finchellydelicious:

Everyone needs to read this!

showthemwhat:

“Life is messy; it just is.  And I know that’s hard for you.  But that’s why you have me—to balance things out.  But you have to realize—you do that for me too, every day.  Loving you, and being loved by you, makes everything better.”

Will speaks the lines to Emma in their Yes/No proposal scene, but in the middle of the speech, the camera departs from the couple whose proposal is happening and turns to focus on the faces first of Finn, and then of Rachel.  This is partly to foreshadow what’s coming at the end of the episode (like the early shot of Finn looking at rings—one of several structural reasons the show had him go to the jewelry shop with Will—and the framing of the whiteboard words “Marry Me” behind Rachel while she was singing “Without You” as Finn watched & listened to her). 

It is just as much, however, to provide a narrative explanation for what the Finchel relationship is all about—balance.  From the very beginning of Glee, a central focus of the story has been on how these two individuals who appear to be polar opposites work together, fit with each other, and balance each other out.

He is a popular jock; she a loser gleek.

He gets along with everyone & brings people together; she rubs everyone the wrong way and thrusts people apart.

He is directionless and just going with the flow; she is laser-focused on her future and bucks every convention in pursuit of her goals.

He is concerned about popularity and not losing his social status; she—though she wants fame & to be noticed—doesn’t worry about being popular or where she fits on the school food chain. 

Heck, he is tall; she is short.

But while they are opposites, they share a few things in common.

They both want to be a part of something special. 

They both have a passion—a passion for music—and it makes them happy, it makes them feel alive, and they want to pursue it. 

And they both are leaders who struggle with leadership; they both, in their own ways, are the glue and the force that moves the glee club forward and pushes the group to new levels. 

The things they share in common outweigh all of their differences, and, more than that, they find that the strong qualities that the other one possesses helps him/her to overcome his/her own flaws and weaknesses.  From the beginning and up to the present moments as their stories are still in progress, Finn learns from Rachel about not caring what other people think or whether one is popular or not; about being true to oneself; about how to dream big; about how to live his passion; about how to be engaged and alive rather than drifting and going with the flow.  And Rachel learns from Finn how to have real relationships with others; how to be a part of a team; how to share the limelight and recognize that each person has gifts to contribute; how to not be self-centered while never losing her center. 

They are more honest with each other about their own, and the other’s, flaws and strengths than they are with anyone else, or anyone else is with them.  Each one believes in the other—believes the other is special, believes the other can succeed, believes the other is better than all the rest—more than anyone else in their lives believe this about them.  And they both learn that they as individuals, and they together, are something special, and a part of something special.

They balance each other out, and for each of them, as is made explicitly clear in the lyrics and scene of “Without You”, (and has been made overwhelmingly clear from day one), loving the other, and being loved by the other, makes everything better. 

Balance.  Partnership.  Learning that with the other, they are able to be better versions of themselves as individuals.  That’s been at the core of the Finchel relationship from the first moments of the show; it’s the metaphor that their relationship represents. 

It’s not about either of them being perfect, or about them being the perfect couple.  They are both very flawed characters (and very strong, gifted characters at the same timer), and they as a couple have flaws that need work; while we’ve seen a lot of work done on them as individuals and as a couple, there is always going to be more to do.  What Glee tells us through these characters is that working to overcome your flaws is more possible when you can turn to someone else who helps to provide balance for you.  That’s what Finchel is all about.

Whether they get engaged or not, and whether the engagement lasts through the end of the season or not, doesn’t really matter — ultimately, Glee is about showing us how these two characters, as they grow and develop on their own & together, strike that balance.  The show has made as absolutely clear and plain as it is possible to do that Rachel and Finn are tethered; that they are it for each other; that they are, as the writers themselves say, “endgame.” 

So whatever happens in the upcoming episodes, the long-range trajectory of the story is to watch Finn & Rachel move toward each other as they move forward with their futures.  There’s one beginning and one end.  The rest is a whole lot of middle.