By Benjamin Matern
Jesse St. James tells Finn at the beginning of the episode: “You kind of sing and dance like a zombie that has to poop.” – I knew right then that this episode would be a winner. Little did I know how much I would love it – it stands out as one of the most impressive episodes of Season 2. This is “Glee” at its very best.
You can roughly divide the episode into two parts; the first part deals with Santana, Kurt, Mercedes 
and Rachel auditioning for a solo part for Nationals. I can’t remember when four songs were sung consecutively without much interaction in between (maybe during the competitions). This was like a big Broadway gala with the cream of the crop. All four are amazing, even though it felt as if one song just topped the previous one. The writers tried too hard to make Jesse unlikeable; his cynic criticism was probably meant to drag more sympathy towards Finn, but it didn’t work for me. I also would have liked another duet with Rachel – I wonder why they never took the chance to include “The Word Of Your Body” or “Those You’ve Known” in “Glee”? It would have been a nice homage to their Broadway breakthrough. But no, he doesn’t get a single song – after the millions of songs that Gwyneth Paltrow got?!
But back to what turns out to be the most touching scene “Glee” has ever come up with: The funeral of Sue’s sister. It took some time un
til Sue cracked; first she wasn’t willing to deal with Jean’s death at all, but then she can’t escape it after all. Her eulogy, the New Directions’ song – even the decoration and the video with images of Jean’s life just get to you so naturally. One could argue that is was too much of a tear-jerker, but I didn’t mind. Death is sad. What I liked is that they gave Sue some hope (in form of Becky) and especially that she didn’t change back to evil Sue at the end of the episode – which usually would happen. She seems to really have changed. It’d be great if her constant hatred towards the Glee club came to an end and she pursues something different next season, because it’s about time – and it doesn’t mean that she can’t be vicious anymore.
No criticism today (I just overlook Rachel).
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