How It’s New York: Well, recapping with intent fits in the life of a busy New Yorker. OK, it’s a stretch. but seriously, lots of us have totally gotten out of the habit of watching TV in real time. How It’s Irish: Celtic Thunder’s Damian McGinty is still from Derry. They’ve stopped subtitling him, which bodes well.
In which Damian is dreamy, officially, and Hannah plucks his nose hairs…
For our first post about the show and its rules, go here.
Damian and Hannah
Last week, Cameron quit the show out of religious scruples. Well, partly, he also quit because he didn’t want it enough and wasn’t used to acting and said as much. Showrunner Ryan Murphy, for some reason, informed Cameron that his quitting had saved Damian, who would have been cut, and then Cameron thought it a good idea to tell all the other kids. And on the not called back list they showed Damian’s name, crossed out, with Cameron written beneath.
I didn’t buy this. did you? I mean, seriously. The talk on the blogosphere is that Damian’s been picked to win and this is part of his underdog arc. Of course there are also conflicting spoilers– Damian’s sharing an apartment with Cameron in LA (does that mean he won?); Damian’s taking a driving test in Ireland (does that mean he lost?). We’ll just have to wait and see.
But to cut to the chase: Damian survived Episode 8 ( you can watch the episode here). Not only did he survive, he didn’t even have to sing a last chance number! Woo hoo!
So here’s the Damian report (and the music video!) from The Glee Project:
Damian talks about what happened last week, saying “talk about the luck of the Irish.” OK, he’s a team player, pretending that he nearly got axed. This week’s challenge, they learn, is “Believability: Be Real.”
Damian and Cameron
Our Damian of the sparkly eyes is the first talking head, and he talks about how Cameron was his “best mate” and he’s sorry he left.
The guest star is Jenna Ushkowitz, who plays Tina on the show. She listens to the group singinging “True Colors” to demonsrate their vulnerability. I’ve always liked this song– they use it really well in the Broadway show Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, too. I remember the music video from Cyndi Lauper and the feathers and Indian drumming before and after and still don’t know what it means. I think it might be a candidate for the Literal Music Video project…
Tina has nice words for everyone, like joyous, incredible, amazing. Of Damien she says he is “dreamy, so heartfelt.” I think “dreamy” has been said of him before…but she picks Hannah to win.
So Hannah will get coaching from Nikki in the music video, which will be to Paramour’s “The Only Exception.” The song is about being in love with someone who doesn’t know you exist. There will be no choreography, just focu on vocals and acting. By “acting” what they reall mean is emoting and looking upset for the camera. We still don’t know if anybody can read a line, and we won’t know from this episode either I’m sorry to say.
Hannah admits her mad crush on Damian. She’s admitted it before but more like a hypothetical; this week she admits she likes him but knows he just thinks of her as a friend. The video is set in a school library, and it’s about circular longing, like La Ronde:
Alex supposedly longs for Damian who longs for Lindsay…Hannah is supposed to long for Alex but she looks at Damian and finds it hard to focus. See, if she really knew anything about acting she’d be able to use that emotion. Meanwhile, Alex thinks he’s golden because he had a breakdown in the recording booth about the loss of his father when he was 6. The director notices that Alex looks depressed, not lovelorn. THAT’S BECAUSE SIMILAR EMOTIONS ARE NOT THE SAME EMOTIONS. Which Alex would know if he’d had even Intro to Acting. To his credit, though, the director gives him the note– and he takes it, and suddenly gives a sweet longing look to Damian.
The video is la ronde style longing, although it’s not the same kids longing for the same kids… it’s Hannah longing for alex who’s longing for Damien who’s longing for lindsay
Damian admits he’s nervous about the scene. He finds it hard to sit still, and “not in a good way, I can’t dance,” he says which is cute. He also says he hops to god his eyebrows don’t start dancing. During the shoot the directors make fun of his twitchy eyebrows.
Aw, poor kid, he does come up with a longing look, but they have to do an extreme closeup in the camera frame so we don’t see his eyebrows. Every now and then you can see one moving a little.
On callback day, we see the three guys talking. Damian’s very nervous. He expects to be in the bottom 3, because he has been so many times.
But for once he gets nice feedback! Nikki says she’s really proud of him. He says it was harder than he expected. He doesn’t have to do a last chance performance!
Before the callback, the kids have fun plucking Damian’ws nose hairs. Hee. Now that is a seriouas crush. At 17, I would not have wanted to pluck the nose hairs of my crush (at that age, it used to bother me that my crushes went to the bathroom).
Actually, I don’t want to do it now.
The last chance numbers happen, and Ryan warns Hannah that though he loves her the other two are better singers. Also, let’s be honest, as they say on Television Without Pity, she’s got a uterus.
And so Hannah is not called back. The first person to hug her is Damian, which is not too bad a consolation prize.
Hannah goeshome—Ryan sort of warned her she probably would—and the first person who hugs her is Damian.
Next week is the final round before the finale. Will Damian make it? What do you think?
