Glee Episode V: The Sylvester Strikes Back - Part 9

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This is a continuation thread, the old thread is Here

[Prison Mike]

I agree about Blaine's resentment towards Cooper being a bit flimsy. I was sort of expecting Cooper to be homophobic towards Blaine which was why there was tension between the two. But it just seems like Cooper was self obsessed and it annoyed Blaine. I liked the Quinn and Artie stuff. I think that was the first time they did a duet together. I don't know what direction they will be taking Quinn for the rest of the season but I wouldn't mind her and Artie becoming closer. I think they're trying to push that new kid Samuel on Quinn though. Really liked Quinn's songs and Blaine and Cooper's duets (Hungry like a Wolf/Rio and Sombody that I used to Know).

[spideyboy_1111]

Also, I was half-expecting Cooper to turn out to be Sue's sperm donor, but maybe not...

I think they wanted us to think that. Either that or sue knows but Cooper doesn't. And it will be revealed later

[spideyboy_1111]

As for Blaine. The homophobia idea would be a bad one the show honestly has dealt with that enough. It definitely needed fleshed out though. Is Blaine jealous if his brother? Is Cooper a celebrates douche? Did Cooper come to the school just to spout his stardom and not to spend time with his brother?

[DACrowe]

So that episode was all over the place.

First, it begins by completely brushing the drama of the "Winter Finale" ( ) under the rug. The oh-so-important wedding didn't happen (but why not? They wouldn't have known Quinn was in an accident when they were 30 seconds away from starting without her) and Quinn, for the most part, is all sunshine and rainbows about being put in a wheelchair. I'm calling right now she'll walk three steps on the stage o Nationals and everyone's going to cry and hug her.

Then, we move on to Cooper Anderson ( ) and Blaine. Bomer and Criss had good chemistry and Bomer was actually very entertaining in this episode, especially with his acting "class" and telling them how he banged the Progressive insurance lady. But their tension seemed force and thinly developed. Still, I guess it is our first episode of Blaine as the main character instead of Finchel or Kurt.

So yeah, the episode had a few funny/entertaining things going for it and a lot of shoddy writing all around that shows the last 'dramatic" moment was just a cynical grab for ratings. In short, it's exactly what you'd expect from Glee.

[Prison Mike]

I'm glad this show is back though. I was getting my musical fix from Smash and that show is pitiful right now.

[Speedball]

Originally Posted by Prison Mike

I'm glad this show is back though. I was getting my musical fix from Smash and that show is pitiful right now.

I want to love it, but I only find myself liking it. I LOVE Glee, I like Smash.

And I still have a problem with "Somebody That I Used to Know". And I think it's the music itself.

I detest the sound of the xylophone, and there is some sound that plays when they're singing together behind them that I really just don't like. It sounds like a string instrument, I don't know what it is, but it gets on my nerves.

[JP]

Smash is soapy, but at least the characters are consistent, the singing isn't autotuned half to hell, and the story's aren't nearly as outlandish.

[DACrowe]

Originally Posted by Speedball

I want to love it, but I only find myself liking it. I LOVE Glee, I like Smash.

And I still have a problem with "Somebody That I Used to Know". And I think it's the music itself.

I detest the sound of the xylophone, and there is some sound that plays when they're singing together behind them that I really just don't like. It sounds like a string instrument, I don't know what it is, but it gets on my nerves.

Glee, no pun intended, is more joyful to watch in its musical numbers. But both suffer from bad soapy stories (it's just it feels like Glee, or at least its writers, know its crap and wink at the audience, while it feels like Smash is trying it's hardest). Still, the Smash pilot and the workshop episode were better than anything we've seen on Glee this season.

[Speedball]

Originally Posted by JP

Smash is soapy, but at least the characters are consistent, the singing isn't autotuned half to hell, and the story's aren't nearly as outlandish.

I LOVE their version of "Shake It Out", and I think they have much better original songs. I really like the show, I guess I just want them to get to the show on broadway already. It is neat seeing all the behind the scenes stuff one how a play gets to broadway.

[Trigger]

Originally Posted by DACrowe

So that episode was all over the place.

First, it begins by completely brushing the drama of the "Winter Finale" ( ) under the rug. The oh-so-important wedding didn't happen (but why not? They wouldn't have known Quinn was in an accident when they were 30 seconds away from starting without her) and Quinn, for the most part, is all sunshine and rainbows about being put in a wheelchair. I'm calling right now she'll walk three steps on the stage o Nationals and everyone's going to cry and hug her.

Yeah, either that or she stays wheel-chair bound for the duration of the season, and she learns to accept herself or something along those lines .There was something about the way Artie and her discussion progressed that made me feel like the writers were trying to hint that she was being delusional. Though Quinn's character arcs tend to quickly shift for no real reason, so she could be tap dancing and pregnant with Mike Chang's triplets before the next episode is over. Diana Agron's acting is the only reason I can still stand the character.

Originally Posted by DACrowe

Then, we move on to Cooper Anderson ( ) and Blaine. Bomer and Criss had good chemistry and Bomer was actually very entertaining in this episode, especially with his acting "class" and telling them how he banged the Progressive insurance lady. But their tension seemed force and thinly developed. Still, I guess it is our first episode of Blaine as the main character instead of Finchel or Kurt.

I don't agree with the bolded, but I really liked Bomer. He's got a decent voice. I just wished his character wasn't so cartoonishly self-centered. Blaine has been pretty shafted in terms of good story-telling.

[spideyboy_1111]

glee is like a musical of Ugly Betty... and SMASH is like a musical of Melrose place...

(obviously not literally, but in types of stories, and tone)

[JP]

Originally Posted by Speedball

I LOVE their version of "Shake It Out", and I think they have much better original songs. I really like the show, I guess I just want them to get to the show on broadway already. It is neat seeing all the behind the scenes stuff one how a play gets to broadway.

They're already going faster then any show in real life. A show takes years to head to Broadway. They're already done with their first workshop and are in rehearsals for out of town tryouts.


Glee used to be so much fun and joy to watch. But I'm not finding that joy anymore. While Smash provides so many amazingly staged numbers that are breathtaking to watch. And actual choreography. LOL

[Dwarf lord]

Originally Posted by DACrowe

Glee, no pun intended, is more joyful to watch in its musical numbers. But both suffer from bad soapy stories (it's just it feels like Glee, or at least its writers, know its crap and wink at the audience, while it feels like Smash is trying it's hardest). Still, the Smash pilot and the workshop episode were better than anything we've seen on Glee this season.

Yeah, Glee definitely has fun with the fact that it's cheesy, which is one of the reasons I like it. Oh man, there was a line tonight that was clearly the show making fun of it self. it made me think that Ryan Murphy and the writing staff listen to the critical fans and take it into account when writing. Another moment like that recently was when Tina said all she wanted was a song.

As much as I was excited for Smash, it fell in quality very quickly. And I think that's because it takes itself too seriously. When you have people bursting out into song, Glee at least had a stellar first 11 episodes, with moments of greatness here and there. And while the first couple episodes of Smash were certainly good, as far as musical based TV shows go, I don't think anything beats On My Way. That's just me though.

[Sawyer]

Granny Panties = spectacular nickname for Finn

[Sawyer]

Jeez.... Blaine really does look like a short, goofy-looking, awkwardly-dressed little brother next to Bomer, doesn't he?

[ravn0s]

so is there going to be a love triangle between quinn/artie/hippie jesus?

[Homer J. Fong]

When I read the brief description, then heard the three songs from this episode that were released ("Hungry Like the Wolf/Rio," "Fighter," and "Somebody That I Used to Know"), which all had Blaine in lead vocals or co-lead vocals, I was kind of worried that Glee would be super-irresponsible and ignore everything that we actually cared about and come back with an episode all about Blaine Anderson. I figured this was an irrational fear, because when does does Glee ever do an episode with just one important storyline? I was right about that part, but this was still too much about Blaine. It's not that there shouldn't be an episode about Blaine's relationship with his brother, it's that this is the wrong time for it. This is a season 4 storyline in season 3 (assuming that McKinley High and Blaine stick around in season 4). Matthew Bomer was funny, Darren Criss turned in a good dramatic performance, but there wasn't enough to this story to make me stop thinking, "This isn't what I care about right now."

As for Quinn...Glee is so weird in what it decides to make a long-term storyline and what it doesn't. I didn't think we'd really come back an unspecified amount of time (probably a couple weeks) later and have Quinn be perfectly positive and accepting of being in a wheelchair, because she had the faith that she'd be out of it really, really soon. It's not the most out of character thing I've ever seen, or ever seen on this show, and it's nice to see a Quinn that isn't so borderline-psychotic, but this just didn't feel right to me. I think it's just the shock of leaping forward in time, though. The Quinn/Artie (I will never give them a 'ship name) vibe early on didn't feel right to me, either, because there is no reason whatsoever for them to be together, be attracted to each other, be enjoyable together, and so on. Nothing that we've actually seen, anyway; one of them (Quinn) would have to develop a new personality for that to happen. Unless it's just happening because they're both in wheelchairs, and that I don't care for; I actually find that kind of offensive, to just pair two characters in wheelchairs because they're both in wheelchairs. I'm trying not to jump the gun and actually be bothered by that, (A) because nothing's happened yet, and (B) because that vibe wored off during the episode, when Quinn basically said, "I'm not you, I'm not going to be in this forever." On that note, by the way...Was it mentioned just how long after "On My Way" this episode takes place, and I just missed it? I'm assuming it's a couple weeks, but Artie seemed way too certain way too early that Quinn would be in that wheelchair forever. I guess that's understandable, for him to not be the most optimistic, but I don't think the scene was written well enough, because it left me saying, "Artie, calm down, she's actually not you."

This episode didn't really work for me musically, either. The songs were good (with the exception of "Up Up Up," which I didn't like, but I'm sure is super-fun for a lot of other people), the performances were good, but I didn't like any of the musical scenes. Okay, that's not true, I'll correct myself: I didn't like any of the musical scenes with Blaine. The Duran Duran number was totally arbitrary, and it's not like the arbitrary numbers always bother me, so I don't know why it didn't work for me (I do know that the out-of-nowhere mash-up irritated me, because mash-ups are usually things you prepare). "Fighter" was badly motivated; that's an aggressive song, but that point in the story wasn't aggressive enough to warrant it. That gets to the larger issue of Blaine's anger with Cooper not being fleshed out enough at all; I understand that Cooper always gave Blaine hell and never gave him any credit, but I needed there to be more there, because I kept feeling like Blaine was being way overdramatic (not in the "oh, it's all overdramatic" way). I realize that there are plenty of brothers with relationships like that, and I'm not saying we don't blow things out of proportion with our siblings, but bottom line is: I didn't see enough to warrant the level of angstiness and tension in Blaine/Cooper; Cooper was largely there for light comedy, and then Blaine would overdo it because of a history that we probably should have had a better insight into. "Somebody That I Used to Know" is my favorite song and performance in the episode, but I didn't think it was the right song for the context, because it's so much more bitter and, again, aggressive than the moment ultimately was.

The storylines with Finn trying to decide what he's going to do after high school have been working for me; I can relate to his uncertainty and his feeling that he doesn't have a ton of fantastic options. This one didn't click for me, I didn't see him changing any of his "plans" because of Puck and his pool-cleaning business. Maybe that's because Finn and Puck haven't seemed like actual friends to me since early in season 1; I don't think Glee understands that to show that two people are friends, you should probably have more than one scene in a season with them interacting, and not just say that they're friends. This was just building up to the last scene, with Finn basically saying to Rachel, "You have to love me, not what you want me to be," and that was a necessary scene. That I liked, that felt right.

I still have no idea where this "Sue is pregnant" storyline is going, or how I should feel about it.

I have a bad feeling about Joseph; I don't get much of an impression either way in "Heart," which tends not to be a good sign on this show, and now I have the feeling that they might make the same mistake with him that they did with Sam last season, generally just using him to accessorize other characters and not bothering to give him much for his own. That sort of changed with Sam, at least.

This episode had a lot of really good intentions, and it wasn't a disaster, but it just didn't come together for me.

[Primal Slayer]

Oh Glee....stop trying to do the major drama it just isnt you niche' espicially since you cant followup what you create. And you are becoming a bit to preachy and psa for my liking.

Other than that it wasnt as horrid as I thought it would be. Couldve been hella better of course but that is becoming a dime a dozen now with Glee sadly. It's like someone comes up with an idea and they just go with it without actually thinking about it.

Loved Cooper, he seemed very old school Glee. Blaines resentment towards him seemed a bit to much and he didnt need to steal Santanas song since she has a much more jusitfiable reason to sing it.

And of course this episode had to much going on. Sues pregnancy problem, Sues Cheerio problem, ND becoming horrible dancers, senior skip day, Blaimes brother problems, Quinns happy drama, and Finns future/Pucks. You could probably make a whole nother episode out of half the things that were brought up in this episode.

You just know that they are going to keep Quinn in that wheelchair for a nice time just to bring her down right before raising her up again. Is she no longer wanting to give Sue a nationals win in place of Glees nationals? Wouldve been nice if those two had a scene together.

And all we got from Santana were her great background faces, she didnt even get in a good slam which is never a good thing to not have.


It is not cool if they are indeed failing Britts.

[Sawyer]

Glee-duation?....... Fox, just stop.

[Schlosser85]

Saturday Night Glee-ver!!!

Officially corniest name for a Glee episode ever...

[Prison Mike]

Has it been mentioned that Brittany is a senior?

[Primal Slayer]

Ya it has

[Schlosser85]

"Fighter" should have been directed toward the bullies who drove Blaine to Dalton in the first place, and "Somebody That I Used To Know" should have been between he and his father, or just Blaine singing about his father.

Both would have been more meaningful, in my opinion. I did like the intensity Darren put into both of them, but it seemed like it wasn't motivated enough. I think "Fighter" in particular would have been far more meaningful had it been about his bullies.