Things That Hit Harder Than an Offensive Tackle

The Super Bowl episode (or "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle") definitely hit harder than an offensive tackle in the Super Bowl could, in many ways. The two major happenings of this episode were performances and relationships (the common two).

This episodes performances were bigger, better, and way more badass. "Need You Now" as performed by Rachel and Puck did seem an unlikely choice to rally the football players to the Glee Club's side, but it was a beautifully sung, intimate duet that lent itself favorably to both characters' voices. "She's Not There" showed what badass performers the football players actually make, giving the football team confidence and the Glee Club confidence in them. Also, the song played well into the Finn/Rachel storyline and all the best Glee numbers do seem to tie in well to the plot. Perhaps that's because the plot gives the songs meaning.... "Bills, Bills, Bills" while a great cover by the Wharblers, seemed out of place and seemed to slow the plot down. I deem its only purpose was to showcase Blaine and for a peek into how Kurt is doing. Cute, but extremely unnecessary.  And then, of course, the "Thriller/Heads Will Roll" mash-up. It served its purpose of bringing the football team together and bringing the football team and Glee Club together and was super badass. The moves were on, the make-up was on, the singing was on--there was not one piece of falter in that performance. If the New Directions continue to perform like that Regionals will be a breeze for them. If only....

As a huge Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan, my obvious choice as best song of the episode was "Thriller/Heads Will Roll". The two songs were blended to perfection and the entire performance was spot on. It was such a great surprise to me to hear the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a lesser know but fantastic band, be showcased on a show like "Glee" (if you don't know who the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are, stop reading, go look them up, download a couple of their songs, and then come back). Outside of this performance, however, my choice of next best song of the episode and one of the top 5 all season was "She's Not There".  It possessed heart, plot, excellent performance, and energy. We haven't heard the Glee guys this good in a while.






Now relationships. Let's start with those between the New Directions and the football team. It was actually nice to see Karofsky dealing with his homophobia and possible homosexuality. Though he continues to remain pretty much soul-less, Kurt said earlier that it is a hard thing to deal with and that's why he didn't out Karofsky for kissing him. It was good to see the football team deal with the level of disdain from the school (as acted out by the hockey team) that they had been dealing out to the Glee Clubbers. Whether or not their shared half-time performance results in any changes for the Glee Club's school status remains to be seen, but isn't as important as what the football team learned in this episode.

Someone I was impressed with in this episode was Rachel. She came out of herself and joined the football team not for the good of the Glee Club but for the good of her friends. We haven't seen her do anything like that in a long time and she didn't start off the episode so hot (she cornered Puck into doing the duet with her to make Finn jealous).

Someone I was not impressed with in this episode was Quinn. She has been my favorite character since last season and to see her turn her back on Sam and kiss Finn was just heartbreaking. I understand why she did what she did, but she didn't once even turn to Sam for help or advice or anything. And he stood up for her to Finn in the beginning of the episode. Sam has done nothing but stand beside Quinn and support her and while he does not have the history with her that Finn has, he does not deserve to be treated as such (please refer to my earlier post Big Glee Breakup ).

Someone who finally got her just rewards was Sue. It was good to see Santana, Brittany, and Quinn turn away from her after being treated so unfairly by her. I'd love to see Becky turn away from Sue to see if Sue's demeanor would change in light of her sister Jean and their relationship. However, since the remainder of Sue's budget for the year is going to the Glee Club, I am 100% positive we can expect to see much mayhem occur to the New Directions at Sue's hands.

My pick as cutest moment of the episode: when Tina is tackled and Mike runs to her side and, kneeling over her, says "Is she breathing?" Mike is fast and hard becoming one of my favorite Glee characters. And that's a glee-cap!