'Glee' recap: The 'Rumours' fly

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow, because yesterday -– like Tuesday night's episode of "Glee," which took on Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album -- is gone. Although the episode had its moments that made lovin' "Glee" fun ("Fondue for Two!" -- plus songs that served the story lines), other parts (Another dose of April Rhodes drinking jokes? More jealousy-propelled plots? And what are the writers doing with Sue?) felt as tired as secondhand news. Which is not to say it's not still the show of our dreams and we're never going back again.

OK, OK, I'll stop with the "Rumours" playlist now. (I don't want to know how many of you are already irritated.) OK, no, really, I'll stop now. Don't go your own way.

Key links in the chain (last one, stopping now):

1) Brittany's Fondue For Two! Brittany's Internet talk show -– which combines the two things she likes the most, "hot cheese and talking to people," and on which she (unwittingly, it turns out) leaks the news that Santana "plays for the other team" -- is a scream. ("Shouldn't it be 'Fondue for Three'?" Tina rightly wonders as she and Mercedes join Brittany to dig into the hot cheesy stuff.) Brittany's cat, Lord Tubbington, who a caption tells us "only eats HUMAN food," steals the show. (He's "allowed to eat cheese because he's on Atkins," Brittany says.) Later we learn that Lord Tubbington has other human vices too: He's taken up smoking again. So funny.

2) Finn and Rachel are growing closer: Not only do the two go on an (ill-advised) stakeout together -- in which Finn confesses that while he never really knows what's going on emotionally with Quinn, that was never an issue when he and Rachel were dating -- she sings him a kicking version of "You Can Go Your Own Way." "Traditionally, it's sung by a man," Rachel says. "But today, Rachel Berry's going to put her own feminine twist on it." And she does -- singing right to a not-unreceptive-looking Finn, who's accompanying her on drums, and ticking off Quinn. Point, Rachel.

 

3) At last, a recession story line (better late than never -- or was there one I'm forgetting?): Finn's and Rachel's cheap-motel stakeout leads to the revelation that Sam's father has lost his job and his family has lost their home to foreclosure. Responsible for caring for his two (adorable, blond) younger siblings while his parents look for work, Sam breaks the news that he may have to drop out of glee club. Rachel and Finn, who had suspected that maybe both Kurt and Quinn had been cheating on their boyfriends with Sam (and kudos to the writers for making Finn more worried about Kurt's suspected infidelity to Blaine than the fact that a tryst with Kurt would mean Sam was gay), make amends for invading Sam's privacy and spreading false rumors about him by helping to get Sam's guitar out of hock. Sam cries, and he and his kid brother and sister (and his guitar) join the New Directions gang for a rousing rendition of "Don't Stop."

4) Emma's kicking her OCD: Will finds Emma in the staff lunchroom eating grapes that she's only rinsed (albeit for half an hour) -– rather than donning rubber gloves and scrubbing them individually. Emma then tells Will he should follow his dreams and go do a Broadway show with his old pal, April Rhodes (whose all-white production of "The Wiz" was, alas, a critical failure). I'd call that remarkable progress. Will, however, opts to stay, for the kids and for Emma, and weeps (somewhat unconvincingly) about the difficulty of the decision. I don't know, based on the snippet of April's show we were treated to, it kind of seemed like a no-brainer ...

5) The return of April Rhodes: So yeah, the episode marked the return of the pint-sized alcoholic played by the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth. (Will's ex-wife, Terri, brought April back so she could lure him to New York and free up the fab apartment she used to share with Will, or something like that.) But despite Chenoweth's amazing pipes -– April and Will dueted nicely on "Dreams" in this episode -– her character, which was thin to start with, has kind of worn out its welcome. Maybe it's because Gwyneth Paltrow (I hate myself for saying this) did the wacky foil/romantic interest to Mr. Schue much better than she. I know, I'm sorry -– but do you disagree?

6) The return of the school newspaper, the Muckraker. What's an episode about rumors without a newspaper that doesn't care a whit about facts? Sue Sylvester -– seen early on delightfully disguised as first David Bowie (ordering a large cup of mocha powder in a cafe because Bowie is "incredibly eccentric") and then Ann Coulter (a cry of "Ohio loves you, Ann Coulter!" bolsters her spirits) -- has seen fit to revive the defunct school paper and turn it into a total rag. And if you ever wondered about that expression about not being able to put toothpaste back in the tube, Sue (with some help from the hapless Jacob Ben Israel) offers a very literal demonstration.

7) Artie and Brittany break up, paving the way for Brittany and Santana. Artie, upset at the way Santana has manipulated Brittany's affections, calls Brittany "stupid," which snaps their bond, leaving Artie to sing "Never Going Back Again" backed by a gajillion guitars (who were all those guys?) and Brittany free to turn to Santana. Santana sings her a beautiful, heartfelt love song, "Songbird" -– a shining moment for Naya Rivera -– but when Brittany invites her to publicly declare her love, Santana balks. What will happen next?

What do you want to see happen next? Should Brittany and Santana go public –- or should Brittany go back to Artie? Should Finn finally chuck aside Quinn and take Rachel back? Whom should Sue Sylvester disguise herself as next? And what were your favorite lines from the show? Weigh in, please.

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-- Amy Reiter

Photo: Artie (Kevin McHale, left) Puck (Mark Salling, second from left), Sam (Chord Overstreet, third from left) and Finn (Cory Monteith, right) perform in the "Rumours" episode of "Glee." Credit: Beth Dubber / Fox

Comments

[Lily]

Kurt to Rachel: Oh how I have missed your insanity

[Fabrisse]

The best scene of the evening was the Kurt-Rachel "Oh, how I've missed your insanity." It harked back to the episode "Furt" where Kurt claimed he'd married and broken up his Power Rangers action figures more times than Fleetwood Mac and also showed both their personalities really well.

[canaryyyellow]

The breakup between Artie and Brittany was kind of weird. I figured that they broke up, but it like never really addressed that they did break up. The Santana Brittany thing...it needs to happens or not. I like the reality of the situation...Santana needing time to figure herself out. But I kind of am over the looks of 'oh-love-you-but-can't-have-you' that the two share. And the heartfelt songs about loving the other.

They really can't drag it on too much longer. I loved seeing April back and Rumours is one of my favorite albums!! Sue dressed as Bowie was amazing ; ) I'm still interested in how Sue is going to use Terry..and whether or not Will goes on broadway.

[NewPhenom]

I think Santana & Brittany should be together- much more chemistry & humor in their relationship than Brit/Artie. But they should make it happen already! I feel like Santana wants Brittany so badly that she would do anything to be with her, including come out. But either way the story line has been dragged out to much, get Brittana together at Prom!

[Nicole]

Finn and Rachel should reunite!

[Tom in Raleigh]

I thought, of all the music, that Artie's "Never Going Back Again" was extremely good. It was a lot of guitars, but it was restrained, true to the original, and actually added a bit something to the music. My favorite musical number this season (although I did miss a few airings).

[Bernard]

I enjoyed last night's episode of Glee. As a Fleetwood Mac fan, I felt the use of the Rumors album was a nice touch with this storyline. I'm also really glad the writers decided to pay Sam a little attention.http://bit.ly/kgcSaB

[Lizzy]

I'm not the biggest Fleetwood Mac fan so the music wore thin for me but I did like the Sam storyline. Since Glee has tackled issues like pregnancy, bullying, etc., it seems to me that next year they could really switch around who is on top of the heap and who is not by exploring financial inequality and long term, post high school goals. Especially if Blaine transfers. Since he goes to this expensive private school it seem natural that his family has money. Have him drive to McKinley next fall in a BMW and park it next to Mr. Shuester's beat-up-tail-pipe-still-dragging car. Then there are issues like grades, SAT scores, college, careers. If Blaine and Kurt are aiming for Harvard or Brown while Finn and Puck might not even be able to get into the local community college, all of a sudden who is big man on campus flips. What is cool in high school doesn't hold over in the real world.

[Nony]

Best Line - when Santana sang to Brittany, "alone". Brit pointed to the piano player and said "what about him?" and Santana said.

"Him? He's just furniture."

[Bill]

I saw on the preview that Jesse St. James was coming back to Glee. Not to sound ugly or anything but rule number one for gay dudes playing straight is to NOT drop your head down so you're looking up at the person your flirting with. Straight dudes look directly at someone, they don't do the flirty eye thing.

Just a heads up.

[keith]

Artie's rendition of Never going back? Incredible and I am an old FM fan from their era. Even better than there's with all the guitar's and artie's singing. Best so far this season and THAT is saying something but Rachel's Go your own way was right there as well. I don't know was terrific with the sparks coming from finn/quinn something was really up.

Just terrific episode but then last week with Kurt back? Superior and who didn't love the flashmob? Kurt's dancing partner was too hot, too bad he can't appreciate her.