Meta barely disguised as ficlet: Unpredictable

[wowbright]

Title: Unpredictable
Characters: Kurt/Blaine, Sue Sylvester
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Through 3.6
Warnings: language
Genre: Gen
Word count: 262
Disclaimer: Characters not mine. Thoughts may or may not be. Also, this meta/fic has nothing in common with the Jamie Foxx song of the same name.
Author’s Note: This was in a story, but the story didn't want to go there. So I'm just posting it here. Maybe someone will find it useful and want to do something with it. (Feel free.) Also, it makes no sense unless you've seen 3.6.

Kurt knows he really shouldn't look at what Coach Sylvester is doing to his father as betrayal. She's not Kurt's friend, and he's never really trusted her. But, despite her despicable insensitivity and undying rudeness, Kurt's long had the nagging suspicion that she respects him. Kurt can't quite explain it, but he's overheard some of her conversations with Mr. Schuester– (who hasn't? they're like toddlers with their public temper tantrums) – and many, many of her interactions with the Cheerios, and the way she talks to Kurt is just different. Yeah, she insults him from here to Tuesday, but her efforts always seem so half-assed, like a bad habit she just can't break. She's never tried to tear him apart the way he's seen her do to other people.

So, yeah, he's really kind of surprised that she would go so low in this campaign against his dad. Because even if she doesn't respect Burt Hummel, one would hope that her undesired and well-disguised respect for Kurt would count for something.

Anyone other than Blaine would tell Kurt that Coach Sylvester is evil incarnate and why would he expect anything else? Kurt should just accept it and move on. But Blaine listens to Kurt be confused and bewildered and shares in the confusion and bewilderment himself. Yeah, maybe it's because Blaine has a hard time believe anyone is irredeemably evil, not just Coach Sylvester in particular. But that's okay. It comforts him to think that he's not the only person in the world who is silly enough to expect better from Sue Sylvester.

Comments

[verdandil.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to sit here and nod in approval.

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

You're back!

It would be nice if I could come up with a story to go along with these thinky thoughts some day. But I get distracted because all I want to write is romance :)

[mander3-swish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she insults him from here to Tuesday, but her efforts always seems so half-assed, like a bad habit she just can't break. It totally seems like a bad habit....like she's gotta keep doing it to maintain her 'rep' or something.
interesting thinky thoughts :)

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I wish I could think them out further, but she's gotten harder and harder to follow since the end of Season 1.

[lesley-green.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't get it either. In a lot of ways, Sue is a great teacher by McKinley standards. I mean, I wouldn't want her, of course, but she notices things that other people (Mr. Schuester) don't, like Santana and Quinn (Purple Piano Project), Becky (wants to be treated like everyone else), and Kurt, and probably more that I can't remember. She also has stated and shown through action that her motivation is that she wants to teach the students what the real world is like post-high school (You think this is hard? Try [insert choice phrase], that's hard) . So I don't understand some of the things she does. Why did she create those commercials about Burt? He did not need this lesson.

I think I'll wait for someone to come up with a Unified Theory of Sue.

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

A Unified Theory of Sue would be awesome. Maybe RIB will come up with one :)

There seemed to be one in Season 1 - she was more complex and less of a train wreck - but then in Season 2 it started getting weird. The first mistake was having her redeclare war on the glee club. I think the writers at the time just didn't know what to do with Sue if she wasn't Schue's enemy. Too bad they didn't look more into all the other reasons Sue could have for re-becoming Schue's enemy - like that he is often a terrible teacher. That would have been interesting, and she wouldn't have gone back on her promise to make peace with the glee club.

[lesley-green.livejournal.com]

I don't know, saying the writers are mistaken is hard for me. It's their show, you know? I'd say that Sue/Cheerios represent that the world sucks, so fight kill destroy. Will/New Directions are the world sucks, so sing smile hug. Except that Sue/Cheerios actually do win and destroy things, but Will/New Directions are mostly impotent. She's not an enemy of the glee club as much as she's an enemy of what Will chooses to teach them, except for when life demands some smiles and hugs.

In the Pilot, Will recruited the New Directions, but then they reformed themselves without him and that's the group that stuck. I wonder if Sue would ever leave/consider leaving the Cheerios.

I bet if we asked Crown of Weeds, she'd tell us what's what.

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

I don't know that the writers are mistaken about Sue - I just don't know what they're trying to tell me about her. I thought I understood in Season 1, but after that, I just couldn't tell. She was one of my favorite characters, but now I can't get a handle on her at all, which has ended up as a demotion in my esteem, for better or worse.

You're right, Crown of Weeds can explain everything. Why hasn't she yet? This must be remedied.

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Here's what Crown of Weeds said: http://crown-of-weeds.livejournal.com/40156.html?thread=432860#t432860

Which might actually give me enough to continue with this as a fic -- well, if I stop turning everything I start into frikkin novels.

[likeasouffle.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense. I didn't even think about it, but now that you mention it I totally believe Kurt would have been confused and hurt by this. She has been Kurt's protector at various points in the series, but when it came to the election, it's like she totally disassociated Kurt from his father, and went after Burt like it wouldn't have an effect on Kurt. And I love the idea that Blaine doesn't think anyone is irredeemably evil (which is why he tried to talk to Karofsky in Never Been Kissed). Also, LOL, I love the word metabation. :D

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

I would like to see RIB return her status more to what it was in Season 1 - more complex and less of a train wreck.

The reason I gave it any thought in the first place was that Kurt confronted Sue about it - you don't confront someone unless you think they can change. Kurt is outwardly a cynic, but underneath he has this abiding faith that people can change for the better. I think the difference between him and Blaine is that Kurt is more selective about the (fuck, why does it always have to be religious metaphors with me?) souls he tries to save.

I love metabation too. The word, and the activity :)