3x02: I Am Unicorn (part 1)

The drama that Glee is known for is back, with a baby! If you haven’t seen this week’s episode, read TVline.com's Glee Recap, and then come back to dish out this week’s major issues.

Since this week’s themes require a lot of backstory, I’ve decided to split this post into two parts. First up: baby drama.

Mamma Mia! Everyone gets a mother!

First, let’s take a trip back to season one for a moment to recap some important plot lines. Midseason, Shelby Corcoran shows up on the scene with a big surprise: she’s Rachel’s birth mother, and she wants to be a part of Rachel’s life! 16 years ago, Shelby gave her daughter to Rachel’s two gay dads, and she didn’t look back, until now. But Shelby quickly realizes that she has missed her chance to raise and to get to know Rachel, and she decides to not pursue a relationship.

In the other corner, Quinn and Puck just had a daughter, Beth, and Quinn decides she does not want to keep her. Hey, wasn’t Shelby looking for a daughter? Bingo. Shelby adopts Beth and the two go off into the sunset.

Ok so back to the present. Shelby’s back and she brought Beth with her. She wants Quinn and Puck to get to know Beth and be a part of her life. As a mother who gave up a daughter, she relates to Quinn. She says, “Since the day that I gave Rachel up for adoption, I have been walking through life, searching for her face everywhere I go.” Puck’s all in for getting to know Beth.

But Quinn wants one better, and she eventually drops the bomb to Puck that she wants to get her daughter back from Shelby, full custody.

I Stand for Motherhood! So who's the rightful mom?

Shelby? Quinn? Let’s look at what both women have done.

Quinn: 

• gave birth to Beth 
• shares DNA with Beth 
• gave Beth her blond hair and blue eyes

Shelby:

• is raising Beth 
• feeds her, clothes her, and gives her a loving home

Leaving out the legal matters, and strictly looking at what each woman does for Beth, I'm going to have to side with Shelby. A mom is the person who takes care of the child. Sharing DNA does not make you a mom; it makes you a biological mother. As Shelby once told Rachel, “I’m your mother, but I’m not your mom.” A mom is there for you during all the tough times. She takes care of you when you are sick, she wipes away tears, and she reads you bedtime stories. As Shelby tells Quinn, “The real measure of motherhood is how much of yourself you will give up for them.” How much is Quinn willing to give up to get Beth back? We're about to find out. And I will be eagerly waiting to see which mother prevails.

To leave the post on a more optimistic note, let's return to Shelby and Rachel. Although Shelby probably won't be doing any mothering for Rachel any time soon, the two seem to be getting back on good terms. They sing out a truce and agree that “Somewhere” there’s a place for them.

Whew! So much momma drama! Be sure to check back later for part 2 of this week’s episode where I'll tackle Kurt's Unicorn dilemma!

3x01: The Purple Piano Project

After a long summer break, McKinley High’s New Directions are back and they've got the beat. Literally!

For those of you who haven’t see the episode, hit up TVline.com's weekly Glee Recap, and then join me back here to rehash this week’s big issues.

Arts in schools, for or against?

Sue Sylvester is running for Congress, and her campaign platform? Get rid of the arts in schools. (Bad news for our favorite Glee club.) To Sue, the arts are merely a distraction from real subjects like math and reading. And how can students be competitive if they can’t read or multiply? As she put it in her segment on the local news, “America is failing. China is on our ass people.” Sue’s solution: No arts until students can prove that they are up to par on their core subjects.

But our favorite vest-wearing Glee club teacher has a different opinion. Mr. Shue thinks that the arts help kids succeed in school. In a glitter-filled protest, he tells Sue that “John F. Kennedy once said the arts are the roots of our culture. The arts enrich our lives and help kids achieve in all walks of life.”

And not only do the arts inspire creativity, but research has proven that the arts also increase learning and memory capability. 

As a student involved in the arts for the past 9 years, I’m going to have to side with Shue on this one.

College, a time to dream

It’s many of our favorite characters’ senior year in high school, which means one thing: graduation is just around the corner. Time to tackle that big question that every high school senior dreads: Where are you going to college and what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

For Rachel and Kurt, who have their sights set on Broadway glory, the answer is the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. Piece of cake. With their talent and stand-out personalities, they’re sure to blow the competition out of the water. Or so they thought. Apparently there are a million other Kurts and Rachels out there with the same big dreams. As Kurt puts it, “We might be hot stuff at McKinley, but outside those walls, we aren’t even stuff.” Rachel worries that “not everyone’s dreams come true.”

Wait a second. I’ve always been taught that I can do anything I put my mind to. Is this the naïve and idealistic way of looking at things?

Well, yes and no. Rachel’s right, not everyone makes it. But, (as clichéd as it sounds) you’ll never make it if you never try. If you give it your everything, you have the best chance of achieving your dream. And that’s what Kurt and Rachel decide to do.

You can knock ‘em down, but they can’t be beat

So the New Directions have an uphill battle (as per usual) this semester. But Mr. Shue has vowed to take on Sue and prove that the arts are beneficial. And Kurt and Rachel aren’t giving up on their dreams. And in typical Glee fashion, they wrap the episode up in a catchy and inspiring musical number, proving that no matter what obstacles you throw at the Glee club underdogs, “You Can't Stop the Beat.”

Greetings loved ones, let's take a journey

Hello Gleeks! and any other readers who may have stumbled upon this blog! WELCOME! I would like to take this first post to introduce myself and to tell you a little bit about this blog. Here goes:
Who am I?
My name is Molly, I'm a sophomore at Rice University, and I love love love television. I will pretty much watch anything. But right now, my biggest addicition? GLEE.
What is Glee?
If you for some reason have been living under a rock and have completely missed the cultural phenomenon that is Glee (just kidding, it's totally cool if you're new to Glee), the show is about a group of high school students who are in the school glee club (show choir). The group is composed of a variety of kids--the cheerleaders, the football players, the drama queens, the nerds, the open and not so openly gay, and everywhere in between the typical high school cliques and stereotypes. But the thing that all of these kids have in common? They love to sing. And together they form a motley crew of underdogs. The show is about how they come together to face the difficult time that is high school. I think the theme of the show can be summarized best in what has become the Glee anthem, Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." Check out this clip of the club's very first performance of the song if you want to feel all warm and fuzzy.
So what's this blog about? And why are we talking about Glee?
I'm writing this blog for my Communications class. The assignment was to pick a topic that we are passionate about, and blog about it for a month. If you haven't already noticed, my passion is Glee. So I knew I wanted to blog about Glee...but how would I make my blog (A) different from the millions of other Glee blogs and (B) interesting and relatable to a large audience, not just Gleeks?
Well, my solution was to make this blog about the social issues on Glee. Because yes, Glee is about singing and dancing, and sometimes petty high school drama, but I love it because it also tackles really important issues that many teenagers face. Bullying. Body image. Popularity. Pressure to succeed. Sexuality. Relationships. And many more.
The goal with this blog is to talk about those issues, problems that everyone can relate to on some level, through the lens of Glee's lovable (and sometimes totally frustrating and unlovable) characters.
Here we go!
So, on the eve of Glee's return to television after the summer break, I invite you to come along on this journey with me! Please be patient, it's my first time blogging, so I haven't quite worked out all the kinks yet. But, (and forgive me for sounding a bit cheesy) I hope that together we can learn a little bit about ourselves and our society, while still having some fun with a really great TV show.
Cheers!
Molly