Friday, November 21, 2014

Relationship Spotlight: Jesse St. James & Rachel Berry (Glee)

 
First of all, so there’s no misunderstanding – Glee is utterly and absolutely a guilty pleasure series.  It started out as a messy-but-fun show with enjoyable music and cool Broadway actors and has largely devolved into a confused heap of goodness-knows-what.  I continue to watch because 1) I’m still hooked by some of the characters, 2) some of the performers can turn straw into gold, and 3) I’m pretty much unable to quit a show I’ve invested any significant stretch of time in (hey, I stuck with poor How I Met Your Mother to the bitter end!)
 
Also let it be known that the Rachel/Jesse story takes more than a few hard nonsensical turns.  I still literally don’t know how the writers thought they were getting from point A to point Q in the last few episodes of season 1, and Jesse’s butchered characterization in season 2 is saved only by Jonathan Groff’s sheer watchability.  They’re not a relationship for the ages, it’s not great storytelling, and the show spends plenty of time actively muddying their waters, but heaven help me, I just love these two.
 
In the back half of season 1, Rachel needs an obstacle to keep her from her at-the-time endgame romance with Finn, so she’s given a short-term love interest in the form of the possibly-(almost certainly?)-duplicitous Jesse.  Like Rachel, he’s a show-choir diva with talent too big for Ohio, a flair for the theatrical, and a powerful belief in his own star quality.  He adores the same Broadway shows, dedicates the same hours and effort to perfecting his musical performances, and sings into hairbrush-microphones with the same earnestness as her.  After the time she’s spent with Finn, who likes her but seems to find her inscrutable, it’s no wonder that she clicks so easily with Jesse.  Throw in the fact that he’s the lead of a rival glee club and you have a Tony-and-Maria-esque forbidden love that must be like catnip for the overdramatic Rachel.
 
It’s endlessly fun to watch Rachel and Jesse serenade each other (Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff singing together will always be a good thing) or speaking the same Broadway-reference shorthand.  Jesse’s best episodes on the show are when the series had a cracky, surprising sense of humor, and I love some of the preposterous nonsense he and Rachel spout together:  her breathless little gasp when he challenges Finn to a sing-off to “settle” things between them, their secret rendezvous in the Sondheim autobiography section of the library, his request that, if she won’t tell him what’s bothering her, they at least sing about it.  Theirs is a ludicrous, larger-than-life pairing filled with wonderfully silly dialogue and fantastic duet chemistry.
 
And okay – I get that Jesse’s definitely on the wrong side of shady, and I get that his ruthless fame-over-friendship stance flies in the face of Rachel’s major arc, learning to share the spotlight and not always putting herself first.  That said, I love that Jesse genuinely seems to like her for who she is.  While Finn’s compliments to her mostly run, “I love you even though you’re…” (crazy/not that pretty/selfish/annoying/disparaging remark of choice,) Jesse doesn’t do that with her.  Her drive, her drama, her outrageousness, and everything else that people make fun of her for are things that he likes about her.  Although he obviously has a massive ego, he never gives the impression that he deigns to be with her or that he’s doing her a favor by going out with her.  Given much of Rachel’s high school experience, she could really use someone like that, and if the show had ever regarded them as anything more than a temporary Finn/Rachel roadblock, they could’ve grown into something fun, interesting, and great.

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