GLEE Recap: If You Like It Put a Ring on It

Please tell me I’m not the only one who felt like they got bitch slapped by GLEE tonight.

The competing storyline lines, the bombardment of music, the evocation of real emotions. I think I need a nap or at least a drink.

Love was most certainly in the air tonight for some of our GLEEksters. Who found love? Who was passed over?

If you haven’t seen tonight’s episode…then why are you reading this? Go watch and come back later because we’re going to be talking some spoilers up in here.

Will You Marry Me Will?
Another GLEE wedding is on the horizon. Mr. Schue finally decided to put a ring on it and asked Emma to be his wife. And it wouldn’t be GLEE if the McKinley kids weren’t in on the proposal. After pitching Mr. Schue proposal ideas throughout the episode, the guys and gals came together in a completely sweet and adorable synchronized swimming routine set to the backdrop of “We Found Love” by Rhianna. Leave it to Will to find to cheese it up by (1) wearing white tails and a top hat before (2) diving in to the water in order to get to Emma. Oh Will.

Will You Marry Me…Rachel?
Finchel fans be goin’ crazy tonight! On the same stage where Finn and Rachel had their first date*, Finn told Rachel that loving her was all he needed to be happy in life. Aw. He then pulled out a ring (a rather nice one at that), got down on one knee and proposed. What the what?! Before I rain on the parade of Finchel fans, let me just say that I thought it was so sweet that Finn loves Rachel enough that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. It’s Rachel Berry. She’s a handful. He must really love her.  But I have to question Finn’s true intention.  The proposal came on the heels of finding out that his father wasn’t the war hero he was led to believe. Finn’s dad didn’t die in Iraq, but rather overdosed in Cincinnati months after being dishonorably discharged from the Army. Finn has been struggling all year with his dashed dreams for the future, so I suppose in his mind it made sense pin down his future by marrying Rachel.

Does anyone really think Rachel is going to give up all her hopes and dreams to marry Finn? They are seniors in high school. Let’s slow it down a little, kids. Guess we’ll find out next week whether or not a double wedding should be in the works.

[*Was the scene in the auditorium really Finn and Rachel’s first date? I am pretty sure he was dating Quinn at the time, no? Their first kiss, yes. But their first date? I’m not so sure.]

I Now Pronounce You Man and Beiste
Two proposals and a wedding. Coach Beiste, who before last year had never been kissed, eloped with recruiter Cooter Menkins. Good for them. But for the life of me I can’t find the reason behind the writers oh so casually marrying off these twosome. Oh wait, it’s GLEE.

Dame Becky Jackson
What a great episode for Lauren Potter who plays Becky. Usually we just see the character as Sue’s sidekick, but tonight we saw a different side of the co-Captain of the Cheerios. Setting her sights on Artie, Becky showed true gumption by asking her crush out on a date. Despite Artie truly enjoying the company of Becky, the love connection just wasn’t there and he let her down gently. Throughout the entire episode, Becky’s inner monologue – voiced by Helen Mirren – provided the audience with her amusing take on life, but in the end that same inner voice let us in to a truly private moment of self doubt and struggle. One that shows that no matter what her differences, Becky is just a normal teenage girl.

“I didn’t ask him what I wanted to ask him. I didn’t ask if the reason he didn’t want to be my boyfriend was because I have Down’s. I didn’t ask him because I know the answer is yes. Some days it sucks being me. This is one of those days. Focus, Becky. Don’t let them see you cry.”

Behind-the-Scenes of ‘Yes/No’

Before I head to the sink to wash my eyes out from seeing Will dance along with the boys tonight, here are a few more moments to discuss from tonight’s episode.

Classic Glee moment that left me laughing so hard I couldn’t breath. Did they really let the kid in the wheelchair dive in to the swimming pool? Why yes they did! I don’t know why I found that so funny but I rewound it about 5 times and laughed until real tears came down my face. Did they not realize that he could die? It never occurred to anyone to just leave Artie out of that particular scene?

Can someone please make that into an animated .gif?

(God love you people on Tumblr. It’s already there.)

 

• Speaking of tears, Jayma Mays (officially the cutest gal on the planet after her take on ‘Wedding Bell Blues’) had me sobbing in the scene where Will talks to her about his reservations about marrying her because of her OCD. His concerns were justified and warranted a serious discussion, but her plea that she was trying to get better but she couldn’t promise she ever would was Jayma’s finest moment on the show to date.

• Keeping on this ‘tears’ kick  – for the love of Klaine, somebody PLEASE STOP LEA MICHELE! Does Rachel need to cry every single time she sings a ballad?  She wasn’t even through the first line of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and she had tears streaming down her face. Ugh. Enough already with the ‘boy who cried wolf’ tears.

• Chord Overstreet in a bathing suit. Thanks for that. Like Shane stood a chance after Trouty Mouth came back to MHS. Get on that Mercedes.

• I might have said that Coach Beiste and Cooter were moving fast, but not as fast as Emma Pillsbury. Yes, she may have been singing about the ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ but lets not forget that Emma’s engagement to Will is her third engagement in just the first two and a half seasons of the show. The girl is giving J. Lo a run for her money.

• NeNe Leaks of ‘Real Housewives’ fame certainly screamed a lot during her brief cameo as Sam’s swim coach, but it was NeNe so I kind of loved it.

• Will asking Finn to be his best man. Yeah. I feel that crosses some strange teacher/student code, but even stranger (or sadder) that Will has no other friends his own age.

As for tonight’s music…there was a lot of it.

• “Summer Nights” – The song was eh. Nothing special and the whole thing felt a little forced to me. The highlight of the entire scene was Puck randomly kissing Sam’s hand just before he started singing. What was that? I loved it!

• “Wedding Bell Blues” – Adorable. Loved Sue and Shannon as Emma’s back up singers/bridesmaids.

• “Moves Like Jagger/Jumpin’ Jack Flash” – I could have done without the Rolling Stones part of the mash-up. I thought it really ruined the song for me. From the minute I heard Adam Levine sing “Moves Like Jagger” I knew they would sing it on GLEE. I always thought it would be a Darren Criss number, but Kevin McHale did it justice. But yeah, I don’t need to see Will dancing with the kids. Get some friends…maybe then you would have an appropriate best man.

• “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – Beautifully performed by Rachel, Tina, Mercedes and Santana. Loved the flashbacks to the earlier days of some of our favorite couples. But did anyone else find it strange how nostalgic Will got about the first time he met Emma. Dude, you were still married. Creep. (It has to be said, although we witnessed the first meeting of Blaine and Kurt, the whole scene would have been better if one of those two boys were a part of it.)

• “Without You” – Loved Lea’s take on the song, but it had no context in terms of the scene. It literally came out of no where. Really off putting. And they should have never transitioned her performance to the choir room…not when there was a certain element of auto-tuning involved. I love the song enough to put it on iTunes but I thought it crashed and burned within the context of the episode.

• “We Found Love” – As I already said, I loved the scene and the song was a great addition to tonight’s episode. The GLEE cast looked like they were having a blast filming the scene, and I think that really came through on the screen tonight.

All that love and we haven’t even hit the Valentine’s Day episode yet. So let’s here it…did you love Will’s proposal?  Are you excited for a Wemma wedding?  Thoughts on Finn’s big proposal? Will Rachel say yes? Will these two meet up under a chuppa before the end of the series? I would love to hear your take on all that and anything else you loved/hated about tonight’s episode of GLEE.

In two weeks GLEE takes on the King of Pop. Check out pics from GLEE’s Michael Jackson episode. Rachel struggles with giving Finn an answer. Blaine’s loyalty to New Directions comes in to question. Is he another Jesse St. James? And Sebastian and Santana face off in what I’m sure will soon be one of the most played songs on my iPod.