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spaceorphan18 · 5 years

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Finding Kurt Hummel: The Purple Piano Project

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3x01: The Purple Piano Project

Welcome to Season 3! I’ll try not to whine too much while we’re here, lol :)

The season starts out on a relatively high note, however, making the whole thing feel a lot more promising than it ended up being. This episode is fun and quirky and there are a lot of pianos for Kurt to drape himself on top of!!

Future Plans

So – we start off the season much like season two – Ben Jacob Israel going around and harassing everyone about their summer vacations and future plans.

Do you see the set up of this shot, guys? Rachel chattering in the front while Kurt tries to be distracting in the background? Well – get used to it, because this Hummelberry dynamic is going to drag us through the next two years, guys, lol. No really – I enjoy Hummelberry in this episode, I do. But we had no idea this was a set up for (I’m sure someone will argue me on this) the worst Kurt arc on the show – Getting into NYADA. And, unfortunately, the Hummelberry dynamic (or more so the writer’s obsession with Rachel not being able to fail at anything) plays into that.

Probably going off a rush of a summer where all they talked about was going to New York, Kurt and Rachel have all their future plans figured out. They’re going to get a little apartment on the Lower West Side (yeah, sure), Rachel’s gonna be a big Broadway star, and Kurt’s gonna be married (legally!!!) by 30. Yes – think about what is said here, I know Kurt has Broadway ambitions, too, but I find it funny that his dream aspirations include getting married.

There are two key things I’d like to point about the whole marriage thing. Kurt says by 30. As we find in this season – not before 30 cause that is Too. Young. But also. Yes. Kurt Hummel wants to get married. And I’m pretty sure he already knows who his groom is going to be.

But anyway, thinking about season 2, and how that started in such a dark place for Kurt, here we have the opposite – bright and shining optimism. Oh, kiddo. This really can only go down, can’t it.

Purple Pianos

Kurt: Why’s the T-Rex eating the Jew?

It’s exposition dump time! As we get filled in that the Glee Club remains uncool after the Nationals debacle from last year. Kurt gets his share of funny lines as we get filled in.

Meanwhile – the glee club is three men down; Quinn pissed off the writers again, Lauren was fired, and Sam just couldn’t work out a contract deal. So – Will gets the idea that placing purple pianos everywhere would inspire new people to join the club. I’m not entirely sure how purple pianos are inspiring, but like Kurt, I’m totally on board with the whole thing.

As seen in the background, the moment he can, he gets himself up and draped over one of the pianos.

See – look how adorable he is on that piano!!!

Anyway – Will bores us with another inspiration speech that means mostly nothing since no one joins glee club anyway….

NYADA – School for Witches

Lol – oh Kurt, you’re making the best faces in this episode so far….

First of all, let’s talk about the fact that Emma thought he and Rachel were dating (omg!), and the fact that he actually takes the pamphlet about ‘Me and My Hag’ (Lol). Secondly, let’s talk about these sillies not doing their research on how Julliard is not a musical theater school. At least Emma is doing the job she’s supposed to be doing in this episode!

And then she steers them in the direction of New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. Oh NYADA and my distaste for you begins, lol…. So, this particular school only takes 20 students a year. Hmmm… Looks a lot bigger than that in season 4 but whatever. And the chances that two people from the same school and graduating year getting in? Doubtful. But this is Glee, so here we go!

Competitive Spirit

It’s the first day of school, and Blaine is still a Warbler, but his resolve is crumbling because Kurt is very persistent (and flirty and adorable) in this scene. You know there’s some interesting meta floating around about this scene recently – about their competitive nature and about how Blaine really isn’t /that/ competitive, but Kurt totally is. He doesn’t mind it at all, really, which means, in a way, that they’re on equal footing. Ah, how that is all about to change.

But what Kurt really wants is for Blaine to be around all the time so they can spend every minute of every day together. Oh, Kurt. Be careful what you wish for. But also – interestingly – they spent all the time together back when Kurt was at Dalton, and Kurt wants that little fairy tale to continue by bringing Blaine over to McKinley. It’s obvious they talked about this at length over the summer, but I wonder what Kurt’s (more serious) arguments were for getting Blaine to come to public school.

But anyway – the fun stuff – just how adorable and flirty these two are here! Hands might not have wandered south of the equator, but they were definitely up to stuff over the summer!

We Got the Beat

I’ve always thought Kurt was very pretty in this scene.

I should probably have more profound analysis.

Well, there’s not much to say, other than Kurt’s used to being bullied by the school, and he’s not about to make himself a target by getting up and singing on the lunch tables, no matter how pretty the pianos are.

Year 3 and Kurt’s still an awkward little dancer. <3

This song is nice and fun and energetic. Not really a favorite of mine, but man, what does it take to get this school into anything? Geez!

You know, for someone who is so particular about their clothes – I’m sure this is like the zombie apocalypse. Poor Kurt. I love the food ray shield.

You know, never once in all my schooling did I witness a food fight.

Kurt is just not having it.

Kurtcedes lives! If only to pass along exposition. And to exchange bewildered looks as Sugar sings her god-awful song.

You know it’s funny – I never noticed how seasons 2 and 3 (and 4 actually) openers have plotlines of – let’s open up glee club for everyone! Except not really because we’re a seclusive little bunch.

Velma and Roxy

Small town is small after you’ve been to the big city. But Kurt has a plan, that they’re gonna out preform all the other Ohio hopefuls so they can get a shot at their dreams. I think, for the first time, I kinda get the purpose of this song (other than the blatant relation to Wicked and connection to season 2), but that they’re already counting in their victory against all the other hopefuls. They’re putting their cart before the horse.

Say what you will about Gay Hogwarts, NYADA does attract the witches….

The song itself is a little ridiculous but the performance is wonderful. I love the choreography of this one. And as always sound fantastic together, and this performance is no exception. Say what you will about how Hummelberry was written – and I will say a lot over the next two seasons – Lea and Chris’s voices suit each other wonderful, and the show seems to latch on to that pretty well.

Transfer

Not exactly a pic of Kurt, I know, but Blaine’s so frickin’ gorgeous in this scene. And Kurt thinks so, too!! Look at that grin!

But I’m kinda fascinated by this, now that I think of it, how Blaine’s all – check me out Kurt – in this kind of suave way. And, oh Kurt, kind of caught up in his own drama to even notice that his boyfriend’s one outfit has changed.

But, just, the excitement Kurt has when Blaine’s decided to transfer. OMG! the boy is so happy.

I love that Kurt has concerns – and they are so totally valid. Blaine did transfer to be with Kurt, and that’s going to play a part in some of their bigger issues. But for now, they can reveal in their happiness and not think at all about nasty, nasty break ups.

And – getting Blaine into New Directions. But since the only competition is Sugar, there really isn’t an issue here.

Oh Kurt – so giddy that he’s once again getting sung to in the courtyard. Can this year get any better?!?!

Everything’s great util you light the piano on fire.

Velma and Roxy II

Kurt and Rachel are so ready for this NYADA mixer! Only to find out that while at McKinley they might be special snowflakes, in the real world, they’re a dime a dozen. I like the reality of this scene, tbh. That you can give your 1 in a Billion speeches all you want, there’s always going to be someone else who seems like they’re more talented than you. There are a lot of things Glee misses the mark on when it comes to college. Or theater. And this scene is a bit over the top. But it does show that, hey, there are a ton of people trying to make it the same as you – and so you do have to ask yourself – do you have what it takes to compete? Or do you just walk away.

I think now’s a good time to bring up the Glee Project. I never watched it, tbh, so I can’t judge what kind of a show it was. But I’m not a fan of the results of the Glee Project. And I don’t mean who won and who didn’t (Damien McGinty? Really?). I mean that I have lots of problems with season 3. But I think one of my biggest is that a show with a cast already overflowing now has to shoehorn these winners into the plot. (I mean, think about how much space the show would have had without Rory) Outside of Unique, I’m not really a fan of the characters that grew out of the Glee Project.

That said, Lindsey Pierce was one of the winners, and her little moment to shine here seems perfect enough. She’s a great vocalist, and I’m incredibly impressed by what she does here. This performance is excellent.

Anyway – going back to Kurt’s story. It’s kinda hilarious how perfect a song choice this is – this group of kids basically stating that anything you guys can do Kurt and Rachel, we can do better. Oh Glee with all its subtleties.

So. Kurt and Rachel make it back to the car and break down crying because that’s what happens when your optimistic view point gets smashed. Poor kiddos.

And then we get Kurt gives Rachel a pep talk v.2.0 (yes, i’ll be numbering these). And it’s similar to the Born This Way talk – that Rachel is good enough to get in because she’s still special. The thing, though, as much as I joke around, is that I do honestly like this scene. Because Rachel is in Kurt’s corner, too, supporting him even though he’s down on himself for lack of extracurriculars. The scene is a balanced one, where they both pull each other out of this dark place, and I can really do Hummelberry when this kind of thing happens.

Gay High-five!!

You Can’t Stop the Beat

Oh, I have waited so long to screencap this. There’s a gif out there that’s even funnier though.

Anyway – there’s a ton crammed into this little scene. Blaine joins glee club, which is yay!! But c’mon, Finn, you’re seriously having issues with Blaine possibly taking the spotlight when you and Rachel get all the solos? And Santana’s out for the week. Why is she only out for one week? Who knows. And then, finally, Kurt’s feeling ambitious and running for Student Body President, and Blaine’s super proud of him. Can’t you tell by the still above?

But the moral of the story is you can pull all of the strings out of the purple piano but you can’t pull out it’s music. Or, er, something like that.

Kurt’s feeling light and airy after that handjob. Oh, wait, nope.

It’s funny, I think this episode still holds up. It’s crammed full of things, almost to a fault, but is still funny and endearing and services all the storylines it’s going to be presenting during the first third of the season. I still really enjoy this episode even if season 3 goes mostly downward for me from here.

It’s Season 3 people. Bam!

#finding kh #for some reason this post was tagged and taken down #who knows #but it's back now!

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justgotham · 5 years

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Telling a Gotham fan to get ready for weird surprises is like telling Jim Gordon that it's going to be a long day. The information was plainly obvious from the start. So it should come as no real shock that Gotham is shaking things up a bit when the iconic villain Bane is introduced during the final nine-episode stretch. Speaking with CinemaBlend ahead of Episode 3, Gotham showrunner John Stephens is excited for audiences to expect the unexpected with Bane.

That was super-exciting, because we got to tell another origin story, you know? And a very different origin story than in the books, and in the Nolan movie. We do our version of [Bane's story], which for better or for worse is a very, very different version.

It cannot be denied that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises changed the game when it comes to how Bane is viewed and portrayed within pop culture. Tom Hardy's performance, which was at once both contained and unbridled, coupled with his distorted voice to make his iteration the key version for many fans. But it's not like it was the most faithful take on the comics' use of Bane, so expect nothing different from Gotham.

In fact, Gotham almost has the disadvantage here, since Shane West will be offering up the second extended take on Bane in live-action, making heightened comparisons inevitable. (Batman & Robin's version doesn't count here, for all the obvious reasons.) Coming less than seven years after Tom Hardy's portrayal, and with an actor whose previous genre projects have been extremely hit or miss, Gotham's Bane surely needs some dramatic change-ups to stand apart.

Showrunner John Stephens gave me a better idea of what to expect from Gotham's Bane beyond just the notion that he'd be an intentionally altered take on the character.

I feel like it plays both very scary and it plays very 'boots on the ground,' which is really cool. I think it totally fits into the world. I hope fans like it. I think we'll see. I think Shane does a really great job when he comes into it as well.

What little we know about Shane West's Bane already runs counter to what anyone would have expected even six months ago. At the time when Bane-related rumors started floating, it was revealed that Gotham would bring in Eduardo Dorrance. That info had many thinking a live-action take on Bane's comic book father Edmund Dorrance was coming. (After all, Bane doesn't have an official alter ego.) However, Eduardo IS Bane, and that's obviously not the only change.

Though much of Eduardo's transition to supervillain is still under wraps, we know that the character's backstory will match up with Jim's. It was reported that the two will actually be old buddies from their Army days. But while Jim shifted over to police work, Eduardo seemingly stayed part of the military-industrial complex, which is what brings him to Gotham City in its most desperate "No Man's Land" times. Sounds somewhat similar to how The Punisher revamped Billy Russo for Netflix.

However close the two men were before, it'll clearly have little effect on what goes on in Season 5. Jim won't be able to stop Eduardo from taking on his more dastardly identity, and that doesn't bode well for a city that has been all but ignored by the government. Wait a minute, what if Bane is working for the government in order to destroy Gotham? Or...what if Eduardo is actually just Jeremiah in an extremely well-crafted mask? I'd buy it.

The way Gotham's John Stephens put it, the show was able to officially bring Bane to fans because the producers were given a little more creative leeway from DC to bring in various as-yet-unseen Batman characters and references. He's what he had to say about the restrictions laid upon the writing staff in Season 5.

There were very few. [DC was] really very, very open to us, saying, 'You know what? If you want to do that, go for it.' So, they were great.

As some fans may be aware, the deeper Gotham goes into Season 5, the more madcap and bonkers it'll get, with the series finale taking place years in the future, after Bruce's vigilantism as Batman has become more widely recognized within Gotham City. (And after Cameron Monaghan takes on some kind of a third role.) It seems likely that Bane will cause quite a bit of destruction before we get there, though.

This is such a huge year for Gotham, considering its chances of getting a fifth season weren't the strongest during 2018. The fans clamored for more, and Fox made the proper decision to bring these characters back for one more dark and sinister round. I'd asked John Stephen how he and the others felt about putting together the last dozen episodes of the pre-caped crusader drama and here's what he told me:

Like a lot these things, it's a double-edged sword. Because on the one hand, we're really excited, because anything we've been holding on the shelf, we could pull out and put out there. We didn't have to save anything, we could really leave it all on the street, as they say. On the other hand, there's that bittersweet element of knowing that this was the end, that we weren't gonna get to tell any more stories when we finished this season. So, it was definitely that mixed bag [where there's] a lot of excitement going into it, but the closer we got to the end, the more the realization was that this one actually was the end.

Get ready for Gotham to pull out all the stops going forward as it brings Jeremiah back into the fold alongside his Harley-esque sidekick Ecco.

It looks like we won't have long to wait at all before meeting up with Shane West's Eduardo Dorrance in Season 5, even if he may not make the full transition to Bane in his first episode. Here's hoping it doesn't take long for the iconic character to flip the villainous switch, though.

#Bane #Shane West #Eduardo Dorrance

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centuriesofexistence · 6 years

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I understand your point on support and agree but what has Emily Andras done that was so bad to be deemed unworthy compared? I think she’s done insurmountable good for lgbt tv representation.

Nahhh. This is gonna be long, but… “insurmountable good” my ass.

But first off, I want to point out that I wasn’t *exactly* pitting Emily Andras and Nafessa Williams against each other. It wasn’t an either or. It was more pointing out the discrepancy between the support for a straight white creator who only deals with white ships and says incredibly questionable things about LGBT+ characters, tropes, and even real people, and the support for a black actress portraying a groundbreaking black lesbian lead character. It was a call-out post for fandom, asking people to do better and try to expand their horizons and the people they support, rather than leaving it up to the amorphous and scapegoat idea of “some things are popular and some aren’t, you can’t force people to like something” which only carries so far as an excuse.

At the same time, separate from that issue, Emily Andras is trash and here’s why.

Throwback to the day after Lexa’s death, to the quote most people know about: “I am seriously impressed with #The100’s writers’ lady cojones. And I don’t even watch the show! #Iwillnow”

So after writing on lost girl and writing and filming her entire first season of Wynonna Earp…homegirl is so excited by the courageous use of the BYG trope that she’s gonna start watching *because* Lexa died.

She doubled down on being totally ignorant and insensitive a few weeks later: “Look, this is the absolute truth and people don’t like to hear it, but what the fanbase wants is not always what is best for drama. First of all, I’ll just say that without making apologies. If you are on a show where danger is ever-present, and the stakes have to be that anyone is expendable, sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is, and I don’t think someone should not be expendable just because they happen to be a girl who likes girls”

There was also the time she ended up on a panel of LGBT+ creators talking about their work…and she was the only straight woman, taking up a space that could have gone to an LGBT+ person.

And since then, she has had various issues on twitter, such as flippantly using the word “queer” despite being straight, misgendering someone and refusing to apologize until dozens of people applied pressure, and dismissing LGBT+ fans’ questions and concerns about rep.

But the worst thing? It’s something I’ve kept to myself for a while, but I really don’t care anymore.

I was one of the original LGBT+ Fans Deserve Better organizers. It was quite a while ago, but back over the late spring/early summer of ‘16 while we were fighting to gain some legitimacy and really help make fandom voice heard following the mass of sapphic characters being killed off in brutal fashion, we actually got some fantastic allies: a couple of queer writers up in Canada reached out to help create the Lexa Pledge. The Lexa Pledge was a promise that creators could make, to treat their LGBT+ characters with the respect they deserved. I won’t get into all of it now, but it was an important, positive, preliminary step toward the positive representation we’re all fighting for. It was created by LGBT+ fans and LGBT+ creators working together, and it gave the LGBT+ Fans Deserve Better movement some real legitimacy. People were listening. The media was listening. The Lexa Pledge was evidence of that.

It was also Emily Andras’s first target when we pissed her off, with LGBTFDB being the other.

During that same time frame, LGBTFDB had a page on our site that listed all of the shitty quotes that showrunners had given during that Bloody Spring of 2016, with all of the lesbian/bi deaths. Emily Andras’s quote, which I mentioned above, was listed on that page. And she hated it.

It was also during this time that Wynonna Earp was running through it’s first season and hadn’t yet been renewed. It was a bubble show, meaning it was at a serious risk of being cancelled, and Emily Andras knew that one major factor that could decide its fate was the strength of her gay fandom. But the fact that she’d outed herself as a dumb straight woman and said those things about BYG and LGBT+ rep, was really hurting the size of her gay fandom. She didn’t like that we had that quote up and we were actively calling out creators who said harmful things…so she retaliated against LGBT+ FDB.

She applied pressure to the LGBT+ creators up in Canada who had helped us with the Lexa Pledge. Emily Andras has quite a bit of weight in the Canadian TV world. The writers who had helped us asked us to take the quote down at her request, and we refused, because we weren’t going to play favorites when it comes to shitty rep. When we refused, the writers told us they had been put in a very difficult position, under pressure from Emily Andras, and that if we didn’t take the quotes down, the Lexa Pledge would be withdrawn and they would no longer be able to work in tandem with LGBT+ Fans Deserve Better.

In retaliation for us standing our ground and refusing to be bullied or cajoled into protecting certain creators, Emily Andras attempted to torpedo the Lexa Pledge and derail the entire movement by applying pressure to the queer writers who had reached out to us. It would have delegitimized the movement, it would have hamstrung our attempts for better rep, it would have severed the connection between queer writers and queer fans…but that didn’t matter. We were making her look bad and she didn’t like it.

I remember sitting in my car and typing out a long, desperate email to the LGBT+ writers who had helped us, explaining the need for their support and how much hope they had given a community who had previously believed they had no voice in the media. The writers were in an understandably difficult position: under pressure from a powerful producer desperate to look good in the eyes of LGBT+ fans, or beholden to the promises and responsibilities they’d made to a bunch of queer fans. Ultimately, we managed to convince the writers to leave the Pledge with us, but the pledge and our work with them never advanced much further.

Obviously, it was not the end all be all solution to our rep issues, but I will absolutely never forgive Emily Andras for her bullshit studio politics game and her completely callous lack of compassion or care for a bunch of LGBT+ fans trying to make a change in the media. She only cares about herself; her “care” for the LGBT+ community extends only as far as they benefit her. She’s trash and I’ll never support her or anything she does.

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