I liked that song, and I loved his performance, but the cough syrup lines really took me out of it, too.
I can’t believe they waited this long to reveal Lord Tubbington’s Ecstacy addiction.
I can’t believe they’re trying to redeem Sebastian’s character. If this were remotely realistic he’d have at very least gotten expelled for the eye thing and Blaine’s family would be launching a civil suit and I can’t believe even lazy writers would do the “but he’s sorry and ever so much better now so let’s forgive and forget” thing.
And the wedding thing is too ridiculous for words. Both families would have said “That’s a great idea! Where exactly do you plan to live so that we can forward your clothes and mail?” and that would have ended it since Rachel’s not going to live in what Finn could afford.
ETA: And if violence results in elimination with extreme prejudice, how didn’t the Warblers get eliminated? Sebastian did that in front of two dozen witnesses.
Plus, Sue wants to help Will win nationals just because? Hm. I don’t think so.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Will is the biological father. Wasn’t it mentioned once that Will was a sperm donor?
Oh, and here’s a story about how, yet again, the singers you see in one of the competing choirs weren’t the ones that recorded the song you hear. You probably won’t hear the full version on iTunes under any Glee label; that’s because the entire song is performed by a choir of men and women (recorded in 2008), so they could only use the first 30 seconds or so as that part was done by just women.
The AV Club review of this episode is up now, and it basically expresses my feelings about this episode. Snippet:
I wouldn’t even be so angry about this stupid, cliched cliffhanger ending if it had come at the end of a whole stupid episode about Finn and Rachel’s stupid plan to get married before they even graduate from high school. But sticking the wedding plot AND a PSA about texting while driving onto the end of an episode that opened with a pretty well-executed storyline about teen suicide passed beyond bad writing and into the realm of both bad and offensive.
And it’s not like the Karofsky suicide attempt storyline couldn’t have been expanded to fill another few minutes of screen time. The writers blew a very obvious opportunity to make use of Santana and tie it in with her own coming out storyline. Santana was one of only people at McKinley who knew Karofsky was gay, she’d been his beard, she’d been his date and running mate at the prom during the incident that apparently prompted him to leave McKinley, AND she was inadvertently outed just a couple of months ago and had to deal with being rejected by a beloved relative because of it. It seems to me like it would have been very easy to get an effective scene or two, maybe even a musical number, about how Santana felt about Karofsky’s suicide attempt and what she was going to do in response.
As for Quinn, I haven’t looked at any of the spoiler materials, but I don’t think there’s any chance that she’ll die. She’ll probably wake up out of a coma in April with amnesia or something equally soap operatic.
None of them came forward, though. Remember, that was the episode where we learned a Very Important Lesson about how it’s morally wrong to ask the authorities to punish people who flagrantly violate school rules and the law.
But didn’t Blaine make a throw off statement this episode about the authorities at the Warbler school having known what happened and yet still did nothing? I figured that was their weak nod at proving you can do the right thing (ie: reporting something like that) and it doesn’t always matter or help.
Also, who were all the extra female singers at regionals? I’d never seen half those girls before, so I can only assume they are Cheerios on loan from Sue.
I liked this one a lot, despite the cliched ending. You all are right about the way they handled Karofsky’s suicide attempt as well thought-out. I, too, just wish they’d have followed up on it more. Tying it into Santana’s storyline was an excellent suggestion.
And am I the only one, or would anyone else be thrilled for Quinn to bite the big one? She never seems to permanently learn anything and her sanctimoniousness is beyond annoying. I only want her to shut up and go away.
When the split off girls rejoined Glee it was under the condition that they could do one song as just them at regionals.
Will said in the “Michael” episode that he called the Dalton headmaster to report what had happened, but that nothing would be done unless they could prove Sebastian had doctored the slushie. (Which makes no sense, but it is what happened.) The New Directions gang got Sebastian on tape admitting that he had deliberately tampered with the slushie because he wanted Kurt to get hurt, but in the end they chose not to give the tape to the headmaster because that would somehow be wrong.
So while you’re right that Blaine did mention this week that the headmaster had done nothing about Sebastian’s attack on him, this was because the New Directions kids did not come forward with the tape – or even Santana’s account of how Sebastian told her what he’d done.
Speaking of throwaway lines, I did notice that this week Sebastian of all people acknowledged Tina’s mysterious absence from the last half of “Michael” and all of “The Spanish Teacher”. He said something to the effect that Rachel should pretend to have Asian bird flu like Tina. What actually happened to Tina remains uncertain, as her own classmates didn’t care enough to acknowledge it and Sebastian was presumably making a racist joke when he mentioned that specific disease.
Right, those were the other TroubleTones, who for some reason did not become regular members of New Directions when Sugar did. I don’t think any of those other girls ever even got lines, but I think they were shown at a TroubleTones rehearsal wearing Cheerios uniforms so they were presumably girls Santana and Brittany knew from the cheerleading squad.
I did think it was kind of a shame that the New Directions guys, who had not abandoned the group, were really only included in one of the three competition numbers.
I asked a few episodes back. What happened to Lauren Zizes, Puckerman’s squeeze from last year. she was part of the Troubletones early this season, I think
Did they just cut her out of a very minor supporting role for prettier, skinnier people?
I don’t think she was ever in the TroubleTones. She quit New Directions at the beginning of the season and broke up with Puck – IIRC she said something about how it was embarrassing for her that they hadn’t won Nationals and that neither show choir nor Puck were doing anything for her street cred.
I think they cut her to add Sugar. Since neither of them can sing (at least the characters can’t, I’ve heard that the actress playing Sugar has sung in other things) then yeah, it looks an awful lot like the writers didn’t want their group of misfits to be burdened with a member who’s actually unattractive any longer.
I thought it was a very powerful message about the dangers of premarital text.
Frankly, I was hoping that somehow we’d get a Sebastian vs. Sue showdown. She’d play just as dirty as he would.
BTW, didn’t Sebastian say that he’d been throwing the salted slushie at Kurt, not Blaine? Sebastian arrogantly stated that his father was a prosecutor when somebody threatened him, I said, “Hey, Kurt’s dad is a congressman. Bet he would have called the cops, or sued.”
They also never appear when the other New Directions singers appear together, either in the audience or at the awards ceremony. (Also, since they don’t have either lines or solos, they don’t get credited. Usually, background “singers” include at least one former So You Think You Can Dance? finalist - then again, pretty much every episode of Glee has at least one former SYTYCD semi-finalist (“Season 2 Heather”).)
Speaking of, I like this quote from the AV Club article:
Somewhere there’s an empty Congressional office with an old secretary reporting to work everyday thinking “I wonder if he’ll finally get here today…”.
I just found out a band I really like, Halestorm, wrote that song “Here’s To Us” they sang in Regionals. Neat.
(their website URL is apt - Halestorm rocks!)
I believe that. I lived in Germany and never met anyone who had eaten peanut butter. That said, none of them were willing to try it either. Most were grossed out by the smell and look of it - as one German said to me, “It looks like something you would find in a baby’s diaper!” That is why I was surprised he ate it and didn’t gag.
Thanks guys for straightening me out. Apparently, I’m not observant enough when I watch this show. 
No, I think you’re probably paying just the right amount of attention. 
I actually thought this was the first episode in a while that was actually pretty good. OK, the long awaited dads were disappointing, and the wedding plot is stupid. But despite the “After School Special” Vibe, the Karofsky plot was really engaging. And I think the cliffhanger was just perfect. That sort of shakeup is what the show needs.
However, I really hope they do kill off Quinn, because two cases of “s/he’s dead! no, just kidding!” back to back would be too cheesy. If she survives, I take back my comment that this was a good twist. Really, I think Quinn’s character has run her course, and getting her cheerios uniform back was a good sort of swan song. (though, I suppose she should have gotten an ACTUAL swan song, this being glee, after all.) If she’s unscathed, then it’s just a manipulative shocker for a cliffhanger. If she ends up paralyzed or something, that kinda steps on Artie’s toes. (must not make joke about him feeling it… darn, just did. yup, going to hell).
Considering their other plots, my bet is Artie is going to be in a serious accident on his way to visit Quinn and as a result he’ll be able to walk again.