ATOG reread: Chapter 4
Ten things
1. The action in this chapter is about Kurt considering letting Blaine in. It’s revealing of character. And an example of how carefully rainjoy weaves the Glee backstory into this fic: Sadie Hawkins and Cooper, the halls of McKinley and Burt. One of the other pleasures is how the developing relationship illuminates the Glee relationship: Blaine represents HOPE to Kurt, hope of connection and community and of understanding. And just like in Glee and in real life, choosing another means making a leap of faith. Kurt in every universe wrestles with the question of trust.
2. Quotes that illuminate character: Kurt: “If everything's already over then it’s already over. If you’re gonna get me killed, then the trigger’s already pulled.” Blaine: “I’ve spent a long time trying to ignore this thing I can do, but what’s the point of a talent if you don’t make people’s lives better with it?”
3. This little moment: Kurt, living 1000 miles from his dad, texting him to let him know he’s safe at home. Lovely love between them, but oh, the aching loneliness of the Ghost.
4. Another structure note, because really rainjoy and plotting is everything: The Greek chorus of the fanghosts is getting louder, as we are invited closer by Blaine. And we are slowly beginning to pick up the individual voices. This acts as a bridge uniting the two separate stories being told, and is breathtakingly well done.
5. Community seems to come naturally to Blaine. He opens the window into the fanghost community because--he has figured out that Kurt needs to understand that they SEE him, and that they’re GRATEFUL. What moves Kurt in the messages from ganghosts? It’s the sweetness: “I hope the ghost finds a 20 he didn’t know he had in his jeans pockets.” “I hope the ghost always gets perfect weather when he plans a beach trip.” "Whenever I have to be brave I think of him.”
6. A lovely moment later in this chapter, when Kurt is patrolling and thinking thinking thinking: he notices the Ghost graffiti on the wall. And you can see the meaning has shifted a bit for him. Kurt has never considered the mutuality, the community, the support. That though these people aren’t Supers, they have his back. A window into his past: he assumes that if people are talking about you, they are mocking you. He didn’t expect LOVE.
7. Blaine is so aware of the physicality of Kurt--his mouth, his chest. He notes the body language and learns about Kurt from it. Kurt on the other hand is aware of the opposite: of how easily he fades away.
8. A brief moment inside Blaine’s mind, as he interacts with the boxing coach. We see him hide behind his charm (and oh, Warbler Blaine), and he thinks to himself, “Smiling distracts people.” So he’s a little more Slytherin than we first thought, and this raises a warning that echoes Kurt’s own thoughts about Blaine. Sort of a brilliant little authorial moment. Damn!
9. Trapping Kurt in the shields: Foreshadowing, first, and a big clue to Understanding Kurt Hummel. (How still he goes, how he just slips away silently, frozen in his fear). But also, and importantly for me, a big clue to Understanding Blaine Anderson. Kurt is analytical, he thinks and thinks. He watches. He meets Blaine on the rooftop after giving him only the address; he FORCES him to think like a superhero. He wants to watch to see the HOW of Blaine as well as the WHAT (while at the same time learning the WHY? which he questions him about).
10. What does he learn? That Blaine learns by trial and error. If he wants to know what the shields can do, he just tests them. He doesn’t try to analyze and work it out beforehand; he acts on a thought. That’s how he ends up caging the Ghost. And that Blaine has his own ghosts. He wants to be a superhero because the gift should be used in service of others, he wants to help the Ghost because the Ghost matters, and he carries survivor's guilt. it’s a lot to leave us with.
