A rant written at the end of Season 2:
Question: Why were the first 13 episodes of Glee so good? Answer: Because Emma Pillsbury was in twelve of them. Does the fact that many subsequent episodes not meeting our expectations and the fact that Emma was AWOL in these episodes have any correlation? I think so! Let’s work our way, obsessively and compulsively, through the reasons why there needs to be more Ms P in Glee.
The Importance of Emma Pillsbury to Glee: Emma Pillsbury is more than Will’s love interest. Emma gives the stories more depth and paradoxically her ‘crazy’ grounds the show and gives some of the more outrageous moments a sense of reality and pathos. Emma is one of the most interesting and complex characters on Glee and to quote Sue Sylvester it's ‘a travesty of international proportions’ that she has been so under utilized. Jayma is able to convey the interesting binary opposites of Emma's character to perfection. She is strong but vulnerable; naïve but insightful; is hazy about her own needs but can help others find clarity in an instant; sexy but innocent; poised but unsure; intelligent but irrational. Her OCD is perhaps the root cause of these opposites and it serves to make her even more intriguing. She can add humour to any given scene and in an instant she can turn the humour into tragedy. She is often the conduit for the audience accepting some of the absurdities in Glee. It is to Jayma’s credit that she elicits from the audiences such enormous empathy and interest. Which is WHY EMMA NEEDS TO BE IN EVERY EPISODE.
OCD: RIB have not shied away from issues concerning homophobia, sexuality, bullying, body image, religion and disabilities and they should not shy away from mental health issues. It is one of the fastest growing health problems in the western world and in Australia, at least, mental health experts have declared a ‘state of emergency’ in youth mental health. Bring Emma's anxiety disorder closer to the forefront, show it is a condition that can be helped and allow viewers who may suffer from it or feel ashamed or estranged from their family or friends because of it, be INSPIRED. Emma Pillsbury has helped many a person on a Glee forum admit they have an anxiety disorder and this is yet another reason why there needs to be MORE MS P ON GLEE.
Will and Emma: Jayma and Matt have CHEMISTRY and look EXCEPTIONALLY good together. As Emma and Will, they centre Glee. They bring out the best in each other. Emma balances Will perfectly; he is physically strong but emotionally vulnerable (‘tearing up more often than Michael Landon in a sweeps week of Little House on the Prairie!), while she appears physically vulnerable but has enormous resilience and spent the best part of two seasons in emotional denial. Will leads with his heart and Emma leads with her head. They are each other’s compass and are considerably lost without each other. They always have each other’s best interests in mind and protectively hold each other’s hearts. One without the other makes them (and us) feel incomplete and too much of one without the other creates an imbalance. Emma and Will together balance an episode and are the reason why many older fans watch Glee. RIB may think they have to pander to the more vocal younger audience but I'm here to say there is a massive silent older crowd who watch Glee for Emma Pillsbury and want to see her IN EVERY EPISODE. Now that Will and Emma have reconciled there is really NO EXCUSE for her not to be.
Jayma can sing and dance: And when she does they are some of the most memorable Glee moments: Toucha Toucha Touch Me, Like a Virgin, I could have Danced All Night and Afternoon Delight. Forty-four episodes and only four songs! I’ll say it again: UNDER UTILIZED! The Wemma shippers have not had nearly enough of her talents. Emma should take up zumba or have ongoing dancing lessons with Will, get an adrenaline rush, let the endorphins kick in and learn to feel comfortable using her body to express herself. It could take time. We’ll need to see her in EVERY EPISODE to see how she’s progressing.
Counseling and Pamphlets: One of the best segments in those first 13 episodes was Emma’s pamphlets and counseling the kids and Will. Who didn’t freeze frame a pamphlet segment just so they could read every pamphlet title to see how hilarious they were? Those pamphlets help give Glee its subversive edge and season 2 ignored them. Understandably, due to Emma’s story arc, she had less time with Will in her office but why wasn’t she used more in sorting out the students’ issues? Karofsky bullying Kurt, Quinn giving up a baby, Puck’s anger management issues? Even needy Rachel stopped visiting her. We need more Emma Pillsbury so we can get more pamphlets, in turn Glee can get its subversive edge back and the other characters’ situations can be dealt with rather than glanced over or ignored. MORE EMMA P IS ESSENTIAL to good Glee story-telling.
Fashion: "Within one episode, Emma could be disinfecting a pencil sharpener, offering advice, and dealing with overwhelming feelings for Will Schuester...What am I saying? I really just love the clothes." - Jayma Mays. And don’t we all? Emma steals the screen with her outfits. She is without doubt the fashionista of Glee and from the start helped to establish Glee’s quirky and colorful tone. Emma’s wardrobe has hit a chord with so many that www.wwepw.com has come into existence to unearth Emma’s clothing and direct Emma followers to where they may be purchased. ‘Kate Spade’, ‘Marc Jacobs’, ‘J. Crew’ ‘monochromatic’, ‘pencil skirts’, ‘asymmetrical button placement’ and ‘insane bows’ are now just part of the lexicon when discussing Emma. WWEPW has highlighted an interesting fact: Adding up all items in Emma’s wardrobe gives a total retail expenditure of $22,125. That’s more than half Emma’s salary. Therefore it begs the question: how does she afford the clothes? Is she shopping on EBay? Does she sit at home at night constantly sewing? Has she inherited great wealth? Who is her family? Does her brother buy her clothes as compensation for pushing her into the cow run-off? It is a mystery and the answer will only be discovered if Emma Pillsbury is given MORE AIR TIME IN EACH EPISODE.
Parallels with other characters: The parallels between Wemma and Finchel have been a constant from the start of the series so how about giving them more equal screen time? In addition parallels are emerging with Santana. As Emma was in denial about her feelings for Will and her OCD, so Santana was in denial about her true feelings for Brittany and her sexuality. If RIB are focusing further on Santana’s development and want to maintain parallels then Emma Pillsbury seems the obvious choice. Therefore more Santana should = MORE EMMA.
Drop dead gorgeous and adorable: It doesn’t hurt to look good! Our eyes just want to soak her in.
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