This episode was a lot more heartwarming than I thought it would be, but as always, there’s way too much going on. I could forgive the five-story-line idea if they either gave each story a different movie to pay homage to or stuck with one movie tribute and rolled with it. Naming the episode ‘Glee, Actually’ and having Sue mention Love, Actually in her opening monologue made no sense because the stories weren’t linked to one another at all in the end, other than they all already know each other through the glee club.
Source: Fox
I think I liked Artie’s tribute to It’s a Wonderful Life the best, probably because they brought Rory and Terri (and Ken Tanaka, by mention only) back and Quinn died, as she rightfully should have since I hate her and her wheelchair plot line only lasted a millisecond last season. Plus, like Tina, we never hear from Artie so it was really refreshing to bring him front and center. I actually wish they would have dragged out this part of the episode throughout the whole hour because I love hypothetical episodes and only the best series have them (Bones and Grey’s Anatomy to name a couple). However, not even a beautifully done special in which everyone’s lives are mixed up could bring Glee back from the dead.
Source: Fox
When Burt surprises Kurt for Christmas, all I can think of is how upset I would be if I were Carole and had to spend the holiday without my husband. A more logical scenario would have been for Burt to bring Carole and Finn to New York so they could have Christmas as a family since we haven’t seen all of them together since the Finn and Rachel engagement fiasco. But no, they just had to make the segment all about Kurt and Blaine when they had a perfectly good excuse to go in another direction with Burt’s prostate cancer. Because nothing really happened between the two of them, I think Blaine could have been cut out of the episode entirely to focus on Kurt and Burt’s relationship, as it’s one of the most compelling histories the show has to offer. But when do they ever listen to me?
Source: Fox
I’ll gloss over the Puckerman and Bram segments because I don’t have much to say about them, except that I find it strange that Jake calls his brother ‘Puck,’ when his last name is Puckerman as well. Also, I wish we saw more of Coach Bieste, but I love that she’s always in the Christmas episodes because she has such a big heart and a soft spot for Brittany’s nonsense. Speaking of generosity, the Sue-Marley-Millie story line was probably my second favorite portion of the episode, though I feel like they already did the Scrooge and Tiny Tim bit when Bieste anonymously bought the ReWalk for Artie in season two. It was a nice touch though, and I’m glad to see Sue and Millie in support of Marley getting help, though I would have liked to see Millie’s initial reaction to her daughter having an eating disorder. I think their mother-daughter bond had the makings of being the next Kurt and Burt but they completely blew it.
Source: Fox
As for the music, Artie’s ‘Feliz Navidad’ was really cute but I think he could have sung any upbeat holiday song and gotten the same effect. I have never been more attracted to Kevin McHale in my life but I thought it strange that Finn called him gay for singing and dancing when he was the one sitting behind a sewing machine. ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,’ aka Kurt and Blaine on Ice was kind of weird in such a public place, considering the fact that all of the shopping mall numbers were accompanied by fever dreams and flash mobs. I guess nobody blinks twice when Finn and Rachel break into song in the hallway or library though. I love that they stuck with Puck’s pattern of singing Jewish songs with ‘Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah.’ I really loved ‘Jingle Bell Rock,’ because to quote Sam Evans, ‘Everything that kid does is epic.’ The ‘rock’ at the end of the number was just the icing on the cake. I’m not really counting ‘The First Noel’ as a real musical number since it was so short, but the fact that it was the only gift Marley could give to her mom really struck a chord with me. ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ melted my heart because I make my husband watch Meet Me in St. Louis with me every year on Christmas morning. Even though they used it for Rachel’s ‘Merry Christmas, Darling’ in season two, I like that they brought back the winter wonderland stage setting, because it reminded me of how right before she sings the song, Esther finds Tootie outside beating up snowmen because she doesn’t want her family to move away from St. Louis. But it doesn’t make up for their season one performance of the ukulele verision of ‘Over the Rainbow.’ I think Judy Garland comes down from heaven and kills a kitten every time that song is played.
What did you think of the episode?
My husband got sick of seeing all my tweets about TV end up on Facebook, so I decided to start a blog. Then I decided I didn’t have enough on my plate and I went looking for sites to publish my reviews. No White Noise seemed like the perfect home for me, especially because I literally hate silence. That means the TV is almost always on at my house, whether I’m sitting around watching it or actually doing something productive. This season I’ll be covering Glee here at NWN. My favorite shows of all time(or my lifetime) are Arrested Development, Lost, and Friday Night Lights, to name a few. I also dabble in writing screenplays and the occasional teleplay. Check out my other reviews at Watch It, Rae!