Since it was such a complex episode, I'm going to break up my analysis into A, B, and C storylines.
Now, you're probably thinking, "What else could she possibly have to say about the Kurt/bullying storyline? Well, a lot! But I will endeavor not to be too redundant at least.
First of all, I thought the staging of the scenes was superb. The "Teenage Dream" sequence was amazing! It really was like a dream come true for Kurt, finding a place where he felt like he could belong, possibly for the first time in his life. The slow motion "running through the halls" shot enhanced that dream-like quality, although I felt like it was way too soon and unrealistic for them to be holding hands.
"Teenage Dream" is now one of my favorite performances on "Glee," and it seems a lot of people agree with me. The video was leaked before the episode aired, and received thousands of hits. The song is now on course to become the biggest selling single for the show, and could make it into the Billboard Top Ten.
Everything about that scene was so spot on. The energy in the room, the boys moving to the music and enjoying the performance as Kurt stood stock still in the beginning, taking it all in. The grin that slowly spread across Kurt's face, his blush when Blaine sang, "...in my skin tight jeans, be your teenage dream tonight...", it was magic. In the beginning of the scene Kurt said, "I stick out like a sore thumb," but by the end of the song he was moving to the song too, no longer feeling like he was out of place. It was by far the happiest we have ever seen our "fashionable soprano."
Juxtapose this sequence with the rest of the "A" storyline scenes. Kurt is shoved into lockers, threatened, not taken seriously by the boys in the mash-up planning, and not understood by Mr. Schue.
I find the locker-shoving scenes to be disturbingly realistic. I think it adds to the emotion of the scene that the audience is blindsided as much as Kurt is. He's just going along in his day, and bam, it happens. And the scenes escalated throughout the episode; the third time, his phone was knocked out of his hands, and the fourth time, the impact knocked him to the ground.
Days later, I'm still surprised by the kiss. On the one hand, it makes sense that I was shocked. I think most people were shocked. And Chris Colfer did say that the title of the episode had nothing to do with Kurt. On the other hand though, this show is co-created by Ryan Murphy, who brought us five seasons of the envelope-pushing series "Nip/Tuck."
I understand the concern of some viewers, that its not always the situation that a bully is a closet case, and that needs to be explained to the audience. So I'm very glad that Ryan Murphy has said in the press that Karofsky will not be the only bully in this storyline. I very much agree with a reviewer who believes that what Murphy is trying to do is tell the story of three gay boys at different stages in their journey to both self and societal acceptance (my words, not the reviewer's.) And that is groundbreaking for series television (the reviewer's words, not mine.)
The following are transcripts of key scenes with brief analysis:
"With that level of creativity, you can easily become assistant manager at a rendering plant." Kurt to Karofsky
I have a strong suspicion this was an ad-libbed line by Chris Colfer. He said when he was in school he would retaliate against bullies by saying something he felt they wouldn't understand. It worked in this scene; Karofsky didn't know what "rendering" meant.
"You, like everyone else at this school, are too quick to let homophobia slide."
Kurt to Mr. Schue
As I've stated before, a necessary scene. I was mad at Mr. Schue for not doing anything more than changing the boys mashup to appease Kurt. Again, I'm happy to read that the administration and faculty's rssponse to bullying at the school will be addressed soon.
"Prejudice is just ignorance, Kurt. And you have a chance, right now, to teach him." Blaine to Kurt, talking about Karofsky
"Glee" is often accused of being too preachy, but I rarely agree with that sentiment. The slippery slope with the Blaine character is that he not come across as perfect. He's still a kid; he can have some of the answers, but not all of them. Ryan Murphy has said he will have hang-ups just like all the other students. He probably is not quite as far in his journey as we are led to believe. But he is farther along than Kurt.
And now to the big scene:
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Kurt
"The girls locker room is next door" Karofsky
"What is your problem?" Kurt
"Excuse me?" Karofsky
"What are you so scared of?" Kurt
"Besides you sneakin in here to peek at my junk?" Karofsky
"Oh yeah, every straight guy's nightmare, all of us gays are secretly out to molest and convert you...well, guess what, hamhock, you're NOT my type." Kurt
"That right?" Karofsky
"Yeah...I don't dig the chubby boys that sweat too much and are gonna be bald by the time they're thirty." Kurt
"Do not push me Hummel!" Karofsky makes a fist
"You're gonna hit me?" Kurt looks at Karofsky's fist. "Do it."
Karofsky slams his locker shut. "Don't push me."
"Hit me, cause its not gonna change who I am. You can't punch the gay outta me anymore than I can punch the ignoramus outta you." Kurt
"Get outta my face!" Karofsky
"You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!" Kurt
Karofsky kisses Kurt.
He tries to kiss him again, but Kurt pushes him away.
Karofsky punches his locker and leaves.
We HAVE seen Kurt stand up for himself, but never to this extent. When I was trying to think of what the shocking moment would be, my ideas were more along the lines of Kurt hitting Karofsky, or possibly Kurt arming himself with a gun or a knife, but not using the weapon.
It was obviously an incredibly intense and explosive scene. It was also a very complex situation because of the nature of the kiss itself. For all the anger in his tone and actions, Karofsky didn't pin Kurt against a locker and manhandle him; the kiss was passionate with at least a hint of a little tenderness. And he tried to kiss him a second time. Which is why some people think that Karofsky could eventually become Kurt's boyfriend. I'm still opposed to that, but we'll have to wait and see what develops. I think this scene will be remembered in television history. It shocked everyone involved, characters, viewers, the actors themelves. A truly riveting scene that demanded the best from Max Adler and Chris Colfer, and they both delivered.
There have been some people that called Kurt a hypocrit in this scene because of his "molest and convert" comment, since they feel that he was on a mission to do exactly that to Finn during season one. I disagree with that, but it would take a long time for me to explain why, so I'll leave that analysis for another time. I'll just say here that I think Kurt's pursuit of Finn was much more emotional than sexual. At least as far as we know, Finn was the first male student with any kind of popularity and status to be nice to Kurt and treat him decently. Yes, Finn is also very attractive, and yes, Kurt schemes to share a bedroom with him, and no, I'm not saying Kurt is asexual. And I'll move on for now.
I have one more scene to disect, but since my laptop just lost a chunk of it, I'm going to go ahead and post this, then finish the Storyline "A" analysis in another post. The "B" and "C" analysis will be onsiderably shorter.
gleekette
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