The McKinley High Glee Club was prepping for Regionals, and, can we just stop for a second here? With Regionals in the season finale, is there any possible way that they win the competition? Shouldn't we have hit Regionals weeks ago if there was any shot of them going to Nationals? After all, wouldn't that have been a plot by now if Nationals was going to be a significant achievement? Either they're losing Regionals or they are winning Regionals and we'll find out in voiceover in the season premiere next year that they got last place or something at the National competition, which is why we'll continue seeing another round of slushies.
But I digress, as there were significant stories for Mercedes, Artie, Kurt, and Rachel this past week, which was a bit unusual, considering at one point they were the sole recipients of plots on this show (also, where was Finn?). Mercedes, who has been basically absent all season (while Amber Riley was doing...what, precisely?) returned and it appeared that her record producer had less than reputable intentions for her. After loving her voice and landing her record deal, she was asked to show a ton of skin in her album cover, which of course she balked at, and in turn lost her record deal. So we now have a reason for Mercedes to return to Ohio, selling her CD on Amazon and out of her car. The glee club-always struggling to make it work.
Artie, as well, had some second thoughts about impending success-he had been accepted at the Brooklyn Film Academy, and suddenly was having doubts about whether he could make it in New York. Honestly, though, this seems a bit out-of-character for the overly confident Artie. I loved that we saw his equally sassy mother (played by the brilliant Katey Sagal), but did anyone really believe that he wasn't going to go with leaving for New York (and inviting another character into the New York plot line?). And did anyone else think that his little speech after Mercedes performed crossed the line into offensive?
Also, with this plot, I want to throw a little bit of cold water onto this story, as the success rate of these students has entered epic and silly levels. I grew up in a small-town high school like McKinley, and maybe, just maybe, one person managed to get into the caliber of one of these students (and one person period, not one person per year). And yet Artie is going to a school which is clearly modeled on NYU, Mike is in the Joffrey, Kurt and Rachel are clearly in a school modeled on Juilliard, Quinn is at Yale, Brittany is headed to MIT, and Mercedes landed a record deal right out of the gate. I know that Finn, Puck, and Santana have struggled to find themselves, but shouldn't someone at some point out that the glee club is about as good at producing future stars as the 1990's era Mickey Mouse Club?
Kurt's story was a bit conventional for him (his dad was thankfully healthy and we got yet another wonderful Hummel family moment), and gave us the awkward circumstance of Blaine wanting to propose to Kurt. Burt balked at this rightly, and while a marriage proposal from Darren Criss is always something to say yes to, I thought that this was a bit silly considering they aren't even officially dating anymore. Though I will say that an impetuous marriage proposal is far more likely in a small town high school than someone getting accepted to Yale, so brava for realism, I guess...
The final plot was the Rachel one, and I honestly can't decide how I feel about it. Overall, I haven't minded Kate Hudson this season (she's had a better role to play than Sarah Jessica Parker), and it's nice to know that she has at least some teacherly instincts, celebrating her student's huge achievement. However, you know you have a problem with your story when people assume that something is a dream sequence because it's so unlikely, and that's how I felt when Hudson broke out in celebration of Rachel, doing her best Stevie Wonder (whose ear candy ditties were the theme of the episode).
The best moments of Glee are the sly fourth wall ones and the ones that celebrate the geekiness of the characters without making it a moral lesson. My favorite fourth wall moment this week was when Kitty decided to help Artie, and she said something along the lines of her wanting to mix it up between being mean and nice, and she wasn't always sure which she was going to be (something to that effect, at least). I felt like this was the writers speaking through her as to the fact that they're not sure what's going on with this character, just that she's far more interesting than Marley and so that's why she gets more screen-time.
And though the guys delivering the news fell into a rather ugly set of gay stereotypes, the moment when they listed out Lea Michele's competitors for the part of Fanny Brice (Sutton Foster and Mamie Gummer) was delicious. I loved Michele rationalizing herself against Foster ("but she's doing Bunheads") and proving she doesn't know Broadway as well as she thinks she does (with Gummer, "can she even sing?"). Part of me is wishing these really are the competitors, and that the divine Foster (who at some point would have made a brilliant Fanny Brice, but is probably a wee bit too old for the part) and the lovely Gummer both make guest appearances next week. And, considering her Emmy nominations for the series and her recent stint on the show's fictional Great White Way, why have we not seen a return of April Rhodes, as played by the great Kristin Chenoweth, this season?
And that's where we are at headed into the finale-I know the previews made it look like Blaine pops the question anyway, but aren't we all fairly certain that the surprise wedding will be Emma and Will's? Do you think that Rachel will get the part (I'm thinking no for continuity's sake, but I'm hoping yes since it would throw the show in a new direction creatively)? And who is the catfish (please don't let it be Kitty as it would be too obvious and too easy of an answer)? We'll find next week on...Glee!
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