GLEE Recap, Season 2 Episode 16, 'Original Song'

What's going down?

So we start as Blaine sings "Misery" by Maroon 5 down the corridors of Dalton. Everyone at the
school loves the performance; as Blaine comments, "Hey, Regionals, I think you've just met our
opening number." Kurt, however, finally points out the fact that Warblers have pretty much become
the Blaine show, saying that sometimes he feels like "Blaine and The Pips".

Rachel has decided to give the songwriting another go. After the failure of "My Headband", she
offers us "Only Child"; yes, a song about how she is "the only berry on [her] family tree". Finn is once again unimpressed and tells her that she's "just playing scared", she needs to stop just dealing with the easy pain. Cut to scary voiceover from Quinn, watching in on their rehearsal. Suddenly she is once again obsessed with being "on top" and wants her and Finn to become prom king and queen: "Prom queens live, on average, five years longer than normal people; it's probably because they smile a lot." She feels that the only thing stopping this plan is Rachel and so decides to follow that age-old principle of "keep your friends close but your enemies closer".

Terror strikes at Dalton when Kurt's canary Pavarotti dies, Kurt suspects it's of a stroke. And so, in
homage, he sings "Blackbird" by The Beatles. As well as being a moving performance it also turns out to be the turning point in his and Blaine's relationship. Blaine admits that whilst watching him sing, he suddenly realised that Kurt was the person he'd been "waiting for all his life"; the two then share a rather romantic kiss. Finally, screams the nation. At the council meeting he suggests that they break the mould and sing a duet at Regionals, picking, you guessed it, Kurt as his performance partner. After some gentle persuasion the rest of The Warblers agree.

There's further bad news at McKinley; they've been banned from performing "SING" by My
Chemical Romance by the band themselves. Turns out Sue happened to sleep with the drummer
during the summer of '96 and has specifically requested the injunction herself, "the opening salvo
of World War Sue". Quinn takes this as the perfect opportunity to put her new plan into action and
backs Rachel's idea to do original songs all the way. After some persuasion the club are set on the
idea and decide that they're all going to have a go at writing their own material. "I think we're doing original songs at Regionals," declares Schue.

Tensions are still high between Santana and Brittany, after Brittany blew her off to be with "Stubbles McCripple Pants". Santana says she didn't know what she was thinking when she confessed her feelings for Brittany and is now going to write "an awesome heterosexual song about Sam". Just then Sue interrupts and says she plans to continue her revenge telling them she "likes to play dirty". When the pair open their lockers they are covered in a mound of dirt; "I don't even remember putting that there," says Brittany.

Santana is ready to perform her "awesome heterosexual song" for Sam, entitled "Trouty Mouth"
about those abnormally large lips of his. Whilst the concept and title may be amazing, it just leaves
the poor boy feeling offended and insecure. Puck also offers a song called "Big Ass Heart" written in
dedication to Lauren. I actually quite liked this number. Puck and a guitar, what more could you ask
for?

Quinn tries to convince Finn to make their relationship public after they win Regionals. He isn't quite so keen and asks her to wait until after Nationals, considering how fragile Rachel is at the moment. "Do you want to be in this relationship or not?" Quinn asks him point-blank. "Whoa, scary, Quinn," he replies. "OK, after Regionals." Looks like she's got her own way.

Next up to perform their original song is Mercedes, who sings one called "Hell To The No" featuring
herself being the diva we all know and love. Schue isn't completely convinced, though: "I'm just not sure it's Regionals material." He suggests that they need to write a song that comes from a place of pain, i.e. them being total losers within the school and the bullying that Sue submits them to. "Guys, I think you may have just found your song."

Over in the auditorium Quinn and Rachel are writing together. Rachel, after seeing Quinn and Finn
in the hallway, asks her outright if the two are a couple again. In one of the most touching scenes
this season, she replies that yes, the two are together. Rachel, heartbroken is in tears, with Quinn
too in tears as she describes her happy ever after with Finn, clearly trying to convince herself as well. She tells Rachel that, unlike herself, she doesn't belong here and she can't hate her "for helping to send her on her way". "I'm not giving up on Finn," she replies. Quinn gets angry and tells her that the reason why she can't write a good song is because she lives in a schoolgirl fantasy world. With that, Rachel decides that she's going to write the song on her own.

And so it's finally time for Regionals and Sue is positively drunk with confidence. She admits that she lied about the injunction, forging the letter herself. Will says he should be thanking her for pushing the kids to write the songs themselves. First up is Sue's Aural Intensity performing "Jesus Is A Friend Of Mine" by Sonseed, clearly in a bid to influence the nun and Tea Party candidate on the judging panel. Thoughts? Well, it was cute enough. Next up is Blaine and a very nervous Kurt, with the rest of the Warblers. Their first number is their duet is "Candles" by Hey Monday, which I must say is simply perfection, followed by "Raise Your Glass" by Pink, your typical Blaine steal-the-show number.

Rachel is getting ready to go on to perform her song to open the New Directions set, but not before she tells Finn to "listen carefully because I mean every word of it". Her song, "Get It Right", a ballad, suits her to a tee, and really showcases her voice. The rest of the kids join in to perform "Loser Like Me", a rousing number about how they will, of course, rise above their loser status; "You pushed me up against my locker and hey, all I do is shake it off, I'll get you back when I'm your boss" and the like. The crowd love it but Quinn doesn't look too happy when, after the performance, it's Rachel that Finn is hugging.

The New Directions win, yay! I mean, the producers couldn't let them lose Regionals for a second
year, could they? Cue much slow-motion celebrations. Kurt and Blaine look disappointed but after
all they've won something much better - each other. Sue is outraged and decides to floor the
adjudicator. Over at McKinley the celebrations continue are Schue decides to start up an MVP
award, this competition's going to Rachel. Despite how annoying she can be she actually manages to draw a tear as she makes a heartwarming speech about how she finally feels like she belongs and appreciates how much faith the club put in her original songs idea.

11 o'clock number

To open tonight's episode we had "Misery" by Maroon 5, performed by The Warblers. Despite
feeling a bit of a strange way to start it was peppy and upbeat and those boys have certainly
improved on their dance moves. I really enjoyed Kurt's rendition of The Beatles' "Blackbird";
his vulnerability is always so apparent when he sings and he puts bags of emotion into his
performance. Despite the fact that the Glee's original songs were not meant to be that great I found myself loving them. "Trouty Mouth" was simply hilarious, I couldn't help but tap my feet along
to "Big Ass Heart", and Mercedes' "Hell To The No" let her be a diva and let rip. "Candles", the duet
between Kurt and Blaine was particularly touching and their two voices really complemented each
other well. Pink's "Raise Your Glass" has to be one of my favourite performances of the season,
simply because Blaine is such a good showman. Finally, the two original songs that the New
Directions performed were a lot better than I expected. "Get It Right" was a perfect fit for Rachel,
even though it did sound like something the winner of the X Factor would release. All I have to say
about "Loser Like Me" is that it brought a smile to my face.

Quote of the week

Will: What's everyone's favourite song?
Brittany: "My Headband."

Overall

Now normally I don't particularly like competition episodes but this one I really did enjoy. First off,
the song selections were some of the better ones that we've seen this season and whilst I may have been dubious about the original song idea, the show managed to pull it off. I could not be more excited to see how the newfound relationship between Kurt and Blaine is going to develop and
I'm very happy that the producers have finally given us what I'm pretty certain everyone has been
rooting for. However, I'm not so pleased about a return to bitchy Quinn; it's a very sudden switch
to only caring about being prom queen and I definitely prefer Finn with Rachel. However, there
have been rumours of a possible return of Jesse St. James and I very much hope this might mean
reconciliation between St. Berry and yes, I am willing to overlook the fact that he threw eggs at her.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.