I'd love to hear more of your thoughts re: 23, how Chris' artistic choices were mistaken for apathy. I apologize if you go into this in your meta (which I didn't realize you were finished with and I'm SUPER excited to jump into!) -- clearly you're acknowledging that there is some sort of shift in Kurt's character. I think he's noticeably not as into the "Klaine" relationship and I just assumed it was because Chris was over Glee at that point. What do you think?
Okay - so yeah, I do get into it within the meta - so if you want super specifics - it’s there. You think a scene looks off? Go check what I have to say - cause I’m sure I’ve tried to hit every complaint.
So - first of all, though, I need to say this - there’s this habit of -- hey this scene isn’t the be all and end all of everything I wanted it to be -- especially after I’ve been spoiled about it. And I do think /that/ plays into it.
And yes, I do think Chris was getting tired of the show, but so was everyone else. And I feel like it’s disingenuous to saddle him as being the one checked out when I think everyone had their moments - especially the last few seasons after they’re all dealing with the tragic early death of a friend and coworker. But I also think once an actor says admits that (and Chris did) -- people jump on to every little thing not quite up to their personal standards and declares that it’s Chris not being into it.
And quite frankly - it does frustrate me a little bit. Cause no other actor gets as much scrutiny for it, and I really don’t think that it’s fair -- especially when there were other actors who had lackluster moments, too...
I also think that, as a fandom, we micro-analyze these scenes and sometimes forget the bigger picture of what’s going on -- and we did that especially in season 5 when we weren’t sure what was going on with season 6, and I feel like once we have the whole picture - a lot of Chris’s acting choices actually make more sense (to me).
I also believe Chris is professional enough to do his job, too...
There is another huge thing I’d like to point out -- Darren, when talking about his time on Versace, mentioned that a lot of time, performances are shaped by directing and editing - and when he watched Versace, he felt like there pieces missing (cause they had to cut them out) and that some of his process wasn’t shone.
And that clicked with me. An actor’s performance is only one part of it. There’s direction - what the actors are specifically /told/ to do, and then editing - where other people piece together what we see and create a performance out of what they’re given. And I think a lot of times - things were edited together weirdly, tbh. But I think it’s important to remember that someone’s acting/performance isn’t the full picture - and that there are other factors that go into creating a show.
That said -- some specifics...
I haven’t heard of many complaints about Chris’s acting until the end of season 4 - if there’s another, earlier moment you’d like to know more about, I’d suggest checking the meta. I probably won’t get into this again because people get super wanky easily over this - and I’m just a little tired of it, tbh.
1. The Lesbian/Breadstix scene of All or Nothing (4x22) - So. First of all, this is an editing issue more than a performance issue. If you look at a lot of the over the shoulder shots, or shots when Kurt’s very off to the side - you can see him smiling happily at Blaine. Kurt wasn’t dismissive of Blaine at all - but because of the editing wanting to keep Kurt’s inner thoughts more of a mystery (because of the ending cliffhanger) they didn’t show the times when Kurt seemed to be having a good time. Plus - they’re with strangers, and Kurt isn’t exactly the most open person when people he doesn’t know. Plus also - the point of this scene isn’t about Klaine’s relationship, it’s about LGTB rights and the lesbians getting engaged.
I know I go on about this scene in the meta - so I do suggest you check that out for more details.
2. In Love Love Love, Chris’s acting is spot on - and I see absolutely zero issues. He’s completely checked in and plays Kurt masterfully here. People don’t complain about LLL - I’m just bringing it up because I feel like that Chris hits the major Klaine moments out of the ballpark every time.
3. Movin’ Out - in general there was grumbling about the Klaine stuff, but again, I don’t see the issue. Their one real scene together was awkwardly staged, but I see no issue with the acting in the scene. And it’s not Chris’s fault there wasn’t a scripted kiss there. **shrugs**
4. Mid-season 5 - did people have problems with Kurt’s acting during this? Did people notice? I feel like people only seem to have issues when it’s directly connected to Blaine, and that doesn’t feel fair.
My only issue with Puppet Master is that they didn’t have a final scene for Klaine to reconnect and be over the conflict - but Glee is bad about those kind of things.
I personally have an issue with Previously Unaired Christmas, but only because they never wrote Kurt to be that flirty and up on Blaine. That’s not Chris’s fault either.
5. The New York Arc - So, for detailed info, I really suggest the meta, cause I go super into Kurt’s headspace and defend Chris’s choices here a lot. the tl;dr version --
Kurt’s not in a good place in general - partly cause of Finn’s death, partly cause he’s not ready to be married, partly because he’s constantly surrounded by an onslaught of people who are very much about them, partly cause he feels like his career isn’t going anywhere. Kurt’s in a sad place through most of the arc - which leads to the break up.
Kurt’s far more irritated and annoyed by Rachel than he ever is with Blaine throughout the arc
When Kurt was supposed to be happy with Blaine he was -- and I didn’t see any issues with Chris’s acting there.
I know people have issues with the end of Tested - but that was definitely acting choice/direction over performance/actor bleed - and I go way into in the meta.
I find there’s only one real bad Klaine scene - and that’s their first scene in the Back Up Plan - but its a) a badly written scene and b) It’s Darren whom I find off in it, tbh.
I do agree that we should have seen more downtime/happier moments to balance out the drama - glee’s writers dropped the ball on that.
And -- in season 3 we were used to the background moments of Klaine because that’s all we got... but now they’re front and center, we didn’t get background moments the same way. Personally, I prefer the story and the conflict and the growth, and while yes, I think we could have used some more minor moments, I don’t think we got nothing? Nor do I think Chris was purposely pulling away in what we did see - or least in my own interpretation.
6. I have zero issues with season six Kurt. Chris totally knocked the whole thing out of the park, so I have no idea what people’s issues are during that season. I mean - I kinda understand the lack of feeling married post the Wedding episode - but that was due to the story telling issues and the show not focusing on them as characters /at all/. I think the finale was fine?
7. As for Kurt, the character, not seeming as invested in Blaine?? Ug - Kurt loves Blaine. It’s there, I promise, it really is. There’s never an instance in the show where I thought - huh, Kurt seems like he doesn’t love Blaine anymore. Not even during the break ups. Whether you believe Chris’s acting choices were valid or not - the writing was always there when it came to Kurt loving Blaine. And yeah, I’d have loved to have seen more of it. But it is there... I spend most of my meta analyzing time talking about it, lol.
Do I think Chris was 100% on all the time? No - but no actor is. But I ultimately think that most of the bigger complaints I’ve seen over the years are more from purposeful acting choices during season 5 than Chris being unprofessional. Hey - if you just don’t see it that way, that’s fine, I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise. But I really do wish people would go back and watch the full thing with an open mind before outright dismissing or judging it.
