Sexy

I thought tonight brought us a pretty solid episode of Glee. There were a few flaws, but the pluses definitely outweighed them.

I felt like they made much better use of Gwyneth Paltrow here than in her previous outing. She may have actually sang more songs this time than she did in her first appearance, yet her presence on the show felt a lot more organic; the show didn't seem like it all revolved around her character, and I certainly mean that in a good way.

Burt Hummel continues to be written as the best father on television. His scene near the end of the hour with Kurt felt to me like one of the most genuine, least forced instances of "the talk" that I've ever seen on a television show, all while handling the special circumstances here with a soft touch.

I also found Santana's confession to Brittany to be a powerful and effective moment. It was undermined just a touch by all the extras that kept walking through the frame; I have a hard time believing Santana would have chosen to have that discussion there in the school hall. Still, forget about the setting and focus on the words (and the brilliant way that Naya Rivera handled them) and you had a real high point to the episode.

It's a pretty solid Glee episode when you can talk about that many good things without even getting to the musical performances. But those were mostly solid too. After trying to prove she was "a little bit country" in her recent critically panned film, Gwyneth Paltrow showed she was really "a little bit rock 'n' roll" instead by nailing "Do You Want to Touch Me." The three-part harmonies on "Landslide" were excellent, and the kitschy Osmond family style presentation of "Afternoon Delight" was good for a laugh.

I thought "Kiss" was two great tastes that didn't quite taste great together. I loved the vocals on this cover of the Prince song. I loved the choreography of the tango. But when Will said "Kiss as a tango," I was expecting a more transformed orchestration of the song, perhaps along the lines of the version of "Roxanne" in the movie Moulin Rouge. Basically, though there was really nothing wrong with the number, I was still a bit disappointed. But not quite as disappointed as I was with the Warblers' "Animal." I've remarked that I usually find a Warblers' tune the best thing about any Glee episode; this time, I'm sorry to say that performance might actually have been the worst song of the hour.

Also misfiring a bit was what appears to be the abrupt departure of dentist Carl from the plot. At the start of the season, it seemed like he'd be more of a fixture on the show. But after serving as a comic device for getting into Britney Spears video remakes, he sang a number from Rocky Horror, got married off camera, and now appears to have ended his run. A bit of a waste.

All accounted, I'd call this hour of Glee a B+. Until next week, then...