Glee Recap: Asian Stereotypes and Diva Tantrums!

Recaps

By TheNooch | Thursday, October 6, 2011 | 1:00 pm | 15 Comments
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in: Featured, Glee, Recaps

Since having his ass handed to him after Nationals last season and having the added blow of not winning a Tony because Mr. Shu walked away from his Broadway dream in order to continue being beloved Mr. Shu to the McKinley High Glee club, Mr. Shu has turned over a new leaf. With his past disappointments and the stress of living with a severe OCD headcase, I can see why he would feel the need to assert his manhood elsewhere.

Mercedes has an awesome dance outfitMercedes turns the diva on and Mr. Shu isn't having itThis week’s episode of Glee begins with a delightful scene which demonstrates just how big Mr. Shu’s balls have become. He’s in full-on drill sergeant mode as he rails Mercedes for being weaksauce after she mime-vomits into the trashcan. If you wanna sit out of Booty camp you gotta get method with your acting Mercedes, really produce some bile and then we can talk.

Mr. Shu found Emmas pile of naughty bridal magazinesWe take a peek at what has Mr. Shu’s panties in a twist, Emma. Ah, mornings. What a great time to bring up secret stashes of wedding magazines and autographed headshot of Vera Wang that you found when you were trying to snoop through your super-secretive-OCD-girlfriend’s things!

MR. Shu's wicker bachelor boxDon’t be embarrassed Emma. Mr. Shu has a clearly more embarrassing pile that he wants to share with you in an even more embarrassing feminine wicker box, although it is sort of fitting to have lady bits in a lady box.

Then they get into a discussion about why Emma won’t let Mr. Shu meet her parents, because that’s a plausible storyline; a man pleading to meet his girlfriend’s parents. Luckily Emma dodges the question and we don’t have to hear anymore of his whining about how she won’t let him into her life. But don’t you think for one second that this isn’t a set up to a scene later in the episode where we get to meet Emma’s wacky parental unit.

Principal figgins intenseOn to the stereotypes!  Mike Cheng, ½ half on the signature asian couple, is in deep doo doo; he got an A- on a Chemistry test. Since A- translates to an Asian F, Mike’s dad has come to speak to the principal. I’ve heard of Tiger mom but a Tiger Dad? Looks like Glee flipped the script on this one guys.

mike chang's tiger dadTiger dad asks Principal Higgins to keep an eye out on his boy so he won’t get an Asian F again and is convinced that Mike’s other half, Tina, is the root of the problem. A girlfriend is an Asian Problem. How can you study if you have a social life where you interact with other human beings? You can’t.

Tina is a vampireThe best part is that Principal Higgins jumps aboard this whack-train and agrees that Tina is the devil, specifically a vampire, and therefore is trouble. Add a few more angsty vampire teens and you will have the next hottest hybrid show: High School Musical Vampires.

Football team is less than thrilled with balletApparently, Coach Beiste is the new spokesperson for ballet. The speech she gives to the football team about mandatory ballet lessons is more like a PSA than a demand. Did you know that football players who take ballet end up on Dancing with the Stars? Now that’s something to shoot for.

Coach BeisteFavorite part of Beiste’s speech: The part where she admits she broke her foot when she kicked a fire hydrant after she found out Ace of Cakes was cancelled.  After I laughed, I cried at the loss of my favorite show and am currently residing in a deep dark hole of emotions.

This is your payday MarcusMercedes’s boyfriend Marcus fuels her diva fire by telling her she has to squash Rachel, her competition.  This isn’t just a school play, this is serious. Marcus is just setting her up so that she can be the Whitney to his Bobby Brown.

Mercedes Audition Get it!That’s it girl! Find your inner diva and let it out all over the place!

Tina tries to convince Mike to audition for Riff, the second male lead, and is alarmed to find out that Mike got an Asian F. I’m just alarmed that she trusts Mike can sing.

Rachel and KurtBrittany says she 'run the world'Brittany dance mobKurt is all a twitter about his candidacy as president until Brittany steps up to squash his dreams with talk of a disappearing poop waterchair (i.e. toilet) and a killer dance number that shows the whole of her undercarriage.

Kurt is scaredKurt is shaking is his little Dolce & Gabana ankle high snakeskin boots.

Mercedes and Rachel being told about the callback sitchMore audition drama! Is it just me or is this audition process taking forever? First all the hemming and hawing about whether or not Kurt can be Tony and now it’s ‘who’s the better Maria, Mercedes or Rachel?’ I don’t know, it’s too close to call: CALLBACK! If there’s anything that would infuriate a dive more, it’s a callback. You should be able to see her supreme diva-osity in the first go.

But this has to happen because we need to see a Westside Story sing-off. Let’s just save everybody time and energy by just accepting the fact that the lead is going to be Rachel.

Mike's angry dance soloMike has a vision of TinaAs I watch Mike Chang have his Flashdance/Ghost moment, I know deep in my heart this is truly the Mike Chang episode.  Glee strays from it’s normal format to take a look at the sensitive side of Mike Chang, the one that nobody really knows about, and then we watch him dance his little Asian heart out. I think that calls for an Asian A.

Mike's auditionThe whole football teamSomehow, the whole football team knows when Mike has his audition and joins him in wowing the directors. For a team that was anything but excited when Coach Beiste demanded ballet lessons out of all of them, there didn’t hold anything back in Mike’s audition. Also, aren’t you supposed to audition solo? And if we’re going into the technicalities of auditions, don’t you usually audition without a full band accompanying you? How does McKinley high afford to have a whole band on stage just waiting for the opportunity to play all day long?

Mr. Shu therapy timeCoach Beiste's ridiculous lunchI’m not a fan of this new “personal lunch therapy with Coach Beiste” bit that seems to happening in every episode of Glee this season. It’s bad enough I have to hear Mr. Shu complain about things all the time, because that is his way, but I don’t want to see Coach Beiste inhale another disgusting amount of greasy food as he does it. Two wrongs doesn’t make a right.

Flowers for blaineKurt sucks up his pride and decides to be the giver instead of the receiver of flowers.


Mercedes or Dreamgirls?DreamgirlsMore Booty camp! Oh wait. It’s just a scene from Dreamgirls.

Mercedes diva fitThis time Mercedes has really done it! It seems like she blew her diva load too early and now Mr. Shu is threatening her with Glee club expulsion. This doesn’t really mean anything though, if I’ve learned anything from Glee it’s that Mr. Shu is just a series of empty threats. Mercedes will be back in Rachel Berry’s shadow in no time.

Mike's momBack to Mike Chang and his angry alone dancing. This time Mama Chang walks in. Mike explains that he only feels special when he jumps and turns midair. Oddly, his mom understands this and fully supports his decision to disobey his dad and become an artist or an Asian Untouchable.

Mother son danceAwww. Mother son dance lesson.

Artie and binacaCan anyone tell me why Artie keeps spraying binaca in his mouth and missing?


Rachel and Mercedes diva offAnd now the moment we’ve all been waiting for: The Diva-off! This is the most dramatic callback I’ve ever seen.

Rachel diva momentDiva moment: Point Rachel

Mercedes diva momentDiva Moment: Point Mercedes

Emma's ginger parentsMr. Shu’s relationship has taken another bizarre turn when he goes behind Emma’s back and invites her “ginger supremacist” parents over for dinner. Apparently, the reason that Emma has not been introducing Mr. Shu to her parents is because they want to carry on the “ginger” seed, something he clearly cannot do with his brillo pad head.

Will and his tiny fistsWe travel through Emma’s flashbacks to see the root of her many problems and listen to more of her parents’ jibes at her disorder that they caused. Mr. Shu puts on his manpants and smashes his tiny drama fists on the table.  These gingers need to be stopped!

Rachel tells Kurt she's a bad friendKurt’s campaign is put under duress yet again when he finds out that Rachel is now running for president. Apparently she was inspired by Brittany’s flash dance mob and now really believes that ‘who run the world’ is girls.

Directors share the newsNot the news Rachel and Mercedes wantedFinally, the crackpot directing team has come up with a decision on who to cast as Maria: Rachel AND Mercedes.

Mercedes says Oh no you didn't!That is the final straw on the Diva pile for Mercedes. Uh-uh! Mercedes does not share the spotlight with no one. Now Rachel’s victory is less than victorious. How is she going to brag about being the lead when she knows that the only reason she got is because of a default?

Back to OCD land with EmmaArrgggh! More Mr. Shu/Emma Drama. It appears as if now he’s broken her and she’s off on an OCD tangent because of his insistence to prove that all parents love him. He’s Mr. Shu!

Mr. Shu Solo timeThen Mr. Shu sings Emma an extremely high-pitched Coldplay song. Now there’s a Mr. Shu solo that could have remained on the cutting room floor.

The results are inFinally! The results of the auditions are up!

Mr. Shu solo continuedMr. Shu is still singing.

Rachel is Maria, of course. Blaine is Tony. Mike is Riff. Santana is Anita. It looks like everyone achieved his or her dreams this episode. But wait, no Mercedes.

Shelby says ExcellentIt looks like Mercedes is joining forces with the dark side, Shelby’s Glee club.

Mercedes joins the dark sideShelby, I am your diva.







About

The nooch is 5 foot 3.  She hates sushi and once she watched a movie on Lifetime from start to finish without making a sarcastic comment.  Once.  That's all.

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15 Comments

  1. 1
    juddfan
    Posted October 6, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    Emma’s scenes actually made me a bit sad. They weren’t very funny either. There is no kind of Goody Two Shue that I like, but I particularly don’t like the shouty, condescending, high-pitched singer one.

    Mercedes was pretty unlikable in this too. Bitter, bitter, bitter.

    And I get mad when they show the football team without the bully!!!

  2. 2
    Chandra
    Posted October 6, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    I have to be honest. I did not care for this episode. Every one I know loved it, but I didn’t care for it.
    Mercedes was very bratty and it seemed to come out of nowhere. I too, didn’t care for the last song with Mr.Schuhe singing. I just wanted it to be over.
    I did enjoy the scenes with Mike Chang. I thought I would hate it, but I enjoyed them and when he danced with his mom, I got all misty.
    I hope the next episode has more Rachel, Finn and Puck. I know that people think that the series is too Rachel & Finn centered … but their characters have such great story lines. I would be happy to see Mercedes not be bratty again. You might be on to something … they might be setting it up that Mercedes’ boyfriend is a bad influence on her. That MIGHT make it better … maybe.

  3. 3
    Lizbot
    Posted October 6, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    Personally, I’ve been tired of the Rachel Berry show for a while now, and i’m glad that they’re finally giving Kurt and Mercedes more of the vocal time that they deserve. Lesser singers like Puck, Finn, and Quinn, and Britney all got more solo time than Kurt or Mercedes last season, and they’re at least as talented as Rachel/Leah Michelle. I actually kind of cheered when Mercedes went and joined the other Glee club. While I do think Rachel outsang her in the diva-off (the song was more suited to her voice, really), it seems ridiculous to me that Shu always focused on Rachel and Finn as his main singers instead of showcasing the full range of diva talent that he had at his disposal. It will be interesting to see if the show will actually utilize Kurt (and now Blaine!) within the group better this year than they did last year.

  4. 4
    Pikey
    Posted October 6, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    The scene with Mike Chang dancing with his mom made me choke up. It reminded me of when I danced with my son at his wedding a year ago. I wonder if they are leading up to Mercedes being pregnant since she spent a lot of the episode feeling sick. Great recap!

  5. 5
    itchy
    Posted October 7, 2011 at 5:00 am

    If it weren’t for the song-and-dance numbers, this show would be a complete and absolute mess. The writers just seem incapable of making interesting choices.

  6. 6
    hot cawfee
    Posted October 7, 2011 at 5:40 am

    Not a fan of this epi either– but we had great Britt moments. She cannot graduate– she must be left back a year– either she flunks something or is a Math credit short—cannot have her leave.
    Mike Chang: love him as Riff–I always loved him– now just a little more love. It is hard to reconcile your passion and dreams with parental expectations. I went thru that at 18 and I wish I had the support he is getting. Yay Mike !!
    @Pikey— I wonder too if we may be getting Mercedes pregnancy story line.
    Creepy moment— Mr Shu’s porn stash ( I thought saying “batch of porn” would be too crass)

  7. 7
    MrsTimRiggins
    Posted October 7, 2011 at 6:44 am

    I too was trying to figure out the Artie and bianca thing. Where did that come from? Why was he doing it? And Mr. Shue singing in that high register was awful. Mercedes boyfriend is Tinker from Friday Night Lights so I want to like him but it seems like he might be awful too.

  8. 8
    lovesthehobbitses
    Posted October 7, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    Hated this episode–don’t even get me started about what school musical audition is supposed to be like (I’m the director of my school’s drama club and just know that the friends and support group of the people auditioning are never present… it is also not a process that lasts two weeks. Everyone auditions over the course of two days and callbacks are the next day. And props go to the students who audition with a song from the show.) BUT there is so much more than singing ability that must go into casting a role. Firstly, Maria is Hispanic. Mercedes is not. Rachel could pass. Mercedes–not so much. Right there the decision should be made to break the tie. Second, the acting. Just because Mercedes sang a pop song with passion does not mean she could pull off a role like Maria, let alone imply that she has enough stage presence to carry her own show. With no other theatre experience, why is Mercedes even cocky enough to think that she COULD carry her own show? I really don’t like that character. What an entitled bitch. Oh, how I have a love/hate relationship with Glee.

  9. 9
    brzysmom
    Posted October 7, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    Emma’s OCD now is even sadder seeing the abuse she’s gotten from her crazy-ass parents. Nobody recognized Happy Days Ralph Malph was her dad??

  10. 10
    saffie
    Posted October 7, 2011 at 9:40 pm

    Okay, now that someone else has said it I can finally rest assured that I wasn’t crazy for thinking that THE AUDITIONS WERE TAKING TOO LONG! And, no offense, but never in a million years would you have found enough people to show up for TWO WEEKS’ worth of performances! Sometimes this show is completely idiotic, like making the Glee Club some sort of perpetual bullying victim. Hell, even our bullies got tired of picking on one thing after a month or two! Three years? Seriously?

    Thank you for at least pointing out that the Rachel show is getting OLD. I can’t watch her without thinking of an ad for laxatives. When she hits a high note or wants to get emotional, she goes for an eyes-closed, constipated look that drives me insane. If you had a drinking game for all the little nuances you see the Glee kids do (Artie’s “praise” hand, Blaine waving down at the floor with both hands, Schu’s ONE dance move where he spins twice with his fists balled up OR Rachel’s Ex-Lax face) you’d be plastered by the first thirty minutes; fifteen if the episode is very music-centric. And I am so pissed they let Matt Morrison butcher Coldplay. They finally got permission from the group to use a song and they let him murder it. AARRGH!

  11. 11
    2Hyper
    Posted October 8, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    While I think Mercedes is not right for the Maria role I do think she was right for sticking for herself.he does favor Rachel and leaves Mercedes tobit parts of songs when its apparent that Mercedes has as big a voice as Rachel, although Rachel’s voice is more Barbara Streistand and Mercedes is more Jennifer Hudson. Good for you Mercedes for not taking the status quo!

  12. 12
    cupcake89
    Posted October 9, 2011 at 12:14 am

    I agree that Mercedes isn’t right for the part of Maria but what the fuck does the her race have to do with it. There are black, white, mestizo, indigenous or all of the above Puerto Ricans so how is any non-latino/hispanic actress portraying Maria less believable than any other? And via show cannon, what plays has Rachel been in? On the show, how is Rachel automatically the better actor than Mercedes? I am not understanding. . .

  13. 13
    ms. g
    Posted October 10, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    @cupcake Artie’s “praise hand” speak on it!! Rachel can go somewhere. It’s about time other people get the spot light.

  14. 14
    BellicoseBaby
    Posted October 10, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    Loved Mike Chang’s moment with his mother, and thought Shu’s Coldplay cover was touching in the context of Emma’s desperate praying – although I could have done without the full choral back-up. It sure got “Fix You” stuck in my head..

    I thought Jayma Mays did a great job portraying a fragile, damaged Emma.

  15. 15
    hot cawfee
    Posted October 12, 2011 at 5:06 am

    @saffie !!!!!— yes– brilliance– We need a Glee drinking game

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