Keeping it in the family with Glee

Although both main story arcs on Tuesday night's Glee dealt with irregular family situations, only two of the characters - Rachel and her mom - came across as likable considering the circumstances.

While I'm not generally a fan of Rachel because of her smugness and cockiness, I do enjoy when she is portrayed as an actual human being and not a stereotype. Tuesday was my favorite "Rachel" episode of the season, since she is so vulnerable and therefore accessible throughout the episode. Her initial Lady Gaga costume - pictured above - is one of the best sight gags of the second half of the season. And I also think the slow, gradual development of the relationship with her mom is the right decision for the show to take. There is enough camp in a typical episode of Glee to resist making them best-friends-forever right after their initial meeting.

However, the other main arc of the episode - friction between Finn, Kurt and Kurt's dad - felt completely flat to me. I think it's unrealistic to portray Kurt's dad as the only person on the show who doesn't realize that Kurt is in love with Finn. I also don't think Finn would have allowed things to proceed as far as sharing a room with Kurt without mentioning this fact to either his mom or Kurt's dad. As a result, I found everything about this plot arc, including the horrible Gaga-dressing by Finn, to be unrealistically out of character.

The little odds and ends of the episode helped to make up for this though. The other mini-issues of the episode - Quinn and Puck squabbling over the name of their child, and Tina trying to deal with her new dress code - were both interesting. There were also some quirky, winking at the camera moments on the show, mostly between Rachel and her mom.

And, I've got to give props to Iqbal Theba, who plays Principal Figgins with the perfect mixture of ignorance and authority. In Tuesday's episode, he insisted that Tina stop dressing like a goth because of his worries about Twilight and vampire problems, only to be harassed by Tina into reverting the dress code because of his irrational fear of vampires. While this served as the catalyst for the show's Gaga theme, it was unfortunately kept in the background and used mostly as a bookend.

Also, unlike last week's episode, Brittany was back to her ditzy, quotable self. (She suggests that Tina dress up as a cross country skier, a Happy Meal with no onions or a chicken. When Rachel comes in with her sadly pathetic Gaga outfit, Britt says, "You look horrible. I look awesome.") I've found that on the Internetz, the Brittney and Santana combination is known as Brittana, which is awesome.

There are two episodes of the season left, and I imagine we're going to see a bit more focus on singing and dancing, since the sectionals are coming up to end the season. At least, that's what I'm hoping for - While the drama of the first season has been high, I do think it would be more appropriate if they focused on the actual Glee club with the final two episodes as opposed to leaving us with drama-filled cliffhangers at the end of the season.

TV Review: Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks? ... yeah.

It's nice to see that some things don't change.

Wow - Glee sure came back with a bang. Where to start in breaking down Tuesday's episode?

First and foremost, the seemingly neat bows made at the end of the first half of the season are already mostly undone. Emma and Will are already broken up (and he's already made out with that foxy teacher for the rival vocal group), Finn and Rachel aren't really together either, Will's ex-wife is still lurking around, and Sue Sylvester is the coach of the cheerleaders again. The only thing that seems to be going well, somehow, is Quinn and Puck still being together. And, I imagine this is only true on the surface because they couldn't get to EVERYTHING in an hour-long episode.

As is, the above was a lot of plot to unwind in an hour-long (45 minutes minus commercials) episode. While I enjoyed most of what was going on, excluding the cringe-worthy Emma and Will scenes, there was so much going on that it became hard to follow at times. For example, I think Rachel and Finn broke up about 47 times in that episode, and now Rachel is dating an entirely new guy altogether. If they had split all the plot going on in this episode into two or even three, with some more humor, I think the series would have been better served. Still, I thought this was a great reintroduction for series regulars, even if a newcomer (I'm sure there were plenty with American Idol as a lead) would have been completely lost.

Speaking of Britt, and I realize I wasn't, but I'm glad the writers or producers or whoever on the show finally rewarded Heather Elizabeth Morris with some more lines! (Also, a key note about her: She even acts airhead really well. In any given scene, she is not looking at whoever is talking.) Britt and Santana served as the comic relief for the episode, with Britt as her typical airhead self, and Santana as the brains of the group solely because she isn't as stupid as Britt. A shout-out to Naya Rivera, a.k.a. Santana, who does a good job with her character, the sort of straight woman to Britt's sheer moronic lunacy.

I used one of Britt's quotes as the title of this entry, but good lord, she almost deserves an A+ for just her contribution. In fact, here is my new regular feature when I review Glee: What Britt Said.

[In regard to Rachel] "Those sweaters make her look homeschooled."

[Finn says Rachel is cool.] "Finn, that's mean."

[The waitress asks why they want to return their dinner, even though they ate it all.] "There was a mouse in mine."

[Why didn't Britt and Santana ruin glee club?] "We were seduced by the glitz and glamor of showbiz."

"Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks? ... yeah."

"You're a really good dancer." [Finn: Uh, thanks, but my feet weren't really moving.] "That was the best part."

"Sometimes I forget my middle name."

Grade: A