GLEE "Plan" Not Quite As Expected

Article first published as TV Review: 'Glee' - 'The Back-Up Plan' on Blogcritics.

FOX’s Glee presents a very frustrating installment this week in “The Back-Up Plan.” Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) is a Broadway star, earning rave reviews for her leading role in Funny Girl. A month into the run, though, she isn’t satisfied and begins to look elsewhere, despite her new agent (Richard Kind, Luck, Spin City) telling her she has a “face for radio” and can’t make it in TV or film. When Rachel catches the eye of a Fox executive (Community‘s Jim Rash), she risks her job to chase the next dream.

Throughout all of Glee, Rachel has wanted to do Broadway. Fewer than 50 shows, and she’s ready to give it up? It just doesn’t make sense. Had this episode taken place a year after opening, sure, I would buy it, and her stylistically cool “Wake Me Up” would work. True, Rachel’s heroes have crossed from stage to screen, so she’d eventually want to follow in their footsteps. But to finally achieve success and then risk it so carelessly, not appreciating what she’s accomplished? That doesn’t seem like Rachel.

I think Rachel’s producer Sidney (Michael Lerner), has it right when he says (I’m paraphrasing here) she’s a stupid, spoiled, bratty child. The only way to accept what Rachel is doing, lying to Sidney so she can fly to L.A. for a screen test and missing a performance, is to chalk it up to the brashness of youth. She doesn’t understand how badly she’s hurting herself, losing all respect and friendship from Sidney by the end of “The Back-Up Plan.”

It is to Rachel’s credit that she confesses what she does. That, combined with the reviews and ticket sales and a good friend are what save Rachel from being fired, barely. I really, really, hope she learns from this mistake and never tries something so boneheaded again.

Except, just when Rachel is at her lowest, the Fox exec calls again, telling Rachel she didn’t get the science fiction series she tested for (good, because sci-fi almost never thrives on Fox; see: Almost Human, Dollhouse, Firefly, etc.). Instead, he offers her a development deal. This means everything is still going right for Rachel, whipping her right back up another hill on the roller coaster. It’s a great moment for her, but I worry it will wash away any lesson she might take to heart in this situation.

The bad screen test could be another learning opportunity for Rachel. It’s hilarious how the execs squirm as Rachel delivers a fantastic rendition of “The Rose” because it’s so inappropriate for the role. This is what Hollywood is, where even greatness doesn’t mean anything in the wrong room, and Rachel should be humbled, even if her lack of preparedness isn’t really her fault here. Hopefully, she will understand she isn’t all that, but given the end result, it’s not likely.

Credit must be given to Jim Rash for a memorable turn. “The Back-Up Plan” is chock-full of big name guest stars, as next week will be, too, and yet, he stands out. It’s likely because his executive role could so easily have been a caricature, but he finds an authentic way to play it. He’s never a jerk, even when he could be, and is as supportive as he is rambling. There’s something likable and charming in the man that just shines through. Awesome.

Rachel isn’t the only character in Glee this week, of course. Kurt (Chris Colfer) invites Blaine (Darren Criss) to sing with him in front of a wealthy benefactor, June Dolloway (the amazing Shirley MacLaine). June only has eyes for Blaine during their fun “Story of My Life,” though, and sets her sights on making him a star, practically ignoring Kurt. This begins right away when she drags Blaine along to a fundraiser (the organizer of which is played by a completely wasted Eric Roberts, The Dark Knight), where they perform together. Then, she schedules him a showcase.
I love, love, love MacLaine, and I think June may be an interesting part for her. Unfortunately, her duet performance with Blaine, “Piece of My Heart,” is lackluster at best. Her voice does betray her age, even if she dances around like someone ten years younger. However, it’s the lack of energy in the song, inherent to this particular number, that does her in. Couldn’t someone have gotten a better musical choice for someone deserving of more? Plus, the way she looks equally at both Kurt and Blaine during their performance and talk after is teasingly cruel, not suited to her part, just done to build dramatics in the story.

Even worse, June means more strife for Kurt and Blaine. Blaine is determined to take Kurt with him on the train to stardom, and Kurt is more supportive than most would be in his situation. But June tells Blaine Kurt can’t be in the showcase, and Blaine lies to Kurt, unable to let down his fiance. Will Blaine choose Kurt or success? This could put a serious damper in their romance, either way.

Finally, Mercedes (Amber Riley) is faced with a similar choice when she wants to duet with Santana (Naya Rivera) on her album, but the producer (Gary Dourdan, CSI) wants a more famous singer, even after the two kill it with “Doo Wop (That Thing).” Santana tells Mercedes it’s fine, she should do what the label wants to give her record the best chance of success. Will Mercedes choose friendship or a chance at fame?

In the end, Mercedes doesn’t have to decide; she wins Santana a contract. This is just as much a cop out as Rachel being rescued at the last minute by the Fox exec. While Glee has only one more season to show us how these characters end up, and it’s always given their characters happy endings as much as possible, it still feels weak to have triumph come so easily now. Why can’t the characters spend the next year struggling, and only find what they seek at the end? It’s cool to see them doing well, but it just doesn’t feel realistic, sadly.

Disturbing are the rumors this week that Rivera has been fired from Glee. While unconfirmed, its been widely reported. The series would suffer a blow to lose her. She and Michele share a terrific scene in “The Back-Up Plan” as Santana saves Rachel’s bacon in the musical, then asks for nothing in return. After finally getting these ladies on good footing, it would be nice to see this friendship continue. I guess Rivera leaving means Santana and Brittany could finally have their happy ending, though if the actress is fired, we may not see the couple run off together, which would suck.

I’m also disappointed that Rachel’s leading man and director are still MIA even though the last two installments have featured major Funny Girl stories. Were the actors just not available? Why cast them earlier in the season if they couldn’t return when needed? It just makes the world seem less fleshed out and more fake.

Still, at least the story is moving and the actors remain as interesting as they ever have been. I love the more narrowed focus of a handful of players every week, giving them more room to breathe and develop than when ten story lines are being juggled. Three threads seems to be the perfect number for Glee, and overall, “The Back-Up Plan,” while frustrating, is a solid episode.

Glee has two weeks left in its fifth season; it airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

Rachel's Big "Opening Night" of GLEE

Article first published as TV Review: 'Glee' - 'Opening Night' on Blogcritics.

This week’s installment of Glee, “Opening Night,” has a couple of nice stories mashed together in a very unnatural way. Add to that a big list of what is missing from the hour that should have been included, and it feels uneven. Had this been split into two separate episodes, allowing room to add in some of the glaring omissions, it might have been really good. Instead, it’s a fair installment with some terrific moments.

The ‘A’ plot revolves around Rachel’s (Lea Michele) Broadway opening night in Funny Girl. Her friends rally around her, including Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), who has come to visit, but not Artie (Kevin McHale), who is out of town, so we trade one annoying character for another. Still, Rachel has severe nerves and has a hard time finding the will to get up on stage. It takes a former frenemy verbally slapping some sense into her before Rachel can perform. Once she does, as expected, she is amazing.

Rachel’s nervousness is understandable, and is well developed. It gives us the fun opening “Lovefool” with welcome appearances by former recurring players Karofsky (Max Adler), Jacob Ben Israel (John Sussman), and Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter). Those three are tormentors of Rachel’s previously, to varying degrees, so it makes sense to see them now. From here, we get to Rachel curled up in bed, unable to rise, doubting herself after reading online reviews of the preview shows. What nineteen- or twenty-year old wouldn’t be nearly paralyzed with fear in this situation?

It’s Santana (Naya Rivera) that manages to make Rachel see the light when her friends, including Kurt (Chris Colfer), Blaine (Darren Criss), Mercedes (Amber Riley), and Sam (Chord Overstreet) cannot. This works for the story, too. Not only does it solidify that Rachel and Santana are over their feud and really can be true pals, but Rachel needs a kick in the pants, not coddling, and only Santana can do that. Tina gives hard truths, too, but only unintentionally, not having the brass to back them up that Santana does, or wisdom to see what’s needed.

When Rachel takes the stage, she’s terrific. An audience kerfuffle tarnishes the first act a little bit, but Rachel’s chums remain supportive and the producer, Sidney (Michael Lerner), tells Rachel like it is, so Rachel rallies. Her opening, “I’m the Greatest Star,” is good, but her closing, “Who Are You Now?,” is even better. Rachel’s skipping of the cast party to hang out with her friends in a rowdy gay club, complete with a spirited “Pumpin’ Blood,” is a little rude, but she needs to let off steam her way. And the rave reviews in the papers the next morning are well-earned, the culmination of five years of story arcs for the female lead of the series.

The worst part of this storyline, though, is that Will (Matthew Morrison), who has come to New York specifically for the show, has to run home before it begins because Emma (Jayma Mays) is in labor. It’s not like Mays even appears in the episode, nor do Will or Rachel struggle with his absence, so what is the point of this? It seems gimmicky, like a bad sitcom, and the episode would have changed not at all had Will stayed, uninterrupted.

Or maybe the worst part is that Rachel’s dads, introduced as two men that would be mega-fans of their daughter, don’t show up, as they never do, their characters having been consistently wasted all throughout Glee. Nor do many of Rachel’s friends come, despite that fact that this person they know and like is starring in a Broadway show! Maybe Glee didn’t want another big reunion episode so soon after the ending of the McKinley plot, but “Opening Night” pretty much screams for one, and fails to get it.

Of course, Glee sticks a couple of touching Finn references in, as it is beginning to do way too often. Rachel thinks of Finn while singing, and Will gives her child the middle name of Finn. These are sweet, to be sure, and definitely fit for the moment. But do we have to be reminded of Finn week after week? Many shows don’t mention a character enough after their passing; Glee is almost doing it too much.

Sandwiched into “Opening Night” is a ‘B’ story in which Sue (Jane Lynch), criticized for lambasting New York City in her news segment because she’s never been there, tags along with Will. Unable to sit through Funny Girl, Sue climbs over the New York Times critic early in the show, then meets up with a man named Mario (Chris Parnell, Suburgatory, Archer), who walks out in a similar manner. The two fall in love over dinner, then have sex all over Rachel’s apartment (because they didn’t know Will had left an empty hotel room?). In the end, though, Sue won’t stay in the city and Mario won’t move to Ohio, so their affair ends, but leaves Sue with an appreciation for the Big Apple.

Sue deserves a romance, and I like her how and Mario connect, Mario even sticking by her after Rachel (justifiably) loudly and harshly tells Sue off. So why bring this up if it’s not going to be an ongoing arc? And why stuff it into Rachel’s episode? Sue’s “N.Y.C.” number with Will is great, but the fact that Sue shares Rachel’s big closer, “Who Are You Now?,” is jarring and weird. It’s nice to see Sue get story, and good story at that,  but it’s just sandwiched so unevenly into “Opening Night” that it doesn’t land as it should.

I’m also a little torn over the Rachel / Sue showdown in this episode. Sue is known to be supportive of her students, using her cruelty as a motivator, not because she’s truly mean. So why can’t Sue be happy for Rachel when Rachel has succeeded? Is Sue resentful that it has come about so easily for the girl? If so, explore that, don’t leave us wondering. Rachel laying into Sue feels good because, in the moment, Sue seems to deserve it, and yet, because we see Sue emotionally bare this week, it also feels a little rougher than it should be, creating unnecessarily mixed feelings.

Once more, “Opening Night” is superior to the NYC/McKinley split episodes, but does not completely fulfill its potential. It will be interesting to see how Glee ties up the New York arc in the next three weeks, and if its final season, which will feature a new format and setting(s?), finally figures out what the show should be. Glee airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

GLEE "Bash"ing Not as Easy Any More

Article first published as TV Review: 'Glee' - 'Bash' on Blogcritics.

Glee takes a darker turn in this week’s episode, “Bash,” when Kurt (Chris Colfer) steps in to defend a gay man being beat up. The victim runs, abandoning his savior, and Kurt is kicked until he ends up in the hospital, exposing the seedy side of New York City, where hate crimes are on the rise. Kurt’s experiences affect all of his friends, and end up being a center piece for the entire hour, which is mostly a pretty good one.

It’s weird to think of New York as a place that isn’t tolerant, given the wide variety of people who live there, but I guess bigots are everywhere, and in a huge place where it’s easy for individuals to hide, some have begun to strike out. As Kurt says, they feel their way of life slipping away and it makes them angry, so they pummel the people they feel are responsible for it. It’s not rational, and it’s a truly ugly side of human behavior, but it is something we can understand. “Bash” does a good job in communicating this, and is emotionally moving.

The episode begins with Kurt, Blaine (Darren Criss), Rachel (Lea Michele), and Sam (Chord Overstreet) participating in a vigil for someone else who has been hurt. They sing a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite Sondheim pieces (this episode has a lot of Sondheim songs), “No One Is Alone” from Into the Woods. It’s a sad occasion, one sure to be repeated when Kurt gets involved in a similar incident, making the show take an even more unexpected turn as Blaine sits by Kurt’s bedside and sings the weakest number of the week, “Not While I’m Around,” which is appropriately melancholy, but lacks the power one might hope for.

It isn’t long before Kurt’s father, Burt (Mike O’Malley), flies into town, furious at Kurt for getting involved. “Bash” provides O’Malley yet another opportunity for a moving performance. We see the pain in his eyes, reflecting his child’s physical ailments, but the pride still shines through, knowing that Kurt is a good man, no longer a kid, who stands up for what he believes in. It’s a complex situation, Burt’s range of emotions all understandable and warring to surface, but love is the one that shines through the bets, making a for a terrific father-son scene.

And, because Glee must always let its heroes triumph, “Bash” concludes with Kurt’s mid-term performance of “I’m Still Here.” It’s a wonderful moment, Kurt recovered from his ordeal (mostly), surrounded by his loved ones. He will not let others bring him down, and he will continue to do what he does best. It’s an amazing song, performed fantastically, and surely earns Kurt top marks from his smiling professor, Carmen Tibideaux (Whoopi Goldberg).

Rachel is deeply affected by what happens to Kurt. She’s getting a little too big for her britches, choosing a duet with Blaine, “Broadway Baby,” for her own mid-term. It’s a great number, but Carmen is upset with Rachel for ignoring the guidelines of the assignment. Rachel, high on tech week for Funny Girl, pretty much tells Carmen where to stick it, resulting in Rachel quitting school. When Kurt steps in to confront Rachel, trying to reason with her that she needs an education, she tells him he doesn’t take risks. Needless to say, she feels responsible for Kurt interfering in the bad situation later in the installment, and while she doesn’t apologize to Carmen, she does resolve to stick with her friends, telling Kurt that she’s sorry.

In a way, Rachel taking responsibility for Kurt’s actions only shows even more how self-involved Rachel has become. Why does she think a few words she says will cause Kurt to change his behavior? Kurt isn’t easily manipulated, and as his best friend, Rachel should know that. Kurt’s decision has nothing at all to do with the diva, and so it makes Rachel seem pathetic when she infers that it does, even as the scene in which the two make up is sweet.

Rachel’s story is the weakest in “Bash,” and not just because she’s being a jerk. She tells her boss, Sidney (Michael Lerner), that she simply has to have time off of tech week for her school work, and he objects. She insists it’s just this one time, ignoring the fact that she just took a full week off to go back to Ohio, not to mention how her waitressing job must be distracting her even if, as Carmen says, Rachel has let her studies slip. Sidney agrees to let Rachel have one break, then she promptly spends much of the rest of the episode off set, rushing to Kurt’s bedside and hanging out with her friends, without a hint of complaint from the production. I don’t know how the writers expect us to buy the lack of continuity in any of this because it just doesn’t make any sense at all.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering, Blaine does make up his project for Carmen during “Not While I’m Around,” so his spot at NYADA is safe.

The other subplot happening in “Bash” involves the reunion of Mercedes (Amber Riley) and Sam. They fall for one another over reruns of The Facts of Life, which Sam hopelessly misinterprets, and then Mercedes opens up with a nice “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” However, one lousy dinner with her backup singers (Dana Davis, Franklin & Bash, and Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Righteous Kill), and Mercedes dumps Sam out of fear of what racist people will think, and how that might hurt her career. Thankfully, Kurt’s bravery makes Mercedes come to her senses in an Amber Riley-original, “Colorblind,” and the couple reconciles.

I’ve always been a fan of the off-again, on-again pair. Not all Glee viewers root for Sam and Mercedes, but they fit together unexpectedly well. They may be different people, but they also like one another a great deal, offering support and advice without judgment. Their plot in “Bash” is a little hokey, but overall, I’m still holding out hope Riley will be re-signed as a series regular and stay in New York.

“Bash” isn’t the best episode of Glee ever, but it does continue the trend of a higher quality since the Ohio setting was ditched, and aside from Blaine’s song, which did its job, the musical sequences are much more even. The Kurt stuff doesn’t quite fit in the series, but it’s well handled. I think getting away from the cheesiness inherent in the high school story lines has been good for the show, and overall, it’s doing better.

Glee airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.