Glee-cap: Season 5 Premiere

Hello again readers! Just letting you know that no, I am not dead, just on holidays. Sorry for my absence over the past couple of days, but I hope my (excessive) weekend posting will make up for it. And don't worry, even while away at my holiday destination, I was still able to watch 'Glee'. Turns out, the rest of Australia did too (fast-tracking is the bomb). There's no doubt that you heard about the massive shocker at the end of the episode, but before we get to that, here's my opinionated recap of what happened last night . . .

As promised, the Season 5 premiere was the beginning of the 2 part 'Beatles' tribute special, which had supposedly been in planning for 4 years (despite the fact that the plot line of the episode was based around characters and events that hadn't been created back then, but whatever). The episode began with Rachel outside the Broadway theatre where she may or may not get to play her dream part of Fanny Brice in the revival of 'Funny Girl'. We are then taken inside, where she's reading lines in what looks to be a callback for the part, as Rachel puts on her best 'New York' accent (Lea Michele's home city woot woot) and channels her inner (or not so inner) Barbra. After awkwardly thanking them (and minimally fangirling over their legendary broadway status), she went to the side of the stage to grab her coat, getting the opportunity to hear what they really thought of her performance. Upon hearing that despite her being 'charming', they're worried she is too young and inexperienced for the part, Rachel is down in the dumps. So, of course, to truly express her melancholia (who picked up on the 'Glee' quote?), she burst into an awesome and heartfelt rendition of 'Yesterday' (that's how it's done Carrie Underwood). As she sang, she reminisced on her old life back at McKinley, and visited all the destinations she went to back when she was only a junior, and competing in the show choir National Championships in 2011. Everything was as it was in the Season 2 finale, even down to the bubbles used as Rachel came up to the Central Park Bow Bridge (though of course, that's really only something I would notice).

Back at WMHS, it seems as if 'Glee' has chosen to ignore actual time, and just continue on with senior year as if nothing has happened. In the choir room, it is officially announced by the good old Schuester that the New Directions will be honouring the Beatles for not one, but two weeks, garnering excitement from (the majority of) the glee club. This brings us to the second musical number of the show, this time featuring Kitty and Artie. Turns out, there's been some underlying chemistry between them (which I must've missed), and the two go on a date with the rest of the glee club (I thought it was weird as well) to a carnival, while singing 'Drive My Car' (even though it had nothing to do with the storyline). While on their super-weird-group-date-at-a-kid's-party-venue, they run into some of Kitty's passive aggressive cheerleader rivals (because carnivals are now the teen hang out of choice), who question her on their relationship status before casually informing them that she took some pictures of the couple and instagrammed them. Not wanting to forfeit her pole position on the McKinley High-erarchy by being seen dating some one lower on the food chain, Kitty says that they have to keep their relationship on the down low (spoiler alert-never works out).

We're now back in NYC, and Rachel and Santana are starting the first shift of their new job working as waitresses at a diner for aspiring Broadway stars called 'Spotlight' (an homage to the non-fictional Ellen's Stardust Diner- which is awesome, by the way).

This didn't last long however, as soon enough, we're back at McKinley, as Kurt (because apparently he's in Lima now) and Blaine are having some kind of picnic in the middle of the school grounds. It seems that they're once more tackling the issue of Blaine's infidelity last season, and he swears he 'thought the relationship was over', otherwise he never would have cheated. This answer seems to satisfy Kurt, and soon enough, they're back together (cue the extreme fangirling from all Klaine shippers).

Seeming to have expected that answer, Blaine announces that he has prepared a musical number for him, but Kurt protests, stating that he's not going to sit down and listen anymore, and that he himself has prepared a number. This is when a marching band randomly comes out of nowhere with a bunch of trumpets, and Kurt launches into a rendition of 'Got To Get You Into My Life', before Blaine joins him and makes his solo a duet (as you do). Everyone in the courtyard gets into it (because apparently teenagers know all the lyrics to Beatles songs), and join in the Klaine celebration. The amount of impromptu musical numbers that have been allowed to occur on school grounds is ridiculous, who would've thought that supervising teachers on duty would be that lenient?

Less than a minute later, Sue Sylvester is once again roaming the halls of McKinley High. Turns out, Becky admitted to being the person to shoot the gun earlier in the year, and began her week long suspension, resulting in Sue's reinstatement (making this the second time she has been fired than re-hired). However, she is no longer the cheerleading coach, but the principal of the entire school. What did she have to do to get this highly esteemed position? Nothing legal, I assure you. The former leader of the Cheerios snuck into McKinley and planted incriminating evidence in Figgin's office and called the authorities. Apparently, no one else was available to fill the position, leading to Sue's promotion, and Figgin's major demotion (say hello to the new school janitor).

We are once again bombarded with the new (secret) relationship that is Kartie (or Wildebrams, whatever floats your boat). As they are keeping it on the down low, we are treated to a montage of them sneaking around in hallways and classrooms as they sing 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away'. Everything seems to be going pretty well for them, until the end, when Artie is seen sitting alone in some astronomy room (referred to as 'under the stars').

Everyone then returns to the choir room, just in time for Blaine to barge in with a massive announcement. Turns out that the little marriage story arc from last season wasn't just a one off thing, and Blaine is intending to propose to Kurt, with the help of New Directions. Surprisingly, he doesn't just want one glee club to help him out, oh no, he wants four. Everyone, except wingman Sam (Blam for life), seems a bit dubious at first, especially since the whole Finn and Rachel are-they-or-aren't-they marriage situation in Season 3, but Blaine manages to clear that up as he bursts into 'Help'. Throughout the song, he is not only pleading with the New Directions to help him out, but he makes his way over to Carmel High, Haverbrook School for the Deaf and Dalton Academy to get some recruits. As he visits each school, he gradually starts to build up his list of people willing to participate in this extravagant proposal. By the time he reaches Dalton, he has every member from the other three glee clubs in toe. At first, it seems as if the Warblers we love to hate may turn down Blaine on his offer, however, it is Sebastian surprisingly who encourages the group to go along with it. And just like that, everyone's on board.

Next up, we're back in the halls of McKinley, and Tina is confronting Artie about his current relationship status with Kitty. After he divulges that they're together and are keeping it a secret as to not tarnish her reputation, Tina goes cray and spazzes out, going on about how he has no self respect (despite the fact that she had a fake stutter for four years, just saying). What will an insane diva on over drive do with this information? Time will tell.

Finally back in NYC, Rachel, while working at the diner, spots the two men who were judging her callback, and takes their order, stating that despite the awkwardness of the situation, she can handle herself because she's a 'professional' and 'destined to be a star'. Clearly, they're not buying it, so Rachel takes matters into her own hands and performs an epic rendition of 'Hard Day's Night' with Santana and the rest of the waitstaff. Legit, I would've so given her the part (but apparently I can't make these decisions). We don't get an opportunity however to see their reaction, because soon enough, Rachel is dragging Santana out of the diner to 'deal with something' *cough, marriage proposal, cough* after she receives a text from Blaine.

A bunch of little things happened after that. Sue warns Coach Roz Washington and Mr Schue that they need to win nationals in their respective fields otherwise their jobs (and her own apparently) will be in danger, and Tina (expectedly) outs Artie and Kitty's relationship to New Directions. Kitty admits that its true, and then goes on to say that it was wrong of them to conceal it in the first place. So basically, what I think were Tina's ploys to win Artie back have backfired, and actually made Kartie public (great going).

After that, it turns out that Blaine has finally copped on to the fact (after 23 episodes) that Tina's turned into a phyco-maniac. He gets a handful of the glee guys together, and plans to try and bring back the old Tina and exterminate the new one.

Their planning doesn't last for long, as we are now in the hallway watching Figgins struggle in his new job as the janitor. Sue then leaves her office purely to taunt the ex-principal, who doesn't react kindly, stating that she'll 'never get away with this'. Being the vindictive dictator that she is, Sue then pulls out a tub of rotting slush (which is supposedly meant to be some kind of meat product) that used to be served in the cafeteria, and pours it all over the floor to increase Figgins' workload (and just to be mean). To add salt to the wound, Sue informs him that she will not be re-hiring Donna, his former secretary whom he treasures very much (as seen in the behind the scenes videos on the Season 1 DVD).

After this, Blaine, Sam, Ryder and Jake put their plan into action, and call Tina in (dressed as a 60's teenybopper) to the auditorium. They're all on stage, dressed as the great 'Beatles' themselves, a start to replicate their live performance of 'I Saw Her Standing There', as the rest of the glee girls rush in screaming and mimicking hardcore fans. Artie (for some reason) is filming the performance, and as he does, the screen suddenly becomes black and white as a further homage to the boy band. At the end, Tina has the choice of picking a prom date from Blaine, Sam or Ryder (because apparently that's how you get a girl to become less conceited). She chooses Sam, stating that he's the 'least Asian' of the three, and she's looking to change up her image.

As the episode comes to a close, the long-awaited proposal is about to begin. Burt drives Kurt somewhere off the beaten track, but before he can formulate an excuse as to where they're going, Kurt states that he already knows what's happening (how? we'll never know). They then have one of their famous 'father-son' chats, and Burt tells Kurt that he would give anything to have more years with his late wife (and Kurt's mother), and that the decision is entirely his. Prepped and ready to go, Kurt steps foot inside Dalton Academy as Blaine serenades him with 'All You Need is Love' (with the help of the other glee clubs), as everyone (including Rachel, Santana and Mercedes) greets him warmly and ushers him inside. It's all quite a spectacle, and lasts for a while, until Kurt is led to the bottom of a staircase where Blaine is waiting for him. The speech begins, and Blaine is talking about how this is where they first met (back in Season 2), and how he met him in a past life, and in every life they seem to find their way towards one another (it was a bit 'inception' like, and was kinda confusing, but just go with it). And, as expected, he ended by popping the question, to which Kurt replied (drumroll please)  . . . . yes! And yes, this is the second time on 'Glee' that there has been an engagement between a major couple. Will it stick? We just don't know.

But yay, you finally made it to the end of the glee-cap! Now, hurry up and go watch it, because this episode was absolutely awesome. Next week, we get the second installment of the Beatles tribute, entitled 'Tina in the Sky with Diamonds', probably continuing the Tina rehabilitation story arc from this episode. And, of course, the one and only Demi Lovato will be guest starring as Santana's new love interest, and will be sticking around for the next few episodes. So, you have 3 options- you can watch the promo for next week's episode, intensely search for all of the spoilers you can find, or just wait until it comes out. Til' next time gleeks . . .

Annabel xx