Hana Chan

For me, Blaine's comeuppance is tied to him being a shitty boyfriend. This is a guy who has never had a problem with taking things that he knew Kurt very much needed and worked for. He didn't need the part of Tony for college applications (which Kurt did), but he didn't have much conflict about reading for the part when asked to. He showed no interest at all in the performance for the benefactor at NYADA (and even seemed rather derisive about it) up until the second that Kurt offered to share the performance spot that he'd earned with Blaine (then Blaine was suddenly thrilled with the idea). Even attending NYADA at all seemed a lot less about any real professional aspirations (which for Blaine are still painfully undefined) and more about following Kurt. Given how Kurt has sweat blood each and every time and often came up short and things were just handed to Blaine always irked me. And then to have Blaine sulking over Kurt finally being seen as "leading man" material, and not liking it because he's the one who's supposed to be fawned over really, really pissed me off. With Blaine so uncaring about his professional accomplishments, having him totally fall apart because Kurt finally reached his "had enough of this bitch" moment is, for me, perfect karma.

Given that Rachel's parents have been a non-issue for the overwhelming majority of the show (and actually seen only twice), it's kind of hard to feel any kind of real reaction to them breaking up. It's not like we're talking about Burt and Carol, who have had very regular and deeply impactful presences on the show (as individuals interacting with their sons and as a couple). It's more of an abstract "Oh, that's a shame. What's for dessert?" kind of feeling. I get that it's supposed to be the cherry on top of the shit sundae that is Rachel's life right now, but it's difficult to care about characters that in five seasons were more often reference offhandedly than actually seen.

Except for her father's divorcing (which sucks), everything else happening to Rachel (and Blaine) is nothing more than well deserved comeuppance. That the two most lavishly rewarded, immature and self indulgent characters totally self-destructed doesn't inspire sympathy. Just a sense of overdue karma coming home to roost. I don't think having either of them basically throwing all their opportunities in the trash because they were selfish (Rachel) or self-pitying (Blaine) makes them "underdogs" - they are still the two most privileged characters on the show and I have no doubt that everything will come up daisies for them in the end.

The "real" Rachel would probably also still be back in Lima posting videos on MySpace since she would never had made it to NY or NYADA without all of those "friends" that went to bat for her. Or maybe she would have tried to make it there her own, and found herself unable to find work because she is such a delight as a human being that everyone would be falling over themselves to work with her (am being sarcastic here). It's a sad fact that a lot of Rachel's successes, especially in the past three seasons, came as a result of a lot of other people really going out of their ways to help her. Sometimes even at their own expense. Given that I've never seen Rachel actually sacrifice any of her achievements for the benefit of anyone else (and no, I don't consider her dropping out of the school election any great thing since she went into it knowing that she would be kneecapping her best friend in the process), the complaints that she has softened too much fall somewhat flat. This is still the girl who ran off Santana, leaving her professional show with no viable understudy, then flitting off to LA on a whim for an audition and now quit her show in order to follow her own aspirations (who cares about silly things like professional obligations or contracts?). Having a few friends who looked out for her (even when she did not appreciate it) hasn't softened her much at all because she's still out for numero uno.

Ann Mack - I just have to say "Bravo!" to your entire post. It's no end of frustration to me that I'm constantly being asked to sympathize with characters who are suffering major problems in their lives which are entirely of their own making. So Rachel is back in Lima because her TV show flopped and because she completely destroyed her Broadway career with her unprofessional behavior? Boo hoo. Blaine is in Ohio because he flunked out of NYADA because he was so torn up over Kurt ending their engagement? Let me play the worlds smallest violin for him. I can't find it in myself to scrape together a whole lot of caring for two characters who basically are handed every single thing they want and then can't help from pissing it all away because of their own actions. Kurt didn't make Blaine flunk out of school. That was all on Blaine because he is a weak, self-centered child who shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as Kurt, let alone be engaged to him. In the past two seasons, Kurt had to deal with fighting to be admitted to NYADA, holding down his job at Vogue, dealing with the emotional fallout of Blaine's infidelity (even if it wasn't shown on screen a great deal), his father's cancer diagnosis, his step brother's death, Rachel's continued stream of bullshit, Blaine's tantrums and he still managed to hold down jobs, keep up on his studies at NYADA, start a band, and help carry Rachel through her opening night (since she's got the emotional fortitude of overcooked pasta if everyone in the universe isn't amazed by her) and he didn't flunk out of school. But I'm supposed to feel sorry for this grease ball because he was so sad that Kurt left him? And his storyline is going to be a major focus while we've gotten practically nothing about what they ultimately have planned for Kurt beside him trying to get Blaine back? It's no wonder that the ratings have gone into the toilet.

Her drive, I think, is the one thing that has been really consistent about her character and how it's portrayed. It does come across as self-destructive in a lot of ways because her ambitions are so wildly out of control. I don't think that this is meant to be a slam against ambitious women, but one trait about Rachel that has been consistent since the pilot is that her ambition controls her rather than the other way around. She is impulsive and often really doesn't consider the possible consequences of her actions. She only sees the upside, so when things don't work out or when people call her out because she impulsively screwed them over by focusing only on her wants, she usually seems genuinely taken by surprise. As for Rachel being "happy"... I've long held the belief that Rachel doesn't honestly know who she is at the core because she has been raised to be a total performer. She switches identities to suit her mood and setting and a lot about her behavior seems to be an act about who she thinks people expect her to be (Star, Girl About Town, Hometown Girl, etc). And if achieving her lifelong dream didn't make her happy past the first five minutes, I have to wonder if that really was her dream (or one fed to her by her fathers) and if she really knows what her dream is. It would be fascinating if her storyline this season focused on Rachel trying to figure out just what she wants out of life and makes a conscious choice for herself and not what people expect of her.

The student election where she, in a panic over fearing that she wouldn't get the lead part in WSS, decided to run against Kurt and didn't drop out until late in the game? And then got him disqualified by stuffing the ballot boxes (which I know she meant to be helpful but ended up totally screwing him). And on top of that, was ready to let him take the fall for the election cheat until Finn shamed her into accepting responsibility. As for Vogue... I don't recall her encouraging him beyond a quick pep talk and then ended up benefiting from his opportunity with her high fashion makeover. And yes, she did offer to say behind in Lima to help Kurt reapply for NYADA, but didn't have to and was put on a train by her loving fiancé. What I'm talking about is actually sacrificing something for Kurt. Going out of her way because Kurt was important to her. Her best friend. She couldn't even bother to help him those first few days at NYADA when he didn't know anyone and she was too busy running around with Brody. Hell, she couldn't even try to find him a place in her benefit after he tried to bail her ass out when she got caught lying about why she was missing a show. I get that very often Rachel genuinely means well, but her follow through sucks. Her self-centered view of the universe is a deeply engrained trait of this character, but it's really sad that after years of actually having real friends who do go out of their way for her that she still needs to be prodded or told outright to do the right thing by them. It's rarely a two way street and it's the primary reason that while I like the idea of Hummelberry in theory, in the practical sense it's too unbalanced to be fair to Kurt.

Chris is one of the few actors on the show (along with Lea and Matt) who can really transcend poor writing, crap storylines and lack of screen focus. So not totally surprised that even when he's shoved into a background role (like what happened so often in season four) that he still stands out in a positive way. I'm sure that it's no end of frustration to Ryan Murphy that despite lavishing so much attention on Darren, Chord and the noobs that it's earned little real critical regard and nothing in the way of award wins. I don't consider the PCAs a really serious award, but it's still a mark that the show runners have been betting on the wrong horses for quite some time. Oh well... their loss.

caracas1914 - I want you to start writing for Glee.

Compared to the trashing that I'm expecting for Rachel and Blaine this coming season, Kurt got off damned good by having the writers forgetting about him more often than not. And when they did remember him he usually got something pretty good as a result. He ended the season still at NYADA, a rising talent, a hero for trying to save someone from a beat down and acknowledged hottie. Except for a decided lack of solo vocal performances (only one *grumbles*), the season ended on a pretty good note for him. I'm torn. I want Kurt to have stories where he is front and center and I want him to get the screen time that gets lavished on Blaine and Rachel, but at the same time I'm terrified at what they might do to Kurt if they actually focused on him that much.

Sometimes actions make friendships difficult to maintain. Rachel is a very difficult, very self-centered person who has a real blind spot at how her behavior affects others. It's part of what makes her interesting, but it's also what makes her a very challenging person to be around for any length of time. Even for the most tolerant people, the constant ME! ME! ME! behavior wears thin. The behavior in Diva was beyond obnoxious, when she was treating her supposed best friend like her manservant out of an overblown sense of entitlement. Or inviting Brody to move in without bothering to check with her roommate to make sure it was okay with him. Or disavowing Kurt's friendship because he wasn't going to take sides during her fight with Santana. There have been many points where I could see Kurt just reaching a fed up point and where it would be understandable if he just couldn't deal with Rachel's behavior, however much he might care of her. But it's because he understands her so well that he lets a lot of this stuff go so that they can maintain their friendship. Where I have my biggest problems with Hummelberry is that while Kurt often will go to bat for Rachel, even when her behavior doesn't warrant him giving her that kind of consideration, it's rarely a two way street. When I have to go all the way back to Duets for the last time when Rachel seriously went out of her way for Kurt unprompted, that's a problem. Take what happened in ODNT - Kurt was desperate for some kind of help in getting his career going and asked outright to be included in Rachel's little benefit, but was turned down. He then asked her to come to his show at the nursing home and again was rejected (Rachel attended only after being called out as a fraud by a stranger). I get that selfishness is a core aspect of Rachel's personality, but I would totally get why someone like Rachel would have few, if any real friends.

Advance35 - the one thing that struck me most about Rachel's character in season one that she wanted 2 things with near equal desperateness. To be a star and to have real friends. The way she sought the approval and friendship of others (including a romantic relationship with Finn) while all the while stomping on everyone's feet was the main focus for a lot of Rachel's stories. She was deeply hurt after Kurt gave her the sad clown hooker makeover (having thought that they were becoming friends). And that has been a major focus of many of Rachel's storylines since. Learning to balance her ambitions and need for the spotlight while still trying to maintain friendships (and often failing). The one good thing about Kurt's relationship with Rachel (at least as far as Rachel is concerned) is that Kurt gets her. Probably better than anyone else because his ambitions are quite similar (though he's not as scorched earth as she is on achieving those goals). He's forgiven her for a lot of shitty behavior that would have had anyone else running for the hills and let's be realistic - how many people would want anything to do with someone who will turn on them like a snake the instant they have a disagreement about anything, or who can't stop seeing everyone around them as competition first? Kurt went to bat for Rachel a lot of times when frankly she didn't deserve it. Like the Funny Girl auditions that he signed her up for because she was too busy mourning that she 1) lost midnight madness to Kurt and 2) turned into a raging diva bitch that alienated the one real friend she has. Or after Bash, when Kurt forgave her rather easily for her insulting rant after she stupidly quit NYADA. Or when he didn't hold her behavior in Frenemies against her. Kurt is one of the very few people (and the only others were Finn and Jesse) who went out of his way in a huge way for Rachel's benefit, sometimes at his own expense. She's certainly not deserving of his friendship, but she's lucky to have it.

Having Chris write another episode has no downside for either him or Glee. He wrote one of the better episodes of the season (and except for the AV Club, the reviews were across the board quite complimentary). It would give him another credit on his CV and add to his legitimacy as a writer (not that he really needs it after three NYT bestsellers, but it doesn't hurt). As for the show, what do they have to lose at this stage? The reviews were positive for Chris's episode and it will help generate some trace of interest in this zombie of a TV show. And since the writers show no interest in writing storylines for Kurt, they can leave it in Chris's hands and give him an episode to play with where Kurt can finally have his voice again.

Kurt spent a huge amount of time last season either supporting Rachel during the whole Funny Girl mess (including trying to help cover her ass when she flew to LA and was going to miss a show) and then made a critical error in trying to include Blaine on the performance in front of a big benefactor (that Kurt earned and Blaine did not). I'm not saying that Rachel stood in Kurt's way professionally (though she did show a real lack of any interest in helping him the way he's helped her), but the show had tied Kurt's storyline so tightly to Rachel's (and Blaine's) that his growth as a performer and chance for professional advancement wasn't given the focus that it deserved. At times, she has been. She also deeply resents anytime he gets a success over her. And then we have that lovely rant in Bash where she ridiculed him about needing the safety of NYADA because he (according to her) didn't have the balls to try to make it in the real world. Or how she couldn't find a spot for him in her Broadway Bitches show because he wasn't a big enough name to be a draw and wouldn't attend his play at the nursing home because she was oh so busy. She's fine with encouraging him so long as it doesn't in any way impact on what she has planned for herself.

If I have one wish for this season, it would be that whatever storyline Kurt has is not totally dominated by trying to rebuild Rachel and her career or around getting Blaine back. I don't expect him to get major focus, but if there was one thing that really irritated me last season what just how often Kurt ignores focusing on himself in favor of either supporting Rachel (who so often didn't deserve it) or Blaine (ditto). Tested and Old Dogs New Tricks were the only episodes last season where Kurt was focusing on himself and not on being the selfless faithful friend and fiancé and actually focusing on his own aspirations. I'll give Kurt five minutes of helping Rachel out and listening to her moan and weep about how unfairly the world has treated her before he gives her the "Are you kidding?" look and lays the hard truth on her and that while he loved her and wants to help her, that he's got to also focus on his own career for a novel change.

Personally I would love to see Kurt completely separated from Rachel so that she can stew in her own failure without tainting him. I was totally fed up last season with watching Rachel mistreat Kurt for all these perceived slights (when he was acting in her best interest and trying to keep her from making huge mistakes). Or that for most of the season he bent over backwards at every stage to reassure her and help support her so that she could make her big debut. That she refused to listen to him and insulted him for his consideration and is now stuck in Lima with no career prospects? Fuck her. I would love to see her trying to convince Kurt that he doesn't need that silly NYADA anymore and Broadway is so... yesterday and wouldn't it be more fun for him to stay in Lima with her to lead New New Directions to glory and have him look at her like she's been smoking the sparkly crack. I also hope that Rachel is funny, but not in the raging OTT bitch diva that we suffered through last season. Let her get the "Poor me, my career is ruined and I have no where to go," pity party out with the first episode and then I want to see her struggling with actually being a coach for the new noobs. Let her keep trying to use New New Directions as a way to feature herself while the kids look on with a collective WTF? I'll be in hysterics if she tries to act like she's some kind of big star to the kids (hoping to impress them) and then gets immediately shot down because unlike Rachel (who apparently doesn't know how Google works), they actually bothered to look her up and know why she couldn't get cast in a bit part at the local community theater now.

There is no shame in staying in Lima if you're staying for the right reasons. For characters like Kurt and Rachel, who had career aspirations that could not be fulfilled in Lima (and for Kurt in particular who found Lima such a misery to endure), staying would be a mark of failure. But for other characters who don't have such location-specific career/life goals that demand that they live elsewhere, if they can build a life in Lima and be happy there, it doesn't make them losers. A Lima Loser (to me) is someone who had aspirations to leave town and do something outside and didn't accomplish that (or was afraid to try). Rachel, at this point, would be a Lima Loser since she failed (or more precisely, threw away her successes) and returned because she had no other options. But those who are either just visiting (Kurt, Mercedes, Santana, etc) and those who made the choice to return to Lima to build careers and lives there (Sam, Burt, Sue) aren't Lima Losers. Again, there is absolutely no shame in staying in Lima unless it was the last thing that they wanted to do and aren't there by choice. Just wanted to clear that up.

I don't think that there's much doubt that at least the first ep is going to be very Rachel/Blaine heavy, just going by the spoilers. My biggest concern isn't so much on who gets the most screen time (as we've had ample warning that the focus will be on the gruesome twosome), but whether or not the other characters will be allowed to have storylines that involve more than just helping the two of them with their respective choirs. Or in Kurt's case, helping Rachel when he's not trying to win back the Grease Stain. I'd really like to get a clear sense of where everyone is going now in their adult lives and have the final episode showing them away from McKinley and doing what they wanted. The one saving grace will be the amazing Sue meta when she rips into all these graduates who can't escape the black hole of McKinley, no matter how they might try.

Considering that we've got a core cast that has been reduced to 6, it would be imbecilic not to have Chris singing a lot more than he has in the past two seasons (along with Kevin, who also has been woefully shortchanged). Admittedly last season Chris did get heavy feature in a lot of duets and in some prominent group songs, but for him to have only one real solo the entire season was beyond laughable.

The idea of trying to make Kurt the "bad guy" in the break up because Blaine flunked out of school is really stretching things, IMO. I never got the impression that NYADA really meant anything to Blaine. He seemed interested in attending primarily in order to be close to Kurt, and once there wasn't exactly working hard in his classes (which he arranged to match Kurt's schedule despite the fact that Kurt was at least a full semester ahead of him). He certainly wasn't working all that hard in the stage combat class (where he was too busy shoving cheese puffs into his face) or his midwinter critique (that he blew by doing a duet with Rachel instead of the assigned solo). His behavior reminds me a lot of how Jesse St James talked about how he flunked out of college - surprised that they actually had standards and expected him to do work. Relationships end all the time and no matter how badly upset you are, it doesn't justify having your whole life fall apart on you. Kurt managed to hold down his job at Vogue as well as go through his audition by fire and then start his classes at NYADA while dealing with the emotional fallout of his break up with Blaine. Being upset that your fiancé doesn't think that either of you are ready to be married after months of fighting does not justify letting your classes slide to the point that you flunk out of school. That's all on Blaine being a clingy, weak mess excuse for a human being. I guess that if Blaine doesn't have a constant infusion of people telling him how amazing he is and that he's a "hero" when he fucks up, he goes totally to pieces. I really wish that the show just would let the guys break up and stay broken up at this point. My worst fear is that Kurt will not only reconcile with Blaine, but will drop out of NYADA and stay in Ohio so that Blaine can continue to relive his glory days at Dalton. The hell with Kurt's own dreams and ambitions.

I always appreciate characters that aren't perfect and not only are allowed to be assholes, but who actually get portrayed as assholes when their behavior warrants it. It's one of the reasons that I loved his character in Struck By Lightening so much. Carson was a scheming, manipulative little prick and while it was certainly understandable why he was so (having absolutely nil in the way of support from both his parents and having his beloved grandmother unable to recognize him most days), it wasn't used as an excuse to turn Carson into a lovable moppet. Kurt has a lot of the same vinegar in him. I loved it when he told Brett that he smelled homeless, mocked Rachel's wardrobe or advising Karofsky to seek employment at the rendering plant. What I don't like is when characters act like assholes and it's not only excused, but made into something positive. *coughBlaineCheatercough*

The more I think about the song choices for the Loser Like Me, the more I realize that that the show has completely divorced the meaning of songs from how they use them on Glee. The only reason why they're going to have Rachel sing Let it Go is because someone in the writers room (RM likely) is indulging his perpetual boner for having Lea imitating better and more iconic singers that she bears a passing resemblance to (physically and vocally). The song is a lousy fit for Rachel's story where it stands now and the only reason she's singing it is because the show keeps wanting to link Rachel/Lea of Idina Menzel. The lyrics of the song are all about breaking rules because they don't apply to the singer and she's going to chart her own way no mater what. The problem? Not following rules or the advice of others is just what got Rachel into the mess that she's currently in. So we've got another nomination in the Wrong Song/Wrong Singer/Wrong Storyline listing.

Glee is this strange topsy tervy world where the hero is the guy who cheats on his boyfriend and the girl that we're supposed to sympathize with and root for is the one who walks all over everyone to get what she wants and carelessly throws it all away each time she thinks a better opportunity comes along. So making Kurt out to be the bad guy because he ended an engagement for every good and rational reason because it make Blaine so sad that he flunked out of school... yeah, I can see them trying that. The problem is that I just don't see the audience buying it. Most people would understand and agree that calling off an engagement when you're fighting all the time and at least one of the people involved is unhappy is the right thing to do.

I'm surprised, but in a pleasant way for a change. They've been telegraphing Rachel making a huge career stumble for quite some time, but this is the first time they've actually pulled the trigger and had Rachel fail professionally at something. I think back to what Ms. Tibideaux told Rachel about her lack of any sense of connection to the theater community and how she was only interested in the spotlight. It always felt to me that her interest in Funny Girl (and NYADA as well) was about how she would be showcased rather than having any sense of responsibility to the show (and her cast mates, who were there merely to serve her). Hell, even Cassandra was warning Rachel that one mistake could render her unemployable and Rachel has a boatload of mistakes to her credit. If the writers were more capable, I would be excited about seeing Rachel struggle through this huge shift in her career fortunes (to go from being the big star to coming back as a failure because she fucked up). To see her at first trying to make it seem like coming back to Lima is all her choice (when in reality it's because she couldn't get a job in Branson at this point), wrestling with her own sense of responsibility over what happened, wrestling over her impulse to try to make New Directions about herself (the way it was when she was a student) and then at the end, finding the resolve to return to NY and start hitting the pavement to try to rebuild her career. We can end the show with another time jump (a year maybe) where Rachel has been through the audition mill and faced rejection after rejection until she finally found a production willing to give her a shot at redemption. But this is Glee and I think that aliens descending and offering Rachel a job headlining on a space station in the Andromeda galaxy is a more probable outcome.

As to why Kurt would go running back to Lima to try to reconcile with Blaine... Nostalgia for what used to be, fear of the unknown, fear of being alone… people who escape relationships that are unhealthy and even abusive often go back to their former partners repeatedly before they finally accept that the relationship just can't be fixed. Kurt had years invested in his relationship with Blaine. He sacrificed his chance for a relationship with Adam for Blaine. He was willing to give up professional opportunities for Blaine and now he’s got (as far as he can see at the moment) nothing to show for it. Now I don’t blame Kurt for not being in another relationship at this point. He’s only broken up with Blaine a few months ago and after everything that happened, it’s rather smart of him to not try diving into dating straight away. He needs time to get his heart and head straightened out, to figure out what exactly what he wants.