GLEE: Mattress
December 3, 2009 by Kath Skerry
I don’t know about you but I was completely exhausted after lat night’s episode of GLEE. Perhaps it was all that jumping around on the mattresses, or maybe I was emotionally exhausted from the knockout fight between the Schuesters. Quick – get me a yearbook to deface so I can perk up again!
GLEE is one of the more difficult shows to cover. There are so many different storylines packed into each episode that it’s hard to know where to begin. There’s that, and the fact that the show doesn’t excel on continuity of storyline from week to week. For instance, I thought the GLEE kids were finally proud to be in the club. They made friends. Fought for each other. And now Captain Rachel tells me (as she addresses her minions) that the Gleekers are idly waiting by for Mr. Figgins to cancel the whole club. Well, which is it? Do they want in or not? I’m confused. Doesn’t McKinley High have some band geeks or at least an A/V Club that the football jocks (at least those not in Glee) could throw slushies at? The Gleekers need a break.
Speaking of a break – the kids got a huge break when Rachel, in her first duty as newly elected Captain, landed New Directions in a local mattress commercial. The arrangement of “Jump” was crazy fun. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have the urge to go jump on my bed last night. And those mattress must have been quite springy. Good thing they were soft, because prego Quinn Fabray was doing some crazy gymnastics. Can someone please sit her down and talk about the do’s and don’t’s of pregnancy?
I guess it won’t be Teri Schuester to share motherly advice. Finally…finally Will discovered that Teri was faking the pregnancy. Both Jesslyn Gislig and Matthew Morrison were fantastic in the scene, but Matthew took things to a whole new level. Although the scene felt wildly out of place within the context of GLEE, the intensity and emotional devastation which Morrison brought was surprisingly superb. I felt myself getting a little chocked up, but cheering at the same time. Although it may not be the end of Mr. & Mrs. Schuester, it is the end of this storyline which has gone on far too long.
Raise your hand if you were hoping that Emma would still be at the school when Will showed up there after leaving Teri? I wouldn’t have minded him crying on her shoulder as they got comfy on those free mattresses. But alas Emma was at home, probably making herself sick over her upcoming wedding to Ken. A wedding that just so happens to be on the same day as the Glee Club Regionals. And by just so happens I mean, planned intentionally by Ken so Emma couldn’t spend any extra time fawning over Will. Little did he know Will wouldn’t even be at Regionals this year.
Leave it to Sue to seek out the bylaws of Regionals. It seems that New Directions was disqualified from Regionals because they received “payment” in the form of mattress for their commercial. Technically they went pro and only amateur choirs can compete. And in another one of those “I’ll go with it even if it doens’t make any sense” storylines of GLEE, it ended up that because he used one of the mattresses, it was only Mr. Schu that was disqualified from Regionals. The kids could compete, just without Mr. Schu. So the choral teacher is actually a participant in the competition? Even though he doesn’t participate at all in the actual event, outside of sitting in the audience? Color me confused. Ah GLEE and their ever so forced and convenient plotlines. You fail so often, yet I love you still.
For many Lea Michele’s “Rachel” is a polarizing character. I think it’s by design. I personally j’adore her narcissism and complete lack of awareness. It’s refreshing. But despite all her cheeriness, Rachel is such a sad character. She is so lonely. She has nothing else but her faith in her talent. She’s counting on her talent to get her everything she wants in life. But she’d give it all up (ok maybe, not all of it), just to be accepted – and what’s great about Rachel, she’d tell you the same thing straight out. Maybe that’s why it was so heart wrenching to see her get stood up by Finn at the photoshoot for the yearbook photo. Her spirit was crushed, but as usual she had no one but herself to lean on. It made my heart ache for her.
There’s Rachel and then there’s Quinn Fabray. Here’s someone that you want to feel sympathy for. A pretty teen girl who got pregnant and lost everything. She got kicked off the cheerleading team – the one thing that defined her. Her parents kicked her out. And she’s forced to choose between the lesser of two, um, let’s just say emotionally immature, fathers for her baby. But it’s hard to feel for Quinn because she doesn’t seem to appreciate all the people that are trying to help her. She still treats her fellow Gleekers like they are lesser than her despite how often they have reached out to support her. But last night I found myself sending Quinn a big high five through my TV when she told off Sue Sylvester and got the Glee Club their place in the yearbook. Has she finally made her choice? Is she ready to stand proud alongside her fellow Gleekers? Here’s to hoping.
As for tonight’s musical numbers, while the GLEE version of Van Halen’s “Jump” was fun, my favorite was the duo of Rachel and Finn singing Lily Allen’s “Smile”. But I was also smiling at the Michael Jackson version of “Smile” that the Gleekers. I’ll let you watch and you can decide which are your favorites. But first a few more memorable moments.
- I know I say this every week but I like to watch GLEE twice. Once for the show, and the second time just to focus on everything Chris Colfer. He doesn’t waste a single moment on screen.
- Rachel wanting to get Kurt to join her in creating Gaylesball – The Gay and Lesbian Alliance. Kurt wasn’t interested but Rachel should start in alone. SI mean she does have two gay dads.
- “I’m marrying Ken, Will. I know I’ve definitely given him reason in the past to be jealous but I need you to know that I’m done with that now.” – Are you really over it Emma? Really
- Rachel: “Make fun of me you all you want, but school pictures mean everything to me. They’re great practice for getting photographed by the paparazzi. Invasive as the press may be, stars are dependent on them for their fame and I feel I must be prepared.”
- “Dear Journal, I finally got Will Schuester and that glee club out of my hair. This is a day that will live in infamy. Once again, I won!”
Now on to those musical numbers I promised you.
“Jump” – New Directions
“Smile” – New Directions
Ok, your turn. Your thoughts on last night’s episode of GLEE. Should Will consider taking Teri back? Is it really the end of Will and Emma? Next week is the last episode of GLEE until April. Is anyone else as devastated as I am?
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I know it sounds weird but my number 1 laugh out loud moment was when the piano player was swaying his head back and forth. We finally get to see a bit of the band. I thought it was hilarious!
how bizarre to have 2 songs named “Smile” in the same episode.
“Although the scene felt wildly out of place within the context of GLEE, the intensity and emotional devastation which Morrison brought was surprisingly superb.” Aha! That’s EXACTLY what I felt but couldn’t put into words. The scene was fantastic, but didn’t really fit in with Glee. Not that I let something like that get in the way of my Glee love. 🙂
Why couldn’t Will just pay for the mattress so that it wouldn’t be viewed as a gift or payment? Other than that quibble, I really loved the episode, even though there was a noticeable lack of Kurt or Puck (but you are so right about Chris Colfer – he doesn’t waste a SECOND of screen time – he kills me). I have to say that I love Brittany so much too – she is completely hysterical.
Matthew Morrison was AMAZING in “the” scene. I see how you felt it was out of place in terms of tone, but wow was it ever well done. I’m really, really sad that next week is the last new ep till April. They’re releasing the first half of the season on dvd this month, right? That’s what I heard anyhow…I’m hoping for a ton of extras (although I can’t imagine how they’d have the time to do much commentary, etc.). Confirmation: DVD (Glee: The Road to Sectionals) will be released Dec. 29th. No info yet on extras.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/Glee-Volume-Release/9427
I think last night’s episode was my all time favorite. I’ve been waiting for Will to wise up to his wife’s pregnancy plot and they exceeded my expectations with the drama and the dialogue. I also loved seeing Quin backing Sue into a corner. She’s been so annoying and dormatty lately this was refreshing to see. Of course these two scenes weren’t placed in this episode by accident I’m sure. It will be interesting to see how the pregnancy drama, which by the way is my least favorite story line, plays out now.
I really liked this episode (tons more than last week). “The Scene” was great and I was shocked that Will actually figured it out. I thought her “padding to try on clothes” story was fairly convincing, and he would be duped again. I liked the kids all bonding together in the commercial, but the whole rest of that plot didn’t make sense to me. Schu didn’t even participate in the making of the commercial, so how is he a “professional”? All that was so confusing! I also don’t get why Schu would see a stack of mattresses with the note attached to the kids and think he should open one and lay on it. I didn’t count how many there were, so maybe there was an extra, but otherwise that’s a douchey thing to do, because he’s sleeping on one of the kids’ mattresses. Weird.
The yearbook plot was dumb too. Will buys a quarter page, and that means only two people are in it? Why wouldn’t you just make the picture smaller? And they would have more room for the Glee Club if each damn teacher didn’t get a whole page to themselves with a color picture! My yearbook had the teachers in rows just like the students and everyone was b&w except the seniors. I’m beginning to think the principal is just extorting money from Will, and he’s dumb enough to keep falling for it.
I’m still not really liking Quinn. It was good to see her standing up to Sue, but it really isn’t safe for her to be cheering since she’s one of the people they throw around. Sue kicked her off the squad for personal reasons too, but there were legitimate reasons mixed up in there.
I’m very sad next week is the last episodes ’til April. TV scheduling has gotten so crazy the last few years.
Strunkett, I agree with you, I loved the piano player bopping his head. But my laugh out loud moment was when the store owner kept jumping during the song. i laugh everytime I see it.
I agree Morrison was fantastic and so was Gilsig becasue we acutally felt just a little bit bad for Terry. Not a lot but it must be hard as an actor to create sympathy for that character.
Chris Colfer makes the most of every scene he has in jump. Watch it just to see him, he is hilarious.
Watching rachel and Finn sing smile Just makes ya feel good!
Although Michael Jackson is usually credited with the song “Smile”, the song was actually written by Charlie Chaplin way back in 1936. There were dozens of covers done of the song before Jackson recorded his version.
I swear Quinn Fabray/Dianna Agron and Kurt Hummel/Chris Colfer are the only reasons I’m still watching this. This episode was a pure suck-fest.
Rachel is the heart and soul of the show and the glee club.
Sure she can be a bit much, but how a person can not feel for her is beyond me and little sad for them.
I can’t watch the embedded videos at work and it took me forever to figure out what song the second “Smile” was. I never even knew Michael Jackson recorded a version of that song and I am doubtful it was the best. Thank you Rick for clearing it up for me. My personal fave is the Nat Kind Cole version. Calms me every time.
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