babydraco

Dianna Agron played Quinn as an ice queen, someone for whom absolute control over her body and emotions was paramount. Quinn was humiliated by classmates as a child for being obese, and “Quinn” is actually an adopted persona invented after she lost a great deal of weight , got a nose job, and changed schools. Quinn is also the angry kind of mean. This probably results, first off, from the fact that the school’s most notorious lothario coerced her into drunken, unprotected sex, which resulted in a pregnancy that caused her to lose her real boyfriend , her spot on the cheerleading squad, and her status as the school’s most dedicated virgin, going from queen of the school to loser overnight. She was thrown out of her house, her parents divorced shortly after. Her awful, awful parents, the ragingly patriarchalist bullheaded father and his empty headed, submissive, alcoholic wife. Quinn became sympathetic very quickly.

Kitty, however, is played with malicious glee. Kitty is cheery chaos to Quinn’s brittle order. And doesn’t yet have a backstory to force us to root for her. And she’s more clever about her meanness. Quinn never pretended. If she didn’t like you, she made that clear. Kitty started out bullying Marley, and then changed tactics- she still hates her but now she’s pretending to be Marley’s friend, manipulating her into developing an eating disorder.

We thought Marely’s main plot arc would be about being poor, but that was resolved in the first episode. It’s really the bulimia Kitty has manipulated her into acquiring. Marley herself isn't that popular, but it's early days.

Blake as “Ryder” was a good choice for Glee Project winner (not that the other two weren’t great as well). It’s because he can actually act. Damian is a fantastic, charismatic singer, but he was generally flat and stilted onscreen whenever he was asked to work from a script, and the show couldn’t find a decent way to write him in. Sam Larsen is good onscreen, you never wish he would leave the scene because it’s just that painful to watch…but he’s good at being the persona of Sam Larsen-as-Jesus-Joe. I can’t imagine he’d pull off something else. But Blake is not only non embarrassing onscreen and both a good singer *and* a good dancer, but he can play characters. He can carry scenes by himself and fills a spot badly needed on the show (or at least, a spot the show seems to believe it badly needs).

It's kind of sad that everyone is pleasantly surprised by the fact that a Glee Project winner can do all of those things convincingly, but *shrug*.

The musical performances and dancing seem a tad higher quality this year.

“Unique” Adams is a nice addition too. They’ve handled this differently gendered character very well. Alex whatisname is pretty good in the role, although it's not a real stretch.

The New York sequences are fun and insightful. Rachel and Kurt are in the real world now. Instead of everyone in class magically learning scripts and choreography in five minutes, Rachel has to take classes. Every day. Where she's not automatically the best performer in the room. Her teacher doesn't selflessly have Rachel's best interests at heart. Rachel and Kurt have to live in Bushwick (not entirely clear on where that is but it's certainly outside of the city proper) because that's all they can afford. They spent their first night in the apartment they couldn't afford to furnish, sitting on the floor eating takeout pizza. Both their long distance relationships have failed.

And yet a lot of Rachel and Kurt's NY life is pure fantasy, and not in a way that just seems stupid, it's *fun*. That Thanksgiving party with the Old School Lower East Side characters? So much fun.