March 14, 2013

Episode Review: GLEE, "Feud"

Since everyone's fighting on Glee, I expected an over-dramatic episode (which it was), but I have to admit that there were a few a moments that I enjoyed, so I guess I cannot complain.

Much like this week's Justified, there were so many "feuds" going on, that I figured it'd be easier to break everything down by match-up.

Will vs. Finn
Will's still upset because Finn kissed Emma, and he took the petty route by making Finn do grunt work and making him jealous by praising Ryder. Of course, the only way to handle the tension was to sing about it, so New Directions assigned them to sing songs from famous musical rivals. At first, Finn just wanted to talk things out, but Will wasn't having it and delivered a low-blow by admitting that he only let Finn take over New Directions because he pitied him. The sing-off was on, and it was Backstreet Boys vs. N'Sync, but Will still wasn't ready to forgive Finn, so the latter decided to leave McKinley once and for all. As Finn gathered his stuff, Marley came by to say thank you before laying some hard truth on Mr. Hudson. She told him that he's a born leader who doesn't need to prove anything to Schue, and she even planted the idea that he should become a teacher.

Now, this is going to sound disingenuous  but I've been kicking around the idea of Finn becoming a teacher since he returned to Lima, and I think this could be the best move Glee could make. He's been Will's successor since the early days of the show, and his guidance made watching New Directions fun again. If this show's built for the long-haul (which I don't think it is, but that's for another day), then Finn becoming a teacher and taking over glee club down the line's a natural fit. Sure, it has a Screech goes back to Bayside feel to it, but they've already introduced the idea, so why not go full blast. As for the feud itself, I get why Will's mad but I just don't care at the point because he's kind of worn out his welcome (and that's coming from a longtime Will supporter). The sooner he's written out and Finn takes over, the better.

Ryder vs. Unique & Jake
In the card's handicap match, Ryder not only had to make things right with Jake for kissing Marley, but he also had to smooth things over with Unique since he messed with her girl and was insensitive towards her identity. You see, Ryder couldn't accept Unique as a girl since she's biologically a boy, and made a fuss of it after their feud assignment. Thankfully, he learned his lesson due to a mystery girl he met online and he asked Unique, Jake and Marley for forgiveness. It looked like things were going to be OK, but Unique came clean about being harrassed by some mean girls, and the calvary (including Kitty for some reason) circled the wagons around her.

Honestly, the writers are not doing Blake Jenner any favors by blatantly making him Finn 2.0/Will 3.0 because it robs him of being a character on his own. Heck, he they even had him playing a ukulele AND the drums during this episode. It doesn't get any more overt than that. And the fact that Murphy and Co. are making him a copy of a copy wasn't even the worst of it because Glee once again admitted that it hates "nice" guys by having Ryder be a jerk to Unique after he kissed his boy's girlfriend. So annoying! That said, I am intrigued by his mystery girl and fingers crossed that she turns out to be The Glee Project's Nellie.

Santana vs. Brody
In spite of all the evidence that Santana found that pointed to Brody being a drug dealer, Rachel was still not willing to believe her even though she wasn't sure how she felt about him. Since it's Santana, she refused to give up until everyone saw things her way, so she confronted him at NYADA and busted out some Paula Abdul. This bold move didn't go over well with Rachel and Kurt, so they kicked her out, but she got her revenge by exposing his secret life as a gigolo and called Finn in to beat him up.

I'm just going to say it; this Brody storyline is the worst thing Glee's ever come up with and that's saying something. First off, he's still not a fleshed-out character and has pretty much been a plot device since the start of the season. Now, usually I wouldn't care about his insignificance, but the show thinks his presence means more than it really does, and it's getting annoying. Honestly, I'm not going to care when Rachel breaks up with him... at all. And it's kind of a shame because Rachel being with someone else should've been interesting, but leave it to this group of writers to completely miss the boat. Back to Santana, I'd like to think that she's out of the loft for good but we cannot be that lucky. And when did Finn join the C.I.A. because his random appearance in NYC was some serious Homeland stuff.

Blaine vs. Sue
Sue needed Blaine to be in the Cheerios, so she blackmailed him into re-joining by pulling out a fake contract that he signed or something. Obviously, with it being feud week they had their own sing-off. This time it was Mariah Carey vs. Nicky Minaj. Somehow Sue won, so Blaine was forced to be on the Cheerios, but it turned out that he and Sam had planned it so he could take Sue down from the inside.

At first, I really hated this particular sub-plot because it made absoutley no sense whatsoever. Now, I know that I shouldn't expect Glee to make any sense after some of the stunts it's pulled, but I can usually suspend disbelief long enough to just go with it. I wasn't able to this time around because Sue feuding with Blaine was so out of nowhere that I couldn't compute. Yet, the swerve at the end salvaged the entire thing even though I don't understand Sam and Blaine's motivation at this point, but I can let that slide.

Other Odds and Ends:
  • Even though I'm not loving the spat between Will and Finn, the scene where Will took a verbal swipe at Finn was brutal and definitely the highlight of the episode.
  • I'm shocked that took Glee this long to get to "Cold Hearted."
  • Another high point: Finn and Marley. That's a bond I wish we had spent more time on, and hopefully this wasn't it for them.
  • What was with that dream sequence involving an actual fight between Finn and Will? It was just odd.
  • I liked how the episode hung a lampshade on the fact that the newbies will be the future of New Directions, and I'd much rather have them be the focus of Season 5 than an all New York season.
  • Can we get away from the cheerleaders threatening to deny their true feelings in the real world? It's just lazy.
  • Finn's "future wife" bit was too much.
  • "Dude, you really need to grow a pair."
I'll admit that some of the good will that Season 4 cultivated early on has been spent, and these last couple of episodes are largely to blame, but I'm still entertained by Glee at the end of the day. Yes, "Feud" wasn't the show's best effort, but I got a kicked out of some of it, and I'm OK with that for now.

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