It’s been difficult as of late to find much interest in the deepening melodrama and campiness of Glee. Interspersed between moments of strong social commentaries are weird one-liners or oddball comedy that throw you out of your state of seriousness. Then a second later they’re trying to make you feel emotional again. But in the combination of two episodes – “Props/Nationals” – it was done just right. To the point that I was even singing along with the music, feeling glad to be watching this show and legitimately enjoying every moment of it.
At every step of “Props/Nationals,” Glee addressed my concerns. First and foremost, the choice to put two episodes together in this case actually worked in favor of the show. The “Props” portion focused primarily on the relationships between the characters as Nationals approached, which allowed for a music-heavy episode for the second half of the night.
“Props” was filled with a lot of heavy emotional plot arcs, which made for an interesting episode despite the inherent issue with Glee being at times like a soap opera due to its feeble handling of incredibly touchy subjects. But there was a moment between Coach Beiste and Puck – when the former was dealing with the emotions of her abusive marriage and the latter was feeling distraught at the prospect of not graduating – when all that was necessary was a hug to communicate all the powerful sentiment of the episode. It was just heartfelt enough to make your soul fall apart and then be mended again when they sang “Mean.”
Rachel’s pleas to be considered by Carmen Tibideaux for a place at NYADA were interesting as well. It was easy to assume that the topic of her attendance would be dead in the water what with all of the songs Rachel sang in past episodes about being strong and giving up on her dreams of going to the school. They fooled us, those Glee writers. Or at least they fooled me. During the scene when Rachel calls Carmen for the 14th time, I felt surprised and pleased at the twist. No longer was Rachel simply whining over not getting a place at the school, she seemed to be making an honest effort to recapture the chance.
To accompany the histrionic plot points was the blatant silliness of Tina’s dream which had actors switching roles – Tina as Rachel, Puck as Blaine, Finn as Kurt and so on and so forth. But this time the jokes didn’t invade the drama. The self-contained plots made for two very different developments – eventually intersecting at the end to show a wonderful moment of connection between Rachel and Tina as they sang “Flashdance… What a Feeling.”
But perhaps the best moment of the episode, maybe even of the season or the series at large, was the winning of Nationals. It’s a cliché statement to make, I guess, but it’s been a success worth waiting for. To build up to the moment, there was the great scene where Jesse St. James approaches Carmen at Nationals about Rachel’s audition into NYADA and affirms that if anyone deserves to go there, it’s Rachel. But the emotions went even more haywire as the New Directions accepted the trophy and, for the rest of the episode, everything just seemed to go right.
The only hitch I found with the episode was that it was just too perfect. After “Props” ended, “Nationals” just seemed to be a happiness fest. But again, that was a good juxtaposition that made the pairing of the two episodes worthwhile.
But in opposition to the perfection, there were a few story developments that were cloudy and confusing at best. One, how did Quinn go from just standing up in “Prom-a-saurus” to dancing like she did before her accident in “Nationals”? Two, if Lindsay Lohan and Perez Hilton weren’t as impressed with the New Directions as the show choir-obsessed Alderman who was the third judge at Nationals, how did they end up winning over Vocal Adrenaline – the group that seemed to be getting the most praise in judge delibrations? And three, why did they base Nationals in Chicago and then not showcase the city at all? That was a bummer.
Regardless, this was a good penultimate couple of episodes for Glee’s third season. For the first time in a long while, I’m excited to see what the next episode holds.
The Songs of “Props/Nationals”:
“I Won’t Give Up” – As soon as this beautiful Jason Mraz song came on, I was ready to turn off my television and YouTube it to hear Mr. A-Z finish the tune. Rachel did a great job as well, though. Chills were definitely had.
“Because You Loved Me” – Finally Tina gets a solo. A good follow-up to the reflexive commentary on her role as the Glee cast wallflower in the pre-episode recap.
“Mean” – The theme of this song is not exactly spot on with what Coach Beiste’s story was about, but it fit the theme of her and Puck’s emotional dichotomy. Even for a Taylor Swift “purist” (if those exist), it was a great cover.
“Flashdance… What a Feeling” – Nothing really to take away from this song, except it highlighted the journey to Nationals which was an exciting commencement to “Props” and it proved a great moment for Rachel and Tina.
“The Edge of Glory” – This was the moment when I most questioned Quinn’s sudden ability to dance. She was moving just as well as she did last season and it just didn’t seem credible. Still, a fun performance with a nice ballet-influenced routine.
“It’s All Coming Back to Me” – The vocals, as usual with Rachel, were stellar in this piece. But for some reason this show-stopper didn’t do as well as, say, “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
“Paradise by the Dashboard Light” – As I watched this performance I kept asking myself how I hadn’t heard this song before. The narrative aspects of it, and the flipping between themes and segments of the song was so great.
“Starships” – Obviously with Vocal Adrenaline doing the performance, more of the focus was on choreography than vocal performance (contrary to the name). Still, the acrobatics and cohesive group routine was impressive and Unique was wonderful at front and center.
“Pinball Wizard” – This blew “Starships” out of the water. Maybe it’s because it’s a song from The Who. Maybe it’s because Unique was singing or because there were a bunch of pinball machines set up on stage. Actually no, it was definitely because of The Who.
“Tongue Tied” – A great montage song for all of the overly excited moments once the New Directions returned back to McKinley High. Would have been a great end to the episode, except for…
“We Are the Champions” – This was an imperative song choice. Queen trumps all.