photo: fox
Original Song
Original Air Date: Mar 15, 2011
Alyssa Silva – TwoCents Reviewer
alyssa@thetwocentscorp.com
Since Nicola’s off sunbathing in Hawaii, I’m here to fill you in on the latest episode of Glee. Considering the turn towards satire and mid-brow comedy this show has taken, I am not entirely surprised that the entire episode hinged on Pavarotti’s death. Yes, the bird. Our avian friend’s demise sets off a chain of events that left me scratching my head.
Why do you ask? Read on after the jump to find out.
Let’s summarize this entire episode in a nutshell, shall we? Due to more ill direction under Schue, the club found out that My Chemical Romance refused to grant them the rights to anthem out to SING at the competition. Sue, of course, is behind all this. Apparently her affair with the drummer led to the cease and desist order (we find out later that this is entirely fictitious) and is her opening salvo in World War Sue. New Directions won Regionals (I know right?) because they somehow managed to compose two original songs before the weekend. Amazing use of those rhyming dictionaries kids. The ironic/stereotypical judges (Kathy Griffin as a Sarah Palin/Christine O’Donnell lovechild, Loretta Devine as a caricature of my beloved Sister Mary Clarence and Rod the Anchorman) all thought that was enough to send the club predictably towards New York and Nationals.
So the thing that has bugged me about Glee is its utter lack of continuity. Let’s run down and see if the writers managed to pull themselves together for this one and prove me wrong:
Brittana
Much like Nicola, I was kind of taken by surprise when Santana declared her love for Brittany. There were hints of it but then, due to the magic of Gwyneth Paltrow, lesbian love was revealed. I actually enjoy seeing the softer side of Santana and Naya Rivera killed it last week. This week Brittany wonders why Santana is still upset since she’s gotten back with Sam already, to which the other girl replies that she doesn’t know why she even told Brit that she loved her. Since Santana mentioned she was scared being alone, I can kind of understand why she went back to Sam. But aside from those three minutes, this plotline wasn’t touched again.
Klaine and the Warblers
One: Blaine suddenly realizes that he’s been hogging all the solos. Apparently all that talk earlier in the season about auditioning is complete hooey because the curly-haired hunk gets handed the solos by the council. Kurt’s jealousy is what spurs Blaine to make him his duet partner after seeing Kurt sing Blackbird in honour of Pavarotti.
Two: Blackbird is what makes Blaine LAY ONE ON KURT (while he’s gluing rhinestones onto Pavarotti’s tiny little casket)! Who? What? WHAT? I thought Blaine said he wasn’t ready to be anyone’s boyfriend, and didn’t he JUST think that he was bisexual for like five seconds the episode before? It seems the emotion evoked by our porcelain-skinned soprano was too much for Blaine because he decides that its time for their lips to finally meet each other. Now unlike Brittana this has been building up incrementally. The flirtation, Kurt telling Blaine that he liked him. It was sweet. I’m glad these two are finally together.
Why won’t they just let Finchel die?
I thought Rachel was done with Finn in Silly Love Songs and I have to admit that I was glad. This isn’t because I’m a Puckleberry fan (their two good-looking Jews people. It’s only natural) but because I just hate the way Rachel becomes this simpering, spineless girl whenever Finn’s within touching distance. Rachel is my favourite female character on the show so I’m just sick of the fact that she’s shed tears over this boy practically every episode. She was just becoming the Rachel I know and love before the writer’s completely decimated it with her confrontation with Quinn.
Quinn wants Finn to take their relationship public after Regionals because she wants to be prom queen. In order to do this she needs Rachel out of the way which is why she volunteers to write a song with Rachel. But alas, teenage love triangles get in the way when Rachel reveals she’s not done with Finn. Quinn reveals a future of Finn and herself in Lima, raising a family. Rachel, on the other hand, is destined for greater things. Quinn tells Rachel to accept that there isn’t a happy ending in life and that Finn will always come back to her. How many times will it take before Rachel gets it right? But if all those lingering looks Finn is giving Rachel are any indication, we unfortunately haven’t seen the last of this tired plotline.
Rachel Berry: MVP
First New Directions don’t like her. Then they do. The hot and cold treatment the glee club gives Rachel confuses and disgusts me. Awarding her the MVP was simply another way of saying “We only like you when you’re useful.”
The Songs
The good
Get It Right – a signature Rachel Berry ballad. Enough said.
Hell to the No – incredibly catchy and a Mercedes anthem.
Blackbird – it was sweet and mellow and fluffy, just like Pavarotti.
The meh
Misery, Raise Your Glass, Candle – it lacks something that the original tracks possess. Perhaps intensity? While Darren Criss and the Warblers rocked it like they do, it just didn’t stand out to me.
Loser Like Me – if S Club 7 and High School Musical collided, this would be the result.
The hilariously bad
The original songs New Directions came up with had me LOL-ing.
Trouty Mouth – the number of ways Santana managed to describe Sam’s mouth, coupled with seductive dance moves and the fact Naya Rivera got a solo? Priceless.
Big Ass Heart – Puck’s less offensive serenade to Lauren. I don’t really get this pairing (while I like Lauren, that gold star on the back of Puck’s shirt in sexy gives me hope for Puckleberry) and I also don’t understand how Lauren found this acceptable but not Fat Bottomed Girls. Judging by Tina’s expression, she concurs. Nonetheless any Mark Salling solo is always a winner.
Only Child – Rachel singing how she’s the only Berry on her family tree. When she first started singing about eggs and omelets I thought this was about Jesse but clearly I was proven wrong. However much like Brittany, My Headband is still the gold standard.
Jesus is My Friend – why Aural Intensity? WHY?
What did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy the original songs or should Glee just stick with covers? What will happen to Blaine and Kurt now that the Warblers have lost? Are you thankful Holly Holiday was absent as well? Do you want Rachel back together with Finn, or should Quinn get the boy? What about Brittana – yay or nay? Give me your TwoCents!
TheTwoCents 
My minicap, LOL…
I loved the meta-ness of Kurt’s comments to Blaine about hogging the solos. To me, the slightly cocky digs were very vintage Kurt and made me smile (and yes, I was a little tired of the Dalton Pips). The true moment for me was the look on Blaine’s face as he watched Kurt sing “Blackbird” . (Hilarious, I might add, as that song is so NOT about a bird, but what kid today knows that?). The look of almost “melting” on Blaine’s face. I watched it again after the episode and knowing what came later made it all the more telling.
I try not to be “fangirl”, but last night I failed. I actually “squee’d” aloud when they kissed. Knowing that Blaine’s bravado has always been a mask for insecurity and inexperience made the moment so pure and sweet. The look of breathless anticipation on Kurt’s face before the face slayed me (in a good way). I wonder if any moment has had more instant DVR-replays since NippleGate at the Super Bowl? I love that their relationship was a slow build. It’s a nice follow-up to Burt’s speech last week about how Kurt’s experiences should mean something.
I love it when Finn-the-idiot has his moments of clarity. “Scary Quinn” And telling Rachel to look for deeper emotions for songwriting. But the killer moment was Quinn’s speech to Rachel. It actually gave Quinn some much needed depth and was so telling in the process. Quinn doesn’t have big dreams. She doesn’t expect to get out of Lima. She may not have said it in the nicest of ways, but telling Rachel how much more she is meant for was kind of a compliment. These two should never be friends, but their open dialogue is always a plus.
I liked that we got a reference to the unresolved Brittany/Santana story. They can’t give every storyline ample time every week, but it’s good to know it’s not going to be glossed over. (I’ve seen interviews with Ryan Murphy that says there is much more coming for these two).
The Sue stuff was just silly. I prefer her in small doses, yes, but I expect more from those doses. They need to figure out what to do with her.
Although Tolerance Narnia (Dalton) doesn’t really have the bandwidth to express the message of “Raise Your Glass”, I liked the performance. Blaine’s “Hey Soul Sister” thug face reappeared as gangster, LOL.
As much as I loved the concept of a #Klaine duet… I didn’t think their voices complimented each other on the song. Not nearly as awesome as “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
“Trouty Mouth”, “Big Ass… Heart”, and “Hell To The No” had me smirking/giggling/groaning as they were intended to do.
“Get It Right” was fine for me in the Pink-Kelly Clarkson-Katy Perry vein it was meant to be. It’s catchy and emotional.
Having never seen High School Musical, I actually enjoyed the meta-ness and catchiness of “Loser Like Me”. I’ll probably end up downloading it.
I thought my beloved Kathy Griffin was kind of wasted as all of the jokes were too easy and too spelled out. There should have been a little more nuance rather than just going for the flat out Tea Party mockery.
I love Glee for its camp and over-the-topness. I view it as part high school comedy and part satire, with emotions thrown in for good measure. It’s like a hybrid of Saved By The Bell (camp) and 90210 (drama), with some of Degrassi (melodrama/social messages) thrown in for good measure. It’s much more enjoyable if you base expectations on that, rather than holding it up to a microscope of continuity!
OK, minicap ramblings over and out!
i literally gaped happily at the screen when the Klaine moment happened. Also I always thought Blackbird was about the civil rights movement…but then again I am a kid as you say so I could be waaay off track.
Brittana will get its lovin’ from ep 18 on!
I think that Quinn speech was probably the only moment of depth before we saw character regression. I can already tell the Prom storyline is going to be lame.
Sue’s elaborate plot to overthrow New Directions was anti-climatic. I want her to push someone down a flight of stairs again. Twice. But she’s putting together a Legion of Doom for the next arc so brace yourself! It’s her redemption song if you will!
Blaine’s gangsta face is incredibly similar to my own.
Loretta Devine was entirely wasted as well. This woman is hilarious and it did not show at all in her small cameo.
I completely agree about Finchel. Actually I enjoyed the feud between Rachel and Quinn, I don’t mind the latter being a bad girl as long as we understand her motivations. My problem is I am not a Finn fan. At all. I don’t get it. He’s dumber than a stack of bricks, his singing (IMO) is no better than any of the other guys on the show and he can’t dance. (I would bring up the fact he looks like a descendent of Howdy Doody but that’s probably wrong, right?) Why is any girl into him? Of course, Puckleberry was better, so was Jesse St. James. Hell, I’d take Rachel going out with Santana suddenly if it meant that Finn would forever be OFF HER LIST.
Also, I’m not a fan of Lauren and Puck. While I appreciate the lesson that big can be beautiful, this storyline could easily have gone to Mercedes over the brutish, often times gross, random character Lauren. I’d rather they have given the storyline to Mercedes who showed last night with her song “Hell to the No” she won’t play anyone’s “game” and could make Puck (or any guy) jump through hoops for her. With Glee we accept a lot of unrealistic concepts and couple pairings that come on so fast it will give you whiplash, but this one is really OTT.
I am on board with Klaine, but I agree Blaine’s sudden notice of Kurt was a little pushed. But I can look over it seeing Kurt dressed up in his mourning outfit which was awesome and reminded me how much I hate seeing him uniformed.
I agree with EVERYTHING you just said about Finn. Apparently the only time Finn can be decent with Rachel is when there’s no one around. I hope the Glee writers just stick Finn with Quinn and let Rachel find someone awesome.
Lauren is abusive and incredibly mean to Puck. And she CANNOT SING. Mike Chang can’t either but at least he has abs and he can dance. I don’t understand why the writers resist the UST between Lea Michele and Mark Salling and just LET THEM BE TOGETHER! I can’t see Puck with Mercedes either…for some reason they act too much like brother and sister. But if it came between Chocolate Thunder or Zizes, I’d pick Mercedes. But my OTP is still Puckleberry.
SPOILER ALERT! Kurt and Blaine are most likely heading over to McKinley soon.
Finally a review I agree with!
Another thing that bothered me was Rachel carried the team through regionals. Don’t get me wrong, Lea Michele has an amazing voice, and she got her solo. But why couldn’t the rest of the team “share” the second song? I enjoyed sectionals because Rachel was a brat who wanted the spotlight, didn’t get it, and we were reminded of how talented the rest of the team really was. I know they got their little solos when trying out for their original song, but what about Regionals?
Kathy Griffin was just not funny.
The writing for the show has been lagging.
I am looking forward to seeing more Quinn. But if I went through what Quinn did last year I would not be making the focus of my world being Prom Queen. Although her speech to Rachel about her staying in Lima while Rachel moves on was VERY believable.
Quinn, I thought, was finally showing some kind of character growth before she hooked up with Finn and then she just regressed back into this superficial caricature. Prom queen thing being an example. It’s just annoying because she had a baby and kind of matured before Frankenteen struck again…
Now that you mention it why didn’t they let Brit or Tina take the lead for Loser Like Me? It would have been interesting to see them duet with Finn.
Another reason I dislike this show? The way they write Rachel. She’s more than a schoolgirl in love with a jerky boy, Ryan Murphy. PLEASE give her something else that doesn’t involve Finn e.g her friendship with Kurt.
i dont like quinn at all. at sectionals, i was really disappointed that she got to sing the solo. i was brokenhearted for rachel. she has the right to assert herself because she is very talented.
This show is a huge fail nowadays. The only thing that even mattered was Kurt and Blaine. Other than that, this episode sucked.
At Paley Fest, Ryan Murphy admitted the show has gotten too big. If the creator admitted it, I think there’s a problem.
And even worse? Holly Holiday will be returning next season. UGH.
Don’t even get me started on Holly Holiday. After watching Schuester and her massacre Prince, I just want both of them off the island.
Haha. Can we fire them? LOL. Where’s Trump when we need him?
yeah, i hope they will drop off the holly-schuester subplot. it has gotten tiresome. hahaha
rachel is my favorite character. i hate it when the show writes her off or makes her into a villain. urgh. i also dont like when the other characters dismisses her off one time then will be needing and praising her for her talent. i love rachel.
I couldn’t have been happier for Kurt and Blaine. i just hope the writers don’t screw that one up.
Quinn may be a snotty bit&*, but she is right. Rachel is too big for that “settle down” life.
And I am totally over the Lauren/Puck thing. Boring. Move on.
agreed, agreed and total absolute agreement.