Principal: This is serious. This even worse than last year’s list of Top 10 Ugliest Gingers.
Sue: I stand by that list.
I must confess that I enjoyed most of the songs from this episode. Sure, they were all cheesy, corny messes, but they were just so fun. Can’t Touch This was the best. The librarian was right, they were all very cute.
It seems most everyone liked the return of Sue and her sister, but I kind of hated it. Yeah, heart of stone and all that, but it just seems wrong to give a villain like Sue such treacly scenes. It’s supposed to humanize her, but it just seems forced. But then again, this is Glee, so most of the storylines are pretty forced. I’m not sure why, but I love it anyway.
I honestly don’t see those scenes as forced at all. Their interactions seem so natural, really…there’s an actual edge of playfulness in Lynch’s voice when she talks to the sister.
I loved Stephen Tobolowski (the disgraced former Glee teacher) appearing as the murdering father in Run Joey Run- especially his little wave bye bye to his mortally injured daughter.
Jonathan Groff- who’s openly gay in real life- walks gay. I wonder if his character is going to come out and maybe go for Kurt.
Speaking of, I loved that Kurt found the video when looking for a hormone reversal syringe on Sue’s orders.
Sue’s sister shows such a sweet side of her that I hope she doesn’t become a regular. I like cartoonishly evil Sue much better.
For those who haven’t seen the series Sordid Lives, Olivia Newton-John plays a bisexual Texas barfly/singer and does so convincingly. It was actually neat to hear her speak in her real voice again.
Then, be thankful you weren’t listening to Top-40 radio in 1975, when the original was a big hit. 
Jane Lynch always does a great job with whatever materials they give her. I agree with you that the actors do a great job in making it seem as natural as possible, but IMHO, it just seems to break the flow of Sue’s character. I like Sue to be nasty and vicious and giving her this other dimension just seems to slow down whatever momentum she had been having in her character arc. I know I’m probably in a minority though.
I tend to agree, less is more when it comes to Sue’s soft side. It’s nice to see her interacting with her sister, but they need to keep those scenes shorter so as not to break up the momentum too much.
An enjoyable episode. I did like the music numbers, although I agree they were more straight covers than rehab. I liked seeing Sue’s sweet side. I didn’t really buy the guy’s anger at all being in the video. It was amusing how every attempt that was made to do something ‘bad’ ended up failing.
Now that I know the joke about “New Directions” I giggle every time they say it.
It was deliberate. There are two lines in the song:
“Once upon a time, I was falling in love, now I’m only falling apart.”
and
“Once upon a time there was light in my life, and now there’s only love in the dark.”
She sang the first one intact, but when it came time to sing the second one, it wouldn’t have made sense in the context of her being alone and still a virgin. So they merged the two into oen that doesn’t flow well:
“Once upon a time there was light in my life, now I’m only falling apart.”
I think it adds to the “cartoonish” aspect to it. We know that deep inside, she’s a big softie. So all the hard-ass bitch persona is just a fake facade, a cartoon she’s created. It both allows her to really ramp it up to ridiculous proportions, and lets the writers still ground her in reality.
Best line of the week (other than the taco line)
Wheelchair Boy: “I think I’m getting cold feet.”
Spaced out Blonde: “Can you even feel your feet?”
I HATE Sue’s disabled sister. I mean, not the person, but it doesn’t fit the show. It doesn’t work. Just because Jane Lynch sells it doesn’t mean it’s good.
And why does the show suck so bad these days? Did they forget why it was good to start with?
I see your point, but I don’t think anything in this show needs to be grounded in reality. I mean, someone starts to sing, and they all get up and do a carefully choreographed dance number. I don’t ask for a lot of grounding in reality from this show. 
I was glad to see more Puck in this episode and it looks like next week there will be even more.
:: dreamy sigh ::
I think so too. Not only that, but some of his mannerisms while talking to Rachel at her locker seemed pretty fey. Funnily enough, when he made his first appearance in that Vocal Adrenaline number, I had no clue who the actor was or what his orientation might be. My husband asked me something about the scene, and I replied, “I don’t know, I was too distracted by how gay his v-neck is.”
I thought this episode was uneven. Some great moments, and a quite a bit of “Huh?” I agree that this season lacks something the show had in the beginning. Still fun, but not quite as good.
I loved how Kurt & Co. only managed to be “as edgy as Muppet Babies.” I was thinking just that as they did their library routine. Well, not Muppet Babies, but that they were just adorable and not “bad rep” material at all. I also really enjoyed seeing Brittney dance - she’s so great! Ditto Matthew Morrison - I think he may be the only one on the show who’s a true triple threat.
Speaking of, were anyone else’s ears bleeding at the massive autotune on Physical? I understand if Jane Lynch is not really a singer, but damn. Vogue sounded a lot better. Then again, the visuals were pretty distracting . . . loved the girls demanding an immediate second viewing.
Oh, and I too want to know what the New Directions joke is!
I think the New Directions joke is only how is sounds like two other words… Nude…
Re Puck & Rachel- a while back, Puck’s Mom was having their yearly viewing of Schindler’s List and, in Puck’s words “As she was handing me my sweet and sour pork, she said ‘You’re just like those boys in the movies (the Nazis) because you’re not going with a Jewish girl’ so as I slept that night, I dreamed…”(Rachel in white nightie comes in through the window “and then I saw what was hanging around her neck (Star of David) and I knew this was a sign- she was a hot Jew and the Lord wants me in her pants!”
Heh. I never noticed that. Googling New Directions reveals a lot of businesses that never noticed it either, including “Nude Erections” Counseling, “Nude Erections” Travel, and “Nude Erections” Christian Church (perhaps the last two are related to George Rekers?).
Thank you for saying this! Ever since the show came back from break, it seems off. I have been a lifelong Madonna fan and I thought that episode was terrible. I think what is happening is that the show is really popular now and the publicity and oodles of money are making the creators lazy. Stuck on a storyline? Throw a lot of Sue Sylvester in a scene everyone loves her (even though the scene is totally out of character and just a re-tread of her classic one liners). Yup, Glee is no longer appt TV for me. I’ll get around to it on my DVR.
I was listening to Top-40 radio in 1975. I guess I’ve blocked it from my memory. Why can’t I do that with “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song?”