also, I really like Matt Bomer because he is a dork, and because WHITE COLLAR. :D
My new favorite Glee twitter hashtag, coined this episode, is #WTFGlee, which I’ll be using liberally (because that’s how I do everything) from now on. I had forgotten, after the long hiatus, how really terrible the writing on the show is.
The only thing I enjoyed about this episode was this recap.
Did anyone else catch Santana’s AMAZING reaction to that Duran Duran bro-fest?
<3
Wait, wait! I have an important question! Aren’t toys vanilla? Because I’m pretty vanilla, but love my toys. I never thought of them as being very unusual in terms of kink…
don’t know the answer to your question, but that caption made me spit out my coffee.
just realized that there was literally no narrative reason to show brittany and santana walking, “fingers erotically linked” (loved that line, riese!), into the senior cut day meeting other than to placate Brittana shippers. And I am totally okay with that.
Hey,they had to throw us some kind of bone. After all, they give everything to the Klainers.
Though I totally ship Kurt and Dave Karovsky after the epic suicide situation.
glee sometimes makes me feel like a bone receptacle
but that’s why i stopped dating boys, so
these days
i want something i can hold in my hand
I just came back to re-read this recap, and it was just as wonderful as I remembered. I think maybe these recaps get even better as Glee gets worse? Or maybe they just seem better in comparison to the stinking pile of shit that Glee is these days. Too much? Sorry, I’m not feeling very charitable towards this show lately.
Even if they spent 10 minutes next episode on only a Brittana make-out, I still wouldn’t watch the episode.
(AHHAHAHA that was a joke, obviously I would watch it 28 times a day for the rest of my life. Sigh.)
Anyway, the recap vs. show quality situation reminds me of this article: http://www.vulture.com/2012/04/matt-zoller-seitz-in-defense-of-tv-recaps.html
so you do actually use ‘excitant’ in your everyday speech
This is the first chance I’ve had to read this re-cap, and I don’t have time to read all of the comments so I don’t know if anyone has commented on this…but
All my mom and I did the entire time we watched this was bitch about how there is no Six Flags around here anymore. We used to have Geauga Lake and then it turned into Six Flags and went bankrupt and they closed it down and sold all of my favorite roller-coasters.
COME ON GLEE WRITERS, CAN YOU ACTUALLY VISIT OHIO? EVERYONE IN OHIO GOES TO CEDAR POINT ON SKIP DAY. Everyone. Please visit Ohio and start getting your facts straight.
I decided 5 minutes into this episode that I never want to waste another 5 minutes of my life on Glee ever again. Straw + camel’s back = broken.
I didn’t get much past Kurt being dressed like “Mango goes to T ball camp” because I laughed so hard I peed my pants. Great recap!
I definitely have a love/hate relationship with this show, but I can speak from experience about the Quinn/car accident plot line. My senior year, I was a passenger in a car that hit black ice and flipped, rolled five times and landed in a ditch. I broke my neck, missed almost two months of school, had to have surgery, was “neck brace girl” and still managed to have a positive outlook. I was in a neck brace instead of a wheel chair, but was also so thankful to be alive, I wasn’t angry or depressed. I did cry when I was dumped right before prom, but my date was an a-hole anyway, so it worked out in my favor. I did hate that they glossed over her return so much and that her main comment was some stupid “I can still make babies” b.s. A huge part of my own positivity was from the love and support I got from classmates and my teachers. More than 100 kids came to visit me in the hospital, my teachers worked with me on making up work from the hospital – I even pulled a 4.6 that last semester. And I will always remember the friends I made when I got an elevator key and became closer with a handful of the handicapped kids in my class. I always knew I’d heal and they’d still be dealing with difficulties. It was an odd sort of guilt, but gave me all the more respect for my new friends and another reason to feel lucky instead of angry. And, sorry, but my life is a PSA for seatbelt safety. Without the one I had been wearing, I would have been thrown from the car and crushed to death. Glee, I love you and you suck.
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