Like the episodes preceding it in the second half of the season, this week's episode of GLEE has a theme: finding one's voice. ‘Laryngitis' revolves around Puck's attempts to regain popularity after a trip to the skin doctor forces him to part with his signature mohawk, which in turn leads to his being deposited in a dumpster by the school's geeks, Rachel Berry's tonsillitis, and Kurt's attempts to connect with his father. Ultimately, though, ‘Laryngitis' left me wishing the writers would come down with a case of the illness themselves (I realize the tie-in is forced, but so is most of the show's writing).
Rachel's storyline this week is mildly amusing; her furtive attempts to prove that she's the only one singing in the club are shown in a pretty funny montage, but unfortunately results in Mr. Schuester revealing the episode's theme in another heavy-handed set of lines. The pitiful performance of Miley Cyrus' ‘The Climb' is also laughably bad (in a good way), and eventually leads to Rachel's tonsillitis diagnosis. Faced with the heart crushing, identity-changing possibility that she will never sing perfectly again, Rachel's world is thrown into chaos.
Puck likewise feels a threatened need to preserve his identity, and decides that the best way to go about reestablishing his dominance in the halls of McKinley is to date Mercedes. I think my friend's reaction to the contrived plot device best explains the logic of this one: "WHAT?" Instead of striking up a relationship with any of the other Cheerios, he picks Mercedes, the glee club geek and most unpopular of the bunch. Though the two do a serviceable rendition of ‘The Lady Is A Tramp,' the relationship seems more ridiculous than the one Mercedes attempted to forge with Kurt at the season's beginning (which makes me wonder if they'll ever give Mercedes a viable love interest in the series). The relationship (of sorts) fuels conflict between Mercedes and Santana, giving them the opportunity to duet in ‘The Boy Is Mine,' which has its funny moments. The fact remains that, if Puck weren't such a self-absorbed, superficial character that weren't solely looking to climb the social ladder, I would cheer the couple on; as it stands, the move is the most artificial in the episode.
Which is actually an accomplishment, considering Kurt's storyline: in order to establish a relationship with his father similar to the one he has with Finn, Kurt attempts to be straight. Being straight, to Kurt, involves singing John Mellencamp songs (namely ‘Pink Houses,' which ended with the club wearing the same confused stare I was surely giving the TV screen), wearing plaid, and half-heartedly making out with Brittany in his father's house. What is most troubling about this turn of events is the fact that Burt has, several times, acceptEd Kurt's homosexuality and been nothing but supportive of his son; Kurt has nothing to prove, and though he acknowledges his irrationality by the end of the episode, it comes far too late. The episode does, however, give him a chance to lose it a la Patti LuPone in ‘Rose's Turn' - though the encounter afterward is pretty much lifted from Gypsy (I'm sure Arthur Laurents is gearing up to write a strongly worded letter to Ryan Murphy and company). Kurt, at the end of the episode, has his father's love and acceptance...just like he did six episodes ago.
The other musical performances on the episode are decent, and Finn actually gets a number that is entertaining, for once. Though a reason to fit ‘Jesse's Girl' into the season was probably the motive behind naming Jonathan Groff's character Jesse ST. James to begin with, the transition into Finn singing the song is less forced than we're accustomed to by now on the show. The same surprisingly can be said of ‘One,' which Rachel begins with Shawn (a wonderful Zack Weinstein), a paraplegic friend of Finn's, who met him at football camp before his injury, and who helps Rachel to see that her one talent does not define her as a whole. The beginning of ‘One' is, thankfully, not auto-tuned - and it sounds gorgeous. Both Michele and Weinstein sing the song simply but prettily, and even though it segues into the auto-tuned zombie voices of New Directions, the song is well performed.
Not surprisingly, Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel find their metaphorical voices by the end of this very weak, bland episode. Next week looks to be more promising, however; the brilliant Joss Whedon directed ‘Dream On,' which guest stars the always hilarious Neil Patrick Harris as Will Schuester's old nemesis from his high school days. Hopefully the mullet-filled flashbacks, the epic Aerosmith duet and the return of Molly Shannon will make ‘Laryngitis' seem to have been just a bad nightmare.
