Hello and welcome to the fourteenth recap of the fourth season of Glee, a delightful family television program about streamers, balloons, glitter guns, paper-hearts and the foolish teenagers who purchase and utilize said decor under the esteemed tutelage of Admiral Tater-Tot, who inspires them to lift every voice and sing. It’s basically Joyful Noise, but without Dolly Parton or Queen Latifah. This week’s episode, entitled “I Do,” paid tribute to 56 of my least-favorite television tropes and provided Finn Hudson with far too much screen time. In the upcoming words of our Patron Saintess Santana Lopez:
We open in an aggressively bedazzled Iconoclastic Northwestern Ohio coffee shop, where a yam in a sweater vest is yammering to The New Rachel about his manchild feelings while The New Rachel frets about his frazzled physical appearance and refusal to make eye contact.
see, I have a little remote control in my coat, and when i press a button, the hidden vibrator just starts vibrating. but like nobody else would have any idea, it’s just my little secret. like nobody has any idea that it’s actually buzzing right now.
Finn confesses that he put his tater on Ms. Pillsbury’s tot and even though she didn’t kiss him back, he’s super self-involved and therefore can’t stop obsessing over it and his inability to be Best Man now that he’s established himself AGAIN as the Worst Man. He proposes telling Mr. Shue, because then Mr. Shue can be as miserable as Finn is and they can start an a capella blues jam group and spin off into outer space.
every now and then, finn says something that is 100% true
The New Rachel insists he keeps this slip-up on the DL and suggests Finn was motivated by his despair over her budding romance with a shirtless dicknail, but Finn insists not everything’s about her. Which’s unfortunate, because that’d be a hell of a lot more entertaining than everything being about Finn!
We then swing on over to Emma’s office, where her private freakout over seating charts and the precise arrangement of items on her desk is interrupted by a stack of chili-cheese-fries named Finn Hudson and his manchild feelings. Finn’s unsure he can handle being a best man because he kissed Emma and also, incidentally, is totally not the best man. You know who the best man is? This is who The Best Man is:
he has his own pet monkey!
Emma’s got no time for this:
Emma: “Look I’m really sorry I don’t have a pamphlet ready for you right now but I’m pretty sure if I did, it would say something like, “Get Over It,” okay?”
“I have two beautiful ladies standing before me, but I have only one photo in my hand.”
Emma suggests Finn’s best course of action is to stay the fuck away and shut the fuck up, at which time Mr. Shue pops in to grace the room with his gummy smile and tasteful cardigan and to not help his wife feel one iota better about a goddamn thing.
heeeeeellloooooo ladies
Emma begs for seating chart help but he’s gotta run to Glee practice which brings us to…
…The Glee Room!
that’s right i’m back and my pants are on FIAR!
The students greet their Prodigal Father with unnecessary levels of good cheer, including an embarrassing-for-all-of-us “Holla!” from Artie, and subsequently respond to Mr. Shue’s gratitude towards Finn Hudson with even stronger levels of unnecessary good cheer.
that’s right, finn’s graduating into big boy underpants today, round of applause for finn
Mr. Shue incites a near-riot of enthusiasm when he announces that week’s theme will be “WEDDING!!!!!”
go shorty, it’s your wedding, gonna party like it’s your wedding
Mr. Shue explains that because Emma’s handling all the WEDDING!!!! planning, he’ll be handling all the planning of the WEDDING!!!! music, which he promptly handles by asking the children to do it for him.
Exact re-enactment of facial expressions employed during Brittany & Sam’s first experience marathoning Shane McCutcheon videos on YouTube
Infathomably he also asks a baked potato to eschew a Best Man Speech in favor of A Best Man Song, which’s a good or bad thing depending on where you come down on the “What’s Worse: Finn Singing or Finn Talking” Debate of 2012.
yup, i just peed a little
We then cut to The Hallowed Hallways of McKinley High where Emma’s on her knees in green dish gloves eliminating the faint suggestion of the faint suggestion of the possibility of a potential future involving, in some way maybe, Asian Bird Flu.
could you disinfect my notebook, it hasn’t been the same since the last time i got slushied
Emma’s also giving Artie the low-down on her blonde niece, Betty, who will be sitting adjacently to Artie at the WEDDING!!!!!! and also has giant knockers. I’m imagining something like this, mayhaps?
JK, Betty is blonde, so it’s not Betty Boop, it’s probs Betty McRae:
i’ll bomb your girl any day, betty mcrae
Wait! WAIT I KNOW WHO IT IS. It’s Betty of “Betty and Veronica,” a comic about lesbian lovers pretending to be straight:
probs can’t tell the difference between archie and artie
Anyhow, we’ll just have to wait and see because elsewhere in the Hallowed Hallways, Marley-Kate and New Puck are speaking words to each other while everybody who cares listens really hard and everybody who doesn’t care sticks their face in a tub of squalid pickle juice for the next 45 seconds.
look i put my hymen in a box for you i got the idea from taylor swift
For Valentine’s Day, Marley-Kate made New Puck special cufflinks out of a typewriter and New Puck pretends like he’s got something special for her, too, but he’s obviously lying and was totally planning on gifting her a Dick in a Box. Luckily Ryder Bieber-Strong is gonna pull a Brian Krakow this episode and puppet-master New Puck through making Valentine’s Week a Magical Moment for Marley-Kate.
you’re right, we should probably just make out and get this whole charade over with, eh?
Elsewhere in this crumbling monument to educational tomfoolery, Finn’s summoned The New Rachel to the auditorium to help him choose a WEDDING!!!! song from the Wedding Song Box.
look, i’m sorry i was late but i didn’t know “Crossroads” was a two-part episode when i started, okay?
The New Rachel suggests Finn improve his song by duetting with somebody who can actually sing, like The New Rachel. Finn smarmily adds that they’ve got some “pretty dangerous musical chemistry,” which inspires The New Rachel to assert that she’s in a mature open relationship now so the only danger she’s worried about is the danger we’re all worried about, which is random lunatics opening fire in a crowded room of civilians. Amirite?
“finn, how good are you at giving rachel orgasms?”
Cut to, I believe, History of The American Bald Eagle class, apparently taught now by Mr. Shue, who’s been back at McKinley for about 47 minutes but whatever.
and this is how emma knows i’m about to touch her boobs
Just in case all this eagle-talk wasn’t already inspiring students to hop the first train to snoozeville, New Puck interrupts this educational situation to perform a song declaring his love for Marley.
omg another gay musical number!
New Puck, Ryder Bieber-Strong, Sam and Artie, dressed like cupcakes and accompanied by a puppy-eyed Marley-Kate, then treat us to an unfortunate rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “You’re All I Need (To Get By)” while students lob heart-shaped glitter and other discount party store paraphernalia onto the happy couple.
Luckily, the song ends and then so does the scene!
We then journey through space, time, and sixty thousand centuries of Industrial progress to The Church for Emma and Will’s WEDDING!!!!.
luckiest extra ever over there in the blue
Santana Lopez, who must be fucking Kara Thrace for all the air travel she’s managed to squeeze into her budget these days, shows up with Quinn Fabray and promptly declares herself and the dead bear on her shoulders “clearly the hottest bitch in this lousy joint,” which coincidentally is a fair representation of this show in general. Her alleged “best friend” a few rows up offers a meek hello and Santana throws some shade their way.
sorry we’re not getting paid enough this episode to have lines but maybe we can talk next week
Despite her overwhelming hotness, Santana moans, she’s stuck here all alone with Quinn, and Quinn just-so-happens to be wearing a holy jacket created to memorialize the great battle of Glitter Vs. Gay.
mmmmm tastes like rachel
Quinn asks if Santana would like to be slapped again, and instead of saying “Yes! Harder!” Santana continues bitching about how much she hates weddings and Valentine’s Day, which was “invented by breeders to sell cheap chocolate and false hope.” AMEN, sister. “Do you know what I hate?” Quinn asks. “Men. Every single one of them.” AMEN, SISTER! Actually the sentence is longer than that, but who cares.
You know what that means? I must be a man-hating lesbian.
She goes on to declare all men pigs, except Mr. Shue and Al Roker. Listen Quinn, I’ve got an advanced degree in Professional Man-Hating, which means I keep a handy list on my desk of Men I Don’t Hate, and lemme tell you who’s not on it: Mr. Shue and Al Roker. Lemme tell you who is on it: Ira Glass, Stephen Dunn, Sam Anderson, my brother Lewis and Obama, sometimes. Mr. Shue is totally weird and Al Roker said my least favorite p-word on television.
look closer and you’ll see a potential clam-diver
Quinn declares she’s done letting men define her and reminds all of you ladies at home that “a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” Coincidentally, a woman without a man is also a woman without a Glee storyline, but whatever.
Santana: “Al Roker is disgusting, by the way.”
AAAAAAAAAAAMMENENENNNNNNNNN.
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Grace wasn’t fucking with you, I swear. But doesn’t it seem like she was?
Also, what was with Artie and not bitchy girl in bed, where one was like “was it good for you?” “I don’t know, was it good for you?” “I don’t know.” Was that a disabled joke, because I think it was, and it wasn’t funny.
but let’s just watch Quinn and Santana wearing nothing but sheets, that makes me feel better.
Especially when Artie made it a really big deal in Season One that he still had full function of his penis.
I actually didn’t find that joke to be bad. People are allowed to make sarcastic comments about their situations am I right? especially since the two in this scene happen to experience that disability themselves- it’s not like so able bodied person said it mockingly. Humor helps take the pain of their condition away, I don’t see what’s wrong about it.
It mostly bothers me because I know who wrote it and it clearly wasn’t that thoughtful. Also, Artie made it clear that everything works down there for him so it also doesn’t make sense. And two people without function of their bits aren’t going to really be able to have sex in a traditional fashion, so the joke also doesn’t make sense? At all?
I thought Artie made it clear to Tina in season 1 that he “still had the full use of his penis” or something like that.
Yeah. DOES NOT COMPUTE.
well at the end she said it was the best sex ever when they talked in the school hallway — so maybe they were joking with each other in bed? i realize giving glee the benefit of the doubt is always a bad idea, just got that theory from the AV Club reviewer:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/i-do,92278/
Riese do you comment on AVClub? Are my two worlds overlapping?!
I’m the person in the comments section who said, well, basically what I said here. I was on the wagon for a year, Glee keeps pulling me back in!
haha no i’ve never commented on the AV Club! i just read it every now and then.
That makes more sense. It’s possible, I guess. I just didn’t think it was all that funny and I do love me some disgustingly morbid humor.
And now I see someone had already mentioned that. I guess that’s what happens when I comment at 5 am…
And I also see I completely forgot Glee’s tenuous relationship with continuity.
Come on now. We all know better than to expect, assume, or even hope for continuity on Glee.
I really enjoy this episode, and sweeps week in general, because I am absolutely shameless when it comes to gays on tv (as long as they aren’t murdered, are murderers, etc). Yes, the whole Quinntana thing will only be mentioned once, maybe, five episodes from now, but I don’t fucking care, damnit!! If they had actually made out, though…….I would probably just be dead. Four months Glee-free and now this.
I JUST WANT TO QUIT WATCHING THIS SHOW BUT I CAN’T BECAUSE LESBIANS
“I JUST WANT TO QUIT WATCHING THIS SHOW BUT I CAN’T BECAUSE LESBIANS”
RT.
These recaps make my day. <3 (Even though I'm pretty sure that every time you refer to Finn as a potatoe G-d stabs a lesbian puppy with body issues in the guts.)
I didn't really mind not seeing Santana and Quinn kiss and I immensely liked the fact that their position in bed suggested that they'd done that numbered thing. Nice touch.
Also: Kurt & Blaine need to sing more 80s pop. And have a threesome with Adam Lambert. Just saying.
thank you! also though i don’t want to hurt your lesbian puppies! seriously i feel like i’m missing something w/r/t finn… he’s tall and thin, like that’s a fact. the actor who plays him is super-thin. i’m assuming b/c of the comment below that you think i’m calling him fat, but how can i call him fat when he’s not fat? also he makes very safe fashion choices, which is frustrating. one might argue that he makes the same fashion choices that a potato might make… have you ever cut open a potato? i have. you know what the inside looks like? finn hudson’s brain. just a potato on a plate. in any event, i reference a variety of potato products, all of which come in various shapes and sizes having no correlation whatsoever to anybody’s body. chili cheese fries are thin objects, as are potato chips. the only thing all these potato products have in common is that they are made out of potatoes JUST LIKE FINN’S MAJOR INTESTINES AND BRAINHOLE. also this show has driven me crazy, so there’s that.
“have you ever cut open a potato? i have. you know what the inside looks like? finn hudson’s brain. ”
I can’t wait for the opportunity to use this line. it’s stored in the comedy memory bank.
I think the problem with referring to Finn as a potato is that it’s been used as a derogatory term for people with mental disabilities, particularly down syndrome.
I tried to google something for you but all I could find was this meme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-can-count-to-potato
Certain people who live in certain places use the expression “papa sin sal” (potato without salt) to indicate that someone is uninteresting and bland. The connotations of papas are global, volatile and complex. Proceed carefully.
This may be a cultural thing because over here potatoes aren’t known for being stupid or misogynistic or just generally annoying. ;) Here, comparing someone to a potato’s is the same as calling them fat. Because potatoes aren’t thin. They’re bulky. I assume there’s a reason people are called couch potatoes and not, say, couch celery. Even in the US of A. ;)
It was the constant comparisons to potatoes as well as calling him a walking talking barrel of poutine that kind of left that impression. Poutine is just about the greasiest thing I can think of. (Well, that and Rick Grimes’s hair.)
Maybe I cried wolf but I feel for Cory Monteith. Poor guy gets called fat and chubby all the time much like Amber Benson was in the 90s. For having a regular body and not the really thin body you usually see on tv. I just think it’s a shame.
(Also: I object to comparing potatoes to Finn Hudson. Most potatoes I’ve come across treat women way better than he does.)
ahhhh I actually really, really liked this episode. It was the one of and maybe only high point in this season, and quinntana- so hot. I enjoyed every minute of them being together and it’s so nice to see someone that can challenge santana and play off of her. Brittany felt like a delicate emotionally stunted child, thank god that relationship is over. I wish they would explore this storyline/ arc in the next few episodes but alas I have so little hope for it being retouched on.
Either way, I’m grateful that quinntana happened. heh
Lez be honest, Riese, there was nothing bi-curious or “I’m actually totally 100% straight” with Quinn. Wistful while confessing never dancing with a girl before? ACTUALLY ENJOYING SEX for the first time? Going for round 2? Yeah, I’m an expat of Faberryland, but Quinntana is a perfect stepping stone for the blossoming gay of Quinn Fabray. We may not have gotten a kiss (boo), but I am looking forward to the conversation Santana has with her new roomie Rachel about fingerblasting Quinn.
Also, it’s infuriating that they make Tina act like she didn’t have the most stable and cutest relationship on the entire show with Mr. Chang.
also lbr Quinn has approximately 452 times more chemistry with Santana than with any of the guys she’s been with, so when the writers inevitably find another one-dimensional dudebro love interest for her, it will ring even more hollow.
Quinn and the water bottle, yes good.
I actually enjoyed these two ladies acting all flirtatious and too-much-sexual-tension-y with each other more so precisely because it was Quinn who made the first moves. They just look hot together.
We’ve got this episode, who needs the next one??
(Really fitting for Glee for their awesome plot and character consistency, ha.)
I’m not a Finn fan but you were way harsh. He’s annoying but really? Calling him potatoes like he’s fat? Santana did that when she was at her nastiest. I too adore Blaine and Kurt together and definitely enjoyed Santana and Quinn’s post-coital chat. I loved that Quinn didn’t go all freaking out straight girl and stayed chill.
finn isn’t fat! i have ben referring to finn as various potato products for like ten billion years now. he just had a lot of lines this episode, so it seemed like there was a lot of potatoes. we’ve been over this:
http://www.autostraddle.com/glee-episode-408-recap-thanksgiving-is-a-place-for-friends-1519077/#comment-264572
Riese, I really appreciate that you put Glee in its historical context. For all the issues I have with it, which are similar to yours, I was still simultaneously turned on and stunned at the Kurt and Blaine car scene. I thought, “They are kissing and groping almost as hard as on ‘Queer As Folk’!” (you know, before they got to the actual sex on QaF.)
I came out a couple years before the Internet crashed into our lives and like many of us, my teen coming out process was full of feelings. I will never forget that episode of Deep Space 9 that you had in the pics-list of lesbian sweeps (thank you for that little whip down memory lane!). I was staring at the TV, not blinking because if I did, I knew I could miss it, just waiting waiting waiting and then… Mind. Blown. I had a huge crush on Terry Farrell (which I awkwardly confessed to her at a con when I was 16– oh yes, yes I did– and she gave me a big hug!). But when that kiss happened on DS9– it wasn’t considered exploitative for ratings. It was revolutionary, the way Star Trek had always been. Like the first (scripted) inter-racial kiss with Kirk and Uhura in 1968. But, like Glee, Star Trek back in 1968 was brimming with so many other really problematic issues; it was deeply misogynistic at the same time that it was blasting past conventional societal barriers.
Also, I can’t believe this but I had forgotten the toaster oven joke. We had a big toaster oven party in college for Ellen’s coming out episode. Thank you for bringing me back to that memory too– and another historical context. We all know what happened when Ellen came out. 17 years later, and now we have Glee, a show where the 3 hottest most popular cheerleaders are all hooking up with each other. It is still boundary-breaking but no one is going to lose their job over it, far from it.
As much as Glee continually kills little tender flames of hope in me, it always manages to find some new ones to ignite. Like, I actually didn’t notice that Quinn and Santana hadn’t kissed because there was so much other steamy-sexy happening, like the slow dancing which can be far more intimate than kissing. Ummm, and once I saw Quinn’s sex hair, I was gone…
yes, it’s crazy how much things have changed radically even within literally the last two years. there’s been a big cultural shift, and the internet has managed to mobilize so many people against corporations who shit on gay people that whereas before you’d totally expect some network to have a bunch of ads pulled during a show with gay themes, now you’d be surprised if that happened. also now we have, oddly, ellen herself, on television and she mobilizes people against haters as well.
because hollywood has been gay FOREVER. they’re totally okay with it, they’ve had stories to tell all this time, they just had to wait until they could tell them without losing viewers or advertisers.
i’ve never seen anything like that blaine and kurt scene, and their chemistry this episode crushed me out on their relationship way more than before.
in the past these things were so heavily hyped, these sweeps kisses, i feel like the entire world exploded when they had a same-sex kiss on LA Law, and I was pretty young then but still heard about it, ’cause my parents were super into that show. Which in a way was kinda sad because there was always advance warning because there was always advance protest. When I made the graphic of lesbian characters for this year’s television roundup it blew my mind.
anyhow, yeah! jesus.
You got me all misty-eyed remembering my little college “Good for you, you’re gay!” Ellen coming-out party! So, I was just reading up on that season, I remembered all the hype but not all the details. And I had forgotten about the advertising– something you had noted in your recap last week, with the caption to Santana’s kiss with her fake gf. That Fox would have lots all its advertising not that long ago.
Anyhow, this little bit of advertising info I found amusing but also so indicative of what a whirlwind sea change it’s been– JC Penney had been a regular advertiser on Ellen and pulled their ads for the “puppy episode” (the coming-out episode). And now, 15 years later, they are staunchly defending their choice to have Ellen in their ads against One Million Moms (who are actually only like 150,000– moms who can’t count so well). It is so easy to get cynical about these things and think it is just about going after gay dollars until you remember not that long ago these companies didn’t give a damn about our $3 bills. I mean yes, probably because they thought they’d lose not-gay money but I do think it is still bigger than that, than just money, because there are lots of companies who just wouldn’t do that, they wouldn’t take that risk against those frantic haters.
Oh wow, LA Law, I had forgotten about that! I was just reminiscing with friends about Murphy Brown…
I should probably stop, I feel like I’m starting to sound like, “Back in my day, we had to walk 5 miles to the school in snow– without rainbow galoshes!”
But srsly, the Internet– exactly. Makes me excited to see what we will be recapping and fighting for (slash complaining about) 15 years from now, when it has become meh whatever at the car scene with Blaine grabbing Kurt’s face and pulling him down by his lower back, pushing away his shirt… ok, I’ll stop there before I end up writing fanfic.
And p.s. +1 re Modern Family! Makes me crazy, the show had so much… potential… This last episode (because yeah, of course I still watch it) Lily said to Jay, “My daddies kiss all the time,” and I nearly hit the screen, it made me so angry, because they don’t!! They never ever never kiss!! Let alone be nice to each other.
And god bless Jodie Foster!
Fun fact about Star Trek: It was originally intended to have more strong female characters – the Spock character, in fact, was originally supposed to be played by a woman (who ended up playing Nurse Chapel) – because Gene Roddenberry got, at least to some degree, the importance of having women in positions of power in an idealistic, advanced future society. But executive meddling said the audience couldn’t handle that so he was forced to change that.
Not that it would have necessarily been feminist at all by modern standards, but it still feels like a huge missed opportunity. Certainly I’m not going to complain about Leonard Nimoy as Spock (I have trouble imagining anyone else in the role), but I still get the sense of “what could have been”… particularly since the “men are logical, women are emotional” thing is one of my least favorite pop culture (and bad pop-science) tropes and it would have been awesome to see a McCoy vs. female Spock dynamic fuck with that.
Okay, I think I’ve basically just reached nerdy critical mass in this comment, so I’m going to go to bed now.
FINN IS A POTATO. BODY, MIND, AND SOUL…ALL POTATO. IT’S WHO HE IS. DON’T QUESTION HIS IDENTITY.
I’m in love with all the Quinn/Santana stuff. They were just so fun to watch. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt that much unadulterated joy watching Glee. I was so enamored by them that I don’t remember anything else that happened in this episode…which could also be because I muted the TV whenever Jake, Marley, Ryer, or Finn appeared on screen.
Hilarious recap, as always!
This recap was the perfect way to start my Sunday, thank you Riese. Quinn and Santana looked great together, I’m glad we got to see that, too bad it was probably a one time (okay two time) thing. Speaking of Glee, I recently caught myself singing the Turkey Lurkey song from the Thanksgiving episode (don’t know what’s wrong with my brain), but instead of “eat all the turkey you are able” the line that came out of my mouth was “eat all the pussy you are able”. I spend too much time on Autostraddle?
There is no such thing as “too much time on Autostraddle”.
It’s February and I want to kiss a girl! Why can’t I be a TV character?
Anyway re: this: “There’s no chemistry, we’ve never seen them bond over anything besides how much they like each other. She’s way smarter, she needs to be nurtured and he doesn’t know how to do that.”
This is because in the stupidity of TV land, All Girls Want Bad Boys. And I mean, I’ve known girls like that IRL, but usually if they’re smart and they prize emotional intimacy, they’re only interested in flings with those guys, not relationships. As a biseckshual I’ve never understood the attraction to those guys myself. Then again, I don’t know if Marley is smart or anything, I have literally never watched a single scene with her character in it because these new characters sound like the most boring shit ever, so I’m taking your word for it that she is.
Also, re: the runaway bride/groom part: Ugh that storyline is so stupid and, like you said, completely unrealistic. I know people in real life who had serious regrets about their weddings – like not just nerves but, like, I really probably should not be making a commitment to this person, in fact, I shouldn’t be in a relationship with him/her at all – who still went through with it because MONEY AND FAMILY PRESSURE ARE A THING.
Also no one can ever do the “speak now or forever hold your peace” thing better than this Vicar of Dibley fantasy sequence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5dzvE7YMpA
By the way, I’m not saying being smart and prizing emotional intimacy go hand-in-hand. I’m saying if you happen to be both of these things, you do this in my experience, and so on.
Gah it’s 5 am what do I know
Also I don’t want to be body-snarking, but is it just me or does Mark Salling actually look his age in this? I just can’t convincingly see him as a 19-year-old recent high school grad anymore.
Cory Monteith, on the other hand, will forever look 15, at least on Glee. Probably because his character’s at about that level of emotional maturity.
I actually keep forgetting that Finn is 18/19 because he and Puck look as old as Shue.
I really appreciated the handful of Battlestar references and also the mental image of Santana and Starbuck fucking.
so say we all!
I enjoyed this recap immensely. I genuinely believe the Finn potato references to be the only consistent theme in the entire Glee universe.
This was a real mess of an episode. I really don’t understand the point of bringing back characters only for them to sing one forgettable solo or dance for all of 3 seconds. Even if Tina is too Blaine-obsessed to remember her eligible and stable ex-longterm boyfriend still exists, couldn’t we have had a heart-to-heart between her and Mercedes where they commiserate and reminisce about that one episode she was into Kurt? And I completely forgot there was even meant to have been a wedding by about halfway.
But then I absolutely loved the mass hook-up thing. I agree that the Kurt/Blaine thing felt particularly groundbreaking, but to some extent all of it was, simply because it wasn’t a big deal. All of the pairings were telegraphed at the start of the episode, but not in the “omg having sex with you will irrevocably alter my entire being/future marriage prospects” way, that happens most of the time in these kind of shows (and previous Glee episodes).
So sometimes I miss a recap, but Finn kissed Emma? Were they having an affair or did he assault her? If they were having an affair I have my own feelings about that, but if Finn sexually assaulted her, and they’re playing it for laughs, I don’t even know. I’m so angry about this possibility I can’t even really think.
She was having something that seemed like a panic attack and he kissed her to shut her up. (literally).
Also, as someone who has been scrutinising lesbian TV kisses since before cranking up the internet sounded like drunken bird hiccups, I believe the O.C. pic in the historical sweep snogs collage is in fact from Brookside!
I meant Party of Five!
Also, in my in-depth research to figure out whether Intern Grace would have even been alive when the Brookside/Party of Five episodes aired, I discovered wikipedia actually has an entry dedicated to “lesbian kiss episodes!”
I feel like these media representations of lesbianism are so much more validated now.
what is brookside? i found that party of five pic by googling and it looked like neve campbell so i thought hm, this must be it! i made the graphic not grace
Brookside’s a now defunct British soap set in Liverpool. It’s Beth and Margaret kissing and I *think* it was the first lesbian kiss pre-watershed on British TV – early 1990s.
Indeed it was – and significant enough it was in the Olympics opening ceremony for about half a second.
Yep, it was 1995 I think. 12 year old me found it extremely confusing. I still have a massive thing for Anna Friel.
That wikipedia article! Wowww… it calls the “lesbian kiss episode” a trope which I guess it is, I hadn’t really thought of it like that (and acknowledges it is often used in sweeps week). It is an interesting list because it isn’t the list of TV lesbian relationships, just the trope. Like, the list shows it was used twice on Sex and the City but there isn’t mention of the fact that also on the same show Samantha was in a LTR with a woman (one of her very few actual relationships). You have to go to another article to find that. I wish the article connected the two, shows that both used the trope and also had lesbian (or, in Samantha’s case, try-sexual) characters because I think that was a BFD actually, for Samantha to have a relationship at all and it was a deeply emotional one. Because though the lesbian kiss episode may frequently be used a stunt, that doesn’t necessarily mean the show was only using gay characters and then throwing them away. Roseanne, which was one of the first on the list, is another example– I don’t even remember that episode but I sure as hell remember Sandra Bernhard!
That Samantha episode of Sex and the City was kind of groundbreaking, but also made me kind of furious. Because they completely exploit a lot of the bad stereotypes of how lesbian relationships are different than heterosexual ones. Like how Samantha and her girlfriend spend all their time in the bathtub talking about their feelings? UGH. I realize that it was still kind of progress to even mention lesbians on that show, but I still had a really difficult time sitting through the episode.
I’m off to write the Santana Lopez/Kara Thrace slashfic. Who wants to help?
I would read this.
I tried to start writing this, but integrating Starbuck and Santana into the same universe in a way that made sense made my head start hurting. But I’m pretty sure I wanted to set it in the BSG universe so Starbuck’s fondness for the brig could play a role.
Clearly my appreciation for continuity disqualifies me from ever being a writer on Glee.
I want to make finn a stupid cylon. Like one of the giant ones that can’t talk but can be uploaded time and time again into a new body, because I feel like that’s what keeps happening on Glee.
Actually, it totally makes sense that Finn is a Cylon bent on destroying the universe. That explains a lot of his behavior on Glee. Finn is a Cylon.
I really liked Quinntana as well and I didn’t mind they kissed at the end because like someone else said, their interactions, specially the dance moment, were tender and sensual. A kiss woulda been nice but I didn’t feel like it was lacking.
And I liked that Quinn did all the flirting and the pursuing and I totally don’t believe her words when she says it’s an one time thing for her. The moment Santana reassured her she wasn’t going to expect anything from her for it she was okay because as everybody in Tumblr knows, including Dianna Agron, QUINN IS (a bit) GAY.
“Quinn das gay” has been said far too many times.
Im just afraid that by not kissing in this episode, any future romance is out of the picture..
i agree with this
Nice recap!
So after a full year of abstaining, I broke down and watched this episode because I couldn’t help myself at the thought of Santana and Quinn. Here are some notes:
1)The scene with Kurt and Blaine making out in the back of the car was surprisingly sexy for this show.
2) I actually liked “Not Getting Married Today”, even though I agree that the “runaway bride” trope is unrealistic and played to hell. Also, OF COURSE Glee can’t just keep a couple together. That’d be way too much to ask.
3) The scene at the end with all the couples heading to their hotel rooms was actually very well shot, and I enjoyed watching it, although naturally it’d be too much for two girls to kiss. I think Glee has a limit of one gay kiss per episode, and if there is any chance of that being with Kurt and Blaine, they supersede anything else. I couldn’t even muster righteous indignation because, at this point, what was I really expecting.
4) On Friday I was watching a totally normal episode of Portlandia, and at the end Carrie Brownstein and Chloe Sevigny make out in a sexy manner that you guys might all find more interesting than what happened in this show. Seriously, check it out. http://25.media.tumblr.com/9ed32cbb384a4131b427e0ed27cf0019/tumblr_miancfnjZ11qbgdqpo1_500.jpg
5) Modern Family is, indeed, one of the worst representations of gay people on TV at this point, but to be fair *every* couple hates each other. It’s just that they get to make out too. Also, gotta love the digs at lesbians, because those assholes are gross! I rewatched the Pilot and there was even a joke about “angry lesbians” in that episode, so I don’t know how I was so blinded when it premiered.
Basically the moral is that Portlandia, of all shows, has better gay relations and is sexier than Modern Family or Glee. Watch that shit ASAP!
“So after a full year of abstaining, I broke down and watched this episode because I couldn’t help myself at the thought of Santana and Quinn.”
I’m not so far into my Gl** abstention (congratulations on the full year), but my reason for breaking down was the same. That thought is a powerful thought.
4) “The intelligent girl and the wild rose”
I always enjoy reading your comments and I agree with this particular one so much that it makes me want to roll down a hill alone, for no reason.
“Thanks for making this the best Bastille Day ever!”
To be honest I thought this week’s Portlandia was one of the best this season even before that last sketch, but that certainly boosted it up over the top.
And thanks for the kind words. I haven’t been posting here as much lately but I’m still lurking :)!
Yeah, it was a great episode overall. (Carrie—Mixed media: vagina, penis)
Lurk on, Lalalindsay. Lurk on.
HELLZ YESSSSS re Portlandia. I so loved how 1) it wasn’t a “character”, it was Carrie (I get that Carrie IRL and Carrie on Portlandia aren’t the same but I still think it means something because it is less easy to write off, to say it was Candace or someone) and 2) it was so NBD. The whole point of the skit was Alexandra (fucking love Chloe Sevigny!!) is “whimsical” and that’s why she dates best friends. The focus is on her character and on them being best friends. The end. Not on her super hot making out with Carrie (oh yes, that first shot, “the intelligent girl and the wild rose”– it should be on a poster).
Good point about Modern Family. I guess I got irritated at that line especially because at least the other characters, even though they snipe at each other constantly too, actually do have physical interactions. Claire and Phil actually are always kissing, so are Jay and Gloria. Not Cam and Mitch. (I actually really love the show though, I think it is super funny. Anything it does that could be offensive in another show is handled so capably by the writers and cast).
i think we see way more cute genuine moments (and definitely WAY more sexual tension and sexual behavior) between claire/phil and jay/gloria. i actually think that claire/phil have a pretty balanced relationship and their tomfoolery is a bit more lighthearted than cam/mitchell, which always feels so mean-spirited.
i also really love the show too we watch it every week, i’ve seen every episode, i love it, it makes me laugh every time. but i love it independently of it featuring gay people, i just don’t think it’s the great positive representation of a gay relationship we all wish it could be.
Yes, that is a better way (less clunky than mine) to say it– I like it regardless of the gay characters too and just wish there was any better representation of them. I will say though Nathan Lane’s last appearance and that whole scene about Cat’s in the Cradle was really beautiful. I guess that’s why I think it isn’t usually offensive — because the gay characters are still really dynamic and relatable.
And I was happily surprised and am still loling at that last bit where Cam and Mitch were (for a snip) imitating Phil and Claire’s hotel bar game. They didn’t kiss but the (imagined) sex was still there — done perfectly.
yes! i appreciated that too, that hotel bar scene! our cable was being weird and cutting out in parts, but from what i caught i was really pleased they actually implied that they are sexual creatures.
i agree about the scene with them heading to their rooms being really, really well done — i felt like that part reached an emotional climax in the episode we’ve not seen them accomplish yet this season. for the last 20 minutes or so i thought maybe this was the best episode of the season, but wasn’t sure if i had lost my mind or maybe had too much wine.
It is super important to always question Glee and your feelings about Glee. And I really dislike that I have given the youtube page for “We’ve Got Tonite” way too many views. I refuse to give Glee any more of my $, but that song tho.
ugh can I just say that finn was the creepiest creeper in that stupid scene with rachel before their song? the one where he’s creepily pulling off the flower petals one by one?
he was just so pushy with her, insisting that they were “endgame” and meant to be together or whatever, and she kept saying no, and he kept insisting yes, and eventually she gave in, and the show taught everyone that when a girl says no to a guy, she secretly means yes, and it is his job to be a pushy, smarmy creep towards her until she gives in to her “true desire” and has sex with him.
p.s. I am semi-convinced that the writers for this episode stole all their plot points from fan fic. we already know they steal musical arrangements from the internet, so maybe this is the next step. Even the really good parts of the episode (e.g. the steamy kurt + blaine scene) felt like well done fic, rather than like an actual part of the real show.
“he was just so pushy with her, insisting that they were “endgame” and meant to be together or whatever, and she kept saying no, and he kept insisting yes, and eventually she gave in, and the show taught everyone that when a girl says no to a guy, she secretly means yes, and it is his job to be a pushy, smarmy creep towards her until she gives in to her “true desire” and has sex with him.”
PREACH! I found him so, so creepy.
Thanks for this. I lol-ed at every single picture/caption. In some I laughed so hard I snorted.
Snorted.
Santana Lopez and Kara Thrace are now participants in my fantasy threesome.
For the first time, I’m feeling a slight tinge of regret that I quit watching the shitshow that is Glee.
Never! Just find the important bits on tumblr/youtube!
Considering New Rachel’s destination was seeing the bland Finn Spudson, she should have just stayed home and finished the series.
So, I broke my boycotting a bit and actually watched the Santana-Quinn bits – which was kind of hard, I had to sit through that stupid “Endgame” speech Finn had for Rachel (*rolls eyes*), sit through Artie being a jack*ass, sit through yet another Klaine drama, sit through another ep with Mercedes and Mike REALLY NOT DOING ANYTHING, Tina being called a hag (seriously, when did Tina become so unlikable?!?), but yeah…those Quinn-Santana scenes, hey?!? :)
I’m still processing those Quinntana bits, because I seriously think Glee is just f*cking with me because…Riese, you’re right, Santana just u-hauled her ass to Rachel’s apartment (ahhahaha! That was the best comment ever!) and now she just banged Quinn! Yes, a threesome with Rachel would be nice (espesh since “Love Song” already showed that these three work well together!). But at the same time…it’s so obviously for sweeps week, and all I could think of was…Glee having Quinn mention Gloria Steinem and stopping having guys define her is just so insulting – namedropping Gloria Steinem doesn’t excuse your tropes or 4 seasons-long of bad writing of Glee, Glee writers! And of course, I had mixed feels about the fact that even the lesbians and bisexuals and bi-curious chicks are also DEFINED by their sexual (casual or otherwise) relationships! This show is incapable of writing women outside the sexual aspect of it. And also, incapable of writing genuine female friendships. Seriously. :)
And as you mentioned, this WILL BE FORGOTTEN in the next eps, like they forgot Santana used to date Sam, Sam used to date Mercedes, ad infinitum…
And I agree, the writing in Glee this season seems to have been airlifted from various fan fic stories! I should know! I’ve read them – right from Santana moving in with Rachel, to Santana getting it on with Quinn!
I hate you show!
Off to watch “Pitch Perfect” again! This movie is awesome. :)
Also, Riese, great recap as always! ;)
F
PS
Also, must admit…I had a chase straight girls phase too! hahahahaa! ;)
Quinn and Santana are hot together TBH. :)
I think my fav part was when quinn said “i’ve never slow danced w/ a girl before, i like it” and santana gave her that squint, like ‘did you mean that to sound the way it sounded?’ yeah. that seemed like a real, honest moment.
Thank you for putting the Santana/Starbuck image in my head. Thank you forever.
right?? first time I read this article I got to the phrase “Santana Lopez, who must be fucking Kara Thrace” and just stopped there, staring vaguely off into the distance.
I still can’t believe we saw quinn fabray having an orgasm lol
of course Quinn had to declare her disappointment in men before she could hook up with out-lesbian Santana.
Normally that would bother me but I think Quinn knew what she wanted before she even entered that church and the entire night was just planting the seeds in Santana’s mind. Like Kurt said, everyone hooks up at weddings. Sanatana knows that. Quinn wanted it out there that she wasn’t hooking up with a guy that night.
Also, Quinn has always actually seemed to have disdain for men.
My favorite part of the episode was Santana’s squint while they were dancing. As I feel like I’ve been Quinn and Santanan in that situation before or situations like it.
I’m not sure why, but I cringed watching the Love Me, Love Me Not scene. If anyone else had done that scene. Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Tyrion Lannister, I would have loved it. But Finn’s overall dopiness turns me off and makes me uncomfortable.
I really like Ryder. I also didn’t think Jake was being an asshole, he’s just not as intuitive as Ryder, which means Marley should be with Ryder not Jake. Can’t believe I wrote all of that, since I typically fast forward scenes that don’t involve Santana, Quinn, and Kurt/Rachel (was never a fan of Kurt & Rachel by themselves, but love them together), or Rachel with Santana/Quinn.
Actually I take it back. I like all Rachel scenes not with Finn.
So there.
Wow so this was the first episode of Glee I watched in a long time since quitting early in the second season when I saw Glee mid-air over a shark and thought “Woah, okay, hey look I’m done with this.”
Since then the only thing that happened was occasionally I’d laugh along with everyone when I read an episode recap here on Autostraddle. I also heard some murmurs about Unique’s storyline happening, but pretty much ran away from thinking about it or checking in on it because I had less than zero faith that Glee’s writers would do any justice to it. From what I’ve seen from the occasional passes through the recaps, it seems my lack faith was not misplaced.
Annnyway, this episode was where after years of being away, I stumbled back into the Glee universe again up close and personal. I was surprised to find Sue to be one of the few likable characters (unlike the other characters, you can assume she’s both consistent and written to be over the top in a way that’s *intentionally* funny) and everytime Santana came on the screen I was thrilled she was playing for our team. (She wasn’t the last time I watched Glee, it was one of the few things I heard about that made me want to start watching again… from what I’ve seen, this was one of the few things that changed for the oh so much better since I stopped watching the show.)
The only reason I ended up watching this episode was I was hanging out with with a girl I’m dating and her posse of queers and they decided to start watching it. I’m pretty thrilled the one episode I saw with them was the one where we could all be happy about a) Santana being on screen and b) Quinn and Santana hooking up.
I hope Santana and Quinn survive longer than one episode, even if I’m not planning to subject myself to more of this show. Quinn and Santana seem like something the world should have. I’m glad I saw it happen at least once.
Oh and P.S. also I found Marley to be kind of totally cute and it seemed she rocked that song at the end. Apparently taken out of context of what’s gone on before she’s a much more enjoyable character than she appears from the recaps. Which probably just means she’s a character being held back by the context of the Glee universe rather than maybe being a bad character period. Just a thought. (Protip: For better enjoyment of her character pretend she’s not in a relationship with that guy the storyline insists she’s dating. It shouldn’t be hard since she seemed to express almost zero actual interest or feelings about him.)
I love this episode ЅØ much! Santana and Quinn having sex was A̶̲̥̅̊
nice one… It has given me the courage Ƭ☺ kinda bang A̶̲̥̅̊
straight gee if I get the opportunity lol. Frankly,am watching glee cause of Santana and whatever she acts iѕ cool Ƭ☺ me… ЅØ I do wish she bangs all the girls įη this show lmao!
You guys…!
I just realized…
If Rachel is pregnant…
Would she trick Finn into thinking it’s her baby?!?
Because I’d totes watch that episode!
It was also my wish that they kissed for real. Hope that happens soon.