showthemwhat:

showthemwhat:

“We were thinking about continuing Finn’s arc from the last episode a bit (so it’ll slowly and organically grow instead of just coming up and being resolved in one episode)”—FAKE QUOTE FROM AN IMAGINARY DISCUSSION IN THE WRITERS’ ROOM

Dear Glee Fandom, or at least the portion…

Thanks for the kind words! :)

I agree that the monologue was great and set up a great story for Finn; it is the story that the entirety of Season Two set up for him (and I disagree with the characterization of many fans; I thought Season Two was great and that it was highly organic. Who cares if Finn wasn’t always a good guy?  It was a good, strong, complex story that moved the character from one place to another; it was interesting and involved and had me waiting impatiently each week from 9:01 P.M. EST until 8:00 P.M. EST the following week for a new episode to air so that I could see what developed next.   I have accepted that I may be the only person out there that feels this way, but it is how I felt and still feel.)

This is my concern: after the initial voice-over, where did Finn’s premiere episode story go?  Nowhere.  Nada.  Not a focus at all.  Which has NEVER happened before.  That’s what I’m concerned about.  They put the focus on Kurt’s story instead, dropping their focus on Finn.  Finn will get a story, but if the first episode is a signal for how they do the season—which it always has been—that means the focus will be on Rachel and Kurt, with Finn’s story getting side-treatment. 

Like I said—I hope I’m wrong.  I know my perception is being affected by knowing that they cut out the kiss scene (and they’ve NEVER cut a filmed kiss scene between ANY characters on Glee before) and they cut Finn out of another scene. 

But much more than that—-they’ve ALWAYS spent a significant amount of time setting up Finn’s season-long story in the season premieres.  Look at these descriptions of what we saw of Finn in 1x01, 2x01, and 3x01 and see how different the time, effort, and attention on Finn’s character is:

1x01 Pilot: We see Finn unhappy about dumping Kurt in the trash but going along to get along; zoning out in Spanish; wanting to be excited about Mr. Schue asking for singers in the locker room but too afraid to appear uncool to show that he likes the idea of trying out for Glee; singing in the shower; the extended back-story (complementing the time spent on Rachel’s back story) when Schue blackmails him; the first song with the glee club; the scene in the VA lobby with Rachel, including the Quinn clip; being paintballed; being with the kids when Schue announces he’s quitting; the hallway locker scene with Rachel, Quinn, and Santana; the outside scene with Puck, with the team, rescuing Artie, standing up to the team and speaking one of the defining messages of the show, going off with Artie, seeing Darren, and being inspired on how to bring the glee club together; confronting the glee kids, saying he wanted to be a part of them, and stepping into a leadership role; singing DSB as one of the two leads.

2x02 Audition:  We see Finn and Rachel being interviewed, learn they are dating, and get him coining the world controllist; Finn standing up with Rachel as co-leaders to say they need more members; lots of focus on him in Empire State, including his noticing Sam watching them; him making posters to put up around school, him seeing the list with joke names in the locker room, and the voice-over scene when he hears Sam singing in the shower; him agreeing to help Artie and then the two of them going up to recruit Sam; him taking the lead with the guys when Sam auditions; him with Rachel when Sunshine auditions; him trying to talk Beiste into letting Artie on the team, getting kicked off the team, and pleading to get back on in the scene in Figgins’ office; him trying out for the Cheerios because he doesn’t know who he is without football; him being upset when Sam doesn’t show up for tryouts, hearing Kurt tell him that he doesn’t have the same pull anymore now that he isn’t the QB, confronting Sam and learning that Sam both won’t risk joining Glee and is the new QB; his scene with Rachel in the hallway at the end when he confronts her with the truth that she loves herself and being in the spotlight more than being part of the team, and him articulating that he feels like he is nothing now that he isn’t quarterback anymore.

3x01 The Purple Piano Project: His voiceover at the beginning when we learn that he feels that while everyone else knows what they want to do, he doesn’t know what he wants to do or who he is, followed by being slushied; cute choir room scene w/Rachel, but with it significantly shortened from what was filmed; two lines in the cafeteria scene and occasional shots of him drumming; him watching Sugar, but no lines; him watching Blaine sing while Rachel keeps popping on and off his lap (due to inconsistent editing), but with no lines or story; him objecting to Blaine’s showiness; him looking sadly at Rachel while she starts to sing, with the final focus of that initial part of the scene going to Kurt, not Finn; a few shots of him drumming in the final number; the closing “Yeah” from Finn.

The fact that we got virtually none of his story, where before we got major set-up for his story, is the significant change that is disturbing me.  Couple that with several months of stories about Ryan Murphy not feeling warmly toward Cory Monteith anymore—stories that I have consistently dismissed before now as gossip—and it is really making me wonder what’s going on, and if RM truly is thinking the show can survive with a Rachel/Kurt as the two main characters focus.

(RIB, Dante, FOX Powers That Be, et al: This is not going back to basics.  And the show can’t survive with a primary Rachel/Kurt focus.  They are both incredibly fantastic, wonderful, amazing characters who are two of my three favorites.  But the story will fall flat with a focus on just the two of them because they are the same character, one female and one male.  The whole point of Glee is about bringing opposites together and showing how differences mash-up into a great whole and how realizing you can develop different, unexplored parts of yourself by associating with those who are different than you helps you more fully become yourself.  Finn’s character is absolutely essential to that dynamic; without him as a central focus along with Rachel/Kurt, the tension that fuels the show is gone, causing it to lose its meaning, message, and soul.