"We Built This Glee Club" Recaps and Reviews
AV Club by Brandon Nowalk (C-)
To complain about another battle in the endless war between Sue and Will is to make yourself redundant. Your complaint has been acknowledged, absorbed, and thoroughly rejected on the grounds that Sue is a cartoon, Sues will be Sues, and a farewell tour without one last Sylvester scheme would be missing some ineffable quality vital to the genetic makeup of Glee.
Very well, then; I’m redundant. Hasn’t season six had, like, eight one last Sue schemes? Sue gets a two-parter dedicated to some of her most outrageous plots and a special episode dedicated to unpacking her zaniness. Is another Sue assault really what “We Built This Glee Club” needs? At the very least the other two stories could use some fleshing out, especially Rachel doing the responsible PSA thing and deciding to go back to NYADA. Instead, we get Will masquerading as Sue’s barber in order to shave her head, a prank she responds to with a perfect replica of her old haircut (a “Carol Brady blowout”), and Sue doing some supervillain plan allegedly to rig things in New Directions’ favor at Sectionals. Why the alleged change of heart? Beiste reminds Sue that he and Will were her only defenders, which I’d think would trigger an automatic inquiry into Beiste and Will’s own educational backgrounds because we don’t want people who condone Sue’s pedgagoical tactics teaching their own classes, but which nevertheless convinces Sue to do her version of repaying the favor. And she has a decent-that is, preposterous but still within the realm of possibility for Sue-explanation for most of her shenanigans. Except why does she ask Will to resign in the middle of Sectionals if she’s trying to get him to win? No, Sue’s a compulsive liar, and her explanation to Will at the end is complete bullshit, as usual.
But maybe there is something new here. It doesn’t justify the season’s Sue-centricity, but the episode plays up the moment when Will refuses to thank Sue at the end. It galls her, and Will doesn’t buckle. At this point the “right” thing to do is a question that involves a much wider perspective than this particular instance affords-something along the lines of taking Sue to therapy or going to the feds-but you’d think the right thing to do, the Will thing to do, would be to just thank her. After all, she supposedly “had her heart in the right place,” which I emphasize is in quotes, because at this point, I don’t know what any of those words mean. But he doesn’t. It’s like he’s walking away, in the sense that he’s refusing to play this game on her terms. She vows to return with renewed energy to destroy him down the line. Did he just win? Is that how it works? Sue gives it her best shot, and Will just ignores her, leaving her to her own pathetic life? Maybe, but that’s just a side effect. He’s really just being withholding, because he won Sectionals and she didn’t. And it feels good. He isn’t being noble. He’s being selfish.
The New Directions worthily win Sectionals. Roderick takes lead on “Take Me To Church,” Madison and Kitty alternate solos on “Chandelier,” and Mason heads up “Come Sail Away,” which entails the funny sight of Mason and Madison circling each other and flirtatiously smiling, the twins playing romance for the audience. The drama about who should stand in the back so they don’t drag down the choreography sets a record for how fast a Glee plot is forgotten by its own writers. The Warblers think Roderick and Spencer are the weak links, but Roderick is the only one in front of the scrim for half of the first song, and Spencer does the Warblers-esque choreography for the last number on crutches. Whatever. Why is Spencer on crutches? Because he and Roderick try to get into dancing shape over the weekend, and he sprains his ankle. He wants to play through the pain, but at the last minute Roderick has a better idea. Spencer swings in on a chandelier, and Myron distracts the audience in a white jumpsuit and a long blonde wig. It’s a Vocal Adrenaline tactic, a circus performance to distract from the singing. But nobody notices or calls Roderick out on it. In fact, Will, Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine are all very pleased to see the surprises. I’m surprised the kids aren’t in for a post-show lecture, but there’s no time left between the 10-minute blocks of slo-mo trophy nostalgia.
You could almost make the argument that “We Built This Glee Club” is seeing in shades of gray finally, with Will and the kids both choosing to do something arguably ignoble. But the only plot that makes any sense-in that what happens logically follows, not that it’s necessarily seamless-is Rachel picking NYADA over Broadway, and things are so tilted in that direction it doesn’t seem like there were two right choices after all. There was a noble choice, the pursuit of education. And there was the “easy” choice, as Jesse St. James puts it, returning to Broadway. And Jesse’s supposed to be the one rooting for Broadway. See, Rachel gets visited by three peers. Sam shames her into going back to school, urging her to ask herself if dropping out is something she’s proud of. Kurt says he’ll support whatever decision she makes, but he reminds her that she wasn’t happy last year after dropping out. Finally Jesse tries to sell her on returning to the stage, and he makes a good offer except insofar as he should really be in San Francisco living with Agustín.
We don’t really see Rachel make her choice. There’s no musical number that takes her from indecision to commitment, for instance. But she tells Jesse and us that she wants to go back to school before returning to the stage. He’s proud of her and supports her-they all do; it’d be exhausting if Rachel hadn’t been given the freedom to make a bad decision and fail last year-and then they kiss! I had forgotten he was attracted to women, but that moment still hit so much harder that any of the Rachel-Sam moments in Lima this season. It has to do with performance and actor chemistry, sure, but also Glee’s great subject, its own history. Jesse was a recurring character primarily in season one. Seeing him again doesn’t just reveal how much he’s grown (after being personally rejected from NYADA by Carmen Tibideaux). It’s a marker of how much Rachel’s grown. Sam is inertia, the next available guy in the cast as the characters play musical relationships. Jesse has a much more developed relationship with Rachel. They have sparks. And if 21-year-old, ex-Broadway-star, failed TV actress Rachel Berry must end up in a relationship so we know she’s happy, Jesse St. James is a disarmingly good choice.
Stray observations:
- Sue’s version of choreography game tapes: Triumph Of The Will. (Wait a second, is that an elaborate pun? Was Sue really helping Will the whole time?!)
- According to Sue, recurring Sectionals judge Rod Remington was once in a group marriage with all seven members of Jefferson Airplane.
Vulture by Lauren Hoffman
After last week's less-than-stellar episode, last night's Glee was a welcome return to form, like slipping under a warm, comfortable blanket. Unfortunately, because this was Glee's second-to-last episode, it was like slipping under a warm blanket that someone is going to come to your house to confiscate and probably burn in a week, but, hey, we can't have everything.
It's finally Sectionals week, which means lots of serious conversations about choreography, arguably one of my favorite things about Glee. We learn that Mr. Schue has dance moves called "Mother, may I point to you?" and "hit your friend," which says pretty much everything you need to know about him. The Super Gay Warbler (that's the character's actual name - what it says on his contract and everything) calls out the New Directions boys for their subpar dancing skills. Spencer tries to pin the blame on Roderick, but then they both admit that they need practice, and spend most of the rest of the episode trying to improve a little. It sounds like a really simple storyline, and it was, but it was oddly moving, too. It's clear when you watch Spencer and Roderick together that they never would've been friends without the glee club (like Kurt and Finn, way back when), but it's equally clear how much they care about each other now.
Meanwhile, Jesse St. James turns up in the McKinley auditorium to duet with Rachel on Roxette's "Listen to Your Heart," and even though I still have the Spring Awakening soundtrack on regular rotation, I'd forgotten how good the two of them sound together, even after TWO key changes. Jesse's not just there to sing - he's been cast as the lead in the musical Rachel was offered a role in, and he's come to talk her into finally accepting. Jesse describes his role as an "Iraqi war vet who was discharged for covering the American Embassy with the graffiti he used to make himself a famous Philly street artist," which was too incredible not to reprint in full.
To be fair, this kind, compassionate, invested Jesse doesn't seem anything like the Jesse we knew in the past, who had a soft spot for Rachel, but a killer instinct overall. This version of Jesse seems like, well, Jonathan Groff, but if Rachel wants to move to New York City and date Jonathan Groff, who among us should stand in her way? She kisses him good-bye after telling him she's decided to go back to NYADA and put off Broadway for now, but it's pretty clear they'll be seeing more of each other soon. I approve. Thrown into Rachel's negotiations about her future are asides about how Kurt is going back to NYADA and Blaine is headed for NYU (but which school?!) and while it would be great for those moments to be expanded on a little bit, I'm glad to know what's coming next for them. But the three of them aren't just going to leave Sam in Ohio, are they?
Oh, at some point, Mr. Schue duct tapes Sue to a hairdresser's chair and forcibly shaves her head. It's fine.
And just like that, it's competition time! In one of Glee's nicer throwbacks, the judging panel includes Rod Remington and the Ohio state vice-comptroller, both of whom were judges at season one's sectionals, too. The requisite "joke choir" gets things started - the Falconers, who perform Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings," and who brought actual falcons. It's actually a really cool performance, but it's a shame that a show with two characters with a canonical bird fetish doesn't find a way to get a few more winks in about the whole affair.
Vocal Adrenaline, fresh off weeks of watching Nazi videos and walking over hot coals with Sue, is up next, and their performance is everything I've been saying I want out of a big production number all season. Tons of lifts, acrobatics, tear away pants, and scaffolds to climb. Plus, Sue finally achieves her long-held ambition of shooting students out of cannons. It's definitely fun, although someone will have to explain to me why this group of teens has so been so devoted to eighties numbers all season.
Honestly, if you told me Noah Guthrie was cast on Glee solely so he could eventually sing "Take Me To Church" at Sectionals, I'd believe you. It's that good. Their whole set is, really. Spencer, having sustained an ankle injury trying to become a better dancer, swings in on a chandelier while Madison and the girls sing "Chandelier," and Myron pulls his weight by putting on a wig and bodysuit and writhing through the audience. And it all gets wrapped up in a surprisingly emotional rendition of Styx's "Come Sail Away." So, if this is a glee club helmed by Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel, I'm assuming they each chose "Chandelier," "Church," and "Sail," respectively? In true New Directions fashion, they're maybe not the best singers and dancers, but they certainly seem to be enjoying being around one another the most. And they win! Of course they win. Surprisingly, that matters to me. Don't get me wrong - throughout the season, I've wanted these kids to succeed because I wanted success for Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel. But this episode made me root for THEM. That's a place I never got to with the last batch of newbies, and I'm glad Glee was able to accomplish that, here at the end of all things.
Once the competition is over, Sue reveals that her participation in Sectionals was all just a long con to thank Mr. Schue for sticking up for her on the Geraldo special by making sure New Directions won the competition. It's actually pretty hilarious - I'd have a little more goodwill toward it if I hadn't been so frustrated with last week's episode - if only because it ends with Sue being legitimately surprised that Mr. Schue won't thank her.
After the big win, Kitty catches Rachel looking longingly at all the old New Directions trophies, tucked away in a corner of the choir room, and she suggests they add them to the trophy case alongside the brand new Sectionals trophy. (Kitty's really transitioned beautifully from a one-note insult machine to the actual heart and soul of the glee club.) The kids start moving them, and it's intercut with footage of the old glee kids receiving the trophies at past competitions, ending with Rachel handing the Nationals trophy to Finn. There are a lot of moments this season that have felt a little bit like an ending but this? This is it.
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