Samcedes Episode Analysis: 2.07 The Substitute

Samcedes Episode Analysis: 2.07 The Substitute
by Akilah

Mercedes: Kurt is livid as he tells Mercedes about Rachel taking over the glee club since Mr. Schue has been absent. Mercedes tries to comfort him, "We'll forget all about it tonight while bowling." Mercedes confidence that they'll "forget about it" indicates that they usually forget about their problems when they hang out together. They are each other's comfort and companionship. Except this time, Kurt has other plans. "I can't, Blaine asked me to hang out." Mercedes is disappointed, she has been "looking forward to it all week." Hanging out with Kurt was suppose to be the best thing about her week. I imagine when she's with him he helps her "forget all about," the crappy things going on in her life, whether those things be ND, school or anything else.

Mercedes asks Kurt if he and Blaine are secretly dating which Kurt denies. "It's just nice to have someone to talk to," he says. Mercedes pauses and her facial expression changes. She looks insulted. "What is that suppose to mean," she asks. Mercedes has always been his confidant, and he's always been hers, but now it sounds as if hes saying that he can't talk to her. "It means someone like me," he says. These two are not communicating like they use to. Mercedes just isn't enough for Kurt any more, and when they do talk, sometimes their words are misconstrued. Kurt says that he wants to communicate with someone who understands him, who is also gay, but Mercedes only hears rejection.

Its another day and Mercedes is going over her plans for their shopping trip. Again, Kurt has other plans. "Oh, I forgot," he says. He forgot to communicate with her that he and Blaine were going to see Rent at the community theatre. "Blaine got us tickets." Mercedes is confused, "Us, as in all of us?" Kurt tells her no, that Blaine could only get two tickets. Once again, Mercedes plans with Kurt have been canceled because of Blaine. Blaine is taking away Mercedes best friend.
Mercedes goes to dinner with Kurt and Blaine who are putting her to sleep with their conversation about gay issues. Blaine takes notice that Mercedes is not interested in the topics they are discussing so he suggests talking about things that interests her. Mercedes perks up, but Kurt suddenly takes over the conversation again, and its back to things that Mercedes doesn't care about.

This is when the communication between Mercedes and Kurt really gets bad. Shes listening to him talk to Blaine but all she can hear is "gay, gay, gay, gay, gay..." She and Kurt no longer speak the same language. Communication between these two has completely fallen apart.

Mercedes is hurt and angry, but she won't admit this to herself. One thing about Mercedes is that she has a lot of pride. She can't handle being vulnerable or allow people to think that she needs them. She has so many walls up that its hard for her to even know what's really going on in her heart. Being a person who is prideful and afraid of being vulnerable, shes a master of deflection. So Mercedes deflects her hurt and loneliness and anger onto tater tots.

I doubt Mercedes was crazy about tater tots before Kurt started dissing her. The tater tots seem to symbolize Mercedes relationship with Kurt. As soon as Kurt cancels their plans and tells her that he can't talk to her the way he can talk to Blaine, Mercedes sees tots and focuses on them. She'd rather not think about what's happening between her Kurt. She doesn't want to deal with the pain of losing him so she turns her attention to something else. When Kurt rejects her for the second time, Mercedes goes to get tots but they are suddenly snatched away by Santana and the other Cheerios via Sue Sylvester. Sue has banned tots from the school. Mercedes tots are gone and there is nothing that she can do about. She can't make the tots come back, just like she can't bring back the old comfortable relationship she had with Kurt. Kurt is being snatched away from her, just like the tots.

Mercedes rather have people think shes angry and obsessed with food than allow them to see her as vulnerable and in need love and companionship. She rebels against the tots ban, starting a protest in the cafeteria, then barging into Sue's office to beg for her tots. Its no use. Tots are gone forever.

Mercedes may not be able to admit her feelings to herself or anyone else, but Kurt can see right through her. He says that he knows she's been lonely and jealous of his relationship with Blaine. He then tells her that he's gotten her a gift. He set her up on a date with Anthony Rashad, a cute black football player. She questions why Kurt picked him. "No reason," Kurt says. "So it doesn't have to do with the fact that he's one of 5 black guys at this school?" Kurt denies it, but its obvious that his race was the main factor is why he picked Anthony. Mercedes is suspicious of Kurt. She doesn't trust him with this aspect of her life.

"I can't take this anymore," Mercedes says. Kurt assumes shes talking about being single and lonely. "Trust me Mercedes, love is just around the corner." Mercedes claims that she wasn't talking about that but about tots. This is a lie. Mercedes was talking about being single and lonely, she just can't admit that to herself or to anyone else.

In the last scene between Kurt and Mercedes, Mercedes is going on about tots, shes even snuck some into the school. Kurt then gets real with her. "You have to stop this," he says. "You're substituting food for love. And most importantly, you're substituting me for a boyfriend." Its harsh. Its true what he says, but its also unfair. Up until recently Kurt was perfectly fine with playing substitute boyfriend/girlfriend with Mercedes, and he'll do it again in 2.08. What makes it worse is that Kurt now has someone else, but Mercedes is more alone then ever.

Kurt offers her reassurance. "You will find somebody, Mercedes," he says. Mercedes is quiet as she listens to him and doesn't reveal too much in her body language or facial expressions. She's closed off from him. "You're right," she says while wearing a small smile. "I gotta go." She walks away but Kurt asks where shes going. She says shes going to check out that Rashad kid, but we never see Rashad again. As she walks off, she looks like shes willing herself not to cry. She gives Kurt a little wave and mouths bye. Kurt watches her as she walks down the hall. Its a sad moment and feels more like a break-up scene than two friends having a spat. I think this was the point where Mercedes feelings for Kurt started to change. He may have been honest with her but he hurt her feelings, and the relationship she had with Kurt was suppose to keep her from getting hurt in the first place. Mercedes got dumped by her substitute boyfriend. Things have changed between Kurtcedes. We won't see these two alone together anymore. From now on there is always at least a third party present when they interact.

I want to talk about the mash-up at the end of the episode, "Singing in The Rain" and "Umbrella." The final song in every episode of Glee speaks to one of the themes of the episode. This mash-up speaks about dedication and loyalty in love and friendship, but also about being ready to let go and move on. Its sung by Mr. Schue and Holly Holiday, but its really a conversation between Kurt and Mercedes. "Singing in the Rain," represents Kurt. In 2.04, when Kurt was going to duet with Sam, he mentioned male duets like the ones seen in "Singing in the rain." "Umbrella" represents Mercedes. Let's look at the lyrics.

Singing in the Rain: "I'm singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again, I'm laughing at clouds, so dark up above, the sun's in my heart, and I'm ready for love."

Kurt has been going through a lot lately. His father had a brush with death, he's been getting bullied and harrassed by Karofsky, and he's been lonely. He meets Blaine and suddenly he's "happy again." He's found a boy just like him who he can talk to, who takes away his loneliness, and whom he can possibly fall in love with. Blaine is the "sun" in his heart, that the song talks about. He's "ready for love," and that makes everything else endurable. Despite the tough things in his life, "the rain," he can still sing and dance in it. There are still "clouds" and its "dark up above" but he's happy. He stands right in the middle of the rain and knows that everything is ok. He doesn't want or need an "Umbrella," because he's perfectly fine in the rain. He's ready to face the world head on.

Umbrella: "You have my heart, we'll never be worlds apart, with you I'll always share, these fancy things can never come in between, you're part of my entity here for eternity, when the world has dealt its cards, together we'll mend your heart, you can stand under my umbrella."

Mercedes is guarded, but when she lets someone in she really shows them love and compassion. She took in Quinn when Quinn needed a home, and she tried hard to reach Kurt when his father was in a coma. Mercedes love is like an Umbrella. The relationship she has with Kurt is an "umbrella" because its suppose to keep them both from getting hurt. This "umbrella" protects them from the rain of disappointments and hard times in their lives. Mercedes was not ready to let go of Kurt in this episode, he has her "heart," she'll "always share" with him, and he's part of her "entity here for eternity." Mercedes wants to stay under the umbrella with him, but he doesn't want it anymore. Kurt is "singing in the rain" he doesn't want or need an umbrella because he has the "sun" in his heart and he's "ready for love."

Sam: He's barely in this episode. He's even missing from one of the choir room scenes. I've got nothing.

Samcedes: When Rachel takes over Glee club and asks ND which song they would like her to perform for Sectionals, Santana jumps out of her chair ready to attack her. To the left and right of her are seated Sam and Mercedes. When she jumps up, they both grab her and pull her back. Samcedes working together as one. These two are the only characters besides Brittany who know how to handle Santana.

During the mash-up of "Singing in the Rain/Umbrella," Mercedes and Sam are dance partners. They share an "umbrella." Kurt may not want to share Mercedes umbrella anymore but Sam does. At least that's what we see visually in the performance. Really, they look good together and so comfortable while performing.

Kurt tells Mercedes several times in the episode that she'll be finding love soon. This is foreshadowing for Samcedes. The narrative is letting us know that Mercedes will be getting a love interest, but who that would be was still unknown.