Glee S03E14: "On My Way"
Glee's been watching too much Downton Abbey. This week's effort began with a musical suicide (it wasn't fatal) and ended up with a car wreck (autopsy results pending). We all knew something was up last week when Karofsky appeared in a monkey suit to pledge his love to Kurt, only to be spotted by a teammate from his new high school. And sure enough, Karofsky was sent careening into the dark abyss. As Blaine sang a solo version of Young the Giant's "Cough Syrup" ("life's too short to care at all, I'm losing my mind") poor Dave was shoved and taunted by his teammates and came home to find his Facebook wall covered in hateful comments. So he found a strong belt and hanged himself with it. For an entire commercial break, we assumed Karofsky was dead—because that's a pretty big guy and people don't generally survive hangings. Overdoses, maybe, but not a hanging. But in Principal Figgins office, we learn he has survived. We were also forced to watch his father discover him in flashback, which was hard to take. Ugh.
So this was Glee's suicide episode, and that's fine. I can't think of any significant high school show that hasn't tackled the issue at some point or another. And what's more, it's about the timely and urgent issue of gay teen suicide. (I mentioned this Rolling Stone story in last week's recap, but really, you must read it to get an idea of just how serious an issue it is.) I wondered if they perhaps undercut the power of the episode by having Karofsky, a tertiary character at best, live.
Then again, had he died, we wouldn't have the moving scene between Kurt and Dave in Dave's hospital room, in which Kurt pledged to help Dave "get through this."
He did so by helping Dave imagine the life he'd love to have in ten years:
Kurt: You're sitting in some fantastic office. You're some kind of professional, a lawyer maybe.
Dave: Can I be a sports agent?
Kurt: Sure, you're a big sports agent living in the city of your dreams because you left Lima and never looked back. Your handsome partner comes to visit you in your office and brings along your son. You're taking the rest of the day off work because you're taking your son to his first football game. You lean over to your partner and you say...
Dave: I'm so happy right now.
That scene makes me choke up every time I watch it (three times now, to be exact). So I think I'm fine without going the full-monty on Dave's suicide. It's more important that Glee's audience see exactly how and why it does get better. Of course, you need to envision the life you want in order to achieve it. That's what was so great about Kurt's words in that scene.
So, a happy ending. But not quite. What the heck was that final shot? Rachel and Finn and the in-laws nervously waiting to tie the knot. Quinn was running late, texting with Rach, then SLAM! A truck crashed into her and we smash cut to a dreaded "to be continued" sign.
So let's talk about that. Quinn has always been a polarizing character on Glee. I like her. I've always thought she was actually underrated musically (her "Never Can Say Goodbye" during the Michael Jackson episode was sublime) and her character, while it has gone into some truly bizarre areas (her secret past, her bad-girl phase, framing Shelby), is still something of a grounding force on the show. Think about Quinn's bathroom scene with Rachel, where she told Rachel that marrying Finn would be the biggest mistake of her life. Or even her moment in this episode with the pregnant Sue, in which the hormone-softened coach admitted that she's always admired and identified with Quinn's resolve. Quinn had a weird arc this season but came out with her head screwed on straighter than just about anyone else in New Directions. So seeing her killed off would be a bit of a middle-finger to fans, and to a character who had faced life's hardships and still persevered.
There are set photos floating around online that [SPOILER] show Quinn with Artie in a wheelchair, so there still might be hope, yet. But the piling on of near-fatal tragedies started to make this feel like Glee: The Downer Episode. And that might have been cool, actually: An episode devoted to the most depressing songs ever written. But instead we got some extremely forgettable Regionals performances. I hate when a friend walks into the room while I'm watching Glee and I'm forced to apologize for it, and that was definitely the case with The Warblers' performance of Lenny Kravitz's "Stand." Cmon, Sebastian. You talk the talk, you at least gotta walk the walk.
QUESTIONS:
– What was your gut reaction to the cliffhanger?
– What was your favorite musical performance in this episode?
– Who do you think is the father of Sue's child?
The "Fly" mash-up New Directions did was amazing. It gave me goosebumps. Something it hasn't done since season 1. And as much as I'm against teenagers getting hitched. I couldn't help but root for Rachel and Finn. Those 2 can't leave the show without their happy ending! I agree with you Seth about Quinn as a polarizing character on this show, that's why I doubt she's been killed off. It's very un-glee-like. At the end of the day this show's success is based on it's feel-good, youthful optimism. I can't see Ryan Murphy and co straying too far from such a successful formula, and killing off one of the main characters would be doing exactly that.
And, as to Sue's child: I'm sure she did something funky like stealing Will's sperm and storing it in some icy container and, well, it's his. It's crazy enough to be Sue and Glee.
Quinn is one of the characters leaving after this season anyways if I'm not mistaken, so I kinda guessed they DID kill her off.
i loved this episode so much! a lot of action - finally! a suicide (attempt), a wedding (attempt), a car crash! honestly, i wasn't touched by the final scene, maybe because i don't really care about quinn and all her plotline, she is rather boring for me. but all the scenes with kurt and karofsky made me shiver and almost cry. i want them to be together so much, there's this chemistry between them that you can't find between kurt and blaine (an attention-craving show-off).
This show is now a vehicle to teach us lessons???
What about the premise that is is a rip roaring comedy that is catapaulting Mr. Sch and Michelle to best comedy actors!
Hahahaa, want a joke. On to the Semi-nationals!!!!!
COUGH SYRUP - Best performance/song of the season! Blew me away!
- Gut reaction: Wth, this is ridiculous, what's the point?
- Cough Syrup, obviously
- She did something bad, I just know it. Maybe it's Pucks.. or Schuester!
This episode took my breath away, loved it!!!
As to the questions
Quinn survives, barely
Blaine's Cough syrup
Don't know why but I think it's Will
SO DID THEY KILL QUINN? She was my favourite on the show. Those eyes .
This episode was very powerful to me. I was crying Blaine was singing and Dave about to try and end it all. I am glad that Glee went in this direction, there is so much suicide happening today. I am greatful that there is organisations out there to try and help prevent this from happening.
Now that being said. After that scene I kept sitting there thinking "I dont give a crap about the next story line I just want the Dave stuff to be on" The wedding talk was blah blah blah. And there of course was Rachel making it all about herself with deciding on the wedding day. I dont think there has been an episode where she hasnt made it all about Rachel.
I really enjoyed the scene with Kurt and Dave talking in the end, that was nice. Kurt vowing that he he will be there for Dave. Even a bullies world can come crashing down at some point.
Im not sure how I feel on the Quinn accident. Boy I didnt see that coming, well yes I did. I think we all know whats going to happen when we see someone driving in a car and leans over to pick up their phone to answer a txt or call.
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And this is a comedy show, right???? Mr. Schu ur so funny, same can be said for everyone!
Like Nurse jackie, what a riot!
Gut reaction...."No,no, no...please don't go there." Honestly it's hard to speak negatively about an episodse of this magnitude. It coincidentally happen to be the first episode I watched live and with practically my entire family in a couple of years now and it was an intense episode to take in. I was yelling at the screen in horror for David's bit. Honestly because they managed to handle Karofsky's suicide attempt so well I can ignore the fact that they brought his character back out of nowhere, didn't give us much build up to his actual experiences leading up to the act, and won't have him back anytime soon after. (Max Adler has admitted to not having word on if/when he'll be back.) I can ignore all those little things that bugged me about how the brought about the topic and how rushed it was etc, because it provided with some of the best scenes ever. Max Adler was simply fantastic throughout. The scene with Kurt was fantastic. Even the scenes it lead to were great...Mr.Shue having a sit down with his students and just talking...real, honest, genuine talk...no antics, no silliness... just a reminder of why Mr.Shue was such a great teacher and great character prior to becoming that guy who writes the week's theme on the chalkboard. So for all of that, and for the fact that if it got the message out there to gay teens (to ANY teens...sometimes I do wish that more people emphasize the hardships of all the teens these days) then it did it's job.
I also didn't like the Quinn thing. It was a rather uncreative, sort of unnecessary, extremely predictable and unexpected way to get a cliffhanger. I seen it coming five minutes before it came. It wasn't a matter of if she'd get plowed into as it was when she'd get plowed into. I kind of hated that.moreless
This was the best episode ive seen thus far. Absolutely captivating.
The accident kinda felt like some dude in a truck crashed into her and she just happened to be texting at the time, but maybe she ran a stop sign or something.
This episode was very poorly structured. They had 4 major events (Suicide, Regionals, Wedding, Car Crash) - each of which deserved attention. Instead it was all mish-mashed, and I couldn't tell what I was suppose to focus.
I like Glee. But don't be a jack-of-all-trades, give all your attention to the issues, otherwise it doesn't leave an impact.
everyone I know who's watching this show (and that's me and one other girl) fast-forwards all the songs - so much for favourite musical moment.
Quinn's car accident at the end of this episode should postpone the wedding some more, especially in this upcoming episode: "Big Brother". We hope she does not die from that accident and I hope that Finn should be more guilty about the rushed wedding proposal to Rachel.
Yeah, this reminds me of "Popular", but "Popular" was discontinued in the wrong time. so I hope this show does not end up like "Popular", which needs to be re-tried.
What is more ironic is Popular was made by Ryan Murphy also! So... but yeah, as soon as I saw that scene, it reminded me of Popular right away, and I though that Glee might suddenly be cancelled but I'm pretty sure it won't. XD
I loved Popular so much. And it's last episode ended like this, a blonde main character involved in some sort of car accident... I suppose we'll never know if Brooke survived.
Actually if you go to a wikipedia article about Popular Ryan Murphy in an interview talked about what would've happened in Season 3 of Popular if it had gone on. Stuff about who ended up with who and what the accident actually did.
Popular had a force ending, same thing with Maybe It's Me and Do Over. These three shows that I mentioned should be aired in a different network privately in the future. Although, Popular needs to be continued and Maybe It's Me and Do Over needs to be re-tried.
It's like the writers won't let Quinn be happy for more than a few eps at a time. When things finally start to work out for her, something bad happens. I know the writers wanted a texting-while-driving storyline since Season 1, but why did they have to use her, one of the smartest kids there who's overcome so much already.
Also, I am sure that she is in love with Rachel. You can't convince me otherwise. "When you sang that song, you sang it to Finn- and only Finn, right?"
Like seriously- so much Faberry that we asked for and we can't handle it. Like feeding a starving man a feast.
Great episode. I don't believe this is about killing Quinn off. After Karovsky's near suicide it was Quinn who believed he was selfish and that there was nothing that would mover her out onto "the ledge" as Mr Shu said. This will be that event that forces her to understand just how a person can end up on the ledge. If anything is predictable it is that. Quinn was so adamant that nothing would make her want to kill herself. This will push her to entertain those thoughts and realize that she was never in a position previously to judge Karovsky's state of mind fairly.
They have to do something to keep up the interest! maybe this is their texting and driving episode-are they here to teach us a new lesson every week?
The songs sucked, "regionals" are over, now what-"semi-nationals"?
And Sue-who cares???
Meh - predictable. Could be effective though, if you care about Quinn. I never did.
Definitely Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You). I didn't mind the mash-up either. Everything the Warblers did was crap.
Don't know, don't care. They need to kill the storyline.
I don't think there's any way Quinn can die and everybody still be happy enough to continue on. if it was somebody other than the main cast that's one thing, but not one of their member. Quinn bothered me all first half of the season with her "skanks" but when she got back to normal, I loved her. don't want her to die.
i think glee has a lot of death in the show, i mean the warbler bird dies, sue's sister dies en now Karofsky almost dies. And the fact that the bad guy realized that what he does affects people just in time for the big show down is very hollywood. Quinn's accident is very predictable, i mean as soon as i hear rachel and finn were to get married i knew something was going to happen to stop it from happening. the best song was Here's to us by Rachel and the new direction. and can i say that after seeing Karofsky as an adult he looks way to old to be a highschooler. seeing Rory eating peanut butter made me laugh
Texting while driving? Idiot!
1. The first picture looks like they are in a video game.
2. Amazing cliffhanger. Was a bit predictable but very effective.
3 Sue + child = one messed up kid.
- A good cliffhanger, but predictable. Poor Quinn, just when it looks like her life is going somewhere, she dies/almost dies.
- What Doesn't Kill You. Once again, Troubletones are the best.
- I don't even want to know.
I agree that the Regional songs became forgettable because the episode focused so much on the story. I actually liked the ND mash up.
The last scene with Quinn reminded me a lot of Popular, another Ryan Murphy show that had a 'car accident' involving a pretty girl. I honestly thought he did that on purpose but then I found out he didn't write the episode. But he could have still suggested it. Oh well.
i was surprised by how well glee handled the whole karofsky thing. if this had been season 2, it would've been a trainwreck but they handled it beautifully in this episode. although its impossible to watch beaver from greek now playing a high schooler (and a mean one at that! beaver was like the sweetest thing ever!)
and i dont think quinn will die. this is glee, not degrassi and killing quinn wouldn;t be a good storyline any way you cut it. and after the first half of season 3 quinn was a psyhobitch, they can;t kill her now that she;s not only become likable, but the voice of reason on glee.
- for the gliffhanger i was like OMG, I have to wait untill april to know what' going to happen
- My favorite musical performance was Here's to us by Rachel and the new direction!
- Do you think she is really pregnant???? NO way that is true!
Why not? She's only 31 (since she was only 29 in season 1).
Please let that be sarcasm and not someone who takes everything Sue says literally.
They shouldn't have put Karovsky's suicide and Regionals in the same episode. It's true that now, at the third season, regionals do not have that interest they had before, but I feel that they should have been combined with another kind of storyline (perhaps Warbler-related? it's true that the MJ episode was not so long ago though).
I agree with the idea that Quinn is a grounding force in the show, even if this means that she must say unpleasant truths (as when she tells the girls that after high school they will probably lose contact with each other and will move on with their own lives). I didn't like what the authors tried to do with her in the first part of the show, and I don't think they are going to kill her now that she's on the path of redemption.moreless
"and I don't think they are going to kill her now that she's on the path of redemption"
I think that is the right place to kill her off. I like Quinn, don't get me wrong, but sometimes after someone has corrected their life and seems to be on the right track, is when they sometimes lose their life. I would feel more sorry for someone dying who is on the straight and narrow, than someone who doesn't give a damn "quinn at the begining of the season."