Monthly Archives: May 2011

Lately I’ve been wishing Glee would take a note from Ugly Betty (the totally awesome show that everyone loved the first season then forgot about even though it stayed awesome for the remainder of its run) and get better at balancing humor, heart, and the occasional life’s lesson when my favorite reviewer said it way more perfectly than I ever could:

I complained about the preachiness of Kurt’s lines in “Prom Queen,” and later on, I was reminded by others of the fact that Ugly Betty had done the same plot – the gay boy is named prom queen – or homecoming, rather – by bullies. But, on Ugly Betty, the gay character, Justin, doesn’t run off crying before giving a long speech describing his emotions and the precise reasons behind them. Instead, we simply see a shot of him looking terribly hurt – which speaks volumes more than a speech would have – before he instantly brushes himself off, marches right to the stage, and accepts the award, to show the bullies they haven’t gotten to him, even though we know that he is laughing through his pain. It’s not only about being a bit more subtle. It’s also about respecting your audience and their intelligence, and about taking pride in your writing, and that is something that Glee has lost lately.

The writer’s need to stop preaching through Kurt. It’s getting pretty old, and I don’t want to get annoyed by my favorite character. And don’t even get me started on the funeral episode. Yes, I cried, but I felt cheap because I’m so easily manipulated.