Glee: Tina in the Sky with Diamonds (#5.2)

As you can see from the title, this is going to be a Tina-centered episode.  As many of you who read these recaps with consistency may know, I’ve had a falling out with Tina’s character.  Part of me wants to acknowledge and feel good for Jenna Ushkowitz, a lovely actress with a beautiful voice, that she finally got some definition in her character.  She was persistently being defined through the men who were romantically interested in her, not through any actions of her own.

But then the show decided to make her the worst parts of Quinn and Rachel, with a bit of date rapist thrown in there for good measure (we all remember the VapoRub scene).  Case in point, when she somehow got nominated for Prom Queen (let's logically point out that she probably wouldn't have been nominated), she dumped Sam.  Sam!  Not only is he the sweetest guy in the Glee club, he's one of the hottest.  The only reason to dump Sam would be if Blaine also asked you, and then you do an 80's-sitcom style "trying to balance two dates."  It was really hard to feel bad for her later when she treated her friends like garbage for most of the episode, and has been for weeks now.

And sitcom writers, can we put a kibosh on the Carrie-style pig's blood sequences in every single Prom episode.  When Sue said that this was an "original" way for Brie to try and destroy the New Directions, it may have been the funniest part of the episode.  And in a desperate plea to the Glee writers (who foreshadowed with Brie that clearly Unique is winning Prom Queen next year), can we just have one Prom episode where the Prom Queen (be it Rachel, Kurt, or Tina) doesn't have to learn a very special message about themselves?  I mean, it's literally the same episode three years running now.  You can do better.

Case in point: the Santana-Rachel friendship.  This was easily the best part of the entire episode.  I love the way that, freed of being archenemies, the two of them have become fast friends and the way that Rachel is egging her on to start a relationship with Demi Lovato (whose character's name is Dani, I believe, but I will probably refer to her as Demi throughout future write-ups, at least until they find something interesting to say about her).  I also enjoyed the way that take-charge Rachel, so full of ambition, got jealous of Santana's wildly over-the-top yeast infection commercial.  When Kurt joined the diner, I partially wished that spinoff rumor had come true and the three of them were on their own show as struggling actors in the big city with a cantankerous manager and a sassy cook.

The Sam and the nurse plot was a little creepy (the shot scene seems like it was a GIF-ready moment for perverted Tumblr users if there ever was one), but was less so because Chord Overstreet is 24 in real life.  I don't know where this is going (the school year is almost over on the show, so Chord won't be a student anymore).  This didn't lead too many places, though I have to hand it to Chord Overstreet for his work through the years-he managed to take a mildly obnoxious super hot blond adonis and turn him into a quirky, interesting super hot blond adonis.  It's not easy for consistent character growth for a Glee actor, so bravo!

And we'll probably leave it at that-the show was fairly light on plot and heavy on musical numbers (my favorite being my fave Beatles song, "Let It Be").  What did you think?  Are you looking forward to Rachel winning her eventual series finale Tony Award?  With Phoebe Strole on the show now, which Spring Awakening actor are you most hoping will be Rachel's next love interest: Skylar Astin or John Gallagher, Jr?  And who else started balling even during the Cory Monteith tribute in the "next week's episode" preview?