sizeoflife | Breaking up in red and blue

It’s time to talk Glee. Wonderful, funny, clever, Brechtian Glee.

Season 4 is the best yet, in my opinion. I am loving every second of it and I feel as though the people who make it are really benefitting from the later time slot, the split narrative and from throwing off some of the fan expectations they were trying too hard to live up to last season.

I could write about a million and one things right now, but I’m going to stick to trend and flag up some red and blue signals, some foreshadowing and, as ever, the hardcore self-referencing that Glee so enjoys.

There’s a competition in episode three – a presidential campaign. And we know what competitions mean...red and blue for winners and losers.

At first, it looks like Brittany’s made a smart decision in choosing red Artie for herself and palming blue Sam (who doesn’t even know what a debate is, come on) off onto Blaine. But the tables quickly get turned when we factor in the power of Sam’s abs and his laudable desire to help and support others. Artie’s more out for himself and less in touch with the emotions of others. The colours flip in the debate, with Sam in a red tie and Artie wearing blue.

Brittany and Blaine follow the leads of their running mates (this is really a competition of the vice-presidents – remember the sign at the start about superhero sidekick appreciation?). Blaine wears red trousers, while Brittany flaunts her bright blue and loses quite spectacularly.

Blaine doesn’t win where it matters to him, though. When speaking on Skype to Kurt earlier, Blaine’s wearing blue, because that’s where he’s not doing so well. Maybe he’s running in the first place to try to get Kurt to notice him by setting the story right and beating Brittany in an election, where Kurt was blocked from doing so. The caller ID he has for Kurt’s work number, as we see in the next episode, is Kurt’s campaign poster from his election bid.

In contrast, Kurt has a creepy foreshadowing caller ID for Blaine. He has an image of the two of them wearing the outfits they will wear when breaking up an episode later. There is a chance right there in Kurt’s hand for him to stop the events of the next episode from happening. But instead of answering it, he chooses to hit reject. And really, Kurt should know better because the last person in crisis whose calls he rejected ended up hanging himself in his closet. We see Kurt ignore that call and we know things are fucked.

Blaine wears a lot of red, so it’s not too unusual to see him perform an opening number in a pretty red shirt. In contrast to Finn, who has just caught Rachel with Brody (in the middle of a picnic on the floor – which is how his own relationship with Rachel started out) and is in really quite a weak position in relation to her (so therefore wears blue), Blaine is in a fairly powerful place in 'Barely Breathing'. He’s gearing up to deal the big blow and be active instead of passive in his relationship. Thus: red.

Of course once Blaine does whatever he does with Eli, he’s on the back foot again. Kurt’s already dolled up in his brightest red when Blaine arrives, dressed in blue and with a huge bouquet of red flowers which he hands right over to Kurt, like “here Kurt, have all my red and all the power in what happens to us next, because I’m passing that to you.”

Rachel and Finn aren’t so clear cut. We have Finn in blue (and also, interestingly, Brody in blue...which suggests he ain’t really a match for Rachel and probably never will be), but Rachel has worn very little red so far this season, especially in contrast with the end of last season when she was dressed in red galore. But there is a little nod to her being in charge of the situation, in the form of a pair of red shorts, even before her incredible speech on the McKinley stage where she finally puts Finn in his place.

Of course, at this point, Blaine is going to bed in his blue pyjamas, which we recognise from the last time that he was really powerless...and half-blind. They’re also the same pyjamas Kurt was wearing when he was pining over Blaine way back when and was so desperate for Blaine to love him back.

IT’S ALL SO MESSY AND HARD AND EMOTIONAL.

So what comes next?

Finn’s back at McKinley and getting set to take over in Will’s absence. He’s wearing some red for the first time in the season, though it’s split with navy stripes. Probably, this suggests that although he’s back in a place where he has more power, there’s going to be something missing.

I’m not worried about Brody, because he’s been blued, but I am a little worried about this guy...

Who seems to think he’s got some red power in his hands. (Fuck you fashion guy. Fuck you so hard.)

But that’s tempered by a tiny bit of red that Blaine has clung onto and which we see right at the end after he says that he can’t be sure whether he and Kurt are actually broken up or not. In the final number, where everyone is dressed in black, Blaine has a totally weird splash of red on the cuff of his trousers. There is NO REASON for that to be there. It’s like a Pandora’s Box flicker of hope amidst all the misery. So, I think that of all the couples on the stage, Klaine might come out of this mess the best.

(Unless of course, wardrobe had to clip the trousers because Darren is short. We'll ignore that possibility for now...)

I’m less hopeful for Britt and Santana, because of everyone in the number, Santana is the only one to wear an actual colour: and it’s blue. Blaine has his secret nudge-wink of red, but the others are all dressed entirely in black. Santana has been deliberately set apart by the people who were arranging this scene...and blue is normally not a great signal. Sadface.

I’m so desperate for the next episode. SO DESPERATE. I want Quinn back. I miss her. Although I do enjoy Marley and Jake and Cassie and Isabel quite a lot.

GLEEEEEEEEEEEE.