By LTG
The kids are in New York for Nationals. Unfortunately, they still haven't written their damn songs. Will locks them in their hotel rooms to write songs while he skips out to the Broadway theater April Rhodes has rented for her biographical show. The kids escape the hotel to wander around New York. And then after they return to work, Finn and Rachel skip out again for a "work date" that consists less of working and more of dating. But they do see Patti LuPone. So that's something. And the morning, Kurt and Rachel skip out for breakfast at Tiffany's, before breaking into a Broadway theater of their own and singing a song.
After all this walkabout, Will finally returns to the kids (after a night spent where, I have no idea). They've heard that he plans to stay in New York to make a go of it on Broadway, but he's changed his plans because he just can't bear to leave them. And then they finally write a couple of songs. The performances are relatively anti-climactic. Rachel does talk a shaky Sunshine Corazon out of her pre-show jitters, which is kind of penance for sending her to a crack house, I guess. We see Sunshine performing one song with Vocal Adrenaline. And then Rachel and Finn sing a duet, at the end of which they break into full-on sucking face. Which leaves the audience in stunned silence, for some reason. The rest of the club saves everything by performing a kick-ass, upbeat group number. But in the end it doesn't matter, because the kids don't finish in the top ten, which means they don't advance to the finals.
You'd think that would leave them feeling down. But they mostly seem okay. Kurt's happy, because he enjoyed New York, and because Blaine drops the "L" word. ("Love," not "lesbian.") Mercedes and Sam are happy, because they've secretly started dating. Finn and Rachel are happy, because even though they're blamed for the loss (due to their highly unprofessional kiss), they've decided to get back together. Santana, the only club member who was truly pissed off by the loss, is even okay after Brit-Brit drops some idiot-savant wisdom on her about Glee Club being a loving family. So they all end up happy with their tiny twelfth-place trophy.
Featuring four original songs (one performed by Mr. Schue, one performed by the entire club, one performed by Rachel and Finn, and one performed by Sunshine and Vocal Adrenaline) and the genius original song "My Cup," performed by Brit-Brit. Also, Madonna's "I Love New York," mashed up with some lyrics from "New York, New York" from On the Town, performed by the kids, "Bella Notte," from Lady and the Tramp, performed by Puck and the Homeless Troubadors, "For Good," from Wicked, performed by Rachel and Kurt, and some Usher number performed by some no-name choir.