Having already broken down barriers in Season Three insofar as the depiction of gay teenage romance in concerned, last night on GLEE Ryan Murphy and company addressed lesbianism and its similarly taboo place in society - both in school and out. Brave and daring, GLEE's "I Kissed A Girl" episode surely opened up the doors to closets and more open conversations pertaining to human sexuality, yet it also painted a complex and all-too-real picture of the challenges facing teens of any and all sexual persuasions and how challenging it really is to be a teenager at The Edge of seventeen in 2011. On the musical side, last night's show boasted an eclectic assortment of Sapphic-themed songs to go along with the dramatic content, such as Dolly Parton's "Jolene", Melissa Etheridge's "I'm The Only One", KD Lang's "Constant Craving" and Katy Perry's recent hit "I Kissed A Girl". With Pink's "F-ing Perfect" given the duet treatment courtesy of Kurt and Blaine and a stripped-down, male-sung version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" rounding out the seriously stupendous songstack, it was a night to remember for many more reasons than merely oh-so-fabulously spilled slushies and touching coming out stories - the music really, truly acted as an elemental ingredient; even more than usual. So, too, did Naya Rivera's seriously fine acting throughout make her turn as Santana this season a truly Golden Globe and Emmy-worthy performance - not unlike how Kurt's complex coming out story rightfully acted as award bait for Chris Colfer in seasons past. So, for all of that - and to recount the stunning "Constant Craving" and all of the rest of the superb musical sequences as well as Rachel's surprising suspension from McKinley High right when Sectionals are quickly approaching - read on.
My Best GayWith the standards already set impossibly high by the sensitive and undoubtedly revolutionary depiction of Kurt and Blaine's tenuous-come-committed relationship throughout Season Two and into Season Three, GLEE taking on the female side of homosexuality in a major way had the odds stacked against it from the outset as far as expectations go. Sure, Brittany and Santana's more than merely friendly relationship had been shown to include hand-holding, make-out sessions and maybe even more in previous episodes going all the way back to the pilot, yet last night's "I Kissed A Girl" certainly - much like "The First Time" - went all the way. In more ways than one. From ROSEANNE to Ellen to Rosie to, now, GLEE, representation of lesbians on television has always been tricky to pull off and makes for must-see TV if only because of its rarity and shock value, yet, now, GLEE has crossed a new bridge and continued the valiant work all concerned have done all along with its sensitive depiction of teen sexuality of all types by giving lesbianism its full, complete, totally serious due. This is as real as coming out scenes get. Far too often in the media it seems as though lesbians are portrayed for purposes of fantastical titillation or the pay-off for a punch-line - and one could say, as with many issues satirically played, that that has been the case on GLEE more often than not up to this point - yet, on "I Kissed A Girl", the topic was broached whole-hog. The fearlessness with which GLEE tackles topics that seemingly every other entity on mainstream TV fails to address time and time again - even something as simple as an all-too-accurate representation of school politics delivered in an ironic way - is consistently impressive and enough cannot be said about the positive societal impact the social messages that they are sending has been having and will continue to have on gleeks worldwide - and, in the process, pretty much everybody else, too. After all, positive change comes very slowly - especially when it comes to universal understanding of human sexuality and its societal expression - but when an entertainment behemoth such as GLEE can so eloquently, entertainingly and evocatively present its thesis - no matter how controversial - it gets the ball rolling towards minds beginning to be changed and hearts starting to be converted. If only by sheer inertia, change always eventually comes - and it's not a choice. It never was. It never will be. The same could be said for the topic of this week's GLEE - it's not a choice to be gay, so just accept it and deal with it. As we unfortunately saw with Santana's grandmother, though, sometimes you just cannot win them all over all at once - and sometimes people seem to instantly hate you for what you cannot help but continue to be. Even family. Yet, to think that so many of these hot topics explored on GLEE - homosexuality included, but the conversation certainly not limited to just that - were addressed in such a roundabout or after-school-special sort of sitcom-y Special Episode way in almost every significant example one can find from any TV show in the last twenty or thirty years says a lot about how conservative this country has really become - sad to say, but perhaps there are as many old fashioned Abuelas out there as there are hip fairy grandmothers and godmothers willing to embrace their loved ones for exactly who they are. Honestly, in looking at the alternatives to GLEE out there, would ALL IN THE FAMILY even make it on the air today? Whether or not it would, thank goodness we have GLEE, here, now, today - buzz status or relative (and all-too subjective) pop culture popularity notwithstanding. Indeed, this country needs GLEE and the messages it is sending out to the world about us - namely: how accepting we aspire to be as a society - more than ever before. Is America still not land of the free and home of the brave - with free and brave being the operative words?
Every few episodes on GLEE there is a musical number that wraps up not only the themes, ideas, characters and overall vibe of the episode into a single, perfect, precise musical moment, but, also, encapsulates the entire, well, gleefully persuasive power of the show in general in one instant - and, last night, "Constant Craving" definitely was it. Even when compared to the rest of the seriously sensational songs in the shockingly strong Season Three, this group-showcasing, Santana/Shelby-led performance is one of the pinnacles of the show so far. Yes, yes, yes - this is just about as good as GLEE gets.
The uniformly solid musical sequences in this packed episode kicked off with two songs before the first commercial - Kurt and Blaine's "F-ing Perfect" and
Mark Salling's "I'm The Only One". Since
Darren Criss scored a slam-dunk last season with Pink's "Raise Your Glass", to see and hear him paired with Kurt on the all-too-apropos all-acceptance anthem "F-ing Perfect" was a stroke of near-genius, and their appreciably committed and lyric-based interpretation of the material was a highlight in an episode loaded with them. Pink should be very proud - they gave it real blood and fire. So, too, was
Mark Salling's take on
Melissa Etheridge's first international smash hit among his best vocals to date - and the sexy, gravelly, brooding-eyes performance only added to the sizzling effect of the come-hither Southern rock slow-burner. Puck and Shelby's scandalous relationship certainly is providing Puck with some absolutely awesome dramatic and musical opportunities and I hope to hear a highly-anticipated duet or three from the two of them sometime very, very soon. "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", perhaps? The possibilities are multitudinal. While Kurt, Blaine, Puck and Finn gave their absolute all to their material, Dot
Marie Jones proved yet again why Coach Beiste is an ideal foil for Sue Sylvester both dramatically and musically - I mean,
Dolly Parton is about as far from Madonna and
Olivia Newton-John as you can get - and she was given her first true integrated musical moment with the all-too-apt and seamlessly baritone-delivered "Jolene". The mirror imagery and lipstick-application staging was a great choice, as was jealously-viewed Cooter/Sue interaction. All that was missing in this episode was Sue given a chance to sing once more - it's really been too long, hasn't it?
Jane Lynch and
Matthew Morrison need a duet already, do they not? The time has come now that the show has passed 50 episodes, I think.
With the most unexpected cover of the night,
Cory Monteith's stripped-down and slowed-down "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - so far-removed from the classic 80s
Cyndi Lauper original as to sound like a whole new song - proved to be a performance highlight for Finn's character and provided a perfect dovetail to his heated interactions with Santana last episode. Such is the durability of pop classics - as GLEE has shown, exploited and reveled in time and time again; "Girls" being no exception. And, after all, isn't that what a lot of GLEE's magic derives from - re-appropriating pop culture and pop songs into a new, modern, up-to-date high school milieu? As far as gender-bending and genre-breaking covers of pop songs go, no one does this sort of drastic reworking of familiar material (such as "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "F-ing Perfect") better than GLEE does - even if the reworked "Girls" was actually not a GLEE original - and had it not been for the 6-for-6 musical quotient lock-out of the "I Kissed A Girl" episode, one could have said that the boys actually won the night. Yet, this episode was admittedly "For Ladies, By Ladies" and, thus, the ladies unquestionably took the top honors, especially due to the triple-pointer "Constant Craving". Additionally, "I Kissed A Girl" was given appropriate rock/pop diva attitude by the girls of New Directions and once again a
Katy Perry smash was done one better than its original by GLEE. Above all else, though, the aforementioned 11-out-of-10 "Constant Craving" courtesy of Santana and Shelby was the crème de la crème and moments like that are what make GLEE - even at as late a date as halfway through Season Three; on the precipice of 2012 - seems as fresh, relevant, vital, alive and important as ever. Maybe more. We need GLEE - and some honest to goodness glee - more than ever, don't we?
GLEE is coasting on a series high, and, now - more than ever before - it is clear to see and hear that the show is 100% for gleeks, by gleeks. Everyone is invited to the party, though - no exclusions. If only the world - or even just this country - were as inclusive. Let's hope last night was the start - or, just maybe, the continuation - of big changes coming our way in the USA.
