GC#5 of 7: On Brittana

"Sex is not dating."
"If it was, Santana and I would be dating."
- Santana and Brittany, "Sectionals"

And with that simple admission, a ship was launched. Brittany and Santana's popularity has sky-rocketed since their debut on the show, with the two characters promoted to full-time cast and featured heavily in the Back 9.

It's hard not to love them, even individually. Brittany is delightfully stupid, and Santana is hilariously bitchy. But together? They're magic.

"Heather's character and then Naya Rivera's character, Santana, they're like this kind of weird, wonderful, brilliant, comedic duo that we stumbled upon, which was totally unintentional. It's such a gift to have them; they're both really good and really funny. They're absolutely my favorite stuff to write now."
- Ian Brennan

What makes their dynamic work is that they are so dysfunctionally... functional. The show reassures the viewers that the cheerleaders are constant companions - they walk around the school holding pinkies and go on dates as a single unit, which is so absurdly awesome. Yet the storylines tell us that they still both sleep with other people and, much like Santana and Brittany themselves, they shrug it off as completely normal. The dichotomy is fantastic, and the fact that information about their relationship is parceled out in the background makes it even better.

It's not entirely a surprise, then, that "Brittana" has a rather prominent fanbase now. Heather Morris and Naya Rivera, the two halves of this duo, are best friends in real life and get constantly bombarded with questions about if their characters were ever going to get a makeout scene. At first, the reaction was, "[Ryan said] no way. He said that since we’re a prime-time television show, he didn’t want to do that."

Cue millions of outraged gay cries.

Now, I don't really want to dissect the differences between "storyline" and "makeout scene," but it does seem like a copout to just say "never" before you've really gotten yourself into anything. And I guess the support for Brittana has pulled through, because now Ryan is singing a different tune. At this year's Comic-Con, they were asked extensively about the couple and Murphy said they were debating having them kiss in an upcoming episode.

("Santittany" is the worst ship name ever. Brittana, plz.)

So it seems like all systems are go, now. Of course, with it comes all this pressure about how this development is going to be executed. And all I have to say is this: Please, Ryan, I implore you; don't screw it up.

The genius of their dynamic is that it's insane and that it unfolds in this little sidecar to Glee itself. If they make this big schmoopy love story out of them, I will be mad. I will also be mad if they fill it out with any kind of angst. They clearly have no problems being exactly how they are now, so I'm curious to see what will change that. It's a delicate line to walk with those characters and I say GOOD LUCK TO YOU Ryan because I think it will be difficult to please everybody. That being said, it is refreshing to see an LGBT relationship developing on a show in a way that's not completely contrived - a la every other show that brings in a gay character to "turn" an established character. That's getting old.

Anywho, I leave you with a final quote.

"We definitely always hint at it, but I don’t know what will happen with that. Maybe they’ll fall in love. I do think they’re soul mates. Brittany just gets Santana, even though a lot of people don’t like her."
- Naya Rivera