Michael Langston Moore is today’s Guest Clacker: “I’m a freelance writer whose peerless opinions on television shows carry immeasurable weight. Or so I tell myself.” You can see more of his work over at the Boston TV Examiner or follow him on Twitter.
I’m continually impressed by the ability of Glee to handle touchy subject matter, and Wednesday night’s “Hairography” episode was no exception. Quinn’s ongoing pregnancy woes, coupled with her dilemma over whether Finn or Puck is most capable of raising her unborn daughter, is wrought with emotion that never once glamorizes or makes light of teen pregnancy.
Glee also had a memorable moment last night when Will Schuester’s loveable misfits joined in with another school’s glee club (whose members were deaf) as they simultaneously sang and signed John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Admit it, you got choked up.
Just two episodes prior, Glee featured a character with Down syndrome attempting to try out for Sue Sylvester’s Cheerios. Will, who suspected Sue was up to no good, confronted the track suit wearing coach. Turns out, Sue truly had no ulterior motive — it’s revealed that she has a mentally handicapped sister who she visits and reads stories to.
Suddenly, the adult high school bully has a heart.
The beauty of Glee, aside from the great musical numbers and the overall eager-to-please demeanor of the show, is that the characters become more layered as this season progresses. At this stage of the new TV season, many shows are settling into their groove with their now established characters. On Glee, however, we’re still peeling back the layers of these high school archetypes.
Puck, at first glance, seemed like the typical jock. Brash. Womanizing. Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. With that said, he’s a jock who appears to have a soft side, serenading his fellow “Gleeks” with “Sweet Caroline” and at one point appearing to really care for Quinn. Well, until that little “sexting” reveal. Oops.
My only real character beef with the show is Will Schuester’s wife, Terri. Played by Jessalyn Gilsig — who was quite good on “Boston Public” years ago — Terri lies to her husband about being pregnant all the while hoping to convince Quinn to give up her baby. Aside from the fact that it’s beyond weird that Will hasn’t caught onto Terri’s deceit, the idea that this preposterous storyline continues to have legs is dragging down an otherwise great program.
I hope that this plot device gets resolved soon, and that the writers give Gilsig more to do than act crazy. Katherine Mayfair on Desperate Housewives can do crazy all by herself, so I pray that Will wises and Terri gets a new storyline.
As a side note, while we have seen the home life of characters such as Kurt, Finn, and Quinn, I’d like to see more episodes involving Mercedes and Artie. We’ve yet to find out many details about these two characters, which is odd because they’re such big players in the musical numbers performed on the show.
Clacked by Guest Clacker
on Nov 27, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
I’d rather find out anything at all about Tina, who thus far has only been defined through other characters’ stories.
I don’t know, Ryan… I think we know more about Tina’s backstory now, than say Mercedes. Granted we learned about Tina through Artie’s story, we still learned a lot about her.
I wasn’t speaking strictly of backstories, but anything at all, especially personality. Tina is one of the original kids, and got an audition in the pilot, but I feel like I know even Brittany and Santana (and definitely Mercedes) better than I do her. And her backstory basically consisted of a single fact that was, as we’ve said, integral to Artie’s storyline, not her own. I wouldn’t call that learning a lot, myself.
And then there are the 3 or 4 people in the group who don’t even have names, or lines yet. I know you can’t have a huge primary cast because then no character gets any development, but shouldn’t they have names by now?
And Terri’s biggest problem is that her presence, and her plotline, makes the lead character of Will, who we’re supposed to like, seem like the world’s biggest idiot. Every week we get to see the good-hearted Mr. Schu get taken advantage of by this selfish nutcase. It really hurts the show.
Definitely. I actually think some of these layers are a little too cliche, but I can’t wait to see what the writers have in store. I know that Mark Salling said at the start that he was going to find a balance between likable and douche-y for Puck, but the whole “sexting” interjection was just too abrupt. They need to find a better way to make everyone be multi-layered but blended, and that, admittedly, is very hard to do.
I totally agree with the whole Terri thing. She needs to evolve and grow as a character. And there especially needs to be more spotlight on Mercedes, Artie (who is my favorite character), and definitely Tina. Tina could really at least use more spotlight time, and I was very happy with “True Colors.” But I’m not going to be just mollified with that one song. And there’s Santana (who is totally getting stereotyped), Brittany (sort of), Mike Chang (other Asian), and Matt (the other footballer who I had to dig around to find a name for). They need to be incorporated more.
Waiting to see what’s in store!