Why Darren Criss Might be the Next Michael Emerson, and Why That Isn't a Good Thing for Glee
The unwritten rules for the second season of a hit television series are similar to the ones governing movie sequels: Everything has to be bigger, has to be louder, and has to include at least one major casting addition. In the case of Lost, the second season brought increasingly convoluted stakes (The Hatch! The Others!), some shocking character deaths (Shannon!) and the addition of Michael Emerson to the already bulging cast. What began as a well-received guest role for the veteran New York actor became a three-and-a-half season stay on the devilish island. Emerson's breakout performance not only forced Lost creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to shift their narrative, but also cemented him forever in the minds of television watchers as Benjamin Linus. Glee star Darren Criss is on a very similar path, and because of that, it might be time for Gleeks to get concerned.
Like Emerson, Criss arrived on Glee as a guest star, and audiences latched onto him so firmly that he was upped to series regular status. (Criss' stint as a full-timer will reportedly begin in season three.) His charismatic performance and undeniable screen presence is so enjoyed by the Glee faithful, that not only was Criss shoe-horned into the post-Super Bowl episode (see the totally unnecessary-but-amazing "Bills Bills Bills"), but also given the closing number on Tuesday night's Valentine's Day episode. That's major: After only six episodes, Criss has entered Lea Michele territory. Performing "Silly Love Songs" in front of the entire Glee cast of regulars -- the first time he has really interacted with everyone in the cast at the same time -- was Criss' very own "You guys got any milk?" moment; he went from intriguing scene-stealer to indispensable member of the troupe in the span of one Paul McCartney-penned bit of pop fluff. Unfortunately, that might not be such a good thing.
In the wake of Emerson's ascent on Lost, some fans groused that the show became too much about Ben Linus' various forms of delightful psychological warfare, and not enough about the plight of their favorite Oceanic 815 survivors. Emerson also backed Lindelof and Cuse into a corner of sorts -- Ben was the villain that you loved to hate, and then loved to love; how would they be able to stay true to the character and the show, without upsetting fans? It was that double-edged sword which led to Ben's hasty redemption in the final season, one that wasn't necessarily earned, but had to happen because of the arc Emerson pushed the show toward. (This is to say nothing of all that Ben-as-007-supervillain during the fourth season, which seemed to be done simply so he could stay involved in the series following his Frozen Donkey Wheel spin.) Still, Lost was able to withstand Emerson's all-encompassing presence because Lindelof and Cuse -- despite what you may think of how they ended the series -- were fairly disciplined storytellers. They learned to use Ben sparingly and carefully, and avoided losing a hubcap in the pothole of Emerson's talents.
At this point, you can't have the same confidence about Ryan Murphy. To wit: This is a man so fickle that he plans on splitting up Sam and Quinn (um, spoiler alert, but not really), because he's "bored." (It's true that Murphy could have been joking around when he made that statement, but judging from the schizophrenic nature of Glee -- especially during this wildly up and down second season -- he probably wasn't.) The fact that Blaine is Murphy's shiny new toy -- his "Ben," as it were -- is a problem on multiple fronts. Not only has nudged Kurt out of the spotlight (the character who Blaine was supposed to enrich, not marginalize), but also Rachel and the rest of the New Directions favorites. Remember Mercedes? Since Blaine has arrived she's appeared about as much as Jason Sudeikis did on Saturday Night Live over the weekend -- which is to say, barely. (Meanwhile, somewhere, Vanilla Ice is holding a candlelight vigil for Mr. Schuester's formerly frequent rap solos.)
To be fair, Murphy could just as easily sour on Criss and Blaine, and the show to return to its Colfer-Michele roots. But judging from what he said in November, don't bet on it: "I think there's a hunger for [Criss] and a positive relationship role model. He'll definitely continue through the year and longer." That's great for Criss and his fans, but not necessarily for Glee. Be careful what you wish for.
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Interesting article but I do think it unfair that you should imply that this is the fault of Darren Criss. As others have noted he has actually had very little screentime. I would be more critical of the reliance on special guest stars like Gwyneth Paltrow that really add nothing to the storyline. There is also more emphasis on characters like Brittany and Santana this season and we even have another new student in Sam. All these things then obviously reduce the screentime of existing favorites. Singling out one actor as you have done leaves a bitter taste and is unfair when said actor's character has probably had less screentime than any other main character in the show.
Not shocked that some are upset by the way the article was written and its negativity on someone who deserves to get plaudits for bringing something fresh and exciting to the show.
There's much here that doesn't make sense to me I'm afraid. What does a redemption plot on Lost have to do with Glee? Secondly, it looks like Mercedes will be feature next week as a quick glance over the description, songs would tell you. Third, how is Kurt marginalised in his own story? We're getting to know Blaine through his eyes, this is about Kurt falling in love and that means him getting to know Blaine. We saw a lot of character development for both of them on Tuesday with Kurt showing an increasingly mature attitude to his romantic issues. Kurt wasn't even meant to be in the Christmas and Superbowl eps until they realised that so any people were tuning in just to see the two of them so I'm not sure how Blaine could steal the limelight from him there.
And yes, I agree with tose saying how it's strange how you've decided that anyone tuning out of a badly written programme will be doing so because a new member of the cast is charming and talented. The quality has been dropping all season, a number of the characters barely used from the beginning and you've decided that people will be tuning out because the new guy's too damn good. I'm sorry but, what?
Glee has never been great at diving storylines and solos fairly, it's a problem they've had since season one and I don't see it changing any time soon. I'm one of those persons though, that doesn't really complain as long as the show is interesting and the music is good. And since Grilled Cheesus, season 2 mostly has been. All signs point to Kurt and Blaine one day ending up together, and it would be no fun if Blaine were two dimensional, so I very much appreciated the development he got in SLS. As for the amount of songs Blaine gets, well, look at the iTunes charts and there you go. It's $$$. Personally, I love the way the Beelzebubs and Darren Criss sound, so I, like many others, bought those songs. I enjoy good music, what can I say.
I agree with what some others here have said. First everyone was complaining about too much Kurt in episodes 3-9, and now there's not enough? The fact is, Kurt is one of the main core members of the cast, if they're gonna bring someone on the show for him to develop any type of deep friendship or romance with - and if that person is gonna be around long-term - he needs to be developed the right way, and not just be attached to Kurt like a piece of his wardrobe.
I don't think I ever said people will tune out. Glee is a juggernaut and will be around for at least a few more years with excellent ratings.
No one will stop watching because of Darren Criss. Because Darren Criss is so good, the show has changed -- and, I speculate, based on what happened with Michael Emerson -- will change even more. And because Murphy isn't a disciplined showrunner, the quality of Glee will suffer as Criss' success and character pushes the show further away from its initial goals. Pretty simple actually.
I actually can't stand "Glee", he is the only reason I put up with it. So more Darren Criss is fine. The only good thing about "Glee" is the music and I'm a little bummed that Chris Colfer hasn't been very present on that front lately...
Okay, so, IMHO Ben was, hands down, one of the best characters on Lost. If Blaine goes the direction of being one of the best characters on Glee, I am totally okay with that.
But aside from that, I don't think that Blaine being there is the reason that other characters aren't handled well. Mercedes not getting enough story is not because Blaine exists; I am almost positive that it would be happening anyway, because the focus would still be elsewhere. They just don't give Mercedes much focus, and never really have, save for like... a few tiny moments in season one.
I also think Kurt being "nudged out of the spotlight" is tied in to the whole Dalton storyline and is supposed to, in some ways, help Kurt grow as a character -- to realize that while he is certainly deserving of the spotlight, he can also be a part of a team. I also think it's supposed to make the audience want Kurt to go back to McKinley, otherwise, everyone would be pissed when they inevitably do that (and they will, of course). We're all supposed to miss Kurt singing and getting the spotlight and all that, because now we associate it with McKinley and want it back. I think the author misses the point there, or just refuses to address it.
I also think that Mr. Schue having fewer rap solos is the best thing that could ever happen to the show. xD
I want more of Mercedes singing please.
If that's your point you may want to go back a re-write the article because you barely touch upon the programme's initial goals apart from a reference to"Michele-Colfer roots" which in itself makes no sense as Kurt himself was a break-through character and not intended to be as major as he's become.
Your points are unclear and reactionary to what has been an episode that most people have seen as a return to form for Glee. And considering all the cast will be replaced eventually as the characters graduate there can be no claiming the programme should n'tnbe constantly changing in identity, it should, it needs to- what it needs to not do is force itself backwards but work out what it wants to be which it doesn't seem to know at the moment (as portrayed by its attitude to bullying).
I had to read all the comments and your answers to them over and over again, just to get to the gist of your article which is (correct me if I'm wrong, please) -- Darren Criss has made such an impact that it changed the game completely for the show's plot (for the better I hope, for Kurt's sake), and yet Ryan Murphy can easily screw up Glee's storyline because he wants to show off his shiny new toy?
I sort of figured the reason why we've gotten less Mercedes this season is because her character was so strongly tied to Kurt and Kurt's story and the season's main bullying arc has been very heavily dramatic the past several episodes. Amber Riley's singing can tear the roof off, but her acting skill? I'm going to be bluntly honest here and say I would rather see Darren Criss (or even Max Adler who plays closeted bully Karofsky) opposite Chris Colfer in those dramatic scenes than I would Amber Riley. She's a fantastic singer, just not that great an actress and that shows in the scenes she's opposite Colfer. Kurt is also no longer attending the same school as Mercedes, so that also inevitably decreases her screen time with Kurt and in turn increases Darren's screen time as Blaine is there at Dalton with Kurt. It's also very apparent they're setting up Blaine to be in a big relationship with Kurt, who can likely be considered a lead now with the focus on his arc this season, and that means Blaine is going to have to have development on his own to catch-up with a lead and arguably one of the more interesting characters in the series. I'm sure if you have a little more patience they'll give Mercedes more songs and, acting-wise, stuff that Amber can handle, especially in light of this budding friendship with Rachel, another series lead, which would give her more screen time. I'm relatively confident actually the next couple episodes will be rather Dalton-light, so there's something for you.
Wow. What a stupid article. Of course we can predict what will happen on Glee by the example of exactly one other show. Sure Darren's been featured lately, but they kind of have to do that to integrate his character into the cast. I don't see how he is in any way reducing the number of scenes Lea or many of the other regulars get. Neglected characters are no more neglected than they always were on this show. And frankly the episodes since Blaine showed up have been some of the most well balanced, character-wise of the show's whole run. And that's some bull about Kurt too. SLS was full of Kurt development, showing him vastly more mature than last season.This sounds like they're just trying to stir up Glee fandom and cause wank.
Excellent points, I wholeheartedly agree with this entire post.
Well, you certainly got your hits with this one.
Well played, sir.
Balance has always been an issue with Glee, and because Glee is a musical dramedy, it has *two* balance issues: like LOST, it has to balance plot among characters, but it also has to balance featured singing. I think these are two separate things, and Blaine is really only dominating on the latter. On the plot side, he's played a supporting role to Kurt in every episode except the most recent one, and like Lauren, Blaine needed some shading and development if he's going to be sticking around as a love interest of one of the original main characters. Mercedes and Tina have always been light on plot, and it's worse this year for Mercedes because the character she had the strongest relationship with and shared the most plot with, Kurt, is at a different school.
Featured singer balance is a different story. I think Blaine probably is getting song time that would normally go to Mercedes, who tended to get more music than plot. Part of it is no doubt because Darren Criss-sung songs have been selling so well. Part of it is because the Tufts 'Bubs-sung songs (the real voices behind the Warblers) have sold so well, and the plot has set things up such that Blaine is pretty much the only one who can sing lead on those songs. Kurt is the only other character we know who could even possibly sing with them outside a dream sequence, and the Warblers rigid hierarchy and traditions make it very difficult for Kurt to get a lead with them.
It's a tricky double balancing act. Add to that how, as much as we may like to think that television is an art form and creators should have vision and shouldn't succumb to viewer whims, TV (and music sales, for that matter) is still big business. So keeping a show artistically (and I use that term loosely) interesting yet commercially successful, *and* balancing plot among a large ensemble cast, *and* balancing songs among a large ensemble cast with varying levels of talent when it comes to acting, singing, and dancing? That would be extremely hard for anyone to do. I share your misgivings about Ryan Murphy being up to it. All that said, I'm thoroughly enjoying this season for the most part.
What exactly were the original story goals of the series? Looking back at Season 1, the emphasis was on Will Schuster's character. His obsession with recreating his glory days, his dissolving marriage (and his wife's deception), and the tentative courtship between Will and Emma. That part of the story has almost disappeared -- and I'm pretty glad about it. I much prefer focusing on the kids, with Will playing a supportive role and only occasional glimpses at his love life.
It's worth remembering that Kurt wasn't even in the original plan. The character was created when Murphy was bowled over by Chris Colfer's audition (the name "Kurt" was because Chris mentioned playing Kurt in The Sound of Music, and the surname "Hummel" came from his resemblance to a Hummel miniature.) So, if Darren Cris is the Michael Emerson of Glee, Chris Colfer is the Josh Holloway.
Would we be better off if the show ignored Cris's charm and instead focused on Rachel/Finn and Sam/Quinn? I don't think so. If Lost had killed Ben off in Season 2 or 3, we would have missed out on his redemption arc. Even if it was "hasty," it was still powerful and one of the most powerful stories in the entire series. Let's not forget, either, that Matthew Fox's Jack Shepard was originally slated to die in the pilot episode, leaving Kate as the main character for the series.
But I agree that the key is balance. As an audience, we do want to know that the story is going somewhere. There eventually needs to be a resolution to Kurt's trials with Karofsky (a resolution made more difficult by Max Adler's surprisingly deep characterization of a bully). Much as I love the Warbler sound, we can't have another tie at Regionals -- and this isn't the story of Dalton Academy. Right now, there are just too many stories on the table, too many good singers, too many stars panting for a guest slot on the show, too many riches to properly focus on anything.
I didn't watch Lost, so can't relate to the Michael Emerson comparison, but when someone above posted *cough*Sylar*cough*, I suddenly understood exactly what you fear could happen. I, however, am going to choose to have faith in Murphy, Falchuk and Brennan that they set out to tell a story and will stick with that story even though Darren Criss has crazy loud stans that make me hate the character he plays.
I think the whole "Klaine" thing is a red herring, so Blaine and the Warblers' time is limited. That's why they're getting so many songs now. I hope I'm right because Criss isn't a very good dramatic actor, so I would hate it if he ends up being Kurt's boyfriend.
I completely agree with everything on this comment, except for generalizing gleeks as all of them loving Criss. I know for a fact that there are several (including me) that would have been very happy with the two episodes he was supposed to do. Kurt is my favourite character, and it's just sad that he's not only being marginalized, but his whole plotlinei is basically on hold. Instead of starting resolving the bullying story effectively, and the actual romantic plot (that I do not think involved Blaine as a main part) starting too, we're stuck watching Kurt being at Dalton, where apparently his only friend is Blaine, and to make it worse, he's put aside.
And here I was wanting to comment that we have been given less Mercedes/more Blaine as Kurt's sidekick/bestie likely because Criss is by far the stronger acting partner for CC. I am impressed with Criss's chops. I agree with the person who said that Amber can blow the roof off, but is quite painful to watch otherwise. Tina as well. And Brittany, who started out as a background character, also became a Ryan Murphy pet and got a WHOLE EPISODE dedicated to her, plus Tina's love interest. Why no article about that?
Could not agree more. I don't hate Darren, but he is not the reason for Glee's success, the show was already a hit before him, and if the writers forget that and start to focus too much on him they'll start losing support from the fans of characters like Kurt, Rachel, Finn and others...this is dangerous, since I don't think Darren's fans can support the show by themselves.
I must say that you voiced really well some of my concerns. I don't hate Darren, I think he is great and a wonderful addition to the cast. He is a great performer and a good enough actor. However, it feels that right now the writers are writing for the itunes charts. Some people have commented that the structure of the Warblers make it difficult for Kurt to have a solo. You people forget that singing with the warblers is not the only way Kurt can sing. He could express his broken heart in song, audition for another solo, or even rehearse on his own. If they wanted to give a solo they could. However, Darren is selling, so story be danmed, and this is a VERY dangerous thing. Glee was a succes before Darren, and they seem to forget that.I don't hate Darren, but everytime I tune in to see my favorite characters sing and only get Blaine I start to get annoyed. I do think that trying to shove Blaine solos so they can have itune sales can backfire, since some of the characters that made the show critically acclaimed are being shoved to a corner. The series will lose quality and credibility. Is not Darren's fault, it's the writers fault, since they don't seem to get that the best solution to please every fan is balance.
I've never seen "Lost", don't really care about it either, but--by the sounds of it--the character you were talking about made the show loads more interesting, so I'll give the actor and writers a high five for that.
Now, as for the main topic of this article: Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson. Well, to me, this article has "BIASED POINT OF VIEW" all over it. For this part, I'll push aside my own bias, because it's not difficult to do so.
Back in November, the episode "Never Been Kissed" aired. This was the first episode I saw on my TV because I watched the rest online within... a week or so. Darren Criss got a guest role that only had a contract for 3 episodes. He was supposed to come on, push Kurt to stand up to Karofsky and be a mentor figure. Of course, I highly doubt that 3 episode contract was so stiff that Ryan Murphy wasn't thinking about how he could use Blaine.
It just so happened that the song "Teenage Dream" as sung by Blaine and the Warblers ended up being the number 1 selling song on Glee. I'd like to think that everyone saw "$$$" at this point. The Warblers have sung 5 songs: Teenage Dream (NBK), Hey Soul Sister (SE), Bill Bills Bills (SSBS), When I Get You Alone (SLS), and Silly Love Songs (SLS). Know why they sung 5 songs in 7 episodes since they came into it (3 of which they weren't in besides Blaine)?
Because the Warblers make them *money*. People seem to forget the money aspect of this show, but they shouldn't, it's a VERY important aspect. The more money you make, the more songs you'll get. Blaine altogether will be absent from 2 episodes this season, plus I highly doubt the Warblers will be in the next few episodes much. They're in one episode, but no songs, and I'm guessing it'll be the episode with the Blaine and Burt meeting as that's supposed to happen sometime soon.
Also, nudged Kurt out of the spotlight, WHAT? Well, you must be watching an *entirely* different show than I and a lot of other people are. This season, Kurt has gone through so much character development, its crazy and I love it, so very much because he's my favorite character and quite frankly, Chris Colfer is the best actor on that show and people know it. This is why Kurt gets so much attention. Kurt didn't even exist before and he wouldn't have had Chris not decided to walk into that audition room and audition for the role of Artie.
Its a sad thought because Kurt is the heart of this show. He's the only character who gets treated like more than a ragdoll.
And exactly how has Blaine nudged New Directions out of the spotlight? In the "Silly Love Songs" episode, they (as in Kurt, Blaine and the Warblers) got about 15 minutes, a little bit less actually. In the Super Bowl episode they got about... 5-6 minutes of screen time, most of that going towards "Bills, Bills, Bills" and a few 1-2 second flashes of them in the stands--most of which were flashes of Kurt and Carole as she was right next to him.
Mercedes? You mean the girl who never got much screen time anyway? Amber is a great singer, but she doesn't sell songs like Lea for instance, which is why she doesn't get many songs, and she's Kurt's best friend, who is now at Dalton, so they don't get to see each other much, hence no screen time. Mercedes' last storyline was about *tots*. Blame the writer's for that; not Blaine as played by Darren Criss.
You argue that she's got LESS screen time since Blaine came on than she had before, and maybe it looks like that, but its actually she's got LESS screen time since Kurt transfered to Dalton, which has absolutely nothing to do with Blaine nor Darren Criss.
Why don't you complain about *Tina* not getting enough screen time? I mean, she finally gets to sing a song by herself and the writers ruin it by making her start to cry after one line in. If I cared at all about Tina--and I don't that much because the writers don't *make* me care about her because I don't know anything about her--I'd be pissed off.
And Mr. Schue's rap solos? The best part of those for me is the looks Kurt gives him; the roll of the eyes, the disgusted expressions as he sits in the background not at all participating. Frankly, I think Mr. Schue should just go away altogether. Want something to complain about? Complain about the fact that Holly Holiday will be singing 4 songs within 2 episodes, just saying. And I mean, she's not even going to be a regular character like Blaine will become season 3. I couldn't care less about the adults of the show because I already don't care about them at all.
You also obviously don't know how many people were going to stop watching Glee before Kurt got more time and Blaine came onto the show, huh? At this point, if they disappeared from the show altogether, I'd wave good bye and leave the fandom without a second glance. Besides them, the only thing I like is that Rachel is going to be independent starting now--and if spoilers are correct, that lasts for about... 5 episodes at most--and the Puck/Lauren development is a bit interesting... but besides that. No, I don't care, I just *don't* care, as many other people.
The whole Sam/Quinn/Finn thing just needs to go away. In fact, it shouldn't have happened. All it does is make me go "Finn, you freaking hypocrite. Quinn, didn't you learn last time when you got *pregnant*? And Sam... you know, I just don't care about you Sam but that's not your fault, it's the writers' fault."
Now, this is really long-winded, but I'm not done. This is most to fans, not to you since you didn't really mention it, but... since when is Kurt being pushed aside and left out at Dalton?
He's getting more comfortable, as said by the fact that the Warblers seriously took his suggestion of giving the "Warbler GAP Attact" a try. Remember "Never Been Kissed"? Remember when the guys were all positively RUDE to him and his suggestions? He barely sung at New Directions, and its not much of a difference. He doesn't sing at Dalton because he's still getting used to being in an acapella group.
Plus, he only sing songs that *really* mean something. He doesn't sing songs like "Bills, Bills, Bills" or "She's Not There" which are pretty much just there for the sake of being there. He sings songs like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" which is saying he misses his father and he needs him in his life and that he believes in *him* or even a song like "4 Minutes" where the meaning isn't so clear. It's a rebellion against Schue along with Mercedes because, hello! Give someone else a chance other than Rachel and Finn, Schue!
I'll end by saying don't dump this on Darren Criss' lap. You're allowed your opinion, everyone is. It's not his fault that Ryan Murphy is taking advantage of his voice. It just so happens that the Warblers sell more than anyone else on the show. They don't get as much screen time as you make them out to get. It only seems like that because of how many songs they/Blaine get. If you count in terms of minutes, they've barely been in 1 episode.
I think they just need to give Kurt and Blaine more duets :). Really, though. I don't think Blaine will be a problem as long as they start giving Kurt some more solos. I feel like it was really only the last episode that Kurt played "second fiddle" to Blaine, which was fine with me, because they needed to do something to give Blaine's character more depth. You don't want Kurt dating a perfect, cardboard cutout. The writers needed to flesh out his character a little bit and they couldn't do that without giving him more screen time. I do agree that they need to do something to integrate the Kurt/Blaine storyline into the rest of the show, though.
Heh - you're welcome. It's interesting for me to have pointed out Sylar as an example of a character who was originally intended to be marginal, but was such a great character played by a strong actor that it permanently diverted the course of Heroes (and may, inadvertently, have led to its demise/rejection by its original fan base). The comparison to Michael Emerson's Ben is even closer to the Sylar situation; Ben was by far my favorite Lost character and Sylar very quickly became one of my favorite Heroes characters. Blaine? Well, Darren Criss is a lovely fellow, he can sing like a dream, and he's got performance skills; however, he's not all that great of an actor. The presence of Blaine does give me pause, but, having been a veteran of those other two shows (though I was not ever, and will not ever consider myself a fan of Lost; Heroes, yes, absolutely) I am more interested in seeing how, and if, the show changes by the increased presence of Blaine's character. It's not really as though Glee can go much farther off the rails than it already has. I will be a Glee viewer to the bitter end, no matter what; I got a fever and the only cure is show tunes!
Yeah, starting to get a bit bored with Blaine. It's obvious that RM is shoving him in for the bucks (seriously, how many songs has he gotten this season vs. Kurt? or the neglected kids of ND). Enough is enough, keep him as a guest star, please.
I agree that Darren is made more for theather, he doesn't have the subtlety a lot of the other kids in Glee have (most notably the three C's, all of whom I'd rate far above Darren). He's not bad but I found myself cringing a lot during the last episode.
//This is a man so fickle that he plans on splitting up Sam and Quinn (um, spoiler alert, but not really), because he’s “bored.”//
Lol, this is where we need to disagree. Murphy trolls like the best of them and if you believe stuff that comes out of his mouth (Idina isn't Rachel's mom, you guys!) I can't help you there. There's a clear arch going on for Sam in the background and while the plot hasn't made it too obvious yet (it's been concentrating on the bullying arch which the Dalton thing and Klaine love has overshadowed pretty badly, btw), I'm sure we'll get there eventually. (Most of it might be planned for S3 actually, I'm not sure how fast the plot will progress.)
I think Mercedes has been marginalized because Amber Riley can't act. That was painfully obvious in Rocky Horror, among other instances. The character taking Mercedes role isn't Blaine, the writers have been careful to connect Mercedes to Rachael & Kurt in the sleepover & coffee shop scenes. What is apparently happening is that the dramatic arc that Amber couldn't handle with Puck has been moved over to Lauren - you know, the sassy, over-weight chick who's starting an arc with Puck is Mercedes 2.0. I'm betting Mercedes/Amber won't be back next year when contracts renewed, but Lauren will - the character is far, far more popular & Ashley's a far better actress.
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