Glee - The Substitute

The Substitute is like someone opened a window and delicious fresh air came in to revive the slowly stagnating show. Yeah, I know that was very flowery, but seriously, this episode was desperately needed. It was a return of the Glee of old.


The basic plot is Principal Figgins gets sick, thanks to a particularly "virulent strain of monkey flu," allowing Sue to use the extremely broad clauses in her contract to get herself into the Principal's seat. Will ends up getting sick himself, and after hallucinating the Glee club as children, he goes home sick, leaving the club to fend for themselves. Naturally, Rachel tries to take over, and Kurt, in an attempt to stop this, gets the popular substitute teacher, Holly Holiday, to take over Mr. Shue's Glee duties.

Can't handle the cuteness!

Everyone, including Sue Sylvester, falls in love with Holly Holiday, played with perfection by Gwyneth Paltrow. Everyone that is except Will, who ends up losing his job to Holly, because Sue just really hates him and his beautiful hair. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Holly is out of her depths because she is not used to dealing with the hard stuff, so Will gets his job back pretty quickly, and also learns how to loosen up a little bit with the Glee club.


That's the A-plot. The B-plots involve Mercedes feeling left out as Kurt pursues his new friendship with Blaine and as a way to deal, stages a Norma Rae type of protest when Principal Sue decides to ban tater tots. What I want to know is who in their right minds would ban tater tots?! They're tiny and delicious. 

Viva La Tots!!!

The other more interesting plot is while Will is very sick he turns to his ex-wife, Terri, for tender, loving care. They have an interesting exchange about how Terri preferred Will while he was weak, and Terri doesn't disagree. In fact, she agrees with him and reveals she's been going to therapy and taking meds. Will is initially a jerk to Terri because he didn't really want her there, but after she gave him his favorite sick movie to watch, he soften up and was much nicer to her, which unfortunately led to the "tender and loving" part of the care. He knows it was a mistake but Terri takes it as a sign they were getting back together, and when Will rejects her (in front of Holly), she gets pissed. Very pissed. Like you know she's going to do something messed up pissed. Kudos to Jessalyn Gilsig! She doesn't get nearly enough credit for playing Terri. Terri is an anxious, manipulative, crazy, vindictive, insecure, unsure, yet oddly caring person. She has so many layers, most of them awful, yet Jessalyn manages to give her some likability. That's extremely hard to do. Anyway, one can't help but feel that Terri will be back soon to cause many more problems for Will, and I can't wait to see how she does it.


Now let's talked Gwyneth and the music. There was a lot of concern and confusion when word about Paltrow's involvement hit the news. For some reason, a lot of people seem to dislike her and didn't know if she could sing. I won't touch the first part other to say I've never had a problem with her, but I was excited to hear her sing. I've known for a long time she had pipes because she did that odd movie, Duets, with her father, Bruce Paltrow, some years ago and showed off how well she could sing. Many people will probably agree that this is a career highlight for Gwyneth because not only was she great as Holly Holiday, but she also managed to sway some of the haters into liking her. She really owned the role. I can't wait for when she comes back.

Conjunction Junction, what's your function?

The music was stellar for this episode. There's a great song and dance scene with Matt Morrison and Harry Shum, Jr. to "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' in the Rain. But it was Gwyneth who stole the show. They made her work! She covers (too briefly) "Conjunction Junction" from Schoolhouse Rock, does "Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag" from Chicago with Lea Michele, a fantastic mash-up of Rihanna's "Umbrella" and "Singin' in the Rain" with Matt and the cast, but the standout performance goes to her rendition of Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You." Yes, it's the clean version, but that doesn't matter because it's so awesome you can't help but play it over and over again. It's gotten such good reviews, Cee-Lo and Gwyneth are going to be recording a new version of it. If there's a Glee song worth buying, it's this one.

Make 'Em Laugh

This was one of the strongest episodes to date. The bullying of Kurt was not forgotten, there was a scene between him and Karofsky where he threatened Kurt's life if he told anyone about the kiss, but it took a backseat to everything else. It was a good thing because it set us up for the next episode and it gave us a break from how heavy the show had become. This is probably my favorite episode of season two so far. We'll see how the rest of the season goes. Til then... here's Gwyneth Paltrow and the cast of Glee with Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You." Adieu!





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Glee: The Rocky Horror Glee Show

The most recent episode of Glee was the highly anticipated, much hyped Rocky Horror Glee Show, featuring the music of, you guessed it, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I, along with several of my friends, felt this would either be one of Glee's best episodes or one of its worst. It saddens me to say, while this wasn't their worst, it certainly wasn't their best.

The problem with the Rocky Horror episode wasn't in the concept; it was in the execution. The general premise of the episode is Will Schuester decides to have the glee club perform Rocky Horror as a way to get closer to Emma Pillsbury, the lovely ginger-headed guidance counselor Will desperately wants but cannot have. That's the whole plot. There are two minor storylines involving Sue trying to win a local Emmy and Finn dealing with body image issues, but they're mostly swept aside so we can hear RPHS music and watch Will try to woo Emma.

I think it's great that the show was trying to have a more adult-centric episode, but it was done at the expense of the glee club, and it felt like there was a lot of wasted potential. Finn and Sam's storyline about how they look could have been a really great opportunity for the show. We all know about females and their body issues but no one really talks about what the guys go through. Men have the same insecurities women do, and while it was handled well, not enough was done with it. I would have preferred it if they had two separate episodes - one dealing with the Will, Emma, and Carl love triangle and the other dealing with the stress of putting on the show and Sue's interactions with the club.

The Good -

The opening featuring Naya Rivera singing Science Fiction, Double Feature was perfect. She sounded great and it was a good way to let the world know Glee meant business. I also liked the listing of who was starring in the show. It reminded me of classic movies.

Lauren Potter as Becky Johnson, the cheerleader with Down's Syndrome, who looks up to Will, uttering one of the best lines of the episode, "Give me some chocolate or I will cut you." Priceless.

Cory Monteith handled his story with vulnerability and honesty, without coming across as cheesy or melodramatic. While I'm not always happy with Finn's development, I am increasing impressed by Cory's growth as an actor. *Side note - I heard some people were surprised that Finn would become the "poster boy" for male insecurities but I think it makes perfect sense. Of all the characters, he was the obvious choice. Sam, Mike, & Puck are ripped, Kurt's proud and comfortable with who he is, and they're not going to give Artie, the guy in the wheelchair, any more issues than he already has at this point. That leaves us with Finn. He also has a different body type than the other guys, so it's easier to work with that. That said, anyone else notice Cory's been working out? Compare his shower scene in the first season to his walk down the hall in this episode - see the difference? I'm not judging. I'm just pointing it out.

The look on Lea Michele's face when she fake faints during "Sweet Transvestite" is hilarious. She needs to be allowed to do more physical comedy. I have a feeling there's some untapped potential there.

Mike Chang wanting to play Dr. Frank-N-Furter was great. I would have liked to see him at least try before his parents yanked him out. I really like that they are slowly developing him, and I hope one day, we can hear him sing for real.

Jane Lynch was on fire. There are too many great lines to choose a favorite, and YAY! Sue's Corner is back! For those of us missing out Sue fix, this was just what was needed. By the way, I want to learn how to carve like Sue. She's a master.

The Bad

"Sweet Transvestite" - I couldn't stand it. Amber Riley sounded amazing. The rich, powerful tones that have been missing from some of her other songs, were back in full force, but she was practically yelling for most of the song. I don't know if this interpretation was her decision or the Powers That Be, but it was way too much. It sucks because I think if the song was taken in another direction, she could have had something spectacular. Then again, the other option was John Stamos, and after hearing his version, I'm really glad they went with Amber.

Lea Michele - I hated Rachel's acting in the show. The character of Janet is a silly, cheesy character, but Rachel took it to a whole other level, and I don't even find it all that believable. Rachel Berry has been in performing arts classes since forever. I don't think she would be that awful. It was if she had never acted before, and was trying to be Susan Sarandon. Rachel Berry would take a role, base it off of the actor who originated the role and then turn it into her own thing. She would not suck like this.

Underutilizing everyone except the adults. I liked a lot of what came out of it but come on, we're not watching the show for the grown ups. I would've liked to see more of the glee club.

The Wha???

Barry Bostwick and Meat Loaf Aday - The original Brad and Eddie came in for a cameo, but what was that about? Their presence made no sense, other than convincing Sue she needs a local Emmy. Yes, Africanized Mexican terrorists do cause me concern, but mostly I watched them and scratched my head. This was another example of not using the talent properly.

Emma singing "Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-Me" to Will was yet another example of Glee using a song in a weird manner. Just like Rachel singing "Poker Face" was not the best song to be sung with her long-lost mother, this was just out of place and highly sexualized. I know they wanted to demonstrate the heat between Will and Emma but stripping him in a classroom was really messed up, considering their positions in the school (if they want to strip Matt Morrison any other time, I most certainly won't not object). It was also a little creepy having Brittnay and Santana watching all of it.

Changing the lyrics to the songs. Seriously, what the bleepity bleep? Mercedes can't say "Transexual, Transylvania"? What about how they tried to sanitize "Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-Me"? I understand some things needed to be toned down but did they need to make it laughably horrible? Also, considering that Emma sang the song to Will, it really didn't need to be changed as much since it was between two adults... I'm just saying.

This episode was a hot mess. Other than "Sweet Transvestite" and the lyrical changes, the music was pretty good. Almost everyone got to sing and sounded great. Everyone looked amazing. If only the plot had been better... I think Glee needs to stop doing themed episodes and get back to simply telling a story. Maybe then they'll be able to recapture some of their former magic. The soundtrack for the episode is available on iTunes. What did you think? Awesome ep. or hot mess? Tweet us or let a comment. Toodle-oo until we meet again!