LOL, I just realized there was no thread for this. Telling...
Well, all in all I actually liked it quite a bit. Yeah, it was full of tonal stupidity but the NYADA stuff was actually kinda great, especially.....Kate Hudson? Yeah, loved her.
LOL, I just realized there was no thread for this. Telling...
Well, all in all I actually liked it quite a bit. Yeah, it was full of tonal stupidity but the NYADA stuff was actually kinda great, especially.....Kate Hudson? Yeah, loved her.
It did work in patches. The structure was done well enough if predictably enough. The introduction of new characters though seemed to hint at less daring than I was hoping for. Once Marley looked at Jake in the hallway, a romance, designed to attract another set of young viewers who have grown understandably bored at Rachel/Finn, was pronounced as imminent. Throw in Kitten, the new mean cheerleader (wouldn't it be cool if a cheerleader began as as a real nice person), and possibly a love triangle. For ratings, this makes sense - female outcast and popular girl fight over hot boy. Yet the scenario is as dull as the archetypes that the three begin as (certainly this will be fleshed out - at least I hope so). Of course, Jake, the bad boy who is a victim of parental neglect, will turn out to be a sweetheart and Marley will win out over Kitten. Marley has to or maybe the gameplan will change if the Mary Sue characterization is a turn off. When either Marley or Jake shared that look, the first thought that came to me is it would be so much more interesting if one of them fell in love with Unique instead. Or how about a bi Kitten being torn between Jake and Marley. Or how about a mutual three way romance (ala Vicky Cristina Barcelona). Or how about Jake and Sugar becoming a serious romance. I just am not looking forward to this playing out by the numbers. Also hopefully the acting of all 3 will improve.Originally Posted by erikdean
Brittany had some good lines. That said, scissoring struck me as a line written by a clueless guy for a female character in a romance with a female character.
The NY scenes were more entertaining even if they were the standard trying to make it on Broadway scenes. But when Rachel talking about constantly feeling like throwing up and had to listen to her roommate having sex with and tried to blend in by hiding their quirks (as with Rachel's moisturizing routine), it may have felt cliche simply because most of us, who went to school far away from home, went through the same. And Kate Hudson was fine as the alcoholic teacher.
As for the numbers, nothing memorable.
predictably, I swooned.
Opinions about the show aside, a question.... It looked way better, may have sounded better. Is there something going on with the production?
yeah, I know, that nekkid boy would make anything look better, but I'm talking about production values.
C'est pas notre faute. It's not our fault.
So...I'm really liking this season so far?
I was so dubious about how the Rachel and Kurt in NYC would work but it's turning out to be the best part. And why hasn't Glee ever had a choreography Emmy nom? The Oops I Did It Again number with Lea Michele and that hot piece seriously deserves consideration next year.
I actually really, really liked both episodes and with no equivocation needed. The music feels more natural, the mixing, as Bob mentioned, sounds MUCH better, the acting feels great, and I love all of the new characters. Especially Brody, obviously.
Definitely a good start, hopefully they can build on that. Maybe Ryan Murphy's attention has mostly shifted to The New Normal and he won't be as hands on with this?!
Almost the only character I care for is Rachel, and she had such sucky storylines S2 and S3 that I only sporadically watched her storylines, though I more often than not watched her performances. So by ignoring the garbage of the rest of the show this season, I'm enjoying Rachel's NYC stuff. It feels oddly limiting that she only has extensive interaction with Kurt, New Jesse, and Oscar Nominee Kate Hudson, but she for the most part is freed from the cloying, terrible thing that is Finn. Probably they're endgame, but for now I'm enjoying her having actual chemistry with a guy who's actually attractive and possibly talented. And The Way You Look Tonight/You're Never Fully Dressed may be my favorite overall onscreen performance by cast regulars since S2. Of songs I liked in S3: River had no staging, Cry & I Won't Give Up were part of a stupid storyline, It's All Coming Back I believe had spinning camera angles in place of staging, I Have a Love was intercut with stupidity, and Roots Before Branches had way too much Finn. The singing wasn't technically great for Way, but it was cute and really matched the fun makeover storyline, and the voices sounded pleasant together. I'm inclined towards Lea Michele doing Broadway-y songs - my favorite S1 song was On My Own, my favorite S2 song was For Good. Also even though some hate Parker and her former show, it's my favorite comedy so I was inclined to find her charming.
The last episode was the lowest-rated of the whole series...not sure if it's musical choices, the split narrative, people not caring for the McKinley folks, people whose favorite characters haven't been around, or people not caring about Kurt/Rachel. But I still predict another season, in order to be in a good position for selling syndication rights.
Last edited by jjj; 09-29-2012 at 01:31 AM.
Ang Lee - The only 2x Bafta/DGA/Oscar-Winning Director!
Meryl on Oscars: Y’see these little babies? These are my best f***ing friends
and they never let me down. Try to get ‘em away from me and I’ll eat you alive.
Grey's Anatomy returned last night. Expectations were a drop was coming. That said, it is also a teen show entering it's 4th season.
Anyways, it is feels exceptionally worn down this year. The split narrative is not working well for me. Marley and Jake are uninvolving. Brody is good looking but not much more. It doesn't seem to have that vibrant, campy feel. The scenes at McKinley are, for the most part, a bore. The show has done a good job showing Blaine missing Kurt but has failed Brittany by, in possibly the most contrived romantic development ever in Glee (which is saying alot), interjecting a dumbed down Sam as a catalyst for long distance trouble for Brittany/Santana (undermining what could potentially be strong scenes such as Brittany staring at a skype). The latter also hints at what seems to be this year's trope - if a person is sexy enough one will want a couple to happen. Brody, Marley, Jake, and Sam are such bland characters that they don't offer up interest beyond the superficial. I am not a Finn fan but at least he has a personality.
The music numbers are for the most part forgettable. There have been some funny lines (best would be Brittany saying Artie and Rachel are in heaven). Finn and Santana are badly missed. I may not be a big fan of Finn but that does not matter. Both characters have always been the best at striking the right level of being insecure in themselves. The show probably should have just focused on NY, thrown Santana and Finn into the equation, and dropped McKinley if the best they could come up with for McKinley was a redone version of the Rachel/Finn/Quinn love triangle, contrived idiocy like Sam crushing on Brittany (unlike Santana and Rachel - Brittany is a character that can get wearying rapidly), and the ignoring of Artie and Tina.
As far as queerness, we have had two scissoring references (seriously what the hell), Sam telling Blaine how he is the easier type of gay man to hang with, and the lesbian character left with one 20 second skype appearance. A fail so far this season.
yeah... I'm really liking the show this year. way less claustrophobic. Of course, I like the show and the characters anyway. Kurt and SJP were sweet. The peep we had of Finn, he looked like he might have buffed up - which would be very good. Hope they set his character free from douchiness for a while. Douchie Will can disappear, too. Both Finn and Will are intermittently wonderful characters, but the writers have made them do ickie a lot.
ldw - 14 out of 15 people don't give a shit about any given show anyway, even the most popular - so why would it be surprising that you don't care for one?
arcane question - have Santana or Brittany ever called themselves lesbians? I don't recall.
Last edited by Bob Burns; 10-01-2012 at 12:23 PM.
C'est pas notre faute. It's not our fault.
Santana identifies as a lesbian. She first said that in a voiceover and has since said it a few times. Brittany has identified as bilingual, biunicorn, etc. So she is bisexual. Since they will split them up at some point (as they will probably do to all the teen couples that live in different cities), I would expect Brittany will then be Sam's girlfriend since they need girlfriends for the male characters. This means any breakup will be done by Santana to ensure that fans give a thumbs up to Sam and Brittany (SOP). Of course Santana dumping Brittany is out of character as it gets. The forced stuff between Sam and Brittany combined with Santana almost certainly ending up in NY is kind of making this stuff predictable.
Thanks ldw.
love the makeover more and more. Really a new show with older and more attractive characters. Could care less about awards for it, just hope they get renewed to the end of the story - Rachel starring in Funny Girl. Hope they actually produce that on Broadway.
Great show last night. Criss was breathtaking and the Coldplay sextet was grand.
C'est pas notre faute. It's not our fault.
The latest episode was far stronger despite it ultimately becoming a bit too contrived due to the attempt to stuff too many variations of the same theme - LDR's are difficult to maintain - into one episode. What is notable is many shows are praised when they do that with the forced nature of the character's behaviors being overlooked. This episode still worked despite some OOC behavior. A paradox is how the most out of character and contrived moment, Santana breaking up with Brittany, was the most powerful sequence in the episode. After all the buildup on Santana's part was a whopping seeing Brittany being sad about being left behind. And even the least cynical viewer can see the breakup is solely about making sure Sam has a girlfriend, in this case Brittany, in a pandering move (one can never have enough boy/girl romances) while not having to deal with one of Glee's greatest faults (the inability to handle a girl/girl romance with much respect). Santana will go to NY where a serious romance will not be developed.
Yet Rivera and Morris are incredible here, playing the sequence with such gravitas that the ineptitude of the setup and the transparent agenda are overcome albeit momentarily.
The other two iconic couples had more buildup and were more believable in breaking up. That said, while Brittany/Santana, despite or maybe due to less screentime, have always come across as soulmates on an emotional and physical level, Kurt/Blaine and Finn/Rachel have always seemed to miss a powerful symbiotic essence (something that Brittany/Santana have more of than just about any couple on tv - the cream of the crop being Ava/Boyd on Justified). Instead they have always felt somewhat detached, as if their romances are going through the motions. It isn't that that is not real for couples, particularly in high school. They are still somewhat effective in song - particularly Blaine's Teenage Dream which rivals Santana's rendention of Mine. But there is no massive gutpunch there.
As far as acting honors, I will go with Morris, who is absolutely heartbreaking, and oddly enough Monteith, who possibly gives the finest performance he ever has in an episode of Glee.
They would have had more room if they hadn't shoehorned in that weird scene where Will and Emma had that big fight.
HS
For whatever reason, I've got myself all caught up on the season. I skipped a lot of the end of last season, but it didn't seem to matter. I wish I could care about these people. The final song of the last episode should have elicited some emotional response, but it did not. And if the show was trying for some emotion, why did they have twitter instructions and hashtags floating in the middle of the screen for the big numbers? Distracting, no?
I don't watch anything if I don't like the characters. why would anyone? it's not like there aren't a million other choices.
I do like the Glee characters - liked Emma's fight with Will. very much liked Rachel's confrontation with Finn.
C'est pas notre faute. It's not our fault.
I mostly watch it because my wife is watching it. Though she is starting to get tired of it too. I also like musicals in general, and continually hope that Glee will step up it's game.
Ok, last night's 'Let's Have a Kiki/Turkey Lurkey Time' mash-up was fucking awesome.
TV version:
Full audio version:
I haven't gotten around to this week's episode yet, but I just watched the clip Erik posted. AND it is AWESOME!
Let's Have a Kiki number was a fucking blast. I seriously wanted to jump into my tv screen and join the party. Also, I really enjoyed the opening number of Howard Bound/Home....and that was about it.
very much like the Glee re-boot. much fresher. we just caught up watching the last four episodes. Like Ryder (the winner of The Glee Project) a lot. My standout production number was "Some Nights" - and "Kiki" of course.
C'est pas notre faute. It's not our fault.
I'm liking the show the season better than last year, but I haven't been very impressed by the music so far
But this is quite amazing. He nailed it.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
