Glee - 217 - A Night of Neglect

 Original air date: April 19, 2011

Oh boy, here we go plowing through character development as this season tries to draw to a close with this being one of the more boring non-episodes. Seriously, so much more could have been done to further the stories going on and I really like the concept of this episode but they squandered it. Let's get right to it.

We open the episode with them undoing the bit about getting money from the Cheerios after they lost the championship because the writers only know how to write the glee club as victims who never have enough for competitions despite wasting money on water effects for a practice performance of Umbrella/Singing in the Rain that they didn't use in any competitions anyway. Will tells the kids that they are going to sell salt water taffy to earn money to get to Nationals. This is entirely my bias talking because I fucking hate taffy with a passion but that sounds like it will lose you money. Go with good old fashioned chocolate and you will always be able to sell. Anyway, the glee kids start whining about how everyone hates them as is their usual modus operandi when Mike bursts out that he can't take it anymore. He's upset because he, Artie, Tina, and Brittany are in some sort of academic trivia team called the Brainiacs and they even beat Carmel. Guess who was on the Carmel team? Remember Sunshine? Remember her? No? She's the girl that was introduced in episode 1 of this season and then was shunted off to Vocal Adrenaline after Rachel sent her to a crack house and she was never seen again? Yeah, RIB just remembered she existed too and realized that maybe they needed to, I don't know, actually develop their antagonists? Anyway, Mike and the others of the Brainiacs are upset because they're not only ignored by the rest of the school but by their friends too. They can't afford to go to their big championship tournament and will have to withdraw. The other kids ask why their parents can't foot the bill and they whine that they shouldn't have to and let me just stop right here.

Ok, call me crazy but even my school that was in the most white bred middle class area of my city outside of going to a private school, didn't just foot the bill for kids to go away for tournaments. The parents had to pay a portion. Always. Yes, there was fundraising too but that was to cover the club costs, the kids had to pay to actually go. I say this as a nerd who went a province over for a Key Club conference. We paid for that shit. Either through fundraising or parents. Even for small things like field trips, the parents paid, so I really have never gotten this dilemma. It is up to the parents if they want their kids to have these extras in their kids' activities. The school's budget should be for teachers and classroom necessities.

Anyway, they claim that since they're a school club, the school should pay for it. Will's solution is to sell more disgusting chewy taffy. Bleh. 

Meanwhile, Sue is assembling a crack team of antagonists to take down the Glee club. She's recruited Dustin Goolsby (Vocal Adrenaline's coach), Sandy Ryerson, and Terri Schuester. I don't care about Dustin but is it weird that I was happy to see Sandy and Terri back? Well, less stoked when Sandy self-identifies as a "predatory gay" which leads me to conclude that Ryan Murphy is definitely a "not like other gays" trope who is hoping the straights will accept him if he plays into dangerous stereotypes as a joke. I think I already concluded this but like, here's some more proof. Anyway, Sue gives them all nicknames and calls themselves the League of Doom it's very stupid but not the stupidest this show will ever get with Sue so I'll allow it. Dustin wonders why he should care since Vocal Adrenaline is a lock to beat New Directions at Nationals and hold on, I have to go off on a bit of a tangent here. Aren't Vocal Adrenaline and New Directions both from Ohio? Were they not competitors for Regionals last season? Which means, they wouldn't be facing off in Nationals this year. Did RIB seriously forget about this? They added in the stupid Warblers without remembering that Vocal Adrenaline are supposed to be the local hard to beat team. I'm floored at their lack of consistency in this show. Anyway, she plays on the fact that he likes to toy with his opponents and Sandy mentions that Will took his job so they all agree. But no one can remember the group name.

Will gets all smoochie with Holly, who is back. Again. Look, Brad really wanted to get in her pants, ok? Will is shocked that he's in a relationship with a CoolChicktm who isn't all over him to spend more time with him. She Poochie's about how he should get used to it because she's just so absolutely not like other girls that she doesn't want to spend time with him. Hah. Wait. That's not how relationships work. Anyway, I die a little because Holly agrees with me that the taffy idea sucks. She suggests instead, a night of neglect thus dropping the episode title for us. She wants them to host like a benefit event and they can sell tickets plus it will boost the kids' confidence or something.

Will excitedly tells the kids that it's the perfect place for them to practice for Nationals and they will only be performing songs by neglected artists. Rachel wants the idea clarified and Will says artists that are underappreciated to which she thinks he's referring to her. Rachel, you just won MVP, I don't think you get to claim you are underappreciated anymore. At any rate, they are officially running with this idea to pay for both the Brainiacs and the glee clubs upcoming trips.

Sue meets with Dustin and tells him to break up Holly and Will and then tells Sandy to destroy the glee club's fundraiser and I kind of love that Sandy is all in on his nickname, Pink Dagger. He has coordinated.

Sandy is dedicated to being a henchman

Sandy decides to start a heckling club to prime people to destroy their performance. He's gathered Azimio but no Karofsky, Becky, and UGH! Jacob fucking Ben fucking Israel is back. In the flesh but thankfully not bare flesh. They spared us that nightmare fuel again, at the very least. Azimio says he was told this was a club to help him study but Sue declares that they're all in for heckling. Yes, Sue stepped in to help Sandy.

The kids are all talking about what they're going to do for the Night of Neglect. Tina wants to do Lykke Li, who I've never heard of and that's totally on me and my lack of exploring new music. Mike is going to just dance because he's tired of his dancing being overshadowed by all their singing, in a glee club. A club known for singing. Mike needs to be in dance club, is what I'm saying but still, I love his dancing and would miss it if he left. Mercedes is going to do Aretha Franklin who is not a neglected talent at all but ok. Rachel is going to do Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On and she's also not a neglected artist so really only Tina understands what Night of Neglect means. Which...makes sense. Poor Tina. The most neglected of Glee characters. Rachel thinks she is the neglected artist and that she's doing the closing number and Mercedes whines that she wants to do the closing number but we're saving that for later because Finn interrupts to ask them if they remember Sunshine. Everyone remembered Sunshine except for the writers because I distinctly remember a lot of discussion on the IMDb Glee forums about where the hell she went and why she's not been in any episodes since the first one. We had to make way for pointless filler episodes and then introduce Blaine and give him all the solos, of course. 

Apparently, Sunshine heard about their Night of Neglect thing and wants in. Why? I don't know. She claims she can bring them all her 600 Twitter followers which these kids should have known wouldn't work because she can't guarantee all of those followers are from Lima, Ohio. She also feels neglected because she's a great singer and feels alone at the top or something. Rachel doesn't want to trust her because she's the enemy but the others want to give her a chance because they owe her after Rachel sent her to a crack house. Honestly, I'm on Rachel's side here. What the hell would Sunshine gain from helping them? I'm also entirely aware that the reason Sunshine is their enemy is entirely Rachel's fault but I mean, at this moment, she is the enemy and I agree with Rachel that they shouldn't trust her. 

Sunshine sings All By Myself by Eric Carmen but I'm pretty sure they're modelling it off Celine Dion's cover which would definitely serve to piss Rachel off even more. Rachel doesn't want to give her a chance and they call her a hypocrite because of Jesse but Rachel tells them they were right. Still they think she owes Sunshine because of the crack house thing and they need her Twitter followers. Again, do these people not get how Twitter works? Rachel agrees as long as Mercedes doesn't mind getting bumped to the less glamourous middle spot. Wasn't she already in the middle spot because Rachel was going last? Or was she second last and that's better somehow? I don't get this conflict. Anyway, Mercedes agrees and Lauren looks decidedly not pleased.

Cut to the library where Lauren approaches Mercedes and asks her about laying down all the time, despite being one of the stronger voices in glee club. She tells her that respect isn't just given, she has to demand it. Mercedes doesn't want to make ridiculous demands but Lauren convinces her to let her be her manager so they can get her some clout or something. I'm not super invested in this, I'm sorry.

Will finds Emma furiously scrubbing her counter with an electric toothbrush and asks if she's ok. She confesses that Carl is gone and that he's asking for an annulment. She says he's legally entitled to it since they never consummated their marriage and is this still a thing? How would you even prove that? Whatever, the point is that Emma and Carl are done and she remained pure for Will's precious cock. Yes, I worded it grossly because that's essentially how gross this storyline is. He grabs her lunch, puts on her glove and polishes a grape for her. For a second, I got extremely uncomfortable because I expected her to feed her but he drops it in her hand instead. I'm so relieved. He also promises to be there for her but oops, Holly walks by and sees this tender moment.

She is not pleased or maybe she's relieved
since she's just so cool and unavailable

Finn and Quinn approach Rachel about being a talent coordinator basically because Mercedes is being difficult and they want to pawn her off on Rachel. We cut to Mercedes doing the stereotypical demanding diva schtick about asking for a bowl of ONLY green M&Ms and stuff like that. Fun fact, apparently musicians/actors/famous people in general actually put stuff like that in there just to see if the staff are actually reading their demands. It's like a test and they're not actually wanting ONLY green M&Ms because that is, indeed crazy. It's so they know clearly that they read their criteria and also are going to provide the much needed safety protocols they request. So, Mercedes is actually just being needlessly dumb because she doesn't understand why famous people ask for that stuff. Anyway, Rachel thinks that Mercedes just feels neglected and agrees to take care of it.

We next cut to Holly doing her CoolGirltm teaching technique of dressing up as a historical figure to teach and I've got to say, at a high school level, most students would find her cringey. She's teaching about Wallace Sampson and I only bring this up because they make a very awful joke about how she had big hands and therefore must be a hermaphrodite? I can't decide if this was meant as a trans joke but they went with hermaphrodite to skirt that and it made even less sense and was made even ruder? I don't know how they manage to be so cruel to the very demographics they claim to support but that's Glee. Dustin walks in and immediately starts hitting on Holly. Holly thanks him for lending them his star but he apparently never approved that. So, I guess this is a fake out to make us think Sunshine is being honest? Anyway, he hits on her and she rejects him for Will. With the way this episode goes on about Dustin being super hot, he's really bland. Like, I clearly don't have the same taste in men as Ryan does, in the looks department but like I understand John Stamos' appeal. I do not get this Dustin guy's appeal. Is he someone I'm not recognizing? He looks like a dick to me, like the asshole kind of dick, not a literal dick. Just that he looks unpleasant to be around. 

Will walks in just as she says that she's dating Will but somehow, this translates to him being jealous because she missed lunch with him and he now finds her getting hit on by Dustin. Holly points out that she didn't miss lunch but didn't want to intrude on his good time, basically she saw him with Emma. Will and Holly both say they're not usually jealous but clearly are in this moment and he says they should just practice their duet instead of fighting. Holly doesn't feel in the mood to duet and wants to clear her head so Will gives her kind of a brush off kiss and walks away. 

Rachel has gotten all of Mercedes demands complete, except for the puppy but she says she sent Puck to look for the perfect Pomeranian and I applaud her alliteration. Mercedes accepts it in lieu of the closing number but Rachel says that Sunshine is getting the closing number and that she is going before Sunshine so Mercedes and Holly will go before her. This pisses Mercedes off for some reason because she is now further from the closing number or something? She demands to be carried in because other Diva's were carried into certain performances. Ok. I can't stand the way they write Mercedes sometimes. This is definitely one of those times.

Kurt is showing Blaine around the school before the big show and they are confronted by Karofsky. Blaine calls him out for being in the closet and they almost get into a fight until Santana shows up and breaks it up. She then threatens Karofsky like a badass and he walks away. Kurt and Blaine think they could've handled it but honestly Santana handled herself way better because she's a Queen. She gets a text and rushes into the choir room to tell the others that Sunshine isn't going tonight and neither are her Twitter followers. Let's be real, even if Sunshine showed up, we all know that maybe one or two Twitter followers might have shown up, tops. All 600 were never going to show and the glee kids are stupid for even believing that in the first place. Rachel knew Sunshine was evil but I mean, they kind of deserved this after Rachel sent her to a crack house. This was a problem of her own making. However, Rachel did try to warn everyone and they blindly thought Sunshine would help them after that so, it's really on the others at this point, even though Rachel is at fault for making Sunshine hate them. 

Puck wants to give up on the whole show because only 6 people showed up. Those 6 people are the hecklers and I'm sorry but where are all of their parents? Extended families? Where are they all? You want me to believe that Rachel's showbiz Dads would miss their daughter performing? What even is this conflict? Finn thinks the show needs to go all over the place and Rachel agrees, correcting that he means the show must go on and they send Tina out to open the night.

I was shocked that Tina gets a number this episode and she's really, really good on it. It's I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li and it sure would have been nice to like, hear the whole song? But, in true Glee fashion, Tina sings but does not get to finish her song because she's booed off the stage. She goes sobbing back stage and the kids, once again want to give up. Will thinks they need to buck up, which is easy for him to say because he's not performing. He says people being mean is a part of show business but like, demanding simple stage etiquette from the crowd is a thing. He does suggest giving out salt water taffy as a way to shut people up for a couple of numbers and we cut to the hecklers gobbling up the chewy gross snack. Mike then goes out to do a dance to Jack Johnson's Bubble Toes. His dancing is wonderful, that man can really move. I do wish they'd let Tina go out to dance with him, instead of him dancing with a coat rack but this show hates Tina so, yeah. He's still pretty great.

As planned, the hecklers can't speak because of the taffy so all they hear are Blaine and Kurt cheering. It's nice. Where are the parents though? The other teachers? Oh well, they celebrate backstage and Will wants to send Mercedes out next. Lauren informs them that she's left the building though because she's been treated so unfairly. Holly tells them to go look for her while she deals with the haters and I really hate the way she says it. Poochie is really the only way I can describe her acting choices when she plays Holly. Just trying so hard to be cool and hip and "with it." Whatever "it" is. 

Holly is talking to the students who are heckling and tells them how good they are at it. They tell her all about how they are rude online because it's so easy and there are no repercussions online. They're really trying to do something here but this feels really clunky and like they don't really understand online bullying at all. It also makes no sense to tie in a speech about online bullying when they're actively bullying people in the flesh right now? Why are we doing this? Anyway, she tries to encourage them to lift people up instead of tear them down and they all decide to go home instead. I mean, at least there won't be any more hecklers? Jacob doesn't leave us without being gross though because he tells Holly he'll be legal in three years and asks her to wait for him. No. Stop. Leave my screen. 

Rachel finds Mercedes sitting in a car and asks her to let her in. She tells her about how Aretha Franklin was given a crown and called the Queen of Soul, not because she demanded it but because she earned it by doing what she does best. Mercedes doesn't understand why Rachel is a bigger star than her and I'm just going to say it, it's because she's a more disciplined singer. I mean, tastes in styles are subjective and Mercedes is a great singer but in the context of the show, Rachel puts way more effort into being a star and being the best. Mercedes has a big voice and then just acts like a brat when she's not handed things. She doesn't even seem that interested until she sees Rachel getting a lead she wants. This is probably a fault of the writers forgetting some of these characters exist until they remember and write plots like this in but it just makes Mercedes seem whiny. Rachel tells her that if she wants the closing slot, then she has to go in there and take it from her. Rachel has always been supportive of Mercedes, I don't understand why Mercedes acts like Rachel is awful all the time. 

Sandy is heckling when Blaine and Kurt call him the worst person. Sue asks to speak with him and they leave as they announce Holly Holiday's performance. She's singing Adele's Turning Tables and it's fine. It's a good song and Gwyneth is fine on it but I'm kind of bored. Why is she getting a solo? At this point, Gwyneth has had more solos in this season than Quinn, who is a regular. At least, it feels like it. I just can't wait for Holly to be gone. Why is she even singing? This is for the glee kids. This is to pump them up and make them feel less neglected. She's a substitute teacher. Why is she getting featured? 

Seriously, I just don't get it

Sue questions why the kids of the heckling club all left and Sandy says he lost track of them when he went to the bathroom to practice catch phrases. Sue tells him that the glee kids should have quit by intermission and that he needs to get back out there and break their spirits. 

Rachel says she tried but doesn't think that Mercedes is coming but there are only 8.5 minutes left in this episode and about a minute of that is probably credits minus 2-3 minutes for a song so she pops in a second later to confirm she's going on. She has only one last demand and that is that they need to get their butts out there and watch her sing. She does Aretha Franklin's Ain't No Way. It's really good. I really do like Mercedes as a singer. Sandy loves the song so he can't bring himself to heckle her. He even cheers at the end. Rachel was so moved that she tells Mercedes that she can't follow her and says the house was brought down thus saying that Mercedes took the closing number from her. It's a sweet moment but my friend, Lucas was deeply disappointed because he was so excited to hear Rachel sing My Heart Will Go On and she's just not going to. I'm sorry, Lucas. 

Holly comes out speaking French and talks with Will. He asks her why and she tells him she got offered a sub job in Cleveland for four months. He's disappointed she has no feelings about leaving and she calmly tells him that it was always going to end this way. He asks her if she'll ever settle down and she says she might, just not with him. Which is a hilarious burn to me but she softens that blow by telling Will that he's in love with someone else and because of her counselling, Emma be ready for him now. He asks her if she'll come to visit and she tearfully says her catchphrase to him, "I thought you'd never ask." They really wanted that to be her cool thing, huh?

Sandy has meanwhile offered to pay for the Brainiacs to go to Detroit because he was so moved by Mercedes' singing. I'm unclear what is going on with New York but Artie, Mike, Tina, and Brittany are all excited so I'm guessing Sandy is only paying for this trip. 

Sue is disgusted that her Legion of Doom has failed her. Sandy funded the Night of Neglect in full and Dustin failed to break up Will and Holly, although they did break up, it just wasn't because of him. He says that he was the one that pulled Sunshine out of the show though so I guess she was for real and Dustin screwed everything up? No, wait, he only knew about it because Holly blabbed so this is all her fault. Cool. Anyway, Sue turns to Terri to help her now.

We end the episode with the Brainiacs competing in Detroit. They say hi to their friends in Glee club, because I guess this is televised and then Rod Remington says what the next category is. It's...it's gross. It's a callback to Holly's lesson about Wallace. The kids are excited because they'll know the answer but the category is way too specific "hermaphrodite nazi sympathizers" which is so, so gross. Firstly, the correct term is intersex and secondly, that wasn't even true about Wallace? Thirdly, why would this be a category? I know I'm overthinking this joke but it's a bad joke and they should feel bad for writing it. 

Well, that certainly was an episode. Things happened. Songs were sung. I'm going to be honest, this felt like a big pile of nothing and none of it was memorable. We are so close to the end though and I don't know why I'm excited because the show only gets worse from here. Unfathomably worse. I was recently reminded of four things that are to come (out of many) and that's What Did the Fox Say, Will getting the glee kids to twerk, Blurred Lines, and Will shaming a young teenaged girl for not wanting to wear a bikini. This is very future stuff but like, it gets so, so bad. Really, extremely bad and I question to this day how Ryan Murphy manages to get so much work in Hollywood. Next, I cover Born This Way, which I'm not looking forward to because I think it's another Gaga heavy episode. I'm not big into Gaga, I'm sorry to all her Little Monsters.