'Glee' recap: A post-Super Bowl thriller?

Die-hard “Glee” fans, for whom the Super Bowl was just a long, drawn-out lead-in to the return of the show they’ve been missing for months, got a steady diet of tasty “Glee” treats in the hours before Sue Syvlester's, er, Sylvester's Cheerios took the screen for a sprawling routine set to Katy Perry’s "California Gurls" –- blue hair, flaming conical breasts, bike flips and all.  
 
We gobbled up Lea Michele singing “America the Beautiful” before kickoff with Rachel-like confidence (and showing far less skin than she does on the cover of this month’s Cosmo); endless promos for Fox shows, in which “Glee” was featured prominently; and a series of Chevrolet commercials starring the "Glee" cast.
 
It was like a bottomless chip bowl of “Glee.”  
 
At first, it seemed like all that pre-“Glee” snacking may have ruined our appetite for the main course. When the show itself finally got underway, we, like Sue, were dazzled but unmoved by the extravaganza the Cheerios were practicing to take to cheerleading regionals. Like her, we felt it was all “boom boom” and lacked “pow,” an elaborate smorgasbord without flavor. “I’m bored,” Sue declared. Us ... too?
 
For a moment, we were a little concerned: Sitting down for the long-awaited “Thriller” episode, was the thrill gone? And if so, how would we recapture the magic? Would we be forced to take drastic measures, like –- I dunno -- getting a misspelled tattoo or going Sueclear and firing someone out of human cannon?

Thank goodness, no. Soon the show was again dishing up what we’d all been craving these last two months and, though a little overstuffed, we mostly ate it up.
 
The music: Rachel and Puck’s take on Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" won us over almost as swiftly as it did the football team. The newly expanded glee club’s zombie version of “She’s Not There” also hit its mark musically –- though the makeup made it frustratingly difficult to track the football players as they sang and danced. That was the point, of course. The group was unified by zombie makeup, but in a show in which we’ve become so involved in the individual characters, the democratic approach can flatten the drama.
 
The musical highlight of the show, however, was really just a throwaway number, yet far more thrilling than all the “Thriller” action. The Warblers’ version of Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” had the kind of focus –- mostly on Darren Criss as Blaine –- that the ensemble numbers in the rest of the show lacked. We got to see faces, expressions. We weren’t distracted by elaborately shredded costumes and teased wigs. The showier dance moves appeared to have been slowed down in parts so we could take them in. In between courses of the main banquet, the Warblers’ number was like a transcendently tasty sorbet: cleansing our palates, perking up our tastebuds as if waking zombies from the dead.
 

 
The plot: Football, football and more football. But we got to see McKinley High’s Titans come together off the gridiron through the power of music. And best of all, we got to watch Karofsky’s character develop a bit more. It was nice to see him let loose a little and dance, but all his back-and-forthing about glee was a little confusing. A love-hate relationship is one thing, but a hate-love-hate-love-hate relationship? We get it, he's conflicted. At least he got a slushie in the face. There was so much justice in that moment.
 
The best lines:
 
Brittany: “I don’t wanna die yet, not at least until ‘One Tree Hill’ gets canceled.”
 
Kurt: “Blaine and I love football. Well, Blaine loves football. I love scarves.”
 
Brittany: “The glee club together with the football team, it's like a double rainbow. A zombie double rainbow.”
 
Katie Couric (to Sue): “In the voting, you beat out the following losers: the economy, Mel Gibson, the housing market, Dina Lohan, Wall Street, Tiger Woods, the Dallas Cowboys, Brett Favre’s cellphone, 9% unemployment, and Sparky Lohan, who is Dina Lohan's dog and, apparently, also a loser. How do you cope with that?”
 
The lingering questions: Will Finn and Quinn get back together? Do we want them to? Will the football team ease up on the glee club now that they’ve tasted musical fame (and a faceful of slushies)? How much damage will Sue do to McKinley High before she gets her mojo back? And will that perky Diane Sawyer return for another cameo?

-- Amy Reiter

Photo: The glee club performs in a special episode of "Glee" airing after the Super Bowl on Sunday. Credit: Adam Rose / FOX

Comments

[Dorlocita]

There are some really good songs out there. I like the idea that the lyrics aren't changed when a guy sings a girl song and vice versa.

[Omaha Reader]

It wasn't the best episode of Glee but it was OK, not bad. The concept of the episode was good though, which brought sport and music together. I'd like to see more singing and less talking/fighting. I still love Glee and can't wait to see more of them...

[MarlinMorales]

The fact that Quinn kissed Finn is just a tease to a potential love triangle between finn, quinn, and Sam. kinda like last season with puck, finn, and quinn. scandalous....

[JakeL]

Seriously I was kinda disappointed on the Superbowl episode... For one, is like they are trying to squeeze-in a couple of awesome hits by the gLee cast in there without caring much about other stuff; and by "the other stuff" I meant the story and its character development...

The story didn't feel so well for me, and some of it doesn't even make sense. Dave Karofsky didn't show an interest in gLee club at first, then with the advice of Mr. Shue, he become somehow interested, then got turned off again when getting slushies into his face... it all went so well, till for some reason, he smiled and and back during the "thriller" scene, and then blew off Finn's invitation at the end of the show?! It feels like something is missing there don't you think.

Not sure if it's just the Karofsky part that screw the show for me... I'm also kinda disappointed that Kurt wasn't involved in the "thriller" scene (well, other than being an audience), and was not satisfy with the creator's decision to throw him off the gLee team in the first place. Sure, we all love the new character, Blaine, but Kurt's appearance in the show feels like becoming lesser and lesser, and I really do hope the creators can think of something better than doing the same Blaine and Kurt plot (they sang together, and meet up with the girls/somebody else to talk to, and one of them say: "I've got an idea") all over again, like in the Christmas episode... nothing really special about it. Feels like they ran out of idea to continue doing that part of the story and let it goes with just Kurt and Blaine singing... and Kurt, I mean Chris didn't have his chance to shine in that "sorta important" episode... Just a bit worried as he's one of my favorite character in the show.

I was hoping the Bills Bills Bills scene to be something out of the ordinary than just common rehearsal. Like encountering a situation... maybe in the middle of the mall... they saw a siblings fighting over money... and will wanna sing about it.

Anyhow, the main point here is that, the episode make me feels like they are just doing it for the awesome hits and superbowl, and care less about the rest; and maybe the Blaine and Kurt scene had only started for a couple of episode (2-3, I think), but I really do hope the episode after this could continue being as good as the rest of the show... :D

[Jordan]

Was it just me, or did Artie's zombie make-up really freak you out? Every time I was him, I was like "yikes!!"

[Josh]

I know I'm in the minority but I do not love Blaine. The character is just too perfect, and not coincidentally, sexless.

[Fabrisse]

@ Josh
Blaine sexless? DC oozes it when he smiles, walks, breathes much less sings. Mileage really does vary. *G*

[Randy]

@JakeL....Karofsky's reactions were so typical of a high schooler that was the point....Glee isn't cool, he gets forced to do it by his coach....receives some positive criticism and reinforcement (doing something you can tell he was truly enjoying). Them he gets slushied and see's the social ramifications of going to glee club (Karofsky has sexual orientation issues and is terrified of being labeled gay...to the point of threatening Kurt's life). Then at the half time show he sees that the crowd is totally into it so he joins in, which he wanted to from the beginning. He wants to join Glee club, the thought of having to make nice with Kurt...the one person who knows the truth terrifies him, so he chose to ride the popularity train of a football champion....completely realistic.

I was not a fan of earlier in the season how they focused so much on him bullying Kurt to the point that that was what the show was about. I understand it was to make point about bullying in general and in particular bullying youth who have decided or questioning their orientation, but it was too much. After the SuperBowl episode I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Oh and Diana Agron is just gorgeous....and I want to punch Rachel in the face (the character just drives me up a wall for some reason).