The CaPC Water Cooler: “The kid is an incredible moron.”

Read what came before or after this.

Ben writes,

Heh… I disagree, but that was one of your best arguments ever.

No question the moment with Finn’s mom was terrific. Not only was the acting good, but I thought the written dialogue was fabulous.

“Were you singing to a sonogram?”
“Um, yeah.”
pause.
“Is Quinn pregnant?”

Fabulous example of not overwriting.

Mercedes and Puck did not work at all, for two key reasons. First, I say Puck DOES have reason to be angry and frustrated. It’s his darn kid too!

But more importantly, Mercedes reaction was both unbelievable and bad. Unbelievable in that no high schooler ever reacts that way to news of that magnitude. Bad in that the concept of a pregnant woman having the right to choose who she wants to rope in as the father of her child is completely immoral. Mercedes feeling morally justified in perpetuating a lie for the sake of “supporting” Quinn is completely wrong, and I did not get the sense at all that this is something they plan to correct in her character later on.

Side note: It was pretty hilarious when they were talking to Quinn’s parents and he was like, “We didn’t even have sex!” The kid is an incredible moron.

I guess my problem with Quinn’s parents was that they seemed to be upheld as a stereotype… rich, drunk, and radio-talk-show-conservative (as if the three normally go together). You watch them and are constantly barraged with what “people like that” do… they pay lip service to religion, get on their kids about their weight and success, don’t face problems, don’t accept their pregnant daughter, etc. etc… it would be one thing if there were ANY other religious or conservative people in the entire show. But there aren’t… this is the one picture we get of anyone religious or conservative, and it’s just constant reinforcement of all the worst stereotypes. I hate that sort of blatent obtuseness in TV or movie writing.

Maybe I just know too many gay people, but the Kurt thing was a really idiotic portrayal of a gay person. Gay people believe strongly in the natural element of sexuality, they don’t go for straight guys and try to convert them. ESPECIALLY not your classic dumb male jock types. His relationship with Mercedes is a LOT more believable.

I don’t mind the show being a little silly at times (not a huge fan of the girls swooning together over Mr. Schuster, but it was definitely in the silly category so I’ll give it to them), but I think the show is consistent about wavering between silly moments and serious comments on people and society. My problem is that a lot of things come across as serious comments that are extremely unhelpful.

Rich writes,

You make a convincing argument about Puck and Finn. But I am far from convinced that the show has picked a side. I guess time will tell on that front.

I say we petition the show for more of Finn’s mom! The performance and writing is just too good to be a one-off .

Also, I think you may be underestimating how stupid some kids can be. I dunno, Finn is pretty close to being way too moronic, but in my opinion they skirt the line quite nicely.

I have two rules for portraying stereotypes in television shows: First, they must actually exist in real life. And second, they must have the opportunity to explain their stereotypical behavior to the audience. The show has already pulled this off with Quinn. She was the typical cheerleader, a hypocritical, overly mean teenage girl. But we have come to find out that she’s that way precisely because her parents are that way.

Already, we hear from her parents why they are so hurt by this pregnancy and why they can’t help but be disappointed by her. They are wrong, of course, to kick her out of the house, but at least we understand where they are coming from. My suspicion is that we’ll get explanations for the other things in later shows.

As far as knowing gay people, I have NOT known a wealth of them, especially growing up in the south. But Kurt felt real to me, and and at least I didn’t feel that he was a cartoon. I don’t feel like him hitting on Kurt was meant to be all that real but I do feel like it pointed to something real and touching: Kurt’s acute loneliness. His situation has him wondering if he will ever find someone who truly gets him. So he reaches in silly places and does silly things in the meantime. Just like Rachel, and Suzy Pepper (was that her name?). As silly as those stories may have been, they at least had a core of truth behind them: high school students can be lonely.