Whether you want to admit it or not, everyone’s had a “Justin Bieber.” (Or they have one right now.)I’m not even specifically talking about the pre-pubescent heartthrob(s) or sexy female pop tart of your day. I’m saying that every single person out there has had a super-duper mainstream music obsession that they’ve mostly enjoyed in secret out of fear of being ridiculed.
In that regard, Bieber and “Glee” appear to have a lot in common, now that the show has gone from underdog to bona fide hit and most of the popular kids in Hollywood are falling all over themselves trying to jump on the bandwagon.
Well last night Bieber (mostly) collided with “Glee”, and the result was a thoroughly uneven episode in what is a clearly a thoroughly uneven show.
Given that the Biebs (or the Biebster, or whichever one of the dozen or so nicknames you want to call him) sort of drove the plot of last night’s episode, you’d expect this to be another of those patented theme episodes that usually end up being more painful than usual. The problem is that Biebmeister’s musical catalog isn’t exactly deep enough to provide the soundtrack to an entire episode.
So while Justin Bieber inspired Sam to start a one-man tribute band in an effort to get his mojo (and Quinn) back (and eventually inspired Artie, Mike and Puck to do the same), everything having to do with the Bieberino pretty much fell by the wayside by the second half of the episode. Oh well.
(It’s slightly depressing that I have to point this out but) I was impressed that the show actually followed through on pretty much all of last week’s plot strands.
Quinn had somehow convinced Sam that she’d caught mono from Finn after saving Finn from a life-threatening gumball. Of course, it helped that Sam is kind of an idiot. Meanwhile, Santana (who we saw share a smile with Sam at the end of last week’s ep) officially offered her services as a mistress and helped Sam see the truth, which led Sam to dump Quinn. I hadn’t really been invested in Sam and Quinn as a couple because I didn’t really see a spark or anything that they had in common (other than being pretty and blonde). However, when she told him that she was turned on by how unabashedly he owned his Bieber persona, I bought it. Now I suppose Quinn’s free to date noted Bieber-hater Finn. (And I’ll be free to NOT see any more commercials for “I Am Number Four”, which co-stars Dianna Agron and comes out this weekend.)
Anyway, Sam is now with Santana (that won’t last — I’m guessing she’s much better at being a mistress than she is at being a girlfriend), while Puck continued his pursuit of Lauren. The tough gal hasn’t quite cracked yet, but she definitely softened, especially when she asked Puck for advice before her first glee performance. (More on that later.) As unlikely as this storyline is, I like that the writers are actually taking their time and letting it breathe.
I feel like I should’ve been more amused by the Brittany trying to help Rachel regain her social status than I was. I like Brittany a lot, and I’m a Lea Michele apologist. Maybe I didn’t dig it because Rachel didn’t really have a high social status to begin with, so it made absolutely no sense for her to make a “comeback.” Either way, I was actually more amused by the legwarmers-as-armwarmers than I was by the all the girls busting out their sexy schoolgirl/librarian chic.
Finally there’s Sue, who pitted Rachel and Mercedes against each other in an attempt to destroy the glee cl…’e90pearkl;amvafd;akfdaf. Sorry, that was me falling asleep on my keyboard after describing Sue’s umpteenth attempt to bring Mr. Schue and Co. down.
To me, it was infinitely more interesting when it looked like Sue was legitimately depressed, leading Emma to suggest that she temporarily join the glee club. Instead, she was mean for a while, until she was kind of nice…but not really. By the end of the hour, she’d signed on to coach Aural Intensity, one of New Directions’ rivals at Regionals.
Before that, I have to talk about the scene with Will and Sue at the pediatric hospital. Was it manipulative? Almost definitely. Did it even look like Jane Lynch was playing Sue Sylvester? Not to me. Even with all that, the scene worked for me because (corny alert!) it celebrated the impact music can have on people’s lives. And that’s what the show used to be about before it turned into an exploration of gay/bullied teens and a fun side job for Gwyneth Paltrow.
Speaking of music, let’s break down last night’s musical performances:
“Baby”…B+: I liked the boy band-tastic Chord Overstreet brought to the table, but mostly it was interesting to hear a Bieber songs performed by someone who sounds like a man. (Or at least someone whose voice has changed.) As Quinn pointed out, Sam/Overstreet owned this so much that he won me over.
“Somebody to Love”…B-: Kevin McHale’s voice sounded pretty good, but this was mostly another one of the show’s recreations of an existing video (like in the Madonna episode). To me, it was played too straight and lacked the goofy charms of “Baby.” Also, where did Puck’s Bieber wig go when he was performing on stage?
“Take Me Or Leave Me”…B: A “Rent” number! Right in my wheelhouse. It was a kick to see Lea Michele once again sing a song originally performed by Idina Menzel (since I am convinced Lea Michele is really a time traveling Idina Menzel) and it was also cool to hear the vivacious Amber Riley take on Fredi Walker’s part. However, I feel like Rachel and Mercedes didn’t really go AT each other in this diva-off. All their emotion and mugging was saved for the other members of glee club. So, even though they sounded fantastic, it was kind of a letdown. For the record, Mercedes won.
“I Know What Boys Like”…C-: Meh. Not really much of a musical number to speak of, so it's kind of hard to judge. The best part was what each character’s underwear looked like. The runner up was Sue pointing out that no one in glee club apparently knows what an "anthem" is.
“Sing”…B-: It’s a cool number, but Rachel’s absolutely right — what we saw last night is NOT good enough to win Regionals. I’m just not sure that an original song that no one knows is the answer either. Really, the standout moment of the musical performance for me was Sue’s plaid tracksuit.
So what’d you think of this episode? Had anyone else forgotten that Mr. Schuester is allegedly a Spanish teacher? Did you miss Kurt and/or Blaine this week? (I’m ok with them skipping an episode, rather than the show giving us an awkward scene at the Dalton Academy that doesn’t have anything to do with anything.) Finally, have you ever been too depressed to open a pamphlet?
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