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apocalypsosI think we were supposed to be learning a different lesson, which is:
"Will is a dick. And he's still a dick at the end of the episode."
Here's the problem. Remember that friend or co-worker or whatever you've known for a while who's always been nice and well-meaning up until they dropped something so callous and race-deaf during Obama's presidential run that you just stared at them slack-jawed? Will is THAT guy, with a side order of being that teacher who wants to be your friend and your inspiration.
He means well, but everything Sue called him on (whatever her motives may have been) is right. He lets Mercedes sing ... in practice. He lets Tina sing ... because he wants to get back at Rachel. He lets the boys who aren't Finn sing ... uh, never. Unless it's Finn, Rachel, or Quinn -- his three white superstars -- he doesn't let anybody else shine. Hell, look at his "inspirational" speech last night attempting to impart words of wisdom onto the glee club. Just because he meant well and speaks in a soft warm voice doesn't change the fact that saying they're all minorities because they're all in glee, and then proceeding to use his three (white) favorites as examples, is ridiculous.
For all his platitudes and starry-eyed philosophizing Will's always been a bit of a douche since day one. He lied to get Finn into Glee. He toys with Rachel constantly. He continues to flirt heavily with Emma even though he's married. And when he found out a competing school was committing fraud to win glee club competitions, he didn't report them, he just committed the exact same fraud on his own.
Will's "You're ALL minorities" speech last night was stupid even before you count in the fact that he then proceeded to point to his three white leads as examples and then had them lead in the final song. (Although to be fair, considering the Rachel/Finn/Quinn storyline being so front and center this episode, they kinda had to tie it up somewhere.) Will's got this mental image of his high school years in glee as through dreamy rose-colored glasses, in part (I imagine) because we're given an indication throughout the series that being in glee back then wasn't the social pariah parade it is now. Will has this softly-lit look on glee because when he was in it, he was POPULAR. It goes a long way towards explaining his tone-deaf speech at the end if you realize that considering how these teachers never did seem to grow up, he's probably saddled with the same inability to make conversation with people who aren't in that vaunted position without coming off like an ass.
Will getting all rage-y over the course of the episode isn't even remotely surprising when Sue had the nerve to, in essence, call him on his racist bullshit. Is she a perfect little angel when it comes to race herself? Oh, hell, no. That makes it even WORSE. It might be one thing if Emma were calling him on it, but it's not. It's Sue, who's painfully offensive on multiple levels. Coming from her, it's her alerting him to the fact that he's being as offensive an asshat as she can be, and he's very much not going to want to hear or believe that. So it's no surprise that he comes to that final performance clearly not having learned his lesson, with Rachel and Finn in the lead once again.
To be fair, though, "Keep Holding On" appears to be another musical interlude outside of the actual plot rather than a genuine performance. So that's probably more of the Rachel and Finn expressing their support for Quinn through music rather than Will bringing on the race!fail once again. The writers do have to give them that much, especially considering the way the next episode appears to go. The OT12 connect in that last performance, and as an expression of what's going on in the plot as opposed to an actual performance, it's pretty much the entire glee club standing beside Quinn.
It's performances like that that end up giving Mercedes, Kurt, and the others more performance time. Will isn't giving the minority students much face time, but the writers are. That said, they still aren't giving them enough.
"Will is a dick. And he's still a dick at the end of the episode."
Here's the problem. Remember that friend or co-worker or whatever you've known for a while who's always been nice and well-meaning up until they dropped something so callous and race-deaf during Obama's presidential run that you just stared at them slack-jawed? Will is THAT guy, with a side order of being that teacher who wants to be your friend and your inspiration.
He means well, but everything Sue called him on (whatever her motives may have been) is right. He lets Mercedes sing ... in practice. He lets Tina sing ... because he wants to get back at Rachel. He lets the boys who aren't Finn sing ... uh, never. Unless it's Finn, Rachel, or Quinn -- his three white superstars -- he doesn't let anybody else shine. Hell, look at his "inspirational" speech last night attempting to impart words of wisdom onto the glee club. Just because he meant well and speaks in a soft warm voice doesn't change the fact that saying they're all minorities because they're all in glee, and then proceeding to use his three (white) favorites as examples, is ridiculous.
For all his platitudes and starry-eyed philosophizing Will's always been a bit of a douche since day one. He lied to get Finn into Glee. He toys with Rachel constantly. He continues to flirt heavily with Emma even though he's married. And when he found out a competing school was committing fraud to win glee club competitions, he didn't report them, he just committed the exact same fraud on his own.
Will's "You're ALL minorities" speech last night was stupid even before you count in the fact that he then proceeded to point to his three white leads as examples and then had them lead in the final song. (Although to be fair, considering the Rachel/Finn/Quinn storyline being so front and center this episode, they kinda had to tie it up somewhere.) Will's got this mental image of his high school years in glee as through dreamy rose-colored glasses, in part (I imagine) because we're given an indication throughout the series that being in glee back then wasn't the social pariah parade it is now. Will has this softly-lit look on glee because when he was in it, he was POPULAR. It goes a long way towards explaining his tone-deaf speech at the end if you realize that considering how these teachers never did seem to grow up, he's probably saddled with the same inability to make conversation with people who aren't in that vaunted position without coming off like an ass.
Will getting all rage-y over the course of the episode isn't even remotely surprising when Sue had the nerve to, in essence, call him on his racist bullshit. Is she a perfect little angel when it comes to race herself? Oh, hell, no. That makes it even WORSE. It might be one thing if Emma were calling him on it, but it's not. It's Sue, who's painfully offensive on multiple levels. Coming from her, it's her alerting him to the fact that he's being as offensive an asshat as she can be, and he's very much not going to want to hear or believe that. So it's no surprise that he comes to that final performance clearly not having learned his lesson, with Rachel and Finn in the lead once again.
To be fair, though, "Keep Holding On" appears to be another musical interlude outside of the actual plot rather than a genuine performance. So that's probably more of the Rachel and Finn expressing their support for Quinn through music rather than Will bringing on the race!fail once again. The writers do have to give them that much, especially considering the way the next episode appears to go. The OT12 connect in that last performance, and as an expression of what's going on in the plot as opposed to an actual performance, it's pretty much the entire glee club standing beside Quinn.
It's performances like that that end up giving Mercedes, Kurt, and the others more performance time. Will isn't giving the minority students much face time, but the writers are. That said, they still aren't giving them enough.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 01:30 pm (UTC)That said, they still aren't giving them enough.
Yeah, and I'm not sure how that will change if the point of the show is "Will is a dick. And he's still a dick at the end of the episode." I'm also not sure the "Will is a privileged and clueless dick" show is the Glee show I'd want to watch. Unless Will ends up not being a (the?) main character.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 03:29 pm (UTC)I would argue that among the teachers, the only ones who are legitimately good people are Emma and Ken, and maybe the principal.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 06:29 pm (UTC)Will is a dick. A beautiful, beautiful dick with a snazzy hat, but still. After that scene with Teri, the "Make me some dinner"/"Oh Will, you're so forceful. *swoon*" scene, I wanted to reach through the tv and throttle them both.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 08:25 pm (UTC)I am really, really hoping that when Teri's pregnancy turns out to be fake (and seriously, there is no way on god's green earth they can expect us to believe she is smart enough and Will is stupid enough for her to pull off an ENTIRE FAKE PREGNANCY INCLUDING BIRTH, especially given that Quinn is due at least a month or two later than Teri, and Will is more actively involved in Quinn's pregnancy than his own wife's) it results in a re-evaluation of what the hell is going on in his life. Will's walking the fine line between "being a dick, but with hope for redemption" and "being unwatchable". He doesn't have to be totally redeemed, but if he gets much worse the show is really going to suffer.
The entire show's message is turning out to be "Look, kids, adults are BATSHIT INSANE, even the nice ones. You need to support one another, because the people in positions of authority cannot be trusted to act in your best interests."
no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 04:18 pm (UTC)Will's pretty and will continue to be eyecandy to me forever and a day, but the more the series goes on, the more the urge to smack him grows. At this point, anything that gives the Gleekids screentime, whatever it may be, is so welcomed. I cannot take the Will/Emma/Terri/Ken crap anymore.