236 replies to this topic

[opineapple]

I liked him. Thoughts?

[Carmella]

I like him, too. I didn't watch The Glee Project and was unfamiliar with him until he popped up in Pot O' Gold, but I found him to be charming.

I noticed a lot of people saying his acting is weak, but I found him no worse than several others on the show (Mark Salling, Amber Riley, Heather Morris, Darren Criss, to name a few). And despite his heavy accent, I understood him a lot better than I do Brittany or Lauren, and sometimes Quinn.

I liked his singing, too.

Maybe my opinion will change, but as of his first episode (only aired episode as of this writing), I like the kid.

[fruity tooty]

I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'm going to like Rory as a character on Glee but my Damian bias is going to work overtime to try and make me find something interesting about this character. Come on, Glee writers dont let me down! haha

Also, I was surprised that I had no problem thinking of Damian as Rory instead of thinking, "Hey, there's Damian from 'The Glee Project' talking with Brittany.

I have a good sense that if there's a season 4 of Glee Rory will be there. I wonder what their plans are for the rest of this season with Rory? The only thing we really know is that he's going to get hit in the face with a dodgeball and sit in the choir room as a new member of ND.

I noticed a lot of people saying his acting is weak, but I found him no worse than several others on the show (Mark Salling, Amber Riley, Heather Morris, Darren Criss, to name a few).

I thought his acting was a little weak, but not so weak that I felt embarrassed for him like I do sometimes when an actor is truly horrible. But I wouldn't say he was on the same level as the people you mentioned, at least not yet.


So happy about this thread! ngl

[ScampKid]

Damian is, like, the worst actor. There are some other mediocre actors on this show, but Damian tops them all. I swear, at the beginning of every scene there is a brief pause where he's either thinking of his line or thinking about what to do or something, but it totally breaks the flow of the scene.

He's not a good enough actor for me to want to see his character have any plot and he's not a good enough singer for me to want to hear him lead any songs.

Lindsay, on the other hand.

[smrou]

He's not a good enough actor for me to want to see his character have any plot and he's not a good enough singer for me to want to hear him lead any songs.

Pretty much. Having watched The Glee Project, Damian on this show was just what I expected. Which is to say, mediocre. Bad actor and unobjectionable but unexciting singer. I had hoped to be surprised and to find that the folks who selected him to win were seeing something that was really there, but...nope.

It also didn't help that he was completely wrapped up with Brittany in his first episode since I'm so completely over Brittany at this point.

I think if he kind of hangs in the background, getting a line here and there, I'll have no problem with him. But I think there's little chance that I could ever be excited about Rory as a character of Damian as an actor/singer.

Lindsay, on the other hand.

*sigh*

[Cylelle]

I thought his acting was a little weak, but not so weak that I felt embarrassed for him like I do sometimes when an actor is truly horrible.

The big problem I think was pairing him with Brittany for much of his scenes. Heather's own limitations as an actress did nothing to help smoothe over Damian's inexperience.

He was fine on his own (the "Bein' Green" performance) and okay with both Naya and Cory, where any nervousness he may have felt was called for in the scenes anyway, and where their superior acting skills helped sell the action. But the scenes with Heather were just flat and that was as much, if not moreso, her fault as his.

He didn't really have to do much most of the time after all other than to smile and look nervous.

[Ceeg]

I noticed a lot of people saying his acting is weak, but I found him no worse than several others on the show

And therein lies my problem with him. If you already have a bloated cast, some of whom aren't exactly the best actors in the world, why would you add another actor, who is, at best, not as bad as your worst actors? I don't have a problem with them adding new cast members, per say, if the person has something worthwhile to contribute (like Jonathan Groff, who is extremely talented, all around, and who plays an interesting character). As it as, Damian is "no worse" than the worst, which is not exactly a compliment. His voice is good, but IMO, it's not good enough to make up for his lack of talent, acting- and dancing-wise.

But the scenes with Heather were just flat and that was as much, if not moreso, her fault as his.

I am by far no where near Heather's biggest fan, but I'm not sure I can agree that it's Heather's fault at all if Damian is a less than competent actor who can only rise to the occasion when he's given scenes with actors much better than him. If that was the case, you could reverse that statement and say that Heather was bad in those scenes (as opposed to ones with Naya and Cory) because Damian was her scene partner and dragged her down.

Edited by Ceeg, Nov 8, 2011 @ 9:37 AM.

[Georgette888]

No, I didn't like his acting. On top of that though, even what Glee was, I think, aiming for in that Rory was supposed to be sweet and charming failed for me. He came across as creepy instead.

[Cristal Line]

Damian is really adorable himself, but Rory came across as kind of creepy. I think it was all the smiling after every line. Love his voice though, it's nice to have a baritone in the mix. Maybe now that the ludicrous leprechaun/trying to take advantage of Brittany's spaceyness story is over, he won't seem like such a weirdo.

[SNeaker]

Damian is really adorable himself, but Rory came across as kind of creepy. I think it was all the smiling after every line.

YES. The constant smiling really creeped me the hell out.

[Ranwing]

I think that the Rory roll out was pretty much a full-on fail. It was just too much, both with the PR before the ep aired and the way his character dominated screen time, with too little payoff. We know pretty much nothing about Rory aside from the fact that he's homesick, has no friends and wants into Brittany's panties. Certainly nothing that makes me want to see him as anything other than background for his remaining episodes.

I didn't watch TGP because I didn't want to get biased so I came into POG knowing nothing about the character (outside of all the spoilers) and Damian as a performer. Damian seems like a nice enough kid and has a pleasent voice, but he's not a showstopper in any way. And his acting was, to say the least, dull. He didn't infuse Rory with anything more than the bare bones traits that were written into the character (a marked contrast to Lea and Chris who had real influence into how their characters were fleshed out). There was nothing about his character or performance that immediately caught your attention (unlike Darren/Blaine). He was just there, taking up time and space.

I don't know what the plan for him is going to be now since I don't really see a groundswell of fan love for Rory. And I honestly cannot see him remaining on the show past his seven episode storyline. Especially not where there is so much happening with characters and actors far more interesting than his.

[McCarthief]

Definitely a shaky start in terms of acting (hopefully Damian's been given advice on how to improve and/or isn't as nervous) but I think in terms of first episodes, they didn't put Rory (or Brittany to an extent) in that good a light either. Maybe if his part in this episode was how he ended up pretending to be a leprechaun (since I presuming he would of been acting the same way at Brittany's house and would they entirely approve of it? Did they told him to play along?) rather than just going: Look! New foreign exchange student, he's pretending to be a leprechaun but by the end of the episode he's not! Couldn't exactly warm to the character as most of how he acted for this episode is probably out of the window since it was part of Rory's act for Brittany.

I am curious to how Finn and Rory's friendship will go however...

[SNeaker]

The difference for me between Damian and the other "weak" actors listed whom folks compare him to, is that all of those other guys bring something to the table -- a charisma or charm or special talent. Some kind of "It Factor." All Damian has (so far) is an accent. If he had no accent, he would have no job on Glee, imo. Not saying that to be mean -- I'm sure he sings very well with Celtic Thunder, but in an already clogged cast, I don't believe he brings anything to the table.

[brave little toaster]

That's my main problem with him as well. He sings as well as, but not better than [IMO] anyone else on the cast, and he brings nothing else to the table. His acting is being compared a lot to Heather's, in part because they shared the plot, But Heather's chief raison d'etre on Glee is not acting. If the comparison is inevitable, he doesn't bring anything to the show even remotely on par with her dancing skills [again, IMO].

[craptonite]

I'm just going to leave it as Santana expressed my sentiments perfectly when she told him to disappear.

[Ranwing]

If the cast didn't have Lea, Chris, Naya, Cory and Darren in it, Damian might have had a better chance of standing out simply for his vocals. But you can't have him with such strong actors (and I'd count Darren as the weakest of the top five for acting ability) and not come across looking amaturish at best. And I honestly don't care that they are working with him on his acting because this isn't supposed to be on the job training. Singing is important, but if you can't get me to give a crap about your character, then there's no place for him on the show.

And even comparing him to the weaker, second tier of actors (Mark, Jenna, Amber, Kevin, Diana), he falls short. I actaully care about their characters, and all of the actors were able to give them that something extra that keeps them from vanishing into the background. Watching Damian try to navagate the heavy story focus that they saddled him with the first time out the gate was like trying to watch a cart horse run the Kentucky Derby. It just kept hammering home the idea that he just wasn't up to standards.

And I feel badly because he seems like a nice kid who's trying hard, but he needs to get some time in focusing on acting before throwing him into a major prime time television show and not expect him to drown. I don't want to hate Rory, but the character is a bland peice of cardboard and Damian just doesn't have the chops to make him anything more.

[BensBritches]

I fall somewhere in the middle with my feelings on Rory/Damian. The truth is, I really like Damian- I find his RL personality to be fun, charming and humble. He's got a great, snarky sense of humor and seems extremely grounded. But, the Rory character was so ridiculous that I couldn't get into him at all. It bugged me that Rory came off as creepy, when really he should have been played as a sweet, lonely kid who didn't know how to fit into Middle America. The smiling after every line drove me batty, because it made him look like a sociopath, rather than a kid I'm supposed to have feelings for. And if you can take a Damian fan and make her cringe over his scenes, that's a really, really bad thing.

Yeah, Damian isn't a good actor. He doesn't seem to have anything to draw upon that is "natural." Part of this could be due to his past with Celtic Thunder where his every movement and breath was so scripted that he lost the ability to be "natural" on stage. I think he can learn it, but not fast enough to win over the Glee audience. And I agree that saying he's no worse than the worst of the cast isn't saying much, particularly if he was brought on to carry the show into season 4.

But I see the character as being a bigger problem than the actor. Even if played by a great actor, Rory was an idiotic idea and with the whole leprechaun thing being resolved in one episode, they have pretty much left the character untethered and with nowhere to go. What do you do with him now? They tried to play him as so sweet and innocent, yet they made Rory creepy, stalkery and a "liar" so I just don't see how they are going to develop him. I read the spoilers, so I kind of know what is coming up for him, but my gut feeling is he will be a bench warmer for his remaining 6 episodes. He may occasionally be used as a foil for other character's plot/character development, but really, with Sebastian, Harmony, Puck's cousin, 4th TGP winner, Sam and Jesse returning, what can they actually do with Rory that would give him another A (or even B) plot line?

As for the singing, I personally like it. I was shocked at how much I liked "Being Green" since I was ready to shot myself when I heard Damian was singing that. Thought his voice on "Take Care of Yourself" was fine (don't care for the falsetto part, but I hate it on the original too). I just saw Damian perform live this weekend, and I was extra surprised at how good he sounded when there was clearly NO manipulation of his voice. I just wish they'd give him better things to sing. His versions of "Falling Slowly" and "Home" are gorgeous... but I fear if he did them on the show, they'd become too "Gleeified" and we'd all hate them.

[Breadstix]

I think it's a bit chicken or the egg with Rory's character being boxed in by that ridiculous leprechaun plot.

Mainly because he probably would never have gotten the job if it weren't for the accent. He's not anything special in the singing, acting, or dancing department, but his boyish charm and accent seem to be his "winning" characteristics.

When his biggest asset is a trait and not a talent, there really wasn't much mileage there to begin with.

[MusexMoirai]

I was shocked at how much I liked "Being Green" since I was ready to shot myself when I heard Damian was singing that.

I too really liked his vocals on that song. But I thought they should have given him something with a slightly quicker tempo for his second song. It doesn't have to be pop. If they still want to keep the old school vibe they have going on with him, they could opt for something Rat Pack-ish, like "Beyond the Sea."

Rory/Damian got shortchanged in the song department. The characters' first or second solos really influence the audience's first impressions of them. Last year, the guest stars got introductory songs like "Billionaire," "Teenage Dream," "Listen," and "Forget You." Yeah, that list is really heavy on the top 40s pop, but all those songs (and their performances) at least try to tell you something about their respective characters. "Take Care of Yourself" has really generic lyrics that can apply to nearly any character. "Bein' Green" is better (and it's a lovely song), but the problem is that the context of Rory's background turns the song into a semi-joke and that's the strongest impression we're left with of the character.

[Colonel Green]

I liked his voice a lot, but the song doesn't really lack in that department, and the character has no particular distinguishing characteristics other than being a cute Irish boy (which, being a straight guy, doesn't work on me; now if it was a undistinguished-but-attractive Irish girl, we'd be in business).

[BensBritches]

"Bein' Green" is better (and it's a lovely song), but the problem is that the context of Rory's background turns the song into a semi-joke and that's the strongest impression we're left with of the character.

I couldn't agree more! With Damian dressed all in green for 99% of the episode, it did make a joke out of the one thing they were trying to sell us on: lonely boy from Northern Ireland is mistaken for a leprechaun, gets bullied and tries to get a girl's "pot of gold." Just writing that as his character's main points makes me laugh (in a bad way)... the writing of Rory's character, I feel, is partly to blame for his poor reception.

I agree too that the songs he was given didn't do a good job of selling Damian as an interesting/unique singer to the GA. There are plently of popular songs that could capture Rory's loneliness, but also capture the good parts to Damian's voice and the audience's attention. Give him Radiohead's "Creep" to sing (if we needed falsetto to get a reaction from Kurt) and I think a lot of folks may have liked him more.

[Carmella]

Um, "Bein' Green" fit perfectly with the fact that he was pretending to be a leprechaun for Brittany. When he sang as himself in the end, he wore red. It was all narrative.

[Lily Meadows]

Now, I want to give the guy a second chance since he was basically used as a plot device to get Brittana together. However, I'm afraid that Rory will always be treated as a joke when he could bring an interesting "outsider" element to the glee club.

If they still want to keep the old school vibe they have going on with him, they could opt for something Rat Pack-ish, like "Beyond the Sea."

He sang this on "Glee Project", IIRC, and he did fine with that swingin' mid-century song. What I really regret from him is that he didn't use that nice baritone on either solo. He may have the deepest singing voice in the club, and not using it on appropriate songs in his range is a shame.

[Ranwing]

LOL! Hysteical how they shoehorned Rory into the America performance. Could not understand a single word he was singing. Taking someone who's already got a very strong accent and making try to sing in another accent? Comedy gold.

So, I think to say that this counts towards his seven episode story line. Two down, five to go...

[brave little toaster]

So, I think to say that this counts towards his seven episode story line. Two down, five to go...

My thoughts exactly.

[tua20782]

LOL! Hysteical how they shoehorned Rory into the America performance. Could not understand a single word he was singing. Taking someone who's already got a very strong accent and making try to sing in another accent? Comedy gold.

I don't know if you're being serious but I thought that was the funniest thing to happen in the episode. I laughed for five minutes, rewound it and laughed again. He just seemed so thrilled to be there. I didn't watch the glee project but I think I like him now.

[natyxg]

LOL! Hysteical how they shoehorned Rory into the America performance. Could not understand a single word he was singing.

I thought his mumbled line during the song was pretty much impossible to decipher on purpose. That was the joke.

[brave little toaster]

Oh, it was definitely deliberate. It set up Beiste's punchline. My only reaction to it was, "ok, good, he got a line. This definitely counts towards his episode allotment."

[natyxg]

I thought the same thing.

"Oh! He's there! So it counts, right? Right?'

[fruity tooty]

Omg, this tumblr post got it 100% correct. LOL

http://30.media.tumb...pto1_r1_500.gif

Bravo to Rory for making me laugh out loud tonight! I wonder if his part was always meant to be a punchline or they decided to keep it in because Damian attempting to do a Puerto Rican accent was such a hot mess that they knew it would get a big laugh.

"Oh! He's there! So it counts, right? Right?'

You guys are so funny, I love how you are counting down to his departure but I really don't think it matters because I bet he stays past his 7-episode run.

Edited by fruity tooty, Nov 9, 2011 @ 1:28 AM.