GLEE: Episode 18 - Laryngitis

What's going down?

As we kick off, it's obvious from the staring faces of the McKinley students that something seriously shocking has happened. What is this event that threatens to rock the foundations of our very world? Puck has shaved off his beloved mohawk. As he walks into rehearsal Brittany questions who he is and Santana, well, she just looks plain disgusted. Turns out when his Mum was washing his hair (excuse me, what kind of teenage boy still gets his Mum to wash his hair?) she noticed a mole and sent him to the doctors. The only way to get a better look at it was to shave his hair off. It was nothing to worry about, though, as Puck protests that he "maimed him over a freaking freckle." With his mohawk gone, Puck now faces the prospect of losing the fear that he held over the rest of the school. Can you believe that some even had the nerve to look him in the eyes? The geeks have decided to get a bit of payback as they throw him into the dumpster, forcing him to ponder the life affirming question of "what's the point of living when I suck so bad?" From underneath the garbage he spots Mercedes singing with the Cheerios. Realising how she has gained in popularity he decides the best way to get his back is by dating a cheerleader - her, in fact.

The glee drama for this week is that it turns out Rachel is the only one who sings at practice, leading to her starting to lose her voice. To prove it she got the president of the AV club to bug the choir room. After listening to the tapes it's obvious she's right and goes straight to Schue with a list of the club members who aren't pulling their weight - basically the entire club except her.

Over in the corridor Puck tries to make his first move on Mercedes but it doesn't go quite as well as planned. While most of the girls can't resist his charms it seems that Mercedes can. His lines fall flat as he tells her, "I'm a sex shark. If I stop moving, I die." "You're Top 40, I'm Rhythm and Blues," she says. At rehearsals Schue calls the club out for not putting enough effort in. Each has an excuse for why they've stopped singing. Finn is pissed because Jesse is now getting all the male leads, Santana knows that her role in the club is to just look hot, Quinn complains that her baby hormones are making her moody and all of the lyrics are just too much for Brittany's brain to handle. And so this week's assignment is about, surprise surprise, everyone finding their voice and to choose a song that represents how they see themselves. Kurt is more than excited over the opportunity to perform a solo in front of the rest of them. However, he's not so excited when he sees his Dad at school to pick up Finn in order to take him to a Reds game.

At rehearsal the next day Puck is still trying it on with Mercedes, telling her "girl you've got more curves than a Nissan advert." Again she's having none of it. Rachel steps up to perform her song for this week, "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. However, there's something wrong; she sounds terrible. It's left to Will to tell her that he thinks that she's lost her voice.

In the corridor Sue corners Kurt and asks him why he wasn't at Cheerios practice. He reveals that he wasn't there because he was upset due to the thought that he was losing his dad due to his sexuality. Sue makes him question how he can even know what sexuality he is considering the fact he's only 16 and has kissed neither a boy nor a girl. "So you like showtunes? Doesn't mean you're gay. Just means you're awful," she tells him. "You know there's only one person in this world who can tell you who you are." "Me?" Kurt asks. "No, me," Sue quips. At the Hummel residence Kurt's dad Burt returns home to find his son dressed exactly like Finn and choosing a song by John Mellencamp for Glee. His dad seems almost as a taken aback by Kurt's transformation as we are.

At the doctor's office Rachel is still stressing about losing her voice. Without it she says she's just a "annoying, spoilt, only child." She's brought Finn along for some moral support who does his best to try and calm her down. It turns out that she's not actually going to lose her voice but will need surgery to remove her tonsils. Rachel, however, refuses to let the doctor "butcher her throat." "What do you think I should do" she asks Finn. "Well, maybe you should ask your boyfriend, oh wait, he's not here." And so another argument between the pair ensues. Finn declares that Jesse will never feel the same about her as he does, leading to him to burst into "Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield.

Once Finn has finished up in the choir room Puck volunteers his number, which is basically another attempt to try and win Mercedes over. She joins in as he sings "The Lady Is A Tramp" by Sammy Davis Jnr. Santana again just looks generally disgusted throughout the whole thing and at the new object of his affections. Later, Mercedes asks Quinn if it's OK for her to date Puck. She tells her to go for it but warns her that he's using her for her popularity. However, she tells her that while she may be OK with it there's no way that Santana is going to be.

Kurt is the next Glee kid to perform his song, still sporting his new look. He performs "Pink Houses" by Mellencamp and the rest of the club look on seriously confused as to how this expresses Kurt's true self. Will is concerned by the fact that he's pretending to be something that he's not and tells him "don't lose track of who you are just because it might be easier to be somebody else." After rehearsal Brittany tells Kurt "so you're pretty much the only guy in this school that I haven't made out with because I thought you were capital G gay, but now that you're not, having a perfect record would mean a lot to me." Kurt decides that he does in fact want to tap that and later we see the pair make out on his couch, though he has other things on his mind as he asks, "What do boys' lips taste like?" The response that he's met with - of burgers and armpits - could not possibly be the one he was hoping for. Their make-out session is interrupted by his dad who isn't quite sure what to think of the sudden change within his son but tells him he'll support him no matter what.

It's been three days since Rachel started her antibiotics and she's still not getting any better. She whines that if she has to have that surgery then her life will be over. "I'm like Tinkerbell. I need applause to live," she tells Finn. He is sick of her feeling sorry for herself and tells her that there's a friend he'd like her to meet. He takes her to meet his friend Sean who was paralysed after a football injury. "I miss my body, I miss my life, I miss my friends, I miss girls," he tells her but he also adds that he's realised that he's more than just one thing and he's found that he's good at other stuff too. This gives Rachel the wake-up call that she needs to stop obsessing over her voice.

The next day Mercedes decides to give Puck the low-down on their relationship. Turns out she's using him just as much as he is her and tells him she's only dating him because "he has great arms and they have serious musical chemistry." She's had enough of him talking about Super Mario and says it's about time he found out more about her. Their relationship has already had an effect as the nerds are terrified of him again. Now the only problem left is that of Santana who is not going to give Puck up without at fight. The pair sings "The Boy is Mine" which results in a near-bitch fight in the choir room with Will having to step in between the two of them. "Props for the passion," he reasons, "but maybe hold back on the animosity." Puck, however, loves having two girls fighting over him.

Mercedes sees Puck once again tossing a few nerds into the dumpster and she doesn't like it. He protests that "without the fear of a good dumpster toss there'd be chaos," but she tells him that no man of hers is going to be a bully. In protest she takes it upon herself to quit the Cheerios. Sue is shocked; "Nobody quits the Cheerios, you either die or I kick you off." "You have to be true to who you are," Mercedes says trying to get through to Puck in attempt to get him to change his ways. Brittany and Kurt are still an item as they walk through the hallways holding hands. However, his reinvention still hasn't had the desired effect, a closer relationship with his dad, as he continues to take Finn out instead of him.

In protest, to let out his feelings he belts out "Rose's Turn" from the musical Gypsy. This is up there with Rachel's "Don't Rain on my Parade." His father watches this performance as it turns out that he's blown off Finn, realising how hurt Kurt was, telling him "that was some serious singing, kid." The pair reconnected as Burt tells his son "your job is to be yourself and my job is to love you no matter what," as that's all they've got.

Rachel goes back to Sean's house thanking him for the wake-up call and offers to give him singing lessons. While her tonsillitis has been cured Sean can never be. They sing U2 and Mary J. Blige's "One" which leads into New Directions' next group number.

11 o'clock number

After being seriously disappointed by last week's offerings, this episode more than made up for it. Firstly I rather loved Rachel butchering, on purpose, Miley Cyrus/Joe McElderry's "The Climb." The song deserves it, anyway.

And as if we didn't all know that "Jesse's Girl" would be being pulled out the bag at some point. I've criticised Cory's vocals in the past but on numbers like this and "Hello I Love You" he sounds great as his voice has a much rockier edge. "The Lady Is a Tramp" with both Puck and Mercedes was fun and flirty and she was right to say that they have some serious musical chemistry. Both of have amazing voices and together they sound perfect. They need to use Puck a lot more than they do.

"The Boy is Mine" was probably my least favourite number of the night but I still loved it just for the drama between Mercedes and Santana and for finally getting an opportunity to hear Santana sing. Brittany next maybe?

I could fill a whole page gushing about "Rose's Turn" but I won't. It now has to be joint tied for favourite performance alongside "Don't Rain On My Parade" and "Don't Stop Believin.'" It was the perfect song for Kurt, and Chris pulled out all the stops; it's obvious that out of all the boys he is the most vocally superior. Finally we had "One", which was particularly poignant as it switched from Rachel singing it with Sean to singing it with Finn. Nicely sung as ever and a lot of face pulling from Finn looking like he was constipated.

Quote of the week

Burt (to Brittany and Kurt): "If things get serious, use protection." Brittany: "Does he mean, like, a burglar alarm?"

Final Thoughts

After a few dodgy episodes I feel like Glee is finally back on track. I really enjoyed the storyline between Kurt and Burt, it was tender and was acted well from both sides. Again the storyline with Sean really does make you think and puts things into perspective for when not just Rachel but the rest of us are being melodramatic. How much longer can Puck and Mercedes last and what will happen between Rachel and Jesse when he returns from spring break with his friends from Vocal Adrenaline? There was very little Schue and Sue and no Emma this week, so I'll still be interested to see what is to become of them.

 

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