Prom Queen

Tonight's Glee was mostly good with a little touch of not-so-much.

Hitting big on the plus side for me were the first two songs, "Rolling in the Deep" and "Isn't She Lovely?" Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele on the former, and Kevin McHale on the latter, kicked ass on the vocals. And the arrangement of both songs made me think that maybe we were headed for an entire episode built around "stripped down" performances. No elaborate backup bands, no 30-piece orchestras.

No such luck. Because the glee club was playing the prom, and that meant bringing on the whole spectacle. The rest of the episode veered into modern pop territory. Totally understandable and logical music selection for a high school prom, and totally showcasing why I'm older and more square than I'd like to admit. That frakking awful (and simultaneously earwigy) song "Friday" really set the stage for what the rest of the show going to be musically. Perhaps that's why I was so surprised and pleased by the sudden appearance of ABBA's "Dancing Queen" at the end.

Plotwise, the Kurt storyline felt like the strongest thread of the hour to me... though in an unusual twist, not for Kurt himself. Rather, all the people he played opposite got the most powerful moments. First there was Blaine's story of getting beaten up before his prom. Then there was the top scene of the hour, Karofsky's tearful apology for being a bully. And then there was another scene of Burt being the Best TV Dad ever, perfectly walking the line between being a supportive father while trying to tell Kurt something didn't want to (but really needed to) hear. After all that, Kurt's big embarrassment and subsequent redemption at the prom, though poignant, actually felt like the least hard-hitting part of the arc...

Particularly when Kurt's breakdown was intercut with another scene that hit the bullseye so well -- Brittany's wonderful words of encouragement to Santana. (Okay, so it was also intercut with Rachel and Quinn's bathroom soap opera scene; but that was more fun than serious.)

What else? Well, there was the continuing cartoonification of Sue Sylvester. Threatening Artie with dental tools like they were in an episode of Alias was no less believable than anything else she's done these past few weeks -- but this time it wasn't really funny either. I think the writers really need to find a way to pull Sue back to reality before she's lost as a character and forever becomes a caricature. Maybe another heartfelt plot involving her sister? Not likely to happen in just the two remaining episodes, but I say put it high on the season 3 "to do" list: make Sue more realistic.

Then there was the return of Jesse. Hard to judge that one. He has a great voice, and his duet with Rachel was the top song of the hour in my book. But his character was so unevenly written last year that it's hard to see what he can really offer coming back into the mix. The writers tried to hang a bell on that fact by having he and Rachel actually talk about his irrational behavior, but I'd personally rather see the last two episodes of this season pay off existing stories already in motion than start a new thread with him.

Taking it all in, I think I'd rate this episode a B.