Glee: Showmance

Thanks to a last minute decision to go to the movies (my brother and I saw Tim Burton’s 9 which I highly recommend–it’s like Toy Story meets Lord of the Rings) I missed a lot of the shows that I wanted to watch tonight and not all of them are up online yet so I can’t report on them. I did get a chance to watch the second episode of Glee though.

Unlike with my many recaps, I’m only going to write an episode summary (it’s a music show, you have to watch/listen to it to appreciate a lot of parts–it’s funny because at Brandeis I took a class where we talked about how you write about music and now I’m finding it harder than expected). So without further adieu:

In this episode Sue Sylvester wants to get rid of the Glee come so she does some digging and discovers that the club will not qualify to compete without six more members. Mr. Schue rallies with the plan to hold a school assembly where the group will perform for the school in order to make kids want to join. The glitch: he wants the kids to do a disco number that won the Glee Club of his era the championships for the school assembly. The kids fear that this is social suicide, understandably. Meanwhile Rachel secretly pines for Van and, upon school psychologist Emma Pillsbury’s advice, joins the abstinence club in an attempt to bond with him. But realizing that high school kids all want sex, she and the other kids change their routine (without telling Schuester) to a hyper-sexualized one. The result is that the cheerleaders decide to join Glee because Van’s girlfriend Quin fears that something is going on between Rachel and Van (who do kiss so she’s not entirely wrong). Sue decides the Cheerios will be her spies on the Glee Club.

Meanwhile, Schue has other problems, as his wife wants to buy an expensive house for the babies. Which means Schue will need to get another job. He does this by taking a janitorial shift at night. However, the wife goes to the doctor and discovers that she’s not actually pregnant. Instead of telling Schue this, she says she’s having a boy and tries to seduce him.

Also, Emma realizes that Schue is already spoken for so she turns him down when he suggests spending time together.

Now, I’m slightly torn about this episode. For one thing, I thought the Glee club was too good last week and that their progression from weak to strong should have been part of the show. But that aside, the musical numbers this week were cut short and not as strong as “Don’t Stop Believing.” It was still fun though, in large part to Jane Lynch who is full of deadpan comedy that is so enjoyable. Emma’s storyline isn’t very funny, her OCD kind of feels like trying too hard. Schue’s wife thinking she was pregnant just because she gained weight is hysterical though saying she’s having a hysterical pregnancy seems a little over the top. I can’t wait to see how their relationship plays out though I have little interest in seeing whether he ends up with Emma or not. Rachel’s personality is absolutely ridiculous, but I’m curious to see what happens to her. Can’t you see an episode where the Cheerios pretend to bond with her in order to sabotage her? I would still like to see more of the other kids in the club (beyond the fact that the football team dumps one of them into the garbage every day). At this point I’m still watching but I hope it steps up a bit.