Glee – Recap & Review – Dream On

photo: fox

Glee
Dream On

Original Air Date: May 18, 2010

Farrah Kaye – Sr. Editor
farrah@thetwocentscorp.com

On Monday night, my phone went off with an alert that my Glee: The Music, Volume 3 was available to download. I skipped right to “Dream On” and finally listened to the entire song in full instead of the 10 seconds of it I had been watching on TV over and over. It gave me chills.

Then something struck me: Just two songs later, Idina Menzel had a song on the soundtrack. “I Dreamed a Dream.” It seemed out of place. But it all came together in this episode, with guest stars Molly Shannon, Idina Menzel and of course, Neil Patrick Harris.

Mr. Shue is called to Figgins’ office to meet Bryan Ryan, who he already knows. Bryan was two years older and got every solo and every girl when they were in high school together. Also, Bryan (aka Neil Patrick Harris) had an awesome mullet back in the day! Bryan is at the school to do an audit to see what program will get cut – and it looks like glee club will go. Will can’t believe he is thinking of cutting glee, he was IN glee club (back then, referred to as show choir). Bryan runs a “show choir conversion group,” where Brenda Castle shows up admitting to not having sung in over 40 days. The group is like AA but for show choir addicts. “Show choir kills,” Bryan says. Bryan wants to talk to the kids about their dreams. He has them write down their biggest dreams and then he tells them they will never happen. He tells them show biz is the most unrealistic dream of them all. Bryan takes a shot at Will and he kicks him out of the room. Bryan decides to cut the glee club. Tina sees Artie in the library reaching for a book and helps him get it. Artie tells Tina since he won’t ever be able to become a performer, he’s thinking of becoming a director. The dream he wrote was to become a dancer but he wouldn’t admit it to Tina. She decides since Mr. Shue didn’t give them an assignment, she’s making one of her own: they’re going to do a dance number together. Rachel is doing some ballet when Jesse walks in. He pulls out his charm and they hug. She tells him about Bryan Ryan coming to school and the whole dream thing. He asks her what her dream is and she says it’s her mom. She wants to know who she is … not meet her, but maybe know her name or something about her. He promises to help her. Tina and Artie are practicing their dance – her in tap shoes and him with taps on his chair but he thinks his “tap wheels” suck. He has borrowed someone’s crutches and thinks he’ll be able to take a few steps thanks to his super-human upper body strength. Oh, this isn’t gonna be good. His arms sure are strong, but his feet won’t move. He falls to the ground and he tells Tina it’s her fault for pushing him. He begs her to leave. Oh man, it broke my heart watching that scene. Will finds Bryan in the home-ec room and offers to buy Bryan a beer to convince him he’s wrong. Bryan says it’s not gonna work.

At the library, Rachel tells Jesse she’s found her mother: Patti LuPone. She’s even done math calculations and found a way for Patti to be in Ohio around her time of conception. Not so much Rachel. She even found a way for Bernadette Peters to be her mother, too. She’s afraid her mother is someone like Quinn or someone who gave her up for money. Jesse suggests pulling a CSI and doing a real investigation. Meanwhile, Bryan and Will are at the bar. Will is talking about how jealous he was of Bryan and he says there was one that he never got: Terri! HA. That’s hilarious. Will tells Bryan about glee club and expressing yourself, yadda yadda. Bryan breaks down and tells Will he’s living a lie and how miserable he is. (*See line of the night below.*) Will puts on “Piano Man” and tells Bryan to sing it like he sang it at their Sectionals. Will starts him off and finally Bryan breaks into song. Oh, Neil Patrick Harris, how you make me giddy. But when you put NPH with Matthew Morrison? Holy freaking moly! Will tells him to leave the past in the past. Bryan says okay.

Artie and Tina are walking together and he apologizes to her. He says his case is hopeless and he just needs to accept it. Tina takes out a bunch of research she did for all different kinds of studies going on that might be able to work one day and for him to not give up on his dream. Aw, they’re so cute! Rachel and Jesse are going through boxes of Rachel stuff looking for clues about her mother (they find a sonogram, baby teeth, a singing award) when Jesse takes a tape out of his pocket and tells Rachel it came from the box. It says “From Mother to Daughter” on it. Jesse goes to play it but Rachel isn’t ready for it. Oh Jesse, what are you doing?? Don’t play with this poor girl’s heart! Will and Bryan show up to audition for the same role at the local theatre. They argue in front of the director and he tells them they have to sing their song as a duet. Here it goes! With dueling mics, Will and Bryan sing Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” Now, it isn’t a coincidence this was one of my favorite songs before it was on the show. But this version might actually be even better than the original. Matthew and Neil NAILED this song. And the way they were battling while singing? Nice directing Joss Whedon. Nice job! Hold on while I rewind a few times….okay, moving on… 🙂

Tina and Artie are at the mall and he’s bought tap shoes. She goes to buy them pretzels but first he tells her that he went to the doctor and he started the therapies she researched and they’re working (I feel the dream sequence coming…). He gets up and walks. Perfectly. He says all he wants to do is dance. Right there in the mall, he starts dancing and starts a flashmob. And um, hello, Kevin McHale is an AMAZING dancer! The dance is very Thriller-esque and some of the Gleeks are there (Brittany, Mike, more of the background players…). Back in reality, Artie is sitting alone in his chair in the middle of the mall when Tina brings him his pretzel. Aw man. Sue is talking to Bryan about cutting the glee club and tells her the Cheerios’ budget is out of control. He gives her facts about music and arts while she spouts off facts about sports. She actually has a good argument. Bryan decides he’s turned on and they go upstairs to have anger sex. Um, ew? Glad they didn’t show that part on screen!

Jesse gets into a car and tells someone Rachel has the tape but she won’t listen to it. It’s Shelby! She says Rachel HAS to listen to it…it’s the whole point. OMG!! SHELBY IS RACHEL’S MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I had to put that many exclamation marks because there were SO many rumors that I didn’t think Ryan Murphy et al would actually do it! HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS MOTHERLY!! Shelby is not allowed to contact Rachel until she is 18 so she has to figure it out on her own. She says once Rachel hears that tape, she’s going to want to find her. Backstory: Shelby answered an ad in a paper that gave her enough money to live in New York for two years. She never got to hold Rachel but got to see her. The only regret in her life is … not knowing Rachel. She tells Jesse she has to get Rachel to listen to it. Artie goes to Emma for help dealing with how it will feel to walk (once the treatments work). Emma tells him the damage to his spinal chord is irreversible and it would be at least 10 years before any of the studies would be tested on humans so it’s probably going to be a long long time before he walks. He leaves, quite upset. Bryan is all excited to give the glee club custom-made jackets and costumes and sheet music. Everyone is happy … that is, until Sue comes in and ruins it all by telling Will he got the lead in the play and Bryan got a small role (only one line). Bryan is crushed and takes back everything he just gave them. And he’s decided to cut the program. Again. Jeez, he changes his mind like Puck changes women!

Will finds Bryan practicing his one line and asks him to save the club. Will gives him this speech about turning the “stars” of glee club into “black holes.” He also gives Bryan his role in the play because Bryan is a black hole and he needs to be a star again. And also he’s giving him the role to save the club. Bryan agrees to the deal. Rachel comes home to find Jesse in her room and tells Rachel she is ready to hear the tape even though she says she’s not. He hits play, kisses her and leaves. The amazing voice of Idina Menzel singing “I Dreamed a Dream” comes out of the speakers and that’s not all…it’s a duet with Lea Michele, the two of them side by side in black dresses on a stage. Seriously? These two look SO alike. I’m really glad they went this direction. It would be a travesty to have not. Again, props to Joss for the amazing direction with this scene. A shot of Shelby singing in her car while it rains and Rachel singing in her room. They both are crying. The episode could have ended there for me but it didn’t. Artie tells Tina to do her routine with someone else because she’s worked so hard. She asks him to still sing the song though. The final decision is that Bryan saves the club and is the lead in the play. It’s Tina’s turn to do her number and Artie sings while Tina and Mike dance. Artie (and Tina) look so sad. And seriously, when is Quinn’s baby bump going to grow? She’s supposed to give birth soon but she looks about 5 months pregnant. Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand, Quinn comforts Artie as he sings while Mike dips Tina one last time.

Next week….GLEE DOES GAGA!!! Oh my goodness, I can’t believe the costumes! Burt asks the Hudsons to move in with them and Rachel appears to approach Shelby about being her daughter.

Each week I think it’s the best episode yet and then I have to change my opinion. This week, by far, was the best episode. I mean, ever. It had the right amount of music (and appropriate music), the right amount of storyline (and it all meshed together), a great dream sequence, the right players, and a shocker that we thought would come but weren’t 100% sure about. Not to mention, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. The reveal that Shelby is Rachel’s mother is wonderful and the fact that Jesse is being used to help her get her daughter, and not for something malicious, makes me happy. My only question is if Rachel really will find out next week or if it’s another dream sequence. Kevin McHale also deserves special kudos for his acting, singing and dancing in this episode. He truly stood out. I think that’s about it for this week. What did you think? Leave your two cents below!

Line of the night: “Three times a year I tell my wife I’m going on a business trip. I sneak out to New York and see a bunch of Broadway shows. I have a box of playbills hidden away in my basement, Will. Like porn!” – Bryan Ryan

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