The episode just felt... off, to me.

It's like the production numbers were good, as independent entities. I enjoyed them for what they were, in and of themselves. With respect to their position within the narrative? NSM.

Mostly because there wasn't much of a narrative and what was there was piss poor. Which is a huge problem, since such a large amount of GLEE's charm has to do with its ability to incorporate the musical numbers into the fabric of the storyline.

I'm currently feeling as if I want to smack the shit out of Ryan Murphy.

since such a large amount of GLEE's charm has to do with its ability to incorporate the musical numbers into the fabric of the storyline.

Which they really didn't do with this ep, it's why I found the first half so disappointing. The first three numbers were just revamps of Britney vids (side note: Lea Michele is not much of a dancer is she?). Well done revamps, but still (and had to love Me Against the Music with Santana). It didn't get entertaining until Artie's "Stronger". I liked the group "Toxic", and I think that it's the first time that Will has officially performed with the kids, he's done it in classroom and impromptu numbers in the halls, but I think that this is the first time he's done it with an "audience"

Lea Michele is not much of a dancer is she?

No. She never had or was offered a dancing role in the theater scene. As far as I know, she never even auditioned for such roles. She is more the balladeer type, Eponine in Les Mis, and her originated Wendla in Spring Awakening being her most memorable and important roles.

She also really needs to eat a sandwich. She was skinny before she went on TV, but now it's starting to worry me.

She also really needs to eat a sandwich.

Can we not engage in body policing, please?

where do you draw the line? There are some people on tv who look really unhealthy for a variety of reasons. given tv is an influential medium and eating disorders, etc. are an established problem...it can't be discussed?

1. Is it a matter of record that she has an eating disorder?

2. Saying that someone who you consider to be too thin "should eat a sandwich" is just as insulting as telling someone you consider too fat to stop eating.

3. Discussing eating disorders is fine. They're a real problem, among actors and non-actors alike.

But if it's not known that she actually has an eating disorder, saying that she "really needs to eat a sandwich" is body policing, saying that her body does not conform to an external standard of acceptable appearance. And her body is nobody's business but hers.

She went vegan in the last year or so, which, along with the long working days, is what her weight loss has been attributed to.

Steph,

And her body is nobody's business but hers.

Is that true for people in the public eye? It is true for you and me I suppose, but if we can talk about a star's behavior, or what they say publicly, appearance seems to come in there too.

Earlier people criticized the show for marginalizing "ugly" characters to support some members of "Glee", so appearance has already come up.

And her body is nobody's business but hers.

Is that true for people in the public eye?

Yes. Unequivocally. I'm not sure how, because someone is in the public eye, their body is anyone else's business. It's that person's body. Not mine. Not yours. Not anyone else's. We don't actually own that person, despite paying (in some form or another) for the product that person helps create (TV, movies, advertisements).

Her body. Her business.

I apologize. You are right that that phrasing is offensive and unnecessary. I succumbed to a popular phrase that, in retrospect, I do not think is fair.

I do not know if Lea Michele has an eating disorder, as I do not know her personally (and sometimes you don't even know then). I can tell, however, that she's lost a significant amount of weight since she was on Broadway - and this is a woman who probably weighed less than 100 pounds then. I suspect, though I am admittedly unsure, that this is a decision she has made (to eat less, work with a personal trainer, whatever) and not based on other factors such as stress. I don't know if that's entirely her decision or one encouraged by her agent / the show's producer's / the Hollywood life in general, but I personally find her current appearance to be significantly less attractive than before - as le nubian stated, I think it makes her look unhealthy. In fact, she's almost certainly severely underweight, which IS unhealthy. If her current weight is intentional, I think it's a bad medical decision, and I am sad that she (or the people around her) think that it is necessary. If it is unintentional, due to metabolism and stress, etc, then I think she needs to try to correct it as best she can. Unfortunately, her support system is probably not designed to help her gain weight - that's not the Hollywood way.

I think it's important to try to make it clear that I, for one, do not support the Hollywood culture of taking attractive young women and convincing them they need to be a size negative 8 to make it. There are body types that are attractive beyond Twiggy. And because I am invested both in Lea Michele and Rachel Berry, I wish I had a way, beyond posting on the internet, to make it clear that I don't think that look works for her.