The CaPC Water Cooler: “Actions have consequences!”

Read the other entries in this installment of the water cooler.

Ben writes,

Hey Rich,

The most recent episode certainly took a step back from the absurd! It was nice to see some of the loose ends being tied back in.

Throughout the episode, one simple thought kept running through my mind; actions have consequences! You cannot hide a pregnancy from your husband, you cannot flaunt the rules, and you cannot avoid being identified with groups you commit yourself to.

And yet the show also seemed to say that even though there are consequences, accepting those consequences is healthier than hiding from them. When Will discovers his wife’s lie, it is one of the most intense scenes of the show thus far. And yet, in some way it brings clarity to their relationship that it desperately needed; and thanks to Emma, that clarity does not necessarily result in seperation yet. When Sue enforces the rules governing payment for performance, the club loses its leader- and yet they are made to realize their pursuit of stardom can hurt people around them. And when Quinn chooses to commit herself entirely to Glee, outmaneuvering Sue in the process, she identifies entirely with a much lower social class than she is used to- but realizes she is better for it. Even something as simple as a yearbook picture becomes a metaphor for accepting the consequences of your choices!

In short, I was deeply appreciative that this episode addressed my problem with storylines that managed to float in the air episode after episode. Great show!

Rich writes,

Yep, this was definitely one of the good ones. We’ve both been waiting for Will’s wife to be portrayed in some less villainous way, and the show seems to have been leading us to this point just so it could sucker punch us with the idea. That’s a technique that is often called into question, and I’m a bit undecided, but the show used it to great affect, making us feel a genuine and appropriate guilt not only for hating his wife but also for assuming that a divorce is inevitable. When Will replies to Emma, “Who said anything about divorce?” it was as if the show was directing the question back at us. And yet, the show is well aware that the cultural context we are in means that we read the storyline up to this point as the story of an inevitably doomed marriage. I don’t know where it’s going to go from here, but I’m glad they’ve at least called that into question.

As a side note, it only goes to show how worldview can affect one’s storytelling. Many people writing movie and television scripts view divorce as inevitable after some huge deception or betrayal like this. Glee calls that assumption out for what it is: lazy storytelling.

All that said, surely you have some complaints about the episode? Or did Glee just redeem itself?