Glee Watch: When Is There Just Too Much "Funk"?

I'd never accuse FOX's Glee of being subtle but this episode left me in a serious funk.

Recent weeks have found the musical-comedy approaching its thematic storytelling with all of the subtlety of dropping an anvil on the heads of its viewers, hammering home the same points over and over again. It's not helped by the fact that the series' writers seem hell-bent on pushing each of the characters to share similarly themed storylines each week, regardless of whether or not their characters fit into these pre-conceived narrative pigeonholes.

We get it! They're all in search of a home! They can't give up on their dreams! They're in a rut!

I decided this week to count the uses of the installment title over the course of the episode as it's driven me mad week after week how many times the writers attempt to insert the title into the dialogue. I'm glad I did count because it was staggering.

Last night's episode of Glee ("Funk") was perhaps the most egregious offender, as the episode itself contained no less than 60 uses of the word "funk" over the course of the installment, including having Mr. Shuester write it on the dry-erase board for those of you who didn't get it the other 60-plus times or notice the episode's title. (With 66 uses of "funk," it averaged out to more than 1.5 occurrences of "funk" per minute of roughly 41 minutes of scripted fare.)

It's not the first time that the characters have been forced to parrot the title--and theme--of the episode. When the writers have Mr. Schuester utter embarrassing statements like, "Why are you all wearing your theatricality costumes?" as in last week's episode (which was, not surprisingly, entitled "Theatricality"), you know that there's a serious problem. Either the writers are not confident enough in their own writing and need to use the constant reinforcement of the title to get their point across (which I doubt), or they underestimate the audience's intelligence.

Yes, we can figure out just what theme you're hammering home this week, Ian Brennan. We don't need to be told dozens of times that this week's weighty issue is about being in a "funk."

(Aside: I was also disturbed by the fact that this episode was so blatantly swapped out of order with last week's Gaga-fueled "Theatricality," so that FOX could air it during sweeps. It at least explains why Jesse St. James wasn't in last week's episode and why this week's installment also featured Idina Menzel's Shelby Corcoran, post-"Poker Face" duet/mother-daughter "breakup" with Rachel.)

Was anyone else as disturbed by the titular trend, which seemed to hit its nadir in "Funk"? Can Glee's writers figure out how to tell convincing stories that are character-based without sticking in yet another song or hitting us over the head with the episode title? Discuss.

Next week on the season finale of Glee ("Journey"), the team's chances at Regionals are threatened when Sue pulls a fast one and becomes one of the judges; Quinn's life is forever changed.