Sunday, March 27, 2011

We Love You, Burt Hummel

We've been following Kurt since day one. From coming out, to pretending he's straight, to having a crush on Finn, to being bullied, then to finally finding a boyfriend (we'll touch on our thoughts on 'Klaine' in some future posts), we've really enjoyed watching Chris Colfer's character develop. In the early episodes of Glee, we found out that Kurt's mother had passed away when he was a child. So, he was mostly raised by his father, Burt Hummel, who has become a supporting character that we've all really grown to love.

Burt Hummel can take full credit for making Kurt a gentleman. The two of them have this spectacular relationship that most kids would dream of having with their parents. Burt shows his love to Kurt through everything he does. I'd like to break down my favorite Burt-Kurt interactions based on episode:

In episode 1x9 "Wheels", Burt Hummel receives a phone call where someone calls Kurt a fag. Now, I hate that words as much as anyone else, but Burt's reaction really stuck with me. You could really feel how ticked off he was a that person who called. Later in the episode, he sticks up for Kurt to Will Schuester, which allows Kurt to audition for Defying Gravity (Kurt wasn't allowed to audition because it was a part that was traditionally sung by a girl). Kurt wanted to sing that song so badly, and Burt made it happen for him. Despite how badly he wanted to sing it, though, Kurt blew the audition, because of the phone call his dad had received earlier in the episode. He did not want to invite any "hate" into his Dad's life, that may have resulted if he had sung that song. This is one of many Burt-Kurt interactions that I love so much. This interaction shows that the two of them would do anything for one another, despite their personal feelings about the situation.

Burt is a real "guys-guy". He is a blue-collar worker, he's a mechanic in his own auto-shop, and he loves sports... you wouldn't think he'd be the kind of guy to embrace having a gay son. But he does, and he does it well. In episode 1x20 "Theatricality", Burt asks Finn and his mother to move in with them. As Finn and Kurt have to share a room, the tension between the two escalates quickly. During the episode, Finn mentions that the stuff Kurt was putting in their room was "faggy". Burt practically made me cry with what came next. Since I cannot put it into words, I'll just let you see it for yourself.

Disclaimer: This is the only example that I could find, which isn't necessarily the best quailty. If you want to only see the "Burt" part in the clip, it starts at 1:30, right after Finn starts calling things "faggy").



As I have been re-watching the earlier episodes of season 2, primarily "Grilled Cheesus" (Episode 2x3), you can really feel how much Kurt cares for his father, too. Not only does Kurt stick by Burt's side through his heart attack, you can really feel the pain he is going through throughout the entirety of the episode, as he takes much of his anger out on fellow glee members. One of the most emotional performances I have seen on the show is during this episode when Kurt sings I Want to Hold Your Hand. Incredibly emotional.

The latest Burt-Kurt interaction that I have enjoyed is in episode 2x15 "Sexy". Kurt is a hopeless romantic, and incredibly moral, something Burt expresses comes from his mother. In turn, Kurt doesn't really know much about sex. Burt takes it into his own hands to explain sex to Kurt, and I think he does an impeccable job. Explaining sex to your children is probably something that no parent wants to do. Explaining sex to your homosexual son is probably something that no parent wants to do, mostly because they don't know anything about it. Burt takes matters into his own hands by finding proper educational pamphlets to inform Kurt about the, as Burt says, "mechanics" and about the dangers of sex for gay kids. This interaction was done so tastefully, and it shows so much love from father to son.

Needless to say, Burt Hummel has become one of our favorite supporting actors here at Trouty Mouth. His devotion to being a good father, and his relationship with Kurt is one of the most affective relationships on the show. To Burt Hummel, I say Brava. Brava!

Hope to see more of this fantastic TV dad soon! Hope you have an unbe-glee-vable night!


-Bonnie

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