The episode starts with Brittany convinced that the world is going to end, and deciding she needs to make amends with Lord Tubbington, whom she feels is being neglected in her relationship with Sam. In a silo, I loved everything about this relationship and plot. Any time that Lord Tubbington comes into the picture, we are all rewarded as a result, and Sam and Brittany are both so darn lovable (Sam has grown on me more than any other character in this show, and I now number him amongst my favorite characters). The end result of this story, where Lord Tubbington gets to meet his Lady Tubbington (Fondue for Three?), was adorable, and I think I would watch a show where Sam and Brittany just stumble through life together, trying to figure out the world.
The problem is that Mr. Schu, for some reason that isn't entirely explained in the show, also goes along with their odd delusion and has the theme of the episode be "Last Chances," rather than trying to actually teach his students that randomly believing everything you read on the internet is probably not the greatest way to exist. The entire episode, in fact, was filled with bad decisions by the faculty (not just Will), but we'll get to the rest in a second.
The problem with Will is that he is not a student, but the writers don't seem to want to acknowledge that or for some reason don't know how to write adult characters that aren't parents or Sue. Will has serious issues with boundaries with his students-think about how through the course of his series he has regularly had them to his house, become best friends with them, and told them that he loves them. This is wildly inappropriate behavior for a grown man who should not be hanging around teenagers outside of school. I think the writers think it's okay because Morrison is fairly close in age to some of the students (he's only four years older than Mark Salling, Cory Monteith, and Harry Shum, Jr.), but as the younger cast members enter, it's becoming more obvious that this is not appropriate behavior, and I am far more comfortable with him becoming friends with Coach Beiste than him hanging out with his students (and having them as attendants at his wedding-what the what?!?)
The Coach Beiste story was not completely out of the blue, though a little head's up would have been nice. I mean, it's been obvious since the kiss that Beiste liked Will, and that eventually she would come onto him. I thought it was subtle that they reunited Will and Emma before this, so that the writers wouldn't force Mr. Schu into having a conversation about how Beiste is a good fourteen years older than him and that, based on his past relationships with Jayma Mays, Idina Menzel, and Jessalyn Gilsig, he's kind of a girly-girl guy. This, like all of Will's stories, went nowhere, and is likely the last we'll hear about it.
In a story that's showing a much stronger sense of restraint (so much so that I suspect the writers haven't actually figured out where it's going, because this much build-up is very atypical of Glee), Ryder finally discovered that his crush was catfishing him. I love the idea that he had never once seen this girl in school; how big is McKinley, exactly, as it doesn't seem large enough for him not to know this girl (I went to a small town high school, and the idea that you wouldn't at least recognize someone is laughable)? After being told about Manti Te'O (considering that he's something of a jock, you would expect he would have heard of this, but again, I digress), he tries to trap his online "girlfriend" into meeting with him, but eventually realizes that she's never going to show. The true twist in this story is that when he calls her, it was one of other Glee kids who was doing it. My gut is telling me that it'll end up being Kitty, but don't you secretly wish it was Tina (who has shown some stalking tendencies), Wade (Unique's love-life is one of the few stories that has not gotten any play yet), or someone truly bizarre like Joe who never gets to do anything except participate in the dance sequences. Either way, kudos to Blake Jenner for selling this story-it's hard to believe that at one point in the season it was headed to be the Jake and Marley show, and now Blake/Kitty have clearly stolen their spotlight amongst the newbies.
The biggest story from the episode, though, was of course the gun scare. After having a few weeks to think about it, I really wish they had gone forward with a more intense story for the show, for multiple creative reasons. For starters, the show has too many characters it is juggling on a regular basis now, and needs to cut some, and tragedy would have given us character growth for some characters that are desperately in need of it (this reminds of me how they should have handled the Quinn car accident, particularly considering that Dianna Agron has been ancillary to the plot ever since). Secondly, for a show that is all about delivering messages, it missed a big one by making this a false alarm, and in some ways, making it seem as if Becky's actions were justifiable (they were not, no matter how scared she was).
And third, if they were going to do this story, it could not have ended worse, artistically or morally. Sue taking the heat for Becky, clearly another relationship that has crossed the line into inappropriate, though in a mother/daughter way rather than in an "I have no social life" sort of way like with Will, was consistent with her character, but Sue has to start realizing that she can't always look out for Becky. Becky is not her sister, she's not her daughter-she will soon be in the real world, and while that's an interesting plot to discuss, the writers were irresponsible in not really teaching her (or impressionable audiences) the lesson that what she did, however misguided and pitiable, was wrong. If they were going to handle this plot, they should have done it in a way that the ending wouldn't reveal the gunshot to be such a red herring.
What were your thoughts on the episode? Do you also feel that Sue did the wrong thing? Do you think that Will is in desperate need of more adult friends? And who is the catfish?!?
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