"The Sue Sylvester Shuffle"
- It's a bit regrettable that they wrote Karofsky so broadly in the earlier episodes that kicked off the arc that sent Kurt to Dalton. This episode suggested that there's a great, subtle performance in Max Adler that hasn't been serviced as well as it could, showing flashes of a kid who lashes out because he's paralyzed by fear and constantly at war with himself. Who knows where the rest of this season will go, but hopefully there's room to give more shading to Glee's designated bully.
- I really liked the performance of "She's Not There," but would've loved it if they hadn't thrown in Will's totally inelegant explanation of the joke therein. Come on, guys. Googling only takes a few seconds - make the kids work for it a little.
"Silly Love Songs"
- And it would seem they're on a roll, as both Blaine and Lauren were granted more complexity in this episode. Blaine in particular really needed the shading - the show's been coasting to some extent on Darren Criss' God-given handsomeness and letting Blaine be some sort of shaman of well-adjusted gay teendom.
"Comeback"
- I'm of two minds about this episode's generally excellent take on "Take Me or Leave Me"; on the one hand, it's so insanely well-suited to Lea Michele and Amber Riley's voices that it's sort of astonishing that it took so long to show up on Glee (and that this is the first Rent song they've done, although admittedly I don't know whether Rent is still the go-to show for musical-theater-loving teens. I assume that it's sort of been superseded by Wicked and Spring Awakening, but what do I know?) On the other hand, how do you have two characters sing a duet where they both sing the same part? I understand that Joanne's section has a lyrical specificity particular to the song's context within Rent that Maureen's "I'm a fabulous diva, look at meeee!" doesn't, but the duet-that-wasn't aspect was jarring to me as someone familiar with the original.
- Maybe it's just because I've been rewatching episodes of Friday Night Lights in anticipation of the *sniff* final season, but I'm really confused (and, frankly, kind of irritated) by Glee's vagueness around the competition structure of Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals. It seems pretty clear that the show is pointing towards New Directions going to Nationals, regardless of whether it ultimately makes sense or not, and that they presumably would re-encounter Vocal Adrenaline there. But wouldn't they still be competing in the same Regionals, especially since the show's specifically laid out that the other opponent from last year will be there? I know it's not really Glee's "way," but it would just be easier to invest some measure of interest in whether or not they win if it seemed like the competitions were governed by some sort of consistent rules.
"Blame it on the Alcohol"
- The character has extraordinarily few really endearing moments, so I was extra-charmed by Will's drunk grading. A lot of this episode made me sit back and think, "Sometimes it really is super-fun to just get tanked with your friends," which may or may not indicate that the after-school special aspect missed its mark. I guess it depends on who you think the show's intended audience is, age-wise.
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