The Cutprice Guignol

Look, I know I have been talking about Santana a lot in these recaps lately, but can you blame me? The show is reaching it’s sweet spot with this character, and Naya Rivera is just soaring in the role right now – give her drama, give her comedy, give her performance, give her anything, and she’s killing it. This week, of course, is the introduction of what is unarguably the best song the show has ever produced, Trouty Mouth.

Out of all the original songs we get this episode – and yes, that includes the ones at Regionals, sue me – Trouty Mouth truly lives in my head rent-free. Naya Rivera’s commitment to the big, Chord Overstreet’s bemused onlooking (his little “hell no” sign is the most I’ve liked him all season),the seductive piano, the hard left turn away from the lesbian romance of last week, it always has me howling. I fucking love it. This episode passes the smell test, no notes.

Well, some notes, actually. I think Glee is pretty much at it’s most comfortable in the competition episodes, and this one is no exception; there’s something about the grander stage the competition episodes offer that allows Glee to get into it’s big emotions and big numbers in a really impressive way, and the original song twist only serves to make that work even more effectively. Letting the characters deep-dive into their emotions via music is such a quintessentially Glee choice, and it feels so true to the show’s basis to make this the centerpiece of this episode (so much so I’m honestly surprised they didn’t go back to this well more often in future).

I truly do love the Quinn/Finn/Rachel plot this episode – it harks back to the early episodes of the show, that lingering sadness in the face of accepting a future you might not actually want, as Quinn lets Rachel know that Finn is destined for Lima and Quinn, while Rachel should be out there pursuing more. Dianna Agron and Lea Michele are wonderful together, and this climactic scene between them is one of the highlights of this whole season for me. Any time the show harks back to this melancholy feeling of having to accept that high school isn’t going to be your whole life – and what happens to the people for whom it is – it’s working for me.

Having Rachel turn this emotional moment into her original song feels so right, a perfect way for Glee to put a pin in this plot in a way that feels true to both the character and the show. It’s not a particularly good song, but it rings as accurate to the kind of thing a teenage girl would write, which is a whole sub-genre unto itself. It’s not the kind of thing I would have in my regular playlist rotation, but it’s perfectly fit for purpose.

And, speaking of romance plots, it’s only right that we talk about the Blaine/Kurt kiss, too. This was the gay smooch heard around the world when it happened, and it’s sort of hard to divorce it from the impact it had at the time – a kiss, between two gay men, on a primetime TV show at the peak of it’s cultural relevancy was such a huge deal when this episode came out, and even now, you can feel a little of the echo of that impact. I just love how the show frames it here – Chris Colfer and Darren Criss have such incredible chemistry, and that moment between them is so sweet, so sincere, and such a perfect encapsulation of that fluttery, uncertain teenage romance

Loathe as I am to admit it, I still know all the words to Loser Like Me, and it’s an appropriately fun, silly, and poppy response to Sue’s machinations (that cease and desist letter from My Chemical Romance is something I need printed and framed in my downstairs bathroom, and the lockers full of actual dirt is exactly the kind of deranged commitment to the bit I need from my villains), and the rest of the competition performances this episode make for a pretty strong round-off to this part of the season. I’m not a big fan of the Warblers acapella stylings, but Darren Criss is just charismatic enough to make it work. Loretta Devine is a total treat here as ex-stripper nun judge Sister Mary, and I always have a soft spot for Kathy Griffin in this tradwife mocker role, against my better judgement.

I rarely have any great issues with the competition episodes of Glee, and Original Song is no exception; it’s a solid blend of the slightly sad drama, utter daftness of comedy, and earnestly emotional performance that makes the show work at it’s best.

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(header image via Reddit)