Shazia Ahmad" />
  • ABOUT
  • PRINT
  • PRAISE
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • OPENINGS
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTACT
The Missing Slate - For the discerning reader
  • HOME
  • Magazine
  • In This Issue
  • Literature
    • Billy Luck
      Billy Luck
    • To the Depths
      To the Depths
    • Dearly Departed
      Dearly Departed
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
  • Arts AND Culture
    • Tramontane
      Tramontane
    • Blade Runner 2049
      Blade Runner 2049
    • Loving Vincent
      Loving Vincent
    • The Critics
      • FILM
      • BOOKS
      • TELEVISION
    • SPOTLIGHT
    • SPECIAL FEATURES
  • ESSAYS
    • A SHEvolution is Coming in Saudi Arabia
      A SHEvolution is Coming in Saudi Arabia
    • Paxi: A New Business Empowering Women in Pakistan
      Paxi: A New Business Empowering Women in Pakistan
    • Nature and Self
      Nature and Self
    • ARTICLES
    • COMMENTARY
    • Narrative Nonfiction
  • CONTESTS
    • Pushcart Prize 2017 Nominations
      Pushcart Prize 2017 Nominations
    • Pushcart Prize 2016 Nominations
      Pushcart Prize 2016 Nominations
    • Pushcart Prize 2015 Nominations
      Pushcart Prize 2015 Nominations
    • PUSHCART 2013
    • PUSHCART 2014
Arts & Culture, The Devil's in the RemoteSeptember 9, 2013

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

I haven’t been a fan of Glee for a while now, but nobody can deny that it broke new ground in television when it first came out, and many have tried to replicate its success to no avail. Almost all of Glee‘s charm lies within the actors and actresses who play the misfits of William McKinley High School. As talented as the cast is, and as ridiculous, frustrating and simplistic many of their characterizations have been, ‘Gleeks’ remain a dedicated (and rather rabid) fandom because the cast continues to genuinely love their fans back in their own humble, playful, charming way.

Hence the passing of Cory Monteith, who played one of the male leads Finn on the show (also often an inappropriately close friend to his teacher, leader of the misfits and one half of the end-game to end all end-games, the show’s central couple known to fans as ‘Finchel’), has not been easy on anyone, least of all his castmates, which include on- and off-screen girlfriend, Lea Michele. So central was he to the show, that Ryan Murphy considered shutting down the show entirely (and under different circumstances I would have agreed; this show should’ve ended about two seasons ago), but viewers and showrunners agreed that both the character and the actor who played him deserve a proper send-off, if just to give fans a chance at some closure. [pullquote] Shows that have had to handle the death of a cast member while still on air have done so exceptionally well (unless you had the misfortune of dying while working on Dallas or The Bold and the Beautiful). [/pullquote]

Though it is a rare occurrence, television shows that have had to handle the death of a cast member while still on air have done so exceptionally well (unless one had the misfortune of dying while cast in Dallas or The Bold and the Beautiful). Episodes that deal directly with the passing of their characters, rather than bury it under flimsy dialogue, have been poignant, thoughtful, with a little bit of humour (though not always completely in line with the character) but with a loving nod to the wonderful people who played them.

What I’m most afraid of, in terms of the upcoming Glee tribute episode, is that the same (possibly bipolar with flashes of genius) mind that has envisioned and executed episodes like Shooting Star and Grilled Cheesus (both of which occupy the opposite ends of the Ryan Murphy Subtlety Spectrum) will be at the helm. He has considered having Finn Hudson die of a drug overdose, since Cory Monteith struggled with addiction issues all his life, but Cory the actor is not Finn the character. Such a death, though it would raise an important issue, would be so out of character for Finn that it would top (*SPOILER ALERT) Ricky Schwartz’s peanut allergy death in Awkward. Personally, I would prefer an exit storyline like George’s in Grey’s Anatomy. Dying whilst saving someone’s life – a hero’s death – would befit Finn’s muddled history with his deceased father, which resulted in his joining the army, and would neatly tie up the overall characterization of a man trying to find his path as a mentor and a leader.

Continue Reading

1 2 View All →

Tags

8 Simple RulesCory MontheithDavis StricklandGleeJohn RitterNews RadioPhil HartmanRyan MurphySesame StreetSuddenly SusanTDitR

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articlePrivate Theatre: The Act of Killing
Next articleElmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing (and 50 reasons to ignore them) #8

You may also like

Pacific Islander Climate Change Poetry

Spotlight Artist: Scheherezade Junejo

Nobody Killed Her

Ad

In the Magazine

A Word from the Editor

Don’t cry like a girl. Be a (wo)man.

Why holding up the women in our lives can help build a nation, in place of tearing it down.

Literature

This House is an African House

"This house is an African house./ This your body is an African woman’s body..." By Kadija Sesay.

Literature

Shoots

"Sapling legs bend smoothly, power foot in place,/ her back, parallel to solid ground,/ makes her torso a table of support..." By Kadija Sesay.

Literature

A Dry Season Doctor in West Africa

"She presses her toes together. I will never marry, she says. Jamais dans cette vie! Where can I find a man like you?" By...

In the Issue

Property of a Sorceress

"She died under mango trees, under kola nut/ and avocado trees, her nose pressed to their roots,/ her hands buried in dead leaves, her...

Literature

What Took Us to War

"What took us to war has again begun,/ and what took us to war/ has opened its wide mouth/ again to confuse us." By...

Literature

Sometimes, I Close My Eyes

"sometimes, this is the way of the world,/ the simple, ordinary world, where things are/ sometimes too ordinary to matter. Sometimes,/ I close my...

Literature

Quarter to War

"The footfalls fading from the streets/ The trees departing from the avenues/ The sweat evaporating from the skin..." By Jumoke Verissimo.

Literature

Transgendered

"Lagos is a chronicle of liquid geographies/ Swimming on every tongue..." By Jumoke Verissimo.

Fiction

Sketches of my Mother

"The mother of my memories was elegant. She would not step out of the house without her trademark red lipstick and perfect hair. She...

Fiction

The Way of Meat

"Every day—any day—any one of us could be picked out for any reason, and we would be... We’d part like hair, pushing into the...

Fiction

Between Two Worlds

"Ursula spotted the three black students immediately. Everyone did. They could not be missed because they kept to themselves and apart from the rest...."...

Essays

Talking Gender

"In fact it is often through the uninformed use of such words that language becomes a tool in perpetuating sexism and violence against women...

Essays

Unmasking Female Circumcision

"Though the origins of the practice are unknown, many medical historians believe that FGM dates back to at least 2,000 years." Gimel Samera looks...

Essays

Not Just A Phase

"...in the workplace, a person can practically be forced out of their job by discrimination, taking numerous days off for fear of their physical...

Essays

The Birth of Bigotry

"The psychology of prejudice demands that we are each our own moral police". Maria Amir on the roots of bigotry and intolerance.

Fiction

The Score

"The person on the floor was unmistakeably dead. It looked like a woman; she couldn’t be sure yet..." By Hawa Jande Golakai.

More Stories

Reinventing the Reel: Dallas Buyers Club

Film Critic Jay Sizemore explains why there’s “hope to be found” in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club.

Back to top
One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at maryamp@themissingslate.com.

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

Read previous post:
summons

"tadpoles appeared—/ small, slippery as sperm,/ sliding through fingers." Weekend poem, by Athena Kashyap.

Close