Diva

This week's Glee wasn't exactly bad, but I did think it was a bit of a tough one to love if you haven't really believed in some of the character choices the writers have been making lately. I do give them credit for sticking to their guns and having a little consistency from week to week; that's something I think Glee was really bad at for a long stretch. Still...

The whole Tina-Blaine relationship kind of feels like watching a car crash in progress. It's just uncomfortable that those most significant storyline Tina has received in more than a year has her doggedly pursuing an unattainable guy. Normally, I'd think Finn kissing Emma would be the most uncomfortable moment in an episode, except that we watched the whole creepy VapoRub scene. (Speaking of which, the Finn and Emma moment seemed like such a contrived wrinkle for just one week before we're supposed to see the big wedding.)

The Brittany-Sam relationship is somewhat easier to watch, but bringing in Santana for the love triangle felt like replaying a beat already covered earlier this season. Santana already went through the "if you love someone, set them free" moment, and yet still teleported back from New York (great commentary from Sue Sylvester on that) briefly before deciding to relocate there.

The aspect that worked best for me in the episode was Kurt and Rachel's Diva-off. I think Rachel's suddenly sky high confidence would have played better this week if we hadn't seen her doubting herself with the nude scene just a week ago, but it was still nice to call back to the first season's "Defying Gravity" episode. I was led to expect that Rachel would somehow realize she should throw this competition as Kurt threw that last one, and was pleasantly surprised that they went another route instead.

As for the songs this week, I thought they were pretty good. Though I didn't feel like any of them had truly strong emotional relevance to the story, the performances were nevertheless effective across the board. Santana's numbers were particularly powerful, both in the vocals and (in the choir room number) the choreography.

All told, I'd give this one a B-.