This week on Glee, Mr. Shue’s assignment was of course World’s Greatest Love Songs. And while I’m not sure I agreed with all the song selections (hardly) it was again a neat little episode that tied music and story line together very well.
I think it best if we take each couple and just … gossip about them! After all, if you and I were sitting in gym class on the sidelines and cutting swimming by saying we had our periods (third time this month) we’d be doing the same. Wouldn’t we? (And if you’re a guy, you could use this excuse as well. Gym teachers I found? Were oblivious.)
So here’s the skinny:
“Teen lesbians!” That’s the awesome moniker Principal Figgins gave Santana and Brittany this week. And while this couple seems solid at the moment, you know Santana is always willing to stir the pot. This time she chose to take on the “God Squad” group at school, and their possible unwillingness to deliver a Valentine song to a gay couple. Nice little diversion from the utter simplicity of the rest of the goings on, as a Real Life topic was dealt with in terms of whether or not the religious kids could come to grips with “what the Bible says” about gay relationships versus their feelings about what love is all about. Agree with it or not? The topic was addressed from all sides in the dialogue between Mercedes, Sam, Quinn and the new kid Joe (Samuel Larsen from The Glee Project). And per usual, we saw the producers of Glee unafraid to show steamy kisses and a true relationship between same sex couples, which has been rather a crusade for the series for a couple of seasons now. This began with Kurt’s stampede against bullying and his openly coming out, and is being explored further from the lesbian side with Santana and Brittany.
Accepting diversity. A main focus of the writers and producers of Glee all along. And I applaud it.
Mercedes and Sam: Oh will these two ever get together? They so obviously love each other, but this week Mercedes came clean with Shane and confessed her feelings, and now she’s just a mess. And so is Sam. Sigh.
I’d be remiss in not mentioning Mercedes’ song in her assignment for the Glee Club, “I Will Always Love You.” This episode was shot long before Whitney Houston‘s death, so it was not a last minute add on. Amber Riley did a more than respectable job with the song (although if I hear it more one time I will projectile vomit) and a memorial board was added to the ending of the credits. And there’s Your Whitney Latest Tribute Update.
Finchel: It was brilliant, and not immediately clear, what Rachel’s two Dads (Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell) were up to in the whole reverse psychology department. Great idea to be on board with Rachel and Finn’s marriage plans and set them up to spend a true night together in order to make Rachel rethink what a whole lifetime with Finn would be like.
I have to interject here how much I’ve always dug Jeff Goldblum. Just last week I was enmeshed in rewatching The Big Chill. And in the past month, with a scary and weird fly infestation in my basement, I constantly made people laugh with references to Seth Brundlefly. So … I was more than happy to see him.
Karofsky and Kurt: An interesting twist here for the writers, who had to find some way to deal with Darren Criss’ absence to do Broadway. I was glad to see that Karofsky has had a Scrooge like turnaround and is easier on himself about being gay due to Kurt’s influence when he was at McKinley. And we’re not done with this story line yet, as was evidenced by the the macho guy who overheard their conversation in the restaurant.
So there we have it. Gym class is over, and we’ve dodged being seen in our bathing suits by the opposite sex one more time, while having a good chat. And there’s nothing like a good Glee chat to get us through the rest of the day, is there?
If you want to hear and own the songs from this week’s episode and help out CliqueClack at the same time? Just click the links below.
I’ll meet you under the bleachers for a cigarette after sixth hour.
Clacked by Tara Shrodes
on Feb 15, 2012 @ 01:14 EST5EDT
Maybe last season just choked all my goodwill for this show right out of me, but while this season is noticeably better than season 2 I just don’t look forward to it any more. To be honest I only watch because my daughter loves the show and I just like watching TV with my kids. Please don’t get me wrong, I really want to like the show like I did in season 1, but I find my interest waning with each passing week.
I’m sticking with it, though. Breaking Bad had me thinking of dropping it a couple seasons back because I found it depressing, but I stuck with it and was rewarded. I’m hoping for a similar situation here. At least Sue is getting a teensy bit of depth…finally.
*POST AUTHOR*
Tom, I hear ya brutha.
I dug it! Straight from the Heart with just enough mushyness to once again make me happily sing along….Yes, totally did not see the ex-mean/gay dude senario coming. The 2 Dads- excellent casting! I too LOVE “The Big Chill”- just ask how nuts I drive my Hubby when I MUST watch it whenever it’s on- and how my kid’s literally screm when for the 19,000th time I set “The Big Chill” soundtrack (on vinyl of course) a spinning on the turntable….I don’t know about anyone else but tears were a welling up when Mercedes did “I Will Always Love You”…she should have been the one to sing this at the Grammy’s…a true, gifted, simply amazing voice…she did Dive Whitney proud…I will always Love watching GLEE…
*POST AUTHOR*
I gotta admit Rose, I’ve teared up watching Glee several times (mostly just in the first season though) but I despise that tune too much to have it move me.
As I said though? Amber Riley is a terrific talent, she really is.
I think you nailed it! From the “by saying we had our periods (third time this month)” to the “I’ll meet you under the bleachers for a cigarette after sixth hour.”, I was reliving all my high school generated nightmares. No wonder I’m not a regular viewer of this show.
The clothes change, the names change, the issues can even change, but somehow the gossip never changes. Wilma Flintstone and I didn’t have a Glee Club back in the days of manual typewriters, but we had a show choir. Behind the curtain, between the numbers, and on the bus to the next contest – it was in the gossip that you lived and died.
*POST AUTHOR*
Darn straight, Nyela. Tons of high school memories will surface for anyone watching. So if it wasn’t the best of times, I can see the problem with getting into it.