How Glee Became Unbearable in ten uneasy steps - Part 10: Dave Karofsky.

It all started with a slushie.

I want to preface this by saying that I'm not the kind of guy to invests himself in television characters. In fact, the majority of my boobtube viewing belongs to either the Maddow/Stewart/Colbert/formerly Olbermann pack, the Amazing Race (my only reality show vice), or adult cartoons like Family Guy, Archer, or South Park. With that there's not much of creative writing going on here. It was really a fluke that I even caught Glee. I think I didn't know about the pilot coming on until maybe a day or two beforehand. And when Glee started, I felt great affection and empathy for Chris Colfer's portrayal of Kurt Hummel, having growing up isolated as he was.

Then there was Dave.

Actually Dave's first couple of appearances didn't faze me, and his character was written in as first a bully to Finn, having Karofsky on the hockey team as rivals to Finn's football buddies, confronting Finn about his participation in the glee club. But by the Gaga episode, his character was revised to have him now on the football team, and more aggressive bully Kurt (and Tina) in the episode, and not for mere participation but for their appearance (they had Gaga outfits on). This seemed to be a deliberate move by Murphy (who wrote and directed the GaGa ep) to "darken" his character from it's original cartoonish bad-guy one-note. It didn't hurt that he had luckily found a more-than-able actor in Max Adler, who was able to push the ominous demeanor of Karofsky quite well. However, besides my admiration of Adler's acting skills, his character was just a blip on my radar.

Now by the time the second season started, there were already clamors for Kurt to have some sort of love life, since by then just about every other character had been the Nude Erections Musical Love Chairs. There were trolling about how Kurt's prospective love would be nothing like him, and possibly a jock, so rumors of it being the Karofsky character were starting to surface, though very very under the radar. As Karofsky's bullying became more pronounced, those notions sort of were squelched, but in the "Never Been Kissed" episode, which also introduced Blaine Anderson to the world, while the Warbler's "Teenage Dream" got all the musical buzz, the big reveal was when Kurt cornered Karofsky in the locker room, and in an escalated heated exchange Karofsky snapped and kissed Kurt.

Which changed everything.

The whole "kiss" thing has been played out in so many dimensions that it's easy to miscontrue what was happening, which many viewers did. Clearly it was an act that signaled a cry for help, and between writer Brad Falchuk and director Bradley Buecker was written and shot beautifully. Adler and Colfer played out that scene amazingly, and very well should have at least been nominated for an Emmy for that. But more important was the introduction of a gay character to Glee (well, and to television) of a serious character (there was no more comedy here) of a different sort than what is always portrayed, the fabulous gay.

Now there's nothing wrong at all about being fabulous, but in the few nascent years that gay characters have appeared on TV, just about all of them have the aura of putting on a show. Think Jack McFarlane from Will And Grace. (Will himself fits in the separate category of "oversuccessful" gay.) Think anything Paul Lynde has done. Think Jm J Bullock. All outsized characters that projected one aspect of personality that sort of stereotyped what the majority of America thought of gay people. There were a couple exceptions (John Irvin on NYPD Blue to come to mind), but especially for young people, there is nothing really drama-wise to compare to this (though subsequently, a football character in MTVs comedy The Hard Life Of RJ Berger who also was a bully was outed in the show as gay, though to a much more comic treatment).

It's hard to describe how huge a thing this is. I'd have to compare it to my own experiences growing up. I was always aware of my state of being attracted to men since having those feeling arise, but I had no idea (or reference point) to what that meant. I think the first true inkling of identifying my feeling and orientation was watching the film Making Love (which I had posted about before). But the characters in that movie were adults, adults who had relations with both men and women (in the case of Michael Ontkean's character). Even though I could put a name to what how I worked, it didn't help as much with trying to cope with it as a kid (a real shy one, no less). As with many kids in this situation, I had really bad bouts with depression, notsomuch as hatred for what I was, but complete isolation from the rest of the world. I really felt truly alone. To have been able to see a character like Dave, who didn't have to put on a show for everyone, and still (at that time) carried on a different path than say someone like Kurt or Blaine, would have been such a treasure that I believe is the biggest reason why I feel so passionately towards the character, and the need to have the audience see a character like that win his struggle, and how he goes through that process.

Well, the best of good intentions.

I know I'm not in control of a TV show, and can't expect writers who have know clue who I am to fit this guy into the mold I wished, but as I searched more and more about the character and the show (which by now I was a rabid fan), found that I wasn't alone. A community of fans who either were fans of the Dave character and were hoping for his redemption, or those who saw the relationship between Dave and Kurt and saw the potential for not only the redemption, but a complete turn around of the dynamics between the two into a romantic one. It's of course not out of the realm of possibility (at least at this point); many shows base their entire premise on the antagonistic pairing of characters that turns into the "opposite attract" rule used to varying effects, from the bickering of Sam and Diane on Cheers to Luke and Laura on General Hospital. Of course the latter is the extreme, almost too extreme, where a rapist and his victim are eventually reconciled to the point of coming to the biggest wedding in soap opera history. So a bullied kid and his tormentor wouldn't have been totally off the mark, and would provide a reference point for kids in either position on what to do (especially the bullies, if they dared to watch). And I know I would've been so helped by a positive story of a kid involved in sports coming out - even at college I started out playing rugby, but my insecurity about myself caused me to eventually let that go (even though my orientation was just that, and not physically acted on as yet). I eventually found my way (to co-opt a phrase), and was able to find kindred spirits especially with the great people I've worked with in the gay rodeo circuit. That's a whole other story, but again they mean more to me than they realize.

But what happened after was the escalation of tension and shoving by Karofsky towards Kurt, acted on as a condition that he's terrified that Kurt will "out" him to the school (especially given the confrontation with Blaine on the stairwell). I don't know if it was a group writing decision or something planned by Murphy, the arc had Dave getting worse up to the point of the threat to Kurt if he outed him. Now there is a big debate amongst viewers as to whether the threat (which on script happened the once) was truly mean as a deliberate intent of violence or a exclamation of fear and desperation. I know in my life I've uttered the phrase "If (blah blah blah) I'm going to kill you" a bunch of times. Hell I clearly remember doing so with my sister (I'm sure the vast majority of siblings in their youth have done so, and remember these two are still adolescent kids at this point). But between this and the kiss (which had grown exponentially in certain fans hindsight to be equivalent to rape) was seen as a clear-cut case of abuse, almost domestic abuse, to the point of felony assault. And honestly, that's an insult to the number of women and men who truly are sexually assaulted.

Now remember that this is the show that initially had Kurt routinely thrown into garbage dumpsters and had slushies thrown in his face of the kind sans rock salt that temporary blinded Blaine. But there were such a clamor from a very vocal section of Glee's fanbase (which un-PC skewed heavily female and almost exclusively way younger, and much more likely to at that time be pining for a Blaine/Kurt romantic relationship that wasn't in the plans at that time), that I think the trio of Falchuk, Brennan, and Murphy were perplexed on how to accomplish the redemption without alienating that vocal subset. So what we got was Kurt being forced to transfer to Dalton (after attempts to expel Karofsky failed), and the big "Dave" episode of the "Sue Sylvester Shuffle" where Dave joins New Directions (which happens to be their biggest episode ever, hint hint) ends up fizzling out after as Dave, while eventually stopping his bullying, ends his relationship to the Glee Club.

And this is why it's wrong. The writers could have expounded on Dave's turn in TSSS to turn his character around. Instead they randomly made him meaner until Santana conspired to beard him to bring Kurt back to McKinley. They could (and should) have had Kurt at least talk to his father about what really happened, so it can show parental involvement to help troubled as well as bullied youth. But no, it seemed like it was both a) a way to get Kurt to Blaine, and b) some sort of big punishment/banishment of the character of Dave.

For while Dave reformed himself, between pressure from Santana or regret for what happened with Kurt, while the most moving resolution to the conflict between them happened with Dave's tearful breakdown apology to Kurt (which brought tears to my eyes like no other until, you know),

it totally dismissed the character without a trace of us knowing. At the prom, after Kurt and Dave were chosen as prom Queen and King (a shock for and a joke on Kurt), and Dave couldn't bear to "out" himself at the prom (even though it seemed to have been written as they were about to dance together before Kurt kept pressing him), he ran off the floor.

We didn't know that would be Dave's last McKinley moment on Glee.

What happened after that was nothing. No mention from anyone (including the obvious Kurt or Santana) about what happened to Dave. It's like he fell into a well like a six-year-old Texas girl. Instead of not doing the totally unnecessary Rumours stunt episode right before, season two went right into Sue's "Funeral" episode (which was riddled with inconsistencies as it were) then right to the trainwreck that was season two's Nationals episode. Now imagine you were a young boy who identified with Dave's character at that point (not talking about the bullying, but the BMOC/jock in the closet type). What on earth happened? Did Dave go and curl himself into a little ball? Did he talk to anyone? What kind of message does it say either way that they can take this obviously essential character and simply drop him like that with no resolution or exposure? If you're trying to do a serious topic like this as a drama, you shouldn't drop the ball like that.

Which comes to my notion that that's what Murphy intended to happen. If it wasn't for the wild response to Adler's performance and fan reaction (especially amongst Dave and "Kurtofsky"'s getting-more-vocal fans, a.k.a. the "Pirates"), Murphy himself brags about dating closeted jocks in high school, and retrospectively it seems like his treatment was increasingly almost like a passive-agressive "punishment" of them, between the dismissal of character and almost pathological denial of Adler (a glee club veteran himself) to sing not even a note, even whilst trolling us of the possibility of it happening (Adler himself kept making inferences that he might, but even he may have been "trolled" by Murphy).

Meanwhile, the second season increasingly had Kurt pinholed as the perennial "victim", with catcalls of "St. Kurt" arising from the audience, and even after the unstoppable consummation of Kurt and Blaine's relationship to a romantic one, his character became almost aseptic. Like a eunuch. I mean, the protrayal of their romance seemed out of a teen novel, with nary a hint of raw passion, but rather a sterile attachment. And as I said in the first installment, if I were a Klainer I'd been just as upset, since they aren't given the same treatment as other couples on the show.

The third season of Glee seemed to verify my suspicions, even as the promise of Max returning to the role made me watch in anticipation every week. However, the writers have had him transferred out of McKinley (for what, who knows, nobody still knew about him), and inserted into only three episodes. The first, "The First Time", only put him in in a cameo at a gay bar (seemingly a pander to the pirates especially with the "bear-cub" notation). Ironically, this is the same episode that Blaine really does try to sexually assault Kurt in the back of the car, but Dave is giving only a few minutes of "oh, hey, here I am", to possibly again disappear into oblivion.

But instead, I guess after trolling the audience for years, Murphy and all decide they want to put teen suicide into their little dramedy. And Karofsky was a handy expendable tool for that. After one out-of-the-blue reveal of Dave as Kurt's "secret admirer" and subsequent rejection and feared exposure to schoolmate, now we have Dave's character out of control. Mind, Max Adler and director Buecker (again, tellingly, the same that directed the "Never Been Kissed" episode) did such an outstanding job with their work on that part of the episode. The turn of events of Dave's harrassment leading to his suicide attempt was real, fresh, and emotional beyond words. However the writers (comic-guy Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa) shoved this plot into the same fucking episode as regionals and the ridiculous Finchel wedding/Quinn accident story.

Only bookending Dave and the beginning and the end, though so powerfully attempted by Adler and Colfer, diluted the real power of whatever message they were trying to convey, although the "it gets better" message delivered by Kurt had more impact than maybe reality can provide.

In the hospital, Dave relays to Kurt that he's still scared, still unresolved of the issues that got him to this point. His mother won't accept him, and his best friend (presumingly Azimio?) isn't speaking to him either. But unfortunately, this scene probably will be the last we see of "Dave". And that's really wrong. To put this out for kids, you have a responsibility to show the healing process if you chose to capitalize on the hot topic of suicide in the first place. Otherwise (like the domestic abuse of Beiste story) you're just using "Props" to coin your own episode title.

I really am thankful for the show for bringing this character to life. Obviously without it I wouldn't have nothing to bitch about. I guess I'm most disappointed because of the potential that was squandered to explore a truly groundbreaking relationship on TV and up the quality on the show to pander to the insecurity of losing an audience over a pedestaled pairing. A classic example of me noticing this was tonight, as I was watching as Puck and Finn were alt-universed as Kurt and Blaine, and were more affectionate towards each other than the normal pairing (who normally won't even sit together in the music room). There were so many oppurtunities to keep his character in the storylines of season three relevantly, but they deliberately chose not to do so.  And to have been able to once hear the singing voice of a kid on a path that most don't get to see is Glee's biggest slight.

The upside? Well, as someone who had no idea what "shipping" even was before all of this, discovered a community of people who were as kind as they were passionate about their common passion. Even oldsters like me (well, middle-agesters)can learn a lot from them. And the work of hugely talented fanfiction writers who have taken Dave's character (as well as Kurt's and others' at times) to take him and us on an astounding number of different yet interesting journeys was more than worth the price of admission. At least on electronic print there's a true happy ending waiting for Dave. I certainly hope so.

Well, that's the big ol' 10. I want to thank everyone who have been stopping by my little corner of the web really from the bottom of my heart. Your ear, your feedback, and your (cyber as it will) friendship mean a lot. Up next. A conclusion.