In hopes of finishing off this article before Christmas (so at least getting some sort of relevance to the season, even if it's at least a week-and-a-half old), I thought I'd quickly throw together the latest Glee recap before I head off to enjoy Christmas Eve.
The latest adventure at McKinley High, like most television series in their fourth season, decided to do a riff on It's a Wonderful Life. Seriously, between this and the inevitable Scrooge parody, Frank Capra and Charles Dickens' descendants should be in constant royalty checks during every holiday season. In this world, we see what life was like if Artie was never paralyzed, an overly dramatic look as everyone somehow does a complete 180 on their personalities (I've always found this trope to be a little silly, as at least one person's life couldn't have possibly been ruined by the other person not being around, but I digress...). In this world, Will's a drunk (and still married to Terry), Rachel's a book marm (who does chorus only), most everyone is a jock, Kurt failed school (and never met Blaine), and Tina still stutters. And Rory has returned as Artie's guardian angel, and he will flit out just as easily, as I'm not really enamored with him and like several characters on the show (Marley, Sugar), is not missed when they are not part of the cast for the week.
After Artie's walk down George Bailey lane, we got to see Burt and Kurt reunited, a far more pleasant reunion than Artie and Rory. These two have such a special, wonderful chemistry, and one of the most unique father-son relationships on television, so I inevitably reach for the Kleenex the second Burt gets onscreen, as I know something heartfelt will be coming soon. Turns out, Burt, who survived a heart attack just a few seasons ago, is now battling cancer, though he claims it's thoroughly curable (hopefully true-I heart Mike O'Malley, and losing parents is not something I want Glee to be handling, particularly with the best parent on the show). Burt also paid for Blaine to come out and skate with Kurt, and it feels very much like they are getting back together, much to my delight and chagrin (what's it called when you're both happy and sad about something-ahh, right, bittersweet-that's how I feel about their reuniting without them exploring dating someone else for an episode or two). Either way, they have wonderful harmonies on "White Christmas" and we slide right into the Puckerman brothers.
Puck and Jake did some brotherly bonding, somehow managing to ride out to and back from L.A. in the course of one episode, with Puck at first making himself sound like a Hollywood bigshot, dancing and singing a rousing chorus of "O Hanukkah," with Jacob on a studio lot before it was discovered that he was still just a pool boy, pulling a Vince Vaughn on Sex and the City and pretending his employer's lifestyle was his own. I will say that I welcome Puck back into the fold, though, as it appears he may move back to Lima, though restarting your pool business in January probably is not the greatest move he's ever made (though with Puck, there's a lot of competition for that title).
In easily the best story of the night, we saw Brittany and Sam, too adorable and special punkins (at least that's what I believe Coach Beiste called them) preparing for the Mayan apocalypse, a joke that's going to be so bizarre when this show is reruns in a decade (the amount of time we spent on that "apocalypse" in general is going to be a bit odd). Being that this is Sam and Brittany, they decide to spend all of their money (of which Brittany has a stunningly large amount of), and get married and go on a hedonistic (for Glee) bender before realizing that the world did not in fact end. Thankfully, they were only "Mayan apocalypse" married, and all was well in the end.
The final storyline I swear has already been done, with Sue (and Becky) watching their hearts grow three sizes at Christmas. A few years ago it was a rather demeaning story about them pulling a Grinch, and then this year it was giving Marley and her mother (who is very supportive, but is way too one-dimensional as a character for me to latch onto so far) a merry Christmas, just in time for a schlocky final number.
Overall, this was one of the weaker entries of Glee this season, with everything super syrup-y, though the trailers for next season definitely have me gearing up for some hilarity. And with that, I wish you all a Merry Christmas-see you in a few!
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