Affection Reflection: This time its serious.

I was watching an episode of New Girl the other day and I realised something a little awkward. There have been 6 episodes and I have laughed once. A whole one joke has made me laugh and frankly for a show that's meant to be a comedy those odds really suck. I also don't really actually care about the characters on an emotional level. If they kill one of them off or, as perhaps is more likely, took one in a completely different direction I'm not sure how much I'd care. It doesn't challenge me on any intellectual level. Given all that and the fact that there are only so many hours in the day why, then, do I bother to keep watching?

The metaphor I used in my discussion of the pilot was that watching it was like eating milk and cookies. In retrospect that still seems like a damn fine description of it (Well done past-me, knocking it out of the park yet again!). It's not hilarious, not that clever, and not that emotionally challenging but it's warming and comforting. Thinking about it, what New Girl does give me is a strange sense of familiar calm. Yes, I don't fully care about the characters but I feel affection for them none the less. The reason for this is, perhaps in this case anyway, the lack of true involvement. I can't get angry at the characters because of my lack of emotional investment, which also means there is no stress in watching the show; I'm not worried about plot developments. It might seem strange to say not caring about characters helps a show be watchable but with New Girl it works.

This made me think about other, supposedly comedic, shows that I like but aren't necessarily that funny in a traditional sense, but attachment keeps me coming back. The best example I could think of is Parks and Recreation. This is a very different case because a) I really do care about the characters and b) It's just a better show (It doesn't send you into a twee-induced coma for a start). But while the show is funny, and I do think it's very funny, its not laugh out loud funny in the way shows like Archer is. It's also very hard to define bits in the show that work as stand alone jokes, for me the humour is derived from a basic affection for the characters. Sometimes watching the show is like sitting round with a group of friends watching them bicker between themselves. Again its the sense of familiarity that it provides me that matters and is integral to its appeal. I know these people, I feel at home in the world they are in, I just get it.

Television works very differently than film in terms of audience participation. With a film you have 90 minutes (well nowadays, its more like 120) to make an impact. That impact can be to scare you, educate you, charm you or have you rolling in the aisles. Sure, in an ideal world it wants you to like it enough to buy it when it comes out. But in that situation you are still buying what you already know. The purchasing act is an acceptance that you want to relive what was made as a one-off experience. This is a totally different action to tuning in every week to watch a TV show which requires a continued investment in the concept. This means that the needs a television has to fulfil for an audience are much more complicated. As may be apparent from the beginning of this post, what seems to me to be crucial in this more complicated relationship is the concept of affection. Why would anyone bother to repeatably spend half an hour out of their week watching something they haven't even the slightest sense of attachment to. I'm not saying television shows can't challenge its audience but it has to do it in a much more subtle way than film. People aren't going to want to keep watching a show if it's having a go at them. Films are much more able to preach to it's audience, whereas for a weekly serial to preach is risking alienating its core audience and as discussed in a earlier post, given the way American television works, it's really crucial that a show doesn't do this. The fact that shows are in production as they air the episodes they've just finished means that if they fail they can be cancelled mid-season. This means there is a significant impetus to keep the momentum going, week after week. Whereas a film just has to win you over once, a television show has to win you over again and again. This is where affection is important, if the audience has enough devotion towards the show, then at least some of the creator's work on that episode is done for them. Mistakes, or a less good episode, are forgiven where without affection they might cause someone to stop watching. For example, I didn't really like episode 3 of season 6 of Doctor Who, but because I have a deep love for the whole thing it didn't matter half as much as it would have if I'd just started watching or wasn't as involved in the show emotionally.

All this makes me think that making a successful well-received television show is a lot more difficult than making a successful well-received film. Which is interesting since I think it's pretty well established that we hold film actors and makers in higher esteem than those on or in TV. Actors are always thought to have made it once they have lead roles in films. I can name you a lot more film screen writers than I can television ones (especially If I take away ones that are also actors!). It seems unfair that for an arbitrary reason we judge people on the size of the screen they're working on not by the challenges they face.  

Glee-Mash Off

Oh Glee Glee Glee; the light, bright, breezy (and insane) cover girl aspects of your character were back with a vengeance this week. Within the first 5 minutes we had a rendition of "Hot For Teacher" by Puck, the first half of which was terrible. It was done like a scene from the Breakfast Club on crack. There was a lot of glitter, sunglasses and pink tiger print. As I type that, it sounds awesome but it was such an abrupt contrast from the relatively still composure of last week that I found it all a bit too much. I felt like a hungover 80 year old being dropped in Times Square on New Years Eve. Total sensory overload. Luckily half way through it switched to a choir room performance, which involved Mike and Blaine doing hilarious Jarvis Cocker-esque things with their legs, so it's all good.

Gah, this episode has everything I didn't miss about last week. Loads of Will, loads of Quinn being deeply unpleasant and selfish and loads of Puck trying to seduce Shelby. Also a whole lot of Finn being a total dickwad. I know he's always been the de facto male leader of the group, but can we re-evaluate why that is again? What are his qualifications again? He doesn't have the best voice of the lot and he isn't the best dancer. Granted he always seems to come up with the ideas, but I'm sure the others have ideas. Is it because he's the tallest? Is that all it takes to be leader of a club; height and being able to shout over everyones ideas? If so, get me a pair of Manolo Blahnik's and a plane ticket to that school and I could be the leader in 6 minutes. It's a good comparison because I can neither sing nor dance and also I'm a total dickward. Although I'm not so much of one that I would have done what he did to Santana. Although she wasn't exactly a paragon of niceness or an example of the generally accepted way to treat people. The end slap was deeply satisfying even if Finn had, in fact, been saying nice things.

I don't have the energy to talk about the Quinn/Puck story lines because my opinions haven't changed. They've ruined her and he is just being creepy. End of. Well there is almost certainly more to talk about but, as I say, I just can't be bothered.

The two mash-ups were good though. Say what you like about Glee it can do one hell of a mash up. I enjoyed New Directions because a) their songs were good but b) (and this is much more important) we saw Puck, Mike, Blaine and Artie wearing Hall and Oats wigs, moustaches and outfits. Which was without a doubt the best things ever. I can't help but feel they should all look like that; it would make the whole school about 8 times more fun. As for The Trouble Tones *shudders*; their Adele mash up was great. Although we've had 4 Adele songs in the last 8 months which, when the show wasn't on air for 3 and half months, seems excessive. I mean I like Adele as much as the next person (well maybe not that much, because the next person seems to be REALLY into her) but can we please stop with Adele covers. We get it- she makes great songs but, maybe, lets give ourselves a break.

I've gone on record saying I don't like this Sue-Burt-runs-for-office-thing (though I did love Sue's videos even if they we're a little too close to the truth for absolute comfort.) Also, why must William be involved in all this- he ruins everything!

The issue of Kurt and Rachel fighting was sorted out this week. I hadn't realised how serious this apparently was; I thought it was minor annoyance not a 'block each other out of our lives' issue. Should pay more attention. Also, do we remember when Mercedes and Kurt where friends? When did this stop happening; it seems like it was years and years ago. Was there a reason for it? Again- should pay more attention. As you can tell; this episode reminded us just how 'stop-start' the character developments are on this show.

So now all the ephemeral issues about this weeks episode are out of the way, lets get serious for just a second. And I mean lets really, all jokes aside, talk about something that I brought up a couple of weeks ago and clearly requires some deep thought. In many ways it was actually the main theme of this week...

Kurt's hats.

I mean, for serious- what the hell! Tonight was like a stupid hat parade. I decided it was worth my time to go through the episode and screenshot all the ridiculous things he had on his head. The definition of "worth" barely phoning it in during that last sentence. 

Tragically the last one is clearly the best by a steady mile. But, he took it off to make a serious impassioned speech whereas he thought that wearing a riding hat was totally ok attire in a choir room scenario. Is this suddenly a Two Broke Girls episode and Chestnut is going to walk in? Also, that blue thing makes him look like he's wearing part of the cuppa soup monster's costume. All that said, winner of this weeks Stupid-Shit-The-Costume-Team-Put-On-Chris-Colfer's-Head award goes to number two. For two very crucial reasons:

1. It's the worst thing I've ever seen.
2. It's teamed with that hipster, vaguely middle east chic scarf thing, which is the third worst thing I've ever seen.

What's the second worst thing I ever seen, I hear you shout. The cuppa soup hug monster, obviously. That shit haunts my dreams.  

“As your friend, I respect your strange aversion to fun”- The First Time, Glee

In this episode, we saw Will Shuester once, for 30 seconds, and he had a total of one line. It was also the best episode of Glee in a very long time. I don't think these two things are unrelated.

I'm not sure where to begin, this is an odd moment for me because The First Time was like, good, and I genuinely mean actually good. Yes, there were a couple of odd moments and it completely dropped a lot of plots brought up last week but none of that mattered in quite the same way. What happened Glee? Where did this subtle, considered, well plotted and, at times, really moving show come from? I don't remember this version of Glee since some sections of the Prom episode. I was almost annoyed at it for being as sensible and normal as it was. Which I realise is stupid, because tonight Glee showed just what it could be and what it should be celebrated for; for being able to wade through the showmanship it gets bogged down in and find its heart.

Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, and by that I mean sex. I support any show that shows teen sex as something that is a) positive b) normal c) has no negative repercussions and d) fun. These are elements of teen sex that are rarely ever shown on TV; especially teen sex between same sex couples. So its obviously really great that we're finally getting to see things like this. Also good is that they didn't change the time slot to 9pm as I had heard they were going to; it would have been ridiculous to have done so. We saw no gratuitous sex scenes and nothing inappropriate to the time slot or the age range. Just sweet pre (possibly post) -coital shots. Well I hope they were pre/post cos Kurt and Blaine were still fully dressed. Hint- kids, if everyone's still wearing their clothes, you're doing it wrong. Yes I did laugh at the firelight glow of both the rooms; has any one ever lost their virginity in front of an open fire? No, well not since the invention of central heating. I loved Tina's description of her first time and that attitude should be voiced more often on TV; especially by female characters.

It was also interesting to see the different reasons for having sex. In many ways Finn and Rachel's sex could be seen as the beginning of the end for them. Not because of the sex, obviously, but more that they behaved throughout the episode as couple naturally growing apart to a certain extent. Sex was just a point on their road to breaking up. On the other hand, Kurt and Blaine just grew stronger and more in tune throughout the episode so for them, sex was shown as obvious cementing of their affection and respect for each other. The scene on the stage after after the show was very touching and I also enjoyed the scene in Blaine's bedroom. Although, this was mainly linked to the fact his room looks like it's from the set of Twin Peaks. What 17 year old boy's room looks like that- it felt like an anti-chamber to the Black Lodge? Also, Kurt's outfit was insane even by his crazy-arse standards. He looked like he was wearing a meta take on a leopard print cat suit. God knows what was going on. Also, who wears a tie to sit on your boyfriends bed and listen to Roxy Music?

The Beiste story line was also great (apart from the Artie aspect). Her love interests speech about wanting a woman not a girl was moving and wonderfully done. It was everything the first time Beiste's insecurities were brought up wasn't. It wasn't patronising or demeaning or confusing in it's message. I just wish he wasn't called Mr Cooter; I realise it an “hilarious” joke but well, I employed sarcasm quotes for a reason.

Another reason this episode worked above and beyond the normal Glee episodes was that the music fitted in with the episode. The songs made sense in the context, not because most of them were musical numbers, but because they had managed to make them fit in with the story and felt believable. Even the, frankly quite cheesy, UpTown Girls rendition at Dalton worked. It was fun and boppy and I loved the whole crazy thing even though I didn't understand two things about it:

1. Why was the stupidly hot and sexually available teacher reading a book call Learn French? Shouldn't she be reading a book called Teach French?
2. Why was Blaine dressed like a old man in a black and white film? Did he wake up that morning and decide he was incapable of wearing any clothes that weren't on the grey scale?

Back to point I started with; this episode showed no Will. He wasn't missed. Like even a little. I actually didn't really notice we hadn't seen him until half way through. His role has no substance, he's just a universally bad person and teacher. I have no investment in him. This is problematic as the adults, in many ways, need to be the grounding on this show if it wants to sustain itself long term. To maintain some semblance of reality the kids are the going to need to come and go, like students do, and the adults (teachers I believe they're called) have to stay and "hold the fort", as it where. So we have to have some kind of attachment to them. They only thing I want to see attached to Will is a machete.

What the episode also didn't show was the Trouble Tones (my soul dies a little every time I type that) and the Quinn/Shelby/Puck story line. Normally I would have a go at them for just dropping all that stuff for the message of the week: "This weeks Glee was bought to you by Teen Sex!" but I'm not, because the message story lines were better written, more involving and less inappropriate or tedious than the others. Glee often tries to do too much in terms of story and ends up not doing enough, or sometimes nothing at all, with them. This episode went minimalist and it paid off- they had time to do it all justice. Learn from this Glee. Less is more.

Things I didn't like:

- Artie was fundamentally creepy as hell in this episode. Why did no one say “Oh Artie, you're a 17 year old boy; talking to your middle-aged virgin PE teacher about her love life and trying to get her laid is the stuff of court cases”? Like in what school does this kind of shit go on? NEVER TALK TO YOUR TEACHERS ABOUT THEIR SEX LIVES. It's pretty basic.

- I ain't in love with Sebastian Smythe, not because he's causing hypothetical trouble with K&B, just because he was kind of dull and creepy (but not in a fun way).

- I was kind of (and by that I mean a lot) weirded out by the fact that Brittany was essentially raped and we thought it was ok to laugh this away because she thought it was an alien. I know they have this whole 'aint Brittany kooky' thing going on but there is a different between dim and mentally handicapped. Sometimes I worry which side we're meant to think Brittany is on.

So yes it wasn't a completely perfect episode of Glee but the things that bugged me didn't bug me as much as they usually do. This was because they were either not there (WILLIAM SHUESTER) or minor bits of scum on a sea of genuine, touching and well-advised water. Hmmm... do you know what wasn't well advised? That metaphor!

Final point: The fact we didn't get to see Kurt's Officer Krumpke is the biggest let down since us not getting to see him do a cheerleading routine while singing Celine Dion in French. 

Glee-Pot O'Gold

“Everyone's dreams are going to come true this year”. Did this line really happen? Blerg, it took the rest of the episode for me to try and get the taste of sick out of my mouth.

So on to actual stuff. Firstly, they've Irished up Damien no end haven't they? I don't ever remember his accent being that strong. Also for his first song to be “it's not easy being Green”? Gah, ok, I get it he's Irish and wearing a lots of green. Sure great idea, not naff at all. That said, despite his awkwardly cartoon Irishness, I didn't hate him; especially by the end of the episode. He seems quite nice- a quality often lacking in the halls of Mckinley High. Not sure what they're going to do with him after this, but we'll see.

On to the main event. I can't stand this Quinn story; what Quinn was trying to do is, straight up, deeply unpleasant. Yes Puck, jail does seem a little extreme- you're right. I'm all for the continuity thing Glee is doing this season. And I'm totally up for addressing Quinn's (and Puck's) feelings about giving a child up and then having it still in their life but does it have to be this way? Her behaviour tonight was not thinking in the interests of the only perfect thing she's ever done, it's completely selfish. Also, she doesn't seem to have thought about it at all. It'll take more than two weeks for them to get back the child, even if her plan worked, and in that time she'll be in foster care they'll be significant uprooting and distress. This isn't, for want of a better phrase, child's play. The consequences of the actions she took would, if they went according to her plan, are immense. Given that this won't actually happen, the more significant issue for the character is we can't un-see this. Quinn will always be a character capable of these actions. You can't sing a song and make this fact go away, although I look forward to watching them try. They have ruined her without seeming to notice.

I obviously find the rival show choirs idea tedious but that said, Shelby seems to be helping the kids sing better. Wow; what a novel idea for the Glee Club coach to help the kids vocally. Will's always seemed to assume standing at the side looking creepy is enough to improve their voices, apparently it's not. Why is anyone surprised they didn't win Nationals again? A feat that Shelby has managed multiple times; hmmm... maybe this story should end with them all going over to the Trouble Tones. By the by, that name has to go, like it should have been gone last year. You know its bad when the name New Directions seems golden in comparison. Although Shelby clearly can't stick around because of that kiss which, if we remember from my first review, I was not so keen on happening. But yeah, no- they went there. Less than fucking impressed. Yes, Puck looks 45 but he's not. He's her student, and the baby of her adopted daughter. No way that them kissing isn't wildly inappropriate.

More on Will's general lack of anything like sense or reason. His idea of having 20-30 adverts in the program; how long is this program going to be? Surely at that rate it'd be all ads with one half page with the cast list on? That's going to look good and professional. Luckily Burt Hummel saved the day, because he's fucking great in every way. Although him running against Sue is a bit odd; would he really just decide to running for Congress with little more than a 'how you do'. But sure what ever if it means we get more of him, I'm all for it. I did enjoy that Will is too busy to direct the school musical but he's not too busy to be Burt Hummel's campaign manager. FOR CONGRESS, like actual Congress. Is he insane? How much work is this shitting musical going to be? Also, in regard to the debate between arts vs special ed., it's obviously an important, or at least relevant, one especially in this economy but I feel it would sit better if they didn't so clearly have a side. It doesn't feel like a discussion, it feels like a lesson we're all meant to take. No one likes to be preached to Glee, no one.

Finn was oddly insufferable this episode, although I loved the “old brochure dude” remark about the America Dream idea Rory was working with. But why does he still think he's in charge of this shit? That man has such a hero complex its ridiculous. Is he only one that's allowed to make a point and sort everything out? That said, I feel a little bad that his parents are assuming that Kurt's going to get into college but seem much more unsure about Finn. I mean it's possibly fair, he does sometimes seem thick as pig shit but still, need we be so open about it? Poor dear.

Do you know what I remembered this episode, having forgotten momentarily? God I hate Rachel. She's just so self involved. Does anyone remember the episode where she got a crush on Will? Well I think they should revisit this idea, because the two are perfect for each other; both selfish as fuck. Note to writers: please don't actually let that happen. Although clearly you're ok with student teacher romantic relationships, but a) you shouldn't be and b) that would mean we'd have to sit through loads of scenes of just them. That would be the worst.

Final point. Why does Kurt always wear hats?