Dynamic Duets

While most TV shows were in re-runs last week for Thanksgiving, Glee actually ran a new episode on the day itself. (And strangely, not even their Thanksgiving themed episode. Apparently, that's coming this week.)

The episode they ran felt to me more like a parody of Glee than an actual episode. In Glee style, it took a random theme (not unlike the weak "Funk" and "Night of Neglect" installments mentioned in the episode itself) and presented a bizarre narrative to accommodate it. But the parody part came in the way that theme felt like Glee turned up to 11, refusing to take itself even slightly seriously as all the characters decided to dress as superheroes for no particular reason. Sure, there was some fun kitsch factor in the Batman-esque stings throughout the episode, but the situation was too ridiculous.

But worse were the missed opportunities. If you're going to do the superhero episode, how do you not have Sue Sylvester in it? This is the character who actually dressed up as the Grinch in a Christmas episode. Yet we got neither Sue as a super-villain nor Sue's own warped take on herself as superhero. And it's harder still to understand her absence this week given where things left off in the previous episode. She'd declared all-out war against Finn as glee club teacher, but was nowhere to be seen for the first actual week in which he assumed the job full time?

The set-ups for the songs were stretched far even by Glee standards, but at least the numbers themselves were strong. The whole "one more song with the Warblers" moment was completely silly, but I do love me some Warblers a cappella. "Holding Out for a Hero" was fun if only for the whip-as-fan moment, though Kitty in a catsuit was sure to win some fans. And the "Some Nights" finale was another good New Directions rendition of a song by the band fun.

The one solid element of the episode for me was the dyslexia storyline for Ryder Lynn. Blake from the Glee Project continues to shine on the series, and in my opinion has fast become the most interesting of the still-insufficiently-developed cast of new students at McKinley. The writing was a touch after-school special in moments, but the acting was still solid.

For good songs in an otherwise nonsensical episode, I'll average out to a C grade. For me, it was the first real stumble of season four.