Glee, knowing when to say when
My relationship with Glee has always been a tad complicated. In by that I mean I have never really liked the show not in any real sense of the word. I’m not even able to classify it as a guilty pleasure because those shows I actually do like even though I may not want people to know that I like them. But yet week after week, season after season I find myself tuning in to see what kind of dilemma the kids of McKinley High and NYADA are trying to work their way through that week.
Sometimes the show was firing on all cylinders and I find myself looking forward to the next new episode but most of the time I was only in it for the musical numbers.
That was until last week’s episode. The big not a commentary on gun control, but still a commentary on gun control storyline. You know the episode I’m talking about so don’t say that you don’t. The first time I saw the weirdly titled “Shooting Star” I wasn’t really paying attention to the action that was going on-screen choosing instead to fumble my way around the world wide web while occasionally perking up at the sound of music (totally picturing Julie Andrews on top of a hillside aren’t you? It’s ok I was too). It wasn’t until the episode was almost over and I saw that Coach Sue Sylvester was walking out of the school with a box of her belongings that I began to think to myself that I it was quite possible that I missed something important.
If you are wondering how it is that I could not have noticed the gun shots that had gone off midway through then you obviously do not have my insane skills at tuning the world out. It’s a useful skill when used wisely and I suggest only using it for nefarious purposes.
Now I may not have been paying attention to the action that had been unfolding in front of me for the past 47 minutes but I know what it signifies when a person is walking out of their place of employment with a box full of personal items. My first reaction was “What the hell did I just miss?” and my second reaction was “Well it’s not like Jane Lynch has had much to do on the show anyways”. However it wasn’t until I saw all the updates on Twitter that I figured I just may want to watch the episode again and this time actually pay attention. So I did.
And this time I was met with a show trying so hard to send a message by not sending a message that I started to get mad. Why bother even addressing the subject of violence in our schools and gun control if you are going to sugar coat it by making the cause of the characters turmoil be at the hands of a young lady who was scared to graduate so somehow some way she took the words “be prepared” as a reason to bring a gun to school. Really Mr. Murphy, really? And the thing is that those young ladies fears are something graduating seniors feel every year. Everything they know about life is about to completely change so of course they’re scared, who wouldn’t be.
Instead they made it so for 47 minutes the students of McKinley High thought they were under attack. They made it so the viewer knew just as much as the characters did and in that they got it right. It’s just too bad they chickened out at the end and wrapped it up in a nice little package. Too bad real life doesn’t work like that.
No episode of Glee has mad me angry before. Sure I found some to be annoying and others to be filled with such cotton candy sweetness it made my teeth hurt, but none had made me wish I hadn’t seen it in the first place. Not every show needs to tackle the big questions but if they are going to then those questions shouldn’t be treated as something that can be solved in less than 47 minutes. And that is when I knew. I knew that my time with Glee had come to an end. I may peek in every now and again but I kind of doubt it considering I can always YouTube the songs the day after a new episode airs. It was time to say when.