Re: 4x09 "Swan Song" Watch & Discussion thread

[CloveGlee]

Recap's up. Boy, the writing was irregular on this one. If this had not been such a huge episode for Kurt I'd call it a failure.

http://recappersdelight.blogspot.com/2012/12/glee-episode-recap-swan-song.html

[tanita_mors]

I have to agree with you Clair. I felt absolutely no momentum for this episode or in this episode. I even found the Kurt triumph somewhat unsatisfying. I'm happy that it happened finally, but there was no build up for it at all. It should have happened last season or at the end of this one with a lot more focus. I mean, he reference NYADA like 2-3 times in the passing this season. IDK, it felt hollow to me. Also the episode passeing was bad. I mean, to have 2 similar slow ballads one after another, in the same setting by the same performer. I probably would have fund it equally tedious and boring even if Kurt was the one doing the singing. And here we had 3 sings practically one after another. The rest of the show was just uninteresting. Brit and Sam are so bland together it's not even funny, not to mention how offensive and degrading Brit's character has become.

It's telling how tired of this show I have become - when not even my own faves triumphs make me want to jump from joy. I'm finding that watching this show is becoming more of a chore for me then a simple pleasure. Glee needs a change of passe fast, or all it's going to get is a 13 episode 5 season and the end. If Chris/Kurt is on till the bitter end, so will I be, but I hate to think that the show that once was an absolute favorite will bring me the ultimate happiness when it's effing over.

[Divalicious]

Regarding the whole Sam/Britt thing, I have never been a Britanna person. Firstly, I really don't care or Santana's persona, which is bitchy without payback, but that aside, I do realize the importance of a lesbian character, so I just go with the flow. Brittney is not Santana's equal, intellectually, talent or emotionally, which is why I cannot get behind the pairing. Plus, it has always been just brushed aside, but Santana has actually tricked Brittney into sex in the past, when she was in another relationship. If anyone, and I mean, anyone else had done anything near this, they would have been flayed alive. With Santana, for whatever reason it is okay. Because she really loves Brittney? If Finn had tricked Rachel into sex because he really loved her is it acceptable? No, and it isn't with Santana either.

I also don't think Heather can carry off this situation, so it is better for her to be with Sam, both actors I think will not be on the show after this season, other than cameo's like Mike and Mercedes. I think the writers do want to give us a lesbian pairing, but with an actress and character that can be Santana's equal. Someone who will not be tricked by crap, who holds her accountable to her behavior without letting it slide. Brittney and Santana will be friends, always, but I hope they never reunite as lovers, not unless Santana does address her repeated manipulations of Brittney and they deal with it.

Why they had Rachel get a standing ovation and then a curtain call I will never know. It kind of just let her walk into her winning of the prize, considering no one else got two songs or dances that we are aware of. I just wish they would have Rachel step out of the Barbra shadow and create something her own, because I am bored, despite her magnificent voice. It is pretty, but in the end it means nothing other than Rachel sings a song. Nothing was driven by it. If this leads up to her having actual difficulty, whether it be envy or them showing Rachel has trouble with everything except singing, then it is okay. She needs something she has to triumph over, not just acknowledge she isn't a dancer, but that doesn't matter because she plans on singing anyway. We need major stumbling blocks not teeny, tiny speed bumps to make Rachel's journey interesting.

[brisallie]

acapella version of BA: http://chriscolfernews.tumblr.com/post/37482848869/tinaa-cohenchang-being-alive-acapella-glee

Thanks for this link. To be honest, I don't like the piano in the original one because is too loud.

...

It is amazing how Chris changes his look, he looked like a deer in the headlights when he went on stage with NYADA, but at the beginning of the episode, and right before Rachel's double solo, he just looked like sexy friend
...

I wish the show would get away from all this solo crap. I want interaction between characters, so do group songs, or at least duets. Something more than someone just standing there singing, pretty please.

...
It is too bad Marley is a student and Finn and adult, because I think they had better chemistry than she has with Jake or Ryder. Of course, Cory is like Chris, just a chemistry factory.

...

I think at the beginning he looked as a sexy friend as you said, because of what he was wearing. It was just a simple hoodie which exposed more his body. But he looks so cute , though he was afraid, when he was on the stage and his "Hi" was so sweet. I wanted to hug him.

And you know, I also want interaction between characters. They're a Glee Club, they should have more group songs. Actually that something I missed from season one, there's used to have more songs as a group, though usually Finchel were the lead, but still.

I also saw chemistry between Finn and Marley, thought I ship as friends because I don't want to see Finn in jail. Poor of him. So I'm wondering why Cory and Chris interact so well with other people and bring the best of them, for instance Brody was more interesting when he interacted with Kurt. What's their secret? Good acting?

[Glorfindel]

I have to agree with you Clair. I felt absolutely no momentum for this episode or in this episode. I even found the Kurt triumph somewhat unsatisfying. I'm happy that it happened finally, but there was no build up for it at all. It should have happened last season or at the end of this one with a lot more focus. I mean, he reference NYADA like 2-3 times in the passing this season. IDK, it felt hollow to me. Also the episode passeing was bad. I mean, to have 2 similar slow ballads one after another, in the same setting by the same performer. I probably would have fund it equally tedious and boring even if Kurt was the one doing the singing. And here we had 3 sings practically one after another. The rest of the show was just uninteresting. Brit and Sam are so bland together it's not even funny, not to mention how offensive and degrading Brit's character has become.

It's telling how tired of this show I have become - when not even my own faves triumphs make me want to jump from joy. I'm finding that watching this show is becoming more of a chore for me then a simple pleasure. Glee needs a change of passe fast, or all it's going to get is a 13 episode 5 season and the end. If Chris/Kurt is on till the bitter end, so will I be, but I hate to think that the show that once was an absolute favorite will bring me the ultimate happiness when it's effing over.

Pretty much this (glad we are back to mind-melt ).

I hated the writing for this episode. Kurt's SL made no sense whatsoever and his NYADA victory felt hollow to me as a result. I was so fuming by then I couldn't even enjoy his performance.
And Rachel not only being invited to the Showcase but actually winning it (and gettiing a standing O and an encore shout-out) was as bad as the ass-kissing of her in the last few episodes of season 3, combined in one episode.

Sue felt more like a charicature than ever, Tina was an evil bitch, and the meta of Brittany was downright offensive. Someone elsewhere suggested exchanging "lesbians" with "black people" (and then coming from Sam instead of Brittany) and when you read it like that it's absolutely awful.

The only thing they got right in this episode was the ND members joining other clubs, Brad the Pianoman, and the writing for Finn.

BTW: the ND members are as disloyal as f*ck. They are at each others' throats all the time, and at the first sign of trouble they give up and leave the club. So much for friendships being build over the years and team spirit.

[fantastica]

people, don't forget, glee is not meant to be taken seriously. it's supposed to be light hearted entertainment even if they go to dark side of bullimia and bullying and suicide etc., because, well, they burn through stories so fast they desperately need stories! maybe one day, at the end of the series, kurt and blaine will reunite - but by then blaine has discovered that he's got AIDS because he was too careless having one-night stands, then they cry tother and singing some sort of "til death do us apart" or "you are my only love" sort of song and then blaine dies in kurt's arms. hmm, sounds like those Bollywood plot lines. oh, Bollywood - full of songs and dances and romance stories too - in fact, that's pretty much all they are.

hay, don't hate me for suggesting AIDS. it's a big problem in teh gay community (as well as every other communities). I think sooner or later they may hit it because, you know, they love serious and dark subject matters, don't they?

[tanita_mors]

Marie, it's a a mind-MELD not melt.

when i say that i loved the F13 - i mean that I loved the humor we had back then. it was dark and borderline offensive but ultimately original and entertaining. i feel like the show really had a change of direction and it has rather juvenile humor or is bluntly offensive when it's trying to be funny. and it's falling at it miserably. also, the psa of the week needs to go. like now. before, those things were ok because they were a part of the character. now it feels like they decide on the topic they want to cover and then just pick the character they want to have it, weather or not it's out of their nature or not.

[Glorfindel]

Marie, it's a a mind-MELD not melt.

Haha, right! A mind-MELT would not be a nice experience at all, lol.

Stupid me, I think I got that wrong all along. Now excuse me, while I go to sleep before I have a MELD-down.

[fantastica]

when i say that i loved the F13 - i mean that I loved the humor we had back then. it was dark and borderline offensive but ultimately original and entertaining. i feel like the show really had a change of direction and it has rather juvenile humor or is bluntly offensive when it's trying to be funny. and it's falling at it miserably. also, the psa of the week needs to go. like now. before, those things were ok because they were a part of the character. now it feels like they decide on the topic they want to cover and then just pick the character they want to have it, weather or not it's out of their nature or not.

i think glee is hte same as before. the same type of silly non-sensical jokes that's boarderline if not outright offensive. what's changed is that we are bored with the same thing. it's like Lea's songs. she sings well, now and then, but after all these years you get really sick of them.

RM thinks that by replacing the old cast w/ new people the show can be re-energized. he's wrong. even w/ the new people they are still sticking w/ the same old (now over-used boring) formula. NY is the only newer part of the show. they can't afford to get rid of the oldies now because they are sustained by fans, not GA these days, and fans will run fast when their favs are gone.

[sheny]

I have to agree with you Clair. I felt absolutely no momentum for this episode or in this episode. I even found the Kurt triumph somewhat unsatisfying. I'm happy that it happened finally, but there was no build up for it at all. It should have happened last season or at the end of this one with a lot more focus. I mean, he reference NYADA like 2-3 times in the passing this season. IDK, it felt hollow to me. Also the episode passeing was bad. I mean, to have 2 similar slow ballads one after another, in the same setting by the same performer. I probably would have fund it equally tedious and boring even if Kurt was the one doing the singing. And here we had 3 sings practically one after another. The rest of the show was just uninteresting. Brit and Sam are so bland together it's not even funny, not to mention how offensive and degrading Brit's character has become.

I was doing something else and not paying attention to the screen when Rachel was singing and in the end thought she sang just one very long song. Later I re-watched it because I couldn't believe they let her sing a 10 minutes long song.

Brittany and Sam are like Quinn and Sam 2.0, the new Ken and Barbie on the show, at least Quinn and Sam were cute together and had some nice scenes, these two are just boring and complete each others' stupidity.

“It’s gotten to the point where I have to ask them to lower the key of songs. I’m doing Being Alive in an upcoming episode and they had it in a higher key, and I was like, ‘Guys I get that you like when I sing high, but can I PLEASE sound like a man for the man song, pretty pretty please?”
— Chris Colfer, Broadway Names Interview

Poor baby. I'm happy they let him sing the way he wanted. But I don't get it I thought they don't give him more songs because they don't like his higher register very much and now it turns out that they do.
I'm so tired of this. They give one of their major characters, fan favourite, award winning actor with so unique and gorgeous IMO voice only 2 or 3 songs per season, but Brittany, a minor character, no one really cares about outside of her relationship with Santana who can't sing, gets tons of solos and duets. I'm sure that if Santana gets a new girlfriend all those Brittana shippers will instantly forget about Brittany.
I wouldn't be that mad if they gave them to Kevin, Jenna, Amber or even Naya, at least they can sing. I'm not happy of the numerous Lea and Darren solos, but I can understand it. Lea's voice is great and Darren is good, they play major and popular characters.
Why do they keep giving the solos to the pretty dumb blond? Just because 14 years old kids buy her Britney Spears and Kesha covers on Itunes it's ok to give her more and more stupid songs about dinosaurs and cups. And now when Bram is the new Finchel they will probably sing awful duets every episode.

[Delight]

^ I've given up trying to come up with justifications as to how TPTB on Glee make decisions about allocation of songs (or storylines). Just thinking about the unfairness of it all makes me grind my teeth, so I shall avoid doing so.

I feel a bit sorry for Chord and his character. Sam plays the boyfriend to the girls in ND, one after another (Quinn, Santana, Mercedes, and now Brittany), but all his relationships were treated shoddily, as if they don't matter. And in the grand scheme of things, they really don't matter. Is it too much to ask for a boy to be friends with a girl without romantic undertones? Apparently, it is. In the Glee world, platonic relationships between members of the opposite sex can only happen if one member is gay.

[Divalicious]

I don't know of Rachel sang for 10 minutes, because I fast forwarded, but it is funny she can have that much time but when Kurt sang AIWNSG for about 4 and half minutes it was monumental allotment of time. Oh yes, but Rachel had the justification of not having a solo in several episodes, Kurt certainly didn't have that excuse (sarcasm alert). In the end, if you like someone you will justify anything they are given, I am guilty of that as well.

Delight, you know your post is exactly why I don't like Bram. It isn't that Brittney is bisexual, and this is a diss to lesbians. I have posted previously I thought that Heather wasn't coming back next year. I think this is their way of giving her something to do, plus if she is dating, it gives Santana "permission" to find someone else. Just like when Blaine cheats on Kurt out of the blue, it is to allow him the chance to date someone else, writing wise. What I do regret is them using Sam, who has yet to have a girl friend who was really in to him. I don't even count Mercedes, they had a dance at Junior Prom, which I think was just to fulfill a wish for a character ignored except for singing. Then they have her try to decide between her boyfriend and Sam. They never really dated on screen, so this was not a couple they were ever planning on exploring. Again, I think because she was in her senior year, and they wanted to give Mercedes a story. Now the same thing is happening, to give Brittney a moving-on story, they are using Sam once again. Sam is a cute distraction in all of his relationships, but never the romantic destination of choice. Saying that, why not just have them as friends, why does there have to be this end game status to every relationship?

I do think Glee is getting away from the end game idea for the newbies. Yes, they broke up all the couples, but I still think eventually will get at least Klaine back together, unless Adam really hits. What we need is his last name, perhaps that would create a better shipper name . But they aren't treating Jake and Marley as totally end game, since Ryder is there. Again, why these two guys are so interested in this bland piece of toast, I don't know, but she sings lovely, and she dances better than Rachel. They also seem interested in forming friendships that went by the wayside once supercouple season 2 started.

The less said about allocations of songs, the better, because it makes no sense regarding talent or narrative. I think they throw darts, and someone pulls to the left, and keeps hitting Brittney's name.

[fantastica]

[Sponsored content]