Original airdate: May 4, 2010
Last week we had a disappointing, in my opinion, lack of Rachel but I'm happy to say that she makes a grand comeback this episode. Unfortunately, we also have an abundance of Sue and I feel like I need to bring up a big issue I have with her character. For starters, I mean no disrespect to Jane Lynch, love her and she's hilarious. I also have no problem with Sue being in the show much as I complain about how the hell she still has a job or ability to be near minors, I get why she's there as an antagonist and I enjoy her quippy, sarcasm and one-liners. HOWEVER, I feel like this is when they started just jamming her into the plot in ways that don't work. Last episode was weird but fine for a one-episode joke. This episode, she's once again singing and I'm sorry but I'm just not a fan of her voice and the joke isn't funny enough to warrant a full performance. Why does Sue sing again despite hating glee? Let's get into it, I guess:
The kids are gathered around a computer in the choir room and laughing. Rachel is worried that they're laughing at a video of her falling off the stage in a beauty pageant for toddlers but no, they are laughing at a video of Sue dancing around the Let's Get Physical by Olivia Newton-John that they stole from Sue's personal collection in her office. It's a little funny for a one-off gag but just wait. The kids all agree that they should give her a taste of her own medicine and post this video online.
The video spreads quickly because the next scene has Sue walking down the hall while kids shout lines from the song at her. "Let's get physical!" "Let's get animal!" and the like. At first, she shrugs it off but soon she cottons on to what must have happened.
She immediately gets Will into Figgins' office because she's positive that the glee kids are behind it. Will protests and says his kids would never do that, except they totally did so I guess Will is just super naïve and clueless when it comes to his kids. Sue begs to differ and presents her evidence, something called a "glist". This list supposedly ranks all of the kids in glee based on how hot they are and how sexually active they are and gets posted all over the school. Will objects again but Figgins said that the list was made in the school library with the passcode "gleeclub" so the perpetrator is incredibly dumb and bad at hiding their tracks. Figgins demands that Will find out who is responsible for making the glist and suspend them before the next one is posted or he's going to hold the entire glee club responsible. Here's our episode conflict, folks.
Will tells the kids about how dire the situation is in an effort to get the culprit to come forward. No one is willing but everyone assumes Puck did it. He denies it vehemently. Rachel points out that his girlfriend is first on the list and that she's last, insinuating he placed her there for not wanting to make out with him anymore. Will tells everyone to stop accusing each other but warns them that they need to start worrying about their reputations because between this and them posting the Sue Sylvester video (wait, did he know they did that? Did he lie to Figgins?) they are developing a bad reputation. Instead of being chastened, the kids are happy with this because having a bad reputation is better than being perceived as boring losers. Will acknowledges the pressure they're under but that tarnishing their reputation is not the answer, he hands out music sheets and they immediately mock it. Will sticks up for it saying that it's a great song but because of bad press has been turned into a joke. What song is Will talking about? Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. Yeah. Jesse says that the song should be arrested for the crime of sucking and I wholeheartedly agree. Will asks him if he wants to bet and oh god no...I forgot we got another Will rap. This does nothing to help the song out, to be honest. Will proclaims the song officially paroled but then immediately asks for validation from Jesse and I feel like when you need to ask, you probably know you failed.
Sue enters the teacher's lounge to slow motion laughter which is her worst nightmare. Then a lady played by Molly Shannon approaches her, we don't need to know her character name. I'm pretty confident she never returns and she's really just here to be Molly Shannon. She's a loser teacher because she has drug problems that involved her students (No teachers are good at this school) and even she thinks that Sue is an embarrassment.
Rachel hates being so low on the glist and complains to Artie about it. She thinks he's not listening and begs him to help her revive her reputation. He is into it because it involves filming and she is ecstatic because she's going to be musically promiscuous and when I first watched this, I had no idea what she meant. I know now and I cannot wait. It's glorious.
Kurt has called most of the other kids into the glee room to complain about their status; or lack thereof on the glist. Some of them weren't even mentioned on it. Brittany is also here but only because she can't remember how to leave. She wants to be in the top three too though so they allow her to stay. Kurt wants them all to be a disruption in the library to improve their reputations.
Meanwhile, Sue confides in her sister and I'm just going to take a quick aside here to say that I'm glad they brought her back. It felt like they introduced her in the first 13 as a one off "feel bad for Sue because she cares about one person" moment but bringing her back is nice and makes her feel less like a token. Sue apologizes to her for not sticking up for her more when they were kids and she was getting bullied because she finally understands what she feels like. Her sister suggests that she do something to give back to make her feel better, like when they were kids and they volunteered at the animal centre. Sue loves this suggestion becaue there are always people who have it worse than you to make you feel better. Not quite the point her sister was making but it is Sue.
She decides that for her good deed, she's going to help Emma out because she views her as a charity case; get it? She mocks her for her mental illness which is a bit gross. She also says that the man that she loves (Will) continuously cheats on her. Emma is confused and about to protest so Sue clarifies that she bribed Will's landlord to slip baby monitors under his couch and bed. Let's file this away in the long list of things that should have landed Sue in some type of prison, shall we? Also, that's gross and I hate it. Sue tells her about the makeout session with Vocal Adrenaline coach Shelby (Adele Dazeem/Idina Menzel) and hooking up with April (Kristin Chenoweth). I didn't remember that this was the lazy way they had her find out but here we are. Emma is finally aware that Will is a docuhe now. Sue suggests she make a bold move and grow a pair. This is actually good advice for her, even if she was kind of evil beforehand. She's not wrong that Emma needs to stand up for herself so I'm here for the pep talk.
Rachel is talking to Puck about his bad reputation and tells him that when he was with her it actually improved his rep. He wonders if she wants to date again but she makes it clear she's taken. She just wants his help to film a song with her. She's chosen David Gedde's fantastically terrible Run Joey Run to perform. I had never heard of this song but let me tell you, you're in for a treat. She promises he'll be the hunky lead. Puck asks her if she really thinks he made the glist and she tells him that it does sound like something he'd do. He doesn't like how bad his rep is and isn't sure why he always does stupid things despite wanting to change. Rachel confesses that she knows she's overly critical but she can't help it even though she knows it does nothing for their rep. Puck wants to make out but she refuses since she's dating Jesse. Puck almost bails on her because he's only in if they makeout but she somehow convinces him to stay and keep things professional.
At school the next day, Sue pushes Emma to stand up to Will. This seems more like a way for her to torture Will than it does a way to give back but that's Sue for you. Also, Will needs to get called out for his shit so I'm kind of here for it. Emma let's him have it and refuses to do so in private. She stands in the middle of the lunch room with all the other teachers staring at them and tells him about how she's going to therapy to fix herself so she could be with him and all the while, he's been making out with a woman named Shelby and sleeping with April Rhodes. Will doesn't address any of her concerns but questions how she knows about Shelby and April, not really the point right now, Will. Emma notices that he's not denying it and accuses him of being a slut and wants everyone to know it and for him to know she's done with him. Most epic break up ever. I love it.
In the library, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and Brittany have all donned enormous parachute pants and sing U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer while dancing around and it's pretty funny that this is what they think is rebellious. The librarian agrees with me and is so charmed by their performance she wants to hire them to sing at her Sunday Service. Swing and a miss, kids.
Will is now grilling all of the kids in Glee Club to see if he can suss out who is making the glist because the survival of the club hinges on him stopping its production. Each kid still denies their involvement, Artie giving the best alibi as he'd not be able to reach as high as the glists were posted. He points the finger at Puck again, claiming to see him put it up but Puck claims he was just moving it off of Rachel's locker. Brittany claims she couldn't have done it since she doesn't know how to use a computer. Checks out. Santana claims Rachel did it since she has a vendetta against her for stealing Puck and then Finn. Will doesn't buy that and he ends up interrogating Kurt who calls him out for trying to re-enact the Law & Order episodes he's clearly been binging and also denies creating the glist. Will has tried nothing and he's all out of ideas now.
The glee kids are still bummed that their reputations are squeaky clean, even after their impromptu concert in the library. They decide that they need to resort to drastic measures to tarnish/improve their reputations. They are going to come clean to Sue about posting the Physical video.
Sue gets a weird phone call that I kind of hate. Again, this is dark comedy/goofy humour but it feels way out of place and like the episode is awkwardly plugging Olivia Newton John. So, ONJ calls Sue up because she saw the Physical video and loved it. She introduces herself on the phone like this: "Hello? Sue? It's Olivia Newton John, star of Grease the most successful movie musical of all time." No one talks like this, I know it's absurdist but it takes me right out of the episode. This whole part feels like some sort of "hello fellow kids" campaign for ONJ to get newer, younger fans. Anyway, I'm nitpicking but ONJ wants to improve upon her classic video and wants Sue's help to do it. She drops a lot of self-glorifying facts which teeters on mildly amusing to groan-worthy? Not a fan.
Will is mocked by some teachers, cheered on by others, propositioned by Molly Shannon, and confronted by Ken Tenaka for breaking Emma's heart which is probably a double blow for him since his relationship with her fell apart over her feelings for Will. Will claims he didn't mean to hurt anyone but this is kind of a theme with Will. He's a bumbling Nice Guy who thinks he's altruistic and pure but ultimately ends up hurting everyone around him, including the glee kids. Sure he's not outwardly bad but that's almost more dangerous because he doesn't get called out a lot for his behaviour so I really appreciated both Emma and Ken getting to tell Will off here. It was due.
Next, Kurt volunteers to break the news to Sue. He approaches her in the hallway and confesses really quickly to posting the video but instead of flying off the handle as she usually does, she calmly thanks him and says she can't thank him enough. The kids are all super confused but then they find a new video on YouTube, Physical by ONJ but featuring one Sue Sylvester. Look, I already addressed this in my intro but I'm just going to say it, much as I love Jane Lynch and think she's very talented, I'm not a super fan of her voice and these musical numbers feel very out of place and out of character for Sue. Once was funny, more times and it just feels off. Not everyone has to sing in this show and it's actually funnier if we keep it to the glee club and related people. I don't want to see Sue sing, just like I never want to hear Coach Tanaka sing or Principal Figgins. They are not singers in the context of the show and it doesn't work when they suddenly do it. I didn't mind Emma singing because it kind of works with her crush on Will but she doesn't do it often which is also good. I realize this is my own personal gripe but I just had to air it. The Sue singing stuff has never done it for me and I really wish they didn't keep shoe-horning it in because it makes no sense for a character that actively hates singing and glee club to be involved in the musical numbers of the show. Instead of overweight men, they are all super ripped this time. The kids somehow love this and want to watch it again immediately after.
In the glee club, Will makes one final plea for someone to confess about the glist. He warns them that if another one goes up today, the issue will end up in Mr. Figgins' hands and you definitely don't want a problem in his hands because they're always tied. No one confesses so he just kind of goes on with the glee club/class thing but it's ok because it's Rachel's turn to unveil her masterpiece. Something that might go over a lot of people's minds with its genius because they're not well-versed in the art of film but just witness the greatness:
I love this thing so much, I can't even describe it. It's a disaster and it's beautiful. You'd think that it wouldn't work because they're trying to be bad and cheesy but everything about this works and I love it. God, I missed her so much last episode. You may hate her (I don't) but you cannot deny that she is entertaining as hell. I lose it every time I watch this
Everyone in the club is rendered speechless but it's because there are no words to describe the cinematic masterpiece they've just witnessed. No, actually Finn is pissed and so is Puck and Jesse because all of them thought that they were the only leading man. Rachel basically lied to them to make a vanity project where it appeared that all three boys were vying for her affection. Jesse, in particular is mortified and that just breaks my heart but also confuses me, I'll get to that later though.
Sue is visiting her sister again and Jean tells her how much she liked the Physical video. Sue feels much better now that she can shove her top 700 recording artist title in everyone's faces and the fact that she got to work with ONJ. She then tells her sister that she's donating the proceeds (which wasn't a lot since ONJ screwed her in negotiations) to the nursing home so that she can have a vegetable garden to putter around in. I actually do like this scene, it's a sweet moment between sisters that clearly love each other.
Will walks into Emma's office with flowers. She says their lovely in a polite but dismissive way, she's clearly still upset. Will goes into his apology where he acknowledges that he's been trying to find himself but took a few wrong turns and he totally gets how those wrong turns hurt her but Emma isn't buying it. Will is sad that Emma won't immediately accept his apology (you know where he dictated that she get therapy to improve herself while he handled his divorce before getting romantically entangled and then went on to make out with Shelby) and whines about how much it's killing him and he just wants her to look at him the way she used to. Emma rightfully says that she can't, he's ruined that and there is no way to get it back but does say that it's not a bad thing. They can start seeing themselves as real people rather than crushes they've put on pedestals. She thanks him for the flowers and sends him on his way.
Will is dejected but suddenly his own experience with being mocked for his sexual proclivities clues him into the true culprit behind the glist: Quinn Fabray. He confronts her about it and she pretty much admits to it, going into how her life has been destroyed and she's lost everything. Will says that's how he figured her out, she had the most to gain from making the glist and of course, she was number one on it. Quinn says she didn't mean to hurt anyone but she just wanted some status back because having a bad reputation is better than having none at all. Will assures her that she is still the strong girl she once was and that she can get it all back one day.
Figgins barges in at this moment demanding to know who wrote the glists but Will decides to lie and let Quinn off the hook because he feels bad for her. Figgins isn't pleased but agrees that since the glists have stopped, he can move on and call it a win. He's also still praying for Will on account of his man-whorish ways. Quinn thanks Will for not tattling on her.
Jesse finds Rachel to talk about what happened with the music video. He tells her that he asked around before transferring to her school to date her. Rachel is curious about what they said and he tells her most didn't know her but that those who did said she was sneaky hot which was cancelled out by a compulsive need to be right and her affinity for animal sweaters. The most interesting part was that she said she was trustworthy and Rachel says she can still be trustworthy but her pathological need to be seen as cool clouds her judgement sometimes. Jesse thinks he should have been enough, especially since he gave up everything to be with her. Rachel knew he'd break her heart but Jesse says that she broke his first and here's where I get more confused.
Ok, so since Jesse's been introduced he's been nothing but charming to Rachel. Yes, there was a scene at the end of his first episode where he exchanged a look with Shelby but nothing else has really been implied since then and his feelings here seem really genuine. This is a point where plot and character motivation don't match up at all. Clearly the writers want him to be an undercover spy for Vocal Adrenaline but they wanted Rachel to fall for him for max drama but they can't seem to be able to decide if Jesse has really fallen for Rachel or if he's faking everything. If he were faking everything, why the big theatrics over this incident? If this was his swan song where he leaves Rachel heartbroken, why does he stay at McKinley? How was any of this supposed to work? Maybe I'm forgetting something from the next few episodes but I'm pretty certain it's just that the glee writers are really bad at following through with their very thin plotlines because they're too busy picking songs to cover and figuring out how to jam them into episodes.
We end the episode with a brooding cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler where we see Rachel being sad in ballet class as she and Jesse uncomfortably have to dance together despite him being pissed at her. Puck and Finn are also there too but let's face it, I'm biased and far more into the Rachel and Jesse dynamic. Also Groff is pretty and his and Lea's voices blend so nicely together. The other guys are fine too, I guess.
This episode was a vast improvement on last week's snooze-fest. The show is much better when it has fun with it's musical numbers and limits the emotional ballads. We finally got some momentum going in the plot with a big blowout between Rachel and both her love interests, (and Puck but who cares?) and Emma finally got to learn the truth about Will basically cheating on her so she could call him out and stand up for herself. Hers was definitely much needed character growth from the naïve, doe-eyed guidance counsellor of the first 13 episodes. When we come back to Glee we'll be looking at the episode Laryngitis.
Last week we had a disappointing, in my opinion, lack of Rachel but I'm happy to say that she makes a grand comeback this episode. Unfortunately, we also have an abundance of Sue and I feel like I need to bring up a big issue I have with her character. For starters, I mean no disrespect to Jane Lynch, love her and she's hilarious. I also have no problem with Sue being in the show much as I complain about how the hell she still has a job or ability to be near minors, I get why she's there as an antagonist and I enjoy her quippy, sarcasm and one-liners. HOWEVER, I feel like this is when they started just jamming her into the plot in ways that don't work. Last episode was weird but fine for a one-episode joke. This episode, she's once again singing and I'm sorry but I'm just not a fan of her voice and the joke isn't funny enough to warrant a full performance. Why does Sue sing again despite hating glee? Let's get into it, I guess:
The kids are gathered around a computer in the choir room and laughing. Rachel is worried that they're laughing at a video of her falling off the stage in a beauty pageant for toddlers but no, they are laughing at a video of Sue dancing around the Let's Get Physical by Olivia Newton-John that they stole from Sue's personal collection in her office. It's a little funny for a one-off gag but just wait. The kids all agree that they should give her a taste of her own medicine and post this video online.
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| Sue kind of deserves this |
The video spreads quickly because the next scene has Sue walking down the hall while kids shout lines from the song at her. "Let's get physical!" "Let's get animal!" and the like. At first, she shrugs it off but soon she cottons on to what must have happened.
She immediately gets Will into Figgins' office because she's positive that the glee kids are behind it. Will protests and says his kids would never do that, except they totally did so I guess Will is just super naïve and clueless when it comes to his kids. Sue begs to differ and presents her evidence, something called a "glist". This list supposedly ranks all of the kids in glee based on how hot they are and how sexually active they are and gets posted all over the school. Will objects again but Figgins said that the list was made in the school library with the passcode "gleeclub" so the perpetrator is incredibly dumb and bad at hiding their tracks. Figgins demands that Will find out who is responsible for making the glist and suspend them before the next one is posted or he's going to hold the entire glee club responsible. Here's our episode conflict, folks.
Will tells the kids about how dire the situation is in an effort to get the culprit to come forward. No one is willing but everyone assumes Puck did it. He denies it vehemently. Rachel points out that his girlfriend is first on the list and that she's last, insinuating he placed her there for not wanting to make out with him anymore. Will tells everyone to stop accusing each other but warns them that they need to start worrying about their reputations because between this and them posting the Sue Sylvester video (wait, did he know they did that? Did he lie to Figgins?) they are developing a bad reputation. Instead of being chastened, the kids are happy with this because having a bad reputation is better than being perceived as boring losers. Will acknowledges the pressure they're under but that tarnishing their reputation is not the answer, he hands out music sheets and they immediately mock it. Will sticks up for it saying that it's a great song but because of bad press has been turned into a joke. What song is Will talking about? Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. Yeah. Jesse says that the song should be arrested for the crime of sucking and I wholeheartedly agree. Will asks him if he wants to bet and oh god no...I forgot we got another Will rap. This does nothing to help the song out, to be honest. Will proclaims the song officially paroled but then immediately asks for validation from Jesse and I feel like when you need to ask, you probably know you failed.
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| Pictured: Will seeking validation that teens think he's cool |
Sue enters the teacher's lounge to slow motion laughter which is her worst nightmare. Then a lady played by Molly Shannon approaches her, we don't need to know her character name. I'm pretty confident she never returns and she's really just here to be Molly Shannon. She's a loser teacher because she has drug problems that involved her students (No teachers are good at this school) and even she thinks that Sue is an embarrassment.
Rachel hates being so low on the glist and complains to Artie about it. She thinks he's not listening and begs him to help her revive her reputation. He is into it because it involves filming and she is ecstatic because she's going to be musically promiscuous and when I first watched this, I had no idea what she meant. I know now and I cannot wait. It's glorious.
Kurt has called most of the other kids into the glee room to complain about their status; or lack thereof on the glist. Some of them weren't even mentioned on it. Brittany is also here but only because she can't remember how to leave. She wants to be in the top three too though so they allow her to stay. Kurt wants them all to be a disruption in the library to improve their reputations.
Meanwhile, Sue confides in her sister and I'm just going to take a quick aside here to say that I'm glad they brought her back. It felt like they introduced her in the first 13 as a one off "feel bad for Sue because she cares about one person" moment but bringing her back is nice and makes her feel less like a token. Sue apologizes to her for not sticking up for her more when they were kids and she was getting bullied because she finally understands what she feels like. Her sister suggests that she do something to give back to make her feel better, like when they were kids and they volunteered at the animal centre. Sue loves this suggestion becaue there are always people who have it worse than you to make you feel better. Not quite the point her sister was making but it is Sue.
She decides that for her good deed, she's going to help Emma out because she views her as a charity case; get it? She mocks her for her mental illness which is a bit gross. She also says that the man that she loves (Will) continuously cheats on her. Emma is confused and about to protest so Sue clarifies that she bribed Will's landlord to slip baby monitors under his couch and bed. Let's file this away in the long list of things that should have landed Sue in some type of prison, shall we? Also, that's gross and I hate it. Sue tells her about the makeout session with Vocal Adrenaline coach Shelby (Adele Dazeem/Idina Menzel) and hooking up with April (Kristin Chenoweth). I didn't remember that this was the lazy way they had her find out but here we are. Emma is finally aware that Will is a docuhe now. Sue suggests she make a bold move and grow a pair. This is actually good advice for her, even if she was kind of evil beforehand. She's not wrong that Emma needs to stand up for herself so I'm here for the pep talk.
Rachel is talking to Puck about his bad reputation and tells him that when he was with her it actually improved his rep. He wonders if she wants to date again but she makes it clear she's taken. She just wants his help to film a song with her. She's chosen David Gedde's fantastically terrible Run Joey Run to perform. I had never heard of this song but let me tell you, you're in for a treat. She promises he'll be the hunky lead. Puck asks her if she really thinks he made the glist and she tells him that it does sound like something he'd do. He doesn't like how bad his rep is and isn't sure why he always does stupid things despite wanting to change. Rachel confesses that she knows she's overly critical but she can't help it even though she knows it does nothing for their rep. Puck wants to make out but she refuses since she's dating Jesse. Puck almost bails on her because he's only in if they makeout but she somehow convinces him to stay and keep things professional.
At school the next day, Sue pushes Emma to stand up to Will. This seems more like a way for her to torture Will than it does a way to give back but that's Sue for you. Also, Will needs to get called out for his shit so I'm kind of here for it. Emma let's him have it and refuses to do so in private. She stands in the middle of the lunch room with all the other teachers staring at them and tells him about how she's going to therapy to fix herself so she could be with him and all the while, he's been making out with a woman named Shelby and sleeping with April Rhodes. Will doesn't address any of her concerns but questions how she knows about Shelby and April, not really the point right now, Will. Emma notices that he's not denying it and accuses him of being a slut and wants everyone to know it and for him to know she's done with him. Most epic break up ever. I love it.
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| Sing it, Sister! |
In the library, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and Brittany have all donned enormous parachute pants and sing U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer while dancing around and it's pretty funny that this is what they think is rebellious. The librarian agrees with me and is so charmed by their performance she wants to hire them to sing at her Sunday Service. Swing and a miss, kids.
Will is now grilling all of the kids in Glee Club to see if he can suss out who is making the glist because the survival of the club hinges on him stopping its production. Each kid still denies their involvement, Artie giving the best alibi as he'd not be able to reach as high as the glists were posted. He points the finger at Puck again, claiming to see him put it up but Puck claims he was just moving it off of Rachel's locker. Brittany claims she couldn't have done it since she doesn't know how to use a computer. Checks out. Santana claims Rachel did it since she has a vendetta against her for stealing Puck and then Finn. Will doesn't buy that and he ends up interrogating Kurt who calls him out for trying to re-enact the Law & Order episodes he's clearly been binging and also denies creating the glist. Will has tried nothing and he's all out of ideas now.
The glee kids are still bummed that their reputations are squeaky clean, even after their impromptu concert in the library. They decide that they need to resort to drastic measures to tarnish/improve their reputations. They are going to come clean to Sue about posting the Physical video.
Sue gets a weird phone call that I kind of hate. Again, this is dark comedy/goofy humour but it feels way out of place and like the episode is awkwardly plugging Olivia Newton John. So, ONJ calls Sue up because she saw the Physical video and loved it. She introduces herself on the phone like this: "Hello? Sue? It's Olivia Newton John, star of Grease the most successful movie musical of all time." No one talks like this, I know it's absurdist but it takes me right out of the episode. This whole part feels like some sort of "hello fellow kids" campaign for ONJ to get newer, younger fans. Anyway, I'm nitpicking but ONJ wants to improve upon her classic video and wants Sue's help to do it. She drops a lot of self-glorifying facts which teeters on mildly amusing to groan-worthy? Not a fan.
Will is mocked by some teachers, cheered on by others, propositioned by Molly Shannon, and confronted by Ken Tenaka for breaking Emma's heart which is probably a double blow for him since his relationship with her fell apart over her feelings for Will. Will claims he didn't mean to hurt anyone but this is kind of a theme with Will. He's a bumbling Nice Guy who thinks he's altruistic and pure but ultimately ends up hurting everyone around him, including the glee kids. Sure he's not outwardly bad but that's almost more dangerous because he doesn't get called out a lot for his behaviour so I really appreciated both Emma and Ken getting to tell Will off here. It was due.
Next, Kurt volunteers to break the news to Sue. He approaches her in the hallway and confesses really quickly to posting the video but instead of flying off the handle as she usually does, she calmly thanks him and says she can't thank him enough. The kids are all super confused but then they find a new video on YouTube, Physical by ONJ but featuring one Sue Sylvester. Look, I already addressed this in my intro but I'm just going to say it, much as I love Jane Lynch and think she's very talented, I'm not a super fan of her voice and these musical numbers feel very out of place and out of character for Sue. Once was funny, more times and it just feels off. Not everyone has to sing in this show and it's actually funnier if we keep it to the glee club and related people. I don't want to see Sue sing, just like I never want to hear Coach Tanaka sing or Principal Figgins. They are not singers in the context of the show and it doesn't work when they suddenly do it. I didn't mind Emma singing because it kind of works with her crush on Will but she doesn't do it often which is also good. I realize this is my own personal gripe but I just had to air it. The Sue singing stuff has never done it for me and I really wish they didn't keep shoe-horning it in because it makes no sense for a character that actively hates singing and glee club to be involved in the musical numbers of the show. Instead of overweight men, they are all super ripped this time. The kids somehow love this and want to watch it again immediately after.
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| I mean I guess it's entertaining |
In the glee club, Will makes one final plea for someone to confess about the glist. He warns them that if another one goes up today, the issue will end up in Mr. Figgins' hands and you definitely don't want a problem in his hands because they're always tied. No one confesses so he just kind of goes on with the glee club/class thing but it's ok because it's Rachel's turn to unveil her masterpiece. Something that might go over a lot of people's minds with its genius because they're not well-versed in the art of film but just witness the greatness:
I love this thing so much, I can't even describe it. It's a disaster and it's beautiful. You'd think that it wouldn't work because they're trying to be bad and cheesy but everything about this works and I love it. God, I missed her so much last episode. You may hate her (I don't) but you cannot deny that she is entertaining as hell. I lose it every time I watch this
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| Especially the end. The wink ends me. |
Everyone in the club is rendered speechless but it's because there are no words to describe the cinematic masterpiece they've just witnessed. No, actually Finn is pissed and so is Puck and Jesse because all of them thought that they were the only leading man. Rachel basically lied to them to make a vanity project where it appeared that all three boys were vying for her affection. Jesse, in particular is mortified and that just breaks my heart but also confuses me, I'll get to that later though.
Sue is visiting her sister again and Jean tells her how much she liked the Physical video. Sue feels much better now that she can shove her top 700 recording artist title in everyone's faces and the fact that she got to work with ONJ. She then tells her sister that she's donating the proceeds (which wasn't a lot since ONJ screwed her in negotiations) to the nursing home so that she can have a vegetable garden to putter around in. I actually do like this scene, it's a sweet moment between sisters that clearly love each other.
Will walks into Emma's office with flowers. She says their lovely in a polite but dismissive way, she's clearly still upset. Will goes into his apology where he acknowledges that he's been trying to find himself but took a few wrong turns and he totally gets how those wrong turns hurt her but Emma isn't buying it. Will is sad that Emma won't immediately accept his apology (you know where he dictated that she get therapy to improve herself while he handled his divorce before getting romantically entangled and then went on to make out with Shelby) and whines about how much it's killing him and he just wants her to look at him the way she used to. Emma rightfully says that she can't, he's ruined that and there is no way to get it back but does say that it's not a bad thing. They can start seeing themselves as real people rather than crushes they've put on pedestals. She thanks him for the flowers and sends him on his way.
Will is dejected but suddenly his own experience with being mocked for his sexual proclivities clues him into the true culprit behind the glist: Quinn Fabray. He confronts her about it and she pretty much admits to it, going into how her life has been destroyed and she's lost everything. Will says that's how he figured her out, she had the most to gain from making the glist and of course, she was number one on it. Quinn says she didn't mean to hurt anyone but she just wanted some status back because having a bad reputation is better than having none at all. Will assures her that she is still the strong girl she once was and that she can get it all back one day.
Figgins barges in at this moment demanding to know who wrote the glists but Will decides to lie and let Quinn off the hook because he feels bad for her. Figgins isn't pleased but agrees that since the glists have stopped, he can move on and call it a win. He's also still praying for Will on account of his man-whorish ways. Quinn thanks Will for not tattling on her.
Jesse finds Rachel to talk about what happened with the music video. He tells her that he asked around before transferring to her school to date her. Rachel is curious about what they said and he tells her most didn't know her but that those who did said she was sneaky hot which was cancelled out by a compulsive need to be right and her affinity for animal sweaters. The most interesting part was that she said she was trustworthy and Rachel says she can still be trustworthy but her pathological need to be seen as cool clouds her judgement sometimes. Jesse thinks he should have been enough, especially since he gave up everything to be with her. Rachel knew he'd break her heart but Jesse says that she broke his first and here's where I get more confused.
Ok, so since Jesse's been introduced he's been nothing but charming to Rachel. Yes, there was a scene at the end of his first episode where he exchanged a look with Shelby but nothing else has really been implied since then and his feelings here seem really genuine. This is a point where plot and character motivation don't match up at all. Clearly the writers want him to be an undercover spy for Vocal Adrenaline but they wanted Rachel to fall for him for max drama but they can't seem to be able to decide if Jesse has really fallen for Rachel or if he's faking everything. If he were faking everything, why the big theatrics over this incident? If this was his swan song where he leaves Rachel heartbroken, why does he stay at McKinley? How was any of this supposed to work? Maybe I'm forgetting something from the next few episodes but I'm pretty certain it's just that the glee writers are really bad at following through with their very thin plotlines because they're too busy picking songs to cover and figuring out how to jam them into episodes.
We end the episode with a brooding cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler where we see Rachel being sad in ballet class as she and Jesse uncomfortably have to dance together despite him being pissed at her. Puck and Finn are also there too but let's face it, I'm biased and far more into the Rachel and Jesse dynamic. Also Groff is pretty and his and Lea's voices blend so nicely together. The other guys are fine too, I guess.
This episode was a vast improvement on last week's snooze-fest. The show is much better when it has fun with it's musical numbers and limits the emotional ballads. We finally got some momentum going in the plot with a big blowout between Rachel and both her love interests, (and Puck but who cares?) and Emma finally got to learn the truth about Will basically cheating on her so she could call him out and stand up for herself. Hers was definitely much needed character growth from the naïve, doe-eyed guidance counsellor of the first 13 episodes. When we come back to Glee we'll be looking at the episode Laryngitis.
RUN JOEY RUN AND TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART, WHAT A GREAT MOMENT
ReplyDeleteand wow Will is the wooooooooorst
I love both performances so much for completely different reasons.
DeleteWill is Glee's Dawson, I'm convinced.
canon accepted
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