Friday, 11 October 2013

Glee-cap: Season 5, Episode 2, PLUS info on 'The Quarterback'














Hello again gleeks! As you may know, the new episode of 'Glee' came out last Friday. And yes, I am aware that this recap is super super late (so much so that the next episode has already come out). There are a lot of reasons for that, like I've been getting really caught up watching 'Smash' (which I've only just discovered). Also, I started this post once, but then it didn't save, and I had to start again. But anyway, you don't want to read about my personal life. Let's go . . .

Now officially into the second segment of the 'Glee' Beatles tribute episodes, this one begins with Sam musing about gayness with Blaine in the auditorium (and yes, you read that right- the blam is never ending). Cutting their conversation short, Mr Schue enters and announces that this week, they are going to focus on some of the later Beatles music. He starts to go on his little soliloque, but is cut short when Sue announces over the PA system, that McKinley will be mushing all of the year's proms together and creating a 'brundle prom', before going on to announce the 2013 candidates for prom king and queen. And the nominees are (drumroll please)  . . .

Blaine Anderson
Mohammed Omar (random)
Artie Abrams
Stoner Brett Bukowski (he has a last name now!)

Kitty Wilde
Amy Ryan (random cheerio)
Jordan Stern (neck brace cheerio)
Tina Cohen-Chang

Tina seems to be the most excited of everyone, jumping out of her seat and flailing her limbs around like a seal. Sam, ever the graceful loser, says although he didn't get nominated for prom king, at least he can attend with a candidate for the prom court. But despite the little intervention in last episode, diva Tina is back, stating that she can't possibly got to prom with Sam, as she needs to go with a group of single girls to secure the 'dejected wallflower' vote, and become 'bigger than Jesus' (a reference to the Beatles, or Madonna, whatever floats your boat). In her glory, she then breaks into a rendition of 'Revolution'. This doesn't last long however, as about 30 seconds into it, the glee club bell goes and everyone swiftly exits, making this the third time a song of hers has been cut off (but I sort of hate her now, so I don't really care).












Now we're in New York, as Rachel and Santana are working through their shifts at the diner. Rachel has come to the conclusion that she hasn't got the part of Fanny Brice in 'Funny Girl' because it's been ages since they've contacted her, and she feels as if she's let everyone at McKinley down. Santana tries to lift the mood by announcing that she got a part in a commercial for a yeast infection medication called 'Yeast-I-Stat'. I have to warn you now, this may be the most hilarious thing you'll see in your entire life. So just watch it now, over and over again, until you can quote it, I'm actually serious, go. Anyway, Rachel tried to keep her jealousy at bay as she congratulated Santana, but I think we both know this won't last long.

Back in the halls of McKinley High, passive aggressive Bree stalks over to Kitty with her cheerio minions in toe. Seeming to have dropped the passive altogether and just opted for aggressive, she goes on a long, verging on psychotic rant about how Kitty must win the title of prom queen, because for the past two years, the winners have been members of glee club and not the cheerios. After some excessive googling, it seems that this entire monologue was a reference to some letter that a deranged sorority girl sent out that went viral April this year (the beauty of the internet). Anyway, long story short, it was made quite clear that Kitty must win prom queen, and forget about the 'Asian girl from glee club'.

Now in the choir room, Mr Schue and Sam are having a bro-to-bro chat about Tina's rejection, when Sue waltzes in and announces that she is instating mandatory polio vaccinations to all students, starting with the glee club. Of course, some conflict breaks out after that, but because Sue's principal, whatever she says goes.

At NYADA, Rachel and Kurt are both participating in Carmen Tibideaux's annual piano tuning and discussing Santana's latest achievement. Just like we did, Kurt saw right through Rachel's faux joy, and said that she needs to get her mojo back asap. And how do they go about that? By dancing around a couple of pianos while singing their own version of 'Get Back'.












Still freaked out by the thought of getting vaccinations, Sam heads over to the nurses' office and watches as Nurse Penny (played by Phoebe Strole- officially making it the 4th Spring Awakening alum to be on the show) practises her needle-ing skills (for lack of a better term) on a sausage. He finally gets the courage to walk in, do an impression or two, before getting down to business. Just before he's about to get needled, he discovers that she's not actually a qualified nurse, and just a Sophomore in college. Whether it's that, or just the fear of the needle itself, Sam bolts from the room immediately.

In the hallway, Tina is getting super cray as she yells order at her lackey Dotti Kazatori (who's been mysteriously absent for a while), when she spots posters for Kitty's prom campaign in the hallway. Of course, being the mega-diva she is, Tina confronts her and demands and explanation. Although Kitty makes it clear that she didn't put them up, and that the posters weren't even of her, but rather her face photoshopped onto Olivia Munn's body, Tina, nor the rest of the glee club believe her. So you're probably thinking, who could possibly be campaigning for Kitty? You don't get time to question this for long, as the camera zooms into Bree looking on at the scene in the hallway.

Back in New York, Santana is filling tomato sauce bottles (or ketchup bottles, whatever) with fellow waitress Dani (played by none other than Demi Lovato). Having established their stance as a lesbian within the first few minutes of conversation, Santana gets nervous and leaves with the excuse of 'getting the salt shakers', before having a sidebar with newfound BFF Rachel. After some encouraging words, Santana seems ready to get back in the game.

At McKinley, Sam seems to have faked a large amount of injuries to spend time with new school nurse Penny Owen, including a snake bite and getting a bandaid for his hangnail. After a pep-talk from Artie and Blaine, Sam decides to stop hiding behind his 'injuries' and just have an actual conversation with her, following the Beatles mantra to 'charge forth fearlessly' (even though I'm pretty sure they never said that). Filled with zeal, Sam breaks into a rendition of 'Something', as he fantasises about dancing with Nurse Penny at prom, and being a volunteer for her tutorial on resuscitation.












However, in the next scene, it seems as if Sam's dreams are crushed, as when he finally enters Nurse Penny's office, she's packing up her things. He then learns that Sue fired her for incompetence because she may or may not have accidentally injected a Cheerio with urine. Stepping up to the plate, Sam then says that if she gives him a vaccination, it is proof that she is competent at her job, and Sue will have no choice but to re-hire her. Next thing we know, Sam is running into Principal Sue's office begging her to give Nurse Penny another chance. Strangely, Sue agrees, stating that the day before she accidentally gave her steroids instead of aspirin, and now she doesn't have to negotiate with her shifty suppliers (whatever that means).

Back in the hallway, Tina's minion Dotti is handing out campaign posters for her, before she is cornered by Bree and the Cheerios. Playing on her secret hatred of Tina, Bree offers Dotti a spot on the Cheerios in return for her assistance in their plan to bring said girl down.

Now we're in the diner once again, as Rachel is flicking through some alternate roles that she can star in, including the role of Annie Sullivan's land lady in the play 'The Miracle Worker', now casting at the New Jersey Theatre for the Deaf. She then decides to leave her shift early in order to give Santana and Dani some alone time, opting to play 'lesbian match maker'. It seems to work, as the two sit down together and watch the sun rise, conveniently singing an acoustic version of 'Here Comes the Sun'. By the end of the song, they've arrived at Dani's place, where they go separate ways. Cue the initiation of the ship Dantana.
















Back at McKinley, it's officially time for the prom to begin. The crowd goes wild, as various members of New Directions break into 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Everything seems to happen during this song- everyone gets their prom photos taken, Tina walks in with her crowd of 'dejected wallflowers', and Sam bonds with Nurse Penny at the punch bowl. By the end of it, Sam even gets enough courage to ask her to dance with him. So it seems to be all going smoothly, that is until Bree grabs Dotti and fills her in on the plans of the evening. Just when it seems that she's going to back out, Bree blackmails her with all of this personal information, revealing that she knows that Dotti 'wet the bed until she was in seventh grade'. It was only then that we really figured out what was going on. Dotti had made an off-hand comment about slushies, and we saw that there was a bucket positioned over the centre of the stage, and a rope off to the side.

As all the candidates made their way onto the stage, Sue finally announces who won prom king and queen. And winners are . . .

Stoner Brett and Tina Cohen-Chang

And that's officially when things get cray. The entire scene that comes next is a big homage to the 1979 film 'Carrie' (making this the third prom they've referenced the movie), everything pretty much happening exactly the same way as in the film. Even the background music is the same. Tina and Brett are waving to the crowd, and on the side of the stage, Dotti is prepared with her bucket of slushy. Kitty can see what's about to happen, but all she can do is let out a dramatic 'no!' as Dotti pulls the rope, and Tina is covered in red slushie while Stoner Brett is hit with the bucket that held it. Only differences between this and 'Carrie'? Stoner Brett didn't die from the impact of the bucket, there was no pig's blood in sight, and Tina didn't spaz and set the gym on fire with her telekinetic powers. But of course, she was rather upset. Fleeing the stage, Tina made her way to the choir room, the members of New Directions in toe. They'd all come prepared with towels and a bundle of support, but Tina wasn't hearing it. Instead, she chose to wallow in self pity for a while, before getting a pep-talk from Blaine. Empowered to be 'that girl' (although I'm still not entirely sure what that means), Tina got cleaned up and slipped into Kitty's prom dress, as she made her way back into the hall with the New Directions as they sung 'Hey Jude'.















At McKinley the next day, Coach Roz Washington is pulling Bree by the ponytail into Sue's office after discovering she is responsible for what went down at prom. She is trying to get her to understand that pulling 'top notch, hilarious pranks' has consequences, suggesting suspension as the appropriate course of action. However, Sue goes in a completely different direction, promoting her to head cheerio and buying her one of the famous 'le cars'. And why you may ask? Turns out, Sue thinks that the glee club works at its best when competing against a common enemy, and now that it can't be her, it's up to Bree to 'get weird' and pull something 'so psychotic that they can't help but start crying'. Flawed logic for the win.

Back in New York, Rachel and Santana are once again back at the diner, discussing the lifetime supply of 'Yeast-I-Stat' that she just received, when Kurt bursts in decked out in a spotlight diner uniform. Turns out, Kurt's little job at Vogue didn't pay anything at all, and he needs some money. It doesn't seem to faze anyone, Rachel exclaiming that it feels like 'Smash season 1' (which I've now seen, yay me). Once again, the topic of conversation turns to Funny Girl, although Rachel is still certain that she hasn't got the part. However, she is looking at it optimistically, as they all are on their respective situations. All three of them make a pact that they're going to stick together for 2 years and try, come hell or high water, to be successful. Gunther, the owner of the diner, interrupts their bonding session, stating that someone in booth 14 is requesting 'the short one'. Rachel makes her way over, to discover that she indeed, is the next Fanny Brice. People in the diner are excited, we're excited, everyone's excited!

The time has come for the end of the episode, and there's one last song to go. Rachel, Kurt, Santana and Dani are all in the apartment as they begin to sing 'Let It Be'. Coincidentally, everyone back at McKinley is singing it too, all gathered on the stage in the auditorium dressed as weird looking hippies. And then, as the final note is sung, the episode comes to a close.




















And that's a wrap. I think that this episode was really super awesome, and I seriously can't get over the fact that Rachel got the part. Sorry again for the massive, massive delay. Of course you know that the Cory Monteith/Finn Hudson tribute episode came out yesterday, and because it was just super sad, I'm not going to recap it. But, you can read one here. Plus, here are all the episode performances:












Seasons of Love by New Directions Past and Present (originally from 'Rent')














I'll Stand By You by Mercedes Jones/Amber Riley (originally by The Pretenders/originally covered by Cory Monteith aka Finn Hudson)












Fire and Rain by Sam Evans and Artie Abrams/Chord Overstreet and Kevin McHale (originally by James Taylor)












No Surrender by Noah Puckerman/Mark Salling (originally by Bruce Springsteen)












Make You Feel My Love by Rachel Berry/Lea Michele (originally by Bob Dylan/originally covered by Adele)












Because of the hiatus that we're all in now, there won't be another glee-cap until after November 7th. Of course, you can watch the promo for the next episode entitled 'A Katy or a Gaga', or just hold out for 4 weeks. Hope you enjoyed my little recap and a half. Til' next time . . .

Annabel xx

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