Glee: Glease (#4.6)

Glee used to be for me the weekly Kleenex box run-it seemed every week that the show would throw in something that would set me off, whether it was Rachel watching her dreams get crushed or Kurt and Burt having one of their heartbreaking father-son chats, but it's been a while since Glee caught me off-guard and had me crying.  That's why the ending of this episode threw me off so much.

But before we get there, let's dive into the beginnings of the episode, and the highs and lows.  And why not start out with one of the lows, that being the Kate Hudson story line.  I know that occasionally the characters are naive, and I might have believed that Finn or Brittany or Mr. Schu would have fallen for Cassidy's lies, but Rachel and Kurt?  Two of the generally savvier characters on the show?  Come on Ryan Murphy-you could have thought of an easier way to get Rachel to abandon Brody than Cassidy tricking her into it.  What once was an interesting plot wrench (the mean teacher who faces off with Rachel) has ended up just being lazy storytelling, and I'm having none of it.  And speaking of which-Brody, apparently a massive slut!  Who knew?  My opinion of him went down the tubes quite a bit this week.

My opinion went up, however, for Ryder, who seems to be a handsome combination of Finn and Sam, and I'm liking what he's bringing to the table.  I know that the entire season so far has been pointing to Marley eventually picking Jake after a long romance with Ryder, but I gotta say that Ryder seems like a better fit for her.  And I also want to say that, with eating disorders being one of the few subjects the show hasn't tackled, the whole bulimia because of a "re-sewing the skirt hem" scheme seemed to be a bit of a stretch.  Did Marley not notice that every other one of her pieces of clothing fit?  I know this story was supposed to make me hate Kitty more and like Marley more, but I have to say it did the opposite-when is Marley going to stop playing the victim and start having a backbone?

I love that they brought back Santana to play Rizzo, because, as she pointed out, she was born to play the role.  I also wish that someone, anyone, would call Sue out on her giant hypocrisy, and I wish the writers had the guts to have Finn do just that.  Yes, Finn shouldn't have used that word, but 99% of the stuff that comes out of Sue's mouth would land her in prison (or at least the unemployment line) and so she really has only herself to blame for the way that everyone treats her.  I'm also going to skip the Unique story line until it stops mirroring verbatim the Kurt story line from Season 1.

I can't hold back my feelings for the ending any longer, so we're going to make this a shorter recap (also I have to get started on my weekend Netflix movies), so we're going to skip the shafted Tina-and-Mike reunited story because the show largely did and I will just say "huzzah" that Matthew Morrison is out of the picture for a while (for a guy I thought was kind of cute in a nerdy way in the first season, he has grown into being one of my least favorite characters on any show I watch-he's so wildly inconsistent and oblivious and self-centered, while the show never acknowledges it).  Instead, I want to focus on the final few moments for Rachel.  That scene where they show her slowly transforming into Marley on-stage, and remembering singing the song with Finn, and then suddenly it was all of the "classic" Glee stars on the stage, rather than any of the New Class, I was in tears.  I think it was the realization that, like Rachel, the show that I loved can't ever be the same as the first three seasons.  I'm hoping that they continue to realize this as the season progresses and Ryan Murphy has to decide whether this show is going to be about the new, I'm just going to say it, less interesting characters, or whether they'll make the gutsy choice to just follow a select few of the graduates and leave McKinley behind.  The subsequent scenes, when Rachel realizes that she no longer is sad about Finn leaving, and that she and Finn may never get back together (they will, but wouldn't that be a gutsy plot choice?), as well as Kurt and Blaine having a final moment of closure, all felt right for the episode.  I'll skip that those weren't the actual last scenes, and just end it there, on that bittersweet and profound note from the Glee writing room.

And what about you-did you have a favorite number (mine was "You're the One That I Want")?  What did you think about the ending for Rachel and Finn?  Did the throwback throw you off or make you cry?  And which of the guys best rocked the greased hair and skinny jeans (my vote is for Ryder or Sam)?  Sound off!