Samcedes Episode Analysis: 2.01 Auditon
by Akilah
Mercedes: As far as Mercedes is concerned, it looks like the groundwork is being laid for Rachel to come in between her and Kurt and steal Kurt away from her. There is a scene with Mercedes and Kurt in the choir room alone, and then Rachel barges in ranting about Sunshine being a better singer than her. Kurt and Mercedes give her the side eye. Kurt calls Rachel a horrible person. Then Rachel literally places herself in between Kurt and Mercedes, foreshadowing Hummelberry and the slow parting of the ways between Mercedes and Kurt.
I think Mercedes had two arcs in season 2, one arc was resolved while the other carried over to season 3. Mercedes first arc was about her loneliness and desire for a boyfriend. Not only does Mercedes want a boyfriend, but she wants to be desired and wanted (this is important for her storyline in season 3 as well, i.e. Sam wooing). We see a glimpse of this in season 1 when she leans against the lockers and watches Puck and Santana kiss. She asks Kurt if he’s ever been kissed and he we learn that he’s never been kissed either. These two form a close friendship, but in season 2 we learn that they are partially substituting each other for significant others.
As Kurt moves towards Blaine, Mercedes becomes more isolated, making her desire for a partner more pronounced. RIB may not have known who they were going to pair Mercedes up with, but they did know that they were going to give her a boyfriend before season 2 ended. It just happened to be Sam.
Mercedes’ second story arc was her wanting to be acknowledge and recognized for her talent in Glee. We see her take small steps towards this but she is not very confidant in herself. She knows she is as good as Rachel but she doesn’t believe that other people will acknowledge that. That story carries over to season 3 and we get the TTones. I don’t understand how some people don’t understand where Mercedes anger came from in Asian F. Its been boiling under the surface since season 1. Her outburst was bound to happen.
So I will definitely be writing about things pertaining to these arcs in my posts about each episode.
Sam: Sam is one of the most well developed characters on Glee. He probably has the best character growth arc while still maintaining consistency. We see this if we look at Sam in 2.01 compared to Sam in 2.19. He’s a different guy, but still maintains the core characteristics and principals that make him so lovable as a character. That’s hard to achieve on this show.
Lets take a look at how Sam begins. He is introduced to us as a kid sitting in the courtyard, taping his foot along to New Directions. He’s wearing a Letterman Jacket (interesting considering the plot for Yes/No) from his old school, we know this because the colors are Blue and Gold, not Mckinley red. This tells us that this kid is a jock and wants everyone to know it. He may even be trying too hard, who wears their old Letterman jacket to their new high school? I think this goes along with the bleach blond hair. The kid wants to be popular so bad that he sorta makes these awkward choices.
His audition song choice is interesting. He sings “Billionaire” a song about conspicuous consumption. The song is about wanting so many unnecessary material things just because you want it. By the end of the season, Sam just wants a house to live in and food to eat. This is such an interesting song choice that its hard to resist not seeing this as foreshadowing. I don’t think RIB really knew what they were going to do with Sam at this point, but what we do know is that they did a wonderful job of evolving him as a character.
Here’s the important thing about Sam that we learn in 2.01. Sam is Finn’s foil/proxy. He literally takes Finn’s place as quarter back of the football team after Finn has been kicked off. This is important to the narrative of Glee season 2 and 3 and possibly season 4. Sam as Finn’s proxy/replacement is also important romantic relationship wise. Think about who Sam has had relationships with and who Finn has had relationships with.
They are both an unrequited object of desire for Kurt. Kurt gives up on Finn in Season 1 and flirts with the idea of being with Sam in season 2 but gives that up rather quickly. Next there is Quinn, and Sam has a relationship with her that is nothing more than Finn/Quinn v.1 before Rachel showed up. Except Sam doesn’t know it, he’s completely earnest. Next Sam gets with Santana whom he possibly loses his virginity to as Finn did. But it isn’t until he finally becomes his own man that Sam dates someone that Finn hasn’t, Mercedes. The funny thing is, he ends up with Rachel’s foil/proxy. So, in a way, he is still following the trajectory of Finn’s relationships. He finds his match when he gets out of the popular kid dating pool.
Sam as Finn v.2 (but better) is something that I will be looking at and analyzing in these episode discussions. The sad thing about the fandom is that no one really takes the time out to properly analyze Mercedes story lines, and Sam only fairs a little better than her in that department. I think there is a lot to be said about these two characters.
Samcedes: They haven’t met yet.
Mercedes: As far as Mercedes is concerned, it looks like the groundwork is being laid for Rachel to come in between her and Kurt and steal Kurt away from her. There is a scene with Mercedes and Kurt in the choir room alone, and then Rachel barges in ranting about Sunshine being a better singer than her. Kurt and Mercedes give her the side eye. Kurt calls Rachel a horrible person. Then Rachel literally places herself in between Kurt and Mercedes, foreshadowing Hummelberry and the slow parting of the ways between Mercedes and Kurt.
I think Mercedes had two arcs in season 2, one arc was resolved while the other carried over to season 3. Mercedes first arc was about her loneliness and desire for a boyfriend. Not only does Mercedes want a boyfriend, but she wants to be desired and wanted (this is important for her storyline in season 3 as well, i.e. Sam wooing). We see a glimpse of this in season 1 when she leans against the lockers and watches Puck and Santana kiss. She asks Kurt if he’s ever been kissed and he we learn that he’s never been kissed either. These two form a close friendship, but in season 2 we learn that they are partially substituting each other for significant others.
As Kurt moves towards Blaine, Mercedes becomes more isolated, making her desire for a partner more pronounced. RIB may not have known who they were going to pair Mercedes up with, but they did know that they were going to give her a boyfriend before season 2 ended. It just happened to be Sam.
Mercedes’ second story arc was her wanting to be acknowledge and recognized for her talent in Glee. We see her take small steps towards this but she is not very confidant in herself. She knows she is as good as Rachel but she doesn’t believe that other people will acknowledge that. That story carries over to season 3 and we get the TTones. I don’t understand how some people don’t understand where Mercedes anger came from in Asian F. Its been boiling under the surface since season 1. Her outburst was bound to happen.
So I will definitely be writing about things pertaining to these arcs in my posts about each episode.
Sam: Sam is one of the most well developed characters on Glee. He probably has the best character growth arc while still maintaining consistency. We see this if we look at Sam in 2.01 compared to Sam in 2.19. He’s a different guy, but still maintains the core characteristics and principals that make him so lovable as a character. That’s hard to achieve on this show.
Lets take a look at how Sam begins. He is introduced to us as a kid sitting in the courtyard, taping his foot along to New Directions. He’s wearing a Letterman Jacket (interesting considering the plot for Yes/No) from his old school, we know this because the colors are Blue and Gold, not Mckinley red. This tells us that this kid is a jock and wants everyone to know it. He may even be trying too hard, who wears their old Letterman jacket to their new high school? I think this goes along with the bleach blond hair. The kid wants to be popular so bad that he sorta makes these awkward choices.
His audition song choice is interesting. He sings “Billionaire” a song about conspicuous consumption. The song is about wanting so many unnecessary material things just because you want it. By the end of the season, Sam just wants a house to live in and food to eat. This is such an interesting song choice that its hard to resist not seeing this as foreshadowing. I don’t think RIB really knew what they were going to do with Sam at this point, but what we do know is that they did a wonderful job of evolving him as a character.
Here’s the important thing about Sam that we learn in 2.01. Sam is Finn’s foil/proxy. He literally takes Finn’s place as quarter back of the football team after Finn has been kicked off. This is important to the narrative of Glee season 2 and 3 and possibly season 4. Sam as Finn’s proxy/replacement is also important romantic relationship wise. Think about who Sam has had relationships with and who Finn has had relationships with.
They are both an unrequited object of desire for Kurt. Kurt gives up on Finn in Season 1 and flirts with the idea of being with Sam in season 2 but gives that up rather quickly. Next there is Quinn, and Sam has a relationship with her that is nothing more than Finn/Quinn v.1 before Rachel showed up. Except Sam doesn’t know it, he’s completely earnest. Next Sam gets with Santana whom he possibly loses his virginity to as Finn did. But it isn’t until he finally becomes his own man that Sam dates someone that Finn hasn’t, Mercedes. The funny thing is, he ends up with Rachel’s foil/proxy. So, in a way, he is still following the trajectory of Finn’s relationships. He finds his match when he gets out of the popular kid dating pool.
Sam as Finn v.2 (but better) is something that I will be looking at and analyzing in these episode discussions. The sad thing about the fandom is that no one really takes the time out to properly analyze Mercedes story lines, and Sam only fairs a little better than her in that department. I think there is a lot to be said about these two characters.
Samcedes: They haven’t met yet.
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