The second Glee episode of the week was another fun romp that was all the better for being almost entirely focussed on the kids. No Sue, Emma still absent, none of Will’s pontificating – just a brief appearance from the Beist hauling a dazed Santana off to the nurse.
There were a few couples that this Valentine’s themed episode focussed on. Finn sees himself as the stud of the school and the Glee club and after Quinn kissed him at the end of the previous episode, sets up a kissing booth. We also revisited the Finn/Rachel breakup, with Finn rather sweetly giving Rachel a gift he bought her for Christmas – a pretty gold star necklace. However, his sweetness didn’t last as he spent most of the rest of the episode trying to tempt Quinn away from Sam. I find Finn incredibly annoying. For a start, I don’t quite know what smart girls like Quinn and Rachel see in him. He’s DULL! Yes he is the captain of the football team, but his hypocracy in dumping Rachel for merely kissing Puck is astonishing. He kissed Rachel when dating Quinn, slept with Santana and lied about it, and now is pursuing Quinn again. Give up on him girls!
It did prompt Rachel to sing Katy Perry’s Firework -I know nothing about current pop but I thought Lea Michele did a great version of it.
More fun was the Puck/Lauren Zizes relationship. Lauren has been a great addition to the Glee club. She was always pretty funny in her brief guest starring appearances (remember her Team Edward vampire look!) and it is also nice to see a plus sized actress be funny and strong. Lauren isn’t that impressed with Puck, which instantly makes him interested! However, singing Queen’s Fat Bottomed Girls to her was probably not a good move (and I always hated that stupid song! Well, the lyrics anyway)
The highpoint of the episode was probably the Lauren/Santana fight. After the gang and especially Rachel stand up to Santana (who just looks WEIRD without her Cheerio uniform!) she decides to take a stand against Lauren. Big mistake! Lauren is a champion wrestler and Santana looked like a gnat as she bounced off her. No idea if they did their own stunts here as Santana is bounced off the lockers quite a bit before being tossed along the floor and Beist appears to save her ass! After a few Santana light episodes (she hardly had a line in the previous ep) we had what I *think* was her first voice over here. I also enjoyed Brittany trying to comfort her when she was upset saying ‘try rocking backwards and forwards when you cry, that seems to help in the movies.’
The other romance was when Blaine recruited the Warblers to help serenade the object of his affections – and it wasn’t Kurt! The rather adorable Jeremiah worked in Gap and I enjoyed ‘When I Get You Alone’ song a lot. We also had a cute little sleepover scene with Rachel, Mercedes and Kurt. So glad they are keeping that relationship going. As Kurt wondered to his galpals whether he was delusional and Rachel plotted YET AGAIN to try and get Finn back, Mercedes suggested they all stop focussing on guys. Good idea – not going to happen!
I was really happy to see Blaine’s role expanded a bit in this episode. So far all we have seen of him is a few lines leading up to a song in the Warblers oak pannelled hallways and classrooms. We saw how hilariously fuddy duddy the Warblers council are this week, Blaine got TWO songs including the first socialising with the Glee kids in the final song, Paul McCartney’s Silly Love Songs – one of my favourites from his Wings years. There was a cute group hug between Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes that looked more like the actors hugging each other, and we got bit of a hint of something as Santana locked eyes with Sam (Quinn and Finn being down with Mono after Santana infected Finn – incidentally, the episodes funniest line was Santana telling the nurse ‘I’ve had Mono so many times, it’s become Stereo’)
Not sure what poor Jenna Ushkowitz has to do to get another song. Yes she dueted on Dog Day Are Over, but the last solo was probably True Colors way back when! I didn’t get why they had her sob so uncontrollably as she sang My Funny Valentine for Mike. Overwhelmed with love presumably but it was odd.
A solid episode, lots of interesting stuff. I am still not a fan of the Quinn/Finn relationship – they have been there, done that and need to move on. I am not sure Rachel and Finn belong together either. Although it was nice to see her happy, happy Rachel was rather obnoxious as written by the Glee writers – guess they don’t like seeing her content!
I’m glad they are taking their time with Kurt and Blaine. I’m not sure I even want to see them become involved. Darren Criss is very charming and likeable, but it was great to see he isn’t perfect in his failed attempt to woo that guy. Kurt bravely told him of his attraction, but where their relationship goes now is unclear.