'Glee' recap: Fighting back and first kisses

The characters on “Glee” have been slushied, thrown in dumpsters, tossed against lockers and ridiculed so regularly it’s come to seem routine. But on Tuesday night’s episode, “Never Been Kissed,” one character opted to fight back as the show tackled a theme that’s been much in the news of late: the bullying of gay teens, an issue so pressing and scary it has prompted a major video outreach campaign.  

(Spoiler alert: Key plot points will be disclosed here, so if you haven’t watched Tuesday night’s episode yet, be warned.)

In an interview with the New York Times this week, “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy said the plot had long been in the works, but that the media attention to the subject of bullying had added a sense of importance. He also said the storyline will continue for the rest of the season. That’s good news, since the treatment of bullying played heavily on the clichéd and seemed to raise more questions than it answered.

In fact, the episode raised all sorts of questions.

Among them:

1. The moment that the bully football player kissed Kurt: shocking or cliché … or (strangely) both? It’s surely a testament to the talent of the “Glee” writers and actors that the moment that the football player switched from violently manhandling Kurt to passionately kissing him startled us almost as much as it did Kurt. After all, isn’t it one of the oldest tropes in the book when the bully turns out to be hiding the very thing he’s condemning in his victim? Or maybe what we were most startled by was the bully football player’s sudden transition from a faceless tool in a letter jacket to a nuanced character with a back story and hidden motives of his own. Either way, it was good to be confronted with our own unwitting preconceptions and reminded that the characters (even that sophisticate Kurt) can still surprise one another –- and us.

2. Has anyone out there started a “Glee” drinking game in which you take a sip of your beverage (or whatever, a bite of your breadstick) every time abs are flashed or mentioned? If not, it may be an idea whose time has come.

3. How satisfying is it to see Kurt –- finally –- with a love interest?And how cute was that awkward-armed run through the halls of Dalton, the flirty banter, the “Teenage Dream” serenade? (Vanity Fair has a fun, revealing interview with the actor who plays love interest Blaine, Darren Criss, here.) Here’s looking forward to Kurt’s first real kiss.

4. Which was Sue’s best line of the night: when she referred to Sam as Quinn’s “Macaulay Culkin stunt double” or when she said to a slow-to-comprehend Will, “I believe I just said that, Annie Sullivan. You want me to sign it into your palm?”? Or maybe there’s another line you liked even better? 

5.  Is it us, or was that Will/Coach Beiste kiss gratuitous and odd? And was it also strange that the Beiste character is looking to her own high school students to gauge her own desirability? This storyline just got kind of hazy and creepy. I don’t know, maybe it is just us, but we like Beiste best when she’s cranking out thunkers like “Watch your tone with me, missy. You crap on my leg, I’ll cut it off.” And geez, who hasn’t Will kissed at this point?

6. Puck smokes clove cigarettes? Full of surprises, that guy. Not the least of which was that unexpected outburst in the principal’s office. But the Puck/Artie duet “People Get Ready (One Love)” was lovely to listen to.

7. When will Will stop making us cringe?Seriously, how (and why) did he go from telling the glee clubbers that Coach Beiste must never know about their insulting “cooling off” practice because she’d be deeply hurt to cruelly spilling the beans himself? He should have been in that "Stop! In the Name of Love/Free Your Mind" mash-up number with the rest of the guys asking the coach for her forgiveness. On second thought (Britney episode flashback), maybe not.

What did you think of the episode –- the songs, the subject matter, the plot points? What do you think worked? What didn’t? Is it a good or bad sign when an episode ends with a group hug? Were you left with questions of your own?

-- Amy Reiter

Photo: Artie (Kevin McHale), Sam (Chord Overstreet), Kurt (Chris Colfer), Finn (Cory Monteith), Mike (Harry Shum Jr.) and Puck (Mark Salling) perform for Coach Beiste, right, in the "Never Been Kissed" episode of "Glee." Credit: Adam Rose/FOX.

Comments

[Chuck Anziulewicz]

As a Gay man who knows full well what anti-Gay bullying in high school (and especially junior high school) can be like, I thought the kiss scene in "Glee" was actually rather poignant, because it forced viewers to confront what a lot of us already know: The bullies out there often have their own crosses to bear, and sometimes that includes their own sexual denial.

[Tyler]

In terms of the kiss - the entire scenario left me feeling unsatisfied. The bully-turned-repressed individual is the oldest story in the book and with this brut man-handling Kurt into a kiss that lacked intimacy, meaning or LOGIC - it was uncomfortable to watch. Team Blaine!

[Annie C]

I like the idea of a Glee drinking game: Take a drink everytime the school bell rings!

[Jennifer]

It may be the oldest story in the book, but how many times in the newspaper have we seen the most virulent anti-gay crusaders end up having secret affairs with men? Rentboy anyone? Seems to be that Glee is just being topical.

[KentG]

First of all, Chris Colfer should win an Emmy next year. Secondly, I loved the Teenage Dream performance by the Warblers and I was one of the one million plus who downloaded it from Itunes after the eposide. Thirdly I hope Blaine (Darren Criss) and Kurt becomes more than friends. Fourthly, the kiss between Shue and Beiste was wierd.

[Elena (2)]

Finally. Finally this show has come back to what I loved before the Grilled Cheesuses and the Rocky Horrors. Sue Sylvester's best line is most definitely "To my left I have one confetti cannon. To my right you'll find another confetti cannon. You know what that means? We got Beiste fired. And my full budget is restored. Hahahahahahahah!" and the whole scene. It's still a small amount of Sue's badassesness(?), but it's better than the past couple of episodes. I've found Puck's story is pointless and boring, same for his relationship with Artie: lame. Kurt's storyline is, on the contrary, the most interesting, deep, real, touching... I did not find Karofsky's kiss that much cliché, probably because the scene and the story has been perfectly played and planned. Finally, I am amazed at how Chris Colfer is becoming a better actor episode after episode. I wish him the best of luck to become one of Holliwood stars!

[Cassie]

I didn't like the whole Kurt/football player storyline. How is it that Kurt goes weeks and weeks without even one taunt from anyone at school and then all of a sudden, there's this guy who just won't leave him alone?

Also, I thought that guy WASN'T a football player? Wasn't he the one that, once the whole school finds out Quinn is pregnant, shoves Finn into the locker and tells him that's what he gets for making fun of him playing hockey? Or something along those lines?

I think the Blaine storyline has promise - but I thought it was weak for Blaine to show up at McKinley (at Kurt's request?) to confront the jock. Wouldn't it have been more powerful if the fellow Gleeks stood up for Kurt? Isn't that one of the best ways to stand up to a bully (esp if the adults aren't going to do anything) - to have others speak up and band together? Why does it seem like Kurt was going to an entirely different school (complete with being physically assaulted and bullied) while the other Gleeks are "worrying" about what to do during makeout sessions?

Will and Beiste kissing was... predictable, but strange. There's definitely an ick factor there because Will has kissed just about every female on the show.

I liked the previous episode (the Rocky Horror one) to this one by a lot. Not that I don't think Glee can have serious episodes (the one where Kurt's dad ends up in the hospital was weighty) but because this one was just all over the place.

[Tennessee]

I liked the episode a lot. It may not be perfect in the way it's dealing with the bullying issue, but then I don't think there is one true 'right' way to adress these things.

And on a completely shallow note, I just love Chris Colfer's acting and I can't wait to see how Kurt and Blaine's storyline turns out.

[markiejoe]

Far and away the best Glee episode so far, of both seasons. It got back to character development and character storylines (as opposed to the "theme" episodes in which everything just stopped for a week to pay tribute to somebody we may or may not care about). These characters can be the most interesting, touching, infuriating, lovable people on television when Murphy & Co. writes backstory and writes them relating to each other, and when the songs actually pertain to the story instead of just honoring a meat dress.

And as a gay man who has seen and heard it all and who is not easily shocked, I not only found the Big Kiss scene to be completely shocking (I did NOT see it coming), but extremely well done. Well written AND well acted by both of the actors involved. I've replayed it several times and I think it could have been an awful scene if the actors hadn't performed it so well, but because they did, it didn't come off, to me, as cliched at all. Colfer earned his Emmy nod, and the big boy was superb. Kudos.

And I was also very moved by the Will/Beast kissing scene. No problem for me with that one. Been there, done that.

Yup, best episode by far.

[Alan]

Overall, I thought this episode was one of the most interesting ones I've seen on this show. It had everything - plot twists, new friendships created, good acting (especially Chris Colfer) and great mash-ups (thanx to Adam Anders)! I look forward to seeing more of the show in the coming months :-)