You see, this past week in Glee meant more to me than most, if any, other episodes in the series. Another confession: I've watched "Silly Love Songs" at least 4 times since it aired on Tuesday night (and as I write this it's Friday afternoon). Moving on...
What about this episode made it my favorite episode? Was it the adorable new friendship that seems to have formed between Rachel, Mercedes, and Kurt? While I loved that, it's not the reason. Was it the astonishing developments between Blaine and Kurt? Very close because, OH-MY-GOODNESS I loved that. But that's still not it. Simply stated: Lauren Zizes.
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| Lauren pictured above from a previous episode. |
We have seen this character many times throughout the show (as a Vampire, sneeze attack girl, etc.) and at the end of last season, she became a prime time player (sort of) by joining New Directions only to help them have enough performers to compete for Regionals. Since then, the writers have given her more to work with and some of the best lines in each episode. This past week, she became something that no one on Glee has portrayed before. The character who brings the issue of weight and self-confidence. Yes, Mercedes is a confident character, but she isn't shown or described by her weight like Lauren was in this episode. [Side note: the only episode/storyline that angers me was the "tots" episode with Mercedes..so I don't count her in the weight representative role because it's never been a big part of who she is or how she is seen at McKinley High]. Moving on....
Glee is all about the "outcasts" in high school (Glee members, gay students, minorities, etc.) but until now, we hadn't really seen a story about weight & romance. Lauren is a bigger girl, but that's not the only reason I loved this episode. It's because of the character she portrays.
Typically on TV, we see overweight girls be shy/ not confident OR extremely asexual or unattractive to anyone, even themselves. But Lauren, excellently played by Ashley Fink, hasn't turned out to be either of those. Granted, she has changed over the course of her time on Glee to what we saw on Tuesday... but now we have seen a different side of Lauren. She isn't a desperate girl; she even requires Puck (Mark Salling) to "woo" her with more than just a song.
I love her confidence and her ability to be herself no matter what others may say about her. During the performance that Puck gives Lauren (the unfortunately titled "Fat-Bottom Girls") we see all the other girls looking shocked that Puck would sing anything to Lauren. At first, Lauren looked surprised as well, but later we see that she'll need more than just a song to get her to go on a date and she knows she deserves it. [!?!?] I can't remember another show that had such a strong female character who was "bigger than the usual bunch" and not self-loathing. She is confident and knows what she wants. It's so refreshing to see a strong, larger woman on such a hit show like Glee.
And that's why I love Lauren and why I now spell woman "Z-I-Z-E-S" (Quote from the episode, which you can view here: http://www.fox.com/glee/full-episodes/). I doubt Ashley will even read this, but if she does, I hope she knows that she's brought a wonderful new outlook to Glee and all of us "bigger" girls out there.
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