Glee/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
< Glee
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  • Actor Shipping: Rampant. The two potential real-life ones that have gotten the most media attention are Mark Salling/Naya Rivera and Kevin McHale/Jenna Ushkowitz ("McHalowitz"), with the rumours being denied in both instances. But there are plenty of other more speculative ones, like Naya Rivera/Heather Morris ("Heya").
    • Don't forget Darren Criss/Chris Colfer, usually referred to as Criss/Colfer. While Darren Criss has said that he's straight, this hasn't stopped the shippers.
    • Or Monfer, which is Cory and Chris together. Chris is almost as big of a Launcher of a Thousand Ships as his character Kurt is, to the Squick of some and the Squee of others.
    • Adiss (Max Adler / Darren Criss) is also a pretty popular 'ship', despite both actors being straight, because of their closeness.
    • Achele (Dianna Agron/Lea Michele) is one of the most popular Real Person Ships on Glee fandom, due to the actresses' closeness and their constant touching and/or glancing at each other in some interviews. They also lived together for a while, which gives the shippers even more fuel.
    • Interestingly, the two openly gay cast-members (Chris Colfer and Jonathan Groff) are never being shipped with each other, everyone being busy pairing up Chris with a straight guy and Jonathan with a woman. Fandom is a funny place.
    • Heya (Heather Morris/Naya Rivera) is another popular one, motivated both by who their characters are and by their real-life closeness (Heather and Naya consider themselves best friends and have stated this in interviews).
    • There's also Sallingstreet (Mark/Chord), Mc Vera (Naya/Kevin), Kevanna (Kevin/Dianna), Monchele (Cory/Lea), Mc Riley (Kevin/Amber), Salgron (Dianna/Mark), Overgron (Chord/Dianna), Mc Gustin (Kevin/Grant)...the list goes on. A few of the boys, among them Kevin, Cory, and Chord, are referred to as Amber's Harem.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation:
    • All the Cliche Storm and Unfortunate Implications examples are completely intentional gags in a subversive parody. It takes a few episodes to realize this. Listening to all of the stuff Sue says lets you know, though.
    • One critic firmly believes that the show is fundamentally the most tragic show on TV, but is presented as the happiest show on TV.
    • Thanks to the well rounded personalities of every character in the show, everyone can be seen as the villain or the hero of the franchise. It all really depends on who you identify with the best... or who you hate the most.
    • Karofsky: A tortured soul that is in love with the one thing he hates? Or a Jerkass who forced a kiss on Kurt and gained many fans?
    • Blaine: a Knight in Shining Armor, handsome, knowledgeable and all or a complete Marty Stu without any personality?
    • Rachel: Self-centered Jerkass who occasionally displays kindness to other people or a well-intentioned girl who only wants the Glee club to be successful, but tends to go too far in pursuit of that goal and fails to think before she speaks/acts?
  • Anvilicious: Since the list was getting ridiculous, we now have a whole separate page dedicated to listing every episode's hard-to-miss theme.
  • Arc Fatigue: Some people feel that the Dalton arc--when Kurt transferred to Dalton Academy to get away from bullying--was drawn out too long, and that Kurt was being overshadowed by Blaine and the Warblers in his own storyline. It was supposed to make a point about gay bullying, but for the most part amounted to little more than a few big lipped alligator moments and Yaoi scenes. According to Word of God, the Warblers were only supposed to appear for two episodes of the second season, but their immense popularity led to them staying on the show much longer, possibly into the third season. Until "Born This Way", when Kurt finally returned to McKinley, it felt entirely possible that he would be staying there indefinitely.
    • Which makes this a case of Frige Brilliance: it emphasises how being in Mc Kinley stresses his individuality, instead of being part of the Warblers, who are extremely coordinated and sticklers to tradition.
  • Ascended Fanon: The creators have admitted that the idea of Brittany/Santana as a serious, Official Couple started with the fans, that they never planned for them to be more than a one-off joke until they saw that the fans wanted more.
  • Ascended Meme: In "Furt", Finn makes a speech about Portmanteau Couple Names in the school.
  • Award Snub:
    • Nominated for 19 Emmys in the 2010 Emmys and only won 4. The Best Comedy Emmy and Best Casting Emmys (Comedy) went to Modern Family instead. Of course, if Modern Family hadn't won those, this entry would be on its page.
    • The fans of Community see Glee as being the cause of its own Award Snub, as it got zero nominations.
  • Base Breaker: Most characters.
    • Rachel. Any online discussion of Glee tends to be hijacked by someone talking about how she's the best singer/actor/oh-so-oppressed, followed promptly by people expressing their disagreement by demonizing Rachel in every conceivable way. The Rachel worshippers then proceed to bash all of the characters who aren't Rachel to show how she isn't so bad, making the haters even more defensive, and things go back and forth until the original topic is completely forgotten.
      • In mid-to-late Season 2, there's been some debate (or rather, all-out-warfare) over whether Rachel has redeemed herself and made up for her past actions, or whether she's being let off the hook too easily. The people who believe that she has redeemed herself point out that she has now apologized sincerely to the people she's wronged (Sunshine and Finn being the two prominent examples from this season) and that she's been generally nice in the second half of the season. The people who believe that she hasn't redeemed herself seem to think that her niceness is just a facade and that she's still self-centered.
    • Finn. It's generally agreed upon that they give him too many solos for being the weakest singer in the cast. (And he's supposed to be the best of the male singers.)
      • There's also the divide on whether he's a hypocritical jerk who does not learn from his mistakes or just a naive representation of regular teenage boys.
      • And the debate re: heartthrob vs. average-looking almost-30-year-old shoehorned into the role of a cute high school boy.
      • It's really kicked into high gear with the events of "Mash-Off," where he outs Santana in a crowded hallway as a reaction to her bullying. See "Broken Base" below for details.
    • Kurt. A Woobie who just wants to be loved, or a selfish, Manipulative Bastard and Karma Houdini? You decide!
    • Blaine. You either want him to get his own spin off show so you could see him more frequently or you want him to get one so he stops showing up in Glee.
    • Artie. Is he the chronically misunderstood Only Sane Man who just wants to be loved, or is he a raging misogynist Karma Houdini who doesn't deserve anything less than being shoved off a cliff? THE GLEE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW. (This started with his sexist comments to Tina in "The Power of Madonna," but really rose to prominence due to getting in the way of Fan Preferred Couple Brittany/Santana.)
    • Speaking of the Brittana romance, that leads us to Santana: A Jerkass who is too immature to properly deal with her emotional issues and instead lashes out at bystanders, or an outstanding example of Character Development who has become one of the most sympathetic characters on the show? Or both?
    • Quinn: A heinous bitch who brought all her pain upon herself or an intelligent but insecure girl who lost everything she had?
    • The fandom seems pretty split on whether Karofsky is a Jerkass Woobie who is trying to redeem himself and does deserve redemption or not.
    • Jesse: an irredeemable jerkass who should go die in a fire, or someone who did genuinely regret his actions and was sincere in his apology to Rachel?
    • Will has been a Base Breaker for quite some time. Some see him as a Nice Guy who genuinely cares about his students and Emma and wants to help them; others see him as a whiny manchild who needs to keep his hands out of others' business.
    • Even Sue, once one of the most popular characters on the show, is starting to fall here as some are beginning to find her shtick to be overly repetitive.
    • Mercedes has never been a universally-popular character, but the events of the beginning of S3 (particularly surrounding her audition for West Side Story) have really inflamed her Hatedom, which has, in turn, made her fans more defensive.
    • Even before his first appearance on the show, Sebastian Warbler already had people who knew about him divided, especially the Klaine fandom.
      • Looking to get even worse since Michael, with the fandom now debating as to whether his character can be redeemed or not.
  • Big Lipped Alligator Moment:
    • At one point the club is performing one of their songs onstage in front of a closed curtain. At the climax of the song, the curtain opens and an entire gospel choir is revealed and sings along with the cast. This is never brought up again.
    • "Make 'em Laugh" from "The Substitute" was just a dream sequence Will had from being sick and watching Singin in The Rain too much.
    • From the same episode, the Umbrella/Singing in the Rain mash-up featuring the cast performing elaborate choreography in front of a waterfall in their school auditorium. The writers don't even bother trying to explain this.
    • Several of the Dalton numbers feel rather shoehorned into the show. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" had little purpose aside from being Yaoi fanservice, and "Bills, Bills, Bills" came out of nowhere after the commercial break with Regionals practice as its only Hand Wave.
    • Tina's spontaneous crying fit while singing "My Funny Valentine". Was she madly in love? Was she embarrassed? This never gets explained or commented on later in the episode.
      • Actually, this was explained beforehand: when Mike sang to Tina, she said she was "so in love [she] could cry", so her crying is just her... showing her love. Yeah.
    • And while the shippers loved it, Kurt and Blaine's slow-mo run down a hallway seems a little out of place.
      • It also seemed that way to Chris Colfer, who said that the scene 'was too gay even for me.'
  • Broken Aesop:
    • While the Aesop in "Blame it on the Alcohol" was good, the kids most likely threw up onstage not because they were drunk but because what they drank contained various remnants of Rachel's dads' liquor cabinet, kool-aid, cough syrup, and crumbled up oreos. Many believe the episode to be a Spoof Aesop that's been thinly disguised to appease the network.
    • Another one in "Blame it on the Alcohol": Kurt says that bisexuality is a myth used by people who are afraid of being "totally gay," and Blaine calls him out on it. In the end, Blaine realizes that he isn't actually bi because he has no chemistry with Rachel. So bisexuality isn't a shield to hide your gayness, it's just brought on by drunkeness!
    • Many of Quinn's storylines appear to be this--she creates the "Glist" to regain her popularity or something even though she knows exactly how it feels to be teased and ostracized, as she was when she was pregnant. And then in "Born This Way," it's revealed she used to be overweight and "ugly" and was mocked for it, so she lost weight, got a nose job, and changed her name. Instead of learning from this how it feels to be bullied, she instead bullies others for exactly those same shallow reasons. And when Lauren reveals the truth about her to the school to hurt her chances for prom queen, they completely miss the point and suddenly love her because she was once "one of them." Never mind the fact that she's now beautiful and a heinous bitch. And this is in the episode about embracing your imperfections.
    • Many feel that the bullying storyline became this when Kurt moved to Dalton and met Blaine, because most bullied kids don't have that option.
    • There seems to even be one in-story in "Born This Way." The word Will writes on the board is acceptance and then tells the kids to make t-shirts about things that make them different and special that they should embrace because they can't change, and most of the kids do that but Will tells Emma that her shirt should have been about her OCD, and while she does need to admit that she's OCD, it's not something that she should just accept because it can be changed and in Emma's case it really needs to change because her OCD is having severe effects on her ability to live her life.
  • Broken Base:
    • Over the question of whether Rachel or Mercedes is the better singer, an argument which tends to divide along issues of musical taste (those who prefer Broadway or pop tend to prefer Rachel; R&B and hip-hop fans tend to prefer Mercedes).
    • In the first half of Season 1, there was a sort of "Team Rachel"/"Team Quinn" rivalry between fans of the two characters. (Not in terms of which one belonged more with Finn - with Quinn lying to him about her pregnancy, most fans were on Rachel's side with that one - but with the issue of which one was generally more sympathetic or had more right to feel "wronged" by the other.)
      • It was rekindled in the second season after Rachel and Finn broke up and Finn and Quinn got back together. By then, Quinn had been made a lot more sympathetic, and one could have reasonably sided with either character in their battle for Finn (though this changed when it became clearer that Quinn was just dating Finn for his popularity so she could win Prom Queen). Then, of course, there are those fans who think both of them are too good for Finn...or not good enough...
    • The Finn/Kurt subplot in "Theatricality" has sparked quite a hot debate over which character was more in the wrong (Finn for calling Kurt's decor "faggy" or Kurt for the obsessiveness which led to Finn's outburst?). Eventually bled over into the show itself.
    • There have been some fairly intense arguments over whether the pilot or season finale version of "Don't Stop Believing" is better.
    • The second season itself has become a base-breaker. While its themed episodes like "Brittany/Britney," "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" and "A Very Glee Christmas" and various guest stars have received a lot of hype and been fairly popular with the show's younger and/or more casual fans, a lot of viewers think the show has Jumped the Shark and long for the first season, when it was less interested in creating big moments and more in telling a consistent story and building interesting characters.
    • More generally, people who view Glee as a guilty pleasure, or as a legitimately good show. And in the middle, there are those who used to view it as the latter who now see it as the former, or who think it can oscillate between the two from episode to episode.
    • Mercedes' performance of "Sweet Transvestite". Some fans think she brought the house down. Others wish a house would be brought down on her for ruining it. There is very little middle ground.
    • Over Artie's relationship with Brittany, and whether the show has done enough to develop it beyond a Crack Pairing. Some think they are quite sweet together, while others think that it's still just a lazy attempt at Pair the Spares. And that's not even getting into what the Brittana shippers have to say about it...
    • There is something of a battle over Kurt's portrayal. His Camp Gay persona is quite controversial: as the show is so popular, many believe that it gives a bad representation of gays to the mainstream as Will and Grace did years ago. Others believe that having an openly gay character who is neither Straight Gay nor the least bit ashamed is a good thing.
    • The Gay Aesops of Season 2 also came under fire. There was either too many making them Anvilicious or it was perfectly justified since Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped.
    • There's been a huge debate already on the scene in "Mash-Off" where Finn outs Santana in response to her incessant teasing. Some say that Santana backed Finn into a corner and so it was only human that he would lash out with the only thing that would make Santana stop. Others say that as awful as Santana was, outing her for that is Disproportionate Retribution and never, ever justifiable. Then there's the middle-ground, where they admit that what Finn did was completely wrong but he can't have anticipated where it would lead (to the political ad that uses her lesbianism to bash Sue). It gets ugly no matter which position you take.
    • 'Dance With Somebody' broke the base with Kurt's cheating storyline and Blaine's reaction to it through song; part of the base sided fully with Blaine and despised Kurt for flirting with Chandler; some didn't side with either; and some sided with Kurt as they saw Blaine's behavior as hypocritical given his pre-"Michael" relationship with Sebastian.
  • Canon Sue:
    • Holly Holiday. Any flaws she has only add a sense of nobility to her, and she's loved by everyone.
    • Blaine also fits this trope to a T. Even when he makes a mistake, it's not his fault. There's always something else to blame.
  • Cargo Shipping: Wes/Gavel and Kurt/Kilt are fairly popular, but the most widely known one is Santana/Shrub-shaped-like-a-person (Shrubtana).
    • Don't forget Briano (Brad, the piano player for New Directions and his piano. Though he cheats on it with the keyboard from time to time)
  • Cliche Storm / Troperrific: Critics charge that the show relies too much on hackneyed plot devices; the show really tends to revel in the charge. The fans love it though, and the writers certainly know what they're getting into.
  • Colbert Bump: Has had this effect with some of the music they've featured on their show.
  • Completely Missing the Point: The "Umbrella/Singin' in the Rain" mash-up was supposed to make "Singin'" a bit more modern and enjoyable for the kids. Instead it's basically "Umbrella" with half of the chorus switched out. And most of the "Singin'" parts are only sung by Will anyways, so the kids don't have to do any of the old music anyways. At least it was mostly enjoyable to listen to.
    • Kurt in 'Blame It On The Alcohol' says that Karofsky 'didn't like who I am'. Kurt must be really dense not to understand that the person Karofsky actually hates is himself and that Kurt is an object of admiration/stand-in for the parts of himself he hates the most. Then again, Kurt has also completely missed the point in Season 1, with all his Depraved Homosexual behavior towards Finn which was barely touched upon in 'Duets' and tends to be excused by his fans.
    • The meaning of the "Don't Stand So Close To Me"/"Young Girl" mashup (which deliberately ignores the point of both) is botched by the inclusion of the line "Temptation, frustration, so bad it makes him cry."
  • Complete Monster: The guys at Karofsky's new school, who outed him as gay and drove him to a, thankfully failed,suicide attempt. They even continued mocking him on Facebook after his suicide attempt!
  • Contractual Purity: There is a strange tendency by some people to flip out every time Lea Michele or Dianna Agron appears on a magazine looking sexy. Yes, they are adult women in their mid-20s, not teenagers, yet somehow the fact that they play minors on TV means that they are "sending girls the wrong message" every time they so much as wear low-cut shirts. Glee is an unusual case, though, since it is not a kids' show and it engages in sexual and other adult themes on the show, so this expectation is solely due to viewer misconceptions.
  • Crack Pairing: Artie's relationship with Brittany, at least initially.
    • Crack pairings seem to be a part of the show. Others include: Puck/Rachel, Puck/Mercedes, Kurt/Brittany, Artie/Becky, Will/Sue, and Puck/Shelby
  • Creators Pet:
    • Kurt. It's no secret that he's a Creators Pet; his character didn't exist at first and was created specifically to play up Chris Colfer's strengths when he auditioned for Artie. Furthermore, Jerkass things he says often go unchecked, and there are many cases where logic takes a back seat so that he is never wrong (it took until the next season for him to get called out for harassing Finn, probably after viewers criticized his supposed innocence in the matter).
    • Holly Holiday. It definitely feels this way for people who don't like Holly, since Ryan Murphy called the actress who plays her "Glee's muse" and seems fond of the character by association.
    • There was a lot of backlash against Finn in Season 2 for this very reason, to the point of there being a "Hypocritical Finn" meme. Detractors point out that anyone wronging him is automatically the bad guy, and anytime he does something wrong he's meant to be sympathetic, despite the fact that he's often doing the very same things that cause other characters to get painted as douchebags and villains. The backlash got even worse in Season 3, after he outed Santana, and suffered no consequences other than her slapping him. Even his gay stepbrother, and raised-by-gay-dads girlfriend, don't say anything, and in the following episode it seems that everyone is convinced that Finn did the right thing.
    • Blaine Anderson. It didn't help that even right after being introduced, he was already getting more and more air time and way more solos than most of the original cast members, which ended up being shoehorned in once or twice (TSSBS, Prom Queen). And his characterization made him out to be a Canon Sue for a lot of people. It has reached the point where even Darren Criss thought Blaine had a little too much focus on him.
      • Fan reaction got even more split as of season 3 where he became less of a Canon Sue and more as a Spotlight Stealing Shallow Love Interest.
      • Well YMMV because it seems that alot of people claim Blaine steals time from others, when in reality, he hardly got any material outside of being Kurt's boyfriend, and others got a ton more time than him this season. In fact, Season 3 was more like the Finchel show with even the people on The Morning After saying that Blaine had gotten Glee's Asian Treatment (read: reduced to the background; human prop only to be used for songs on occasion)
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Almost anything Sue does or says.
  • Cultural Cringe: A localized version of the trope: several characters utterly despise Lima, OH, and small towns in general, and fantasize about moving to New York (and seem to have a very rose-tinted, idealized view of NYC).
  • Denser and Wackier: Many have noticed a general trend in this direction. The first half of the first season was a lot darker and, except for explicit fantasy sequences, seemed committed to making sure their stage numbers were possible in a school undergoing a budget crisis. Since the second half of Season 1, it's increasingly moved away from realistic musical numbers, with brand-new, out-of-this-world costumes for every number and extras ranging from harpists to gospel choirs.
  • Did Not Do the Research:
    • Quinn couldn't have found out the sex of her baby since she's ten weeks pregnant. It's too early in the pregnancy.
    • One episode features rabid Twilight fans decked out in capes and fake fangs attacking a poor kid named Jacob. This is either a Did Not Do the Research Take That at Twilight (whose vampires do not have fangs and do not wear capes) or a shot at Principal Figgins and the books' fans.
    • When Puck hears about Quinn's pregnancy he calls it "another Immaculate Conception". The Immaculate Conception actually refers to the belief that Mary was conceived without original sin, not the virgin birth. It's a very common mistake and once you add in the fact that Puck is Jewish, it's pretty understandable.
    • Sue's "You take these weird little strides when you walk as if you were raised in imperial Japan and somebody bound your feet" to Emma. Feet-binding happened in imperial China. Might be intentional on the writers' part, though: it might just be Sue not knowing, not giving a damn and/or possibly getting it intentionally wrong for the sake of jerkassitude.
    • A similar possibly intentional one in "Sexy":

 Brittany: Why are we sitting on the floor?

Holly Holiday: Because we're in Japan.

      • They're sitting cross-legged. Women never sit cross-legged on the floor in Japan: men do that.
  • Die for Our Ship:
    • Artie. At PaleyFest 2011, Kevin McHale revealed that he often gets "hate Tweets" from Brittana shippers, protesting "I'm not Artie!"
    • Quinn, Blaine and Mercedes all got this from the Kurt/Sam shippers. Blaine got it the most, but Mercedes is likely to get more of it with Sam's return in "Hold on to Sixteen," which includes trying to win her back.
    • The Finchel ship gets this from Klaine shippers. Not because either ship could cause problems for the other, but because the Klaine shippers want Finchel to die so the show can spend more time on Klaine.
  • Draco in Leather Pants:
    • Puck. The fangirls were all over him long before he showed any signs of depth.
    • Karofsky has this among some fans despite injuring, threatening, and trying to force himself upon Kurt.
    • With the help of Grant Gustin and the show's 'interesting' way of character development, Sebastian is slowly but surely becoming this. Because there has to be a traumatised woobie beneath that 'facade'.
    • Blaine is still insanely popular even after having tried to force himself upon Kurt, shamed Kurt in front of his friends, turned them against him by having them participate in his Take That song to Kurt, breaking him down enough to sing 'I Have Nothing' to him, and blaming Kurt for his anger because he was too busy thinking of his future.
      • Um, Blaine DID back off Kurt in TFT and he kind of had the right to be pissed at him in DWS because what he was doing with Chandler WAS cheating.
        • He backed off AFTER KURT THREW HIM OUT OF THE CAR, so actually he didn't back off, he was FORCED to back off. And though two wrongs don't make a right, he had NO RIGHT to be angry at Kurt because if Kurt's actions were cheating, so (and even worse) were his with Sebastian.
    • Finn. His behavior has been pretty terrible in the last two seasons, but there are still many fans of his and the 'Finchel' relationship.
      • But he's not as popular as people say he is.
        • Those fans seem to reside mostly in the writing room, according to the episodes.
    • Santana, as many of her fans tend to downplay her role in bullying other characters to turn her into The Woobie due to her torment over her sexuality.
  • Drinking Game: Take a shot every time the word "Funk" is used in episode 21. And every time the word "distraction" or "distract" is used in episode "Hairography".
    • Or how many times Michael Jackson's famous high pitched "hee hee" is used in the "Michael" episode
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • Kurt is frequently cited as the show's "breakout star," as is Sue Sylvester.
    • Brittany, who wasn't in the pilot, didn't speak until episode 4, gets a handful of lines in every episode and still manages to be one of the most popular characters on the show with her charming minimalistic humor. The TIME TV critic James Poniewozik posts his favorite "Brittany-ism" after every show on his blog. Brittany. She's one of the two best dancers, and a pretty good singer to boot.
    • An actor version: Mike O'Malley, who plays Kurt's father, was basically a stalwart of mediocre sitcoms (Yes Dear), Nickelodeon game shows and commercials. In Glee, he routinely turns out subtle and heartfelt performances. His character, Burt, as well.
    • Blaine, who's won a lot of fans over with his good looks and excellent voice.
    • Mike Chang is also extremely popular, even before he started getting lines. Having nice abs doesn't hurt one's popularity.
    • Santana Lopez. She started off as a bitch. Then, they let her sing "The Boy is Mine". People embraced her bitchiness as comedy and fell in love with her voice. And then, she was revealed to be a lesbian, and was paired with Brittany...
    • Dave Karofsky, thanks in no small part to Max Adler's talent.
    • Brad the pianist.
    • Bryan Ryan. No surprise there. Everyone loves Neil Patrick Harris.
    • Holly Holiday, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, going from a celebrity guest spot to a recurring character and Love Interest for Will. She's the most frequently-recurring celebrity guest on the show, due to the character's popularity with viewers and the fact that her nature (a substitute teacher who can't stay in one place for long) is easy to work around Paltrow's schedule.
    • Jeff and Nick, two background Warblers who have only had one line between them, have been swooped upon by the shippers, pairing them with Kurt, Blaine, or each other.
    • Becky, even more so due to her inner monologuing.
  • Evil Is Cool: Why Sue started out as one of the most popular characters on the show, before turning into an Overly Long Gag.
  • Family Unfriendly Aesop: Rocky Horror Glee Show attempted to tack on an aesop at the end by say "Freaks and outcasts are better off seperating themselves from society because they aren't appreciated." Huh?
    • "Props" had the aesop of "If someone hogs all attention and praise all the time from you, it's Ok, because it's meant to be like that!' Using Tina, an Asian-American character, for the plot and Rachel Berry as the attention-hogger she actually is also creates uncomfortable and pretty racist Unfortunate Implications...
  • Fandom Heresy: Let's just say that there aren't many places in the Glee fandom where it's safe to admit that you don't much like Lea Michele's singing voice, and leave it at that. Chris Colfer and Darren Criss (if not their characters) also tend to be sacred cows. Especially Darren's.
  • Fan Dumb: While it may seem like a theater/band geek/ misfit paradise, the forum shows us that a vast majority of fans take the show more seriously than most school work, or in some cases, actual work. Flame wars get started over comments about a character's clothing, a throwaway comment that was played for laughs, song choice, and even seating positions. Numerous thread topics revolve around arguing about Darren Criss being a good actor or not, more topics have become pissing contests on who knows more about Broadway, and there is even a thread claiming The Beatles "aren't that good" and Glee made their songs better. It's not a wonder that the fans are often more hated than the show itself.
    • Kurt's fan base may or may not be the biggest, but it's certainly the most...let's just say "dedicated" and leave it at that.
    • There's also the Kurt fandom's Distaff Counterpart, the Brittana fangirls. During the second season, they became known on fan sites as Windmill Crusaders for constantly complaining about being oppressed by some hidden mass of Bartie fans - when, in fact, Brittana has always been the Fan Preferred Couple and it was fan pressure that encouraged the creators to bring them together. There are also the Faberry shippers who, while mostly a not-so-serious bunch, can produce some really scary types who try to argue that Quinn/Rachel should count as a canon couple...
    • Some of the Blaine fangirls seem to be of the opinion that Blaine can do absolutely no wrong and that Kurt is unworthy of Blaine.
      • Conversely, Kurtsies think that Blaine doesn't deserve Kurt because the former is a contradictory jackass who's ruining Kurt's life.
    • Dalton fangirls are a very scary bunch. Some of them want Kurt to stay at Dalton forever, claiming that the Warblers are "way more interesting" than New Directions and want to get rid of ND altogether. This in spite of the fact that most of the Warblers have been given no personalities whatsoever and the few who've spoken have gotten one or two token lines.
      • To be fair, a good number of the Dalton fangirls have recognized that last bit and created their own fanworks about the school with their own canons (often crossing into Alternate Universe territory), rather than litter regular Glee fansites with complaints about how Dalton isn't getting enough focus.
    • If their complaints after Rachel-light episodes are anything to go by, some of the Rachel-fans seem to be of the opinion that Glee should be the Rachel Berry show
    • Then there's the insistence that Sam is gay or bi, using the most nitpicking details as "proof" when nothing on the show has directly or indirectly hinted that he's anything but straight.
      • This most likely comes from the fact that Sam was originally cast as Kurt's love interest for S2, but then the writers changed their mind at the last minute, as they are wont to do, and brought in Blaine instead. Unfortunately, some fans chose to start shipping it before the season had even started, leading to some pretty sour grapes when things went in another direction.
    • Then there are the Theocrats among the Fan Dumb, who cling to EVERYTHING Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk say or imply in interviews, rather than just watching the show.
    • Following the incident where a fan actually pulled Darren Criss from the stage a Kurtsie said: "I used to think Chris/Kurt fans are the craziest in the fandom, then came the Brittana shippers, and then the Faberry shippers, and now Darren stans."
    • Kurt/Karofsky shippers are constantly insulted and bullied by shippers of other pairings who believe Karofsky doesn't deserve redemption for his bullying. Ummmm...
    • Basically, the Glee Fandom is a great big pool of Fan Dumb.
  • Fan Community Nickname: Gleeks for the entire community.
    • Many fans of Chris Colfer and Kurt call themselves "Kurtsies".
    • People who are fans of both Glee and Team Starkid are called "Stargleeks".
    • There's a sizeable group of Mercedes/Amber Riley fans called the "Mercedes Mafia".
    • Many of the ships have their own names. Klaine has Klainers, Niff has Nifflers, Brittana has "Gay Sharks" (after Brittany's meme-spawning quip), Kurtofsky has 'Pirates' (because fans have decided that it's a 'pirate' ship) and Sory has Sponsors (after Sam was Rory's Christmas sponsor, and agreed to be his Valentine's Day sponsor as well).
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Finn is nicknamed "Franken Teen" due to his height, inability to cheer, and sometimes-stiff dancing.
    • Many people refer to Tina and Mike as "Asian and Other Asian".
    • Klaine have sex is referred to as "Klex".
    • People who don't like Blaine call him 'Bland' or 'Plain Blanderson'. And Klaine is renamed 'Kland'.
    • Blaine is 'Hobbit' in many fanfic, especially the Kurtofsky ones.
  • Fan Preferred Couple: There have been several over the course of the series but the current one is Quinn/Rachel. Previous ones include Rachel/Puck, Klaine and Brittany/Santana
  • Foe Yay:
    • Bryan Ryan (Neil Patrick Harris) and Sue, who have angry sex even after Bryan cuts the Cheerios budget in half. Hilarious in Hindsight when you realize that Neil Patrick Harris is gay and that Jane Lynch is a lesbian.
    • Rachel and Quinn< Anyone?
    • Will and Bryan, to combine your Foe Yay with Ho Yay.
    • Kurt and Puck in one of the Fox commercials.
    • Kurt wants to lock Rachel in his basement. Okay. Until one remembers that his basement is also his bedroom. That doesn't have sexual undertones due to his sexuality, but one does have to wonder why he'd want to lock someone he has so many issues with in the place where he sleeps.
      • Then, there's the fact Kurt is just as determined as the other boys to go after Jesse when Jesse eggs Rachel. Rachel gets one by sending the football-playing Glee boys after the guy who has been terrifying Kurt.
    • Say what you want about the "Smooth Criminal" cover, but it's painfully obvious that Sebastian and Santana are both oozing this, despite the Incompatible Orientation.
    • Also, Kurt and Sebastian. Sometimes their sniping at each other seems to take this turn.
  • Fountain of Memes: Brittany.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: Fandom-wise, a lot of people thought that Kurt and Blaine nominated/elected for Prom King(s) would be awesome, and many affectionate jokes about Kurt being the Prom Queen ensued. At least part of it was because some people just didn't want the other candidates to be prom queen, particularly Quinn for being creepily obsessed about it, but also Santana for blackmailing Karofsky into being her beard and rejecting Brittany, and Lauren for cruelly leaking Quinn's "former identity" to the school. Then the episode "Prom Queen" rolls around and Kurt is elected Prom Queen as a horrible joke. Yeah, Ryan Murphy? You're a bastard.
    • Actually was it ever confirmed to be a joke in the first place? This troper doesn't recal anyone laughing or booing or making fun of Kurt after the results were announced, and always just assumed that Kurt *jumped to the conclusion* that it was a joke because he's so used to being bullied that its the only response he has.
    • "Rumours" revealed that Sam's family have become victims of the recession, and live in a motel room. Care to remember what song he sang for his New Directions audition? That's right, "Billionaire".
    • In "Pilot", Finn was blackmailed into joining ND when Will claimed he had found marijuana in his locker. That's so funny!...until we find out that Finn's actor, Cory Monteith, dropped out of high school due to serious drug addiction problems.
    • For most of the first season, Finn's mediocre singing and dancing was a running gag with the fandom. Cut to "The First Time" in in the third season, where Finn is devastated that he didn't get a football scholarship to OSU. He laments that he isn't a good enough athlete to play on the college level (it doesn't help that the recruiter was kind of a dick about it), and isn't a good enough singer or dancer to get into a performing school either. Ironically, it's possibly Cory Monteith's best acting so far.
    • In a more heartbreaking example, the friday before "Heart" the 2012 Valentine's day episode, The music was released for the episode featuring Mercedes doing a cover of Whitney Houston's hit "I will always love you" the day before Whitney's untimely passing
      • Here in Israel it was said to be a gesture for her that the creators managed to work up quickly.
  • Genius Bonus: Though it's more like Movie Trivia Awareness Bonus, Will dreams he is performing the "Make 'Em Laugh" number from Singin' In The Rain while sick and feverish; Gene Kelly performed the film's title number with an incredibly high fever.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Sunshine for Filipinos, natch.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • Kurt says that being called "lady" is bullying. That makes this screengrab from Entertainment Tonight especially cringe-worthy.
    • Sam's performance of "Billionaire" in his debut seemed to be a random song to show off his voice with, but it becomes a lot more painful after seeing the events of "Rumors".
    • In his 'fake' apology to the Glee club in 'Born This Way' Dave Karofsky says he 'read stories about kids who were bullied so much they hung themselves'. That speech takes on a whole new light after the events of On My Way.
  • Hey Its That Guy: Apparently, half of the cast in the first season was recruited from Heroes, and the other half from Spring Awakening.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • One episode used the song "Gold Digger" mere days before Kanye West made an ass of himself at the VMAs.
    • Jayma Mays (Emma) once played a woman who used her pregnancy to cause discord between her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend on Ugly Betty. Terri used her (fake) pregnancy to try to keep Will from getting too attached to Emma. Granted, there is a difference in that Henry had broken up with her before dating Betty and Will was actually married...
    • Emma in episode 3:

 "They say it takes certainty more than talent to make a star. I mean, look at John Stamos."

    • Kurt's dad says he hates Duke like he hates the Nazis in "Home". This episode came before the final 4 game where Duke beat Butler (a team from Ryan Murphy's hometown of Indianapolis.
    • Karofsky, in "Britney/Brittany":

  "How come all the gay guys get the hot chicks?"

      • Even more hilarious after he and Santana become each other's beards.
    • When Glee first came out, Chris Colfer (Kurt) mentioned in an interview that "Kurt's [biggest fear] would be that there would be school uniforms". Guess what happens come Season Two?
    • In Todd in The Shadows review of Bad Romance he compared Lady Gaga's evolution to Britney Spears and Madonna. These three are all the women so far with episodes centered around them, with recurrer Justin Bieber to be the only man to hold the title. Well except for Bruno Mars but the episode was not advertised at such.
      • For added fun, in that same video he psyches himself up by saying "courage".
    • The study group in Community encounters the glee club, an Expy for the cast of Glee. After the study group defeats them, Jeff tells them "Write some original songs!" In February of 2011, it was announced that Glee would be doing an episode with original songs.
    • Not to mention that the Glee club in Community is introduced by singing 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' to attract people during a paintball game and take them out, and Glee will use the very same song, mashed up with 'One Way Or Another', in a similar situation during a game of dodgeball.
    • Actress Amber Riley was turned down for American Idol (as in, didn't even make it on TV) before being picked up for Glee, which will probably net her more fame than AI ever would.
    • Santana's snarking on Kurt in episode 5:

 Kurt: "Can we discuss the elephant in the room?"

Santana: "Your sexuality?"

      • Also, her comment about "gay jokes" after the glee club.
      • How about in "Silly Love Songs"? She says that kissing Finn isn't worth paying a dollar for, but she would pay to jiggle one of his "man-boobs." Of course we'd all find out later her affinity for boobs.
    • Puck's line to Quinn in Season 1.

 I don't dig fat chicks.

    • In the season two premier "Audition" Brittany states instead of being on vacation during the summer as previously believed, she had actually spent the summer lost in the sewers. Later, in the episode "Sexy", Santana tells Brittany that their hook-ups don't constitute cheating because the plumbing is different.
    • It should be acknowledged that many of these occur because the writers make things up as they go along--several plot points (i.e., Santana being a lesbian and the Puck/Lauren ship) were not even dreamed of at the time of those lines being spoken.
      • Which is why they're considered an example of this trope rather than Foreshadowing.
    • In Mattress, Dave Karofsky is defacing a yearbook picture of the Glee club. If the picture's turned upside down, it looks like he's drawn a heart over Kurt's picture (it seems he was going for breasts). Yeah, it's most likely a teenage boy who has no drawing talent, but considering what we eventually find out...
    • In the middle of Season 3, Puck mentions that global warming means his pool-cleaning business is in demand well into winter. This was meant to be a throwaway joke, but the winter of 2011-12 turned out to be unusually mild for much of the US, with summer-like weather in March.
  • Hollywood Homely: Suzie Pepper (played by the definitely-not-ugly Sarah Drew) saying that she and Rachel are "Mildly Attractive".
  • Ho Yay: So much it has its own page here.
  • Hype Backlash: It's been experiencing this, since the show's win at the Golden Globes / Emmy nomination.
  • Hypocrite: Although being cheated on by his last two girlfriends and being broken up about it, Finn's more than eager to help Quinn cheat on Sam with him.
    • And when she points that out he explains that when they cheated on him, it meant that they didn't love him.
    • Blaine in "'Dance With Somebody" tears down Kurt for flirting through texts with a guy he met in a music store, despite allowing Sebastian's flirtation for months. Blaine does address this, saying that his communication with Sebastian was always "family-friendly," as the show itself seems undecided in whether Blaine's telling the truth or just trying to save face.
    • In "Sexy", Blaine is completely okay with using sex appeal during a performance. Then, during season's 3 "Hold on to Sixteen", he describes it as "selling themselves", and tears down Sam for suggesting to do so.
    • Also all the Glee Club members who join in 'It's Not Right But It's OK'. Almost all of them have cheated or helped cheating on someone.
    • Sue is this for many people since she preached against bullying even though she's one of the most vicious ones herself.
  • Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Fans of the pairing Quinn and Artie often refer to them as "Wheels + Preggers" due to episodes based around their conditions being named that, though to be fair they are also referred to as Quartie and Quarter.
  • Idiot Plot: The entire fight between Kurt, Finn, and Burt in "Theatricality". Kurt for being too caught up in his ridiculous fantasy to accept that Finn is straight and going to insane lengths to be close to him, Finn for completely failing to articulate the very real squickiness of Kurt's harassment without using a slur and attacking Kurt's homosexuality specifically, and Burt for jumping into the fight without listening to anything other than a single word Finn used.
    • Most of the episodes in season 3 have at least one of these.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Every single character depending on your viewpoint is either this or just a Jerkass.
  • Jumping the Shark: Most fans seem to think that this has occurred, with the most common view being that it happened in either the back nine of Season 1, or with the beginning of Season 2, and the show jumped an addition shark with the beginning of Season 3. However, there are plenty of fans who still genuinely enjoy it and see its critics as Stop Having Fun Guys, while another group attests that the show was always bad and it was only when the novelty of its format wore off that people could see it for what it was.
  • Kick the Dog: This is the general reaction to the rare instances of people being mean to Brittany.
    • Sue cracking wise about Burt's near death from heart attack. Even for her that was a low blow.
      • Sue cracking weight jokes to a distraught Beiste in 'Choke' comes off as a Kick the Dog moment in a supposed Pet the Dog moment.
  • Last Minute Hookup: Sam/Mercedes getting together in the second season finale, considering they only even started interacting two episodes ago.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Puck, Rachel, Kurt. Finn and Santana as well.
    • Jesse too, to the point where there are decent-sized fanbases shipping him with characters he has never actually met (ie Blaine and Harmony).
    • Also Dave.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Played straight and subverted in the first season finale. Glee club actually does lose at Regionals, but they ultimately are not disbanded thanks to a Big Damn Villains moment from Sue.
  • Memetic Badass: Pavarotti, the Warblers mascot, seems to be headed in this direction.
    • Sue Sylvester as well.
    • Lord Tubbington.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • The "Say A Little Prayer" dance from Quinn, Brittany, and Santana's audition.
    • It's become common for commentary on the show to invoke "Grilled Cheesus".
    • "Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks?"
    • "Do briefs stink??" (taken from a deleted scene circulated on YouTube)
    • There's a new meme around, which consists of making Santana a proper English gentleman. It's hilarious. Gadzooks!
    • Two words: Dapper Blaine.
    • Pedo Will
    • That piano the camera cuts to when Kurt and Blaine finally kiss has been dubbed "That cock-blocking piano."
    • Insanity Rachel
    • Suddenly... Karofsky!
    • CanniBlaine.
    • Glee Secrets. The hilarious levels of narm and Fan Dumb spawned a troll tumblr that basically parodies everyone in the fandom.
    • "Brittana is on, Brittana was always on."
    • Since it was announced via Twitter that Blaine is a junior, not a senior as previously thought, it became an overnight meme to twist old scenes to reflect him as a child.
    • Blaine is a magnet for these. Another one involving him is his abusive relationship with furniture.
    • Cargoshipping. Everyone on this show seems to be an objectphile.
    • Blaine is a hobbit.
    • Fancy and Hamhock in the Kurtofsky fandom.
    • Sugar is Brittana's Kid From the Future. The cast themselves think this one is awesome.
      • It's expanded into Rory being Klaine's adopted son, and Harmony as the daughter as either Finchel or Faberry. There's a picture to back that up along with the addition of Cameron.
    • Shrubtana: the Crack Ship between Santana and a shrub shaped like a person, based off of a throwaway line in "Sexy".
  • Misaimed Fandom: An alarming number of fans think Sue is actually a good teacher.
    • Except she is a good teacher or at least the school likes cheerleaders/Sue's semi celebrity status enough to keep her around.
    • The problem is that, most of the time, it's Sue who gives a sensible solution to a problem, while Will tends to be useless.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Terri lying about her pregnancy, for starters.
    • Jesse after defecting back to Vocal Adrenaline, and later getting the entire group to egg Rachel after it appears he might still be a good guy, even though the way he guiltily looks away seems to suggest otherwise (in fact, there apparently was an apology scene in what was supposed to be the following episode, Theatricality, but was cut because FOX decided to air it first.
    • Sebastian throwing a slushee laced with rocksalt at Blaine which caused much damage to the eye. Even though he intended to hit Kurt it was quite possibly worse than anything any character on the show has done.
    • The guys at Karofsky's new school crossed this when they outed him as gay, drove him to attempt suicide, and mocked him on Facebook even after his suicide attempt.
    • For many Blaine's thorough shaming of Kurt in front of his friends and WITH THE HELP of said friends despite having done worse and never apologized for it.
  • Motive Decay: After Principal Figgins reveals in "Wheels" that the Cheerios boosters "write fat checks" to pay for most of their expenses, it becomes unclear why Sue needs to bring down New Directions in order to finance even her more lavish Cheerios demands. If her donors can finance plane tickets to Albuquerque, they can certainly afford a fog machine. So what is Sue's motive - if she has one to begin with?
  • Narm Charm: The unabashedly cheery Christmas Episode aside from the Rachel/Finn subplot should have by all means been a non-stop Glurge fest, and yet it was one of the sweetest episodes of the series, especially when Artie stood up.
    • A lot of the things Finn says or does can be this as well. Him singing "I'll Stand By You" to a sonogram would have been hilarious if done by anyone else, but Finn manages to get away with it somehow.
      • Especially since his mother catches him doing it, forcing him to tell her about the baby.
  • Nightmare Fuel: "I Am Unicorn" and "The First Time," due to a certain fanfiction. "The First Time" in particular is really harsh after you read Hunting the Unicorn, since Fic!Blaine only wishes it happened like that.
    • Santana being outed after some girl overheard her argument with Finn in the hallway--where he tells her to come out the closet--and the girl told her uncle, who is running against Sue for the Congress seat and targeted Santana's lesbianism in a smear ad against Sue. For many a closeted teenager, being outed is bad enough, but for it to happen on TELEVISION in front of millions makes it nightmare fuel.
    • EVERYTHING about Karofsky's storyline in On My Way. Hey, being outted not bad enough for you? How about your homophobic classmates spamming the Internet with hate-speech about you until you hang yourself? And just in case you could sleep, have Karofsky's dad finding his near-dead body and screaming in anguish. And even while in recovery, his mom thinks he has a mentally ill for being gay and his best friend Azimio cuts contact. Why the fuck is this show called Glee?
    • Blaine's drunken near-rape of Kurt in The First Time.
  • No Bisexuals: Zig-zagged - There were some worries that the show was biphobic after "Blame it on the Alcohol," where Blaine wonders if he is bisexual but ultimately concludes that he is gay. Kurt makes some bigoted comments earlier in the episode about bisexuality not being real, and many viewers felt that Kurt's comments were confirmed by Blaine's realization that he was only attracted to boys. This also came on the heels of a Ryan Murphy comment that Blaine was definitely gay rather than bi because "kids need to see he's one of them" - as though bisexuals don't contend with the same problems as the rest of the queer community. All of this cropped up again when Word of Gay declared that Santana is a lesbian, rather than bisexual, despite her frequent sex with boys and possessiveness of Puck through the first two seasons. On the other hand, Brittany's bisexuality doesn't seem to be going anywhere, even if she has never used that word to describe herself; she admitted to Santana in "Sexy" that she has feelings for both her and Artie. And she is listed as "bisexual" in the fall 2011 GLAAD report, which takes its information from the networks and show creators.
  • No Yay:
    • How some viewers reacted to the Will/Sue relationship in "Funk." Basically, if your reaction wasn't Foe Yay it was probably this.
    • And Karofsky kissing Kurt in "Never Been Kissed", for some people.
    • Kurt/Blaine for some people. Especially after The First Time and Dance With Somebody.
      • Will kissing Coach Beiste in the same episode. Namely because Will's actions seemed predatory rather than endearing.
    • Also how many viewers reacted to Will and Terri hooking up in "The Substitute."
    • Finchel is quickly becoming this due to Seasonal Rot.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name:
    • Wemma or Wilma (Will/Emma)
    • Finchel (Finn/Rachel)
    • Quick (Quinn/Puck)
    • Puchel/Puckleberry (Puck/Rachel)
    • Faberry/Quinchel (Quinn/Rachel)
    • Winn (Will/Finn)
    • Take a wild guess what Finn/Puck is. Hint: it ain't "Pinn."
    • Puckurt/Purt/Pummel (Puck/Kurt)
    • Furt (Finn/Kurt)
      • Kinn is also becoming popular among Finn/Kurt fans for reasons that become quite obvious once one tries to say "Furt" out loud.
    • Bike (Brittany/Mike)
    • Mark Salling requested that fans make Puck/Artie videos because "Puck + Artie = Party!" My God... He's one of them!
    • Brittana (Brittany/Santana), or "Santittany," according to Naya Rivera.
    • Puckleberry Finn! OT 3
    • Puckleberry Quinn!
    • Tartie or Artina (Tina/Artie)
      • Meanwhile, shippers for the actors who play them dub them "McHalowitz".
    • Quartie or Quarter (Quinn/Artie)
    • Changel (Mike Chang/Kurt Hummel)
    • St. Berry (Rachel/Jesse)
    • St. Fabray (Quinn/Jesse)
    • There already exists Skurt or Kum for Sam/Kurt fans.
      • Or the lesser used "Hevans".
    • Shell (Shelby/Will)
    • Chachang (Tina/Mike), also called Chang Squared, Changcest, or Tike. Chitty Chitty Chang Chang was used on the actual show in "Prom Queen".
    • Sack (Sam/Puck)
    • Sinn (Sam/Quinn) as of "Duets". Most fans use Fabrevans or Quam.
      • Sinn was also used for Finn/Sam for a while, but those fans have begun to use Hudevans due to the tumblr tag being filled with "Vampire Diaries, watches, and pornstars".
    • Arittany (Artie/Brittany)
      • More commonly, Bartie - and the less-flattering "Barfie" from the Brittana shippers.
    • Klaine is used for Kurt/Blaine. Though Blurt is also a used alternative.
    • Due to the events of "Never Been Kissed", "Karommel" has been offered for Karofsky/Kurt...although "Kurtofsky" is more popular.
    • Raine for the Crack Pairing of Rachel and Blaine, who kissed twice in "Blame it on the Alcohol."
      • Blainchel is another common name for those two.
    • Blam/Slaine (Blaine/Sam)
      • Kublam for Kurt/Sam/Blaine threesome.
    • Save for Sam/Karofsky and Blainofsky for Blaine/Karofsky have both taken off.
    • Mersamchel for the Mercedes/Sam/Rachel friendship in "Prom Queen", which was used in the Glee-Wind for that episode.
    • Lauren/Puck reference on the show is "Pizes". Fans call them "Luck".
    • Samcedes (Sam/Mercedes) which is now canon.
    • Rory and Karofsky had one long before Rory appeared on the show. So long before that they didn't know what Damian's character's name would be. The shippers went with Irishofsky.
    • After "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", Smory, Sory, and Flanavans have all been popular names for Sam/Rory.
    • Seblaine or Blastian for Sebastian/Blaine; yes, shippers of this do exist. Add Kurt to the mix and it becomes Seklaine.
    • Kurtbastian or Sebkurt for Sebastian/Kurt.
    • Sebofsky is Sebastian/Karofsky. Though they're also known as MeerCub, since Kurt called Sebastian a meerkat and Dave said he was a bear cub.
    • Rory/Sugar is Sugory or, occasionally, Sweet Potatoes.
    • After their performance of 'Smooth Criminal', some fans have taken to calling the coupling of Sebastian and Santana 'Sebtana'. Its an interesting pairing, considering that both characters are gay, and as Sebastian's actor Grant Gustin noted, Santana's coming out story has been a pretty important one for her. This, combined with Sebastian's haughty air and confidence, make it seem terribly unlikely that the couple will ever come to fruition.
    • Faberritana as a combination of Quinn/Rachel/Santana/Brittany often crops out in the Les Yay part of the fandom
      • So does any combination out of those: Quinntana (Quinn/Santana), Quitt or Fierce (Quinn/Brittany), Pezberry (Santana/Rachel) and Pieberry (Brittany/Rachel)
    • Rorbastian is Rory/Sebastian.
    • Rormony is Rory/Harmony.
  • Protagonist Centered Morality: Happens much over the series.
  • Recycled Premise: A number of plots, characters and ideas are blatantly lifted from Popular, also created and written by Murphy.
  • Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: Quinn and Rachel for some. Dave for others.
  • Retroactive Recognition: Go on, watch Criminal Minds or Julie and Julia and catch yourself going "Hey, it's Sue Sylvester!"
    • Or the episodes of Two And A Half Men where she played Alan, and then Charlie's therapist.
    • Or the movies Paul or The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
    • In the first two Warbler performances, fans of Power Rangers: Samurai might spot the gold ranger singing next to Blaine.
  • Romantic Plot Tumor: Rachel and Finn's wedding storyline in Season 3 is very hated. Most fans are praying that it doesn't happen.
    • While the wedding didn't happen due to Quinn's accident, it's now clear that the storyline will drag on for the rest of the season.
    • Blaine's growing Base Breaker status in Season 3 turned Klaine into this as well.
  • Ron the Death Eater: To put it as delicately as possible, some sections of fandom seem to be under the impression that certain characters are nothing BUT vices.
    • Special mention goes to Blaine's parents. We've never seen them, and no relatively little about them, other than Blaine doesn't have a very strong relationship with them. The "logical" interpretation of this is that they are vicious homophobes who abuse Blaine worse than the Dursley beat Harry.
  • Scapegoat Creator: Ryan Murphy is often the first person to get any flack for anything disliked on the show. Never mind that he not only doesn't write every episode but there are two other creators who are involved. Although, to be fair, he tends to be the one most likely to play Lying Creator.
  • The Scrappy: Even in Glee's incredibly divided fanbase, where just about everybody is a Base Breaker, you'd still be hard-pressed to find viewers who like Jacob Ben-Israel.
    • A lot of fans who didn't watch The Glee Project find some of the characters created for those actors, and their insertion into longer-running storylines focusing on existing characters, rather irritating. Particularly of note is Rory Flanagan, largely due to the fact that he has yet to be developed beyond "the Irish character".
  • Shipping Bed Death: Rachel and Finn's relationship is seen this way by a lot of people. In the front thirteen of the first season it was so obvious that they would get together, so the delay, the subsequent breakup when they did get together and the way the writing was stacked against Jesse and Quinn was especially frustrating, especially after Ryan Murphy promised they'd stay together in Season 2 to move the focus to other couples.
  • Ship Sinking:
    • Rachel and Puck in Episodes 8 and 17. Probably not going to stop the shippers. Murphy has also said in an interview that he couldn't see them together.
    • Finn and Quinn in "Sectionals," when Finn learns who the real father of Quinn's baby is. At least it seemed like it did until mid-Season 2, when they got back together only for the ship to be sunk again.
    • Episode 21 sinks Rachel/Jesse pretty definitively...or at least it did until he came back in Season 2, though it never got far off the ground even then.
    • Santana's coming-out essentially sunk Santana/Puck and any other ships that had her matched with boys.
    • Season 3 involuntarily sinks Finchel and Klaine every time it tries to show how great they are.
  • Ships That Pass in The Night: Rory has never interacted with Harmony or Sebastian, and the only time he was close to either would have been a brief moment during competitions. However both the Rormony and Rorbastian ships are strong. At least Rormany is justified, since it's basically a carry-over of Damsay from The Glee Project.
  • Ship Tease:
    • Finn's "Hello, I Love You" number made it seem like he still had feelings for Quinn.
    • Sue and Mr. Schue in Episode 21. That almost kiss? Hilarious.
    • In the promos to Season 2, we saw Finn telling Quinn "I would be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you" with a sad-looking Rachel watching from the sidelines. In "Britney/Brittany," we found out what was really going on: First of all, the comment is more along the lines of "I still really like you, but I like Rachel more," as Finn's way of refusing Quinn's request to get back together. Then, we find Quinn asking Finn out was all a set-up anyway - Rachel had asked Quinn to do it to test if Finn really loved her.
  • Ship to Ship Combat: Up to Eleven due in part to the Love Dodecahedron nature of the show and a "passionate" and "devoted" fan base. In the Glee fandom, choosing an OTP is akin to enlisting in a nation’s armed forces and marching into battle. Forums can become warzones at the drop of a dime and the ensuing conflicts make some of history’s bloodiest battles seem tame. There are actually ship alliances, spies, and even strategic initiatives for things like winning polls for a specific ships (either through spamming or the use of bots) and character bashing.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Kurt and Blaine showed shades of this in "The Substitute," particularly from the point of view from anyone not on that side of the ship war.

  "Gay, gay, gay, gay..."

    • And not just in that episode; Original Song will have non-Klainers gagging because of the amount of Tastes Like Diabetes.
    • Even some Klaine fans think they're getting over-the-top, considering that the Dark Fic, Fix Fic, and Deconstruction Fic on any fanfiction archive far outnumber standard romance. (Of course, other people are frankly relieved to see a teen gay romance that isn't horribly angst-ridden in prime-time.)
    • Season 3 manages to change Klaine from Sickeningly Sweethearts to Blaine! (And Kurt), meaning that Blaine is the faultless, dude magnet one in the relationship, and whenever one of the two is wrong, that one is always Kurt.
  • So Bad Its Good: Trouty Mouth
    • And while we're on the subject some consider the show this
  • The Sociopath: Sebastian pretty much point-for-point fits the characteristics of dissocial personality disorder in the ICD-10. Even without Die for Our Ship goggles, something about literally showing no remorse for accidentally causing harm to the boy he wanted to have sex with that will require reconstructive surgery in his attempt to intentionally cause harm to that boy's boyfriend makes him cross the line from "plain old Glee Jerkass" to "Jesus Christ, lock up the sharp objects".
    • He was actually aiming at Kurt's chest, not his face and he did show remorse for a moment while Blaine was writhing on the floor. He is a really big unapologetic asshole, sure, but to say that he definitely intended to injure Kurt in a way that could have actually blinded him and didn't care at all about Blaine's pain is a bit much.
      • Why add rock salt to the slushie if not too cause harm?
        • Rock salt causes stains. Combined with the food dye in the slushie, if that got on Kurt's clothes, it wasn't coming out EVER. Sebastian was trying to ruin Kurt's outfit.
          • As someone who SELLS Rock Salt and has gotten it over her clothes many a time (both dry AND wet) I can promise you with absolute certainty that it doesn't stain. When dry it simply brushes off and when wet it can be removed with a damp cloth-occasionally a proper wash cycle will be needed if mixed with an Iron Ore rich sand.
          • Actually rock salt has the effect of making ice 'colder', and thus melt slower. What Sebastian actually intended was for Kurt to get an extra-extra-cold slushie to the face, and thus the whole prank gone wrong confession later on. Kudos to his understanding of chemistry though.
    • Blaine's actions in season 3, committing bad acts yet never thinking of apologizing or letting others take the blame has shades of this.
  • Strangled By the Red String / Last Minute Hookup: How more cynical viewers saw it when Kurt and Blaine got together in "Original Song", feeling the scene was sappy and inconsistent with Blaine's previous characterization. Many saw it as something the show had been building to for quite a while. And that's all that needs to be said about that.
  • Straw Man Has a Point: Even if Sue's techniques are not the most correct, she is almost always proven right.
    • The point gets lost in his over-the-top maliciousness, but Bryan Ryan's argument that the Glee Club kids shouldn't plan their lives around succeeding in show business isn't an unreasonable one - but there's a big difference between saying that they should have a back-up plan and his belief that they should abandon all hope of success in the arts before getting any idea of what their chances really are.
  • Squick: Perhaps not for everyone, but Figgins getting sneezed on in slow motion was perhaps a little Squick-y for some.
  • Super Couple: Blaine and Kurt are listed on the trope page; for starters, their first kiss caused pretty much the entire LGBT-friendly world to rejoice, and with very good reason.
    • Which is...?
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: The Rachel/Kurt friendship scenes come across this way to some. For roughly the first half of Season 1, they were frenemies, and their rivalry included struggles for solos and for Finn. Then, they made up and became friends, which would fine except that there were some who actually enjoyed their previous rivalry. And even the people who liked seeing Kurt and Rachel as friends eventually started to feel like their scenes together started getting overly-sappy and repetitive. To elaborate, the standard formula for a Kurt/Rachel scene basically started to become the following:

 "You're so talented!" "No, you're so talented!" *cue Wicked song* *hug*

    • Many Aesops and character-to-character moments come across this way to some people. The Kurt/Rachel interaction may be the biggest, Tastes Like Diabetes instigator, but there are arguably a lot of others.
  • This Is Your Premise On Drugs: Fame on uppers. Or maybe hallucinogens. Alternately, High School Musical off its antidepressants.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: "Audition" seems to set up an intense rivalry between Quinn and Santana over the position of Head Cheerleader, including the famous catfight in the hallway, which seems like it will be a big deal that season (confirmed by the creators' comments). Nothing comes of it. Quinn offhandedly mentions she needs to keep Santana off her back in "Duets", but nothing to this effect has ever been seen on screen, and, so far, nothing else has come of what initially appeared to be a pretty significant plot development.
    • The Dalton Arc could have been a legitimately interesting side-plot by showing how Blaine's conflict over "running away" drives him to overcompensate in misguided attempts to help Kurt. Instead, Blaine barely got any characterization because 1) the writers kept Pandering to The Base of rabid Yaoi Fangirls, and 2) at least half of the Dalton scenes were songs. And not even relevant ones.
    • Dave Karofsky's suicide attempt for sure, because of the Klaine Fan Dumb and the writers' They Just Didn't Care attitude. Hell, they didn't even mention it in the Previously On in the episode after it.
    • "Big Brother" definitely has this problem. They had a plot perfectly set up in Quinn's car crash aftermath which ended up being almost completely sidelined in favor of bringing in drama with Blaine and his brother.
    • The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle sets up Dave's redemption and his eventual joining New Directions. That got lost in RM's infatuation with his Marty Stu, Blaine...
  • Ugly Cute: When Karofsky isn't being a douche and all ugly with hate, he's actually not too bad looking and has a nice smile. (This is pretty much because Max Adler is, in fact, hot, at least to those who go for the muscly types. And really nice.)
  • Unfortunate Implications: Just about everything that comes out of Sue's mouth.
    • The majority of the girls in the Jane Addams halfway house are black.
    • As of season 3, Santana is no longer just the promiscuous Spicy Latina, the other minority characters have been developed beyond racial stereotypes - Mercedes is still primarily the Sassy Black Woman and Mike and Tina seem to exist just to make Asian jokes. Even Mike's larger season 3 plot is rooted in Asian stereotypes about overly strict parents who push their kids to become doctors.
      • Somewhat justified, as Mike’s father pushed him because his own mother wanted to escape poverty.
    • Many feel that Glee's supposed "progressiveness" in its treatment of gays is undermined by the fact that its two main gay male characters, Kurt and Blaine, are built on Camp Gay stereotypes that are really not that new in television (for example, as noted above, Will and Grace was criticized on the same grounds ten years ago). The show does have two Straight Gay characters in Santana and Karofsky, though.
    • One of which is transferred to another school between seasons and the other of which is usually painted as a complete bitch and gets reduced screen time since coming out as a lesbian.
    • The discovery that Shelby Corcoran is Rachel's biological mother takes up a multi-episode arc, but Rachel's two gay fathers haven't been seen on the show at all except as a picture in her locker.
      • No longer true as of "Hearts".
    • Kurt's behavior in "Grilled Cheesus" was treated as unreasonable, but was it, really? It would be one thing to tell friends they're not allowed to pray, but they went beyond praying - they made a big show of being religious in his dad's waiting room, despite the fact that no one except Carol, Finn and maybe Mercedes actually knew Burt. Also, Mercedes wouldn't accept Kurt's atheism until he went to church with her, but Kurt is supposed to be the intolerant one? No wonder some atheists got really pissed off.
      • This goes both ways. Some people think Kurt was being needlessly antagonistic to his friends, who were only trying to help in the only way they knew how. Arguably, they weren't making a big show of being religious either. They chose to visit and pray for Burt when he wasn't there (until he walked in unexpectedly). Also, "Furt" later establishes that Burt does believe in God and thus likely would have appreciated the prayers, which gets some people thinking that Kurt seemed to care more about what he wanted than what his dad, who was the patient/one being prayed.
    • Some people were angry that the episode "Home" had Mercedes develop what looked like an eating disorder, and only to be instantly "cured" by Quinn giving her a granola bar and telling her she's beautiful.
    • Speaking of Tina and Mike, the Asian jokes about them are moving toward Unfortunate Implications, if not there already. At first the "dim sum with your mom" jokes were a cute gag, but since then it's become the defining feature of Tina and Mike's relationship and their character development this season, and no scene featuring them can get by without an Asian joke. When Tina asked Mike why "everything has to be Asian," she may as well have been speaking for the fans who wonder why they can't be more than a Token Ship. Season 3, however, seems to be moving the couple in a better direction with the storyline about Mike wanting to be a dancer and his dad not accepting that, although even that storyline is based on an Asian stereotype (that Asian parents always want their kids to become doctors).
    • The "Sexy" episode seemed to give the message that abstinence is completely unrealistic for everyone. Rachel even gets called "frigid" when she says that she doesn't want to have sex in high school. It does appear that it's just Holly Holiday pushing that angle, but no one ever calls her out on it. Emma technically does, but her opposing argument is just as extremist as Holly's, so it really isn't effective. It doesn't help that Emma is the character with severe OCD and other hang-ups, while Holly is the "cool" teacher, which gives the impression that we the audience are supposed to agree with Holly.
      • Holly's "coolness" isn't an informed attribute; she's a deconstruction of the "cool" teacher, she tries to bond with her students and fails (just look at the class when she starts talking about Lindsay Lohan) she's constantly running away from anything and her personal life is a wreck. So all in all, Emma and her both appear as ridiculous in their extremism.
      • The anti-abstinence messages continue in "The First Time," where Artie encourages three people(including one TEACHER) to lose their virginity just because he thinks it'll make their performances in West Side Story more realistic. When Rachel later objects to this, he tells her that she must have a "strange aversion to fun." Even worse, at the end of the episode everyone thanks him for being such a good director, with no mention of how inappropriate his behavior was.
    • Kurt's behavior in "Blame it on the Alcohol." Being upset that the guy you have a crush on is going on a date with a girl? That's one thing. Stating that bisexuality doesn't exist and how any guy who says that they're bi are really just closeted? And then being validated at the end of the episode? That's another thing entirely.
      • Not to mention that Ryan Murphy said that 'gay kids need to see Blaine is one of their own'. Unfortunate Implications of bisexual kids not mattering at their finest.
    • In "Born This Way", even after Quinn learned to accept herself for who she really is (as implied by her "Lucy Caboosey" t-shirt during the performance)she still proved to be a massive bitch who bullies other people for exactly the same things that she hated about herself. She sort of learned half of the lesson and skipped the rest. And then there was that weird thing where those random girls (who all dress alike, for whatever reason) suddenly declared their approval and liking of her because she used to be "one of them" (i.e., fat and "ugly" by society's standards), even though she's still an incredibly mean person inside.
    • Many people online decried Mercedes and Sam's relationship as "unrealistic" because "Sam would never be interested in a girl like Mercedes." There are plenty of valid reasons to agree or disagree with the pairing, but when people fall on that, either they're saying that Sam is shallow and racist, or they're somewhat shallow and racist. It's worth noting that none of these people seem to think that the relationship is unrealistic due to Mercedes not being interested in a boy like Sam.
    • In "Pot of Gold," the bullying of the Irish student seems too tastelessly reminiscent of the Phoebe Prince bullyings that lead to her suicide.
    • In "First Time", Brittany losing her virginity when somebody climbed into her tent at camp was interpreted by many viewers to mean she was raped, especially since she thought it was an alien invasion.
    • Even if Sugar Motta is shown to clearly not have Aspergers, the character is still problematic, given that people faking such diagnoses don't seem to be that common in real life yet there's still a good number of people who will accuse actual Aspies of "faking." For a show with such a big anti-bullying message, it's disappointing that they seem to be feeding into a form of bullying.
    • The storyline about Quinn trying to get Beth back was criticized by adoption advocates for giving a bad image of open adoptions, as well as just factual inaccuracy (i.e. once the birth parents sign away their parental rights they're gone for good, so if the adoptive parent is declared to be "unfit," the child is taken into foster care, not given to the birth parents). They petitioned the show to do a PSA dispelling myths about adoption; so far, nothing has come of it, but the controversial storyline also seems to have been wrapped up.
      • Rachel did point out that Shelby is now officially Beth's mother rather than simply an obstacle for Quinn, and that Beth would go into foster care if Shelby were deemed unfit.
    • The show's constant smugness about its diverse cast makes the absence of any Muslim characters very jarring.
      • Well Muslim or even Arabic actors aren't exactly easy to find. Take 90210 where they had to use a Hispanic actor to play an Iranian-American
    • Some argue that the two gay couples on the show are getting much less screen time/development than the straight couples.
      • And then in that, you have people who argue that the gay male couple(Kurt/Blaine) gets more screen time and development than the lesbian couple(Santana/Brittany)
    • The fact that most of the minority cast don't do that much compared to the white hetero/homo sexual couples.
    • There was a warning before The First Time and none before On My Way. The former had two couples, one heterosexual, one homosexual, have consensual sex. The latter had a teenager attempt suicide.
    • The fact that the two main storylines in On My Way have either been relegated to a small B-Plot (Quinn's car accident) and completely ignored (Dave's attempted suicide) come Big Brother because of Blaine's (thoroughly botched) Character Development.
    • Rachel ending up getting into NYADA despite childishly pursuing the examinator and trying (successfully) to browbeat her into giving her another chance after choking at her tryout, which should've gotten her at least banned from tryouts for a year and Kurt not getting in despite a stellar performance.
    • Blaine's borderline abusive behavior is shown as Kurt's fault in both The First Time and Dance With Myself, which makes the Domestic Abuse storyline in Choke sound definitely hypocritical.
  • Unpopular Popular Character: Rachel.
  • Values Dissonance: Many international viewers have expressed surprise that this show portrays teachers hugging their students, something forbidden in the UK but mostly[1] common in US schools.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Some viewers thought Coach Beiste was played by a male transvestite. In fact, she is played by a woman, Dot Jones. And on the other side of the gender spectrum, more than a few viewers thought Kurt was a girl at first due to his high-pitched voice and somewhat feminine facial features. Now that his actor is older and more well-established, it's less common, though it still happens on occasion for first-time watchers.
  • What an Idiot: Hiring Terri as the school nurse.
    • It's a wonder Dave didn't just blurt out, 'I didn't kiss Kurt in the locker room!' There's actually a very plausible denial he could have given for checking out Sam's bottom. Namely, Sam was getting a drink out of a water fountain. Dave was thirsty and looked to see who was at the fountain. He saw, and then, continued walking until he found another one. If Santana thought that his eyes were specifically on the bottom, that's probably because that's where hers were. Of course, it probably doesn't help that scene was played so subtly that, even knowing Dave's gay, this troper didn't even realise that's what he was doing until Santana spelled it out.
    • Sure, Kurt, give the guy who assaulted your boyfriend the only evidence of his wrongdoing. Without showing it to anyone who could do something about it. "Now your teammates know what kind of a person you are"? No. They don't. Because they haven't heard the evidence.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not for Kids: The show had a joke about oral sex in the very second episode, along with a dance routine that bordered on dry humping and was described as "giving [the audience]...sex!" The third episode had a student talk about how much he loves to have sex with older, married women when he cleans their pools. The fourth episode had the president of the celibacy club get pregnant, and lie to her boyfriend that it happened when he ejaculated prematurely in the pool. And so on and so forth. And yet, there are people complaining that a scene with two boys kissing was "inappropriate for the children who watch the show."
    • The fact that they play quite a few of the original and cover songs on Radio Disney REALLY doesn't help them change the idea.
  • WTH Casting Agency: Kevin McHale is one of the best dancers on the cast, but it's his character who's in a wheelchair.
    • It made a pretty interesting storyline/scene when he was daydreaming about being able to get up and dance, in the episode "Dream On". If the casting director had cast an actor who was actually handicapped, one can only imagine how that dance dream sequence would have gone.
  • The Woobie:
    • For core characters? Let's just cut to the chase: Everybody not named Sue or Terri. A Terri, especially after "Mattress."
    • Let's add Sue to the list after "Grilled Cheesus" and "Funeral".
    • Artie in season 2.
    • Beiste in "Never Been Kissed."
      • Even more so in "Choke".
    • Also from "Never Been Kissed", Dave Karofsky who divides people between the polar aspects of a Jerkass Woobie. "Prom Queen" makes him a full-blown Woobie, where he tearfully apologizes to Kurt and is torn between his complicated feelings for him and his fear of coming out.
    • Santana in "Silly Love Songs" and "Sexy", where her ice queen facade is chipped away.
      • The episode "Mash Off" makes Santana an even bigger woobie, Finn told her to come out in the middle of the hallway, it's overheard by a congressional candidate's niece, and Santana is outed on tv in a political smear ad against Sue. Santana's in tears by the end of the ad.
    • Sam in "Rumours". Currently lives in a motel due to the fact that his father lost his job after the economy tanked, is the sole source of income for his entire family, and was forced to sell his guitar (though the Glee club bought it back for him), and his family shares one room, including his little brother and sister. If you didn't even try to shed a tear during Rumours you probably don't have a soul.
      • Don't forget that in "Prom Queen," Sam says his birthday was last week. So on top of all his friends accusing him of being a cheating slut while he's homeless and trying to take care if his family, his friends forgot his birthday.
    • Rory. Irish Exchange student far from home who gets beat up and bullied on a near-daily basis.
  1. ↑ prohibited in some schools, yes
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