This Week on ‘Glee’: Respecting Faith (!) and Chasing Dreams
by Jenny Erikson**Spoilers Ahead**
It’s time for the Week 3 review of Glee, the show we all (or at least some of us) love to hate. In case you missed it, I’ll be your guide to Glee this season, breaking down the inevitable liberal indoctrination that occurs with each new episode.
Monday’s episode of Glee included offensive stereotypes, soap opera-style betrayals, outfits worthy of the classiest strip clubs, and… prayer? Yup, that’s right. In a tender moment between teacher Will (Matthew Morrison) and his girlfriend Emma (Jayma Mays), she falls to her knees and prays in earnest, telling Will that she prays in her head all the time but sometimes kneels so that God can hear her better.
I really can’t find anything to criticize about that scene. Glee surprisingly didn’t portray people that pray as weirdos, hypocrites, or terrorists, and given its track record, I suppose we should be grateful. Will didn’t tell Emma she was stupid for praying; he just held her hand and joined her. It was a nice moment.
Now on to the rest of the show.
One of the funniest lines ever came when Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) got an A- on his chemistry test. His girlfriend exclaims, “You got an Asian F?” I’m giggling just typing that. It’s funny because it’s true; culturally speaking, the Asian community places a lot more pressure on their children to succeed than other groups. Tiger Mom, anyone?
Because poor Mike “failed” chemistry, his dad forces him to get a tutor and quit the glee club. He tells his son, “Michael, dancing is a hobby, not a career. There’s no future in it… you will not waste your life.” So Mike does what any typical teenager of any ethnicity would do; he lies to his parents and tries out for the school musical.
Eventually, Mike’s mom catches him dancing, and in a heartfelt mother/son moment, she confesses she abandoned her dreams of becoming a dancer at her parents’ behest. She vows that she will not let Mike’s father crush his dreams of becoming an artist.
Thank goodness for Obamacare, without which Mike might not be able to pursue his lofty ambitions of dance artistry.
The other Glee kids kept busy throughout the episode chasing their own dreams. Brittany (Heather Morris) is running for student body president with a slut dance “girl power” campaign, complete with pleather and pom poms. She croons the Beyoncé tune “Who run the world? Girls!” as she performs a “bend and snap” dance down the school hallway. Girls, if we’re going to run the world, can we please use proper grammar? Thanks.
Another dream chaser this episode was Mercedes (Amber Riley), who decides that she’s better than superstar Rachel (Lea Michele) and deserves the spotlight to herself. Even though she’s always late, rude to everyone, and uncooperative, she accuses everyone of playing favorites to Rachel and storms off in a huff. Mercedes decides to join Shelby’s (Idina Menzel) new motley crew of singers (see last week’s review for the baby mama drama surrounding Shelby), where she can be the star without actually having to earn it.
I wonder if she’s been talking to those crazy kids occupying Wall Street. They’ve all got a bad case of the Way No Fairs.
All in all, this week’s episode was comparatively innocuous–people of faith were given respect and not ridicule, and the regular teenage drama didn’t turn explicitly partisan. Don’t get too comfortable, though; we’ll be here next week to report on whether the writers keep this up or go back to blindly bashing conservatives.
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35 Comments
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Enjoyed Mike Chang's storyline. Otherwise, it was the usual cr@p.
Somebody refresh my memory. We need a recap of Glee because…?
Still not enough to make me watch it and put up with the other garbage they spew.
So many other things to do with my time.
I don't know why BigHollywood does it but I like it because unfortunately Glee is effluvium to which our families and kids are exposed.
It's best to know what is influencing the culture so we can say what they're getting wrong (or right) and why it is destructive (or constructive) and pointless (or meaningful).
I'm sorry, but every time I see that red-haired girl on Glee (the one pictured in the article), I just remember her getting killed a bunch of times by Sylar on Heroes.
Anybody else try really hard to like that show and just couldn't? Most people I know loved the 1st season and hated it after that, but I even had a hard time with that first season.
I read an article that Glee may be getting canceled (*fingers crossed).
The only line that made me laugh out was spoken by Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) in the first season when she scornfully referred to Emma as "bush baby" because of her perpetually wide-eyed look. Like you, I haven't watched any episodes of "Glee!" past the first season (the characters, Rachel and Mercedes, set my teeth on edge).
Maybe they need to put Atlantic writer, Andrew Sullivan, in a couple of episodes…
"One of the funniest lines ever came when Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) got an A- on his chemistry test. His girlfriend exclaims, “You got an Asian F?”"
Hilarious!
Reminds me of Modern Family last night when Manny had to sell Christmas wrapping paper and Jay was out there helping him go door to door. Manny opens at one house with the fact that it's Christmas wrapping paper and the lady states that she's Jewish. So Manny quickly recovers with: "Oh, then you obviously appreciate value."
Un-PC but not really derogatory. Just plain old silly.
Emma's ginger supremacist parent's cracked me up.
I liked the first season of Glee, mostly, but the second season was an absolute disaster. I gave this new season a chance, mostly because I heard they were hiring some actual writers, and it's been alright so far. It's getting a bit of rope from me. Let's see if it pulls a Carradine.
Ms. Erikson
You better soak up all the "Glee" you can because your favorite show is………..DYING!
This season, ratings are down by over 30%.
It's getting clobbered by NCIS and Dancing With The Stars.
Why?
Because a show who's main demographics are 14 year old girls and homosexuals and who's entire premise is to insult American values……………Not a great way for long term ratings success.
It will no doubt be a sad day in the Erikson household when "Glee" is concealed but the rest of America will cheer!
Maybe because they really want to increase readership in the "I'm 14 year old girl. I filled with inner beauty. No one understands me. I hate all the pretty girls. I think that guy in "Twilight is dreamy." I want to be a witch." demographic?
I no longer watch Glee anymore due to the creators/writers blatant hatred of anyone who doesn't think exactly like them. I do however appreciate your mentioning the "prayer" moment in the show. I have to wonder about how innocuous this scene really was. Wasn't Emma's character always supposed to be quirky and severely OCD? I didn't watch the scene so I apologize if I'm projecting but I have a hard time believing the writers/creators actually meant for a scene with prayer to have been anything other than a moment of ridicule thrown out there. I'd be happy to be wrong but from the rest of the synopsis of the "slutty" stories/dances/etc., just have a hard time believing it.
Get with the program!!! It's the "I am a Vampire" demographic.
The moment is used to highlight her suffering and to set up the last song of the episode.
At least there's a point to it.
My mistake, I was talking about the 1st season of Heroes, I've never actually watched Glee. My wife, however, really digs the show and watches it off of Netflix.
Well, I find Jayma to be quite the little cutie, or at least I did during her Heroes stint. Almost enough to get me to tune in to the pilot of Glee, but I didn't and haven't seen a bit of it. I'm glad to read your take on Heroes, though. I stuck with it the whole time–no telling why–but I never thought it ever really reached beyond mediocre. People like to rave about the first season, but I thought it was very weak until somewhere towards the end. Every time Larter would see her sister in the mirror and start recapping to someone exactly what we were seeing for ourselves (sh'es not much of an actress, and it's hard for even a good actress to do much with exposition, exposition, exposition), it was just television death.
I've since learned to walk away from things much quicker. It took like three "Dick Cheney is a demon from hell" jokes before I walked away from Supernatural, and now I can't even figure out why I was ever watching it. Wisecracking brothers fighting monsters of the week? Cool. Dour brothers fighting evil demons AND evil angels? Pass.
Why is Big Hollywood making this a weekly thing? No real conservative would watch this secular nonsense. Why not do a weekly report of a show worth examining?
Appreciate your watching "Glee" so I don't have to.
YES!!! I have been waiting for this!
"You better soak up all the "Glee" you can because your favorite show is………..DYING!
This season, ratings are down by over 30%. "
*is dancing with glee*
That pun was intended. ^_^
LMAO…awesome…
But clock that runs backwards never is.
Sparkely or hyper sexed fake blood?
Glee will really be toast when CW premiers Dancing With Military Investigators.
Honestly, if you don't bite humans, sparkle in the daylight and run in the woods, you're not a vampire, you are a fairy.
Yeah, to make fun of those of us who kneel and pray. To quote from the review…
"she prays in her head all the time but sometimes kneels so that God can hear her better."
So God can hear her better?!? Seriously?
"I really can’t find anything to criticize about that scene.
You mean other than the absurd and childish statement "Emma" makes that God hears her better when she kneels? Doesn't sound like any adult Christian I know. More like the childish notions of, well, a child.
So, it leads me to think that Ms. Erickson doesn't have a sound point of reference for her critique of that scene. Besides, just wait: they're merely setting it up that Will's affections are drawing him into her whacko Christian web, mark my words. She will become ever more cult-like in her statements and, and the straw that breaks the camel's back — er, her spell over Will — will be when she offers fawn eyes assuring him that homosexuality is wrong and he should turn his back on the beloved gay characters on the show, clear evidence that she's a horrible person, as are all Christians.
But Glee's enlightened hero will choose right over love, and Emma will be revealed to be more villainous than the character played by Jane Lynch. If you don't see it coming, then you're not paying attention, Ms. Erickson.
That's what I mean. I don't exactly see the scene as respecting prayer. Highlighting her suffering and setting up a scene….well as long as it works for them and all.
I agree, she's very cute, I just always remember her in Heroes first.
I liked the concept of Heroes, and I dug the last episode of the 1st season where everybody was working together in taking down Sylar, and the whole "teamwork" aspect was something I was hopeful for. I like Ali Larter ok, but I agree, she's really wooden.
Anyways, when season 2 started and it was just a lot of weirdness with Adam Monroe, I was done. My wife liked the whole series a lot though, so I stuck with it to watch it with her. Nathan Petrelli infuriated me on every level, and I swear to this day, his hair got taller and taller in every episode – like by the last episode he was in before he left permanently, he was giving the guy from Kid n' Play a run for his money.
they'll just replace it with something equally as obnoxious.
If I was a TV exec, I'd bring an old Marvel property from the '80s to television. DP7 (might need a name change). The problem is that it would be seen as a total Heroes ripoff, though it came first. Like in Heroes, the world was just like ours with no magic and no superheroes until a single "white event" lit up the sky and gave random people abilities (just like the eclipse on Heroes). These people deal with their new abilities on their own until an ad is placed in the paper advertising a "Clinic" that will help them understand and deal with their changes. Of course, the Clinic is run by an evil guy with his own plans for these people, but that's what brings them together and they end up on the run together.
It doesn't sound that great in my description, but what made it fun were the individual characters. One of them was a doctor who could send out what he called "antibodies," which were shadow images of himself that could go through walls for scouting purposes or become tangible to fight. One of them ended up killing a guy, and the doctor and the other antibodies reject it. It was kind of the forerunner of Venom in that this thing ends up resenting the doctor and becomes an enemy.
I daresay, I like how you think
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