More or Less

I didn't say anything about the last episode of Glee for two reasons - I wasn't as enamored of "The Power of Madonna" as most seemed to be and I didn't get to watch it in its entirety until Sunday because Seacrest can't seem to bring American Idol in on time and when that runs over, Fox can't get their shit together to schedule a buffer into Glee's running time to prevent DVR disasters. Jackasses!

Anyway, it turns out that a big part of the issue I'm having with the post hiatus Glee episodes is how much time they spent focusing on Rachel, Will, Emma and New Guy even when their stories were something much less than interesting. I really, really do not give a shit about New Guy and I find it particularly irksome for him to get screen time at the expense of some of the other secondary characters we could be getting to know better if the writers weren't leaning over-hard on Rachel all the time.

I don't find Rachel as awful as a lot of people and, in fact, I look forward to a coupling between her and Finn, but she does not need to be the center of this show all the time. Neither does Will. Will could spend quite a lot more time stage left in the shadows.

This week was a huge improvement for me, mainly because the focus shifted to Kurt and Mercedes. Mercedes' story revolved around Sue's insistence that she lose 10 pounds in a week for the article Splits Magazine was doing about Sue.

I was genuinely touched by her scene with Quinn and by her speech at the pep rally before she belted out "Beautiful." And of course you know she sounded gorgeous.

Kurt's story was a bit more involved. It seems that he fixed up his dad with Finn's mom in an attempt to get them to fall in love and move in together so that he could share a room with the object of his affection. Finn was pissed at how the development seemed to be pushing the remnants of his father's memory out of their lives but then he began to bond a bit with Burt over sports and common interests.

That, in turn, upset Kurt who felt like Burt maybe didn't love him as much now that Finn was like the son he'd always wished he had. Burt and I both called bullshit then because Burt may not have sat up nights hoping for a gay son, but he's loved Kurt just as he is and spent time doing just what Kurt wanted to do his whole life and enjoying a conversation with a kid who likes sports doesn't change how he feels about his son. But Kurt is an emotional teen so you have to expect a certain degree of over-reaction.

Kurt then decides that Finn is right and the two set about trying to break them up but it's too late and the parents both separately admit that they love each other. Finn comes to terms but I'm not so sure that Kurt does.

In less interesting news, we're jipped on any great group-sings this week by a whole bunch of April Rhodes time. I love Kristen Chenowith but maybe she doesn't need to sing 4 songs in the episode? The "Fire" duet was pretty good though.

I fear that next week we'll be back to 90% Rachel and Will but if I might make a request? How 'bout an episode with a focus on Puck/Quinn and Artie/Tina next?