Writer: Brad Falchuk
Grade: A
The dance routine that opened this episode was both totally random and totally fun. I was weirdly thrilled to see that Kurt’s backup dancers were the near-mute cheerleader crony Brittany and the near-mute social outcast Tina. Seriously, they both came over to Kurt’s house just for this—that is awesome!
Up until this episode, I liked Kurt, but I felt like I was enjoying the attractive packaging: the cute-as-a-button effeminate gay boy with the great one-liners. This episode proved that Chris Colfer can act, and thus imbue the character with genuine depth and pathos. Was the final scene between Kurt and his father a bit saccharine? Sure, but Colfer sold the hell out of it, and the way his voice weakened on “I’m gay” was absolutely perfect.
I found Will to be slightly less irritating than he usually is. His snide comment to Rachel that he didn’t abandon glee for Acafellas out of spite is only barely true, and on a technicality at that. He abandoned them because Rachel hurt his feelings, which makes him a weak, irresponsible weenie. There’s not a huge difference to me between leaving because you’re weak enough to let high school kids get to you, and leaving because you’re pissy about something.
Putting that nitpick aside, however, I can certainly accept that Will is a compassionate man who genuinely cares about the well-being of the students under his care, even if he lets other concerns blind him a little too often. He was right to give Tina the solo and try to teach Rachel that she can’t carry the entire glee club on her shoulders, even if she wants to. (And was I supposed to think Tina sounded bad? She was a little wonky at the end of the number, but she sounded great to my ear otherwise, and I know Jenna is a Broadway performer…)
So far, I could really do without the baby storyline altogether. It makes Will look like a complete moron and makes viewers dislike Terri even more than they already would, not to mention, are they really going to let it get far enough to have Dianna Agron walking around with a prosthetic baby belly? If there’s an actual baby delivered, how are they going to deal with those consequences? It’s cheap writing if they just conveniently send it off with some family we’ll never have to see again, and I seriously doubt Will and Terri’s marriage will survive the fallout of the reveal. Given the quality of the writing so far, I also seriously doubt these writers can pull off Quinn having a miscarriage in a thoughtful, non-offensive manner. A teenage girl having a miscarriage is not funny, nor is it something that Quinn can just get over in an episode or two. I can’t imagine what sort of solution they have in mind that won’t leave viewers feeling frustrated or irritated or offended (or all three).
Miscellaneous Stuff
-Cory Monteith is a good sport about whipping out Finn’s o-face so often…
-Original cast performances were few and brief and this episode—all we got was Rachel and Tina singing snippets, and the rest was various people dancing to a Beyoncé original. I guess I can let it slide because it was a fun episode…
-Kurt’s “sneak attack back to the ring” during the football team’s dance lesson was by far my favorite moment of the episode.
-My second favorite moment was Ken Tanaka’s whistle collection. Hee!
-It certainly says something nice about Quinn that she was genuinely touched by Finn’s baby blanket present, rather than grossed out by how dingy the thing was (I suppose I’m thinking of Cindy being unappreciative of Sam’s antique necklace gift on Freaks and Geeks).
-What exactly does Kurt’s dad do for a living that he can buy Kurt a brand new SUV (with rims!) and designer clothing (Marc Jacobs!)?
Quotes
Sue: “Not everyone’s going to have the walnuts to take a pro-littering stance, but I will not rest until every inch of our fair state is covered in garbage. It’s why I pay taxes, and it keeps garbage men earning a living so they can afford tacos for their families.”
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