Tuesday, May 25, 2010

...Set: Glee 1x20 "Theatricality"

I love how it was advertised as "Glee goes Gaga" but there were only two Lady Gaga songs in the whole episode! Oh Fox, you are tricksy. What, you ask? Didn't you listen to the songs ahead of time and know that was the case? No, I didn't. I've found that if I listen to the songs beforehand, it kind of ruins their performance on the show for me. Crazypants? Maybe.
Recap/review of Glee 1x20 "Theatricality" by freshfromthe.comIn any event, the theme of the night was theatricality. I think one of my favorite parts of the episode was when Artie asked Mr. Schue what the lesson of the theme was, and Schue's just like yo, I don't know (turn off the lights, and I'll glow... sorry, that was a couple weeks ago), and then when they basically spell it out at the end he's like, oh man, I wish I had planned that but I didn't! But I'm jumping ahead! It's what I do best!

Story #1: Rachel meets her mama!

When Rachel, Mercedes and Quinn go to spy a little on Vocal Adrenaline, the coach, Shelby Corcoran, who we learned last week is Rachel's mom, stepped up to show her pupils how theatricality is done, and sang Funny Girl. Rachel figured out who she was because she had heard her sing in the tape last week. She confronted her immediately and it was a bit awkward. Over the course of the episode, Shelby comes to realize that it was ill advised for her to come back into Rachel's life now (it turns out she did because she can't have children now, and she really wanted a daughter), and that she can't have the relationship with her baby girl that she wanted, because she's not a baby. They decide that it's best to not try to force a mother-daughter relationship now, but it seems like they might have the possibility in the future. As a goodbye, they do a duet to a stripped down Poker Face. I think it would be sort of expected for this to be the favorite song of the night, but while I did enjoy it, it wasn't my favorite! My favorite is included in...

Story #2: Tina the vampire

Principal Figgins calls Tina into the office to tell her that she can't keep dressing like a lady demon on school property, thanks to the crazed Twilight teens pretending to be vampires and literally trying to suck people's blood. In order to help Tina find a new look, and to get the theme of the week, Schue tells them they can Go Gaga. The girls (plus Kurt) all fully embrace this turn of events, with each of them taking on a different Gaga look. They then perform Bad Romance together, and that's the one that gets my award for favorite song of the night. Maybe it was their performance, though, because that really put it over the top. Santana can rock Bad Romance! My favorite outfits of the group, in case anyone is wondering, were Santana's black lacy number, Quinn's pink dress with those crazy eyelashes, and Brittany's lobster head. Rachel's final outfit was pretty awesome too. Anyway, the guys aren't really into Lady Gaga, so they go their own route with theatricality and perform Shout It Out Loud by Kiss. Weakest one of the night, if you ask me. Anyway, by the end of the episode, Tina has decided she's not going to be told who she is, and totally goes awesomely badass, pretending to be a vampire with Figgins and threatening her Asian Vampire Dad's wrath if he doesn't let her wear her lady demon clothes. HA! Love it.

Story #3: Kurt and Finn move in

Finn's mom informs him that they will be moving in with the Hummels now that she and Kurt's dad are getting serious. Kurt is excited, but Finn is.... not. Especially once he starts to get picked on by his football jock buddies almost as badly as Kurt does. When Kurt tries to present him with a newly decorated room for them to share, complete with "privacy" partition, Finn flips out and starts calling various items in the room "faggy." Which he shouldn't have done, because Papa Hummel overhears and gets very upset with him about it, giving him a nice long lecture. And damn, way to go once again Mike O'Malley! He tells Finn that he's not welcome there, no matter if it's going to hurt his relationship with Finn's mom (what in the world is Finn's mom's name? I have no recollection!). Finn eventually steps up to the plate and dresses in a hideous (just listen to Kurt's "oh my god" reaction to it) bright red shower curtain get up to show his solidarity with Kurt against the football baddies. The baddies are going to pound them anyway, but the rest of the gleeks show up for support. The baddies leave for now, but say they'll bring their own friends next time. Eep!

Story #4: Puck's baby names

At the beginning of the episode, Puck wants to name his and Quinn's baby Jackie Daniels (since Jack would be for a boy), but she quickly douses this idea because they won't even get to name the baby. He apparently gets some kind of clue from this theatricality assignment that that particular name would be ridiculous, and also mentions how his own dad never paid him any attention when he was a kid when that's all he wanted, so he gathers the guys around for a rendition of Beth. Afterward, he requests that Quinn please let him be there and see his daughter when she is born. This served as a parallel to the Rachel and Shelby storyline as well, and we have to wonder if Quinn will really be giving up the baby for adoption in the end.

Rather conspicuously absent this week: one Jesse St. James. He was all about getting Rachel and Shelby together, but wasn't there for her when it actually happened. And it looks like next week he goes back to Vocal Adrenaline? It would be too bad, because I've grown rather fond of his character. And, let's face it, I've grown rather fond of seeing Jonathan Groff as well. Yummy.

Quotes:

"I don't mean to state the obvious, but you do know that vampires aren't real, right? They don't exist." - Will

"My parents won't even let me watch Twilight. My mom says she thinks Kristen Stewart seems like a bitch." - Tina

"Yes, for several years in my early twenties, I dressed up as Elvis. But he was a Christian, Will! And he did not possess the ability to transform into a bat!" - Principal Figgins

"Is there a car down here for me?" - Finn
"Honey, we're indoors." - Finn's mom

"What's up with this Gaga dude? He just, like, dresses weird, right? Like Bowie?" - Puck

"And she changes her look faster than Britt changes sexual partners!" - Kurt
"It's true." - Brittany

"Because even though I'm painfully shy and obsessed with death, I'm a really effervescent person." - Tina

"You look terrible. I look awesome." - Brittany

"We live in Ohio, not New York or San Francisco or some other city where people eat vegetables that aren't fried!" - Finn

"My balls keep falling off." - Tina
"I've been there." - Kurt

"Brad! He's always just, around." - Rachel

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

2 comments:

  1. Bad Romance gets my award for my favorite song of the night AND the spring season so far. That was truly a great performance.

    I was a bit confused by some of the other song choices of the night. Poker Face (a song about bisexuality) for a mother-daughter farewell? Beth (a song about a woman left at home while her man is out playing) for a tender baby daddy gesture?

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  2. Yeah a lot of people have been questioning Poker Face as the mother-daughter farewell. I'd never even heard the lyrics before so that was interesting, ha!

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