Well, we’re only one week away from season finale of Glee, and it seems like it’s crept out of nowhere. Last night’s episode had some decent moments in the mix, but there’s no ignoring that it was basically filler to lead up to next week’s main event.
So what do you think will happen? Will the dedicated members of New Directions overcome their obstacles and take first place at Regionals? Or will this season come to an unexpected, bittersweet conclusion? More importantly… did you think last night’s episode was funky in a good way or funky in the “I just found a piece of cheese that’s been sitting in my fridge for two years” kind of way?
– Dewitt
To watch the episode, read more and hear the songs, follow the JUMP:
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FULL EPISODE:
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NEXT WEEK:
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Another One Bites The Dust (Jonathan Groff & Vocal Adrenaline): The group is extremely pumped about their chances at Regionals, until they discover that Jesse St. James transferred back to Carmel High and rejoined Vocal Adrenaline. To add insult to injury, the rival group psyches them out with this performance of Queen.
On a technical level, this is pretty damn good. And while he’s certainly no Freddie Mercury, heartthrob Jonathan Groff didn’t sound half bad on the lead vocals. Yet even when you take all these positive points into consideration, there was still something very robotic and empty about this performance. Perhaps this was an intentional move to showcase Vocal Adrenaline’s lack of soul and personality? (3 Points)
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Tell Me Something Good (Matthew Morrison): Inspired by Rachel‘s heartbreak, Schuester schemes to take down his nemesis Sue Sylvester. He attempts to seduce her with this take on Rufus Thomas and Chaka Khan‘s 1974 funk hit.
This involves lots of gratuitous shots of Matthew Morrison‘s butt. While I’m not usually a fan of his plotlines or musical numbers, all was forgiven when those ass cheeks hit my television screen. Take note, producers! Will Schuester would be a lot more bearable if he spent more time bending over. (4 Points)
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Loser (Mark Salling & Cory Monteith): Puck and Finn retaliate against Vocal Adrenaline by slashing the tires of all of their cars. When they eventually wind up getting caught, Shelby Corcoran agrees to let it slide if they pay for the damages, so they both get jobs at the Sheets ‘N’ Things store with Terri Schuester.
How does this all lead up to singing Beck? We’re not exactly sure, but it made for a concise and enjoyable fantasy sequence. While this one would have been better off as a solo number by Mark Salling, his co-star Cory Monteith coasts through at an acceptable level. (3 Points)
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It’s A Man’s, Man’s Man’s World (Diana Agron): To prove everyone wrong about her ability to get funky, Quinn takes on the ambitious task of covering none other than James Brown. She enlists the help of the “Unwed Mothership Connection” to act as back-up dancers.
Apparently, this was also intended to show that black people and pregnant teenagers share in the same struggle. Or something like that? We’re not sure if we can get behind the “message” of this number, but this was one of Diana Agron‘s strongest vocal performances since the show’s debut. Plus, the choreography and lighting made up for the fact that even her strongest vocal performance isn’t exactly strong in any way, shape or form. (3.5 Points)
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Good Vibrations (Mark Salling, Cory Monteith & Amber Riley): Terri Schuester helps Finn out with his glee club assignment by looking up “funk” on iTunes. The results lead them to Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch, and somehow Puck and Mercedes get dragged into all of this.
When Glee does anything vaguely related to hip-hop, it’s rarely ever a good thing. While the stellar chorus by Amber Riley could have potentially saved this, we still can’t forgive Cory Monteith for being completely off the beat at times. And that’s not even taking into account that I absolutely loathe this song. (2 Points)
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Give Up The Funk (New Directions): The members of New Directions expose Vocal Adrenaline‘s greatest weakness–their inability to bring in the funk. Their tactics of intimidation appear to work, at least judging by the expressions on the rival group members’ faces.
Considering that a majority of this show’s closing numbers make me want to pull my hair out, the cast did a relatively good job on this. It still sounds a little bit like a Kidz Bop version of the original song, but there was almost enough personality in this performance to make up for that. (3 Points)
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BREAKDOWN OF POINTS SYSTEM:
- 5 Points = Excellent or exceeding expectations in regards to vocal performance, choreography and arrangement. Fits well within the context of the episode, and potentially better than the original version.
- 4 Points = Not too shabby! May not be entirely on par with the original, but a fantastic effort by the actors and vocalists.
- 3 Points = Tolerable. Did not induce eye rolls or kept them to a minimum.
- 2 Points = Could be a variety of factors, including poor song choice or lackluster performance. Boring or uninspired. May be an insult to the original artist.
- 1 Point = Absolutely painful. Couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Most of your appraisals are pretty humorous Dewitt. But just don’t get your hardon against Matthew Morrison. That was certainly the highlight of the show last now. It was fun watching Sue crumble although we knew she would rise again. Why do you dislike Matthew so much? He is adorable and very talented. And his character needs to be slightly nerdy. He shouldn’t be competing with his students. He is much older. That obvious fact makes his performance very effective and real.
Matthew Morrison is very talented.
Finally, we got to see Diana Argon sing a song by herself. Now if only we can see some minor characters find their voice as well. I really wanna find out more about Mike and Mark.
Mercedes comment about white folks and funk made me lol, cause it was basically proved in this episode! Wile none of the performances were flat out horrible, none of them had that special “oomph” in them that made the songs hits in the first place. Best one of the evening was Quinn’s performance of “This is a Man’s World.” While vocally not that impressive, I thought the pregnant girls movin’ and shakin’ it all around the room was hilarious! 5 stars!I was kinda shocked when Mercedes said Quinn can stay with her, but it was a good shocked! Can’t wait for next weeks episode!
I thought this was the most boring and unimaginative episode. The whole prego dance was boring. None of the songs were good choices. The whole thing was just pretty blah and lame. I usually really like Glee but this week just seemed like they needed an episode to get to the season finale and threw this together.
once again i thought your ratings were on the weak side and thought the episode on the whole was pretty great.
also, i probably being a bit too hopeful, but im eagerly awaiting a shot by shot remake of good vibrations staring puck.
I love that Sue’s nighttime dinner look was a track suit with pearls.
i didnt like the tone of the meanness this time between will and sue. it seemed different and not as fun. also when did the vocal adrenaline dude go from nice to complete dick? did i miss something or is that just the spastic writing of musicals?
That was the worst episode.
Yes, @rooney I loved the track suit and pearls too!
That was the best thing about this episode besides the part where Quinn called Mercedes racist. Thank you Glee for understanding that black people are racist too!
I think Glee has been pretty terrible for a while now. Almost glad it’s about to go on break. Hopefully they will either find some better writers for the next season or at least find some better songs.
“Tell Me Something Good” was not performed by Rufus THOMAS and Chaka Khan…it was performed by a band known simply as RUFUS and featured Chaka…Rufus Thomas is the father of soul singer Carla Thomas and had hits of his own such as “Walkin’ The Dog” and “Do the Funky Chicken”, and “Push and Pull”….Two completely different acts!…Love your comments in general though and I am so glad there is some type of ongoing debate about Glee…It’s not a perfect show, but I love the fact that it even continues to exist!!
Thanks for listening (?)
This episode may not have been all that, but Matthew Morrison made it all worth watching! When he was trying to seduce Sue, and they showed some closeups of his ass, i wished i was Sue Sylvester so badly!
this was kind of a shitty episode, but i def agree with rooney. i cracked up when i saw sue with her pearls on. wish we could have seen more of the “loser” montage. altho, i hate to say this, i hate seeing those guys try to “rap” on there. i get so embarrassed for them
Mercedes feeling for Quinn wasn’t trying to compare pregnancy to being black, it was about the prejudice in regards to stereotypes.
Ie, Mercedes is overweight/black, Quinn is an unwed teenage mother. Not to mention Quinn complaining about being called fat.
Looking back from Season 1 to Season 2 I haven’t been impressed but maybe a handful of times. A lot of the episodes this season seemed to lack something, I just can’t put my finger on what it is. I think they should have incorporated in Idina Menzel as Rachel’s mom earlier and changed a lot of the musical numbers. This episode was no different. I found all musical numbers but the last to be “cheesey”. To me it’s like they put out this powerful episode (Theatricality) and then follow it up with, as you said, nothing but a filler. I was disappointed.
What most of the complaints here focus on here is the choice of songs. This show is a lot like Mama Mia in reverse. Rather than fitting the songs of ABBA to a story as in Mama Mia, Glee tries to find appropriate songs to fit the story lines. It sometimes cause the plot to be weak in the process. It think it is a hellava effort and fun to watch.
Just FYI, this is still the FIRST season. There was a long break between the first half and the second half, but this is still the first season.
Oh, and I’m pretty sure the comparison was not between pregnancy and race, but pregnancy and weight. Thus, the involvement of Mercedes.
Oh, and Corey Monteith may have looked extremely awkward in the Good Vibrations scene, but maaaan is he adorable. I love me some Finn.