Rumours

Glee Episode Review

In which April is also back. Glee finally gets around to putting Sue and Terri's plan of attack into motion.

What Happened

Brittany has her own internet talk show. And a cat.

Sue resurrects the school newspaper so that she can spread gossip about Glee Club kids. The "Muckraker" outs Santana and suggests that Quinn is fooling around with Sam. Observing the meltdowns, Will decides to cover Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album in order to put the drama to good use.

Will is helped by April, who has returned to town to work on her biographical musical, Cross-Rhodes. (A joke it took me entirely too long to get.) Sue starts the rumor that Will is going to follow April to Broadway. Seeing them rehearse, Emma encourages him to pursue his dreams.

Artie asks Brittany about Santana. She tells him that Santana assures her that it doesn't count as cheating. Artie blurts out that Brittany is being "stupid" about Santana and she runs off in tears. Santana sings to Brittany, but won't make a public declaration. Brittany invites her to come on "Fondue for Two" and accept Brittany's invitation to go to Prom together.

Rachel and Finn stake out the motel room where Sam and Quinn are supposedly carrying on their affair. All they see is Sam... and Kurt. Quinn finds out about the stakeout and issues an ultimatum: Finn can no longer sing with Rachel. When another argument breaks out, Sam admits that his father was fired. They lost the house and have to live in a motel room. Quinn and Kurt were just helping out.

The kids come together to help Sam, but divisions remain. Finn and Quinn's relationship is on very shaky ground. Santana tells The Muckraker that she's with Karofsky, breaking Brittany's heart. And while Will tells Emma that he's determined to take the kids to Nationals, he still wishes that he could go to Broadway with April - unaware that she is in cahoots with Terri and Sue.

The Good

• Mr. Tubbington!

The Better

• A cool assignment to cover a whole album. I like that.
• The guitar train was kind of cool.
• The passive-aggressive of Quinn and Finn's duet.
• Aw. Don't cry Sam. Why is everyone crying?

The Best

• "You were the only one at this school that never called me that." Aw. Brittany. Poor baby.
• "Songbirds."

Best Lines

Kurt: "Oh, how I've missed your insanity."

What Did I Think?

This was a sad episode. Like Buffy Season Six levels of angst.

It's great how well the Brittany-Santana stuff is working, considering where the characters started. Was there more of an emphasis on Brittany and Artie in the episodes that I missed? Because otherwise, he's a little under-developed in this love triangle. It's not that I can't see Artie with Brittany, it just that I haven't, so I'm rooting more for Brittany and Santana. Artie's explanation of his insecurities was so sad and I understood his frustration. But, oh, Brittany's pain when he called "stupid."

Then, there's Quinn and Finn stress. They don't seem long for this world - particularly if next week's previews are any indication. Though I'm not sure Finn necessarily belongs with Rachel, either. I have to admit, I always liked Jesse - until he went vicious on us and rejoined Vocal Adrenaline. But Rachel and Finn are the "it" couple, right? They are who we were set up to root for ever since the pilot, so does that make them inevitable?

One reason I liked Stefan and Elena is that they were "it" on The Vampire Diaries. So why am I totally on-board that couple - despite much stronger competition - and only lukewarm on Finn and Rachel? When I think about it, the characters do have a lot in common. Love Elena, but she can be a little high maintenance what with all the people trying to kill her - just like Rachel. And Finn and Stefan both occasionally spend more time than strictly necessary standing around gawping at their girlfriends.

I think the difference is that Rachel and Finn have spent too much time in the star-crossed lovers phase. In the same amount of time Elena and Stefan have been together, Rachel has longed for Finn until he broke up with Quinn, dated and then broke up with Finn, dated and then been dumped by Jesse, dated Finn, then dallied with Puck and got dumped by Finn, then longed for Finn again, and now she's asking Sam to prom. At this point, there's too much gunk between them to see them happily ever aftering.

Yeah. I'm off-topic. I'm trying to avoid having to talk about Sue and Terri and April. I'm satisfied in theory with them taking Will away to Broadway, but they teased Terri for two weeks then all she contributes is to call in April? Then vanish? And the song from April's musical looked terrible. Not "so terrible it's fantastic." Just terrible. (Although it was a pretty dress.)

And why is April going along with this?

No. No. I can't question April's motivation. April lives in a musical. She is a plot device. Her motivation is that someone has to tempt Will, so she's been elected. As plans go, it's not bad. Will has been torn between artistic opportunity and his responsibilities in the past. I am glad that it's a professional temptation for Will more than a personal one. The last thing we need is another round of complications between him and Emma.