Haven’t we talked about this here before. Unlike the last time I wrote about Glee and sex there was a lot of stuff in this week’s “First Time” episode I loved.
For starters Tina’s wonderful and confident take on losing your virginity was a breath of fresh air. No, problem with Mike and Tina having sex. My only real problem is that the Mike/ Tina relationship has been pretty lusty so far so to hear Tina talking about their solid relationship was weird.
The writers quickly redeemed themselves with Quinn’s reminders. You have to think about more than getting pregnant. Sex “complicates everything.” No consequences sex runs rampant all around TV and film and I have held plenty friends’ hands after crumby breakups to know that life is not quite so simple.
It was so good to see Dave Karofsky doing well but we really shouldn’t normalize teenagers going to bars even if it does happen all the time.
I was over the moon happy that the sex scenes were not salacious nor did they objectify teenagers, in fact they were pretty darn lovely. Yes, Corey Monteith is 29, Lea Michele 25, Chris Colfer 21 and Darren Criss is 24 but they play TEENAGERS. Despite what teenagers say they are still kids. It’s true teenagers have sex but the way that sex is represented in the media is a touch pornographic and more often than not objectifies them. Glee has had some trouble understanding that you can objectify teenagers even if your actors are in their 20s in the past but they did a beautiful job taking the other route with this episode.
I hope everyone loved how upset Finn was that Rachel wanted to have sex with him so she could play a more believable Maria in West Side Story. See, boys do have self-control.
And everyone should have loved when Kurt got pissed when drunken Blaine (he had one beer, come on now!) wants to have sex in the backseat of the car after he was being uber flirtatious with that Warbler guy. See, gay boys do have self-control.
Initially, the episode made plenty of sense. Two couples had nice, concrete reasons for having sex. They were in love. Their relationships were stable. They wanted express that love further. Things turned out different later.
The new guy: not as nice as he is sexy
Okay here’s where I think things got wonky.
1. Super-stable Blaine and Kurt are finally having a few issues. Kurt feels boring and threatened. Blaine feels bored and is liking the look of the new Warbler. In the same episode Blaine and Kurt are having troubles they have sex. Say what? Have sex kids and your problems with your boyfriend will disappear.
2. Rachel apologizes to Finn and all is forgiven. Rachel makes it seem like she’s having sex with Finn to reassure Finn and build up his confidence. What the hell? So, let me see if I’ve got this. If you screw up hours before you can make nice with your boyfriend and have sex because, building up his confidence with your body is exactly how these kinds of situations should happen. Just wanted to clear that up.
3. So, Puck never uses a condom. We knew this before from a couple of scenes and the jokes Quinn has cracked in the past but seriously, unprotected sex is not funny. The writers need to decide if Puck is reponsible or not. They keep going back and forth. Certainly, all people are nuanced and have contridictory personality traits but writers you are not pulling this off well. Make a choice.
4. Rachel and Finn talk about using protection but Kurt and Blaine don’t. I’m sure they did use a condom because Blaine and Kurt are both kind and responsible but I thought it was a wonderful opportunity for LGBTQ youth to see a stable (I guess somewhat stable in this episode) gay couple model appropriate and healthy sexual behavior.
5. No one the entire episode mentioned any of the events of the episode “Sexy.” Didn’t a whole mess of people make celibacy pacts? I know several characters, like Rachel, knew they would have sex in the future but we did not get to see much of an evolution of thought between the pacts and when they had sex. Not to mention that Kurt was terrified of the whole thing, even mentioned this episode that they never go “south of the equator” but now they’re having sex. Confusing.
On a completely other note does anyone feel like Glee is kinda awful this season. I want some coherent storytelling please.
