Glee: Jagged Little Tapestry
January 16, 2015 10:13 PM - Season 6, Episode 3 - Subscribe
This week's theme is mashing up two breakup albums (guess which). Kurt is still moping over Blaine and gets a little freaked out at another teen engagement. Becky gets a boyfriend and everybody worries about it. Sue has some surprising moments of nice. And something's up with Beiste, but what? Seriously, folks, you might want to give the last season a shot. I'm pretty impressed.
I'm surprised at how well Tapestry and Jagged Little Pill songs mashed up, for the most part. I though Santana and Brittany's "One Hand In My Pocket" was lovely, but trying to throw in the stray line about the sun coming down just didn't fit the cheerful. Not so much of a mashup there. But Jane and Mason did a lovely job fitting their songs together. Oh, and Kurt and Blaine doing "It's Too Late" was gorgeous.
Kurt was right to freak out that getting engaged at 19 (or whatever) might be a death knell for a relationship--but yeah, who's gonna listen to that? Hoo boy, Santana. Their relationship continues to be adorable, though I did have to go check if they could get married in Ohio (nope). I think I'm with Kurt a bit--at least have a long engagement, girls.
I gotta say, I laughed a lot at this episode, especially the lines and the meta-commentary and Brittany. Pretty sure she had on a shirt about riding a unicorn or something toward the end I wish I'd written down the slogan of.
I'm actually amazed they managed to make a plot work in which Becky dates a non-Down's dude and he isn't a scammer or creep or otherwise fishy dude. Though I do kinda wonder what he sees in her when she brats out at times. Also really wish she'd stop calling her supposed friends bitches alllllll the time. But then again, I've wished they'd dial down the Sue-infected bratty behavior in Becky for years now, so.
Minor flaws: So Roderick and the girl cheerleader never did a mashup?! Also, they might want to work on developing the new kids and recruiting others a bit more--only nine episodes until sectionals! Or something! Show is still trying to make Roz happen by throwing her into a scene in which she had no business being in. And....Beiste is now transgender. What? I think they already had that sort of plotline working better with Unique back in the day. That was kind of weird, especially what with the "I have a knee injury" and "I have cancer" freakouts.
But still, I think it's a vast improvement from previous seasons. Worth a shot catching up on Hulu if you want, folks.
I'm surprised at how well Tapestry and Jagged Little Pill songs mashed up, for the most part. I though Santana and Brittany's "One Hand In My Pocket" was lovely, but trying to throw in the stray line about the sun coming down just didn't fit the cheerful. Not so much of a mashup there. But Jane and Mason did a lovely job fitting their songs together. Oh, and Kurt and Blaine doing "It's Too Late" was gorgeous.
Kurt was right to freak out that getting engaged at 19 (or whatever) might be a death knell for a relationship--but yeah, who's gonna listen to that? Hoo boy, Santana. Their relationship continues to be adorable, though I did have to go check if they could get married in Ohio (nope). I think I'm with Kurt a bit--at least have a long engagement, girls.
I gotta say, I laughed a lot at this episode, especially the lines and the meta-commentary and Brittany. Pretty sure she had on a shirt about riding a unicorn or something toward the end I wish I'd written down the slogan of.
I'm actually amazed they managed to make a plot work in which Becky dates a non-Down's dude and he isn't a scammer or creep or otherwise fishy dude. Though I do kinda wonder what he sees in her when she brats out at times. Also really wish she'd stop calling her supposed friends bitches alllllll the time. But then again, I've wished they'd dial down the Sue-infected bratty behavior in Becky for years now, so.
Minor flaws: So Roderick and the girl cheerleader never did a mashup?! Also, they might want to work on developing the new kids and recruiting others a bit more--only nine episodes until sectionals! Or something! Show is still trying to make Roz happen by throwing her into a scene in which she had no business being in. And....Beiste is now transgender. What? I think they already had that sort of plotline working better with Unique back in the day. That was kind of weird, especially what with the "I have a knee injury" and "I have cancer" freakouts.
But still, I think it's a vast improvement from previous seasons. Worth a shot catching up on Hulu if you want, folks.
Beiste's transition got treated much more sensitively than I ever expected from Glee. But, did it have to be the most "masculine" female character?
Congratulations Brittany and Santana. Though their relationship progress has been erratic, whatever else has happened they've finally both come to a place of mutual openness and understanding. The contrast between their first scene on a bed and this one is amazing and the road there believable. Any time Morris and Rivera get a chance to show their chemistry like in all those adorable background moments is a good time for me. I have a hard time believing, though, that there'd be no kiss after the proposal.
posted by rebooter at 5:53 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Congratulations Brittany and Santana. Though their relationship progress has been erratic, whatever else has happened they've finally both come to a place of mutual openness and understanding. The contrast between their first scene on a bed and this one is amazing and the road there believable. Any time Morris and Rivera get a chance to show their chemistry like in all those adorable background moments is a good time for me. I have a hard time believing, though, that there'd be no kiss after the proposal.
posted by rebooter at 5:53 AM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Beiste's transition got treated much more sensitively than I ever expected from Glee. But, did it have to be the most "masculine" female character?
YEAH. I feel like I will get in trouble if I say anything about this, but....Beiste going officially dude is not exactly a drastic change for how the character is living life for the most part.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:45 AM on January 17, 2015
YEAH. I feel like I will get in trouble if I say anything about this, but....Beiste going officially dude is not exactly a drastic change for how the character is living life for the most part.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:45 AM on January 17, 2015
Yeah, the unfortuate implication of havig Beiste be the one to transition is that a woman who acts masculine does so because she secretly wants to be a man. This is probably the most uncharitable reading, but 1) Glee hasn't given me a reason to go for the charitable readings, 2) there are no other rough-and-tumble women on the show and 3) her story had no buildup. It came from nowhere, and so seems like another Glee attempt at meaningful social commentary without putting in the required work.
posted by rebooter at 12:47 PM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by rebooter at 12:47 PM on January 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Oh wow. Tapestry is an album from my childhood - one of my mom's favorites - and Jagged Little Pill is what I decided, decades later, would be the album I'd listen to on the drive from my house to hers when she was dying of cancer. (Sorry for the downer!)
Glee is a show I loved then hated then forgot about. I reckon I will catch back up with it. This mashup, at any rate.
posted by rtha at 6:40 PM on January 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Glee is a show I loved then hated then forgot about. I reckon I will catch back up with it. This mashup, at any rate.
posted by rtha at 6:40 PM on January 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think this was a good handling of the oddity and annoyance of making Beiste trans. On the other hand, while digging it up I found another comment on tumblr from someone saying they loved the description of how Beiste felt and that it was a great summarization.
I'm more inclined to agree with the first post. Beiste as a woman provided a good angle for certain stories and they had their shot to handle a trans character well. Why throw away one character and then upend several years worth of work on an existing one?
posted by phearlez at 11:26 AM on January 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'm more inclined to agree with the first post. Beiste as a woman provided a good angle for certain stories and they had their shot to handle a trans character well. Why throw away one character and then upend several years worth of work on an existing one?
posted by phearlez at 11:26 AM on January 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
I liked the music -- to my surprise -- but the heavy handed speechifying was just so heavy-handed. And I definitely agree about the issues with making Beiste trans, especially given what they did to Unique.
posted by jeather at 4:34 PM on February 1, 2015
posted by jeather at 4:34 PM on February 1, 2015
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Part of me is hoping they don't really have any plotlines deeply involving the new characters, that they're basically just there to dance and sing — I feel like there's plenty to be done with the pre-existing characters to fill up a shortened season.
Even if there's a case to be made for not marrying so young, it was pretty clear Kurt was projecting rather than motivated by concern for Brittany and Santana. And you don't bring that up during the public proposal, anyway.
the meta-commentary and Brittany
Oh yes, especially, when one of the new kids wonders how most of the alumni can still be around, Brittany replies "I can bend space and time with my mind." It's a good an answer as any, i.e., if that sort of thing seriously bothers you, Glee is probably not the show for you.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:43 AM on January 17, 2015