Rumours

I thought tonight's Glee episode was the most successful "theme episode" the series has attempted to date. The Madonna episode from season 1 was fun and definitely had showier numbers, but this one offered more between the music. (As for the weaker Lady Gaga and Britney Spears-themed hours, there's really no comparison.)

Of course, it helps that I'm a fan of Fleetwood Mac in general, and the Rumours album in particular. (Though not of Stevie Nicks' goat-woman vibrato.) I do wish that there had been more of a "Glee stamp" on some of the songs, though. With the exception of the finale -- "Don't Stop" -- all the performances adhered very closely to the original tracks. Even the gender-swapped "Go Your Own Way" was styled almost identically to the original. But then again, it was hard to quibble with the strong vocals there, or the equally strong takes on "Dreams," "Never Going Back Again," and "Songbird."

As I said, I thought the story here was the strongest of the "theme episodes." It wasn't exactly a slam dunk; the who-is-accusing-who-of-doing-what-with-who drama seemed a little too teen soap for me after a while. But it was leading to a really strong revelation about Sam's family troubles. I do wish this had been hinted at and worked toward a bit in earlier episodes (but then again, Sam has hardly been around lately, so maybe you could argue it sort of was). In any case, it still landed with force all the same.

Okay, so I'm not sure why Sam is bringing his siblings to his school when they presumably have schools of their own to go to, but it was easy to overlook that small detail if you were caught up in his situation. I for one was.

Sue was a slightly less cartoonish villain this week, save for her oddball costumes at the top of the show. (And let's face it, I was too busy laughing to not like it.)

Overall, I'd call this hour a B+.