GLEE Recap: Love is in the Air at McKinley High

Sorry I’m a little late in sharing my thoughts on last night’s GLEE. My boyfriend has recently recovered from eye surgery so I opted to spend some quality time with him on Valentine’s Day. You know how it is.

Love was in the air on GLEE this week. So much love that I’m not even going to trample all over the Valentine’s Day episode (well, not too much at least). Despite the requisite number of eye rolls that naturally accompany GLEE, there was actually a lot I really liked about tonight’s episode – and how often do I get to say that?

Sugar Motta brought the funny. Dave Karofsky brought the heart. Mercedes brought the voice. And the return of Blaine brought a much needed smile to my face.

Sugar Motta was all about getting McKinley into the V-Day spirit, and what better way to do that than to spend her Daddy’s money on a big party. I’m in! Since no one could attend dateless, including the hostess, Sugar was eagerly pursued by two of New Directions singletons – Artie and Rory. The boys tried to outdo each other in hopes of tasting some sweet Sugar. Confetti, candy, puppies and finally – a choir room serenade. Artie’s “Let Me Love You” got Sugar’s boy band lovin’ heart thumping, but there was no turning back when Rory pulled out the one-two punch of Buble and deportation. In the end Rory won and accompanied Sugar to her party. But will he have to go back to Ireland as he suggested? I don’t think so, but it left an out for the writers if they choose to not have him return next season. He was only guaranteed seven episodes, so I guess we’ll soon see.

Before we move on, can we all agree that the GLEE writers need to just stop with the whole ‘New Directions is low on cash’ storyline? It’s make no sense when we see money spent on elaborate costumes, lighting and set design for everyday rehearsals. It’s details like these that make me question if the writers give the fans any credit at all.

Tonight marked the long awaited introduction of Rachel’s Dads – Leroy and Hiram Berry. One episode in and I’m already hoping we see much, much more of Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Hiram and Leory made Rachel Berry who she is, of course I want to learn more about them. In-home dinner theater, talk of lube, and encouraging their teen daughter to have post-meal sexual relations with her boyfriend in their home – don’t worry, they offered to turn the music up. Ok, so maybe not all of that is what it seemed, but I think we can all agree that the fathers Berry reverse psychology act didn’t go quite as planned. Rather than pushing Rachel and Finn to realize that they are marrying too young, Rachel’s Dads, with a little help from the Hudson-Hummels, might have just helped push their daughter even closer to marriage. Uh Oh.

Also new to GLEE tonight was GLEE PROJECT winner Samuel Larsen. Sam plays Joe, a recently home-schooled McKinley sophomore who is a member of the God Squad. Yes, I said the God Squad. This new group made up of Quinn (a teen mother who recently tried to manipulate her ex into sex so she could get pregnant again), Sam (a former stripper), Mercedes and Joe are on a mission to what…save McKinley? Perhaps, but on this V-Day they are in the singing telegram business. The group serenades Rachel with their take on ‘Stereo Hearts’. Chord Overstreet rapping was a bit much for my tastes, but I thought Sam Larsen sounded great, and the camera really does love that boy. The groups only other telegram request came from Santana who wanted to publicly show her love for Brit, especially after Figgins shut down their PDA (more on that in a minute). The GLEE writers actually wrote a scene in which the God Squad contemplated whether or not they should sing to a lesbian couple. Are you kidding me? We get it, not all Christians are bigoted hate mongers. Message received. Next time try for a bit more subtly. And don’t even get me started on Mercedes role in this whole mess. Her best friend is gay and she once told him that she would never judge him for being who he is, so why is she even entertaining the idea of not serenading Santana and Brittany? In the end, Joe let us know that “love is love” and the group sang a mash up of ‘Cherish’ and well ‘Cherish’ to the lovely Cheerio twosome. The girls smooched, Tumblr and Twitter exploded in rainbows, and those little red laser dots on the foreheads of Ryan Murphy and Co temporarily disappeared. All is well.

As for Figgins hauling Brittana into the principal’s office for demurely smooching on the lips? I would have called in State’s Attorney Smythe in on this one as it’s clearly a case of discrimination. Sue the school and then sue Figgins for being a creep. Yeah, I agree with him that I’d rather see Brit and Auntie Snixx kiss rather than Finchel, but I’m not the principal of the high school. Ew and ew.

Brittana gets called to the principal’s office for one small peck, yet it took a death threat and a parent complaint for David Kurofsky to be called out by the school’s administrators. Now I’m not here to belabor the point – Karofsky has changed. His character has seen a certain amount of redemption over time, and his small arc happens to be one of the strongest elements of the show. But when Dave finally revealed himself as Kurt’s secret admirer, I’m glad Kurt called a spade a spade. Karofsky tormented Kurt to the point that he had to change schools. If one short conversation at a gay bar and some cards and candies months later proved enough to woo Kurt Hummel then the writers would have made Kurt an immediate stranger to almost all GLEE fans. I wasn’t too concerned though. Even if the writers tried it, I have faith Chris Colfer wouldn’t have allowed it to happen.

I personally don’t want the writers to explore a romance between Kurt and David at this point in time. It has less to do with my love of all things Klaine and more to do with the fact that Karofsky hasn’t earned the right to be with Kurt, yet. I agree with Kurt’s sentiments completely in as much David likes the idea of Kurt. He wants to be with someone who is brave and self-assured – everything David isn’t at this point in time. The Karofsky I saw last night was a kid who is still struggling with self-acceptance, and I think his feelings for Kurt have more to do with wanting to be loved by the one person in his life who truly knows who he is, more than anything else. But if David truly knew Kurt then he would know that a few Valentine’s Day gestures wouldn’t be enough for Kurt to walk away from the boy he is in love with. I would have liked to see a little bit more of a lead up between these two before the writers threw it all out there.

I’m all for having Max Adler return to the show. If the writers want to explore a friendship between Kurt and David, count me in. However, it wasn’t just a coincidence that a guy (Aaron Hill from ‘Greek’) from Karofsky’s new school spotted Dave and Kurt out at Breadstix. I’m not sure where this particular storyline is headed but I have my theories, and none of them bode well for Karofsky.

It was Valentine’s Day last year that Kurt Hummel was the one putting his feelings out there to the boy he liked only to be rejected. Oh what a difference a year makes. This V-Day finds Kurt and Blaine madly in love and approaching their one year anniversary. But once again Kurt found himself alone on the day dedicated to lovers as Blaine was still recovering from eye surgery. Luckily for Kurt (and me) his (our) “cute and compact” boyfriend made a surprise appearance at the last minute and got the party going with a rousing rendition of ‘Love Shack’. I might not be the biggest fan of this song, but the enthusiasm of the GLEE cast was infectious and I found myself bopping along. Plus, I got some serious adorableness from Klaine – just what I wanted to make my Valentine’s Day perfect.

A few more thoughts before my cold heart turns back to ice….

• No Sue. Limited Will. A recipe for a good episode.
• GLEE featuring Whitney Houston’s signature “I Will Always Love You” just days after her passing is a tough thing. Lucky for us, the song was in the more than capable hands of Amber Riley. Her rendition delivered fully, on every level. Sam and Shane weren’t the only two shedding tears during that performance. Bravo.
• Can Mike and Tina be any more adorable?  Harry Shum Jr. said his GLEE audition song was “L-O-V-E”. If he sang it half as well as he did last night then how come it’s taken more than two seasons to let him sing? Adding Harry’s voice to the mix has been a fantastic addition to the show this season. More please.
• Had to laugh when Karofsky showed up in the gorilla suit and Kurt thought it was Blaine. Um, Kurt – have you never noticed the height of your boyfriend. Should we just chock it up to you being blinded by love?
• Really disappointed that we were robbed of Burt Hummel’s reaction to Finn and Rachel’s engagement. I’m sure the world’s greatest Dad had some inspired advice for his stepson. Is there an official Burt Hummel fan club? Please let me know so I may join.

So that’s it from me. Next week is Regionals and the last new episode of GLEE until April. That’s right, I said April. Check out some pics from next’s week episode “On My Way“.

Thoughts on this week’s episode? Rachel’s dad? Kurtofsky vs. Klaine? Reactions to the Brittana of it all?  Sound off in the comments below.