“Let’s just keep this on point”: On Santana Lopez, Sebastian Smythe, “Smooth Criminal,” and the Politics of Power

So we don’t have the full context for the “Smooth Criminal” scene of 3x11 yet. Accordingly, what follows represents an “unscientific” and rather flailing attempt to parse purely the body language of the scene in terms of power dynamics.

We have Sebastian. We have Santana. We have a whole lot of tension.

Feelings, feelings, feelings after the cut.

Now.

The first thing we must note is that the palpable sexual tension in the “Smooth Criminal” performance actually has very little to do with sex and everything to do with the politics of power.

As an out lesbian in a committed relationship, Santana hasn’t an interest in getting into Sebastian Smythe’s pants. As an out gay man on the prowl for hookups with attractive young men, Sebastian likewise hasn’t an interest in getting into Santana Lopez’s pants, either, as it were.

Accordingly, the noticeable sexual element to their performance here actually derives more from power dynamics than it does from any sort of attraction on either of their parts.

Within their own social circles, both Sebastian and Santana have made their “careers” using sex as a means to intimidate, subdue, bribe, and influence their peers into giving them things they want and need. While Santana always seduces men but does not actually want to sleep with them if she feels she does not “have to do so,” Sebastian seduces men and both wants and intends to sleep with them in the process of so doing. 

In the past, we have seen Santana use seduction as a means to achieve her ends, whether it be on orders from Sue Sylvester—as per when Brittana “seduce” Finn Hudson in tandem in 1x15—or according to her own whims—such as when Santana “steals” Sam away from Quinn in order to secure her social status and provide herself with an acceptable beard during a period when she feels vulnerable due to Brittany dating Artie in 2x12 and 2x13.

Sebastian likewise uses sex and flirting as a mechanism to get what he wants, as we see in 3x05, when he pursues Blaine largely for the purpose of learning the secrets behind Blaine’s “meteoric ascent” through the Warbler ranks, as well as in episode 3x11, where he flirts with Blaine on the phone in order to weasel New Directions’ set list for Regionals out of him.

But in this situation? Neither Santana nor Sebastian can use sex and flirting in the same social climbing way that they usually do, being that neither one of them actually has a sexual interest in the other.

So while they both resort to this patent behavior of flirting and seduction, the fact is that they do so more out of force of habit than because they believe that these tactics will actually work on each other, given the situation.

Honestly? Santana knows that Sebastian is charming and can see the appeal in him, but wants nothing to do with him sexually herself. Likewise, Sebastian can see the sensuality and appeal in Santana, but wants nothing to do with her sexually himself. They both acknowledge each other’s draws, but maintain an unspoken understanding that nothing sexual will come of this confrontation.

Accordingly, the confrontation itself becomes about something besides sex, even though it features strong sexual overtones.

Specifically, it becomes about the thing that both Santana and Sebastian want in this situation: power. 

Note, then, how Sebastian moves like a predator throughout the number. He attempts to dominate Santana with his movements, his voice, and even the lyrical content of the song.

“Smooth Criminal” is a song about a man doing violence to a woman.

And, in this performance? Sebastian essentially becomes the “smooth criminal” in question. He towers over Santana in an attempt to terrify her and chases her around the room, getting in her face and invading her personal space in a way that we can only describe as menacing. His body language bespeaks predatory behavior; he is an assailant.

On her side of things, Santana, then, becomes “Annie” from the song—the woman pursued and attacked in her own space.

However, instead of allowing the “smooth criminal” to dominate her, this Annie fights back. She decries her would-be attacker and matches him blow for blow, taking ownership of her space and of the lyrics of the song.

Though she does at points retreat from Sebastian, she doesn’t do so in a cowardly way; rather, she purposefully negotiates the distance between them in a manner which clearly communicates her desire to maintain a distance from him, but also speaks to the fact that she does not fear him and won’t allow his aggression to intimidate her.

She is the woman out for a night walk who routinely checks her surroundings, pointedly looking over her shoulder and watching the rustling bushes, making eye contact with the men she passes on the street, showing that she is aware of what’s going on around her and proving that she is not vulnerable and that she will not be made a victim.

In Naya and Santana’s hands, “Smooth Criminal” becomes an empowerment song about a woman who won’t allow a predatory man to dominate her.

As an aside: the Spanish name Santana translates to “Saint Anne” in English, so Santana is literally Annie. Indeed, the name Anita means “little Anne” or “Annie” in Spanish. And who did Santana play in the WMHS musical? Anita. Fanfiction likes to imagine that Santana’s family members, and particularly her abuelita, refer to her as “Santanita,” or “little Saint Anne;” if that’s the case, then there exists an even deeper connection between Santana and the protagonist of the song. Any way you slice it, Santana is Annie. How fucking cool is that?

And the good news is, our Annie is okay.

Santana won’t allow Sebastian to dominate her. She sees what he attempts to do—as per how she sizes him up at the beginning of the song—and she refuses to respond to Sebastian’s intimidation tactics in the way that he would want her to do. Santana doesn’t feel intimidated; she returns Sebastian’s aggression full force, standing up to Sebastian throughout the performance. 

So let’s look at the body language frame-by-frame, shall we?

The first place we should start is in the Lima Bean scene. Yes, Santana protects Kurt to some degree in this scene, but, honestly? I think her real protectiveness here has to do more with New Directions as a whole than it has to do with Kurt Hummel.

Note that Santana startles the second Sebastian mentions that the Warblers intend to perform Michael Jackson songs at Regionals. And then when Sebastian reveals that he stole the idea to perform Michael Jackson from Blaine? Santana appears scandalized; she glances over at Blaine, betrayed and annoyed.

When Sebastian insults Kurt’s fashion sense, that’s just the last straw; Santana has had enough of Sebastian’s douchebaggery. She’s out to protect not just Kurt Hummel, but the New Directions. Nobody messes with her glee club family or their chances at winning at Regionals. Nobody sabotages the New Directions; she just won’t have it.

So Santana stands up, blustering. Note that her body language functions to make her appear bigger than she is. Santana essentially “cloaks herself in a glamour,” standing from her seat to fill more space and holding up her arms to intimidate Sebastian—much like the lizard, which, when attacked, will open its frill to appear more menacing to its predators.

Usually, when Santana goes “all Lima Heights,” her aggression and the viciousness of her words is enough to intimidate her foes into submission. But in this case? Sebastian attempts to call her bluff.

I would therefore argue that this scene, in itself, represents one place where Sebastian “wins” over Santana, due to several key miscalculations on her part.

The first of these miscalculations occurs in Santana’s reading of Sebastian’s character.

When Sebastian reveals his dastardly plan to take down New Directions and insults Kurt on the basis of Kurt’s sexuality, or at least what Sebastian perceives as Kurt’s effeminate nature—and, mind you, Santana has always felt sensitive to people picking on Kurt due to his sexuality and outness, as she views him, in many ways, as a representation of herself (see here)—Santana snaps.

One of Santana’s weaknesses has always been her quick temper; unlike Quinn, who shares in Santana’s “high strung” nature but nevertheless maintains an element of cool in panic situations, Santana often flies into rages or panics, both of which responses cloud her ability to behave rationally under pressure, as we see in 2x22, for instance, when Santana attempts to attack Rachel following the New Directions’ loss at Nationals, and especially in 3x06, when Santana slaps Finn in a moment of absolute alarm.

Here, I would argue that Santana’s reactive nature leads her to miscalculate, and, ultimately, to misjudge Sebastian, giving him the advantage in the confrontation. Instead of studying Sebastian and learning what really makes him tic, Santana makes some quick assumptions about him, basing her reading of him more on what she knows about herself than what she observes about Sebastian as an individual.

Indeed, when Santana bristles at Sebastian, she refers to him as a twink, which is a slur used to describe a boyish gay man. Santana assumes, and wrongly so, that Sebastian feels insecure about his sexuality, not only based on the fact that he bullies Kurt about Kurt’s supposed effeminacy, but because Santana herself feels insecure concerning her own sexuality and supposes that most other young, out homosexuals likely feel the same as she does.

As per her typical modus operandi, Santana attempts to shut Sebastian down by “going for the jugular” and announcing what she supposes must be his greatest insecurity to the world (see here); however, Santana miscalculates, as Sebastian feels confident in his sexuality. Consequently, her insult doesn’t phase him.

Santana continues her verbal assault, “I think it’s time that I show you a little Lima Heights hospitality!,” again, showing more about how she feels about herself than what she knows about Sebastian.

The fact is that Santana knows that many of her peers view her as a minority, and, likewise, that many of her peers associate minorities with threats of violence, poverty, and a certain street image.

One of the biggest debates in the Brittana fandom concerns whether or not Santana actually hails from Lima Heights Adjacent, like she claims she does, or if she simply uses that address as a bluff, based on her peers’ preconceived stereotypes of her (see here).

Suffice it to say that, for the sake of this analysis, it doesn’t matter whether Santana is actually from Lima Heights Adjacent or not; all that matters is that Santana wants people to associate her with Lima Heights Adjacent and intends to use that neighborhood’s reputation as a mechanism for intimidating Sebastian, and, moreover, that her attempts to intimidate Sebastian with her Lima Heights Adjacent threats don’t actually work.

Whereas Rachel Berry will quail when faced with Santana’s rage and Lima Heights Adjacent threats, Sebastian shares no such reaction. Much like Lauren Zizes does in 2x12, Sebastian stands his grounds against Santana’s tough talk. He doesn’t actually give a fuck that she’s from “the wrong side of the tracks”—if indeed she even is from the wrong side of the tracks at all.

While Santana hopes to scare the rich, privileged white boy with an allusion to her supposedly hard street life, Sebastian throws her trash talk back in her face and mocks Santana’s socioeconomic condition, as well as her ethnicity.

Note that when Sebastian sneers, “Unless you want to join your relatives in prison, that’s probably not the best idea,” in response to Santana’s threat, Santana’s first reaction is shock; frankly, she isn’t used to not having her threats work. Her eyebrows raise.

Not only does this kid not care that she just called him out for being gay in front of their peers, but he also doesn’t care that Santana comes from a dangerous neighborhood. And why not? Because for as much as Santana expects that her Lima Heights Adjacent talk will scare him, it turns out that that talk means more to Santana than it does to Sebastian; his daddy is a state attorney, so Santana’s threats are moot to him.

Santana’s final miscalculation in this scene actually occurs in the form of her body language itself: when Santana registers her surprise that Sebastian doesn’t seem scared of her, Sebastian—who, in many ways, uses similar methods of relational aggression to Santana as per his basic modus operandi—senses weakness and “goes for the kill.” With Santana thoroughly confounded, he turns the tide of the conversation and becomes the aggressor.

“… but if you had a piñata you wanted delivered, I bet he could make sure that got to them,” Sebastian sneers, slamming Santana with the same stereotype she just attempted to invoke to scare him (see here).

And here’s where we see something we don’t usually see on Glee: Santana actually shuts her mouth, dumbfounded, and looks around at her teammates, both in disbelief and shame. As Sebastian continues talking, Santana actually sits the fuck down and stays quiet.

Now, mind you that the scene cuts right there in the preview, so, at this point, we don’t actually know if Santana goes on to engage Sebastian in conversation again or allows him to finish out his villain rant in peace. But, in either case? Santana lost this round and she lost it hard. Sebastian not only withstood her every blow and didn’t give into her intimidation tactics in the least, but he actually managed to turn the situation in his favor and thoroughly insult and intimidate Santana herself.

So the first round goes to Sebastian.

But not the second.

Of course, we don’t know the full sequence of this episode yet. Based on spoilers, we know that the New Directions face off against the Warblers at some point, presumably after this exchange at the Lima Bean. However, we don’t know if this parking garage duel and Sebastian slushying Blaine take place either before or after Santana and Sebastian face off for “Smooth Criminal.” At this point, my guess is that the parking garage encounter happens before Santana faces off with Sebastian at Dalton—but that’s just a guess.

In any case, regardless of when Santana has her duel with Sebastian in the sequence of things, you can bet that she hasn’t forgotten what happened between her and Sebastian at the Lima Bean in the interim. Santana Lopez does not take kindly to people showing her up. She also does not take kindly to people beating her at her own game.

And what does Santana Lopez do best?

“Revenge.”

So cut to “Smooth Criminal” and let the showdown begin.

So we know from the previews that Santana calls Sebastian a liar, but we don’t know why she does so. Sebastian takes this as an insult to his honor, and, accordingly, demands “satisfaction in Warbler tradition”—i.e., a singing contest.

While it would make sense, given the competitive objective of the song, for the other Warblers to stick around to witness said contest, Sebastian orders his cohorts to leave the room after Santana enlists the accompaniment of the cellists, and this is really our first clue as to the actual nature of the contest itself.

This isn’t a competition to see who’s the best singer; this is a competition to see who’s dominant. And it isn’t about sex; it’s about power.

Had Sebastian really cared to show Santana up as a musician, he would have had his buddies stick around to “witness the carnage,” as it were. But he doesn’t. Instead, he sends them away, ostensibly because he doesn’t want them to see him “make a girl cry.”

This motion on his part represents his first real attempt to terrify Santana; he wants her good and scared of what he’s about to do to her by the time the song even starts.

This motion also represents Sebastian’s first miscalculation: just as Santana misjudges Sebastian at the Lima Bean, Sebastian misjudges Santana here. 

While Sebastian believes that Santana will feel scared being alone with him save for the two cellists without any back up, that assumption represents more a reflection on Sebastian’s psyche than Santana’s.

As a Warbler, Sebastian is used to traveling in packs. As Blaine explains in Season Two, the Warblers function as a unit. Accordingly, Sebastian himself feels most comfortable when his teammates flank him. Here, we see him take a calculated risk and lose out on it, then: he sends his teammates away, making himself vulnerable, but he expects that his action will throw Santana off more than it does him in the end. He misjudges Santana, though; she’s not a Warbler and she doesn’t need a crowd to find her confidence. She can perform to a near empty auditorium and feel confident that she “kicked [the] song squarely in the balls” afterwards. Being “alone” with a pretty boy like Sebastian sans an audience doesn’t even phase her.

“Let’s just keep this on point,” Santana says coolly, in response to Sebastian’s taunt.

She just wants to kick his ass with her voice; she isn’t interested in his theatrics.

So the cellists start playing and Santana assumes her first position, stalking around the innermost chair circle and taking a seat, folding one leg over the other. Her motion is sexy and in any other situation would be meant to arouse; here, Santana uses it to remind Sebastian of who she is versus him. Yes, she’s a girl, but, no, she isn’t weak. His seductive charms won’t work here, same as hers won’t; this is about the song.

She folds her arms over her chest in a guarded motion, but not one of submission. All of this is just to say she’s watching the damn Warbler kid; she won’t let him get away with anything funny. She allows him to take the first verse, not so much out of courtesy as to prove that he can’t fuss her.

For his part, Sebastian circles the chair, lupine. When he starts singing the first verse, he bends down next to Santana, invading her personal space, singing right into her ear. This breach of boundaries represents a classic “villain” move—watch just about any movie with a psychosexual bad guy and said bad guy will use the same tactic against the captured protagonist, getting up in his or her grill in order to scare him or her into submission.

Seriously. Go watch Buffy: this is the classic vampire intimidation tactic.

Though Santana regards Sebastian warily, she doesn’t demonstrate any fear towards him. She keeps her arms folded firmly over her breast and her face straight, listening, but not worried. When Sebastian runs his hand over her shoulder, she appears displeased, but not scared.

Sebastian rounds a chair and squares off, facing Santana. She “parries” his move with a cocked eyebrow, like, “Is that really all you’ve got, kid?”

At this point, Sebastian regards Santana with curiosity behind his eyes. He seems just as surprised that she doesn’t respond in the manner he would expect her to do here as Santana did in the Lima Bean, when the situation was reversed. When Santana darts up from her seat and begins singing, Sebastian seems intrigued, ready to see how she’ll interact with him. Santana immediately mimics his previous prowling behavior, circling the chairs and returning the “dangerous” motions that Sebastian used earlier in the performance.

Sebastian and Santana stalk towards the center of the chair circle, playing “chicken.” Neither one of them backs down, so at the last second, they spin away from each other, eyes locked and body language aggressive. They make a second pass around the chair circle, with Santana accelerating at the last second, meeting Sebastian where he stands.

Here, Santana makes her first contact: she touches Sebastian’s shoulder, guiding him around her. Both of them speed up then, darting towards each other as the tempo of the song picks up. When Sebastian gets a bit too close to Santana, she physically rebuffs him, shoving his chest so he moves away from her. She doesn’t allow him into her space. Much like an old cat will do to a nosy dog, she takes a swipe at him, sending Sebastian on his way.

In response to Santana’s blow, Sebastian puts his arms down by his side; though he doesn’t show any outward fear, his next few steps are backwards ones. He doesn’t invade her space again for the next few lines. Instead, he retreats from her.

I would guess that this is where Sebastian starts to get nervous.

With Sebastian in retreat, Santana becomes the pursuer; she follows Sebastian into the center of the circle, keeping her eyes on him the whole time. She gives him a glaring once over, daring him to follow her and then moves to the edge of the room again. Sebastian follows her, seeming somewhat flustered by her confidence. 

As the cellists break into their “solo,” Sebastian and Santana part, going in opposite directions around the circle, running their hands over the chairs. They match each other’s movements, stopping and stalling in the same places. Then Santana spins and breaks into her grand note. Watching her, Sebastian appears frustrated; he sets his jaw and glares. He definitely views her as a threat now.

They remain on opposite sides of the circle, tracking each other as the end vocals to the song become more harried. Santana starts to take over the song and even goes as far as to beat at her chest as a sign of blatant aggression and challenge.

In this moment, we see a preview of the Warblers versus the New Directions at Regionals: Sebastian sings the same repetition he has the whole song, stuck in a less than soulful pattern, while Santana improvises, doing vocal runs and bringing the funk. Sebastian can’t handle her spontaneity; she can’t believe he’s so stuck on one note. The Warbler goes for the tradition, the stability, and the adherence to convention; the New Directions member—and, let’s be honest, Troubletones star—goes for the heart of the song, the big risk, and the thing that makes her unique. She goes for what she can do vocally that no one else in the world can.

Santana is the unicorn, bitch.

Ultimately, she’s the one to breach the inner circle, cutting to the center of the room in chase of Sebastian. Sebastian follows her, and, in a last desperate gesture, pretends to fire a gun at her head. Santana doesn’t back down.

They stay in each other’s faces until the last note.

Now, being that the preview clip ends when the song does, we don’t know what will happen following the performance. Given what we know of Sebastian’s character, I would be surprised if he acknowledges Santana’s victory, but the fact is that Santana does win.

She fucking wins it all.

Santana wins this fight for power because, even though Sebastian tries to terrify her and scare her into submission, she won’t allow him to do that. She stands her ground and makes power plays of her own, governing her space and refusing to cede him any advantage over her. Vocally, she dominates Sebastian. And in terms of politics? She shows him who fucking runs the world: girls.

Had Santana flinched in the face of Sebastian’s tactics, she would have lost. Had she submitted to him, broken eye contact, or cowered, this second round would have gone to him, just like the first. But she didn’t do any of those things; instead, she asserted herself and rejected the attacks he made on her as a woman, a lesbian, and a person of color.

Santana is a strong independent woman and her resolve in this scene just makes me want to stand up and start yelling things about girl power.

Kudos to Naya for batting this scene out of the park and kudos to Santana for asserting herself here.

She’s not just a power lesbian; she’s a damn powerful woman.

Brittana say, “Fuck the patriarchy!”

So, bottom line?

1. This performance isn’t about sex, it’s about power.

2. Santana has the power.

3. That’s how we do it in Lima Heights!

Peace.