Glee Does Gay, Straight, and Bi In "Duets"

It’s time for this week’s Glee rant.

Last night’s episode centered on a duet competition proposed by Mr. Schuester, the prize for which a coveted gift certificate to the crave-worthy Breadsticks restaurant (think Olive Garden). Each club member scrambled to find a partner that would lead them to victory, leading to some unexpected pairings and interesting duets.

Although one face in particular was missing from the bunch. Puck has been put in juvenile hall for driving his mom's Volvo into a convenience store and leaving with the ATM, and it’s unknown as to when he will return. When the cat’s away, the mice – or Cheerios – will play! With Puck gone, Santana got a little lonely and turned to Brittany for a little girl-on-girl action, saying about her sex drive, “I'm like a lizard. I need something warm beneath me or else I can't digest my food.”

Brittany and Santana sharing a moment.

However, Santana ditched the ditzy blond for resident diva Mercedes for a fabulous take on “River Deep, Mountain High.” Naya Rivera got to show off a vocal talent that I had underestimated until recently. I don’t know if she had voice lessons between seasons or if it was just a poor choice by the directors to keep her out of the spotlight, but she proved herself to be a capable singer – perhaps not the show-stopper duet partner Amber Riley is, but a voice I’d surely like to hear more from as the season progresses.

The belting beauties.

The abandoned Brittany then hooked onto Artie after he was denied by Tina, only to take his v-card. Seriously, Glee? Wow. That was a little unexpected, and frankly it came out of left field. I also thought it was strange for Artie to place blame on Brittany after the fact for having sex with him when it meant nothing to her. He knows she’s a slut – the whole school does. And he certainly could have said “no.” It just seems that if Artie wanted to lose his virginity to someone who cared, he should have done it with someone he had been dating for more than one week.

The direction in which Kurt’s character has headed is irritating to me. After coming out, it seems that the only value to his character, as his plotlines have shown, is that he’s gay. Of course a new boy comes to town, and all he can think about is flirting with him. And he sang a duet… with himself. Why? To sing as both his feminine and masculine parts. Give me a break. Gay people have more to them than their sexuality, and Glee – a self-professed show for the misfits – should embrace that rather than give the subject such a hackneyed, superficial treatment.

While I have wanted to see Mike Chang featured more, it seemed they didn’t showcase his abilities very well. “Sing” from A Chorus Line was a cute and fitting selection for Mike as he’s a dancer rather than a singer, but they barely gave him any choreography. I want to see that boy dance! Not to mention Tina can’t sing at all, so Mike should have picked someone else to complete his lyrical sentences if he really wanted to go to Breadsticks. I don’t know why they would cast Jenna Ushkowitz for any reason other than her race, since she can’t sing, she can’t dance, she can’t act, and she’s not particularly attractive.

“Lucky” was an underwhelming duet between Sam and Quinn, but the mellow pop song was a perfect fit for their less-than-powerful voices. I’m kind of confused about Sam as the new kid in town, and I haven’t formed an opinion yet on the fish-lipped actor Chord Overstreet (which is a ridiculous name). I do, however, know that Quinn needs to keep her legs closed. Girl just had a baby!

I won’t talk about the duets between Finn and Rachel because, frankly, I wasn’t paying attention to them. The two have gotten so overexposed that I’m tired of their characters, hearing them sing, their storylines – the whole thing.

Finally, I just have to thank the show for selecting the “Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy” duet. I had never heard the arrangement of the two songs as a duet before, and I instantly fell in love. I immediately tracked down the original with Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland on the latter’s television show from 1963 and have been replaying constantly since. Lea Michele and Chris Colfer sang a sweet rendition, which I could enjoy if I closed my eyes – yes, I’m talking about your nasty faces, Lea. The duet was a lovely way to end the show.

Tim Gunn Advocates The Prevention of Gay Suicide In His Vlog

On Tuesday, our favorite dapper fashion host Tim Gunn posted a vlog entry on his Facebook page on Tuesday with a word for struggling GLBT and questioning youths in keeping with the "It Gets Better" project for preventing gay suicide.

“As a 17-year-old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I attempted to kill myself and I’m very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful. But at the time it’s all that I could contemplate. I thought, ‘I need to end things right now.’ And I have to tell you, when I woke up the next morning after taking more than 100 pills, I was in a whole other level of despair. I thought ‘I shouldn’t be here. This isn’t what was meant to be.’ I frankly just wanted to start life all over again.

"There are people who can help you. You cannot do this alone. That’s another very profound message that I want to give to all of you. It really requires a collaboration between you and the people who love you, the people you can depend upon, no matter who they are as mentors. In my case it took a very serious intervention to help me. And it was the result of the botched suicide attempt, to be blunt...

“I understand the desperation, I understand the despair and I understand how isolated you can feel. You have a lot of — I get very emotional — people really care about you and I’m included in that group. So reach out, get help, you are not alone. It will get better, I promise.”

Also in the vlog, he promoted The Trevor Project, a suicide hotline for GLBTQ youth, which can be found at www.thetrevorproject.org and 866-4-U-TREVOR.

This is just another example of how Tim Gunn's awesomeness knows no bounds.

Glee Gets Its God On, As Does Modern Family

This week’s Glee post is a little late, but I’m going to post it regardless. Last week I noted my disappointment with the direction the series has been taking this season, and this episode didn’t change my opinion. It was littered with odd songs paired with weak performances, and a theme worthy of an after-school special.

Grilled godly goodness.

According to the October 11^th issue of Us Weekly, the average songs per episode is being trimmed down from nine to six this season, since, co-creator Ryan Murphy says, “we’re concentrating more on the stories and giving the supporting characters bigger plot lines.” This would be great, of course, if the plotlines they devise aren’t so vapid as to center a whole episode on a grilled cheese sandwich.

Now, I have to admit, the Grilled Cheesus was a clever idea, but I didn’t like that it led to a preachy episode about beliefs. And dearest Fox Network, why is it the gay kid who’s the atheist, hmm? No way would Fox show a homosexual Christian, because to them that’s an oxymoron. But of course, we discover Kurt’s atheistic tendencies when his dad winds up in the hospital in critical condition after suffering a heart attack. This prompts the glee clubbers to send Kurt their prayers, which Kurt then shuns, thus sparking a conversation on religion and all different kinds of belief. Finn has his sandwich, Puck is a Jew for Jesus, and they even make a reference to the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Lea Michele was only given one solo this time (praise Grilled Cheesus!), but I felt a little uncomfortable watching her sing to Kurt’s dad at his bedside, all the while calling him “Papa.” Did anyone else think it was weird that these kids were in his hospital room? Sure, they’re all in glee club with Kurt, but it never seemed like they were all that close to Kurt and he didn’t even seem to want their support in the first place.

As much as the religion theme irked me, I will continue to watch, if only to see the minor characters get their chance in the spotlight as promised. Last week’s concentration on Brittany was amazing, and I hope that this Artie/Tina/Mark love triangle will give Harry Shum Jr. a chance to shine as well. Although, if they keep running weak performances like Mark Salling’s “Only the Good Die Young,” I’ll just be forced to fast forward right through. Amen for DVR.

Did anyone else notice that Modern Family had an episode about Christianity vs. atheism this week? Unlike Glee, Family managed to keep the religious theme as only part of the plot rather than the crux of it, which made it bearable. It was also endearing the way they placed a curious and questioning Manny in between his Christian mother and atheist Stepfather, trying to clarify his own beliefs. It was lighthearted and fun, which made it much more successful than Glee’s ram-it-down-your-throat, Full House-esque tactlessness.