Glee Season 6 Episode 4 Review: The Manchurian Candidate
Miranda Wicker
at
.
Updated at
.
In case it wasn't clear, let the record reflect that Glee Season 6 Episode 4 has just definitively proven that Glee has given up on itself and pretty much isn't even trying.
Or, it's trying entirely too hard to cram as many different whacky plots as possible into the remaining nine episodes.
Sue hates Will. That isn't new. This time, her hatred was sparked by a wayward plastic lunch fork he left behind on a table in the McKinley teacher's lounge when she invited him over for lunch in order to see if it was possible for the two of them to be friends now that he's teaching at Carmel High School. Apparently, it isn't possible.
What followed that scene was a hot mess.
Not only does Sue now want to destroy Will Schuester forever, she also wants to destroy Rachel and the New Directions. But she's totally on board with Kurt and Blaine and loves Klaine so much she vows to do everything in her power to get them back together so she can be the flower girl in their wedding.
That sound you just heard was the sound of a million screeching halts happening in the brains of anyone who happened to be watching tonight.
Sue having a vendetta is nothing new. Watching her machinations can be mildly entertaining from time to time, but mostly go overboard into the inane and improbable. Same scenes, different day.
We're expected to believe that neither Rachel nor Will noticed a drone hovering 10 feet away from them, recording their conversation in the auditorium? (Or that Figgins' first name is actually "Principal" and he has a blonde sister who also happens to be a high school principal across town?) Yet somehow, when it comes to Sue, we don't question the improbability of using drones to eavesdrop. It's just...that's what Sue does.
But it's tiresome, particularly right now when the idea of this final season was supposed to be rebuilding the glee club.
Sam as Sue's Manchurian Candidate was also sort of odd, not because I'm vehemently against Sam and Rachel, but because I'm decidedly not against them.
While Sam was under his hypnosis, he had shades of pre-dumb Sam. The Sam who showed up and sang "Billionaire" and dated Quinn and Mercedes and lived with his family in a hotel room because his dad lost his job and they were broke and homeless. Tonight he was the Sam I've missed since they made him a stupid.
What's more is that I liked that he made Rachel smile. When they kissed on the piano bench, I felt that. I was there. Then it all had to be written as part of Sue's master plan to break Rachel's heart and crush the girl's already crushed spirit and I didn't like it. If the writers hadn't had Sam say he still has feelings for Mercedes, then this would be a salvageable storyline, but that admission makes Rachel and Sam feel impossible.
I love Sue Sylvester as much as the next Gleek, but an entire episode – no, TWO episodes – focused on Sue's vow to take down the New Directions AGAIN is two episodes too many.
The good thing that came from her latest plan to destroy Will was that epic tirade in her office, particularly the part about how Will completely overlooks the real musical geniuses in the room: the band that can play "literally any musical number" on the spot.
It was a tiny little acknowledgement that this series doesn't really take itself too seriously, which makes me feel silly for taking it so seriously when there are stories I don't like. But really, couldn't Glee just...take itself a little more seriously sometimes? Maybe?
And also maybe not have Sue suddenly be so in love with the idea of Klaine getting back together that she puts a real live bear cub in Blaine's apartment?
Yes, we want Kurt and Blaine to get back together before the series ends. They're not just better off as really great friends. But they were already on that path without all this meddling from Sue. It's entirely unbelievable in any shape or form that she would be Team Klaine to the point of having a secret room in her secret locker dedicated to all their moments together throughout the seasons. Nope. Nuh-uh.
Finally, we have to mention the giant elephant in the choir room: the New Directions.
This quartet has yet to sing a single musical number with one another. In a season that is supposed to be about restarting a dead music program. There are no songs from them.
I'm...confused.
On the one hand, yay! The writers aren't throwing new characters at us and telling us to love them and are focusing on the old characters we already know and (sort of mostly) love. But...it's a show about that glee club in particular, which makes the fact that they haven't performed a single number together really, really weird.
As weird as Blaine and Karofsky. As weird as Kurt's date turning out to be a 50+ year old man named Walter. But hey, at least he wasn't a cannibal.
What did you think of "Hurt Locker, Part One"? Are you tired of Sue Sylvester's plans to take over the world? When will we finally hear the New Directions sing? If you've missed any episodes, you can watch Glee online to catch up!
Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
