Episode 7, "Mash-Up"
Reviewed by Ike Holter aka Dot the I aka Black Blader
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Every great musical needs to stab you in the no-no place within the first ten minutes.
Some use an "I want" number. Some set the world, set-piece by set-piece. Others use high-kicking dance lines, explosions, deaths, nudity.
One uses creepy cats.
Really creepy cats.
"Glee", (which has finally crossed over the sanity line, congratulations) manages to present annoying, endlessly covered jingles in a way that puts the characters wants and needs into (over)produced declaration:
"Look at me--I'm sad and totally awkward, but really kind of awesome."
Last night's episode opened with Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrision) showcasing the freshest white-boy-crunk this side of Justin Timberlake. Schuester laid out the episodes plot:
The Glee kids have to find a mash-up to mix with the horrible 90's classic "Bust A Move."
Before we have time to ask normal, sane-person questions like "Why this song?" or "Isn't pop-hop dead?" or "This is kinda maybe sorta gay, right?" Schuester is off; shaking his ass, flipping his shit--he's a punch-drunk-pop-hop-punk and he doesn't care who knows it.
It's not even ten minutes into the episode.
Either you're with us or you're watching "The Ghost Whisperer."
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Thankfully, nothing ever came of the musical mash-up.
(I can imagine it would have included Rachel's sure to be belty mix of "Bust a Move" and "Defying Gravity" . Think about the itunes downloads.)
The real mash-ups in the episode were presented in three ways:
1. Football Vs Glee.
Coach Tanaka did the 80's thing and forced his rough-and-tumble pig-skin slayers to choose between the homoerotic shower room scenes of F'uball over the super straight Streisand singing of the Gleeks.
Who-will-win?!
2. Music Teacher Vs Horny Guidance Counselor.
Schue and Emma Pillsbury begin to deal with their sexual attraction in a sophisticated and adult fashion: By singing "The thong song" and "I could have danced all night" while fighting inner sexual urges under the watchful eye of Tanaka. Very Grown-up.
3. Puck and Rachel vs "Schlinders List:
Can these two jews get jiggy with it?
None of these mash-ups worked out.
Glee kicked footballs ass, "Thong Song" and "Danced all night" parted ways, and "Schlinders List" always wins.
Such is life.
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"Glee" knocks it out of the park when the show goes for the creeping sadness beneath the Journey covers and Jill Scott mixes.
It's a sad show about people trying to be happy.
Even Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch, EMMY) failed at her own mash-up of swing dance and in-office-dating. (I could have told her that in-office-dating ONLY works with salsa dancing or tap-dancing; never Swing dancing, silly Sue.)
Seeing Sylvester finally kiss failures waiting lips was funny--Jane Lynch in a Zoot Suit always is--but this time the drama outweighed the shtick.
Her retaliation: kicking Cheerleader-dead-face-medi
Sue did what no other characters could do on last nights episode. Instead of offering ultimatums or creeping away to The Loser Corner with the rest of the freaks, she stepped up and pushed her problems on someone else.
While all the other characters seem to repeat the fly, fight, fail process, Sue seems to be the only one who can grab victory out of vicious defeat.
She and Hilary Clinton could have a book club.
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This episode is a dead tie with "The Rhodes Not Taken", Kristen Chennowith's (emmy) episode. I love when "Glee" uses it's musical numbers for good (Chennowith singing Cabaret, Jessica Mays killing "I could have danced all night") and not for evil (last weeks abysmal "Set me Free").
While none of tonight's numbers hit the heights of "Somebody to Love", this episodes plot, dialogue and character building were superb.
(Tonight script was credited to Ian Brennan, who's a much better writer then Ryan Murphy.)
Here's the score-card:
MUSICAL NUMBERS:
B+ (That plus comes solely from Matthew Morrison and his ass, which has a mind of it's own.)
DIALOGUE
A- (Jane Lynch's cat monologue was stupendous and horrifying.)
QUEER FACTOR
C+ (That's not a bad thing. We just didn't get any footballers dancing to "Single Ladies.)
G.PA:
B
What say you? Hollerback!
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