Spoilers after the jump.
I got a prediction right for once, it indeed being Sue's sister passing. Maybe I'm just especially cold hearted because I got the distinct feeling I was supposed to have been touched by this episode but I just... wasn't. My interest in the show has been steadily declining as it's lurched towards its conclusion next week and yet again they awkwardly tried to jam in some political statement, this time a diatribe by Sue about HMO's and other complicated issues that are better dealt with in relation to characters that actually appear on the show.
Most of the episode was taken up by solo auditions for the main number in the national tournament. Will brings Jessie on board as a consultant which utterly fails the fridge logic test. First of all, he seems drunk all the time but insists on playing Simon Cowell in his judge's seat rather than Paula Abdul. Secondly, not that this is particularly related to anything but they did a terrible job of hiding the actors true age, almost as bad as anything I ever saw on Friday Night Lights. Third, most importantly, who is paying him? He's not doing it out of the kindness of his heart, he is far too vain and as is pointed out multiple times, he threw some form of breakfast food on Rachel and was loyal to Vocal Adrenaline.
Anyway three characters who have done nothing but annoy me for several months now, Santana, Mercedes and Kurt are all savaged by Jessie who reserves his praise for the final contestant Rachel, such is his apparent urge to hit that. Rather than pull Jesse into line, Will sits back and doesn't say a word. Weak teaching. Ultimately, he decides that the group will all perform together, no solos, original songs. Essentially what this means is that the club has one week to write original songs and rehearse them enough for performance. Less than one week in fact because at least some of that time will be spent traveling by plane to New York. Great job, guys!
Sue is pretty distraught at ehr sisters death. Given how flat and mean she usually is, it's a little difficult to gather sympathy for her until we hit the point at which she, Kurt and Finn are in the nursing home and she can't even bear to look at her sister's possessions. Probably in due part to the way her mother treated her, she has a chronic problem pushing people away. Will has brought empathy to the glee club, an important component of connecting with audiences, and their performance at the funeral softens the heart of Sue to the point she abandons her war with them. Will it stay that way moving forward? I hope so, her routine is getting very stale.
Count me as one of the few people who sympathized more with Will's wife than with Will when they were having their marital troubles. She has been put on a bus to Miami now, and it felt similar to Vanessa's departure from Gossip Girl. Two characters hated by the fandom because they and the writers have no perspective. She finishes off her run by sweet talking an airline boss into providing first class tickets for the glee club, but Will is too busy with insipid Emma to be truly gracious. As I've said many times before I'm sure, I'm so bored with that particular storyline. Neither one of those characters is remotely interesting and whenever they are in a scene together it feels like if one of them were to actually touch the other, they would literally shatter and break. So frustrating.
If we extend what they've done with Brittany onto a macro scale, we have a show that swerves wildly from scene to scene between trying to be a very subtle drama to over the top scenery chewing. It does not work. It's saved only because it has pretty actors and I feel it's a very superficial show which tries to tackle tough issues but approaches them from very narrow, preachy angles. This episode was sub-par and I am non-plussed about the finale.
"Glee" airs Tuesdays on FOX at 8:00 pm EST.
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