While searching for a little holiday entertainment this year, I found myself giving Glee another chance. It seems inevitable at this point that every time I tune in for an episode I am left disappointed and frustrated with myself for presuming that it may still offer some good (or even satisfying) television viewing. Instead narratives are forced and uninspired, characters are boring or cliché and altogether, the series seems to have run out of steam.
Unfortunately, the alleged “Love Actually-Inspired” episode turned out no different. Claiming to offer five unrelated story lines that come together at the end is also a complete mislead, as the only “coming together” is a shared song/montage that fails to actually incorporate each individual narrative. None of the Christmas charm of Love Actually actually makes it into the episode, so comparing themselves to the sweet, adorable film is simply setting themselves up to be negatively contrasted to a much better product.
It is a common Television Christmas Special occurrence to parody, twist, or homage classic Christmas movies. Beverly Hills 90210 plays on It’s a Wonderful Life’s framing structure of angels talking about the narrative going on below, and interfering to help the heroes out. The O.C. does a fantastic homage episode to It’s a Wonderful Life as well, sending Ryan and Taylor into a shared coma dream world where they do not exist. Last year’s Glee Christmas created a parody on the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, complete with cheerleader dressed up like a dog, dressed up like a reindeer.
This year, one of Glee’s five narratives features yet another It’s a Wonderful Life spoof, this time with Artie’s wheelchair as the life that never was. In this alterna-dream-reality, because Artie was never confined to a chair, glee club never existed and Mr. Schuester is a drunk, bullying never stopped so Kurt never graduated, jocks are all evil, and Rachel works at the school library seemingly for the sole reason that Jimmy Stewart’s wife Mary did in the original. It is a forced, awkward, and black and white (both literally and metaphorically) version of the life-is-better-with-you holiday trope.
Not only has the trope been done and done better, the simplicity of the message and lack of nuance is simply appalling to watch. Artie learns that his chair is part of his identity and that he must be satisfied with his disabled life (a valid lesson, but one that I’m almost certain the show has taught before). But he also realizes he is “the core of the group” holding glee club together, a message that in reality makes little sense.
Ultimately, this disappointing musical Christmas signals to me that Glee is well past its prime. It seems incapable of interesting plots, it attempted a Christmas special specifically where characters never interact with each other, despite the fact that Christmas is generally considered the time for friends and family to come together for warm fuzzies, and even the songs were boring and predictable.
