The trending topic amongst Gleeks last night? SLAP!
When Ryan Murphy said that he was going to bring Glee “back to basics” at the start of this season, we’ll confess: we were skeptical. There’s so much new stuff going on – new characters, senior year, etc – that we feared juggling it all would veer the show off in yet another new direction. (Pun not intended) But last night … last night reminded us why this show quickly became a fan favorite and why it STILL should be on everyone’s radar.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE EPISODE. AND IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GO WATCH IT!
Hands down, one of our favorite episodes of the series. Let’s get right down to the nitty-gritty:
The show has tackled the topic of bullying before, but never quite like this. A major storyline throughout this episode focused on the rivalry between Santana and Finn. Always one to speak her brutally honest mind, Santana pushes Finn over the edge with a hateful rant and he calls her out on insulting other people’s insecurities so she doesn’t have to face her own, namely hiding her relationship with Brittany. As it so happens, a niece of one of Sue Sylvester’s congressional opponents overhears the exchange and Santana is outted in the sleaze’s campaign to hurt Sue.
When Glee first came on the air, it became popular not only because of the music, but because the writing reflected a well-composed balance of comedic and serious milestones in the life of a teen. The majority of this episode was quite light-hearted. There’s a Hall and Oats number with horrid 80s clothes, a lovely scene between Rachel Berry and Shelby, & at one point, Kurt is dressed up like Leonard Whiting. (Look it up!) But throughout, Santana’s pivotal plot was being exceptionally woven into each of the subsequent storylines – Sue’s campaign, the Glee club rivalries, even the class elections – all leading up to Santana’s devastating moment and Finn’s bitch-slapped face. And no matter if you blame Finn or not for what happened, no one deserves to have that moment taken away from them. The young fans who watch this show, particularly ones dealing with coming to terms with who they were born to be, will hopefully take something good away from this episode.
A real win for newbie writer Michael Hitchcock. Clearly, he├óΓé¼Γäós as big a Gleek as we are and we├óΓé¼Γäóre thrilled he├óΓé¼Γäós on board. Big kudos to him. And the same to Cory Monteith and Naya Rivera. We’re glad to see these players get a HUGE story to play in the coming episodes.
But Santana wasn’t the only girl outted last night. Quinn’s schemes to steal back her baby from Shelby finally came to light as the heat between her and Puck started to pick up. Puck confesses the truth about Q and her ulterior motives to Shelby , who in turn refuses to let Quinn get closer to her daughter. She throws her out of her home, insisting that Quinn figure out her mess of a life for her own good. We’re glad she said it – cause we sure as hell were tired of saying it ourselves! Be gone skanky Q! We want our old fabulous Fabray back!
Overall, this episode wasn’t a stand alone like last week’s, but it’s setting up events to come in the rest of the season that are really going to be monumental. We like where this is going. We really, really, really do.
Few Sides Notes:
A) Forget “Hot For Teacher” ├óΓé¼┬ª we├óΓé¼Γäóre hot for Darren! A+++ to whoever choreographed all the crotch-grabbing!
B) Puck does not know how to play the piano. Who are any of you trying to fool with that?
C) We never thought about it before, but yeah, Adele does sound like Banana Cream Pie when she sings!
D) Bet those “angry white people” wish they hadn’t paid to elect Sue Sylvester now.
D) Topless Tuesdays?! Only if Mike Chang joins you, Brittany! (Yum!!!)
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