Denial

Season 2, F10

These episodes were incredibly frustrating for Will and all Wemma shippers. In Brittany/Britney, Will was doing his best to remind Emma that he still existed, and he still loved her but unfortunately his efforts were too ‘toxic’ for Emma to touch and perhaps affirmed her decision that Carl was a better choice. So what did Carl have to offer apart from a mid-life crisis sports car, a good income, a decisive mind and spontaneity? We know Emma’s not a material girl so it had to be something more intangible. Oh yes, he could supposedly help her with her OCD. A big ‘win’ in Emma’s mind because for Emma this was what was stopping her from being with Will and maybe in a recess of her mind she’s looking for a remedy so she can return to him. There is a brief attempt in the staff room to talk about Will’s adolescent-type behaviour, but Emma’s got smooth sailing down the river of denial and she isn’t bringing the boat into the shore just yet. It is in this episode, when Rachel sings the lyrics,‘When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind, he broke his own heart as he tried to reassemble it….my mother swore she would never let herself forget…’ that the shippers minds are returned to the idea that Will and Emma are the Glee club ‘parents’ and comprehend that Rachel’s ‘parents’ in this song are Will and Emma and Will’s desire to ‘reclaim’ Emma is not because she rejected him or because he wants to beat Carl, but because he really loves her, she is his ‘only exception’ and he’s well on his ‘way to believing’ that Emma is the only one for him. It’s interesting to note in this episode that Emma appears twice in purple clothing. Amongst other things, purple is a symbol of romanticism and enlightenment. Will’s ‘toxic’ dance is anything but romantic and stands in opposition to Emma’s purple skirt. Is Emma’s relationship with Carl giving her the romance and wisdom she desires? Emma’s mind is a mess but Will’s mind is crystal clear; he knows why he’s fighting for her and he instinctively knows that Emma is in denial. He should have asked Rachel to sing the song to Emma. He bows his head sitting all alone in his car. We cry for him.

Will is morose and Emma knows she’s caused him pain as the snippet of Will and Emma at the hospital in ‘Grilled Cheesus’ conveys. They sit side by side in the waiting room, Will sitting on his hands in an attempt not to reach out for her. Head bowed, unable to look at her. Emma’s entire body points towards him; her legs lean towards him, her hand reaches across to hold his. He caresses her finger. They should both be supporting Kurt, but as they sit in matching colours, Emma comforting Will we know their sadness has nothing to do with Kurt and Burt, this is all about Will’s suffering. Perhaps in Emma’s mind, Will caused her pain (kissing Shelby/lying in bed with April) and this is payback, or she’s convinced herself that Carl is the man for her and she’s sorry but get over it or because her OCD is not what’s best for Will they both need to move on.

Enter Will’s Rocky Horror. Unfortunately he uses the same strategy: remind Emma that I’m still here and she still loves me. Toucha Toucha Touch Me Emma, Will makes her sing it and she willingly does. The choreography of the dance demonstrates how much Emma wants Will, her hand starts and ends the song clutching his heart but once again she runs off in denial. At least he’s ascertained what he knew all along: She’s still in love with him. What Emma fails to notice about Will in this episode, is that in her office, as she’s obsessively measuring the distance between items on her desk and she looks guiltily at Will for doing so, Will hasn’t even noticed. He DOESN’T CARE about her OCD. In fact he loves it! Wake up Emma, smell the pheromones! Will’s apology at the end of this episode addresses his taking advantage of their friendship but neither of them address Emma’s willingness in the dance. The best she can come up with is ‘love makes you do crazy things’. Is she saying she still loves him? Or acknowledging that she knows Will loves her? Will shows her how much he loves her, by saying he will ‘back off’ because he knows how much she wants to overcome her OCD and if Carl is helping her with that then he will accept her decision.  After all that’s what you do when you love someone unselfishly, you help them be the best person they can be. That was the moment he should have told her what he loves about her. Instead, give her a bit more time, thinks Will. Be supportive and be her friend. Better to have her as a friend than not at all. When Will says he’s backing off, Emma looks fleetingly down. Is she disappointed? Emma and Will sit side by side on the auditorium stage talking. Will’s hands are close to his sides, maybe he’s even sitting on them in an attempt to restrain himself from touching her. The lighting is like that of a sunset indicating that perhaps for the time their relationship is resting or at an end. The camera shoots them from behind, accentuating the small space between their bodies. They are close but not close enough, yet.

Invite her to sectionals. And why wouldn’t he? Emma has been his only supporter and she took New Directions to Sectionals for him last year. Plus, he’s chosen two songs that reveal how he feels about her: ‘Why don’t you come on over Valerie (aka Emma)… stop making a fool out of me (I’m not going to pine anymore and act like a fool)…red hair…the clothes you wear (I find you physically attractive)…’ And ‘I’ve had the Time of my Life’ with Glee Club and ‘I Owe It All To You’. But she wasn’t there to hear his feelings. Will’s face is full of pain and torment when she gives him a chaste kiss goodbye at the bus and tells Will that she and Carl love each other. Will walks off and doesn’t look back, he’s done chasing. He made a promise to her and he’s keeping it. The shippers want to give Will a protective hug and slap some sense into Emma. Can’t she see Carl is to her what Jesse was to Rachel? A distraction from her true love and a big mistake. Ah, the parallels - we love them. The crack in the Carl/Emma relationship becomes evident when Emma’s honesty about going to Sectionals with Will spurs Carl, seemingly jealous of the Wemma friendship and to cement his position in Emma’s heart, takes advantage of Emma’s guilty state of mind and whisks her off to Vegas for a quickie wedding. (Maybe she had heard the Glee club rehearsing ‘Marry Me’ for the previous episode ‘Furt’ and the song had made it seem like a fun idea.) The Wemma fans want to kill Carl. They are out in cyberspace crying, debriefing and wanting to kill RIB for causing Will and them so much unnecessary suffering. If only Will and Emma had really talked. But honesty and discussion apparently don’t make 22 episodes. Will is completely destroyed and so are we. His composure at the heartbreaking news is admirable and shows just how much he loves her. We don’t like Emma anymore. She’s on her boat sailing ever faster down the river of denial. But wait, we catch a glimpse of Emma’s face as she hugs Carl…she doesn’t look so happy either and the Glee kids are singing ‘happiness hit her, like a bullet in the back (that doesn’t sound so positive)…she hid around corners, she hid under beds, from it she fled…’ She knows deep down she’s running away from Will. The song is upbeat. Does this mean we’ve hit rock bottom and we’re on our way up again? Yes, there is hope Wemma fans, Emma’s denial cannot last forever (as Rachel tears off the word ‘forever’) and Emma knows it.

Now that she’s cut Will down, Emma goes in search of him wanting him back standing for Christmas. ‘Have you been avoiding me?’ she asks, they ‘haven’t talked’ since she married Carl. That’s because you’ve nearly killed him Emma! Now, who’s feeling lonely and friendless at McKinley? She naively thinks their friendship won’t be affected by her marrying Carl. Step 1: Find Will in the staff room and talk about her marriage. Step 2. Invite him over for Christmas. The shippers are ready to slap her again but Will is much more restrained and forgiving. No thank you says Will. He doesn’t yell, he doesn’t argue. Perhaps he is resigned to the fact that her ‘crazy’ and his miscommunication have created this mess. Angry, hurt, depressed but trying to keep himself and the Glee club together, Will tries to maintain some sanity amongst the Christmas themed clothing, by ‘keeping things separate for a while’. His eyes however, follow Emma’s figure as she passes his table and Wemma fans know Will is not moving on from this in a hurry. Emma’s eyes seem to naturally fall from watching the choir sing to watching Will. Rachel senses Will’s pain as she invites him to her house for Christmas to watch a Streisand movie. Will declines the offer, he’s following Emma’s advice ‘he’s spending some time alone getting to know himself and working out exactly what he wants in his life.’ RIB call a hiatus and this Wemma fan for one is relieved.

It was an emotionally gruelling first half of the season with the Wemma arc moving at a snail’s pace and none of the movement occurring in the desired direction.  Sure we were given some tantalizing scenes along the way but when all is said and done we hadn’t had a satisfying intimate Wemma moment since their kiss in Will’s living room 18 episodes ago! Why are we still watching? Where is the glee?