Glee Season 3 Re-watch - 3x14 - On My Way
It's Regionals time, bitchez! But there's more going on than just silly show choir competitions.
A trigger warning, on the off chance you don't know what happens in this episode, for a suicide attempt. Proceed with caution.
Rachel is happy as a clam to be flipping through some bridal magazines at the Lima Bean, while Kurt continues to give her the side-eye and remind her that classic bridal fashions will still be classic a few years from now. But their quiet afternoon coffee is interrupted by none other than Sebastian Smythe, bearing an "engagement gift" for Rachel. He's photoshopped (poorly) Finn's head onto a nude selfie wearing red pumps. He's threatening to spread them all over the internet unless Rachel sits out the competition so the Warblers can win. "That's show choir terrorism!" Oh, gracious.
Finn finds out and is rightfully livid, and wants to go to Dalton to give Sebastian a well-overdue ass-kicking. And Artie points out that any such threats are cause for immediate disqualification. But Schue tells them to chill out, that he's already contacted the headmaster at Dalton (fat lot of good that seems to do), and that they should get used to it. The more successful you are, the more nonsense you'll have to deal with. Great advice, Schue.
Finn, meanwhile, is appalled that Rachel is treating this all with a flippant "of course I'm going to perform, I won't negotiate with terrorists!" Like it's no big deal. It's a big honking deal for Finn, but Rachel is rocking the self-absorption, saying that "their" future depends on them winning Regionals because it will help her NYADA application. Not happy times in Finchel land.
Somewhat inexplicably, Sue has called Quinn into her office to tell her that she's pregnant and the two of them awkwardly tell tales of morning sickness. While she's there, though, Quinn has a request. She wants to re-join the Cheerios and finish her last year on the team. Sue tells her no, since that wouldn't be fair to the rest of the girls on the team who've been practicing all year, and that might be the most rational thing Sue Sylvester has ever said.
Oh god. Blaine is pacing on the auditorium stage and my stomach has already dropped through the floor, as I know perfectly well what's coming. Kurt comes looking for him, since he seemed upset in rehearsal. Blaine snaps a little; he doesn't want to talk about stupid Sebastian anymore. He just wants to focus on winning, and he has a little ditty prepared to fit the competition's theme of "inspiration." (Why oh why do they even bother pretending there are themes?) Anyways, would Kurt (in his gorgeous gray shirt) mind having a listen?
Before the song can begin, though, we unexpectedly cut to Dave Karofsky walking into his school's locker room. Some of the guys are giving him strange looks, but we don't know why. Time slows down, the melancholy intro to “Cough Syrup” starts, and we see Dave's face fall. Only when he turns around do we see that someone has spray-painted "FAG" on his gym locker. In a panic, he runs out of the locker room as fast as he can, while the douchebag from last week at Breadstix shoves him, and the entire room full of guys just stares. Not a single friendly face in the bunch.
We cut back and forth to Blaine singing with a great deal of angst in the blue-lit auditorium, but the story here is Karofsky. He gets home and shuts the door to his room, and logs onto his Facebook page. There's post after post screaming at him to "go back in the closet" or worse. He sits on his bed, his chair, the floor, and you can see the feeling written all over his face. The absolute worst possible thing, the thing he feared the most, has just happened. And he has no idea what to do or where to go from here.
But then, he gets up and moves with frighteningly calm purpose to his closet. He lays out his best three-piece suit. He dresses with care, down to the tie, the belt, the shoes. Tears are streaming down his face, but he keeps going.
Blaine's song ends, and in silence, we see Dave eyeing the beam in his closet, tears streaming down his face, and stepping up onto the chair.
I'll tell you, I was moderately spoiled during Season 3, and I had no freaking clue this was coming. I'm pretty sure I spent the ensuing commercial break in horrified silence. With tears in my own eyes, I want to give a standing ovation to Max Adler, who was stunning beyond words in this scene. Two years ago, he was nothing but a stupid oaf. One year ago, he was a terrifying bully making Kurt's daily life hell. And here, he has grown into a more complicated person than we might ever have imagined when we first met, and despite all of the bad things he's done, our hearts absolutely break in half for him.
Our four main teachers meet in Figgins's office as they discuss how to break the news of Dave's attempt to the student body (though, at the time, I thought it was really unclear whether Dave was alive or not). Sue, for one, feels terrible that she didn't do more for Dave last year. And all she can think about is his father, finding him. Which, in a horrible HORRIBLE moment, we see. Oh god.
The God Squad has gotten together and want to start the meeting by praying for Karofsky. Sam wonders aloud how someone could get to such a dark place, but Mercedes tells us that it was all over Facebook. Torment by social media, arguably worse than having it face-to-face.
Quinn, in a harsh but utterly in-character moment, feels bad for Karofsky but clearly views his suicide attempt as a horribly selfish act, and feels more sorry for his family. She says, in all her privileged glory, "I went through the ringer, but I never got to that place."
She is shut down immediately by Kurt, standing in the doorway. "Quinn, please. You had a baby when you were sixteen and you had a bad dye job for two weeks. Seriously? The world never stopped loving you." Yeah, she went through a rough time. But it's not likely that she can really understand the depth of self-loathing and fear that Dave was going through.
The God Squad is a strange place for Kurt Hummel, Dedicated Atheist, to show up. But he heard they were going to pray for him, and he didn't feel like he knew where else to go. He blames himself, not only for rejecting Dave when he asked Kurt out, but for ignoring a string of phone calls from him when he was obviously (in hindsight) struggling.
Finn finds Rachel in the halls, and they quickly apologize and cling to one another. This, I get. When tragedy strikes, even on the periphery of our lives, the first thing I do is grab onto my husband. Well, speaking of husbands, Rachel is feeling very acutely how short life is. So she sees no reason to wait and wants to get married now. Finn, hilariously, responds: "but I have gym." No, not NOW now. But Saturday, after the competition.
Santana, Brittany, Kurt, and Blaine find Sebastian at the Lima Bean. Santana immediately tells him to stop with all of the threats and harassment, and for once in his life, Sebastian is contrite and agrees. He's finally realized that it's all fun and games until it's really, really not. He apologizes to Blaine, for whatever that's worth, and says the Warblers will be dedicating their performance to Karofsky. Sebastian has his own reasons for feeling guilty, having clearly met up with Dave at Scandals and treated him horribly.
In a well-meaning if arguably misguided move, Schuester has the whole club sitting in a circle in the auditorium. He wants them to promise (as if it works that way) that, no matter how bad things get, they will always try to remember the many new experiences to come in their lives. Mercedes says that, though they're a dramatic bunch, it's not like any of them would ever think about killing themselves.
Schuester did. Over cheating on a math test. It's meant to be seen as a pretty stupid reason for wanting to end one's life, but even then, I wish they had picked someone else or a different story, because that one feels like it minimizes the traumas these kids go through. Which is not to say that being caught cheating didn't feel like a trauma in that moment, but god, compared to what just happened to Karofsky? Really?
He makes his point, though. Cheating on a math test may not seem like a big deal to most of them, but everyone has that thing that might push them right to the edge. And look at what he would have missed out on. So he wants everyone to think of something big that they're looking forward to.
Blaine wants marriage equality in all 50 states (oh, dear boy), Mercedes wants to meet Rachel Berry's children, and Sugar wants to see "Sex and the City 3." Rory, having now tasted peanut butter for the first time, just wants to WIN AT REGIONALS! YAY! Sigh.
Regionals, it is, with the usual slate of absurd judges. Including a late-night horror movie host, a vampire named Svengoobles. Leading to a favorite background moment of Kurt being absolutely horrified as Blaine teases him. Heehee. (And I only just realized that Svengoobles is actually Ian Brennan. Brilliant cameo.)
Oh, and for ONCE, there are recognizable parents in the audience: the Berrys and the Hudson-Hummels. (Oh right, because their kids are getting hitched once this show is over.)
Warblers up first, with "Stand" and "Glad You Came," and all of the songs follow a fairly clear theme of triumph over troubles. Finn leads everyone in a standing ovation, because life is too short not to cheer on your competition. Kurt and Blaine are still pretty skeptical of Sebastian's motivations, but their second song is pretty good (and has slow-mo dancing - DRINK!). I don't know, I never thought I'd want a Sebastian-led Warblers song, but I might actually download it after all these years.
New Directions get ready in the choir room, and at show circle, Finn decides to announce to everyone that they're invited to the wedding immediately after the performance. OH, OKAY.
At any rate, time to perform. First, a rather odd mash-up of "Fly/I Believe I Can Fly." The tempo is kind of a strange choice for the competition, Santana and BLAINE are rapping, and there's a whole lot of smoke machine to the point that I'm surprised any of them could see their marks.
Living up to their promise (whoa, they remembered!), it's time for a Troubletones performance, including a handful of girls we will ONLY ever see during competitions. They sound and look fabulous, but I was always uncomfortable with "Stronger" as their song choice. Just, WOW. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I don't know. I can see how some people would find it super empowering, but to me it just feels... insensitive, I guess? There's nothing figurative about it, and I think that's what feels a little too much to me. Still, though, I'm a Troubletones fan.
Their set ends with "Here's to Us," which again sounds perfectly great. But it's really just Rachel, and eventually the other girls, walking around on stage while the boys kind of clap from the balconies. After two highly-choreographed songs, it feels not only too casual, but preemptively self-congratulatory. Regardless, Hiram and LeRoy Berry are in the audience near tears at their baby, even if I'm quite certain they've seen her perform more impressively than that.
Freaking Svengoobles is reading the results, because this is one of Glee's favorite places to get well and truly ridiculous. Kurt remains horrified in the background. Shocker of shockers, New Directions win.
After the competition, Quinn has somehow managed to be summoned into Sue's office (we did, at least, see her there watching the performance, so it's not like she just lives there). Anyways, she's had a change of heart and gives Quinn her Cheerios uniform back.
She immediately puts it on and struts the darkened halls, passing Kurt and Blaine holding hands and rounding the corner CLEARLY TO PUSH ONE ANOTHER UP AGAINST THE WALL AND MAKE OUT.
What? That's totally what happened.
Oh, and Quinn runs into Rachel and says that, despite her reservations, she wants to be there to support Rachel and Finn at their wedding if that's okay.
The timeline gets kind of wobbly, here, but I guess the competition was maybe first thing in the morning? No idea. Anyways, we cut away to Karofsky's hospital room, where Kurt comes to visit. Oh, these boys. Kurt still feels terrible for not answering Dave's calls, but Dave quickly tells him there's no reason he should have, after all Dave put him through.
Kurt promises to be there for him, now. That he can get through this nightmare, that there are people who care about him even if his best friend and his own mother think that being gay is some kind of disease. Dave looks at Kurt like he's simply desperate to hang onto whatever shred of hope Kurt has to offer.
They visualize what Dave's life could be, ten years from now. Out of Lima, never looking back. Career, love, family. It won't always suck like this. It’s the teeniest bit schmaltzy for my tastes, but still a really touching moment.
Off to the courthouse for the Finchel wedding. Sue arrives and congratulates Schuester on their competition win, and drops the pregnancy bomb. And some combination of hormones and the power of music have made her decide that she wants to help them win Nationals, no strings attached. Super.
The Hummel-Hudson-Berry parents are nearly apoplectic that this thing is actually happening and they haven't managed to stop it. Hiram is ready to concoct an elaborate scheme to interrupt the ceremony, but Carole is the relatively calm voice of reason. She knows that if they'd all come down hard against the wedding, the kids would just have eloped behind their backs. Burt, for his part, is on board with Hiram's idea.
Rachel comes down the hallway in the most perfectly-retro wedding dress I've ever seen - it is EXACTLY her style this season and she looks lovely, even if I know full well how stupidly long it takes to get a damn wedding dress. Finn is speechless, as he should be. She's beautiful.
In the meantime, Rachel gets a text from Quinn that she's gone to get her bridesmaid dress and is on her way. They're waiting for her, pacing, about to lose their spot with the justice of the peace, and we cut back and forth between that and Quinn driving along country roads.
She picks up her phone to text Rachel back and gets T-boned by a pickup truck, cut to black and a two-month hiatus.
WHAT THE FUCK?
Honestly, when this episode aired, I was quite certain we'd seen the last of Quinn Fabray. She'd already sang her swan song in "Michael." She'd been redeemed from the insanity of the beginning of the season and was off to the Ivy League. That nearly always spells certain death. Spoiler alert, I was wrong.
But holy shit did that cliffhanger come out of nowhere, and left us hanging for nearly two months before the next episode.
I think, overall, that I like this episode. As I have said before, I frequently judge the success of an episode on how well I connect emotionally with it, and there’s no question that Karofsky (and Kurt) really drew me in. And between the heaviness of the story and the incredibly emotional performances of several of the actors, I am not at all surprised to see that Brad Buecker directed this episode (see also: “Never Been Kissed,” “Original Song,” “The First Time,” “Thanksgiving,” “Love, Love, Love”).
It’s uneven, as all competition episodes are. But it keeps a fairly tight theme, all things considered: life is short, make of it what you can while you have the chance.
What did you think?
Back next week with “ Big Brother” and “ Saturday Night Glee-ver” (competing with “Glease” for dumbest-ever episode title).
A trigger warning, on the off chance you don't know what happens in this episode, for a suicide attempt. Proceed with caution.
Rachel is happy as a clam to be flipping through some bridal magazines at the Lima Bean, while Kurt continues to give her the side-eye and remind her that classic bridal fashions will still be classic a few years from now. But their quiet afternoon coffee is interrupted by none other than Sebastian Smythe, bearing an "engagement gift" for Rachel. He's photoshopped (poorly) Finn's head onto a nude selfie wearing red pumps. He's threatening to spread them all over the internet unless Rachel sits out the competition so the Warblers can win. "That's show choir terrorism!" Oh, gracious.
Finn finds out and is rightfully livid, and wants to go to Dalton to give Sebastian a well-overdue ass-kicking. And Artie points out that any such threats are cause for immediate disqualification. But Schue tells them to chill out, that he's already contacted the headmaster at Dalton (fat lot of good that seems to do), and that they should get used to it. The more successful you are, the more nonsense you'll have to deal with. Great advice, Schue.
Finn, meanwhile, is appalled that Rachel is treating this all with a flippant "of course I'm going to perform, I won't negotiate with terrorists!" Like it's no big deal. It's a big honking deal for Finn, but Rachel is rocking the self-absorption, saying that "their" future depends on them winning Regionals because it will help her NYADA application. Not happy times in Finchel land.
Somewhat inexplicably, Sue has called Quinn into her office to tell her that she's pregnant and the two of them awkwardly tell tales of morning sickness. While she's there, though, Quinn has a request. She wants to re-join the Cheerios and finish her last year on the team. Sue tells her no, since that wouldn't be fair to the rest of the girls on the team who've been practicing all year, and that might be the most rational thing Sue Sylvester has ever said.
Oh god. Blaine is pacing on the auditorium stage and my stomach has already dropped through the floor, as I know perfectly well what's coming. Kurt comes looking for him, since he seemed upset in rehearsal. Blaine snaps a little; he doesn't want to talk about stupid Sebastian anymore. He just wants to focus on winning, and he has a little ditty prepared to fit the competition's theme of "inspiration." (Why oh why do they even bother pretending there are themes?) Anyways, would Kurt (in his gorgeous gray shirt) mind having a listen?
Before the song can begin, though, we unexpectedly cut to Dave Karofsky walking into his school's locker room. Some of the guys are giving him strange looks, but we don't know why. Time slows down, the melancholy intro to “Cough Syrup” starts, and we see Dave's face fall. Only when he turns around do we see that someone has spray-painted "FAG" on his gym locker. In a panic, he runs out of the locker room as fast as he can, while the douchebag from last week at Breadstix shoves him, and the entire room full of guys just stares. Not a single friendly face in the bunch.
We cut back and forth to Blaine singing with a great deal of angst in the blue-lit auditorium, but the story here is Karofsky. He gets home and shuts the door to his room, and logs onto his Facebook page. There's post after post screaming at him to "go back in the closet" or worse. He sits on his bed, his chair, the floor, and you can see the feeling written all over his face. The absolute worst possible thing, the thing he feared the most, has just happened. And he has no idea what to do or where to go from here.
But then, he gets up and moves with frighteningly calm purpose to his closet. He lays out his best three-piece suit. He dresses with care, down to the tie, the belt, the shoes. Tears are streaming down his face, but he keeps going.
Blaine's song ends, and in silence, we see Dave eyeing the beam in his closet, tears streaming down his face, and stepping up onto the chair.
I'll tell you, I was moderately spoiled during Season 3, and I had no freaking clue this was coming. I'm pretty sure I spent the ensuing commercial break in horrified silence. With tears in my own eyes, I want to give a standing ovation to Max Adler, who was stunning beyond words in this scene. Two years ago, he was nothing but a stupid oaf. One year ago, he was a terrifying bully making Kurt's daily life hell. And here, he has grown into a more complicated person than we might ever have imagined when we first met, and despite all of the bad things he's done, our hearts absolutely break in half for him.
Our four main teachers meet in Figgins's office as they discuss how to break the news of Dave's attempt to the student body (though, at the time, I thought it was really unclear whether Dave was alive or not). Sue, for one, feels terrible that she didn't do more for Dave last year. And all she can think about is his father, finding him. Which, in a horrible HORRIBLE moment, we see. Oh god.
The God Squad has gotten together and want to start the meeting by praying for Karofsky. Sam wonders aloud how someone could get to such a dark place, but Mercedes tells us that it was all over Facebook. Torment by social media, arguably worse than having it face-to-face.
Quinn, in a harsh but utterly in-character moment, feels bad for Karofsky but clearly views his suicide attempt as a horribly selfish act, and feels more sorry for his family. She says, in all her privileged glory, "I went through the ringer, but I never got to that place."
She is shut down immediately by Kurt, standing in the doorway. "Quinn, please. You had a baby when you were sixteen and you had a bad dye job for two weeks. Seriously? The world never stopped loving you." Yeah, she went through a rough time. But it's not likely that she can really understand the depth of self-loathing and fear that Dave was going through.
The God Squad is a strange place for Kurt Hummel, Dedicated Atheist, to show up. But he heard they were going to pray for him, and he didn't feel like he knew where else to go. He blames himself, not only for rejecting Dave when he asked Kurt out, but for ignoring a string of phone calls from him when he was obviously (in hindsight) struggling.
Finn finds Rachel in the halls, and they quickly apologize and cling to one another. This, I get. When tragedy strikes, even on the periphery of our lives, the first thing I do is grab onto my husband. Well, speaking of husbands, Rachel is feeling very acutely how short life is. So she sees no reason to wait and wants to get married now. Finn, hilariously, responds: "but I have gym." No, not NOW now. But Saturday, after the competition.
Santana, Brittany, Kurt, and Blaine find Sebastian at the Lima Bean. Santana immediately tells him to stop with all of the threats and harassment, and for once in his life, Sebastian is contrite and agrees. He's finally realized that it's all fun and games until it's really, really not. He apologizes to Blaine, for whatever that's worth, and says the Warblers will be dedicating their performance to Karofsky. Sebastian has his own reasons for feeling guilty, having clearly met up with Dave at Scandals and treated him horribly.
In a well-meaning if arguably misguided move, Schuester has the whole club sitting in a circle in the auditorium. He wants them to promise (as if it works that way) that, no matter how bad things get, they will always try to remember the many new experiences to come in their lives. Mercedes says that, though they're a dramatic bunch, it's not like any of them would ever think about killing themselves.
Schuester did. Over cheating on a math test. It's meant to be seen as a pretty stupid reason for wanting to end one's life, but even then, I wish they had picked someone else or a different story, because that one feels like it minimizes the traumas these kids go through. Which is not to say that being caught cheating didn't feel like a trauma in that moment, but god, compared to what just happened to Karofsky? Really?
He makes his point, though. Cheating on a math test may not seem like a big deal to most of them, but everyone has that thing that might push them right to the edge. And look at what he would have missed out on. So he wants everyone to think of something big that they're looking forward to.
Blaine wants marriage equality in all 50 states (oh, dear boy), Mercedes wants to meet Rachel Berry's children, and Sugar wants to see "Sex and the City 3." Rory, having now tasted peanut butter for the first time, just wants to WIN AT REGIONALS! YAY! Sigh.
Regionals, it is, with the usual slate of absurd judges. Including a late-night horror movie host, a vampire named Svengoobles. Leading to a favorite background moment of Kurt being absolutely horrified as Blaine teases him. Heehee. (And I only just realized that Svengoobles is actually Ian Brennan. Brilliant cameo.)
Oh, and for ONCE, there are recognizable parents in the audience: the Berrys and the Hudson-Hummels. (Oh right, because their kids are getting hitched once this show is over.)
Warblers up first, with "Stand" and "Glad You Came," and all of the songs follow a fairly clear theme of triumph over troubles. Finn leads everyone in a standing ovation, because life is too short not to cheer on your competition. Kurt and Blaine are still pretty skeptical of Sebastian's motivations, but their second song is pretty good (and has slow-mo dancing - DRINK!). I don't know, I never thought I'd want a Sebastian-led Warblers song, but I might actually download it after all these years.
New Directions get ready in the choir room, and at show circle, Finn decides to announce to everyone that they're invited to the wedding immediately after the performance. OH, OKAY.
At any rate, time to perform. First, a rather odd mash-up of "Fly/I Believe I Can Fly." The tempo is kind of a strange choice for the competition, Santana and BLAINE are rapping, and there's a whole lot of smoke machine to the point that I'm surprised any of them could see their marks.
Living up to their promise (whoa, they remembered!), it's time for a Troubletones performance, including a handful of girls we will ONLY ever see during competitions. They sound and look fabulous, but I was always uncomfortable with "Stronger" as their song choice. Just, WOW. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I don't know. I can see how some people would find it super empowering, but to me it just feels... insensitive, I guess? There's nothing figurative about it, and I think that's what feels a little too much to me. Still, though, I'm a Troubletones fan.
Their set ends with "Here's to Us," which again sounds perfectly great. But it's really just Rachel, and eventually the other girls, walking around on stage while the boys kind of clap from the balconies. After two highly-choreographed songs, it feels not only too casual, but preemptively self-congratulatory. Regardless, Hiram and LeRoy Berry are in the audience near tears at their baby, even if I'm quite certain they've seen her perform more impressively than that.
Freaking Svengoobles is reading the results, because this is one of Glee's favorite places to get well and truly ridiculous. Kurt remains horrified in the background. Shocker of shockers, New Directions win.
After the competition, Quinn has somehow managed to be summoned into Sue's office (we did, at least, see her there watching the performance, so it's not like she just lives there). Anyways, she's had a change of heart and gives Quinn her Cheerios uniform back.
She immediately puts it on and struts the darkened halls, passing Kurt and Blaine holding hands and rounding the corner CLEARLY TO PUSH ONE ANOTHER UP AGAINST THE WALL AND MAKE OUT.
What? That's totally what happened.
Oh, and Quinn runs into Rachel and says that, despite her reservations, she wants to be there to support Rachel and Finn at their wedding if that's okay.
The timeline gets kind of wobbly, here, but I guess the competition was maybe first thing in the morning? No idea. Anyways, we cut away to Karofsky's hospital room, where Kurt comes to visit. Oh, these boys. Kurt still feels terrible for not answering Dave's calls, but Dave quickly tells him there's no reason he should have, after all Dave put him through.
Kurt promises to be there for him, now. That he can get through this nightmare, that there are people who care about him even if his best friend and his own mother think that being gay is some kind of disease. Dave looks at Kurt like he's simply desperate to hang onto whatever shred of hope Kurt has to offer.
They visualize what Dave's life could be, ten years from now. Out of Lima, never looking back. Career, love, family. It won't always suck like this. It’s the teeniest bit schmaltzy for my tastes, but still a really touching moment.
Off to the courthouse for the Finchel wedding. Sue arrives and congratulates Schuester on their competition win, and drops the pregnancy bomb. And some combination of hormones and the power of music have made her decide that she wants to help them win Nationals, no strings attached. Super.
The Hummel-Hudson-Berry parents are nearly apoplectic that this thing is actually happening and they haven't managed to stop it. Hiram is ready to concoct an elaborate scheme to interrupt the ceremony, but Carole is the relatively calm voice of reason. She knows that if they'd all come down hard against the wedding, the kids would just have eloped behind their backs. Burt, for his part, is on board with Hiram's idea.
Rachel comes down the hallway in the most perfectly-retro wedding dress I've ever seen - it is EXACTLY her style this season and she looks lovely, even if I know full well how stupidly long it takes to get a damn wedding dress. Finn is speechless, as he should be. She's beautiful.
In the meantime, Rachel gets a text from Quinn that she's gone to get her bridesmaid dress and is on her way. They're waiting for her, pacing, about to lose their spot with the justice of the peace, and we cut back and forth between that and Quinn driving along country roads.
She picks up her phone to text Rachel back and gets T-boned by a pickup truck, cut to black and a two-month hiatus.
WHAT THE FUCK?
Honestly, when this episode aired, I was quite certain we'd seen the last of Quinn Fabray. She'd already sang her swan song in "Michael." She'd been redeemed from the insanity of the beginning of the season and was off to the Ivy League. That nearly always spells certain death. Spoiler alert, I was wrong.
But holy shit did that cliffhanger come out of nowhere, and left us hanging for nearly two months before the next episode.
I think, overall, that I like this episode. As I have said before, I frequently judge the success of an episode on how well I connect emotionally with it, and there’s no question that Karofsky (and Kurt) really drew me in. And between the heaviness of the story and the incredibly emotional performances of several of the actors, I am not at all surprised to see that Brad Buecker directed this episode (see also: “Never Been Kissed,” “Original Song,” “The First Time,” “Thanksgiving,” “Love, Love, Love”).
It’s uneven, as all competition episodes are. But it keeps a fairly tight theme, all things considered: life is short, make of it what you can while you have the chance.
What did you think?
Back next week with “ Big Brother” and “ Saturday Night Glee-ver” (competing with “Glease” for dumbest-ever episode title).