#Glee Meta

[framboises-supremacy]

unpopular opinion perhaps but Blaine in glee annoys me sooo much

[backslashdelta]

I like to imagine that Kurt has that photo of Blaine in his locker the moment after they meet because Blaine is just pretentious enough to give it to Kurt unprompted, and Kurt is just enough of a freak to think that's normal behaviour

[hummel-montage]

Really interesting the way Kurt and Karofsky seem to put Blaine and Kurt respectively on a pedestal but how differently they deal with that

Kurt starts idolising Blaine pretty much as soon as he meets him. Blaine is the first gay boy his age who he's met, he understands what Kurt is going through with his bullying, and he's the only person who actually knows the extent of it.

Similarly, Kurt is also one of the only gay people Karofsky knows. Most likely his only other exposure to gay people is Ryerson, given he's not Rachel's friend like Kurt is and her dad's are the only other openly gay people we know of in Lima at that point, but instead of that being something Dave admires Kurt for, he starts resenting him for it.

Kurt starts to move away from his idolisation of Blaine the more time they spend together, he views him as the imperfect person that he is, which is clear with their conversation at the end of Silly Love Song, and "Blaine and the pips" in Original Song

Dave, on the other hand, spends a lot of time away from Kurt, which allows his obsession with Kurt to fester until he starts to mistake it for love, but because he's so disconnected from Kurt himself and doesn't really know him, it's not really Kurt he's in love with, but instead the idea of Kurt and the fantasy version of Kurt who Dave sees as the only person who can understand what he's feeling

Unlike Kurt, who learns to see Blaine's flaws and still likes him either way without idolising him anymore, Dave goes from one extreme to another, going from seeing Kurt as the source of all his problems and lashing out over it, to seeing him as his saving grace

Also, Karofsky seems to expect Kurt to reciprocate his feelings. First, when he kissed Kurt in the locker room, he goes in for another kiss, and gets angry when Kurt pushes him off, hitting the locker and running away, as then in Heart when he confesses his feelings to Kurt, despite having no reason to think Kurt is no longer with Blaine. The second instance definitely fits with his idolisation of Kurt, expecting him to automatically understand his feelings and reciprocate them, because in his mind at this point, Kurt is perfect, and therefore would never reject him.

NBK feels a bit more complicated, because Karofsky doesn't actually voice the way he feels (or thinks he feels) about Kurt, the way he does in Heart, but at that point, I'd say that Karofsky's hatred of Kurt is (mostly?) rooted in his confusion about his own sexuality, and him blaming this on Kurt and lashing out over that, and because he's projecting his own feelings of sexual confusion onto Kurt and blaming him for them, when he kisses Kurt, he expects Kurt to reciprocate that, because he doesn't really view him as a person beyond the source of all his problems, his sexuality being the biggest one, and therefore he gets angry at the rejection because it directly goes against the ideas he's projecting onto Kurt, and therefore he can no longer blame Kurt for how he is feeling.

[wowbright]

Look. I admit that I haven't put in endless hours thinking about Sebastian Smythe and his backstory and motivations, so maybe I'm getting something wrong here.

But I was thinking today about all the "Sebastian Smythe would never" meta about the show and commentary about his portrayal in fanfics since he first appeared on the screen.

and the "never" is stuff like "genuinely be concerned about Dave Karofsky's mental health" and "grow into a well functioning adult" and "treat other people with respect" because all of that is HOKEY and involves having FEELINGS and possibly even EMPATHY and that's impossible "because he's a conniving sophisticated irredeemable narcissist who thinks kindness is corny and that's what I love/hate about him."

So IDK why it took 13(?) years for me to have the thought BUT SEBASTIAN SMYTHE IS HOKEY. HE WANTS TO BE THE GOD OF SHOW CHOIR, FOR PETE'S SAKE.

And I think that's why, in fanfic, I will buy endless permutations of Sebastian's personality, motivations, and ultimate raison d'aitre.

Because depending on how you write it, he can be a narcissist who pretends to be capable of caring about others, a caring person who pretends to care only about himself, or a person who is both selfish and caring because, guess what, all of us are complicated.

(tagging @daisyishedwig in gratitude for witnessing me have this revelation)

[autismtana]

brittany s pierce is autistic

around a year ago, i made this post about santana lopez and why i (as a neurodivergent person) view her as having adhd (among other things which i've mentioned elsewhere and plan on writing more meta about), and i think it's finally time to talk about brittany s pierce, my autistic queen, and why i view her as autistic.

firstly, i want to acknowledge that i'm not the first person to headcanon brittany as autistic. i'm nowhere near the first person to write a post about it. in fact, sue sylvester calls brittana "autistically feisty", which i think is the closest we've got to an actually autistic canon confirmation. i'd suggest reading these posts by smolbrittana and sopheadraws among others. brittany has also been written as autistic in fanfiction (the road to unicorn and there's something about santana are two of my personal favourites in terms of writing brittany as autistic in an authentic way that doesn't feel like autistic media portrayed by neurotypical people).

as i've said in other posts, i'm autistic myself and also have a background in adolescent psychology. i do not endorse diagnosing real people with anything; brittany s pierce is a fictional character and displays a lot of traits that resonate with me as an autistic person hence why i am making this post. i'm also aware that some of these things were written to be throwaway lines or comic effect but viewing them as that and viewing them through an autistic lens does not have to be mutually exclusive. also, i use identity-first language, which is generally preferred among actually autistic folks.

(trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault, as well as mention of school shooting)

sidenote but i also believe brittany to have a specific learning disability in language in addition to being autistic which will most likely require its own post.

anyway, without further ado, let's go.

poor executive functioning - brittany struggles with basic self-care tasks such as brushing her teeth and remembering to eat breakfast. it's also worth pointing out that a lot of autistic folks struggle with brushing their teeth for sensory reasons, which could be a possibility with brittany and why her teeth were in the state they were in during 2x02. i myself did not brush my teeth regularly until i got braces (when i was 15).

difficulty coping with change - this one is pretty broad and can encompass small things, such as believing in santa claus or believing that storks bring babies in her junior year of high school, and big things, such as her feelings of hopelessness and depression when she is held back a year and santana goes off to louisville.

rigid routines - writes everything with multicoloured crayon (a different crayon for every letter). she was also very particular when the planning for her wedding was taking place; was stressed out by the idea of santana seeing her in her wedding dress and felt the need to put a lot of rituals in place to alleviate her feelings of anxiety in that situation.

difficulty comprehending figurative language - brittany tends to take things people say at face value. there are a lot of examples of her misunderstanding when other people use non-literal figures of speech (e.g. "brittany, take it away"/"take what away?"). in 3x22 mercedes wishes everyone in glee club could all stay in the room together so they wouldn't have to leave and brittany suggests using the bin for a toilet and eating joe.

unusual eating habits - brittany has pica (consuming non-food items); canonically she has eaten the snowflakes at sadie hawkins, kleenex, sand in her master cleanse and the soil sue put in her and santana's lockers.

very particular narrow interests - brittany is an expert on cat diseases and (although the storyline bothers me for personal reasons) she is also exceptional at maths.

flat affect - often speaks in a monotone voice

tendency to come across as blunt or rude - this comes through in a lot of her interactions with tina and rachel, as well as in her speech to santana's abuela in 6x06 and her communication with guests on fondue for two.

inability to lie - often tells on herself, particularly in instances concerning sue and being pressured to spy on the glee club for her.

heightened sensory experiences - the one time when she notices blaine isn't in glee club because she can smell his hair gel. brittany is a great dancer (because the actress who played her was a professional dancer who worked with beyoncé) and is sensory-seeking in a proprioceptive way. she also enjoys the use of koosh pens and fidgets with them at times.

"unconventional" experiences with gender identity and/or gender expression and sexuality - research has shown that autistic individuals are more likely to identify as part of the lgbtq+ community, which brittany does as a bi woman. she has also experimented with androgynous gender expression (e.g. her senior prom outfit) and she ran for prom king.

masking - tends to have different personas depending on who she's with. she is more comfortable around santana and mercedes, but alters how she communicates with people depending on how they have communicated with her (or santana, who she's very protective of) in the past.

hyperfixations - when she's running kurt's (and later her own) campaign for president, a lot of her dialogue includes mentions of unicorns.

learning difficulties and poor experience in mainstream schooling - statistically, autistic children have poor school outcomes (and it's entirely the fault of the school system, not the children themselves). 60-70% of autistic people also have a learning disability. 56% of autistic youth in australia report being treated unfairly at school. when talking to rachel in 2x13, brittany explicitly says that teachers have told her that by not attending class, her grades might improve. as a result of the lack of support (which may have led to discomfort in asking for assistance), brittany was unable to graduate from high school with her peers.

naivety and/or childlike interests - brittany can be gullible at times (e.g. sue's baby cannons tactic). as smolbrittana pointed out in their post, she writes with crayon and plays with barbies at times.

difficulty understanding other people's points of view - the dissonance between her own understanding and expectations of sex versus artie's expectations for what his first sexual experience should be like.

unconventional ways of expressing emotions - brittany often uses lord tubbington to describe how she feels about a particular situation (often when she's upset about a situation involving santana); for example, she tells lord tubbington "you joined a gang" right after santana tells her over skype that her commitments to the louisville cardinals cheerleading team impede on her ability to talk to brittany over skype.

burnout - i've touched on this in other posts, but brittany's presentation in 5x12 and 5x13 read as her being exhausted and overwhelmed with feeling forced to pursue mathematics and not have any other creative outlet.

faceblindness - this is not very well-written on the show but there are some canon moments that definitely qualify.

love of animals - brittany has a close connection with her cats, lord tubbington and lady tubbington. research shows that autistic individuals prefer to interact with animals over humans and 80% of autistic children participated in pet therapy.

freeze response to trauma - brittany experienced a freeze response during the lockdown in 4x18, which is common in autistic people. this can be prolonged and can occur for minutes, even hours.

sexual trauma - this is unfortunately a case of glee making a joke out of serious topics and it's not an isolated incident. in 1x17, brittany (who at the time is a sophomore and therefore 15 or 16 years old), in an effort to state her case for why she should be ranked higher on quinn's arbitrary list of who are the most sexually promiscuous glee club members, mentioned that she has "made out" with mr kidney the janitor, who is presumably an adult as he is employed by the school* (also i want to point out that any relationship involving a school employee and a school student that is of a sexual nature is predatory regardless of age; for example, although puck is 18 when he has a sexual relationship with shelby, she is still in a position of power over him and by engaging in a romantic and later sexual relationship with him is a sexual predator). in 3x05, brittany later describes her first sexual experience as an "alien invasion" (and in fact the original dialogue for that scene revealed that she was 14 and the "alien" in question was a 19-year-old). research suggests that 30% of women have experienced sexual assault, and 2-3x as many autistic women are affected. an estimated 9 out of 10 autistic women have been victims of sexual assault. outside of her relationship with santana (who also canonically has experienced SA), brittany engages in hypersexual behaviour; she mentions having a "perfect record" and she mentions her sexual history as evidence of her popularity when persuading kurt to let her be his campaign manager. this can be interpreted as her way of coping with her traumatic experiences, and it becomes a problem when she uses sex as a way to help artie move on from tina, not realising that artie views sex differently than how she does.

(*also i want to point out that brittany's experiences with mr kidney could have also occurred much earlier than when she brought them up, which is even more unfortunate)

[sapphojennyhumphrey]

Georgina Sparks and Quinn Fabray. Complex background with religion. Being so young and having a child (and lying about the father for safety/stability/etc, then disappearing). Parents that are barely there but you can tell they’re Like That. They’re the Toxic yuri poster ladies, honestly. Enthusiast for the brown eyes brunette poster child for ambition Rachel and Dan parallels, my beloved, yeah? And the point of it all and chasing those two is those characters - they are capable of looking at all others and seeing the Good. The light within the darkness, they’re too reliable, even if you can’t understand why. The troubled girl that just wants someone to love her, okay? She lashes out for it - obsessively, she’s crazy is what she knows they think - but she doesn’t have much of a choice? She never got to choose not to be lovable, but she can be crazy if she’s in control.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

Best Season For Each Glee Character (In My Opinion) And Their Best Episode In Said Season

Note: I'm picking which episode in the season I picked is their best, not overall

Rachel: Season One. Early Rachel is truly one of THE characters of all times, and she's hilarious, and I think they had the formula down the best for her insanity. Best Episode: Either Pilot or Bad Reputation

Finn: Also Season One. I love his arc in the first season, and you get such a good feeling for his character, and you get such a good feel for both his strengths and weaknesses. The other three seasons he's in are also good for him, and he has one of the most consistent arcs and developments, but he's making less Horrible Decisions in Season One. Best Episode: Ballad (no questions asked)--

Kurt: Season Two. Yes, he suffers in Season Two, but he also meets Blaine, and he gets actual storylines that are seperate from Rachel's, and aren't just reducing him to his sexuality or his ability to deliver cutting remarks. Best Episode: Grilled Cheesus, Never Been Kissed or Born This Way

Mercedes: This is rare but Season Five is truly the season where Mercedes shines brightest. She gets to be more than Rachel's competition for solos for the first time, and they actually take time to explore the way her faith informs her decisions. She truly feels like such a realized character in S5. Best Episode: Tested

Santana: Season 2 or 4. Season Two because she's living her best evil life, as well as having some chances to really show her vulnerable side, Season Four, because she's actually being a pretty nice person most of the time, albeit in the most chaotic way possible. I could do a whole analysis of why those are her best seasons, but this is not the time. Best Episodes: Silly Love Songs or Sexy (S2), Girls (And Boys) On Film or Feud (S4)

Quinn: Season One. They seemed to have gotten the right balance here of Quinn being character who suffers a lot, but is also not a very nice person in Season One, and they are never quite able to regain that again. My second pick would actually be Season Three, where she gets to have a lot of good conversations and growth. Best Episode: Throwdown or (what else) Funk

Puck: Season Two. Two words: Lauren Zizes. Also they seemed to have actually figured out what they wanted to do with him in that season. Like Quinn, Season Three was going to be my second pick for him, because I really like his arc in Choke, but alas, the Puck x Shelby thing drags S3 down for him. Best Episode: Never Been Kissed or Original Song

Tina: Season Three or Five. She gets a fair bit to do in Season Three--she's in quite a few songs, and she isn't yet at corruption-arc status, although she's no longer dressing goth, which is a shame. That said, Season Five is also a fun season for her--she's past the worst of her villain arc, and she gets to participate in the stupidity that is Blamtina. Best Episodes: Hold Onto Sixteen or Props (S3) and Trio (S5)

Artie: Season One. He gets some storylines in S1 which aren't just him fumbling girls (and as Artie's no.1 fan, I am here for him getting storylines), and they hadn't completely flanderized his occasional sexist comments into his whole personality yet. Best Episode: Dream On, by a mile.

Brittany: I'm conflicted here. Season One was the only season where she was written with any consistency, however she barely does anything in S1, so it seems unfair. However, she does have some great moments in Season Two. Best Episode: Sexy or Britney/Brittany

Mike: Season Three. He actually gets things to do in Season Three. Best Episode: Asian 'F' (surprisingly)

Sam: Season Two. It took a moment, but once they figured out what to do with Sam Evans, he truly became one of The characters of Glee. Season Three is also good, but he's out-of-focus a lot Best Episode: Rumours

Blaine: Season Four. I know everyone loves Dalton era!Blaine, but I don't care about the Warblers, and although I do like Klaine, I honestly think that it was so good to see Blaine minus Kurt for a season or so, because previously, it had been so obvious that he was a Designated Love Interest character, and Season Four was so important in developing his personality outside of Kurt. Best Episode: Dynamic Duets

[jin-zixun]

well if it isn't the 15th anniversary of the glee episode where rachel and kurt have a diva-off and kurt throws the high note because his father is being harassed.

Literally in tears at this episode tonight because ffs knowing how Kurt's story ends there is nothing to call this other than tragic. This isn't the diamond placed under tragic circumstance he will need to overcome. This is the tragic flaw that will lead to his inevitable downfall.

Kurt is accommodating, Kurt is compromising. Kurt sacrifices his dream, what he's fought for, the thing that actually got him excited, for someone else's sake. And it's for the sake of his father, the same person he got involved with the football team for. He wasn't excited over football! He was excited over his father seeing him play football! Because he's selfless and he cares about people!

But it's also... Not great? Kind of toxic? If he's always giving of himself and sacrificing for others?

What Kurt's arc should be is to learn how to be able to put himself first, at least some of the time. Like an opposite situation to Rachel who wants what she wants and stops at nothing to get it and complains when she doesn't.

Also about being truly seen as he is, and getting the support he needs from the people around him (which have been set up as issues for him since the pilot).

Kurt needs to be acknowledged and to be given the space to self-actualize, to know that it's okay to want things, that support isn't one way (from him to everyone else).

So... He ends up with a love interest who is like a male version of Rachel if she were more manipulative and selfish, who tells him he needs to blend in, places limits on him, and treats him as a support for himself, taking and taking to the point where he tries to force himself on Kurt to improve his performance and then twisting it around on him until Kurt apologizes.

Who ends up cheating on him because Kurt dares to take time away from being his full time cheerleader to pursue his own dreams. Who sees him as competition, and therefore someone who will always have to step aside for him, because that's the person Kurt is.

Someone who is custom built to take advantage of Kurt's better nature rather than to build him up and help him to grow. Someone who purposefully hurts his growth because it's more convenient to manipulate a guy who never puts himself first, who sees it as unmitigated good to sacrifice for others. Someone who thinks it's fine and good that Kurt be the support and that's all he'll ever be.

And it's not like this isn't the direction the story is taking for Kurt! Because that's exactly the direction Kurt's story goes in regards to his relationship with his father. Kurt ends up backsliding into pleasing his father when he decides he needs to be straight, which leads to a series of choices that is a complete sacrifice, and honestly, betrayal of himself. Something he is able to overcome by the end of that episode, because he sings Rose's Turn and has a talk with Burt where Burt finally seems to be offering him the support he so desperately needs.

Then there's the confrontation between Finn and Burt in Theatricality. Burt is finally the one standing up for his son, sacrificing for him by telling Finn he can't be there treating Kurt the way he is, that it might cost him his relationship with Carole, but his son comes first.

And he even spells it out so kindly to Kurt and to the audience. Kurt assumes the best in people. Including in Burt himself, let's be clear. Burt *has* been dropping the ball. He's gone through his own arc parallel to Kurt's in this! Because he needs to be the Father Kurt needs.

Kurt is forgiving, Kurt is willing to let things slide because they're only things being done to him and he can take it, he's fine. He can sacrifice, he doesn't need to feel safe or be free from harassment in his own home. That doesn't matter. But it does to Burt, as it should! Because Kurt is his son, who he loves, that's his priority. And Finn has to make it up to Kurt too, as he should! And he does.

Everything's coming up Hummel!

(But it doesn't.)

(Finn even tells Kurt he should try harder at blending in in Theatricality, but it's different when Blaine does it. Dalton doesn't have a 'bullying problem' but yeah the outcome is the same. Actually it's not, because in Theatricality, Kurt (and eventually Finn) could stand up to the bullies. Nobody stands up to Blaine because *he's* not a bully, of course not, he's just *looking out* for Kurt. Because, well. It's just not done.)

[von-frappe]

have i posted consistently in a year? no. but i've had a thought about the show glee (2009-15) and nowhere else to share it so to the old tumblr blog it goes.

In season 6 we're introduced to 2 new characters; spencer and mason.

Spencer is a post modern gay teen™ he's not like the other gays he loves football (❤️🏈) and hates lady gaga (🤢🤮) and whilst theres nothing wrong with having those opinions, spencer is placed in a position of superiority because he has those opinions.

Things stereotypically liked by feminine people = bad

Things stereotypically liked by masculine people = good

The character clearly has internalised homophobia and toxic masculinity and even the itself series depicts him as being negatively affected by these issues, when he feels as though he can't join glee club because he'll be judged.

Spencer says that he needs to keep in line with a more stereotypically masculine presentation because being gay is already seen a mark against him, he's pressured into being one thing

The show acknowledges spencers harmful mindset a little but they dont deconstruct it enough, so a lot of the audience still see it as a positive one simply because its not stereotypical.

Then we have Mason, he's a cheerleader who doesn't have the same pressures or worry over judgement that spencer has, despite being a straight man who is part of a cheerleading squad and enthusiatically joins the glee club because he wants to.

He rejects the stereotypes associated with his sexual orientation and has a freedom and joy that spencer doesn't have.

yet we're led to believe that spencer despite all the baggage he has around doing anything that could possibly be percieved as feminine is the the more liberated one

[thesubtextmachine]

In my penultimate article in my Glee series, I talk about the ways Glee could/should have ended. I’m so fucking curious you guys. From the gleek perspective, what’s the ideal configuration? I’m personally on team “Just Can’t Get Enough” because im an indulgent gleek 😇

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Glee Master Post

Quinn Fabray

Thoughts on Quinn

Crossovers

What if the Cullens from Twilight Were in Glee?

What if the Cullens from Twilight Were at Mckinley and Rachel Smelled Delicious?

[holisticfansstuff]

Glee: Klaine—Not So Effing Perfect After All | so thinky

[wowbright]

Can anybody tell me what Adam Crawford's necklaces were? Like, the main one looks kind of like a dog tag but it's not. Clearly there is someone who has looked into this in detail and maybe even done meta.

@spaceorphan18 ?

[starleska]

Here to talk about the little cricket (?) dude you've been talking about, Lux I think his name is? Anyway I haven't seen such a accurate rubber hose character since cuphead and little fella is really cute! (Since he's from Dr Who I assume he's malignant in some way? Idk I don't really plan on watching it, I just wanted to comment.) Anyways, he's super charming and expressive, I like having him all over my dash :]

hahaha YESSSS gosh i am so happy that folks are so excited about Mr. Ring-A-Ding | Lux Imperator, even if they aren't fans of the show!! i'm biased as a long-time Whovian, but the episode Lux really is the best one we've had in ages, so i'd recommend it wholeheartedly 😉 let me give you a little bit of lore re: our new toony cricket fellow!! massive spoilers for the episode Lux and an ongoing plot in Doctor Who, so only read if you're interested 🥰 i hope this'll be useful for any newcomers who are interested in starting Doctor Who as well!!

HUGE LORE DUMP BELOW:

so!!! the basic premise of Doctor Who is: the Doctor is an alien called a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. he travels the universe through time and space in his 'spaceship', the TARDIS (stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), and his almost always looks like a battered-up police box. he often travels with 'companions': usually human (though sometimes alien!) sidekicks who help him solve space/historical-related mysteries. when the Doctor dies, he can 'regenerate': his body changes, saving him from death and giving him an entirely new appearance. currently, we are on the Fifteenth Doctor, played by the brilliant Ncuti Gatwa 🥰

now back in 2023, we received three episodes for the show's 60th anniversary, and things changed hugely. as the Doctor regenerated into his Fourteenth version, he somehow came back with a familiar face: that of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor (perhaps one of the best-known iterations of the Doctor). this is because of the return of a character who hadn't been seen since the 60s: the Toymaker, a godlike entity who rules over games 👀

The Toymaker's introduction started a shift for the show, which was almost always strict sci-fi, into a more fantastical, rule-bending realm. the Toymaker turned out to be a member of The Pantheon of Discord: a collective of gods whose powers are beyond the laws of physics and nature. normally, The Doctor faces off against sci-fi monsters and antagonists, but the Pantheon are far more powerful, and not bound to typical rules (though they do have their own). there are a few members we know are in the Pantheon (The Toymaker, his child Maestro, the God of Death Sutekh) and some we speculate are in the Pantheon (the fourth-wall breaking Mrs. Flood), but the episode Lux finally confirmed our newest Pantheon member: Mr. Ring-A-Ding, AKA Lux Imperator, the God of Light 😱 in-universe, Mr. Ring-A-Ding is a character from a 1930s-era cartoon inspired by Fleischer Studios, Disney's then-competitor (and the inspiration for games like Cuphead!). however, Lux Imperator possessed and brought to life Mr. Ring-A-Ding's form by travelling on moonlight into a movie theatre set in 1950s Miami, where he climbed out of the screen and sealed the movie-watchers into celluloid film. when the Doctor and his current companion, Belinda Chandra, end up at the theatre, Mr. Ring-A-Ding (as he is calling himself) shows up as a smaller, physical manifestation of a living cartoon, and pretends to be innocent...but he quickly reveals his true form as Lux Imperator 🙈💖

after some completely crazy fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans wherein Mr. Ring-A-Ding | Lux animates the Doctor and Belinda, trapping them inside of celluloid film, he reveals his new desire: to use the Doctor's regeneration energy and build himself a body. this is because Lux craves light, but has always been trapped in the dark. having seen it on a film in the movie theatre, Lux wants to use the power of the atom bomb to unleash the most devastating light of all. it's pretty insane 😂

and the end of the episode is...the Doctor exposes Lux to sunlight, which causes him to grow infinitely large and...dissipate, into space? along with light itself? we have no idea. it's utterly mad, but SUCH a great watch!!! so to answer your question: yes, he definitely was malignant at first, but he kind of gets one of the nicest endings i've seen for a Doctor Who baddie in a while? he's just chilling up there in space now, twinkling along with the stars. that's wonderful 🙈💖 tldr; Mr. Ring-a-Ding is both the name of a 1930s Fleischer-esque cartoon-character in-universe, and the name adopted by Lux Imperator, the God of Light. if you're confused, don't worry: that's all part of the Doctor Who experience 😂💖

[little-escapist]

Okay, I'm feeling like meta so out of the tags

I think what we got in canon is good. We (should have) had more Blaine and Klaine that way. If Blaine was in Dalton all the time, he would have just been in the show randomly and shortly. The show was mostly set in the school at that point, and without Blaine there we would have barely seen him, I think.

But if we put that aside, it would have been cool to have Blaine at Dalton and Kurt at McKinley, to see how they develop with the distance and the "rivalry". It might have created cool moments. It might have expanded the show to after school a bit more.

Still happy with what we got.

[twopercentboy]

no, y'know what? as much as Josh's conversation with Buck in e6 was important, and he made some good points, I take strong issue with the qualifiers of "pre-Glee" and "post-Glee" world. that is the most insane thing to use as an indicator of queer acceptance, and at it's core, it's Ryan Murphy giving himself way too much credit.

and even if we look at it from outside the meta and from a character perspective, it's stupid! like, sure, I can understand that Josh was probably going for a more light hearted thing to use as an indicator, but Glee is so irrelevant in this scenario, especially when you consider that we're talking about Tommy in this specific context.

we know that right before season 1 takes place Tommy was only just starting to accept himself. we know right before season 1 he just ended his years long relationship with Abby. we also know that the seasons take place roughly at the time of premiere, so season 1 is set in 2018. that is already 3 years "post Glee"—even more if we go from initial release date—so this qualifier is already incredibly irrelevant to Tommy's story and the point Josh was trying to make. Not only that, but we know Tommy is around Abby's age! Meaning he was never part of the target audience for Glee and neither were his peers. Glee did absolutely jack shit for his journey to self or peer acceptance.

you know what is relevant to Tommy's journey? The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Y'know what probably actually helped kick him into self acceptance? The nationwide legalization of gay marriage that happened less than 3 years before season 1.

the issue I have is we know, we know, that Tommy is around Abby's age, meaning he was born in the mid to late 70s and he grew up watching the AIDS epidemic happen. he grew up during that time in our history, when we were ostracized and dying by the hundreds. to boil down the lives and experiences of queer elders, which is what Tommy would be were he real, into "pre-Glee" and "post-Glee" is just so,,, disgusting to me. there's a dozen other notable events and indicators of our acceptance, and to choose Glee of all things is not only a slap in the face, but so fucking egotistical of Ryan Murphy.

I understand that Glee was a phenomenon and that it did help queer acceptance to a certain degree, but using it in this context, where it's so wholly irrelevant to the characters involved and feels like it was only used to stroke the ego of Ryan Murphy? I don't know! I just think they should've used something else, something more relevant, like, oh I don't know, the Obama administration legalizing gay marriage! they could've easily used "pre-obama" and "post-obama" and it would've suited the situation better, and actually been relevant to all characters involved!

I just really have a bone to pick with so many things in that episode in regards to 911's queer characters, but I think this is the one that really pisses me off.