Santana Lopez and What Lies Beneath: Part 1

SANTANA'S ROLE ON THE SHOW

It’s difficult to argue that the character who has progressed the most, from the Pilot to “Original Song,” could be anyone other than Santana Lopez.  And I don’t necessarily mean in character arc - although you could make an argument for that - but rather, in the function and purpose of character.  Santana Lopez has successfully moved from a background player, good for an off-the-cuff laugh and a standby for villainy, to a full-fledged, three-dimensional fixture, with hopes and fears, and a very real presence on the center stage of what Glee presents to us every Tuesday night.

We first met Santana Lopez in the Pilot - along with most of our merry band of characters - but she was barely an entity on our screens, a sycophant of Quinn Fabray, who existed purely to make snide remarks and antagonize Our Heroes.  Historically speaking, this has been the sole function of Santana.  She jibes and sneers, for two purposes: either for comedy, bringing snark and vinegar to contrast with the schmaltz of the underdogs on their journey, or for villainy, providing obstacles in bitchiness for the underdogs to overcome.

In short: Santana’s function on Glee has largely been two-dimensional - effective, but two-dimensional.  She was a background character, riding two-by-two with Brittany in a little side car to the show itself, acting as the jesters who are meant to entertain us while we’re occupied with the problems of the Royal Court. 

But there are two seminal moments in Glee’s history where the showrunners chose to make Santana a main character - or at least, a developed character with more than just one dimension.  And it’s because of these two moments that I refuse to accept Santana’s role on the show as simply a supporting character and nothing more.

The first of these moments is in “Sectionals.”  As the first 13 episodes came to a close, Santana shed her identity as a villain, admitting to her peers that Glee Club is the best part of her day.  It’s a lovely little confession, and an intelligent choice for the writers to make - because it does move Santana out of Unlikeable Territory and into someone the audience wants to relate to, and understand.  It’s this moment that presents us with the notion that Santana belongs in the Glee Club, just like any of the other kids - that she is not a snake amongst underdogs, but also an underdog herself. 

If the show had been canceled after the first 13, you could argue that Santana’s arc would have been complete - she became an embedded part of the Glee Club, and admitted it.  Mission accomplished.  But of course, the show continued after that moment, and there was more on the horizon for Ms. Lopez.

The Back 9 did little to develop Santana as a character, although we were treated to more screentime in general, and her first turns as a soloist.  But she still functioned primarily in scheming and bitchery, with Brittany by her side, as she meddled in others’ storylines. 

But then Season 2 began.  And the second moment, the key moment, where the writers chose to make Santana Lopez more happened in “Audition.”  And that, ladies and gentleman, is Santana’s Summer Surgery.  Now, what’s unfortunate is that this event has only paid off in a league of tasteless barbs from Sue, but the root of the situation is a choice that the writers made, and need to follow through on.  Because Santana Lopez, in “Audition,” became a 17-year-old girl who got breast implants. 

The crux of the issue is that prior to that moment, Santana was not a character who seemed like she would spring for that kind of surgery.  In fact, when “Audition” aired, I cried foul.  Based on what the show presented us about Santana Lopez, she had far too much self-confidence - swagger, even, to make a boob job even remotely believable.  But the writers went there, and backed it up with the idea that Santana just wanted people to notice her.

And this was the final brick laid to make Santana a very real, very three-dimensional character to be taken seriously on this show.  Because what does it say when the (seemingly) most self-confident character gets breast implants so that people will notice her more?  This isn’t rhetorical - it says that Santana Lopez, again, is just like anybody else in that Glee Club.  Buried deep underneath all that snark is someone who looks at herself and doesn’t always like what she sees.  Who just wants people to appreciate her.  Who doesn’t know if she’s good enough.

Santana Lopez not only belongs in Glee Club, but she belongs on Glee, the show, as a character who is sometimes insecure and sometimes misguided, but who isn’t as much of a Top Dog as she lets on.  The true strengths of Santana as a three-dimensional character lie in her insecurities, in her vulnerabilities - in the things that therefore make her a part of the Glee message as a whole.

Since “Audition,” the writers have tried to bring Santana’s journey to the forefront, with varying amounts of success and failure.  There was an inherent problem, though, in the wake of Santana’s shift to a character with onscreen depth: the writers were still wielding her in the same way she always had been wielded.  Santana’s Season 2 function, barring “Duets” and “Sexy,” has still manifested itself in accessory to others’ storylines.  She is brought down by Quinn in her pursuit of Head Cheerio.  She is used to meddle in Finn and Rachel’s complicated romance.  She quits the Cheerios not because we really know she wants to, but because Finn swoops in and convinces her.  She interferes with the Finn and Quinn romance and uses her immunity to mono in order to break up Sam and Quinn.

Santana, while having the hallmarks of a fully-fledged character, has not been treated as such in Season 2.  And yet, the writers kept dancing around development through random reaction shots and a few scenes here and there that made us all tilt our heads at the television and say, “What’s going on with Santana?”  We had no idea.  Was she in love with Finn?  Was she in love with Brittany?  Was she just lonely?  Was she in some sort of gay panic?  Was she jealous of Quinn, or Rachel?  Evidence pointed in all directions, because her purpose was always secondary in favor of other characters.

Consider as well that we’ve seen Santana cry more in Season 2 than ever before - but until “Sexy,” every single instance was used in favor of comedy.  We were not allowed to feel sympathetic for Santana until “Sexy” - because we weren’t let inside Santana’s head until “Sexy.”  Sure, we got Santana narration in “Silly Love Songs,” but all she did was put on a nurse’s outfit (why, again?) and swipe a wrecking ball through Sam and Quinn’s relationship with a few well-placed kisses.  Santana was, as usual, a device.

But for the drought of understanding that has plagued Santana’s character since Day 1, we were inundated with a flood of insight in “Sexy,” for better or for worse.  It seems, in the wake of this revelation, Santana’s role on the show can only increase as she bears the weight of a substantial and impacting storyline.  And, as a viewer, to know that this increasingly prominent character started out with only a sneer and an eyeroll is hugely rewarding. 

It is this journey from background to forefront that makes Santana Lopez’s character remarkable, regardless of developmental consistency along the way.  No matter what, Santana is now as much a part of the Glee message as any other character - perhaps more so - and is finally reaping the benefits of empathy as a fixture in the show’s pantheon of relatable teens.  Santana may still operate as a jester, but she is also now allowed, as a character, to shed her proverbial clown suit and show the world what lies beneath.  That is the true function of a three-dimensional character - and with one as fascinating as Santana, can be, and should be, developed compellingly in rewarding storylines.

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MASTER POST: SANTANA LOPEZ AND WHAT LIES BENEATH

PART ONE: SANTANA'S ROLE ON THE SHOW

PART TWO: SANTANA AND THE CHEERIOS

PART THREE: SANTANA AND RELATIONSHIPS

PART FOUR: SANTANA AND BITCHINESS

PART FIVE: SANTANA, VULNERABILITY, AND LOVE

PART SIX: SANTANA AND BRITTANY

PART SEVEN: SANTANA'S FUTURE PATH