Liz's Instant Glee-Cap - 5x07 - Puppet Master
Happy Thanksgiving and Hannukah to any and all. Ready to see what happens when I re-cap on a sleepy, obscenely full tummy and a raging head cold? Wheeeee!!
Oh wait. My houseguests won't leave. I mean, yay for a functioning DVR, but GO AWAY PEOPLE. I NEED TO WATCH MY SHOW!
Okay. Whew. I was getting antsy. Take it away, Puppet Master.
We open on more casual kicking around in the choir room, and I would not object to every episode starting this way. Schue is held up, so Blaine is happy to take over rehearsal and talk about ideas for Nationals (which will never actually happen because time does not move forward anymore). He's getting bossy and thinks it’s a good idea to highlight himself on piano and vocals (he’s not wrong), but there's a rebellion afoot. No one wants to listen to him, and it's freaking him out. He gets pissy and sits on the couch just outside the room (not much of a storm-out, there, Blainers), and pouty-Blaine is making me giggle. Once again, he is wearing the craziest combination of colors and furthering my theory on displaying how manic he is through wardrobe choices.
In New York, Kurt's got a gig for Pamela Lansbury at Callbacks (sorry if I have a Pavlovian response to that venue). The rest of the band isn't too keen, since that's a show tunes place, not somewhere that bands get their big start. Kurt, though, has a vision of them playing Madonna to a packed house and YES DREAM SEQUENCE IN AMAZING 80s OUTFITS. I sort of wasn't expecting to get the entirety of “Into the Groove” from this dream sequence, but I'm not going to complain. Jesus, Kurt, what even are those hips?? And I love that they've all bedazzled all the mics.
IT MUST BE FUCKING CHRISTMAS because we get Kurt and Blaine on the phone. Blaine is calling to bitch about Glee club. Kurt warns him not to be too bossy at McKinley, that they could see him as trying to be a puppet master, and I can't tell if Blaine is taking offense to the idea that anyone would see him as controlling, or that Kurt is the one saying so. Kurt asks him if he'll come out for their gig and he distractedly says okay. I feel like neither of them is quite listening to the other in this conversation.
There’s something about Sue and the school board visiting to decide if she should permanently be principal. Weird superintendant seems like he’s sort of hitting on Sue, and she’s interested, but then realizes that he thinks Sue is a guy. (Um?) She complains to Becky over ice cream, and we get some reason for why Sue put on the track suit almost 30 years ago: the skirts just weren't getting the respect she deserved. Nice 80s fashion flashback, though.
Blaine is back in the choir room and BRAD SPEAKS! And scares the shit out of Blaine. Brad keeps talking but Blaine is not listening as he complains about people not listening to him. So he throws a little tantrum and says he's going to just sit in the corner if that's what they want him to do (and I kind of find petulant-Blaine adorable). Except apparently there's a fumes-in-the-ducts issue, and now he's seeing puppets.
Oh my god. The room is full of puppets of New Directions, who are worshipping Blaine and they want the entire lesson to be about him. BRILLIANT. Blaine is delighted. No problem! He'll sing! The stylized puppet voices and his cheery “hit it” to start "You're My Best Friend" makes me grin. And yay for Blaine doing more Queen. The whole song is cute as hell, and HOW MUCH FUN must that have been to shoot? Sadly, the hallucination lifts and everyone is bitching at him for not participating in class. Poor Blaine. He's having a rough day.
Oh great, Jake is still teaching the Cheerios how to dance. I still don't give a shit. They aren't doing that well, but he's happy to ogle every single one of them on the way out. Bree's pissed about it. Don't care.
Blaine catches up with Jake and convinces him to sit in the magical back corner of the choir room where the good hallucinogens are. Blaine's mind is blown, he thinks there’s something crazy-awesome going on in there.
Jake has his own tantrum about dancing and feeling bored and sits in the magic seat. His hallucination takes the form of a Janet Jackson mash-up with a bunch of Cheerios grinding on him. Marley walks out, and Jake feels the need to chase her out so she can witness him grinding on more people. We go from “Nasty” into “Rhythm Nation” in a near exact remake of the video (oh, the flashbacks to middle school and the days when MTV actually played music videos). Bree is still just as pissed at Jake as Marley. Whatevs.
Blaine asks his arts and crafts teacher if he can do an independent study and make a Kurt puppet, as though that's not weird, and I am still giggling like a crazy person. Giggles aside, this is a super interesting character study of Blaine, of all his manic energy, of feeling like no one is listening to him or understanding him. And I'm FASCINATED that his (rather insane) conversation with puppet-Kurt in the hallway is about forgiveness. Fallout from the cheating incident, in one way or another, has come up two episodes in a row. One of these days Blaine and Kurt are going to finally have it out over that. It's going to be ugly but cathartic. You heard it here, first, people.
But Sue is tottering around in heels and falls, and dapper Blaine tries to help. But then she thinks he isn't taking her seriously because she's going more feminine, and takes Kurt-Puppet away and poor Blaine is so very sad. Nothing is going Blaine’s way right now.
Sue barges in on Schuester to have a talk about gender identity. He launches into a thing about Ginger Rogers and we get a hilarious fourth-wall breaking of the stupid budgets of this club when Schue asks for the $600 they need for Nationals costumes and Sue wonders where they got the money for “Applause.” But Sue is sitting in the hallucination char, so she dream-sequences dancing "Cheek to Cheek" with Schue. I don’t know who thought a Sue/Schue duet was a good idea at this point. Does anyone care about them anymore?
Look, I respect that Sue is having complicated thoughts about power dynamics and gender and the way she is perceived. It’s a good topic. And it’s Jane Lynch, so I absolutely buy what she is selling me. She somehow manages to give Sue a heart after all these crazy years. But in the end, I simply am not invested in the adults on this show anymore. Sorry.
Bree drags Jake through the halls and he doesn’t know what her deal is. OH. HER DEAL IS THAT SHE'S PREGGO. Fucking hell. She wants him to go with her to the doctor, no parents involved. Wow, Glee, are you really going there? Wow.
Blaine sneaks into Sue's office to rescue puppet-Kurt and though he's in a mask, I am appalled that he isn't in full Nightbird regalia. Sue catches him and sentences him to a week of detention, which gets in the way of him flying to New York (another hilarious fourth-wall moment of the magical portal between Lima and New York). He pouts away, but it appears puppet-Kurt has gone sentient.
ANOTHER KLAINE PHONE CALL? IS IT MY BIRTHDAY, TOO?
Well, alright, this one is not sunshine and roses. Kurt turns into his puppet self as they argue when he finds out that Blaine isn’t in New York. Was Blaine seriously not going to CALL to tell Kurt that he wasn't coming? Blaine is a disaster pacing around in his bedroom (oh, that bedroom...), not making any good points and he has clearly fallen down in the communication department and is generally flailing. Kurt is pissed as hell and needed Blaine to be there, and hangs up. Turns out there is only one person at Callbacks to witness their first gig in amazing outfits. Boo, sad face for Pamela Lansbury.
Sue's continuing quest for gender identity leads her to Unique for a makeover because Porcelain isn’t around anymore. Okay, fine, good choice.
Blaine is in detention for the first time ever, with Jake and Becky. Of course he wants to use it to get to know each other. Becky shuts his dapper ass down, so it's time for more puppet dreams. Puppet-Becky is there because she taped Dottie's buns together (heehee nice Breakfast Club shout-out). Blaine is feeling guilty about missing Kurt's gig, and we get a whole big chunk of meta straight from his dapper mouth about how he feels the need to control everything and maybe that gets in the way of true friendship and intimacy.
Puppet-Jake points out that Blaine is now having puppet fantasies outside the choir room. Might be time to get your head checked, darling.
Actual-Jake sneaks out to go with Bree to the clinic, but no need - her period was just late. Jake is relieved at their good fortune, but Bree thinks Jake needs to wake the fuck up. And damn, if BREE is telling you you're toxic...
Whoa. Sue Sylvester dressed like an actual principal in a skirt and cardigan and heels.. I don't even know. She looks nice, actually, not like a caricature, though she isn’t quite acting like herself. I guess she fixed the hallucinatory gas leak in the choir room - too bad. The school board loves her and says she’d be a great principal. But then she tries to actually ask the superintendent out on a date and he says no and WHOA AWKWARD. Wonder if that just lost her the job.
Oh Blaine, you are talking to yourself in the auditorium and wondering if that means you're losing your mind. Yeah. It's possible. But I’m not sure if I can think straight with that striped boat-neck shirt you’re wearing IN THAT VERY AUDITORIUM because I am having seriously breathless “The First Time” flashbacks. Anyways, Blaine is unraveling and he has actual puppets to help. At the moment, it’s a creepy Tina puppet who is all up on him and talking about the Vapo-Rub incident and it’s kind of making me uncomfortable. Real Tina catches him - OOPS. But she says they know he's been under a lot of pressure lately (Nationals, college, and Blaine supplies, BEING ENGAGED) and needs to assert some control, and they decided he's earned it and can take one number at Nationals to do whatever he wants. Lovely.
Jake chases after Marley. Oh for fuck's sake. He's sad, he misses her, boo hoo. He doesn't want to be a jerk anymore, and being with Marley helps him be a good person. She says no to his request to get back together, and while I feel bad for Jake in that he's genuinely sad, I think Marley is right even if she hesitates. I won't pretend to think this story is over, but I think staying away from Jake right now is a good idea.
Kurt has Pamela Lansbury back in the loft and has gotten them another gig, because the one dude in the audience at Callbacks apparently liked their sound and knew somebody who knew somebody. Yay for the band!
There's a knock on the door, and as always, it's for Kurt. Sadly, It's neither Blaine nor Burt hiding behind some sort of plant, but rather a box from Blaine, which Kurt says is an apology for missing their gig. Santana deems it creepy as hell upon opening. AW YEAH, PUPPETS FOR EVERYONE.
Wait, do we not get to see how their argument resolved after Kurt hung up on Blaine? MAJOR MISSED OPPORTUNITY, GLEE.
In the choir room, Blaine is apologizing to the new directions for being straight-up bossy instead of being a leader (and that shirt is fucking KILLING me, but it’s significantly toned down and more relaxed than most of what he’s been wearing, and damn do I love the costume department and how they rock the meta). Plus, Blaine has been mighty industrious in arts & crafts class because now EVERYONE has their own puppet-self.
So they sing motherfucking “What Does the Fox Say” as the closing group number and I have a seriously irrational hatred of this song. The first time I saw the video, I laughed so hard I cried. But the fact that it has taken off and it's a song that people seriously play is apparently too much for me. I don't know why I would think that Glee WOULDN'T do this song (hello, “Gangnam Style” a year ago), but it still gives me some secondhand embarrassment issues.
Okay, it's a little funny. Everyone at least seems to be enjoying their puppets and we get a split with Pamela Lansbury. Mostly I just want to understand how Kurt can look that hot while just standing at a mic, holding a puppet version of himself. Because, damn.
So, here’s the question: what did I actually think of this episode?
Well, it was no “Dynamic Duets,” that’s for sure, though I think it wanted to be. It did go pretty cracky with the puppets, and I do actually think the puppet stuff worked. It was, again, some interesting character stuff to see where Blaine’s head is at right now. He’s stressed out about much of what’s going on in his life, and I find it very interesting that he adds “being engaged” to the lists of things where he feels like he’s under pressure. I hope we get to see more of that and why he feels that way and how Kurt responds to it, but I sadly will not hold my breath. But here’s a guy who has had a whole lot of things go his way pretty easily in his life, and there’s a bunch of big, gaping question marks in front of him at the moment - especially college. So yeah, he’s flipping out just a little bit. And I like that - I like what it tells us about his strengths and weaknesses as a character. And it makes me want to see where he goes next.
But if Blaine and the puppets were the A plot, then sadly New York was like the C or D plot at best. I’m glad we got to see them perform (and got to hear Kurt sing HELL YES), but other than that, the New York crew wasn’t much more than window dressing this week.
No, we had two more plots on the Lima side, which never bodes well in my mind. Sue’s was actually quite vulnerable and human in a way we haven’t yet seen her this season, but it is really only due to the genius of Jane Lynch that I find myself able to care about it at all, since I really just want to check out of any storylines involving adults at McKinley. And Jake sees the error of his manwhoring ways and genuinely wants to be better and being with Marley helps him be a better person. But I still think he burned her way too badly for her to take him back any time soon, and I still think I don’t much care. I don’t think either of those two stories were necessarily done badly, I just don’t find myself able to care about those characters.
Liz’s Instant Glee-Cap Rating: 3 / 5 stars. Again. I liked the Blaine of it all, but it had so much time on things I don’t care about, I can’t bring myself to rate the entire episode higher than that.
EDITED: Okay, you know what? I'm bumping this up to at least 3.5 / 5 stars. I didn't love Jake and Sue, but their stories were done well even if I don't give a shit about the characters. And ultimately I really did love the Blaine of it all. SO MUCH good Blaine characterization. Feeling more positive about it after a heavy dose of NyQuil and a good night's sleep.
Liz’s Instant Song Downloads:
Into the Groove
You’re My Best Friend
(what, like you thought I was going to download a Sue/Schue duet?? Are YOU hallucinating?)
What did you think, friends?
Oh wait. My houseguests won't leave. I mean, yay for a functioning DVR, but GO AWAY PEOPLE. I NEED TO WATCH MY SHOW!
Okay. Whew. I was getting antsy. Take it away, Puppet Master.
We open on more casual kicking around in the choir room, and I would not object to every episode starting this way. Schue is held up, so Blaine is happy to take over rehearsal and talk about ideas for Nationals (which will never actually happen because time does not move forward anymore). He's getting bossy and thinks it’s a good idea to highlight himself on piano and vocals (he’s not wrong), but there's a rebellion afoot. No one wants to listen to him, and it's freaking him out. He gets pissy and sits on the couch just outside the room (not much of a storm-out, there, Blainers), and pouty-Blaine is making me giggle. Once again, he is wearing the craziest combination of colors and furthering my theory on displaying how manic he is through wardrobe choices.
In New York, Kurt's got a gig for Pamela Lansbury at Callbacks (sorry if I have a Pavlovian response to that venue). The rest of the band isn't too keen, since that's a show tunes place, not somewhere that bands get their big start. Kurt, though, has a vision of them playing Madonna to a packed house and YES DREAM SEQUENCE IN AMAZING 80s OUTFITS. I sort of wasn't expecting to get the entirety of “Into the Groove” from this dream sequence, but I'm not going to complain. Jesus, Kurt, what even are those hips?? And I love that they've all bedazzled all the mics.
IT MUST BE FUCKING CHRISTMAS because we get Kurt and Blaine on the phone. Blaine is calling to bitch about Glee club. Kurt warns him not to be too bossy at McKinley, that they could see him as trying to be a puppet master, and I can't tell if Blaine is taking offense to the idea that anyone would see him as controlling, or that Kurt is the one saying so. Kurt asks him if he'll come out for their gig and he distractedly says okay. I feel like neither of them is quite listening to the other in this conversation.
There’s something about Sue and the school board visiting to decide if she should permanently be principal. Weird superintendant seems like he’s sort of hitting on Sue, and she’s interested, but then realizes that he thinks Sue is a guy. (Um?) She complains to Becky over ice cream, and we get some reason for why Sue put on the track suit almost 30 years ago: the skirts just weren't getting the respect she deserved. Nice 80s fashion flashback, though.
Blaine is back in the choir room and BRAD SPEAKS! And scares the shit out of Blaine. Brad keeps talking but Blaine is not listening as he complains about people not listening to him. So he throws a little tantrum and says he's going to just sit in the corner if that's what they want him to do (and I kind of find petulant-Blaine adorable). Except apparently there's a fumes-in-the-ducts issue, and now he's seeing puppets.
Oh my god. The room is full of puppets of New Directions, who are worshipping Blaine and they want the entire lesson to be about him. BRILLIANT. Blaine is delighted. No problem! He'll sing! The stylized puppet voices and his cheery “hit it” to start "You're My Best Friend" makes me grin. And yay for Blaine doing more Queen. The whole song is cute as hell, and HOW MUCH FUN must that have been to shoot? Sadly, the hallucination lifts and everyone is bitching at him for not participating in class. Poor Blaine. He's having a rough day.
Oh great, Jake is still teaching the Cheerios how to dance. I still don't give a shit. They aren't doing that well, but he's happy to ogle every single one of them on the way out. Bree's pissed about it. Don't care.
Blaine catches up with Jake and convinces him to sit in the magical back corner of the choir room where the good hallucinogens are. Blaine's mind is blown, he thinks there’s something crazy-awesome going on in there.
Jake has his own tantrum about dancing and feeling bored and sits in the magic seat. His hallucination takes the form of a Janet Jackson mash-up with a bunch of Cheerios grinding on him. Marley walks out, and Jake feels the need to chase her out so she can witness him grinding on more people. We go from “Nasty” into “Rhythm Nation” in a near exact remake of the video (oh, the flashbacks to middle school and the days when MTV actually played music videos). Bree is still just as pissed at Jake as Marley. Whatevs.
Blaine asks his arts and crafts teacher if he can do an independent study and make a Kurt puppet, as though that's not weird, and I am still giggling like a crazy person. Giggles aside, this is a super interesting character study of Blaine, of all his manic energy, of feeling like no one is listening to him or understanding him. And I'm FASCINATED that his (rather insane) conversation with puppet-Kurt in the hallway is about forgiveness. Fallout from the cheating incident, in one way or another, has come up two episodes in a row. One of these days Blaine and Kurt are going to finally have it out over that. It's going to be ugly but cathartic. You heard it here, first, people.
But Sue is tottering around in heels and falls, and dapper Blaine tries to help. But then she thinks he isn't taking her seriously because she's going more feminine, and takes Kurt-Puppet away and poor Blaine is so very sad. Nothing is going Blaine’s way right now.
Sue barges in on Schuester to have a talk about gender identity. He launches into a thing about Ginger Rogers and we get a hilarious fourth-wall breaking of the stupid budgets of this club when Schue asks for the $600 they need for Nationals costumes and Sue wonders where they got the money for “Applause.” But Sue is sitting in the hallucination char, so she dream-sequences dancing "Cheek to Cheek" with Schue. I don’t know who thought a Sue/Schue duet was a good idea at this point. Does anyone care about them anymore?
Look, I respect that Sue is having complicated thoughts about power dynamics and gender and the way she is perceived. It’s a good topic. And it’s Jane Lynch, so I absolutely buy what she is selling me. She somehow manages to give Sue a heart after all these crazy years. But in the end, I simply am not invested in the adults on this show anymore. Sorry.
Bree drags Jake through the halls and he doesn’t know what her deal is. OH. HER DEAL IS THAT SHE'S PREGGO. Fucking hell. She wants him to go with her to the doctor, no parents involved. Wow, Glee, are you really going there? Wow.
Blaine sneaks into Sue's office to rescue puppet-Kurt and though he's in a mask, I am appalled that he isn't in full Nightbird regalia. Sue catches him and sentences him to a week of detention, which gets in the way of him flying to New York (another hilarious fourth-wall moment of the magical portal between Lima and New York). He pouts away, but it appears puppet-Kurt has gone sentient.
ANOTHER KLAINE PHONE CALL? IS IT MY BIRTHDAY, TOO?
Well, alright, this one is not sunshine and roses. Kurt turns into his puppet self as they argue when he finds out that Blaine isn’t in New York. Was Blaine seriously not going to CALL to tell Kurt that he wasn't coming? Blaine is a disaster pacing around in his bedroom (oh, that bedroom...), not making any good points and he has clearly fallen down in the communication department and is generally flailing. Kurt is pissed as hell and needed Blaine to be there, and hangs up. Turns out there is only one person at Callbacks to witness their first gig in amazing outfits. Boo, sad face for Pamela Lansbury.
Sue's continuing quest for gender identity leads her to Unique for a makeover because Porcelain isn’t around anymore. Okay, fine, good choice.
Blaine is in detention for the first time ever, with Jake and Becky. Of course he wants to use it to get to know each other. Becky shuts his dapper ass down, so it's time for more puppet dreams. Puppet-Becky is there because she taped Dottie's buns together (heehee nice Breakfast Club shout-out). Blaine is feeling guilty about missing Kurt's gig, and we get a whole big chunk of meta straight from his dapper mouth about how he feels the need to control everything and maybe that gets in the way of true friendship and intimacy.
Puppet-Jake points out that Blaine is now having puppet fantasies outside the choir room. Might be time to get your head checked, darling.
Actual-Jake sneaks out to go with Bree to the clinic, but no need - her period was just late. Jake is relieved at their good fortune, but Bree thinks Jake needs to wake the fuck up. And damn, if BREE is telling you you're toxic...
Whoa. Sue Sylvester dressed like an actual principal in a skirt and cardigan and heels.. I don't even know. She looks nice, actually, not like a caricature, though she isn’t quite acting like herself. I guess she fixed the hallucinatory gas leak in the choir room - too bad. The school board loves her and says she’d be a great principal. But then she tries to actually ask the superintendent out on a date and he says no and WHOA AWKWARD. Wonder if that just lost her the job.
Oh Blaine, you are talking to yourself in the auditorium and wondering if that means you're losing your mind. Yeah. It's possible. But I’m not sure if I can think straight with that striped boat-neck shirt you’re wearing IN THAT VERY AUDITORIUM because I am having seriously breathless “The First Time” flashbacks. Anyways, Blaine is unraveling and he has actual puppets to help. At the moment, it’s a creepy Tina puppet who is all up on him and talking about the Vapo-Rub incident and it’s kind of making me uncomfortable. Real Tina catches him - OOPS. But she says they know he's been under a lot of pressure lately (Nationals, college, and Blaine supplies, BEING ENGAGED) and needs to assert some control, and they decided he's earned it and can take one number at Nationals to do whatever he wants. Lovely.
Jake chases after Marley. Oh for fuck's sake. He's sad, he misses her, boo hoo. He doesn't want to be a jerk anymore, and being with Marley helps him be a good person. She says no to his request to get back together, and while I feel bad for Jake in that he's genuinely sad, I think Marley is right even if she hesitates. I won't pretend to think this story is over, but I think staying away from Jake right now is a good idea.
Kurt has Pamela Lansbury back in the loft and has gotten them another gig, because the one dude in the audience at Callbacks apparently liked their sound and knew somebody who knew somebody. Yay for the band!
There's a knock on the door, and as always, it's for Kurt. Sadly, It's neither Blaine nor Burt hiding behind some sort of plant, but rather a box from Blaine, which Kurt says is an apology for missing their gig. Santana deems it creepy as hell upon opening. AW YEAH, PUPPETS FOR EVERYONE.
Wait, do we not get to see how their argument resolved after Kurt hung up on Blaine? MAJOR MISSED OPPORTUNITY, GLEE.
In the choir room, Blaine is apologizing to the new directions for being straight-up bossy instead of being a leader (and that shirt is fucking KILLING me, but it’s significantly toned down and more relaxed than most of what he’s been wearing, and damn do I love the costume department and how they rock the meta). Plus, Blaine has been mighty industrious in arts & crafts class because now EVERYONE has their own puppet-self.
So they sing motherfucking “What Does the Fox Say” as the closing group number and I have a seriously irrational hatred of this song. The first time I saw the video, I laughed so hard I cried. But the fact that it has taken off and it's a song that people seriously play is apparently too much for me. I don't know why I would think that Glee WOULDN'T do this song (hello, “Gangnam Style” a year ago), but it still gives me some secondhand embarrassment issues.
Okay, it's a little funny. Everyone at least seems to be enjoying their puppets and we get a split with Pamela Lansbury. Mostly I just want to understand how Kurt can look that hot while just standing at a mic, holding a puppet version of himself. Because, damn.
So, here’s the question: what did I actually think of this episode?
Well, it was no “Dynamic Duets,” that’s for sure, though I think it wanted to be. It did go pretty cracky with the puppets, and I do actually think the puppet stuff worked. It was, again, some interesting character stuff to see where Blaine’s head is at right now. He’s stressed out about much of what’s going on in his life, and I find it very interesting that he adds “being engaged” to the lists of things where he feels like he’s under pressure. I hope we get to see more of that and why he feels that way and how Kurt responds to it, but I sadly will not hold my breath. But here’s a guy who has had a whole lot of things go his way pretty easily in his life, and there’s a bunch of big, gaping question marks in front of him at the moment - especially college. So yeah, he’s flipping out just a little bit. And I like that - I like what it tells us about his strengths and weaknesses as a character. And it makes me want to see where he goes next.
But if Blaine and the puppets were the A plot, then sadly New York was like the C or D plot at best. I’m glad we got to see them perform (and got to hear Kurt sing HELL YES), but other than that, the New York crew wasn’t much more than window dressing this week.
No, we had two more plots on the Lima side, which never bodes well in my mind. Sue’s was actually quite vulnerable and human in a way we haven’t yet seen her this season, but it is really only due to the genius of Jane Lynch that I find myself able to care about it at all, since I really just want to check out of any storylines involving adults at McKinley. And Jake sees the error of his manwhoring ways and genuinely wants to be better and being with Marley helps him be a better person. But I still think he burned her way too badly for her to take him back any time soon, and I still think I don’t much care. I don’t think either of those two stories were necessarily done badly, I just don’t find myself able to care about those characters.
Liz’s Instant Glee-Cap Rating: 3 / 5 stars. Again. I liked the Blaine of it all, but it had so much time on things I don’t care about, I can’t bring myself to rate the entire episode higher than that.
EDITED: Okay, you know what? I'm bumping this up to at least 3.5 / 5 stars. I didn't love Jake and Sue, but their stories were done well even if I don't give a shit about the characters. And ultimately I really did love the Blaine of it all. SO MUCH good Blaine characterization. Feeling more positive about it after a heavy dose of NyQuil and a good night's sleep.
Liz’s Instant Song Downloads:
Into the Groove
You’re My Best Friend
(what, like you thought I was going to download a Sue/Schue duet?? Are YOU hallucinating?)
What did you think, friends?