The Cutprice Guignol

If you have learned one thing about me from reading these recaps so far, it’s that any episode that features Mike O’Malley is Glee’s equivalent of bringing in a ringer for me.

I fucking love Burt Hummel, I really do, and this episode revolving around his wedding to Carol (Romy Rosemont, my beloved) is one that I think of very fondly as a result. I was quite looking forward to this one as part of my rewatch, sitting here in my Burt Hummel hat and ringing my bell, but I have to admit, this episode is…not as good as I remembered. Those rose-tinted glasses were doing a lot of heavy lifting, is what I’m saying.

Because there are two weddings this episode, the other being Sue’s wedding to herself, and it’s one of those plots that just so fucking stupid it’s hard to believe it was anything other than a late-in-the-game upgrade from one-shot joke to B-plot to fill time. And the reason for that upgrade, really obviously, is that the show managed to land Carol Burnett as a guest-star to play Sue’s mother.

Look, I love Carol Burnett, of course I do – she’s a fucking icon, and she’s really fun in this episode too, as Sue’s Nazi-hunting matriarch with a penchant for the musical Wonderful Town. But her inclusion here really feels like the show bending to fit in a guest star they really want to have there as opposed to having a guest star step in to a role that makes sense in the world (see: Kristin Chenoweth). It really stands in contrast to the inclusion of Sue’s sister, who the show works to make a real character who impacts Sue’s arc, and then her mother just strolls in to be as silly as possible and belt out Ohio before she rides off into the Nazi-hunting sunset. Is Sue’s tracksuit wedding dress a sensational fashion moment? Of course. But it’s not enough to save this plot.

I think one of the biggest issues with the second season of Glee is the complete ejection from the orbit of reality, and this plot being such a major part of this episode is exactly that, and it’s a shame because I do actually think the rest of Furt is pretty damn good.

In a lot of ways, it’s a really joyful episode; from Burt talking about exercising so he can “boogie” with Carol at the wedding (his little declaration of “and I will boogie” while he does an awkward dad two-step next to the school lockers – that is my husband, that is the love of my life) to the Just the Way You Are number between Finn and Kurt at the wedding, it really does, in a lot of ways, feel like going to the wedding of people you love. Romy Rosemont and Mike O’Malley have such easy, believable chemistry, and I still can’t help but smile when they tie the knot, and God, I could truly just watch Kurt and Burt bouncing off each other like they do in that little dance lesson sequence for a whole episode. There’s a brightness here, a lightness of touch to the musical numbers and the performances and the general attitude of everything surrounding the wedding that makes it impossible not to get caught up in. I fucking hate that Marry Me song, but I love it here, and it’s a credit to how joyful this episode is that it works.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vP2eGuTgpak

(this is just an aside too, but God, I fucking love Matthew Morrison’s take on Sway – it’s that perfect balance between sexy, silly, and cheesy, and his voice suits it perfectly. That microphone stand kick? I would be doing whatever it took to go home with him if I was three glasses of free champagne deep at that wedding. I would be scrambling up his leg like a marmoset)

And I really think the heavier stuff sticks the landing too. Finn’s mini-arc in this episode of accepting his mother re-marrying and embracing the new members of his family, especially Kurt, is really sweet. I think Cory Monteith plays it just right, pitching the genuine discomfort Finn feels as a teenage boy navigating a new family in a way that makes his breakthrough seem impactful, especially as it dovetails with the ongoing Karofsky plot this week.

And this Karofsky plot is one of the few storylines that I think remains pretty well-grounded this season, with great payoff as a result. After he forced a kiss on Kurt, Karosfky has escalated his campaign of abuse against him, leading to intervention from the Glee club and, later, Sue (still acting principal). After threatening Kurt’s life, Karofsky is kicked out of the school, but is later re-instated because he hasn’t actually physically assaulted Kurt (which, you know, we have actually seen him do several times, but apparently that’s what the show is going with). Kurt leaves McKinley to go to Dalton Academy, where he can be free from the harassment – but leaves behind his friends in the process.

I really do think this plot is very well-handled this episode, and I appreciate how seriously the show takes it. At the end of the day, Kurt is a feminine, out gay kid in a small-town school in the middle of nowhere, Ohio, and he can’t win. Karofsky’s dedication to covering up his orientation, presenting in a traditional het, masculine way, will always come out on top – always be rewarded, even if he’s causing irrevocable harm to people in the process. Max Adler plays this episode so well, balancing the fear driving all of Karofsky’s actions with the toxic macho bullshit he’s using to cover it up – that moment he remarks that Kurt might be making it up because he has a crush on him, it feels almost like he kind of hopes that’s what it is, even if he would never admit it to himself. And having Jane Lynch, a gay icon herself, fulfil such an important role in this story gives it even more gravitas – her quitting her principalship in order to be able to better protect Kurt and protest Karofsky’s re-insititution to the school isn’t exactly in character for Sue, but it feels like a worthy nod to Lynch’s legacy as a vital part of gay pop culture, and I appreciate it a lot.

So, yeah, overall, I do still really enjoy Furt – but the less said about that Carol Burnett plot, the better. If this episode was just forty minutes of Mike O’Malley nervously dancing while Kurt silently eggs him on in the background, I would love it, but there’s actually a lot of great stuff going on here, and, most of all, a joyful sense of fun that helps paper over some of the cracks.

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(header image via TV Recappers Anonymous)