There aren't any gun battles or car chases, and there's no gratuitous nudity. Is that why people hate this film? I thought it was an adorable film shot in an exquisite location.
I wanted a little time to absorb the episode before I tried to comment on it. Overall, I really liked it. The five little mini plots worked well individually and were brought together pretty decently at the end. I also liked having just one song inserted into each segment with the singers divided up so that nobody was hogging all of the spotlight.
So, one plot at a time...
1. Artie:
We've seen how treacherously steep those wheelchair ramps are, and I can totally buy that Figgins would be too cheap to consider de-icer for them, even though the lack of caution could easily buy him a law-suit if Artie were so inclined. Thumbs up to anon Freshman girl who helped out. (My money is on neck-brace Cheerio, clearly she knows that McKinley is a dangerous place!)
I enjoyed seeing Rory again, he made a good Christmas angel. It was nice to have someone - even Artie's presumed subconscious - acknowledge that he is and always has been one of the unsung (sorry, pun) leaders of New Directions. Having Finn be the one to rush to his aid at the start was a decent nod to the fact that it was rescuing Artie from Puck's goon-squad that gave Finn the push into officially joining the glee club. I've never really bought into the notion of Finn as a "leader", but it's true that if he hadn't joined, Quinn and the Cheerios wouldn't have joined, etc, so they wouldn't have had the members to compete and Figgins would have axed the Glee club. Yay for Continuity!
Speaking of Quinn, yikes! She gets paralyzed and or killed due to that texting incident in EVERY reality? Harsh. Oh, and it was also a nice bit of continuity to have Will become a drunk, considering that both of his parents way back in "Acafellas" were apparently alcoholics (mom shown, dad implied). There were a few bits that seemed a pretty big stretch without more information (meek Rachel, slut Becky, bully Sam) but overall, I was willing to push aside anything out of character due to the fact that Artie appeared to be having a dream.
2. Kurt, Burt and Blaine:
My feelings on this plot are mixed. Burt was wonderful and it was so sweet to get a glimpse into the Hummels' past and their various Christmas traditions together. The ice skating thing was cute too. However, dropping the cancer bombshell into the middle of everything tainted what should have been a genuinely happy holiday for Kurt. Can't they ever just write something nice for that poor guy without adding a kick in the teeth just 'cause? Damn.
Another cute bit of continuity with the Barry family and their love of Rosie O'Donnell Cruises. It was nice to find out that they have a family tradition of their own for the holidays, and kind of sweet to see that Rachel and Burt are still fond of each other even without the almost family connection they once had.
The addition of Blaine was a nice thought on Burt's part, though his behavior pretty strongly implied that he doesn't have a clue that Blaine cheated on Kurt, but it was also a pretty terrible "gift" idea. Whether he knows the reason or not, inviting his son's ex-boyfriend to join them for Christmas was only going to cause tension for Kurt. On top of his own personal bomb-shell about the prostate cancer, that was a bit thoughtless. The logic makes total sense, Burt has had a 2nd knock on the door from the Grim Reaper and is probably feeling the need to see everyone he loves happy and also worried that Kurt will be left alone if he should die, but he really should have asked instead of springing it on him. Ditto with the fact that he apparently told Blaine about his condition before telling his own son. :{ Burt is definitely the most awesome parent in the history of television, but even he makes a mistake every now and then.
I can see why Blaine jumped at the chance, however. Hell, why not? A free plane ticket to New York, the promised ice-skating (though the serious conversation about their relationship didn't seem to happen), the traditional flirty duet, and a chance to fully ingratiate himself in Kurt's life again. His whole attitude was, "Let bygones be never-weres! Forgive and forget! Aren't we just like old times and doesn't this make you want me around all the time again, Kurt?" He was trying so hard it was painful and a little desperate, but I never once got the impression that Kurt was fully on board with his plans.
Kurt played along on the ice rink, he gave a hug which was notable in both its length and the deliberate lack of full-body contact. Definitely mixed signals and feelings that still haven't fully resolved themselves. At the apartment later, Blaine never took his eyes off Kurt as they set the table, but Kurt seemed to be avoiding any but the most glancing eye-contact. He didn't sit next to Blaine at all and when he conversed it was mostly to his dad. Blaine was all bouncy and happy to be sharing a Hummel family Christmas. Kurt, I suspect, resented Blaine for feeling so at ease in a place where he was invited out of obligation (It's not like Kurt was gonna dump him at a motel and go home.) and for horning in on what could conceivably be the very last Christmas Kurt will ever get to spend with his father.
That's what made this plot line so sad, because a few months earlier Kurt would have jumped at the chance to have both of the men he loves most in one spot, and been super grateful to have his boyfriend to lean on in hard times. Now it's just uncomfortable. He had to be in some shock after discovering Burt's condition only hours before and he had no time at all to process the news.
Kurt also now has to process that his ex boyfriend, the guy who seems to get everything he tries for, now wants to follow him - and probably will with no rejection or proving himself at all - into the dream-school that Kurt had to try out for twice, still almost got rejected for, and finally won his place at through a lot of hard work and struggle. And that pseudo-permission request (If it's okay with Kurt...?) in front of Burt was terribly - though not necessarily consciously - manipulative. Kurt's expression couldn't have been any less welcoming to the idea, but if he voices it out loud he comes across as hard and selfish. And since he went the expected polite route instead, Blaine now has carte blanche to throw back, "But you said..." if any protest should be made by Kurt in the future.
This is why I sometimes have the urge to throttle Blaine. I want to root for these two, I really do. Then Blaine gets so close to doing the right thing and being an awesome best-friend/boyfriend, only to get impatient and pushy, then communication falls down because assumptions are made without evidence and everything becomes awkward again. If Blaine truly wants to go to NYADA for his education's sake, then he totally should apply. But he needs to make it clear that that's what he's doing. If he's only following Kurt to be near him again, allowing history to repeat itself, this isn't nearly the romantic gesture I suspect Blaine thinks it is. It's more like a recipe for disaster.
3. The Puckerman Bros:
This was my favorite sequence last night. It was just so doofy and unrealistic, and utterly Puck. I loved it. It was also pretty neat to see somebody celebrate Hanukkah, not as a pseudo-Christmas, but as a genuine holiday with songs and traditions in its own right.
Yay for Glee finally remembering to mention that Puck has a younger sister! I really did think they had forgotten her existence. I've got no objection to Puck's decision to return to Ohio either. He didn't really want to go to California alone in the first place, he was just terrified of being classified as a dreaded "Lima Loser". Puck has always had a strong pull toward family - by blood or by affection - and it didn't feel out of character in the slightest that he would choose to look after his new bro and tighten the family bonds now forming between the two sets of mothers and sons.
And since this is Glee, I fully expect him to be installed as assistant Coach or some other unlikely full-time McKinley gig that didn't require any real-world-requisite schooling before the end of the season just so Finn won't look quite so much like a chump.
4. Brittany & Sam:
The song was cute. The fake wedding was sweet and they book looked lovely. Coach Beiste was her usual awesome self. Um...
Okay, so is Sam really getting less attached to reality by the episode? Both of their exes were totally forgotten, and you'd really think that the self-sacrificing boy who gave up so much to help out his family 2 years ago would have wanted to spend the end of the world with his parents and siblings. Also, seriously, we're supposed to believe that Sam Evans, proud nerd and movie lover extraordinaire, wouldn't recognize the name Indiana Jones? Yeah, right... That's why I'm not so sure that he actually believed in the Mayan prophecy, but suspect he may have just been humoring Brittany because she so obviously did.
What exactly did they do with those 3 days as a "married" couple, though? Did pious, God loving Sam take Brittany on a spree of charitable acts? Did they spend the whole time playing Honeymoon? And if so, are we gonna have BabyGate 2.0 next, since I'm pretty sure that the girl preparing for the end of the world by giving away all of her savings in the form of lavish gifts (And wow, that girl's family must be loaded!) wouldn't bother installing a "burglar alarm" for the occasion.
The real question. Will either of them (or the writers) be able to remember this even happened by the time Glee returns in January?
5: The Rose family and Sue Sylvester:
I kind of like the Christmas ep tradition of Sue doing a selfless act for someone else, following a previous intention to Scrooge her way through the holidays. She gave Christmas to Schuester the first year, a homeless shelter the second, and now she's played a very generous Santa to Millie (Who gained a first name!) and Marley Rose. I love the ongoing joke that Becky Jackson will do anything for Sue but can and will be bought off for candy too. Did she ever hang out with Lauren Zizes? :)
Nice to see that Marley's eating disorder isn't just being dismissed with a flippant realization that maybe starving herself wasn't a good idea after all! A lot of people are very sour about Marley's close relationship with her mom, but I really do like these two and I thought that Marley's off-the-cuff acapella song for her mom was really sweet. It came across as something she's probably been doing all of her life for both of their entertainment.
I did have to wonder, though. Did they not see Sue standing there, or did they just assume that the 6' tall green figure lurking in the corner was a strangely placed Christmas tree?
The ongoing joke of Sue being unable to insult Marley makes me laugh. It didn't stop her from insulting Millie, of course, but I suspect that those two have formed one of Sue's trademark grudging-respect friendships.
Summary:
A little hit and miss in spots, in every plot-line, but easily my favorite of the three Glee Christmas episodes to date. It made me smile more than it made me scratch my head and even the stuff I wasn't crazy about at least had potential for future character development. My overall grade: B (Unless this becomes a preface to killing off Burt Hummel. In which case it automatically downgrades to a C-)
