Re: 4x13 "Diva" Watch & Discussion thread

[brisallie]

Let me clarify. Since Blaine is oblivious to the crush, he wouldn't see any problem with inviting her to his bedroom. What I was saying is that if Blaine wasn't so oblivious, and realized Tina was crushing on him, he shouldn't have invited her to his bedroom.

I see your point. And I'm agree, but I'd like he stops of being so oblivious, because is making things worse. What Tina needs, is a wake up call.

That's exactly what it is: Rachel is insecure and lives from win to win to validate her talent. She like Tinkerbell, remember? She needs applause to live.

LOL that one of my favorite quotes ever ! That's summarize who's Rachel. But I insist that she have to learn to lose, if not how is she gonna deal with the pressure in the future, what if there's a equal or better singer than her? Still I don't see Rachel being a fair loser, is not in her nature.

[MoviesAreLife]

-Tina had no right to get mad at Blaine and sing "Hung Up" to him. He's GAY!! I really hope they do not make him bi, on further thought. Yes, it would be nice to get him away from Kurt. But, speaking from personal experience, there are a ton of straight men out there that think if they can pursue a lesbian aggressively enough, that they will be able to change her sexual orientation. And vice versa, some straight women dream of being able to sleep with a gay guy and change his sexual orientation. If they make Blaine bi all of the sudden, they will be feeding into these delusions.

[Divalicious]

Having rewatched most of the episode I am still amazed about Blaine's obtuseness. No wonder he didn't know how Kurt felt about him. I read something last night, can't remember if it was here, or reviews I had been reading, but someone posted something hilarious about Blaine's world view. Good things just happen to him, like they had food being delivered to his house accidentally, but he gets to keep it for free, because he is Blaine etc.

Sure, he was bullied prior to his arrival in Gleedom, but his life in Glee is a series of the world handing him stuff. Parts in plays, endless songs, people love him, boys, girls, maybe not the lunch lady he stole tots from, but even Sue can't find anything bad to say about him. I am sure he finds Tina's endless attention actually the norm for his life. People want to take care of him (and sleep with him) and that is just his normal world. It also feeds his obliviousness, because he is used to extreme kindness since he turned 15 and developed his mutant power of instant attraction and admiration. He obviously didn't have this when he was bullied.

Sam was just tossed to the side of the road, wasn't he. The best bro who breaks into schools with him and helps him solve mysteries just isn't what makes life bearable. Is it bad writing, or is this being true to how Blaine is now. Kurt leaves, not having someone to stroke his ego, he sleeps with a stranger. Then he has Sam, whom he crushes on as soon as they spend time together. Once Sam is macking on Brittney 24/7 Blaine moves onto the next little person to pet him, literally. Blaine accepts the attention of the closest warm body male or female. I am okay with them making him bi and just pairing him with girls forever if that is what the show wants, because I am more than fine with Adam and Kurt trying to make a go of it.

Blaine=Rachel, they both need constant propping and applause to live. They are also treated as the most talented of the talented. Everyone admires them, but where they allow people to be annoyed by Rachel, they treat Blaine's consistent adulation as a normal and expected thing. The problem is, the little fangirls who see the world in black and white feed into this idea with a grand passion. We see the warped things posted where they thought Tina was cute with Blaine, and they wish they were her. So you wish to be a disrespectful person to yourself and the one you are fondling in your sleep? They didn't get the hopelessness of Tina's situation, just the hope that it could be them. That is just freaking sad.

I don't mind Santana adding spice, but she also needs a smack down, because one person from Lima Heights Adjacent couldn't possibly manage the might of a united Hummelberry attack. Or at least they had better not, because moving in like that may be Santana, but it is still dang rude.

[valkeakuulas]

I want Kurt to wear these clothes in every episode. So handsome and hot

I love those gifs.

I love those tweed pants. Kurt/Chris has been dressed into old fashioned clothes so often recently that in my real life I've began noticing that normal, everyday guys all wear jeans nowdays and that makes me miss seeing these stylish tailored clothes. You only see the full ensembles with disdigushed old gentlemen or some hipsters and Kurt certainly is neither and he rocks the looks.

[MoviesAreLife]

Gorgeous!

[fantastica]

Regarding the pictures of Kurt in Rachel's bedroom, I'm just glad that he had the good sense to unbutton her shirt and rub vaporub on her chest.

i believe they are not vaporub, but breast enlargement creams.

[Glorfindel]

^And we all know she needs them.

[fantastica]

hay, who wouldn't want to get a nice massage by a hot guy without having to worry about being sexually attacked? The beauty of having a gay man as your BFF is that it's totally safe. you can parade in and out of the bathroom naked in front of your roomie like you are in a girl's changing room.

[ColferInspired]

I want Kurt to wear these clothes in every episode. So handsome and hot

I love those gifs.

I think I've already pointed what I think about Hummelberry scenes, but I'll say again that I love their catfight, and despite of her annoying attitude, Rachel Berry being a diva is the Rachel that everybody know and some people learned to tolerate. But still I dislike that she needs to be told by other people, how talented she's. For me it only means that she's actually insecure.

That's exactly what it is: Rachel is insecure and lives from win to win to validate her talent. She like Tinkerbell, remember? She needs applause to live.

You know, the thing with the Blaine/Tina bedroom scene is that it just kept getting more and more inappropriate and uncomfortable as the scene went on. Tina had at least five really inappropriate actions or vocalizations in that little scene. I think the straddling was the worst part of it all. That type of action is very intimate, and honestly, doing that to an unconcious boy that you aren't in an intimate relationship is sexual assault/harrassment.

In almost 25 years of marriage, I've never straddled my husband to rub vapo on his chest. I have done both things seperately (lol ), but you do not need to straddle someone to rub his chest.
It was beyond creepy, and it looked to me like another 'imagine-that-was-me-cuzz-Blaine-is-so-hot-and-we-wished-he-was-straight-so-he-could-kiss-girls-on-screen fanservice scene.
Blaine being unconscious took it even one step further in the sexual assault alarm level.

And as for Blaine, I know he is oblivious but after three episodes, he should realize how deep Tina's crush for him is. He shouldn't be encouraging her behavior by inviting her into his bedroom (even if he viewed it as platonic, the bedroom still suggests intimacy), and inviting her to be his date for the wedding. He should be discouraging her, and telling her there is no shot for them.

The only excuse I can think for Blaine not knowing that Tina is crushing on him so much is that he really does know, and he is just enjoying the attention.

Blaine is used to having everyone fawn over him and wanting to be with him. Tina's is not unusual behaviour for him. And to be fair: he doesn't know about the straddling/vaporub part yet.

I like what AfterEllen wrote about Blaine and his obliviousness:

"My favorite thing about this clusterfuck is how Blaine literally has no idea that Tina wants to blow his whistle. He's that guy who lives in a bubble of his own handsome affability, just chasing an old lady down the road to tell her she dropped a hundred-dollar bill and having the old lady go, "Aw, just keep it." And the pad thai driver showing up with his favorite meal even though he didn't order it and telling him, what the heck, it's on the house. And H&M always having just one more sold out shirt in his size back in the store room. And, "We don't usually let people into the habitats to cuddle with the baby panda bears, Mr. Warbler, but I guess for you we can make an exception." So when Tina gives him a handmade care package because she just senses that he's sick, that's the kind of serendipity Blaine calls "Tuesday."

AE
So accurate.

Who is this reviewer, I want to give them a gift basket?

Finally a reviewer that writes the truth that all of us have been saying for a very very long time.

I did see another reviewer that said about Tina's performance "Hung Up" that Blaine was just basking in the attention he was getting as he knew the song was for him.

If more reviewers start writing like this, is will just enrage the Blarren stans, but I really don't think they will care about it.

Though there are still some waxing poetic on Blaine that he is perfect and catering to his stupid stans (I wish they would grow some balls and just write the truth, it is just pandering).

[sheny]

72. Girl On Fire
223. Diva
261. Bring Him Home (Kurt / Chris Colfer Solo Version)
263. Don't Stop Me Now
286. Make No Mistake (She's Mine)
287. Nutbush City Limits
289. Bring Him Home (Rachel/Lea Michele solo version)
318. Hung Up

[fantastica]

wow, i am speechless! this is beyond what kurtsies alone can do!

[sheny]

‘Glee’ recap: 4×13 ‘Diva’

It seems that Rachel’s vocal warm-ups have woken Kurt an hour before his alarm, but as soon as she sees him awake she asks him to make her some special tea. He snarks at her, and Rachel demands an explanation for his “very rude no.” Kurt lays some truth on her – that since winning the Winter Showcase, she’s becoming hard to deal with. Rachel immediately accuses Kurt of jealousy at her success, despite the fact that they were becoming inseparable. Kurt rolls his eyes and tells her that they became close because Rachel had become tolerable, but now, with her “weird, naked boyfriend” and all her weird hangers-on, that she has become like “an annoying, self-righteous Lima Rachel on steroids.” He’s not wrong.

Rachel ignores his insult and bitches back at him, telling him that the only reason Carmen had let Kurt audition at the Winter Showcase was because he was Rachel’s friend (probably not true, hey) and Kurt scoffs derisively, saying that even though she won the Showcase, that his performance was the one everyone was talking about – that he’d blown her performance out of the water. Rachel goes stone-faced at this, and Kurt continues, saying that he could out-perform her again, and challenges her to something called “Midnight Madness.” Rachel, full of condescension, tells Kurt that he shouldn’t bother, and Kurt, matching her fake sweetness note-for-note, asks why. Rachel reminds him that she already beat him once, in a diva-off. Season 1, “Defying Gravity,” remember? Kurt smiles all through her spiel, and then drops some knowledge that apparently he’s never revealed to Rachel before – that he’d purposely thrown that competition. Rachel is nearly speechless, not believing him, but when he elaborates on why he’d done it, she realises that he is telling the truth and is completely horrified, wailing that it was her first big win, something she’d based her confidence on. Kurt’s unsympathetic, sighing with pretend pity and telling her to get ready for “Diva-Off: Part Two.”
...
It’s Midnight Madness time and a small mob, including Rachel, Kurt, Brody, Beautiful New Adam, Rachel’s Gay Sycophants, and about thirty other students, sneak into a NYADA studio. Brody is the Tyler Durden of the situation, commanding the set-up and reading the rules – both singers sing the same song, one after another. At the end, the group is to stand behind the person they consider the winner, and majority rules. Only silent applause is allowed, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, seeing as if they’re going to get caught due to noise, they’re going to get caught because of the loud and piercing singing they’re going to do, but maybe it’s some time honoured tradition that once the contest starts, no sound is to be uttered besides the competitors’ voices. Kurt and Rachel are the first challenge, and Brody issues them their song, which seems to have been drawn at random. It’s “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables, and to Glee‘s utmost credit, it makes no “Today’s Pop Culture Reference!” to the new film – “Bring Him Home” is a famously difficult song to sing and it makes legitimate sense that it would be on the list of “challenge songs.” When Brody confirms that both Kurt and Rachel know it, Kurt, as tradition dictates, goes first as the challenger.

Much like their first “Defying Gravity” diva-off, we cut between Kurt and Rachel’s performances line-by-line, and they’re both good, but Rachel’s is a tad over-dramatic and Kurt had that glassy-eyed, ethereal quality to him that he gets when he’s being uncontrollably raw, where he is transported to that place it is he goes in his head where no one can follow, and I know he’s going to win. As he and Rachel stand up to be voted in, he whispers “that was good” to her, and she thanks him with a smile, but, I mean, this fight was over when Rachel stood up for Kurt in the hallway earlier. One of Rachel’s new “friends” sneers at her when she smiles expectantly at him, and goes to stand behind Kurt, and both Kurt and Rachel gape at him. Brody counts the votes and announces Kurt as the winner, by the closest possible margin. Kurt laughs delightedly as he receives more silent applause, including from Rachel, who looks ashamed and upset.
...
Back at NYADA, Kurt discusses his win with Adam. He calls it a lucky break, seeing as he’s been singing the Les Mis score since he was in seventh grade – “literally the entire score” (you and me both, Kurt) – but Adam assures him that, despite Kurt feeling conflicted, he won fair and square. Rachel’s two hangers-on rush up to him, gushing over him and inviting him along to their elite social plans, including signing up for the new Funny Girl open calls. Adam just stands there, and Kurt gives them that trademark Hummel horrified stare, wide eyes and drawing his head right back as they speak. When they finish, and look at him expectantly, he’s quick to tell them what he thinks – that they’re shallow and obnoxious, that they hang on to other people because they know they will never make it anywhere on their own, and that if they say another mean thing about Adam’s Apples, Kurt will challenge them at the next Midnight Madness. “And we all know how that will end.”

He shoos them off with a flick of his beautiful eyes and Adam laughs as Kurt turns back to him, dropping his normal face back on and favouring Adam with a tiny smile. Kurt Hummel is diva perfection – no misguided egocentric attitude, just a precise awareness of his power and control, knowing when to use it, and knowing it doesn’t consume him. Adam sees it, and calls it very impressive, but Kurt notices Rachel, sad and alone, and goes to her. He asks her to come with him to the Funny Girl open calls, trying to mend some bridges, but Rachel shakes him off, clearly disheartened and saying that he, Kurt, would make an amazing Fanny Bryce.
...
Santana, who’s scared, and unwilling to let go, says that the real world is too hard, that no one will care about her, but Brittany says that Rachel found a new guy, so did Kurt – (New Directions knows about Adam? Hmmm.)
...
Santana unsurprisingly turns down Brittany’s invitation to join her and Sam for dinner. She begins to sing “Girl On Fire” alone on the stage in a performance that takes her from the auditorium, through McKinley, and then shows her, happy, exiting a New York subway station and climbing the stairs to Rachel and Kurt’s apartment. She finishes the song and knocks on the door. “I have no life goals, but I came to New York to find a girlfriend!” she announces to Kurt and Rachel, who look very shocked. “Can I move in? Actually, screw asking. I am moving in!”

But no, apparently divas don’t call their ex-boyfriends, divas go after what they want, even if what they want is a possibly genderqueer gay male. Said gay male has gotten sicker – “my whole head feels like it’s a shrink-wrapped fist of ham,” so Tina supplies him with some vapour rub for his chest. Blaine thanks her and calls her sweet, which Tina doesn’t like, complaining that no one will look at her and see a diva. Blaine assures her that that’s not true and that there are lots of Asian divas – Lucy Liu, Bai Ling, and B.D. Wong. This is slightly weird, as I had assumed Tina’s statement was more to do with her individual personality than her race in general, but there is no denying that B.D. Wong is a total badass, so, you know. Blaine invites Tina over to his house to help her find the perfect song to channel her inner diva, and Tina coos at him. She needs to stop with the terms of endearment. Now. “Blaineydays” sounds like something out of bad Mary-Sue fanfiction, which I suppose this kind of is, let’s be honest, but I just need her to stop.

At Blaine’s place, Tina gazes wistfully at his framed bedside photographs – Kurt, Kurt, more Kurt – as he enters the room with some drinks on a tray. “Have you ever been with a girl?” she asks him, somewhat out of nowhere, and he looks taken aback but remains polite, saying he hasn’t and referring to himself as a “perfect gold-star gay.” He elaborates, saying that he adores girls – their kindness, sensitivity and beautiful bodies – but that loving them “that way” is just not who he is. Reasonable, fair, yes? Not if you’re Tina, who dismisses this with a crafty and suggestive “we’re young, we still have time to find ourselves.” Blaine is either oblivious or purposely ignores this, turning the point around to Tina finding her inner diva and showing her the playlist of song options he has created. Tina is uncertain about her ability to pull off some of his choices, and as he begins to reassure her and explain costumes he yawns, apologising for the effects of the very strong cold medication he’s still taking. Tina suggests he lies down, in a way that sounds like a prostitute inviting a client to get comfortable.

As he lies back into his pillows, she sits up and stares into the centre of the room, somewhat bravely, I suppose, beginning to reveal her feelings for him, since divas are meant to be brutally honest. She tells him that she’s falling in love with him, and while it could be a “tragic, one-way thing,” she’d find it super awesome if he’d like to date her, even in a sexless relationship – which many Asian girls and gay men do, apparently, er, okay. Tina implores Blaine to respond in some way before she is totally humiliated, and turns around to find Blaine asleep. Thank God. I am grateful, for his sake, that he did not have to hear that, however, things go from awkward to plain shady when Tina, seeing Blaine passed out, uses the opportunity to unbutton his shirt, straddle him in a very sexual manner, and sensually start rubbing the vapour rub into his chest.

Unlike Blaine’s “sucking-up-crush-to-help-my-friend” sweet behaviour towards Sam, this feels very creepily like she is taking any chance she can get to touch Blaine, and call me old-fashioned, but if you’re interested in someone and you know they’re not interested in you, undressing them and touching them while they’re asleep comes within the boundaries of straight-up non-consensual. If you disagree, I invite you to picture this scenario with any other mix of genders – imagine Blaine doing this to another guy, or a male doing this to a passed-out, unaware female. You’d never call it anything other than predatory and inappropriate, so if that squicks you, then so should this. It’s definitely one of the most uncomfortable moments in the show’s history and I seriously hope this ends up being addressed in some way and that we’re not meant to be seeing this as sweet and sad. Once Tina is done fondling the unconscious Blaine, she curls up beside him, sorrowful, and this would have been sweet and sad, if she’d just said her words, found him asleep, and gone to sleep beside him; but no, she had to go with the creepy touching first. Awesome.
...
“What is with you glee club ex-pats? Don’t you have jobs? You have to have some source of income so you can pay the staff of scientists who service your teleporters that you all clearly own since you’re constantly showing up here.” PREACH, Sue.
...
Tina, who is now an official psychopath, watches Blaine happily discussing something with Artie across the hall. When he spots her, Blaine greets her happily, and calls her over. She stares angrily at Blaine, rips the photo of him down from her locker, slams the door and stamps over to Blaine and Artie, asking Artie to bugger off so she can yell at Blaine. Both Blaine and Artie rightfully look very confused, and when Artie leaves, Blaine starts thanking Tina for the soup, saying he feels better. He also produces the tub of vapour-rub, saying “I guess I used most of this? I don’t know how that happened.” This is the tipping point for a fuming Tina, who starts laying into Blaine like a jaded lover, ranting about how she gives him everything, all of her heart, and he doesn’t even appreciate it. Blaine takes a while to process that Tina is legitimately pissed at him as she rants about how a diva shouldn’t apologise for wanting what she wants. It is, to be fair, a very confusing statement to be hit with, especially if you’re a fairly oblivious boy whose only crime is falling asleep. But it is a truly wonderful parallel to Blaine’s help of Sam in the last episode. Blaine helped Sam because he loves Sam, as a friend, regardless of his crush, and he didn’t help him to try and edge his way into Sam’s heart. Tina, it seems, tried to help and look after Blaine with the end goal of getting something back in return, something more than his friendly appreciation, and when her soup and molestation doesn’t make Blaine fall in love with her, she’s angry at wasting her energy on helping him. Nice.

www.hypable.com

[glimmerle]

72. Girl On Fire
223. Diva
261. Bring Him Home (Kurt / Chris Colfer Solo Version)
263. Don't Stop Me Now
286. Make No Mistake (She's Mine)
287. Nutbush City Limits
289. Bring Him Home (Rachel/Lea Michele solo version)
318. Hung Up

[Glorfindel]

‘Glee’ recap: 4×13 ‘Diva’

Much like their first “Defying Gravity” diva-off, we cut between Kurt and Rachel’s performances line-by-line, and they’re both good, but Rachel’s is a tad over-dramatic and Kurt had that glassy-eyed, ethereal quality to him that he gets when he’s being uncontrollably raw, where he is transported to that place it is he goes in his head where no one can follow, and I know he’s going to win.

www.hypable.com

This is beautiful.

[Divalicious]

It's nice that people other than us can see that being able to belt notes is not the apex of singing ability. The ability to make you feel is, and Chris/Kurt has that in spades.

Also nice to see in reviews I have been reading that after a fashion mis-step his first episode, that people are finding him handsome now. Nothing but the best for Kurt.

[brisallie]

It's nice that people other than us can see that being able to belt notes is not the apex of singing ability. The ability to make you feel is, and Chris/Kurt has that in spades.

...

Exactly. A singer could have the best singing technique, and I would appreciate that, but if doesn't transmit anything to me besides of that, is like any performance which has good singers. And here was clear that difference between Chris/Kurt and Lea/Rachel. I need to say this, but sometimes I don't like her overdramatic faces.

[Ranwing]

I've said it may times, but Lea's (and by extension Rachel's) performances often leave me completely cold because the focus is too much on technique and not enough on really grasping the spirit of her performance (unless the song precisely matches the emotion that she is supposed to convey). I have no problem with agreeing that Lea, as a technician, is a stronger singer. But she often substitues power for real emotion, and that often takes me out of her performances. I can admire her talent, but I just don't feel anything when she sings, and BHH is no different. The worst part is that her performance style, gestures, and tone reflected absolutely nothing of this particular song. She could have pretty much been singing any song and I doubt that her performance would have been very different, and the lack of real connection to the material is something that I've always seen as a weakness in her.

Chris will never be considered by some to be as good a singer as Lea because he doesn't have the technique and sheer power in his voice, but his voice has it's own strenths. His technique has improved dramatically over the years and is making the best of his natural talents. His strength is becoming more apparent and while he'll never be as loud as Rachel (and I never bought the idea that loud equals good), he's got a far better instinct of when to use his strength to punctuate emotion rather than to try to create emotion. And he always seems to be so in tune with his material, knowing how to internalize the emotion of the song so that it comes out in his voice rather than in facial gestures. This is something that I'll never convince Rachel stans of, but when you see his version of the BHH outselling hers by a signifigant margin (and this is after she had a bit of a head start), it's clear that we are not alone in recognzing that he's quite nicely caught up to her as a singer.

[MoviesAreLife]

Chris has always been one of the best singers in the cast for me. I think the cast can be devided into two groups as singers: the stronger singers and the weakers singers. While I'm not going to single anyone out, let's just say that Chris belongs in camp "Strong"...always has, and always will. He keeps getting better. Also, I think he might have the widest range of the entire cast!

[Glorfindel]

^He does! For sure the male singer with the widest range, although Kevin is near to him.
Of the female cast I think only Amber is in his league when it comes to range.


I just realized that if Blaine had been in NYADA (as he most likely will be next year) we would not have had a storyline with Kurt like this one. Kurt would not have beaten Rachel and been considered one of the top performers at NYADA with bragging rights from the Midnight Madness diva-off, and he would not have told off the sycophants by telling him that they would not be able to beat him vocally.
If Adam had been Blaine he would have said to Kurt something like "You were adorable" instead "You are an incredible singer". Blaine would have smiled at the sycophants' praise for Kurt, and he would have looked appalled and a bit disapproving at Kurt for being so snarky to those hangers-on: Blaine loves to get attention and compliments after all.

*sigh*
Next season is going to suck.

[MoviesAreLife]

I don't want Blaine following Kurt around like some curse! Can't he go to one of the MANY different performing arts schools in NYC? Why does it have to be NYADA?!

[ChrisColferFan1]

I don't want Blaine following Kurt around like some curse! Can't he go to one of the MANY different performing arts schools in NYC? Why does it have to be NYADA?!

I agree,or even better somewhere out of the country

[fantastica]

because NY apparently is a tiny village w/ only one school and one loft. blaine will be stuck there because he's homeless and parentless and clueless.

what a crap show!

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