Popular - Learn to recognize your own voice.

Popular: 1x03 Under Siege

At this point in the show, Sam hates Brooke for what she represents and for not using her powers for good – and for hurting two of her best friends, and, even though she’d never admit it, because she quietly also wants her place in the spotlight, and that feeling tends to undermine all of her righteous attempts (she does, again and again, sabotage herself because she deeply aspires to be that objective journalist). Brooke didn’t even know who she was before Sam started to vilify her – because Brooke is no Mini McGuinness. She doesn’t take out her insecurities on strangers and kids who aren’t popular, she lashes out on Josh when she feels threatened. 

Sometimes, the characters on the show seem to be almost caged in their role they play in their respective place within the high school hierarchy, as if certain behavioural patterns were the inescapable result of occupying a specific space and playing a certain role. The “alternative” girl must criticize and hate the Queen Bee. The second place in the hierarchy must be occupied by a girl doing all the dirty work, secretly plotting to maybe one day become the Queen Bee herself, while also fighting competition from the lower ranks (this is mostly played for the comic relief of Mary Cherry trying to get there by BECOMING Nicole rather than replacing her). Whenever someone challenges the preconceptions (Josh wants to be a quarterback and an actor, Carmen wants to be cheerleader), issues arise – and one of the ultimate achievements of Popular is slowly developing these characters until they can break out – but the starting point of the process sometimes makes it difficult to really understand the characters and their decisions (especially Sam), and some of the less central characters are far from being fully developed (Nicole, Bobbi Glass) and sometimes frustratingly one-dimensional. 

Under Siege is a first step towards understanding Sam McPherson’s motivations a little better, though, even if the ultimate revelation comes late in the episode. At the beginning, both Sam and Brooke are horrified at the prospect of their parents choosing, of all people, a partner who has, in their opinion, nurtured a demon child from hell (the episode cuts between the two households, with both of them giving an extensive lists of each other’s character flaws). “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, threatens Sam, “those qualities are taught”, responds Brooke. The parental units, Sam’s mum quickly getting to the core of both the premise of the show and the base for numerous femmeslashy stories out there – “what IS your problem with Brooke McQueen?” – decide that a dinner will solve everything. Sam promptly decides that she might manage to spoil the whole wedding idea as long as the dinner is as horrible as humanly possible. 

At the same time, a humanities teacher introduces a new concept, or a motto, if you will, to the students of Kennedy High, and it works as a recurring theme in the episode. 

“Listen to your instincts, people, learn to recognize your own voice. It is the most important voice you will ever hear.”

“Your own voice” – it sounds like a simple concept, but, as My So-Called Life put it so elegantly, it’s actually much more difficult, because everybody is an act. There is always an element of pretence, and everybody is a little bit fake. Authenticity isn’t something that can ultimately be reached, but the point is constantly questioning your motives and ideals and actions. Carmen doesn’t feature very prominently in this episode because she has already found her own voice – her reason for wanting to become a cheerleader isn’t shallow. Lily sees it as a confirmation that not giving into Bobbi Glass’ tyranny, regardless of whether she has the support she needs (not even her friends are on board with her once the frog starts to smell), is essential because this is who she wants to be. Josh decides that he doesn’t want to choose between being a quarterback and starring in a musical, even though the coach and the theatre teacher are fighting a childish and ridiculous war over who is allowed to utilize his talents. 

Sam is a different story. She gets the opportunity to write an editorial that will severely diminish the influence of the football team and destroy the cheerleading squad, and she proudly embraces the chance, even though it means betraying Lily by not supporting her with a passionate editorial about animal cruelty. We think we know her motivations – she desperately wants to take down Brooke (who, in an earlier fight, tells Sam that “you don’t like your life very much and you wish you had a better one.”) – even though the idea that the coach has a secret budget and the cheerleading squad a “prada allowance” sounds like reason enough for her editorial, from a journalistic standpoint. 

Sam: Brooke, I know it’s hard for you to believe that the world does not orbit you, but this editorial was written out of obligation to the truth.
Brooke: Obligation to the truth? That editorial was completely unfair. I can’t believe that there was actually a time that I thought we might be friends.
Sam: You never thought that, did you?
Brooke: Well, I guess you’ll never know now, will you.

Harrison blames her for always antagonizing Brooke, because their forced union might heal the wounds of the school and have the potential to put an end to the class system – and instead, Sam escalates the situation, and we and Harrison have been taught by the show that she never acts out of “obligation to the truth”, so we question her actions the same way Brooke does. This is also one of the most interesting moments in the show so far, because Brooke admits that she really thought they could be friends, and Sam is completely thrown at the comment because she never once considered the possibility of an honest friendship – in her view of the world, she can’t be Brooke McPherson’s friend because of the positions they both occupy, but Brooke doesn’t see the world in the same terms Sam does (Nicole, however, does, even though from the opposite side – and steers Brooke to make sure she follows the established norms). 

Lily is the next to question Sam’s motives – and she is both angry because Sam didn’t support her own project and completely sure that her own motives are purer than Sam’s. 

Sam: Harrison is right, it stinks and it’s only gonna get worse. Why don’t you just cut it and move on.
Lily: Because maybe I have a conviction that means something, that’s from a true positive place and yeah, you’re right Sam, I’m mad at you. Maybe if you’d listened to reason and run the right editorial, you could have saved lives instead of only yourself.

But then, and this is done so beautifully and subtly and without a long accompanying speech (just a picture and a quiet “The memories I have of him are just like outline, and I have to color in the details or something. God, I miss him.”), we find out that Sam has a completely different reason – her father was a journalist, and she feels that she can retain a bit of him if she aspires to follow in his footsteps, but Harrison doesn’t see it because Sam is too hesitant to share her feelings and never really explains that aspect of her personality to anyone. 

Harrison: Sam, I think you ran that editorial because you don’t want him replaced. You want your mom to think that Brooke McQueen is superficial and horrible so she’ll call off this engagement.
Sam: My dad always said,  ‘reporters follow their instincts.’
Harrison: You’ve got a hidden agenda, Sammy. The funny thing is that everybody can see it but you.
Sam: Whose side are you on anyway.

The revelation about her dad also puts her infatuation with the journalism teacher in a different light – he is the only one she can talk to. Nicole, with an infallible instinct for the weaknesses of her enemies, chooses this moment of vulnerability to strike back, and accuses him of sexual misconduct, and Sam slips up when she tells the principal that they had “dinner one time”, which costs him his career. 

After a week of warring, Sam and Brooke come to the family dinner hating each other even more than before – Sam cost Brooke the cheerleading squad, Brooke took the only male parental figure from Sam. Brooke’s dad makes the mistake of asking Sam how her day was. 

Sam: Mom, Principal Hall will probably be calling you tomorrow, my journalism faculty advisor got framed for sex with a student, the student being me. Don’t worry, I’m innocent, as is Mr Grant. Nothing happened. Brooke here just decided to get back at me for writing my editorial and made the whole thing up.
Brooke: I didn’t do that. I don’t know what you did last summer and I don’t care. You’d like to think that I had something to do with it because it would make your life a little easier because then you would have someone to blame for your problems, when your problem, Sam, is yourself. Now that you’ve ended cheerleaders and my relationship with my boyfriend, maybe you can find some time to grab some therapy, you need it.

Sam storms off angrily and finds Brooke’s room. She starts to examine her things (this is her first glimpse into Brooke’s life) – which leads to their final confrontation and the climax of the episode. It starts almost friendly, when Sam explains to Brooke that she dislikes her so much because there are so many people in school who have less than her, only their pride, and “everyday you chip away at it you take that too” – but we know that Brooke is deeply insecure herself, and Nicole does most of the chipping away at other people’s pride, even though she is often complicit (as she was when she denied Carmen the spot on the squad). 

Brooke: Just get out, Sam. And FYI, put away your mental tape measure cause you’re never moving into this room, or this house. You, or your mother.
Sam: My father died two years ago, did you know that? My mother loved him very much. Did your mother die?
Brooke: No. She left.
Sam: With you as a daughter it’s easy to see why.

Brooke hits her, but the moment itself is incredibly complex: it almost seems like Sam can’t believe that she says the horrible lines as she is saying them, like she is trapped in a script and it is, somehow, inevitable that she hurts Brooke the moment she finds a new weakness (it reminded me of Emily’s “Nobody hits me over the head with a rock, loser”). The quiet exchange before is probably the first honest conversation they’ve had because this is a pain they share – the pain of having lost a parent. It’s the ultimate insult and they can’t really go anywhere from there – it can’t get any worse than that – and Sam obviously doesn’t like being that person. It leads directly to her catharsis at the end of the episode, which earns her the admission from her friends that just this once, they’ve underestimated her too and treated her badly. 

Sam: Okay, whatever, you know, I am bad person, I have vendettas, I suck, I’ve hurt.
Harrison: Wow, dinner was that bad, huh.
Carmen: Look, Sam, what we wanted to say to you is that we are so sorry.
Sam: What?
Carmen: Yeah, you should have listened to us, as your friends, but hell, we should have listened to you too. Yeah, I didn’t make stupid cheerleaders and it was a blow, but you lost your dad. Doesn’t really compare.
Lily: Sammy, when Harrison told me how upset you were I was totally shocked. Why didn’t you tell me?
Sam: I didn’t want you guys to think I was a big baby,.
Harrison: Sammy, look, this Brooke McQueen thing, you think you’re alone but you’re not. You have friends who care about you. We wanna help you through this situation, if you just let us.
Sam: Thanks guys.

She takes that strength and the knowledge that she isn’t alone to Brooke – she admits that she deserved the slap after Brooke offers an apology, and then they both realize that they were selfish and didn’t even consider their parents in their personal feud. 

Brooke: I guess they really love each other.
Sam: Yeah. And then there’s you and me.
Brooke: Two people who really don’t like each other at all.
Sam: Well. This ought to be interesting?
Brooke: Very.

Random notes: 

Carly Pope and Leslie Bibb are incredible in the two fight scenes. Sometimes it feels a bit like falling down a rabbit hole whenever Popular chooses to get really serious, but the transitions actually work well (again, I can't say why, but then, I can't with Skins either. It's inexplicable.)

I thought Bobbi Glass’ motivations were vaguely comprehensible in the previous episode, but her opposition to Lily’s protest quickly becomes ridiculous here (we could maybe discuss if the usage of OTT characters and scenes works for Popular, and if it does, why it didn’t for Skins US). She forces Lily to wear the dead frog she doesn’t want to dissect “as a purse”. I do appreciate her monologues though: 

 “Your moral beliefs clash with my teaching style, so my frog is gonna clash with your outfit, and now that you have your fine ‘style&frog’ purse, not only can you wear your frog on your sleeve, but also your disruptive stubbornness.”

Sandra Oh’s lesson, however, was one of the most awesome I have ever seen – she asks the students, in a slightly psychopathic manner, to cut out perfect squares, then throws their hard labour in the waste basket. 

“Now then. Will somebody mind explaining to me why you let me waste your time without calling me on it? And while you’re at it, will someone please explain to me how you could let me call you retardos, that’s prejudice? I know I’m intimating cause I dress fantastically, but you have to listen to that little voice inside your head that said, hey, teacher lady up there is acting a little whack, is she on crack?”

“Nice to smell you all this morning.” – I am still trying to make up my mind if I find the portrayal of the blind principal offensive or legitimate in the context of how the show treats all major- and minorities. Oh Ryan Murphy, how entertaining to see the roots of what became some of the greatest issues I have with Glee. 

COACH PERETTI, I KNOW YOU’RE HERE, I SMELL BRUTE.

Carmen states that she wouldn’t mind being Brooke McQueen for a day, even though Brooke just made it very clear to her in the previous episode that being her isn’t exactly that easy – slight continuity mishap. 

Deepthroat; Sam wearing a fedora (or is it a Stetson?) while writing the article. Small things that make me happy. 

Lily: Respectfully, I choose to keep my purse closed and daydream. (cue the Blaxploitation dream, featuring Foxy Free, Harrison John as Lou Liberation, and Carmen Ferrara as Sizzle Emancipation). Oh Tamara Mello, you and your precious face.

Brooke has finally come around to fully support Josh, and finds that instead of threatening their social position, once she embraces the idea that the musical could be a cool thing, everybody else does too – but then she loses the cheerleaders, panics and asks Josh to quit the musical because it would restore the funding. I think that Josh’s reaction to this is understandable, but I understand Brooke too, asking Josh to sacrifice his dream so she doesn’t lose everything (in her perspective, he’d still have the football team, while she loses her context completely without the squad). Also, sometimes Josh’s rightful indignation gets on my nerves, as does Harrison’s. 

Josh: All week long I’ve been hearing these voices in my head from my dad, my coach, my mom, my girlfriend, and I think what I need to do is just take a while to clear all the voices out so I can hear my own.

I love the moment between Josh and Lily at the end, when she buries the frog after winning her fight, because they both get what they want in the end (the principal resolves both their conflicts – “We are here to encourage a child’s spirit, not abuse it.”) – and it’s a surprising connection between two characters who have nothing else in common. 

Lily: I’m really sorry you didn’t have a choice. Thanks for giving me one. 

Josh: I wanted to tell you I really respect you for what you did, not caving in and cutting them all up I mean. 

Lily: How is the whole big dilemma going, with the team and the musical? 

Josh: It’s tough-going. Every second of every day is like this super-human effort to not cave into what people want me to do. 

Lily: Don’t cave. Stay true to yourself and what you want. 

Josh: I don’t know how long I can make. 

Lily: Actually it’s the only way to make it. 

Josh: Bye little dude. 

Lily: Godspeed.

Obscure pop cultural references: 

Not really a pop cultural reference, but definitely nostalgia-evoking: Chunky NOKIA cell phones with exchangeable covers (featured in one of the more irritating/inspired fantasy sequence, in which the cast accessorize their faces according to the colour of their phones). I had one of those. FOR SIX YEARS. IT WAS INDESTRUCTABLE. 

Sam’s newspaper is called The Zapruder Reporter – Abraham Zapruder was a clothes manufacturer who happened to film the assassination of John F. Kennedy when his motorcade passed – “on what came to be knows as the Zapruder Film.”

The stylish and slightly ridiculous restroom that often works as a “to the library!” in the show (and is going to be the setting of a bottle episode in the future…) is “redone in the honor of Kim Novak”. 

Sam: I got through grunge and a Vanilla Ice concert in second grade. Not afraid of you guys.

Sam, ever the chameleon, managed to bridge the seemingly impossible gap between two diametrically opposed genres in second grade. 

Minor things: Rickie Lake is mentioned, and Judge Judy. 

Lily’s blaxploitation fantasy makes much more sense if you keep in mind that Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown came out only a few years earlier. 

The reference to the Brady Bunch isn’t really something I can explain (I don’t think it ever aired here, and certainly didn’t have the cultural impact it had on early 1970s America) – but as far as I can tell, people prefer the result of their online “which character of the Brady Bunch are you” tests to be Jan Brady. “Jan found she had a talent for painting (as does Eve Plumb), which likely led to her career choice as an architect, following in her father's footsteps (as shown in later reunion films).” (I totally scored as a Jan, so, good for me I guess?)

A Bug’s Life! Sugar cried: “I can’t help it, they’re just so small and helpless.”

Obligatory movie reference: 

Under Siege, a 1992 high-quality movie featuring Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, Erika Eleniak (of Baywatch fame) and Colm Meaney. You gotta like movies that have descriptions starting with “a former Navy SEAL, now cook”.