openingyourselfuptojoy | Here's What You Missed on: Goodbye!

So what's going to happen to him *now*? Place your bets and headcanons here!

Let's talk about them lyrics, shall we?

So, why did Kurt were a bug broach to graduate? Let's talk about any visual references here!

Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat.

(or, any continuity should be discussed here)

They graduated wearing red.

(or, summon needs_more_green here)

Anything else you want to talk about? Let's do it here!

(I know, I know. The graduation episode focused on the seniors, and here I am talking about Blaine already! Sorry!)

So, last night, either on tumblr or somebody's episode discussion, someone brought up this point: Blaine is always Kurt's prize for the crappy stuff that happens in his life.

- He gets bullied severely, BUT then he meets a boy who is literally a Teenaged Dream.

- The Warblers lose Regionals, BUT, Kurt gets the boy. (the person even had a quote from Ryan saying that Original Song was when they HAD to get Klaine together--otherwise, it was too depressing)

- He loses the lead role in the musical for being 'too gay', but gets Blaine's virginity a few episodes later.

The person then theorized that Season 4 is going to open with Klaine getting married, to compensate for Kurt not getting into NYADA.

So, I'm curious about other people's thinky-thoughts on this theory are? Because I think it's interesting, but not necessarily valid.

Blaine would blue so much in this episode. He doesn't usually do that. Kurt wore a surprising amount of blue, as well. Rachel, otoh, wore quite a bit of red.

Quinn's dress when she's talking to Sue! Orange and red and yellow and blue and purple and green.

Puck's wearing green when he gets his passing grade.

SDYRTB was perfect. I saw the set pic from that weeks ago, and I honestly thought that the actors were just goofing off b/w takes. I was happy to be wrong.

The "Priority #1 - Help the Kids" clipping on the wall in Will's office. Did anyone catch the camera suddenly focus on it during Will's confession to Finn that he'd spied on him in the showers and planted the weed in his locker? It's a nice parallel to the pilot - I think that the audience gets a shot of that clipping when Will is actually ~~persuading~~ blackmailing Finn to join the glee club.

On the blackboard behind Kurt and Blaine during their scene, the only two words I can make out are must and end.

It's the same one from his diva-off with Rachel in Wheels, where they sing Defying Gravity.

Since his internal monologue was about how he's grown, and also how he's changed McKinley in some way (tadpole gays) maybe it's that by this point, by the time he graduated, he's already defied gravity?

Didn't he also wear that broach for the Defying Gravity diva-off? If he did, it's an interesting tie to the Glinda/Elphaba parallel that he and Rachel have. Glinda stayed in Oz, right?

*wore. Damn it.

- Am I the only one not upset over Kurt not getting in? It makes me think of Kurt filling out his application form and how empty it was, and when Shelby told Rachel, "Such an impressive resume. You have the musical and all of the clubs and maybe even student council president. I feel bad for all the kids that don't have these big ticket items in their CVs. They don't have a chance in hell of getting into NYADA." Also, the fact that Jesse St. James didn't get in.
- Finchel was perfection.
- Brittany still thinks Joe's a girl.
- I loved the episode, but I still feel a little...underwhelmed. I guess "Nationals" felt more like an ending, to me? But then I remind myelf that this isn't an ending. Still. A little underwhelmed. I expected to cry a lot more.

Also not upset. I think that season four will be more interesting because of it, and I also feel that NYADA was set up to be Rachel's victory moment, not Kurt's. Kurt's victory moment was his audition, where he gave the performance that he wanted to and it was accepted and he received the recognition that he really hadn't before.

I also loved the last Finchel scene, in Finn's car. I didn't see that coming and it was heartwrenching to see Rachel blindsided and Finn struggling to do what he needed to do and put her on that train.

The scene b/w Quinn and Sue was another favourite of mine.

And in the scene with Kurt and Blaine together in that random classroom, Blaine is practically wearing his Dalton uniform again. White shirt, navy sweatervest instead of the blazer, and a red-and-navy striped bowtie. no wonder I was feeling so sentimenal about him in that scene!

I was surprised by it, but not really upset. And in retrospect it made sense to me; Burt said "You won!" back when Kurt got the letter about being a Finalist. That was the victory moment, and Not The Boy Next Door was a celebration/victory.

rm/

lettersfromtitan has some insight on the nature of highly selective programs here. (For anyone unfamiliar with her writing, the Glee tag on her primary blog is well worth reading.)

I had SO MUCH RAGE last night, lol. I think I would have been more ok if Rachel hadn't gotten in either. It's presented as SUCH a selective school, and she choked on her audition and then stalked the judge. I never in a million years would have thought she would get in and Kurt wouldn't, when his audition was so perfect. I had forgotten those lines of dialog about Rachel's CV though, and I'm glad you reminded me of that.

And I think I also would have been more ok if they'd at least hinted what Kurt is doing next year. Did he try out for five other New York schools? Is he still going to New York? Is he pulling a Jesse St James, running his old glee club and auditioning again year after year?

I think the writers are keeping their options open with Kurt, and when I look at it they way, I guess it's ok. They're not locked in to a story they might not want to do next year, and they don't have to quickly backtrack on things in 4x01.

Fortunately there were tons of things I loved about the episode. Sit Down When You're Rocking the Boat, Single Ladies, Santana's mom, Puck graduating, the song where the seniors pass on the torch to the juniors and literally switch places with them between the stage and the audience. And did I see Burt and Mike's dad high five at one point? Plus, In My Life is my favorite Beatles song. <3 <3 :D

So, my partner, who I love dearly, does nothing but complain about Glee. And yet he still occasionally says things that make me feel better about it. He said he had assumed they were leading up to a Laverne and Shirley type thing with Kurt and Rachel in New York, where one has to work while the other goes to school. (Is that what happens in Laverne and Shirley? I've never seen it.) He had assumed they just hadn't worked out yet which one was going to work, and that now it'll be Kurt; he's definitely still going to New York. So basically yay! I'm kind of looking forward to that now. :)

I forgot to mention one of my favorite things about the episode. There's another gay couple holding hands in the hallway, and Kurt reflects on how he's made an impact on the rest of the community of the school, leading the way for other closeted kids to be more open and brave. YAY! :D

Hi, I'm delurking to ask a question. I hope it doesn't sound stupid, but I find it really confusing and after this episode I see it even more often - that people are always so angry when Glee is realistic. It's as though they expect the authors to show the world as it is supposed to be and making the viewers confront reality is some kind of crime. And an astonishing number of people believe that RIB+ approve of what happens unless they make it very clear that they don't.

Is it a cultural thing (I'm European) or is it what fandoms are like? I never encountered the idea before.

I have slightly complicated thoughts about this that I'm not sure I'm going to articulate very well because it's all a bit tied up in my reaction to fandom reaction, which gets a bit twisted.

I do think Blaine was initially presented as being Kurt's... something. We only really see him in relation to Kurt for most of series 2:

- He's the gay lead singer of a group of boys, going out of his way to bring Kurt into his performance (just after the New Directions boys tell him he isn't needed in their group meeting). He's the Dream; a gay teenage boy who had had a bit of trouble at his old school but overcame it to become the happy, celebrated lead singer of the Warblers.
- He's the more experienced mentor/ friend that Kurt needs to get through the bullying
(- He's the oblivious jerk daring to fancy people other than Kurt over Valentine's Day and "Blame it on the Alcohol"*)
- He's the adoring boyfriend who falls hard just as Kurt really needs to be recognised for himself
- He's the lead singer who isn't in control of song selection and doesn't vote for himself to sing lead... but still manages to get Kurt a solo
- He's the adoring boyfriend who shrugs off his own past to accompany Kurt to Kurt's prom, where he plays Prince Charming to rescue Kurt in the middle of the dance floor

Throughout series 2 he is Kurt's mentor, friend, boyfriend etc. His character is set up entirely in relation to Kurt's. Anything we find out about Blaine is there through Kurt- if Kurt isn't there and driving some sort of plot, Blaine doesn't exist on screen.

And for large parts of fandom, this has been the entire point of Blaine's character- to be Kurt's. (*)Looking back at reactions to both "Silly Love Songs" and "Blame it on the Alcohol" is fascinating for the sheer number of people who did actually say variations on a theme of "If Blaine isn't there to be Kurt's boyfriend, what's the point of him?" And that's a reaction I've seen a lot. Blaine was, according to quite a bit of fandom, Kurt's reward because after everything he'd gone through, Kurt *deserved* a boyfriend who loved and adored him. Blaine was that boyfriend. So I do think that he was initially set up as Kurt's reward.

I'n series 3 I think it's a little more complicated than that. I'm not sure I agree that Kurt gets Blaine's virginity because he lost out on the lead in the play (it could equally be argued that Kurt gives his virginity to Blaine in order to prove his forgiveness), but I do think Blaine shows up to sing Love Shack at the end of the Valentine's Day episode because Kurt once again needs/ deserves happiness after everything with Karofsky. He's explicitly Kurt's support both in the aftermath of the election and around the audition episode.

I think it's also worth noting that any time Blaine isn't just Kurt's perfect prize, things tend to go badly for him. In Silly Love Songs he made a fool of himself with Jeremiah(how much *nicer* it would have been for everyone if he'd just asked Kurt out then...). In Blame it on the Alcohol he falls out with Kurt and risks hurting Rachel, being hurt himself and making a fool of himself again (how much easier it would have been... etc.). In Sexy he upsets Kurt and, er, pretty much makes a fool of himself again when he talks to Burt (how much simpler... etc.). Blaine trying to take a stand or sing solo in Glee club early on invariably leads to him being sniped at by Finn or Santana (in fact, does any solo of his end well? Even latterly we've got "Gotta be starting something" ending with the revelation that he gave away their set list to Sebastian and his disco number with Mike and Brittany leads to the rest of the Glee club yelling that they hate disco). His friendship with Sebastian leads to him falling out with Kurt at the club and ends with him needing surgery. Blaine's brother visiting causes Blaine to pull away from Kurt and generally be upset. The Chandler situation leads to Blaine, yet again, making a bit of a fool of himself. It's as if he tries to break out and be a Real Boy but the story keeps pulling him back** in to his rightful place as Kurt's... whatever. Kurt's boyfriend. Kurt's prize. Kurt's reward. Doesn't really matter, the point is that he belongs to Kurt.

And if fandom sees him that way, and the Story sees him that way, then what if he starts to see himself that way?

Because of course that means he's terrified of the separation with Kurt graduating, because if he isn't Kurt's, then what is he? He's good at being Kurt's reward, things work out when he just tries to be that. It's when he starts thinking about himself that everything goes wrong.

(And what if all the weird vibes between him and Cooper are because he used to be Cooper's in the same way that he is now Kurt's- the adoring little brother, the cute performer copying everything Cooper did, the wide-eyed child following everywhere his brother went... and then Cooper left and didn't come back. And now Kurt's leaving.)

(And in between there was the Warblers, where he was their pet and their leader and their picture perfect prep school boy... and when he left and stopped belonging to them, Sebastian took his place and he lost them.)

Kurt meanwhile is fine because he's found his happy ending. Blaine is Prince Charming and that's where the story ends with happily ever after, so of course they'll be fine next year. He's said he won't say goodbye so he won't, it's that simple.

Kurt re-writes stories, changes scenes and breaks things down until he gets his reward. He doesn't fit properly in the fairytales so, slowly, he makes his own. Blaine keeps being told he can fit, he will fit if he just tries a little bit harder, works a little longer... and every time he tries to break out and be his own person he gets pulled back in again. See: Big Brother, where despite all his efforts to stand alone, he ends up being Cooper's support (partly at Kurt's prompting).

**Spot the Terry Pratchett fan! :)

Rachel wore red shoes basically the entire episode.

Ruby Slippers

Here's What You Missed on: Goodbye!

Kurt

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