The RBI Report: "Sexy"

 More often than not, Glee comes through our TV screens every week with a strange yet undeniable mix of Good and Bad, and this week was really no different.  Let's talk about "Sexy," shall we?

"Sexy," written by Brad Falchuk, directed by Ryan Murphy

The thread that held together "Sexy," was, you guessed it - sex.  Sex, and sex education gave birth (ha!) to every plotline in the episode, even though Brittany probably thought it was the stork and Finn would have guessed it was just a hot tub makeout.  On the whole, Glee turned a discussion about sex into some fairly interesting storylines with a solid message, but in general, they stumbled in some of the details.

"Sexy" made good use of Holly Holliday's return, giving Gwyneth Paltrow the chance to show off her comedy chops again with Holly's kooky brand of left-field humor.  Holly is an intriguing fixture in the Glee universe - she breezes into an episode, noses her way into nearly every storyline, and breezes back out as if she'd never been there.  It always makes me wonder if she's really necessary.  This time, though, it looks like perhaps she might stick around for some romance with self-proclaimed Excellent Educator Will Schuester - right on the heels of learning that Emma still has feelings for him.  Hm, how long can this last?  

To be honest, I'm a bit weary of the Will-Emma drama.  The one true drawback of having an episode deal explicitly with sex is simply that only the relationships are touched upon - again.  The Glee writers seem to be unable to create any conflict between characters that isn't to do with romance, and "Sexy" fed into that weakness.  Emma's discomfort with sex felt exaggerated, to quickly break down her marriage to Carl and make her available as soon as Will gets involved with Holly.  

The execution there left a little something to be desired.  Last we saw Emma, she was happily married - with only a single close-up of doubt to indicate to us that she felt otherwise.  Memo to the writers: characters should not experience changes of heart offscreen, with five episodes spanning the in-between.  It makes it difficult to understand them.  We're no longer with them; we have to catch up to them.  

But the Glee showrunners assume that we understand what Emma's feeling based solely on the fact that "Wemma" are "made for each other."  I'm sorry, why does Emma like Will these days?  It would be lovely to see some sort of solid interaction between these two that isn't automatically based on the assumption that they're already in love.  I would like indication that they could be compatible, and happy together before I'm expected to be on board with a romantic reunion.

Sex also worked its way into a nice (if a bit odd) storyline with Puck and Lauren, McKinley High's Most Unexpected Couple.  I'm not really sure why the decision was made for them to make a sex tape - it seemed a bit out of character for Lauren.  But, it did foster the reminder that - heyo! - these characters are underage and - double heyo! - that would be child pornography.  Moreover, it allowed for Puck to demonstrate a lovely bit of character development at episode's end: that he likes wooing Lauren, and he doesn't care if that makes him a nerd.  Puck's getting such nice progress this season, even if it's not front-and-center. 

The concept of sex also worked into Kurt and Blaine's storyline, with the notion that Kurt is completely clueless about sex and would like to stay that way.  Blaine sees this as an unhealthy attitude, and reasons with Burt that he should use his Good Dad Status to help his son be informed so he doesn't get hurt.  All in all, the storyline didn't do much for the characters except set the stage for the idea that assumedly Kurt and Blaine are going to seal the deal eventually.  But, the message is an important one to communicate, and allowed for the true success of the scenario: hearing Burt's philosophy about sex.  We had to muddle through some strange gender stereotypes while waiting for him to get to the point, but it was worth it.  Because Burt told Kurt that he should use sex as a way to connect to another person.  To not throw himself around like he doesn't matter.  Because he matters.  

Seriously, can all Dad of the Year Awards be redirected to Burt Hummel?  No matter the situation, there is never any doubt that he loves his son, wholly and completely.  And the lesson Burt imparted on Kurt in this particular instance?  Lovely.  Everyone should approach love, sex, and relationships with the notion that they matter.  Hell, approach your life like you matter.  Got that?

This notion was also applied nicely to Holly Holliday, who admitted that she doesn't think she's right for relationships.  She called herself damaged goods, guys.  She doesn't think she matters, and I appreciated Glee for giving our guest star some actual depth underneath her Ms. Fix-It hat.  I wish they had focused on that a bit more, honestly.

I'm rounding the corner into easily the best part of the hour: our one and only Santana Lopez.  Burt Hummel may have provided the episode's soul, but Santana - in conjunction with Brittany - was the raw, vulnerable, beating heart.  Seriously, how much did you feel for those two girls?  I couldn't look at either of their heartbroken little faces without wanting to bawl my eyes out.  That speech?  Santana's speech?  Transcendental.  

This is a character who, since Day One, has barely uttered a single word that hasn't been dripping with disdain.  She insults, she wisecracks, she snarks - she is McKinley High's Resident Bitch, and the writers have allowed her to be little else.  She doesn't like feelings, and we are endlessly reminded of that fact.  Naturally, all I have wanted for the past eleven episodes is for Santana to show a little honest-to-goodness vulnerability, and oh, tonight, we got it in spades.  The Santana Emotion Drought quickly turned into a Santana Emotion Flood.  She cried all through Landslide, she cried when she realized she's only a bitch because she's angry and afraid, and she cried when she poured her heart out onto the hallway of McKinley High - only to have it stomped on.  Turns out, Santana hates feelings because she has so many of them.  And for the first time ever, she opened up - and was turned down.  She told her best friend she was in love with her, and wanted to be with her, only to be told that she's unfortunately unavailable.  Ugh, may I please wrap this character into an enormous hug and never let go?

But the only thing I was thinking during this part was, why did it take eleven episodes to get from the brief Santana development in "Duets" until now?  And why, pray, in those eleven episodes, was Santana only used as a device to break up Finn and Rachel, cause trouble with Finn and Quinn, start comedic fights with Lauren, make out with Sam, sob hysterically while drunk, insult people, and get called a bitch by nearly everyone?  I just don't get it.  It is painfully clear to me that the writers have a fantastic opportunity with Santana, both as an individual character, and in conjunction with Brittany, and yet they have been wasting it.

Santana is currently the show's most complex character, but you wouldn't have known it until her Big Speech tonight.  She always says what's on her mind, but never says what's in her heart.  And the show set it up from the very early on that there was a very real possibility that she was in love with her best friend.  They had a unique opportunity to have an amazing, well-rounded, three-dimensional character, with a built-in chance to portray a lesbian relationship on television between two characters who are basically already soulmates, which is more than most other couples on the show can say.

But instead of capitalizing on that opportunity, and letting it unravel over several episodes in an honest, paced, genuine way, they crammed it all into one, where the characters' purposes are born and killed within the span of 44 minutes.  Where a peripheral character comes in to force the hand, and where there is a conveniently-placed, ill-developed relationship standing in the way of one that could be amazing if they just put in the effort.  If Santana, and her relationship with Brittany, were given the proper care and screentime, Naya Rivera would be nominated for an Emmy.  Plain and simple.  It is here where I tend to get truly frustrated with Glee.  They have such great potential, and somehow they manage to flub the execution, time after time. 

Riddle me this: could the character development that happened in this episode have happened without Holly Holliday's involvement?  I think you could make a compelling case for "yes."  And I grow tired of roundabout contrivances to get Kurt involved with the theme even though he's at Dalton - that scene where Sue confronts him the coffee shop?  Pure machination to force Blaine's idea of the Warblers going "sexy" so that Kurt can realize he has the sex appeal of a baby penguin.  Aren't there more natural ways to set up these storylines?  I really have to imagine there are.  

And hey, while we're at it, let's talk about the complete random inclusion of the Finn/Quinn scene.  You want to know how you can tell that it didn't fit in naturally?  Because they busted out a narration for Quinn to deliver.  Oh, sweet hell.  Pro tip: when there's random narration at the end of your episode, you are having some storytelling issues.  And past that, this entire Finn/Quinn scenario is being executed with the precision and likeability of a tornado.  My notes for that moment read, verbatim: "YOU ARE ROBOTS."  

The writers are not giving Finn and Quinn any solid reasons to continue their romance, and certainly not any valid excuse for us to feel any desire for them to do so.  I wager no one empathizes with them right now, and that is a problem.  They are strangers to us, and it's only going to result in more relationship drama, which, as we've established, is the last thing this show needs.  They could be really interesting.  They were going to have a baby together before their relationship went to hell, and then they never spoke again.  The writers could do some interesting stuff there.  But instead, Quinn just shows up to Celibacy Club with a hickey on her neck and we want to punch the writers in the face.  Ugh, just wake me up when they decide to execute that storyline better, please.  

"Sexy," while having some very strong scenes, performances, and development, felt a bit plotted - from Emma's intense prudish resurgence, to Sue's random appearance, to Lauren's weird need to make a sex tape, to Holly's involvement in nearly everything.  The episode could have been much more strongly constructed, and it's a testament to some killer acting skills from Naya Rivera, Heather Morris, and Mike O'Malley that their own storylines still managed to be effective, despite some questionable storytelling. 

The RBI Report Card...
Musical Numbers: A
Dance Numbers: B
Dialogue: C
Plot: B
Characterization: A for Santana, Puck and Burt, C for everybody else
Episode MVP: Santana Lopez, by a - forgive me - landslide.