Glee – Recap & Review – The Rhodes Not Taken

photo: fox

Glee
The Rhodes Not Taken

Original Air Date: Sept. 30, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Only one Sue scene? What is Glee without some snipey Sue? Ah, but the producers make it up to us in a big way — by having Broadway baby and recent Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth guest star. Oh joy!

It all begins when Will runs into one of his old students who is a six-year senior now at another high school. Seems he keeps getting failed so he can stay in the school’s award-winning glee club. Ding-ding-ding! Will decides that he needs his own ringer and discovers that former glee club diva, April Rhodes, never graduated. And we all know how well Chenoweth can sing.

He finds April and promises her she can get her degree and clean up her life if she comes back — and as long as she’s there, why not sing in the glee club once more? But it doesn’t take us long to see that April is very screwed up by men, booze and her own failure demons. However, she sure does love the spotlight.

Now, this being Chenoweth, who is all kinds of cute and bubbly, the character doesn’t walk too close to the evil line. Still, she encourages Kurt to drink for “daily courage,” teaches the girls to shop lift and “takes a shower” with the football team. That’s bad influence with a “B” and an “I.” And it takes Emma to point it out to Will, who still has a crush on April from when they were in glee together.

It’s also Emma who sets Finn on the mission to get Rachel back in glee. She calls Finn in for “special guidance,” not because she knows daddy-to-be Finn’s personal problems (yeah, right, chatty Will), and says he has a chance at a music scholarship if they can win regionals. And the only way glee can win regionals is to get Rachel back.

Last we saw Rachel, she’d quit glee to be the star in the school musical “Cabaret,” all a plan by Sue to make sure the glee club can’t win. But things are getting tougher for Rahcel as the director is abusive and doesn’t understand she’s a star. So when Finn wants to spend time with her, she’s in a vulnerable place. After a hot kiss in the bowling alley, she agrees to return.

The first thing she hears on her return? That Quinn is preggos and Finn is the baby daddy. She’s been manipulated and naturally feels violated. Rachel tells Finn if he had just been honest with her, she would have come back to help him. So she’s out again.

Then comes the big night when the glee club is supposed to perform for the school and April comes in totally wasted, after promising Will to reform. Ah, we’ve all heard that line before. Still, she pulls it together and does a great job with “Last Name,” although the kids are nothing but background on the number.

Will finally gets the ba—ah, guts to fire her. But now they can’t perform their second number, Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” And that’s when the cavalry comes in, in the form of Rachel. And the glee club hits a homerun in what is sure to be yet another iTunes top seller.

My favorite moment of the show is when April and Rachel sing the same tune, overlapping each other on “Maybe This Time” from “Cabaret.” I kept waiting to hear that Lea Michele’s voice didn’t compare to Tony-winner Chenoweth’s, but damn it, Michele’s voice comes very close. Impressive.

So another fun episode, although a little more Sue would have been better. How great is it to see the great Cheno back on TV? Man, I miss Pushing Daisies so much. But I’ll take what I can get.

However, when even a pro like Cheno’s lip syncing looks off, you know the production people are doing something wrong!

How much longer do you think it will take Will and Finn to wise up to their lying women? Would you like to see the character of April return? Give us your Two Cents…

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Last Night’s Finale Number