Episode Report Card Demian: C- | 311 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT The Grief Porn
By Demian | Season 5 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.10.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Finn Hudson's dead -- in fact, he died nearly a month ago -- and Mr. Schue has decided to hold a week of memorial performances in his honor at the McKinley High music room. A number of Frankenteen's former peers return from their new lives to participate, including Santana Lopez, Gaylord Wiener, St. Gay Of Lima, Mercedes Jones, Old Puck and Old Idiot Rachel, with each of them coping with Finn's sudden loss in a variety of ways that are equally difficult to watch, either because bits of real life start hemorrhaging into this fictional piece of televisual entertainment or because the script the actors were handed to play pretty much sucks. (Notable in her absence during all of this is Quinn Fabray, though I think everyone knows by now that Dianna Agron is never coming back to this show, ever, because Ryan Murphy hates her with the fiery passion of a thousand blazing suns for whatever bizarre and most likely melodramatic reason.)
For once, the adults on this show don't find themselves completely ignored, and we get a few chances to see how Congressman Hummel, Denim Carole, Emma Pillsbury-Schuester, Sue Sylvester, Coach Beiste and Will himself are faring in the aftermath of recent events. Actually, now that I think about it that sentence should read, "For once, the adults on this show don't find themselves completely ignored, and we get a few very welcome chances to see how Mike O'Malley, Romy Rosemont, Jayma Mays, Jane Lynch, Dot-Marie Jones and Matthew Morrison rise above the always-iffy material they've been given to deliver performances that are quite often genuinely touching in so many different ways." And that's pretty much all I have to say about that. For now.
Featuring "Seasons Of Love" from Rent, as performed by The New New Directions along with many of their Old counterparts; The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You," as performed by Mercedes; James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," as performed by Artie and Lady Lips Von Bieberhausen; The Band Perry's "If I Die Young," as performed by Santana Lopez; Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender," as performed by Old Puck; and Adele's version of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love," as performed by The Grief-Stricken Hooker Of Broadway.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!We begin in darkness as the opening piano chords of "Seasons Of Love" from Rent strike the soundtrack, then follow three spotlights as they travel across the stage in The April Rhodes Civic Pavilion until they land on last year's five principal additions to the show's cast. The new versions of Finn, Quinn, Mercedes, Rachel, and Puck begin the song itself on their own, each appropriately attired in a mournful black, though to be honest with you, only Unique appears particularly walloped by grief, here. I'd wonder what that signifies, but -- spoiler alert! -- these kids pretty much disappear for the rest of the episode after this opening scene, so maybe stick a pin in that for now, and we'll see if it develops into something later in the season.
Spoiler alert, part two: It's totally not going to develop into something later in the season, but I figured I might as well point it out.
In any event, the initial five are soon joined by the four elder members of The New New Directions, and as you'd expect, Tina, Artie, Sam, and Blaine all seem a bit more deeply connected to the song's message, but it's not until the group parts to reveal the Famous Original versions of Santana, Kurt, Mercedes, and Puck (oh, and Gaylord Wiener, too) that things get really sad and depressing. And not just because Mark Salling looks like he's about forty-five years old at this point. In case you haven't guessed by now, this melancholy gathering of The Old New Directions and The New New Directions is meant to mark the untimely passing of Finn Hudson, and before you ask why Famous Original Quinn isn't there, or Brittany, or Old Idiot Rachel (or Sugar Motta, or Lauren Zizes, or The Leprechaun, or even Butt Munch from way back in Season 1), I'll answer that question for you: I have no idea. Well, I have a couple of ideas, but let's not veer off into any unnecessary digressions so early in the episode, okay? Good.
So, the Famous Originals materialize to step forward and assume rightful control for the remainder of the song, with Mercedes of course handling most of the heavy lifting, and while I'm not a fan of Rent (I can go look at deadbeat hipsters on the street for free, you know) and while I'm not a fan of this song from Rent in particular, I've got to admit this opening number is well done, even if does feel a tad bit rushed. Did they really have to hack forty seconds off the full recording? No. No, they didn't, and -- spoiler alert, part three! -- it's one of my major problems with the episode as a whole. Even here, during a tribute episode to one of the show's major characters, they felt the need to hack down the songs in favor of...what, exactly? More crappily written dialogue? To have more plot and character points that come out of nowhere? All of which mean absolutely nothing because they therefore have no context? That are certain to disappear forever the instant this evening's presentation is over? Whatever, Glee.