The Gleek Critique: "Dance With Somebody" Episode

Santana and Brittany sing Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."
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by Jack Garcia

When Mr. Schuester hears some of the glee kids singing a Whitney Houston song in the hallway, he wonders why it's so hard for them to say goodbye to the pop icon.  Ms. Pilsbury suggests that perhaps it's because they are really having trouble saying goodbye to each other.  Graduation is some 42 days away, according to Rachel, and everybody seems to be weepy with goodbyes.  Rachel and Santana hug it out, Puck gives all his boys shot glasses to remember him by, and even when glee practice isn't mandatory, the kids just can't help but going.  They are friends.

Will and Emma's wedding is set for the winter, but Will changes his mind and sets the date for May... before graduation.  After yelling at their wedding planner for saying it was impossible to do in a month, he decides he can plan it himself.  He gets the brilliant idea to hold the ceremony in a KOA campground, but Emma reminds him that she is OCD and a campground isn't excactly clean.  Why the rush?  He's afraid the glee kids won't come back for the wedding.  He wants it to happen before they leave.  And in keeping with the "hard to say goodbye" theme, he admits that he's going to miss the kids.  They changed his life.

Burt Hummel also has a touching scene with his son, Kurt, about the same thing: how much he is going to miss him when he goes to New York for school.  But Kurt has other things on his mind.  He met a guy named Chandler at a music store and they've been texting flirty things to each other.  He convinces himself it's all innocent, but when Blaine finds out about it, he's completely hurt.  Their relationship is on the rocks, but it turns out the root of the problem is that Blaine can't stand the fact that Kurt will be leaving him in a few months.  Blaine, like Burt, is going to miss Kurt immensely.

The only plotline not dealing with sad goodbyes is Quinn's.  Joe has been helping her out with her physical therapy and he has an obvious crush on her.  He asks Sam's advice, and Sam says to go for it.  By the show's end, it seems like the two of them are an item.

The Pros:

• The opening number was beautiful!  Mercedes, Santana, Kurt and Rachel sang a heartfelt, a capella rendition of "How Will I Know" while reverently placing  Whitney Houston's picture into a candle-filled locker-turned-shrine.  A bit over-the-top, sure... but this is Glee.
• The Whitney Houston songs continued to shine.  "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" was the perfect vehicle to show off Brittany's dance moves!  And the first-ever Santana/Rachel duet of "So Emotional" was lots of fun.  Too bad they didn't become friends sooner!
• Anytime Blaine sings it's a pro for me.  "It's Not Right But It's Okay" was so so so so good!  I loved it!  And I'm actually going to put Blaine and Kurt's little spat on this list because it was nice to see that even their relationship isn't perfect.  I mean, we see Rachel and Finn have tiffs on a weekly basis, so it was nice to see that the gays have arguments too.  That's one thing I love about Glee:  both hetero and homo relationships are given equal weight.
• "My Love is Your Love" was the perfect ending and it reminded me a lot of their rendition of "We Are Young" in an earlier episode this season.  Both songs embodied a moment of coming together as friends, and it's cheesy moments like these that make me smile.  Friendship is important!
• The other two songs were probably my least favorite, but still good.  Joe and Quinn sang "Saving All My Love For You" and Kurt sang "I Have Nothing."  Let's just say Kurt is no Whitney... but he sure gave it his all.
• Sam pumping iron.  Just watch those biceps...
• I got a kick out of the scene where Puck hands out the shot glasses.  "Sorry, Finn, I tried to get your balls back from Rachel but she's got those on lockdown."  Or when Blaine asked, "Why does mine say 'Drink until she's cute'?"

The Cons:

• Chandler was kind of an obnoxious character, and I have no idea why anybody dating Blaine Anderson would even consider texting him!
• There was a lot of awkwardness in this episode.  Seriously, Joe makes me feel uncomfortable.  First we had his weird scene with Sam where Sam told him to be a "new kind of Christian"-- one who has sex.  Then we have the scene where Quinn feels his erection on his leg and he talks about "sins of the flesh."  It was just awkward.  Sex talk and God talk together in the same conversation just make for awkwardness...
• Wait, isn't Quinn paralyzed?  How did she feel the boner on her leg?
• Blaine's acting wasn't my favorite in this episode.  A little too whiney and not all-together convincing.
• Where are you, Sue?