GLEE Recap: ‘Born This Way’
April 26, 2011 by Samantha Simorangkir
Oh my Gaga! The overwhelmingly positive message of self-love. Tear-jerking musical numbers. Wemma progress. Finchel moments. Puckleberry moments. Kurt’s return. “Trouty Mouth” on a t-shirt. So much to love about this episode! My GLEE cup overfloweth. Thank you, Grilled Cheesus.
Things get kicked off with a bang – or should I say, a “whack” – as Finn hits Rachel in the face during a dance rehearsal. She is rushed to the hospital to get her schnoz checked out. Turns out it’s broken, and the douchey doctor pushes her to get a nose job. Rachel is not the sort to give in to vanities, but when she learns that it may improve her singing voice, how can she say no? Nobody else seems to think it’s a good idea, and neither do I, but I can’t blame her for soldiering on anyway. It’s not like they’ve been supportive of anything else she’s done. If there’s anyone who has a say it would be Finn, and he does. He pleads “Rachel, please don’t do this. You’re beautiful.” She clearly looks like she’s been gently stabbed in the heart with that comment (in a good way) but being the strong woman she is, reminds everyone that this is not a discussion and that she’s doing it anyway.
Meanwhile, Quinn is campaigning for prom queen, and Lauren, with the help of Puck, tries to give her some competition. Her angle is to be the people’s candidate, as opposed to Quinn who thinks she is someone everyone else aspires to be.
Rachel takes Quinn’s nose (attached to Quinn) to the doctor’s office to show him what she wants. Then Quinn and Rachel sing a duet of “Unpretty,” which immediately brought me back to the late 1990’s – a very formative period in my life. Loved the tender arrangement, and how it seamlessly mashed-up with “I Feel Pretty.” Since it’s a song about insecurities and pressures relating to physical appearance, I understand why Rachel’s singing it, but it isn’t immediately apparent how it applies to Quinn.
Well, thanks to Lauren breaking into Quinn’s academic records, we learn that prior to arriving at McKinley, Quinn was formerly known as Lucy “Caboosey” Fabray, was fat, and had quite the schnoz of her own. Yes, Miss Perfect Face had a nose job, and was once “Unpretty” herself. I found this to be an interesting revelation, though a bit of a stretch.
Puck is very adorably concerned about Rachel’s decision to get a nose job, and with Kurt’s help, orchestrates a flash mob at the mall, where they all dance to the lyrically-sparse homage to the most famous nose in the biz, and Miss Berry’s hero: Barbra Streisand. I am personally a little tired of flash mobs. GLEE has already done one, and I think one is more than enough. It’s one of those things that blows your mind the first time you see it, and eventually just becomes more work than the payoff is worth. It’s exhausting to even watch. But seeing Kurt and Puck simultaneously mouth “Barbra Streisand” was worth it for me.
Since everyone in this episode has an insecurity, Finn’s is his inability to dance. He does a cute number with Mike which highlights this flaw in a most endearing way, as his Frankenteen legs try their hardest to keep up with Mike’s magic feet. Tina’s insecurity? She wears blue contacts because apparently there are no Asian sex symbols (Kelly Hu, Lucy Liu, Xiang Xiyi, Connie Chung — do your research, writers) and is emulating what she sees in the magazines. What? Of course Mike loves her just the way she is, and we are subjected to some awkward make-out scenes.
Santana has a huge plan. With her amazing gaydar, she detects Karofsky’s little secret. Then plans to convince him that they should be beards together. So Kurt can come back to McKinley. So she can be a hero. So people will vote for her for prom queen. So Brittany will see how awesome she is and fall in love with her. Man. Santana may not be straight, but she’s straight-up genius. She also has some of the best lines these days (““Maybe Rachel’s fine with having an enormous beak. Maybe she needs it to crack hard seeds”), and I am still thankful she hasn’t lost her edge. She’s still a huge bitch.
The one character who’s storyline in this episode that I really wanted to love but had some issues with was Emma’s. Having Will help her through her OCD seems like a great idea. But in this episode it no longer came from a warm, caring place, and instead felt like he was bullying her into changing. The most confusing part of this story for me involves the whole “Born This Way” theme. Emma says she wasn’t born with OCD, but that’s the way she is and she’s willing to accept it. Will is preaching acceptance to his glee club, saying that they should accept the cards they’ve been dealt. But with Emma, everyone is telling her she should NOT just accept the OCD, and that it’s not part of who she is, but it’s keeping her from becoming the person she should be. So then why does Will throw a fit when Emma doesn’t put “OCD” on her this-is-who-I-am-and-I’m-not-changing t-shirt? Emma’s OCD doesn’t belong in the same category as Rachel’s “nose,” and Sam’s “Trouty Mouth,” and Kurt’s “I like boys.” I thought she had it right the first time when she wrote “Ginger” on her shirt. Because that’s what the lesson was about, accepting those differences that you can’t do anything about and that you should celebrate, right? It’s not about acknowledging you have a problem. Anyway, I brushed off this confusion as soon as Will took her hand and brought her on stage to dance with the rest of them. There’s just so much cuteness when they’re together.
Besides “Unpretty” — which I loved — and every scene that Santana was in, the best thing that happened tonight was Kurt. Everything feels right again now that he’s back. I love Blaine and the Warblers, and their “Somewhere Only We Know” was a bittersweet goodbye. But it always felt like two different shows when Kurt was at Dalton. And in a weird way, it feels like Chris Colfer (Kurt) just returned to Glee. “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” albeit a little long, was the perfect song for his comeback. When he belted out “I’ve come home at laaaast!” all I could do was raise a hand to the sky and say “Yes you have, Kurt. Yes you have!” And moments later, he barely audibly sings the line “whispered conversations.” So beautiful. Of course they could not do justice to a Lady Gaga showstopper without Kurt’s fabulousness. It was a great closing number, and I want every single one of those t-shirts. I probably want Puck’s the most.
What did you think of tonight’s episode?
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I am praying the writers keep Puck/Rachel as a friendship. They work best that way.
Rachel/Quinn duet was the best duet done on Glee. It better be on tour.
Plus, can Lauren leave now? Her shtick is old and boring.
I don’t even like Quinn/Dianna Agron’s voice, but the harmonies on Unpretty were beautiful. You know I’m a sucker for harmonies. And Lea Michele is a beast. I love how she can belt a song but also sing softly with so much depth.
And Santana, Santana, Santana. I think Naya Rivera’s grown so much as an actress and just elevates every scene she’s in. And there’s a ton of room there for character development. Love her, love her, love her.
And yeah, totally agree with Kristin. I’m over Lauren and her one-note, “I’m big, bold, and aggressive.” Okay, that’s three-notes, but as of yet, that’s all she has. She’s turning into Tina.
I have been thinking this season of Glee always seemed to be off just a bit – there can be a lot of factors – too much music or not enough, no story advancement or story lines all over the place. No balance – just great moments – 2nd seasons shows are a tough challenge because the show becomes the target of its success – then I wonder what if Glee just needed more time per episode … The One Hour format just doesn’t work for what Glee has become and tonight sure made me a believer even more that Glee works best with a 90 minute format – Maybe season three can be that & more – I don’t think there has been a 90 minute series on Prime Time – How about it FOX?
I actually interpreted the lesson a much different way, i didn’t think it was about what you can’t change about yourself but more about owning what you maybe don’t like so much about yourself. Pretty much everything on everyone’s shirt did that, except in my opinion Kurts, so for that reason Emma’s OCD fit right in for me. Again, just my opinion though.
In her conversation with Will, Emma mentioned things much earlier than five years old that could have been signs of the OCD but she was too young for people to classify it that way. I would say Emma was probably born that way.
I understand Will’s frustration because without help their relationship won’t progress any further than what it is. I did think he was a little heavy handed with her though. A mental condition is nothing you just shake off or get over, its going to take a lot of hard work and yes, medication unfortunately.
Man…Darren Criss steals every scene he is in, he’s such a gorgeous singer. I could literally watch him for hours he has so much emotion in his eyes when he sings and don’t even get me started on his moves, the man moves sexy…nuff said.
I think i’m kind of over the flash mob too, but really, really enjoyed the one when Artie danced so maybe i just feel like no other one can measure up. Kevin McHale is an amazing dancer!
All in all i enjoyed the episode, although i did find Kurt’s song too long, probably the only real flaw in this episode to me.
Yes, sorry but that whole Lauren and Puck attempt to destroy Quinn thing really soured what could have been the best Glee episode yet. How can that be the same Puck that’s sweet enough to start the flash-mob for Rachel?? (because it was Puck’s idea, he asked Kurt for help!) Thank CHEESUS I don’t ship Puck/Quinn because they really have no loyalty whatsoever to that pairing. The Rachel/Quinn stuff is dynamite, but they don’t ever go properly into it, I feel like they write more but then they cut large chunks out of it so we’re just left to go
“Whaaaaa?” Like seriously, are they friends? Do they actually have a secret friendship we’re just not privy too? I really don’t understand, but then again, I’ve been wondering about this since episode 2 of this season, so props for the continuity!
The Quinn reveal was just plain lazy, an easy move for comedic effect that will quickly be forgotten. Quinn has so many issues that have been there all along, Beth, her relationship with her family, her interactions with Rachel, this just could have been done so much better. It’s strange that Dianna Agron is often presented in the media as central character, they stick her on display with Lea, Cory, Chris and Jane all the time, but when it comes to the show Quinn is really a very secondary character. It seems like she’s going to get development but she doesn’t, practically all of her storylines revolve around another character’s development. I suppose it’s just because she’s hot and publicly appealing, but it’s a waste of Agron’s talent, because she runs with the little bits she’s given and really makes me want to love a character that isn’t anywhere near as deep and developed as she has the potential to be. The piano scene from Original Song is so layer and so tragically sad, I really hope they don’t just drop the whole storyline for the God-awful Finchel when it rears it’s ugly head again!
ALSO DO WE REALLY THINK FOR ONE SECOND THAT SANTANA AND SUE WOULDN’T HAVE DISCOVERED THIS SECRET AGES AGO!!
Blaine serenading Kurt was silly and unbelievable, but I don’t care, I absolutely adored it, Kurt deserves a proper romance, and I love that Blaine is trying to give it to him.
Lauren can just leave, I really have had enough of her ridiculousness. I try to be an adult about it, I know part of the reason I dislike her intensely is because I ship Puck/Rachel, but her character is just horrible and unnecessary, I hated that Quinn just forgave her and they suddenly acted like they were friends, just leave already.
I just loved the Finn and Rachel moments. They are so authentic and well done. Finn is so confused and not living by the motto I’ve gotta be me. He needs to break up with Quinn. Interesting how the camera pans to Quinn during the part “Or never belong” during I’ve gotta be me. And during Kurt’s song the part about being afraid to be alone, it shows Finn looking at Quinn. I just want Finn and Quinn to be done, it has been going on long enough. This Finn and Rachel reunion better be in the works, cause it is long overdue.
Loved Kurt’s return – he is fantastic. I wish Blaine would join him 🙂
Santana and Brittany – I LOVE THEM SO MUCH
Will and Emma – This was the first time that I actually liked Emma. Jayma did an amazing job during the therapy scene. Kudos
Rebeccapedia – your comments about Puck and Lauren going after Quinn was right on. Puck sets his sights on destroying the mother of his child?! Come on now. Sometimes I wish Ryan Murphy and co would let these characters have just a bit of continuity.