10. Continuity? What Continuity? What’s Character Development?
Arguably Glee’s biggest flaw – and certainly the one most pointed out by viewers, is the writers inability to conceive that what happened a season ago still counts. Or perhaps they’ve simply forgotten or never watched the episodes in the first place – it would certainly seem that way! I’ve mentioned some examples already – Quinn’s erased character development and Will’s teaching skills, but have a few more: Is Rachel the driven, talented girl with burning ambitions for stardom or a silly girl devoted to a high school marriage and unable to comprehend the idea of applying to a backup college? Who knows? Finn goes from being a reasonably good guy to a sore victim who outs lesbian Santana, whom he later claims means a lot to him despite previously always telling everybody else she meant nothing. Puck was revealed to have a vasectomy in season two but said nothing of it when Quinn begged him to impregnate her again. Brittany’s transformed from a ditzy cheerleader to a child in a teen’s body with a severe learning disability. I don’t even know who the Blaine character is – introduced as a seemingly older, suave mentor to Kurt who had suffered from bullying and gay bashing in the past, it’s later revealed in season three he is in fact younger than half the glee club and from there his character just goes all over the place. I’m only scraping the iceberg.
I wish I could say I listed all of Glee’s problems. This started as a list of five and I could make it a list of twenty. The show everyone either adored or avoided is now something nobody really thinks about anymore. Ratings and music sales have been in the decline accordingly. It’s easy to see why – Glee is, at best, a musical drama with some interesting if mostly ignored characters, and at worst an incomprehensible mess with a soundtrack. Still, there are reasons fans still stay watch it and reasons why they write out exceedingly long lists of all the things they wish would change.
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27 Comments
You have summarized the situation perfectly.
This is spot on, I loved the inclusion of pointless dalton. It really changed the dynamic of the show when the focus was on a rival school just so a character could get a boyfriend. Now Ryan Murphy plans to go back there because of the same fans that he shouldn’t have been listening to in the first place want to see those glorified backup dancers again.
Blaine is the definition of fan pandering(and Gary Stu).But yeah, this list is pretty much on point.
Appaluse, if only Ryan Murphy would read this and take these points to heart. I used to wait to see how big this show could get but now I’m just waiting to see its inevitable crash and burn.
This list is amazing. You only forgot one point, the sexism.
How about sexism? It’s probably one of the most offensive shows on tv and no one with a proper forum ever calls glee out on it. Examples: Mash Off, I Kissed a girl, Choke, and how about last night? Did anyone hear what Sam actually said to Blaine? Basically he said it’s totally okay if you’re gay as long as you’re not too feminine like Kurt. Outrageous. In the beginning, Finn was one of my favorites until they made him into some hypocritical, saint of knowing what’s best for everyone, especially the stupid, slutty, mean, diva, selfish, indecisive, oblivious girls. And why would they hire cheap carbon copies of the original cast? The cast > glee. They’re why people keep watching despite the incompetent and/or lazy writing. Because it’s what they brought to their characters that made them so lovable. And I don’t really think fan pandering is one of their problems, anymore at least. I think it’s their bias or arrogance or spite or too much interference from the network. It’s sad because glee started out so good and refreshing and relatable, but now it’s lost all its substance and relevance and direction.
sam didn’t say that. he basically said blaine was easier to relate to because he didn’t have any common interests other than glee with kurt. nothing wrong with that. he has no problem with kurt being gay and even got a black eye defending kurt and trying to get karofsky to leave kurt alone in season 2.
Kurt is consistently shown as being “less-than” because of his effeminacy. Sometimes it’s more subtle, like Sam’s conversation with Blaine, and sometimes it smacks you in the face, like the excuse that he was too effeminate to get the lead role in West Side Story (toothpick arms my ass). He’s always shown as being not-as-good as his oh-so perfect and “masculine” (laughable, really) boyfriend Blaine, and he’ll never be accepted as one of the “bros” because of it. The show’s treatment of Kurt, particularly compared to how it treats Blaine, is just one of the many examples of the rampant sexism on the show.
Excellent list. Dalton is where I started losing my love for Glee as well. The show is unwatchable for me now, and I only watch free, select clips of my favorites Kurt and Rachel. Such a waste of something that started out so good.
Just recently read a story of a troubled mother who pointed out how her son stopped watching when that effeminophobia was never properly adressed after IAU. What has glee become really?
Good thing he stopped though. Having Sue bail on Kurt because he’s not willing to wear a dress really was the most stupid thing on earth. God.
YES to everything you and Kristen said. Last episode pretty much destroyed Sam’s character for me. The Sam from S2 would never. The difference in treatment between Kurt and Blaine is blatant effeminophobia, and shows how femininity is presented as innately inferior to masculinity in Glee world.
This list is amazing. To me everything gone to hell when Blaine and the Warblers overstayed their welcome. They should have remained in support roles and disappear when the arc in S2 is over. And the root of that problem is #6.
This was brilliant. I could build a temple to this entire article, but of particular perfection are reasons 6 and 8. Oh, and 10. And as a devoted fan of Dave Karofsky, whose struggle cemented my obsession with the show, only to be traded in for a flashier model with a shinier chassis and melodious horn (got stuck in a bad metaphor – sorry!), I cannot say enough about how much Max Adler brought to the show – and how keenly his absense is felt now.
Thanks for writing this – and for expressing what many, many of us are thinking.
I agree completely. I found what the writers and producers did to Dave Karofsky really appalling. They created this “beauty and the beast” type story between Dave and Kurt, showing Dave’s transformation from a mean bully into a human being, and then they dumped him after he survived his suicide attempt. The “it gets better” speech felt contrived and perfunctory, a kind of quick wrap up to get the guy out of the way. They’ve done this to a lot of characters but the worse by far was Dave whom many fans adored and related to. I can’t watch Glee anymore because of it.
And as for Max Adler, he was fantastic as Dave and brought forth some of the best acting the show has ever seen, yet they treated him so disgracefully. The guy deserved better than that.
I think a large number of (former) Glee fans can totally relate to this. There is not one point in which I disagree with. I think Glee changed as a show, in tone, when Dalton/Blaine were introduced. After that, it was never the same, and sadly, never will be again. RIP Glee. You had a good (first 13) run.
close but sam didn’t cheat on quinn with santana. he dumped quinn and then started dating santana until santana cheated on him and fake dated david karofsky to hide the fact that she was a lesbian.
I watch Glee (due to presence of Chris Colfer).
And I have to say that this list is Perfect, 100% true.
#11. Finn Hudson
This is really spot on and I’m glad you used Quinn as an example for many of these instances as in my opinion she is the poster character for every inconsistency this show has ever experienced. Now, if only Ryan Murphy could read this, maybe he would stop ruining the show by announcing the return of Finchel together even though we haven’t even watched the break up episode yet. He doesn’t seem to realize that not everyone cares about their pointless drama and their toxic but painted as perfect relationship, and that lots of us would prefer if he could focus all this energy he puts into the ‘ships’ to making the actual show better.
Let’s not forget the racism (along with sexism)…like, comparing Mercedes to a man, because ignoring the obvious feminity of black women NEVER happens in our society. Also, most characters of color, who are actually identifiable as such, are straight up stereotypes and serve as furniture in the story arcs of white characters…Also, the show never stops the continual racist jokes, of the most basic nature, which are rarely inciteful or say anything at all about race, other than pointing out exactly how much “the other” one apparently is…I don’t suggest anyone watch this show anymore. ever.
@Jess << LOL EVERYTHING SHE SAID!! AND MORE
srsly the list is so long i can't keep up anymore!!
Bless. This. Article.
I’d also add that the new batch of so-called “writers” is one of the reasons the show went downhill. It was already before they came in of course, but since they added that bunch of lazy and extremely arrogant idiots, it’s even worse. I didn’t think that was possible and I was pretty happy to know they were adding writers at first. Had I known what it would become, I would have stopped to watch when S3 started. Oh well.
I can’t wait to see this show I once LOVED crash and burn (yes, I’m THAT disappointed and resentful). Hopefully, the actors will be successful once it’s over and the fans will finally have a chance to follow their favorites’ careers without being forced to watch that trainwreck anymore.
Perfect article. The worst problem is probably the fact the writers arent’t really “writing”, they are constantly massaging the ego of the two hugest and most vocal fanbases: Finchel fans and Klaine fans, despite of the fact that general audience is incredibly bored. No wonder the ratings reached the newest low. I mean, they are supposed to break up in the next episode, but we all now they will be together in the end, right? What’s the reason of watching a TV show if you already know the outcome?
I have only seen the 1st 2 seasons and I enjoyed them but I don’t like the idea of the music taking front and centre to characters. I think it should be 30% music 70% characters. But I am going to get season 3 and depending on that is may carry on watching the only thing I don’t want to happen as stated as one of the reasons is to recycle plot lines. Which i know they have abit with people break up getting back together breaking up etc
Interesting points and i have seen all 3 seasons and not really picked up on them but i am able to just watch stuff for what it is and enjoy it. I am not very good at picking those kinda faults in shows lol ^^;
“Whilst the good of bringing to light serious issues such as dangerous driving, suicide and domestic abuse is unmistakeable, it has been asked by many if it really is Glee’s job to raise awareness of such a delicate nature. Some argue that the show has lost a great deal of humour through botched attempts to deal with issues too big for its platform”
This is absolutely true of how they handled Sugar Motta and her “Asperger’s”. Sugar is the brunt of jokes on the show and was handled extremely poorly.
Bless you for writing this article. This came from a FORMER Glee watcher. I don’t care about Glee anymore.
The sheer amount of songs per episode is really beginning to annoy me. The latest episode, Girls (and Boys) On Film, had about 8 songs. It’s ridiculous and the show is becoming High School Musical: The TV Series. I liked when the show had only 3/4 (5 at the most) songs per episode with, maybe, more for competition episodes.
Though this article was written back in September, it’s more true now than ever before–for me the biggest fault of Glee is how they drop characters and storylines. After they jettisoned Dave Karofsky from the show, I decided not to watch it anymore, and I haven’t. Max Adler brought so much acting power and talent to that role, creating some of the most memorable scenes in the series’ lifespan. It seems baffling that any producer would decide then to dump such a character from the show. Glee’s plummeting slump in ratings is well-deserved given such decision making.