In my heart you’ll always stay forever young.
Look, you can say whatever you want about the finale,
but Rachel getting into a school like NYADA, instead of Kurt, was probably the single most realistic thing about the whole process.
Yup, Rachel fucked up her audition. And yup, Kurt’s audition was absolutely flawless! He went with a challenging, upbeat, male lead song, adjusted to his register. Heck, the original from Hugh Jackman? Gay as all hell and actually perfect for Kurt, if not for the range.
The problem is that a casting director out there in the world isn’t going to see “perfect for Kurt,” they’re going to see “chancy” and “atypical” and also “Will people pay to see this?” As far as NYADA is concerned, the only thing they care about is whether they can cram him into an accessible package that fits the Broadway mold. And the fact is that Kurt just doesn’t look or sound like a generic leading man. Even if he does the exact same thing that Hugh Jackman does, a casting director will always pick the one that looks a little more like Hugh Jackman and a little less like Kurt Hummel. Even if the actual show itself is campy and flamboyant as the 4th of July, the system still prefers actors that look movie-star straight! Honestly, Broadway typecasting is really no different from Hollywood typecasting, except that Broadway is in pretty dire straits and can afford even less risks in its cast or its material.
And likewise for Rachel. Just because she got admitted doesn’t mean that they actually think she deserves it, it just means she’s the easier investment for them. She is the exact sort of performer that NYADA was scramble all over themselves to claim as “theirs.” Kurt? Is not. Sorry, but that’s the brutal honest truth. Being labeled as a winner or a loser at one glance is not something that stops at the borders of your high school or even at your city limits.
A friend and I had a really drawn-out conversation today ruminating on the fact that Kurt is the exact sort of performer that a program like NYADA would have no idea what to do with, whereas Rachel is the exact generic ingenue that they would be drooling all over to get their hands on. Easy to package, easy to sell, easy to send out to get hired in leads and say “Check her out! We made her!” Instant cred for your program at minimal effort and risk. While, from their perspective, Kurt might study there for years and years and not ever be able to land anything more than comic backup roles for the rest of his life. That’s not going to make your prestigious school look very prestigious.
I hope that it turns out that Whoopi was actually pressured by the administration to go for the less risky choices this year; I’d be impressed if that ends up being the rationale they use for Kurt’s rejection, because it’d be absolutely true to life and ties back to some of Kurt’s recurring worries throughout the season. And it’d be a bit of an eye-opener for Rachel as well, her admission being revealed as an easy investment instead of something she actually earned.
I know that most fans were crushed by the results of the episode, but I just can’t help but see upsides all around, here. There is just so much they could do with these turn of events. I really have to reiterate, I saw more plot potential for the upcoming season in those last ten minutes than virtually anything I saw in the last ten months. It reminds me of something I mentioned, way back during the season 1 finale, where it was shown that the judges of the competition — celebrities and members of the upper-class out there in the glamorous world beyond Lima, movers and shakers all — were no less oppressive and broken as the self-demolishing system of bullies within Lima itself. That prevailing infrastructure of labels and stigmas and being pegged as “winners” or “losers” at one glance isn’t constrained by city limits. It’s out there still, everywhere, waiting for the freaks and geeks of the glee club to challenge it. And by god, I want to see that challenge.
And I can’t help but think of the recent vulture.com interview that Ryan Murphy did, where he mentioned that when he tries to be experimental and risky with every new season, he always gets the frustrated responses demanding things go back to the way it was in the first place…except that those experiments and those risks are what made the show what it is “in the first place,” while playing it safe is what makes for — excuse my French — the most boring fucking shit storylines. I really hope Murphy doesn’t take his ball in go home, in this of all cases. I want him to take this ball and roll with it to its utmost, take it to wherever he’s planned for it to go, because that’s what has made this show what it is from day one.
Y’know what? I’m really looking forward to season 4.
First off, Santana. I hear that people didn’t like how open-ended her plot was, but I liked how it turned out. Obviously it’s also a cheap case of “What’s gonna happen?? TUNE IN SEPTEMBER TO FIND OUT~~” but I felt like it was also giving her a proper send-off into the next chapter, with a bunch of options for where the character will go next (well, probably just New York, let’s be real). Compared to the message of -
You haaaaave to go to college or else you’re wasting your life!!
xoxo,
Will Schuester
-during that disco episode, I much prefer this turn of events for her. Bring on Santana in New York. Between her, Rachel, and Quinn, I don’t think even the East Coast is prepared for that much lesbian.
Frankly, a lot of this finale just comes across like they went over Saturday Night Glee-ver in detail and realized how completely dumb those outcomes were for Santana and Finn. Especially for Finn. God, I think half the reason I’m so unperturbed by this finale is because that car scene between Finn and Rachel is what I’ve been waiting seven months to see. Said it earlier, will say it again: Finn, Rachel, and Kurt were all drenched with high levels of plot potential in those last ten minutes. The ending of this season with Rachel on her own in New York while Finn joins the army and Kurt stricken with failure? It’s not kind, but I feel like it’s the most actively-invested that Ryan Murphy has been in these characters for a very long time.
wehavethemjustwheretheywantus replied to your post: So. Uh…
But Joss is a competent storyteller. Kurt not getting in is such a shitty conclusion to the storyline that it offends me as a writer. And no, this isn’t close to the most offensive thing glee has ever done. But it was the first time Glee made me cry
But it’s not the conclusion to the storyline, just of the storyline in this season. In September, the storyline continues. Maybe he’ll find some way to persevere without NYADA, or maybe he’ll magically find some way to wrangle his way in. Either way, we’ll find out in season four.
I mean, I know it’s an incredibly big deal that Kurt got shat on at the very tail end of the season and it’s leaving a lot of people broken and frustrated for three months, but it’s meant to leave viewers broken and frustrated for three months. Make people think you’re giving them what they want, then pull the carpet out from under their feet. It’s a pretty cheap and manipulative device, and maybe Murphs and co. have seriously misjudged how cheap and manipulative they’re being in this instance, but…at the end of the day, it’s just a device. Kurt will be fine. Kurt will continue.
pippiphooray replied to your post: So. Uh…
I know, and it really makes me upset to see all these people who think that if you don’t get into a super highly selective school then OMG YOUR DREAMS AND FUTURE ARE OVER FOREVER like no that’s not how that works, kurt is still going to do great.
Didn’t half of the planet want Kurt to go into fashion instead of NYADA anyway?
Seriously though, complain about being mistreated when you’re Mercedes or Mike and don’t even get a voice-over with the rest of the seniors, not when you’re Kurt Hummel and are literally being doused head to toe with plot potential for the next season. Him, Finn, and Rachel.
I’m probably being unfairly flippant, but I’m honestly just not upset about this at all. One of the frequent complaints I’ve heard about Glee that I most disagree with personally is that it shouldn’t make things so hard for Kurt all the time. I really like it when things are hard for Kurt (er… [O_o]). For others too. I like my weekly dose of queer tears.
So. Uh…
I’m not really upset. I mean, at all.
Sorry?
Like, I don’t mean to sound like an asshole or anything, but we do realize that Kurt’s existence doesn’t actually end with this episode, right? Like, the show isn’t actually over? I keep hearing people go “BUT THERE WAS NO RESOLUTION” and “WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN TO KURT” and I’m just like
well
Yeah
You’re absolutely right.
And?
I dunno, maybe it’s just because season finales of other shows I watch tend to have characters stranded in hell or sending their boyfriends to hell or finding out that they’re half-robot or trapped in a cement coffin at the bottom of the ocean, but this thing with Kurt is like…I’m just not seeing the big deal here, much less the dealbreaker.
And on the grand scale of horrible shit that Glee has done? Completely serious, no hyperbole, no exaggeration, this thing doesn’t even crack the top ten.
