#because kurt vs rachel is also iconic

[angelhummel]

Honestly Brittany is underhated in my opinion lmao. Like I was literally waiting for ages for someone to make a negative thread about I am unicorn on reddit so I could hate on her. Last time someone made a thread about that episode said "Kurt was an asshole to yell at Brittany. He could have kindly explained to her to remove the posters" like he did? But Brittany went to ahead and hung the posters anyway. :/

Oh hey we just watched that ep! And I hated it! I don't know if I'd call it the worse episode, but it made me more uncomfortable than Asian F and Pot o Gold, which we watched right after. Like I've never had that bad a reaction to that ep before but wow

KURT: Look, I don’t just want to be know has Kurt Hummel: Homo.

BRITTANY: What’s wrong with that? Look - 99% of the kids at school are either freaks or closet freaks. The captain of the football squad - he gets the job, but he doesn’t represent the people. That’s why we need a unicorn.

My sister asked me if I agreed with that sentiment (being sure to say "If it wasn't Brittany saying it, how would you feel?" bc that makes a difference lol) and my response was "What did she say? I just tune her out now"

I mean obviously the sentiment isn't wrong. How often do we say that almost any one of the glee clubbers would be a better leader or representative than flop hudson. I just feel like Brittany is feeding into a larger problem that I have with season 3 in regards to Kurt

Which is just how they make so many jokes about Kurt being more flamboyant and girly than he actually is. Rachel saying she wants to see Kurt in a bridesmaid’s dress. Finn saying "What's with the sparkly jacket i thought you were kurt" but then he also has a comment in s2 about "sequined riding pants". but when has kurt ever wore sequins or sparkles outside of mercedes's dreamgirls fantasy number?? and having actual adults talk about how he isn't sexy enough (call the police) and laughing him out of an audition bc he's sooo fucking gay ha ha. i kinda talk about it here if you wanna read more unrelated angry rambling

Anyway all that to say. Kurt is not straight passing! He doesn’t need to be! He’s bold, theatrical, he loves fashion, he loves Broadway, and that’s great! But the pink sparkly unicorn stuff is something Brittany tried to force on him.

Kurt loves Judy Garland. He wanted to pay tribute to her with his campaign posters, hearkening back to her Blackglama fur coat ad. Something that references a beloved icon of the queer community, and fashion history at the same time. Two things that are very Kurt

But with Brittany, all nuance and clever reference is gone. She puts ruby slippers in the goody bag, just because they’re sparkly and flamboyant. They reference Judy in the most cliche and obvious way possible. Even if someone wants to claim it was her own version of a clever reference, she still has more pointless stuff in there as well. Unicorns, a teletubby, hair bands?? What does any of this have to do with Kurt or what he likes or represents?

And obviously there is nothing wrong with being the most flamboyant gay person you want to be. Pink and sparkles and rainbows obviously aren’t bad on their own. Not trying to sound like the shitty old “Gay people I respect vs gay people I don’t respect” meme. It’s just. Every gay person is more than their sexuality. No matter how flamboyant they are, how they dress, how many rainbows they wanna slap on everything. That’s still a whole person. Just bc all YOU see is a giant rainbow flag, that doesn’t mean that’s all they are

Brittany thinks being gay is nothing but pink unicorns and rainbow glitter. How is that any different from the shit Karofsky or Azimio or any other bully says about Kurt?? At the end of the day it’s just someone trying to cram him in a tiny little box that he is far too big, too bold, too nuanced to fit into 

I mean god fucking forbid, but imagine if Brittany was “helping” Mercedes run for president like this. Telling her that being black should be her main personality trait, and filling a goody bag with items that are Brittany’s idea of what being “black” means to HER 💀💀 (I mean anybody with common sense could see it was insane, but her stans would react the same way and make Mercedes the bad guy when she reacted poorly bc what else is new lol)

And all her dumbass unicorn talk literally made Kurt start to dislike that part of himself! Like he’s always been bullied for it but he was still unapologetically himself. But Brittany’s campaign idea contributed to Kurt thinking he needed to change himself, and saying he was tired of being a unicorn. And in s3 he starts wearing more drab colors and all these sweaters and capes and he’s bundling himself up like he’s protecting himself and it makes me sad. And they bring in a completely new character that looks like Kurt just to call Kurt ugly and a girl and make fun of him. It drives me up a fucking wall! Season 3 is so awful to Kurt i literally can’t stand it. And it all starts with Brittany :) Thanks for that. Girl power!

And after dealing with the pain and humiliation of literally being laughed out of an audition BY MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY for being “too gay” Kurt is faced with the bright pink unicorn posters with his face on him that say “This is your box! This is all you will ever be!” and wow i can’t imagine why he’d be upset with Brittany for that!! Who’da thunk??? Brittany was a selfish idiot for hanging them up. Kurt had every right to be upset. And Santana was an idiot for invalidating Kurt’s feelings and just boosting Brittany up when she was obviously in the wrong. But that’s Br*ttana for you :)

I’m not even happy about Kurt “accepting” the posters and hanging them up himself and making that his campaign theme. That’s the version of Kurt that someone else made up in their head. That’s not him. He is so much more than Brittany’s tiny little brain could ever even comprehend lol. So yeah. I hate her :)

[spaceorphan18]

Glee Musical Retrospective: Don’t Stop Believin’ (Pilot)

Sung by: Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson w/New Directions Original Artist: Journey

Here we go - the first time we see Glee’s most iconic performance number.  And unlike a good half of you (and half the cast) I still really, really love this song and this performance.  I’ll be honest with you - the Pilot of the show didn’t do much for me, but the first time I heard this - I got chills.  This arrangement is fantastic.  The kids are so earnest here.  And it’s the first time I sat up and thought - oh, this is going to be good... 

The funny thing about this number is that it is rough, in a way.  These kids definitely look (more than they sound) like novices.  And while infamously show choreographer Zach Woodlee had a tough time of getting these non-dancing kids to move together - I think the roughness of the these kids just having fun and coming together to make a good number really is the heart of what this show is about.  Connecting to each other through song -- even if they don’t dance very well, lol. 

It’s kind of hard to articulate why this song resonates the way it does, but there’s a couple of factors going on here.  

First of all, the way the song is written - without getting into the musical theory of it all - it’s meant to evoke that positive dreaming kind of emotion.  The song is about, quite literally, not giving up on yourself, even if your circumstances suck.  And, again, that’s really what’s at the heart of this show.  That these kids, despite the fact that they live in a small town in Ohio, aren’t going to give up on their dreams.  It’s a theme that’s going to carry all the way through the length of the show.  

Secondly, I think the song evokes a strong sense of nostalgia (at least for us older people?).  It’s an 80s power ballad, and thematic for a show that’s steeped in 80s nostalgia.  And while I didn’t go to high school until the late 90s, it still takes me back to being a teenager - when these kinds of songs really emotionally resonated, and I think pairing that feeling with a group of new and earnest kids who are just starting out on their own dreams, really resonates.  

Some interesting things to point out -- 

This song is a New Directions song, but Finn and Rachel take the lead.  This not only to signify that these are the main characters, but to highlight that these characters are going to be in a romantic relationship.  Did you notice that they spend most of their time quite literally dancing around each other? Pulling away and coming back to each other? I’m sure that’s intentional.  

Also their opening lyrics are quite resonant with who Finn and Rachel’s characters are.  Finn is a small town kid, and despite being popular - is a bit lonely and lost.  While Rachel, being a city bound girl, just wants to be where it matters.  And then they find each other - which is really where our story begins. 

Meanwhile, I love Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, (and Artie) in the background.  While Finn and Rachel take the lead - they’re along for the ride - the colorful accents in this story.  I love that each character gets its own style of movement in the song -- especially Kurt, who completely pulls focus.  It’s noticeable (to me) because Kurt is going to end up pulling focus as the story begins to shift from this story of two lonely and sad teenagers falling in love to this strange kid dancing in the background.  

But also, importantly, this is the first group number the kids do.  It’s about them all coming together - all these “strangers” meeting up for the first time and creating something special -- again a theme of the entire show -- and how they’re going to try to make their dreams come true, but can only do so if they rely on the special thing they’ve made together.  

I should note that most of the time I’ve talked about music in the Pilot being used for comedy - but like Rachel and Will’s solo - this song is very much about the emotion it evokes, and that’s purposeful.  This is a real, and full number, because the show wants you feel those real emotions of these kids finally bonding over the music.  

Two more musical asides -- a) this song has a ton of layering of tracks to make it sound fuller.  If it were just the six of them, the sound would be much, much smaller - but maybe not as resonant.  b) You can tell there was choreography but mostly - the kids are a bit stiff because they aren’t dancers, and end up just roaming around the stage.  It’s kind of funny, but works for me, because these kids are not supposed to be professionals.

I also like that their costumes are simple.  I’m not sure if I can go into color theory the way @snarkyhag can (maybe she can shed some light on it!) but the solid colors can mean that they’re stripped down to the basics.  

I should also add that this song is important to Will’s character, too.  This song, evoking memories of his own childhood, and his own dreams, is what brings him back to teaching.  The kids are literally singing about not giving up on their dreams - and Will is very touched by that.  

On top of that - there are deliberate pans to Sue (and Quinn and Santana) and Puck off on the side -- representing the antagonists, and how they’re waiting in the wings for the future stories where they’ll challenges for our characters.  

Fun Fact: There is no such place as South Detroit.  I’ve always joked that South Detroit is Ohio - but according to Journey it’s Windsor Ontario.  And now you know. 

vs. Studio Version: There’s really not much difference between this and the aired version.  There are a couple of extended musical moments in the studio version, but the song is, intentionally, left mostly intact on the show.  Since it’s the final group number - these songs aren’t as cut down as some of the other ones.  

vs. Original Version: Something I didn’t really notice until they’re played side by side, but the original Journey version is much slower and in a lower key. The tempo change might be due to the fact that it’s being used for TV - and TV has time mandates.  The key is probably because the kids needed to singing it higher.  One neat thing to notice - this song is known for its infamous piano chords played at the beginning (and throughout).  In the arrangement for the show - they gave it to the background singers (Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and Artie) for great effect.  

[starpunchsoup]

top 5 glee eps? :)

quick confession before i actually answer this: i actually have a little notecard written with all of my favorite episodes (or ones that just make me really happy i guess) and it’s color coded and it’s a little embarassing just how hard i went on that

ANYWAY LMFAO

5) Blame It On The Alcohol - listen. this episode has a lot of problems. not a huge fan of kurt being defensively biphobic (although it’s not a deal breaker for me - a lot of people REALLY hate that scene and it ruined kurt for them which i can sort of understand but i don’t think it was a huge deal) and. god i kinda hate will’s plot line in this episode LMFAO. the voicemail always makes me die a little bit. HOWEVER - this episode is FUNNY AS HELL. ‘why don’t you crack open a fourloko, count boozy von drunk a ton’ is always a one hit KO for me. sue pushing the aural intensity coach down the stairs is so fucking funny. this episode is honestly mid tier at best, but idk. i think it’s funny and i love seeing kurt pine and the music was super fun and this episode just makes me smile (and i love beiste being there for will!!! i wish beiste would’ve been will’s best person at his wedding instead of finn tbh 👀)

4) The Power of Madonna - this episode is so good!!! i feel like some of the more musical themed episodes fall a little flat on plot, but i adore the plot of this one. and there are some super iconic lines from this one (my growing feminism will slice you in half like a righteous blade of equality! mercedes is black, i’m gay - we make culture). and jesse st james???? like admittedly sometimes he gets on my nerves but he’s actually so genuine in this episode, it’s clear he actually cares about rachel by this point. “come out so we can talk. or at least sing about it.” like yes he’s also a dramatic theatre nerd but that’s always how rachel gets her feelings out so offering to sing about it (i think, at least) is so sweet. also i mean. it’s MADONNA. the music is PHENOMENAL. listening to 4 Minutes genuinely makes me feel like the gina linetti headphones meme. express yourself is so fun and cute. THE VOGUE RECREATION IS SO GOOD AND ICONIC. definitely a comfort episode for me

3) New New York - this episode is a favorite partially because the first time i saw it, i was hanging out with an old friend of mine and while i don’t talk to her at all anymore, whenever i watch this episode i remember being in her room and petting her cat and it was a very good time! but also this is just such a solid episode top to bottom. we see rachel enter queen diva mode yet again, but this time it’s artie who helps her wake up from it which i think was smart and helped make the NYC friend circle feel a little bit more cohesive. also the klaine content! the blam content! the kelliott content! glitter rock vampire!!!!! mercedes showing up at the end!! what’s not to love

2) Never Been Kissed - listen i’m aware i’m a klaine stan first and foremost but that’s actually not the main reason why this is ranked so high. genuinely, it’s the music. this is the ONLY boys vs girls mashup episode where i feel like both teams fucking KILLED IT. every time i watch this episode, i change who i think won. and i know a lot of people hate the original ‘teenage dream’ because yes it is kind of overproduced and it is annoying when the music shows blaine singing two lines at the same time. however - i do not care, that song is so fucking good imo. i really hate the acoustic version in s4 just because it sounds so sad, the context really makes it hard for me to listen to. but blaine singing teenage dream the first time him and kurt meet………poetic cinema!!! i hate the beiste plot point because a. it’s just kind of uncomfortable but b. beiste always deserved better!!!! sometimes i forget that the main plot point IS everyone thinking about beiste because genuinely the music is the main highlight of the ep and i try not to think about how disrespectful that was to one of my fav mckinley faculty members ever

1) Original Song - this will never not be my favorite episode. this episode has EVERYTHING. it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s romantic, it’s awkward, this episode is honestly peak glee to me. season two is probably my favorite season because of that, i feel like the whole season did a very good job of staying in its lane and i love that. i love the sadness of pavarotti dying and santana feeling rejected by brittany, to the absolute hilarity of ‘only child’ and ‘trouty mouth’. i love how this episode flat out has quinn saying “rachel deserved better than to live in lima being stuck by finns side, i’ll take that bullet for her so she can go be a star.” and honestly “get it right” is one of my favorite glee songs ever. when rachel sings “so finally someone will see/how much i care” i literally get goosebumps every single fucking time. also i love how “loser like me” was more of a love song to kurt than it was a ‘fuck you’ to sue? like “i’ll get you back when i’m your boss” i headcanon was written by puck because he always admired how kurt knew he was destined for greater things than being tossed into dumpsters. the girls are wearing doc martens which kurt wears all the time!!! can you imagine the ND girls going thrifting to try and find shoes so they can support their bestie from the stage 🥺🥺 and that’s why kurt is the first person to jump to his feet and dance along!!! they’re all besties!!!! like deadass klaine getting together isn’t even a top three moment from this episode for me, which should tell you a lot considering how much i love those two. also MCR gets mentioned a bunch??? like i have never listened to their cover of ‘sing’ in its entirety because it kills me inside - i genuinely love my chemical romance a lot. so whenever they get mentioned i always kind of giggle about it lmfao

i’m sorry this was a whole ass essay but thank you so much for asking anon!!!! 💞

[mdverse]

Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that Rachel’s former bullies treated her better and did more for her then her boyfriends? Quinn, Santana, kurt ( wasn’t a full on billy but scorned her because she was annoying) they all did more

full disclosure: this is not something i usually think about so maybe i am the wrong person to be talking to about this lol

i kind of agree? though to me it's probably more sad than hilarious. you're probably right, because while rachel did have sweet moments with finn, he didn't really treat her all that well. their relationship was a hot mess and i don't really get why it lasted as long as it did (even as an on and off thing). i can't remember if rachel and puck ever officially dated but when they did have a thing going on in s1, he was very much not into her anyway. i will disagree when it comes to jesse, because from what i can remember, he was actually really nice to rachel up until she betrayed him first with the iconic music video that was run joey run ,and the stuff that happened in funk stemmed more from the VA vs ND dynamic as opposed to him specifically wanting to hurt rachel. i can't remember much about brody other than that he should've been honest about the fact that he was sleeping with other people.

as for her former bullies... again, i don't remember much so people who are more invested in rachel and her friendships are welcome to weigh in. i think part of the reason we see them all treating rachel better than finn and puck did is in part because they're just... actually present on screen? aside from quinn, but the faberry dynamic had a lot of growth in s3 from what i can remember. on the other hand, you have finn, who was in lima and then whose story was unfortunately cut short due to real-life tragedy, and puck, who was heavily side-lined like quinn was. without really delving in to the actual storylines, i think just the fact that we have rachel living with kurt, then also santana, is a big part of why those friendships end up getting better development in the show. admittedly you'd think the writers could've done better with finchel in s2 and s3 but i just don't expect much from them in general.

[sugarcarnation]

rank the season 2 new directions (including kurt)? (:

ohh okay im gonna rank them once on how much i like them and another time on how much of an important member i think they were

here’s my totally objective ranking of how good the characters are

1. kurt

sorry but this is a kurt hummel stan account before everything else. also his season 2 arc was so good

2. rachel

this is also a rachel berry stan account. and season 2 rachel was hilarious. i love her

3. tina

are we surprised by this ranking? no we’re not. i love her and this season features football player tina so it’s automatically amazing

4. mercedes

i love her. she didn’t get as much plot as she deserved but she was still the best

5. sam

he was very good in the his season. it’s nice to have a guy who isn’t constantly awful to everyone

6. santana

i love that her plot about figuring out her sexuality starts here. and overall it’s way better handled here than in season 3. also she wears a bunch of amazing outfits

7. brittany

season 2 is by far my favorite season for her. i think the writing was still good enough to not make her seem unnecessarily mean to other people and her and santanas relationship was so interesting to me. she also wore very good outfits

8. lauren

she’s a queen and we were robbed of her having more storylines. unfortunately she didn’t do enough for me to justify putting her higher than this

9. quinn

idk what her motivations for pretty much anything are in this season but she’s a girl on a mission and i appreciate that

10. artie

he was actually pretty good. he had some plot and was pretty fun most of the time (i am kinda bitter though that his plot ended with him being the bad guy even though he didn’t do anything wrong. like yeah he wasn’t the nicest but also brittany repeatedly cheated on him. what was he supposed to do? congratulate her?)

11. mike

i feel bad for putting him this low but what did he even do this season besides dancing? the dancing was pretty amazing though

12. finn

okay he ended up pretty low on my list mostly just because i think the writing of him wasn’t great. all the concepts like him struggling with popularity vs being himself are very interesting but not new. like he learned his lesson in season 1. i would like his plot much better if he didn’t totally forget all his character development between the seasons

13. puck

his relationship with lauren was actually cute but besides that he really didn’t do anything interesting this season

and now my how useful were they to the club ranking

1. rachel

i mean yeah. she’s their lead singer and she was the one who came up with the idea of writing their own songs and she even wrote some of the songs they were performing herself

2. mercedes

she probably deserves first place but alas the writers suck and didn’t actually let her do anything

3. santana

i think she really started to realize how much she enjoys performing this season and putting herself more in the spotlight was well deserved and good for the team. she gets minus points for being mean to other people though. that’s not good for the team spirit

4. mike

danced them to victory and didn’t cause any drama. iconic of him

5. brittany

danced them to victory but also caused drama which is why she’s lower than mike

6. kurt

hes in the middle because on the one hand he just left for half the season and only joined them again once they were already going to nationals but on the other hand he supported blaines singing candles at regionals idea and i’m pretty sure that counts as sabotage

7. tina

shes as always underappreciated by everyone. justice for tina. would probably be higher if i didn’t suspect that she’s the one who’s responsible for the awful dresses at regionals

8. artie

honestly the new directions would be lost without artie and it’s time we acknowledge that. hes doing the most singing and no one ever appreciates him. also he’s the one who gave brittany the confidence to dance in front of a big audience so go artie

9. sam

his singing was boring but at least he was a good teammate

10. quinn

her singing was also mostly boring and she was the cause for most of the drama. which is iconic but her trying to sabotage the team unfortunately puts her pretty low on this list

11. lauren

she made the new directions cool

12. finn

hes mostly this low because he kissed rachel at nationals. like buddy that was not the right time. besides that he also caused a bunch of drama and was kinda a dick to people. as the self appointed leader he should do better

13. puck

he brought lauren to the team and i appreciate that

[neversatisfiedwithlife]

hey babe! what's your ranking of the adults on the show?

Hi my love, thank you for the ask. Sorry this took soo long

I will do tiers(hopefully I won't forget anyone):

God/Iconic Tier-

Burt

Carole

Santana's mom(yes she appeared for like 10 minutes total at most but she was very supportive)

Brad

Bryan Ryan

Cooper (does he count as an adult? Lol why am I asking that)

Cassie July (sorry she was iconic, that's all)

David Martinez

Some mistake(s), overall you're a good fellow:

Carl (I mean he didn't do anything wrong, he was wronged more than wrong, if I do recall)

Isabelle (uggh such an amazing support for kurt)

Mike's mom (she tried to give him support and a positive push inspite of how negative his dad was)

Emma

Beiste (the thing in west side story 🙄)

Goolsby (idk where to put him, he was pretty iconic, a pot stirrer)

Roz (please remind me if I'm missing something horrible she did, the Becky vs Sue's kid thing is🤢 the way she went head to head with sue though is iconic of her)

You're on thin ice:

Carmen (not accepting Kurt is like a bigshot mistake tbh, but she will go here for being iconic with Rachel)

William

Get some therapy and come back:

Figgins (tbh I didnt know where to put him, he was virtually useless while the glee club was being bullied, he had his few good moments, also was horribly terrorized by sue)

Mike's dad (easy to put him lower, but though his means weren't good, he was trying to do the best for his son. In the end he came around, thankfully)

Terri (I think away from william she could start to grow, they weren't good for each other; obviously- she could possibly go in stay away from kids tbh...because yaaaa)

April (at the beginning she was very stay away from kids, she's still kinda on the verge but ehh, I think being around the glee kids helped her)

Stay away from children-

Santana's grandmother

Quinn's mom (really would've liked to see more development instead of just Quinn having to go back and live with her, then seeing nothing else from it)

Sue Sylvester

Ken Tanaka (I guess he wasnt HORRIBLE with the kids perhaps 😐 but no)

Sandy (ughhsjk)

Kendra(Terri's sister)

Shelby (sorry if you like her, yea she had some minor cute moments with Rachel, but all in all majority of her was not okay)

Holly (she just gave such horrible advice overall, and the shaming of children just because they didn't want to be sexually active?? Also what is teaching.)

Cooter (need I say anything)

Quinn's dad

-now tell me who I forgot because I feel like there's someones.

[genderless-consul]

Ok but the more I think about it the more I can’t get over how brilliant of an arrangement Don’t Speak actually is. 

Like, the way it takes full advantage of all four of them, the way it changes up the vocal pairings to accentuate the way these characters are inextricably tangled up in each other’s lives. 

Starting with Blinn (Flaine?) vs Hummelberry (Lima vs NYC), moving to Klaine vs Finchel for the chorus (the couples, so gloriously passive aggressive as they sing into each other’s faces), and then finally escalating to Raine vs Furt to drive home the new divide: the one who cheated vs the one who didn’t (yes I know Finchel were more complicated than that don’t @ me). 

The way all four of them come together with that iconic split screen (though I still insist it looks like they’re all lying on one very large bed singing four part harmony, ngl). The way Hummelberry get the last word of all the duets in the bridge, because they have each other and they have New York, so they’ll be able to move on (YES I KNOW I’M PROJECTING STORY ELEMENTS ONTO LINES THAT ARE ONLY ON THE STUDIO VERSION DON’T FUCKING @ ME).  The way Rachel takes it over down the stretch because she’s been hurting for months and she’s the one who’s least prepared for her plan to go sideways. 

The way it’s literally the only time that Finn, Rachel, and Kurt all sing at the same time and yes I will die mad. 

Idk I just really love this stupid fucking scene, it’s the rare galaxy brain Glee musical number that’s also narratively coherent and thematically powerful, and I’m so very grateful to Darren for making them do it. 

[miasswier]

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 1

1: The Quarterback

Written by: Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk (with special assistance from Lea Michele) Directed by: Brad Falchuk

Overall Thoughts: This episode is not number one because it’s my all-time favourite. It’s not number one because I watch it again and again. It’s not number one because my favourite characters have storylines, or because the music is particularly incredible. No, this episode is number one because I have never seen Glee get anything so damn right. The whole way this episode is structured is emotionally devastating, an incredible catharsis for both the actors and the fans. It’s been years, and I still weep watching it. There’s a reason it’s the highest ranked episode on IMDB, and the most well-known. I’ve always said that when Glee does things right, it does them right. This was completely and totally right.

What I Like:

The choice to focus on six characters, while still giving everybody else a little bit of something to do. I find Glee is always at it’s best when it keeps the focus small, while still allowing for the ensemble elements to bleed in. Getting to specifically watch Kurt, Santana, Puck, Will, and Rachel’s grief process was gutting, but worked so perfectly.

This is one of the most genuine episodes of Glee, in terms of acting, because a lot of what is being seen is not actually acting. It’s the actors grieving, and it packs such an emotional punch.

That scene where all the newbies are putting stuff around Finn’s locker and Kitty says “this is kind of cheesy” and Rachel says “no it’s not, it’s beautiful” is so fucking powerful.

Honestly, every scene with Rachel in it is so goddamn powerful. I always watch and feel so much respect for Lea Michele for doing this.

The scene with Kurt, Burt, and Carole is also a stand-out for me. It does frustrate me a little bit that they tried to re-write the history of the iconic and really important scene from “Theatricality” (though not enough to list it as a negative to this episode), but it works in the context because that’s how things happen. When somebody dies, you want to see the best in them, and that often causes you to change the way you viewed things before (and Burt’s realization that it was less about Finn and more about himself is like, ouch). But really, Carole is the one who steals the scene. She makes me sob so damn hard. The emotion is so raw. I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

The end scene with Will crying over the jacket was the absolute perfect way to end the episode. We finally get to see everybody grieve, and it feels (not to reuse words, but) cathartic. He held it in all episode long, but couldn’t any longer. We don’t have to either. We don’t have to be strong. We can hurt, and we can express that hurt. It’s okay.

What I Don’t Like:

The scene with Tina in Emma’s office always struck me as poorly thought out. Mainly because it’s the only scene Jenna Ushkowitz really gets in this episode, and she isn’t really allowed to show her grief, because they wanted to make at least one attempt at humour in this episode, and obviously it had to be made at Tina’s expense.

This isn’t about the episode itself, but ever since all the MS stuff happened, I feel very little emotion watching Puck’s scenes in this episode. Usually I can separate Puck from MS, but because this episode is so raw, and so much more the actors than the characters, I have a hard time sympathizing with him. But like I said, this is not as much about the episode as it is about my own personal feelings about that situation.

The fact that this episode had to be made at all.

Songs:

Seasons of Love: An amazing way to star the episode.

I’ll Stand by You: I’m so thankful that they reprised this iconic Finn song, and that they had Mercedes do it. I remember when this episode came out, people were confused about why Mercedes was singing it, but I think it made sense. Mercedes and Finn were always closer than people seemed to believe.

Fire and Rain: It does make me a little sad that this is the only thing Sam and Artie get to do in this episode, but I feel like their moment (especially Sam’s) comes more in “City of Angels”, and this is powerful enough to forgive them not having a larger role.

If I Die Young: This scene is so gutting. For some reason, I always think of this vs “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and it’s just… fuck me. It’s so emotional.

No Surrender: I always felt this was the weakest number in this episode, and, well, as I’ve already said, I have a bit of a hard time with the Puck aspects of this episode.

Make You Feel My Love: Fuck, this song. The second I hear the opening chords I start crying. I’m a fucking mess. Absolutely heartbreaking and raw as hell. So incredibly done by Lea Michele. Fuck.

Final Thoughts: I know it’s a bit of a sad episode to end the ranking on, but every time I considered putting an episode higher up than this one, I couldn’t do it. This is the absolute best episode that Glee has ever put out. They did absolute justice to both Cory and Finn, and it’s devastating to watch, but also cathartic as hell (I’m sorry I keep using this word) and just overall incredibly well done. Bravo, Glee. Bravo.

[frnknteen]

continuously updated important links pinned here !!

rules + verses + biographical info , also linked in the description , found here.

interest tracker found here.

main points of canon divergence found here ( and also in the bio linked in the description ).

where else can you find katie?

@riveir​ : river barkley of netflix’s the politician , headcanon / au - based ( primary )

@girlgilmore : rory gilmore of gil.more girls ( secondary )

@redbedroom : peyton sawyer of one tree hill ( teritary )

@worldsalight​ : multi - muse ( low activity )

important things to note under the cut.

i do prefer writing finn in au scenarios vs. gl.ee canon, whether it be exploring the rest of his college life / what things would have been like for him in the later seasons, adulthood things, or crossovers with other fandoms. this also means that i do prefer interactions to be plotted; if you ever wanna chat about something please just send an IM, or ask for my discord!

i’m iconless but that doesn’t mean you have to be. whether or not you use icons in our threads is totally up to you and i literally do not mind either way, i just get nervous that people think i’m expecting them not to or whatever and that’s totally not the case. if you worked hard on your icons and you think they look super cool feel free to use them. i bet they ARE super cool and i’d love to see them :)

i do have canon divergences that are both included in finn’s bio in the description and listed specifically in a separate post linked in the pinned post that i like to stick with. i’ve been kinda lenient about it if stuff i stay away from has come up but i do diverge from those things for a reason and it’s because i just don’t want to write them for one reason or another, and if you want to plot something otherwise please just let me know <3 otherwise, just please be aware that there are some things i change / exclude.

i am totally open to shipping, as long as our muses have mutual chemistry. the only hard no-ship i have on here in terms of what goes around the glee fandom is finn + kurt; the bottom line on that one is that they are brothers and refer to each other as such. i don’t really ship finn’s canon ships (finchel/fuinn) as they’re written on the show, but i’m totally down for writing shippy stuff for those relationships as long as it’s plotted with some divergence from canon we can both agree on. if you write quinn or rachel and send a shippy meme or stuff i’ll answer it in canon context as a default because i’d want to open the door for plotting / shipping, but i’m way more comfortable getting some depth going and stuff before it goes beyond that. an important note on that can be found here.

[angelhummel]

Kurtcedes, Kurtana, Kurtina, Hummelberry, Kuinn

Oof okay that’s so hard cause like they’re all gold but canon hates us and doesn’t want us to be happy so it’s hard to rank them but here we go

5) Kuinn. Sorry I know everyone’s on their Kuinn shit lately but yall know I’m not the craziest about Quinn period. Plus I think we actually got the least from them in canon. But I still cherish the one little hug or the handful of times they were partnered together during a number. They’re still cute, obviously, and there could’ve been something there

4) Kurtina. Still love them but Blina is supreme. Think we could’ve gotten a cute Klina triad friendship in s3 if they weren’t pushing so hard for Hummelberry. I especially love them in s1, with Tina dancing with Kurt, him picking her first as his fake gf, him sticking up for her when the bullies hurt her. And then they had one line in s2 about sweaters and then never spoke again until he insulted her at the wedding reception in s4 so...

3) Hummelberry. This goes here just because it’s what they forced on us, so in the end we did get the most content. Looking past any “best gay” bullshit it’s really not that bad. Even that scene in s1 where Rachel sees Finn and Quinn walking by and she just stands and stares after them and then Kurt walks into frame and watches them too before looking back at Rachel and then they give each other that little wave. It’s so cute and I get emotional over it. Also “You may be lonely, but you’re not alone” and Rachel being the only one to really try and do something about Karofsky in s2. And in s4 when she hypes him up before his NYADA audition. And s5 when she tells him that he shouldn’t try to be something he’s not and that he’s going to be a success no matter what bc he’s so unique and amazing. I know there’s the best gay bullshit and I know Kurt shoulders most of Rachel’s bs in the friendship but there’s still a lot of good to be found there.

2) Kurtana. Ahh this is hard I really feel like the top two are tied. It’s basically s4-5 of Kurtana vs s1 of Kurtcedes (and then some sprinkled in for like 4 and 5). Like the power they did have and the power they could’ve had are just astronomical and we were truly robbed here. But I still love a ton of stuff we did get. Buuut also even when Santana was at her best she was still insulting Kurt every two seconds with Lady this and that. Which Kurt litcherally said is bullying but I guess people don’t careee. But idk they still had lots of good moments and they were iconic and I also love the Kurtcheltana threesome <3 

1) Kurtcedes. You already knooow. I don’t care how dirty they were done, they were still the most iconic. They were unmatched in s1, they had all the power. Being besties the second glee club started, joining the Cheerios together, all their little jokes and asides. Literally everything out of their mouths is iconic. Also Kurt got so precious few duets with non-Blaine or Rachel people and he got two with Mercedes and they were great. 4 Minutes is one of the most iconic numbers on the show periodt. They were just amazing and we deserved so much better but they were still the best end of story

give me 5 glee things to rank!