Hana Chan

I thought long and hard about this episode (probably a good deal more than it deserved) and tried to come up with something positive to say. The only thing I can really come up with at this point is that if Glee is canceled tomorrow, this could serve as the series finale. But otherwise, it was probably the weakest season finale (at least matching the awful season 4). I just can't deal with Rachel anymore. I started out watching this show rooting for her and now am at the point where I'm wishing that she would actually be allowed to fail at something. For the past three seasons she's basically been handed every single one of her goals without a single hiccup along the way except for bland manufactured drama that gets quickly exspunged by the next episode. Watching her is like watching a one horse race and it's more than annoying. It's dull. And there has been so much deliberate actor bleed that I'm at the point where I don't care what they call the character because she's no longer Rachel. She's Lea Michele and I have no interest in watching Lea Michele basically reenacting her glory days from "Glee" while on Glee. I like Mercedes and I was starting to like the Samcedes storyline because the idea of a girl who isn't ready to jump into bed with a guy just because they're dating isn't the worst thing in the world if it's handled correctly and comes from the place of both partners deciding that this is the right decision for the both of them. Unfortunately it's been handled badly, with Mercedes moving the goal posts (now talking about not being ready until she's 30) and Sam being portrayed as if he is incapable of surviving without sex on a regular basis. Given that, breaking the two of them up is the right thing to do because they just aren't compatable. But I think that the show did Sam a real disservice by making it seem as if he can't survive without sex, even if he was feeling some sexual frustration. The absence of Santana was really noticable and having Brittany there was beyond pointless. My tolerence for her is limited and without Santana to blunt her, Brittany just becomes an annoyance. And the writer that they brought in for Rachel's plotline was beyond irritating. I didn't find her amusing or clever at all. She was just annoying and pretentious. Klaine was... strangely... the least offensive part of the episode for me since I was absolutely expecting the worst (with Kurt sacrificing his own ambitions to follow Blaine to LA to support Blaine's). It wasn't near perfect but it was better than I feared. Blaine is still a moron for creating this problem for himself with lying to Kurt over having a place in his showcase. I give him credit for not letting up on trying to convince June to include him, but he would have saved himself a whole lot of grief by being honest and telling Kurt that he was trying to get him included and not that he already had a place. And he continued perpetuating his lie by allowing Kurt to plan and practice for a performance that he was not going to be allowed to give. Given that there are still some pretty serious trust issues between them, it was utterly stupid of Blaine to do this and then to reveal the truth only after he has no other choice and June threatens his own prospects for pushing the issue. While my personal preference would have been for Kurt to recognize that Blaine just can't be trusted and end things once and for all, I got what he was trying to say during their discussion. He's right that you have to make the decision to trust someone, especially after trust has been broken. And he's not in any way saying that Blaine has earned or deserved his trust, but he's giving it anyway. Call it a leap of faith, but he's now placing the onus on Blaine to live up to the trust that Kurt has placed in his hands. That is a pretty assertive thing to do because he's making a demand on Blaine not to break his trust again. And wonder of wonders... Blaine actually lives up to Kurt's expectations by standing up to June and having Kurt perform with him at the showcase. And for June to realize that Kurt is indeed a lot more talented than she gave him credit for and is willing to take the credit for "discovering" him as much as Blaine... yeah, that was more than a little satisifying. But all in all, the episode was a mess and no sooner do they have everyone in one place and even start building a coherent storyline and now they're splitting everything apart again. As if the split narratives worked before. Meh.

A lot of things that have been happening lately, like Chris not being a focus in recent Glee promo in favor of DaleaStreet (gag) and the total lack of mention of Kurt spoilers for season six (if there is a season 6 at this point). I'm betting that Chris signed on for this project a long time ago and his team has been in active discussion with the Glee management about Chris having time to be away to work on the film. If production is set to begin at the end of the summer, that would have prevented Chris from being available for at least the first few episodes. My guess is that with the time jump, they would have planned that Kurt was either busy working on a show or away working on a film (yay meta!) to explain his absence or limited screen presence. But now that season six is up in the air and there are serious questions about how many episodes we'll actually get and when Glee production might actually start, how much filming Chris might miss is an open question. If Glee isn't coming back until 2015 and the whole premise needs to be reconsidered and likely rewritten in order to accommodate a more limited season then production might be pushed back until after Chris is done with filming his movie and can be on the Glee set full time. Regardless, it appears that this is only the first of Chris's film projects. He's clearly moved beyond Glee and if his presence on the show is more limited because he's working on outside projects and not because of RIB favoritism, then I'll be well satisfied.

This is getting me to thinking that Rachel quitting NYADA when she did is going to have some pretty significant repercussions. Going to a school like that is partly about learning technique and stage craft, but it's also about learning to handle the business side of being an actor. Learning how to conduct yourself and behavior that is expected and how to handle the pressures of being a working actor. Maybe things like dealing with poor critiques, how to handle finances (because once a show closes, those fat paychecks stop and you have to survive on your savings until a new part comes along). Not attending the after party is another episode of Rachel just showing that she doesn't know how to behave. It's rude to her cast mates and the production crew (who hired her). It's a missed chance to network (which can help her in getting work in the future) and it just keeps showing that Rachel has no real interest in the show beyond how it benefits her. I cannot imagine that Rachel is particularly liked by the rest of the cast as she ran off her understudy and doesn't seem to interact with any of them beyond what they can do for her. Rachel might have some good will at the moment because of the great reviews she received, but it's really easy to burn through that with a misstep and she's losing the chance to really get the cast and crew on her side to weather the rough times that we know are coming down the pike.

As much as I love Chris's singing (and I think that he could handle pretty much any role for a young man in the tenor range without any difficulty), I would rather see him do a non-musical show. Either a straight play or a comedy, but something where he can really show of his acting chops. I find that sometimes with musicals the need to play up the songs can mask what the actors are really capable of ad are too stylized to really allow the more subtle nuances that an actor like Chris is capable of. Of course, if he does do a musical, I have my wish list and since I live in close proximity to NYC, I'd be there in a heartbeat to see him perform.

Besides having Max make a quick guest appearance (and damn, did he look good), this was a boring hour considering that Rachel finally making her debut should have felt more like an event. But it was basically an hour long tongue-bath with everyone (except Sue) propping up Rachel who apparently has the emotional fortitude of an overcooked noodle at the least hint of adversity. So much of this had my eyes rolling in disbelief. I hate to break it to the show, but in NY Rachel would barely be considered a celebrity enough to get a gay bartender shitting in his pants that she entered his establishment (and on that note, we had to wait until now for the gay characters to make it to a gay bar?). Celebrities like NY because they can be normal here and people (for the most part) leave them the fuck alone. And seriously... with the way Rachel was behaving with her "oh woe is me" bullshit and acting like an ass with her friends, they should have let her stew in her own misery and rise or fall under her own power. I will never understand why every other character on this show feels the need to make it their personal mission that Rachel succeed in all endeavors when she treats them all so badly on a regular basis.