Glee TV Show - Mattress - Glee Recaps, Glee Reviews, Glee Episodes | TWoP

Recapped by LTG · Aired 2009-12-02

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 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.

By LTG

Music room. Kurt throws a pile of old 'Claps down on the piano, asking the assembled members of the Glee Club where Rachel is. Finn: "She's not here yet." Kurt: "Perfect." But he doesn't say that because he hates Rachel (although he may), but because he wants to convince everyone else that it's a good thing that they didn't get a photo, and he knows Rachel would disagree. He reminds them that they've all felt "the cold humiliation of a slushie in the face." But so far, they've been spared worse torments, such as "swirlies" and "patriotic wedgies." Amber asks what makes a wedgie patriotic. I believe it's when Sarah Palin gives it to you. Oh, according to Finn, it's a wedgie where they run you up the flagpole by your underwear. Kurt has investigated past Glee Clubs, and has determined that a photo in the 'Clap would only lead to bad things. As proof, he points out a photo of one young man from the 1998 Glee Club, in which "he can be seen... drawn with both a Hitler mustache and a rice paddy hat." After the yearbook came out, the kid had a nervous breakdown. Kurt: "He's now the homeless man who sleeps in front of the library." Quinn: "Patches?" Britney: "He barks at my mom." As Exhibit B, Kurt presents a photo of a young woman from the 2000 'Clap. Kurt: "Seen here in her photo with a cartoon knife stuck in her head, in a macabre tableau that, in four years, would prove eerily prescient." Everyone seems to agree with Kurt that they shouldn't fight for a yearbook photo. And then Will enters. He sees the pile of 'Claps and assumes that the disquieted look on the kids' faces is because of the loss of their yearbook photo. He tells them how unfair it is and grabs a yearbook to take to the principal's office. Before leaving, he tells them, "This year's Thunderclap is going to have a Glee Club photo with every one of your smiling faces in it. You have my word on it." I think this may be the first prediction that Will has made that has turned out to be 100% true. Uh, spoiler. Title card.

Principal's office. Figgins: "Schue, I'm doing the Glee Club a solid. We're denying the opportunity to other children to further humiliate them." But Will thinks that if the kids are brave enough to get up on stage and perform in front of the world, they're clearly able to take a little photo vandalism. Figgins caves, telling Will the club can have a photo -- but they'll have to pay for it. Apparently, all the pages are spoken for, so Glee Club will have to buy some ad space for their photo. And it's not cheap -- $1,000 for a full page. Will asks about a quarter page, and is told that it's $325. Don't the teachers at this school have a union? How is Figgins always extorting money from them? Or maybe he just extorts money from Will because he's such a gullible sap. But a quarter-page ad will only be big enough for a photo of two people, according to Figgins: "Now I suggest you select the good-looking cheerleader, not the pregnant one, and the quarterback for the photo, as their faces are less likely to be scratched out with safety pins." Schue is about to respond when Rachel bursts into the office. She's there to threaten the school with an ACLU lawsuit if the Glee Club photo isn't restored. Will interrupts her tirade to tell her he's already solved the problem. Rachel leaves.

By LTG

Ah, but so does the camera, as we're now following Rachel as she stalks out of the office in slow motion. Here voice-over tells us, "Make fun of me all you want, but school pictures are everything to me. They're great practice for getting photographed by the paparazzi." In order to prepare herself for the hordes of photogs that will be following her around when she's famous, she's joined as many clubs as she possibly can so that she can join them for their yearbook photos. As she speaks, she takes a yearbook off the library shelves and we see photos of her with the Speech Club, the Model U.N., the Renaissance Club, the Muslim Students Club, and the Black Student Union. In each successive picture, more and more of her fellow club members are giving her the stinkeye. But of all the clubs she's joined, the only one she loves is Glee, and she really wants there to be a Glee Club photo. She replaces the book on the shelf and leaves the library. As she does, we see that Brit-Brit and Santana are defacing Rachel's Speech Club photo.

Oh, Quinn is sitting across from Brit and Santana. But she's not laughing and giggling -- instead, she's indulging in her own internal monologue. She misses her Cheerios uniform, which made her feel like she belonged even when she felt alone. "I want my kids to be able to look back at these books and see who I was, make them proud. Not the bastard one I'm carrying now, of course. The ones I'll have when I'm married and ready." Ah, maternal feelings. As she monologues, we see Quinn looking at pictures of herself and the Cheerios in last year's 'Clap. And she was apparently the captain even last year. She must be one hell of a cheerleader. Quinn realizes that she may no longer be the head Cheerio, but she still feels like it on the inside. And then she decides that she's going to get tough: "When that cheerleading picture is taken for the yearbook, I'm gonna be in it and back on the squad. Whether Sue Sylvester likes it or not."

By LTG

Will walks into the living room of his apartment, asking Terri to help him choose between two ties. She's upset because he's blocking the television, but listens when he mentions that the ties are for the yearbook photo. Her advice? "Wear the red one for the teacher photo and the green one for the Glee Club. It'll pop more when the cool kids deface it." Does that mean Terri defaced Will's photo when he was in Glee Club and she was head cheerleader? Oh, and that reminds Will that he needs to tell Terri that he needs to spend $325 of their money on the Glee Club photo. Terri: "Oh great, why don't you just take the food out of our refrigerator and just give that to the kids. Will, that food goes from my mouth right into our baby's belly." Her answer is no, and when Will comes up with arguments, she just repeats the word no.

And we cut straight to Will writing out a check for the ad. The check is made out to "Principal Figgins," by the way. Further support for my theory that Figgins is just running some scam on Will. A scam in which he protects himself from the authorities by never revealing his first name.

Music room. Kurt is playing some scales on the piano when he's assaulted by Rachel: "Kurt, I have a fantastic idea for a club that would officially make me the most involved student in the whole school. I want us to start a Gaylesball." Kurt is as mystified as the rest of us. Turns out Rachel's referring to a Gay/Lesbian Alliance. Kurt walks away without responding. And then Will enters and tells them that there will be a Glee Club photo in the 'Clap after all. The response is less than overwhelming. But, because the photo is only big enough for two people, they're going to elect two team captains to appear. The election will be held tomorrow. Commercials.

Music room. Everyone is seated in their chairs, giving Rachel some uncomfortable looks. She's oblivious, and just looks excited. The bell rings and Mercedes announces that since everybody's there, they should go ahead and vote. Rachel leaps from her chair to give her prepared election speech. But before she can begin, Mercedes nominates her, and Kurt seconds the nomination. Puck says they should just vote, since he has to hit the gym to prepare for the football picture. He hands out slips, everyone votes, and it's unanimous. Rachel is elected captain of the Glee Club. But Will wants two captains. Quinn: "Why two? We're fine with Rachel representing us in the Thunderclap by herself." Kurt: "We'd actually prefer it."

By LTG

Will is in Emma's office, moaning about how the Glee Club kids are still ashamed to be in Glee Club and still see themselves as losers. I think it's more that they don't want others to see them as losers. Will feels like he just needs to talk one other kid into being co-captain. Emma: "Well, maybe you should let 'em use the captain they already elected. You know, sometimes things sound a lot different coming from a peer. Even if that peer is as annoying as Rachel." And for anyone who got their panties in a bunch over a guidance counselor talking trash about a student -- it shouldn't be a shock to learn that teachers spend a significant amount of their time together talking about the most annoying students. Just like forum moderators spend a significant amount of time talking about the most annoying posters. Being able to blow off some steam when you're not actually with the annoying kids is the key to being able to treat them professionally when you are with them. Anyway, Emma thinks the kids will all feel differently about Glee Club once they win Sectionals, and she apologizes for having to miss the competition. Will, who never misses an opportunity to stick his foot in his mouth, tells Emma that he thinks Ken scheduled the wedding for the day of Sectionals on purpose, because they "both know how he feels about our relationship." Emma gets a slightly pissed off look on her face: "I'm marrying Ken, Will. Look, I know that I've definitely given him reason in the past to be jealous, but I need you to know that I'm done with that now. Ken has a lot of flaws. He has 74 flaws as of yesterday, but you know what? He is not vindictive. He is actually a very good man. He is kind and he is great with the students here at McKinley, we have that in common. And yes, it's true, his hygiene could be a lot better, but he is absolutely full of compassion, and, well, that is why I'm marrying him." I'm not certain whether that speech was meant to convince Will or Emma that Emma is marrying Ken for the right reasons. Will apologizes for being out of line, and promises that it won't happen again before he leaves her office.

By LTG

Will is putting away chairs in the music room when Rachel enters. He asks her how the captaincy is going. Rachel: "I think that my unanimous election gave me a very strong mandate to shake things up." And then Will assigns her very first job as captain -- to find a co-captain. Rachel looks a touch insulted, but Will smooths it over: "You have so many great ideas, there's no reason you shouldn't have some help pushing 'em through." Rachel: "I could use a trusty lieutenant, I do have over 65 proposals." So now Rachel is on the hunt for a co-captain.

First she asks Mercedes, who can't because she's too busy with early Kwanza preparations. Artie, backed into a corner, points out that in order for him and Rachel to appear in a photo together, she'll have to lean over, which will make it appear as though she has stomach rolls. Rachel trails after Britney in the hallway, claiming that being co-captain is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Brit-Brit: "I don't want to be in a picture with you. It'll get defaced." Rachel: "No it won't." Brit-Brit: "I'll be the one doing it." And that leads her to Finn. After a long back-and-forth, she finally guilts him into doing it by pointing out that if morale doesn't improve in the club, they won't even place at sectionals. Yay for guilt! Commercials.

Rachel is dragging Finn into the music room, which has several musicians (of the instrumental variety) hanging out. Rachel, to Finn: "I totally understand that as captain of the football team, you've worked really hard to project an appearance of steely toughness." Really? "Steely toughness" aren't the first words I associate with Finn. "Mentally-challenged cuddliness," perhaps. But not "steely toughness." Anyway, Rachel thinks that for the Glee Club photo, Finn needs to be able to give the perfect cheerful smile. And to get him in the mood, she's going to sing a song with him that will apparently teach him how to smile (but not smize). And that song is Lily Allen's "Smile." How the hell did Rachel rope Tinkles and the Music Room Quintet into this gig? It's a very sweet performance, and I did enjoy the several close-ups of Tinkles generally rolling his eyes at the whole thing. Although I'm ashamed on his behalf that he was smiling by the end. Don't lose your edge, Tinkles!

By LTG

And now it's the locker room, where a couple of overly large dudes throw Finn up against a locker and start writing on his face with a marker. They're practicing for when it's time to deface his picture in the 'Clap. Finn fights back, but they tell him to suck it up, because "the system was put in place to keep order around here." Thanks, Big Brother. (Which I mean both figuratively and literally -- the brother is big, is what I'm saying.) Big Brother tells Finn he can have the choice of a Hitler mustache or buck teeth. The other player asks the room at large how to spell "loser," since he plans to write it on Finn's forehead. Big Brother: "Big ol' potato-head. You could write a haiku on that thing." Ha!

Photo time. Rachel's there, and Finn is not. The photographer wants to get on with it. Rachel bitterly declares that she'll do the picture herself. She's trying to smile, but not having much luck. So she calls a time-out and gives herself a pep talk (via internal monologue) in a conveniently placed mirror. "Snap out of this. Stop being defined by what other people think of you. Or how they disappoint you. It's lonely at the top, you know that. What's that song about overcoming professional and personal disappointments? Oh yeah, 'When you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you." Rachel, I hope you do a better job of overcoming professional and personal disappointment than Judy Garland did. Rachel is now ready for her close-up, Mr. Photographer. He snaps a couple of pix and stops, causing Rachel to complain that she practiced over eighteen different poses for the shoot, including several "over the left shoulder" poses. Unfortunately, the photographer can't stick around, as he has a casting session to run in half an hour. Rachel pricks up her ears at hearing the magic words, and asks what the casting session is for. It's for a commercial that the photographer is directing. Rachel breaks down in tears, and the photographer quickly offers to take a few more photos. Rachel snaps her head up: "I can cry on demand. It's one of my many talents. I'm very versatile, and aside from nudity and the exploitation of animals, I'll pretty much do anything to break into the business." Photographer tells her that while she seems talented, he needs a bunch of other actors for all of the speaking parts. Rachel: "I can help with that."

Music room. Rachel calls the emergency Glee Club meeting to order, just as Finn walks in. He tries to explain about the harassment he faced, but she really doesn't care. As Finn sits down, he feels his head and asks Quinn, "Do you think I have a potato head?" Rachel tells the others that she realizes they all think Glee Club is a joke that can't win and they're content to just kill time until Figgins cancels the club. But, says Rachel, "I'm about to present to you a rare opportunity." The opportunity to sell Amway? No, "the opportunity to become stars." She explains that they've all been cast in a local commercial, which will make them celebrities: "And nobody messes with celebrities. Or defaces their pictures." Tell that to Perez Hilton. They all seem happy, and then they seem unnaturally happy when they realize it's a commercial for mattresses. I don't understand kids these days. Commercials.

By LTG

All of the kids are in powder-blue pajamas, sitting in canvas chairs and primping in front of makeup mirrors. Tina: "I can't believe we're finally breaking into the biz." Yes, because those three months you've been singing were such grueling work. You've really paid your dues. Rachel wants them to always remember this moment, even if they all do become famous. Mercedes: "Whatever. Soon as I get my record deal, I'm not speaking to any of you." The director (formerly known as the photographer) and Mr. Mattress walk over the kids. Mr. Mattress, a rather stout fellow, tells them, "Guys, we're very excited to have you here. We here at Mattressland believe that mattresses aren't just for sleeping and fornicating anymore." That's right, they're also for lazy TV watching. And depressed eating of ice cream. Wait, that might just be my mattress. The director wants them to run through their lines. Finn, Puck, Mercedes, and Rachel all have lines, and they're about as good as you might expect. Which means they're pretty bad. Rachel tells the director that while the script is brilliant, they're a glee club and should perform. Director: "Perform the lines as I wrote them." But Mr. Mattress is intrigued, and he wants to see what this performance would entail. What it would entail is a great rousing performance of Van Halen's "Jump," in which the kids jump all over mattresses (some of which are clearly trampolines with mattress tops) and dance and have a ridiculously good time. (All except for Artie, who mostly sits in his chair holding a sign that says "Jump.") The director is clearly unimpressed, but Mr. Mattress is digging it, and can't help jumping a few times himself. And I have to agree with Mr. Mattress -- this is a great commercial, and makes me want to run out and buy a mattress.

By LTG

Will is at home, laying out his suit for the school picture and looking for... something in the closets and dressers of his bedroom. He calls out to Terri, asking if she's seen his pocket square. She doesn't answer, so he keeps looking. And then looks in her lingerie drawer. Because I guess a pocket square could be mistaken for a bra or pair of panties. And in the back of one drawer he finds ... a pregnancy pad. DUN!

Will walks into the kitchen, where Terri is cooking dinner. Without looking up, she tells him, "A pocket square's going to make you look like Ted Knight." Does she mean Ted Knight or Ted Baxter? But then she looks up and sees Will holding the pregnancy pad in his hand. He asks what it is, and she tells him that they use them at maternity stores to try on clothes to see if they will fit in the near future, and that Kendra stole one so that Terri could try on some of Kendra's old clothes. I'm astonished that Terri was able to think of that lie so quickly. And it was actually fairly believable. Maybe she was really an honors student when she was in high school. Or maybe she's just an incredible sociopath. You be the judge. Will clearly does not believe the lie this time. He demands to see Terri's stomach. She refuses. So Will throws the pregnancy pad across the kitchen with some force, knocking over some stuff. He asks again, and Terri takes great umbrage at the implication that she would make up an entire pregnancy and lie to him about it. Eh, if the implication fits.

Although she actually sounds incredibly terrified as she's speaking to him. Will slowly backs Terri up against the wall. He grabs her arm, and lifts up her shirt himself. And finds the newer, larger pregnancy pad underneath it. They each let out a sob, for totally different reasons. And then Will rips the pad right off Terri. Will's in shock, and can't understand why Terri would have done this. She tells him she thought he was going to leave, that he has become so different that she can feel him pulling away. Will: "Why, because I've started standing up to you, trying to make this a relationship of equals?" Terri: "No, because of the damn Glee Club. Ever since you started it, you walk around like you're better than me." Will thinks there's nothing wrong with feeling good about himself. Terri: "Who are we kidding, Will? This marriage works because you don't feel good about yourself." Will thinks the marriage actually works because he loves her and has always accepted her. Terri: "You love the girl you met when you were fifteen. I'm not that girl." Actually, every sign I've seen is that she is exactly that girl. With larger breasts. She finally tells him that she really did think she was pregnant at first and then panicked when she found out she wasn't. He asks her what her plan was when the due date came, and she only says two words: "Quinn Fabray." Will's stunned. Terri tries to get him to remember what they said at the fake sonogram appointment. Terri: "You remember what we said? That at that moment, no matter what happened, we loved each other. We can get that feeling back again. You could love me back, Will. Please, Will, please don't go. Please don't go, please!" But it's too late, for Will Schuester has left the building. Damn, that was the heaviest scene so far on this show. And both actors did an amazing job. I really hope they find some way to keep Terri on the show. Couldn't she become Sue's assistant coach? Anyway, it's time for commercials.

By LTG

Will enters his darkened office. It's clearly the same night he walked out on Terri. And somehow, somewhere, he picked up a pillow and blanket. Also, someone changed the layout of the school in the last hour or so, because Will's office is now adjacent to the music room. And someone also delivered a stack of twelve mattresses to the music room in the last hour or so, because that's what Will finds there. I bet there's a pea under there. On the stack of mattresses, there's a note from Mr. Mattress thanking the kids for all their hard work. Will's confused, but too stupid to actually try to figure out what this means. Instead, he just pulls a mattress off the pile and rips the plastic wrapping off of it, and then puts it down on the floor of his office.

It's time for Sue's Corner. Her insane diatribe this week is just a request for day each year during which she doesn't have to see any fatties or uglies. She thinks it should be the day after Christmas. Did the person who wrote Sue's lines quit the show? Because she hasn't been very funny the last few episodes. Just mean. And while Mean Sue is okay, what we really want is Mean and Funny Sue. Anyway, as the newscast cuts to commercial and Sue leaves the studio, she tells Rod's co-anchor Andrea that her Sue's Corner was directed at her. And then Sue hears an annoying but familiar voice. It's Rachel, delivering a voice-over for the Mattressland commercial, talking about how fun it can be to buy a mattress while we see the Glee Kids singing and dancing around the mattress store. Sue looks thoughtful.

By LTG

Sue walks down the school hallway, when Quinn approaches and says that they have to talk. Quinn wants to be a Cheerio again before the photo (which is tomorrow). Sue: "Oh, is that what you want? Well, what I wanted was a head cheerleader who wasn't going to hoist her legs behind her ears in the back seat of the first station wagon she could jimmy open, throwing away any chance she ever had in life." Okay, that was a little funny. Quinn thinks it would be good for the school to see that appearances don't matter and that everyone can overcome a little diversity, two lessons she learned in Glee Club. Sue thinks Quinn must have learned those things "right after the lesson on how to disqualify yourselves from Sectionals." Sue's referring to the commercial. Also, was Quinn's big plan just to ask Sue for her position back and then try to argue as to why it would be the moral thing to do? Does she not know Sue at all?

Principal's office. Figgins is telling Will that Sue's right -- the Glee Club has disqualified themselves from competition by going pro. Will claims he didn't even know about the commercial. Sue: "Of course you didn't, Will. You wouldn't know if your Glee Club was using your office to breed rabbits for pets or food. You know why? You're too busy chasing tail and loading your hair with enormous amounts of product. I mean, today it just looks like you put lard in it." Okay, a little more funny. Will defends the commercial as an effort by the kids to foster a sense of unity, an innocent mistake. Sue: "And what if I were to just innocently murder you, Will? I'd still have to go to trial." That would be the trial of the century. Sue pulls out her ever-handy copy of the Ohio Show Choir Rulebook and quotes the rule that says that payment for services rendered makes you a pro. Will claims the kids weren't paid, but Sue points out the stack of mattresses "piled as high as the stack of empty hair gel bottles piled in the dumpster outside [Will's] apartment." Will says they can return the mattresses. But Figgins knows that one of the mattresses was used and is therefore non-returnable. Sue asks why Will has a soiled mattress in his office, asking if he and Emma have become "so sexually depraved that you have to commit your craven acts of adultery in between classes?" Will admits to sleeping in his office, and then tells them that he's thinking of leaving Terri. Sue: "Well I didn't see that one coming at all." Figgins tells him that whatever personal issues he's having, he broke the rules, and Glee Club is over. Which Sue repeats with a lot more venom and bile in her voice. Commercials.

By LTG

Music room. Glee Club is assembled. Artie is telling Will that they don't want to go to Sectionals without him. Because Will's solution is to declare himself ineligible, since he was the one who received the mattress. Puck can appreciate the fact that Will is taking a bullet for them. Finn thinks they can't do it without Will, and probably not even with him. Will: "That's not true. You guys are good. You're really good. You did 'Jump' for that commercial without me, right?" Plus all those random songs they sing in hallways where nobody else notices them. And that's when Will delivers the message of the week: "The best teachers don't give you the answers. They just point the way and let you make your own choices, your own mistakes." Of course, those teachers then reduce your grade as a result of those mistakes. So don't make any mistakes! The point for Will is that by standing back, the best teachers let the students get all the glory. "If you can't win without me there, then I haven't done my job." Rachel apologizes on behalf of all the kids. Will tells them to get "gussied up" (thanks, Grandpa) and take the 'Clap photo with pride and a smile on every face.

And then we see the girls primping while the boys work out (and primp, in the case of Kurt) set to the kids singing the Charlie Chaplin/Turner & Parsons "Smile." We see Will, Emma, and Sue getting their pictures taken (with the resulting shots in this year's 'Clap). Then Will watches through the doorway as the Glee Club's photo is taken. After a few seconds, he starts smiling himself. And then we see the Glee Club photo in the yearbook, with kids defacing the picture. Looks like the stupid football player found someone to teach him how to spell "loser." Also, according to the photo caption, Britney has no last name. (The photo caption also spells her name "Brittany," which I know is how the credits spell it, but I'm too old to change. Britney she has been and Britney she remains.) And that's the end for this week.

week it's finally time for Sectionals. How much do you want to be there's a Very Special Lesson in store?

LTG is a full-time pension lawyer and a part-time panda wrangler. You can reach him at ltg.jon@gmail.com.