Glee Episode #8: Mash-up

Word of the Day: Popularity. In "Mash-Up", Finn and Quinn struggle with popularity, trying to figure out how to regain social status and whether or not it really matters. Or rather, trying to figure out what matters. This week, I'm changing things a bit in my blog. There were too many good quotes to comment only on the popularity-related ones.

"My weave!" - Mercedes
I laugh out loud every time I hear this line. Part of it is the delivery. The other part is my new understanding of Black hair thanks to Chris Rock promoting Good Hair on Oprah.

"Now that you've joined Lullaby Lees and sperminated the queen of the Chastity Ball and dropped below us hockey dudes on the food chain, it's open season." - Karovsky
It's interesting how people think that having sex makes you cool. At the same time, though, teen pregnancy - one consequence of having sex in high school, can cripple a couple's social status. And now that Finn and Quinn have lost status in the eyes of their peers, the hockey dudes finally find themselves as predators in the food chain. I like to think that there is something good in humanity that allows us to empathize with our fellow prey, but Karovsky proves that is not always true.

Emma: Yes, and Ken has convinced me that we need to at least be in the same room when the marriage is certified.
Ken: What can I say, I'm a traditionalist.
No Ken, you're just normal and the only person in the relationship who actually wants to get married.

"This is a disaster. Our reputation as McKinley High's 'it' couple is in serious jeopardy if we don't find some way to be cool again, Finn." - Quinn
The head cheerleader/football star combination is always the 'it' couple in high school. At my school, there was Craig and Ashleigh. I wasn't friends with them or part of their crowd, so I don't know how hard they tried to maintain their status. I don't know if they felt their popularity was ever threatened. I do know that considering social status as most important turns something small like a slushee facial into a major disaster.

"There's an important lesson to be learned with mash-ups. Sometimes things are so different they don't feel like they go together. But the big difference between them is what makes them great. Like chocolate and bacon." - Will
I enjoy a good mash-up, not just musically but also metaphorically. It's like life, the way things come together and result in unexpected greatness. But I'm hesitant about chocolate and bacon. I'm tempted to try it and experience the big difference that makes it great.

"Status is like currency. When your bank account is full, you can get away with doing just about anything." - Quinn
Money is currency. And when your bank account is full, you can get away with a lot then, too. Just ask all the celebrities who face no consequences for their offenses.

Finn: Totally! It's like you can't see their eyes, so they have all the power. I could be looking at your boobs and you'd have no idea.
Emma: Um, no - kids, look. The most important thing is that you be yourselves. Ok? So if people don't like you for that, I'm sorry but who needs them?
1. It kinda creeps me out when I can't see someone's eyes through their sunglasses. And I am not surprised that Finn would take advantage of that and look at someone's boobs.
2. Why is it so hard for people to be themselves? Is it the fear of rejection and judgment? I say that if people don't like you for yourself, you don't need their judgment. You don't need to go out of your way to be what they want. But it doesn't mean you don't need them as a person since everyone has something to offer, and it doesn't mean you should refuse to accept them for who they are.

"She didn't wear it to her dance rehearsals, and the night of the wedding her husband kept stepping on the train. It was really bad. The fight was epic. The priest cried. They were divorced three months later. Actually, maybe I shouldn't wear it." - Emma
I guess Emma is hoping a bad dance will be her ticket out.

"I know. It's whack. But I also remember what my history teacher told us last semester. Only Nixon can go to China. I have no idea what she meant, but it reminded me of when my family ordered Chinese food and sat down together for our traditional Simchas Torah screening of Schindler's List." - Puck
I missed the first half of this quote during the original broadcast of the episode because I was squealing too loudly and jumping up and down.

Puck: Are you questioning my badassness? Have you seen my guns?
Rachel: No. I'm sorry, but - your arms are lovely. But I just don't see us working out.
Yes, his arms are lovely. And I will justify my crush on Puck with the fact that the actor, Mark Salling, is really 27. It's like how everyone roots for Josie and Mr. Coulson to get together when they watch Never Been Kissed. It's creepy that the teacher is flirting with a student who is supposed to be 17, but we think it's okay because (dramatic irony!) we know she's really 25.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be popular. It just means you want people to like you. I think that's healthy." - Finn
I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting friends. Friendship is healthy; changing who you are in order to form many surface-level relationships is not. There's a difference between wanting to be liked and denying your true self to achieve that. There are people who are truly popular, who always act like themselves and have many friends. Those are the people who make me jealous. Not the stereotypical "cool" people whose friendships people use to climb the social ladder.

I hear people say, 'That's not how I define marriage.' Well to them I say, 'Love knows no bounds.' Why can't people marry dogs? I'm certainly not advocating intimacy with your pets. I for one think intimacy has no place in a marriage. I walked in on my parents once, and it was like seeing two walruses wrestling. So 'Woof!' on Prop 15, Ohio. And that's how Sue "C's" it." - Sue
I find this more amusing than I should, probably because I just watched Jane Lynch in Best in Show, about dog competitions. And I'm about to finish my first week working for a company that produces dog grooming expos and magazines for dog groomers.

"Your commitment to football is about as long as your pants." - Will
I was just thinking about Ken's short shorts. Isn't it supposed to be cold in Ohio?

"You and I and the whole world knows that I am just a consolation prize. How do you think that makes me feel? ... Emma is settling for me, and I love her so much I don't care. But it doesn't mean I appreciate you coming with your Gene Kelly charm and getting high off of her fawning over you." - Ken
I feel such sympathy, and sometimes empathy, for Ken. He's really a good guy, so why doesn't Emma see that?

Puck: No one deserves this feeling. You know what the worst part is? It's not the burning in your eyes or the way the slushee drips all the way into your underpants. It's the humiliation. I feel like I could burst into tears at any moment. Rachel, I'm sorry, but today when the clock strikes 3:30...
Rachel: You're choosing football over glee, which means we probably can't be together anymore.
Puck: Yes. Damn, I feel like such a bad Jew.
This scene (the whole episode, really) continued to melt my heart for Mr. Noah Puckerman. The sensitivity, the understanding, the vulnerability... *swoon* But my favorite part was at the end when he whipped a yarmulke out of his pocket.

Rachel: Are you sure about this, Noah? I mean, choosing us over the team means you might get a slushie in your face every day.
Puck: Bring it.
Artie: Where's Finn?
Oh, Noah Puckerman. Such bravery and maturity in risking the humiliation that makes him want to cry. And Artie. The delivery of his line was subtly brilliant. It carried the perfect amount of sadness and naivete, like a kid eating steak, wondering where his pet Bessie could be.

Finn: If I don't do it, the guys on the team are going to kick the crap out of me.
Kurt: Well we can't have that, can we?
Finn: What are you doing?
Kurt: It's called taking one for the team. Now get out of here! And take some time to think whether or not any of your friends on the football team would have done that for you... Someone get me to a day spa, stat!
Kurt, this is why everyone loves you. Such a good lesson about friendship.

Rod: You didn't think that we were exclusive, did you?
Sue: That's the only way I do it, Rod.
For some reason, I wouldn't expect this of Sue. But I suppose if Sue wants something, she has to be the only one who gets it.

Will: These are the moments, Finn. The crossroads. The ones you look back on when you get old and think, 'What if'.
Finn: I don't buy that. I don't think any one decision makes your life. Unless you accidentally invent some kind of zombie virus or something.
Will: No, you're right. Life's a series of choices. A combination of moments. Little ones that add up to big ones that create who you are.
In high school, I used to put too much emphasis on the weight my decisions had on my future. I stressed out about choosing classes and whether or not I could get a job if I took art in 9th grade instead of Spanish. But every moment is a part of who you are, whether it's something life-changing or mundane. Unfortunately, I missed the poignancy of this scene when watching it on TV, because we were viewing it on a standard definition screen. On the wide shots, both Will and Finn were off the screen. We could hear the voices but could only see the goal post.

"If it is one minute late, I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat, and then on some dark cold night I will steal away into your home and punch you in the face." - Sue
EPIC.

Will: I just can't get those two songs to go together.
Emma: Yeah, it's because they don't. We both know that. They're both good songs, though.
Will: Great ones.
If Emma could only see the value of the "Thong Song", then maybe they could make it work! Try harder to make it work, Will.

Rachel: They're delicious.
Kurt: And filled with empty calories. You know why they're called slushees, don't you? Because your butt looks like one if you have too many of them.
You are what you eat, I suppose.

"You've never been hit by a slushee before, Mr. Schue?" - Artie
The best part about this line is the way Artie slowly rolls his wheelchair toward Will as he speaks.