If you follow me on twitter, then you know that I recently stopped watching a number of shows: The Office, Alcatraz, Once Upon A Time, and Glee. In the past I’ve made my opinions on how the show chooses to approach certain topics very clear. Despite that, I stuck with the show because there were still enough good moments scattered amongst the crap to keep me interested. I finally lost my patience and decided to throw in the towel after watching the travesty of an episode that was “Yes/No”.
Credit: FOX Photos
I could break down every scene or go into how ridiculous Rachel actually agreeing to marry Finn is for a high school drama, but that’s not real problem. What’s happened is that the show is trying to achieve too much without giving each story the breathing room that it truly needs. One episode will be packed with songs, because of some kind of “theme” like in the episode “Michael”, which are only tenuously connected to the plot. That is, I should say, if the writers remember that the show is supposed to have a plot on that particular week. Plots and emotions are manipulated and thrown around on Glee the way that toddler plays with a toy. One minute they’re latched onto an idea and won’t let go, and the next they’ve completely forgotten about it and are focused on something new and usually unrelated.
For me, however, the worst part is not the disconnected writing, it’s the way the show chooses to tackle the “tough issues”. Back in season 1 when Kurt came out to his dad, it was handled well and had a lot of strong yet positive emotion. Something happened after that season ended where the writing became too self-aware and the show was suddenly a caricature of itself. I won’t deny that the issues Glee attempts to address, like bullying, are important, but the way that they’re casually tossed in to keep the show “edgy” is frankly insulting to anyone actually suffering.
Despite being totally put-off by “Yes/No” I did sit and watch “Michael” and the most recent episode “On My Way”. I hadn’t planned on watching the latter, buy my twitter feed completely exploded with shock, outrage, and a variety of other emotions over it, so I felt compelled to see what all the fuss was about. What I discovered was that the show once again addressed a very serious subject matter, suicide, and then tossed it aside as casually as any other plot. It’s like we were out to dinner with the writers and everything was going well until they stood up, slapped us all in the face while yelling “This is important!”, then sat down and carried on like nothing had happened. While the audience was sitting there watching, presumably shocked, the show carried on with Regionals like a robot programmed to ignore all human emotions. A small attempt was made when Kurt went to the hospital, but by that point in the episode, it just felt strange and distant from all the happy, upbeat singing.
I won’t even begin to go into the ridiculousness that was the Rachel/Finn wedding or the Sue Sylvester pregnancy. It is a shame what’s become of her once-great character. Sue used to be my little glimmer of hope, but she’s become so cartoony that I actually found myself preferring to watch the stupid marriage plots. I’m not sure why this wedding just had to be immediately after Regionals or how all the girls suddenly had bridesmaid dresses, but it was clearly a convenient setup for Quinn to be rushing to the event. At this point in the episode, based on twitter reactions, most viewers were already fairly emotionally overwhelmed by the suicide plot and the last-minute wedding, so obviously it was the perfect time for the writers to toss in a Michael Vaughn moment (see Alias season 4 finale). On any other show, that car crash would’ve shocked me and made me anxious to find out what happened, but in the context of Glee, I can honestly say that I didn’t care. No matter what happens, if Quinn dies, is injured, or what have you, the show isn’t going give it the proper amount of time to develop as a story. Most conflicts in the show come to a head and then are miraculously okay after about five minutes of screen time. So from my perspective, why should I invest any emotion if the resolution will be as flippantly delivered as everything else has been?
So no, I will not be watching Glee any more. I wish the show had taken a different direction. The first season really had something going, but the writers let the show’s success go to their heads. It looks like NBC picked a good time to release Smash since I’m not sure how many people will be able to keep up with Glee if it keeps heading in this direction.
What’s your opinion: will you keep watching Glee or has the show gone too far astray?
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