Episode Report Card LTG: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Princess And The Peabrain
By LTG | Season 1 | Episode 12 | Aired on 12.02.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's a night full of drama and plot development. I know! Okay, so it's yearbook picture time. The problem is that every year, the picture of the Glee Club is horribly defaced by every other student. So Sue convinces Figgins to prevent the vandalism by denying a picture to Glee. Which is fine with all of the Glee kids except for Rachel, because they really don't want their pictures defaced. But Will can't stand it, so he arranges to buy a quarter-page ad for a Glee Club photo, which will be big enough for a picture of two people. Everyone in the club votes for Rachel to receive the honor. She talks Finn into joining her, but he backs out when threatened with picture defacement. However, when Rachel is taking her sad little picture all alone, she learns that the photographer is directing a local commercial, and arranges for the Glee Club to be cast. So they all dress in matching pajamas and sing and dance around a mattress store. Sue sees the commercial while filming "Sue's Corner" and is delighted, because being paid for appearing in a commercial makes the Glee kids professionals, which disqualifies them from competing at Sectionals.
This is all a bit suspect, because the only payment the kids received was a giant pile of mattresses. Unfortunately, Will uses one of the mattresses, making it nonreturnable. Why did he use the mattress, you ask? Because he learned that Terri was faking the pregnancy, they had a huge fight, and he left! At last! So Will realizes that because he used the mattress, he was the only one who received payment, making him the only one ineligible to go to Sectionals.
The other minor plot involved Quinn trying to get Sue to take her back as a Cheerio in order to get in their yearbook photo. She is rebuffed, until she pulls out the big guns and points out all the payment (in the form of product) Sue arranges for the Cheerios to get, thereby threatening the Cheerios' ability to compete as amateurs. This blackmail works. But Sue is so mean about it that Quinn decides to ditch the Cheerios and stick with Glee. And she forces Sue to give up one of the Cheerios' yearbook pages so the entire Glee Club can appear in a photo together.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see where the Glee Club will be in 20 years at the McKinley High School Reunion.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Will enters the teachers' lounge and sits with Ken and Emma, who are eating lunch. Teachers are trying on ties and putting on lipstick, so Will asks what all the primping is about. Emma reminds him that it's almost picture time for the yearbook, which I'm delighted to learn is titled The Thunderclap. I really hope they call it The 'Clap. Oh, hell, I will even if they don't. Ken's plan is to drop 20 pounds by the time the picture is taken on Friday and then lose even more weight before the wedding, which is Saturday a week later. Will looks a little stricken at the mention of the upcoming nuptials. Emma reminds us all that the wedding was planned for Hawaii. Unfortunately, they've had to call that off as she's learned that she would not be allowed to bring her own fruit. I guess the industrial equipment she uses to sterilize everything that passes her lips is too big to take in her luggage. And then! Will tells us that Sectionals are that Saturday. Is he certain? I could have sworn that Sectionals weren't scheduled until several months from now. Ken doesn't look at all upset as he tells Emma how much it sucks that she'll have to miss Sectionals. Emma really looks sad about the conflict, but Ken refuses to reschedule the wedding: "The VFW hall is booked 'til next June. The only reason this Saturday is available is 'cause it's the one-year anniversary of that grisly fish-fry shootout. I got a monster discount. We just gotta be out of there before the candlelight vigil." And then Emma catches her breath -- she's just noticed Sue walking into the lounge, sporting not one, but two shiners. She looks like the meanest, funniest raccoon you ever met. Emma: "Sue, did someone finally punch you?" Addressing Emma as "Edie," Sue explains that she has a little bit of work done every year at photo time -- this year it was an eyelift. "And while they were in there, I told 'em to go ahead and yank out those tear ducts. Wasn't usin' 'em." Sue, compassionate as always, tells the others that while she have a storage unit full of trophies, she feels bad that for non-Sue teachers, the yearbook pictures are their one moment of glory. I'm trying to think of any teachers I ever knew who thought of yearbook pictures as some kind of recognition of their achievements. Instead of, you know, an annual pain in the ass and a constant reminder of the horrible clothes they wore twenty years ago. Sue mentions that the Cheerios are so excited for the photos, and Will claims the Glee kids are just as excited. Except, according to Sue, the Glee kids aren't getting a photo this year. She convinced Figgins that, in light of the constant vandalism of Glee club photos over the years, it would be a mercy not to give them a picture. (And she calls Emma "Eleanor" while conveying that news.) Will blows up and threatens to go see Figgins, Sue announces that she's bored, and the scene ends.