'Glee': Jane Lynch had better get an Emmy for this
It's a clash of the titans this week on "Glee." Or more accurately, it's a clash of the titan and the nice guy who's slowly being driven crazy by said titan. Huzzah for a Sue-heavy episode! Sue Sylvester, you make my Wednesdays 100% awesomer.
Hostile Takeover: In her effort to destroy Will and Glee Club, Sue uses her new position as co-head to pit the kids against each other, forming an "elite" splinter group called "Sue's Kids." Can they perform on "Sue's Corner"? She strategically chooses all the minority students ("Santana, Wheels, Gay Kid, Asian, other Asian, Aretha, Shaft..."), because "bigotry is no laughing matter." Indeed.
Sue selects "Hate on Me" as their first song in a touching tribute to Will, and Mercedes enjoys the opportunity to sing something that isn't Broadway. Will's alternative to Sue's song for his straight, white, wheelchair-less posse is "No Air," which reminds me of an awesome "So You Think You Can Dance" routine. Hmm. I'm not sure it's quite the counter-punch to her hate song, but it does coincidentally work really well for Rachel and Finn to sing while Quinn watches angrily.
At Terri's urging, Will plays dirty after Sue threatens his job, (rightfully) flunking the Cheerios in Spanish and making them academically ineligible to cheer. Scripted by Sue, Quinn plants the seeds of rebellion, calling herself and the other background singers "props" and suggesting that Will doesn't like minorities. Happily for the Jewish and Dutch students, "Sue Sylvester's rainbow tent will gladly protect you from his storm of racism."
The fight comes to a head in front of the kids, and once Will and Sue get to yelling, they step in and storm out. This apparently prompts Sue to step down as Glee co-head. I'm with Will in his suspicion ("Why do I feel like I'm about to fall through a trap door into a pit of fire?"), but at least for now it looks like Glee is back under his control.
Secret Life of the American Cheerleader: Will takes Quinn and Finn to their first ultrasound, where the technician says that at her age there's very little chance of anything being wrong. Is that right? I thought teenage mothers were at a higher risk for underweight and premature babies...but maybe she just meant nothing bad would show up on the ultrasound. It's a girl, at any rate. Quinn freaks out at Finn for suggesting they name her "Drizzle" when a) Drizzle...seriously? and b) She's planning on adoption anyway. I'm completely on her side for about five minutes until I remember that she's only pretending it's Finn's baby in the first place. And then I'm just outraged at everyone.
Rachel tries to prevent Quinn's "condition" from being exposed online by Jacob - McKinley High's answer to Gossip Girl - but Quinn rightfully points out that Rachel didn't do it out of friendship to Quinn, but rather to protect Finn. Rachel fights back, though, calling Quinn out as Sue's mole and reminding her that Sue will drop her like a hot potato when she discovers the pregnancy. Quinn's performance of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" was cute and well-sung, but it wasn't a stunner for me.
Of course, Sue finds out about the pregnancy and actually forces Jacob to post about it out of sheer fury at the situation and at being disrespected by not being told. The Glee Club performs "Keep Holding On," and it's subtly supportive of Quinn without cramming it down our throats. Nice.
Will comes home from Quinn's appointment feeling like he isn't involved in Terri's pregnancy, and makes an ultrasound appointment for them. After Terri and her crazy, crazy sister threaten the doctor with lawsuits, he agrees to fake the exam. Ironically, Will was at his potential baby's real ultrasound earlier that week without knowing it. As he looks at a video of an ultrasound as the doctor waves the wand around Terri's knees behind a blanket, Will tears up: "She's all ours! I'm just so...happy." And at that moment, it looks like Terri is finally realizing the impact of what she's done.
Odds and Ends:
- When the kids were jamming to "Ride With Me," it was the first time they've actually sounded like real high schoolers to me instead of overproduced studio artists. Probably because they actually filmed it live (from what I could tell). Not that there's anything wrong with the polished numbers - they sound great and are apparently keeping the show alive via iTunes sales. It was just nice to hear them sounding a bit more natural.
- I loved the use of "O Fortuna," from Carmina Burana, for dramatic effect in the soundtrack.
- Is it too early to talk about a Sue spin-off? Not that I want her off "Glee" or anything...I just can't get enough of her! As you can tell from the lengthy quotes section below.
Favorite Quotes:
- [Terri hands Will a beer] Will: "I want to finish grading these papers first." Terri: "What, you think the kids weren't drunk when they wrote them?"
- Finn: "Baby's fine. No mutations or anything. Not even any cool ones."
- Principal: "This meeting doesn't end until I see your bodies touching." [They hug] Will: "I will destroy you." Sue: "I am about to vomit down your back." Will: "It's on."
Sue's Corner:
- "...Like the time I sold my house to a nice young couple and I salted the earth in the back yard so that nothing living could grow there for a hundred years. Know why I did that? Because they tried to get me to pay their closing costs."
- "I like minorities so much, I'm thinking of moving to California to become one!"
- "I can't stand the sight of kids getting emotional unless it's from physical exhaustion."
- "I know I'm not like the rest of you hippies, caring about the kids' feelings as if they're real..."
- "I don't trust a man with curly hair. I can't help picturing small birds laying sulfurous eggs in there, and I find it disgusting."
- "I'm all about empowerment. I empower my Cheerios to live in a state of constant fear by creating an environment of irrational, random terror."
Songs:
- "Hate On Me," by Jill Scott, performed by Mercedes and "Sue's Kids"
- "Ride With Me," by Nelly, performed by the Glee kids while jamming
- "No Air," by Jordin Sparks, performed by Will's group
- "You Keep Me Hangin' On," by the Supremes, performed by Quinn and the cheerleaders
- "Keep Holding On," by Avril Lavigne, performed by the Glee Club
Are you feeling any better about the pregnancy storyline, or about Terri? Did you miss Emma this week?
Well, after "Hate on me", how will the show (and Will) justify using Mercedez only as a back-up singer to Rachel (who quite frankly isn't better than her)? Sue may have been playing the "divide to conquer" game but she's still right. Rachel and Finn are overused and the rest is just back-up dancers apparently. Mercedes said it best, she ain't no Kelly Rowan to Beyonce's DC!
Pregger storyline is stupid. A red blooded male who hasn't had sex with his wife so he doesn't see she isn't really pregnant? How will Terri explain a 12 month pregnancy? I love this show but really?!!
To clarify: while there is a risk for complications for teenage mothers, those risks are actually higher for older mothers (35+). Teenage mothers tend to have complications because they don't have proper prenatal care. Since Quinn seems to be getting that, her risk will be quite low.
Loved how when Sue was trying to paint the 'minorities' as poor and downtrodden, Mercedes retorts that her father is a dentist. Ha!
Yes, Mel, this show requires a high level of suspension of disbelief. But we know that Will will figure out Terri's deception. Maybe during November sweeps?
I agree with Melissa. Mercedes is an awesome singer, and in certain genres is just as good if not slightly better then Rachael. I love this show, but the only thing that gets annoying is Will constantly acts as if Rachael is the only thing glee club has going for it.
When they lost Rachael to the musical that one episode, instead of using another great singer they have (Mercedes) he goes out of his way to bring in someone. The only thing I want for this show to do differently is to start using other singers when it comes to official glee songs they would use for competition. Even Quinn while maybe not the choice for a whole song could get smaller solo parts.
Point being as good as Racheal is she isn't the only talent in the club.
Oops, not to say Will doesn't try to give things to other singers. He did give a part to Tina one episode. I just want to see more kids used in the glee selections. One of the reasons this episode was so good was because we got songs fronted by Racheal, Quinn and Mercedes. Changing it up like that should happen every episode, not just some of them.
Who said anything about a 12-month pregnancy? I too think the pregnancy, or lack thereof, is the weakest thing on the show but fully expect that it willl be dealt with this season, or probably even within this 13-episode set, because they weren't sure if they were going to get a back nine when they wrote these. We can't expect them to address issues that we are not being receptive to until the back nine arrive in the spring because all 12 of the episodes in the fall batch were completed prior to the September 9th premiere. As to Will not having sex with his wife and discovering the baby doesn't exist, I'm sure she is not letting him, for that very reason.
i've figured out that i will fast forward through any scenes containing will and his wife, his wife, her sister, or the sister and wife with anyone else. the pregger storyline was bad enough but to believe that any doctor would let those two witches blackmail him into go along with the scam and not call the police, his lawyer, the sister's husband, hit press on the blackberry in his pocket ... SOMETHING. no that's not asking me to suspend disbelief. that's asking me to stick my head up my arse, sniff coke, and cry MAMA.
dis baby ain't made like that. so there better be the scene of the emmy friggin century to pay off for this audience degradation.
Not to be nitpicky, but there's no way they would be able to tell whether the babies are male or female at 10 weeks.
Yeah, the teen pregnancy and faked pregnancy storylines are weak.