I’ve been harping on Glee a lot this season for being heart-wrenchingly real one week and then going totally off the tracks into pure absurdity the next week, but this episode is a turning point in my appreciation of the show because it blended both sides of its coin pretty much to perfection … and gave us hands down the best mash-up ever.
What I liked about this episode, the realness of the story, was the whole conflict between the football team and the glee club members who are also on the football team. In particular, all of the off the cuff remarks directed towards Karofsky and how those comments really hit home with him. I’m glad someone finally called him out for being so homophobic yet he never seems to have a girlfriend. My favorite moment was when Mr. Schue pulled him aside to tell him how great he could be if he channeled his energies towards the creative instead of the destructive. All of his macho posturing nearly cost him his place on the team, even after the rest of the squad decided to participate in the halftime show so they could play in the game, but it was great to see him get a rush from the crowd and join in. I hoped that this would make him turn over a new leaf, but winning the game made him top dog again and he quickly returned to his old ways.
It was also nice to see Rachel stand up for Kurt, but then become a team player in more ways than one in the hope of having everyone get along. And Quinn kissing Finn will surely have repercussions down the road for those two and Sam.
Then there was the absurd – Sue coming up with the idea to shoot a Cheerio out of a cannon in order to win the cheerleading championships. After destroying a test dummy (substituted when Brittany wouldn’t get in the cannon), Will and Principal Figgins told Sue she could not shoot a student out of a cannon without the student’s consent. As silly as that whole story was, Sue’s epic freakout was amazing to watch, but one would think that any teacher who destroyed the principal’s waiting area, possibly injured several students and then trashed the coach’s office would find themselves quickly unemployed. Not Sue Sylvester. It was at that moment that I just decided I had to let go of all of my highfalutin ideals that I’ve saddled myself and my enjoyment of the show with and just embrace the craziness. If the show can strike a balance like this for the rest of the season, then I’m okay with it. I mean, who knew McKinley had a hockey team? Craziness, I tell you!
Everyone involved with Glee, though, has to understand that having a show with this kind of popularity does have responsibilities to tackle issues like bullying now that they’ve taken that first step. I don’t want to see the show become an After School Special every week, but if they can subtly address those issues in a way that will make people actually think about them after the show is over instead of feeling like they’ve either been hit over the head with a hammer or have just wasted an hour of their time on something completely absurd, they may just be able to regain a lot of the adoration that’s been lost over the first half of this season. Please don’t let us down. Oh, and the Chevy commercial was totally cute (but where was Finn?)!
“Dear journal, I am in crisis. Not even the can’t lose combination of boobs and fire can get me going any more. Is it the raccoon hormones my new doctor gave me? Maybe.” – Sue
“I was going to donate my Chevy Cruze to Charity. Charity’s my cat. She totaled our SUV last weekend.” – Brittany in the Chevy commercial
“I don’t want to die yet. At least not until ‘One Tree Hill’ is canceled.” – Brittany
“You don’t climb in that cannon and that routine will be all boom boom and no pow. And that, Brittany, is so two thousand … and late.” – Sue
“I hate you, Diane Sawyer.” – Sue to Katie Couric
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Feb 07, 2011 @ 06:33 EST5EDT
Out of all of Michael Jackson’s hundreds of songs, they had to choose Thriller to ruin??? This is an iconic song and to hear it in a mash-up was upsetting. Truly sad, I believe they may have tried to cash in on the new Zombie craze. Other than that the episode was OK.
*POST AUTHOR*
I have to disagree. That was a much better mash-up than the “Umbrella/Singin’ in the Rain” one that everyone was going crazy for. I haven’t been a fan of any of the mash-ups, but I really did like this one.
I agree with you. I was looking forward to seeing Thriller. Not Thriller thrown together with some song I’ve never heard before!
Where was Finn? That question should read: Where was Quinn?
Dude, your priorities are all out of wack :P
*POST AUTHOR*
With all of the editing, white costumes and blonde girls, I couldn’t really tell many of them apart unless they were brunettes. Finn just stands out because he’s tall, so he was easy to miss.
Dianna Agron was probably busy shooting her movie (which comes out February 18th) that day.
Let’s play football in the north between Christmas and Valentines Day?
I which my grass was that green, and the trees had that many leaves on them now.
The episode made no sense at all in the lame story lines of the show. Wasn’t the football team supposed to be horrible? And the team seemed have to shrunk a lot this week.
I’m also really sick of the gay bully storyline. We get it Ryan Murphy, you’re gay, we don’t care, let’s move that storyline along.
*POST AUTHOR*
Well, the episode DID air right after a football game that took place between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, didn’t it (and Ohio considered midwest, not north). I didn’t really pay attention to the scenery, such as trees, but a lot of high schools are getting turf fields installed so that could explain the green grass. Maybe, as I said above, it’s time to stop being so hypercritical of the show and just let it be what it is … or stop watching if it makes you that angry!