Oxygen
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Last night on ‘The Glee Project,’ Ryan Murphy made it good and clear that this season’s finale would not be the same kind of cop out nonsense last year’s was. Nope. Instead of crowning everyone a winner, he insists next week that, like ‘The Highlander,’ there would be only one and crushed the dreams of TWO – count ‘em TWO – wide eyed would be star children. The theme of the week was “actability,” another in a long line of words ‘The Glee Project’ has made up and the kids succeeded to varying degrees despite some of it being cringe worthy.

The gang were individually forced to “embody a character” and then act as that character in a fake trailer about high school kids. Blake was assigned to be the not so nice quarterback who recently impregnated his girlfriend, Aylin, a girl from a conservative Muslim family. Michael was Blake’s best friend and teammate who has found himself falling for Aylin while Ali played his former Olympian but currently crippled sister (seriously) and Lily her best friend who was driving the car that stole the use of her legs. It was all played very over dramatic as the gang was forced to improvise with Lily’s performance being the most uncomfortable to watch and Blake, who can be a good actor, was just yelling a lot and pushing people.
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The mentors were so proud of everyone and cried when they had to cut the field. It was sweet as all these kids are talented and one could make an argument for any of them being on ‘Glee,’ so rather than pick a bottom three, it was decided everyone would sing a last chance performance. In the end Murphy decided to bear down and eliminate the two contestants he didn’t personally feel inspired by. Those contestants? Lily and Michael. This wasn’t surprising as clearly this is coming down to a Blake/Aylin showdown with Ali thrown in for some smiles.
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But who will win? Not Ali. Though I’ve grown quite attached to her and the idea Ian Brennan (oh yeah, Ryan brought all his white writers to the last chance performances so he could not listen to them when they spoke) had of writing her as a “promiscuous b-” is definitely quite interesting.
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I don’t think it’ll be Blake either. I wouldn’t bet on it, but the All American Boy storyline just doesn’t seem as appealing as the Muslim girl disavowing her roots to the chagrin of her Conservative parents. Blake is probably a better all around actor than Aylin, but Aylin’s got a better voice and a realness about her that belies such a character. Aylin is also confident and brassy but she still subtly nails big emotional moments. I’m sure Blake has his fans – I’m one of them – but I think this season’s got to go to Aylin. We’ll find out soon enough.