Glee, S3 Ep13

I swear that thing is as scary as the Donnie Darko bunny

Kurt’s Not-So-Secret Admirer. So the minute Kurt walked into that cafeteria with a card he was sure was from Blaine? Yeah, totally obvious it wasn’t from Blaine. Especially considering Max Adler (David Karofsky) was in the opening credits. To say that I cringed every time Kurt got all excited about his cards and gifts from then on? Understatement. It was just so sad because this time last year Kurt professed his feelings to Blaine, who hadn’t yet worked out his own. So you’d think we’d get nice happy stuff for the boys this year to make up for it. But no, instead we get a bully stalking his victim, because that’s what this comes down to. Karofsky latched onto Kurt as almost the only gay person he knows, who he has only once had a real conversation with since Karofsky finally stopped acting like a dick to Kurt (this would be the scene in the bar in The First Time), and now he’s stalking him and leaving notes, & delivering presents in a really horrifying Gorilla costume (some have compared it to the bunny in Donnie Darko, enough said). One of the worst parts for me was actually the fact that he calls himself Kurt’s “Secret Honey” at one point. Um, no. You don’t get to label yourself as his honey. Only Kurt gets to decide who his honey is, and that is Blaine. So back off, stalker man.

I have a serious problem with the Karofsky storyline. Originally, the bullying part of his story, I thought was amazing. I mean it was horrific, especially the cake topper scene in Furt that really went too far, but it was an interesting story to tell and at the time was handled fairly well. It’s horrible that this is the kind of thing (and worse) that happens on a daily basis, not even just to LGBTQ youth, but to anyone who doesn’t fit societies idea of “normal.” I was quite proud to be a fan of the show during Season 2 when the storyline aired. Then they destroyed the entire thing by trying to make us sympathize with Karofsky, but not because he truly seemed to feel remorse for what he’d done, and was getting help to cope with his own internal demons. No, instead we were meant to forgive him because he just had all these feelings, okay? That is nothing short of sloppy storytelling. Just knowing that he was somewhere else that he felt safer, and obviously beginning to deal with his own homosexuality if he was able to even be seen in a gay bar, even if not yet ready to come out, that would have been a fitting end for a character who was only ever a prop to tell Kurt’s story. Instead he’s back, because the writers have decided to beat a dead horse, and beat it good. And worse yet, they bring him back to apparently blame his victim for what he himself has done. “When I was at McKinley I hated who I was, and I took it out on you because there you were, so proud.” Yes, because it’s entirely Kurt’s fault for not hiding who he was. Writers, do you not even see what you’re doing?

That is not a look of happiness

Kurt’s look when he reads his the note on his last gift “I think I love you,” and then the look on his face when Karofsky reveals himself tells you everything you need to know about how he feels. That is not a look of excitement. It’s shock, and unhappiness. His face quite literally falls at that moment. He was expecting to meet his boyfriend for a sweet Valentine’s Day rendezvous. Instead he’s faced with the boy who made his life a living hell. The only good thing to come out of this appearance from Karofsky is that Kurt makes it very clear why they can never be together. Whether or not you want to accept or like Kurt’s forgiveness of Karofsky, Kurt makes it clear that Karofsky will always be the boy who did those horrible things to him. Going one further, he points out to Karofsky that he can’t be in love with Kurt, because he doesn’t even know him. They’ve shared one amicable conversation in a bar where Kurt was with his boyfriend. Karofsky knows the persona Kurt put on to cope with the horror he was living every day at McKinley, and with little support as most of his friends ignored it. He doesn’t know about Kurt’s true love for fashion, about his dreams of going to NYADA and making it on the Broadway stage. He doesn’t know because he has never talked to him and tried to get to know him. And then Karofsky proves it all for himself when he denies his reason for being there with Kurt as he’s confronted by someone who is clearly a student at Karofsky’s new school. Kurt is out and proud. Karofsky can’t even admit that he was there to talk to Kurt.