āGleeā: The boy is mine
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Super Mario references? A Mercedes and Santana (vocal) showdown? Puck with normal hair?
Look, I gotta be honest with you guys, I could barely contain myself during the entire hour. I was like that loud drunk guy in the bar who wonāt shut up. Iām so thankful I live alone because Iām certain Iād make any roommate loathe me on Tuesday nights.
When āGleeā is at its best, you get episodes like this weekās. There were no gimmicks, no over-the-top productions, no unnecessary stars (sorry Molly Shannon). It was just great storytelling and superb finger-snapping music.
This week was all about the kids, and I was thrilled, to say the least ā it gave me the space I need to miss Emma and Willās drama, and also a much-needed breather from Sue who faced a small case of the āoverexposies.ā Sue needed to fall back for a week and thankfully she was still around to offer a zinger or two.
A diva has fallen
Rachel suspects that she is carrying the squad on her shoulders, well, pipes - hilarious given that as a diva youād think sheād like to be front and center. But I underestimated Rachel. Sheās a smart diva, which is why she hired the A/V club (I love that these oddballs are getting more shine) to bug the rehearsal room so she can expose them. Sure enough, she was right. However at this point itās too late because sheās already started to lose her voice, resulting in a comical take on Miley Cyrusā āThe Climb.ā Sorry, Miley fans, but at first I thought maybe thatās what the song sounded like at the very beginning, and then I got the joke. Donāt kill me, Iāve only heard the song performed by the country version of Justin Bieber on āAmerican Idol,ā and he sounded phenomenal.
Faced with the possibility of having to get her tonsils removed, and the thought of damaging her golden pipes, Rachel is consumed with fear. She panics, and like any good diva she lets herself go (instead of boozing it up, she turns to stuffing her face with cereal and comes to school in pajamas). Finn provides a much-needed reality check to Rachel of how worse it could be when he takes her to see a friend of his -- a football star who got paralyzed after a bad play. Though too-good-to-be-true cheesy, it was the wake-up call Rachel needed to get her confidence back. And while Jesse was away on spring break (with Vocal Adrenaline no less), Finn proved heās smarter than we give him credit for. He spent the greater part of the episode proving heās the better man for Rachel, and certainly the better match. His rendition of āJessieās Girlā was so good you couldnāt write that off as coincidence. Well, OK, you can. I sense trouble may be back when Jesse returns, albeit more tanned and dreamier. Thankfully Rachel got over her sickness and if you didnāt tear up when she returned to Finnās buddy to give him singing lessons to the tune of āOne,ā you donāt have a working pulse in your body.
āGet ready black girl from glee club whose name I canāt remember right now, the Pucksterās about to make you his.ā
Puck finally receives a taste of his own medicine. After having to lose his signature mohawk, for medical reasons, of course, he has lost all of his mojo. Down the drain went his sexiness and street cred and into the dumpster he went. This leads him to want to raise his star power at school. If youāre not familiar with the standards and practices of high school, the quickest way to raise your profile is by dating the most popular girl -- which at McKinley High has become Ms. Rhythm & Blues herself, Mercedes. Puck, who clearly is Top 40, falls flat in his courtship -- āyou got more curves than a Nissanā is not how you score a date -- but offered his best performance since that dance (you know the one) in āI Wanna Sex You Up,ā when he took on Sammy Davis Jr.ās āThe Lady is a Tramp.ā Davis is the epitome of cool, suave and debonair, so it was a nice added touch that Puck went the big band route. The song turned into an impromptu duet with a clearly seduced Mercedes. Bravo! Quinn, who is now living with Pucky, gives Mercedes his blessing -- though she offered a great deal of friendly advice. Am I the only one who loves this new-found friendship with Quinn and Mercedes? Quinn is actually, you know, that thing you are toward people you care about?
With Quinn out of the way, Mercedes had to overcome Santana, who doesnāt play with anybody taking her man. Full disclosure, to know me is to know I live for Brandy and when I heard Mercedes and Santana launch into the spoken intro of my favorite duet of all time (yes, all time), āThe Boy Is Mine,ā I shrieked louder than a lone Powerball winner. Itās the ultimate duet, period. I will fight to the death with anyone who wants to argue otherwise! I love how the girls got into the cattiness of the song toward the end, all as Puck smugly looked on. Perfection. If youāve never seen two girls fight over a man then you didnāt go to the right high school! Those are the best fights because the girls always have that āahaā moment that the other isnāt the enemy. With Puck feeling like heās back to bad boy numero uno, Mercedes decides to go back to the way things were and leaves the Cheerios for good. Though she hung up her red and white uniform, sheās still āa steaming mug of hot chocolate.ā
āI thought you were a capital-G gay.ā
The toughest story for me to watch this season hasnāt been Quinnās pregnancy or Terriās betrayal, itās been Kurtās complex relationship with his father. Though his father accepts him being gay (a major hurdle), he canāt help but have a sparked connection with Finn because of their mutual love of sports. Kurt even tried to adapt in the past by joining the football team -- though the only thing that spawned was another fabulous hand-flashing rendition of āSingle Ladies.ā
In an attempt to connect with his father he decides to butch up his image a bit, and goes all lumberjack on us. He wears flannel, bubble vests and grunts his way through a Mellencamp song, which is enough for Brittany to pounce and offer Kurt a chance to āhit thisā (the things she gets away with saying; I want to frame everything that spills out of her mouth). Again his father assures him that heās OK with who he is, though naturally heās still a bit confused. I hated seeing Kurt change himself, because next to Artie he seems to be the most comfortable with who he is. What is heart-wrenching about the two is how much they love each other, and it always shows. As opposed to showing them connect in other ways (sports is not the end of the world and the players wear stirrup pants), they battle over this primitive notion of sports being the only way a father and son can connect. Does Kurtās father really like nothing else? Nothing? Kurtās dad is supportive of him, but doesnāt know how to connect with him. It took Kurtās heart-stopping take on āRoseās Turnā for him to finally get the cries for attention his son was sending him. Better late than never.
-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
Photo: Kurt shares a moment with his father. Credit: Fox
Related:
Complete Showtracker coverage of āGleeā
Love is in the air when āGleeā returns
āGleeā not ādyingā to score guest stars
Is āGleeā-mania too much too soon?
Getting Jane Lynch to sing on āGleeā wasnāt hard
