On My Way

It's a truly weird thing to say about an episode of Glee, but my opinion boils down to this: tonight's installment would have been the single best hour of Glee ever, if it weren't for all the songs.

I've written multiple times before that the actual competitions in competition episodes of Glee always suck the life out of the story for me. The vocal performances are usually great, the choreography often a season high mark, but there's no shaking the fact that the story grinds to a halt for 20 minutes while we watch five or six consecutive songs (some not even performed by the main cast). Glee has sometimes montaged its way out of this problem (most effectively with Quinn's child birth in season one), or helped infuse the competition with more meaning by cleverly choosing songs (and cleverly handing them to specific cast members) in a way that reinforces the plot. This competition didn't really do well at any of that. Effectively, a 25-minute episode of Glee was split in half by a 20-minute episode of The Sing-Off.

But holy crap, what a great 25-minute episode it was! The plot line of Karofsky's suicide attempt had all the weight I hoped for when it was set up last week. It presented a strong social commentary of topical importance, and did it without delving too far into Very Special Episode territory. It believably softened the cartoonish villainy of Sebastian. It gave both Sue and Will believable moments where they connected with their students. And it gave us a run of inspiring (and humorous) affirmations from all the characters.

And then, of course, there was the cliffhanger ending. The writers have certainly slipped up on Glee more than occasionally. But they nailed this. All the pieces were put into place over the last few episodes. Quinn had her descent early in the season, and subsequent redemption. She had her "thank you all (and good night)" solo a few weeks back. Tonight, she had her reconciliation with Sue, and expressed her joyful hopes for college. Adding it all up, I truly believe at this moment that the writers may go through with killing off her character. And I do not want the resolution spoiled for me before the show returns in April.

Blaine's solo at the top of the episode, intercut with Karofsky's suicide attempt, was really the only musical number that worked for me in the entire episode -- precisely because the powerful plot kept on rolling even as the music played. I only wish all this could have had more room to play out without being wedged into another competition episode. But I'd easily call it an A- overall -- at least -- and a really great episode to go out on for a while.