I usually try to keep my blog about personal thoughts, reflections, or prayer requests. For this particular entry, however, I wanted to share some thoughts on one of my favorite topics: TV. In particular I would like to discuss the recent Christmas episodes of two of my favorite shows, GLEE and Community.
SPOILER ALERT!
If you haven't watched either "A Very Glee Christmas" or "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" then I suggest you come back after you have watched these delightful episodes.
First, GLEE. I have had my ups and downs with this show since last year's winter break. I always feel like I am opposite of most others who watch the show. When everyone loves Finn, I can't stand him. When others are annoyed and anxious about Rachel, I love her. I'm not sure how others felt about this episode, but I know I just loved it. I thought the characters were more real to the original characters in season 1 than they have been in recent episodes. I admired Finn for not immediately taking Rachel back as well as for not being bitter or mean towards her. He would have been justified to treat her coldly, yet he chose to try and be positive/civil even though he was so hurt by what she had done. Finn has grown to be a much more mature and even thoughful (who would have known?) person this season. His character has developed into someone of integrity and honesty and that is one of my favorite things about TV...the growth and development of characters.
I loved Kurt and Blaine's duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside". I love these two together. We have yet to learn Blaine's feelings for Kurt but this episode leaned heavily on the side of possible romance between the two. From what we have seen of Blaine, he seems to be a great model for Kurt to learn how to be comfortable in his own skin. We have seen Kurt be very confident and proud of who he is in previous season 1 episodes, but recently that has slowly been chipping away with the physical bullying and lonliness he has expressed. I'm glad that Blaine has become someone who can build him back up again. I'm very excited to see what develops between the two.
I enjoyed the "feeling" of joy and how the glee club was trying to push past the negative surrounding them, even when life seems to be sucky. There have been times this season when I felt GLEE tried too hard to be "deep" or emotional and all that came across was shallow and empty. This episode, thankfully, was not like that. I felt the characters honestly wanted to hope in something more than the situations they found themselves in. They wanted to save Brittany's reality that Santa existed, even if just one more year. I believed each song they sang and I believed that they were trying to be helpful, if not only for homelessness or orphans, then for each other and the club as a whole. Although, I have missed Mercedes storylines this season (and the tot episode? What was that all about?) but I am hopeful that we'll see more from her when the show returns after the Super Bowl. *Fingers-crossed *
And now, Community , oh how I love thee. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't sure what this show was about when it premiered last year. Sure it made fun of community college students or the community college "type" but would we watch each week if the same jokes were made? (Some may argue that ratings are pretty low, but that's besides the point). I'm not sure if the writers even knew what they wanted the show to be when it first began. In my opinion, most shows are like plants that need to be planted and grown into the flowers they could be if we gave them a chance, but that's for another blog post. Towards the end of the first season, I began to sense what this show was. It wanted to make fun of things in pop culture and have it's own take on what's popular but it also has a heart of it's own. The heart lies with these characters that randomly came together for a study group and grew into a family. Did I feel cheesy writing that last line, you bet I did. But it's true, and this Christmas episode highlighted that point perfectly.
Without losing the sarcasm of Jeff or the one-liners from Pierce, we got an episode about family, Christmas, expectations, and meaning.
The entire episode revolves around Abed and his illusion of being clay-mation for a purpose that takes the crew on a journey (and the entire episode) to find. Abed is not an emotional character. It wouldn't make sense for him to deal with the sudden changes in his family (which isn't discovered until close to the end) in any other way but through the movies he knows. Each December 9th, he would watch Rudolph with his mom so why not deal with his pain through the same lense that he would watch the original clay-mation movie? I thought it was brilliant and honest to the character Abed was created to be.
Each of the "christmas" bodies for everyone were spot-on (except Babydoll Shirley... not sure I get that one yet). Troy Soldier, Britta-bot...awesome. The refence to LOST was superb! I completely agree with the outcome that Christmas (and LOST) really are what you make them to be. If it means something to you then that's exactly what it means. I loved seeing the care and concern they all had for Abed and their willingness to journey with him through his personal wonderland. Very touching and yet still complete with Community wit and edge complete with a remote controlled pterodactyls.
These episodes remind me of why I love television so much. It can express feelings, ideas, visions, or reflections to such a large number of people and is such a large part of our American culture today. I loved the heart in each of these episodes and the brilliant writing staff that wrote such great and moving stories. These are some of my favorites this season. Now, we break for the winter and new shows return in February!
Thank you for letting me indulge in TV chatter . Merry Christmas everyone!
