S01.E06: Bring Me Stanton

[formerlyfreedom]

As Lou's vision for "Spring Awakening" starts to crumble, Lilette and Robbie feel the weight of responsibility on their shoulders with rehearsals going into overdrive. In reaching out to a student in need of support, Tracey opens up old wounds from her own past. Gwen starts down a destructive path that threatens to disrupt Gordy's attempts at self-control, while Simon takes steps to get closer to Anabelle.

 

[Snow Apple]

I liked most of this episode. Even Lou and Gordy didn't bug me as much as usual (though Lou is still Lou and still does jerky and selfish stuff). That said, what did bug was Simon using that girl. I wasn't too fond of Lilette either.

Does anyone know the song near the end? The one where the kids are bringing in the props. It was nice hearing a non SA song.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Snow Apple

[tennisgurl]

Not a bad episode this week. Lou and his family drama was less annoying, probably because Lou wasn't so far up his own ass, he could see the other side. 

Simon using that girl to do the "I am so totally straight" dance is sad for both of them. I get why he`s doing it, and it sucks he feels he has to, when he clearly likes that other kid on the play, but I also feel bad for his fake girlfriend, who clearly likes him. She doesn't deserve to get jerked around. 

Finally, the drama girl rightfully blames her dad for breaking their family up. So I guess he let them use the props momentarily? Yeah, burning everything in the prop department might have seemed like a cool, symbolic gesture at the time, but its looking kind of stupid now, huh?

[itsjustme]

3 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I liked most of this episode. Even Lou and Gordy didn't bug me as much as usual (though Lou is still Lou and still does jerky and selfish stuff). That said, what did bug was Simon using that girl. I wasn't too fond of Lilette either.

Does anyone know the song near the end? The one where the kids are bringing in the props. It was nice hearing a non SA song.

 

music: "On Our Way" by the Perennials -

Edited April 18, 2018 by itsjustme

[itsjustme]

Lou was not as bad but  are these kids having fun are just stressed about this whole production? 

Simon don't. 

Did the coach pay for that stuff /props I missed a little bit?

 

off topic but I saw on instgram  most of the original cast of Spring Awakening (including Lea Michele and Jon Groff)  visited  some of the kids of Stoneman Douglas in Parkland Florida because they are doing a production of SA at a local theater.

Edited April 18, 2018 by itsjustme

[CelticBlackCat]

Tracey Wolfe is by far my favorite character.  Gwen and Jolene both have vocal fry that drives me crazy.  Is that their natural voice (as if vocal fry is "natural") or are they putting it on for their characters because that's how girls in high school and unfortunately beyond speak?

Next week's episode:  I don't see how the Mazzus will have any legal rights to keep Maashous now that his mother is released from the pokey.  Will this be a momentary battle of the moms or are they setting up an adoption or foster child situation?

Edited April 18, 2018 by CelticBlackCat
Commenting on next week's episode early.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Hahahaha, I laughed SO HARD when Coach tried to tell Gwen that the divorce doesn't give her a free pass to do whatever she wants because they still have rules and discipline in their family. Really, Coach? Like the discipline you displayed when you cheated on your wife? Like the rules of your marriage that said you would be faithful to your wife? So I full on cheered when Gwen said essentially the same thing.

I know that breaking and entering is something that could get Gwen into trouble and no one wants that for their kid, but it's a bit much to have her father lecturing her on discipline and rules considering that he fucked another woman. Sorry, Coach Hypocrite, but you don't really have the moral high ground here. I'm glad that Gwen finally quit idolizing her father and blaming her mother for the divorce. It's about time she saw him with clear eyes.

Oh, Lou. Where do I begin? First of all, I really appreciate that he wanted to accommodate Lilette's work schedule because it totally sucks that she is now the sole breadwinner in her two person household (and it sucks even more that her mom thinks the answer to their problems is not to get another job but to file a lawsuit). That is a considerate and compassionate thing to do. But he went about it all wrong. Just because Lilette has to work late doesn't mean that rehearsal has to start at 8pm.

USE YOUR HEAD, LOU. Have rehearsal start at 6pm and work on scenes that Lilette is not in. Rehearse the other solos/duets. Have the ensemble rehearse their parts. Then when Lilette arrives at 8pm, have 1-2 more hours of rehearsal with the entire cast. Send everyone home at 9 or 9:30pm and work with Lilette on her solos or her blocking or anything that doesn't require EVERYONE ELSE to be there.

You could also have rehearsal at lunch or before school. Yeah, it sucks to give up your lunch hour or come to school one gawd awful hour earlier in the morning, but I had rehearsals for the dance team before school, at lunch, after school, on weekends, etc. As long as you don't have lunch or before school rehearsal every single day, most kids are fine with doing it occasionally, especially as opening night approaches. That is just another way to accommodate Lilette's schedule without keeping the entire cast there late at night.

At my high school, we had different rehearsals for the musical. There were some afternoons where just the ensemble met. There were other days when just the main characters with solos and lines practiced. Obviously Lou has been doing this since no one else was in the theater when he and Tracey watched Lilette and Robbie make out on stage last week, so I don't understand why everyone needs to begin rehearsal at 8pm. Like I really don't get if the writers are telling us that Lou is stupid or if the writers are that stupid or what.

As for the sets, sheesh. The other guy helping with the sets is correct - Lou should have given him this information WEEKS ago. What kind of moron thinks that you can just start building sets three weeks before the show opens? Oh, right. LOU. Even if you aren't building elaborate sets, you should not wait until the show is less than a month away from opening to start building the sets. Seriously, Lou.

I can't stand how Lou is always at one end of the spectrum or the other. If we can't have round smoke stacks then FUCK THIS SET! We're building a set from garbage that the kids find around town! I mean, good lord, Lou. There's a vast middle ground between the set of your dreams and sending the cast out to scavenge. God forbid you just build flats like a normal high school. The neighborhood where I grew up was much better off than Stanton's and we still used flats for 95% of the scenery in the plays we did.

Lilette's worried about losing her job and her family's sole source of income, so she thinks that the best idea is to steal a giant jukebox from the diner? I kind of hope that when the curtain comes up on opening night, a bunch of people in the audience start yelling, "Hey! They stole my _______!"

Gordy has been an ass for five episodes so it was nice to see some growth from him. First he didn't take Gwen up on her offer to ditch class with him. I know that was huge because at that age, most guys would do just about anything to hang out with a girl they like. I was glad that he was able to hang out with everyone and not drink at the steel mill. You know, until he took a drink. But at least it made him realize that he needs help and admit it to his mom.

Damn, Simon. If you're going to have sex to prove that you're TOTALLY NOT GAY, at least don't do it for the first time in an abandoned steel mill.

Poor Sloane. Love that Tracey went to her house for moral support when she told her dad. Tracey is turning into the Tami Taylor of Rise.

5 hours ago, itsjustme said:

Did the coach pay for that stuff /props I missed a little bit?

No, he just had his friends/former coworkers at the steel mill bring in the Stanton Steel sign. Gwen said he was a machinist there and her grandfather was the union boss. The steel mill has been closed for over a decade so her dad probably just took the sign since there's no one left in charge of the mill.

Edited April 18, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Empress1]

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Not a bad episode this week. Lou and his family drama was less annoying, probably because Lou wasn't so far up his own ass, he could see the other side. 

Simon using that girl to do the "I am so totally straight" dance is sad for both of them. I get why he`s doing it, and it sucks he feels he has to, when he clearly likes that other kid on the play, but I also feel bad for his fake girlfriend, who clearly likes him. She doesn't deserve to get jerked around. 

Finally, the drama girl rightfully blames her dad for breaking their family up. So I guess he let them use the props momentarily? Yeah, burning everything in the prop department might have seemed like a cool, symbolic gesture at the time, but its looking kind of stupid now, huh?

I thought this episode was one of the better ones. 

I was cringing when Simon went straight to the girl and said he wanted to take things to the next level. I completely understand his motivation; he's not the first gay person to have sex with someone of the opposite sex to stay in the closet and he won't be the last. But I feel bad for the girl. She's going to get hurt.

Tracey is totally the Tami Taylor of Stanton! Tami Taylor even counseled pregnant Becky on Friday Night Lights! I knew that girl was pregnant as soon as she said "You're off the hook!" to her boyfriend.

When Lilette was saying that if her mother didn't get a new job she'd have to work double shifts and her mom was like "But the lawsuit!" I was like YOU ARE THE MOTHER YOU SUPPORT THE FAMILY. I just wanted to shake her. Also, I bet $5 that Vanessa and Coach are going to be getting it on the the motel Vanessa cleans. I knew when they flashed back to her telling him not to contact her that we'd be seeing them again.

I remember having a few musical rehearsals that ended at 10 and parents were like "Yeah, no." It wasn't a regular thing (there were weekend rehearsals - do these kids rehearse on weekends), but it happened a few times. Also, like @ElectricBoogaloo says, are they just running the whole show every rehearsal? Couldn't they work on scenes that Lilette isn't in during the regular after school time?

[Lady Calypso]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Oh, Lou. Where do I begin? First of all, I really appreciate that he wanted to accommodate Lilette's work schedule because it totally sucks that she is now the sole breadwinner in her two person household (and it sucks even more that her mom thinks the answer to their problems is not to get another job but to file a lawsuit). That is a considerate and compassionate thing to do. But he went about it all wrong. Just because Lilette has to work late doesn't mean that rehearsal has to start at 8pm.

Agreed. Lou does one good thing, but then resets it by doing something really dumb. I will continue to say that Lilette's mother sucks so hard. She should be looking for a job, not hoping that a lawsuit will fix all their problems. Plus, the lawsuit will still take months to go through and for any potential money to come through. I did not like her mother when she whined about Lilette being obsessed with the play. Woman, your daughter is fifteen years old. She's not supposed to be paying the bills and making the money here. She's supposed to enjoy her time as a child before she has to grow up. She's also been helping out with work for a while now. So go get a job. 

Lou is such a selfish little man. He thinks everything revolves around his big dreams and his vision and his interests. It's like he's trying to relive the days when he probably wanted to be an actor or a director and it never happened to him when he was younger so he's trying to do it all now. His dreams are too big for this town. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a storyline where he's thinking of moving to the town where his wife's sister lives. Yeah, he doesn't need to run the scenes that Lilette's in when she has to work. He can always work around her, instead of working her schedule around rehearsals.

Simon, Simon, Simon. He's such a typical teenager, especially a closeted teenager, where he thinks forcing a romance with a girl is going to turn him straight. I feel bad for him a bit, but he's also handling this very, very wrong. The girl he's stringing along is going to get hurt the most here, and it does suck. 

Gwen finally passes the blame to her dad, where it rightfully should be. It's good for her dad to see that his daughter isn't ok with how things are.

[cali1981]

I liked the show last night.  We finally got to hear Auli'i Cravalho (Lilette) cut loose vocally when she sang Mama Who Bore Me.  It was about time. After all she was the lead voice in Moana.  Girlfriend can flat out sing.  I caught something interesting today.  The drama department of Stoneman Douglas High School is doing Spring Awakening and Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff and several other original Broadway cast members joined the kids at a rehearsal. Not too shabby, eh?

Edited April 20, 2018 by cali1981

[cali1981]

9 hours ago, Empress1 said:

I was cringing when Simon went straight to the girl and said he wanted to take things to the next level. I completely understand his motivation; he's not the first gay person to have sex with someone of the opposite sex to stay in the closet and he won't be the last. But I feel bad for the girl. She's going to get hurt.

 

Yeah that was cringe worthy.  It was a real douche move by Simon.  The young lady seems desperate for attention from a guy and willing to go the sex route to get it.  I don't think that Simon is trying to stay closeted. Rather, he's trying to convince himself that he's not gay.  Obviously his parents are the driving force but as someone speculated in post about an earlier episode, you have to wonder about the father's sexuality at this point.  His reactions to Simon's role in the show seemed a bit too "he doth protest too much".

[LittleIggy]

22 hours ago, CelticBlackCat said:

 

Next week's episode:  I don't see how the Mazzus will have any legal rights to keep Maashous now that his mother is released from the pokey.  Will this be a momentary battle of the moms or are they setting up an adoption or foster child situation?

Didn’t Maashous tell Lou (when Lou found him sleeping at the school) that he would soon be 18? He should be allowed to stay somewhere safe until he becomes a legal adult.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 4/18/2018 at 3:00 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

As for the sets, sheesh. The other guy helping with the sets is correct - Lou should have given him this information WEEKS ago. What kind of moron thinks that you can just start building sets three weeks before the show opens? Oh, right. LOU. Even if you aren't building elaborate sets, you should not wait until the show is less than a month away from opening to start building the sets. Seriously, Lou.

I can't stand how Lou is always at one end of the spectrum or the other. If we can't have round smoke stacks then FUCK THIS SET! We're building a set from garbage that the kids find around town! I mean, good lord, Lou. There's a vast middle ground between the set of your dreams and sending the cast out to scavenge. God forbid you just build flats like a normal high school. The neighborhood where I grew up was much better off than Stanton's and we still used flats for 95% of the scenery in the plays we did.

I went to opening night of Head Over Heels which is moving to Broadway in June and I'd say 90% of the sets in the first act were a painted backdrop. They had some flat cut out trees next to the wings. If that's good enough for a Broadway show, I'm pretty sure that's good enough for a high school production. See, Lou? You don't need cylindrical smokestacks!

[JasmineFlower]

I'm still struggling with the aspects of trying to make this similar in too many ways to Friday Night Lights. It's just annoying to me for a show that's supposed to be original based on a true story. But I mostly liked this episode, though I'm about done with Lilette's mom and I could've done with so much going differently in Simon's storyline. Of course I didn't like the stuff with the unsuspecting girl, but I truly could've done without the the guy approaching and then kissing him in the parking lot in front of literally whoever cared to look over when he can tell how skiddish he is. That entire scene felt like we had walked in midway into a play in the second act and we were playing catch-up on a long conversation and witnessing the tail end.

But the thing that didn't ring true for me at all in this episode was the pregnant girl talking to Tracey. So, this isn't something that is likely to bug anyone else, but I spent time after those scenes wondering if the show was lazy or the show took the easy way out with that storyline and conversation. Were they playing it safe with the abortion talk or treating it as not something Tracey as a teacher should be mentioning? But I think she's the health teacher, so there's that aspect as well. The writers seemed to go to the trouble to know the PA laws that would apply, but also seemed to not take the very necessary step of asking anyone with a bit of local knowledge if that was a good way to write it. Because it wasn't. I was waiting for Tracey to say "that's the law in PA, but you can go over to Jersey." That would've basically taken care of my issue without them even delving deeply into some long drawn out abortion discussion if they didn't want to go there. But as someone who went to high school in the area, the county over from where this takes place, I was just watching this and saying to the TV, that's not how that would've played out at all, it just wouldn't. Maybe this particular girl didn't know what to do, that's common and very realistic, but a friend or a friend's older sister or brother certainly would've. And someone like Tracey would know too. And from where this town is located, I'm talking about a less than 10-minute drive to cross the Jersey border, it's easier and takes less time to get to Jersey from there then to get to downtown Philly.

I don't like Tracey as much as the rest of you do, but this was a good episode for her and I felt like the way they wrote this storyline was a distraction to what should've been another defining moment for her character, showing her compassion and rapport with the students. Even without knowing the specifics like I do, I thought the discussion felt more incomplete than what it should've been. So again for the second time in this episode, it's like there was a second scene between the girl and Tracey that happened after their initial talks and before she went and knocked on her door to help her talk with her dad. So while I did think this was a pretty good episode, especially because we didn't dwell too much on Lou's family life, there were parts that felt undeniably stilted, like they had 60 minutes worth of material they needed to cram into 42 minutes and this is the edit we got.

[CelticBlackCat]

8 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I went to opening night of Head Over Heels which is moving to Broadway in June and I'd say 90% of the sets in the first act were a painted backdrop. They had some flat cut out trees next to the wings. If that's good enough for a Broadway show, I'm pretty sure that's good enough for a high school production. See, Lou? You don't need cylindrical smokestacks!

Couldn't they have gotten some tall cardboard and created a circle around the square wood pillars to make round smokestacks?  The audience isn't going to know if it is wood, steel or paper.  Paint the cardboard black.

[CelticBlackCat]

Re: Tracey and the pregnant student Sloane.  I don't think Miss Wolfe would suggest an underage girl go across state lines for an abortion.  I think that is why the conversation ended there, as in no place to go without parental consent in PA.  That is why Tracey volunteered to accompany and advocate for Sloane with her father.

Also, according to the episode description, this situation is supposed to "open up old wounds" with Tracey.  Did Tracey have an abortion?  Did she have a child she gave up for adoption?

[Snow Apple]

Was her name Slone? I could have sworn if was Sasha. Either way, who is she? Are we suppose to know her or is she a new character? 

There's just too many characters and they don't take time to let us get go know them before throwing in a major plot. I don't feel anything for this poor teenage girl's pregnancy because l don't know who the heck she is.

Edited April 19, 2018 by Snow Apple

[CelticBlackCat]

51 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

Was her name Slone? I could have sworn if was Sasha. Either way, who is she? Are we suppose to know her or is she a new character? 

There's just too many characters and they don't take time to let us get go know them before throwing in a major plot. I don't feel anything for this poor teenage girl's pregnancy because l don't know who the heck she is.

You're right, it's Sasha.  Sasha Foley played by Erin Kommor and she's been in each episode since the pilot.  I guess she's been one of the kids in the Stanton High Theatre Troup who's been in practice but didn't have a story yet.  I don't feel anything for this chick's pregnancy either because it's her own damn fault.  I feel sorry for her father who has to deal with it more.  She will be in future episodes, so the situation will be dealt with I suppose.  Maybe Stanton High School has a Maternity Class and free daycare for the students' babies.

[Fostersmom]

I'm willing to ignore a lot of TV stupidity because, yeah, TV, but no way in hell would any football coach ever tell a player to pick up his HAT after a player threw his helmet. Just had to get that out!

[romantic idiot]

On 4/20/2018 at 4:37 AM, CelticBlackCat said:

 I don't feel anything for this chick's pregnancy either because it's her own damn fault.  I feel sorry for her father who has to deal with it more.  

Ouch. I'm the opposite. I don't know her so the minute I heard about the situation I welled up. The Dad's disappeared and she's afraid of abuse from him so I don't feel for him more than her.

Sion's story has been breaking my heart - all aspects. But I think the girl has been a little willfully blind too. Not that that means she deserves it in any way.

[itsjustme]

This show  is  kind of paralleling several aspects in different ways of the actual musical Spring Awakening but as viewer they are not in on what really is going on in the musical so it would hard to notice them.

unwanted pregnancy - check,  homeless kid- check, clueless parents/teacher - check, questioning sexuality- check.  pushing father-check,

[Haleth]

Ok, 3 months after airing I'm finally getting around to watching the shows I dvr-ed.  Ah, summer doldrums.  I wouldn't bother commenting except for the best moment ever on this show-- when the mom burst in on the late rehearsal and told Lou to get over himself.  I'm with you, lady!

[TrudyC]

Of course Lou's favorite writer is F. Scott Fitzgerald.