Riese and I decided to collaborate on the Brittana wedding episode recap, so she watched with her amazing girlfriend, Abby, and sent me her notes, which you will find lovingly folded into this recap like when you bite into a chocolate and (surprise!) there’s caramel inside!
It’s Brittany and Santana’s wedding day, and so everyone — except for Quinn, who is not here, which makes zero sense and is never even addressed in the episode, despite her absence glaring like the sun on sheet of fresh snow — descends on a barn in rural Indiana where Santana and Brittany have decided to get married. For one thing, same-sex marriage is illegal in Ohio. And for another thing, Jennifer Coolidge gave birth to Brittany in this very barn on accident like a kind of Mary/Jesus thing. Gloria Estefan feels very grossed out about the story of Brittany’s barnyard birth, but she’s all in on the wedding, so she says she can work with this situation.
Tina is not interested in working with this situation. She’s wearing heels and of course they’re making her drag 700-pound bales of hay around. But Kurt ignores her protests because Brittany is hardcore freaking out about getting married on this farm. She’s pretty sure this building is structurally unsound, and Martina Navratilova rejected an offer to officiate the ceremony owing to the fact that she is not ordained and also has no idea who Brittany and Santana are. Kurt calms Brittany down and offers up his dad to preside over the ceremony, which feels just right, actually.
Riese: Santana’s happy ‘cause there aren’t any men in this scene. (Also, Artie’s shirt is hurting my feelings.)
Three different times in this episode, people make reference to this barn crashing or catching on fire, and when you add that to the scene a couple of episodes ago where everyone was angels, I was 100 percent convinced this was going to end with every Original New Direction-er dying, and like a fade-to-black shot of Quinn standing in the rubble holding a flamethrower. Just the ultimate Fuck You, is what I was convinced was going to happen. It did not, though, and I enjoyed the episode a lot more the second time through when I wasn’t feeling like Emily Fields, waiting for a car to drive through my living room wall at any second.
Riese: Brittany thinks the barn is gonna fall down and kill everybody. That’d be quite a season finale! The next five episodes would just be funerals / musical tributes. Sorry I’M DARK.
Riese: It’s Say Yes To The Dress Starring Santana Lopez. They’re doing hokey dancing so the girls can envision how these dresses would hold up in the worst case scenarios.
Wedding dress fashion montage! Santana and Brittany do not want to see each other, though, because they want to avoid 9,000 years of bad luck. (Some couples are just destiny in every lifetime in every reality on every plane of the space-time continuum. Deal with it.) The song here is, I don’t know what it is, and the lyrics are so generic that even Google doesn’t know, and it’s not sung by any of the Glee kids. It sounds like an Old Navy commercial. The dresses are nuts! Brittany wears a normal one. Santana wears a flapper one. Brittany wears a Calamity Jane one with cowboy boots. Santana wears one made by a fairy godmother. Brittany wears the one Helena was married in on that commune on Orphan Black. Santana wears one made of an albino mermaid. Brittany wears one she burgled off of Stevie Nicks. Santana wears one made of ping pong table nets. Brittany wears one that’s a Christmas tree from outer space. Santana wears one from the Bette Porter collection.
Brittany wears The One, and Santana sees her, and Brittany flips her shit. The next day, she brings a chicken into the choir room to ritualistically slaughter it to counteract the bad luck, and then one of my favorite Brittana scenes ever. Santana pulls her by the elbow to the door, goes, “Nope. No. Put it down. This is ridiculous.” And Brittany goes, “This is your lucky day, sir.” And they just sit the chicken on the floor in the hallway and close the choir room door.
Mercedes and Rachel try to help Santana and Brittany work out their seating arrangement but it’s weird because Rachel doesn’t want to sit next to Sam because she doesn’t want to upset Finn’s mom, and then there’s the question of where to put Sue, and Santana says if Sue comes, she will not be attending. Mercedes wisely points out that inviting Sue means there’s an 80 percent chance she’ll ruin their lives, but not inviting Sue ups that chance to 100 percent.
The Lima Bean.
Aaron Echols: Should I get a new suit to wear to your friends’ wedding, or will you be going with your certain future husband, Blaine Warbler?
Kurt: What? Ha! Ha ha! Is this about how I found out you murdered Lily Kane and are therefore the Original A?
Aaron Echols: No, it’s about I’m 100 years older than you and you’re obviously in love with your ex-fiance.
Kurt:Â Christ, man! That felt like getting smacked in the nose! “Ex”-fiance? What an awful thing to say.
Aaron Echols: Point proven. You could drive to Blaine’s house to get him back or you could just run there on foot, which will take ten times as long and also give you hella blisters, but is infinitely more romantic.
Kurt: Yes! This is a good plan!
Kurt does run all the way to Blaine and Dave’s former apartment, and it takes them six breathless seconds to make up and grab each other’s faces and kiss and kiss like how you when you come up for air after you’ve been drowning in the ocean. Good heavens!
Riese: Kurt’s going to the wedding with Blaine ‘cause he doesn’t want Aaron Echols to clock him in the head with a baseball bat. OMG Kurt and Blaine are back together! THIS IS THE GAYEST SHOW OF ALL TIME.
Tina assembles Blaine and Artie and Puck — who was compelled by the Air Force to burn all of his non-Air Force uniform clothing when he went away to boot camp, apparently — in the auditorium of their old high school to get their opinion on a thing. She wants to ask Mike Chang to marry her. Puck says yeah, go for it, true love and whatever. These are the only words he speaks for the whole episode. Blaine is so high on reconciling with Kurt that his whole demeanor right now can be described as “red pandas playing in the snow” so everything involving love is a go. Artie, however, is like, “Tina, honey, you are Tina-ing this hardcore. Pull up and take a second to use your brain, okay?” Tina does not like that answer one bit.
Riese: THESE KIDS ARE OUT OF CONTROL. Seriously, what is wrong with these people? So far they have like a 6% success rate with following through on weddings in this town. The only reason Brittany and Santana are getting married is because Ryan Murphy legit fears the lesbian blogging community. He thought he could scare us away by saying our name out loud on the teevee but our witchy powers will always win every time!
Sue calls Santana to her office to say her feelings are hurt about Santana not inviting her to the wedding. Sue’s gonna say a thing later about how OG New Directions are like her kids and but she’s terrified of love and so that’s why she keeps saving their lives and ruining their lives in a demented but hilarious cycle of Road Runner/Coyote antics. It actually almost makes sense. Almost. Santana says the reasons she’s not inviting Sue are all about her previous erratic wedding behaviors (eg. marrying herself, wearing an exact replica of Emma Pillsbury’s wedding dress). She says Sue can never do a truly selfless thing. And that really does upset Sue because what is locking two dudes in a fake elevator and using your nightmare doppelganger puppet to force them to kiss if not selfless?
Wedding day! Sugar Motto is here from the future! Burt and Carole are here being flawless! Everyone is taking selfies and getting stuck in the mud in their heels and Kurt and Blaine are posing like American Gothic!
Kurt:Â Remember when you guys got married and Sue’s mom was a Nazi hunter?
Burt: Yes, this show really has been a hot mess.
Kurt:Â It’s nuts that me and Blaine also almost got married, huh? Just coocookachoo! Crazytown Bananapants! Right, Dad? Do you think … Dad, do you think we were fools?
Burt: I mean, yeah. Loving another person and accepting their love in return, that is coocookachoo, always. It’s terrifying and it’s statistically absurd to commit your whole life to another person. But finding someone who makes you want to take that risk is the greatest thing that can happen to you as a human being on this earth.
Carole:Â If you wait until you’re ready, until you feel completely ready like you’ve got all your ducks in a row and nothing can go wrong, you’ll never make the leap, because that day never comes. I’m going to invoke the lesson of Finn here. Life is over so fast.
Brittany is in the barn’s bridal suite coming unglued about the bad luck of Santana seeing her in her wedding dress, so she sends her bridesmaids — Tina, Rachel and Mercedes — out to fetch various magical things she can use to do reverse curses. Santana foils her plans by walking right in and looking at her in her wedding dress again. Brittany starts zigging and zagging around so maybe Santana can’t get a really good look at her, but finally Santana just hold Brittany’s hands in her hands and explains that pretty much all wedding traditions have deeply misogynistic roots, including the one about not seeing the bride in her wedding gown, and when you come out as gay, you’re not becoming the opposite of straight and choosing to adhere to society’s stupid norms, upside-down. You’re smashing through the barrier of what’s expected and choosing to forge your own path in all the ways. Coming out is like being reborn.
Riese: Santana refuses to let Brittany hide her dress from the world. It needs to live in the light with Olivia Pope. The rules don’t apply to them! She says it’s good luck to see the bride before the wedding so they can kiss with tongue!
They kiss real good then, sweet and long and open-mouthed, just the two of them.
Sue shows up to break up their making out, and guess who she’s got in tow: Santana’s abuela!
Flashback smashcut!
Sue: Knock-Knock, Ms. Abuela!
Abuela: Uh, who’s there?
Sue: You should come to Santana and Brittany’s wedding with me.
Abuela: But the Bible! God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because some men wanted to have sex with other men in that town!
Sue: Yeah, and God spared Lot, right? Because he told the men not to have gay sex? Lot also tried to dissuade them from having gay sex by offering up his virgin daughters to be gang raped instead. And God rewarded him for that. It’s all right there in Genesis 19.
Abuela: Okay, but Leviticus says we should stone the gays!
Sue: It also says we should stone people for eating shrimp, wearing clothes made of different fibers, and beat women who sit on furniture during their menstrual cycles. So, you know, maybe we shouldn’t invoke Old Testament morality when we’re making 21st century decisions about personal ethics.
Abuela: But Paul’s letters in the New Testament…
Sue: Yeah, you know he wrote those letters in Greek, right? The Greek word “arsenokoitais” is translated to mean “homosexual” in a lot of modern Bibles right now, but over the years it has been translated to mean “effeminate,” “sisies,” “child molesters,” “abusers” “male prostitutes,” and “people with infamous habits.” It was even translated as “masturbators” at one time. If you want a real mindfuck, you should do a little research on the way we got the Bible.
Abuela: But what about what Jesus said?
Sue: Jesus literally never said one word about gay people. He talked the most about love and the next most about money and the next most about how rich politicians and religious leaders who use God’s name to promote their power-grabbing agendas are the worst people and will pay big time in the end.
Abuela: …
Sue: I’m not trying to destroy your faith. Believe what your heart tells you to believe, but don’t be a pawn in someone else’s propaganda game. Christians and politicians have used to the Bible to defend every kind of sexist, racist, homophobic baloney for thousands of years.
And so that’s how Santana’s abuela ended up at the wedding! She still thinks it’s wrong for women to marry women, but she loves Santana and she wants to be a part of her big day! Okay, I guess!
Sue turns her attention to Kurt and Blaine next. With the help of Brittany and Santana, she has procured two tuxedos perfectly tailored for them and placed the suits onto a couple of Klaine-shaped mannequins. Brittany says Kurt made it safe to be gay at McKinley, which is true, actually, and so she wants to thank him for paving the way for her and Santana by having a double wedding. Santana, because of some miracle that’s maybe just euphoria because her abuela is here, agrees that they should do this thing together. The idea that Santana and Blaine would be willing to share their wedding spotlight is one of the funniest things I have ever heard, but I love these guys so much I don’t even care.
Kurt: I don’t know!
Blaine: I don’t know!
Kurt: I don’t know!
Blaine: I don’t know!
Santana: Oh, just put on the goddamn tuxes and let’s do this.
And they do!
Mercedes sings Etta James’ “At Last” while Kurt and Brittany walk down the aisle, and Santana and Blaine walk down the aisle. (Somebody on Tumblr posted a picture of Santana and Blaine walking to the altar and captioned it “Here come the bottoms” and it made me laugh so hard.) Everyone makes such faces! Blaine? Kurt? Why, what are they doing?! Jennifer Coolidge keeps up this steady stream of commentary about how Pierce Pierce is missing the whole thing; it’s pretty great. It’s wonderful, actually. All of it.
Riese: Cool facial expression, Schuester.
Burt says marriage is when two people say to each other “I love you because I love you, and I know this is gonna be one heck of a ride, but I don’t want to do it unless I can do it with you.” He says it’s a brave thing to love someone, and even braver to commit your life to someone, and still even braver when you have to drive across the state line to get married.
Riese: Somehow every time Burt Hummel talks I almost cry?
I found an email the other day from a million years ago, from the episode when Brittany said “Sex isn’t dating; if it was, Santana and I would be dating,” in which Dorothy Snarker asked if I’d seen Glee that night and I said:
It is never going to happen. Not in ten lifetimes. I will bet you fifty dollars and a pan full of brownies it will never happen. There’s no way Fox is going to allow Glee to have more than one gay character. There’s no way they’re taking two of the hottest girls on this show out of the potential dude dating pool/dude storyline pool. No way. Lesbian/bi sexuality is such a joke on broadcast TV. This is another The O.C. situation at the very best, but I doubt it’s even that. I’ll double your brownies if Brittany and Santana ever kiss. I’ll buy you an entire chocolate factory if they have a legitimate romantic relationship that lasts more than three episodes.
And Dorothy Snarker said:
Ah, I hope you’re wrong, Hoagie!
Besides how I now owe Dorothy Snarker fifty dollars and Willy Wonka’s entire operation, I guess, finding that email made me so happy. (There’s also an email exchange where she’s talking about writing something to push the writers to let Brittany and Santana actually kiss instead of just neck nuzzling and I say to her: “I love you but you’re wasting your time.”) But how could I have known?! I have said it one million times and I’ll keep saying it until forever: Fox was never going to do this on their own. Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennan were never going to do this on their own. I had no faith in Brittany and Santana’s storyline because I had no faith in the people who create television, and there was no precedent for fandom growing to know and understand its power and rising up to demand to be treated with respect. No precedent at all. How can you believe in a hero that has never existed before?
Brittana fandom changed the world for me, not just by shaping what I got to see on this show — and the revolutionary thing I am seeing right this second with this double gay wedding — but also by showing me the blazing blue magic of fandom power.
Someone on Tumblr, after my proposal recap, was like, “Glad to see you admitting the fact that Glee‘s writers only put Brittany and Santana together because lesbian fandom forced them to.” And I was like, “Admitting the fact?” Girl, no. “Celebrating the fact.” “Praising the fact.” “Proclaiming the fact.” “Glorifying the fact.” These writers steered this show off of sexist cliff after sexist cliff over the last six years. The fact that a fandom full of queer women kept them on the path of goodness with this one thing? I’ll never shut up about it.
It’s a different thing in pop culture now, but in December 2009, when Brittany said what was meant to be a throwaway line about having sex with Santana, it was: 90210 and Melrose Place reboots using women kissing as ratings stunts. It was FlashForward, a broadcast TV show with a lesbian character that was cancelled in a hot minute. It was Stargate Universe on Syfy, but the lesbian character was a on spaceship ten million light years away from a wife she never even saw. Callie and Arizona were the only thing we had to believe in back then, and even that was up in the air because of the way Grey’s Anatomy unceremoniously dumped Erica Hahn off into a parking lot and never mentioned her again just a few months before Glee aired its pilot.
It’s important to know what the world looked like when Brittana fandom decided to change it.
We like to think equality for gay people is a done deal in this country, but it’s not. “Are you ready to give America what at least 52% of it will legally tolerate?” is a thing Sue said when she was coaxing Kurt and Blaine into their tuxes, and that’s the fact of it. Seeing a double gay wedding on broadcast television is still a big damn deal. The culture war isn’t over.
Brittany and Santana’s, and Kurt and Blaine’s vows are very T.S. Eliot, very Alfred J. Prufrock, very “all of the suffering and heartache that has come from and will come from loving you is worth it, and will always be worth it, and I will say yes to the hard parts forever, because it means I get to wrap myself up in the fact of you, to see and be seen by you — the only one who has ever truly known me — for the rest of my life.”
Kurt was hurled into the dumpster in the McKinley High School parking lot, the collateral damage of gladiator culture, but he crawled out. And he came out. And he wondered if he would be alone forever, in his one-queer town. He had nothing but the strength of his own voice and the fire of the dreams he hid away from everyone, even himself sometimes. Blaine had everything. Well, everything except a place where the curtain closed. The world was his stage and the lights were always on. Kurt and Blaine found each other, and danced around each other, until they realized they didn’t have to stand alone in the cold outside.
Santana was trapped in a barbed closet of her own construction, sharpening her knives and testing them on other people in case she ever had to turn them on herself. She forced herself to be alone, to not give in to the only thing she really ever wanted. Brittany was never afraid. And she was never understood, except by Santana. They were everything to each other, but they kept finding ways not to say it. They built their own obstacles, and they toppled them. They built them again with reinforcements. Santana and Brittany ran with each other and from each other, colliding and colliding, a supernova of inevitability.
Riese: Is this like Obama’s last term in office? Murphy’s last season? You know how we fantasize about like Obama doing everything we’ve wanted him to do in his last year because why the fuck not? (I mean i know it’s more complicated than that.) Is that’s what Ryan Murphy’s doing?
They say “I do.” All four of them. And everyone kisses, husbands and wives.
Pierce Pierce gives a rousing speech about how Brittany is the most beautiful person in the barn, and not just because everyone else in here is ugly as butts. And then, confirming my buddy Lauren’s suspicion that people who aren’t on Tumblr don’t understand 80 percent of what is happening this season, everyone puts on OTP hats and dances around Heya to “Hey Ya!” It’s pretty special.
Tina proposes to Mike and it goes about as well as you’d expect.He tells her they’re way too young to get married and that this show is going to piss on her right up until the very end. But he did save a slow dance for her, so that’s something.
Riese: Seriously everybody STOP. There are other things to do besides getting married. Like: going bowling, moving into an apartment place for the two of you to share, looking at puppies in the park, rowing boats on a river.
And then! All the moms sing “I’m So Excited!” The only one who gives Gloria Estafan a run for her money is Amber Riley, obviously. And then! Kurt and Blaine and Santana and Brittany sing “Our Day Will Come.” (Relevant lyric: “Nobody can tell me I’m too young to know I love you, so.”)
Riese: Haiiiii Sugar Motta! Double wedding solid, this is such a deal. This is so weird and gay. Look at this show!
The next day, Tina and Artie have a champagne brunch in the choir room and agree to make some Slytherin babies together if they’re not married by the time they’re 30.
And finally, Sue invites the newly married couples to the auditorium to give them wedding presents. They’re good ones! Honeymoons! She cancelled the one Kurt and Blaine had planned for themselves. (Kurt, give me that shirt!) For Kurt and Blaine, a weekend trip to Provincetown staying at Andrew Sullivan’s Cabana House. For Santana and Brittany, a month-long, all expenses paid trip to Paradise Island. Brittany says my favorite thing she’s ever said in this show. Ever. “That’s where Wonder Woman was born!” And Sue says, “Lassos of Truth included!”
And then Sue says her next legacy couple is Faberry. Because she can’t get enough of the lesbians. Oh, Glee. You’re so Glee.
Klaine and Brittana agree to Skype every year on their anniversary and celebrate together every fifth year. And they leave hand-in-hand for their honeymoons.
 Riese: “Your notes should just read 9:23 Where’s Quinn? 9:26 Where’s Quinn? 9:32 Where’s Quinn? 9:46 Where’s Quinn? 9:50 Have they, like, talked about Quinn not being there?” – Abby
I can’t believe it’s real. I can’t believe Brittany and Santana are married. They were secondary characters. They were held pinkies and background hugs. Their relationship was meant to be a joke, was morphed into a sexy placation. But the goddamn thing about stories is they come to life in ways writers never expect. They are, quite literally, magical.
Like the story of Brittany S. Pierce, who saw the truth of Santana Lopez’s heartspace, knew her straight through and right down to her toes, the hidden parts of her, the wounded kitten behind the caustic roar. The story of how Santana saw Brittany too, the brilliance of her brain, her unicorn spirit. And the story of how Santana built her life around Brittany and built walls around herself, insisting it was just friends, and not the kind of love that rearranges the alchemy of your whole soul. And then Santana came out of the closet. And Brittany was never in it. They lifted each other up; they held each other close; they broke each other’s heart sometimes, the way wild things always do; they healed each other; they eased the violence and the hatred and the cruelty of the world, alone together, for each other. Santana asked Brittany to be her wife, and Brittany said yes because her genius math brain understood that in a world full of infinite variables, there are some things you just Know. They were married in a barn in Indiana. Mrs. and Mrs. Pierce-Lopez.
Call it fantasy if you want, but here’s a thing Neil Gaiman taught me: “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
Dorothy Snarker, your brownies are in the mail.
Comments
I’m not even ashamed to admit I cried like a baby during this episode. It was beautiful. Yes, the pacing was weird and there were some eye-rolling moments. But I don’t care. My two OTPs are married. The wedding was beautiful and I am so happy for the couples. Gah! This episode will go down in history, at least for me, and these couples will always have a special place in my heart.
I know some Brittana fans were upset at the wedding being shared by Klaine, but I can’t be mad about that. It was a very special moment between friends. And Glee very fairly gave both couples equal spotlight.
Beautiful recap, Heather <3
I definitely cried a couple of times. For me, I was watching Glee before I ever saw The L Word or watched Grey’s Anatomy, and so Santana was the first queer Latina character that I think I ever saw on TV. And i get really invested in the shows I watch, so that was amazing for me, to finally see myself represented like that. To see her keep getting stories and lines and to have her relationship with Brittany progress the way it did, it was so affirming for me.
Ugh, it just made me really, really happy. Also, when her abuela showed up, I definitely cried. (also Heather, I really love your version of Sue’s comments about what the bible says about homosexuality).
Also, where was Quinn?
Seriously, where was QUINN!
in my heart :,( also, she will be back for the last episode w/e
Brittany and Santana had an early joint bachlorette party where Quinn was the…entertainment. She was to tired afterward to attend.
I was so excited for this episode, this moment…Brittana means the world to me and I am glad and proud that this happened. Also they brought back the Troubletones which in my opinion is the 2nd best thing glee ever did. I did miss Quinn tho, I know it was a scheduling thing that prevented Dianna from coming back but they could have made some comment about it…I want her to have a happy ending too…YAY Mike Chang!!
Is Dianna coming back for any of the last episodes?
She’s in the finale.
(For the record, it’s my head canon that Quinn didn’t attend because she’s still not over her “Two Time Thing” with Santana. But don’t worry, I’m sure Rachel can help her mend her broken heart )
My headcanon is that she didn’t come because Rachel didn’t ask her to be her date. I mean, Quinn showed up when Rachel called everyone to help jump-start the new Glee club again, so obviously Santana and Brittany fucked up by not making Rachel hand over the invitation.
HA! Ok, so now I am abandoning my head canon and adopting yours, obviously ;)
Heather Hogan, I love the way you love your television characters.
Reading all your beautiful feels about PLL and Glee makes me so happy, and I haven’t watched either of those shows in years.
You are a treasure.
But but but you still keep up with Mona on YouTube, right??
I don’t even know what you are talking about and I wish I did but I came back here to tell you I drank 2 glasses of wine tonight and watched this Glee episode and cried several times so thank you for inspiring me to do that.
The way Brittany and Santana were looking at each other in every scene smashed up my heart into the happiest little pieces and now I have all these joyous little jagged heart slivers coursing through my veins and slicing up my insides, filling me with love.
My own wedding took place in a courthouse after hours with my person and our 2 best friends, and I sobbed through the vows that I wrote and I had to stop twice to blow my nose because my face was a mess and it was so gross but like so perfect because then we were all cry-laughing and everyone should get to cry-laugh with the person they love about the never-ending snot running down their face on their wedding day, you know?
<3
I am actually surprise by the praise of this episode. Is it the fact that brittana made it that we are ignoring how Klaine was forced down our throats when this episode should have been all about brittana, how annoying it was to smash their vows together…idk I guess I thought there would be more critqiue but ok. Anyways the parts with just Santana and Brittany were awesome and I loved them at the very end of the episode seemed like they were a real couple. I do feel sorry for anyone who isn’t apart of fandom because so much of this episode would not make sense….and idk it felt like Ryan Murphy just wanted to give brittana fans a bone to shut them up about how screwed up with those two characters. And I know why Quinn wasn’t there she wasn’t available for filing do to being overseas doing a USO concert….but still they could have i operates her some how
When I was 16 I was deep, deep in the Brittana fandom. For a good year the only thing I read was Brittana fanfiction, the first two years of my tumblr archive are just glee, and really and truly, the brittana fandom was the only queer community I had for most of high school. I stopped watching glee after season 3, I couldn’t do it anymore. The writing is shoddy, Ryan Murphy made me want to throw things at my tv, and I needed a hobby besides crying at fanfiction in the middle of the night. This episode is the first episode I’ve watched since the season 3 finale. And my 16-year old self is SO FUCKING HAPPY. I’m not emotionally invested in the characters anymore, but when I was 16, Brittany and Santana made me believe in true love. I hate that that’s true, but their love (and the attention given to it in fanfiction) gave me some inkling of hope that maybe someday I would meet my person and could live happily ever after. I remember the Valentine’s Day episode where they FINALLY kissed, that damn episode made me happy for weeks. I watched it over and over and over.
And now, what feels like a lifetime later, I have a real life queer community (thanks to autostraddle and a-camp, let’s be real). I have real people to be emotionally invested in rather than fictional characters, and the only queer people in my life aren’t just on tumblr. Seeing Brittany and Santana get married reminds me just how much I’ve grown up, and while their wedding didn’t make me tear up like I know it would have four years ago, reading this recap absolutely did. Because Heather is right. This honest to god dream come true on television is because of a fandom. The two people who I so badly wanted to live happily ever after are going to, and although I don’t care nearly as much as I used to about them, it still means the world to me to see it.
This is beautiful. <3
I have a lot of feelings about this episode:
1. I’ve been waiting for 6 years for glee to cover “hey yeah” and it was everything I could have wished for.
2. The wedding dress scene reminds me of the Lizzie McGuire Movie, especially Brit’s light up dress.
3. I want my future wedding to look exactly like this, with all of the pintresty/barn things, but I swear if anyone says a goddamn thing about us being “brave” or “inspirational” I’ll throw a fit. That was the most annoying part about this episode, and I hope I don’t have to explain why. Santana isn’t trying to be an inspiration, she’s just trying to marry her lady.
4. I want to comment on the Pierce Pierce line about needing to give a toaster, but target was closed…because that shit was hilarious and I’m sure my neighbors heard me laughing
I cannot believe you just name-checked the Lizzie McGuire movie! I loved that movie! I had the soundtrack!
I’d have opted for Brittany’s younger sister and Santana’s father as attendees before I’d select Quinn. I missed them, partly because we heard of them but never met them.
Oh wow, I forgot Brittany even had a younger sister! I’m so used to watching PLL that I don’t even think teenager characters have parents, but yeah, it would have been neat to see Britt’s sister. I wonder who would have played her. That girl who plays Prim in The Hunger Games?
Heather, that was so beautiful. I literally was tearing up reading it. Thank you so much for writing this amazing review!!!
Okay, I’m off to fangirl in a corner now.
Thank you, Terri. :)
I was so excited about this wedding! I’ve been to plenty of weddings in real life that did not have the emotional effect of finally seeing our girls getting their happy ending. In a perfect world, would I have preferred it without a Klaine trim? Yes. But since I know the Gleeverse time continuum is running short, and we must invest time in stories we don’t care about, such as new New Directions and Warblers I’m focusing on the fact that the wedding happened. Also that Santana got her Abuela back.
Thank you Heather for this final recap of Brittana. Your words about Brittany and Santana knowing each other’s truths and it being a love that rearranges the alchemy of your soul were exactly what I craved. If the wedding didn’t already have me in tears, this was the final emotional dam breaker. I’m as in love with your writing as I am with these two fictional characters.
Thank you Riese for you clever snarky add ins and yes “Where is Quinn?” We all know where she was IRL, but for Gleeverse to not even offer one of their ridiculous expositions seemed crazy, given the importance of The Unholy Trinity friendship.
Lastly, thank you to Dorothy Snarker, because there was no way I believed that early that this could or would play out this way. And this amazing fandom who continued to believe and to fight back until they got their happily ever after.
Amen to all of this!
I was really hoping the recap would be called The Chickening :( (Sidebar, that was one of my favorite scenes ever!)
Damn. DAMN. Now I want to rename it. :(
It’s ok, it probably wouldn’t be appropriate emotionally
In addition to being proud of the fandom for demanding more of Brittana, I think a huge credit and thank you should go out to Naya Rivera. She has definitely been the captain of this ship. She didn’t just appreciate us as her fans, but she fought right along with us for this relationship to be taken seriously. She never wavered in her belief that Brittany was Santana’s soulmate. She recognized the need for Santana’s story to be told, not just because it would boost her career and storyline, but because she knew many of her fans needed to see themselves represented on tv.
And I read she’s expecting her first baby! Congratulations and high fives to her!
I am so happy for her and Ryan. My first thought when I heard the news was the scene during the performance Tik Tok and Brittany threw up and the only one to do so right after was Santana. In real life Heather is the first of the glee kids to have a baby, so life imitating art, I am not at all surprised that it’s Naya that follows suit. This is why I ship Heya as well as Brittana. They make it so easy for me to love them and see them thru lesbian-colored glasses.
wait WHAT??? I haven’t watched Glee or read recaps since Brittany left Santana for Archie and WOW things have progressed in leaps and bounds since then
It really is almost unbelievable.
Glee infuriated and alienated me so much a few years ago that I just stopped watching. I couldn’t deal with getting my feelings stomped on amongst other things.
But, I’ve watched a couple of episodes this season and had to watch the wedding episode. I thought it was uneven as hell and completely unrealistic. And, I was seriously pissed off they couldn’t even address the Quinn issue. But, I loved it too – despite all it’s ridiculousness. I did tear up and two of my OTPs, both of which I was convinced wouldn’t be allowed to last, got married (though I gotta admit, I really wanted each couple to have their own special day).
Anyway, I ramble. I just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed your recaps this season and your ongoing love for Brittana and its fandom. Your recap just summed it all up perfectly. I probably cried more reading it. Basically perfect recap is perfect.
Thank you, sweet friend. And I agree that it’s been an infuriating ride at (most?) times, but damn, this one made me cry.
Oh my God I have so many feelings about this episode. It wasn’t perfect. Like where the hell was Quinn,(Or Santana’s dad or Britt’s sister) and why was Klaine’s storyline so rushed, but the Brittana parts were amazing. Brittana hasn’t been this much of a focus on the show since season 2, and this time it’s a happy arc, and everything feels awesome. When I was a confused thirteen year old, unsure of who I was, suddenly Brittana was there.I never even saw being gay as a possibility before Glee. And then Landslide happened and all the locker scenes and just like that everything changed. As Santana began to realize that she was in love with her best friend, I was realizing the same thing right along with her. It feels good that a couple so important to me is getting some closure. My OTP has gotten married! And I need one of those hats :)
Yeah, we should see about all going in together and buying those hats in bulk.
Well, shit. I haven’t even watched Glee since season 3 but this recap was goddamn beautiful.
Thanks, S! (You were right to spare yourself the heartache and rage, though!)
Heather, I sincerely wish I had read your recap before I watched the episode because the way you wrote about it made it sound so much more beautiful than I felt.
a) The Abuela bit was nice. I actually wish that you included the real dialogue because I actually really enjoyed Sue’s reverse “Sue”chology in pointing out the follies of Abuela’s bigotry.
b) They definitely reused the bridesmaid dresses for the foiled Finchel wedding.
c) wtf the Klaine aspects was so out of character for Santana and Britt that it’s insulting. No way in a million years would Santana go from destroying Kurt for interrupting her proposal to INSISTING THAT HE SHARE THE ALTAR WITH HER???
d) No fucking way would Schu be in the bridal party. No. Fucking. Way.
e) Having “Heya” be the wedding song is ridiculously meta. All the shipper portmanteaux. They’re not winking at the fandoms; they’re bludgeoning them with all this fanservice.
f) but seriously WHERE IS QUINN THIS IS RIDICULOUS. This is on the same level of her absence from the Finn Memorial episode. Her absence on both parts completely retcons her ENTIRE storyline from the show, what the ever loving fuck.
I am definitely disappointed that they hackneyed Klaine into this episode, mainly because if I were in the fandom, I would be incredibly insulted as to how the show has treated this couple this season. I mean, Kurt and Blaine as individuals have actually done some of the best character development so I’m happy for them, but all the circumstances that have been thrust on them this season is just so painful and cheap.
That being said… Faberry? Sigh. I don’t know what to think.
Thank you Heather for a fantastic recap. It’s been a wild ride and I still can’t believe a fairytale about 2 cheerleaders had a happy ending. The fandom may have shown you its blazing blue magic, but it also owes you and Reise and your friends/colleagues at Autostraddle and other sites like AE a big thank you for giving us a voice that could not be ignored. In today’s social media driven environment, I think “the powers that be” can pick up the emotional thread expressed by the masses but they can often discount, or aren’t able to ascertain, the essential arguments because those arguments arise from a cacophonous, emotionally-charged din. You and your fellow writers organized and articulated our thoughts so well and gave us a platform to present those opinions so the messages were delivered. Thanks for being our champions then, now and forever.
This episode may not be perfect (though I will do everything I can to fanfic it into perfection, with everybody’s sisters, parents and Quinn being there, all Britt’s unicorn-trolling wisely explained
and Wonder Woman being a real person in Glee-verse), but this recap sure is.Thank you, Heather, for the prefect recap. I hope both you and Riese (and everyone who watched with you) managed to enjoy this episode at least a little.
Thank you for recapping this show through all its ups and downs. Mostly downs)
And thank you for this happily ever after. I’m sure we wouldn’t get it without you being there rooting for Brittana (what Cara said). You may have stopped believing like any rational adult would, but this is your victory, too.
I haven’t seen the episode yet but I definitely cried just reading the recap. It makes me wish someone with more tech savvy than me could put together a Brittana-only version of Glee to keep forever. As crazy and flawed and sidelined as it was at times, this was my first lesbian love story and I almost wish it meant less to me. Thanks lesbian blogger community for making it go here.
I’m still mad Kurt and Blaine got married. I mean congrats to that fandom but if ever there were two people on this show who were destined to crash and burn it is these two. They have serious communication issues and rushing into a marriage is not the way to solve it. I see a lot of infidelity and an eventual split in my Post-Glee headcannon.
I too would have liked to have seen Santana’s dad since she did talk about him more than any of her other family members. I was happy to see abuela again though despite her bigotry. That actress also plays Jane’s grandma on Jane The Virgin. And Gloria Estefan is always a good time. Brittany’s parents were perfectly cast as well. The only actress other than Coolridge who might have been a better mother for Brit is Lisa Kudrow.
Agreeing with turkish, as usual
About Klaine and Lisa Kudrow playing Britt’s mom
This episode was so amazing, I teared up. I finally got the feeling that Brit & Santana were a couple, and Kurt & Blaine like always make my heart explode with their cuteness I can’t even handle it. This episode was filled with so much happy!!
I totally agree with Riese’s point about Tina. Girl can’t get a break, it’s terrible.
Did anyone else notice that the show is trying to conceal/minimize the gay kissing scenes? When Brittana & Klaine kissed at the wedding, Klaine was in shadow, and Brit was covering their faces partially? I noticed this in previous episodes this season when Brittana kiss they are totally in shadow and you can’t see anything!! Even with all this progress, are they trying to hide the kissing? Or am I reading too much into this?
from what I read, I’m probably the only one who’s stopped seeing this show and also it took a huge turn. shocked with all these events, sounds like a good ep… but glee’s not for me.
Oh Heather, how I’ve missed you. Terrific recap!
lol, I loved the dialogue that you wrote between Abuela and Sue. All the commentary on the Bible was pretty correct.
Sorry to be out of the loop but what did “Hey ya!” have to do with Brittanna fandom?
This episode is another example of how I HATE what they did with Tina’s character. She never got a good episode or decent storyline the entire series. Though, the actress did well with what little she was given.
But, this recap was beautifully written. You’re right that this wedding showed the power of social media and fandom. I think the actors playing Santana and Brittany have so much chemistry that they really make the relationship seem sweet and authentic. I’ve cried at many Brittanna moments. I’d say they did an overall good job w/ this episode.
Sidenote: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1335851532/geek-loves-punk-comedy-about-a-lesbian-geek-and-he
The abuela scene made me cry so hard, because all I kept thinking about was my grandmom and if she would ever do that. Yes, abuela still thinks women marrying women is wrong, but something must have changed even a little bit if she’s showing up to her nieta’s wedding. And maybe when she sees how happy Brittany and Santana are, she’ll change her mind. And maybe my grandmom will change her mind.