The scariest moment of Thursday’s new Glee came when Brittany got a school record high score on her SAT college entrance exams after randomly filling in bubbles on the test form. However, that turned out to be a bit of diversionary humor. The real issue was Sam’s record low score.
With the glee club now trying to raise money to go to Regionals by printing a “Men of McKinley High” beefcake calendar, Sam was in his element, perhaps a little too much so. Nonetheless, watching the guys without their shirts was as much fun as sitting in the end zone at a football game with a pair of binoculars.
Naturally, Sue had to protest the calendar, but the business about her Penthouse centerfold was so pointless and hardly worth mentioning. More interesting was Artie’s complete lack of interest in the project. As he pointed out, girls aren’t the only ones with body issues, although Artie has a few more than most of us.
Meanwhile, Rachel did a cute, sing-about-your-dilemma-with-yourself bit as she debated doing a topless scene in a student movie. I get not wanting to hide behind your old, coy self, not to mention the thrill of getting a role. But topless scenes in student films are less about the art and more about exploitation, as Kurt more or less pointed out. And I don’t blame Kurt for getting annoyed at Brody for showing up to breakfast in his birthday suit.
Having Kurt call in Santana and Quinn to try and talk some sense into Rachel may have been an excuse to bring the two back, but it sure looked good. I loved the scene where Rachel was expected to drop her robe and how she dealt with it. I also loved how the show dealt with it, with all the guys on the crew ditching their shirts. One of the nice things about Glee (and with Murphy’s other property, The New Normal) is the way Murphy goes with our natural tendency to prefer young and slim, then throws in heavier people as a way of reminding us of what’s more normal.
But back to McKinley. It figures Blaine would be the one to find a way to encourage Sam to think of himself as more than just a body. It was also a sneaky way to encourage kids to think about college, even when they think they’re too dumb and too poor to do so. Emma is absolutely right; there are hundreds of scholarships out there, as well as colleges that don’t rely on SAT scores for entrance. And I know for a fact (thanks to my nephew) that a really good essay can get you in, even when your grades won’t.
The sweetest moment was when Blaine presented Sam with the video evidence of his accomplishments. Another nice little life lesson? We’ve all accomplished more than we think.
All that being said, the final number, while really cool and pretty, did seem a bit pointless. The choreography was great and the washed-out look of it was pretty cool, although it may have been a take off on some video I haven’t seen. Either way, it didn’t really do much to punctuate the action of the show.
The best part was how they handled Artie in his wheelchair. As the Beloved Spouse noted, that chair has been treated like a throne, or even a regal litter. More to the point, what the choreographers have done to incorporate the wheelchair into the choreography is more than a little impressive, pushing the limits into real dance art.
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Glee airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Global/Fox.
Anne Louise Bannon is the editor of YourFamilyViewer.com. Follow her on Twitter @YrFamilyViewer.
