GLEE - Episode 19: Dream On

What's going down?

We kick off as Will is introduced to the newest member of the school board, Bryan Ryan, played by guest star Neil Patrick Harris. Turns out the two went to school together and the latter made the former's life hell. We flash back to the 80s as we seen that Bryan was the star of the Glee club, getting all the solos and all the girls. "What's the matter, Schuester? Cat got your talent?"  he asks him. Now he works for the district and has returned to audit the school's curriculum. Some arts programs may need to be cut and he plans on making sure Glee club is the first. He now hates all things musical theatre and runs a show-choir conversion group four nights a week. "Show choir kills" is his new motto.

After much persuasion from Figgins, Will reluctantly lets Bryan speak to his Glee kids. He asks them all to write down their wildest dreams on a piece of paper and then proceeds to rip and crumple Artie's up because they are never going to happen. Their showbiz dreams of fame and fortune will never come true. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, I'm just trying to spare you disappointment," he says. Yeah, right. Bryan singles Will out as a prime example of a failed performer.

In the library, Tina and Artie talk about what happened at Glee. He tells her that he had written on his paper that he wants to be a director. However, Tina reveals she picked his paper out of the bin and had seen that he'd written dancer. Tina is upset that, despite their romance, he won't share his hopes and dreams with her. She also suggests that the pair try and come up with a dance number for them both to perform.

As Rachel practises ballet she finds that Jesse has returned from spring break. She tells him about Bryan's speech about dreams. Luckily she has known hers since she was four. "I'm gonna play three parts on Broadway: Evita, Funny Girl, and Laurey in Oklahoma." Jesse isn't convinced, telling her it's more of an inevitability than a fantasy. He pushes her to admit what hers really is and she finally reveals that she's always wanted to find out who her Mum is. The two plan to find her identity.

In the choir room Artie and Tina practice their tap routine. However, he feels that the taps on his wheelchair just aren't up to standard. Instead he tries to use crutches to lift himself out of the wheelchair and attempts to walk with them. He manages a few steps but then falls over. Heartbroken, he tells Tina to leave, blaming her for what happened.

In one last attempt to avoid Glee being cut, Will asks Bryan out for a beer. After a few drinks he lets slip that his life is now miserable without performing and that he misses the business that is show: "Three times a year I tell my wife I'm going on a business trip," he says. "I sneak out to New York and see a bunch of Broadway shows. I have a box of playbills hidden away in my basement, Will. Like porn." Bryan also says that the one girl that he could never get in high school was Terri. Will tells him that he married her but explains their marriage just didn't work out. What gave him the strength to leave in the end? Music, of course. Schue puts Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on and the pair start to belt in out in the pub. After, he says that they're both going to audition for Lima's production of Les Mis.

Rachel has been devoting her time to investigating her mother. She has managed to come up with legit theories as to how both Patti LuPone and Bernadette Peters could have been her mama who bore her. Jesse tells hers that a much more likely source of information could be anything that she has from when she was a baby. Turns out that her dads have created a Rachel Berry museum in their basement and as they rifle through the folders Jesse plants a tape that says "from mother to daughter" amongst them. He tries to force her to listen to it but she says she isn't quite ready yet.

The next day Tina apologies to Artie about their rehearsal. She's been doing some research on spinal injuries and the new therapies that are being developed to treat them. As she hands him the information she tells him not to give up on his dream of being able to dance: "If you can imagine it, it can come true."

Drama strikes at Les Mis auditions as both Will and Bryan vie for the same part of Jean Valjean. They've also picked the same song to audition with. The director doesn't have enough time for their squabbling; he can only shut his dry cleaners for thirty minutes at a time, and forces them to sing it as a duet. The two storm across the barricades as they sing Aerosmith's "Dream On." Thank God we finally get to hear Schue sing something that doesn't give us serious second-hand embarrassment.  

Artie and Tina take a day at the mall where he buys tap shoes as an investment in his future. She offers to go and buy them pretzels but before she does Artie has something he wants to show her. He went to his doctor who started him off on the therapies she'd researched and miraculously they've started to work. As he gets up out of his chair he puts a CD into the mall's speakers and so a flash mob of "Safety Dance" by Men without Hats breaks out with he as the lead dancer. However, it turns out that this was just his imagination after all and that Artie really can't walk.

With his new-found love for musical theatre Bryan tells Sue he's halving the Cheerios budget instead. They argue over what's more important: the arts or sport. Despite their differences the two head off for anger sex in Sue's secret room.

We finally see why Jesse planted the tape in Rachel's room. It turns out that Shelby, coach of Vocal Adrenaline, is Rachel's birth Mum. She had asked Jesse to befriend her as she signed a contract with Rachel's Dad's promising not to get in contact until she was 18. The money from Rachel's Dads gave her enough money to move to New York for two years but she failed as an actress. Despite that, her only regret is not being able to be a mother to her daughter.

Artie bounds into Emma's office and announces that he wants weekly counselling sessions, as he will need help to adjust to his new life when he is able to walk. But Emma has read his file and tries to explain that the damage to his spinal cord is irreversible. "I truly believe that there's going to be a doctor that finds a cure for what happened to you," she says, "but I don't think that's going to be for a long time." As Artie leaves crestfallen, she comments that maybe he should come and see her once a week after all.

Bryan walks into Glee rehearsals bearing gifts of New Directions customised denim jackets and tearaway dance wear, as well as sheet music from every Broadway show from the last fifty years: "Everything a show choir needs to become champions." Sue now chooses her moment to come in and rain on everyone's parade as she reveals that Will has won the part of Jean Valjean and Bryan is simply a townsperson with one line. In anger he takes back the gifts and storms out yelling that he's cutting Glee once and for all.

At rehearsal for Les Mis, Will pleads with Bryan not to cut the club. "You take away Glee; you're not just putting out those kids' lights. You're creating 13 black holes." In the end he sacrifices his dream and his part in order to save the club, allowing Bryan to play Jean Valjean.

Rachel enters her bedroom to find Jesse shoving the tape into her CD player, despite her reservations. "Hi baby, it's your Mum. I think this pretty much says it all," Shelby tells her, before she begins to sing "I Dreamed a Dream." It turns into a duet between her and Rachel and it really is uncanny how alike the pair look. However, it ends tearfully with Rachel still none the wiser as to her Mum is.

At Glee Tina performs her tap routine to the rest of the club, but her partner is Mike, not Artie, after he encouraged her to do it without him. She asks him to still sing the song and we close as they perform "Dream a little Dream" by The Mamas & The Papas.

11 o'clock number

There is only one word that can be used to describe the sing-off/duet between Matt Morrison and NPH; fierce. They both have a pair of lungs and some serious vocals going on. "Dream On" was a departure from "The Thong Song" and "Bust a Move" that Schue has been previously given to try and look credible. I wonder how long it will be before flash mobs of tonight's  "Safety Dance" start popping up all over the internet. It really gave Kevin the opportunity to show that he is not just talented as a singer but is also an amazing dancer as well. Finally, "I Dreamed a Dream" gave yet another eargasm. With Lea and Idina singing together it was also going to be amazing and their version of the classic has done much to eradicate SuBo's horrific slaughtering of the song.

Quote of the week

Russell at Bryan's show choir conversion group: Uh, my name is Russell, and I'm a glee club survivor. Whenever anything bad would happen, I would just say, "Let's put on a show!" Well, guess what? Puttin' on a show about your father's prostate cancer will actually just make him more depressed about The Situation.

Final thoughts

NPH was a great choice of guest star as, along with Kristin and Idina, he was more than able to match up to the talent of the rest of the cast. Yes, Olivia Newton-John, I'm looking at you. It also meant we were able to have flashbacks to 80s Schue - I would like more of these. Having a focus on Artie and Tina made a change from all the drama of Rachel/Finn/Jesse and the two are fast becoming one of my favourite couples. I'm biased in liking Jesse purely because of my love for Jonathan Groff but even I am can see that he's up to no good and that he will soon be returning to Vocal Adrenaline. How long will it be until Rachel and Shelby are reunited? I really hope that this mean there's going to be more of Idina - and more of Idina singing.

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