Curse you, Ryan Murphy! After raking you over the coals last week for taking Glee way too far over-the-top, you come back with a lovely, heartbreaking episode that has hopefully, finally done what we Gleeks have been asking for … brought Sue back down to earth.
Yes, I was wrong in picking Dave Karofsky as the person who died this week – I should have believed the rumors about it being a female character – but I have terribly mixed feelings about the death of Sue’s sister, Jean. I loved seeing those moments when Sue and Jean were together because that made Sue more human in the midst of her glee club destroying madness. This week, we still saw the acerbic Sue (using her wit to cover her sorrow) but even after all she has done to the glee club, it took some kindness from Kurt, Finn and Will to finally break through that wall of anger Sue has been building since season one.
Even Sue herself admitted that she’d been a terrible person, but she saw in Will what she saw in Jean – a pure heart. I’m glad Finn took a stand against Jessie and told the glee club that they were planning Jean’s funeral, and what a funeral it was! Jean’s favorite movie was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the kids used inspiration from the movie to decorate the space around the casket and then topped off the ceremony with the lovely Pure Imagination. My heart broke in a million pieces during Sue’s eulogy that Will had to finish for her, and Sue holding Will’s hand during the song and her “thank you” to the kids was, I hope, a turning point for Sue (is she really going to run for the U.S. House of Representatives?).
I was also happy to see Sue give Becky her job back after unceremoniously firing her with no reason (it was then that I suspected Jean had died). After Will had to turn her request down to join glee, Sue came to her senses after the funeral and not only gave Becky her job back but promised her that she would be the Cheerios captain next year. And then she asked Becky for a hug … and my waterworks started again. A great moment for Sue and for all of us who have grown tired of the cartoon character she had become.
I almost didn’t care about the rest of the episode because I didn’t like Jessie’s ploy to divide the glee club and have them compete against each other for the lead at Nationals. Will finally had enough of that and decided it will be a group effort with two original songs – and they’d better be as good as the earlier efforts! The try-out songs were all pretty amazing (not sure about Kurt’s though … he’s sung better), but my favorite was Santana’s version of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. That one is a keeper!
And there was one more little bit of business to wrap up … Terri is moving to Miami! Yay! And she even saved the day – after Sue’s earlier plan to send the glee club to Libya was nearly successful — by contacting the airline, giving them a sob story and snagging first class tickets for everyone. No catch! It almost made me sad to see her go … almost.
Next week is Nationals and the season finale (at 9:00 PM Eastern). Will McKinley win without a lead singer? And what exactly are Quinn’s big plans in New York to get back at Finn for breaking up with her? Any thoughts?
“Do I get a supervillain nickname?” — Howard
“Your nickname is Panda Express.” — Sue
“But I’m not Chinese.” — Howard
“Neither is the food at Panda Express.” — Sue
“You kind of sing and dance like a zombie that has to poop.” — Jessie to Finn about his abilities
“Do you know what happens at Vocal Adrenaline if someone dies during a number? They use them as a prop … like in Weekend at Bernie’s.” — Jessie
“I didn’t ask for help, they volunteered. And I only agreed on the condition that Frankenteen and Lady Trousers help me clean out Jean’s room at the nursing home.” — Sue
If you liked the music on this week’s episode, here are some handy links to iTunes for each song.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on May 17, 2011 @ 23:43 EST5EDT
I was dreading the moments leading up to Sue’s inevitable breakdown. I knew I’d be in tears. And I was. I’ve always loved the relationship between her and her sister, and I was sad to see that go. Willy Wonka is one of my favorite movies too, and I was snuffling so much, the Husband looked over and said “You OK over there, Shrodes?”
*sniff* “Yeah.”
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m with you. Jean was what made Sue human, but she has Becky and that hug sealed the deal. I just hope they’re serious about Sue giving up her quest to destroy glee club.
In this episode they proved Sue could be human, but still have her snarkiness. She was at once sympathetic and snide. I, too, hope they keep her as is, but we’ve seen a “reset” on characters many times on “Glee” so I’m not holding my breath that Sue will stay this way. I really want it to be so and if they don’t keep some humanity in the character then they’re just continuing down the descending path they’ve paved in season 2. I hope season 3 is more like the first otherwise “Glee” is not going to be something we really look forward to any more. Well, with the exception of my youngest daughter who will watch it no matter what happens.
So sad to see Jean go, because her relationship with Sue always brought out those breathtaking,teary moments so well played by Jane Lynch. Tonight’s episode reminded me of just how much I missed those moments, and during the funeral, I think I went through a box full of tissues. SO well done! I really hope this episode was a set up for Sue to be more heartwarming next season, and not revert back to her former self.
Oh yes, and hooray! No more Jessalyn Gilsig (I hope I hope I hope…)
Sue was made human again [American Airlines], Terri is leaving for good, hopefully, one of the [American Airlines] interchangeable characters broke up again with one of the other interchangeable characters, for some reason they’ve given [American Airlines] Kurt Eddie Munster’s haircut, and Jane Lynch has her Emmy reel. And for some strange reason, I have an urge to fly on American Airlines.
Seriously, they’re going to WRITE the songs they’re going to perform at nationals ON THE PLANE, and then perform them with no practice or choreography? C’mon, in the first episode in a while that felt grounded in reality (excluding the re-routing to Tripoli), they had to throw that in? How ridiculous.
*POST AUTHOR*
Yeah, the whole “let’s write two songs on the plane to New York” was a little unbelievable, but there are just some things in the Glee world that you have to accept and not question.
And it’s funny that you mention the airline, because I could not have told you who they were flying with. Whatever product placement there was went completely over my head for a change.