By LTG
Rachel's in New York, attending Fake New York Theater School, and she's miserable. Partly because she's lonely and misses Finn and is surrounded by people who only know her as an annoying pain in the ass, but mostly because her dance instructor, Cassandra July (played by Kate Hudson), is a bitter drunk who has chosen Rachel to be her whipping girl. But things look up when she meets a hot, hot junior, who bucks her up and helps her regain that special feeling.
Back at McKinley, the remaining members of New Directions are tasting the sweet elixir of popularity. Unfortunately, that popularity is also turning them into jerks, as highlighted by their cruel mockery of an overweight lunch lady. But they're also feeling pressure to fill the gaping hole that Rachel and her outsized talent (and ego) left in the group. That pressure mounts when Unique (formerly seen as lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline) transfer to McKinley and joins the group. And that pressure builds to an explosive climax when new student Marley blows her audition out of the water. And that Marley? Daughter of the picked-on lunch lady. And she makes them feel like crap when she confronts them over their cruelty.
Kurt, meanwhile, is attending a local community college, working at the Lima Bean and hanging around McKinley like some kind of over-aged predator. Fortunately, Blaine has the sense to know that Kurt needs to go to New York right away rather than waiting a year to reapply to Fake New York Theater School. So his dad, the congressman, packs him off to New York. He arrives just in time to save Rachel from a serious crying jag.
Also, Sue had her baby. And Puck had an unknown half-brother, Jake, who has a nice audition, but blows it when he has a temper tantrum. Will still offers him a space in New Directions if he loses the chip on his shoulder, but Jake is quite attached to that chip and turns Will down. And the new head cheerleader is really mean.
Featuring Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind," sung by Rachel and Marley; a mash-up of Lady Gaga's "Americano" and J. Lo's Dance Again," sung by Cassandra July; Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," sung Thunderdome style by Unique, Blaine, Tina and Brit-Brit; Adele's "Chasing Pavements," sung by Marley; Imagine Dragons' "It's Time," sung by Blaine; and The Fray's "Never Say Never," sung by Jake Puckerman.
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