Gleek Out: Lean On Me (And Take A Nap)

Glee, Quinn, Finn, Will Schuester, Susie Pepper, television, TV, Mercedes, Artie, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, pregnancy, Ballad, episode, duets

Glee wasn't terrible last night, but it didn't even come close to touching last week's best episode ever. This probably had a lot to do with the glaring absence of scene-stealer Jane Lynch, who plays Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester. I suppose I'm also not very invested in Quinn and Finn's relationship, and it didn't help that the sub-plot regarding Rachel's short-lived crush on Mr. Schuester was pretty lame-tastic.

One thing that I did love about this episode? Susie Pepper. I really hope that actress returns throughout the season, because crazy bitches are always fun. Also, the moment when Finn is on the phone with Kurt in the bathroom and cuts off their conversation because he's afraid Quinn's parents will think he's pooping? Brilliant. I usually hate scatological humor, but that was so true. Too bad the rest of the episode was kind of ridiculous.

– Dewitt

To watch or read more about this episode, follow the JUMP:

  1. "Endless Love" (Lea Michele & Matthew Morrison): When they announced that they'd be pairing off for duets, I got excited at the prospect of hearing the other kids sing together. Wasn't anyone else curious about Tina and "other Asian" working it out together? Instead, we didn't really get to hear anyone else's duets. While watching these two perform this song, all I could think was, "Wow, Lea Michele is awesome at this whole lip-synching thing. Matthew Morrison? Not so much." In fact, he's actually kind of terrible.
  2. "I'll Stand By You" (Cory Monteith): When your mom catches you singing to a sonogram and finds out your girlfriend is pregnant is that like when your mom catches you jerking off to gay porn and finds out you're gay? Hearing this one made me realize that Cory Monteith actually has a fantastic voice, but he just gets completely upstaged any time he's paired with Ms. Michele. A part of me wishes they had thrown Kurt in there somewhere, to further illustrate his hopeless crush on Finn.
  3. "Don't Stand So Close To Me", "Young Girl" (Matthew Morrison): Personally, I feel like this was one of Morrison's best performances on the show. The song was completely relevant to the plot, and Rachel and Emma's reactions just sealed the deal. Hopefully, they'll throw together more numbers like this rather than novelty white-boy raps. I mean, the "Thong Song"? Really?
  4. "Crush" (Lea Michele): A part of me was disappointed that they cut this song so short within the episode. Then I went back and listened to the full-length studio version. As splendid as Michele's voice is, it's just too powerful for a sultry, whispery song like this. It wound up sounding like a well-performed karaoke rendition. Not terrible, but not great. On an unrelated note, Terri Schuester was actually kind of bearable in this episode.
  5. "(You're) Having My Baby" (Cory Monteith): Once again, I was impressed by Monteith's vocal prowess, but let's get straight to the point–this was one of the most ridiculous moments of the entire show. Even though Finn Hudson can be dense at times, he's not stupid enough to reveal his girlfriend's pregnancy to her parents via song. Also, Quinn looked entirely too charmed by his crooning. If this were a real life situation, she would be pissed off. Kudos to the actors playing Quinn's parents. They were appropriately waspy, and I actually believed that they were terrible people.
  6. "Lean On Me" (Full Cast, led by Kevin McHale & Amber Riley): I was supposed to think this was cute, right? Because I didn't. It was basically recycling their gimmick for that awful Avril Lavigne "Keep Holding On" number. Considering that this song doesn't suck balls, it was much more bearable than that one. It was nice to see Artie and Mercedes on vocals again. Speaking of Mercedes, did anyone else actually believe her reaction to Puck's confession? I don't know if it was poor writing or poor acting, but it just seemed kind of half-assed. And why would Puck agree to sing this song with them, given his obvious emotional issues attached to the situation? FAIL.

7 thoughts on “Gleek Out: Lean On Me (And Take A Nap)

  1. Honestly, I didn’t get all the hype behind last weeks episode. It was good, but nothing special. I loved last night’s episode though!

  2. The “Keep Holding On” number is my favorite, and I believe the best song they’ve done as a cast. It was the first time they showed Quinn had a heart, and it was just more powerful than the shit they did last night.

  3. Hmm, I’m not sure why you think Wheels was the best episode. There have been better. This episode was pretty good, not the best one, not the worst. I agree that this episode showed that Finn actually does have a good voice, but I thought him singing to a monogram was lame and him singing in front of the parents was so stupid.
    I’m so over Mercedes. Her character is so stupid and her reaction to Puck was weird. And Puck singing was weird but I think he was just doing it to get Quinn.
    The whole Rachel/Finn/Quinn/Puck thing is getting annoying. Cause I don’t think anyone should be with Finn. He’s an idiot. Rachel and Quinn can both do better.

  4. “Cory Monteith” and “vocal prowess” don’t go in the same sentence. You obviously don’t yet comprehend the magical wonders of autotune.

  5. The Glee Club story of the show didn’t seem to make sense–Shue and Rachel sing a ballad-type duet, then apparently everyone else just sings solo “ballads” (many of which I would never classify as such) and, um, what happened to the “duet” thing?
    Honestly, I think that the Quinn/Finn storyline was progressing as it should, and it was good to see that in as conservative as this town was supposed to be (and in as conservative a family as the Fabrays were supposed to be) there were realistic if extreme reactions to the situation, BUT I always hate the fact that there seems to be no form of a PTA for this school district.
    My only problem with Mercedes’s reaction to Puck’s confession is the fact that she suddenly seemed to think that she knew exactly what was going on. If she had known the story, fine, but for the way she reacted you would think that she and Quinn had several heart-to-hearts on the subject (unless they did and we’re going to find that out in future episodes). I mean, yes, I am a hardcore Quick shipper, but I think even the most hardcore Quinn/Finn fans would be shocked by it as well.
    (And I really didn’t like “Wheels” so much–mostly because of it being unrealistic and my thoughts that it seemed to exploit Artie’s image as a cheap plot device more than it actually created good character development. Ah well, differing minds have differing opinions.)

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