‘Besides boys aren’t so bad anyway.’ – Emma Pillsbury to Sue Sylvester.

While I applauded the dose of Wemma and Sue interaction in the ‘Big Brother’ episode, there remained a disappointingly severe shortage of Wemma. Now with only seven episodes to go I think it’s safe to say that I’m disappointed with season 3 for one reason:

RIBs failure to delve into Emma’s OCD.

All we’ve learnt from 15 episodes is that:

·      Emma likes sharing a bed with Will but sex is still an obstacle  - ‘I haven’t brushed yet.’ / ‘I get the green light then the red light.’

·      Her parents have fostered her OCD and shown no compassion towards her illness. (ep.3)

·      Will doesn’t know how to ‘fix’ Emma. (ep 3)

·      In terms of Emma’s progress with her OCD ‘Some days are great, some not so great’ (ep.10)

·      Will and Emma never talk about her OCD.

‘Asian F’ provided some insight into Emma’s OCD history but alas, it seems that was just a flash in the pan and there has been nothing of consequence since. So many questions remain:

What does Emma’s OCD treatment consist of? How difficult is it for her to confront her OCD fears? What is Will’s role and capacity to help her eliminate it or at least lessen its impact? What is it like for Will living with Emma’s OCD? How does Emma react to some of Will’s habits in relation to her OCD?  Has Will done any further research on OCD?

With the internet, therapy sessions for couples dealing with OCD and the tv show, ‘The OCD Project’, there is a plethora of material Will and Emma could be looking at together but week after week all we get given are crumbs at the lunch or dinner table and as usual all the meaty, meaningful, stuff happens off screen or in fanfiction.

This week’s crumb – the intimate look between Will and Emma, while in the doctor’s waiting room with Sue, is a look and a line that I feel the urge to talk about. 

‘Besides boys aren’t so bad anyway.’  The line is promptly followed by a look between Will and Emma that is at once coy, intimate and loving.

A short line, an almost throw away line, but as we know none of Wemma’s lines are throw away lines. On one hand Emma is trying to keep Sue reasonable – boys are not as repulsive as Sue is making them out to be. On the other hand the line and Emma’s immediate look at Will suggest boys are not so bad when you’re in love with them. Then there is this interpretation:

I thought about what Sue had just said, ‘ The thought of a boy clinging to my insides makes me nauseous’ and I wondered if Emma was perhaps responding to the image the line evokes, on a more sexual level, suggesting to the audience that Emma’s fear of ‘the hose monster’ has been alleviated over the time she’s spent with Will. So the word 'boys' could be replaced with 'sex'. 

Is this RIB condensing the result of 15 episodes of OCD treatment into one line and conveying how much progress Emma has made? Is this tiny line a subtle hint to the Wemma fans that a. Wemma are having sex or b. a Wemma love-making scene is not far from the horizon? It had better be option b. If, like Emma’s OCD treatment, the sex scene has happened or happens off screen it will be RIBs most EPIC FAIL OF ALL TIME.