Annie’s point below about the utopian function of the musicals is spot on, and I guess the numbers have been less able to do much smoothing over for me.

This love complicates our perceptions of its problems. Many of us (me, for example) are willing to forgive to an extent, while others (e.g., a friend who confesses to being a Glee anti-fan) aren’t willing to forgive any more. The show carries a very particular burden in crossing over issues of culture and prejudice within musical comedy, and I think many of us ask too much from it in that regard. It seems odd to me that there seems to be more complaining about how Glee deals with race and class when series like Gossip Girl get let off the hook even though they exist in this fantastical New York of only cool rich white kids.

Yes, I hate the fact that Kevin McHale is actually fully abled. Yes, I hate how Kurt and Mercedes are generally only rendered in primary colors. I hate how all the romantic relationships have thus far been juggled (and how all the women are coming off badly in them, across the board).

But then I remember that Glee isn’t The Wire, nor is it trying to be, and that what it does offer (excess, theatricality, wit, style, and sheer exuberance) is a reward in itself. No TV series is a complete meal; I’ll gladly take Glee as a weekly Michael’s Frozen Custard Turtle Sundae.