Glee: Prom Wonderful

Last night’s prom-themed episode of “Glee” gave me hope that the show just might close out its wildly inconsistent second season on a high (Auto-Tuned) note.

Sure, there will always be things about this show that make absolutely no sense. Like the fact that glee club members are supposed to be social outcasts, but 5 out of 6 of them (Finn/Quinn, Puck/Lauren, Santana) were apparently frontrunners for prom king and queen.

And, as always, anything Sue says or does falls under this category. This week we learned that she’s her own dentist and that her grandmother drowned in her punch bowl (eye roll), although I did enjoy her Charles Barkley-like “John McCain is rolling over in his grave” line.

Fortunately, there was tons of other great stuff that made up for that bit of sloppiness.

I really liked the opening scene that set up the final leg of the “Election”-like race for prom king and queen. I also liked the implication that Puck was whipped and that his bad boy reputation has taken a serious hit since he started dating Lauren. I would’ve liked it even more if the episode hadn’t seemingly abandoned this plot after Artie got busted trying to “spike” Sue’s punch (at Puck’s request), but maybe hopefully they’ll pick up on that next week.

Still, my absolute favorite thing about this funny and engaging episode that found a way to serve most of its main characters was that (gasp!) the musical numbers actually made sense within the contest of the episode. Obviously, anytime people are breaking into song and dance on a movie or TV show, you have to suspend disbelief, but that’s not exactly what I’m talking about. I’m talking about forced sequences like the “spontaneous” mall performances or gas-induced hallucinations the show has thrown at us this season.

Principal Figgins asked the glee club to perform at prom, so most of the songs in last night’s episode felt a little more organic. The over-the-top enthusiasm we usually see from the cast when they’re performing didn’t feel off-putting. It felt right. Good times all around.

Well, unless you’re Kurt.

After asking Blaine (who’d had his own traumatizing school dance experience) to prom, Kurt excitedly began preparing for the big event. That included modeling his “gay Braveheart” outfit (Finn’s words). My favorite thing about this scene is that Burt sort of called Kurt out for something I’ve been thinking about recently. Now, I would never, EVER advocate bullying of any kind. On the other hand, some of the outfits Kurt wears are just begging people to say…something. (This is a guy who wore a top hat two weeks ago when he returned to McKinley.)

Obviously, no one has the right to restrict what another person should wear or keep them from expressing themselves. By that same token, you can’t really stop me from making fun or maybe judging someone who is wearing a ridiculous costume.

Anyway, even though I knew Kurt and Karofsky would win prom king and queen (I couldn’t help reading the story about the extra who blabbed on Twitter) it still didn’t really make that much sense to me. Even though we finally got see a kinder, more appealing side of Karofsky this episode, is there any explanation for him actually beating out the seemingly more popular Finn? Do people really love themselves Karofsky that much?! (I know the Bully Whips berets are awesome, but still.) As for Kurt, I guess all the unseen students at McKinley High REALLY had it out for him — even though he just came back a few weeks ago — and really wanted to humiliate him.

Even though this result didn’t make sense to me, I don’t think it marred the episode’s lively prom.

For one thing, Jesse St. James was back in the house after flunking out of college. (It turns out you have to attend classes that have nothing to do with show choir.) Although he somewhat had his tail between his legs after humiliating Rachel, I was glad to see that he was still (mostly) the same cocky mega-talented idiot we met last year. And it seems like he’s going to be sticking around to help New Directions get ready for Nationals.

Of course, we also know that he’s going to be sticking around so he can fill a place in the love quadrangle along with Rachel, Finn and Quinn. The two almost came to blows at the prom when Finn though he was dancing a little close with Rachel. This was after Rachel claimed that she’d always respected Finn’s relationship with Quinn (yeah right!) and was followed by Quinn slapping Rachel in the ladies room.

The episode also featured a heartbroken Artie (it was big of you to apologize, but you blew it bro!) and a bolo-tie wearing Sam, who attended the prom as Mercedes’ sorta-date. But let’s see how all these people did in their musical performances:

“Rolling in the Deep”…B+: It’s hard to make a better entrance than Jonathan Groff made in this episode. Given the eggy way Jesse St. James left his relationship with Rachel, the song also made sense from a storytelling standpoint. (Imagine that!) Also, those people in the A/V club are pretty strong singers…why aren’t THEY in glee club. They’d contribute more than Mike Chang. The only thing I didn’t love was that —even though this was an acapella arrangement — this obviously sounded like a recording. (I know they’re ALL recordings, but they don’t have to sound that way.)

“Isn’t She Lovely”…A: I loved the acapella opening (Kevin McHale’s voice got a nice chance to shine) and I thoroughly enjoyed the relatively stripped down arrangement. (Even if the song is about a baby.) I dug the simplicity, and it was kind of cool that Brittany didn’t just instantly forgive Artie.

“Friday”…B+: A match made in Auto-Tune heaven! Not exactly sure how singing this song (along with Sam and Artie) was supposed to restore Puck’s reputation as a badass. Anyway, Santana checking out a girl as she was awkwardly dancing with Karofsky was brilliant!

“Jar of Hearts”…B: Lea Michele sounded great (as usual), but I’m almost as over Rachel pining for Finn as I am over anything having to do with Sue. Either go after him or don’t…stop this passive aggressive garbage!

“I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You”…C+: Unfortunately, this performance didn’t make much of an impact because it was basically background music to the fight between Finn and Jesse.

“Dancing Queen”…A: The song fit perfectly what was going on after Karofsky refused to dance with Kurt. (By the way, who the hell is Kurt to tell someone else when they should come out?! I REALLY hate Kurt sometimes.) More importantly, since I think “River Deep, Mountain High” was one of the best performances this show has ever given us, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Mercedes and Santana singing together.

So what’d you think of this episode? Did Figgins almost overpay Air Supply by offering them $400? How great was it that Rachel could appreciate the drama of being slapped in the face? Finally, exactly how many people’s dates do you think Brittany ended up stealing?